Rebestar Tactical Command - Chapter 10: Rescue

When I first heard about this game, I was very excited for it. It was described as being similar to X-Com which is one of my favorite computer games ever. As more details came out, I learned that it was only going to be like the battle portions of X-Com and not the base-building, research, and alien discovery parts. That was disappointing since, much like ActRaiser it was the combination of game types that really made the game special. Once the game came out, it got positive, if not glowing reviews, didn't do well commercially and quickly dropped in price. I eventually found it for $15 at Best Buy.

Now I've finally gotten a chance to try it and I regret not doing so earlier. It does pretty much steal the strategy combat from X-Com completely. This gives me a warm and fuzzy feeling inside as I have fond memories of X-Com. So far, the combat also seems like the more forgiving combat of the original X-Com rather than the brutal, pull-out-your-hair difficulty of Terror from the Deep. The interface obviously isn't as good with the D-Pad instead of a mouse, but it is serviceable. It actually seems like they could have improved the interface more. Instead of adding a big menu system, they could have made the A and B buttons equivalent to the left and right mouse buttons and having L and R cycle through menu options.

I am enjoying the game so far, but I can see that all the combat like this might get tiring after awhile without the other aspects of X-Com.

I almost fell into the trap of not considering this an RPG just because it lacked swords and sorcery. While the original X-Com did have characters increase their stats when they survived battles, this game specifically gives characters levels and has them earn experience for hurting and killing enemies. It also lets you specifically choose an ability the increment when the character gains a level. Anyway, this aspect plus named characters and story is enough for me to call it an RPG as well as a strategy game.

Fire Emblem - Finished Lyn Hard Mode

Well, I threatened to start playing this game over again and I did. I really learned a lot about proper strategies, leveling up and promoting characters, hw support works and what weapons and items to use through playing the game, so I feel I can definitely get something out of playing through again. Plus, there's more story revealed in Hector mode, which I went on to after finishing up Lyn's story.

I decided to try out Lyn's story in hard this time. It didn't really seem any harder, but then that could just be because I know much more about the game mechanics. The biggest difference is that you aren't forced to do the tutorial things and they aren't scripted. You don't have to attack guys with different weapons or promote Wallace. It was interesting, but as I said still pretty easy so I breezed through it.

I've started a little bit into Hector's story (normal, not hard - considering how difficult some of Eliwood's chapters were on normal, I don't want to be a masochist) and I like how you start out with a unique story of escaping from Ostia while assassins pursue you. I'm curious if I'll have any more insights into the game in my second playthrough.

Fire Emblem - Finished the Game

After putting what was, according to the game timer, 45 hours into this game over the course of a year, I find myself quite satisfied. Yes, the later levels became frustrating because I insisted on getting through them without any characters dying, but eventually I came to accept that as part of the gameplay. The levels started feeling closer to puzzles where I had to figure out the right way to move my units across them so as to kill the enemy and not be too exposed. This game just really fulfilled my need for strategic gameplay with stats and item management. And I will admit that in the second part of the final stage, I just let Canas die so I wouldn't have to start part one over.

This game was made by the same people who did the Advance Wars and it shows. A lot of the mechanics and graphic styles are similar. It is more complex, involves more numbers, and has non-expendable units (when your characters die, they are dead for good). While I am generally all over fantasy role-playing stuff and strategy stuff, I think the game requires a bit too much for people like me who try to do 100% of what games have to offer. So, while I will not rave about this game the way I did Advance Wars 2, it is still an excellent game.

One sign of how much I have enjoyed this game is that I am tempted to play it again. Once beating the game, you open up additional modes of play, one of which adds new stages and slightly changes the story. I am all over that.

Fire Emblem - Chapter 30

This chapter teases me so badly. Just when I think I've found the right way to progress through it, one of my characters gets killed. If only I didn't care about that.

Fire Emblem - Chapter 29: Sands of Time

After finishing Super Metroid, I was pretty sure that the next game I moved onto would be Final Fantasy Tactics. It was being discussed on a message board that I read and everyone was saying how much better it was than Final Fantasy Tactics Advance. While I thought that game had its flaws, I still considered it a good game, so I was curious to try the original.

The day I was to start playing Final Fantasy Tactics, I was talking to my friend at lunch. He has an Xbox, and mostly is into Madden, FIFA, and Street Fighter II, but every so often he gets the hankering to play a good single player game and solicits me for advice. Anyway, I mentioned to him that I was going to start playing a new game and he asked me if it was Shadow of the Colossus. He had recently seen the movie Reign Over Me which features the game. I rememberd how I loved Ico, how many good things I had heard about Shadow of the Colossus, and though "How can I dissapoint him?"

I still had an itch for a Strategy RPG and realized that I'm still in the middle of Fire Emblem. Which I still find awesome. I peeked at a walkthrough and realized that I am almost finished with the game so I will definitely be completing this before even touching Final Fantasy Tactics. Heck, maybe I should just wait for the PSP remake and play that. The localization should be vastly improved. Of course, that would require getting a PSP...

Fire Emblem - Chapter 27: Cog of Destiny

Is it appropriate to play games in public?

I had a doctor's appointment today and my doctor is always running late. I decided to bring my DS in order to alleviate boredom while waiting. I got there on time, checked in, and took my seat. I realized a little late that Elite Beat Agents would not be an appropriate game to play in a doctor's office since it requires the sound, and even if I had headphones, I wouldn't want to miss my name being called. Fire Emblem was the game in the GBA slot, so that's what I ended up playing.

I couldn't help but feel a little self-conscious. I mean, no one was staring at me, that I could tell. Mostly people were either having conversations or reading the material available there. Still, I felt like I was a little weird for playing a video game in the doctor's office. Is it just not done? Is it that video games still have a stigma of being for kids and I was too old? Maybe it was just that my DS was pink.

I didn't finish the level while sitting in the office. I had to wait to come home before I could devote the time to beat it without a character dying. Fortunately, this level was much better than 26x. I really enjoy this game, but it is a flaw of myself - the need for perfection - that prevents it from being amazing.

Fire Emblem - Chapter 26x: Night of Farewells

The Fire Emblem series (along with the Wars series) originally started on the Famicom (NES) in Japan. Like Advance Wars, it didn't make its first appearance in North America until the Game Boy Advance. After playing both the games, I can say without a doubt that we in North America were screwed. This game is awesome.

The game is more similar to Shining Force than Final Fantasy Tactics. Each character is highly specialized and has only a few things that they can do. The real trick in this game is putting your characters' strengths against the other enemies' weakness. Oh, and the biggest feature of the series is permanent death. Yes, if one of your characters dies, they are gone and there is no way to revive them. Gone for the rest of the game. Of course, if one of the three main characters dies, it is game over, so you have to redo the level. Otherwise, you just lose the use of the character which is cool because it changes aspects of the story.

I have a problem in that I can be a bit of an anal retentive perfectionist sometimes. In Fire Emblem, this means that I want to finish the game with every character that I recruited still alive. So if one dies during a mission, I have to restart that mission (there is no way to go back to an earlier point in a mission). Chapter 26x was long. I mean, really long. There were tons of enemies and they were strong. So, it took me a long time to complete this mission. Really long. I would get halfway through and then mistakenly leave a character out on his own. He would get swarmed by enemies and die. And I would have to restart. This must have happened over a dozen times. And it was very frustrating. I almost considered bending my rule and just letting a character die.

But no, I persevered and finally last night I completed the mission. I'm actually not sure if this rewarding of my obsessive behavior is a good thing.