Wild Arms 2

I have mentioned Wild Arms 2 before as being partially the inspiration for 7th Moon. This game is actually very good on a lot of levels. Some people may think it's a little dated, particularly with graphics, but I am such a sucker for old school SD midget sprites, it was really nice to see a throwback like this. The music is good, and so are the anime sequences, unfortunately not as many as I would have hoped. The story is pretty good too, though arguably formulaic, you can pretty well figure out where things are going and the story is wrapped up too neatly, you're satisfied in the end, but as you go you kind of wonder why everyhting turns out exactly as you expect it would. Still, at a time when Square was all about flash, it was nice to see someone taking the torch of classic RPGs. There are some interesting twists here and there just to shake things up when you least expect them, such as comic relief duo Liz and Ard, references to Marvel comics, and a vampire and a cyborg assassin that actually turn out to be your friends. Then there's the puzzles, in addition to each character having unique battle abilities, they also have tools which can be used on the map to get through dungeons. These puzzles can be the trickiest part of the game, there are at least two that I know I couldn't gat past without help from the internet.

The one downside that sort of kills the game is that the challenge factor in regard to battles drops off sharply early on due to Ashely's Access Force Power. Many times stories proclaim a character to have immense power and then for the sake of game balance they disappoint, but here they actually come through. First off, the Force system is different because each character has two sets of powers, one that uses up points and one that simply requires you have the points to unlock the ability, but do not spend them in the process. This means your magic users are much stronger because they can cast spells indefinitely as long as they don't use up points with Force Powers. But the most powerful ability is Access, which allows the main character, Ashley, to transform into Blazer, a demonic form that is really overpowered. Really its only weakness is that its attacks are fire based which makes it useless against fire based enemies, but there's only about one such boss before you find Lucied and get a non-elemental attack. The big killer is how early in the game it comes in, so once you can use it any battle which has Ashley is super easy. Of course there are a few battles that remove Ashley or, in the case of Kanon, he's effectively neutralized, but even then the challenge is mostly in your head as you try to remember how to win a battle without spamming Access and healing spells. Then there's the optional challenge battles, bosses that are designed to surpass the  power of the Blazer, but since you don't have to fight, but if you do provide uniquely challenging battles that you won't find anywhere else in ths game.

So here's the story, you start out learning the back story behind three people, a Crest Sorceress named Lilka, and two soldiers from different countries and times named Brad and Ashley. The point is to believe the story is equally about all three, but really it's Ashley who gets into a very interesting situation. During his initiation into the elite military unit ARMS everybody gets turned into Blazer demons and fight each other for supremacy. Ashley is the last man standing and after grabbing the holy sword Argetlahm, he returns to his normal form. Ashely is contacted by a man named Irving who wants to rebuild Arms with Ashley, Lilka and Brad. Lilka and Brad represent magic and physical might which Irving believes would be enough, but Ashely is actually sort of an unexpected wild card in his plans and wants to keep him around, though he doesn't reveal why, it's just assumed Ashley gets to be in the new ARMS because he's all that's left of the old unit. Soon a terrorist organization appears called Odessa though their motives are very unclear. Iriving has ARMS deal with Odessa on a series of diplomatic missions with the other major nations of the world. At one point Odessa corners ARMS and it seems like there's no way out, until Blazer breaks out of Ashley and saves the day. A mystrious figure known as Marivel consults on Ashley's condition and then the story is broken by the sudden kidnapping of an orphan named Tim by Odessa. It turns out that Tim is actually the Pillar, the chosen one who can draw upon the power of the god-like Guardians. Tim is not only rescued, but recruited, adding the power of the gods to ARMS along with Ashley's demon, Brad's strength, and Lilka's magic. The next big event is Kanon, a cyborg exorcist who intends to kill Ashley to remove the Blazer demon from the world. Ashley begins to fear his growing demon power and makes a deal with Kanon, she can join the party on the condition that she if she may kill Ashley if he can't control his power anymore. Once everyone is setin place, Irving gets serious with Odessa and sends ARMS to finish off Odessa once and for all. The final battle with Odessa finishes disc 1 with an epic confrontation in space that leaves Ashely stranded.

Disc 2 picks up with Ashley slipping into another dimension where he meets Anastasia the Sword Magess and her companions Lucied and Marivel. Anastasia used the Argetlahm to defeat Blazer long ago, and now she's trying to advise Ashley who now has to fight his own battle with Blazer while also bringing him back to Filgaia. Lucied is the Gurdian of Desire, akin to the other Guardians, yet he is unique and his powers function differently, he does not have a symbol for Tim to connect to him with, he seems to serve only the wielder of Argetlahm. Then there's Marivel, who only exists in the other dimension as a memory, she actually still lives in Filgaia and is the same woman who helps Ashley. Ashley returns to the real world to find ARMS has a new problem, a new universe is forming and threatening to destroy Filgaia. Ashley may choose to pursue Marivel and reveals that she is actually an immortal Crimosn Noble, implied quite heavily to be a vampire, and she can join the party too. Marivel was a friend of Anastasia and after witnessing the destruction caused by the Blazer, wants to prevent it from happening again, which seems imminent as Ahsley's powers grow and his Knight Blazer form becomes Heat Blazer. There's a big twist when it's revealed that the encroaching alternate universe was the real problem all along, Odessa was merely a way to unite the nations against a common threat. Finally there's an epic final battle in which five or six people stand against an entire alternate dimension that is forcibly incarnated as a monster so big the battle has to separated into four entirely separate stages. Then comes the final battle with Blazer, the demon actually manages to extricate himself from Ashley's body and fights him with Ashley having to use Argetlahm and the will of the entire planet to defeat him. You can find it on YouTube, but to truly appreciate it, you have to go through the entire game yourself.

7th Moon Trailer Final

Final Fantasy Tactics

This time I dip once again into the well of Final Fantasy for the most underappreciated yet totally awesome game ever, Final Fantasy Tactics. Tactics was very different from other games in the series because it was played as a strategy game that functions mechanically different from any other FF game, yet uses everything that defines FF, from Jobs to spells, to equipment to monsters. Mechanically it is a fun romp for FF fans because you get to train and play as Dragoons and Mages to cast familiar spells like Fira and use summons and you can even have signature monsters in your party including chocoos which you can ride in battle. Of course, all the sprites are recognizable so you can try all kinds of party combinations to take full advantage of all that the Final Fantasy universe has to offer. But most importantly, it has an incredible story. The only weakness that held it back was graphics, which I believe were a beautiful throwback to the SD midget sprite days, but objectively, it came after FF7 and most fans were expecting more. It is a tragedy that more people could not klearn to appreciate this gem, although it was popular enough to be made available on PSNetwork, so get it if you can and enjoy first hand.

The story takes place in the Kingdom of Ivalice and focuses on two young men, Ramza Beoulve and Delita Hyral. Ramza is the youngest son of a noble family, Delita was the son of the stable hand but was orphaned after the plague and adopted as Ramza's brother. The two grow up together very close and isolated from the rest of the world and it's problems. Then they atend the academy for knight training to join the Order of the Northern Sky as the rest of the family has. A peasant revolt begins and the knights are required to intervene, but Delita sympathizes with the peasants an can't help but be swayed by Wiegraf, one of the leaders of the revolt. The boys also meet another youth named Algus who is trying to restore his family's once noble name. Algus is a brat who is at odds with Delita who he believes is beneath him and Ramza is offended. Delita's sister Teta is kidnapped in a botched attempt to kidnap Ramza's sister Alma. Algus dismisses the value of the peasant girl and Ramza and Delita go to retrieve her on their own. Then things take a very ugly turn when the boys find Teta, only for her to be murdered by Algus under orders from one of Ramza's older brothers. This forces the adoptive brothers in opposite directions, Delita hates the nobles for destroying his family, and Ramza disowns himself in shame for hurting his closest friends.

One year later, Ramza is working as a mercenary to protect Princess Ovelia. The War of Lions is beginning, the King died leaving two possible heirs, one is Princess Ovelia, the other is Prince Orias. Prince Orias is only a baby and can not possibly rule so some would rather see Ovelia rule as Queen as she is of age. Others insist on patriarchy and assigning his uncle, Duke Larg as regent to rule until he comes of age. Duke Larg leads the Knights of the Northern Sky under the banner of the White Lion, while Duke Goltana leads the Knights of the Southern Sky under the banner of the Black Lion. Ramza feels very detatched from it all until his mission as a bodyguard is interrupted by Delita who he hasn't seen since the death of Teta a year earlier. Delita kidnaps Ovelia and Ramza gives chase. Ramza discovers that his employer was in on the kidnapping plot, but Delita was not and has actually made a big mess that buys the princess time. While desperately trying to protect Ovelia from her enemies, Ramza stumbles across a much darker plot, the Lucavi planning to raise the Demon King Ultima. As it turns out, the Church of Glababdos the faith of the Kingdom, is based on a lie, their saints were actually demons who are using the unrest of civil war shed enough blood to feed their leader who was killed years ago under the guise of martyrdom when he pretended to be Saint Ajora Glababdos. In a cruel twist, the key to their plan is Alma, Ramza's sister and as he tries to protect his sister and the entire Kingdom, Ramza is put at odds with the Lucavi who happen to be reincarnating as power players(including Ramza's older brothers) that manage to brand our hero as a heretic, making him a fugitive.  Meanwhile, Delita rises to power by killing the people who currently hold power during battles and gets close to Ovelia.

History records that Delita was the hero who ended the War of the Lions and united Ivalice, but only an asrologer and forgotten historian, Orran Durai, knows what really happened, and you can to if you dig up a copy of this game and find out how it all ends for yourself.

Miyazaki Eco Trilogy: Princess Mononoke, Pom Poko, Nausicaa of the Valley of the Wind

Many people know of Hayao Miyazaki and Studio Ghibli, and if you don't know, you should. Hayao Miyazaki is basically the Walt Disney of Japan, and Ghibli is his studio for making masterpieces of anime. There are many movies that are worth wacthing, but three in particular stand out for me, Princess Mononoke, Pom Poko, and Nausicaa of the Valley of the Wind. These three movies have no connection other than theme, our fragile environment. One takes place in the past, one in the present, and one in the future, and together, they present a moving story of our environment.

The first, Princess Mononoke, takes place in Japan's feudal era, a time when, according to the story, gods actually still lived among men. The story begins with Ashitaka of the Emishi, an elk herder who must defend his village from the sudden attack of a great demon that appears to take the form of a giant spider made of worms that kills everything it touches. He manages to kill it before it reaches the village, but not before it touches him and scars his arm. Before the demon dies, the worms fade and reveal the wood boar god Nago. He is cursed and must leave the village, riding off on his elk, with no hope but to find the source of Nago's curse, hisonly clue a metal pellet lodged in the god and the trail of destruction he left in his wake. Eventually Ashitaka finds Iron Town, run by Lady Eboshi who is making guns for the shogun. Her gun business requires iron sand from the other side of the forest once protected by Nago who she shot to clear him out of her way. Unfortunately she still has to contend with another god, Maro the wolf and her two cubs, three if you count Mononoke. Mononoke is the nickname of San, a girl who was adopted by Maro when her parents sacrificed her to save themselves from Maro's wrath for defiling her woods. Being a mother herself, Maro was disgusted by the humans treatment of their own offspring and raised San to fight for the wild. Ashitaka is torn, on one hand he falls in love with San and feels for nature, on the other hand, he also sees that the people of Iron Town need Lady Eboshi and they will suffer as well if Maro wins the conflict. Adding to these problems, Ashitaka's curse worsens and Nago's rage threatens to kill anyone who gets near Ashitaka, he develops a strength that allows him to dismember his enemies with one strike form his sword or his bow and arrows. Then along comes a monk who offers Eboshi a reward from the Emperor if she can bring him the head of the Spirit of the forest, a deer like god who protects the woods silently and delegates much of it's responsibilities to lesser gods. Ultimately it falls on Ashitaka to strike a balance between all parties in order to free himself of his own curse.

Pom Poko brings us to the present with the plight of the Tanuki. Tanuki are a unique species of canine from Japan that resemble raccoons and are thus referred to as racoon dogs. In traditional folklore Tanuki are believed to be powerful shapeshifters, rivaled only by the Kitsune foxes and the Nekomata cats. In reality, the Tanuki are an endangered species. Pom Poko blends these two in a desperate conflict that is often tempered with humor. As New Tama Hills is being built in Tokyo and threatening the habitat of the Tanuki, they pull out every trick they've got to stop the humans, including taking human form. There really seem to be no limits on the Tanuki's abilities to shapeshift as they take on every concievable form to scare off humans. Ultimately they fail to stop it entirely, but they do make some progress, though they manage to keep it secret enough that nobody knows. The main character, if there is one, is Sasuke a young Tanuki, but the story jumps around so much that it doesn't even focus on him. Although it's an ensemble piece, verging on anthology, this story manages to still illustrate the plight of an endangered species while using it's tradtionally humorous nature to balance the story from being too depressing.

Finally, Nausicaa of the Valley of the Wind, takes place in a distant future when biological weapons and giant monstrosities fought a war that all but destroyed the world and now what's left is being overrun by fungi and insects. The last place that seems to be safe is the Valley of the Wind, where ocean winds seem to blow the toxic fungal spores away and allow those who live in the village to remain safe. This is the home of Nausicaa, a girl who is bravely investigating the fungi and insects trying to determine what caused the current situation and if there is anyway to stop it. She is surprised to discover that nature is actually fixing istself, the trees are processing the fungal toxins and slowly, but surely, purifying the air while the giant insects are intergral to the survival of those same trees. The problem is that two warrign groups of refugees are coming toward the Valley of the Wind looking for an ancient giant, believing that it will have the power to stop the fungus and the insects, but Nausicaa knows that the giant will only make the problem worse by destroying the trees and allowing the toxic fungus to spread unchecked. In fact the giants were responsible for the current situation more than anything else.

Princess Mononoke shows us the past when we first lost respect for nature, Pom Poko shows us where we have gotten ourselves, and Nausicaa of the Valley of the Wind warns us that ultimately we will only be destroying ourselves. It is profound, and I highly recommend watching them as a marathon next Earth Day.

Avatar the Last Airbender and Legend of Korra

Last week the third season of the Legend of Korra premiered but I sort of committed myself to a different topic before I found out. Legend of Korra, and it's predecessor, Avatar the Last Airbender are very influential to me and my work on 7th Moon because it is essentially the first American anime, it's everything I want my project to be and the success of this series blazes a trail for me. Unlike most anime, the Avatar saga is made in America, but the characters have decidely Asian influences, including the fact that each style of bending is based on an actual martial arts style and actual martial artists helped choreograph the fight scenes. When it first came out i had high hopes, but my biggest fear was that purists would not approve ofthe American origins. My experience at anime conventions has overwhelmingly proved that it has been accepted, though the live action adaptation by M.Night Shamylan proves that even Avatar fans can be as snobby as the rest of the anime community. It was so popular that after finishing it's planned three year run, they decided to do a sequel about the Avatar's next incarnation, and they never let us forget the connections to the past. This bodes well and I hope that I can achieve the same success with 7th Moon.

So for the review/synopsis for those of you who don't already know, the word of Avatar is based around the four classical elements, air, water, earth and fire, in that order so remember it. There are people who can bend these elements and are called benders, and each ca only bend ne, except the Avatar who can bend all four and ust maintain balance between the four elements, the four corresponding nations, between benders and non-benders, between man and nature, and between the spiritual and the physical. It's a pretty tall order, but the Avatar reincarnates through the cycle and every generation, steps up and keeps the balance. Before I get carried away into the story, I want to point out that each nation manages to make the most of their element to develop unique technology. Water benders stay at the poles where they can sculpt ice, fire benders live in a volcanic area where they can smelt metal, earth benders use stone for everything including transportation because earth benders can move stone easily enough to make trains out of stones, and air benders stay in the mountains because while they can't build with air they have unique manuverability at high altitudes.

The story of Avatar begins with a water bender named Katara who lives in the south pole with her non-bending brother Sokka, a proud Water Tribe warrior. Their mother died protecting them and their fatehr went to war, and now they're stuck with a dwindling village that Sokka is struggling to feed on a fishing trip when they find an iceberg with a boy frozen inside. They break the boy out and it turns out that he is Aang, the last airbender and the Avatar who disappeared one hundred years earlier. They are soon pursued by Prince Zuko of the Fire Nation and are forced to go on the run with Appa, Aang's sky bison, a large six legged beast that can airbend and fly. They round out their little group with Momo, a lemur bat that seems to be the last survivor of the Southern Air Temple where Aang grew up. Flashback time, the Avatar is usually not revealed until he or she is 16, but Aang found out when he was 12, panicked and ran away before he learned the other elements, got caught in a storm and reactively froze himself. Within a few days, a comet passed by empowering the fire benders, including Fire Lord Sozin who wiped out the Air Nomads in one day. The Water Tribes were next, but the Earth Kingdom allied with them and managed to keep the war at a stalemate ever since. Aang also learns from his previous incarnation Roku that Sozin's comet will come back this summer and the war must end before then or the Fire Nation will destroy the world. Meanwhile, Prince Zuko spoke out against his father who was considering a plan to sacrfice expendable non-bender soldiers in the vanguard while fire benders took out the enemy. Zuko did not approve of sacrificing innocent yet loyal subjects, but his father would not yield and punished him with exile until he could bring back the Avatar, which was an impossible task given that the Aang had not yet emerged from the iceberg and his people died before they could figure out where he'd even gone in the first place, so nobody knew where the Avatar was. Zuko was accompanied by his uncle Iroh, Fire Lord Ozai's older brother who was once a mighty warrior until his son died in battle and he retired heartbroken and abdicated the throne. Iroh's actually a nice guy and wants to help Zuko accept his fate rather than fight and waste his life, though the arrival of the Avatar ruins this. Even Zuko is made sympathetic, particularly in the first season's most moving episode, the Blue Spirit, in which Aang is captured by te Fire Nation and he is rescued by a silent masked stranger who only fights with swords. After an impressive chase sequence leading to Aang's escape, the mask is pulled back to reveal Zuko. When you think about this episode you realize, Zuko isn't the bad guy, he just wants to go home.

The second season transitions with Aang and Katara mastering water bending and seeking an earth bending teacher. They find Toph a blind girl who compensates by feeling vibrations in the earth. She joins the crew and work there way to Ba Sing Se, the capitol of the Earth Kingdom where they cross paths with Zuko again. Zuko had been invited back home by his sister Azula, but when one of her soldiers accidentally refers to Zuko as "prisoner" he realizes it's a ruse and runs away. Iroh tries to get him to settle down in Ba Sing Se and work at a tea shop(Iroh really likes tea, he even works at the tea shop after the war ends). Zuko finds out that Appa was captured and is being held prisoner outside of Ba Sing Se and tries to get to the sky bison to hurt the Avatar, leading to what I believe to be quite possibly the most moving scene in the entire series which I will post below.

The third season concludes Zuko's journey, which has been eerily paralleling Aang's up to this point when he becomes his Fire Bending teacher. Iroh reveals himself to the Avatar as a member of the Order of the White Lotus which includes many of Aang's other friends and mentors and they all support the Avatar in his fight because they know there will be no tomorrow for any of them unless the Avatar can defeat Fire Lord Ozai. Zuko and Katara go to settle things with Azula while Aang fights Fire Lord Ozai and the rest buy time by holding back the Fire Nation forces. It should also be noted that Zuko was dating Azula's best friend Mai and when forced to choose between them, mai chooses Zuko. This is brave because Mai doesn't bend, though she is skilled with a knife and she knows better than anyone how volatile Azula can be, so it shows true love to choose Zuko, but it pays off for her because she becomes his queen after he is appointed the new Fire Lord after Aang manages to depose the rest of his family(really his father and sister are psycho, even Zuko realizes it's the right thing). Sokka presumably ends up with Suki, the warrior from Kyoshi Island, who they met in the first season, is rescued in the third season and fights alongside the rest in the final battle. Aang ends up with Katara which leads into the next series.

Aang had three kids, one of them, Tenzin, is an airbender and he has four kids, all air benders. Aang passed away at the ripe age of 66 and the next incarnation is a water bender named Korra. Unlike Aang who was very reluctant at 12, Korra is all about being the Avatar when she comes out at 16. She's confident, but not too cocky, she's a heroine who knows the lagacy Aang left to her and intends to live up to it. Tenzin is her mentor and they live in Republic City, a place built for all people to come and live together in peace. The good news is, technology has jumped from feudal era to 1920's New York City, the bad news is, not everybody is getting along, and Korra feels responsible to resolve the issues. But first, Korra gets into pro-bending,  sport for teams of three benders, one of each element and Korra plays water with brothers mako the fire bender and Bolin the earth bender. The first season reolves around the Equalists who are trying to undo benders, though ironically the leader is revealed to be a waterbender who uses his power to blood-bend, a very rare ability that allows one to bend the water in blood to manipulate people and in this particualr cae he is able to undo bending. The second season revolved around the spirit world and Korra's uncle Unalaq, who was probably the nastiest villain yet as he set out to become the dark Avatar. We also learn the true origin of the Avatar. 10,000 years ago people lived in cities built on the backs of Lion Turtles which could each give humans power over one element so they could leave the city and collect food from the wilderness around them, which was dangerous because of the spirits which did not like humans. the rule was the humans had to return their element when they returned to the city, but one poor boy named Wan sneaked back in without giving back his fire and fought against the rich people opressing him. His punishment was exile, but he was allowed to keep his fire so he could have a fighting chance in the wild. His first fight is to protect a cat deer from hunters which earns the respectof the spirits, but then he makes a mistake, he intervenes in the fight between two spirits named Ravi and Vaatu, who are the supreme spirits of order and chaos, and he mistakenly frees Vaatu the spirit of chaos. Ravi explains that they have a year to set thigns right or Vaatu will throw the world into chaos. Wan discovers other Lion Turtles with other elements and tries to take their elements, but the Lion Turtles explain that a human can not use more than one element or it will destroy him. To resolve this, Ravi holds his extra elements and helps him switch so he can use all four alternately. However in the final battle with Vaatu, Wan needs Ravi to bond with him so he can use all four elements at the same time. They succeed in defeating Vaatu, but Wan becomes permanently bonded with Ravi and is bound to spend the rest of his life trying to maintain order as the Avatar. To his credit, he does his best, but he is mortal and eventually ravi passes on to the next Avatar and begins the cycle which leads up to Kyoshi, Roku, Aang and Korra.

Quite obviously, Korra defeats Vaatu and saves the world, but much as Wan changed the world, so too has Korra, and the new world is restoring balance by spontaneously awakening air benders, some good, some bad, some not yet decided. So begins season three, tune in to Nickelodeon next Friday to watch the continuing adventures of Korra and her friends and catch up on past episodes on Nick.com, and as always, please consider my book, because 7th Moon is written in the same vein and if you like Avatar you'll love 7th Moon.