Operation Backlog Completion 2026

Tales of Phantasia: A Heartfelt Classic

 Reviews, Video games  4 Responses »  Tagged with: ,
Jan 142019
 

After playing a few games in the Tales series and becoming a fan, I finally went back to where it all began with the very first Tales game, Tales of Phantasia.

Tales of Phantasia has only been officially translated into English twice: first for the Game Boy Advance in 2006 and then as a disastrous iOS port in 2014 that has since been removed.

Since I prefer to play official releases and heard negative things about the GBA version, I didn’t think I’d get to play Phantasia unless they remade it… until I heard the GBA version’s glorious voice acting, at which point I bought a copy as soon as I stopped laughing.

(I’m not even joking.)

(Un)fortunately, voice acting does not show up often in Tales of Phantasia, mainly limited to battle cries and that beautiful intro. The story follows a young man named Cress who is sent back in time to find a way to defeat the Demon King Dhaos, who was sealed away in the past but now is free again.

Time travel is at the core of the game’s story, although there isn’t much back-and-forth. It’s a simpler story than what I’ve seen in other Tales games, and the GBA version lacks skits, but it’s an enjoyable game with an interesting plot and likable characters.

Click for Tales of Phantasia spoilers
And when I say the story is simpler, I mean they wait until the very end to reveal the big twist in regards to Dhaos’s motivations. The story still has its intricacies, it’s just presented in a more straightforward manner.

I would have preferred to actually hear Dhaos explain his story, though, instead of having the characters recount what he said after the fact.

I also completely missed that Dhaos in the future is different than Dhaos in the present because of them changing the timeline. Okay, maybe it’s not such a simple story after all.

The final party member joined too late to ever really feel a part of things, but I read that she was an NPC in the original version, so it makes sense that her role would be lessened. Aside from her, I thought the cast had a good dynamic.

Now, it’s an old game. At times, it feels old. Combat in particular is strange and slow and pauses entirely for most spells, and there are also little frustrations such as having to equip the Sorcerer’s Ring as an accessory to use it.

Then there’s the translation, which had some dubious moments, the best of which is its infamous “Kangaroo” line (instead of Ragnarok).

But it really has a lot of heart. I’m not entirely sure how to explain it, but as I was exploring the world, discovering side quests and secrets, and watching the characters interact with each other, it made me think about how much I love this genre. Tiny sprites and limited graphics don’t stop Tales of Phantasia from being emotional and sincere. Sometimes I feel like newer JRPGs have lost some of that soul. It’s hard to say what it is, but there is something heartfelt about older JRPGs like this.

I’d love to see a remake of Tales of Phantasia (or an official English release of one of the later versions), preferably keeping its world map and everything else intact.

Overall, I liked Tales of Phantasia a lot. Its age shows and the GBA version might not be the best way to play, but I enjoyed seeing the origin of the Tales series. Have you played Tales of Phantasia?

Kingdom Hearts III’s Epilogue and Secret Movie Will Be Added January 30 and 31

 Video games  2 Responses »  Tagged with: , ,
Jan 112019
 

I’ve pretty much stopped checking Kingdom Hearts III news to avoid spoilers, but this is the kind of news I still want to know ahead of time: when the epilogue and secret movie will be available.

Now, some people are making a big deal out of this announcement, but they actually revealed they were going to do this quite a while ago.

Nomura mentioned the idea at least as far back as September, during the Stage Show at TGS.

When asked if Kingdom Hearts III would have a secret movie, Nomura said yes, but that he was trying to think of a way to release it so that spoilers wouldn’t appear online.

After the full game was leaked in December, Nomura released a message that repeated this point:

The game’s epilogue and secret movie, which are the biggest spoilers in this game, are planned to be released at a later date just in case, so they will not be shown before the game’s release.”

So this shouldn’t be a huge shock… but since lots of people are only learning about the news now, it’s important to repeat that the full game and its ending are available on the disk. These are an epilogue and a secret movie held back so they wouldn’t be spoiled.

(Based on the epilogues and secret endings in previous Kingdom Hearts games, it will probably tease the next saga in some way.)

Anyway, the schedule has been revealed:

  • January 29 – Data fixes and the Memory Archive (story recap videos)
  • January 30 – Epilogue
  • January 31 – Secret Movie

The epilogue can be viewed after you finish the game and see its ending. The secret movie can be viewed after you finish the game and see the ending while meeting certain criteria, which will be different depending on the difficulty level you played on.

Note the fact that you have to see the ending to watch the epilogue. That must mean they consider the epilogue separate from the actual ending of Kingdom Hearts III.

Anyway, unlike the Spyro situation, this doesn’t bother me too much. I appreciate their reasons for doing it, the full game is completely playable without the download, and finding a video online is much easier than finding a way to download a game (in the case of people with no/slow Internet).

I’m excited for Kingdom Hearts III, and I’ll be looking forward to the epilogue and secret movie once I finish. How do you feel about the latest news?

God of War (2018) is a Fantastic, Emotional Journey

 Reviews, Video games  1 Response »  Tagged with:
Jan 092019
 

While I didn’t finish the new God of War in time for my list of the top games I played in 2018, I finished it early this year and it was as good as I’d hoped it would be.

And it carried on the legacy of the previous games.

One of the main reasons I decided to play the previous God of War titles first (in addition to wanting to see the fully story and character development) was because I wanted a better appreciation of the changes.

As a Resident Evil fan, I’m sensitive to series making radical gameplay changes… but to my surprise, while the new God of War definitely plays differently, much of it felt familiar. Combat is slower, but you’re still using a mix of light/heavy melee attacks, ranged attacks, and special attacks, although with less magic and a greater emphasis on fighting a handful of enemies at a time instead of a mob.

Click for God of War (2018) spoilers
Once you get the Blades of Chaos, it feels even more like the originals despite the over-the-shoulder camera.

The focus on puzzles was lessened, with the bulk being for opening chests rather than progressing through the story, but there were still lots of little things that felt like the God of War formula evolved to fit the new game.

For me personally, it felt like it took everything I liked the most about the originals and gave me more.

Exploration? Now there are whole optional areas to explore, with their own treasures and collectibles and side quests, instead of just occasional secret areas with chests.

Lore? I loved the little world-building notes in God of War and God of War III, and God of War (2018) ramped it up with lore shrines and journal entries for just about everything in addition to the occasional little notes.

Story? It has more of a focus on story and character interactions than ever, largely because Kratos isn’t journeying alone, so he has someone to interact with almost all the time. This allows for many smaller moments of storytelling, rather than restricting it to the major cutscenes.

One thing I hadn’t been expecting was the sense of humor. The new God of War is much funnier than the previous games, with Kratos’s grumpiness and general lack of humor contributing to the humor as much as anything else. Really, the character interactions in this game were fantastic.

So I loved the characters (especially Atreus), and I enjoyed the story – even more so as I remembered bits and pieces of Norse mythology, which had gotten rather fuzzy in my memory over the years.

Click for major God of War (2018) spoilers
Including one point where I was away from the game doing an entirely unrelated task and my thoughts abruptly went something along the lines of, “Mistletoe… mistletoe arrows… Isn’t there a thing about–MISTLETOE IS THE ONE THING THAT CAN KILL BALDUR! ATREUS IS GOING TO SHOOT HIM WITH THE ARROWS!”

and then I was crushed when Freya burned my arrows.

Speaking of which, I appreciate a lot of their attention to little mythology details. I thought they’d just changed mythology to make Freya Baldur’s mother for a twist, but apparently there are scholars who believe Freya and Frigg came from the same goddess originally.

Also, Laufey -> Fey -> Faye. Even if I remembered the name Laufey, I doubt I’d have made the connection, but there it is.

Watching Kratos develop as a character was one of the best parts. He’s come a long way and he’s trying to move on from his past. After everything he’d gone through in the previous games, I just wanted him and Atreus to be happy. And while it might not be that easy, the emotional payoff after having played the previous games was definitely worth it.

Click for God of War (2018) spoilers
The whole sequence when Kratos takes sick Atreus to Freya, learns he’ll need to get different weapons, and rides the boat back to his house for the Blades of Chaos was such an emotionally intense series of events, it gave me chills watching it.

(Also, Helheim, for the obligatory God of War underworld section.)

The story also had some great twists and foreshadowing, and I can’t wait to see what happens in the sequel. I have a few theories of my own, and I’ll be looking forward to news about the next game.

And yes, I know I haven’t played Ascension yet. I decided to skip it after learning it didn’t add much to the overall story. I’ll still probably play it eventually… perhaps this year?

What did you think of the new God of War game? How do you feel about the significant changes it made to the God of War formula?

 Older Entries  Newer Entries