However, in this particular case, I’m making an exception.  Super Mario Bros. Crossover is a Flash-based game over on Newgrounds that scores big nostalgia points by accurately capturing some of our biggest 8-bit memories packaged into one little game.

Crossover, in its purest form, is the original NES classic Super Mario Bros.  8 worlds, 4 levels each, et cetera, et cetera.  The novelty comes in the form of using other Nintendo characters in place of Mario. After each level’s successful completion, you have the option of switching to a new character to play; besides choosing the classic Mario, you can select Link, Bill, Simon, Mega Man, and Samus Aran, from the original 8-bit games Legend of Zelda, Contra, CastleVania, Mega Man, and Metroid, respectively.

>>>Read More at Polygamerous.com>>>

I waltzed into my local GameStop and asked for the newly released Mass Effect 2. As per the usual long list of questions that every GameStop consultant must ask you (seriously, you can’t even cut them off—say “no” before they’re done, and they talk right over you until they’re done asking you to reserve a game), I was asked if I wanted to save five bucks on a used copy of the game. Throw in my discount membership, and that’s another five bucks off the used copy. A sixty dollar game for fifty bucks? Duh!

I returned home, viciously removed all of the packaging, and popped the game into the system.

Hmm. Says there’s a code in the packaging to unlock the downloadable content.

However, upon reviewing the packaging, there was no such code to be found. Did the previous owner not leave it in the case? Then, I came to a mind-shattering, earth-moving, playing-field-changing conclusion.

Whoever had this game before me used the code already!

Why is that such a big deal? Because without the code that comes with new copies of the game, it costs fifteen dollars to access the channel through which all the downloadable content is available. You read that right: paying $15 dollars gains you access in Mass Effect 2 to their IN-GAME store, the “Cerberus Network.” Continuing the formula, Dragon Age: Origins did exactly the same thing, providing $15 of DLC for free with the purchase of a new game. It is safe to say that this is a business model that will likely continue.

Ignoring the “releasing DLC alongside a newly-released game makes you wonder just how much they kept out of the core game to milk you for more” argument for just a moment, that golden ten-dollar discount was just eaten up by this additional fee, plus another five bucks on top of it. It is a sinister plot worthy of [insert your favorite scheming villain here].

…or is it?

You see, ladies and gentlemen, at that moment, I had a crisis of thought. I had a very important decision to make. And only then did I realize just how game-changing that decision really was. Do I keep the game as is and pay the $15 fee? Or do I return the game for a new one to save myself five dollars? In the first situation, GameStop is who earns pure profit on the sale of that game; the game publisher gets nothing for the resale of the used item. In the second situation, GameStop earns just whatever profits selling a new game nets them (not a whole lot, admittedly, licensing and development costs take a huge chunk of that sixty bucks), and the company gets reimbursed for its hard work. Which, in Mass Effect’s case, I wholeheartedly wanted to do.

The Bottom Line: EA and Bioware are charging an additional fee for anyone who does not have a code to access the downloadable content. Strictly translated, this is aimed at used game purchases, as it affects no one else.

Opinion A: By basically giving away (some) free content with the purchase of a new game, the game companies reward those who incur revenue for the company by buying new while still getting some reimbursement from gamers who deny them said revenue buying used but still appreciate the DLC.

Opinion B: Buying used is its own industry, where individual people have the right to resell their own licenses for the games they themselves purchased. By taking a reduced cost on the game when selling it or trading back, they take a financial loss, but come off with the experience of having played the game. It is unfair to force someone to sell only a portion of the software paid for, requiring a new copy or license to be purchased by the next person in the chain.

Opinion C: This is all a moot point because DLC content itself is a rip-off and encourages programmers to release incomplete products. It should be a part of the game, or at least provided for free afterwards.

What’s Your Opinion?

Author’s Slightly Biased Side Note: While I wrote this up, PartTimeDruid of The Invisible Eyeball wrote up a report on gaming system Goozex, a point-based system that allows gamers to trade games back and forth without money actually swapping hands. Imagine using this system to obtain a copy of Mass Effect 2, and then still need to pay EA for the DLC on top of that, even though the last three people who handled the disc already paid for it over and over. Just sayin’.

I *love* gamerscore.  I want more.  I play and play on my Xbox to increase that score, and eventually, as I see more and more people with a lower score than my own, I feel just awesome.

I also love RPGs.  I get into the stories and emotions of the characters.  I enjoy immersing myself into a world that is not my own, and living the lives of these people.  That is why I play these games.  I am not the kind of RPG gamer who plays a game to get every single item in the game, or to say they’ve done everything they can possibly do (“Completionists”).  Sometimes, running around for hours and hours and hours to level up to defeat an optional boss or monster that has NO direct bearing on how the story will end for a single item that will probably over throw the balance of the game anyways (Read: Economizers) just doesn’t seem WORTH it.

[SIDE NOTE: Of course, I’m not one of those guys who also levels up for hours on end right before a boss so I can roll over him without thinking.  Those people bug the hell out of me.  I will throw my lower-end party at a boss and die a dozen times before pulling off victory through strategy before I give up and decided I can’t do this without leveling.  That’s a post for another time/rant]

But, what happens when a game mixes the nooks and crannies of the fantasy world with a real world offering that I *do* want, by offering me the currency of gaming, to compare how “gamer” you are in a liquid form regardless of what games you play?  Gamerscore.

I started realizing that I’ve NEVER maxed out a game on gamerscore.  Ever.  Not even the downloadable Xbox LIVE Arcade games (of which I have many).  I tend to play through like I do, not hitting everything, until I’m done, and then I put it away.

Then our economy sank faster than a full-armored cleric who tied himself to a rock.  (True story that, also for another time.)

Now, I’m not buying as many games as I used to.  Recently, I was invited to a coworker’s house to play Rock Band, and I was hardcore addicted, not for the music (though I consider myself a decent singer on Medium) but for the fact that I do not own Rock Band (Guitar Hero instead), and so I racked up a ton of really simple achievements in a small amount of time.  My score improved for the first time in a very long time.

I went home and looked through my games to see which ones had extra achievements.  I was gonna go for it, and max out a full game once and for all.

I ended on Lost Odyssey.  Lost Odyssey is an RPG from the esteemed Hironobu Sakaguchi (creator of Final Fantasy) with music by Nobuo Uematsu (composer of Final Fantasy).  It has a lot of optional things that actually enrich the story, and are not obvious add-ons that don’t have anything to do with the lore of the game.  They are optional, but completing them, while challenging, still give a lot to the story.

That being said, I had already completed a good majority, and decided to go through the achievement list, and max it out.

Some of them are linked to one another.  To get the “Spell Collector” achievement (“All spells have been obtained.”), you have to beat a number of the optional bosses who horde unique spells (defeating the Blue Dragon gives you the “Defeated Blue Dragon” achievement as well as the Leveler Black Magic spell). 

I worked through a number of those, and I came to the last few ones.  Lost Odyssey has a DLC that gives you 25 floors of straight pain-in-the-ass battles, down to an ultimate optional boss.  There is almost no bearing on the story, and reeks of the “optional” useless crap in games that expands on the story none whatsoever.  If it wasn’t for the gamerscore, I would’ve left it alone.

It was so difficult, that last boss (especially because there are no save points through the entire dungeon) that I gave up when I last attempted.  That was back in May.  I came back to it this month.  He has skills that do more damage than my party has hit points, causing me to rely on certain skills that keep me alive when I am about to die (“Persistence” occasionally leaves me a single hit point instead of dying), but they only work so many times, or are % chance of occuring.  One unlucky moment, and my party was wiped out.

After weeks of leveling and fighting and losing, I finally realized that his mega-spell of instant death (literally, instant death, no hit point damage, so my skills are useless) could be deflected using Reflect.  I was floored!  First, I was frustrated because I have a skill called “Complete Defense” that makes me invulnerable for a couple turns, but it only works once in battle per character, and timing it right was difficult, and then I spent rounds trying to rez without dying in the first place.  Finding out Reflect fixed it pissed me off.  Then, most large scale spells like that, by unwritten RPG rule, can’t be reflected.  Remember our surprise in Final Fantasy IV when we first learned that Bahamut’s Mega Flare could be reflected?  (I died a billion times on that bastard before figuring that one out.)

[SIDE NOTE:  In the DS version of FF4, they changed it so his Mega Flare is cast on HIMSELF when he has Reflect, thus nullifying the “Reflect myself” strategy of beating him.]

I still died a few times, but I eventually won!  Woo hoo!  I was so stoked, that left me to do one achievement left.

Treasure Trove – Collect all Treasure Box items in the field.

Okay, shouldn’t be too hard right?

There are hundreds of items to find, all individually concealed in pots, posters, vines, carts, boxes, buried in the ground, at the bottom of the ocean, and who knows what else.  (Curious?: Link.)

And there is no way of knowing what you’ve gotten already or not.  You pretty much have to start from the beginning and painstakingly check every item’s location to see if you’ve gotten it already.

Fuck that.

I’ll do that another time.  I’m not a completionist anyways.  Though, Blue Dragon looks like it needs to be maxed out….

~Dan Hughes

The OC Remix community has done it again.  In a new project, spanning 14 months from inception to release, designed to honor the great Nobuo Uematsu and his soundtrack from Final Fantasy IV, the wonderful artists who contribute to OverClocked Remix for our listening pleasure have captured the heart and memory of a grand tale of, as they put it, betrayal, strife, and redemption.

I enjoyed nearly every track on this album.  Now, I am not completely geeked out when it comes to video game music, but as with each of OC Remix’s albums in the past, I find that while every song is a wonderful capture and tribute of the feeling and emotion of the original, blended with the spirit and style of the idea the artist wanted to convey, I usually want to add only a few to my mp3 player to listen to over and over again.

In what is a record for me, there are 10 tracks from Echoes of Betrayal, Light of Redemption that I felt I had to add to listen to every day.  Let me put my thoughts down on these.

(Just because I didn’t put a track here doesn’t mean I didn’t enjoy it, I loved just about every track, and I had a love-hate relationship with the rap song [name purposefully left unmentioned], but these are the ones that made me go “OOH, I want to listen to that every day!”)

ACT 1: BETRAYAL

2. The Might of Baron, remix of “Kingdom of Baron”, remixed by audio fidelity

The inordinate amount of time spent in Final Fantasy IV’s Kingdom of Baron really made me lose touch with this song and what it really represented.  This song brings it all back.  The introduction seriously puts me into a state of awe.  The beginning bells and marching, followed by the guitar intro sets the tone and setting of the Kingdom so much better than the limited graphics of the time ever could.  Walking into the center stronghold of a large kingdom, flexing its military might across the world at any cost, threading through its people, troops in the streets…

The guitars carry it through, painting one’s stroll through the military powerhouse.  Midway through, the song slows to a soft melody, while a nice piece, serves to further highlight its rock components.  An awesome solo around 3:40 really pulls in the artist’s mark, showing what he can really do with the genre, built to the background of the original song.

Personally, I think rolling into a unique take on the Prologue and the airship theme was a brilliant idea, and a great deference to the story of the original game.  

3. Overture ~ Tellah’s Prophecy, medley remix of many songs in FFIV, Remixed by AeroZ

Wow! Every memory you’ve ever had from Final Fantasy IV can be found right here.  Every 20 – 30 seconds, AeroZ is switching up the notes on you, weaving the notes to flow through a large part of the games’ tunes.  I was almost disappointed when this one ended, because I was being driven through so much nostalgia through each tune, remembering when I first heard them, that it was kind of a jolt to hit the end. 

My favorite is his mix of one of the battle themes around 2:30.  I enjoy the spin he put on it.  Overall, a well done piece!

5. Ana(pro)logue, remix of “Prologue”, remixed by Another Soundscape

Let me tell you something about Prologue.  I have seen so many renditions of the Final Fantasy prologue, that I very rarely get past a minute or two before realizing it’s just the same old song.  This remix brings so much more to the song while staying undeniably catchy that I could not put it down after listening to it the first time.

The songs starts with a wide, glorious sound, almost the kind you would hear at the victory phase of the game, as opposed to its placement at the beginning of the album.  The electronica is so fresh and upbeat, and carries between the main passages so wonderfully, without being overly long.  And the clever ditty at 2:29 was so perfectly placed that it made me laugh at the reference to Van Halen.  Very awesomely done.

14. Golbez ‘n Goblins, remix of “Golbez” and “Clad in Darkness”, remixed by bLiNd

The beginning of this song grabs me by the throat and MAKES me dance.  I have this 80’s to 90’s funk beat that pulls at you, moving your entire body from the get go.  The running bass behind the Golbez theme makes it that much more catchy.  My head has no choice but to move with this song.

bLiNd takes some liberties at 1:16, mixing up the original melody with some fancy side effects that just improves on that trance form.  But it’s build up to the true dance rhythm starting at 1:50 is the best genius of all.  This stuff right here is the stuff music videos were choreographed to.  I swear I heard this song played at the night club last week…

The song breaks down and rebuilds around the 3:00 mark, taking you back to the Golbez refrain, before breaking up again at the end.  This is one of those songs I put on repeat a few times driving down the road!

15. Fighting for Tomorrow, remix of “Fabul”, remixed by OA, Nutritious, and the Fabul Men’s Choir

What a new way to rendition this song!  To be honest, the original song Fabul in the game, I was not a very big fan of.  (The only part I really liked in Fabul was when it was invaded and the game let you attempt to hold them off.)  So, when I heard the song begin, I *almost* skipped it.  But the vocals intrigued me.  I had to listen more.

It has a very far-eastern beginning, fitting for its theme, a slow rhythmic march.  Then at 1:20, the main rhythm pulls into a subrock, and frankly, I imagined myself in the scene I described before, where I wish I had been fighting to this music during the invasion.  (If there is one thing I have a weakness for, it’s opera or choir type music set to a rock backdrop.)  The guitar at 3:20 fits between the main pieces well, and keeps your head bopping.  This took a song that I did not like to begin with, and transformed it into something I truly enjoy. 

By the time the breakdown came at 4:30, my whole body was rocking to the song, and the slow down just sucks you in even more.  I am very glad to have been able to experience this one.

ACT 2: STRIFE

2. Metal Mage, remix of “Palom and Parom”, remixed by Cyril the Wolf, Lil’ Wolfie, and OA

Hahaha, Mysidia’s twin mages were a favorite part for me.  The song was the epitome of translating “*rolling my eyes*” into song.  That song rarely came out without a grin and the shake of the head waiting to see what that silly pair would do next. 

That’s exactly what happens here.  The song starts with an immediate facepalm, as I’m like, “Oh, here we go.”  It then goes on to turn into a medley of different metal strokes put behind the classic melody.  In itself, it is a spectacular display of skill and downright cool beats.  I was surprised at how many different styles could be stuffed in one song without sounding overkill, but they did well.

What takes it from just “awesome” to “over-the-top”, is the child’s voice that is demanding the performance.  Not sure how to picture that one.  I get a mental image of some kind of cross between Palom himself and some spoiled rich kid.  Which… is still kind of Palom, if you think about it.

Final note – “Guitar Solo!”  – Best part of the entire track.

11. Somewhere to Hide, remix of “Somewhere in the World…”, remixed by Hy Bound and Loka Lafevre

This song has my favorite vocals of the entire album.  The voice here is incredibly beautiful, the song is catchy, and I find myself humming the lyrics over and over again.  On one hand I’d love to hear her sing more in this song, but on the other, I’m glad they kept it simple and didn’t turn the whole remix into a song based on vocal accompaniment, instead focusing on the remix.

The remix does an incredible job of creating an astounding beat that makes you move.  I loved the intro, I spent the first few seconds mind-racing how this song was going to take off, but then it exploded much better than I could have imagined.

But yeah, those vocals really closed it for me, absolutely beautiful.  I’m gonna look and see if this Loka has some more work out somewhere, and spread the word, she’s made an instant fan out of me!

ACT 3: REDEMPTION

11. Finale Part One ~ Éminence Grise, remix of “Another Moon”, remixed by OA and DragonAvenger

This one had me hooked from the very beginning.  Adding the skip beats to the familiar tune made me want to hear what would happen next.  The vocals play off of the rhythm with a sound that is just captivating, and paints the emotion of the once-dark hero as he immerses himself in that darkness to save the world.  The dank emotion that fills this song, suppressed hope, is accurate in its portrayal of the game’s buildup to the final battle.  Combined with Part Two of Finale, it is a beautifully done complement, demonstrating suspense towards the final battle, while standing on its own as a work of art.

12. Finale Part Two ~ Genesis of Destruction, remix of “The Final Battle”, remixed by Audio Fidelity, Nutritious, OA, lisabela, Cyril the Wolf, and Voices of the Blue Planet

This is by far my favorite track.  They paint the entire fight from start to end, with a quick intro setting the stage, the declaration of the good party to do, well, good, and then the banter back and forth as the battle really starts.  The female vocals declaring into the darkness that “We must prevail,” while the hard metal grunting of the representation of Zeromus snaps back in what was a beautiful choice of form.

At 1:30, the battle truly starts, and the mixture of rock beat, the beautiful vocals and rough evil retorts scream “Nightwish” at me.  Definitely not a copy by any means, just a comparison that I think best describes what this song makes me feel.  It is a mix I love more than anything, and I found myself at home in this track.

Now, honestly, there are a couple phrases in particular that make me blink.  I’m not a musician in the strictest sense, having only been exposed to basic music theory, but some things don’t always sound right to me.  The phrase in the introduction, “We believe in you” seems off to me, but maybe that’s just me.  Also, “Together, we’ll fight for our world” itself seems out of place in tone.  The rest of it sounds perfect, but those two phrases make me wonder what I’m missing, exactly.  The parts of the song with the higher-pitched vocals seem to be more in tune with the feeling of the song, but the parts I mentioned above almost hit a Broadway type feel, and it really seems to clash.

If you think I was kidding about the Nightwish thing, fast forward to 4:26 where the calm chanting begins, carrying you through the soft lull between the major passages with a feeling of getting ready to put out that last effort.  It is so reminiscent of the opera metal rock that I’m familiar with from several European bands.

This is not just a remix, this whole track is its own culmination of all the work that went into this album, and I enjoy almost every piece of it.

BONUS TRACKS

4. Morphine Kyck, remix of “Battle 1”, remixed by 2Radical

You know that Uematsu-san had to sit down every game and very carefully construct that game’s battle theme.  Someone *must* have said to him: “Be careful, it has to never get old.  It has to be a song that the player can listen to over and over and over again throughout forty to sixty hours of gameplay and still be fresh at the end.”  He delivered, time and time again. 

That’s why I have a weakness for all of the original battle theme remixes, ever.  The starting song is so fresh, constructed from scratch to always be fresh and carrying, that it makes it really difficult to top that.  Successful remixes of main battle themes have to find a way to keep that feeling while putting the remixers’ spin on it. 

2Radical just does that.  I love how he keeps the core beat running through the entire song, but changes up what he’s doing just enough that it is still recognizable, and yet completely different.  He accompanies the fast-paced beat with a mellow mix of notes that just barely fits with the original melody.  It makes for a very smooth flow that just keeps beating on its own.  It could easily loop on its own, over and over and over…

The player plays as Frank, guiding the Maw around the beautifully created surroundings, letting the Maw eat various creatures to his heart’s content.  Every so often, the Maw grows just a touch bigger, and it happens so slightly, that you sometimes can’t tell if he really grew bigger from the last time it happens.  But he does get larger and larger, until towards the end of the game where he takes up nearly the whole screen.

Each level is a puzzle.  The main purpose is to simply devour as many creatures as you can which unlocks the exit.  In this manner, you can play through simply just  eating whatever you wish.  If, however, you explore the game fully, you find hidden secrets and monsters waiting for you to eat.  (Remember, the more you eat, the bigger the Maw gets!)

As the game progresses, you begin to learn some more advanced tactics.  You can use your leash for other things than leading the Maw around: Grabbing creatures, tossing around enemies, or throwing a creature that the Maw can’t reach (considering you can jump, and he can’t: my roommate’s kid said “Why can’t you just drag him up there?”) down to him for him to munch on.

The best part of the game is in the Maw’s transformations.  Certain creatures have special abilities, and when the Maw ingests them, his purplish blobby  self gathers some part of that power.   A lot of levels depend on this mechanic, as you work your way through the puzzles using different skills.  Skills vary from flame-throwing, laser-shooting, flying, shocking, and good ol’ fashioned run-you-down.

The game is graphically breathtaking.  Bright creatures look good against vivid backdrops of land and sky.  The amount of detail in its design puts it on a level with a full release Xbox game, not a simple Arcade download.  What really needs a strong kudos is the personality they worked into the Maw.  Capable only of varied grunting, they shaped his blobule and one eyeball into so many great emotions.   Imagine if a pet dog could smile, or be sad, or be frightened, and show it on their face, and that’s kind of the idea.  My favorite moment was when I tossed a creature down off a cliff to the Maw, waiting below.  He munched it up, ran in a little circle, and then glanced back up, waiting for more!  I really enjoyed interacting with this character!

And that’s the other wonderful part of the game:  although there is no spoken dialogue, and no written storyline, the game makes you care what happens to these two fugitives.  They work together, running from their enemies, exploring the unknown land they find themselves thrust upon.  In many games, this could turn very boring, very quick.  But in The Maw, the closeness you develop with these two carries you the whole way, all of your moments filled with the kinship of Frank and the Maw.  You work as a team, supporting one another, protecting one another.  Twisted Pixel did a wonderful job.

The music was wonderfully scored. Winifred Phillips, known for her work on God of War, composed the music for The Maw.  The music is unique, catchy, and stays in the background, as much of the environment as the vivid landscape.  I never found myself bored or tired of the music.  I sometimes forgot it was there, it was so integrated into the gameplay.

All in all, it is a fantastic game for all ages to enjoy.  It’s simple enough that the youngest players could get into it, but fun and enjoyable enough for even the older gamers.  The only gripe I had is that the game was disappointingly short, but for only 800 Microsoft Points ($10.00), it earned its value and then some.  I look forward to any expansions or DLC that may come in the future.

Please visit www.mawgame.com for more information.

Literally.  It’s a gripe of mine: the game uses the Unreal engine, which, is a great idea, but apparently Squeenix didn’t take enough time to work out the kinks.  It freezes and skips often, and so much is going on in battle that the character the screen is focusing on is not always drawn in time.  (Nothing is more annoying than when the engine cannot even draw the character on the screen so it can say it is “poisoned” and lose a few hit points.  Or rather, it says “poisoned”, shows the hit point damage, shows the location where the character SHOULD be, and then cuts away.)  Battles move very quickly and fluidly, but only stopped by characters who magically appear nearby when its their turn, but some characters further out are drawn who have nothing to do with the encounter.  Drives me nuts.

But, enough of that.  If you are a hardcore RPGer, like me, you get through the graphical glitches to play the game, which, is solid.  Like I said, you end up with the opportunity to indirectly control up to 25 characters at a time in battle.  The way it works is thus:

Up to five “unions” can be created.  Each union must have a union “leader” character.  Not all characters are leaders, and new ones are hired out specially from guilds if you aren’t using the default ones given to you.  (Which, honestly, kick so much ass on their own, I haven’t felt the need to spend needless money on too many other leaders yet.)  Each union can have up to a total of five characters.  And to make sure you don’t hire nothing but leaders and fill your party with them, a leader limit is imposed so that you have to hire regular soldiers to fill the remaining slots.  Soldiers are less impressive overall than their leader counterparts, but specialize in particular skills really well.

Although the individual units have an HP value, the unions themselves have a HP that is the sum of the units involved.  An enemy union must deplete the entire union’s HP to take out your squad.  Individual units, if they take enough damage, can still be KO’d, but if your whole union takes more HP collectively to reach the limit, they’re all down.

You create your unions as you see fit.  Before you can have up to 25 characters in 5 unions, the game ramps you up.  You begin with a limit of 9 characters in up to 3 unions.  It’s up to you though, how you divvy that up.  Want two unions of 5 and 4?  Sure.  Want three (slightly weaker) unions of 3?  Go for it.  Keep in mind the unions HP is made up of how many people are in the party, and their HP value. (I currently have a limit of 15 characters across 5 unions, and have mine set up in 4 groups of 4, 4, 4, and 3.)

Your unions go out into battle, and work together as squads.  You do not get to directly determine what each character does, but rather give out general orders of what to do to the union.  You can have a squad attack all out, use magic skills, stop and heal, heal someone else, standby and jump in if someone needs healing. the commands are ever changing, giving different options based on the situation.  Sometimes a group won’t want to heal, even though you think it needs to, and you have to deal with that.  (They won’t ignore a given command.  Actually, you just won’t get the command available to issue when it’s their turn.)

As you get deeper in the game, the intricacies of battle become more apparent.  Pretty soon, you’ll be breaking off an attack to run a raid on a group of magic users, risking the free attack that will cause the group you were just fighting, while sending another squad to run interference between a heavily injured group and incoming enemy fighters.  You’ll be arranging flank and rear assaults, gaining attack bonuses for the effort.  You’ll learn the importance of standing by in battle, being ready to jump into the fight when needed, instead of the normal RPG thought of having everyone do something every turn.

The music is excellent.  I consider the game wonderfully scored, and catchy to listen to.  The battle music keeps your heart going, though I have to say the music seems to try to change based on how the battle is going, or maybe its a certain number of turns, but to me the music dramatically changes mid-battle almost randomly, and it bugs me slightly.

SPOILER ALERT:

What REALLY irks me more than ANYTHING is how Emma was replaced by her daughter, Emma Honeywell the Second.  WTF?!  Emma’s death was spectacular, and a great story point.  The sudden appearance, induction, and acceptance of “Emma Honeywell the Second” was some serious bullshit, though.  It was so obvious from the way you might see young Emmy from time to time during your travelers that she was a god damned afterthought, and someone said “We’d better give her a few lines in the story before this point so people won’t think it’s just a name change, but the same character.”  But you did such a piss-poor job of it, Square-Enix, that she has all of one line in each town, you put the “important” emote over her head as if she had a quest or something and then only had her say the one line, and then, when she joins the party by magically appearing and saying pretty much “reporting for duty,”  her taunts and sayings are so damned identical to her mother’s that it almost sounds like the same voice actor.  It irritates me, she has NO storyline, NO character, NO build-up.  She’s so lifeless as a character, and detracts from the story, making you wonder why David allowed her to serve in her mother’s place so readily, when she’s been nothing but an ass to the party whenever you’ve seen her.

And a step further, Emma said she parted with someone in the Valeria Heart town square, and it had to be Emmy, as if she’d not seen her in years.  But when you meet and speak to Emmy WITH EMMA IN THE PARTY NOT A DAMN THING HAPPENS.  It was so an afterthought to have a replacement to Emma, and it was a poor one at that.

/rant

So, so far (and i’m only on disc 1 of 2), I twitch slightly every battle at the graphics, but the game’s battle, story, and music are interesting enough to keep me going.  But, if I wasn’t an RPG hardcorist, I’d say this was worth a rental at best.

Added note:  INSTALL THE GAME TO HARD DRIVE.  IT IS THE ONLY WAY TO MAKE THE GAMEPLAY BEARABLE.

But they needed an extra body, and since it was the beginner module, it came with a starter set of pre-setup characters.  That, and I did not have to DM, since Ken was already doing it.  So I figured, what the hey, I’ll give it a shot.

…There will be those hardcores who will have contempt for me after this statement: but I believe the rules here are a MUCH more accessible set of rules.  I avoid using “watered down,” although some hardcores may use, as there is plenty of complication, but fortunately, it is mostly during battle, where you want lots of options and strategy! 

The good parts are better, and the mundane tasks of spellbooks and preparing spells and a ridiculous number of skills to keep track of are gone.  They are replaced instead of with a fewer number of skills that are a combination and simplification of older skills (Jump + Swim + Climb + Tumble = Athletics), and magic is handled differently.  Everyone has certain abilities.  Some you can use as you wish, and others have limitations on how often you can use them (once per encounter, once per day, only when a certain trigger occurs, etc).

It makes setup so much quicker, less dealing with character sheets and minute tasks throughout.  It allows more focus on the actual battles and role-play.

I need to talk to Blank, but I believe after doing this, I will be adapting my campaign to Fourth Edition.

So there I am on the couch, fighting relentlessly with 1and1’s servers to put this blog up.  In between the long delays between connections and on hold with 1and1’s customer support, I get to look up at what game the boy is playing.  It is Scooby-Doo: Unmasked for the Nintendo GameCube.

Now, before you laugh at me, let me tell you something.  I love Scooby-Doo.  Those cartoons were awesome, and I still watch them from time to time, either online, or on good ol’ Boomerang.

This game does an AWESOME job of letting the player be in episodes of the show!  The player controls Scoob, as he battles fake animatronic monsters.  The gang is all there, and as you walk by different characters, you get to hear their conversations with the various townsfolk.  Then, you go looking for clues, and bring them back to Velma, who helps you by describing them and together, everyone pieces together the mystery.

The cast is almost 100% voiced over, and the voices are totally close sounding.  (With, disappointingly, the exception of Scooby-Doo, who doesn’t sound quite right.)  As you find clues and move on, the cutscenes add voiced conversation between all the characters, doing all the things they did in the cartoons: Shaggy and Scooby joking around, Velma being all smart, Fred being the leader, and Daphne… doing whatever it was that Daphne did.  The cutscenes themselves, are an episode to watch by themselves, and you guide it along based on the action you do, and what clues you pull together.

One thing I was laughing over, was there is a power-up you can earn in the game, which makes Scooby a Kung-Fu Master.  (Sounds totally old-school Hanna Barbera to me ).  He stands on his hind legs, and with his front paws, he’ll bend over with his hands and charge up a powerful attack.  It looks just like the Kamehameha wave, except he says “Scooby-Dooby-Dooo!” instead.  LOL!!

Anyways, there’s the topic for today.  I can’t guarantee I can keep these all light-hearted, but I’m going to do what I can.

~Dan