Final Fantasy XIII-2

So glad I had the opportunity to finally finish this game.  Anyway, lets get to the point.

I think out of all the Final Fantasy games I have ever played, I hated this one the most overall.  I admit that the storyline was rather intriguing but I just couldn't really get into it and often found myself confused by it.  The entire time I played it I kept constantly asking myself "how the hell did they get the idea for this?"  There must have been a lot of drugs involved.

I thought that the whole being able to customize your "paradigm pack" was pretty cool.  If I would have had more time to spend messing with it I probably would have really enjoyed it but I didn't bother during this playthrough.  The crystarium monster upgrades kind of reminded me of the leveling system from FF 10 where you had to use certain spheres for upgrades.

I was VERY pissed off at the ending of this game.  I'm not going to spoil it for anyone who hasn't played it but in my opinion it was NOT worth the two hours I spent fighting the final boss.  When I deliver the finishing blow on the last boss in the game, I expect to be rewarded with fuzzy feelings, and happy tears that are in the form of beautiful CGI animation.  However when I finished this game I started with those fuzzy feelings, only to feel like I had the floor ripped out from underneath me and the happiness changed to sadness mixed with frustration.

So yeah, very mixed feelings on this game.  Definitely enjoyed the original more than this.  Hopefully "Lightning Returns" won't be as much of a disappointment as this one was.

Legend of Zelda: Ocarina of Time

When I first purchased my 3DS this was one of the games that I bought along with it.  I had never played a Zelda title before so I figured since they remade it and it was easier to get a hold of I'd give it a try.  I didn't really know what I was getting into since I had only known about the series from playing Super Smash Bros. and watching my cousin play Majora's Mask wayyyyy back on the Nintendo 64.  So I decided to just jump right in and hope for the best.

I fell in love with this game as soon as I started it up for the first time.  I understand this was the remake but I loved how well it was represented in true 3D form.  They really used this feature of the 3DS to its full potential.  The game also looks great with the 3D switched off as well.  

I didn't really have any complaints about the game mechanics except for a few things.  First of all I hated not being able to jump!  This is how you know I play wayyyy to many platformers.  I also wasn't a fan of being able to control the "L-targeting" by simply aiming the 3DS in the direction you wanted it.  This just didn't feel natural to me and I died quite often because of this (there's probably an option to turn it off somewhere but I never bothered to look for it).  

I liked that this game was very challenging although it was definitely a game that I had to sit down and focus on.  I often got very angry and frustrated with the dungeons and temples and ended up rage quitting quite a few times.  The mini games were also a tad bit frustrating but they were still enjoyable.  Some of the boss fights were very confusing and I often had to google how to beat them.  

Its games like these that make me question why some people still believe that video games are only for children.  I know when I was younger if I ever tried to play this game I would probably have given up and never looked back since my attention span was so thin.

Overall I found this game to be awesome and very enjoyable!  It definitely convinced me to play more Zelda titles.  I already have purchased Skyward Sword and am eagerly awaiting the rerelease of Majora's Mask.  I'm glad that I had the opportunity to play through this game.

Lollipop Chainsaw

Ah yes, another Suda 51 game to add to my list.  I initially found out about this game because I am a big fan of Jessica Nigiri and she cosplayed the main character Juliet.  After researching it a little more I decided I had to buy this game.  I mean, who doesn't want to play as a blonde bimbo cheerleader, with a decapitated boyfriend, chopping up zombies with a pink, heart-covered chainsaw while "Hey Mickey" plays in the background?  You'd have to be crazy to pass up that opportunity.

Even though I did thoroughly enjoy this game, I found it to be a tad bit repetitive.  Pretty much every stage consists of slaughtering a bunch of zombies, playing some sort of aggravating mini game, killing some more zombies, and finally a boss.  I liked how you could buy more attack combos but I pretty much spammed the same two the entire game because I couldn't remember all of the button combos.  I didn't really mess with the outfits or the mp3s too much either.

Now I'm not that great at first person shooters, but I really liked how they incorporated the chainsaw blaster.  That baseball mini-game, however, made me want to KILL MYSELF!  The controls were a little iffy in regards to this aspect and since I already suck at using the right analog stick, Zombie Baseball took me DAYS to beat.  It also involved a lot of cursing and rage quits.  The chainsaw blaster was also kind of hard to use during certain combat situations as well since it was so hard for me to aim with.

Another thing I was really bad at was saving the fellow classmates.  Half the time I honestly just let them die just so I could kill the zombie version of them because trying to keep them safe was just too much effort.  I also liked how you could change the difficulty level to offer yourself more or less of a challenge.  I started the game on the normal setting but then once I got to Zombie Baseball, I switched it to easy.  Its good that if you're struggling on a certain part that you can change the difficulty level at any point in the game.

I was very pleased overall with this game.  It was a nice quick game to play after just finishing a rather lengthy one.  I was definitely not expecting the ending though.  Maybe they'll be making a sequel?

Final Fantasy XIII

Due to my busy schedule, I have not had that much free time for gaming but since it is a holiday I took advantage of my weekend and finally beat Final Fantasy XIII.  I am proud to say that after three tries, this game is the 20th game I have beaten in my lifetime.

Many people have had their qualms about this installment in the Final Fantasy series but I thought it was just perfect.  Final Fantasy XIII has a wonderful storyline that had me gripped from the very beginning.  Now I don't do this often, but I honestly found myself crying at certain points throughout the game, especially at the ending.  I felt that the many hours of gameplay that led up to the end definitely made it more worthwhile.

The gameplay for this game is absolutely superb.  The battle system was probably my favorite aspect of the entire game.  In previous Final Fantasy titles that I've played I have often missed crucial opportunities and ended up dying multiple times due to the fact that I had to concentrate so hard on what buff, or attack I had to scroll to in the battle menu.  This game got rid of that frustration for me.  All I had to do was set my paradigms ahead of time and the game took care of the rest.  All I had to do was scroll through them and hit auto and the game already knew what to do.

I didn't spend too much time on the missions in Gran Pulse.  I think I got up to 16 and decided that I finally wanted to continue with the story.  Then again I was never much of a completionist so it didn't really bother me.  I played around a little bit with the weapon upgrades as well.  I'm not that great with this aspect of gaming so I basically googled a weapon guide and picked whichever ones looked the prettiest.  Since I never really bothered with item use, most of my gil went towards buying components from the shop.  I also ended up selling a large majority of my accessories towards the end of the game to fund my upgrading endeavors.

Overall I thought that this game was pretty awesome.  I didn't find any major problems with it at all.  Now I can finally enjoy Final Fantasy XII-2 and anxiously await the release of Lightning Returns: Final Fantasy XIII.