Bit by Bit: E3 2015 Wrap-up

E3 is over for another year and I got to say: what a wonderful show.  While there some bumps along the way, E3 2015 was one of the best in a long time.  During this nearly week long expo, we saw incredible feats of game mastery, pipe dreams become reality and the next generation of gaming finally live up to all the hype.

Although there are some issues the video game industry still faces such as the ever-rising cost of AAA development or the instability of jobs, E3 2015 made us forget about all the negativity and focus on the fundamentals of this art form: fun, imagination and community.  All the silly Muppet skits, excessive gum flapping and surreal moments of celebrity interjection cannot compare to the excitement of the Nintendo World Championships, the tears brought on from the Final Fantasy VII Remake and Shenmue III reveals, and the blood-pumping gameplay trailers for highly anticipated titles like Star Wars Battlefront, Kingdom Hearts III and The Last Guardian.  

E3 2015 was a show that will reverberate throughout the annals of video game history.  To wrap-up this great event, Silver Bit presents a special E3 2015 edition of Bit by Bit.

Winner of E3 2015

With all the stiff competition, I thought it would be a hard decision to pick the winner of E3 2015.  Nintendo blew things out of the park with their World Championships and constant Treehouse Live coverage only to falter in the most important area: the Digital Event.  Microsoft came out swinging with the announcement of Xbox One backwards compatibility and showing live demos for their biggest titles, but seemed to undermine their momentum by announcing a good number of their Xbox One "exclusives" for PC as well.  Both Bethesda and Ubisoft took a step back to let the games do the talking for them yet did little in terms of delivering truly shocking surprises.  At the end of the day, all these great performances could not stand up to the unstoppable force that is Sony.

Sony may not have delivered much in terms of bolstering their lineup for 2015, but they did make us forget about it with all the bombshells they dropped.  For a solid hour-and-a-half, Sony delivered a steady stream of the most exciting and enticing gameplay trailers and demos at the show.  Out of all the great games shown off at Sony's presser, there were three that took it from great to legendary: The Last Guardian, Final Fantasy VII Remake and Shenmue III.  Sony literally made dreams come true by showing them off that fateful Monday night.  They also serviced both the old and the new by announcing three of the most wanted games in the past decade and showing off brand new IPs like Horizon: Zero Dawn, No Man's Sky and Dreams.

For the third year in a row, Sony showed that the PS4 is THE system to own this generation.  Even though Sony's lineup for 2015 is rather sparse, the incredible wave of good will coming off of their performance at E3 2015 along with some smart partnerships with Activision, EA and Warner Bros. might be enough to solidify the PS4s huge lead on the competition.

Surprise of E3 2015

There isn't much else to say about my pick for the Surprise of E3 2015.  In fact, arguments can be made for any of the big three surprises from the Sony press conference.  Personally, my pick is Shenmue III because it came out of nowhere.  With how much Sega has been suffering in recent years, never in my wildest dreams did I expect Shenmue III to get the funding needed for development.  To see Shenmue III caught me off-guard, which left me stunned and a little choked up.  The last surprise to affect me that much was the Kid Icarus: Uprising reveal back in 2010.

Trailer of E3 2015

Funny enough, this year's E3 wrap-up has turned into the Sony show.  In all honesty, there was great stuff from everybody at the show and I would love to highlight it all, but this wrap-up isn't the place for that.  I'm here to highlight the best from E3 2015 and the truth is Sony had the best stuff this year.

Out of everything Sony showed at E3, one title blew me away.  That game was Horizon: Zero Dawn.  Horizon is Guerrilla Games' brand new property that switches out the first-person shooting of Killzone for a third-person adventure game set in a pre-historic/post-apocalyptic mishmash.  Hearing the premise is compelling in of itself, but watching the game in motion is breathtaking.  Seeing the female lead move between stalking mechanical dinosaurs and hiding in bushes along with the fluid fight with the robot T-Rex gives the impression that there are many ways to tackle enemies.  Watching the trailer over again, Horizon looks like a next generation version of Monster Hunter with fluid combat and mechanical monsters to slay, which has me even more intrigued.

If it was playable on the show floor, Horizon would easily nab the number one spot on my Top Games of E3 2015 list.  Unfortunately, all Sony brought to E3 was this awe-inspiring trailer that has me craving for more.

E3 2015: Square Enix Press Conference Impressions

Along with Bethesda, Square Enix is one of the new kids on the press conference block.  They used to have press conferences at E3, but it has been a long while since their last conference.  With Square Enix's big presence at both the Microsoft and Sony press conferences, did they save enough for their very own press conference?

Square Enix did save enough to fill their 90 minute conference, but the great number of titles shown didn't translate into an interesting presentation.  In actuality, it was a boring show that saw a lot more gum flapping than gameplay footage.  At certain points throughout the conference, I closed my eyes and just listened to the corporate jargon the presenters were throwing around.  The show must have been putting the translator to sleep since he had some problems keeping up with the presenters at times.

For all the great titles that Square Enix had to offer this year, it was frustrating to see time wasted rehashing the exact same trailers for Rise of the Tomb Raider, Final Fantasy VII and World of Final Fantasy that were shown at other press conferences or worthless "behind-the-scenes" trailers that could've been replaced by actual gameplay footage.  Don't have two random animators from Disney tell us about a Tangled world in Kingdom Hearts III, show it as part of the gameplay trailer.

Speaking of Kingdom Heart III, the gameplay trailer was the best thing on this show.  It hinted at the story, showed off the combat system and highlighted some dramatic special moves including the use of Disney theme park attractions as weapons.  Aside from Kingdom Hearts III, the Just Cause 3, Hitman and Star Ocean trailers were the only other standouts from this show.  Everything else just felt like white noise; even the Deus Ex; Mankind Divided trailer which Square Enix was hyping weeks before the conference.

As their first press conference in God knows when, Square Enix performed far worse than anybody could of predicted with their large lineup of games.  At its best, the conference was passable.  At its worst, the conference was like an uncoordinated powerpoint presentation.  Square Enix may need a phoenix down after this dull show.

Grade:  D

E3 2015: Sony Press Conference Impressions

There is no need for a cool intro because I'm just going to get to the point.  Sony put on one of the greatest E3 press conferences ever.  If you thought their performance two years ago when they stabbed the knife into Microsoft's heart and just kept digging it in was amazing, this show was light years greater than that one.  I have never been physically exhausted from watching a press conference due to all the cheering, smiling and hysterical laughing I did throughout the show.

Sony started their presser by re-revealing The Last Guardian for PS4 and didn't slow down until a hour into it.  Each game in that hour from the large AAA titles to the small indie titles hit it out of the park.  The pace was just rapid fire one after the other with little time to rest, but that breakneck speed made everyone in the audience and watching across the globe experience an unimaginable sense of adrenaline.

Every title at Sony's press conference, except for Call of Duty: Black Ops III and its generic explosion-fest of a demo, had an impressive showing.  Even among the masses of great titles, there were a few standouts.  Guerilla Games' new IP Horizon: Zero Dawn could of easily closed the show with its unique premise, compelling gameplay and freaking robot dinosaurs!  Naughty Dog made the Uncharted 4 delay even more unbearable thanks to a wonderful demo following Drake and Sully's misadventures through a South American town.  Media Molecule's game Dreams intrigued with its ability to literally mold anything you want into reality be it a game, film or piece of interactive media.

On top of all that, Sony dropped some mind-blowing surprises that left many jaws gaping, eyes popping and tears flowing.  Sony started off with a cool trailer for a brand new Hitman game followed by giving us a charming crossover in World of Final Fantasy.  Then the bombs started dropping.  Right after the World of Final Fantasy reveal, Sony announced the heavily-requested full remake of Final Fantasy VII, which had people going bonkers.  If you didn't think that was enough, Sony made waves upon unveiling Shenmue III's existence.  I will be honesty, I choked up when the Shenmue III trailer appeared on the screen; I couldn't believe what I was watching.  It was a magical moment to say the least.

Although I have been singing this conferences praises, it did slow down considerably after the first hour.  The clear change in pace came from an out-of-place montage that should have gone at the end of the show instead of right in the middle.  Seriously, I thought the show was over when they played that montage.  Sony did bounce back with some Project Morpheus updates, exclusive packages for Disney Infinity 3.0 and a new gameplay trailer for Star Wars Battlefront.  It was almost all for naught when Sony ran into some difficulties connecting controllers for the Uncharted demo, but it was fixed thanks to a timely reset.

Even with a few hiccups and a generic demo, Sony's E3 2015 press conference will be immortalized for its breakneck pace, mind-blowing surprises and impressive games.  While I am disappointed that Sony did nothing to bolster their offerings this holiday season, 2016's lineup will sure make up for it in spades.

Grade:  A+

Bit by Bit: March 2015

Let's address the elephant in the room.  I know I promised to have things back to normal by the end of March and it's now three weeks into April.  I am sorry for the delays, but school consumed my entire life until last Wednesday.  Between writing close to 20 pages for final essays and studying non-stop for exams that involved copious amounts of writing, I wasn't in much of a mood to write anything else at that point in time.

Although I originally wanted this edition of Bit by Bit to be the first post back from the hiatus, I am very happy that I got the Launch Station for Xenoblade Chronicles 3D up in time for its release this past Friday, especially considering my reverence for the Wii original.  Since school is winding down for the year (only one exam left!), I will be able to once again post to Silver Bit on a regular basis.  With all that being said, let us rewind the clock to last month and look back at the best and worst of March 2015.

Shame of the Month
Typically, I highlight the best game I played in the past month, but I think the game I am talking about today deserves an exception.  While I critique games, I don't usually review games I find middling or bad because I don't spend enough time with them to justify a review.  Personally, I like to experience everything the game has to offer before writing a review, including playing through the single-player portion and spending a good amount of time with the multiplayer.  It is a time-consuming commitment that I don't usually make for a game that I despise playing.  Now, I want to start playing a greater variety of games, in both genre and quality, to widen what I talk about on Silver Bit.  Although too much time has passed for me to give a full review justice, I will still honour this game as the very first Shame of the Month.

In the middle of all the craziness that was March, I decided to download a little free-to-play game that was popular among everybody I met through StreetPass—Pokemon Shuffle.  At the core of Pokemon Shuffle, there is an okay match-three puzzle game.  Sadly, that core is wrapped in frustrating gameplay mechanics that are only in the game to make players shell out their hard-earned cash.

Unless you have a gripping need to spend real money to play Shuffle for hours on end, it is best to play for the short amount of time offered through the five regenerating hearts.  You will see everything Pokemon Shuffle has to offer in the first 30 to 40 stages, leaving you over 100 stages of recycling the same challenges with increasing difficulty.  What makes the game even worse are the mechanics, such as the catchability meter and enemy disruptions, that are tweaked in such a way that it forces players to pay money in order to advance in the game.  Yes, there are ways around these frustrations by hording jewels until absolutely necessary, but the game continually tempts the player to use them for five more turns or 20 more seconds to catch their desired Pokemon.  These deceitful freemium practices just put a bad taste in your mouth.

Hopefully with Nintendo producing games for mobile platforms, these cash-sucking titles will be exclusive for those markets instead of infecting the 3DS and Wii U eShops.  Pokemon Shuffle is pretty much the exact same game as last year's Pokemon Battle Trozei with new Mega Evolution screen-clearing combos and tons of devious ways to steal your money.  Pokemon Shuffle may not be that fun, but it is perfect start to Silver Bit's Shame of the Month.

Most Anticipated Game of the Month
This past March, Nintendo pulled the curtain back on Splatoon and does it ever look good.  About midway through the month, Nintendo brought video game journalists from media outlets like IGN and Gamespot and Youtube personalities like ProJared and The Completionist to play the game at their American headquarters.  The onslaught of videos and articles that came from this event highlight Splatoon's various single and multiplayer modes.

Back when the game debuted at E3 2014, I initially thought Splatoon wasn't anything special as it looked like a neat little downloadable title.  I can say now that I was totally wrong and I am glad to be wrong in this case.  Splatoon looks to be a very comprehensive game with a Mario Galaxy style Octo Valley single-player campaign and fully-fledged suite of online multiplayer modes like Turf Wars and Ranked Battles.  I am especially looking forward to spending lots of time in Octo Valley launching from floating island to floating island, using ink in unique ways to battle enemies and finding interesting ways to traverse platforms with some cool ink-squid combinations.

If you would've asked me about Splatoon at the beginning of the year, I would've shrugged the game off as Nintendo giving the third-person shooter genre the good ol' college try.  Now, all I want to do is play it.  I know I overuse this saying, but I seriously can't wait until May 29th to play Splatoon.  I am that damn excited.

Video of the Month
In 1987, Hironobu Sakaguchi was a young video designer for Squaresoft that just wanted to finish the final game in his contract to pursue the greener pastures of hip hop.  Unbeknownst to Sakaguchi, his "final fantasy" spiraled into the long-running franchise many gamers know and love and a seemingly never-ending extension to his contract.  How did the success and popularity of Final Fantasy affect the legendary game designer?  Watch Mega64's totally real behind-the scenes look at the making of Final Fantasy to find out.

Bit by Bit: April 2014

With school coming to an end for another year, April serves as the start of more free time to relax and do things that were pushed aside during the school year like video games.  While I did get some time playing games between studying and working, it seems like the floodgates have just opened in these last couple of weeks.  Funny enough, the end of the school year coincided with finally completing Bravely Default after spending the last two and a half months working on beating the game.  Spending so much time with one game felt very limiting that now this feeling of freedom and choice is almost overwhelming.  The spring and summer months should be fun as I will be bouncing between games from my ever-growing backlog and brand new releases.  It should be a fun journey that will be chronicled right here on Silver Bit.  So stay tuned.

Game of the Month
Ever since I beat Bravely Default, I have been able to spend more time playing a wide variety of games.  In the few weeks since I beat Bravely Default, I have been playing Golden Sun, Resident Evil 6 and Donkey Kong Country: Tropical Freeze and have completed shorter games like Rhythm Thief, SteamWorld Dig and Donkey Kong 1994.  As great of an achievement beating a long, gruelling RPG is, playing a game for over 100 hours can be exhausting.  The change of pace has been refreshing especially with one game in particular pulling me in more and more.  That game is Infamous: Second Son and it is the one game that has got me to play the PS4 on a rather consistent basis.  I have dabbled with the previous entries in Sucker Punch's superhero playground, but never for any considerable amount of time.  Compared to other open world sandboxes, Second Son's setting of Seattle may seem a little lifeless, bland and full of hilarious glitches.  Even with those drawbacks, I have had lots of fun just running around, completing side missions, collecting blast shards and beating up waves of DUP officers and drug dealers. The most fun to be had with Second Son comes from the new powers you get to play around with.  While the smoke and video powers are cool, the best power in the game is neon.  Zipping around Seattle at supersonic speeds, slowing down time to aim and sniping enemies with precise neon shots make for a power players will stick to throughout their entire playthrough.  Infamous: Second Son may not be the best open-world superhero game as Batman still holds that honour in my opinion, but it is definitely the best game on PS4 right now.  Second Son deserves to be in every PS4 owner's library.

Most Anticipated Game of the Month
Super Smash Bros. for Wii U and 3DS are easily the two most anticipated games of 2014.  A new entry in the Smash Bros. series only happens every four years or more so any news or announcement about the newest entry is an event in itself.  Aside from Masahiro Sakurai's daily screenshots on Miiverse, there has not been a major dump of information about Super Smash Bros. since E3 2013.  Early this April, Nintendo and Sakurai took some time away from developing Super Smash Bros. to deliver a Nintendo Direct focused solely on the two games.  During the nearly 40 minute presentation, Sakurai touched on the release dates, included stages, online play, differences between the two versions, items, assist trophies and returning and new inclusions to the roster among a plethora of additional information.  It is impossible to capture the greatness of this Nintendo Direct in mere words.  It is incredibly produced, filled with tons of goodies that will make any gamer smile ear to ear and easily sold hundreds to buy a Wii U, 3DS or possibly both.  Personally, my excitement for Super Smash Bros. is at unimaginable levels.  Even thinking about the games makes me giddy with excitement.  Summer and Winter 2014 cannot come any sooner.


Video of the Month
Usually I never have a problem picking the Video of the Month, but this April has been the exception.  There has been so many great videos this month from the wacky Tomodachi Life Direct to Screwattack's epic interviews with the creator of Videoball Tim Rogers to Mega64's collaboration with Nintendo on the recent Nintendo E3 announcements.  While they are all incredible videos and deserve to your viewing, I have to give the Video of the Month to a video that got me thinking.  The Completionist's Final Fantasy VII Retrospective has been a month-long event where Jirard and a crew of Youtubers take an in-depth look at the impact that Final Fantasy VII has had on RPGs and video games in general.  This in-depth analysis of Final Fantasy VII really made me see the game in a new light and truly understand why people hold the game on such a high pedestal.  While the first two videos were released in March, the majority of this series has come out throughout April and deserves the recognition for how great it is.  I will share the first part here, but I highly recommend watching this series in its entirety.  It will give you a new appreciation of Final Fantasy VII as it has done for me.

Top 5 Game Boy Advance Games

Handhelds have always been a generation or two behind the technology found in video game consoles.  This significant technological disadvantage has never hurt the popularity of handheld gaming.  In fact, it is a non-factor to most except those most obsessed with graphics and hardware specs.  The ability to play quality games in the palm of your hand has captured the hearts and minds of gamers around the globe.  From black-and-white pick-up and play arcade-like experiences of the Game Boy to fully featured time-consuming 3D worlds of the 3DS and Vita, the landscape of handheld gaming has drastically changed in the past two decades.  Nintendo's Game Boy family of handheld systems, which just celebrated its 25th anniversary, has played a major role instituting this change.  In particular, the final entry in Nintendo's legendary line of Game Boy systems pushed the bar the furthest before the Nintendo DS brand took over.

The Game Boy Advance put the power of the Super Nintendo, arguably one of the greatest video game consoles ever created, in the palm of your hands.  Although small in size, Game Boy Advance cartridges housed some of the best experiences from that beloved era of gaming such as A Link to the Past, Super Mario World, Donkey Kong Country and Final Fantasy VI along with brand new classics like Advance Wars, Golden Sun and Drill Dozer.  The Game Boy Advance was the one video game system that introduced this writer to likes of Castlevania, Metroid and Fire Emblem, easily some of my favourite video game franchises.  In honour of the Game Boy's silver anniversary and the launch of the Game Boy Advance Virtual Console on Wii U, I would like to share my Top 5 Game Boy Advance games.  For this Top 5, I will be excluding any Super Nintendo port because they can overshadow the original titles released for the Game Boy Advance which deserve the recognition.  Enjoy the Top 5 and hopefully Nintendo will bring some of these titles to the Virtual Console for all to enjoy.

5. Mega Man Zero
Over the years, Capcom has developed various different iterations of the Blue Bomber from a robot-hunting mercenary to a living computer AI.  Each iteration focuses on a different aspect of game design such as the infusion of an overarching story in the X series to the RPG elements of the Battle Network series. The best iteration of Mega Man in this writer's opinion is Mega Man Zero for the Game Boy Advance.  Introduced as a character in the X series, Zero finally got the top billing that he was originally meant to receive in Mega Man X with Mega Man Zero.  100 years after the events of Mega Man X, Zero is awakened to help the Reploid resistance in their fight against his former friend X and the Neo Arcadian army.  While the story of Mega Man Zero spans four games, it is the first game that set the gold standard for the series with excellent action-platforming, fast-paced combat, challenging yet rewarding difficulty and heart-pumping music.  For those who missed out on Mega Man Zero on Game Boy Advance, the Mega Man Zero Collection for the Nintendo DS is a perfect way to experience this series in its entirety.

4. Mario & Luigi:  Superstar Saga
No one ever though Mario and RPG mechanics would ever be a good combination.  In actuality, Nintendo's iconic plumber is more than well-suited for the RPG genre as proven by both Super Mario RPG and Paper Mario.  Inspired by Mario's previous ventures into RPGs, Mario & Luigi: Superstar Saga took Mario RPGs in a different direction by limiting your party to just two characters-- Mario and Luigi.  The battles were ultimately turn-based, but involve much more input than your regular RPG.  Mario and Luigi always need to be on their toes at all times as they can cause more damage or even outright avoid attacks with a perfectly timed button press.  Exploring the overworld in Superstar Saga was not limited by gravity as Mario and Luigi could platform their way through areas to further the story and find hidden items.  The Mario Bros. repertoire of special moves and items like hammers and propeller jump allowed them to solve puzzles interspersed throughout the game.  Along with the gameplay, the love for Superstar Saga comes from its signature humour which ranges from Luigi dressing up as Princess Peach to allude the main villains to all the hilarious results of missing button presses to initiate Bros. Attacks.  While the series has only got better with each entry, Superstar Saga still stands as one of the best RPGs on the Game Boy Advance.

3. Castlevania:  Aria of Sorrow
Before the Game Boy Advance, portable Castlevania games were among the worst entries in the series.  With the power of the Game Boy Advance and later the Nintendo DS, Konami reversed the stigma firmly placed on portable Castlevanias for the better.  Their quality easily outclassed every console Castlevania following Symphony of the Night.  In fact, each portable entry has added their own additions to the Metroidvania formula introduced in Symphony of the Night such as Circle of the Moon's Dual Set-up System or the two interchangeable versions of Dracula's Castle in Harmony of Dissonance.  Among the three Castlevania games on the Game Boy Advance, Aria of Sorrow is the best.  Set in 2035, you play as Soma Cruz, the reincarnation of Dracula, as he stumbles upon Dracula's Castle hidden within a solar eclipse.  Trapped in Dracula's Castle, Soma must use his abilities as Dracula's vessel to escape before transforming into the iconic vampire.  Aria of Sorrow refines the same action-platforming and RPG mechanics used in the other Castlevania games for the Game Boy Advance to perfection.  What differentiates Aria of Sorrow from other entires in the series is the Tactical Soul system.  Instead of interchanging a select number of sub-weapons, Soma is able to absorb the souls of fallen enemies to acquire new attacks, summonable familiars, stat boosts and abilities which open up new areas to explore.  Equipping different combinations of souls allows you to create your own unique Soma with the attacks and abilities you want to use.  With the poor direction Castlevania has taken in recent years, Aria of Sorrow is a shining example of how great this franchise can be.

2. Fire Emblem
Fire Emblem is a series with a long and storied history.  Sadly that long and storied history was exclusive to Japan until 2003.  The first Fire Emblem to reach North American shores is one of the best tactical strategy games on any game system.  Following the adventures of Eliwood, Hector and Lynn, three lords from the continent of Elibe, Fire Emblem tasks players with taking an army of allies to stop the evil forces of the Black Fang and their pursuit to unleash the powers of the Dragon Gate on the world.  Fire Emblem's greatest strength came from the gameplay which has one managing the strengths and weaknesses of weapons and magic, the durability of items, character stats and the range of allies and enemies to overcome insurmountable odds.  At the game's best, it feels like playing a game of chess with medieval knights and wizards as your chess pieces.  Along with introducing North American audiences to the core mechanics of the series, Fire Emblem introduced players to its most signature feature-- the permanent death of ally units.  This feature caused plenty of chapter restarts from yours truly, but it made you feel connected to your units in a way no other tactical strategy game has done before.  No longer were these units expendable pawns; they were living, breathing characters that you cared for and grew attached to over the course of the game.  Their loss packed much more weight than losing a unit in a game like Advance Wars or Starcraft.  This emotional weight along with excellent game mechanics made Fire Emblem a defining experience for the strategy genre in general.

1. Metroid:  Zero Mission
Out of all the experiences available on the Game Boy Advance, one stands taller than the rest.  This experience comes from gaming's favourite bounty hunter, Samus Aran.  Actually, it is the remake of her first adventure to Planet Zebes in the original Metroid.  Metroid may be an iconic achievement in video game design and development, but certain aspects of the game, namely the graphics and the unguided structure of the game, have not stood the test of time.  Zero Mission took the original Metroid and upgraded the gameplay, graphics, level design, music and story to the masterful quality of Super Metroid.  Zero Mission made Metroid better in every conceivable way and that was not the only thing it did.  Zero Mission expanded on the original story of Metroid.  No longer was defeating Mother Brain the final thing Samus did on Planet Zebes.  In trying to leave Zebes, Samus is shot down by Space Pirates and stripped down to her Zero Suit.  With no power to fight regular enemies, the game changes from your standard 2D action-platformer to a compelling 2D stealth game as Samus tracks down a brand new Power Suit in order to finally escape the clutches of Zebes.  This incredible twist gave the final act of Metroid a greater sense of danger and vulnerability than fighting off countless waves of metroids.  Hands down, Metroid: Zero Mission is the definitive version of a classic which preserves it against the negative effects of Father Time.

Bravely Default Review

Japanese role-playing games (JRPGs) have a long and illustrious history.  Among the most dominant forces in this genre was arguably Square Enix.  As the JRPG fell out of favour for the freedom of Western RPGs like Elder Scrolls, Fallout and Mass Effect, Square Enix has had an incredibly tough time adapting with the times.  Recent entries in their long-running Final Fantasy series has tirelessly tired to modernize the JRPG genre to varying degrees of success.  Funny enough, the company's recent entry into the JRPG genre, Bravely Default, has captured the hearts and minds of gamers by going back to the basic storytelling and gameplay of early entries in the genre.

Bravely Default's premise is very similar to first few Final Fantasies.  You control the four Heroes of Light (Tiz, Agnes, Ringabell and Edea) as they purify four elemental crystals in order to save the world.  On their journey to purify the crystals, the Heroes of Light must combat the forces of the Duchy of Eternia and discover the truth behind the Crystal Orthodoxy.  On the surface, the story and the protagonists seem to fall under many classic JRPG tropes such as a heroes' hometown getting decimated and one of the heroes conveniently suffering from amnesia.  As the story advances, the depth and complexity of the huge cast of characters becomes evident.  The conflict between the Crystalism and Anti-Crystalism is not as black-and-white as the game originally makes it out to be.  Bravely Default offers a good amount of twists and turns to keep gamers interested.  While the story provides motivation to keep playing, it is not the most compelling feature of Bravely Default.

Bravely Default truly shines above other entries in the JRPG genre through its combat and job systems.  The combat is similar to other turn-based RPGs as the player and their opponents takes turns attacking, defending and using items.  The creative twist in Bravely Default's combat comes from the brave-default system.  Default acts like defending as it decreases damage taken, but also increases battle points (BP).  You use BP to brave, which allows a character to unleash multiple attacks in a single turn or spend on job-specific attacks and abilities.  Braving and defaulting is a risk-reward system that adds an extra layer of strategy to battles.  You can try to dispatch enemies in one turn by attacking multiple times, but you risk leaving your party vulnerable to multiple attacks if they survive your onslaught.  Managing when to brave or default can be the difference between life or death in Bravely Default.  The game's job system has clearly been inspired by the systems implemented in past Final Fantasy games.  Although the inspirations from other titles, Bravely Default's job system is much more approachable than other RPGs due to the improvements Square Enix and Silicon Studio has made.  Jobs level up independently of the character's actual level so changing jobs does not reset a character's overall level.  While characters can only be employed by one job at a time, you can equip the attacks and abilities from another job to use as well.  This feature allows for tons of customization as you can have a white mage that can cast black magic on top of healing spells or a knight that can imbue their blade with a spell fencer's sword magic.  Going along with the customizable jobs, you can equip any special attribute learned through levelling up jobs or those your friends have learned through the Ablink feature.  These two systems are only just one slice of the great suite of features that Bravely Default gives you to play with.  From the excellent StreetPass and online features like rebuilding the town of Norende with the people you StreetPass and connect with online or summoning friends to help in battle to the incredible ability to change encounter rates and game difficulty at anytime, Bravely Default offers tons of features to keep players satisfied.

With all the great features and systems Bravely Default has to offer, it has one critical blemish that almost derails the entire experience.  What easily could have been an excellent fifty to sixty hour experience receives some completely unnecessary padding that doubles the length of the game.  What makes this padding even worse is how tedious it is.  Instead of adding some worthwhile quests to elaborate on the story, you repeat the same exact tasks over and over again until the game deems it time to move on to the true final chapter.  After the second time repeating this process, the story stops advancing altogether until the true final chapter which makes a good twenty hours of the game feel like an absolute waste of time.  You can break from the tedium at anytime to complete the normal ending of Bravely Default, but that does not give much closure to the story of the game.  Funny enough, the normal ending of Bravely Default is more satisfying than the true ending of the game because it lacks the drastic difficulty spike the true ending has and it makes more sense than most of the plot points inserted into the true ending with little to no explanation whatsoever.  The true ending is not worth the time and effort needed to reach it.  In fact, trying to reach the true ending could compromise your enjoyment of Bravely Default as a whole.

Aside from the unnecessary padding, Bravely Default is a great game.  There are enough great features packed into this small 3DS cartridge to keep anyone satisfied for days, possibly months on end.  The one thing holding Bravely Default back from being the definitive RPG experience on the 3DS is the major misstep taken in the most crucial hours of the game.  Padding the game by a few hours is understandable, but by close to fifty plus hours cannot be easily reconciled.  While the padding may leave some upset and disappointed, Bravely Default's strengths more than make up for the underwhelming endgame.  For those looking for an old-school RPG with some excellent modern twists, Bravely Default is definitely a game worth picking up.

Hump Day Music: Flossophy Impressions

When I updated Silver Bit six times a week back in 2012, Hump Day Music was one of Silver Bit's staples much like Bit by Bit.  Every Wednesday, I would share a piece of video game music or music loosely related to video games to help readers get through the middle of the week.  As things got busier, Hump Day Music sadly became a thing of the past.  I could never update Silver Bit enough to keep Hump Day Music as a recurring article.  After picking up Brentalfloss' newest CD Flossophy a few weeks back and listening it on repeat ever since, I am glad to bring back Hump Day Music for a special review of this CD.

For the uneducated, Brentalfloss is a musician who became popular amongst gamers for his "With Lyrics" videos which add lyrics to video game music from games like Mario, Mega Man and Castlevania.  Flossophy is Brentfloss' third studio album following What If This CD... Had Lyrics? and Bits of Me.  Flossophy contains twenty tracks including album versions of songs previously released on Youtube, iTunes and Bandcamp like The Team Fortress 2 Song and Cave Story with Lyrics and brand new, never before released songs such as Earthbound with Lyrics and Metroid: Fight for Love.  The album has a great variety of tracks that range from comedic songs to serious songs and fast blood-pumping songs to slow soothing songs.  The album's variety makes each track feel special and fill a different void.  There are no songs that sound the same or produce the same feeling within the listener.  First and foremost, Flossophy is made for those who love video games and video game music.  With that audience in mind, there are a lot of great jokes and parodies found throughout the album.  From giving light to the downfalls of modern console releases to making fun of how awkward the messages transferred through StreetPass are to portraying the Link from A Link to the Past as a self-centered obnoxious hero, there are plenty of jokes and parodies to keep any gamer smiling throughout.  Aside from the variety, jokes and parodies, one's enjoyment of Flossophy will come from the songs themselves.  The selection on this album are some of Brentalfloss' best.  While every track on Flossophy is at least worth a listen, there are seventeen this writer believes are well worth listening to more than once.  Among those seventeen, the tracks that stand out above the rest are Super Mario Land with Lyrics, Ken's Theme with Lyrics, Cave Story with Lyrics, Zidane to Vivi, Ballad of the Mages and Metroid: Fight for Love.  Like with most albums, there are a few tracks that add little to one's enjoyment of Flossophy.  In particular, those tracks are Game Launch Rock!, The Game Over Tinies and The Bioshock Song.  Each track tries to be drastically unique, but the attempts do not resonate like the other tracks on the album.

Although it may be for a niche audience, Flossophy is a great album and serves as a excellent homage to the video games that inspired it.  No matter if you pick the album up digitally for ten dollars or physically for thirteen plus shipping and handling, Flossophy is well worth the asking price.  If you are interested, you can pick the album up digitally on iTunes, Bandcamp, Amazon and Google Play and physically from Level Up Studios website. Hump Day Music would not be complete if I did not leave a song for everybody to enjoy.  In particular, one of the songs featured on Flossophy--Ballad of the Mages.

Bit by Bit: February 2014

Coming off of the two biggest features I have ever done, it is hard to get back in the swing of regular writing.  I have so many ideas spinning around in my head of articles to write, but no true direction of where I want to take Silver Bit next.  It is a very peculiar position I am currently in with Silver Bit.  Personally, I think getting back into the regular of schedule of work and school after Reading Week will get the creative juices following in this writer's brain.  For this week, I like to revisit an old staple of Silver Bit, Bit by Bit.  Now let us break down yours truly's favourite games and videos of the past few weeks.

Game of the Month
Nintendo always knows how to get people playing their handhelds during February.  Last February, Nintendo released Fire Emblem Awakening, a game which engulfed an enormous amount of this writer's free time and earned Silver Bit's 2013 Game of the Year.  Early this February, Nintendo brought Square Enix's Bravely Default to North America and it has easily won over this gamer's heart.  Bravely Default harkens back to the early entries in Square's legendary RPG franchise, Final Fantasy.  The story is very familiar as the player is sent on a quest to purify four elemental crystals.  Bravely Default's job system pulls a lot from the systems implemented in Final Fantasy III and V.  While Bravely Default does share a lot with Final Fantasy, it captures a sense of fun and wonder that modern Final Fantasies completely lack.  The battle system is turn-based like many RPGs, but it offers an incredibly creative twist.  During battles, you are able to brave or default.  Default acts much like defending as it decreases damage taken, but also increases battle points (BP).  You use BP to brave, which allows a character to unleash multiple attacks in a single turn.  Braving and defaulting is a risk-reward system that adds an inventive layer of strategy to battles.  The choice of braving or defaulting can be the difference between success or failure in battle.  The battles are only just one piece of the great pie that Bravely Default offers from the incredible StreetPass features such as rebuilding the main character's hometown with those you walk past or summoning friends to help in battle to the innovative ability to change encounter rates and difficulty at anytime.  If you own a 3DS and are fond of RPGs, I highly recommend picking up Bravely Default.  It is well worth the price of admission.

Most Anticipated Game of the Month
Usually around this time of the year, I put up my Most Anticipated Games of the Year article.  2014 has been different.  When I write those articles, I personally enjoy writing about a variety of games made by different developers, usually for various devices.  Sadly, there is not much of anything that has gotten me truly excited outside of Nintendo's offerings this year.  With the new consoles, it is going to be a waiting game until E3.  A few announcements may trickle out before then, but nothing too substantial in my opinion.  In the midst of all my pessimism, there is one downloadable game I am really psyched for.  Take some old-school Castlevania gameplay, add in Scrooge McDuck's pogo jump from DuckTales and meld in the themed bosses from Mega Man.  From this crazy concoction, the game you get is Yacht Club Games' Shovel Knight.  Taking inspiration from classics of the 8-bit era, Shovel Knight looks to modernize these amazing elements while keeping the look and feel of these classics.  The more I see of Shovel Knight, the more excited I get.  If you are looking to get in on the excitement, I will share the trailer for Shovel Knight below.  March 31st cannot come soon enough.


Video of the Month
Whoever the person at Nintendo that creates the trailers for Super Smash Bros. deserves a raise.  These trailers are among the best I have ever seen.  Each new character reveal feels like an event and rightly so.  This time around Nintendo pulled the curtain back on one of the most requested Smash Bros. character, Little Mac.  This veteran of the boxing ring will make his first appearance on the battlefields of Smash Bros. in the Wii U and 3DS entries of the series.  Even though it is his first time, Little Mac looks up to the challenge with his all fisticuffs move set and Doc Lewis at the the pink sweatsuit-wearing pugilist's side.

E3 2013: Sony Press Conference Impressions

After Microsoft's multiple slip ups with the Xbox One, it was Sony's E3 to win.  The question was if Sony would be smart enough to take advantage of this huge opportunity to bury their competition.  Would PS4 walk triumphantly with gamers to back them up or pathetically limp all alone into the next generation?  It was one long haul, but those questions were definitely answered.

Sony's Press Conference had the highest of highs, the lowest of lows and everything in between.  The conference lasted just about two hours and it took close to three quarters of the conference to get to the goods.  The last quarter of this conference will easily go down in video game history.  Starting with the showcase of eight indie games on stage (Don't Starve, Ray's the Dead, Secret Ponchos, Octodad, Oddworld: New 'N' Tasty, Galak-Z, Mercenary Kings and Outlast), Sony opened up the floodgates for the announcements PS4 desperately needed.  Leading up to this point, we were subjugated to Sony's classic strategy of boring the living hell out of every living thing watching.  There were a quite a few games showed off for PS4 before this moment, but they were everything Sony showed off before.  It did not hold our attention especially after suffering through Sony confirming on-stage that the Vita is dead in the water, focusing on PS3 games that did not need to be covered and even pushing their Sony Pictures division down our throats (funny considering they took a shot at Microsoft for doing the exact same thing).  Long story short, it was not a good way to spend nearly three quarters of a video game conference.  Once Sony showed off two bombshells from Square Enix known as Final Fantasy XV (the former Final Fantasy Versus XIII) and flipping Kingdom Hearts 3!  While switching Versus XIII to XV was expected, nobody saw Kingdom Hearts 3 coming and it made this conference special.  From there on, Sony went right into the Watch Dogs and Assassin's Creed IV demos that should have been at the Ubisoft conference.  Nevertheless, Watch Dogs stole this writers heart with the best demo of the conference.  Assassin's Creed IV was nothing too special especially with the amount of technical difficulties the demo suffered from.  Sony also showed off Elder Scrolls Online, Mad Max and Destiny.  There was nothing special about Elder Scrolls Online and Mad Max as all they showed were trailers.  For Destiny, Sony brought the first live gameplay of Bungie's new shooter, which was very enjoyable.  The one moment that left just as much lasting effect on those watching than the Kingdom Hearts 3 reveal was Sony's direct shots at Microsoft.  Even though publishers are pushing for DRM on consoles, Sony is standing firmly behind the consumers as the PS4 will be able to play used games and will not require a constant internet connection or to be authenticated every 24 hours.  Sony took a knife and stabbed it directly into Microsoft's heart, but those shots were not the only thing.  Sony dug their knife even deeper into Microsoft's heart with the bold announcement that the PS4 will retail at 399 dollars.  399 dollars for a PS4 is nuts.  The PS3 was almost twice that price at launch.  What an incredible way to end a conference and single-handedly put the Xbox One on life support.

While the last quarter of the Sony Press Conference was near perfection, I cannot give the abysmal first three quarters of the conference a pass.  Personally, I am not going to forget the hour and a half that we wasted just to get to the good stuff.  The Sony Press Conference is the entire two hour show, not the final thirty minutes and I believe many are forgetting that fact.  Although I still have reservations about a few features such as the Gaikai streaming service, this conference did its job and sold the PS4 to the masses.  For that fact alone, this conference deserves kudos.

Grade:  B-

On the Download: Oracle of Ages and Seasons

Some games hold a special place in ones’ heart.  For yours truly, The Legend of Zelda:  Oracle of Ages and Oracle of Seasons are two of those games.  In my younger years, all I played were handheld games.  I did not own a console until the Gamecube, outside of the Sega Genesis I got for my birthday when I was four.  Without a console, I was not exposed to such excellent franchises like Castlevania, Final Fantasy and Metroid until I was much older.  A lot of my exposure to these franchises came from my subscription to gaming magazines like Nintendo Power and later portable entries in these franchises.  Before Oracle of Ages and Seasons, I had never played a game in the Legend of Zelda series.  In the rearview mirror, it was one of the best decisions of my life.  Oracle of Ages and Seasons gave birth to my love of Nintendo and the Legend of Zelda series.  Why am I spending all this time talking about my past experience with these games as they are over a decade old?  Well, last Thursday marked the release of The Legend of Zelda:  Oracle of Ages and Oracle of Seasons on the 3DS Virtual Console.  Releases that this writer has been looking forward to for a while now considering I no longer have the means to play the originals.

The Oracle of Ages and Seasons are parallel stories in the Legend of Zelda universe.  Upon checking on the Triforce, Link is transported to either the world of Labrynna in Ages or Holodrum in Seasons.  Soon after Link's arrival, he meets up with the titular oracles, the Oracle of Ages Nayru and the Oracle of Seasons Din.  Everything may seem peaceful at first, but sadly that peace does not last long as the forces of evil kidnap  the oracles and plunge their respective worlds into chaos.  Armed with his trusty sword and shield, it is up to Link to rescue the oracles and put a stop to the chaos brought about by the forces of evil, Oynx and Veran.  Oracle of Ages and Seasons play like your typical top-down Legend of Zelda as Link completes dungeons to gain valuable items that open more of the world to traverse and allow the hero to solve many skill testing puzzles.  Aside from the different stories, there is one other major difference between the Oracle games.  This difference being that Oracle of Ages focuses more on puzzle-solving while Oracle of Seasons focuses more on action.

For those interested, The Legend of Zelda:  Oracle of Ages and Oracle of Seasons are available on the Nintendo eShop.  For a limited time, you can pick up Ages and Seasons for 5 dollars each.  Once this promotion is over, the games will be available for 6 dollars each.  No matter the price, these games are definite downloads for any 3DS owner.

Off the Newsstand: Nintendo Power Issue 280

Absolutely no new retail game releases this week.  Meaning that there will be no Launch Station at all this week.  Now that I got enough time to look at the latest issue of Nintendo Power.  The big Issue 280, only 20 more issues until a landmark 300 issues of Nintendo Power.  Following in suit with all other video game magazines, the July issue revolves around all the big news from this year's E3.

On the cover of Issue 280 is the Wii U, Nintendo's next console.  Considering Nintendo Power has been one of my main sources for Nintendo news, previews, reviews and coverage, I was disappointed that there was not a full article on the Wii U.  It was just a stuck at the beginning of the Power Up section of the magazine.  I remember after Nintendo's big showcase of the Wii at E3 2006, the following Nintendo Power had an amazing article called The Wii Experience that looked at the Wii and some of the big launch titles such as Red Steel, Raving Rabbids, Madden and Tony Hawk.  It was not just a brief look and a list of the Top 10 Wii U Games at E3 2012.  In all honesty, it was a fine look at the Wii U, but I expected much more from Nintendo Power considering this is the official Nintendo magazine for North America and the Wii U report was the cover story of this issue.  If they were not going to have the Wii U as the cover story for this issue, they should have put something else on the cover like New Super Mario Bros. 2.  Speaking of New Super Mario Bros. 2, there was a five page preview of the upcoming 3DS game.  It was a fine preview, but there was nothing too substantial.  Given a few more pages and an interview, this preview could of easily served as the cover story for Issue 280.  Along with that preview was a look back all of Nintendo's releases in 1987, which was pretty cool, but felt more like filler, and a preview of the Adventure Time game for the DS and 3DS.  Even though I have never watched the show, I found the Adventure Time preview easily the best article in this issue.  It gave a substantial amount of information about a game that until now nobody really knew much about and had a very good interview with Adventure Time series creator and animator, Pendleton Ward.  Even though I am being down on this issue of Nintendo Power, there was still some good content in the Download, Preview, Review and Community sections of the magazine.

As a whole, I expected much more from Issue 280 of Nintendo Power.  When you such a big story in the Wii U on the cover, you have to hit the ball out of the park or leave people like yours truly disappointed.  There is still quite a bit of good content in Issue 280 of Nintendo Power, but it is not an issue that you have to go out of your way to read.

Launch Station: Heroes of Ruin

We must be in the dead of summer as the video game releases are slowing to a crawl.  The next big wave of game releases does not start until July 31st with the release of Kingdom Hearts 3D: Dream Drop Distance.  At least 3DS owners are getting some quality retail games during this drought of video games.  This week the only release belongs to Heroes of Ruin, the second big 3DS game coming to gamers from Square Enix this July.  Compared to Square Enix stables of Final Fantasy and Kingdom Hearts, Heroes of Ruin is a brand new IP from Square Enix built from the ground up for the Nintendo 3DS.

Peace in the realm is threatened as the ruler of the city of Nexus, Ataraxis, is slowly dying from a curse.   A message is sent out to all promising a reward beyond measure for the person who finds a cure to Ataraxis' curse.  You play as one of the four mercenaries that goes on the dangerous quest to find a cure.  Each mercenary represents a different class in the game.  You can choose from playing as the sword-wielding Vindicator, pistol-packing Gunslinger, magic-using Alchitect or the fist-swinging Savage.  After choosing your class, you are able to customize your appearance, fighting style, armour set, weapons and class abilities at any time.  Heroes of Ruin can be played solo or co-operatively with up to three other players at anytime.  Square Enix and n-Space are providing daily challenges for gamers to complete for special rewards and achievements, the ability to trade items with others through StreetPass and instantly downloading new game content such as new characters and quests through SpotPass.

Personally, I am have no real interest for Heroes of Ruin.  I will applaud Square Enix for taking a risk and backing an original IP like Heroes of Ruin instead of sticking with just their core franchises.  For those looking for an action RPG experience much like Diablo to take on the go, Heroes of Ruin will be a great purchase for the 3DS.

Launch Station: Theatrhythm Final Fantasy

Final Fantasy is a video game franchise that has been renowned for its' incredible music.  So much in fact that  there are concerts dedicated to the music and anthologies of CDs that fans look for.  One Winged Angel, the Chocobo theme and the Victory theme are just a short list of incredible music that has been produced for the Final Fantasy series.  Tomorrow, there will be a game that will allow gamers to experience the music of Final Fantasy in a whole new way as Theatrhythm Final Fantasy releases for the Nintendo 3DS.

Theatrhythm Final Fantasy is a rhythm game spin-off in the Final Fantasy series.  The gods Chaos and Cosmos have disrupted the music crystal in a place called Rhythm.  It is now up to heroes from the Final Fantasys I to XIII to increase the output of the music wave known as Rhythpo in order to restore the crystal in Rhythm.  The player is able to choose a party of four Final Fantasy characters.  Some characters you can choose are Cecil from Final Fantasy IV, Cloud from Final Fantasy VII, Squall from Final Fantasy VIII and Lightning from Final Fantasy XIII.  There is a level for each game in the main Final Fantasy series.  Each level has three stages that highlights a different song from the corresponding game.  The three stages from each level are a Field stage, a Battle stage and a Event Stage with the option to play through the opening and ending themes of each level.  The gameplay is very similar to Nintendo's Elite Beat Agents for the DS, where you tap and swipe the touch screen in the correct spot in order to keep in time with the beat of the song.  After completing each stage, your characters will gain more experience and level up.  As you play through the Theatrhythm, you will unlock bonus songs to play along with bonus movies as well.  Theatrhyhtm also features varying difficulties, a Challenge mode and a Chaos Tower mode to keep gamers busy playing this game for weeks and possibly even months on end.

Theatrhythm Final Fantasy looks like an incredible amount of fan service.  Anybody who loves the music that has been produced for the Final Fantasy series these last 25 years will definitely want to pick up this Final Fantasy themed rhythm game.  When it was first announced, Theatrhytm looked interesting, but nothing really worthwhile.  The more I have seen of it, the more I believe Theatrhythm Final Fantasy could be a considerable third-party hit for the 3DS and rightfully so.  It is a game I will eventually pick up someday for my 3DS.

Off the Newsstand: Nintendo Power Issue 278

It has been a busy month of gaming and reading for yours truly.  I honestly plow through video game magazines like nobodies business.  Maybe it is just years of reading them cover-to-cover or that magazines are very easy reads because I have never thought of myself as a fast reader in any way.  Now here is my quick look at the newest issue of Nintendo Power, which I finished reading a few days ago.

Many people were surprised to hear last month that Nobunaga X Pokemon was coming to North America as Pokemon Conquest for the DS this coming June.  With the game just announced, it is a cool coincidence (or maybe was it planned?) that the cover story for Issue 278 of Nintendo Power be on Pokemon Conquest.  Even though it was not my personal favourite cover story in recent memory, the cover story on Pokemon Conquest was a solid preview nonetheless.  The cover story look at Pokemon Conquest's story, the basics on Pokemon Conquest's tactical gameplay, how to recruit new party members and Pokemon and how preparing for battle is just as important and maybe even more important than the actual battles themselves.  Having never played a tactical RPG in the vein of Pokemon Conquest, which looks to share a lot of similarities with the Final Fantasy Tactics series, it all seems pretty daunting, but I am looking forward to this game as it is actually a spinoff to the Pokemon series that looks to be worth playing.  My favourite article from this issue goes to the preview of The Last Story, a new type of RPG created by Hironobu Sakaguchi's Mistwalker studios.  Much like Xenoblade Chronicles, The Last Story looks to advance the Japanese RPG in new innovative directions that revitalize a genre that has not really resonated in the past few years.  Nintendo Power's preview takes a look at The Last Story's real-time battle and cover system, the story which avoids all the JRPG and anime story tropes and a quick asides on The Last Story's multi-player modes.  The article also includes on great two-page interview with great Hironobu Sakaguchi, the creator of the iconic Final Fantasy series and one of the forefathers of the JRPG genre.  Issue 278 also includes ranking of all 14 Super Mario games from the less favourable to the best in the series of excellent platformers, an interesting preview of Theatrhythm Final Fantasy, a music game in the vein of Elite Beat Agents where you can play through all the excellent music found in the Final Fantasy series, and an interview with Ben Bateman, a Localization Editor for Aksys Games.  The only disappointing part of Issue 278 of Nintendo Power was the lack of reviews.  There were only two reviews in this entire issue, one for Mario Tennis Open and one for Roller Coaster Tycoon 3D both for the 3DS.  In all my years of reading Nintendo Power, I cannot remember a review section this small.  It was very surprising to say the least.

I always have a lot to talk about after reading an issue of Nintendo Power as you can see above.  While I did enjoy this issue of Nintendo Power, I do not think it is a must read for the average Nintendo fan.  If you are a huge Pokemon fan, Issue 278 is a must read.  For everybody else, it would be easier to check it out at your local library.

Launch Station: Final Fantasy XIII-2

Ever since the holiday season and the holiday game rush of 2011 came to an end, there have been little to no new games released.  Maybe one or two Game of the Year editions of a couple games, but nothing completely new.  Well tomorrow, January 31st, starts the first big game rush of 2012 as publishers and developers release their first wave of heavyweight games.  Among the first of this big wave of releases is a direct sequel to Final Fantasy XIII.  Final Fantasy XIII-2 hopes to right all the complaints fans and critics laid on its polarizing predecessor.  Let us take a closer look at Final Fantasy XIII-2 before it releases tomorrow.

Immediately after saving the worlds of Cocoon and Gran Pulse in the finale of Final Fantasy XIII, Lightning is sucked into another world.  Trapped in this alternate reality, Lightning must contend with the evil forces of the main villain of this Final Fantasy game, Caius Ballard.  Left without a sister, Serah goes on a quest to find Lightning, which leads her to meeting Noel, a mysterious time-traveller from 700 years in the future.  Serah and Noel must travel across time and space in order to find Lightning and stop Caius Ballard.  Final Fantasy XIII-2's main focus is on improving on the XIII's shortcomings, mainly the extreme linearity of XIII.  You no longer have to travel down long hallways for hours on end as each location is open for you to explore, complete various side-quests or do whatever you want.  The Paradigm Shift battle system returns from XIII with some additions.  The first addition being little quick-time events called Cinematic Action that play at pre-determined moments in fights that keep you engaged while these epic moments happen on-screen.  The second addition is the ability to tame monsters to use as the third member in your party.  This third party member can be very useful especially for its special Feral Link move, which can deal a good amount of damage when needed.  Along with the additions to the combat, Square Enix has added Live Triggers, which serve as Final Fantasy's take on dialogue trees, and Temporal Rifts, little puzzle-like mini-games that play into furthering the story.

Story is a huge component of Final Fantasy games and time travel could provide some messy plot holes if Square Enix does not do it right.  I was not a huge fan of Final Fantasy XIII when it released back in 2010 and I am not really interested in Final Fantasy XIII-2.  It looks like Square Enix listened to the fans and critics and tried their best to right the wrongs they made with Final Fantasy XIII.  Hardcore fans of Final Fantasy and Japanese role-playing games (JRPGs for short) will most likely enjoy Final Fantasy XIII-2.  I do not think it will grab gamers who have their minds set on Kingdoms of Amular or Mass Effect 3 though.

Demo Impressions: Final Fantasy XIII-2

In this generation of consoles, there are plenty of game experiences people can play free of charge without resorting to any form of piracy.  Through services such as Xbox Live, PlayStation Network and Nintendo Wi-Fi Connection, many gamers can get free demos of upcoming and already released games for their consoles or handhelds.  PC gamers can get demos through a developer's website or clients such as Steam or Origin.  Demos have been around for a long time to give gamers a little taste of the full game that they will be able to buy in the near future.  As an avid gamer, I enjoy trying out certain games that I am on the edge on and also those I am highly anticipating.  I would like to think of a better title for this new article other than Demo Impressions, but it is late at night and I don't have much creativity flowing through me at the moment.  So I would like to pass it off to you guys, comment below with your ideas of a new title for this article and I will pick my favourite for all future editions of this article.  As you probably noticed from the title, I am going to give you guys what I thought about a number of demos I played recently.  As these demos are just a slice of the final product, do not consider my impressions to anything like a review.  Try the demo for yourself and be the final judge.

Let us start off this new article with one of the biggest games be released this January, Final Fantasy XIII-2.  Final Fantasy XIII-2 is a direct sequel to Final Fantasy XIII.  It follows Serah and newcomer Noel as they travel through time to search for Lightning and stop the evil Caius Ballad.  This demo found on Xbox Live and PSN drops Noel and Serah at some point probably a hour or two into the game.  You are dropped in the Brescha Ruins and have to fight a gigantic titan by the name of Atlas.  The Paradigm Shift battle system does take a little getting use to, but once you spend 15 to 20 minutes with the battle system things flow pretty fast and very smoothly.  The one thing about the battle system I do not like is that it feels like you are on auto-pilot at all times.  You do not directly control Noel's or Serah's attacks or their actions and it makes me feel restricted.  Even though I do not like the return of what seemingly are random battles, I like the new preemptive strike that you can do when initiating a battle.  One of my biggest complaints during my little time with Final Fantasy XIII was that the game felt far too linear for my liking.  So being thrown into an open environment to explore with optional side-quests to complete was refreshing.  This demo also showed off some new mechanics for a Final Fantasy game.  First was the ability to gain monsters to serve as your third member in your party.  I found this third party member very useful especially for its special Feral Link move, which can deal a lot of damage when needed.  Second new gameplay mechanic was the new Anomaly segments which are little puzzle rooms you have to complete every once and a while.  These segments seem like a nice little diversion, but the one in the demo felt tacked on and unneeded.  The last new mechanic can be found in the big boss battles with Atlas at the beginning and end of the demo.  At certain predetermined points during these battles, you enter cinematic action, a little cinematic that has you preform quick-time events to avoid damage or do more damage to the boss.  It is an interesting mechanic that allows for some epic moments while keeping the player engaged.  Overall, this demo for Final Fantasy XIII-2 was pretty good.  It has showed me that Square Enix has at least tried to right the wrongs they made with Final Fantasy XIII.  This demo did not convince me that I should run out and buy this game at launch, but I did get a feeling that Final Fantasy XIII-2 will definitely please the Final Fantasy faithful and those looking for a good RPG.