Christmas break

Just FYI, I'm going to be off until after New Years.  I will pick up then.

Please comment with any topics you want to see me tackle when I return!

Level Analysis - Final Fantasy VI opening

Today is the first day of Winter, so I wanted to showcase one of the best winter levels.

The Final Fantasy VI opening

I know, I know, you don't play there.  But it's a simply beautiful level to look at with the music playing.  the side view is generally unheard of in the game's context, and the level doesn't actually loop. Instead you get closer and closer to the goal of the city (which you can see twinkling in the distance).

It doesn't seem so now, but in the age of the SNES, this was VERY impressive.  It's impressive now, in our age of CG and orchestrated sounds. This was, and still is, very amazing.

And, visually, it's done very simply.  It's a simple perspective change that pulls us into the story, gives us back story, introduces us to our heroine, introduces or villain (No, really, Kefka shows up briefly)  and really pulls us into the world. 

It makes you care about this world, one that I hope Square revisits at some point. 

Kingdom Hearts 3D

It's very fitting that a trailer for a game that takes place in a dream is as trippy as this trailer is.  No, really, I've been following Kingdom Hearts for a while and I have NO IDEA what is going on besides the basic set up.  (Namely, that Sora and Riku are completing their Mark of Master exam.  This was the letter in KH2, and we've seen the Mark of Master exam in Kingdom Hearts: BBS.)

(Spoilers for the other KH games ahead)

It is interesting though, many scenes in this trailer are relating back to the side or filler games.  The Mark of Mastery exam, as stated before, was in Birth By Sleep.  Vanitas (Evil Sora) and Master Xehanort (the old creepy guy) are also in Birth By Sleep. The black haired Kairi is actually Xion who is one of the main characters of Kingdom Hearts 358/2... until it was revealed she was actually a Replica and was drawing power from both Roxas and Sora so she tricked Roxas into killing her so she could return to Sora, erasing everyone's memories of her in the process)  The the Somebodies in the trailer (Ienzo, Aeleus, and Lea) originally debuted as Nobodies in Kingdom Hearts:Chain of Memories.  Namine also debuted there. (She's the blond Kairi in the white dress) And there is suspicion the other Riku is a "Data Riku" from Kingdom Hearts: Re:coded.  (I haven't played Re:Coded so I can't judge)

But what is interesting is various scenes have been remixed, especially from Kingdom Hearts 2.  The famous Roxas/Axel battle is now in CG. 

But on the other hand, Roxas NEVER fought against Xemnas and Sora and Riku have yet to face Master Xehanort.  While it could be a nod to how Sora harbors Ven (who is in Roxas... it's a bit confusing) and Riku was possessed by Ansem:Seeker of Darkness who is actually a form of Terra (Yeah, that's confusing too)  but who really knows at this point.

And THEN there is that young form of Xehanort hanging around which has something to do with Vanitas which makes no sense at all since we've never seen a Xehanort THAT young and while Master Xehanort created Vanitas and semi raised him, they've never had a spiritual connection like the rest of the groups.

THEN there is "The World Ends With You" crew.  While the Kingdom Hearts games have included Square Enix Cameos before (Cloud and Zack are minor plotpoints in the Olympus Colosseum worlds) they're usually a bit more varied.  (While Final Fantasy 7 easily has the most characters, they share the sage with Final Fantasy 6, 8, 9, and 10(-2).)  But so far, almost the entire cast of TWEWY has shown up, and all in one world.  It's rather odd, even for an admitted marketing ploy.  (SE has admitted that they want to make a TWEWY sequel, but they need to increase awareness of the TWEWY crew so they were inserting into Kingdom Hearts)  That being said, putting in one of Josha's iconic lines is a nice touch. 

One thing that is interesting, though, is the utter lack of Ven, Aqua, and Terra (other then Terra and Ven's semi alternate forms) While Birth By Sleep and Re:Coded makes it clear that the three need to be saved in order for Light to win in the battle against Master Xehanort, and Re:Coded also states that they've tracked down at least 2 of the heroes of Birth By Sleep, it is interesting none of them show up, not even Master Eraqus who taught them.  While we might see more later, the absence is notable.

The choice of the three "Somebodies" that came back is interesting.  While we always knew Lea/Axel would come back (everyone likes him way too much and he appeared for almost no reason in Birth By Sleep)  Ienzo/Zexion and Aeleus/Lexaeus are an odd choice.  They only appeared in Riku's story in Reverse/Rebirth mode in Kingdom Hearts: Chain of Memories and as part of the short tutorial in 358/2.  Why have just those three (and Xehanort) come back?  As far as we know, they hold very little knowledge of the series' inner workings.

Square Enix makes fantastic trailers, but one of their main problems is they spoil too much. A few months before Birth By Sleep was released, many fans guessed that Terra would end up possessed by Master Xehanort (who was the real villain of the game) and become the Xehanort in the Kingdom Hearts 1 and 2 reports.  That's not happening here.

Check out the short version of the trailer on the official website

I can't wait until we get a localized trailer, I hope it's the long one.  And I can't wait until we find out more about this game.  It's way too trippy, but it's awesome. 

Musical Monday - "To Die" Heimdall 2

I'll come out and say it.  I know practically nothing about this game.  Which fits with the myth, very little is known about Heimdall.  All that is known about him is that he guarded the realm of the gods. 
All I can say is, I really like this piece for the Amiga game.  I wish I knew in what context it was used.  Despite the sad title, it is a very pretty piece.

Jump Festa: Pokemon

Nobunaga's Ambition is a pretty popular game in Japan.  The gist of it is you are one of the clans taking over Japan.  This version of the game... each side uses Pokemon.   

I don't know too much, never having played it, but it sounds like an interesting concept, and one that would work very will in a Pokemon world.  Maybe in the time before Pokemon battling was regulated, this happened?

Well, I'll be looking forward to seeing more about the game.  At least the Gameplay looks interesting....

Design Analysis - The World Ends With You Opening.

Congratulations, I just spoiled the entire game for you.   (Spoilers ahead... since unless you played the game you don't realize how important any of that was)

Basically, this is a fascinating way to do credits.  It's "What the HECK" at it's finest, The names get in there, but rather then a basic background (such as from Final Fantasy III)

or alternate screens, the names are flashing with the various scenes... which explain everything as I said  before.

Two Shikis? Because there actually are two Shikis,only one is named Eri.  All those people Neku passed? His partners later in the game. The mindless drone reflections in Megumi's glasses? His master plan.  Yep, they out the villain five minutes into the game, I think before you even get to play as Neku.

It's an interesting way to do credits, and one I hope gets picked up more often.  It's stylized and by the time you realize this MEANS anything, you forgot about it.  It still sticks with you.

I really should play this game again... I feel like I'm missing things. 

Jump Fiesta

So, Jump Fiesta starts today in Japan!  I'll cover more when info actually comes out.

What can we expect to see there?
Puyo Puyo!! 20th Anniversary (3DS)
Hatsune Miku and Future Stars Project Mirai (3DS)
Hatsune Miku Project Diva Arcade (Arcade)
Rhythm Thief R (3DS)
Samurai & Dragons (Vita)
Shining Blade (PSP)
Final Fantasy XIII-2
Lord of Apocalypse
Theatrhythm Final Fantasy
Kingdom Hearts 3D
Bravely Default: Flying Fairy
Dragon Quest Monsters 3D
Fortune Street
Dragon Quest Heroes: Rocket Slime 3
Dragon Quest X
Chrono Trigger (iPhone/iPod Touch/Android)
Bakuman: The Way of a Manga Artist (DS)
Blue Exorcist: The Phantom Labyrinth of Time (PSP)
Digimon World Re:Digitize (PSP)
Dragon Ball Z: Ultimate Tenkaichi (PS3/360)
Dragon Ball Zenkai Battle Royale (Arcade)
Gintama (Mobile)
Listen to Daddy Says! (PSP)
Naruto Shippuden: Ultimate Ninja Impact (PSP)
Naruto Shippuden: Ultimate Ninja Storm Generations (PS3/360)
One Piece: Gigant Battle 2 (DS)
One Piece: Grand Collection (Mobile)
Saint Seiya: Sanctuary Battle (PS3)
Tales of Innocence (Vita)
Tales of the Heroes: Twin Brave (PSP)
Tekken Hybrid (PS3)
Toriko: Gourmet Battle (PC)
Toriko: Gourmet Survival (PSP)
Something Pokemon related
Capcom and Konami are both at the show, but I haven't found their line up.

What are you looking forward too?

For me, it's KH 3D and Theatrythm.  And maybe some  Street Fighter X Tekken stuff.  They should be announcing new characters soon,and I LOVE their story videos.

I wish we could see more of these kinds of vids.

Level Design - Hotel Dusk

Hotel Dusk is a criminally underrated graphic novel for the DS. It's lack luster sells means alot of people missed a great, complicated, interesting, unique playable novel about Kyle Hyde, an ex police detective in the seventies, who know works as someone who finds things and sells things.  He is sent to the Hotel Dusk and finds out that, for some reason, it is incredibly tied to his own past.  There is a sequel, but Nintendo decided against localizing it for the US so it was only released in Japan and Europe.  Fortunately the DS doesn't have any regional software so go import it!

Okay, moving on,

Hotel Dusk is distinguished visually due to it's use of Rotoscoping for it's visuals.  What this means is they record someone actually doing the action (holding an item, turning around, playing pool, whatever) and then draw over it.  This technique has been used before (the character of Snow White is rotoscoped for the movie) but it isn't always so sketchy.  However, it fits with the game.  The game is filled with black, white, and gray.  Life attempts to be simple.   And the backgrounds don't stand out.

It's an interesting style for an interesting game.  I just wish more people recognized it.


(As a side note: if this blog is shut down by SOPA, I hope you enjoyed reading it.)

Character design- Riddler (Arkham Asylum)

As I haven't played Arkham City, I'm just covering Arkham Asylum.

Riddler is one of my favorite Batman villains.  I find his compulsion interesting, and though it is hard to do, he is very different from the Joker.

There are two rather different, but iconic, portrayals him in media.

Frank Gorshin's amazing laughter from the 60's Batman:

And John Glover's incredibly restrained and intelligent Riddler in Batman: The Animated Series.  (BTW, that series is one of THE best TV shows, let alone Batman series, ever.  It restructured and refined much of the Batman mythos, gave us Harley Quinn, rewrote Mr. Freeze's backstory, and is incredibly well done.  Go and watch it now, it is NOT a waste)

(Okay, NOT the best example.  If you can, watch "If you're so smart, why aren't you dead?"

With Batman: Arkham Asylum, they could combine many parts of the earlier incarnations, including the fact that Riddler in the comics is actually a murderous pyscopath.

So, they put that in here.  Along with the restraint of John Glover (most of the time.  He gets enraged as you solve more of the riddles) a laugh like Frank Gorshin, and together leads to a rather interesting performance.

Hopefully an even better performance in Arkham City... now that we can see him.

Laguna Loire in the modern era

AKA deleted content: Kingdom Hearts: Birth by Sleep part 2.

Kingdom Hearts: Birth By Sleep and Dissidia Duodecim would both come out at about the same time.  And Square Enix decided that they would need to make a decision. 

Which game would star Laguna Loire?

Eventually, they decided to go with Dissidia and Laguna was cut some time before Birth By Sleeps release (As of this writing, no data has been found in the game that deals with Laguna.  However, this tidbit was revealed in the Birth By Sleep Ultimania)

That being said, from what was in Dissidia (I have yet to play FF8) Laguna would make a nice eventual addition.  A.V. Kennedy does a nice job voicing him (which is great, as far as I can tell, this is his first time doing anything besides background voices and he gets a big character in a big Square Enix release. GO A.V. KENNEDY!)  (cough)   and the character is fantastic.  Laguna is kind, funny, absentminded, interested in people, likes girls (but not in a pervy way), a perfect gentleman, and can MORE then keep up with the rest of Cosmos and Chaos' warriors despite having absolutely no magic.

In fact, he's the only Cosmos warrior who doesn't have at least one magic spell.  Tidus has a magic HP attack, Tifa has Ice, Cloud has Fire, Jecht has laser beams from his eyes (and transforms into SIN), and... all Laguna gets is his weapons turning gold which is really just Leon and Company lending their strength. 

With Dream Drop Distance coming up, and at least considered worlds confirmed to be in the roster, maybe we can see some considered heroes?

After all, he was more then considered for Birth By Sleep, he had his own plot line.  He was to run the Mirage Arena.  We don't know anything other then that, but judging from Dissidia (And FF8, which I can't comment on) it would have been interesting. Especially considering what he could have happened if he interacted with Aqua. 

As for future released, we don't know.  But I would LOVE to have him show up again.