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Now that I'm forty, and being that it is the dog days of summer, it's about time I managed to accomplish something. I'm sure I did something this year, but my summer list seems a little heavy. Hmm. Still haven't fixed the fence. And all those branches in my backyard... are still attached to that bush for some reason. Well, I've managed to grow up some, I guess. Maybe. Gosh, this is really depressing.
Well, I did manage to do something this year; a certain thing that has dogged my steps for half my life now; a game I had a beef with from way back in 1997. But I was ready and attacked it full force, summons and limit breaks a blazin', and after quite a few gaming sessions I finally finished Final Fantasy VII.
Happy Birthday to me.
Continue reading Final Fantasy VII, Consider This Thy Fork!
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Every year, at least once or twice, I get what I like to call "Retro Game Depression." Symptoms include irritability (at overly complex controls), sleepiness (falling asleep while pondering beautiful, yet functionally dead vistas), and short attention span (perhaps from open world game burn-out). The treatment is simple; a barrage of games that both tickle my nostalgia as well as my love of retro gaming. Please join me, my friends, as I embark on a Late Summer Retro Gaming Expedition.
Continue reading Late Summer Retro Gaming Expedition
Bomba's List is just that: a list. It's not really dumber and certainly not smarter than other lists on the Internet, but it is the only one that is titled "Bomba's List." Also, there are more commas and parenthesis used in my lists. Welcome to Bomba's List.
Bonehead Moves has to do with stupid decisions. While all the following decisions were made out of ignorance, all were sufficiently dumb and embarrassing enough to be labeled "Bonehead Moves." I'd like to focus on games I played, rather than mistakes I made while collecting (which would be too numerous). Let's begin.
GTAIII - Remember the game you played for months on end, forsaking all others? GTAIII was mine. I played it (and it alone) for nearly eleven months, only stopping to pick up the next game in the series (Vice City). You'd think I knew the game in and out, right? I did. Well, everything in and out save the "X" button. Yep, that would be the run button (hold to run, tap to sprint). Guess what? This continued well into Vice City, until a good friend pointed it out, then pointed at me and laughed. Man, all those times I had to run for my life (slowly), jumping around like an idiota trying to dodge bullets. The moral: read the instruction booklet, for it contains many truths.
Dragon Warrior - This was the first RPG game I played (I've never counted Adventure), which I rented based on the great artwork featured in Nintendo Power. It came with no booklet, so I thought I could wing it, so to speak. How hard could it be? The good thing is I figured out the battle combos. You know, the combinations on the D-pad that allows you to do critical damage. I didn't the combo every time, mind you, but I did hit it enough to keep it going.
Final Fantasy - This remains one of my favorite RPGs. Not because it looks good, or did anything revolutionary, but because I played it a lot when I was a kid. I played it for months, all in one-hour increments (two one the weekends), all the way the end. However, in one section I was nearly reduced to tears, all over a simple misunderstanding. Take a close look at the picture below. See the prices, and how they smash together with the Level of the spell? Based on this picture (which comes from the Nintendo Power Final Fantasy Strategy Guide), I spend weeks working towards saving up to buy level 6 spells. I would still be doing it, had I not tried buying the spells without the required cash. Stupid, right? It should be my dumbest, but the next one takes the taco.
Simon's Quest - I received this game as an Easter present in 1990. It was a surprise, mainly because I normally didn't receive anything on holidays outside of Christmas. I never opened the game. See, I had another game in mind, one that was a port of an arcade title I had spent far too much change on. That game was Ikari Warriors II: Victory Road. Yep, I did that. This was the biggest Bonehead Move for two reasons, the first is I had Nintendo Power, so there can be no feigns of ignorance. Second, I stupidly talked the game up as my Mom drove me to Toy's R Us to exchange Simon's Quest for (ick) Victory Road. All I could think about was the tens of dollars of fun I had on the arcade version. For those who've experienced the travesty that is Victory Road, there need be no further explanation. I'd call it the E.T. of the NES, but that would be Urban Champion (duh), plus E.T. looked better than Victory Road. Hm. You'd think I would feel better after getting that load off, but I feel worse. I'm going to take a shower.
I really love the first Final Fantasy game for many reasons. First, it was my gateway drug into RPG games (not my first, but the first I liked). Second, it was the only Final Fantasy game for a long time (and this still stands) that doesn't succumb to the annoying number scheme (Final Fantasy III/6) or doesn't have an alternative pronunciation (Final Fantasy X-2/Ex-Two). Finally, while it has seen many upgrades and rewrites over the years, yet most of them managed to add something worthwhile to the mix. Because of these facts, Final Fantasy I is one of the few games (outside of the PS2 GTA games and the first Mario trilogy) that I've bought more than three times over the past twenty-one years. As you can see, I really do love this game.
Naturally, it didn't take long for me to find this game once I got an iTouch. I was extremely pleased to learn that this game was based on the 20th Anniversary Edition on the PSP (the only version of the game I never purchased), so I was stoked to try it out. What didn't please me, however, was the fact that the game was $8.99. This may not seem like a big deal (I did pay $29.99 for both FF Origins and Dawn of Souls), but considering that some of the best RPGs on the system are either free or less than $2.99, it seemed hard to swallow. Plus, I've already bought this game at least five times in the past. Luckily for me the game went on sale shortly after, so I snapped it up for only $3.99.
In short, the game is great, and entirely worth the $3.99 I paid. The visuals are great, the sound is great, and there is even a transparent D-pad with a single button that controls movement, interactions and running, and also manages to not get in the way too much. Menus can be reached by simply stopping movement for a moment and tapping the tiny stat box that pops up. A little strange, but not game breaking (or even altering, really).
However, there are a few niggles here, a few things that have the potential to annoy some of you out there in RFG Land. First, some of the controls. Remember the D-pad and single button I mentioned earlier? Those work great. What doesn't work great, however, is the touch control in the battle screens. That's right, no D-pad. To battle, you have to touch an icon, then touch an enemy. Doesn't sound bad does it? It does slow things down quite a bit, though, but in an old-school RPG like this it could sound a death knell. Fortunately, since this version is the easy-type, there isn't that much extra leveling involved (your Black Belts will hit multiple times right away instead of level 9, for example). This brings about my second complain. While I will never say I had fun buying 99 heals and 99 pures before the Marsh Cave, I would still have liked to have the option to choose either hard or easy. Lastly, I really hate the fact that exiting the game via the iPhone/iTouch's Home button resets the damn game! Luckily, I never lost a save because of it, but considering that many of my gaming sessions take place in the bathroom (at work), the ability to exit the game, listen to a podcast for a bit, then re-enter would have been nice (always assuming you are using a iPhone or iTouch v4).
In conclusion, I'd like to say that the game, despite my gripes, is still excellent, and if you never got to experience the visual glory of the PSP version, is a great way get do just that. While the price will make most iPhone/iTouch users narrow their eyes a little, it's still priced better than Final Fantasy III or Tactics!
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