Final Fantasy 13-2 review

Final Fantasy XIII-2

XBOX360, PS3

Review

By Matt Sharp

Let me start by saying that I am a die-hard Final Fantasy fan; I have had a special little spot in my heart for the series since I played the original Final Fantasy for the NES back in ye olden days. I say this because it makes the fact that I absolutely love Final Fantasy XIII-2 even more shocking because this entry is drastically different from any other in the series, except for maybe Final Fantasy X-2 which is also the only other direct sequel in the series.

Final Fantasy XIII received its share of scolding from Final Fantasy fans because of how much it changed from past entries. I personally thought it was fantastic despite its glaring flaws; and I actually thought its “flaws” were in some ways just evolutions in the series that the old stubborn fogies from the Midgar Retirement Community saw as pure evil, just like any other change. XIII-2 basically took everything players didn’t like about XIII and either completely changed it, or at the very least made it bearable.

Zelda: Skyward Sword review

The Legend of Zelda: Skyward Sword

Nintendo

Wii

You’ve probably heard of The Legend of Zelda at some point in your life. A good majority of you probably think that Zelda is “that elf boy with the dorky green hat.” We already can’t be friends. Anyway, The Legend of Zelda is actually a long-running series in which each game is its own entity, similar to Final Fantasy; in other words, you don’t have to play any of the other Zelda games to understand this one. Almost every entry stars a young boy named Link who ends up having to save the Princess Zelda from some great evil, usually a man named Ganon or Ganondorf. That’s right, the series is named after the useless princess who always gets kidnapped (even though she clearly has strong magical powers) instead of the brave hero, Link, who goes through intense trials and fights powerful monsters to save her. Excuuuse me, Princess!

Skyward Sword is about a boy named…can you guess? Again, if you said “Zelda,” get out of my face. Link and Zelda grew up together in a beautiful island town called Skyloft. Oh, and instead of the island being in the ocean it’s actually a floating mass hovering high above the clouds. Small detail.You find yourself at the start of the Wing Ceremony where Link is competing with his peers to gain the official title of “Knight,” which just basically means he can ride his goofy looking duck thing—called a Loftwing—freely around the skies. Eventually Zelda ends up falling through the clouds to the mysterious surface world which, for some reason, no one really seems to know anything about.

My first publicity! (Sort of....)

I was on Youtube and just happened to come across a video of two guys doing commentary on my game...needless to say I got super excited :3

These guys are hilarious too btw.

Lucid Awakening 2 - Train sequence sneak peak

Hello everyone! It certainly has been a while....

Here is a little sneak peak video showing off some of my progress on Lucid Awakening 2. I hope you like it!

LA2: DEMO!!

 

It's about time. I would call this a "story demo" instead of an actual "demo-demo," because some of the technical elements aren't quite there yet, especially the battle system. I'm putting this up mostly for fans of Lucid Awakening who have probably given up on me because it's taken me so long to put out anything concrete since the release of the first game almost two years ago.

Notes about the demo:

• This is a PRE-ALPHA demo, which means it isn't even in Alpha stage yet...which means, not everything is fully functional. This demo was mostly made just as a STORY DEMO.

• You can report bugs if you want...but chances are, I already know about them (i.e. in Redstone all the locations are available from the start and Fountain and Bazaar don't even work).

• I DO want feedback, but please try to keep it to story, design, and content feedback. Like I said, most technical issues are going to be resolved later on.

• I'm trying as hard as possible to make this game understandable to newcomers to the series, but also have a LOT of stuff to please fans. As you may have guessed, this is a very hard thing to balance.

• This is pretty much exactly how the beginning of the full game will be. However, the end of the demo when the logo comes up is basically where the full game will REALLY begin.

• I apologize for not having the awesome job change system functional in this demo...but again, this is a STORY demo.

• Pay attention at the end of the demo in the last scene before the logo comes up, there are some pretty cool little details you will probably like if you played Lucid Awakening. Hint: returning character working with new character, and two transformations. 

I'm sorry for the large file size...I used MP3s instead of midis, which is actually where a good 80 - 90% of the bulk comes from. I really feel like having quality music in a game adds SO much. I think for the full game I will also release a "lite" version that will use all midis to cut down immensely on file size. Anyway, here it is:
Lucid Awakening 2 Demo

Also you will have to install this font (put into C:\\Program Files\Windows\Fonts):
Font

LA2: First continent of world map

 
Well, the title is pretty self-explanatory. This is the first continent of the world map for Lucid Awakening 2. It's nothing special, but it shows that I'm actually still [slowly] working on this game.

Of course there will be more to the finished world map than this, but for the first demo this will most likely be the only place you'll be.




And speaking of demos...I'm pretty sure I will be putting out a brief demo near the end of this week. Unfortunately it probably won't have a working job change system in it, which is disappointing because that is kind of the whole crux of this project. I just want to release something to let fans of Lucid Awakening know that there really is a sequel coming out; also, to prove to the RPG Maker forums that I'm not dead since I haven't been nearly as active as I used to be.


Well, the next time I post will probably be to post a demo! =]

Review: Sonic Colors (Wii)

 

Sonic Colors

Nintendo Wii

Sega

When Sega first released Sonic the Hedgehog for the Sega Genesis in 1991, it was something totally unique and fresh. Instead of trying to make just another inferior Mario clone like most companies, they basically created their own sub-genre of platformers that hasn't been matched to this day.

In case you don't know what the Sonic games were about, here's a summary: run to the right really, really fast and don't die. Okay, so it was a little more than that, but that's the basic shell of the game. It wasn't as if you would just hold the right button on your controller and sometimes jump; at least half of each level required patience, accurate jumping skills, and good timing--not too far off from what you would expect from a Mario game. Looking back, the level design in Sonic games was incredible. If you didn't just blaze through the levels and took time to stop and look for different ways to go or secret areas, you would realize that the levels were actually gigantic and complex. Also, the music in the series was always fantastic.

Somewhere along the road Sega lost sight of what made Sonic so special. They tried to give it more storyline and add new playable characters; for a series that is all about speed, all this did was slow things down. I had heard good things about the latest Sonic game, Sonic Colors, so I thought I'd give it a chance and I added it to my Gamefly queue.

Finally it came, and I was ready to revive a dead passion for Sonic.