Review ~ Ace Attorney Investigations: Miles Edgeworth

Saddest sentence ever.

I'm a big fan of the Ace Attorney series - I've played all three Phoenix Wright games as well as the Apollo Justice title. Miles Edgeworth has always been my favorite character, so when I heard they were making a game all about him, I knew I was going to be all over it. Who else can pull off a fuchsia suit and a caveat and still be awesome?

This game is not like the other games in the series - you are never actually in court. Instead, Edgeworth, Gumshoe, and a cast of new and familiar characters cracks cases by investigating and taking testimony out in the field.

Gameplay - You're investigating crime scenes now, and you actually get to move around. No more just pointing to stuff on the touch screen, unless Edgeworth decides to go in for a closer look. As you can see from my above screencap, you still get the sprites and all their amusing quirks. You can still shout objection if you so choose. And you're still presenting evidence and pressing people when their testimony doesn't quite add up. What's new is the "logic" feature. As you investigate, Edgeworth will occasionally come to a conclusion that will be added to the "logic" section you can access in the upper left hand corner of the screen. You can then put two together and come to a conclusion that pulls you further into the investigation. The new features in the game aren't much of a departure from past titles, and I feel it's much better then that perception crap you had to do in Apollo Justice where you basically got up in someone's face to see if they were slightly sweating on one word. Ugh. Hated that. Logic is an easy system, both to use and figure out. There's not too much mystery when you're trying to put two and two together.

Characters - Edgeworth, obviously, is the focus of this game. You're accompanied most of the time by your old pal Gumshoe, who I always enjoy seeing. There are a bunch of new characters in the game but there are also a lot of familiar faces as well. I was happy to see what characters came back for a spin in this new game. But if you're expecting to see Phoenix...don't get your hopes up.

Story - I would have to say this is probably the weakest part of the game. That isn't to say it's bad by any stretch, but compared to past games, it's a little lacking. There are five cases in the game, and they're all tied together. You kind of jump around taking on the cases out of order, which can make your mind spin a bit. The storyline is clear and enjoyable, but not particularly engaging like in past games, even though all the cases are related in this case. I found many of the cases were pretty short, except for the last one. In the true tradition of an Ace Attorney title, the last case goes on and on and on with no end in sight. And by the end you're screaming at your DS. Fun times.

Graphics and Touch Screen - The graphics are the same as they've been for the other titles. Touch screen use is pretty much the same too. You can use it to advance dialogue or move (or you can use the control pad) and you use it to access your evidence and sometimes make a response or too. You can also interact with specific pieces of evidence by zooming in and turning them around - but we've seen this in past games already too. There's really nothing new to report. Unfortunately there's no cool luminol or other crime scene tests like we've enjoyed sporadically in the past.

I really enjoyed this game - but I think I enjoyed it more because I'm such a huge Edgeworth fan. If you're a fan of the Ace Attorney series though, regardless of whether you're an Edgeworth fan or not, I think you'll enjoy it. Yes, it's a little different and I did miss being in court a little bit, but overall it's more of the same enjoyable experience with a few new twists.

8 out of 10 (The fact that Edgeworth was the main character jumped the score about half a point)

Review ~ Final Fantasy IV DS

Okay, this game is a little old. Well, technically the game itself is a LOT old, but this incarnation isn't so bad.

So on Saturday I finally beat the game, which I had previously complained about here and here. 


(Oh, and this review contains no crappy iPhone photos taken in a car.)


Let's get down to it.


Final Fantasy IV originally came out for the Super Nintendo a number of years ago. It has been reincarnated several times since, and I'm pretty sure I own all of those efforts. However, this version of the game was improved with new graphics, cut scenes and junk, which refreshed it a bit. After starting and stopping this game so many times, I was determined to finally beat it. (Success! Yay!)


Story: In the early days, Squaresoft (remember those days?) was obsessed with crystals, apparently, because it seems like the story of all their early titles revolves around them in some way. This game is no exception. An evil guy is stealing all the crystals in the world for an evil purpose and it's your job to stop him! OMG! To the 16bit airship! Okay, so the story isn't going to win any prizes, but it's really not bad as far as early RPG's go. There's a clear purpose and actually plenty of twists and turns along the way. What more do you need, really?


Characters: At most points in the game you have a 5 character party. A what? Yeah, it's worth repeating. 5 CHARACTERS. IN YOUR PARTY. AT THE SAME TIME. We can only dream of that in this gaming era, but the fact is you kinda need every last character you can wrangle into your band of misfits. But more on that later. As far as the characters themselves go, aside from Cecil, your main dude, and to a lesser extent Kain, his pal, there's not too much character development. They all have their own personalities though: Rosa, the annoying homemaker wanna be; Rydia, the mysterious one; Edge, the brash one; Yang, so full of pride and honor; Palom and Porom, the vivacious kids; Tellah, the old guy; Edward, the sissy; Cid, hardworking and determined - you get the idea. You don't get to pick and choose what characters you want to use at any point in the game. You use who you have and you deal with it. Characters rotate in and out of your party, but unlike most other games, they don't usually come back. It kind of makes it hard to power level, because there's a good chance you'll be losing a character or two in the not too distant future. One of the characters you finish the game off with doesn't show up until the final few hours of gameplay.


Battle System: There's really nothing special here. It's pretty basic for an old school RPG. Each character has a set job they're forced into. It comes with various abilities. You learn new spells and the like by leveling up. You can't see what spells or abilities you're going to learn, nor can you choose or control it in any way. There's no skill to learning stuff except grinding. However, there was a new augment system added into this version that reaps pretty good abilities - but if you don't understand how this system works, as I didn't, you'll miss out on a lot of good stuff. The game never really explains how this works. Once your character learns an augment they can use that ability. Some are battle abilities that you can add to your menu to use on the field, but others are default abilities you just have all the time. I strongly suggest using one of the good guides you can find at Gamefaqs if you want to get all the augments. It's worth it. Because a lot of them are pretty awesome.

Gameplay: Battles move fast in this game, even when you don't have the ATB set to active. (If you're not a gamer, that last sentence will mean nothing.) I found several bosses to be very difficult to defeat, despite being over leveled. (And there were even a few random encounter enemies - dragons, mostly. WTF is with the crystals and the dragons?! - that slaughtered my ass.) I was over level 70 and still had a hard time with the last boss - something I never have a problem with in Final Fantasy's newer installments. Cecil was the only one with decent HP when it finally fell. Another character had 2 HP and everyone else was KO'd. So you remember when I said you'd need every last character? Yeah. But there's more to this game than level grinding. Many of these bosses and enemies require good strategy to go down. Not just brute force.



Graphics: The updated graphics are pretty, if kind of cutesy. You even kinda wanna cuddle armored Kain. For a DS game, though, it's fine. The game has voice acting in most of the cut scenes, which really isn't a lot, but it's enjoyable nonetheless. The new graphics and updating really does a lot to make this game fresh, but at the same time proves that older games can stand the test of time.


Sidequests: The older Final Fantasy games aren't really known for their side quests - but there a few. Most of them involve getting better summon or equipment and can be completed later in the game. There's also the obnoxious Namingway side quest, which I never finished and don't feel about. If he wants to wait forever for that stupid pudding, so be it. You also get items for map completion, which I thought was a nice touch and really had me going into every nock and cranny of the dungeons in order to reap the rewards - which were pretty decent, especially towards the end of the game.


Overall: Great classic RPG with good story and characters, solid gameplay and appropriate, enjoyable updates. Fans of both new and old school RPG's will have fun with this one - I know I did. It really does stand the test of time.


93 out of 100

REVIEW ~ Professor Layton and the Diabolical Box

 The best observation this detective ever made.

Professor Layton and the Diabolical Box

I very much enjoyed the first Professor Layton game, so when I heard about the sequel, I was stoked. I expected more of the same - puzzles, mystery, a guy in a huge ass hat - and I wasn't disappointed. Plus there were a few improvements along the way.

(You must excuse my blurry pics - most were taken in a car with an iPhone. I did the best I could. I actually went and retyped the dialogue so it would be easier to read.)


Just like in the previous game, Professor Layton and his "apprentice", Luke, set out to solve a mystery. This time they're trying to find out of this box really killed Layton's mentor. (I will not make a joke... I will not make a joke...) This time they get to explore several different areas and once again meet a slew of colorful characters. Along the way you solve puzzles to move the game along. (There are 138 in the story, but you don't have to solve them all to beat the game.) There are also a few minigames you'll want to complete, but we'll get to that.

You don't have to play the first game to enjoy this one - it will help, because there are several characters that carry over, but if this is your first adventure with the Professor, you will not feel like a kid who starts coming to class in the middle of the semester.

The great thing about the game is the story draws you right in from the beginning and it's hard to put down. Once the Professor and Luke start adding up the mysteries, you won't want to put the game down until "SOLVED" is stamped across all of them. The gameplay operates as it did before - point and click to move and talk to people. It can't possibly be more simple.

Animation, music, voice acting - all great. I wish there was a little more voice acting, but there was a decent amount of cut scenes, and they are limited by the size of a DS cartridge.


The puzzles are pretty diverse. You might be moving blocks or pancakes, filling every piece on a chess board, finding the area of a garden, dividing estate or answering a riddle. You won't get bored with the variation. Once again you'll find hint coins scattered around that you can spend for a clue if you need one. The hints aren't always the best, but for the most part they steer you down the path to the answer.


My complaint only really complaint concerning the puzzles is that I wish there were less that involved math. To me, a puzzle that asks me to find the radius of a circle, and then use that to find the area of this weird quadrangle area is way too much like school for my taste. If I need more than a simple calculator to figure out the answer - forget it. This is a video game, not a final exam. (Can you tell math was never my best subject?) I'd also like to see an "undo" feature - that would have helped me quite a few times. Sometimes all you want to do once in awhile is take back a move instead of starting the whole puzzle over.


New to this game was the memo feature you could activate during a puzzle. Although it's not really a lot of space to write, it was usually all you needed to jot down a thought or a number. What I also liked was that you could go back to look at the puzzle and then return to your scribblings - whatever you wrote on the memo screen didn't disappear unless you cleared it.

 

Using the memo feature for something totally nonconstructive.

Were there a few puzzles that I thought were kind of ridiculous? Yup. But those were few and far between. I wouldn't say it affected the game at all.


There are 3 mini games that you can access throughout the game. You don't really have to do any of them, but 2 are definitely worth completing. The other...eh. We'll get to that.


The first involves putting a camera back together. You find pieces as you do puzzles. Once you put the camera together, you can take pictures of certain locations and find the differences between the actual location and the picture you took. Once you find three, you'll be able to find a hidden puzzle. I thought putting the camera together was interesting, but finding the differences in the photos was certainly a highlight.


The second involved playing personal trainer to an overweight hamster you get to name. (I named mine Rocky.) As you solve puzzles you get various toys you use to lead your hamster around the board, trying to get him to take as many steps as possible. As he meets his goals, he slims down and once he's lost all his excess flab he'll be a big help to you. The only drawback to the hamster is his voice - he sounds like some cranky stereotypical New Yorker. (I can say that, because I'm from New York.) I cringed every time I heard his voice, but otherwise I thought the training was pretty fun and definitely took some planning and thought.

 

Youz guyz betta go easy on me, or you'll be swimmin' wit' the fishes!

Finally...there was the tea. Oh, the tea. First of all, who carries around a full tea set? Second of all, where the hell are they heating up this tea? I'm scared at the amount of equipment Layton is making Luke haul around. I hope he'll be willing to spring for the chripractor.

So, as you solve puzzles you get tea ingredients. You can mix 3 and try to create one of 12 different tea recipies.

This part of it is okay, if you can overlook the logistics I pointed out. It does get frustrating to create cup after cup of "bad tea" that the characters then passive aggressively mock you for.

I think Layton is covertly brewing poisons, judging by the skull and crossbones.

Trust me. That whole crying thing isn't even the worst of it. I think the game's goal was to get you to cry. Anyway, once you finally concoct a blend that's not gonna kill anyone, people around town will starting whining about various problems. Tea is apparently Layton's drug of choice, 'cause he's pushing it like he's makin' a profit. (To even get someone to request tea, you often have to enter and reenter areas numerous times. It wasn't so bad that you were waiting several minutes or anything, but it was kind of annoying.) Anyway, you'll next have to choose which kind of tea you want to serve them. And it better be the right one.

I found that often it was kind of hard to choose exactly what tea the person wanted, and had to try several before I chose one they wouldn't throw back in my face. And if you want to unlock every puzzle in the game, you better like to play tea time. Because you'll have to serve a successful cup to everybody in order to unlock them all. I just found this whole game silly and often frustrating. The logic behind the whole thing was also just too much for me to accept. Seriously - Layton's investigating something kind of important here. I understand a gentleman is always nice, or whatever, but come on. You don't have time to be brewing tea for everybody in town - especially if you're building a fire to boil the water, which is the only marginally reasonable explanation I can think of - especially when you're pulling out the cups and crumpets in the middle of a forest. Also, I don't know where Luke's parents are, but I don't think they'd want their son to be your tea toting pack mule.


Now that I've torn that mini game apart, I feel better. That's really the only gripe I have with the game, and it's not even a big one, really. There's so much to like about this game that one low light really falls into the background. Even after you complete the story there are more puzzles to solve - you can even download a new one every week by connecting to the online network. 

So I highly recommend this game if you enjoy a good puzzle and a good story...perhaps with a nice cup of tea. I just hope you actually have a stove.


My rating: 88 out of 100.

4th Time's a Charm

So I randomly decided today that I want to play Final Fantasy IV once and for all.

I can't tell you the amount of times I have started that game, stopped, forgotten about it, and had to start over again. This had to have been like the fourth time. (Hence the title of this post.)

The sad part is, I have purchased this game THREE times. Yeah. Three times, still haven't beaten it. The first time was part of Final Fantasy Chronicles, which came out for PSX (yeah, the ORIGINAL Playstation) in 2001. Then again when it came out for Gameboy Advance in 2005 and finally more recently, when it came out for Nintendo DS. At least I bought it used this time.

But guess what? I only have the guide for Final Fantasy Chronicles. So I'm using that.

Yeah...

I used the guide to play the reincarnation of Chrono Trigger for the DS. It was okay. Obviously there was plenty of new stuff in the newer game, but none of the boss strategies led me hopelessly astray.

Final Fantasy IV, however, has been a whole other fucking story.

So I'm playing along, la la la, and I'm fighting this boss. Now I know from my past experience that IV is a harder RPG and you kind of have to level grind in order to stay ahead of the game and stay alive. So I've been there, done that, I was good to go. Or so I thought. I'm fighting this boss, "Mom Bomb" or whatever, I've got 5 fucking people in my party, and things are going swimmingly. Ye olde guide says that mama bomb will explode at one point into 6 smaller bombs causing, AND I QUOTE "about 60 - 100 points of damage to each member of your party"!!!!!!! Oh noes! Whatever. My current party could have brushed that off like a paper scratch. Okay, so my HP weren't super high, but they were high enough that I could have absorbed that no problem, and gone on with my day.

Only that's not what happened.

Instead, mommy bomb exploded in violent balls of flame, causing 400+ damage to each and every member of my lovely party of five, killing them all instantly. "The Party Has Fallen" the gamely pleasantly informed me in a neat little bar at the top of the screen, as if I was blind and couldn't see my five supposed heros lying flat on their little pixeled faces. That god damn outdated guide! WTF?! How is that 60 - 100 points of damage?! Can someone not count?! Do they need a calculator?! I was so pissed I threw my DS onto the couch proclaiming, "Fuck this game!" And stormed upstairs to check something that wasn't published when Baywatch was still on the air.

So I checked Gamefaqs. Trusty gamefaqs. And you know what I learned? That the only way to survive that battle in this newest reincarnation is to have everybody defend. Because otherwise it's game over.

So I don't know if I should be mad at Square Enix for changing their own game that drastically (can't you leave the boss battles alone at least?) or myself for using a guide as old as the series finale of Daria. (Yeah, it's been that long. Can you believe it? And the DVDs are where, MTV?)

Anyway, lesson learned. I'm not trusting that guide for boss battle advice anymore!

...But I'm still gonna use it. Because I'm cheap. And I'm not buying a new one.

News And Stuff ~ Week of Oct. 15th

• First a bit of comedy. I went back to the grind of Animal Crossing: Wild World. In discussing the game with my sister, this conversation ensued:

Her: remember i told dad one of the animals was creepily
hanging outside my door with a shovel, and he thought i was
in legitimate danger?

Me: LMAO, that is the funniest thing ever. Omg! Your
Animal Crossing character is going to be murdered! What are Booker and that
other cop guy gonna do! This has never happened before! Next thing you know, Tom Nook will be robbed at gunpoint!

• And Sony is stupid. They announce a cheaper PS3 with a smaller hard drive. Nothing wrong with that. Here's the problem. It won't be able to play PS2 games. Yeah. Why? Because, and I quote, "Sony said this was due to a more extensive lineup of games of the PlayStation 3." Wow...have they seen their own game line-up? Now I am a fan of Sony, and I have many, many games I greatly enjoyed for PS2 and PS3. But so far for PS3? Not a thing. You've got a whole huge catalog of great PS2 games that you're just going to ignore now? I'm paying $400 for a system that has pretty much no backwards compatibility. Why do you want to fail more, Sony? Just wondering. Because I really don't think this is a good move.

• Looks like Mario Party is coming to the DS. The game, where four people can play using only one cartridge, ships next month. Now I can beat everybody on the go!

And that's all the news I care about.

Crossing of the Animals

Over the weekend I had a sudden desire to play Animal Crossing: Wild World. For those of you who know squat about Animal Crossing, that's the (better) game for DS. Why is it better? Because you can visit other people's towns WHICH TOTALLY ROCKS. But on the other hand Animal Crossing is totally evil because IT TOTALLY TAKES OVER YOUR LIFE. (And it has nothing to do with Tom Nook.)

So how and why does Animal Crossing take over your life? Well, you see the game runs on real time based on the clock inside your DS. So if it's October 15th at 10:25 a.m. according to your DS, that's the time and date in the game! Fun, right? WRONG. If you don't visit your town pretty regularly, your town starts to degrade. Weeds pop up. Neighbors move. Cockroaches invade your home. It's not a pretty sight. Plus, think of all the fruit you'll miss picking and the rare items Tom Nook might have for sale! Not to mention the special character visits! It's all too much to take. So you're going to feel the need to play every. Freaking. Day. I'd get home and be like, "Ugh...gotta pick the fruit and visit Tom Nook so he can pester me to buy his overpriced crap..." Soon the game became a chore. And chores aren't fun.

So I dropped it cold turkey. No more! I declared. I love Animal Crossing and I love how you can visit other people's towns, but I hope the new installment will not punish you for not playing for awhile. If I don't play for a month, I want to be able to come back and find my town exactly how I left it. Or, almost exactly. I don't care if that bitch Baabra moves. (Why do I always get her?! Why?!) Sure, it's not realistic, but you know what? IT'S A GAME. It doesn't have to be realistic. Same reason why I stopped playing Harvest Moon. Cow can only give milk after giving birth?! What the fuck is this, real life? If I wanted the real farm experience, I'd go work on a farm. (And the time in that game is the total opposite of Animal Crossing. Each day seems to last five minutes. You barely have time to tend to your crops, nevermind walk to town. RUN, RUN! The sun is setting! For the love of god, I need supplies!)

But anyway, I haven't played Animal Crossing in over a year I would say. So my town is probably a ghost town by now. I'm sure if I turned the game on almost everyone would be gone, the place would be covered in weeds, and my house would have become a cockroach amusement park. I managed to avoid playing this weekend. I'm not sure if I'm ready for that kind of commitment again.

Oh, and Tom Nook is an evil dictator who rules the economics of the town with an iron fist. Beware him.