2015 - A Life & Game Review

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 XenoVerse which 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 of Dark 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.

• TOP Game of the Year 2012 (Spoiler: Xenoblade Chronicles)

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!

Week in Review - 8/17/2012

I'm post dating this to yesterday for my Friday column. My life has been a bit chaotic lately. Lots of things changing have made it difficult to sit down and write out a good, quality article in a while. I have a lot of things on my mind that I want to share with the world, but really just lack the time and peace of mind to sit down and write about them.

Just a brief taste of the things that have changed in the past few weeks, at 9:50AM on 8/17/2012 my third child, and second son, was born. We're still working out the details of his name, but he's real cute. I am home now with my other two kids for a few hours and I miss that little guy like crazy.

Anyway, I did get a chance to play a few games over the week while preparing for the big day.

---

PC

• Final Fantasy XIV

Shai with Cid & Merlwyb

I haven’t had a lot of time to play XIV this week, but I’m working on finishing up the quests and missions that sum up all the story of “Version 1” which will be ending soon. The evil Empire has summoned one of the world’s moons to come crashing down into the land we protect in order to wipe out the Primals who oppose their dominance. It’s something like that. I haven’t sorted out all the details. I’m now a Chief Storm Sergeant of the Maelstrom and working on getting my commission to 2^nd Lieutenant. I’ve also unlocked all jobs except Paladin and Dragoon. It’s been fun so far. 

•  Recettear: An Item Shop's Tale

My family was watching TV so I popped on something quick, fun and easy by the name of Recettear. The game is about a girl who wakes up to find herself in serious debt and turns her home into an item shop to make ends meet. You have an ever-growing quota of money to pay to your loan shark partner. I made it to the final week, but couldn’t come up with the 500,000 pix to finally pay off my loan. I only came up with 250,000. I’m now in a New Game + where I kept all my items and merchant skills. It’s much easier to make ends meet.

•  The Elder Scrolls V: Skyrim

Arch-Mage Neeka the First

Determined to actually accomplish something worth note in this game, I decided to dive back into Skyrim. I haven’t come up with the money to buy “Dawnguard” yet but it’s on my Wishlist. I decided to make a new character that is focused on Illusion, Stealth, and a touch of Destruction. I’ve never played such a true mage before and I’m delighted to find that it’s extremely fun. My sneaky Khajit has already amounted to Arch-Mage of the College at Winterhold, and marks the first faction I’ve actually completed!

Playstation 3

• Cross Edge

This game has vexed me for a few years now. It’s possibly the hardest role-playing game I’ve ever tried to conquer and I’m constantly finding myself hitting brick walls where I’m left with the option to grind (age old solution to RPG difficulties) or change my tactics drastically. It’s safe to say that I’ve spent enough time in the last week (thanks to some Record of Agarest failures) getting to know and understand the basics of the combat system (which they share). So I decided to give it another go, and on Hard mode! I find myself farther than I’ve ever made it before and still going strong.

 

• The Walking Dead - "Episode 1: Brand New Day"

FYI: I love cel-shaded graphics.

I decided to sink some money into the Playstation Plus program in order to get access to some free games for a nominal cost. In fact, just when I signed up for $50, there was over $250 worth of games available to download and play for free. Not games I’d necessarily buy, but they tide me over. As such I decided to give The Walking Dead a try and found the term “video game” not necessarily accurate. I’d call it an “interactive graphic novel” but as such it was extremely fun and interesting. I hope the rest end up being free to play for PS+ members, because I like where it’s going.

 

Defending the Dungeon's Crystals

Some of you may wonder why “A Breton in Skyrim” has slowed down considerably in the last two weeks. Anyone looking at my Friday column “Week in Review” may notice a game called DungeonDefenders continues to pop up. I am tremendously caught up in this game, so please direct all blame at it and its developers at Trendy Entertainment for why I’m not playing much Skyrim. Even now I’d rather be playing it than writing this article. I’m currently thinking of the Barbarian I may create, ready to dual-wield his way to fame and glory. Since it’s Tuesday morning and I’m honor bound to post for you all, I’ll tell you of this gem that’s been hidden away on Steam since October, 2011.

It was just two weeks ago that Steam hosted a free-weekend of Dungeon Defenders. That means players were allowed to download and play the full version of the game for 48 hours or so before the content became locked and unusable again until purchased. A friend of mine owned the game and suggested I try it out since it was free. I downloaded it on both my computer and my wife’s computer. We were instantly hooked. Our whole weekend melted away inside that game and we have yet to run out of things to do together.

If strategy isn't your thing, try big guns on for size.

 The game is a very well put together hybrid of two separate game genres. It cleverly combines a genre of game referred to as “tower defense” with all the excitement of an action role-playing game. Each level of the main game is split into two phases. There is an initial Build Phase, during which you assess the battlefield and determine the best place to build your defensive arsenal of towers and traps. Then the game shifts into a Combat Phase where you have the option to sit back and watch your constructs tear through the enemy lines, or leap into the fray yourself to hack and slash your way to victory.

Roll is my current favorite character, the DLC "Series EV"

 The game starts with 4 character classes which each have their own unique defenses to build, and unique combat styles. The PC version (as opposed to its console version cousin) also has for purchase 4 mirror classes which are gender-switched versions of the original classes but boast their own unique combat abilities making them play somewhat differently on the battlefield. It also has released 2 new and completely unique classes, also available for purchase. The game also takes a very Diablo approach to loot as it randomly generates each piece of gear that drops from monsters and chests as you play the game. Finding and leveling your gear is perhaps one of the most intricate systems within the game, and comes with its own set of challenges. If you enjoy games where you are directly rewarded for grinding out your stats (like my love affair with the “Disgaea” series) then the armor system of Dungeon Defenders will welcome you with open arms as well.

Monks are tough.

The base game comes with a full Campaign of 12 maps and an additional bonus map once you complete it. It also comes with a variety of unlockable Challenge maps which provide unique ways to play maps you’ve already conquered in the Campaign. Since its release the game has seen a steady stream of downloadable content, including a developing expansion and a slew of Challenges to reward you with unique weapons, armor, familiars and costumes for your characters. Considering the game was just released in October (approximately 6 months ago) I’m surprised at how much content there is available for the game. There appears to be new content released roughly every month to keep the game fresh and exciting with new maps to explore and occasionally new classes to level. This dedication to constant updates and new content hold a promise to keep us entertained for weeks to come.

Anyone interested in playing with me on Steam, let me know. I’d be glad to help get you started.

Play Dungeon Defenders or NiCad will arm buster you to death.

A Backwards Problem

 I had a real shaky start with the Sony Playstation Portable(PSP). I bought it during its launch year in 2005 and a handful of games to go with it. I played it for roughly a week or two and then it went unnoticed for several years. It sat with my games collecting dust, waiting for a day when a game I was truly excited about was released for it. It got passed over many times for the Nintendo DS with its fun, innovative games and long battery life for many airplane trips across the Pacific Ocean. It was a sad little system that just didn’t connect with me the way it could have back in those early days. Many of my friends enjoyed it and spoke highly of it, but for some reason my PSP and I just never had much to say to one another. Then starting in 2008 things slowly began to change.

Zack! Look out behind you!

 I believe it was the upcoming release of Crisis Core: Final Fantasy VII exclusively for PSP that got me scouring the house for my game system. I had moved twice since the last time I’d played it. I had to dig it up from its early grave, and what may have been most challenging was finding its power cord so it would be charged and ready to play when I bought this new addition to the “Final Fantasy” family. I could reserve an entire Tuesday article for a special rant for all the reasons I dislike the Crisis Core plot as an addition to the “Compilationof Final Fantasy VII,” but despite picking the story apart it was a really fun game and I got a lot of good times out of it. Most importantly, it reconnected me with my dusty, lonely PSP system and was the herald for a bunch of games I would go on to enjoy on the PSP from 2008 to 2011.

Suddenly games I actually wanted to play were coming out on the PSP and it was back in my good graces. It was Square Enix’s new system of choice to re-port old classics. Nippon Ichi Software (NIS) started developing more games for it, and re-porting some of my favorite games to it, including Disgaea and Disgaea 2. The list goes on, and I could bore you with detail, but suffice it to say someone told Sony I like Japanese-style role-playing games and Sony started releasing them in the United States. PSP got my attention after years of lying dormant in a box in the garage.

 Unfortunately, this all came crashing to a halt in August of 2011. My wife and I had recently purchased a 2^nd PSP so she could enjoy playing Valkyria Chronicles 2 with me. We had really enjoyed ValkyriaChronicles together on the PS3, but it did not have any form of multiplayer content, until the sequel. So here we are in August 2011 enjoying not one, but two PSP in what I consider their golden years, when they both spontaneously within a month of one another just stop working. The new PSP will not recharge its battery and I’m not in a position to buy a new battery because if it’s not the problem, I have 2 batteries and a broken PSP. Then the original PSP just stopped turning on. It was a sad day. We both had to let go of a game we were deeply involved in playing, Jeanne d’Arc.

Now I knew that early 2012 was bringing the Playstation Vita to the handheld scene. It was to be the successor to the PSP and a question remained, was it going to be backward compatible? Was it going to be able to play PSP games? The answer to that question is complicated. The PSP games I want it to play are on a format called UMD (Universal Media Disc) which at the time of PSP’s launch seemed like the most ridiculous format possible. Apparently Sony, or more specifically the Vita, agrees with me. The Vita does not have a UMD loading dock. It does however play digital copies of the PSP games, if you bought them and downloaded them from the Playstation Network (PSN). This was not the answer I was looking for so I waited and looked for more.

You see, it stands to reason that if I own a copy of a game that I purchased, I should also own the digital copy of it contained within the UMD. So really, all I would need or want is a way to access the digital copy to load it on to a Vita. Then PSP can be left broken and forgotten on the side of the road to make way for new and improved gaming system that will cater to all my needs. Sony offered the Japanese customers the option to transfer many of their UMD games to digital format for a price. That honestly feels like giving me a discount on re-buying something I already own, since it was a different price for each game rather than a flat-rate service charge. However, that’s better than nothing. Here in the US there is nothing.

History is vague on the details of this battle.

This led me briefly to a night of trying to find a way to convert my own UMD to digital format, or simply (dare I post it on the internet) acquire pirate versions of the digital copies. Mind you, I’m only talking about the games I own, and in particular I’m talking about Jeanne d’Arc which I really wanted to finish! However, I abandoned this course pretty soon after getting the idea. I decided I’d probably punish Sony in another way, which is to not buy the PS Vita. I typically don’t buy a system until it has a game I really want to own, so there wasn’t any real pressing urge to buy a Vita when it launched in February. I just would have preferred to upgrade than spend money fixing or buying a replacement PSP. Sony will lose out on about $250 this year in Vita sales and who knows how much in games. I don’t really think that drop in the bucket is a threat to them and I’m not really outraged by this inconvenience. It’s just a shame and a waste.

I feel backward compatibility should be an industry standard. Whenever possible, you should present the opportunity for your customers to continue playing their old games on your new systems. Preferably, you don’t charge them extra, but if that’s what it takes to provide the service, then at least you can say you offer it. I’ve personally never been in this situation, but the lack of this option has cost them a potential customer. I’m sure someday down the road I may be a proud owner of a PS Vita, but it won’t be in 2012. There are just too many good PSP games lying around the house, taunting me, begging me to play them. I can’t toss them aside, and I can’t ignore them. Besides, if PSP is any indication, who knows how long the PS Vita would sit in a box in my shed before they start to make games for it that I’m truly interested in buying?

-TOP

Related Links
 Sony explains why no Vita UMD transfer for US
http://www.shacknews.com/article/72563/sony-explains-why-no-vita-umd-transfers-for-us