A look back at: Final Fantasy X

 

The Final Fantasy series never seems to disappoint, even when it is disappointing. Or something like that. But whatever. Final Fantasy X is heavily revered, for being the first on the PS2 and also for just being a really interesting game overall. While I do miss my Active-Time Battle System, the one here isn't that bad since you can definitely switch turn order, or characters, on the fly. I guess the main issue at least for bigger fights is to get all of your characters in on the action so that everyone gets experience (cause if your character sits there and doesn't take action, no EXP for you!). There's as always a lot to take in, from the different niches of the characters and fiends, the concept of death itself, the new summoning mechanic, the minigames, the family relationships and the different races, the somewhat confusing tutorials (yeah, there were lots of them), just a lot to take in! But really, you do gotta experience it just to see what it's about, let's be real here.

Overall though, FFX did great. Combat was fun, even though it's heavily niched in favor by how certain characters seem to fair better against certain enemies than others, meaning some characters get way more experience than everyone else in some areas. The Overdrives, the limit breaks of this game, have some action commands to them. The statuses are a lot more urgent to treat than usual. The way levels work means that every time you gain a sphere level, you go to the grid and spend a sphere and a level grade to get a new stat or move, and the grid can get quite complex. There's a number of ways to customize this, such as making Yuna or Rikku into hardline fighters instead of their own niches, or giving Kimahri lots of black and white magic spells to be a backup mage. Then you got the many strange plot points, the annoying minigames such as lightning dodging and butterfly catching, plus the boring ones like Blitzball but all of these tend to getting those game-breaking Celestial weapons.

But other than getting those weapons, I played the game more or less normally. Surprisingly, the overall gameplay if you plot to the letter is much shorter than I expected. Everything's much more linear, you don't get to an overworld screen at all in this game and you just do the "dot-to-destination" ordeal a few other RPGs may have done. I'd say this is one of the weaker parts of the game. But hey, having maps and decent healing/saving spots is nice.  The cutscenes really slow the pace of the game, but overall, the story remains interesting. And that's even getting to the fact that the protagonist is a kid with a big mouth and an athletic attitude. But he warms up, as does everyone else around him, and the story ends up rather tragically as we realize that this kid's gotta defeat his father, and that he wishes for the endless cycle that Spira has to deal with must end somehow.

To think this Final Fantasy game would get a direct sequel, as opposed to just creating a new Final Fantasy setup or even a spinoff in a similar location. This definitely means that that's gonna be on my bucket list someday, despite what I've heard about it.

A look back at: Pokemon Nameless

Pokemon Nameless represents the latest in Wind1158's ROM hacks, and without a doubt, his best one, and the best one I've ever played, at least so far. In any case, the reasons for this should be made obvious, the game gives you proper leveling curves this time around, surprisingly nonlinear gameplay, the mega evolution system from Gaia (but you can mega-evolve every Pokemon that can mega-evolve, except for Latios I think), and compelling storyline that answers a lot of questions that Mega Power left out. Heck, there's even a moment where your protagonist Chronya can fight all by herself against trainers, something that was seriously just added two days ago in a new update.

I've been following this series ever since Victory Fire, because I'm such a huge fan of continuity nodding and references I can understand. Nameless for the most part takes place after Resolute and before Mega Power, but still should be played after Mega Power since it's got numerous events in and around it. The answer to why Logan/Alma was arrested for murder in Mega Power is explained here. The answers as to who Viperum was are answered here. The hunt for "The Shady" is heavily expanded on here. All the familial connections are explained here. And all this while you can be free to advance the storyline at any given point and time!

There's megaguardians to battle for Mega Stones. There's sneaky trainers who disguise themselves as items or obstacles. There's signs showing both the recommended level and the Pokemon you can find. There's no worries about HMs as you have skills that Chronya can simply learn. There's the Cyenn league and its strange tournament setup, where you battle defenders, become a defender of a rank, then defend your title to advance your rank. There's numerous regional champions, old and new. There's protagonists of old (whichever gender you pick for the Resolute protagonist will be the same for the ones you encounter for all others).

Do I recommend this hack? Hell yes I do. But I recommend the entire series of Victory Fire-Resolute-Mega Power-Nameless as a whole. Long, but surely worth it. And here's a walkthrough and a guide on battle arenas/departments to go by, perhaps my most ambitious guides to date. Very interesting that I would actually complete Nameless, and then find out that there was yet another episode, so I added it right then and there and I'm glad I did. There's still a few bugs, but Wind1158 is certainly working to get rid of all of them.

Doom Musings: Playing the controversial Blade of Agony mod

Decided to interrupt my soundtrack rankings as I've decided to play Wolfendoom: Blade of Agony for the first time. Sheesh, this mod sure took the community by storm, and not in the most fresh of ways at all. So Tormentor667, the lead of this project, really enjoyed the Laz Rojas Wolfendoom levels, which I've already covered in a previous musing, and so he and a team of GZDoom modders got together and made Blade of Agony, which takes a huge inspiration from not just those, but also events that have happened over the course of WWII in Europe. The first episode got a Cacoward, and then the second and third episodes were then released...

But what happened that caused Tormentor's cancelling from the community? It was for a number of reasons. A certain NPC character in the game is named after ZDoom's developer who is transgender but apparently Tormentor had not known about it. Then you have a few other things such as the concentration camp mission, undead prisoner zombies, and even graphic imagery that doesn't sit well with people in 2021. In any case, despite all the controversies, I decided to play this version (I realize it got taken down at some point, but I was able to find a version somewhere to download). When I did, I put ALL politics aside, as usual, so here are my main thoughts.

Overall gameplay: It is what I expected more or less given my previous experience with all Wolf3D-style mods. Using WWII weapons, tools, and items against the Nazis who of course have their own gimmicks, you'll be fighting stuff like super soldiers, snipers, chaingun turrets, even tanks at times. Most levels are simple run and gun, just go in and do the Wolfendoom thing. It can be difficult, as the other Wolfendoom games are, but luckily there is less of hitscanner and more "fast bullet" style and I can appreciate that. The rolling enemies try to be fun but aren't that hard to deal with. A few traps in later levels require some thought to get around. I did like the secret lists that you could find, hinting as to where other secrets could be.

Special gameplay mechanics: First of all, the second episode starts with a stealth segment where you escape from prison. Inspiration of course came from the original Wolfenstein itself, plus other stealth games. The second happens when you get a lab coat, and then you get two more, with one being the concentration camp mission and the other being on the blimp. Needless to say, a lot of saving and loading and figuring out where things are. I HATE these kinds of missions, especially in first person, and it never was the cup of tea I would drink in terms of game genres. There's also two missions where you can drive a tank, along with a couple more where you are in a jeep, both of which are unique in a few ways. The latter is more rail shooter and the former has completely different controls which need to get used to. There's a sprinting mechanic, which I'm also not really a fan of since it goes down so fast, not so viable in most cases. The titular Blade of Agony seems like it will truly be an interesting weapon, not just for melee of course, but then those souls you've been collecting are its ammo.

What I really hated: I bet you were waiting for this one...

Framerate drops: This one is fairly obvious, and I do my best to lower EVERY PERFORMANCE SETTING to the lowest levels in order to make some of these levels playable. Needless to say, even with this, several levels still are overdetailed to most computers and are downright impossible without godmoding them. Honestly, I'm real tired of overdetailing and overdoing thing placement in WADs because WADs like this show what happens when you take things not just too far, but so far you basically throw a ball from the Arctic to the Antarctic. I hope newer WAD makers realize that not everyone has a supercomputer or graphics card that has Death Star-like computing capabilities.

How to get to secret maps?: I never got to these and had to warp to them to see them. Self-explanatory really. I assume those safe combinations meant something but I never found anything, and I'm an exceptional secret hunter for crying out loud.

Execution aborted: THIS RIGHT HERE. Several levels have this problem where something explodes, presumably blowing out a wall or something, but then the game straight up crashes. Above all else, fix these things: In Ep1 after the first battle with the SS Mechas, Ep2 in the level with the large fans, there's a part where you blow up a fire extinguisher near a cracked wall, near the end of Ep3's first map where you blow up a facility, on the fifth mission of Ep3 where you try to blow up the zeppelin. Seriously, if your groundbreaking WAD crashes this many times, it's a problematic sign.

C3M2: Words cannot describe this, but I did post a screenshot of what this level is in its entirety, assuming you can get past the awful framerate.

And that's pretty much all I wanna say about Blade of Agony. Incredibly ambitious and an attempt at further immortalizing the WolfenDoom series. It was shot down for several political and sociopolitical reasons, but what I shot it down for would have to be gameplay moments and things that absolutely need fixing above all else.

A look back at: Might and Magic II: Gates to Another World

 

DOS RPGs are sure fun aren't they? For the seasoned console RPG player like myself, I really do gotta get down to the nitty and gritty to play this, as well as the first game and the Wizardry games. Amazing how despite not being made by Japanese developers who certainly made their first RPGs difficult, this proves to be almost, if not much more difficult. Especially for newer players. Ya gotta grind man. And lots of it.

Sure enough, Might and Magic II like any other sequel just proves to expand upon what was already brought to us with the first game. The same dungeon crawling and battle mechanics, the same character system. All classic stuff. A couple of new classes, but what I wasn't expecting were special quests made for specific classes, meaning you can only take them with those particular characters. The hirelings kinda resemble a few other RPGs I played, as they are mercenaries for hire (the Silva Saga games for example had a similar mechanic). There's quite a lot of balancing, as well as getting specific skills, and sadly I'm certain I didn't get everything this time.

It's certainly always interesting to watch as a fantasy-themed RPG series decides "let's put in the technological stuff!" In a way, the plot of this game sort of resembles that of Phantasy Star 3, despite all the medievalness you all of a sudden realize you're in a floating biodome. But it seems to be heading towards the sun at the very end, and the way to solve it is to solve one of those cryptogram puzzles you probably saw in a newspaper or something. Quite funny, I don't think I've ever seen anything like that yet in an RPG! Might and Magic looks like it will continue to improve in its sequels the more I go through it, and I'm itching to go through the whole franchise at this point now.

Doom Musings: Soundtrack Rankings: Memento Mori

If I'm being honest, I really wanted to do a soundtrack ranking of Memento Mori for the longest time. Like many other great megawads, Memento Mori had an absolutely kickass soundtrack, one I just couldn't stop listening to as Mark Klem gives his own blend of awesome Doom music that stands in contrast to the classic Bobby Prince tunes. And even with that particular case, Klem does manage to capture a new Doom feel with the tracks that got their start in Memento Mori. Although these tracks do get reused in the megawad often, it's just like the real Doom games, they get reused throughout and work fine more or less in each and every map. The thought always counts!

18. Title track

As always, the title track brings up the rear. It gives some wonderful tension in the percussion, but so do a lot of other tracks and they are longer. One day a title track will not be the last track, somewhere.

17. Intermission track

And again, intermission track, despite being heard often, isn't far behind. It probably is the only track in Memento Mori aside from the title track that probably won't fit in any level. It's still nice for an intermission track though, so I gotta give it that. Plus the intermission screen is one of the cooler ones that has aged well.

16. Untitled MAP13 track

I honestly don't know how Klem himself feels about this track. It only plays in one level, The Inmost Dens II, and isn't particularly that good in comparison to all its contemporaries around it. Plus I don't think I've heard this track anywhere else all that much. Not having a title is also a mark against it. But if we were to really talk about it, the track is heavily percussion-driven, particularly in cymbals, and it works well for the urgency of the map its in.

15. Slipslider (MAP08)

This track's name is one that either fell under the radar at some point, or Mark just sort of retroactively gave it a name. In any case, it's one of the funkier ones, not heavily used (only once in this one level), but that funk works out well enough in my book! Although I've listened to it several times, it's never really one of the ones that grew on me though.

14. Dreadnaught (MAP02, MAP17, MAP28)

Very slow track, just builds up with the percussion before the really brassy middle part which is the melody. Still though, one thing that makes slow tracks work is the creep value, and this one just sort of creeps into dance-like music rather than something actually spooky. Fits for a Halloween party!

13. Terror (MAP06, MAP20, MAP30)

Probably the shortest non-intermission, non-title track here. It provides spooky in what almost seems like a major key of sorts. Pay attention to those orchestra parts, they're the best thing about this particular track overall. I'll admit when I was young, I just played that part on a violin for fun, even though I've given up on that instrument long ago.

12. Master (text music)

Holy... Man this is a GOOD text screen track, unfortunately more or less wasted since Memento Mori never had custom text screens at all! I really think this is one of the most melancholy works ever made, with exceptional guitar work and even a bird chirping. It truly is a shame this one never got much in mileage. I outright think it rocks.

11. Gerbert (MAP14)

Here's another song that feels much happier than it should be for a Doom map. Although I associate this track and others with Memento Mori itself, I think I recall first hearing this track in some other WAD that I cannot remember the name of. The brass drives this adventurous song, but the main melody, which gets a couple variations, feels neat too. It even has an ending segment. A real treasure.

10. DLA (MAP03 and MAP27)

What is a DLA? Even I don't know. What I do know is this is a rad rocking track, well done with guitar work and bass to make it seem like it would fit right in with Bobby's metal-inspired tracks. Blood pumps best with rocking tracks with beats like this, and I appreciate this particular music track in any particular case.

9. Scary 1 (MAP04 and MAP26)

The quietest track out of all of them. But it is surprisingly awesome. Sure, it takes a while before this percussion-driven track hits its stride, but it feels like a death march, and you just know it once the beats start kicking in. Plus, it fits its title to a tee, and this is some ACTUALLY scary instrumentation, not the one that would fit a regular ol' Halloween party mood.

8. Scary 2 (MAP12 and MAP23)

Fundamentally different from Scary 1, Scary 2 actually tries for that spooky-yet-fun Halloween mood at first with much more unique instrumentation, sounding nothing like its predecessor but still fitting well into the Doom mold. But you then feel that rush, like the main Scary 1 melody just went on steroids, and it just screams urgency. Absolutely fitting especially for the slaughterfest known as MAP23.

7. Galaxy (MAP05 and MAP16)

Of the original Memento Mori tracks, Galaxy is perhaps the most surprising with its mileage. Honestly, apart from MAP05 of Nova 2 I haven't heard this track in other WADs all that much! For shame! It's an interesting mix of church bells with kickass rock tunes, heavily guitar-driven, a few crazy solos and incorporated melodies, all with adrenaline in mind. One of Mark Klem's most underrated treasures.

6. Slipper (MAP09, MAP25, and MAP31)

Mark Klem had renamed this track into "Scooby" in his Soundcloud page because the main melody seems to take after the classic Scooby Doo theme. Who would have known? But Scooby or Slipper, this is yet another sweet rock song, actually more into the rock feel rather than the more metal feel Galaxy had. Melodies are more recognizable and hummable, and even the part where the song slows down feels great. Pump that mystery machine!

5. Mummy Rags (MAP11 and MAP21)

I didn't expect this song in the Top 5, but it always feels the cutest of the tracks in the Memento Mori soundtrack. The melodies here are simple and driven by various instruments, but the orchestra parts probably shine the most. A well done track fitting most any Doom level, one that has seen many uses too. Frankly, it's one of Klem's more relaxed MIDIs, while the other tracks around this one promote urgency, you can sort of take a breather with this one. But it still serves some spooks.

4. Triangle of Fear (MAP15 and MAP22)

Another percussion-driven track that gives you constant urgency. I mean, those cymbals, man. Makes you paranoid for what you're going to expect. Hearing the rest of the instrumentation with the wavering notes before the horns start blaring the most recognizable part of this song, and then the rest of the percussion, as well as a guitar part, really drive this song further home. A spot for the Top 5 is most-deserved for this track!

3. Night Bats (MAP07 and MAP19)

As slow as Dreadnaught and Scary 1, but BETTER. The one-two punch you'll be constantly treated to with the song's opening notes, plus the completely haunting ambience put this at the high point of Klem's instrumentation. What's not to love? Sure, the song is quite long, but well worth it for the last few melodies, especially that creepy folkish mandolin solo (or whichever instrument that is). Truly enjoyable.

2. The Wind (MAP10, MAP24, MAP32)

The Wind is quintessential Mark Klem, easily one of the most somber and well-made Doom MIDIs ever written. Haunting beginning, haunting main melody, slow, cinematic-sounding, with its accompanying death march and bass-driven part, with a fun little horn solo section thrown in. It's like Klem couldn't decide what would make this MIDI kick the most ass so he went with everything and it worked super well. It's even the accompanying music for those who are reading the infopack. That shows you how well people cherish this MIDI.

1. Hidden Anger (MAP01, MAP18, and MAP29)

And finally Hidden Anger. This is also quintessential Mark Klem. If The Wind was the quintessential Mark Klem for those looking for ambient and spooky songs, Hidden Anger is quintessential Mark Klem for rocking badassery. Bass-driven, accompanied by a proper guitar section, and those horns may seem like a nod to ROTT, but the sound is so original and works extremely well for this song. Sure it's over much quicker than you'd expect (not really), but you cannot deny that this track is a classic. It's used in many WADs for a reason, and I've even seen a Wolfenstein 3D mod use this track!