[Game Journal] gimmegaming
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Agreed on the FF4 pacing. One thing I lamented with it is that its characters are great, but they aren't really given much breathing room to just... be. It's just a symptom of being an older game, but I think a remake that was trying to actually revitalize the game rather than recreate it (like the 3D one was, I think), would have done absolute wonders for this game.
Honestly, that's not an inaccurate description. There's a few small plot similarities and both have expansive casts of characters all with unique abilities. FFVI does a better job of pacing and developing and managing its cast. It has a bit more customization too. FFIV is still great too.
That would be really interesting to see actually.
Final Fantasy IV - Chapter Three
I wandered around the map aimlessly for a while before remembering where the pathway to Baron is. From there it was a quick bit of travel to Baron where I was reunited with Yang - although I did have to beat his memory back into him. He informed me he had no idea where Edward was and that Rydia had been eaten by Leviathan. There was no time to mourn though! We broke into the castle and discovered that the Water fiend was impersonating the king. We killed him pretty easily and reunited with Cid, but he activated a trap where the walls started trying to crush us, forcing to Porom and Palam to petrify themselves to hold the walls in place so we could escape.
We bored Cid's airship, the Enterprise, to flee but were confronted us and offered an exchange: the earth crystal for Rosa. So we headed to Troia where we were reunited with a gravely injured Edward and learned the earth crystal had been take by a being called the Dark Elf. I fought the Elf, who was actually a dragon, and retrieved the crystal. Kain then contacted us again and lead us to where Golbez and Rosa are.
I need to leave it there for now though cause I need to grind before I go through the tower... yay.
I wandered around the map aimlessly for a while before remembering where the pathway to Baron is. From there it was a quick bit of travel to Baron where I was reunited with Yang - although I did have to beat his memory back into him. He informed me he had no idea where Edward was and that Rydia had been eaten by Leviathan. There was no time to mourn though! We broke into the castle and discovered that the Water fiend was impersonating the king. We killed him pretty easily and reunited with Cid, but he activated a trap where the walls started trying to crush us, forcing to Porom and Palam to petrify themselves to hold the walls in place so we could escape.
We bored Cid's airship, the Enterprise, to flee but were confronted us and offered an exchange: the earth crystal for Rosa. So we headed to Troia where we were reunited with a gravely injured Edward and learned the earth crystal had been take by a being called the Dark Elf. I fought the Elf, who was actually a dragon, and retrieved the crystal. Kain then contacted us again and lead us to where Golbez and Rosa are.
I need to leave it there for now though cause I need to grind before I go through the tower... yay.
Final Fantasy IV - Chapter Four
So, an hour or two of grinding later, I made my way through the tower and it was waaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaay easier. Even with Tellah's bullshit mechanic of his stats decreasing as he levels. Neither the Magus Sister's or the air fiend were any challenge at all. Then Golbez showed up and shit got real. Tellah immediately attacked him, but his spells were doing almost nothing. So he gave up his life to drop a meteor on the fucker in the first sacrifice/loss in the game that actually feels permanent and makes you feel something. This broke Golbez's control over Kain. Golez fled with the Earth crystal and Kain joined the party, telling us that there were actually four more "dark" crystals Golbez needed to take from the Underworld.
From there, the party reconvened at Baron before heading to Argate and from there into the underground. There we got caught in a battle between the Dwarves and Golbez's army and crashlanded near the castle. Cid then left to repair and reinforce the airship while we talked to the Dwarf king. During that chat, Yang noticed something amiss so we went into the crystal chamber, killed some weird doll thing and confronted Golbez again.
The fight was kind of one-sided with Golbez immediately dropping Rosa and Yang. But then a weirdly aged-up Rydia arrived and started nuking Golbez with summons as I revived Yang and Rosa. From there Golbez was quickly defeated, but he made off with the crystal again and headed off to the Sealed Cave. With him going that way, we decided to head to the Tower of Babil instead to liberate the other crystals.
Things are picking up now. I'm excited to see why Golbez wants to go to the moon.
So, an hour or two of grinding later, I made my way through the tower and it was waaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaay easier. Even with Tellah's bullshit mechanic of his stats decreasing as he levels. Neither the Magus Sister's or the air fiend were any challenge at all. Then Golbez showed up and shit got real. Tellah immediately attacked him, but his spells were doing almost nothing. So he gave up his life to drop a meteor on the fucker in the first sacrifice/loss in the game that actually feels permanent and makes you feel something. This broke Golbez's control over Kain. Golez fled with the Earth crystal and Kain joined the party, telling us that there were actually four more "dark" crystals Golbez needed to take from the Underworld.
From there, the party reconvened at Baron before heading to Argate and from there into the underground. There we got caught in a battle between the Dwarves and Golbez's army and crashlanded near the castle. Cid then left to repair and reinforce the airship while we talked to the Dwarf king. During that chat, Yang noticed something amiss so we went into the crystal chamber, killed some weird doll thing and confronted Golbez again.
The fight was kind of one-sided with Golbez immediately dropping Rosa and Yang. But then a weirdly aged-up Rydia arrived and started nuking Golbez with summons as I revived Yang and Rosa. From there Golbez was quickly defeated, but he made off with the crystal again and headed off to the Sealed Cave. With him going that way, we decided to head to the Tower of Babil instead to liberate the other crystals.
Things are picking up now. I'm excited to see why Golbez wants to go to the moon.
Final Fantasy IV - Chapter Five
We left the castle through a secret passage and then crossed the Underworld to reach the tower. From there, it was a long climb fighting through fire monsters, white mousses, chimera's and robots that summoned even more of the former three. Eventually though, we reached the top... and narrowly missed the fire fiend who said something about a place called Eblan and left.
That left us and a crazy scientist working for the fiend and Golbez. Both stages of that fight were pretty easy with two healers and three high damage dealers present. It's been so damn good having Rydia and Kain back and Yang's finally hitting his stride here too. So, naturally, when the good doctor's goons try to blow us up, Yang sacrifices himself to save us. We then start running back through the tower, only for Golbez to blow up the bridge we're on. Luckily, Cid swoops back down to save everyone.
The Red Wings give pursuit though, and Cid's airship can't outpace them for long. So, as we pass back to the overworld, Cid jumps from the ship and suicide bombs the gateway to seal the Red Wings below. This game sure does love heroic sacrifices seeing as that's the fifth one now. Porom, Palom, Tellah, Yang and then Cid. I want to feel more deeply about it since I really like Cid and Yang but it's getting so predictable and repetitive now it's hard to.
Anyway, back in the overworld now to reconvene in Baron. From there, I'm assuming it'll be off to Eblan to meet Yang's replacement - sounds like I can expect a Ninja going by the fire fiend's dialogue.
I'm still enjoying the game a lot. It definitely ranks well above five in quality. But there's some irritating writing flaws like the aforementioned pacing issues and repetition that can pull me right out of an otherwise excellent gaming experience at times. I'm closing in on the finale now though which is pretty hype.
We left the castle through a secret passage and then crossed the Underworld to reach the tower. From there, it was a long climb fighting through fire monsters, white mousses, chimera's and robots that summoned even more of the former three. Eventually though, we reached the top... and narrowly missed the fire fiend who said something about a place called Eblan and left.
That left us and a crazy scientist working for the fiend and Golbez. Both stages of that fight were pretty easy with two healers and three high damage dealers present. It's been so damn good having Rydia and Kain back and Yang's finally hitting his stride here too. So, naturally, when the good doctor's goons try to blow us up, Yang sacrifices himself to save us. We then start running back through the tower, only for Golbez to blow up the bridge we're on. Luckily, Cid swoops back down to save everyone.
The Red Wings give pursuit though, and Cid's airship can't outpace them for long. So, as we pass back to the overworld, Cid jumps from the ship and suicide bombs the gateway to seal the Red Wings below. This game sure does love heroic sacrifices seeing as that's the fifth one now. Porom, Palom, Tellah, Yang and then Cid. I want to feel more deeply about it since I really like Cid and Yang but it's getting so predictable and repetitive now it's hard to.
Anyway, back in the overworld now to reconvene in Baron. From there, I'm assuming it'll be off to Eblan to meet Yang's replacement - sounds like I can expect a Ninja going by the fire fiend's dialogue.
I'm still enjoying the game a lot. It definitely ranks well above five in quality. But there's some irritating writing flaws like the aforementioned pacing issues and repetition that can pull me right out of an otherwise excellent gaming experience at times. I'm closing in on the finale now though which is pretty hype.
Final Fantasy IV - Chapter Six
We returned to Baron where we did not tell Cid's family about his death and instead got his airship upgraded to allow it to carry the hover craft. Then I spent about thirty minutes finding the fucking thing cause the overworld is a mess and used it to travel to Eblan, which had been obliterated. I found the survivors in the cave and then travelled underground back to the Tower of Babil where I met the ninja prince of Eblan... Edge. His name is fucking Edge. THE NINJA WITH DEAD PARENTS AND A RUINED KINGDOM IS NAMED FUCKING EDGE.
Edge got his ass kicked by the fire fiend while we watched, then promptly told us to bugger off cause he didn't need our help while we rolled our eyes. Then he realised the team contained people with lady parts and abruptly changed his mind. Oh good.
Anyway, we climbed the tower, fighting past the ghosts of Edge's parents to meet the fire fiend again. This was actually a pretty tough fight as his Inferno attack immediately killed Rosa and took out Edge repeatedly because he's got weaker defenses than most of the literal children I've had on my team. Also he alternates between fire and ice immunity, because of course he does. I did succeed in killing him though.
Then we fell into a trap and ended up in the Underworld again. There we stole an enemy airship and regrouped with the dwarf king who gave us the key to access the sealed cave.
We returned to Baron where we did not tell Cid's family about his death and instead got his airship upgraded to allow it to carry the hover craft. Then I spent about thirty minutes finding the fucking thing cause the overworld is a mess and used it to travel to Eblan, which had been obliterated. I found the survivors in the cave and then travelled underground back to the Tower of Babil where I met the ninja prince of Eblan... Edge. His name is fucking Edge. THE NINJA WITH DEAD PARENTS AND A RUINED KINGDOM IS NAMED FUCKING EDGE.
Edge got his ass kicked by the fire fiend while we watched, then promptly told us to bugger off cause he didn't need our help while we rolled our eyes. Then he realised the team contained people with lady parts and abruptly changed his mind. Oh good.
Anyway, we climbed the tower, fighting past the ghosts of Edge's parents to meet the fire fiend again. This was actually a pretty tough fight as his Inferno attack immediately killed Rosa and took out Edge repeatedly because he's got weaker defenses than most of the literal children I've had on my team. Also he alternates between fire and ice immunity, because of course he does. I did succeed in killing him though.
Then we fell into a trap and ended up in the Underworld again. There we stole an enemy airship and regrouped with the dwarf king who gave us the key to access the sealed cave.
Final Fantasy IV - Chapter Seven
What was meant to be the Sealed Cave ended up being prep for the Sealed Cave because I overshot it and ended up in the path to the Feymarch instead. This actually served me pretty well though since it gave me a chance to grind levels up a little higher and also to acquire Leviathan and Asura as summons for Rydia. Of course, I had to fight them both as optional bosses first which was easier said than done. Asura was especially hard because while she only attacks as a counter, she uses her every turn to Curaga or Protect herself. So she kicked my ass until I unlocked Reflect for Rosa. After that she was a long fight but not a hard one cause she was healing me every turn instead.
Leviathan was easier since he couldn't heal, but he did shitload of damage forcing me to invest a lot of time into healing myself. It was worth it though because I'm pretty sure these two are the best summons in the game until I work out how to get Bahamut - because he's undoubtedly around somewhere. Asura casts Protect (and Shell?) on the whole party while Leviathan has his traditional Tsunami move which does huge damage to all enemies.
After that I found a small town near the actual Sealed Cave and wrapped things up for today by selling a bunch of old and outclassed gear to get the best armour and weapons available. I feel like I should actually grind up a bit more before doing the Sealed Cave, but fuck it. That's the next stop.
What was meant to be the Sealed Cave ended up being prep for the Sealed Cave because I overshot it and ended up in the path to the Feymarch instead. This actually served me pretty well though since it gave me a chance to grind levels up a little higher and also to acquire Leviathan and Asura as summons for Rydia. Of course, I had to fight them both as optional bosses first which was easier said than done. Asura was especially hard because while she only attacks as a counter, she uses her every turn to Curaga or Protect herself. So she kicked my ass until I unlocked Reflect for Rosa. After that she was a long fight but not a hard one cause she was healing me every turn instead.
Leviathan was easier since he couldn't heal, but he did shitload of damage forcing me to invest a lot of time into healing myself. It was worth it though because I'm pretty sure these two are the best summons in the game until I work out how to get Bahamut - because he's undoubtedly around somewhere. Asura casts Protect (and Shell?) on the whole party while Leviathan has his traditional Tsunami move which does huge damage to all enemies.
After that I found a small town near the actual Sealed Cave and wrapped things up for today by selling a bunch of old and outclassed gear to get the best armour and weapons available. I feel like I should actually grind up a bit more before doing the Sealed Cave, but fuck it. That's the next stop.
Final Fantasy IV - Chapter Eight
I don't like the Sealed Cave. It's not exactly hard, but it's very tedious. Why? Because it's full of an enemy called a Trap Door. These assholes are mandatory to get into most of the rooms in the dungeon and, once you're in a fight with them, you can't flee. What's more irritating still is that they lead with a near-immediate instant kill and then, if they survive your attacks, they summon a stronger monster - typically a Chimera Brain but sometimes a Yellow Dragon - and fuck off to let you fight that instead. You can't run from the new monster either.
So we made our way through that slog and then into the crystal chamber where we were on time for once. This triggered a boss fight with a gigantic possessed wall that creeps forward every turn (like a tonberry) to try and crush you. This is actually a really easy fight though. It didn't last three rounds with Rydia, Kain, Cecil and Edge all hammering it with their best stuff while Rosa buffed/healed. Irritatingly though, that fight concludes with Golbez brainwashing Kain again and having him run off with the crystal. With all the crystals, Golbez can now reach the moon.
We returned to the Dwarves empty handed and were told of the Mysidean Sky Whale, our last chance to chase Golez to the moon and defeat him. First though, we had to get back to the surface. Cid made a grand entrance and told us he could make that happen. So there was an excruciatingly long cutscene (the second of its kind) where Cid added a drill to the airship so we could dig back out in which he... overworked himself until he passed out and got carried back to bed. Again. Remember what I said about repetition?
Anyway, one party member short, we headed back to the surface to search for the whale.
I really am enjoying this game, and the pacing of the story had improved dramatically. The problem now is that the game keeps recycling plot points and "twists" which is getting pretty old and makes those moments lose a lot of impact. On top of this, there's been a few really monotonous and tedious segments like Cid's airship cutscenes and the obnoxious Sealed Cave Dungeon. I would not be shocked for my replacement fifth party member to be Yang somehow still alive and I'm expecting I'll need to do another long grinding session now too since the end game is approaching and my part is barely level 40.
I don't like the Sealed Cave. It's not exactly hard, but it's very tedious. Why? Because it's full of an enemy called a Trap Door. These assholes are mandatory to get into most of the rooms in the dungeon and, once you're in a fight with them, you can't flee. What's more irritating still is that they lead with a near-immediate instant kill and then, if they survive your attacks, they summon a stronger monster - typically a Chimera Brain but sometimes a Yellow Dragon - and fuck off to let you fight that instead. You can't run from the new monster either.
So we made our way through that slog and then into the crystal chamber where we were on time for once. This triggered a boss fight with a gigantic possessed wall that creeps forward every turn (like a tonberry) to try and crush you. This is actually a really easy fight though. It didn't last three rounds with Rydia, Kain, Cecil and Edge all hammering it with their best stuff while Rosa buffed/healed. Irritatingly though, that fight concludes with Golbez brainwashing Kain again and having him run off with the crystal. With all the crystals, Golbez can now reach the moon.
We returned to the Dwarves empty handed and were told of the Mysidean Sky Whale, our last chance to chase Golez to the moon and defeat him. First though, we had to get back to the surface. Cid made a grand entrance and told us he could make that happen. So there was an excruciatingly long cutscene (the second of its kind) where Cid added a drill to the airship so we could dig back out in which he... overworked himself until he passed out and got carried back to bed. Again. Remember what I said about repetition?
Anyway, one party member short, we headed back to the surface to search for the whale.
I really am enjoying this game, and the pacing of the story had improved dramatically. The problem now is that the game keeps recycling plot points and "twists" which is getting pretty old and makes those moments lose a lot of impact. On top of this, there's been a few really monotonous and tedious segments like Cid's airship cutscenes and the obnoxious Sealed Cave Dungeon. I would not be shocked for my replacement fifth party member to be Yang somehow still alive and I'm expecting I'll need to do another long grinding session now too since the end game is approaching and my part is barely level 40.
Final Fantasy IV - Chapter Nine
I kicked things off with some grinding which lead me to accidentally discover the Sylph village inside a cave. Also there was Yang who shockingly survived. He did not rejoin the party though as he was busy being comatose.
Once I was feeling better about my level, I went to Mystidea where some prayers unlocked the Sky Whale... which is actually a space ship. From there, I collected Excalibur and then made my way up to the moon where I met Fusoya. He explained the history of the Lunarians and that one evil one of them was using Golbez as a tool to eradicate life on the Earth so the Lunarians could have it (the others are just chilling on the moon until the Earthlings are ready for them). He also explained that a second Lunarian, his brother, visited the Earth and gave them technology for airships and had kids there - Cecil being one of them. So I guess he's uncle Fusoya.
After that I headed to a cave to fight Bahamut and add him to Rydia's Summons. This was a hard dungeon though cause you have to fight like 6-7 mandatory behemoth encounters and there's no recovery point before Bahamut. Instead you have to leave and come back with the behemoths now all dead if you want to heal first. Bahamut is also really hard because he counts down from 5 in the space of a round then kills your whole party with MegaFlare. Blessedly, a friend told me that in FFIV you can Reflect MegaFlare. So that's what I did, casting reflect on Rosa and Fusoya and then using them to Raise and Reflect the rest of the party as well. After that it was really easy going because MegaFlare is the only attack Bahamut uses.
From there it was back to the Earth, but we were too late to stop the emergence of the Giant of Babil who started obliterating the landscape. In a really cool cutscene though, all of our previous allies showed up with airships and dwarf tanks to hold it off while we got inside it to search for and destroy its core.
I left it there, but we're definitely in the endgame now. The moon was a lot of fun and I expect this will be too. I expect though that Fusoya will be joining the long list of allies who have dramatically sacrificed themselves since I'll probably need room in the party to get Kain back. Seriously, it happens a lot. Here's the list.
Porom and Palom - Turn themselves into statues. Can't be turned back with Esuna or Gold Pins. But somehow restored by the Mystidean elder for the dramatic cut scene vs the giant.
Tellah - Nukes Golbez with Meteor but dies trying.
Cecil - Doesn't die or really come close to it, but has to endure a fight without retaliating to become a paladin.
Edward - Almost dies ignoring his own health to use his music on the Dark Elf/Dragon. Survives though.
Yang - Sacrifices himself to save the party from an explosion. Somehow survives and ends up in the Sylph village. Is there for the cutscene.
Cid - Sacrifices himself to seal off the Underworld for a bit. Somehow survives the explosion. Repeatedly does mini-self sacrifices to work on the airships. Is there for the cutscene.
Fusoya - It hasn't happened yet but I'll be amazed if this doesn't happen to make room for Kain again.
I kicked things off with some grinding which lead me to accidentally discover the Sylph village inside a cave. Also there was Yang who shockingly survived. He did not rejoin the party though as he was busy being comatose.
Once I was feeling better about my level, I went to Mystidea where some prayers unlocked the Sky Whale... which is actually a space ship. From there, I collected Excalibur and then made my way up to the moon where I met Fusoya. He explained the history of the Lunarians and that one evil one of them was using Golbez as a tool to eradicate life on the Earth so the Lunarians could have it (the others are just chilling on the moon until the Earthlings are ready for them). He also explained that a second Lunarian, his brother, visited the Earth and gave them technology for airships and had kids there - Cecil being one of them. So I guess he's uncle Fusoya.
After that I headed to a cave to fight Bahamut and add him to Rydia's Summons. This was a hard dungeon though cause you have to fight like 6-7 mandatory behemoth encounters and there's no recovery point before Bahamut. Instead you have to leave and come back with the behemoths now all dead if you want to heal first. Bahamut is also really hard because he counts down from 5 in the space of a round then kills your whole party with MegaFlare. Blessedly, a friend told me that in FFIV you can Reflect MegaFlare. So that's what I did, casting reflect on Rosa and Fusoya and then using them to Raise and Reflect the rest of the party as well. After that it was really easy going because MegaFlare is the only attack Bahamut uses.
From there it was back to the Earth, but we were too late to stop the emergence of the Giant of Babil who started obliterating the landscape. In a really cool cutscene though, all of our previous allies showed up with airships and dwarf tanks to hold it off while we got inside it to search for and destroy its core.
I left it there, but we're definitely in the endgame now. The moon was a lot of fun and I expect this will be too. I expect though that Fusoya will be joining the long list of allies who have dramatically sacrificed themselves since I'll probably need room in the party to get Kain back. Seriously, it happens a lot. Here's the list.
Porom and Palom - Turn themselves into statues. Can't be turned back with Esuna or Gold Pins. But somehow restored by the Mystidean elder for the dramatic cut scene vs the giant.
Tellah - Nukes Golbez with Meteor but dies trying.
Cecil - Doesn't die or really come close to it, but has to endure a fight without retaliating to become a paladin.
Edward - Almost dies ignoring his own health to use his music on the Dark Elf/Dragon. Survives though.
Yang - Sacrifices himself to save the party from an explosion. Somehow survives and ends up in the Sylph village. Is there for the cutscene.
Cid - Sacrifices himself to seal off the Underworld for a bit. Somehow survives the explosion. Repeatedly does mini-self sacrifices to work on the airships. Is there for the cutscene.
Fusoya - It hasn't happened yet but I'll be amazed if this doesn't happen to make room for Kain again.
Final Fantasy IV - Chapter Ten
The interior of the giant was actually both short and easy. It wasn't difficult to navigate, the random monsters within were weak and even the boss fights at the end wasn't too hard. The first of which was against all four of the elemental archfiends all at once. They were never very difficult with only Rubicante ever posing much of a challenge. With Rydia now having access to Leviathan and Bahamut, Rosa having Curaja and Fusoya having basically every spell possible - Flare and Meteor included - they were a walk in the park.
The next boss fight, against the CPU running the giant, was a bit trickier. It was one of those fights where the boss is actually three modules. A main body, an attacker and a healer. The attacker and healer were easy to deal with really because I could destroy them faster than they could make a difference. The CPU itself was more of an issue. Firstly, it casts Reflect on itself which was bothersome. Worse though was it's unavoidable 9999/insta-kill. It wasn't a difficult fight exactly, but the need to constantly Dispel Reflect or Arise downed party members was a pain.
After that, Golbez showed up again but Fusoya snapped him out of Zemus' control and it was revealed that Golbez is actually Cid's brother. After that, Fusoya and Golbez left to return to the moon and confront Zemus alone.
WHICH MEANS THEY FINALLY WROTE SOMEONE OUT WITHOUT IT BEING A SACRIFICE AND/OR DEATH FAKE OUT... sort of since this is probably a suicide mission.
After they left, the giant started to self-destruct but Kain, now also freed, showed up, rejoined the party and helped them escape.
The group then decided to chase after Fusoya and Golbez to the moon to help. Except Cecil decided he wanted to be a chauvinistic dumbass (don't even get me started on fucking Edge) and tried to leave Rosa and Rydia behind... for their... safety. The two most useful party members. Rosa said a bunch of sentimental stuff about not caring as long as she was with Cecil. Rydia took a more practical approach by pointing out she's the single most powerful individual in the party. Long story short, the two most useful party members did not get left behind.
Once on the moon and back in the crystal palace, I started going through the dungeon collecting each party member's best gear and facing a gauntlet of powerful enemies like armoured fiends, behemoths and so many dragons. This culminated in a fight with Dark Bahamut.
He was... interesting. In a way he was easier than his standard counterpart because he only Megaflares you if you cast spells on him. The flip-side to this though was that Rydia was dead weight in this fight aside from dropping a Phoenix Down every now and then so Rosa could heal the whole group instead of Arising someone. I didn't even bother bringing her back up after she was dropped and just had Rosa focus on keeping the three physical attackers alive since this version of Bahamut also rains regular Flares down on you every round. With my best nuker out of the fight, it was a battle of attrition to eventually take out the dragon and get the Ragnarok sword for Cecil.
I left it there, but this is the final dungeon so my next update should be the last. I am hyped for the Zemus fight!
The interior of the giant was actually both short and easy. It wasn't difficult to navigate, the random monsters within were weak and even the boss fights at the end wasn't too hard. The first of which was against all four of the elemental archfiends all at once. They were never very difficult with only Rubicante ever posing much of a challenge. With Rydia now having access to Leviathan and Bahamut, Rosa having Curaja and Fusoya having basically every spell possible - Flare and Meteor included - they were a walk in the park.
The next boss fight, against the CPU running the giant, was a bit trickier. It was one of those fights where the boss is actually three modules. A main body, an attacker and a healer. The attacker and healer were easy to deal with really because I could destroy them faster than they could make a difference. The CPU itself was more of an issue. Firstly, it casts Reflect on itself which was bothersome. Worse though was it's unavoidable 9999/insta-kill. It wasn't a difficult fight exactly, but the need to constantly Dispel Reflect or Arise downed party members was a pain.
After that, Golbez showed up again but Fusoya snapped him out of Zemus' control and it was revealed that Golbez is actually Cid's brother. After that, Fusoya and Golbez left to return to the moon and confront Zemus alone.
WHICH MEANS THEY FINALLY WROTE SOMEONE OUT WITHOUT IT BEING A SACRIFICE AND/OR DEATH FAKE OUT... sort of since this is probably a suicide mission.
After they left, the giant started to self-destruct but Kain, now also freed, showed up, rejoined the party and helped them escape.
The group then decided to chase after Fusoya and Golbez to the moon to help. Except Cecil decided he wanted to be a chauvinistic dumbass (don't even get me started on fucking Edge) and tried to leave Rosa and Rydia behind... for their... safety. The two most useful party members. Rosa said a bunch of sentimental stuff about not caring as long as she was with Cecil. Rydia took a more practical approach by pointing out she's the single most powerful individual in the party. Long story short, the two most useful party members did not get left behind.
Once on the moon and back in the crystal palace, I started going through the dungeon collecting each party member's best gear and facing a gauntlet of powerful enemies like armoured fiends, behemoths and so many dragons. This culminated in a fight with Dark Bahamut.
He was... interesting. In a way he was easier than his standard counterpart because he only Megaflares you if you cast spells on him. The flip-side to this though was that Rydia was dead weight in this fight aside from dropping a Phoenix Down every now and then so Rosa could heal the whole group instead of Arising someone. I didn't even bother bringing her back up after she was dropped and just had Rosa focus on keeping the three physical attackers alive since this version of Bahamut also rains regular Flares down on you every round. With my best nuker out of the fight, it was a battle of attrition to eventually take out the dragon and get the Ragnarok sword for Cecil.
I left it there, but this is the final dungeon so my next update should be the last. I am hyped for the Zemus fight!
Final Fantasy IV - Chapter Eleven
We continued travelling deeper and deeper into the moon, collecting more ultimate weapons and quality armour like Masamune and Ribbbons. Along the way I had to fight three more bosses: Plague Horror, Ogopogo and a pair of Lunasaurs. Frankly though, having fought Dark Bahamut before, these were a walk in the park.
Plague Horror tries to cheese you by casting Doom on your whole party immediately, which could be very bad if you're too underlevelled. I was not though, so it didn't have the HP to last out the counter and was quickly destroyed by me throwing my best attacks at it. Ogopogo was a weird Leviathan clone and did some heavy damage with Deluge, but Rosa was able to heal that damage up as fast as I was taking it. Meanwhile the big snake was getting repeatedly Megaflared by Rydia's Bahamut summon. The Lunasaurs were the weakest of the bosses, but they were kind of annoying because they cast Reflect which, once again, put my best damage out the fight. It didn't matter that much though really, the others in the party were more than enough for them.
The next part, which actually came after Ogopogo, was where things actually got hard. While there were no bosses in this section, it was a long walk through the moon's innermost levels with resources rapidly depleting and enemies consisting primarily of behemoths and red dragons to fight through. It was pretty difficult to make it through with Cecil, Rosa and even Edge being out of MP and Rydia barely keeping hers going with Osmose. On top of that, I was running out of items too. But my options were to press on towards what I hoped would be another heal/save point or to backtrack through the gauntlet to the last one. I kept pushing my luck.
Eventually, we reached the end of the dungeon where Fusoya and Golbez were fighting Zemus. They hit him with all their best spells, finishing him off with a double Meteor. But this wasn't even his final form. A twisted monstrosity, Zeromus, the embodiment of his rage and hatred emerged and easily defeated them, taking out the party as well. Back on Earth, the parties allies prayed for them in Mysidea, saving their lives (and also Golbez and Fusoya's) and fully recovering their HP and MP.
Then the fight was on with Cecil using a crystal given to him by Golbez to reveal Zeromus' true (and damagable form). The actual fight from there was surprisingly easy when I compare it to the likes of Exdeath and Kefka. It was leagues easier than the bullshit that is Necron. This fight was more in line with Jecht's difficulty level, if not easier. It was a lot of fun though. Zeromus bombards the party with powerful moves like Flare and Big Bang and has a lot of hitpoints. This meant that the biggest challenge was keeping my glass cannons - Rydia and Edge - standing so they could make ample use of Bahamut and fuma shurikens. Kain and Cecil were also doing solid damage with their holy weapons and were bulky enough to not be at risk of dropping. Rosa's main role defaulted to healing and bring Edge and Rydia back up a few times. This was unfortunate though because, although it was risky because of the retaliation, her Holy spell would (like Edge's shurikens) always deal the max 9999 damage to Zeromous. In the end, it was Kain who scored the final blow with a Jump.
This was definitely a quintessential, classic Final Fantasy experience. I could see the precursory building blocks for the elements that would make later games like VI, IX and X as amazing as they are. The story wasn't groundbreaking in any way, but it was very fun (and very FF) and well-written. The execution of that story did leave a bit to be desired in places though. During the first half of the game, the pacing was a mess and characters weren't given the room to grow and develop in ways that made me actually care. This got much better as the game progressed, but by then a problem with repetitive plot elements (noble sacrifices, death fake outs and mind control fuckery) had developed. I think that if this game was revisited in the modern day and some time spent on the pacing so characters could develop properly, it could potentially rival VI or IX, but as it is, it doesn't quite hit that level.
What's weird to me though, is that despite all the great foundations this game set for the future, FFV is so radically different and the writing is so much worse. Where IV definitely has issues, the plot was still compelling and the characters were too, despite there being a large cast dropping in and out of the game. Then in V, you have five protagonist characters, and of those only two have any personality and one drops off significantly as the game goes on. I feel like VI is much more of a successor to IV as it also has a very extensive cast of characters that drop in and out of the narrative but are almost all much more complex and compelling.
That's enough about FFV and VI though. Gameplay-wise, IV is typical FF fair. It's the usual turn-based ATB (although the first to use the ATB I think) with characters with set classes/roles/abilities. Dungeons were usually nice enough to navigate, although there's some secret passage shenanigans that take some working out in some latter ones which I'm not sure how to feel about. What was not fun to navigate though, was the overworld. Specifically surface Earth's - the moon and Underworld were fine. This is because, despite being a pretty empty map, it is very large without much variation. Furthermore, the various location on said map are weirdly spaced out and sometimes the methods used to traverse them are clunky (looking at you hover craft). Cid's cutscenes went on way too long also. The sidequests in this FF were a lot better than I've come to expect though which is worth noting.
Musically the soundtrack was nice, but not memorable. It complemented the game and its moods perfectly, but none of it really stood out to me as particularly incredible to listen to and just enjoy as music. That's fine, but later titles definitely upped their game here. Visually I was in a similar boat. I played the PSP version, which definitely cleared up and refined the original visuals, but it didn't really do anything overly impressive beyond that and none of the character designs are particularly great, although not bad by any means either. The exception here is the Giant of Babil cutscene which I thought was excellent.
Over all, FFIV was a really interesting experience for me. I absolutely love Final Fantasy VI, IX and X (and XIV is slowly growing on me) and IV showed me the precursor where a lot of what makes me adore those games was starting to develop. It's a bit weird that V ignored much of that and they didn't pick it back up until VI, but whatever. There was definitely a lot of flaws, especially when I look at the writing from a technical perspective, but there's a lot to like about Final Fantasy IV too and I'm glad I played it. I'm looking forward to exploring more of the franchise as this challenge continues, but it might be a while before I feel like braving the After Years.
Story: 7/10
Visuals: 7/10
Soundtrack: 7/10
Gameplay: 7/10
Total Score: 28/40
We continued travelling deeper and deeper into the moon, collecting more ultimate weapons and quality armour like Masamune and Ribbbons. Along the way I had to fight three more bosses: Plague Horror, Ogopogo and a pair of Lunasaurs. Frankly though, having fought Dark Bahamut before, these were a walk in the park.
Plague Horror tries to cheese you by casting Doom on your whole party immediately, which could be very bad if you're too underlevelled. I was not though, so it didn't have the HP to last out the counter and was quickly destroyed by me throwing my best attacks at it. Ogopogo was a weird Leviathan clone and did some heavy damage with Deluge, but Rosa was able to heal that damage up as fast as I was taking it. Meanwhile the big snake was getting repeatedly Megaflared by Rydia's Bahamut summon. The Lunasaurs were the weakest of the bosses, but they were kind of annoying because they cast Reflect which, once again, put my best damage out the fight. It didn't matter that much though really, the others in the party were more than enough for them.
The next part, which actually came after Ogopogo, was where things actually got hard. While there were no bosses in this section, it was a long walk through the moon's innermost levels with resources rapidly depleting and enemies consisting primarily of behemoths and red dragons to fight through. It was pretty difficult to make it through with Cecil, Rosa and even Edge being out of MP and Rydia barely keeping hers going with Osmose. On top of that, I was running out of items too. But my options were to press on towards what I hoped would be another heal/save point or to backtrack through the gauntlet to the last one. I kept pushing my luck.
Eventually, we reached the end of the dungeon where Fusoya and Golbez were fighting Zemus. They hit him with all their best spells, finishing him off with a double Meteor. But this wasn't even his final form. A twisted monstrosity, Zeromus, the embodiment of his rage and hatred emerged and easily defeated them, taking out the party as well. Back on Earth, the parties allies prayed for them in Mysidea, saving their lives (and also Golbez and Fusoya's) and fully recovering their HP and MP.
Then the fight was on with Cecil using a crystal given to him by Golbez to reveal Zeromus' true (and damagable form). The actual fight from there was surprisingly easy when I compare it to the likes of Exdeath and Kefka. It was leagues easier than the bullshit that is Necron. This fight was more in line with Jecht's difficulty level, if not easier. It was a lot of fun though. Zeromus bombards the party with powerful moves like Flare and Big Bang and has a lot of hitpoints. This meant that the biggest challenge was keeping my glass cannons - Rydia and Edge - standing so they could make ample use of Bahamut and fuma shurikens. Kain and Cecil were also doing solid damage with their holy weapons and were bulky enough to not be at risk of dropping. Rosa's main role defaulted to healing and bring Edge and Rydia back up a few times. This was unfortunate though because, although it was risky because of the retaliation, her Holy spell would (like Edge's shurikens) always deal the max 9999 damage to Zeromous. In the end, it was Kain who scored the final blow with a Jump.
This was definitely a quintessential, classic Final Fantasy experience. I could see the precursory building blocks for the elements that would make later games like VI, IX and X as amazing as they are. The story wasn't groundbreaking in any way, but it was very fun (and very FF) and well-written. The execution of that story did leave a bit to be desired in places though. During the first half of the game, the pacing was a mess and characters weren't given the room to grow and develop in ways that made me actually care. This got much better as the game progressed, but by then a problem with repetitive plot elements (noble sacrifices, death fake outs and mind control fuckery) had developed. I think that if this game was revisited in the modern day and some time spent on the pacing so characters could develop properly, it could potentially rival VI or IX, but as it is, it doesn't quite hit that level.
What's weird to me though, is that despite all the great foundations this game set for the future, FFV is so radically different and the writing is so much worse. Where IV definitely has issues, the plot was still compelling and the characters were too, despite there being a large cast dropping in and out of the game. Then in V, you have five protagonist characters, and of those only two have any personality and one drops off significantly as the game goes on. I feel like VI is much more of a successor to IV as it also has a very extensive cast of characters that drop in and out of the narrative but are almost all much more complex and compelling.
That's enough about FFV and VI though. Gameplay-wise, IV is typical FF fair. It's the usual turn-based ATB (although the first to use the ATB I think) with characters with set classes/roles/abilities. Dungeons were usually nice enough to navigate, although there's some secret passage shenanigans that take some working out in some latter ones which I'm not sure how to feel about. What was not fun to navigate though, was the overworld. Specifically surface Earth's - the moon and Underworld were fine. This is because, despite being a pretty empty map, it is very large without much variation. Furthermore, the various location on said map are weirdly spaced out and sometimes the methods used to traverse them are clunky (looking at you hover craft). Cid's cutscenes went on way too long also. The sidequests in this FF were a lot better than I've come to expect though which is worth noting.
Musically the soundtrack was nice, but not memorable. It complemented the game and its moods perfectly, but none of it really stood out to me as particularly incredible to listen to and just enjoy as music. That's fine, but later titles definitely upped their game here. Visually I was in a similar boat. I played the PSP version, which definitely cleared up and refined the original visuals, but it didn't really do anything overly impressive beyond that and none of the character designs are particularly great, although not bad by any means either. The exception here is the Giant of Babil cutscene which I thought was excellent.
Over all, FFIV was a really interesting experience for me. I absolutely love Final Fantasy VI, IX and X (and XIV is slowly growing on me) and IV showed me the precursor where a lot of what makes me adore those games was starting to develop. It's a bit weird that V ignored much of that and they didn't pick it back up until VI, but whatever. There was definitely a lot of flaws, especially when I look at the writing from a technical perspective, but there's a lot to like about Final Fantasy IV too and I'm glad I played it. I'm looking forward to exploring more of the franchise as this challenge continues, but it might be a while before I feel like braving the After Years.
Story: 7/10
Visuals: 7/10
Soundtrack: 7/10
Gameplay: 7/10
Total Score: 28/40
Orwell - Overall Thoughts
I did not plan on playing the entire game in one sitting. I was going to split it over 2-3. But no, it had to be both short enough to play in one go and good enough to make me want to. So here I am, five hours later. The problem is, it's really hard to tell you much about the game since it is largely a mystery.
The short version is that the game is a crime mystery that places you in the seat of an internet investigator for the government of The Nation. You're basically part of the NSA on steroids. The game has you use this position to slowly piece together the reason behind a terror attack and identify the culprits, while at the same time exploring the morality behind the surveillance system you are a part of. Naturally, matters gets increasingly more complex as time goes on and you're forced to make increasingly difficult decisions that impact the lives of the people you investigate.
The game is extremely well written. I figured out a lot of stuff before the game gave me the answers, but even then I was still caught off guard at times and it was always really compelling. On top of that, the way the game's UI is designed only makes it more immersive. I really liked the aesthetic too, but I feel like using more high-res images for the characters might have made it hit even harder. That being said, this is an indie game that possibly just couldn't afford that which is fair. It definitely didn't detract anyway.
The music is well done too. I wouldn't seek it out to listen to, but it was very atmospheric and complimented the game very well. I really enjoyed how fluidly the music shifted with the scenes and each new truth you uncovered too.
I absolutely recommend this game highly.
Story: 10/10
Visuals: 7/10
Soundtrack: 7/10
Gameplay: 10/10
Total Score: 34/40
I did not plan on playing the entire game in one sitting. I was going to split it over 2-3. But no, it had to be both short enough to play in one go and good enough to make me want to. So here I am, five hours later. The problem is, it's really hard to tell you much about the game since it is largely a mystery.
The short version is that the game is a crime mystery that places you in the seat of an internet investigator for the government of The Nation. You're basically part of the NSA on steroids. The game has you use this position to slowly piece together the reason behind a terror attack and identify the culprits, while at the same time exploring the morality behind the surveillance system you are a part of. Naturally, matters gets increasingly more complex as time goes on and you're forced to make increasingly difficult decisions that impact the lives of the people you investigate.
The game is extremely well written. I figured out a lot of stuff before the game gave me the answers, but even then I was still caught off guard at times and it was always really compelling. On top of that, the way the game's UI is designed only makes it more immersive. I really liked the aesthetic too, but I feel like using more high-res images for the characters might have made it hit even harder. That being said, this is an indie game that possibly just couldn't afford that which is fair. It definitely didn't detract anyway.
The music is well done too. I wouldn't seek it out to listen to, but it was very atmospheric and complimented the game very well. I really enjoyed how fluidly the music shifted with the scenes and each new truth you uncovered too.
I absolutely recommend this game highly.
Story: 10/10
Visuals: 7/10
Soundtrack: 7/10
Gameplay: 10/10
Total Score: 34/40
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Orwell is really great. I'm glad you like it. Do you plan on playing the sequel?
I'd like to!
I played it!
Orwell: Ignorance is Strength - Overall Thoughts
I... don't actually have a lot to say here. The second installment is very much in the same ballpark as the first in every way.
This time, although it is still based around the surveillance system of Orwell, there is a strong focus on propaganda and the manipulation of facts to form a public narrative, the "truth" as we know it. In some ways, it's even more terrifying conceptually than the original and the story is very engaging. They brought in voice actors to bring more life to the characters which was a nice step forward from the first. Some of the VAs were better than others, but it helped make the low-poly characters feel more real. The new features they added like the propaganda system and search functions/passwords were great too.
The one complaint I have is that I feel like this game made it harder to do the right thing. It's much easier to get pushed towards doing things that are harmful than it is beneficial and in the end I got an ending that was technically a victory and yet somehow bad for just about everyone. I had been intending to do a more evil playthrough this time anyway, and it makes a lot of thematic sense, but it irked me a bit.
I guess the music wasn't as great this time either, but it was never really a key element anyway and the voicing mitigates that mostly. Still a great game.
Story: 10/10
Visuals: 7/10
Soundtrack: 5/10
Gameplay: 10/10
Total Score: 32/40
Fire Emblem: Three Houses (Golden Deer Route) - Overall thoughts
So, seeing as how half of this route is identical to the other two, I didn't really feel the need to give chapter-by-chapter updates on how things were going. I'll give a quick run-down on the end game credits/pairing/stats then move on to some general thoughts on things.
Lorenz: Took over House Gloucester and made a bunch of revolutionary policy changes that benefited the commonfolk. Probably still a dickhead though.
Marianne and Ignatz: Marianne was recognised for her ability and was able to take over her father's position. She later married Ignatz who had gone on to become an artist.
Flayn: Disappeared for a long time before resurfacing many years later and dropping the masquerade to live with her father properly.
Seteth: Helped reform the church to be more accepting of others and other faiths.
Catherine: Basically became a vigilante.
Leonie and Shamir: Leonie took over Jeralt's old mercenary company then eventually merged it into a new company she created alongside Shamir. It notably has a weird flag. (This one caught me by surprise)
Annette and Mercedes: They lived largely separate lives, but kept in close contact all the while. Eventually, they retired together somewhere quiet and spent the rest of their lives that way.
Bernadette and Raphael: Raphael's encouragement led to Bernie eventually taking over House Varley as an outspoken and authoritative matriarch. They later got married. (Didn't see this coming either).
Dorothea: Went back to being a songstress.
Claude and Hilda: Claude eventually took to the Almyran throne with Hilda as his queen. They did wonders for relations with Fodlan and for Almyra's own society.
Byleth and Lysithea: They managed to remove Lysithea's crests and extend her lifespan back to the ordinary. They eventually became the king and queen of the United Kingdom of Fodlan and lived long and happy lives.
I'd say I enjoyed the Golden Deer's route roughly the same as I did the Black Eagle's - maybe very slightly more. It was very cool seeing more of the history and lore of Fodlan as well as getting more of a perspective on the world beyond in places like Almyra. It was also interesting to see various events and characters through a different perspective, it really changes how you see a lot of things.
As far as characters go, I think I found the Black Eagles over all more compelling on average, but by the end of this route, not by as much as I'd originally felt. It was more than a lot of the Golden Deer simply take a fair bit longer to warm to. That being said, the characters from the Golden Deer house I really liked were Lysithea, Hilda, Marianne, Raphael and Claude. I liked Ignatz and Leonie well enough too, but they never captured me in quite the same way as the others. Lorenz though... I don't like Lorenz. He takes the worst parts of Hubert, Ferdinand and Sylvain as people and mashes them into one asshole. He never really grows much either compared to Ferdinand or is as compelling as Hubert (no comment on Sylvain yet).
Comparatively though, I think that the Golden Deer route does address the overarching story a little better. Mainly because they actually do something on-screen about Those Who Slither in the Dark compared to the Black Eagle route which handles that in the credits. Having a perspective slightly outside the more narrow overview was also beneficial for highlighting the fact that neither side of the Church vs Edelgard/Those Who Slither conflict is as great as they'd like to appear.
As far as combat goes, I think the Blood of the Eagle and Lion and Nemesis fights are probably my favourites in the game so far. Otherwise, not much is different there and I enjoy both routes a comparable amount.
God Shattering Star is every bit as good a piece of music as it has been hyped up to me, although I found the Shambala music didn't live up to its hype at all. The Spirit Dais and Awakening are better than both though and also in every route, so win/win.
So yeah, I think in the end I score this version of the game the same as I did Black Eagles. If I was being pedantic I might go back and drop a single point from story in Black Eagles for how they handle Those Who Slither or maybe bump the gameplay score of Golden Eagles up by one for the aforementioned fights. That really would be pedantry though. It's all the same game, all different sides to the same story. I think they deserve to share their score.
So, seeing as how half of this route is identical to the other two, I didn't really feel the need to give chapter-by-chapter updates on how things were going. I'll give a quick run-down on the end game credits/pairing/stats then move on to some general thoughts on things.
Lorenz: Took over House Gloucester and made a bunch of revolutionary policy changes that benefited the commonfolk. Probably still a dickhead though.
Marianne and Ignatz: Marianne was recognised for her ability and was able to take over her father's position. She later married Ignatz who had gone on to become an artist.
Flayn: Disappeared for a long time before resurfacing many years later and dropping the masquerade to live with her father properly.
Seteth: Helped reform the church to be more accepting of others and other faiths.
Catherine: Basically became a vigilante.
Leonie and Shamir: Leonie took over Jeralt's old mercenary company then eventually merged it into a new company she created alongside Shamir. It notably has a weird flag. (This one caught me by surprise)
Annette and Mercedes: They lived largely separate lives, but kept in close contact all the while. Eventually, they retired together somewhere quiet and spent the rest of their lives that way.
Bernadette and Raphael: Raphael's encouragement led to Bernie eventually taking over House Varley as an outspoken and authoritative matriarch. They later got married. (Didn't see this coming either).
Dorothea: Went back to being a songstress.
Claude and Hilda: Claude eventually took to the Almyran throne with Hilda as his queen. They did wonders for relations with Fodlan and for Almyra's own society.
Byleth and Lysithea: They managed to remove Lysithea's crests and extend her lifespan back to the ordinary. They eventually became the king and queen of the United Kingdom of Fodlan and lived long and happy lives.
I'd say I enjoyed the Golden Deer's route roughly the same as I did the Black Eagle's - maybe very slightly more. It was very cool seeing more of the history and lore of Fodlan as well as getting more of a perspective on the world beyond in places like Almyra. It was also interesting to see various events and characters through a different perspective, it really changes how you see a lot of things.
As far as characters go, I think I found the Black Eagles over all more compelling on average, but by the end of this route, not by as much as I'd originally felt. It was more than a lot of the Golden Deer simply take a fair bit longer to warm to. That being said, the characters from the Golden Deer house I really liked were Lysithea, Hilda, Marianne, Raphael and Claude. I liked Ignatz and Leonie well enough too, but they never captured me in quite the same way as the others. Lorenz though... I don't like Lorenz. He takes the worst parts of Hubert, Ferdinand and Sylvain as people and mashes them into one asshole. He never really grows much either compared to Ferdinand or is as compelling as Hubert (no comment on Sylvain yet).
Comparatively though, I think that the Golden Deer route does address the overarching story a little better. Mainly because they actually do something on-screen about Those Who Slither in the Dark compared to the Black Eagle route which handles that in the credits. Having a perspective slightly outside the more narrow overview was also beneficial for highlighting the fact that neither side of the Church vs Edelgard/Those Who Slither conflict is as great as they'd like to appear.
As far as combat goes, I think the Blood of the Eagle and Lion and Nemesis fights are probably my favourites in the game so far. Otherwise, not much is different there and I enjoy both routes a comparable amount.
God Shattering Star is every bit as good a piece of music as it has been hyped up to me, although I found the Shambala music didn't live up to its hype at all. The Spirit Dais and Awakening are better than both though and also in every route, so win/win.
So yeah, I think in the end I score this version of the game the same as I did Black Eagles. If I was being pedantic I might go back and drop a single point from story in Black Eagles for how they handle Those Who Slither or maybe bump the gameplay score of Golden Eagles up by one for the aforementioned fights. That really would be pedantry though. It's all the same game, all different sides to the same story. I think they deserve to share their score.
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Finding Paradise - Overall Thoughts
This is a game that is very difficult to talk about, for all the right reasons. The story is beautiful, and I'm 100% sure that you can enjoy it even if you did know all the surprises in advance - I figured a big one out a little before the reveal and it had no adverse effect on my experience. To the Moon was a hard game to follow, but I think Finding Paradise managed to not only match it but exceed it. The story in Finding Paradise is beautiful and the messages and themes in that story resonate really strongly with me both on a literary and a personal level. It also goes deeper into the moral and ethical implications of Sigmund Corp. than To The Moon does while teasing some interesting drama for the eventual sequel - whether that turns out to be what Impostor Factory is or if that's something that comes later. This is the sort of shit that I aspire to create as a writer.
Also to an even greater extent than its predecessor, Finding Paradise does a lot with its pixel art style, pushing it to limits that at times I genuinely didn't know were possible. The art was expressive and aesthetically pleasing. The music was, similarly, in a similar vein to that of the previous game but another step up. It's some of the most emotive music I have ever heard in a game.
Naturally, the game play itself wasn't anything revolutionary or incredible. That was never really the point with these games though. They're meant to walk you through a story with a degree of agency, not be incredibly challenging or innovative mechanically. The mechanics of the games do exactly what they need to. That being said, I'd argue there was improvement here even since I liked the memento puzzle format used in Finding Paradise better than the To the Moon ones.
That's all I can say. It's vague as hell, but I think this game is one that people should go into as blind as possible. I highly recommend it though, especially if you liked To the Moon. This is easily a top five game for me.
Story: 10/10
Visuals: 9/10
Soundtrack: 10/10
Gameplay: 7/10
Total Score: 36/40
This is a game that is very difficult to talk about, for all the right reasons. The story is beautiful, and I'm 100% sure that you can enjoy it even if you did know all the surprises in advance - I figured a big one out a little before the reveal and it had no adverse effect on my experience. To the Moon was a hard game to follow, but I think Finding Paradise managed to not only match it but exceed it. The story in Finding Paradise is beautiful and the messages and themes in that story resonate really strongly with me both on a literary and a personal level. It also goes deeper into the moral and ethical implications of Sigmund Corp. than To The Moon does while teasing some interesting drama for the eventual sequel - whether that turns out to be what Impostor Factory is or if that's something that comes later. This is the sort of shit that I aspire to create as a writer.
Also to an even greater extent than its predecessor, Finding Paradise does a lot with its pixel art style, pushing it to limits that at times I genuinely didn't know were possible. The art was expressive and aesthetically pleasing. The music was, similarly, in a similar vein to that of the previous game but another step up. It's some of the most emotive music I have ever heard in a game.
Naturally, the game play itself wasn't anything revolutionary or incredible. That was never really the point with these games though. They're meant to walk you through a story with a degree of agency, not be incredibly challenging or innovative mechanically. The mechanics of the games do exactly what they need to. That being said, I'd argue there was improvement here even since I liked the memento puzzle format used in Finding Paradise better than the To the Moon ones.
That's all I can say. It's vague as hell, but I think this game is one that people should go into as blind as possible. I highly recommend it though, especially if you liked To the Moon. This is easily a top five game for me.
Story: 10/10
Visuals: 9/10
Soundtrack: 10/10
Gameplay: 7/10
Total Score: 36/40
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lasjsfdglk FREEBIRD GAMES ARE BEAUTIFUL 😭
I don't have too many opportunities to rave about them since not too many people I know have played these games, so sorry I am going to do that here lmao
Agree with your rating 100%, I know it's not the most engaging gameplay and it feels odd to so highly praise a game where the gameplay is lacking, but these are some of my favourite stories of all time, of any media type, and that definitely counts for something. And yeah, the music is also beautiful - so glad both OSTs are on Spotify.
I can't wait for Impostor Factory, I think it comes out at the end of this month. It has so so much to live up to, though, really excited to see how it measures up! It's supposed to be a much darker in tone, and the game description + screenshots on Steam look kind of crazy?? in a good way lmao
what
Anyway, to anyone still reading this who hasn't played the games, if you are looking for a nice and quiet story-driven experience I can't recommend To the Moon and Finding Paradise enough. They are quite short, 4-5 hours long, can probably get through each in one sitting!
I don't have too many opportunities to rave about them since not too many people I know have played these games, so sorry I am going to do that here lmao
Spoiler:
Agree with your rating 100%, I know it's not the most engaging gameplay and it feels odd to so highly praise a game where the gameplay is lacking, but these are some of my favourite stories of all time, of any media type, and that definitely counts for something. And yeah, the music is also beautiful - so glad both OSTs are on Spotify.
I can't wait for Impostor Factory, I think it comes out at the end of this month. It has so so much to live up to, though, really excited to see how it measures up! It's supposed to be a much darker in tone, and the game description + screenshots on Steam look kind of crazy?? in a good way lmao
what
Anyway, to anyone still reading this who hasn't played the games, if you are looking for a nice and quiet story-driven experience I can't recommend To the Moon and Finding Paradise enough. They are quite short, 4-5 hours long, can probably get through each in one sitting!
Star Wars Jedi: Fallen Order - Chapter One
I had a long play session today. Made it through the intro tutorial, Bogano, Zeffo and as far into Dathomir as I'm allowed to go so far. Next up is Kashyyk which should be good.
Story-wise, not too much has happened yet. Cal was discovered as a former Jedi and his friend died pointlessly. I fought the Second Sister for the first time and was rescued by Cere who took me to Bogano and had me fuck around there with BD-1 until I could get into the temple. Inside I got my mission for the game (?), gaining access to the temple to get the Holocron inside because it contains information on force-sensitive children that could help rebuild the Jedi order. But before I can do that, I have to follow the footsteps of Cere's old master and learn about the ancient Zeffo race he had an obsession with.
After that I took a detour to Dathomir which was so hard it made me want to throw my control through a window. I pushed on as far as I could though. From there it was on to Zeffo for the main story where I... didn't learn much at all. But I did confirm the Zeffo were force-users and got my next lead (the Wookie planet, Kashyyk). I just had to murder a whole battalion of stormtroopers and face down an AT-ST single-handedly first. Okay.
As far as characters go, the whole gang is growing on me quickly and I look forward to learning more of everyone's past and seeing how things play out. The way Cere insists her Padawan is dead makes me suspect that she might actually be an inquisitor - either the Second Sister or one I'm yet to encounter. We'll see though.
The mechanics of the game are fun, I like the Sphere Grid-esque method of unlocking skills and the degree of customisation you have in the order you choose to unlock stuff. There customisation of the Mantis, BD-1 and your lightsaber is neat too. The combat took some getting used to but, now that I'm getting used to it, it feels very Star Wars. Cal feels powerful, but not too powerful. It's been challenging thus far but, aside from Dathomir, the difficulty has not felt unreasonable. Dathomir though feels like its designed to be more challenging than fun though. Fuck Dathomir.
Other than that, my only complaint is the mandatory backtracking. I did not want to make my way back through the entire map of Zeffo after having to solve the mildly annoying tomb puzzle. Even with the shortcuts that took way too long.
So far so good though!
I had a long play session today. Made it through the intro tutorial, Bogano, Zeffo and as far into Dathomir as I'm allowed to go so far. Next up is Kashyyk which should be good.
Story-wise, not too much has happened yet. Cal was discovered as a former Jedi and his friend died pointlessly. I fought the Second Sister for the first time and was rescued by Cere who took me to Bogano and had me fuck around there with BD-1 until I could get into the temple. Inside I got my mission for the game (?), gaining access to the temple to get the Holocron inside because it contains information on force-sensitive children that could help rebuild the Jedi order. But before I can do that, I have to follow the footsteps of Cere's old master and learn about the ancient Zeffo race he had an obsession with.
After that I took a detour to Dathomir which was so hard it made me want to throw my control through a window. I pushed on as far as I could though. From there it was on to Zeffo for the main story where I... didn't learn much at all. But I did confirm the Zeffo were force-users and got my next lead (the Wookie planet, Kashyyk). I just had to murder a whole battalion of stormtroopers and face down an AT-ST single-handedly first. Okay.
As far as characters go, the whole gang is growing on me quickly and I look forward to learning more of everyone's past and seeing how things play out. The way Cere insists her Padawan is dead makes me suspect that she might actually be an inquisitor - either the Second Sister or one I'm yet to encounter. We'll see though.
The mechanics of the game are fun, I like the Sphere Grid-esque method of unlocking skills and the degree of customisation you have in the order you choose to unlock stuff. There customisation of the Mantis, BD-1 and your lightsaber is neat too. The combat took some getting used to but, now that I'm getting used to it, it feels very Star Wars. Cal feels powerful, but not too powerful. It's been challenging thus far but, aside from Dathomir, the difficulty has not felt unreasonable. Dathomir though feels like its designed to be more challenging than fun though. Fuck Dathomir.
Other than that, my only complaint is the mandatory backtracking. I did not want to make my way back through the entire map of Zeffo after having to solve the mildly annoying tomb puzzle. Even with the shortcuts that took way too long.
So far so good though!