Basically, I don't want to stop going, but time and life has got me so up and out that I feel like I never get around to doing anything on here. Going to try and turn that around where and when I can, but productivity is pretty low right now... So bear with me. (Not happy about this, but I'm in a bleh state of mind it seems.)
ANYWAYS! I haven't just been sitting around doing nothing over the past couple months. I've just been playing all sorts of other games. Among these games are some fancy RPGs though, so let's take a look at what I've been playing with a quick impromptu review of what I've got so far.
Recurring Fantasy Side Post Theater Proudly Presents
A Short Collection of Current but Random RPGs
Also a short random message at the end about the state of Recurring Fantasy~
Game - South Park - The Stick of Truth
System - PS3/360/PC
Current Thought - Better than you'd think, but it's really only for South Park fans.
Why - Now, of all the games listed here, this one is the only one I have completed. Not 100% complete, but the main story has been finished leaving only filling up extras like side quests and obtaining everything. BACK TO THE THOUGHTS, despite being all South Park, it's actually a pretty good game at the core. It's turn-based RPG with lots of abilities, spells, and customization (for your character). It's got different classes and a couple different choices throughout the game. For an RPG? It's actually fairly well done.
However, the biggest thing you'll want to remember is that it is a South Park game. If you aren't a fan of the series, you will be missing out on a lot of things and/or disturbed by what goes on. (Examples include a giant zombie nazi fetus, shrinking down to disarm a nuke in a man's ass, and lots of weird gore, vomit, and random nudity.) It's a crazy game and really feels like South Park at the core. Being a fan of South Park, I enjoyed the story along with the gameplay, and it's a fairly short game too. You could easily finish it in like 10 or so hours, maaaybe double that if you do everything. That still leaves the ability to play through the game again with a different class though! OVERALL... I'd say it's worth your time IF you enjoy South Park. If not, I'd say look elsewhere. Next up...
Game - Tales of Symphonia Collection
System - PS3
Current Thought - Still a good game at the core but shows its age.
Why - My "current thought" pretty much sums up what I think about this. I played quite a bit of Tales of Symphonia on the GameCube. I didn't own a copy myself, but my friend loaned it to me. I played through a majority of the game and even came close to the final boss. Then... I got stuck. I was stuck at a save with no way to train up or go back from where I came. Thus, I kinda screwed myself over then. Going back to present day, the game's pretty much the same as it was back then. That's both good and bad here. It's part of a two pack Collection including Tales of Symphonia (PS2 version with updated HD) and it's sequel of sorts Tales of Symphonia: Dawn of the New World (which released on the Wii).
At its core, Tales of Symphonia is still a great game with sooooo much content and things to do and collect and see. It's an RPG with action-battles of sorts where you fight via command inputs (kinda like a fighting game). It's pretty fun and keeps the game lively. No random encounters is good too if you want to fight enemies at your own pace. Overall? It's great game time!
However, the only flaw I saw with the game is that it does show its age (graphics mostly). It's not necessarily something I'd stop playing the game for, but I was expecting a bit better HD upgrade considering I got this pretty close to Final Fantasy X/X-2 HD. (And that just looked amazing. Getting to it later though!) At the $40 cost, you get two great RPGs that have been updated for our nice modern consoles... cause it's PS3 only. Still, if you're looking for an RPG with action elements, this one has great story, characters, and lots to do. Spending 100+ hours is easily accomplished here. If you don't want an older looking game, consider one of its sister games like Tales of *Insert title name here* (Seriously, go search around for the 'Tales of' series and you'll find a bucket load of titles.) Examples include: Tales of Grace f, Tales of Xillia, Tales of Xillia 2 (not out yet), or Tales of the Abyss (PS2 ported to 3DS). Thus... Tales of Symphonia Collection was definitely worth it for the $40. This brings us to...
Game - The Witch and the Hundred Knight
System - PS3
Current Thought - Game with promise that was just so poorly done.
Why - I'll be honest. I knew very little going into this game, and I kinda reserved it on a whim. I'm not your typical gamer. (In my eyes, typical gamer is the casual people who play the mainstream of titles but nothing outside of that generally.) I enjoy random and really off titles like Dungeons of Dredmor, anything Suda51, Bulletstorm, the FEAR series, and lots of other titles that had smaller, generally unsuccessful releases.
Getting back to this, The Witch and the Hundred Knight is a new title through NIS America. Now, to quickly define them, they're the group who has brought over the Disgaea series as well as random other highly Japanese RPG titles. For me? I've never truly enjoyed the full mechanics of any of their titles, but I can sometimes get into the characters and story. However, the gameplay generally annoys me after I get so far into it. (Anywhere from 10 to 40 hours) This pretty much defines what I didn't like about The Witch and the Hundred Knight.
The characters and story so far haven't really impressed me. With it being NIS America, the story and characters are already out there weird and slapstick-y. Somehow this game took it a step further and even was a tad disturbing if you ask me. Glossing past that, I was trying to get into the story. There was a few interesting bits here and there. I could have possibly enjoyed it, but then the gameplay smacked me in the face. I could go into a huuuge couple paragraph rant about this, but I'll try to keep it short.
First and foremost, the game explained the simplest aspects of the game that needed no explaining. (Movement, camera, attacking) yet it failed to explain some of the core concepts that I'm still unsure of what they were, like character abilities or such. I have a feeling that progressing the game more would have revealed them, but at three hours in, I was still clueless and had to form together how some of the mechanics worked. Then there was the actual gameplay. It plays like an action RPG, and your character, the Hundred Knight, attacks in combos using various melee weapons that you can set and use in any order. (Kinda customize your combo with all sorts of weapons and such) Now, it wasn't terrible gameplay really, but it felt kinda boring. I gave around 3-4 hours to it, and I wasn't really feeling it. I put down the game and never returned.
So what does this entire set of thoughts mean to you? You will either ADORE this game and not understand why I refuse to love it, or you will completely and entirely hate the game much like I do. I'd like to state again that I didn't really enjoy it, and I have no current plans to return. Take this "Current Thought" however you wish.
Game - Final Fantasy X/X-2 HD
System - PS3/Vita
Current Thought - Trying very hard to not just fully replay the game again.
Why - Seriously, I may not have been all up on Final Fantasy X, but all around, I did enjoy myself in it. (Minus butterfly catching and lightning dodging, those can both suck it.) When I started the game up again with the HD version... I had to REALLY pull myself back to not just keep going on and on and playing the hell out of this game. It's the same game all around, but the HD improvements are noticeable and very well done. Apart from that? It's a lot of the same game. Sure there might be some small fixes here and there, but it's generally just the same great Final Fantasy X. (I really enjoy the fast-paced turn-based battles here. Also about half the characters were greatly enjoyed.)
For $40, you get Final Fantasy X and X-2 in HD. (You don't have to play the second one, and the first is clearly worth that cost if you ask me.) You can even get it on your PlayStation Vita! For all... couple hundred of you that own that thing. Yeah, up until the next game in the list, my Vita has gotten very little time from me. That's for later though. For now, consider this:
- Have you played Final Fantasy X?
- Yes
- No
- If you answered Yes, you should consider buying this and playing it again because it's the International Edition and totally worth your time cause great game.
- If you answered No, you either don't like RPGs, and I don't understand why you're here, OR you were born in a time period where Final Fantasy X wasn't on your radar. Please get on that now.
Basically, of all the games listed here, I'd say Final Fantasy X/X-2 HD is the most worthwhile game to get. It's $40. It's two games (one's terrible IMO but whatever). And it's all in glorious and well done HD! DO IT NOW! Or just skip to the next highly unusual title...
Game - Conception 2 - Children of the Seven Stars
System - PS Vita/3DS
Current Thought - I'm enjoying and playing it more than I should.
Why - Before you read any further, this game is basically a dating sim with dungeon crawling. If the thought of those two urks you, continue past all this and live your life. If you are intrigued... Then you should stop reading and go get this game.
Not going to reveal a lot about this game, but it basically goes like this. You are "God's Gift" (God in this scenario being a Star God.) A brand appeared on your hand, and now you must fight off evil in these giant labyrinths of evil that exist around the world in "Dusk Circles". However, you do not fight along. Along the way, you gain new members (all girls) who help you fight off evil. You are not alone though! You can "Classmate" with the girls to create Star Children using your energy (because you have a 100% conception rate) and hers in a process that looks like hand clasping but highly suggests sexualness. (Girls are all red-faced and out of breath in the scenes following the process sometimes.) Your fighting team consists of a single girl member and 3 teams of 3 Star Children each, and you are off to protect the world from evil!
For me, I generally just laugh at these. It's hard not to when it's almost silly looking every time. Now, apart from fighting evil, you have to get to know these girls to improve your bonds with them. Because that leads to better Classmating and better Star Children. Also relationship stuffs because people enjoy that. All that being said... the RPG elements aren't too bad really. Dungeon crawling and battles are fairly fun. There's a lot of monsters here and there, but it's not random encounters, so you can avoid them as you like.
This was my first physical PS Vita title ever. Namely because there is nothing on the PS Vita that I feel was worth getting. It's still a good but weird game with an ever expanding story and awkward dating sim cutcenes with girls. (The tutorial explained that you get to touch them later... Thus explaining why it's only on 3DS and Vita.) In the end, this game greatly reminded me of Persona 3. It had dating sim-like qualities, but there were relationships in the game that were interesting and NON-romantic. That made them worthwhile and not awkward trying to juggle people.
SO! What does this game mean to me? I've put quite some time into it, and I've generally enjoyed myself. Creating dozens of Star Children, the fun social events, and the dungeon crawling all spiral together into a fun and addicting game. I'll continue to play it and hopefully finish it before too long. If you have a Vita or 3DS, I'd say give it a shot, if you can get past the dating sim bit. Otherwise, you probably won't enjoy it. And that about settles it for...
I know what you are thinking... "Where's Bravely Default!?!?!" And I can answer that right now. I have Bravely Default. I got it on release date. I EVEN GOT THE COLLECTOR'S EDITION! Have I played it at all? I played the demo for a bit. I had a hard time (it's difficult), but I generally enjoyed it overall. I just haven't taken the time to start it yet cause it's going to be a long one.
I don't want to start Bravely Default among everything else for it to just get a backseat to my gaming habits. All these titles probably hindered me in playing Dragon Warrior III as well. Not that they're necessarily better titles (a couple clearly were not), but playing old games that you didn't grow up playing... can be hard. Nostalgia is partially to blame, but I'm still the center of it all.
Will I be finishing Dragon Warrior III? Not anytime soon for sure, but I am still thinking things through. Whether that means I abandon that game and go for a new theme on the blog or something different remains to be thought out or answered. As for now... Don't expect any new Dragon Warrior Logs for a bit. (I'm already terrible at updating so this makes me feel like a butt to basically kill off something like that so quickly.)
Don't look down upon the future of Recurring Fantasy! I'm still planning to post stuff here and there. For now, I'll try to aim at one or two posts a week of random RPG-related items to spark something here. Maybe Dragon Warrior works its way in there, maybe it doesn't. We'll just have to wait and see.
In the end, I thank anybody who has stuck around and/or cares to see what I put on here. Trust me, it means a lot to know if anybody still follows this. If you don't, no blaming you at all. I'm a bit of a failure in this regard. If you are still there, thanks for giving me a chance! As always....
~May the Crystals Guide Me~
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