My relationship with Final Fantasy XIV feels like it's about to break. Blog forthcoming. That said, Blade and Soul launched at a very opportune time to steal away my MMO attention. It's free and it's awesome. The only problem I'm having with it is that no one else seems to be getting hooked. Everyone has dipped their toe, but no one seems ready to commit to it. The login queues have lightened up and I find myself online for an hour or two every day, but I'm all alone!
I only log in to FF14 these days to raid with my main team. I was raiding on two teams for over a year, but finally let one of them go. My wife has all but quit, too. For us the game is stagnant and the end game isn't enjoyable. I only play about 4 hours a week - 2 hours 2 days a week - to work on Alexander Gordius progress. It's been insanely slow as people have left the group and the game one by one. We're finally seeing some progress, but an entirely new raid opens up later this month. We won't make it in time.
I'm not actually playing Minecraft. I turned my account over to my children along with my old PC. They now disappear into Minecraft every night. I only mention it here because I was in the game showing my daughter how to build herself a shelter and locate her way home. It's funny what they chose to prioritize compared to an adult. It's a neat social experiment to see how they spend their time and resources. One thing I have learned, when the zombie apocalypse comes, they're doomed.
I'm getting back into Starbound. It's been two patches since "Jack Unbound" abruptly ended, so a lot of new content for me to explore. You may have noticed me sneak Kathmandu into my blog last weekend and hopefully I can keep you updated on his adventures. Since restarting, though, I've thought long and hard how to get back into Jack's adventure. There are a few fans on YouTube patiently awaiting his triumphant return. I'm still trying to work out the details of that story.
Valkyria Chronicles has been in the news quite a bit recently. There is the upcoming VC Remaster coming to PS4 and Valkyria: Azure Revolution coming out later this year. All this talk about one of my favorite games of all time was enough to push me over the edge. I installed the Steam version I bought long ago (hoping to encourage a VC2or VC3 port) and began protecting Gallia one more time. The characters and the art is beautiful. The game itself is extremely fun.
Seeking a game I could play online with my wife, my brother, and his wife, we all bought this game when it launched last week. The last game we all played together was Fantasy Life and I think compared to that, it has fallen short of our expectations. However, it's fun and cute and my wife and I seem to be enjoying it together quite a lot. I'm tanking on Knight class. My wife is healing on White Mage. The game really pulls a lot of weight with nostalgia. I'm now running around in full Onion Knight armor.
- TOP
@TopGamingBlog
Monk!
Final Fantasy Explorers has yet to addict me. I was immediately intrigued when TOP introduced it to me, prefacing that it would be similar to Fantasy Life. Between us and our wives, we played the hell out of that game! Unfortunately, I have not been hooked in the same way by FFE. I've played about 4-6 hours, but I find it lacking. Fantasy Life feels immediately limitless, but FFE feels as if it's based solely on grinding. I do feel like I've only scratched the surface and I'm not giving up yet.
I'm trying to think back on the games of 2015 and I'm struggling. In February, I moved from Maryland to Hawaii. I bought Tales of Hearts R for the trip, but technically that was a 2014 release. Even still, I ended up going absolutely head first into Pokémon Y (again) and to some extents Alpha Sapphire. Tales of Hearts just didn't hold my attention. The "Tales" series seems to be hit or miss for me - I love some of them, but others bore me. Either way, none of these games came out in 2015. So what the hell did I play in 2015? Looking back, there really weren't that many new titles in my house.
The Bunker Hill Bros played the hell out of some Dragon Ball XenoVersewhich is a great game, but not Game of the Year material. I will never forget the rise of (custom character) Potatta and her domination over this game. I was supposed to join the Deez in Star Wars Battlefront but I ended up flaking out and walking away from the purchase. I got Disgaea 5 for my birthday in October, but for the first time ever - a Disgaea game did not hold my attention for much longer than a week. I got much more into a play of Disgaea D2: A Brighter Darkness earlier in the year- also not a 2015 game.
Flipping through the internet, I see a lot of talk about Fallout 4, The Witcher 3, Metal Gear Solid 5 and even Bloodborne. Surprisingly, all of these were on my "I want to buy" list but none of them were purchased. Particularly surprising is Bloodborne, because I held it in my hands at least ten times and put it back on the shelf - including the day I bought Dragon Ball XenoVerse. I don't really have a lot of excuses for this. I suppose money has been relatively tight, but more so I've just found my large library of older games has really gotten me through the year. When Fallout 4 launched I realized I never fully explored or beaten Fallout: New Vegas and so I loaded her up instead of spending $60. Similarly, when Bloodborne was tantalizing me, I did another playthrough ofDark Souls II. Such was life in 2015 for me.
The only 2015 titles I can think of that I picked up and really sank my teeth into are Final Fantasy Record Keeper and Xenoblade Chronicles X. It feels severely unfair to slap either one with "Game of the Year" title when I really didn't play any other 2015 launch titles to any great extent. It also makes me feel guilty giving Xenoblade the high honors because the only other time I've posted a Game of the Year it was for 2012 and Xenoblade Chronicles won that award.
So let me tell you about the two games I did play to some great extent.
Final Fantasy Record Keeper is a free-to-play iOS and Android game. It's honestly the first mobile game I've ever enjoyed and endorsed. I know part of that stems from my love for old Final Fantasy games, to which Record Keeper gives much fan service. However, it's been more than just a passing fancy. I play Record Keeper every single day. I'm sometimes overwhelmed at the level of strategy and planning the game takes, but it's the cute SNES-style sprites and the level of challenge the game brings to the table that keeps me coming back.
The game is at its core an All-Star Final Fantasy Battle game. You collect characters from every Final Fantasy title and equip them with equipment and skills to do combat with various monsters and bosses from each title. Although each character can only have 2 abilities equipped at any given time, the battle system itself most resembles Final Fantasy IV and VI. As of today there are roughly 90 characters to collect, level and utilize to complete new events and dungeons. Events come once a week and new dungeons are added twice a month.
Like most online, money-driven games it does suffer from a steady power creep. I worked extremely hard for about six months to be able to steadily 100% every event that came along. I finally felt like I was on top of the world and could conquer any challenge. Then a new difficulty was released and I was knocked so hard off my pedestal that I felt like I had just been fooling myself into thinking I was the very best like no one ever was. While there are cons to a steady power creep (like invalidating your best arsenal of relic weapons when new, better ones arrive) I like to think that it will keep the game fresh and keep me driven to take my team to new levels.
Final Fantasy Record Keeper is easily the best mobile game I've ever played.
Xenoblade Chronicles X is overwhelming. Based entirely on my unendingly positive experience with its predecessor in 2012 and well into 2013, I picked up Xenoblade CX the day it was released and I'm still playing it today. I've sank about 60 hours into this game and I'm only on Chapter 6 of 12. The amount of content this game throws in your face is truly amazing. Simply exploring this beautiful, exquisitely detailed, alien planet will probably keep me entertained for another 60 hours easily.
Speaking honestly, during my first hour with the game I felt very skeptical. The custom created "main" character is an awkward, silent protagonist in an age of voice acted cutscenes. The very concept has made me question whether Cloud will translate very well into the Final Fantasy VII Remake - or whether a game like Chrono Trigger should ever be brought into the current generation. However, Xenoblade CX pulls this off pretty well with player input answers that lead you to believe he is participating in conversations (silently). I also wasn't entirely sold on the combat and its utter lack of Monado, but ultimately I'm finding it to be a much deeper combat system than its predecessor.
After that initial adjustment - the realization that no, this is not Xenoblade Chronicles that you remember, but something new entirely - the game just goes into full bloom, in my opinion. There are a ton of playable characters to get to know. There is - what feels like - a never ending list of side-quests to pursue (600, I believe is the official estimate). The "mission structure" to the story is the perfect balance between encouraging you to continue the story, but also allowing you to pause and take in the world at your own pace.
In Xenoblade Chronicles, I remember wanting to stop and get to know everyone and do every side-quest, but the story itself pushed a sense of urgency. It was difficult to justify hanging out in one place for 40 hours just to build local affinity when your [insert plot device] was in desperate need of your help. Xenoblade Chronicles X solves this problem by taking the plot away from character driven narrative and making you feel like you are actually building a new world on the planet Mira. Each side-quest, mission and affinity mission all feels like one more step in establishing humanity's place on this new mysterious world and I absolutely love it.
With a new console on the horizon, Xenoblade Chronicles X will likely be my all time favorite Wii U release - much like Xenoblade Chronicles is my favorite Wii title ever played. It has breathed new life into a system that mostly my children were dominating until now.
- TOP
@TOPGamingBlog
PS - Let me know what games you think I really missed out on in 2015!
I did not plan this, but this is my 100th post on TOP Gaming!
Music May has been the most ambitious project both my brother and I have worked on for TOP Gaming. We started talking about this at the beginning of the year. We started working on it in February by compiling as much music as we could. Then we would periodically rate the music listed on a scale of 1 to 5. Eventually many of the scores were too close because my brother and I have similar taste in games and game music. I brought in my wife to start giving contrast - and as she hasn't played a majority of these games, I felt her opinions were more neutral and unbiased. Finally we managed to select 31 songs to represent during Music May, but over fifteen songs got perfect scores from our judges. This kicked off two tournaments to categorize the TOP 15 songs, a single-elimination and a round-robin. That's how we came to bring you the following list of songs.
Click on any of the following banners to see the actual, individual pages with music and commentary!
- TOP
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Doing TOP Tracks last month was a blast. I had a lot of fun finding songs, ranking them, and writing blurbs. Examining songs that you know by heart with an analytic eye makes you truly appreciate the effort and soul that the composers put into each piece. I'm grateful that TOP asked me to contribute text as well as images to this project. That being said, it was also a pain.
- Deez
--- I think the two tournaments were the most fun part of this project because all fifteen songs are amazing and it truly was a surprise on where songs were going to fall when going head to head like that. Initially, I started with the single-elimination, but the results felt awkward.
Deez suggested we do a round robin to get more accurate results about which songs were better than others. I agreed, even though we were almost half-way into May. The results turned out similar, but it did help organize songs in a more accurate light. "Battle with Magus" won the single-elimination, but tied the win with "Hikari (Instrumental)" in the round robin.
- TOP
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Determining the final ranks of the songs and the order in which they would appear on the blog was an arduous process. Having to pick and choose between songs that are a part of who I am felt like I was betraying my childhood. How can I choose between "Storm Eagle Stage" and "Corneria" or between "Battle with Magus" and "Frog's Theme!?" At some points, pitting my favorites against each other was more than my little heart could handle. In the end, however, it was all worth it.
I'm glad we could compile this full list of 31 tracks on one page. I'm sure there are some songs that we've missed, but to be honest, I don't think that any new additions would be able to crack the TOP 31 we've compiled here.
- Deez
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I thought the eternal rivalry between Frog and Magus continuing into our TOP Track Tournaments was quite awesome. I remember when the two songs went head to head and thinking just how difficult it is to choose between the two. I felt like I was making a bigger statement than I really was - making a statement about my character, or theirs, rather than simply judging the music on its own merit.
I'm not surprised that Magus won the day (character or music) but I enjoyed the two characters bringing their fight to a new venue for me.
- TOP
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This experience proved to me that I could do a full project just ranking the tracks from Chrono Trigger and be just as happy to do it. I could probably stretch it out just as long as Music May, as well.
- Deez
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I love both of these guys, but I really expected more songs from Uematsu Nobuo to make the final cut, but instead Mitsuda Yasunori is on this list quite a bit more. I can't stress enough that I love what both composers bring to the table, but it might be safe to say (based on these results) that I value Mitsuda's style just a bit more.
As of right now Mitsuda may be my favorite composer!
- TOP
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It was difficult to find the time to create all these images. It was difficult to find the time to write all these blurbs. Perhaps the most difficult challenge of all, however, was trying to describe this music without over-excessive use of the phrases "raging music boner" and "feel like I'm going Super Saiyan" within each of the blurbs. It's been a rough month because of that challenge.
- Deez
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I noticed there are quite a few things that are unique to video game music over the course of this project. I may do a larger, follow-up article about it in the future, but for now I'll give a brief gist. A game player has the unique ability to grow extremely attached to a character in a game because they are by extension that character. Of course it depends on the game and what the developers hope to bring to the player, but the potential for a really deep, meaningful connection exists in a much stronger capacity than book or film.
When this is complimented by an incredibly powerful soundtrack that fits the themes and environment set by the game and its characters, it has a very strong potential to really influence the player and really connect them to the experience in a unique way.
Another thing unique to gaming, due to incredibly long history of certain franchises is the continuation of musical motifs and themes. Video game music typically has to play on an indefinite loop while you work your way through the game at your own pace, so the music should cater to that and as a result the music is often catchy, or at the very least, un-intrusive. So being reminded of older songs you heard so much, or meant a lot to you, is common in gaming. It's a very unique medium.
- TOP
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I was surprised throughout the ranking process. Tracks like "Liberi Fatali" and "Clash on the Big Bridge" stood out to me beacause I never played the games that featured them. Despite this, they stood out as really amazing songs that were so good I didn't need the nostalgia to bolster my appreciation of them.
- Deez
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I know that like most opinions this list will probably offend most of the internet, but I'm always open to constructive discussions about games and game music. Please feel free to leave any of your ideas or comments or opinions in the comments. You can also find us on Twitter or Tumblr if you prefer.
When I look at this list half a dozen songs pop into my head that I know many might argue should be here, but overall I am quite pleased with how this turned out. Whenever I think of a new song that I'd forgotten about, I think which of these 31 would I bump to put it on and really can't justify it.
Music May was a really large project, but I'm extremely happy with the results and had a lot of fun talking about games and music with my wife and brother over the last eight weeks or more.
- TOP
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Yasunori Mitsuda, David Wise, Nobuo Uematsu, Koji Kondo, and all the others who have appeared on this list are all like gods to me. Music is a special thing. It connects people, and certain songs can drive straight to the core of your soul.
In my youth, video games were th new kid on the block in terms of media formats. I can't state how happy I am tha tmusic played a large part in their evolution. These tracks are a way for me to relive the moments that shaped my childhood.
- Deez
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Thank you for reading!
- TOP
These are some of the songs that we love that didn't make the final cut. These honorable mentions appear in no particular order, but are all songs we each hold dear that aren't already on the list. I hope everyone enjoyed our presentation of TOP Tracks during Music May as much as we enjoyed presenting them!
Who knew the Kirby franchise had such good music? Ever since Kirby's Dreamland 2, I've been a fan of the series.
TOP Honorable Mention: "Brinstar Overgrown with Vegetation" from Super Metroid
This is an all-time favorite, from an all-time favorite game. I think my favorite thing is how this song loops into itself which this version captures perfectly.
Deez Honorable Mention: "To the Distant Sky" from Sky Gunner
TOP Honorable Mention: "Memories of You" from Persona 3
This song was actually ranked #32 but unfortunately May only has 31 days. I'll probably write up a full article on this song soon, but be warned it will be a tear-jerker.
Was there a kid growing up who didn't love this game? This is the best song in the whole game, which is directly proportional to how frustrating the stage is in the whole game.
TOP Honorable Mention: "Into the Wilderness" from Wild Arms
I forgot to put this up for judgment originally. I think it might have made the TOP 31 if I hadn't. At any rate, it's one of the greatest songs. My kids have a toy that plays it for some reason.
Deez Honorable Mention: "Credits" from Super Mario 64
My first foray into the realm of 3D gaming was Mario 64. I can't tell you how relieved and accomplished I felt upon beating this game. The song is so uplifting! I get goosebumps.
TOP Honorable Mention: "One-Winged Angel" from Final Fantasy VII
It was odd to me this didn't make it into our finals because both Deez and I treasure this song and many of its derivatives. It received solid 4s across the board and really needed a 5.
This song is amazing on all levels. I was really disappointed with the opening of Civilization Vbecause this song set such a high bar that could probably never be met again. Thanks, Chris Tin.
That's it! If you made it this far, CONGRATULATIONS!
Have a great summer everyone!
This is it! We made it! Coming in at #1 across two separate tournaments and hours upon hours of listening and judging music - "Battle with Magus" is the supreme champion of Music May 2013! This result did surprise me, but I'm by no means disappointed. It is a fantastic song, and a fantastic moment in video games as I detailed in my countdown last year - "The First Battle with Magus"
That article goes into great detail into what an amazing game Chrono Trigger is and what a great character Magus is within the game. As I've said, we really tried to step back away from nostalgia and assess each song on its own merits, but that's no easy feat. Particularly challenging when you're talking about something as amazing as the battle with Magus. If you've read that article I linked, you know it's one of the most impressive moments in gaming that I've ever personally experienced, so to wipe it from my mind when listening to this song is close to impossible.
The beginning of the song is dark and brooding, but quickly launches you into a frenzied fight for your life. The pacing is phenomenal. You're really pulled into the majesty of the situation. You know just from listening to this song that there's a lot on the line. Magus is not a push over. He means business, and you just got in his way. I think the way the music syncs up with the fight is one of the driving reasons that it made such a lasting impression on me, and goes to show what Mitsuda is truly capable of as a composer.
-TOP
@TOPGamingBlog
Ah - the initial fight against Magus. Where do I begin? It might be my favorite battle in the history of gaming. Chrono Trigger is a fan favorite due to the way it weaves a brilliant engaging story throughout different time periods. It's never more prevalent than the quest to restore the Masamune, which culminates fantastically in the battle with Magus. As TOP mentioned before, this seemed at the time like it might have been the game's finale. Thankfully, Mitsuda Yasunori crafted this masterpiece to fit the occasion.
This track begins slowly and eerily to remind you that you are in the presence of an all-powerful wizard who might be responsible for the end of the world. A chill runs down my spine every time I hear the black wind howl. Suddenly (timed perfectly in-game as Magus accepts the player's challenge), the beat picks up and we are treated to a battle score that I can only describe as epic. In the background, a Mystic laughs (or perhaps, moans?) as you try to keep up with Magus's changing guards and endless attacks. This was one of those exhilarating fights that got your adrenaline pumping hard, and to me, it proved that Mitsuda could stand toe-to-toe with Uematsu Nobuo when it comes to battle tracks.
Lastly, I'd be remiss not to mention the final confrontation atop the Black Omen. If Magus is in your party, you are treated to a goosebump-inducing dialogue between him and his deranged mother. Instead of "Boss Battle 2" that normally plays during this altercation, you get to hear Magus's theme once again ... causing another adrenaline-fueled engagement. It truly makes the moment seem much more personal to the player. I love it!
