This Year in RPGs: January

It's that time of year again, loyal reader. The time of year where every blog that's worth their salt compiles some sort of list comprised of the top blank of blank. I'm sure I'll miss some worthy entries as I count through the year's top RPGs as these kinds of list always do, but don't let that stop you from enjoying these top 12 RPG titles that made the cut (worthy of playing) this year.

Final Fantasy XIII - 2 (released January 31st, 2012)

January saw Square-Enix release a follow up to the 13th entry of their flagship franchise. Although Final Fantasy XIII performed fairly well and eventually sold many millions of copies, critics and fanboys alike derided the linear nature of the game, the underwhelming diversity of enemies and quests, and the likability of some of the characters (I'm looking at you, Hope). Others complained that the world lacked towns where adventurers could interact with NPCs, something some consider a crucial component of RPGs, and something rather vocally detested by the fanbase.

Square-Enix took all of those complaints into consideration when making FFXIII - 2. This isn't the cash grab follow up that FFX - 2 was to FFX, trying to milk a dollar by reusing assets; this is S-E trying to make up to their fans. Surprisingly they do a number of things right this time. Maybe someone at the top is listening.

A New Story

Some people said that FFXIII's story was convoluted. Others said it simply wasn't very good. Some people liked it. I say to each their own, but I did feel as if its story was presented a bit too much through cinematics. Square has made fantastic cinemas for some time now, but there's a point every game reaches where it's taking control away from the player a bit too much to the detriment of their immersion. Anyways, in FFXIII-2 you play as Serah, sister of Lightning (the protagonist of FFXIII), along with newcomer named Noel as they search for Lightning.

The combat system from FFXIII returns, which should make some people happy, but I thought it was one of the most uninteresting components to FFXIII.

Open Ended 

FFXIII - 2 (That's Final Fantasy Thirteen Two for those of you who may be perplexed by S-E's numbering system at this point. Personally I think it's a mouthful) features multiple endings like Chrono Trigger.

DLC

For the first time Square-Enix has DLC for a Final Fantasy that's substantial. Some of it is nostalgic, others fan service, but it's nice to see them getting with the program. FFXIII didn't have any DLC to speak of even though there was some request for it from the fans. Once again it seems S-E has taken their feedback into consideration.

Gotta Catch 'Em All

FFXIII - 2 features a monster capturing system that can be addicting for players that like that sort of thing. Basically you can capture any monster and have it in your party and use it to attack your enemies. At least that's my understanding of the situation.

You Bastards

One piece of news I keep meaning to report on from earlier in the month is the fact that Obsidian Entertainment's South Park RPG game, South Park: The Stick of Truth, has been delayed.

In SP: TSoT you can pick from various classes, like Fighter,  Mage, Thief, Cleric, and Jew...not making that last one up.

Originally it was supposed to release in March of next year, but it has since been delayed to the fiscal year of 2014, meaning sometimes between April 2013 and March 2014. It might be an entire year before we can play as the "new kid" (whom everybody refers to as "douchebag").

Having everybody call you douchebag solves the age-old (well, maybe not so old) question of what to do with voice-acting in an RPG where you can name your character. See FFX for what not to do.

I admit, I was a bit down when I first heard the news, as it was one of the titles I am most looking forward to, but Obsidian is notorious for being rushed by developers that hire them for work, ultimately releasing titles which, while critically acclaimed, are riddled with bugs. Fallout: New Vegas was one such title. Developer Bethesda has contracted them to develop FO:NV with the stipulation that if the title received an 85 or better on metacritic they would receive a bonus. It received an 84. If it takes a whole year to polish SP:TSoT up to an acceptable level of industry standards, well, I'm okay with that.

The South Park game is unique in that it was Trey (Parker) and Matt (Stone) who went to Obsidian and asked them to make the game. They are said to be intimately involved in the writing process and making sure the game accurately emulates the show as much as possible. After conquering Broadway with their Book of Mormon: The Musical, Trey and Matt have proved that no medium is too difficult for them to tackle. The art style of the game resembles the show, and the combat looks to be turn-based with timed attacks like the Paper Mario series. Also present is Trey and Matt's trademark humor, which should help fill the void of games with humorous writing until Portal 3 or Psychonauts 2 is released (Get cracking on those scripts, Wolpaw!), assuming either of those games ever see the light of day.

And Going And Going...

Once More into the Fray

The original EverQuest received a new expansion today. Before World of Warcraft came along and made the genre of MMOs accessible for everybody else, EverQuest was the flagship title of the genre and remained solely in the dominion of nerds with too much time on their hands. Original EQ was notoriously difficult; it became almost impossible to level up or accomplish anything really without the help of a group. Forcing players to group together to overcome obstacles created a community that is somehow still going to this day nearly 15 years later.

Later MMOs including WoW would all crib heavily from EQ's example. Jargon like LFG (looking for group), aggro (becoming the target of a monster's aggression), and concepts like tanking (one party member designated to hold the focus of a monster's aggression) all originated here. One of my favorite MMOs, Final Fantasy XI, was inspired by EQ when the president of Square-Enix (Squaresoft at the time) saw EQ being played.

I tried playing the original EQ last year sometime, on a private server named Project1999, which is a time progression server, meaning they play the game as it was originally released and add content to it over time, as opposed to a the official servers hosted by Sony (more specifically, Sony Online Entertainment, or SOE for short) where they include all of the content that has been added since the game was released. I rolled a wizard (terminology that is a throwback to rolling dice to create your character as in D&D), but I couldn't figure out how to cast spells. Despite my background in FFXI I couldn't figure out what I was doing at all. I was whacking a snake with my staff (no innuendo intended; I realize that sounds somewhat dirty), when a guy came up and said "REALLY?" and killed the snake in one hit. I logged out and never logged back in.

EQ had subscription fees up until earlier this year, but you can try it for free now. I'm sure there are benefits to paying a subscription fee, but I'm not sure what they are. Rain of Fear is the 19th EverQuest expansion, and raises the level cap to 100, among with a bunch of other new features. The standard edition retails for $39.99 and the collector's edition retails for $89.99, which features a slew of bonus items over the other version. I don't know enough about them either way to recommend either, but chances are if you're still playing EverQuest at this point you're going to pick this up regardless of what I have to say about it.

New Releases 11/27

Baldur's Gate: Enchanced Edition

Baldur's Gate is one of the most beloved RPG franchises of all time. Developed by BioWare and released in 1998 (goodness, what a great year for video games! The Legend of Zelda: Ocarina of Time, Metal Gear Solid, Fallout 2, Xenogears and Resident Evil 2 were all released that year, just to name a few) it quickly became the de facto setup for most western RPGs. BG was the first game to use BioWare's Infinity Engine, an engine which they would go on to use for many of their other games, including Icewind Dale and Planescape: Torment.

Taking place in the Forgotten Realms (a fantasy setting created by Ed Greenwood which has gone on to spawn countless numbers of books) and using the 2nd edition rules from the pen and paper roleplaying game Dungeons & Dragons, Baldur's Gate was released to critical acclaim as it whetted the appetite of what many RPG players sought in games. Now, 14 years later, the game is being released with revitalized graphics and touch controls for iOS devices like the iPad, as well as Android tablets and PC.

The Enhanced Edition is not being handled by BioWare (RIP), but instead by Overhaul Games, a company whose moniker hopefully doesn't hold true for BG, as it would benefit from some slight improvements, but needs no drastic revisions. Some of the added features sound nice, such as cross-platform multiplayer and matchmaking, but some fans are wary that the changes Overhaul has made are too much. One such change is the level cap being increased, supposedly to make the game easier, but as I said not everyone is content with such changes. For those people, I recommend playing the original version. For everyone else, newcomers and series veterans alike, there's Enhanced Edition.

Have you ever wanted to be a bow wielding elf? Pocket picking hobbit (called halflings in D&D settings so Tolkien doesn't sue)?  Spell-casting wizard? You can in Baldur's Gate. I originally played it on the PS2, and from what I gather it was a pretty different version from the original PC title, so I look forward to checking out BG: EE.

Baldur's Gate: Enhanced Edition is available to pre-load for PC right now for $19.99 (I think it becomes available tonight at midnight), with iPad and Mac OS X listed as being released in November, and Android simply stating TBA.

Here's the teaser trailer:

New Releases 11/20

Persona 4 Golden was released this week (now last week, damn procrastination) on the PS Vita by Atlus. The Persona series has historically been hailed as a high point for JRPGs and this edition of Persona 4 is no exception. The game currently holds a 95/100 on Metacritic and its release resulted in a large surge of Vitas being sold in Japan, as well as a nice bump in units sold here.

No witticisms today.

The Shin Megami Tensei series (which includes the Persona games) has been around for years, but its popularity was predominately in Japan. Although Persona 2 Eternal Punishment was released here on the PS1, (the only game I've played in the series, which I'm sad to say I have not finished as I acquired a PS2 around the time I was playing it, leaving it on the back burner until I finished Kingdom Hearts, and then whatever I played after that, and whatever came after that...suffice it to say I never made it back ), but it wasn't until the PS2 game Persona 3 that the franchise experienced critical acclaim from the west. The sequel to Persona 3 was Persona 4 (notice a trend here?) and was also released on the PS2. Persona 4 Golden is an updated version of that game for the PS Vita, but just because it's an old game doesn't mean it's not worth picking up, especially if you own a Vita.

None here either.

The SMT series is unique in that instead of taking place on some distant fantasy world, it takes place in Japan, more specifically in Japanese schools. This results in a large number of cultural references which no doubt fly over most of the western worlds' collective heads, but that's okay because ultimately it doesn't matter. The game is good enough that the things that get lost in translation aren't all that important. The gameplay is compelling enough to keep going (must...gain...one...more...level).

Samesies.

Persona 4 Golden is available exclusively on the PS Vita and retails for $49.99, but like I said, it's a port of a PS2 game, so you could always play that if you're hankering for some Persona.

New Releases 11/18

Today the Wii U was released into the wild, bringing with it at least one RPG I know of, in the form of Mass Effect 3: Special Edition.

I think it's fair to say that Mass Effect 3 streamlined the Mass Effect experience, getting rid of the hacking minigames as well as the optional exploration that was present in the earlier games in the series, including the vehicle driven segments with the Mako. The story has a more linear feel than either of the first two games (a given since it's meant to serve as the conclusion to a trilogy). Combat can be reduced to be simple, and players can choose between three different modes which emphasizes different levels of play. You could play the whole game without ever having to make a choice, letting the computer do it for, an option some fans said defied logic as to why some people played Mass Effect in the first place, but I digress.

Personally, I didn't feel that it was as good as either of the first two games, but it's not without its own shining moments of well-executed game design. The Wii U seems to do the game justice according to early reviews, at least as far as visuals go in terms of lighting and shadows (though one critic does note there is considerable loading times), but differences from other versions don't end there.

The Wii U version purports to enhance the experience by offering touch-based control via the new system's gamepad. Critics seem to be finding the new controls serviceable if not a noticeable improvement with the ability to set hotkeys such as party members various abilities on the touch screen of the gamepad.

Mass Effect 3: Special Edition includes a digital graphic novel that summarizes the scenarios Commander Shepard made in Mass Effect 1 and Mass Effect 2. By making choices in the graphic novel you can import choices that affect the story of Mass Effect 3. If you don't know, Mass Effect tells the story of Commander Shepard (who can be either a male or a female) and his/her ragtag alien crew that save the universe from being destroyed by the Reapers, an ancient intergalactic entity that has orchestrated most of the technology humans and other races in the universe use in order to allow their return. Players make choices in the form of a dialogue wheel (and occasionally benevolent or malevolent actions) which earn them Paragon or Renegade points. The more of a certain kind of points the player has accumulated, the more unique dialogue and actions they are able to take. If a player has a high amount of Paragon points, they can often solve things by diplomacy, whereas if a player has a high amount of Renegade points, they can often intimidate others into going along with their suggestions. On the PC and Xbox 360, players were able to import their save files so the choices they made in one game carried over to the next. When Mass Effect 2 was released on the PS2, players who were unfamiliar with the story were given a graphic novel that filled the player in on the back story so that their choices could influence Mass Effect 2 as if they had a save file from the previous game. The version included here is an expanded version of that first interactive graphic novel.

Multiplayer was introduced into Mass Effect 3 which lets player choose from different races with different specialized classes, and join up with other players online in order to shoot enemies. I played it a little bit back in March when Mass Effect 3 first came out, but it didn't quite grab me enough to continue playing it long term. They may have made a number of improvements to the mode since then, I don't know, but at any rate it's included with the title.

Mass Effect 3: Special Edition features all of the currently released DLC, including From Ashes, the Extended Cut, the Rebellion, Resurgence, and Earth multiplayer packs, but developer BioWare has stated that it will not receive the upcoming Leviathan content out on November 27th. Hopefully that doesn't portend things for the future of the Wii U when it comes to DLC. When asked about the future of DLC for the system, one developer responded with "Never say never."  Mass Effect 3: Special Edition retails for $59.99 on the Wii U.

Kid Thinks It's Time to Talk About the Bastion

Last year Supergiant Games released the ARPG Bastion to critical acclaim. This week it found its way to iOS for various iPhones and iPads and maybe even the iPod Touch; I assume any device at this point with and i in it can play Bastion. You can see a full list of compatible devices here.

The lush environments are all hand-drawn, which gives Bastion a unique feel.

Bastion is the story of the Kid, but the most prevalent voice in Bastion is that of the narrator, Rucks, whom supervises the Kid's every mood and narrates what he is doing in a manner most unusual as far as most games are concerned. You learn about the Kid's backstory later through a device that lets you fight your inner demons, so to speak.


The art style in Bastion is both striking and vibrant in color. The characters are well-defined and the animation is fluid. The cutscenes are minimal and typically only portray a comic-esque scene with panning to provide the illusion of movement. I have no problems with the minimalist storytelling; games don't have to be full of flashy CGis to win my seal of approval. My only complaint with the engine is how slow the Kid's walking speed is. This can be circumvented to an extent by rolling around every where you want to go, but it's not a perfect solution, as you can end up rolling off the edge of the map by accident.

Bastion features a variety of weapons that can be upgraded, from a hammer to a trusty carbine and a slew of weapons in between. Bastion is a ARPG which means the combat takes place in real time, or in other words as quick as the player can press the button. The game lets you set two different weapons at once and players are best served by setting a close range and a long range weapon, such as a hammer and gun.

The enemies have interesting lore and unique attacks that set them apart from the common fodder in other games.

The Kid must search for crystals, and later shards of crystals, in order to restore the Bastion to its full potential. The Bastion is the last place of civilization after the Calamity in Caelondia, which destroyed the cities of the Ur and gave rise to the various monsters you have to face in Bastion.

The soundtrack in Bastion is of the highest quality; I can't think of a soundtrack in recent years that I would rate more highly than the work of Bastion. (Yes, even counting Matt Ueleman's fantastic work on Torchlight II). In fact, lets listen to some right now.

Bastion is replayable exactly twice. I don't mean you can only play it twice, but rather you will want to play it twice as it has two different endings and you probably want to see both of them... that is if you are won over by the characters and the story to want to see what happens to them in either situation.

Bastion is available on  the PC for $14.99, Xbox 360 for 600 Microsoft points, iOS devices for $4.99, and Macs for $6.99. You can also play it for free in the Chrome browser here, (must be in Chrome browser to work) so there's really no reason why you shouldn't play it if you haven't already.

Red Vs Blue

Dungeons & Dragons & Brunch

The Beast Sleeps...

Last Sunday my sister and I continued our regularly scheduled game of Dungeons & Dragons. We have now left the dungeon where Tusenmaug the Blue Dragon wiped out the three former adventurers known as Lanin, Carn, and Regdar in a scenario that I retconned to wrap up the story. (If you recall, I had the dragon fly off to fight them another day, leaving a critically wounded Carn bleeding on the floor of his layer, and a near-dead Lanin and Regdar. Apparently, shortly after we stopped playing he returned and decimated everyone with his lightning breath. So it goes).

The Beast Wakes.

Once I got the new red box of Dungeons and Dragons I was excited to try it, and so were my players. Randi  whom had previously played Carn the Rogue, wanted to make a new character that was capable of healing, so she chose cleric for her class, since she perceived a need for the party to be able to heal themselves that wasn't  present before. She named her Tasee. My sister, Amanda, also wanted to create a new character so she chose to create a Rogue. Her husband at first wanted to keep his previous character but after seeing how beefed up Amanda and Randi were under the newest rules he, too, chose to reroll his character, though he kept the name Regdar.

The Adventurers Engage.

Since I had played both the basic set from 2006 (that I dubbed "the blue box" since it has a big blue dragon on the cover) and the new red box from 2010 (that seeks to replicate a box with the same exact art by Larry Elmore from 1983) , I thought it was time to write up a few of my comparisons between the two sets.

But the Beast is Not Phased.

First, I wanted to cover the character creation process, which I think is better in the new red box, although it still has some kinks that could be worked out. In the blue box, you create a character much the same way that you have for three decades in D & D; you pick a class and race and roll up some stats after reading some dry information in one of the many volumes of rules. In the newest attempt at streamlining the character creation process, Wizards of the Coast designed a stand alone scenario that lets players make choices which define their character in an adventure that's reminiscent of a Choose Your Own Adventure book. I was really engrossed with it at first, but after running it three times I was a little tired of it, even though my players all selected new classes the amount of choices available didn't provide enough versatility to make playing through it feasible more than a few times. Ultimately every choice shoehorns your players into the goblin caves where they will either get slaughtered or emerge victorious. Either way, the story continues with the text suggesting that they recruit some additional adventurers to help clear the caves of the creatures. It's an interesting take on something that hasn't really altered much over the years. I think if there were more branches of the story it would be even more interesting but for a basic entrance to the game it serves its purpose.

"Watch out! He's going to do something!"

The meat of the red box lays in the adventure where the party joins together to investigate the caves, searching for a stolen box and in pursuit of a mysterious rider. Another benefit of the red box over the blue box is the chances for roleplaying that are available with the first dragon encounter in the game. In the blue box, the players are assumed to want to vanquish Tusenmaug as he serves as the "boss" of the basic set. In the red box, a number of options are outlined for players who want to try diplomacy or bluffing the white dragon. In addition to those choices, they can agree to help the dragon by eliminating the goblins in the cave and bringing the stolen box back to the dragon instead of the merchant who originally hired them (which is the route my players chose). Since Tusenmaug pretty much brought my last game to a close by kicking my players' asses, I much prefer the new dragon who at least allows the players another option besides mortal combat. Yes, of course, you could always design your own scenarios in the blue box that allow for such possibilities, but the whole purpose of a basic/starter set is the pick-up-and-play ability of it. I used to design all of my own adventures, but I just don't have the time and dedication to do it like I used to. Also, I enjoy playing other peoples' stories.

The Beast Uses Kick...

One thing I like the blue box better (because this is no doubt seeming one-sided at the present moment) is the use of miniature figures to represent the players and the monsters. They are pre-painted plastic miniatures, so they are quite cheap, but they are leagues better than the cardboard tokens that shipped with the red box. I think it's a shame WotC retired their miniatures line. It was fun to buy them and get a random assortment of monsters and heroes.

I also don't like how the map in the red box is a) folded paper b)a reprint of something they had already created (the monster lair / crossroads map was included in the basic miniatures game set). The map in the blue box is made out of sturdy cardstock. My only complaint with it was that I don't have more of the nice 4 x 4 squares that came in the blue box. Tiles are okay (available separately from either set as a stand-alone product) but many of them are small and easily usable, or won't quite suit what you are trying to build. Plus, you have to build them instead of the ease of a map or the cardstock.

...It's Super Effective!

Another thing I like about the red box is the use of power cards which list what different abilities do. This allows you to have players pick new powers when they level up relatively easily instead of having to have them thumb through the Players' Handbook. I wish they were a little more sturdy when it came to their construction (like made out of the same material as the actual power cards you can buy in stores) but I understand why WotC skimped out. They wanted a product that wasn't too expensive that allowed players to jump into a game with minimal hassle. And I think the red box pulls that off. Does it live up to the 1983 version of D & D by the same name? Apparently not, if the critics are to be believed, but that doesn't mean it's not worth checking out.

I picked it up for $14 or so from Amazon, and I think I'll have gotten my money out of it once the time comes to set it aside in favor of D&D 5.0 or Pathfinder or whatever my group ends up playing next.

Once again I neglected to take pictures of the actual game. I hope you enjoyed these pictures of my cat, Grumpy, who remains un-vanquished to this day.

Dragonborn on the 4th of July

And by July I mean December. And what I'm talking is the new DLC for The Elder Scrolls V: Skyrim.

The first Skyrim DLC, Dawnguard, was released during the summer, first on Xbox 360, and then a month later on PC (it still hasn't been released for PS3; developer Bethesda cites memory limitations as to the reason why). Dawnguard added skill trees for both Werewolves and Vampires, as well as additional story missions in which the player could join a faction and either help eliminate the vampire threat or be a threatening vampire.

Many players enjoyed the content but others felt there wasn't enough new monsters and areas to make the purchase worthwhile. Critics also said that next to The Shivering Isles (the expansion for The Elder Scrolls IV: Oblivion) Dawnguard paled in comparison.

The next piece of DLC was released in September (again, first on Xbox 360 with the PC release following a month after) and was called Hearthfire. It allowed players to build houses, adopt children, and perform a variety of mundane tasks such as baking, beekeeping, and farming. It was a far cry from the dragon slaying adventures people had experienced during the main game, but it is only $5 vs the $20 for Dawnguard. One of the complaints critics had with Hearthfire was that many of the features provided by it were already available through various mods that the mod community had created. To each their own,  I suppose.

Now we have Dragonborn, returning to the long form, additional quests format that Dawnguard first provided. It will again be $20, and promises to have more varied monsters and terrain than the earlier DLC. One of the most demanded feature from players is the ability to ride dragons, and that seems to coming with Dragonborn. In Skyrim, you play as the Dragonborn who is able to absorb souls from dragons and speak in the language of the dragons, which allows you to have powers like a dragon, such as fire breath and the ability to slow time (among many others). Dragons returning in Skyrim is a pretty big deal, as is your character being the Dragonborn, and the insinuation is that you are the hero of destiny who will stop Alduin, the big bad dragon they call the worldeater. The trailer for Dragonborn shows a character who says "You didn't think you were the first Dragonborn, did you?" implying that he is the first Dragonborn, and that he will most likely be the antagonist for Dragonborn. I was pretty burned out on Skyrim by the time Dawnguard rolled around, so I haven't picked it or Hearthfire up, but Dragonborn looks too promising to miss. I will, however, probably have to wait until January 4th for the PC version. Such is life.

Did you count how many times I said Dragonborn in that last paragraph? I counted ten.

As If Millions of Voices Cried Out...

Forced to be F2P

A long time ago in a corporate boardroom far away, somebody thought it would be a phenomenal idea if  World of Warcraft took place in space. Fans had been clamoring for a follow-up to Knights of the Old Republic II since its release, and so EA seized the opportunity to cash in on the popularity of the Star Wars IP (Intellectual Property, sorry, sometimes I bandy acronyms about and forget not everyone speaks geek) that they had obtained when they purchased BioWare.

What you want to do.

At the time World of Warcraft had roughly 12 million subscribers, and it looked as if the juggernaut showed no signs of slowing. Even competitors like Trion Worlds' Rift seemed to find its place in the already saturated market of MMOs. Betting on BioWare's pedigree, EA threw ludicrous sums of money at a project that they were sure would turn a healthy profit in subscription fees. It's rumored to be the largest video game budget ever, to the tune of somewhere between $150 - $200 million dollars. Whoa. That's a lot of credits.

What you will actually do.

Then it was released. Despite the insistence that the game would not go F2P (free-to-play, as opposed to traditional subscription based services like WoW), tomorrow it is doing exactly that. You will be able to play to level 50 and experience all of the main story lines for each class without ever having to pay a cent. But not all of the content is accessible to free loaders. Things like high-level raids and other content will be walled off until a subscription is paid (which is what the developer dubs "preferred status." As in, "We would prefer it if you paid us money"). Although it had over a million users sign up in its first three days of release, they continued to decline after that, which while it is normal to see a drop in MMORPGs after the first month (since the first month is usually free, in what I can only compare to heroin dealers giving their customers the first taste for free), but the numbers obviously were on the darker side of things than BioWare or their parent company EA cared for. Hence the change.

I played back during beta last year and got a bounty hunter character to level 15 or so before the open beta came to a close. It was fun-ish, but not quite what I wanted in an MMO. I might check it out now that it's F2P, but honestly I don't have the time to dedicate to those kind of games anymore. MMOs are notorious time sinks, and Star Wars: The Old Republic is no exception.

If you want to get your Jedi on (or Sith, whatever, I don't judge) you should be able to download the client from http://www.swtor.com/ on the morrow.

New Releases 11/13

Well, actually, 11/11 (make a wish!)

Okay, so it didn't release today, but Paper Mario: Sticker Star launched on Sunday for the 3DS, so I thought I'd cover it here.

The Paper Mario series is perhaps my favorite spin-off of the Mario games (okay, it's a toss-up between Mario Kart 64 and Double Dash, really). Most of the Mario games the story goes something like this: "The princess has been kidnapped by Bowser. Again. Go get 'er." The story in the Paper Mario games is more or less the same, except there's actual dialogue and it's funny. I mean really funny. Not a thin-lipped smile like the writing that some games elicit, or the minor titter that a commercial in Grand Theft Auto may evoke, but actual, honest-to-Bob, laugh-out-loud moments. That's right, I lol'd irl.

"3! 3 Goombas, ah ah ah!" /Count

The Paper Mario series started on Nintendo 64, but one could argue it has roots in Squaresoft's Super Mario RPG on the Super Nintendo. The game was a deviation from the standard Mario formula in that it was an RPG instead of a platformer, with a full-on party of memorable characters with their own interesting back stories and abilities. The game was a collaborative effort between Squaresoft and Nintendo, and would be the last game Squaresoft would make for Nintendo until 2003's Final Fantasy Tactics Advance for the GBA.

Stop! Hammer Time!

Super Mario RPG was a hit, and since they were no longer able to work with Squaresoft (the two developers had a well-documented tiff over Squaresoft choosing to release Final Fantasy VII on the Sony Playstation, a direct competitor to Nintendo), Nintendo hired Intelligent Systems to design the spiritual successor to Super Mario RPG, Paper Mario.

Besides featuring RPG turn-based battles, the game had a unique art style in which the characters resemble paper cutouts (hence the name) against a 3D backdrop. The combination of art style, gameplay, story, and music delivered Nintendo a hit that they have continued to capitalize on.

Nintendo first released a sequel on the GameCube, Paper Mario: The Thousand Year Door, and another one on the Wii, Super Paper Mario. I never got to finish Paper Mario: TTYD. I rented it and was thoroughly enjoying it, but it continued to freeze on my after playing the initial thirty minutes of the game. I loved the first title and enjoyed Super Paper Mario (which was a bit of a deviation from the series, choosing to be more action-oriented than its predecessors by embracing its platformer heritage), so I can safely say that I am looking forward to Sticker Star.

Sticker Star has, as you might have guessed, stickers you can collect that affect gameplay. Some are power ups while others can be used to solve puzzles. The combat is a return to form for the first two games (Paper Mario, and Paper Mario: TTYD) but critics are deriding the game by saying it's too different from those other titles. I haven't played it yet to form any opinions about it, but I know it's one of the few 3DS titles that has piqued my curiosity.

Paper Mario: Sticker Star is available only on the 3DS. It retails for $39.99. If you have a 3DS and Paper Mario: Sticker Star...can I borrow it? Please?

The Finalest Fantasy

Final Fantasy XIV Version 1.0 Comes to a Close

Final Fantasy XIV was probably the most maligned game in the franchise when it was released in September of 2010. Being an MMORPG, it was already going to be reviled by most fans. People that like other games in the series still deride FFXI, many of whom never even played it, simply because of its always online, subscription based nature. Although FFXI started  off a bit rocky, it grew to be a success,  and one of Square-Enix's most profitable titles. Despite World of Warcraft dwarfing it in terms of subscribers, FFXI had its playerbase that stuck with it throughout the years. But over time it started to show its age more and more. Cue FFXIV, which S-E hoped would replace FFXI as their premiere cash cow.

They were not ready for the level of criticism they received. Although beta testers provided feedback on the official forums about various systems and functionality, they were by and large for the most part ignored and S-E went ahead and released the game in what many considered to be an unfinished state. Critics said it felt like the game had been outsourced, with many of the environments being copy/paste jobs of the same terrain. Fans criticized the fatigue system, wherein players would receive less experience points after playing for an extended period of time. Players bemoaned the lack of an auction house to sell goods (the retainer system being overly complicated for most gamers' taste that were used to FFXI and WoW's AHs). Series staples like chocobos and airships were MIA. In short, the game was a travesty to many players.

Square is hoping to do what no developer has done before. Usually after a MMO launch flops, the game quickly folds, either going F2P or canceling development outright. After a couple months of trying to stem the hemmorhaging of players, S-E issued a formal apology and had the director Tanaka, step down from the project, and relative newcomer, Naoki Yoshida (affectionately known as Yoshi-P by the fan community) step up to the plate in order to try and fix the game. S-E resolved to turn the game around and give the fans exactly what they wanted. In the year that followed, several systems saw major overhauls while the team worked on another engine that would alleviate many of the problems players had with the current infrastructure of the game, such as not having a mailbox to be able to mail items to other players. While adding content to keep the existing players happy (who were allowed to continue playing for free instead of having to pay a sub), Square sought to bring FFXIV up to par with all the features that a modern MMO currently offers.

I played FFXIV for a year (December 2010 - December 2011), but in January of 2012, S-E decided to start charging again, and I decided to take my gil (the ubiquitous currency of the series) elsewhere. As far as I was concerned FFXIV still wasn't up to snuff. I also didn't like how they simplified the crafting system (which was very well thought out to be realistic), the repair system, and gutted my character of the skills I had acquired. I also didn't like the direction that S-E showed with their roadmap. It looked like a pretty generic western MMO, and not the successor to Final Fantasy XI that many fans hoped XIV would be.

But my absence from the world didn't stop S-E from continuing on with their plans. They continued to add content to the game, content that would only be available to current players of the game in the game's current state. Over time, the red moon over Eorzea (the world that FFXIV takes place in) grew closer with every patch, foreshadowing an inevitable impact with the planet that would give S-E the reason and opportunity to design the world anew.

Yesterday marked the last day players could log in and play before Dalamud destroyed Eorzea as we know it. The old servers and the old game are now gone forever, and players await a bright, shiny future when the new servers with the new engine come online sometime in the next couple of months. I wish those adventurers the best. It's a future I no longer want any part of. The last cutscene S-E released is beautiful though. Then again, they've never slouched when it comes to the cinemas in their games, and this one is no exception. If you've made it this far you owe it to yourself to watch the video below.

It almost makes me want to go back.