- cRPGs

Son of a...

nospam@example.com (Ben) — Mon, 28 Dec 2009 15:27:23 +0000

I was working on a document to help me decide what order I wanted to do the planets in (in Knights of the Old Republic 2), but AbiWord crashed. The reason this is a significant choice is because which order you visit/complete the planets in determines which party members you gain earlier and later.

Well, that's in theory. In actuality, you collect all of your party (except for one mandatory and one conditional character), typically after the intro section and one other planet. While the choice of planets should be important, I've always felt that it's pretty clear what Obsidian intended:

1) You start out on the Peragus Mining Station
2) You travel to Telos Citadel Station; no choice. You now have Atton, Kreia, and T3-M4 available.
3) Surface of Telos; no choice. Bao-Dur is a mandatory addition to the party, plus you have to take him along for this section.
4) North Pole of Telos; no choice. If you are male, you will add Handmaiden after leaving Telos.

Those four stops are all linear and mandatory.

You may now travel to Nar Shadaa, Dantooine, Dxun/Onderon, or Korriban.

Which NPC's can you add at/from each planet?

5) Dantooine - Disciple can be added to your party if you are Female; instead of Handmaiden. I don't believe he is mandatory in any way, nor must you complete the planet story to get him.

6) Nar Shadaa - During the course of the "final act" of Nar Shadaa, you will add Mira (Light Side/Neutral) or Hanhaar (Dark Side) to your party. Upon completion of the final act, you will add G0-T0. You can also complete HK-47 after finishing Nar Shadaa.

7) Dxun/Onderon - Mandalore is a mandatory addition to your party before entering the plot door from Dxun to Onderon.

Korriban - Nothing.

Onderon 2 - Nothing.

Dantooine 2 - Nothing.

End Game - Nothing.

Plot character - Visas Marr will arrive on your ship after you become clearly Light Side/Dark Side AFTER you travel to another OPEN PORT, leave your ship and re-enter it. For most players this will occur on the second free planet they visit. (unless you're strictly playing neutral)

So assuming you want to get each character ASAP, you can do the planets in the order listed above. You don't have to finish Dantooine if you're female, and if you're male, you can skip it entirely in favor of a direct trip to Nar Shadaa.

The conflicting issue: Influence.

KotOR 2 added the game mechanic of influence. You can gain influence with your party members in order to learn more of the back story, learn about each character's personal story, gain skill and ability increases for yourself and the NPC party members, and turn several of them into Jedi. I don't want to get into an influence guide, but there are a couple of salient points that affect who you take to which planet.

Mira, Handmaiden, Disciple, Hanhaar and Visas can nearly or completely max out on influence through conversations and actions on the ship. If you need extra influence, they are all most influenced on Dxun/Onderon.

Mandalore gains most of his influence on Onderon, where he is a mandatory party member. Like all of the dark side NPC's, there are also several people in the game that you can murder for influence. However, Mandalore is broken and you CANNOT max influence with him. What you get from Mandalore is a significant piece of the back story and stat bonuses.

Bao-Dur has no conversation influence options, he must witness you performing good deeds. He is most influenced on Dxun/Onderon, but also shares several influence points with the others on Nar Shadaa, and has a unique influence point on Dantooine. It is possible for Bao-Dur to "break" and become unavailable.

Atton has a couple of influence points while he is forced into the party, plus you have to take him off the the ship on Nar Shadaa at least once. You then have to navigate a conversation map with him to finish out his influence and story. I think you have to complete Nar Shadaa first, but I'm not sure.

Atton, Bao-Dur, Handmaiden and Visas share several influence points on Nar Shadaa and Dantooine. You must have ONE of these NPC's plus Kreia in your party.

HK gains the most influence by witnessing you threaten and murder innocents.

GoTo as well, to some extent; but more importantly he has several plot related doors.

T3-M4 has a few influence points in the early game and on the ship, but is most influenced by your ability to upgrade him. You need a computer skill of 15 and a repair of 20, if I remember.

GoTo, HK, Hanhaar and Mandalore are all evil. You must do things that will result in Dark Side Points in order to gain influence with them. Very easy if you're evil, go find a list of killable NPC's and go to town.

Handmaiden, Visas and Mira can all be maxed out through conversation (I think...or close to it) but (I think) all of them have "level gates". I know you can't finish out your story with Handmaiden until you reach level 18, regardless of how much influence you have with her. I think the same is true of Visas and Mira.

You must seek out some influence points for Bao-Dur, as you can't influence him via conversation. He has either a location gate or a level gate himself, although I'm not sure what it is.

Kreia - I think you can get all of the influence you need through conversations. Just always agree with her. If you have her in your party, there are several places that will gain you influence with Kreia while losing influence with the other party member, and vice versa.

So, the influence guide would seem to indicate the order listed above.

So what's the problem?

Nar Shadaa is almost half of the game. Doing it second, after the railroad of the the introductory sequences, is a major drag. To be sure, I went to Nar Shadaa after Telos the first time I played the game, but this time I got so bored by the time I was halfway through NS that I reloaded from an earlier save and went to Dxun instead. The problem now is actually an obvious one: I'm now getting 3 characters one planet later than I would otherwise. Since I'm playing light side, and two of them will be evil, only Mira is a possible loss. But we'll see. Getting Mandalore early isn't really much of an advantage. Taking Bao-Dur and Handmaiden along on Dxun/Onderon, however has definitely maxed Handmaiden's influence and I think has maxed Bao-Dur's as well.

So, basically, unless you do the game in one particular order, you only make things harder for yourself.

I'd be glad to hear from others who have played the game regarding what order they did the planets in and what they think about it.

The most wonderful and stressful time of year...

nospam@example.com (Ben) — Sat, 05 Dec 2009 12:53:36 +0000

No, not what you think. With few exceptions, the "holidays" aspect of the Fall and Winter is a stress-reliever for me. What I'm referring to is that my financial year usually starts in March, April or May; and ends in December. I start getting some income in December. So, the period from November to the end of the year is filled with making every dollar count. Plus, you never "really" know how good a job you did during the year until this final huge, expensive effort.

The amount of work that goes into a harvest and all of the stress mentioned above means, as I posted last year, that I don't really have a lot of time for posting...and when I do, I don't feel like it. I don't want to just do more re-posting from other blogs. I like to try to keep blog mentions confined to other bloggers' original work rather than contributing to another round of viral videos. OTOH, Wonderduck comes up with some of the more unique and entertaining examples I've seen, there are currently two good videos on his front page.

So, just to force myself, I'll just run through some randomness.

Recently found the Let's Play Archive. This particular LP got me wanting to play KotOR 2 again...he made the game sound pretty good. As I tweeted recently; though, I actually think the writing is WORSE in 2 than in one. Different, yes. The story certainly has the basis for something MUCH deeper and more complex than KotOR. Unfortunately, the writer(s) didn't know what they were talking about half the time. Obviously, somebody made it through the first chapter of the Pop Guide to Chaos Theory and a Psychology 101 primer, but missed out on War Strategy and Tactics That Anyone Can Understand and Principles of Leadership: A Common Sense Approach. Then there are the "moral choices." Bioware games and western RPG's in general have become well-known for their "black and white" moral choices. KotOR 2 was made by Obsidian rather than Bioware, and a lot of players felt that Obsidian did a better job of making those choices more like "multiple shades of gray." I don't see it, myself. Most of the choices are still "Save/Eat Puppy", they just word them differently. Most of the "gray" choices are actually railroading by the plot...which is to say, rather than "Save/Eat Puppy" you get to choose "Eat Puppy Now/Eat Puppy Later." See, the writer(s) don't really give you a lot of freedom in "defining" your character. Sure, you can level and play your Jedi as Light/Dark Side, Neutral or Insane; but KotOR 2 goes well beyond KotOR's "this is who you are and what you did, now what are you going to do?" KotOR 2 says, "this is who you are, what you did, why you did it, who you did it with and for, and what you thought of them. Now what are you going to do? Oh, and you're still mad about this, so you should probably choose A, and even though we've made it perfectly clear to you repeatedly, and you have high intelligence and wisdom, you don't really understand B, so we'll just fill in "duuuuuuuuuuuh" for that answer.

And so on.

End the end, it still comes down to "side with/kill bad guy". But there's so much arrogance and ignorance in the story, and the frequent Character Development railroading make the game less enjoyable than KotOR...at least to a certain degree. On the other hand, the story IS more complex...not better, just deeper. The game is bigger, the mechanics are a little better, the crafting system is much improved, and the animations and graphics are much better. On the third hand, the rushed development time means that something like 20% of the game got cut before release, and you see a lot of the resultant broken bits still in the game. I don't bear any hard feelings about that, though...13 months is not enough time to develop a game like this.

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I'm just about tired of my iPhone. Getting sick of what I can't do with it. It's a decent multimedia phone, but it just can't compare to a full smartphone with better desktop integration. Add to that the number of ways that Apple WON'T service the phone, and the dreaded iTunes. Think I'll switch to THIS.

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Thought about playing Dwarf Fortress. Got over it.

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Can't think of anything else, right now. Although this is good:

That's the way I fall (out)...

nospam@example.com (Ben) — Mon, 24 Aug 2009 19:38:16 +0000

UPDATED and FINISHED

As mentioned, a list of all of the mods I'm currently using with Fallout 3. I've had the game about two weeks. Thanks to a little previewing, I knew about some of the larger failings of the game and could prepare, but most of these mods I picked up after sampling the game world for a while. Many of these I would recommend to the new player; many others are purely to taste. And there are thousands available that I haven't installed or even looked at.

First of all, the basics:

I bought Fallout 3 off of Steam. This means some of your folders and files (not to mention the root install location) will be different from the off the shelf version. So far, it hasn't been a problem. Also, because it was a download, it was the latest updated version. Some mods will only work with earlier versions of the game.

At the time of purchase, I also bought the expansion pack Broken Steel. Although it's the third expansion, Broken Steel is adds some significant fundamental changes...many of which should probably have been included in the core game. Like the level cap extension.

I don't have any of the other expansions yet.

Now, the basics for mods:

Numero Uno: The Fallout Mod Manager. Not necessary, technically...until you get to mods that modify mods (intentionally or unintentionally). The FOMM let's you set the order that mods load, and gives you an easy interface to add and subtract mods. It does a lot of other stuff that I haven't looked at, as well.

Close Second: The Fallout Script Extender, or FOSE. Again, FOSE isn't necessary for most mods, but you can bet that anything complex will depend on it. The FOSE adds additional commands to the Fallout Editor's (G.E.C.K.'s) scripting language.

Probably Won't Need: Fallout 3 Edit. Let's you edit the properties of mods. Sometimes useful to prevent conflicts.

Don't Need, but you'll want it: ArchiveInvalidation Invalidated. The easy way to tell Fallout to use mods.

The Mods, by order that I have them loading in FOMM (not in importance, necessarily). In fact, for most mods it doesn't matter what order they load in, except that the core game files have to load first. However, as I mentioned, some mods depend on other mods. Or, some mods have features that you want to use and some features that you already have a good mod for...you can fix that (usually) with load order. So, some of my most desired mods do indeed load last, to keep their settings from being overwritten. BTW, this is a long list:

OH BTW THIS LIST WILL CONTAIN GAME SPOILERS K THNX

01) Fallout 3 File

02) Broken Steel File

03) Tenpenny Ghouls at Peace -- Pretty early in the game, you'll hear a news item on the radio (if you listen, and if you pay attention) about some trouble at a place called Tenpenny Tower. You can also get the location from a man in Megaton, the first city you usually go to. When you get there, you find that Tenpenny Tower is a relatively upscale apartment building with a skin code against Ghouls (severely irradiated and burned humans...they look like zombies.) You can get a quest to take care of the Ghouls from the head of security, and from there you can solve the quest a variety of ways. This quest is a follow-up to quite possibly the most notorious quest of the game, although you don't have to do that quest to get this one. However, it traces a similar moral path. The player is shown early on that Ghouls are the oppressed, second class citizens of the world. Many residents of Tenpenny Tower, and the owner himself, are incredibly prejudiced against Ghouls. In fact, the residents are cardboard stereotypes of rich elites who look down on everyone else. Not very likable. Unfortunately, the particular groups of Ghouls you deal with on this quest are lead by a violent, foul-tempered warmonger. One bad karma solution is to kill the ghouls. Another bad karma solution is to side with the Ghoul leader and help him kill the residents of Tenpenny Tower. A third bad karma solution is to kill the residents of Tenpenny, then kill the Ghouls. This doesn't solve the quest, but it may make you feel better...until you realize you lost one of the few good store locations in the game. It also doesn't solve the quest. The GOOD karma solution is to talk with the owner, convince him to allow you to convince certain residents to accept the Ghouls, then go get the Ghouls so they can move in. THE PROBLEM (many people feel) with this solution is that when you return to Tenpenny later, you find that the Ghouls, whom you went to bat for, had a bit of a falling out with the smoothskins...and slaughtered them all. Of course, this isn't YOUR fault, and you don't get penalized for it. Of course, you could say writing something like this is more realistic than "and they all lived happily ever after". The rest of us install this mod, which allows you to solve the quest peacefully. For real.

04) Slower Degradation - The weapons and armor in Fallout 3 have to be repaired incessantly. With some items it's ridiculous. This mod fixes that.

05) Minute Minder - Pops a clock up on the screen at programmable intervals letting you know what time it is in the game world.

06) GNR More Where That Came From - The main radio station in the game, primarily because the DJ, ThreeDog, talk about you and other things going on in the world. He also plays a handful of of classic pop songs by Dean Martin, The Andrews Sisters, etc. Unfortunately, he only owns maybe three records. This mod adds anywhere from 20 to 100 more era-appropriate songs, plus some hidden advertisements and such. Unfortunately, I still hear the core songs much more than the new ones. Might be something in my settings...I need to look into it. Still recommended.

07) Bandanna Dispenser - Places a Bandanna Dispenser in one of the stores. Mainly useful because of the lack of attractive head gear in the game.

08) Sharing and Caring Companions - I'm not currently using this one, but it's a big and popular mod, so I thought I would tell you why. In Fallout 3, you can find something like 7 or 8 other people, a robot, or a dog to follow you and help out with battle. I like some of the built-in companions (mainly RL-3 and Dogmeat) but don't care much about the others. SACC adds an extensive set of commands to the game that allow you to invite ANY NPC in the game to be a companion. It doesn't ADD the companions, it just let's you pick just about any character in the game that you can converse with and have them follow you. This sounds kind of neat until you try it. A lot of the NPCs aren't very capable companions, even with the scripting support provided by SACC. Beyond that, normal NPCs don't have the same custom dialogue and other "personality" options that programmed companions do...which makes all of them silent, mobile mannequins. Now, to be fair, several people have taken the SACC mod and made custom companions with voice and animations. But the best custom companions I've found so far don't use SACC. However, if you just HAVE to have Moira Brown follow you around silently...well, here you go. It's worth reading the faq for this mod, though; what the programmers are doing with it is pretty amazing, even if you don't use it.

09) Jessi Companion - Another one that I did use, but not anymore. This is one of the custom companions I mentioned. A fully customized and programmable companion with some voice added in. Incredible accomplishment. I stopped using her for two reasons: very little voice, which meant that usually she just followed you around silently; and she's very powerful. At the stage of the game that I was using her, she usually killed everything before I could get more than a shot or two in. No fun.

10) Kaydiah Companion - Even better than the Jessi companion, and yet more problematic. Author did a great job adding voice; unfortunately Kaydiah is even more powerful than Jessi. I just sat and watched as she took out the entire Springvale School. I couldn't even catch up to her. To be fair, the programmer DOES warn you that can happen...

11) Before I forget, I use the Type 3 Female Body replacer. The default Bethesda models aren't very good. Well, I mean they're ugly, actually. The Type 3 has practically become the default body for Fallout 3 mods. There is also a Type 5 that is slightly more realistic and is almost completely compatible with Type 3, but most mods are made for the Type 3.

12) Brianna and Lucy West companions by Earthbind. Two phenomenal custom companions made from game NPC's. Lucy West gives you one of your first quests (if you talk to her), and Brianna is a person peripherally associated with the end of that quest. Both are exceptionally well designed with extensive voice use and good control. Neither is overly powerful, and both come with custom quests. Highly recommended.

13) Bittercup Companion by gurk_meja. Bittercup is one of the more popular characters in the game, and would have made a great follower. Unfortunately, Bethesda didn't think of that. Thankfully, a bunch of modders did. There are several Bittercup companion mods, but gurk_meja's is my favorite. Like Earthbind's companions, gurk_meja's Bittercup is fully voiced and has almost identical options and controls. The one thing I did change with this mod was that instead of using the Project Beauty (I'll get to that later) face for Bittercup, I use THIS ONE.

14) 0h Followers Hire - All in-game followers except Dogmeat have a Karma requirement. Good followers will only work with Good players, etc. This mod causes the karma check to be skipped. I'm not actually using it, but keep it loaded after any companion add-ons just in case.

15) Essential - Any NPC has a hidden essential marker that makes them unkillable. Considering NPCs and followers are all AI controlled, keeping them from dying permanently can be pretty useful. Some players consider this cheating, but I would rather have fun than constantly reload my game to keep a companion or important NPC from dying (unless it's important to the plot). Most custom companions have there on essential options, but I load this one after any companions to make sure it's enabled for all.

16) Dogmeat Leather Armor - If you use Dogmeat as a companion, this mod is practically a must-have. Provides a set of leather armor OR a back-pack for Dogmeat and enhanced commands and controls.

17) A wide variety of clothes and armor mods, some of which are full replacers and some of which are add-ons. Some worthy of mention:
Gantz armor and sword - From the anime and Manga Gantz, author provided a huge sword (which I use) plus two versions of the armor suits. The suits are pretty, but way out of style for the game. The suits (oddly enough, considering the source) do not provide way-out stat boosts, like many custom armors.
Persona Outfits - Very Sexy armor for females. Well done. Can be easily mixed and matched with other bits of armor.
Bare Midriff Leather and Metal Armors - Although it may be more realistic, the default armors do not flatter the female form. This are default texture replacers that help a bit. Very nice, and more realistic than some of the others mentioned.
Black Latex Metal Armor - Another replacer for the metal armor. Very Mad Max.
Yoko's Outfits from Gurren Lagann - Another sexy mix-and-match.
Tailor Maid - Huge mod that let's you pick bits and pieces from various armors used in the game and mix it all up into what you want. Use with some of the outfits above for some interesting results. Highly recommended Mod for anybody.

18) Plastic Surgery by Robot Butler - Allow you to change your face via your robot butler. Unnecessary but useful, as the screen for designing your face isn't very good, and you often don't quite get what you thought you had built.

19) Hair Pack - The default Haircuts in the game are pretty bad. Highly recommended, and necessary for many mods.

20) Megaton House and Theme Overhaul - There are two possible residences for the player in the game: in Megaton and in Tenpenny Tower. Tenpenny is nicer and larger, but you have to get a ton of bad karma to get it. The megaton house is tiny, and it's dump. There are dozens of home mods, additions and replacements on Fallout3Nexus, but this one is the best overall in my opinion. It significantly modifies the Megaton house without going TOO far beyond the in-game experience. Well, maybe it does...but I guarantee it's a lot better than most of the others. If it bothers you though, there's another simpler mod that just adds a little storage space (and you'll need it.)

21) Fellout - One of the really big mods. Working on the grounds that the sky looks all wrong for 200 years after a nuclear Fellout removes all the dust from the sky, figuratively. Removes the green tint from everything, indoors and out. Makes look a bit more interesting and probably more accurate. Another mod adds greenery back into the world, but I haven't become tired of wasteland yet.

22) Enhanced Weather - Adds programmable rain and snow to the Fallout world. VERY capable and clever mod. Highly recommended. Look at all of the options.

23) Project Beauty - I mentioned this one earlier. I also have mentioned that Bethesda's models and textures aren't very attractive. Well, one guy set out to give everyone in Fallout 3 a makeover. He's doing a pretty good job, too. I place this mod at the end of my list (except for the Bittercup textures that I mentioned earlier...I don't like the Project Beauty Bittercup. Follow the link, many before and after pictures available. Mostly I really like the fixes and updates Project Beauty adds, such as fixing overly-angular faces.

That's it for now, although I'm sure I'll be adding more before long.

Three things that keep me from posting much lately:

nospam@example.com (Ben) — Fri, 14 Aug 2009 09:18:12 +0000

One: So many people paying attention to politics right now that I feel redundant...although I did post I link to the health care reform bill on twitter --->
Two: Just got Fallout 3, as watching a Let's Play by Necroscope on Youtube really piqued my interest. And, yes indeed, I'm really enjoying the game.
Three: Summer transitional period of the cotton farming year; even more than before, I'm just running around trying to keep everyone else where they can keep working, due to hiring extra people for hoeing and spraying, and a large number of odd jobs that need to be done.

New to the Party - Final Fantasy X (10) -- Special Two: Keeping Track of the Questions

nospam@example.com (Ben) — Sat, 14 Mar 2009 23:12:00 +0000

UPDATED:

A handy reference; the mysteries of the story that haven't been explained yet:

1 ) How did Tidus arrive on Spira from a Zanarkand of 1000 years ago?

2 ) What is Sin, and how and why is it constantly destroying Spira?
A ) Why is Luca spared the rampages? (For real, not the crusader thing)
B ) What does this have to do with Tidus, Auron and Zanarkand of 1000 years ago?
C ) Why are the crusaders able to battle Sin, but seldom accomplish anything? Is Sin that powerful?

3 ) How do Summoners manage to "defeat" Sin temporarily every now and then? Why doesn't Sin stay defeated?

4 ) Who is the kid in the robe Tidus keeps seeing in his flashbacks? (I haven't talked about that much...it won't get important until later in the game.)

5 ) Was Tidus really that big of a crybaby?

6 ) What does blitzball have to do with anything?

7 ) Why can blitzball players and Al Behd breath underwater, or alternatively, not need to breath underwater?

8 ) Why does Tidus yawn and stretch so much?

9 ) What happened to Chappu, really? What does it have to do with Wakka and Lulu's current antagonistic relationship? OK, we finally got a bit of an answer here, but it was kinda of anti-climatic. Chappu and Lulu were dating; in fact Chappu had commented to Wakka that he was going to propose to Lulu right after the Aurochs won the championship. Instead, Luzzu talked Chappu into joining the crusaders in order to "protect" Lulu from Sin. Chappu refuses to take the sword Wakka gives to him when he leaves and also refuses to pray when he leaves. Chappu uses an Al Behd weapon and gets himself killed, making Wakka very angry with the Al Behd and un-religious people. You also seem to pick up that Wakka was in love with Lulu himself, and resents the hell out of Chappu's death denying him the ability to court Lulu. Cuz that would just be creepy and wrong, apparently.

10) Why does everyone fawn over Yuna's beauty and ignore Lulu?

11) What are Ronso? Are they important? What about the Guado? Those guys are creepy. Where did they come from, because they apparently weren't in Zanarkand 1000 years ago.

12) This whole Yevon thing seems silly. What's the deal with forbidden machina? Is that really why Sin appearered?

13) What's the deal with the Al Behd? Are they human? What makes them so different, and why do they speak a different language, when no one else does?

14) Apparently, this whole "sending" thing and the Farplane didn't exist 1000 years ago, either. Where did that come from?

15) And seriously, for the final time, *what's the deal with water in this game*?

16) Why does Auron hate everyone?

17) Who are Lord Zaeon and Lady Yunalesca?

18) What kind of person is Seymour Guado, anyway? Does he creep you out, too?

19) The church of Yevon excommunicated the crusaders for operation Mi'ihen, yet the operation was led by two Maesters of Yevon, Seymour and Kinoc...what the heck is going on?

I'll update this as we go through the game, and I'm sure I'm forgetting some things that have come up.

New to the Party - Final Fantasy X (10) -- Part Ten: Creepy Is In The Eye of the Beholder

nospam@example.com (Ben) — Sat, 14 Mar 2009 20:26:28 +0000

AS USUAL, THIS COMMENTARY CONTAINS SPOILERS IF YOU HAVEN'T PLAYED THE GAME!!!

The following morning, you get to meet Rin, the owner of the hotel. Tidus discovers he is an Al Behd, and while trying to exchange a polite greeting with Rin in Al Behd, you "officially" receive the Al Behd Language Sphere quest. To get you started, Rin gives you Al Behd Language Sphere #8. You have picked up seven so far, right? I hadn't.

The conversation is interrupted by shouts from outside. You exit the shop to find out that the Chocobo Eater is in the Chocobo Paddock. Tidus runs to the paddock, and you fight the Chocobo Eater. This boss battle isn't very hard, but it also has a twist: You can defeat the Chocobo Eater by an outright kill, or you can hit it hard and fast enough to push it over the edge of the nearby cliff. After defeating the monster, Rin will tell you about renting Chocobos to ride down the road.

As I mentioned earlier, riding Chocobos is definitely faster and safer, but you miss out on random encounters which will be useful for leveling up this early in the game. Regardless, even if you travel the road by foot for the leveling, you will want to travel right back on foot and rent a Chocobo as there are several areas in this section that can only be reached by Chocobo. Look for small, yellow bits on the ground, which are Chocobo feathers. If you approach and examine the feather while mounted, the Chocobo will leap to another small area that usually contains a treasure chest.

There is also a side area in this section that contains an NPC that I didn't mention when he first appeared in the game. O'aka (prounounced OH-AHka in the English) is a new traveling trader who first appears on the boat to Killika. He doesn't have anything to trade at that time, but he asks for "seed" money so that he can start purchasing supplies. You have the option to give him any amount of money you want, or brush him off. O'aka is one of two "prestige" traders in the game who will have some of the best equipment and harder-to-find (but not rare) items late in the game. The trick with O'aka is that the more money you give him in the early stages of the game, the better his prices will be later in the game. Several faqs recommend just giving him all your money when he asks. I don't know what the mathematical formula used is, so I can't comment on whats necessary or useful...I gave him 1000 gil at our first meeting. Anyway, you run into him again down here, and he again hits you up for money.
Continue reading "New to the Party - Final Fantasy X (10) -- Part Ten: Creepy Is In The Eye of the Beholder"

Moving Along: Final Fantasy VII

nospam@example.com (Ben) — Sun, 08 Mar 2009 00:15:00 +0000

UPDATED

I was sufficiently entertained enough by Final Fantasy X that I picked up Final Fantasy IV, V, VI (Super Nintendo games touched up and re-released in special packages for the Playstation) VII, VIII, and IX (all original Playstation releases). I was most interested in playing the three Playstation games, as 7-9 most directly impact the current status of cRPGs and modern Final Fantasy games.

I've now put in ~~15-20~~ 12 hours with Final Fantasy VII. While still too early to form conclusive opinions, here are the things I've observed so far.

1) Maybe VII opens up quite a bit more later in the the game, but so far it's just as linear as Final Fantasy X. Although there are fewer cutscenes, so that's a plus.

2) The Active Time Battle system takes a bit of getting used to if you haven't played it recently.

3) The story doesn't make much sense, although I'm sure the game will explain most of it sooner or later. Even then, the dialogue just doesn't flow very well. Of course, this game still communicates via dialogue balloons, so everything needs to be a bit "comic-booky".

4) The previous-generation graphics really aren't a distraction. They're even quite good most of the time. The cut-scene graphics are really good, especially considering when this game came out. I had heard repeatedly that Tifa was know for her "breasts" but I didn't really get it until the cut-scene escape from Shinra in which you can see her breasts bouncing with each step. I also love Aeris' battle animation; everyone else runs up to the enemies to attack them, Aeris leaps through the air in a single bound to deliver a whack on the head with her staff.

4b) Speaking of which, I also finally get why so many people really like the Aeris character. She has an incredible amount of personality; it's very easy to get attached to her. Plus the awesome attack that I mentioned earlier.

5) The game doesn't give very good indicators of where to go next to move the plot along. You frequently have to stumble onto the proper sequence of events, movements or locations.

6) The primary heroine has already been kidnapped two or three times. Might be a Final Fantasy thing.

7) Not sure I like the uncontrolled nature of the limit breaks. They charge up, when they're charged, you have to use them instead of your attack. Of course, you can still perform other actions, like use magic or an item, or defend. I would rather have the ability to store the charged attack until I needed it, ala FFX. From what I've read, many people consider managing the limit breaks one of the challenges of the battle system; learning when to not attack and avoid damage in order to control the charging. Maybe.

New to the Party - Final Fantasy X (10) -- Part Nine: On The Road With a Full Party

nospam@example.com (Ben) — Sat, 07 Mar 2009 21:08:53 +0000

WARNING WARNING WARNING***SPOILERS SPOILERS SPOILERS***TURN BACK TURN BACK TURN BACK***

Following the win (or loss), Wakka floats on his back in the middle of the water sphere. Tidus swims towards him. Suddenly, sinspawn attack the stadium. Tidus and Wakka find themselves in battle. Following a series of easy battles, the camera switches to Lulu, Kimarhi and Yuna, wondering what's going on. A short movie shows Auron battling and defeating a sinspawn. Auron then joins Tidus and Wakka; a short conversation at this point confirms that "Sir Auron" is the same person that Tidus has known for many years. The three of you fight through another battle then enter a boss battle. This boss battle is possibly the hardest in the game so far, as this boss uses party hits as regular attacks and counterattacks automatically, regardless of Slow, Haste or position in battle line.

After this battle, more monsters appear...in fact dozens and dozens. Rather than having to face them all, though, the game decides to show you a bit of Seymour's power. Seymour is apparently a Summoner himself, and he summons this...thing. I swear his aeon is one of the creepiest things I've ever seen in any game:
This thing even wails and moans like a soul in torment. Of course, my first thought is "Oh my!"; my second is "What kind of person is Seymour?!?" I guess we'll find out later. Anyway, Seymour's aeon pretty much wipes out every sinspawn in the arena.

Continue reading "New to the Party - Final Fantasy X (10) -- Part Nine: On The Road With a Full Party"

New to the Party - Final Fantasy X (10) -- Part Eight: What Game Am I Playing Again?

nospam@example.com (Ben) — Sun, 22 Feb 2009 22:22:08 +0000

After you finish the blitzball tutorial, Yuna enters the locker room, without knocking but with exciting news: she overheard someone saying that Sir Auron was in the cafe. Tidus is shocked, and agrees to go find him with Yuna. He promises Wakka he'll be back in time for the game. On the way, Yuna explains that Auron may know where Sir Jecht is, as they were both guardians to her father, Braska. Tidus narrates that only later did it occur to him that the Auron Yuna is referring to may not be the same Auron he knows. Of course, we know better, don't we? It HAS to be the same guy.

Along the way, Tidus and Yuna encounter two Al Behd, who chatter excitedly about...something, possibly having to do with Yuna, as you can make out the word "summoner"...when Tidus and Yuna approach. Tidus attempts to talk to the Al Behd, explaining about his rescue by Rikku and others; the two Al Behd aren't impressed. Fearing they might get separated in the crowd, Tidus tries to teach Yuna how to whistle. It fails, but it's a plot thing, as you'll learn later. You also learn that, at least according to Yuna, Luca isn't attacked by Sin because so many crusaders are in Luca to protect the blitzball stadium. Right.

At the cafe, Yuna is disappointed by a certain lack of Auron. However, there are two Ronso here, picking on Kimahri. Now, Kimarhi is a pretty big guy, 7 or 8 feet tall and solid muscle. The two Ronso are even bigger; they certainly make you believe that Kimarhi must be a runt. Tidus tells Kimarhi to take them on, and Kimarhi lays one of the antagonists out. The barman yells for them to take it outside, the game is starting. Yes THAT game.
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New to the Party - Final Fantasy X (10) -- Part Seven: Picking Up Speed

nospam@example.com (Ben) — Wed, 18 Feb 2009 22:45:09 +0000

As the last commentary probably demonstrated, by the time the player reaches Luca, you've pretty much nailed down all of the basics of the game. You also have a good idea of how the game progresses: You're given a destination, there is one path to get there, you have a few random encounters on the way (unless you milk it and take your time), you reach the destination, you get video after video bridged by running from one point to another, you fight a few boss battles, you learn a little more about the world and the story, you're given a new destination. Repeat.

Now, gameplay is gameplay. Unless a game has really bad mechanics or engine design, most people will either be ambivalent about or like the gameplay. This is especially true in turn-based cRPGs, where the game's mechanics are practically set in stone. Final Fantasy games are generally well-known for taking the basic turn-based engine, tweaking it and adding functionality, and getting an impressive result. Of all currently released main-line Final Fantasy games, only FF8 is frequently singled out as having a poor control and management scheme. X has a simple, easy-to-learn and use interface, and there is very little challenge to the combat. Only boss battles will occasionally make you think a bit. Anyone expecting a challenge from this game may actually get bored.

Continue reading "New to the Party - Final Fantasy X (10) -- Part Seven: Picking Up Speed"

New to the Party - Final Fantasy X (10) -- Part Six: Learn About Your Neighbors

nospam@example.com (Ben) — Tue, 17 Feb 2009 21:53:22 +0000

The next morning, the Aurochs go to the Kilika temple to pray for victory, while Yuna and her guardians go in order to get Yuna's next aeon. Yuna also tells the group and Tidus that she wants Tidus to be a guardian. Neither the other guardians nor Tidus are sure this is a great idea, and Yuna drops the idea for now. While climbing the steps to the temple, "Sinspawn" attack. After defeating the Sinspawn, Wakka and Lulu explain to Tidus that Sinspawn are things that fall from Sin's body. If left alone long enough, Sin comes to reclaim them, so you have to find and defeat all the Sinspawn after a Sin attack. Following this conversation, Wakka questions Tidus about Zanarkand, explaining that he's been thinking that if Tidus actually came from Zanarkand 1000 years in the past, maybe it's possible that Sin doesn't actually kill everyone, it just sends them somewhere else. Which of course means that maybe those people will come back some day. Lulu interjects angrily that Wakka needs to accept that Chappu is dead. And while she's at it, no one can replace Chappu, or Sir Jecht, or Lord Braska for that matter. So, pointed accusations all around.

Tidus, bright lad that he is, deduces something happened between Wakka, Chappu and Lulu. Ya think?

Still traveling to the temple, you next meet a group of blitzball players from the Luca Goers (prounounced GO-ERS in the English). After a dick-waving match, Tidus reacts bitterly to the Goers' behavior, comparing their condescending comments with those of his father, Jecht. Yuna expresses surprise, "...Sir Jecht was a kind and gentle man!". Tidus doesn't buy it.

Continue reading "New to the Party - Final Fantasy X (10) -- Part Six: Learn About Your Neighbors"

New to the Party - Final Fantasy X (10) -- Special One: The Group Picture

nospam@example.com (Ben) — Sun, 15 Feb 2009 22:21:10 +0000

A visual aid. These are all of the main characters that join your party throughout the game. If you've been following along with the reviews, you may note that neither Rikku nor Auron are currently in the group. However, experienced role-players know that any character introduced with great detail early on will return, so I don't consider this a spoiler.

Obviously, this is an artistic rendering, rather than a game-engine rendering. But the in-game 3D models look almost as good (most of the time.)

NOTE: I didn't make the original collage wallpaper, I found it through Google. I just added the text labels. If you made this image and want credit, or want me to take it down, just let me know.

New to the Party - Final Fantasy X (10) -- Part Five: The Journey Begins

nospam@example.com (Mari) — Fri, 13 Feb 2009 22:47:43 +0000

Moving right along from the last post:

Lulu and Wakka are arguing outside. The short version of the story, which you get the explanation for in a few minutes, is that Tidus looks like Wakka's brother Chappu. Lulu is upset with Wakka for bringing Tidus to the village, regardless of whether Tidus needed help or not. Wakka explains to Tidus that Chappu was with the crusaders when they fought Sin last year, and didn't survive the battle. Wakka got the news on the day of last year's blitzball tournament, which was why he was distracted. Chappu's death is also why Wakka became a guardian; to get revenge on Sin. Although he never comes off as terribly motivated...perhaps because ever since he became a guardian he's been distracted by blitzball.

The next morning, Tidus, Wakka and Lulu await Yuna for their trip to the boat. Wakka gives Tidus Chappu's sword, which apparently Chappu never used. Which is maybe why he didn't survive the battle last year. Tidus also learns that Yuna's leaving of the village is very momentous, as she first came to the village 10 years ago, after the last "Calm" began. What this means is not explained. After collecting Yuna, the group moves out. At the top of the hill outside of the village, Yuna turns and regards the village quietly for a few moments; then everyone pauses at the shrine to pray again. Wakka explains to Tidus that this is a very important tradition, especially as Chappu was in too much of a hurry on the day he left with the crusaders and forgot to stop and pray. Apparently Wakka finds this more important than perhaps Chappu forgetting his sword. As Tidus, you're given the option to pray or not to pray, but unless you're a malicious bastard, you'll pray. Who wants to see Wakka lose his marbles?

Continue reading "New to the Party - Final Fantasy X (10) -- Part Five: The Journey Begins"

New to the Party - Final Fantasy X (10) -- Part Four: The Gang's (Almost) All Here!

nospam@example.com (Mari) — Thu, 12 Feb 2009 22:07:10 +0000

Once more into the breach!

When I ended the last commentary, Tidus had just been hit in the head with a blitzball. While Rikku hadn't seemed surprised by Tidus's mention of blitzball, it is still somewhat puzzling at this point to find that blitzball is still being played 1000 years in the future. But up on the beach near Tidus is a team of blitzball players, coached by Wakka (pronounced WAH-KAH). Wakka is the captain of the Besaid (prounounced BEH-SAYD) Aurochs (AR-OKS), the official blitzball team of the island Besaid, which is where Tidus is now. Wakka (and the rest of the team) is impressed with Tidus's moves, which he demonstrates by returning the blitzball to the team in a flashy and powerful manner. Wakka is less impressed, or more accurately confused by Tidus's claim of playing for the Zanarkand Abes. Tidus, remembering Rikku's warning, quickly dishes out the "I got too close to Sin" explanation, which puts everyone at ease.

Wakka then takes Tidus to Besaid Village. On the way, Tidus, feeling some level of trust in Wakka, asks for a confirmation of Rikku's story. Wakka confirms the news, and adds that Spira was once full of large, machina (machine) powered cities, allowing the populace to live leisurely. The price of this decadence was Sin, who appeared 1000 years ago and destroyed all of the large cities, leaving Spira a world of primitive debris. Sin, therefore, is a punishment for Spira's sins, for which the descendants must atone.

Continue reading "New to the Party - Final Fantasy X (10) -- Part Four: The Gang's (Almost) All Here!"

New to the Party - Final Fantasy X (10) -- Part Three: In Deeper

nospam@example.com (Mari) — Wed, 11 Feb 2009 21:34:37 +0000

In his ongoing (and hilarious) review of Final Fantasy VIII (8), Noah Antwiler of The Spoony Experiment begins by saying that Final Fantasy X was where things got bad, but VIII was where it all started. He's referring to several different gameplay decisions, of course; but the big one is the change in fundamental game concept the Final Fantasy series underwent. To wit, starting with Eight, the Final Fantasy games were much more focused on the story rather than the game. While the degree to which each specific Final Fantasy game has concentrated on the storytelling can be discussed, there is an old saw floating around the internet, possibly even started by Square itself, that the even numbered Final Fantasy games have attempted experimental gameplay and new directions in game concept, while the odd numbered titles have been designed around a philosophy of keeping what's good from previous titles while trying to improve the game mechanics and playability.

Again, all of that can be discussed and debated, but I think it is certainly fair to say that Final Fantasy X, while including excellent gameplay, is completely focused on the story being told. Rather than discussing this realization at the point where I really noticed it (which isn't too far down the road from here), I wanted to bring the topic to the forefront, because this decision is fundamental to the entire design of the game.
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