Favorite Game of All Time

Ahhhhh, hahaaaaaa… Well, if you’ve read many of my other Days here, you can probably guess the answer to this one. I absolutely love Final Fantasy IX. I’ve already said why I love its plot, why I love its music, why I love some of the characters… and those are some of the most important qualities in a game for me. Not to mention, I love the battle system, the setting, the minigames and sidequests, and yes, even the graphics that so many people whine about. So with all of those things together, you can imagine I’d like the game as a whole. :)

And I really, really do. If you need any more proof… take a look at my last project for my Intro to Graphic Design class.

Now imagine it printed out, as a 6’5” accordion book. It’s… it’s pretty epic.

WAIT. Where the heck did Day 28 go?! I remember writing it, and my cookies remember submitting the title “30 Days of Gaming - Day 28,” and yet… IT IS NOWHERE TO BE SEEN. Well, I’ll just have to write it out again, then, won’t I?

Well, the word “developer” always confuses me. Can’t it refer to either a company or a person? If we’re talking companies, then that’s easy. Not only does Square Enix have Final Fantasy, but they’ve got Kingdom Hearts, The World Ends with You… more Final Fantasy… >_>

A person, though… That’s a bit tricksier. I don’t often pay a whole lot of attention to developers in that sense, with the exception of a few. Nomura’s a big one, but I wouldn’t call him my favorite, I don’t think. I absolutely love a lot of the things he’s done, but I’ve gotta admit; he’s done some… pretty bad stuff, too. ^^;;

Amano’s great, too, and he’s done some wonderfully things outside of video games, too. I s’pose I shouldn’t count them, though, eheh. I’m tempted to pick him, but…

I’ve got to go with Nobuo Uematsu. He’s done so many games, and they’re all brilliant. IX, espeically, and VII… and V… and VIII… and… everything? And then there’s the fact that he’s part of The Black Mages. He’s just great. x_x

Game You Didn’t Think You’d Like but Ended up Loving

Haha, that would be Final Fantasy VII. When I was little, I got ridiculously stubborn about some things for no reason whatsoever. Whenever my brother wanted to show me something, I’d insist that I didn’t like it. And everything else he had, I took from his room and insisted I loved. It worked with some things, like how I stole Harry Potter and Pokemon Blue from his room, but… It also took him a while to convince me to watch my first AMV with him, and it took someone else showing me Dragonball Z for me to fall in love with it after I absolutely refused to watch it with him.

So I’d actually already been playing VIII, and I loved it, but even though I knew they were in the same series, I was convinced that VII was a terrible game. It also probably had to do with the graphics; I was pretty shallow in that respect back then. Needless to say, I eventually did start VII, and once again, was proven wrong.

And now it’s me who has to beg my brother to do things. :P I’ve been trying to get him to watch Code Geass and Fullmetal Alchemist for years, and he’s finally watching Fullmetal Alchemist, mainly because his girlfriend wants to watch it with him. XD

Most Epic Scene Ever

“Epic,” huh? Epic… There’s a few scenes I’d love to list here. To make things easier for myself, I’ll take the final battle of Kingdom Hearts II out of the running for being, ah, a battle, not a scene, even though it is ridiculously epic. Between the skyscaper slicing, the Sora and Riku tag-teaming, all those different parts to it, the GIANT… DRAGON… SHIP… NESS…, and just the whole damn theatricality of it.

The opening of VIII is quite epic, but it shall be taken out of the running for not having the added effect of the build-up of some of these other scenes.

The return to Cocoon, at the beginning of Chapter 12 in XIII, shall also be taken out of the running, because it cheats with pretty graphics. Of course it’s going to be the most epic with all those shiny things flying around, but that makes it too easy. NEXT.

Alexander versus Bahamut in IX shall be taken out of the running for being in IX. I fear bias in my judgement of that scene.

Therefore, by process of elimination, the most epic scene ever is the scene before the battle with Yunalesca in X. It’s got everything: awesome music, dramatic camera angles, plot development, dramatic proclamations that change the fate of the world and whatnot… and of course, a great show of Yuna’s character development. The fact that it leads up to one of the hardest boss fights in the game only makes it feel more important. Awesome scene, thar.

Best Voice Acting

Er… the games that stand out in my head really stand out for their bad voice acting more than anything. Tales of Eternia, Legend of Dragoon… They’re some of my favorite games, but… ^^;; And Eternal Sonata’s voices make me want to punch Polka and the narrator alike in the face.

Well, I loved the voices in XII, but that’s really more for the dialogue than the acting. X was great, but had some off points, and Lulu sounds like she’s in her early forties. The original .hack games had a lot of voices that were just annoying, in both English and Japanese. Kingdom Hearts falters at the most dramatic points. XIII, the other Tales games, .hack//G.U…. are all mostly just unexceptional.

The Dissidia games are actually surprisingly good; I was really impressed with most of the voices they picked. Laguna’s English voice, especially (I hate his Japanese voice, sorry), and I get all squeeful whenever I hear Johnny Yong Bosch as Firion but that’s for a completely different reason. Even so, Kuja’s voice is pretty terrible, and it’s not good enough to really be called the best, I don’t think.

Honestly, the first games that came to mind were in a series I’ve never played myself; I’ve only seen my brother play. But he loves the voice acting in them, and from what I’ve heard, I agree. Legacy of Kain has got some really badass voices, and it’s melodramatic, but in a good way. Only having seen bits and pieces, I probably shouldn’t say that’s the best unequivocally, but it’s by far the best I’ve heard.

Game You Plan on Playing

Shall… shall I list them all? I need to finish the original .hack games, Okami, Okage, the Jak games, Legaia 2, a few Final Fantasy games, Birth by Sleep, Duodecim’s currently in progress… but I guess I should go with something I haven’t started yet. Perhaps! Perhaps something I haven’t even bought yet! Something in a new franchise, even!

Actually, come to think of it, I really need to get a move on Zelda games. I own Majora’s Mask, is all, and it freaked me out a little when I was little. Actually, come to think of it, it still freaks me out. This totally didn’t help, either. But I know most Zelda games are different from Majora’s Mask, and I have been meaning to start them for a long time, because I am ashamed at my lack of Zeldaing.

It’s just so hard to start something new when I already have so many things in progress. :/

Favorite Classic Game

Oh, man, how far back does it have to be to be a classic? Does Pokemon Blue count? Which Final Fantasy games? Any from V on? Because otherwise, I might be at a loss to answer this. I haven’t played many very old games, other than the super-classics, like Pong, Pac-Man… and lots of Neopets versions of classics.

Yeah, I used to spend hours at a time playing Snake Meerca Chase. Space Invaders Swarm was also a pretty big one. I think I’ll go with Snake, in that case. XD

But if you do allow Final Fantasy V… that is definitely my favorite of the pre-VII games. It always has been, but I recently started playing it again, and I love it more than ever. Unfortunately, I was using ePSXe (stupid PS3 glitches it up whenever I try to save on my physical copy), and my save state got deleted, so… there’s been very little V in the past couple of months…. *sigh*

There’s something about that game that’s just fun. I have no idea why. It’s partly because it has my favorite battle system of the early games, but there’s also something in the atmosphere. It’s got some great humor, Woolseyisms and whatnot, but I don’t think it’s enough for such a pronounced difference. There’s just something special.

And Faris. Ohmygosh I love Faris. <3

Game You Think Had the Best Art Style

I’d like to say something unique for this, but… gotta go with Okami. Everyone always goes on about the art in Okami, but it’s actually for good reason, okay? I don’t think I can say much on this that hasn’t been said a hundred times elsewhere, so I’ll just say that it’s gorgeous, and leave it at that.

Or you know what? I’ll at least add a screenshot. There.

Preeeeeetty.

Honorable mention to a few games, though. The World Ends with You, as I’ve said, made amazing use of the two screens, not just for gameplay, but also the art. I still get so disappointed that no other game has managed to make the screens work together as well as WEWY did.

Epic Mickey’s almost as gorgeous as Okami, but loses for a couple of reasons. First, it’s not as “groundbreaking,” there’d already been Okami before it. Plus, the game is so f$*%^$ng DARK. I set my TV to the brightest it goes, and I still can’t play that game during daylight, because I just can’t see what the heck is going on on the screen.

Game Sequel Which Disappointed You

Well… the easy answer here would be X-2. But actually, it didn’t really disappoint me. The story is terrible, yes, and what they did to Yuna’s character was horrendous, but… it had its good points, too. I love the battle system; I still think it’s the perfect mix of turn-based and real-time. I even love the Dressphere…. They may have been a little much, but I’m kind of a sucker for pretty things and costume design. And while they kind of make me want to die now while also being a total guilty pleasure, I genuinely loved real Emotion and 1000 Words when the game first came out.

So then, what DID disappoint me the most? I might have to go with Dawn of the New World, there. I honestly haven’t gotten far enough in the game to be a really good judge of it, but… Tales of Symphonia was such an amazing game. You can’t go around changing that much stuff, and… and Emil. I feel really bad for hating him, actually, because he’s actually kind of a realitic character from what I’ve seen, and in some ways, I kind of identify with him, even, but… as a main character? I am totally willing to admit that I would be a terrible main character in a video game. Or anything, really. That’s mainly what’s preventing me from writing my Final Fantasy IX self-insert. Emil should realize that, too. And the MAP?! And- UGH.

Game with the Best Story

BAD PERSON MISSED A DAY. D:< It’s… just that this is such a huge question. It is the ULTIMATE QUESTION for a J-RPG fan! I mean, it’s not even “favorite”; that I could do (Hint: It would be IX). It says best. That’s objective, for goodness’ sake.

I don’t even know games well enough to say objectively! I mean, I hear VI has an amazing story, but I haven’t gotten far enough in it to know. Then there’s VII, of course, but over the years I’ve kind of lost my enthusiasm for VII. Might just be the hype I’m sick of, though, not the game itself. But… IX really is good, too…. And loathe as I am to leave Final Fantasy, I’ve gotta say, Tales of the Abyss and Symphonia had pretty great stories…. Kingdom Hearts, sorry, but you have way too many plotholes to stand even a remote chance here.

Okay, okay, though. Based on my current knowledge… gotta come down to either VII or IX.

I think IX is vastly underrated for its plot, for a couple of major reasons. First, the path of each character. XIII did really nicely at this too, come to think of it, but a few of its other points are somewhat less than stellar. What I mean, though, is that you don’t have just one big party. You have eight characters. And they all have their own motivations and goals… and it’s not just a given that they’ll stay with the party. Some games fall into the trap of finishing a character’s personal issues and then just keeping them around for the heck of it, like they don’t have anything better to do than hang around your main character. At many points in IX, you have one or two characters running off to do something on their own, and as a bonus, that gives you parallel stories running in different places. For example, when Dagger puts the party to sleep and runs off to Alexandria with Steiner while everyone else goes off to Burmecia.

VII, on the other hand… Like in IX, every character is important. But most of them do become.. rather unimportant later on. That’s okay, though, because Cloud and Sephiroth, and their whole story, is so awesome. Backstory is definitely what turns a good plot into a freaking amazing one. You skip great and plain amazing; a good backstory raises you three notches. Between the Cetra, then Sephiroth, then Cloud and Zack and Sephiroth, and jeez.

And the presentation! I’ve gotta give credit to a game where you get a dramatic Big Reveal, and the main character has a flashback revealing his dark past with the villain… and it ends up not being true. XD I mean, he believed it too, though, and that just makes it better. XD

Wait, I didn’t mean for it to be funny; I meant for it to be a fascinating twist and a thought-provoking insight into his psyche. Seriously, I think it’s brilliant to have a main character who’s so messed up in the head. Just refer to my Zack entry.

*sigh* I could and should go on and on about each of their good points. I didn’t even make the best ones, I don’t think. But it’s late, I have class tomorrow, and I’ve gotten almost no sleep the past couple of nights. For now, I am going to keep this answer open-ended, and leave you only with my thoughts on the matter for you to make your own judgements.

tl;dr: I don’t know.

Favorite Genre

Well, this is the easiest question ever. J-RPGs, no question. Um, practically every question I’ve answered, I think, is about J-RPGs. I… what else should I put? Should I just… list all the J-RPGs that I love?

How about genres I dislike? Okay. So, sports. So, so boring! T_T And aren’t they practically all the same?! Closest thing to a sports game I’ve ever liked was blitzball. In X, not in X-2. And racing. Only racing game that has ever been worth anything is Jet Moto 2. And sort of the other Jet Motos, I guess, but the first is just not as good as 2, and 3 is CRAZY! Like, AGH! So fast! So yeah. That’s it.

I also kind of hate FPS’s, but I don’t really have anything against them in general; they’re just not for me. The “first-person” part drives me crazy. I hate not being able to see what’s around me, or not even myself, except for these HANDS that come up in front of me that are just like RANDOM HANDS out of NOWHERE holding this gun! They’re not my hands! D:

The end.

Game Setting You Wish You Lived in

Criterion #1: I cannot live without technology. TV and video games? I could probably do without. Internet and iPod? I’d die a little inside, but I could make it. Indoor plumbing? Yyyyyyyeeeaaaaahhhhh….

Criterion #2: I don’t want to die. A world that’s not overrun with murderous monsters, kthx.

Those in mind, I can unfortunately rule out some nice places, like IX’s Gaia and Spira. I think… I think I have to go with the Pokémon world. Nice and modern, for one. Some murderous monster-like things, but I can at least defend myself with my own Pokémon, and worst-case scenario, I have to high-tail it to a Pokémon Center, and then everything’s okay again. More importantly? Pokémon! Gosh, like, I’m gonna have SO MANY FRIENDS! And my Ponyta won’t burn me or anything!

Where should I live, though?! Not in Hoenn, I think; I never played any Generation III games, I’d I’d like some knowledge of the geography of my new home. I’m tempted to go with Kanto or Unova, because I love the originals and Unova’s based like fifty miles from my real home. >_>

So, I like Cerulean City, and it’s not too far from Celadon, if I want to go shopping and stuff. If possible, I’d rather go with a “Town,” though; I’m not too big on cities. Pallet Town is pretty remote, though, and no way in hell am I ever living in Lavender Town. For Unova, I honestly haven’t gone everywhere enough to really know. I’d keep it in mind, though, and maybe I’ll come back and update this if I decide for sure. :3

Favorite Protagonist

Man, I was like six days ahead with these posts before this one. Now I have to figure this out before tomorrow when I’ve been avoiding it so well…. See, my favorite character is really never the protagonist. But I never dislike the protagonist, either. It’s just sort of that fuzzy grey “Yeah, they’re pretty cool.”

Plus, I’m seriously reluctant to resort to Final Fantasy IX again. I’m also tempted to say that Laguna counts as one for VIII, seeing as you do control him for a substantial amount of time, but… no. I’m not going to cheat my way out of this question. Likewise with Riku. They must be the primary protagonist!

Aha! I think I’ve got it. I was considering Haseo… Neku… Lloyd… Zidane again… but I think I know. Why do I never consider anything but J-RPGs?

Zack. He counts because of Crisis Core, don’t you see?!

Awww, man, Zack. He’s so awesome. Thing is, I’m sure he wouldn’t have seemed as awesome in Crisis Core if not for his portrayal in VII, you know? In VII, he was the guy who should have been the hero. He’s brave, cheerful, selfless… all those good shonen protagonist qualities. And then instead you get the loser wannabe with the mental problems.

I love Cloud. Don’t get me wrong; I love Cloud. His mental problems are actually really endearing. How messed up Cloud is is half of the reason VII’s so great. It’s just, like… a shame, you know? Like losing a race by a split second, or waiting for someone for hours, and they show up just after you leave, or eavesdropping on a conversation and you only hear the part that makes it sound like they hate you or something, and miss the good part. There’s gotta be a trope for that.

Anyway, what I mean is, it’s like Zack was supposed to be the hero of VII. He’s got all the connections to Shin-Ra, and Sephiroth, and Aerith, and he’s total hero material, and he just missed it.

Oh, god, the ending of Crisis Core. If these questions later ask “Best Ending,” I will tell you right now that that will be my answer tied with IX. It’s just too… AUGHHHSDFLUaEIJFehHF;EHSH.

So yeah, that’s a good part of the emotional connection to Zack. It’s just that everything attached to him has this horrible, horrible kind of melancholy that at the same time is kind of warm and fuzzy because he didn’t deserve it.

Favorite Antagonist

I… I feel pretty terrible that I keep harping on about Final Fantasy IX like I do, but it’s my favorite game for a reason, okay? And I do love Kuja. His ridiculous flamboyance theatricality, his childishness, his inferiority complex, his smoothness, and his batshit hysterics when he finds out he’s going to die. He’s a much better character than a lot of people give him credit for, I think, because like I was talking about with Freya, a lot of IX’s character development is very understated. Some people just remember the theatricality and that he tried to destroy everything.

The childishness, I think, is a big part of what makes him so great. Dropping Zidane on Gaia, his whole rebellion against Garland, and not to mention that the whole “I won’t let this world exist without me!” thing? He’s throwing a big hissy-fit at not getting his way, that the world doesn’t revolve around him. But I love it, because he acts so grand about everything, hiding it so well, that it just adds depth to his character, and it gives the situation such a dire atmosphere.

Second place, I must mention, though, and that goes to one Sho Minamimoto, from The World Ends with You. All the math… I just love it. Call me crazy, but I like math, and I love that he’s like this total thug who loves math. He’s pretty crazy too, actually. I like crazy villains. I once met a Sho cosplayer, I think it was at Otakon last year, who made me answer a math question before he let me take a photo. :P Then I asked him to derive something, or integrate something, or something, to see if he could. XD And he did! It kind of made my day.

And an honorable mention to Lloyd from Legend of Dragoon. I really can’t give him the top spot not because he’s not an awesome character, but because I don’t think the game does a good enough job of showing it off. In the Hero Competition? Badass. When he kills Lavitz? Badass. But later on, he just gets pushed off to the side so much. It’s not like he wasn’t an important character in the end; he was, but somehow, it just doesn’t come through. Plus, one terrible shame in that game was it’s horrible script. Hopefully it was just the translation, really, but a character just can’t seem as cool as they should when so many lines seem stilted and unnatural.