When Life Gives You Lemons

Go murder a clown!


Things have been cooking along very well in Final Fantasy VI,  in fact well enough that I believe I've managed to surpass the overall power of any party in my previous playthroughs.  Some of it is making use of newer information (I can't do circle motions on a d-pad to save my life, finding out there's alternate command inputs was awesome; finding out you can still learn Ultima via the Paladin Shield, making the Ragnarok sword far more attractive than the Ragnarok Esper), buckling down and using the leveling mechanics as intended (OMG look at them stats), and brining a RPG veteran mindset into things.


Using the Esper bonuses has been the major difference.  The short version is that this game's magic system is based on Espers' essence (the local magic rocks of magicness), almost all your characters can equip an Esper's magicite, with the majority giving a small but significant stat boost when that character levels up.  These bonuses are permanent and persist even when you switch to another Esper, meaning a bit of basic XP management can result in huge dividends.  This results in even the wimpy characters turning into meat-mulching agri-combines of death, and with their powers combined THE HARVEST IS UNLEASHED and not much can get in the way.


I also decided that the open-ended gameplay of the World of Ruin is actually pretty fun, never really realizing that this was a very major departure from the JRPG tradition of linearity.  There are a few oddities; there are bits of gear exclusive to one particular character you can buy, but the process of re-recruiting that character also comes with far superior gear choices, plus using his special skills (he's the local the--I mean treasure hunter) can result in more unique but redundant stuff for him.  There's also some areas on the world map that have random encounters far more dangerous than what you get elsewhere, that you can't even claim as a player nudge or beef gate, since the major dungeon in the area has far more manageable enemies, even the bosses are less lethal than the mooks prowling around outside.


Things are starting to come to a close, with only two dungeons really left (there's a couple I've already cleared than I'll probably return to use as grinding spots) before the big showdown with Jack Hamill in his big trash tower of terror.  The Harvest Never Rests!

Always Wish To Catch A Fish

Well, things are cooking along pretty well on Final Fantasy VI.  I managed to get all the way through the Floating Continent without a whole of trouble (except for 'level acclimation' yay RPGs).  I even managed to wreck Atma Weapon's face on the first go-around pretty handily.  Though I came hilariously close to getting ganked by some mooks immediately afterwards.  Imagine the Harvest coming to such an ignominious end.  Things would have flung and then burned.


I've done some things I've wanted to do for some time; a decade or even more.  I've managed to pull off a handy victory over the dreaded Intangir.  For the uninitiated, Intangir is especially nasty pseudo-megaboss, found in an out-of-the-way area as a random encounter.  It starts off invisible (and therefore immune to physicals) and absorbs all elements (so no skills or magic either), has ridiculous heath and moves that completely crispify your dudes if you don't know what your doing.  And it only spawns in the first half, with all the really good moves and gear still locked out.  On the plus side, invisible enemies can be hit by magic of any type, and it is not immune to Stop.  Cast one Stop, then go to town whaling on the smug freak. 


I've also managed to complete the little fishing minigame successfully and save Cid.  It's much easier in the original SNES version, since the RNG is much more likely to give you the speedy little 'yummy fish' (that's what the game itself calls them).  I have reason to believe that the GBA was tweaked with a much more stingy RNG, likely since the bad ending of the minigame is much more dramatic overall.  Frankly, I'll take yummy fish over depressing melodrama any day.


And now I'm in the World of Ruin.  Everything's been wrecked, but now I can get the awesome stuff.  The lemons of life have been given, and soon that clown will face the beatdowns.  The Harvest Never Rests!

Boom Goes The Fireballs

Things are going along rather well in Final Fantasy VI.  There have been a few eye-openers thus far, mostly in dialog and combat patterns.


I didn't catch how the 'noble rebel leader' Banon was actually a blunt douchebag.  Way back when, even though I knew I got a better reward for refusing to help out (or simply hesitating) I used to always choose to help right off the bat.  Then comes my current playthrough, at least a decade after the last, where I talk to this guy, and the bozo starts barking at a conflicted young woman, mangling the myth of Pandora, and barks again so he can take a freakin' nap.  Way to impress your potential trump card, mister leader!  Needless to say, I went ahead and took the neutral choice and got the better goodies.  Watching him act similarly to other potential allies (Narshe) makes the unstoppable march of the Empire of Doom seem a good bit more believable.


I also remembered just how broken magic is compared to plain old physical attacks.  It makes some sense from a thematic view; magic is explicitly a very powerful force in this world, and very much one explicitly for high-intensity warfare.  Magic users are a major part of Final Fantasy, since the beginning, but VI is where magic users are on a whole different level of power compared to you usual combat troops.  I wouldn't see an in-universe gamechanger like this again until SaGa Frontier 2 where the opposite effect happens; steel weapons and armor completely smash the magic-user masses in-story, and actual in-game combat reflects that.


Well, it's time to go back to smacking freaks (and FF6 has extra gribbly looking freaks, I can tell you).  The Harvest Never Rests!

A Nerdy Little Secret

Well, it took some doing, but I managed another RPG double-kill last weekend:  Atelier Iris 2 and Secret of Mana.  Things got so hairy that I actually burned out and haven't even picked up the controller for a good few days.


Now that I've actually played my two favorite games from the Mana and Atelier fanchises, I still strongly suspect that Atelier (or at least the Iris subseries) borrowed a lot of elements from Mana.  I plan to natter about that later, after a bit more research and pondering.  Truth be told, I'm actually still burned out on both games for the moment, which is surprising considering neither claimed my free time and resources quite like the last few--hell, the last dozen--RPGs.


Anyway, I've decided on my next big endevour, and a bit of confession time. 


I've never actually beaten Final Fantasy VI. 


Way back in the day, I played the hell out of it, but for one reason or another, I never tackled the final dungeon.  Some of it was that I was playing a borrowed copy, so my savefiles tended to go poof.  Other reasons came along, some good, some stupid, and one very bad.  When I was an aspiring nerdling, I asked my friend if I could just beat the final boss on his already completed savefile.  My friend, being a wonderful dude (I was such a spoiled little prick, but he let me play with his SNES and his games anyway, without griping) let me do so, therefore giving me an excuse to say I beat the game.


I honestly think this is the moment that spark some really nerdy commitment issues, the ones where I pick an RPG, play it up to the last dungeon and just stop.  I've managed to get over it, at least for now.  So it comes to this.   It's foolish, it's childish, and it's frightfully nerdy, but it is long past time I've put this game on my finished list one and for all.


The Harvest Has Triumphed Twice Over!  And now it's time for that wonderful little saying:  When life gives you lemons, go murder a clown.

Killer Bunny Slippers

Time is like a river, and history repeats...


Anyway, after a bit of dithering, I went ahead and plugged my new copy of Secret of Mana into my new SNES.  The result has been amazingly therapeutic; a lot of my recent RPG forays have had highlights of one kind or another, but few have been able to rival the just plain fun that SoM has had to offer.


There's this dichotomy about the whole thing.  As the same time's it's serious and silly, finely-tuned and buggy, balanced and utterly broken.  This is a game where you fight for the fate of the world in the face of apocalyptic forces while bashing ridiculous enemies like animate bunny slippers with a rusty sword found in a riverbed.


A lot of stuff has already been stated and restated about SoM.  This is one of the big-time classic RPGs of the 16-bit era; gamers have been poking at it for over two decades now, and probably still poke at it for a very long time to come.  The story is fairly weighty.  A trio of plucky young adventurers set forth to seal special magical seeds and gather the support of elemental spirits to combat the forces of an evil empire under the sway of a very ancient and vile lich.  It was already a cliché when the game was released, but the whole thing was so well put-together that you really don't care and enjoy the ride. 


You've got the usual classical elements of fire, water, air, and earth, plus light and darkness.  Then you wind up with two oddballs, moon and tree/wood/leafyleafness.   All the weapons and spells have a fair bit of utility (up until the final battle anyway), and nothing really falls behind as you progress.  The monsters are a fairly diverse bunch, like the bunny slippers of doom, cartoony Thriller zombies, axe-toting goblins that skin the slippers and wear them like hats, killer floating tomato necromancers, duck soldiers, living pumpkin bombs, fish that shoot missiles, and freaky mime ghost things.  Yes, there's the usual palette swaps, but the line-up is already pretty crazy to begin with, and since this is an action-RPG with real-time combat, they had to animate the things so it's very understandable.


Overall, Secret of Mana is still a very fun game, and worthy of a place in an RPG enthusiast's collection.  The Harvest Never Rests!

From The Ashes

This isn't quite the usual post.  Yes, I've been tearing my way through another RPG (Atelier Iris 2, again) and I've been having some fun.  But it's really just acting as a gaming palate cleanser, a bit of a romp through familiar territory before I decide on the next big campaign.


But one thing has been leading into another, and now I'm contemplating something a bit bigger.  Over the last few years, I've managed to rebuild my Playstation collection to its former glory, and with some lucky finds and the addition of a PS2 and PS3, actually a great deal better.  Finally buckling down and getting my hands on a Lunar 2 boxset has made good on some of my biggest gamer mistakes.  I know it's silly, but there's a whole thing behind this; not reliving the past, but actually doing one better and surpassing it, even in an incredibly nerdy way.


It's not something I talk about all that much.  My first big RPG collection, it was...tainted.  I did a lot of conniving and mooching and even outright theft to get it.  I've managed to make amends, and fess up to the friend I stole from.  It's kinda funny; everybody has a skeleton or two in their closet, and it's no bad thing to drag it out and be done with it.  This skeleton just happens to be really steeped in the Dork Side.  More proof of divine humor.


This collection is one that I managed to gain honestly, no theft, no mooching, and the only conniving was some shrewd--but honest and open--trades.  I've gotten just about all my Playstation goodies back, and more besides.  And then it hit me.


It hit me, indeed; there was another part to it, that I've been ignoring all this time, and for no actual reason.  I had a nifty SNES collection, too.  I think the time has finally arrived, the clarion call finding its way to my ears.  And this time, I will do it right.  No bullshit, just patience, resourcefulness, a bit of thrift, and a pixelated Harvest done right.

Smashing Evil Yet Again

Hello!


I managed to pull off a glorious victory in Dragon Quest VIII: Journey of The Cursed King, and finally can put that game to rest for a while.  The final boss battle was actually quest fun, staying just tense enough to keep me on my toes (most turn-based games suck at this, being heavily in my favor or that of the boss).  The ending itself was fairly satisfying, and had the added bonus of being playable, letting the hero tear around a bit and revel in accolades and a bit of daring-do. 


Now that we've reached the end of the main game (there's some serious post-game content, but I'm staying away for now), I have some final thoughts to share.


The Alchemy Pot mechanic is horribly flawed; I know I've been beating this poor mummified horse, but in the end this mechanic stretched what have been a 60 or so hour game into just shy of 90.  Thirty hours devoted to grinding and keeping the equipment up to snuff.  I'm grateful that they fixed it in the remake.


The Monster Arena is far more enjoyable, letting my collect a few critters and conquering other critters.  The final rank was very enjoyable, with some fun cameos, spectacle, and a very tense final battle (with Hackzilla the dinosaur lumberjack snatching victory in desperate combat for my team, all hail Vanguard Critters).  This was a side-game done right!


Speaking of which, the monsters themselves were an absolute blast, with just the right combination of ebullient silliness and danger to keep things fresh.  They were part and parcel of how this game and the series advocates that video games should be fun.  Fun fact: Most of the spells are funky onomatopoeia, and there's an explosive elemental set (!) named Bang, Boom, and Kaboom.  Yes we have a game where you can spam Kaboom to harvest your foes if you so wish (or you can Fizzle, Sizzle, Crackle, Zap, Woosh, or Whack them).  And you can summon a swarm of angry geezers to trample your foes!


In any case, it was an absolute blast; The Harvest Has Triumphed once again.  I'm staying away for overwrought angst-fest RPGs for a little while longer, and playing Atelier Iris 2: The Azoth of Destiny once again.  Bring on the crafting!