Archive for the 'Video Games' Category
Final Fantasy XIII Log: Part 1
There will be no spoilers here, so fear not. I was going to try to do a live-ish collection of thoughts and notes, but it didn’t take long for me to find myself too busy with it to keep stopping to type things. Instead, I’m just going to do a little summary of my experience thus far. I’m currently at a save point shortly after unlocking the “Crystarium” ability system.
Final Fantasy XIII Preview
So I imported Final Fantasy XIII recently, and just received it the other day, but I haven’t had a chance to play it yet. As an experiment, I’m going to try doing some sort of “coverage” here of my playthrough of it. Unlike most people interested in this game, however, I completely skipped the PS2 generation. Unless you count the PC version of Final Fantasy XI, which I bought when it first came out in the US, and it was horrible back then. Otherwise, I’ve only played I-IX, so this will be my first game with voice acting, and my first game without Uematsu’s music. I don’t really know or care what the deal is with the main song, either. I just don’t like playing Final Fantasy games in English because I’m a bitter old lady.
But anyway, first, I’d like to talk about the version I got. I bought it because it was (and still is, as of this writing) on sale at PlayAsia for much less than its normal price. In fact, it’s less than what the US version costs. And that’s even with shipping factored in, if you pick a cheap option. But even though it’s in Japanese, it’s not exactly the version released in Japan. It’s a Japanese language version of the game released in countries like Hong Kong and Taiwan. But it is NTSC (supporting 480p, 720p, 1080i, and 1080p, according to the back cover), and everything from the manual to the game itself (I have checked that much) is Japanese only. There is one extra sheet that includes Chinese and English translations of the menus and controls, though. But otherwise, it’s almost identical to the Japanese version, content-wise. It just doesn’t have that code for Final Fantasy XIV, which I’m guessing one wouldn’t be able to use unless they had a Japanese residence anyway. So if you are interested in importing the game, this version seems just as good as the one from Japan. Though, I honestly don’t know which song is used, not having played it yet, aside from the opening video and options menu. But I’d assume it’s the Japanese song, since all the other audio is in Japanese.
Anyway, I took some pictures of the case and manual and stuff, for those who might be curious about it. And before you think it, turning the flash off would have made these look even worse. My camera sucks. But click them for full-size. (more…)
Attack of the Genetic Experiments
For whatever reason, Final Fantasy VII‘s main villain, Sephiroth, is extremely popular. But I recently came to the realization that his backstory closely resembles that of another very popular game character that came shortly before him: Mewtwo. From Pokemon Red and Green, of course.
Obviously, that’s referring to the Japanese release dates, since both games did originate there, after all. And in the case of Pokemon, I’m only referring to the in-game story, because the anime didn’t come until much later.
Oh, and obviously, there’s a lot of spoilers here, assuming there’s anyone left that doesn’t know these things and might actually care about that.
Game Thoughts: WiiWare Demos
Nintendo had released a few WiiWare demos on the Wii Shop a couple months ago, and I downloaded them back then, but only got around to playing them this past weekend. It seems the demos were finally taken down from the shop yesterday, so my timing is a bit awkward. But I’ll give a few mini-reviews on them anyway, because the actual games will obviously stick around.
New Pokemon Games?
So the official Japanese sites have just released minor details about a new Pokemon RPG for DS. People are speculating that it will be the start of the “fifth generation” of games, and with good reason. There’s going to be new Pokemon in it, and they’re calling it the first new game since Diamond and Pearl. Thus, it would exclude an upgrade style game like Platinum, as well as more remakes like HeartGold and SoulSilver. However, Pokemon XD for Gamecube was also a completely original RPG that had brand new Pokemon (Munchlax and Bonsly) in it, so it could be something as simple as that.