Kingdom Hearts Birth by Sleep

Happy Hallow's Eve! Weird having it on a Sunday, but we get a Saturday Christmas to balance it out. I miss the national cosplaying aspect, but I don't have the will and/or the drive to dress up for myself (no social live). We still get candy, but I'm not too big a candy guy. Sugar weirds me out after a while. *le sigh*

Lots of busy doing nothing, lately. New games, lotsa movies, cathing up on thousands of deviations, sketching on random pieces of paper... You know, lots of nothin'.

Continuing on blathering on about things nobody but myself cares, I've played the heck outta Birth by Sleep, doing all but completing the Journal to 100% since we all know what that's like. I've finally tried most-if-not everything, however, and (barring my hatred of how Nomura handles the Final Mixes) I have come to the conclusion that it's time to faux-review it, and [spoiler] it ties with Kingdom Hearts II Final Mix + as the top titles in the series.

Without further ado, let's get started.

Kingdom Hearts Birth by Sleep had a challenge the moment it was announced: it was a prequel. Prequels are always a tricky lot; on one hand, you've got a chance to 'start fresh', so to speak. It's a chance to gather newcomers in without any prior knowledge and hopefully suck them in enough for them to become fans and play/buy the rest of the series. And for the existing fanbase returning that made the franchise popular to begin with, you've got to make it engaging enough to appease the never-quite-pleased fanbase with a relevant and worthwhile installment.

For what it's worth, I believe Nomura succeeded on both accounts. That said, I'm also not a highly-picky person compared to the fanbase. I love those guys, I really do. Fans are what keeps franchises going, for better or for worse. But gosh, a good 85% of them seem to not have all masts flying when they speak. Moving on...

First and foremost is the narrative. I've always been more of a gameplay > story kinda gamer, having grown up almost exclusively on Nintendo platforms. However, I do play a few franchises for their stories, paraticularly Kingdom Hearts and Metal Gear. What can I say, I get attatched to characters rather easily and will stick through thick and thin to see what happens to 'em. This is no exception.

Birth by Sleep takes place a decade before the original title (and eight years real-time). It features mostly-new characters, filling in much-needed backstory on how the KH universe operated before Sora's world-hopping days. For the veterans, there are quite a few familiar faces, wonderful experiences in new Disney worlds, and the series' best localization and writing.

It's a tale told by the three main protagonists, continuing the series' much-loved trios - a likable, spiky-haired youth [Ventus], the older friend with a decision to make [Terra], and a girl [Aqua]. They essentially give the game three types of play: the Speedy, the Powerhouse, and the Magician. Each has their own scenarios, meeting up with each other at times, each with their own experiences and motives. As per series tradition, Terra is looking for someone (this case a mentor and his deciple), while Ven runs away chasing Terra, with Aqua to check up on both.

It's a lot more interesting, obviously. Each character gets to focus on a specific part of the mythos: the duality of Darkness and Light, the existential moments of being, and deciding to belive things can be set right again. Each story is dotted with the usual Disney fair, mostly new in this installment, with the individual Worlds having distinctly more purpose to the overarching plot than previous titles. This leads to a sense of brisk progress and purpose, expanding on Days' focus on overall character interactions. The result is a very satisfying tale that unravels just as much as it dangles, which isn't as bad as it sounds.

I was able to correctly guess the fate of one character, half of the fate of another, and was completely stumped by the other. While incomplete individually, the fantastic ending hints at a much grander future in store for the current story arc. While the fans bemoan the lack of a gorgeous FMV secret ending (or, as most forget, a very pretty concept video), it brought a tear to my sentimental soul that maybe, just maybe, their hurting will be mended when he returns to end it.

Being on the PSP, it was able to be the most impressive-looking title on the handheld. The presentation is comparable to it's PS2 predecessors, which is quite a feat. The soundtrack is the best yet, with gorgeous motiffs and excellent remixes of older mainstays (Neverland wins again for Disney battle theme third time running). The voice acting is top-notch as usual, with Mark Hamill and Leonard Nimoy -depicted to the right as the elderly BAMF, solidifying his status as an awesome villain- as opposing badasses; you really can't go wrong with such a Star Wars/Trek combo.

Though it's a technical marvel of a game, you can tell it's pushing the PSP to its breaking point. I highly recommend to everyone the full 800mb+ Data Install for a stress-free experience. The loading times with over half it's disc content can get lengthy, with the scratchy whirl of the UMD a common occurance, and I can only imagine them without. I've heard it loads mid-battle, which would be discombobulating for anyone. It burns through your battery life, but the game practically demands it.

The game also boasts the most addicting battle system of the series. A streamlined version of Chain of Memories' Card system, the Deck Commands are equipable abilities, items, and magic which can be chosen and executed in a simple button press that require cooldown times between uses. Commands can be mixed together in the title's form of Synthesis and is essential to obtaining the most coveted abilities, as well as the traditional secondary abilities, like extra HP, quicker reloads, and other stat-boosting benefits.

Like Days, it relieves the use of an MP meter, and encourages players on all difficulties (rather, forces us Critical players for leveling the playing fields with the two superbosses in our much-wanted difficulty spike) to experiment with various combinations. It even reimagines Summons and even includes a crowd clearer/limit break of sorts with it's seperate gauge, similar to KHII's Drive Meter. It even randomizes timed-button presses for more advanced moves, in a commendable attempt to do away with the "mash attack to win" strategy popularized by KHII's otherwise excellent battle system. It's an addicting and wonderful battle system, and I hope they merge this with KHII's controls and ease of use for my ideal battle system.

It's an excellent game, the second reason I bought a PSP half a decade after it's release, and one I would recommend to players new and old. As a fan, it blew away my expectations in both gameplay and story. It delivered on revealing a significant amount of the past, tied up some loose threads, clarified past mysteries, and set up an intriguing future for the series.

Birth by Sleep holds as much weight as a numbered title, effectively being Kingdom Hearts 0 by Word of God. It's sad, as half the fanbase only wishes for Kingdom Hearts III to be released and refuse to play the three gaiden titles. Joke'll be on them like it was for those who passed on Chain of Memories when the plot picks up after events you chose not to play!

Non-Kingdom Hearts posts coming, I swear! I got them outta my system until January (when the Final Mix of this title releases in Japan and Re:coded gets released internationally), so expect a retroactive franchise review coming up on a certain Rare duo from two generations past.

I'm using a blog to review games... Man, I'm a boring person.

Metroid: Other M

It's been a great three weeks for gaming, huh? Metroid one week, Halo in another, and they both sandwhich a Kingdom Hearts. While I'm not a Halo fan, the friends claim it was very good, as do the glowing reviews.

While they came out a week apart from each other, I received Other M on a Tuesday followed the next day by BBS. Amazon shipped Other M from a couple of States away, while Kingdom Hearts shipped 30 minutes from my house. Funny world, I know. I'll obviously talk about Other M this time, with Kingdom Hearts soon after.

Ah, Other M. As a Metroid fan since Super Metroid, this was quite a shock to see such an action-oriented take on the Metroid series. While the Prime games leaned towards the action slant, specifically Corruption, the exploration element was always present with superb level design that really showed off Retro Studios' talent. Now we've ditched the first-person perspective for the classic run-and-gun platforming the series was known for, now with extra focus on gunning.

While Retro went on to make the soon-to-be-released Donkey Kong Country Returns, a game I have high hopes for, Nintendo brought in Team Ninja of Dead or Alive and Ninja Gaiden fame to help shape this newest installment. The new blood definitely has a presence, as the game's new mechanics are a test in reflex and pattern recognition, with some of that old school Nintendo Hard game play thrown in.

It's a game where the simple enemies will bat you around to next Tuesday if you're not alert and/or quick enough. Almost as if to emphasize the new focus on action, enemies no longer drop ammo or health, forcing you to dodge and shoot, which is very satisfying once you get the hang of it. While the Prime Trilogy was amazing, it's nice to see Samus doing her thing again, flipping around enemies whilst retaliating in a flurry of colorful explosions that fill the screen. It also gives a sense of speed that first-person can't effectively portray - she's quite agile, and the redesigned art style accentuates with a shark, sleek look reminiscent of Metroid Fusion for the GBA.



In fact, in many ways this is the spiritual sequel to 2002's hand held gem. The game takes place on The Bottle Ship, which is a research facility with varying Sectors - the usual lava, ice, jungle levels - to add variety like Fusion's research station. It's a more story-centric title than Fusion and the entire series as a whole, and also shares it's predecessor's linearity. Fusion used a computer to effectively lock you out of areas that didn't pertain to your mission at hand, cutting the exploration a bit. Despite these 'shortcomings' to the Metroid formula, I didn't have a problem with Fusion. It was a different take, yes, but it was still Metroid in it's pick-ups, game flow, and spot-on controls.

This is all played with the Wiimote held sideways like an NES controller for most of the title, with you pointing at the screen to enter a pivoting first-person mode to fire missiles (the only way you can in this iteration) and to scan the occasional pick-up, story-centric element. This simplification felt very retro in practice, though some minor and/or major problems in certain situations.

I, for one, didn't have any trouble switching from first to third-person during intense battles, since the game implements a slick slo-mo effect to give you a small chance to aim a missile square at a foe, then a quick covering of the Wiimote's sensor and a quick press of the + Pad will enable you to dodge away before retaliation. It's very much a case-by-case on how adept you will be at the act, to be sure. There are also storyline sections where the game zooms into Samus' visor for you to fixate on a particular point of interest to continue the cutscene. While I didn't have any trouble with these (I managed to run across them due to my own curiosity as well, I suppose), I've seen two friends have a bit of trouble during these instances, making for definite game-breaking moments, though I was lucky enough not to be bogged down by them.

It's also a visual and aural delight. The pre-rendered cutscenes are definitely impressive, surely adding to the game's dual-layered status, and it's nice to see a Nintendo game fully embrace voice-acting (looking at you, Skyward Sword). The score during cutscenes (also very impressive-looking for being in-engine) is an orchestral delight, while there aren't that many 'iconic' ambient music like previous titles, leaning more towards mostly-metallic or energetic in crowded fight-scenes and larger enemies. The presentation is a benchmark for Wii titles, along with Galaxy 2 as the highmarks of the system, definitely. It surprisingly holds up pretty well with some 360 and PS3 titles, making it both an impressive feat as well as proof at how little developers have tried with the Wii's horsepower.

And now I hit the point that divides most gamers: the story.



There's been so much said on Other M's narrative that I can't add anything but my own opinions at this point. A quick search around the Internet will reveal mostly-negative opinions on the depition of the character and the story, while you'll occasionally find those who defend it with arguably-canon and some scientific proof. Which side of the fence you fall on is yours. Is the game being sexist, depicting Samus Aran as such? Or is this how the director always envisioned her, and the sudden injection of story after 25 years of almost-complete silence a shock to everyone's personal depiction of the character?

Speaking for myself, I'm not terribly bothered by her depiction (surprise, surprise). I was somewhat familiar with the Metroid manga, which depicts her antics before the games proper, and the characterization there is very similar to the Other M's, so no surprise there. It also didn't shock me that she had a lot of pent-up frustrations and problems, such as seeing Adam Malkovich as a father-figure, growing up with him as her CO when she served under him in the Galactic Federation Army. Many saw this as daddy-issues and they'd be correct, since she barely had time with one. Guess I'm full of sympathy.

Maybe part of that was the dialogue and/or Japanese way of storytelling the title posesses, which honestly doesn't bother me since I loved Final Fantasy XIII. I definitely see where people find fault, but that was the unique presentation Other M chose. Another point of contention was Samus' voice. Most hate it, naturally. I found it similar to a Sarah Conner vibe, as her disinterested, monotously delivered running narration throughout the game, giving a spelled-out window into her mind. All these seem to pale in comparison to the seemingly-biggest point of discussion.

Slight spoiler-warning.

There's a particular scene in which Samus, freezing up at the sight of her arch-nemesis Ridley (in a fantastic appearance, may I add), thinks back to her frightened 3 year-old self when she first encountered Ridley when he promptly killed her parents, snaps out of her daze after the fall of a comrade and proceeds to fight the again-resurrected Space Pirate Commander.

Why didn't she shoot? Why did she freeze up? I took this one as her thinking his death was absolute, with Zebes being obliterated, leaving no chance of the creature appearing again, and his sudden appearance rocking her to her core. It also backs up the PTSD argument that is brought up by those with knowledge of the manga, which I agree with. When shown to an expert and one suffering from the disorder, they claimed it was a very accurate depiction of PTSD, but lots of peole still call BS on it, thinking she should've "just gotten over it" by this point in her career. She froze up before in the manga, prompting a comment of PTSD, and I believe the game was slyly referencing it, since the manga is almost certainly canon, endorsed by Nintendo itself. However, to the detractor's credit, it wasn't brought up in any previous game and there was absolutely no build-up to it, lending to it's seemingly-out-of-the-blue occurance.

In conclusion, the story elements didn't bother me in the slightest. I enjoyed the gameplay despite it's inherent flaws (feeling like a simpler Fusion), I would definitely recommend the game, especially to Metroid fans to know their opinion, but I wouldn't recommend a buy until they had tried it out do to it's established love it or hate it status. A solid 4/5 were I to rate it numerically.

I now part with a tasty gift:

The obligatory Zero Suit Samus pic.

You knew it was coming.

Super Mario Galaxy 2

Whelp, I finally beat Super Mario Galaxy 2, aka my favorite main Mario game!
Now for impressions!

Contrary to first impressions, Super Mario Galaxy 2 is indeed much more than a mere expansion pack. It's more akin to the real Super Mario Bros. 2 (The Lost Levels over here) in that it uses the same engine and premise as it's predecessor, yet runs over with creative ideas that especially challenge those who enjoyed the first.

The sequel obviously doesn't have that 'wow' factor the first had, such as when you first shot out of a Launch Star into the depths of space, but it constantly outdoes itself in level design and ideas. Yoshi was a much-welcomed addition, getting a much more expansive role than he did in Sunshine in that he's most definitely not water-soluble and now regains use of his elastic tongue. It's used in very creative instances and uses the Wiimote's pointer control in a manner I can't imagine can be done any better. Of particular note is the innate instinct to catch a Bullet Bill, hold it for a few moments while you reposition yourself out of harm's way, and then the big payoff of firing the living projectile into a canon, eliminating the chance of it firing more.

Galaxy 2 is brimming with such instances, big and small, that prove that the Big N can pull out all the stops when it wants to. Nintendo's first-party efforts always showcase a level of polish that most companies wish they could pull off, and Galaxy is a shining example of the company's talent focusing solely on gameplay. There's no big plot beyond the usual damsel in destress the series is known for; there's no reason for it. It plays almost as a retelling of the first game, starting very similarly and ending in a (much more) satisfying bout with Bowser. It's also more difficult than the first, which was a slight blemish on that otherwise superb game.

But the difficulty never gets in the way of the fun. The game offers tips and even an auto-pilot similar to last year's New Super Mario Bros. Wii, but the help is easily ignored if it's not needed (or wanted, for veterans such as myself) just like NSMBW. I pride myself on my Mario skills, and only ever encountered three Game Overs in the entire game, and they were all on the last Galaxy's Comet challenge. More on that shortly.

While most will just get to the end and call it a day, the Mario elite will be rewarded for their diligence. The game plainly showcases it's 120 Stars, divided into normal play Stars and Comet Stars gotten through the acquisition of a Comet Medal in each Galaxy. These are generally more challenging, though not impossible. It's after the main 120 are gotten that the game outshines it's predecessor's end-game effort.

Instead of playing as Luigi for the same 120, the game throws in Green Comets that yield Green Stars in each Galaxy, matching their normal Stars' appearance. These extra 120 Green Stars are hidden throughout each Galaxy, usually in out-of-the-way and/or hard-to-reach places. It was a real treat to hunt through each Galaxy again. I like to think of it as Nintendo's way of acknowledging us obsessive Mario fans by giving us a chance to put our skills to the test. Many of these Emerald celestrial bodies require a nuanced jump, a carefully-timed mid-air shake, or sometimes a leap of faith, though in the end it's all worth it.

Getting all 240 Stars unlocks the Grandmaster Galaxy, a compilation of gimmicks from the entire game in a showcase of true muscle memory. The main Galaxy is a good enough challenge, but it's the Comet that puts this one over the top. Called The Perfect Run, it requires a player to go through the Galaxy's obstacle courses without checkpoints and with only one health. Took me three Game Overs (haven't heard that classic tune in a while, lemme tell you!) to get it right, but I got it after around 25 times. Yes, I counted.

How hard it is, you ask? Well, IGN happens to have a skilled player at the reigns. While he chickens out (most likely for time) at the end by taking out only the necessary enemies, the point's clear. Have a look:

I absolutely love this game, and was an excellent way to get through the summer. It ranks above the first Galaxy simply due to it's unbridled fun, which I thought couldn't be topped. I'd be amiss to neglect the music: an orchestrated mix of nostalgia and sweeping fanfare, easily one of the best soundtracks Nintendo's ever produced.

The graphics build slightly upon the already-impressive engine the first game used, which means it looks gorgeous. It takes a presentation like this to wonder why everyone is so focused and spoiled on HD graphics when 720 and 1080p are just a resolution. Pixels pale in comparison to solid art design, and Galaxy 2 is by no means bad-looking, this coming from a guy who plays it on a 52" 1080p LCD LG widescreen. I love efforts like Metal Gear Solid 4 and Final Fantasy XIII on my neighboring PS3 like the next guy, but it's proof that the Wii can give out an impressive performance when given the chance.

It's my favorite game this year, possibly this generation, and it's the most fun I've had this generation, matched only by it's predecessor.

If you love gaming, do yourself a favor and play Super Mario Galaxy 2.

You'd be doing yourself a disservice otherwise.

Scott Pilgrim vs. The World

Yeah, every big fan of gaming should see Scott Pilgrim vs. the World. It was a big love letter to gamers and was a real treat for the eyes and ears. Plus, I dug the insane way it presented itself, zooming back and forth between pop-ups and sound effects, complete with visible THWAK's and PUNCHes.

I went in with only the first volume's knowledge and the random pages posted online years before I realized it was actually a comic book series and not some random webcomic, but it was enjoyable regardless. Pretty sure it's faithful, as per reactions of a friend of mine at our midnight screening, so every gamer can find something worthwhile.

Thinking about getting the game based on it on PSN. Looks a lot like an homage to River City Ransom...
And now I feel old.

Just got around to actually preordering Metroid: Other M and Kingdom Hearts: Birth by Sleep. Dunno why I waited so long to do so, but it's high-time I ordered them. Originally I was opting for the GameStop offer of a 16-page art book and I almost jumped on the free one-night shipping window they had back in June, but I went for Amazon's $20-off your next purchase incentive. Same with BbS, with it's $10 perk.

That's 30 bucks off a new game (which is half-off or more!) that'll go to whatever big-name title is next this packed Fall season. It's best to use those savings on a newer title to get it sooner, cheaper and save the older titles for that magic $20 and under pricetag. Amazon's been a great friend in my gaming needs, with their free shipping (if done by them) and tax-free purchases (also through a legal loophole). It's literally saved me hundreds throughout the years. Besides, who doesn't love the feeling of opening up a new box with a goodie inside? I know I do!

Currently in my Fall movie marathon, the one that basically consists of every film series we want to see, haven't seen in a while, or just want to watch again that isn't a Disney-associated flick. The Disney films happen in the Spring, right before our Memorial Weekend trip to the parks, since our Disney collection is expansive enough that they alone form a marathon that lasts for months.

I organize them by release date, the earliest being Fiddler on the Roof from 1971 and currently have it set to end with this year's How to Train Your Dragon and Harry Potter and the Half-Blood Prince. The reason for the out-of-order Harry Potter flick is that I have Order of the Pheonix postponed to match the Blu-ray releases of Year's 3 and 4's Ultimate Editions, which I'll receive around the last week of October, and the entire marathon's planned to end on November 17, the night before I line up to the midnight premiere of Deathly Hallows, Part I. See, I occasionally have a method to my madness.

How I came up with the idea for these marathons stemmed way back almost a decade ago, when VHSs were just starting to get dethroned by DVDs back in '01. We'd eventually get a DVD player before the Holiday of '01, but by then we'd amassed a pretty respectible collection of tapes, many being Disney fare to entertain our young minds. It was in a copy of the now-defunct Disney Magazine that I noticed a poster of sorts being offered. It had a lot of Disney movies being showcased, around 45 of them if I recall correctly.

I realized soon afterwards that the majority of the promoted films was what is known to the Disney elite as the Disney Animated Features Canon, basically those animated films that were produced by Walt Disney Animation Studios for the purpose of claiming a film as "Walt Disney Pictures Xth full-length feature film" for advertising purposes (thanks, Wiki!). The numbering system worked, and is convenient and still used today. It begins with Snow White and the Seven Dwarfs and consists of 49 currently-released films ending with The Princess and the Frog, with three more currently announced and in production. While called canon, they obviously have little to do with each other plot-wise outside of the fact that Disney produced them all.

While the poster at the time included the Pixar films up to Monsters, Inc. or Finding Nemo (don't quite remember), I realized that we owned a majority of those films. So, using up a homework-free afternoon, I shuffled through our collection and found out we did in fact have most of them. We were missing only the packaged budget films from during World War II, Saludos Amigos, The Three Caballeros, Make Mine Music, and the Sleepy Hollow latter half of The Adventures of Ichabod and Mr. Toad.

All things considered, we still had thirty-six and a half films of the main canon, enough for a good three weeks of family get-together-around-the-television time. It worked out that time, so the next time we got around to it I included the Pixar films. By the third year (2003), DVDs were the standard and we were slowly gathering the DVDs of Atlantis-onward and collecting the reissued DVD editions of the prior 40 films. Quality on many of the tapes were beginning to wear thin, so the upgrade in format was appreciated, especially due to the picture clarity gap the two formats had between them. It took a better part of a decade, but we will finally own all the Disney canon in disk form once we buy the 25th anniversary edition of The Black Cauldron (definitely the black sheep in past viewings) when it's released in a few months and when we finally get around to buying The Princess and the Frog. Heard it's good, but I wouldn't know yet.

Nowadays, the entire canon is accompanied by disk-only Pixar films (I refuse to watch those films on anything but Blu-Ray now, since my inner videophile is now spoiled on the clarity those films deserve - release Finding Nemo and The Incredibles on Blu-ray already!), Studio Ghibli films we own such as Kiki's Delivery Service and Spirited Away, live-action/animated hybrids like So Dear to My Heart, James and the Giant Peach, and Enchanted (I include Who Framed Roger Rabbit depending on the company; half the family doesn't appreciate/care for the brilliant film), select DisneyToon and direct-to-video releases (such as The Tigger Movie, Return to Neverland, and sometimes concede to other sequels I like such as the Aladdin and Lion King sequels; othertimes, my arm gets twisted for one of the multitude of others that fall under that typical "Disney sequelitis" that most of us really don't care for and to which I politely step out of the room for), and some select live-action flicks they've done, such as the fun Pirates of the Caribbean trilogy, National Treasure, some standalone films like Mr. Holland's Opus, Old Yeller, the first Santa Clause, The Chronicles of Narnia, and the like.

The list is pretty impressive now, since it's basically our entire Disney collection, which is why it's regulated to the first half of the year following anywhere immediately after the Holidays to as late as Valentine's to try to recapture that happy spirit I start to miss after everyone realizes they don't have to pretend to be happy. The exception this year for including Pirates is that it looks phenominal in 1080p - so much so I had to include it for kicks.

Generally, we average a film a day, though I usually pair a shorter animated film like An American Tail with a heftier one like Empire of the Sun to lengthen the evening; or to alternatively lighten up a darker one such as Schindler's List with a lighter affair like We're Back! A Dinosaur's Story so we're not completely depressed that evening.

It's been difficult to get the entire family to watch with us (sometimes me!) this year, though. We've been cleaning houses for the past year and the moving and dusting of items takes its toll when they're covered in dust, so I've watched half of these films alone this year, but it should get better the closer we get to the Holidays, with Thanksgiving typically the time when the rest of the family comes down and we play board/video games and watch movies for the heck of it.

I should also draw more, but I honestly haven't been that inspired since my B-Day. Drew a couple of things on my Cintiq, but it's honestly all crap. Picked up a piece of paper and actually came out with my best drawing in months. Maybe it was the feeling of real paper and pencil that jogged some ancient 7th Grade part of my brain... Who knows.

My, I do believe I've rambled for far too long about absolutely nothing yet again.

Such a boring person..!

July Heat-Influenced Golden Sun

Woo, refund on iPhone 4 bumpers... Yay?

I kid, I don't have a problem with the 'death-grip' the "less than 1%" of us who own the phone are having. My calls've been perfectly fine. Reception goes off and on in my house, but it's always been like that here, so I'll hafta see as I go places, but so far no big deal. Nice to get our $60 back on those over-priced rubber liners. (Seriously, 30 bucks each? How much does it take to make that, Apple? *sigh*)

But enough on relevant topics! Let's rewind back to last generation: '01 and '03.

The game series in question?Yep, ever since the ethnic-clensing of my bedroom took place over Memorial Weekend, the power cord to my micro (you know, the last model of GBA? Yeah, I don't blame you) has been uncovered with my copy of the original Golden Sun inside. To beat the heat of our non-curtained living room with the consoles, I've been reliving one of my more fondly-remembered RPGs. Now a faux review/retrospect!



The series would've been that classic Super NES RPG you remember playing as a kid next to other greats like Sword of Mana, Final Fantasy and Chrono Trigger, among the countless others back in the heydays of the JRPG. The story's simple: you control a group of Adepts, those who can harness the four elements of Venus, Mars, Jupiter and Mercury (Earth, Fire, Wind and Water respectively) with your powers of Psynergy. Your job in the first game is to prevent the Elemental Lighthouses across the world from being lit and reawakening Alchemy to the world of Weyard. However, in the second game, The Lost Age, a perspective shift occurs and you now control the surviving memebers of the very team you tried to stop in the first game and now have to find a way to light the remaining Lighthouses.

The games play out in a very 90s role-playing fashion: you have a team of four main playable characters, each allied with one of the main elements, you fight enemies in speedy turn-based combat to level up which earns you money for various items and equipment, cross an overworld to get to various destinations, collecting Djinn (elemental creatures that boost your powers/change your classes) all while going through a very well-written story filled with hundreds of NPCs to help immerse yourself into the world.

Any fan of the SNES' RPGs will feel right at home with Golden Sun's familiar yet deep system. I myself play with the mono-elemental system of battling (allying each Djinni to their respective Adept - Venus go to the Venus Adepts, etc.). I realize I'm getting about a third of the combat system, but I'm simple like that and I got through the same just fine. The series can be played however you see fit, and is even non-linear in sections to accomodate all forms of playstyles.

I'm glad the series is as beloved as it is, with fans like myself eagerly awaiting the third title coming out this year for DS. Part of the charm of the original two GBA games was it's presentation. The games looked amazing for being on the then-new Game Boy Advance and showcased some of the handheld's most impressive visuals. The battles were quick, enhanced with the rotating camera angle during battles, with amazing shows of particle effects which were phenominal on my rootbeer-tinged Glacier GBA. The summon Catastrophe in particular is the most impressive in-game feat I've seen the GBA output outside of some impressive use of FMVs (albeit compressed, yet no less impressive on the small GBA cartridges).

The soundtrack was a wonderfully 'orchestrated' score that definitely stood out in the GBA's time. Headphones were a regular must for me as I hummed along with the classic-sounding pieces. The sound effects were classic 16-32 bit bleeps and screeches that helped aided the lost-in-time RPG series.

Of particular note was the ability to transfer your characters' complete stats from Golden Sun to The Lost Age for the time when your old party met your new one, to form a super 8-member party of elemental fury. It was also necessary to fully experience the sequel's full content, as all Djinn are needed to unlock the Superboss and optional dungeon he's housed in (the reward being an obscenely powerful summon whose only practical use is for two-player battling/boasting rights and could save you in the final boss fight). It's an appreciated feature, though I don't think it'll be used for the third game, but you never know.

Now I'm off to play summore.