Final Fantasy XV

Yes, I did get Final fantasy XV for Christmas and although I haven't had much time to get into this game, it is pretty awesome. I don't want to get too much into the story because I am still new and don't know a whole lot myself, but the main thing is that it's about four guys and a car. Of the four guys the main one is Noctis, Prince of Lucis, the last free kingdom in the world of Eos. Lucis is protected by a crystal whose power is channeled by the king, so Noctis is pretty important because he has a unique set of magical powers that only he can use as the royal heir and his kingdom is dependent on him to perform his duties to keep out the daemons that plague the rest of the world. This is you're only playable character so no pressure, but a kingdom's fate rests squarely on your shoulders. Next up is Gladiolus, the bodyguard, he's basically a knight whose entire job is to keep you alive, but an event in Noctis' youth has led them to be friends so when he's not swinging his greatsword he's pretty laid back. Gladiolus has a sister who came to visit him at work one day and got lost when she wandered off, Noctis found her and helped her get home safe, then took the heat for them getting lost in the first place, then when they got home she confessed to her brother and he felt like he owed Noctis, but even more impotantly, Noctis never gave a hint that he wanted anything in return so Gladiolus recognized he wasn't the brat he thought he was. Then there's Ignis who appears to be your chauffer and personal chef based on what he actually does in your party, but really he's a high raking royal advisor who happens to have ended up with Noctis as his responsibility. The last guy is Prompto, who is really nothing more than a classmate of Noctis who got to be his BFF, which mens that lacking any official role, he's the odd man out, never really knowing what's going on and it's not even entirely clear why he's even there in the first place. Noctis is betrothed to Lunafreya, the Oracle, who seems to be the only magical person outside of Lucis and is largely responsible for protecting everybody else in the world. The Empire of Niflheim has united the people of the outside world and with Lucis the last holdout, they want the kingdom and a deal to secure peace between the two nations is relying on the marriage between Noctis and Lunafreya. And so the story begins with the four guys on a road trip to see the bride. Obviously, things don't go as planned...

What is really impressive about this game is how realistic it is, and I'm not just talking about graphics, it's also gameplay. In addition to combat, each guy has an "exploration" skill that levels up as they do things outside of combat that help the party, Noctis can go fishing, edible fish he catches can be cooked by Ignis, Gladiolus can find additional ingredients after battle, and Prompto takes pictures so you have mementos of everything. Okay, the last part doesn't seem important, but you get levels, so it must matter at some point. In any case, it's good to see how everything works together to be more than just using a tent to restore HP, then resume fighting random monsters like most RPGs. Also, there's the hunting aspect, reused from the last few games, you don't just get gil for killing monsters, you actually have to be contracted to hunt them or collect treasure to sell. And one of the best things is your car, the Regalia, which you use to get from one place to another while keeping your party together. On one hand, the car can be boring because you get in it and just ride to the next point on the map, but you also get to select your music while you ride which includes the soundtracks from every Final Fantasy game and a tribute single from Afrojack, so the auto pilot makes it easier to cycle through the deck. Also the car is realistically practical, I mean seriously, why do heroes seem to just walk across vast stretches of overworld? This is a modern world where you drive a car over long distances. You do have to gas it up periodically but your mechanic is a hot chick named Cindy who wears super short cutoff jean shorts and a bikini top (to be fair she lives in the desert, it's probably hot, but then why does she always wear that jacket too?). One really impressive feat is how the whole world is one continuous area, so everything is to scale. Everything about this game feels like it's real, every thing you've ever questioned about a game world is addressed except going to the bathroom. The only downside to all of this reality is that it's light on combat because while random encounters do happen, enemies don't just appear, they have to be somewhere so you tend to know when they are coming, which means unless you are stuck in a room with no way out, you can always run away from a battle. But when battles do happen, they are epic. Noctis has the power to summon weapons which is integral to the story, so as far as where these weapons are between battles, that's covered, but it also provides interesting mechanics, like how Noctis can reverse his weapon summoning by warping to his sword when he throws it and attacking enemies at long distances, which is both strategic and really cool looking. You can also use magic, although the system for it is a little odd, you draw out the three elements of fire, ice and lightning from draw points and then craft grenade-like spells three at a time to throw at enemies. There's also the risk that you can hit your own party with these, but if you learn how to use them properly, they can be good for crowd control.

When the game loads, it says "A Final Fantasy for fans and first timers" and I have to say, that about sums it up, fans will find plenty to love, and first timers will find an experience that is exciting and lacks everything that ever turned them off to the series and genre in the first place. For once, a game is worth the hype, I just hope FFVII remake follows suit.

Christmas Joy

"I want a Red Rider BB gun with a compass in the stock and this thingy that tells time!"

"You'll shoot your eye out."

That simple exchange is familiar to anyone who has ever watched the classic, "A Christmas Story" but there is a reason it resonates even for those of us who don't want a Red Rider BB gun or even know what it is, becaus Ralphie pursues tha with a determination that we can all relate to because at some point we've all had that one present we wanted that bad, our own personal Red Rider BB gun. For me it was usually video games, as it is again this year. Some people don't like video games because they think it makes kids anti-social, but for meit was more the opposite. I remember a time before video games, and it was lonely because nobody wanted to play with me. It's hard to play ball when there's no one to play against, the same with board games and pretty much every other game or toy that was meant for social interaction. As the wierd kid who was just plain no good at anything, keeping friends to play games was even harder than winning the game itself, I was very lonely. Then my parents got a Nintendo Entertainment System, for me and I believe to some extent my older sister. Nintendo was awesome, because I didn't need another kid to enjoy the game, for once there was a game I could play by myself if I had to. It's not tthat I want to avoid social interaction, it's just that it seemed easier for everyone involved if I did. But as sad as this sounds, video games make great therapy for this loneliness, because as games got better, there was invariably a story that made you feel like a hero. No matter how many times you screw up, there's always another chance to go back and do it again, and no matter how long it takes, there's always your princess thankful you showed up at all with a victory tune that makes you feel a sense of accomplishment.

I guess I took for granted the joy this brought me every Christmas when I got a new game and played the hell out of it. I eventually grew up and thought I was moving past that and it was time to expect something more than presents under the tree. Then my nieces came along and I watch them every Christmas with that excitement I used to have and after a few years of not bothering to ask for games that I no longer have time to play because I'm a grown up and I have to work, it hit me that being a grown up is not all it's cracked up to be and we all deserve to have that joy on Christmas morning, just for one day to forget how much life sucks and just open a present and be happy for one frickin' day. I don't care about what people say about commercialism and how tis day is about the birth of the lord and not about stuff. When I was a kid, my parents made me earn my toys, anything over $10 went on the wishlist for Christmas or my birthday and the latter usually got a smaller haul than the former, so this was the day I could get the stuff I couldn't get the rest of the year, so I appreciated it, and looking back I realize, that it is a part of the experience that makes the holiday so great. It's winter, it's cold outside, snow is getting in your shoes, but for this month we can look forward to a day with fmaily, enjoying a feast second only to Thanksgiving, drinking egg nog, looking at lights that make any neighborhood compete with the Las Vegas Strip, watchign sappy movies and listening to sappier songs and best of unwrapping a box under the tree to find the game that was just out of price range for the past few months.

This year my game of choice is Final Fantasy XV which is kind of a big deal because it also means upgrading to the PS4 and I haven't gotten a console since PS2(I didn't find anythign on the PS3 woorth investing in). As a grown up I am setting asdie some money in case I need to buy it myself from an after Christmas sale, but I'm really hoping Santa brings it(meaning I hope my parents got it for me, unless you still believe in Santa in which case, never mind, I totally really meant Santa). It's not even really about the game itself really, it's about missing the simple Christmas joy, of knowing someone still loved me enough to get me what I wanted, the same way I got some good stuff for the people I love, and I hope we all get to experience that same joy as when Ralphie finally did get his Red Rider BB gun, and I wish the same joy to you all. Merry Christmas!

Undertale

Ooookaaay... I haven't finished Undertale, but so far it is probably the weirdest game I have ever played. It is an indie game, an RPG with graphics that look like it was made in 1990 and mostly drawn by someone who did the best they could with a mouse and a paint program from that period. Despite looking like crap, it can still be fun to play thanks to clever writing that makes the story funny and at times touching and sweet, and other times creepy on a level I never knew was possible. Its most distinguishing feature is that you can get through the game without actually killing anybody, and there are three different endings depending on whether you kill everyone, spare everyone, or take a middle path. The way it works is that when a battle starts, you can choose either to attack or act, the latter of which will still leave you open to an attack from the monster, but you actually get a chance to avoid damage in a minigame so if you play it right you can be friendly with the monsters and get to the end without killing them, although sometimes this is harder than it looks and you often get tempted to simply kill monsters instead of exercising patience in sparing them.

In the game you are a human who falls down a hole into the subterranean world of monsters that has been sealed off from humans because there was a war that was basically just racist and ended up cramming all the monsters in a cave. The monsters actually have rather human personalities when you get to know them and each one has some quirk you can take advantage of to have peaceful interactions and like humans, some of them are jerks and it really takes patience to end the battle without killing them(usually bosses), whereas others are pretty much pushovers, and a few really just take one simple action to back off. The first monster you meet is Flowey, who appears to be a cute sunflower and then shockingly turns out to be the most raving mad psycho in the whole world. Fortunately, Flowey is chased off by Toriel, a horned beast who looks like a bipedal cow in a house dress and acts like a sweet overprotective mother. She takes you home and bakes you a pie and everything seems fine until you try to leave, and then she fights you to keep you with her. The truly sad and disturbing part is that she has solid logic to prove it's out of love, Asgore wants your soul to break the boundary to the outside world and you will be sacrificed if you don't stay with her, she's seen it happen to others before you. She's so stubborn I killed her the first time because the directions were kind of tricky and she cried for me before she died, so I tried again and she lived, but Flowey was right there to taunt me by saying he knew what I did. It took me a second to realize the game how complicated the game code was that it was expected I'd cheat like this, but his evil grin still creeped me out like "How did he know I reset the game?" As you move forward you meet more weird characters most notably the skeleton brothers Sans and Papyrus. Sans likes you right away and his sense of humor makes him likable, but Papyrus is confused, he wants to fight you at first, but despite his words his clumsy actions lead you to be spared, and if you have mercy on him you become friends and then he decides to date you, as it is abundantly clear he is socially awkward to the point he doesn't actually understand the meaning of dating. Also there are a series of dogs that are ridiculously cute as much like real dogs, they act like fierce guards until you pet them and they become your friends. There are also some other really weird characters and the methods of not fighting get weirder and weirder, including Vegetoid who wants you to eat him, Woshu who just wants to wash you, the cute Tems who just want kitty kibble and one monster simply wants you to leave it alone. The sweetest one in my opinion is Gyftrot, a reindeer decorated like a Christmas tree who is cranky because of the weght stacked on his antlers an all you have to do is remove the clutter.

The simplest thing to do is just kill everybody but I've been told this leads to a miserable ending which involves the destruction of the universe. The pacifist run, which I'm attempting, is supposed to get the best ending, but it is very testing, and I'm tempted to do a run where I kill everyone except Toriel, Sans and the dogs. It seems to be popular at cons, so if you're one of those people looking for a truly original and unique gaming experience, this is it.

Mobius Final Fantasy

I've gotten into a relatively new mobile game called Mobius Final Fantasy and I highly recommend it. It has very high quality graphics and a pretty novel interface, although the story is a bit lacking, at least at first, but they just released the second part of Chapter 3 and that's apparently only halfway through, so I'm giving it some more time to develop. The game starts off with you answering the call of your name from an unseen voice. Many others are also answering the call, the problem is, you don't know if they're wrong or you are because you are an amnesiac. Soon you meet Garland who is no help either except to suggest you help a moogle who then tells you that you may be the Warrior of Light of prophecy. At this point your options are either to follow the moogle and his prophecy or die in obscurity with the others, so you follow the moogle. You are then led around the world of Paramecia seeking Princess Sarah Cornelia who will help you fulfill your destiny of fighting Chaos and saving the world.

One minor flaw with the plot is that the game mainly consists of fighting a series of battles against monsters with less variety than the the Heartless in Kingdom Hearts. The story will bring distinct and memorable bosses, but most of the random encounters are simply facing the various "Dust" minions of Chaos, which seem to represent the three classes and the four/five elements available in the game, so the fights get repetitive. Fortunately, just about every stop along the way also features a cutscene that furthers the story, some even have voice overs that make it more real, and some areas even have a walkabout area where you get to explore a little instead of just fighting, though they do tend to be disappointingly short. This may turn out to be a good story when it's done, but expect that while you wait for the best part of the story you'll be wading through the same repetitive crap you get with every other mobile game, just with way better graphics.

As for the interface, the gameplay seems daunting during the tutorial, but once you get the hang of it it's pretty simple. Tapping the screen will have you attack an enemy, you can use target view to select your target which can be strategic once you understand the element system. When you attack, you get orbs of one of four out of five elements, determined by your job. The five elements are fire, water, air, earth and life, each job can draw life and three of the other four and those three form the element drive. By default you can use the element drive to heal with life orbs or raise defense for any of your three elements. You can also use orbs to activate abilities determined by the cards in your deck. You make your deck with four cards plus a rental card from another player. Your card pool will form most of your strategy for the game and you get the cards in two ways, the ability shop and battle drops which correspond to the monsters you fight. A word of advice, just pick your favorite abilities from the ability shop and build them up. Ability shop cards cost ability tickets, but you get more of them during regular gameplay than you'd think so just splurge to make your dream deck. Battle drops provide the same abilities as ability shop cards, but the difference is that battle drops start with the lesser version of the ability and you have to augment the cards to three star rating to get the full version, while ability shop cards come at three star and can be upgraded to four star, which battle drops can not. All of that means you should just invest in you favorite abilities from the shop to make them the best you can. Once you get the hang of that, the game is pretty easy to manage, but I've found that cornering the abilities makes the game even more interesting because there is still some strategy, and having the abilities and using them properly become two different things. There are also job cards and building them up requires skillseeds which are provided by the ability cards so you have to have the right cards to get the right seeds if you want to get the most out of your job, but don't worry, if your favorite cards from the shop don't get the right seeds, battle drop cards will fill the void and fix that problem until you get caught up.

Overall, I'd give it a 9 out of 10, the biggest drawback is that the game is so big, loading up the game takes three screens and a few minutes just to start and don't even think about doing this on anything but wi-fi, data networks will kill you, and you device will get hot from processing. Once you get over the drawbacks it it is definitely worth it and deserves its accolades for best looking mobile game.Seriously, it looks like PS4 graphics, PS2 at least, if you're a fan of recent Final Fantasy games, this is for you, like they say on the load screen, when you can't be home to play FFXV, play Mobius on the go.

NaNoWriMo Riding the Dragon Week 4 FINALE!

I DID IT! Not only did I complete my novel for this year, but this also means I've completed my first trilogy.

I put in a prologue that explains some back story regarding Nathan, the changelings, and the spirits, I hope people like gettign to know the origins of these characters. Aside from that, there really isn't a whole lot I can say without spoiling the ending, so I'm afraid that's all I've got this week. I will say I tied up a lot of loose ends and settled the story, though there may be one detail I'll have to leave up to your imaginations even when you read it.

It was a grand total of over 51,000 words, so I'm kind of worn out so sorry about the short post, just wanted to let you all know it was a success. I'm also excited about playing Mobius Final Fantasy and Undertale, so I'll have reviews on those in the coming weeks.