Episode 20: Castlevania: Symphony of the Night – Creature of Chaos

Castlevania: Symphony of the Night 
Platform: PlayStation

Japanese Release Date: March 20, 1997

U.S. Release Date: October 2, 1997

PAL Release Date: November 1, 1997

Difficulty: Easy

Current Amazon Price: $149.99 new (ouch), $30.67 used, PSN: $9.99, Xbox Live Arcade: $9.99

Note: there is another (Japanese) version on the Sega Saturn, but this is not being reviewed.   

Podcast: Download, iTunes, PodOmatic

Lightning's Review: 

Someone must have played too much Donkey Kong in their youth.

The Good

• A nice game to sink your teeth into (pun totally intended) if you are an RPGgoer but also are interested in games with platforming elements. Symphony of the Night does a good job incorporating RPG elements with some relatively easy side-scrolling that should be a pleaser for fans of both genres.
• The soundtrack will blow you away! Some parts of it are strange (such as songs that would seem to come out of a cult ‘80s hair band rather than a game about Dracula’s son), but it’s all in good fun. Other songs are appropriately dramatic and have a more classical feel.
• The game also greatly encourages exploration rather than mindless leaping from one side of the screen to the next. New abilities that unlock as you play – such as higher jumps, the ability to turn into a bat or a cloud of mist, and the use of helpful familiars further promotes looking for hidden passages and breakable walls.

The Bad

• The menus are extremely clunky, which is not a good thing when you’ve got, say, a ball of writhing corpses attacking you. To be able to use a potion, for example, you’ve got to drop your shield (or whatever you had in your one of your hands) to be able to use it. Since this is primarily a platformer, I can understand why they didn’t have a battle menu like in most RPGs, but wouldn’t an “item” button have been awesome?

The Ugly

• If you thought Shining Force III had bad voice acting, then this gives it a run for its money. You might want to wear earplugs during the cutscenes.
• Hundred year old pot roast…which you then eat. Being free of food poisoning is actually one of Alucard’s greatest powers.    

 Wasn’t New York New Amsterdam around this time period? Argh – maybe I’m thinking too hard.

The Lowdown

A fun first title to play in the long-running Castlevania series, as well as one of the more highly regarded. Since we had an easy time picking up the platforming elements, I would even suggest that RPG fans who are interested in the series should try this one first. I definitely suggest this game as something to hit up in your retro backlog, especially since it approaches RPG elements in a non-conventional way and doesn’t require much prior knowledge of Castlevania lore to pick up and play.

I finally remembered what Castlevania game I want to play next. Not Aria of Sorrow, or Harmony of Dissonance. LAMENT OF INNOCENCE.

Music Credits:
Castlevania: SotN OST
RPG Roundup Theme Song: "Video Game Theme," J. Arthur Keenes Band. Creative Commons Attribution License.  

Episode 19: Final Fantasy XIV Part Two—Life After Level 15

Episode 19: Final Fantasy XIV Part Two—Life After Level 15

Platform: PC, Playstation 3/4

Release Date: August 27, 2013

Difficulty: Moderate

Current Amazon Price: PC download $24.99, PS3 $19.99, PS4 $31.38

Podcast: Download, iTunes, PodOmatic

 

Terra’s Review:

Here be trolls. WWE trolls.

• At last we can travel freely from one city-state to another! This was especially exciting to me because it opened up whole new areas of the world map to mine in. Seriously, I really love mining.
• We also got mounts, starting with a chocobo. Other mounts become available as rewards for being subscribed for a certain amount of time or as rewards for playing a certain class—Conjurers can get a unicorn.
• The storyline after the three introductory dungeons gets a little repetitive in how it’s structured: Go to the good guy’s home base. Get your mission. Be sent all over the place to solve people’s minor problems before getting to resolve your mission and run the dungeon that comes with it. From reading spoilers, it seems like that will change after the upcoming boss fight with Titan. I hope it does.
• We’re in a weird position: We each have level 50 characters and are able to do some of the open world end game stuff, like Hunts, but are still only about halfway through the storyline. So, sorry to anyone who got stuck with two level 50s who had no clue what to do in some of the lower level story dungeons!
• Related: Just being level 50 means nothing. All it means is that someone has managed to gather a lot of experience points. So noobs, remember that if someone gives you crap. And level 50s who do give people crap, try leveling up your social skills.
• Crafting is almost as fun as mining. We both probably spend way more time crafting or gathering than we do progressing the storyline or running dungeons. (Okay, fine, some days I spend 100% of my time mining.) Taking the time to craft and gather adds to the game’s content and is one of the reasons why we’re taking out time getting through the story. Also, crafting and gathering can make you some very nice money!
• Half the fun is the virtual people watching! Who is shouting at who in Limsa today? Who’s decided to run around in their underpants? Who decided to name their character Princess Fluffybutt? At least 24 people on different servers, that’s who.\
• Yeah, we're still totally obsessed with this game. 

Music Credits: 
FFXIV OST 
RPG Roundup Theme Song: "Video Game Theme," J. Arthur Keenes Band. Creative Commons Attribution License.

Episode 18: Xenogears Part Two–Retro Bohemian Rhapsody

Episode 18: Xenogears Part Two–Retro Bohemian Rhapsody

Platform: PlayStation. Also currently available on PSN.

Japanese Release Date: 2/11/98

U.S. Release Date: 10/20/98

Difficulty: Moderate

Price: $89.95 for a new hard copy on Amazon, $9.99 on PSN

Length: Long (80-100 hours) 

Podcast: Download, iTunes, PodOMatic

WARNING:   

THIS IS A PRETTY SCATHING REVIEW. IF YOU REALLY LIKE XENOGEARS, YOU MIGHT WANT TO SKIP THIS. 

Lightning's Review

 DOTH THOU DESIRE POWER Y/N

 

The Good

I have to admit, this is really hard for me. *sigh*

• The game has a crazy awesome soundtrack that blows FFVII’s out of the water. If you play Xenogears and like it, buying this soundtrack would be worthwhile. Hell, even if you played Xenogears and DIDN’T like it, buying this soundtrack would be worthwhile.
• The Gear battles, especially further on into the game, were enjoyable, requiring you to employ strategic thinking in equipping and deciding which party members to use in upcoming battles. In battle itself, functions such as the booster and fuel management keep you on your toes and force you to make hard decisions.
• The anime art style of the game is endearing and looks great in comparison to some of its peers, such as Final Fantasy VII and Wild Arms. The graphics make the game functional and don’t leave you guessing as to where the hell an exit is – this is especially important in the era of early 3D, where such problems were rampant. 

The Bad

• All talk and no play makes gamers bored as FUCK. Would you like to have a nice text adventure with pointless dialogue that lasts for two hours, perhaps punctuated by one or two battles? This game does this to you…multiple times.
• I don’t find the religious and psychological themes of the game objectionable, I just find them…bizarre. Citan diagnoses Fei with schizophrenia at one point in the game, when he actually has multiple personality disorder. The Freudian and Jungian themes are seemingly there just to be pretentious and don’t really add to the story (especially the Jungian ones). The religious themes? I don’t even know what the hell is going on there.
• Except when you’re in the Gears, battle is dull and basically consists of button mashing and grabbing snacks and reading while you’re waiting for the screens to load. Ten turn battles? This is totally possible here…JUST FOR REGULAR BATTLES.
• I get very angry when I have to consult an internet source just to sort out what is going on in a game – in this case, it’s an internet translation of an artbook called Perfect Works, which didn’t even make it to the U.S. Can there be a journal or dictionary in-game please, like Final Fantasy XIII or Star Ocean 4? Gamers complain about even having “extracurricular reading” in games that have dictionaries, and I have no idea why they give Xenogears a pass when you even have to take an extra step to figure out the plot. Xenosaga (episodes 1 and 3, anyway) did it right when it provided dictionaries.
• Speaking of the plot, it’s convoluted. It’s not deep. It’s just confusing. Don’t let the Freudian and Jungian window-dressing fool you – it just makes things even MORE convoluted. And I HAVE studied Freudian and Jungian concepts.

The Ugly

• Disc 2. The developers ran out of some serious budget. ‘Nuff said.
• The game’s end movie. I saw a lot more of Krelian than I ever wanted to see.

 

Get used to seeing this.

The Lowdown

For me, playing Xenogears once would have been enough; however, we wanted to review it and I was subjected to it once again. That being said, I would suggest playing it just because it’s considered an iconic RPG of the ‘90s and it will give you some perspective on how RPGs have evolved over time. I also would suggest folks who have played it before play it again – a lot of the critical acclaim I see for the game is from reviewers who played it 10 or more years ago and probably don’t have the freshest memories.

Either way, try downloading it on PSN for your PS3 or Sony handheld. The game is easily accessible, cheap, and will give you around 80-100 hours for your money. 

Music Credits:

Xenogears OST

RPG Roundup Theme Song: "Video Game Theme," J. Arthur Keenes Band. Creative Commons Attribution License.