Video Game Review: Demon's Souls(PS3)

***SPOILERS AHEAD!***

It has been said that in this generation of gaming consoles(PS3, Xbox 360, Wii, ect.) that games are not as challenging or hardcore as they used to be.  To an extent this is true. Games that tend to hold your hand through most of the experience even on the hardest of difficulties have become the norm, and even though we have had some truly amazing and innovative and amazing games release in this period of time many gamers yearned for the challenging game experiences of old, myself included. Then along came Demon's Souls. Released in 2009 exclusively for the PlayStation 3,  Demon's Souls is one of this generation's best and most innovative RPGs ever! It is also one of the hardest, most challenging games I have ever had the pleasure of kicking my ass! :P

Demon's Souls is an action RPG set in a new fantasy world. The story takes place in the kingdom of Boletaria, ruled over by King Allant XII. Because of his greed and intent to continue his rule, King Allant performed a dark ritual of channeling the power of souls to achieve his goals. Boletaria experiences unprecedented prosperity because of Allant's actions, but soon a Deep Fog covers the kingdom's outskirts, and Boletaria is cut off from the rest of the world. Neighboring kingdoms send scouts to investigate what has happened, but none return from the Fog. However, one warrior, Vallarfax of the royal Twin Fangs, manages to break free of the Fog and is able to tell the world of Boletaria's plight. By channeling souls, King Allant awakened the Old One, and ancient all-powerful demon, which had been slumbering below a place known as the Nexus. With the Old One's awakening, the Deep Fog swept in and covered the land, unleashing hoards of demons within that feasted on the souls of mankind. Those that survived there souls being taken became insane and violent. With no way to stop it, the Deep Fog soon begins to grow beyond Boletaria's borders and into neighboring kingdoms. Many brave warriors from around the world attempt to breach the Fog and save Boletaria, but some succumb to the allure of the power of demon's souls. Many warriors are lost to the Fog. You play as one warrior that manages to breach the fog and reach Boletaria. Your goal is to defeat all the powerful demons that have overrun the land, and defeat the Old One and return it to its slumber...or succumb to the alluring power of demon's souls and bring the world to ruin. Demon's Souls' story brings a fresh new and exciting fantasy world to life, but elements of the story are sparse and most information is learned by talking to the many NPC characters that inhabit the game's world. The mysterious nature of the world's history as well as the back story leading up to these events really help to make Demon's Souls' story fascinating and mysteriously dark throughout! 

 King Allant doing his demon thing!

The Old One sure knows how to make an entrance! O.O

As you start up a new game you are able to choose between female or male. You then get to modify your character's appearance and traits, like hair-style and color, shape of your face, color of your skin, the structure of your face. It is a pretty robust character creation system! After that you get to choose your character's class. There are 10 unique classes to choose from: Soldier, Knight, Hunter, Priest, Magician, Wanderer, Barbarian, Thief, Temple Knight, and Royalty. Each class has it's own starting weapons, armor, magic and attributes and all have there own ways of achieving victory over this monster of a game. It is all up to you to find the right one!

After creating your character and choosing your class you are dropped into the tutorial stage where you learn the basics of the game. Combat is mostly simple. The R1 does your basic attack while the R2 button does a more powerful, guard breaking attack. L1 Button allows you to use your left handed weapon, like guarding with a shield. O button lets you sprint, roll, and step back. X allows you to interact with objects in the environment like dropped items and talk to the in-game characters. Triangle button lets you toggle between one handing or two handing your right hand weapon. Square button lets you use items in your inventory like healing herbs, magic restoring spice, or any other items you may have. Everything may sound easy but believe me it is NOT! At the end of the easy tutorial level you must fight the demon boss, Vanguard. he will beat the living shit out of you. More often than not, you will die when you get to this boss. He is strong enough to kill you in one hit. If you win against Vanguard(as if) you will be thrown into the world of Boletaria. When you die in the main game world or against Vanguard you will be thrown into the Nexus for the first time. The Nexus serves as a hub, allowing you to access any of the 5 worlds at your own pace after beating World 1-1. The Nexus lets you rest from your travels. Here you can get your weapons and armor repaired to get them back to peak condition. You can store weapons, armor and items for later use and to prevent you from getting overburdened by their weight. You can even purchase some basic items, weapons, armor, and upgrades to your gear. Some NPC characters in the Nexus will even teach you Spells(black magic) and Miracles(white magic) for a fee. On your travels in the game world you will encounter many more characters who may go to the Nexus provided you are willing to help them(or you can just kill them for what they have on hand)! If you help them some will provide you with greater insight into the world of Demon's Souls, and others like Yuria the Witch and Sage Freke will teach you very high level magic. There is just as much to do here in the Nexus as there is to do in Boletaria!

 The Nexus, your hub to the world at large and your makeshift home throughout the game

In the game world itself you are in for some serious pain! Each World is very different and unique. Different tactics will be needed to beat each section and believe me, there is no sure fire way to win outright. Every enemy you encounter can, and will most likely, kill you in different ways. The enemy AI is quite smart and very unforgiving. Monsters like gargoyles, mind flayers, Red eye knights, Fat Officials, Skeletons and so much more will be the bane of your existence. Defeating each enemy may sometimes yield items. But it will always get you Souls. Souls serve as experience points to level your character up in the Nexus and they also serve as currency to buy items, gear and upgrade or repair your stuff. it can be tough to choose how you spend your Souls. However you spend your Souls you better make sure it is the right choice. Spending on the wrong thing can mean life or death in this game. And as much as there can be great rewards for victory, there are harsh punishments for failure and death. When you die you will be revived at the beginning of the level you are playing. Any enemies you failed to defeat will have there health revived. Worst of all is you will be stuck in Soul form. As a Soul you can still fight but your health bar will be slashed to a tiny fraction of what it was. When you die you also lose any and all souls you accumulated but have yet to spend on leveling up or items. These souls can be saved however. If you return to where you were killed you will find a glowing blood stain. Touching your stain will allow you to reclaim your lost souls, but if you die on your way back to your blood stain, you lose those souls forever.

Fighting in Soul Form sure makes you feel vulnerable!

Life and death can also determine the difficulty of each World. Each World's difficulty is determined by World Tendency. White World Tendency is achieved when you beat an entire World without dying in your body form too often, as well as defeating all three bosses in that World. Conversely if you die in your body form a lot you will get Black World Tendency. Each time you die in body form the difficulty will increase a little at a time. Each Tendency does have its own rewards however. Pure White World Tendency will open up areas that were previously closed off letting you find special items and gear as well as extra souls. Enemies will also be much easier but defeating them will yield fewer souls and they will drop fewer items. Pure Black World Tendency will make your enemies much harder to beat than they already are. They will drop more souls than before though, as well as rarer and special items.

Checking each area's World Tendency, essential in determining how you proceed

Even more difficult than the enemies you face in each area are the bosses. These bosses are some of the hardest and unforgiving you may ever face in your gaming career. Some of them are simply MASSIVE too. Each World has three bosses while World 1 has 4. Defeating each boss nets you a special soul which can be consumed to net you a ton of regular souls. However the soul of each boss has unique properties to it that can be exploited in different ways. Giving some of these boss souls to certain NPC characters will allow you to buy super high level and ultra powerful Spells and/or Miracles. One character however will allow you to use boss souls to upgrade basic weapons to super powerful and special weapons. Buying these special magics and weapons can go a long way to helping you attain victory. Well, not really! :P

O.O This game is trying to kill me

Perhaps one of the best features about this game is its innovative use of the PlayStation 3's online functionality! The game does have co-op and competitive multiplayer but not like any other game out there. On your travels in each World you will notice several blood stains. These are the blood stains of other players when they died in there own games. Touching these stains can be helpful as you see a phantom version of the player, seconds before they are killed. these stains can provide you with helpful hints as to what may lay ahead. Other players, as well as yourself, can also leave messages throughout the world. These messages range from helpful hints to pleas of help to co-op. In order to summon players to co-op you must be in Body form while your partners must be in Soul form. You or anyone else can then use an item called a Blue Eye Stone to drop a Soul sign. When it is touched you or anyone else is pulled in to a different person's game(or yours). The goal is basic: defeat the boss at the end of the area. When the boss is defeated you get to grade others or are graded on how well you or they co-oped. And anyone stuck in Soul form is instantly revived in there game! On the other hand, if you or someone uses a Black Eye Stone while in Soul form you can invade someone else's game as a Black Phantom or you can be invaded. The objective of the Black Phantoms is to find the opposing player and defeat them in order to be revived. Fights between living players and Black Phantom players can be real battles of attrition. You may also be out of luck if you are invaded by someone who is at a higher level and has some high level magic and weapons. Trust me you will sweat like crazy when you get a message alerting you to an invasion from a Black Phantom. Everything about Demon's Souls online component screams innovation and can be tons of fun(unless you get invaded)! :P

Other players can either be a good friend, or a big JERK!

As good as the game play and online service is the graphics are just as amazing. This is one richly detailed world! From poisonous swamps to a battle scarred castle there is so much visual detail to take in! It looks and feels like a real place! Weapons and armor also look very impressive. The design of the enemies and bosses is among some of the best I have seen in an rpg! Sadly the models for the characters are not that great looking. The sound design is also believable with realistic clanging of weapons and armor, to the sounds of the enemies and bosses, this game will sound amazing in surround sound! The developer did an amazing job to make sure this game was a treat to all the senses!

Despite the game's steep learning curve and often brutal difficulty, this is easily the greatest RPG I have ever played form this generation of games! It sure is one of the best games of all time as well! Demon's Souls is not for the faint of heart but it really should not be missed by anyone! Take the time to learn it's nuances and you will find yourself having a blast! Demon's Souls is certainly going to be a game I will never forget and will most likely continue to play for years to come! I can't recommend it enough!

Demon's Souls score: 9.5/10

As you start up a new game you are able to choose between female or male. You then get to modify your character's appearance and traits, like hair-style and color, shape of your face, color of your skin, the structure of your face. It is a pretty robust character creation system! After that you get to choose your character's class. There are 10 unique classes to choose from: Soldier, Knight, Hunter, Priest, Magician, Wanderer, Barbarian, Thief, Temple Knight, and Royalty. Each class has it's own starting weapons, armor, magic and attributes and all have there own ways of achieving victory over this monster of a game. It is all up to you to find the right one! - See more at: http://fanboyvsfangirl.blogspot.com/search?q=demon%27s+souls#sthash.2At5i1wG.dpuf

As you start up a new game you are able to choose between female or male. You then get to modify your character's appearance and traits, like hair-style and color, shape of your face, color of your skin, the structure of your face. It is a pretty robust character creation system! After that you get to choose your character's class. There are 10 unique classes to choose from: Soldier, Knight, Hunter, Priest, Magician, Wanderer, Barbarian, Thief, Temple Knight, and Royalty. Each class has it's own starting weapons, armor, magic and attributes and all have there own ways of achieving victory over this monster of a game. It is all up to you to find the right one! - See more at: http://fanboyvsfangirl.blogspot.com/search?q=demon%27s+souls#sthash.2At5i1wG.dpuf

Video Game Review: Final Fantasy 4 The Complete Collection(PSP)

Final Fantasy 4: The Complete Collection is one UMD chock full of value! Combining the original groundbreaking masterpiece with its modern sequel while adding in a bonus in-between game makes this the definitive FF4 collection to date! The extras in the main menu include an extensive music library complete with the original SNES tracks as well as all the modern remixes, a very detailed bestiary spanning all three games, and a movie gallery to view the CG intros to FF4 and The After years. Serving as both a love letter to fans of the series and an introduction to one of the most beloved entries into the Final Fantasy saga, The Complete Collection does not fail! A must own for PSP owners everywhere! :D

Final Fantasy 4 The Complete Collection(PSP) score: 8.5/10

Video Game Review: Final Fantasy 4 The After Years(PSP)

***SPOILERS AHEAD!***

Originally released in 2009, Final Fantasy 4 The After Years is the one and only major sequel to Square's SNES masterpiece, FF4. The After Years was later released for the PSP in the Complete Collection.

The story takes place seventeen years after the events of FF4 and FF4 Interlude. The Second Moon has long left the Blue Planet and the world's inhabitants made great gains in rebuilding there lives and there kingdoms. Cecil and Rosa now serve as king and queen of Baron and there son, Ceodore, has joined the kingdom's elite airship fleet, the Red Wings. While on his initiation mission for the Red Wings Baron comes under attack from massive hordes of monsters. Cecil attempts to fight them off but is defeated by strange being know as Mysterious Woman. At the same time, the Second Moon makes it's return to the Blue Planet. Across the world old friends unite, and are joined by new faces as they attempt to stop the advance of the Second Moon, defeat the Mysterious Woman, and discover the truth behind everything once and for all. The story for The After Years borrows a lot of elements from the original game, but it adds several new characters and creatures to make things new and fresh. One new feature to the game is the episodic format of the story. Each major character has his or her own story. Playing through each episode in a row shows coinciding elements across all the stories, creating a greater yet fractured narrative. Beating all episodes is key to unlocking the final episode, bringing the FF4 saga to an epic conclusion. All of the main characters from the first game make a triumphant return and are joined by several new characters, each with there own special personalities and abilities. Ceodore the knight in training, Ursula the daughter of Yang, Luca the female dwarf and mechanic, and even Golbez are just some of the new playable characters to the franchise! Despite familiar elements the story still finds ways to be fresh and interesting!

Some Characters from The After Years

Ceodore Harvey

Ursula

Cecil Harvey

Rosa Harvey

Rydia

Mysterious Girl

The gameplay to the FF4 saga also received some major additions. While the overall basics are unchanged from the original, The After Years sees some ambitious new mechanics implemented to make the game feel more modern. This biggest addition is the effects of the moon on the world at large. Moon Phase will change throughout your adventure at certain points in the story or whenever you use an Inn or rest at a save point using a Tent or a Cottage. Moon Phases not only affect the world but your party's stats and abilities as well. For example New Moon phase will increase the power of Skill abilities such as Kain's Jump, but White Magic like Cure will be less effective in supporting your party. Likewise Waning Moon phase will increase the strength of basic physical attacks, but Skill abilities will be less effective on enemies. To make things even more challenging, the 4 different Moon Phases also affect the enemies you encounter. Basic enemies and bosses also get increases and decreases to the same abilities as your characters. Fighting against a boss with strong physical attacks during a Waning Moon will put you in a world of hurt if you don't plan your attacks or have the wrong character set-up. Moreover you will encounter certain monsters in specific areas and dungeons during a set Moon Phase. Moon Phase's influence on exploration and more importantly combat adds a real strategy element to the mix that really keeps you on your toes as you try to find a winning formula to beat certain types of enemies and bosses. At times it can feel cheap to be stuck in an area with no way to change to a Phase that will better help you achieve victory, but this new mechanic sure adds a wild card element to the game that makes it feel more modern and fresh. Another new addition to the gameplay are Bands. Bands are special abilities and combo attacks that involve two or more characters, often characters that have a bond or connection within the story such as Cecil with Rosa and Ceodore. Some Bands are obtained directly in accordance to the progression of the story while others must be found in combat at your leisure. Effects of bands can be powerful combo attacks that deal massive damage to one or more enemies or special magic spells that buff up your party or hinder enemies. Finding a great Band can mean the difference between victory and defeat and finding them all can be a fun challenge in it's own right!

The presentation for the After Years is exactly the same as FF4 and Interlude. Detailed sprite based graphics with an old school charm, and the rich remixed classic soundtrack seen in the rest of the series. New areas help to break up the pace by giving newcomers and FF4 veterans some new places to explore. Nothing too major but it fits in just fine with the rest of the games on the UMD. :)

Final Fantasy 4 The After Years is a sequel that had some big shoes to fill. Despite the feeling of repetition, it manages to do enough to make itself feel new, modern and unique to its predecessor. While not the industry movie epic its forbear was, The After Years does the job of being a fun sequel that provides great closure to a beloved story, and does it well. Fans of Final Fantasy 4, as well as new players to the saga will find a lot to love in The After Years! A great game not to be missed!

Final Fantasy 4 The After Years(PSP) score: 8/10

Video Game Review: Final Fantasy 4 Interlude(PSP)

***SPOILERS AHEAD!***

 

Final Fantasy 4 Interlude is a brand new game in the FF4 series. It is a brand new short story made exclusively for Final Fantasy 4 The Complete Collection to bridge the gap between FF4 and it's direct major sequel, Final Fantasy 4 The After Years.

Set roughly 1 year after the events of the original FF4. Interlude follows Cecil, Rosa and there friends continue the task of rebuilding there world after it had been ravaged by the war in the previous game. Cecil and Rosa are married and now rule the Kingdom of Baron as king and queen. As they rebuild there shaken realm and reforge once shattered alliances, A mysterious woman begins running around the world searching for the elemental crystals. Cecil and friends set out on a journey to find out the identity of this girl and her reasons for wanting the crystals. Considering this game was made only as an extra to help bridge the events between FF4 and The After Years, the game is over all VERY short! The story will last at best no more than a few hours and is not that difficult.

 

Gameplay wise, everything is the exact same as in the original FF4. Being a small in-between story that is to be expected. Nothing new or groundbreaking but still charming and fun. Refer to my review of Final Fantasy 4 for the details of the gameplay for Interlude. ;)

 

The same can be said for the graphics and presentation. Same old-school style graphics overhauled for the PSP and the same remixed soundtrack. Nothing new but still good. :)

 

That's all that really needs to be said about this game. The short story won't last you very long, only a few hours at best, even shorter for true FF4 veterans. The gameplay is the exact same as in the original game. Nothing more, nothing less. There are also no extras to this game to speak of. But so long as you just take it in conjunction with the other games on the UMD(PSP disk format) and don't expect a whole lot you will find some enjoyment in this mini adventure! :) Plus the story is still important to the whole package! ;)

Final Fantasy 4 Interlude(PSP) score: 7.5/10

FanBoy's Favorite Tunes: Final Fantasy 4

Hello readers! This will be a new feature to the blog! Whenever I review an anime or game with a great soundtrack I'll post some of my favorites in a new segment called FanBoy's Favorite Tunes! :D I hope you all enjoy the music!

Video Game Review: Final Fantasy 4(PSP)

*Hey everyone, sorry for the odd schedule this week. I had some important business going on around here so I didnt have time to review anything on Friday. anyway, here is my video game review for the week! My yuri review will be out tomorrow! :)

*A quick note: the next few video game reviews will be for the games in the Final Fantasy 4 Complete Collection for PSP. I will review each game individually then offer a total review for the whole package. This will be done for all game collections in the future as well! :)

***SPOILERS AHEAD***

Originally released in 1991 for the Super Nintendo Entertainment System(SNES) Final Fantasy is one of the most ground-breaking and beloved entries into the FF series. Its masterful blend of great storytelling, innovative gameplay mechanics, graphics, and the large cast of likeable characters cemented Final Fantasy 4's status as one of the greatest video games of all time and the game certainly holds up to that status even by today's standards!

This entry in the FF saga was where Square really started to grow as storytellers! The story takes place on Blue Planet and follows the Dark Knight, Cecil Harvey, as he serves the Kingdom of Baron and there airship fleet the Red Wings. Cecil as well as his love interest Rosa Farrell and best friend Kain Highwind set out to discover why there kingdom has started to become aggressive with allied nations, as well as stealing elemental crystals from other kingdoms. Along the way they discover new truths about there world, there moons, as well as there pasts and as well as meet the true mastermind behind the war engulfing there world, Golbez. In there travels, Cecil and his friends also team up with a host of interesting characters. Rydia the summoner, Edward "Edge" Geraldine the ninja, Yang Fang Leiden the monk, Tellah the sage, Palom and Porom the twin magicians, Edward Chris von Muir the bard, and Cid Pollendina the engineer round out a cast that works really well together and bring the story to life! The story overall(especially when compared with the previous 3 FF games) has been credited with bringing dramatic storytelling to RPGs and the twists and turns and developments in FF4's plot will keep you engaged from start to finish! Even after over 20 years this story of war, love and redemption still knows how to wow you! :D

Some characters from Final Fantasy 4

Cecil Harvey

Rosa Farrell(hot!)

Kain Highwind

Rydia(hot!x2)

Golbez(boooo!)

As epic and ground breaking as the story was, Final Fantasy 4 also introduced several innovative gameplay conventions that are still being used in RPGs to this day! Like FF1 and FF1, you travel across the game's overworld and through dungeons battling monsters and defeating bosses. You are given the usual experience points to gain levels and increase your stats for each character. You also obtain and use gil to purchase weapons, armor and items to heal or enhance your party. One of the new mechanics that separates this from past FF games is the introduction of greater diversity in character abilities based on that particular character's class. For example, Cecil as a Dark Knight can use an attack that sacrifices his HP to attack multiple enemies with dark energy, Rydia can summon powerful entities called Eidolons to aid the party in battle with powerful attacks, and Yang uses martial arts to attack multiple enemies at once or one enemy for massive damage. Another feature introduced in this game was the fact that your party can hold up to 5 characters at once, and by doing so, you can arrange your party in two different rows to fit any situation you may come across. The front row is used for characters you wish to be your attackers. Being in front, characters deal the highest damage but also take a bit more damage as well and are more likely to be attacked. The back row is reserved for characters you use in a support role such as using White or Black magic and items. Characters in the back deal slightly less damage but take less damage as well and aren't as likely to be attacked. This concept of switching your party members from offense to defense is crucial to winning battles. Figuring out each characters strength and weaknesses and placing them in the right place adds a layer of strategy to the game and makes for some fun and challenging battles! Another new idea is the ability to switch party members with different characters. In past FF games you were only relegated to using a set group of characters and no one else. In FF4 after reaching a certain point in the game, you are able to sawp out characters in your party for others you have waiting in your airship or elsewhere. This system of swapping party members around can make for some fun strategizing as you try and discover new teams that can get you past a situation another team set up can't! The most notable gameplay element(and the most innovative) in FF4 is the introduction of the Active Time Battle(ATB) system. All characters have an ATB gauge next to there HP/MP bars. After a character takes an action, like attack, use magic or items, the character must wait until the ATB gauge fills up again. The amount of time it takes for the gauge to fill back up depends on the character's class and level. The higher a character's level is, the faster the gauge will fill. Items and magic can also be used to increase the speed at which the gauge fills. Since enemies also have an ATB gauge, you can also use magic and items to slow there gauges, but the same can be done to you. The ATB system was very innovative for its time and has appeared in several RPGs since, including other FF games. It may not seem so innovative now but it still works really well, and its use means one has to carefully plan out attacks and actions before there gauge fills up. All these mechanics combine to make for addicting monster slaying and truly epic and fun boss battles! 

The game's presentation, like FF1 and FF2, has been enhanced specifically for the PSP. The graphics are roughly the same as FF1 and FF2, but with a bit more detail. Also there is far greater variety to the game world. From the typical green and blue over world, to an underworld of lava and stone, and the high tech interior of an ancient tower, there is far greater visual variety in FF4 than in previous FF games. The epic soundtrack has also been upgraded. In this PSP version you can switch from using the original SNES tracks, or the new superior arrangement made for the PSP(also used in the  Nintendo DS version). Some of Final Fantasy's greatest tunes came from FF4 and listening to the soundtrack today its not hard to see why! ;)

Final Fantasy 4 is where the true console RPG craze began. An amazing story, fun battle systems, and amazing soundtrack all combine to create one of the best games I have ever had the pleasure of playing as well as one of the most beloved RPGs in general! There is so much to love in FF4 you would be doing yourself a great disservice by not playing this game. Easily one of my favorite games ever, a true classic! :)

Final Fantasy 4(PSP) score: 9/10