Terra and Lightning's RPG Roundup

Looking for old episodes? They're all at our website, talrpg.com.

Episode 29: Mario Maker – the Hammer Brother Horde

Episode 29:  Mario Maker – the Hammer Brother Horde
Platform: Wii U
Release Date:  September 2015
Difficulty: Making levels is easy. Making good levels and playing the ones that other people have made…that varies.
Pricing: Amazon $59.99

Podcast: Download, iTunes, PodOmatic

Terra’s Review

Look at the smiles on those little assholes.

The Good

• Ever get sick of That One Enemy and wish there was a level where you could just slaughter them? Want more of a challenge than you can get from regular Mario games? Want to be able to just kick back and relax while you enjoy the pixelated scenery? If you’re willing to do some searching, you can probably find a player created level that fits the bill. And if you can’t, you can make it yourself!
• Making levels and playing around with the different design options. Using the tools to build your own levels is pretty intuitive and easy to catch on to. This is also a game that really benefits from the Wii U gamepad. It would be possible to play this game and build levels with a traditional controller, but it would be more frustrating. Although I do recommend using a stylus for better precision if you have adult sized hands.
• Seeing the levels that other people have made. Some are extremely challenging (Panga!) while others are more about using the Mario Maker tools to create intricate pixel art that you can play through.
• Making levels dedicated to killing mass amounts of Hammer Brothers. It was cathartic.

The Bad 

• I would have liked to get access to all the building options from the start, instead of having them portioned out. 
• People’s comments and drawings showing up on levels while you’re trying to play them. It gets annoying fast. They distract from actually playing the level and can block items (or enemies) that you really do need to be able to see. Google tells me that there is a way to turn this off, but Nintendo didn’t make it easy to figure out how.
• The annoying sound the eraser makes.

The Ugly

• The hammer brothers.

The Lowdown: This game appeals to the same part of me that can spend hours building houses in Sims. If you’re a fan of Mario and building things—or if you just want more levels to play—this is the game for you.
  
Music Credits
RPG Roundup Theme Song: “Video Game Theme,” J. Arthur Keenes Band. Creative Commons Attribution License.

Mario OST

Episode 28: Ni no Kuni: Wrath of the White Witch—Oliver’s Acid Trip

Episode 28:  Ni no Kuni: Wrath of the White Witch—Oliver’s Acid Trip

Platform: Playstation 3

Release Date:  Japan 11/17/2011, NA 1/22/2013, Australia 1/31/2013, EU 2/1/2013

Difficulty: Medium

Pricing: Amazon $19.25 (as of 1/12/16)

Podcast: Download, iTunes, PodOmatic

Terra’s Review

[Yes, that’s a picture of the characters as frogs.]

The Good

• The artwork and music are beautiful.
• The alchemy system. The game has an extensive list of recipes and it’s a useful way to make needed items without having to buy them or run around for hours fighting monsters in hopes that one of them will drop what you need. Alchemy gave us our strongest items for restoring magic points.
• Capturing and evolving familiars. Fans of Pokémon will probably enjoy this aspect! Esther has the ability to capture some of the monsters you fight and add them to your growing army. You can feed the familiars to increase their stats and their affection for you and you can evolve them to stronger forms as they gain levels. Evolving them does send them back to level one, but leveling them back up pays off.
• Swaine’s WTF reactions to most of the Ni no Kuni events. I know how you feel Swaine, I know how you feel.

The Bad

• The battle AI. I think the battle system would have worked better if there had been the ability to be more detailed in setting the character’s tactics. You get very limited options: Go all out, focus on healing/removing status effects, don’t use magic skills, and maybe one more than I’m forgetting. I don’t think that Ni no Kuni needs FF12 level gambits, but it would have been nice to have slightly more specific commands, like “Heal when ally’s HP is down to 30%” or “use items” or “DO NOT use Ward, Oliver, and interrupt me while I’m trying to make Swaine steal something.” You had very little control over your allies’ actions and they would sometimes do very stupid things.
• Not being able to see how many magic points your other party members have left. Related to the above and party members doing stupid things. Your non-Oliver party members will run out of MP quickly—especially Esther, who really should have had a higher amount of MP as the person who gets a big chuck of the healing spells—but you can only see that they’re out when you open the items menu.
• The battle system drove me up the wall and I could say more but I’ll stop.
• Repetitive Side Quests. In theory, I like the idea of running into some of the same people and giving them and their sides quests their own mini-storylines. In practice…Catch your own familiars, Dermont! Stop losing your journal, old chap, wot wot pip pip I’m going to staple the damn thing to your head! And I don’t know what Shadar has against that poor merchant couple and why he keeps going after them.

The Mediocre

• Yes, a new section to our usual review template just for the storyline. The story wasn’t really bad, but it wasn’t exactly good, either. The death of Oliver’s mother feels tacked on—Even though it’s what kicks off the plot and is Oliver’s main motivation!
• Speaking of tacked on…The White Witch storyline could have been better integrated into the game and fleshed out more.

The Ugly

• This picture of a cracked out mouse represents my feelings on the battle system

 [This is Gascon. This is Gascon on meth. Meth: It's a hell of a drug. Also apparently horrible for your posture]

The Lowdown: Despite my rants about the battle system, my overall reaction to Ni no Kuni is a shrug and a “meh.” The outlines of a good game are there, but the battle system is frustrating and the characters and storyline aren’t engaging enough to make up for it. The music and graphics, especially the backgrounds, were the best parts.

  

Music Credits

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

Ni No Kuni OST

Episode 27: Chrono Trigger Part 1—Robo’s Rave

Episode 27:  Chrono Trigger Part 1—Robo’s Rave

Platform: SNES
Release Date:  Japan 3/11/1995, North America 8/22/1995
Difficulty: Easy
Pricing: $9.99 PSN, 800 Wii Points (about $8.00) Virtual Console

Podcast: Download, iTunes, PodOmatic

Terra’s Review

What We’ve Learned From Chrono Trigger

• It’s totally possible to accidentally invent time travel.
• Never trust the Chancellor. He’s either a demon in disguise or he’s overly fond of rigging trials so he gets to execute people.
• DON’T EAT OTHER PEOPLE’S LUNCHES!!! The penalty is death.
• Lavos wants to party like it’s 1999.
• Between his intro music and the lightshow that come with his attacks, Robo is always good party entertainment. Time for Robo’s rave!
• Primitive cave soup will give you a hangover. 
• Stop it you dog!
• Magus leaving his boy band for a solo career didn’t work out too well. 
• But his minions make great back up singers! 

Music Credits

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

Chrono Trigger OST

Never Gonna Give You Up vs Robo's Theme by Yuzoboy

Episode 26: Hatoful Boyfriend – Everybirdie’s on Crack

Episode 26: Hatoful Boyfriend – Everybirdie’s on Crack

Platform:  PS4, PS Vita, PC, OSX

Release Date:  Hurtful Complete Edition: JP 10/30/11, World Wide 2/15/12. Remakes released World Wide on 9/4/14 and 7/21/15.

Difficulty: Ummm…some of the full endings can be tricky to get? It's a visual novel, difficulty doesn’t really apply.

Pricing: $10

Podcast: Download, iTunes, PodOmatic

Terra:  HATOFUL BOYFRIEND WHAT  A GAME

Lightning:  Questions We Had While Playing Hatoful Boyfriend

"Wha..." is the correct response to this game

Terra:  HOW DO PIGEONS HOLD GUNS?

Lightning:  Don't ask me. They developed opposable thumbs?

Terra:  Apparently, since they can also drive scooters.

Lightning:  Let's not even go there. Do they have some kind of prosthetic leg so they can hit the brakes?

Terra:  Maybe they have hand breaks!

brakes*

Lightning:  You can spell.

Unlike this game.

Terra:  Hey, it's designed for birds, by birds, what do you expect. Pigeons probably translated it.

Do pigeons build buildings? Or have they moved into places humans abandoned?

Lightning:  I saw some derelict skyscrapers in the game, so if they do, they don't very well.

HOW DO PIGEONS USE COMPUTERS?

Terra:  WING TYPING

They peck with their beaks?

How do they cook?

Lightning:  They peck with their peckers? Uuuuuuuuuuugh, I went there...

Terra:  You wouldn't be you if you didn't.

How big are these pigeons supposed to be?

Lightning:  It sounded like regular bird size.

Terra:  Then how is the main character being threatened by birds? HOW DO YOU GET KILLED BY THE CREEPY DOCTOR IF HE IS NORMAL BIRD SIZED?

Lightning:  DON'T ASK ME HOW A PATRIDGE CAN MURDER A TEENAGER. SHE COULD PROBABLY STOMP ON HIM

And what does the bird gang do to kill you? Fly in your damn face?

Terra:  They don't even seem to be flying at her!

Actually, I don't think we see any of these birds fly.

Lightning:  Maybe she dies of fear.

From their mohawks.

Terra:  Ride scooters, go for hikes, swim...but no flying.

Lightning:  I said moHAWKS. Get it?

Terra:  Hahahaha

The flying thing is bothering me? Does the game ever reference the birds flying?

Lightning:  I think so...

Terra:  I'm not replaying it to find out.

Lightning:  But they don't care. They love to swim.

Their wet feathers gets the main character hot and bothered, supposedly!

Terra:  There are screenshots to prove it!

We really can prove it.

Lightning:  I'm not replaying it either. Trophies are 100%. NO THANK YOU.

Terra:  Hatoful BF has served its purpose.

Lightning:  Its very shallow purpose,

Terra:  It kept us entertained for a few hours. And ruined the Nutcracker.

Lightning:  Argh, I'll never enjoy the Nutcracker AGAIN.

Terra:  You'll always think of the creepy murder Dr.

Lightning:  And I'll start laughing hysterically if I hear Jingle Bells.

Terra:  Why did this game use so much Christmas music? Was it cheap?

Lightning:  Probably as cheap as this game. WHICH IS A GOOD THING.

Terra:  Final question then: Was this game worth ten bucks?

For the full effect, hum dance of the Sugar Plum Fairy while you look at this picture.

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

Dance of the Sugar Plum Fairy

Hatoful Boyfriend

Episode 25: Final Fantasy VI: Part II – Atma Ponders on the Toilet

Episode 25: Final Fantasy VI: Part II—Atma Ponders on the Toilet

Platform: SNES, PlayStation, Game Boy Advance, Wii/Wii U, and Android and iOS.

Release Date: 

Japan: 4/2/1994

NA: 10/11/1994 (As Final Fantasy III)

Difficulty: Moderate

Pricing: Play Store: $7.99 (during 50% off sale), Wii: 800 Wii Points/$8

Podcast: Download, iTunes, PodOmatic

Terra’s Review

Kefka’s Tower: At least there’s a place to take a shit!

The Good

• I don’t even know where to start with the good, I love this game so much.
• The sense of scale. The world is large, the story is epic. The places in the storyline that require you to split up the party to deal with simultaneous enemies adds to the feeling that you’re dealing with a threat that is truly world spanning. It also gives you a reason to care about leveling up and using all of your characters instead of letting all but your favorite four fall by the wayside. You’re going to need almost all of your characters by the time you get to Kefka’s tower!
• Speaking of…Kefka is one of my favorite villains. No sob story, no angst and whining, just pure joy of destruction and making people’s lives hell.
• You fight a train. And an octopus. And mini bosses named after the Three Stooges. For a game that’s dealing in some very heavy subjects—Terra and Celes have basically been raised to be weapons, the deaths of almost everyone in Doma, the Empire’s experiments on Espers, and THE END OF THE WORLD—FF6 doesn’t lose its sense of humor or sense of the absurd.
• There’s a strong emphasis on character development and giving each character a time in the spotlight and a backstory. The only ones that don’t get some focus are the optional secret characters. The second half of the game is especially focused on backstory and character motivations. With the world basically destroyed and Kefka in charge, what motivates these characters to keep fighting?
• The Opera House sequence.

The Bad

• Even though I was just praising the character development, there are some things I wish the game had done differently. Relm and Strago showed up too late in the game to have much of an impact. I also would have liked to see more of the characters interacting with each other. Imagine the conversations Terra and Celes could have had!
• The battle menus could be unwieldly, especially once you’re further along in the game and have accumulated more spells and items. Scrolling through those, trying to find what you want can take valuable time, especially if you’re using the Active Battle System.
• PlayStation only: The long load times.

The Ugly

 

 

 

 

[No comment.]

The lowdown:  I love this game and everyone should play it!

Music Credits

FF6 OST

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