Arc the Lad: Twilight of the Spirits (2)

arc the ladIt’s games like this that make me want to quit gaming. Arc the Lad: Twilight of the Spirits is not terrible enough to quit over, but it’s not very good either, so I just keep plodding along and getting more and more annoyed and depressed. According the game clock I’m 22 hours and 58 minutes in. It feels more like 58 hours and 22 minutes. And I think my PS2 can sense my mood, because a few minutes ago when I tried to turn it on, it basically said “Not tonight, I have a headache.” I’ll coax it back to life eventually. For now, though, I’m going to take the opportunity to put this game in hiatus.

What is Arc the Lad doing wrong? Two things. First, the characters are pissing me off. Their decisions are stupid and they are annoying. Darc’s team is still superior to Kharg’s, but Darc himself is a washout. He says one thing, does another, then tries to justify what he does without admitting his true motives. For example he spares traitors and tries to play it off like they’re necessary to his ambitions, but actually he just likes having them around and is too chicken to kill anyone any more.

Example two, he just let the same villain escape for the 3rd time in a row. And that even though the villain himself warned him not to. And if Darc was really serious about unifying the Deimos and killing all humans, why not start with Lilia? Darc is just a mass of contradictions, and not in a compelling way either. Right now I even prefer Kharg to him. At least Kharg is actually serious about being a goody two-shoes.

Second thing wrong, the story is just going round in circles. Darc’s team had just invaded the enemy’s headquarters when I stopped, so maybe something major was finally going to happen, but I won’t hold my breath. Encounter after encounter with the Dilzweld army. The Dilzweld army succeeds in their evil plans regardless. Darc says one thing and does another. Kharg and co. bore the crap out of me. Lilia gets kidnapped. Lilia gets rescued. Lilia gets kidnapped. Lilia gets rescued. On and on it goes. What’s worse, the few moments of manufactured drama never amount to anything. Here’s a major reveal! Gasp! Shock! Horror! And then everything’s back to normal and it’s all business as usual.

I checked a spoiler-free walkthrough and it looks like I’m about two-thirds of the way through the game. If I was almost done I’d just push through, but as it is I’m definitely taking a break. I’m going to try the Territoire demo I’ve been planning to play for like 2 years, and then I’ll start Conception. I hope there isn’t too much talking in it, because I just want some mindless dungeon-crawling right now.

Candy Crush Saga – It’s all over for me! Save yourselves!

candy_crush_saga_download_for_pcI can’t play Wild Arms XF, I can’t play Steambot Chronicles, I can’t stand Disgaea, but 485 levels of Candy Crush? Bring ’em on! My casualization is now complete!

I’ve been playing Candy Crush on my Android phone since early July-ish. I thought I should have at least one game on there, because, why not? And I picked this one because my sister played it and it looked like fun. I’m a very simple person.

485 stages and 65 Dreamworld stages. What a trip! It’s been very annoying and frustrating at times. In fact, most of the time. But now that I’ve finished the whole thing pending further releases, I’m feeling very zen about the whole experience. Right now I’m doing a  victory tour of all the earlier stages, playing them all once just to remind myself what I’ve been through. Level 33! Level 50! Level 65! I never thought I’d finish 76 and 77! The whole stretch in Salty Canyon from 96 to 110!  They all seem so cute and friendly in retrospect, with their little bombs and cute widdle chocolate. Awww… All bets are off as to whether I’ll still be laughing when I replay stages like 418 and 421, the only stages that made me seriously contemplate quitting the game. Do please go on, this is most interesting →

Games I didn’t like, 2013 edition

Disc-smashed-by-hammerTime for another round of games I tried and quickly abandoned. It’s a rather short list this time round, because 2013 was a pretty good year. I think I’m slightly more discerning in the games I’ll even try as well, so that leads to fewer casualties in the long run.

Metal Saga: Hagane no Kisetsu (DS) – I was curious to try something from the Metal Saga series of games, but this wasn’t interesting at all. It was okay-ish when I was driving around in my farm up in the mountains, but the first real mission I got sent me hunting a crocodile on my own, and the battle system stressed  me out. It’s also very clearly a sequel to something, and doesn’t seem like much fun unless you’ve played the original. Quit.

Brave Story: Boku no Kioku to Negai (DS) – Boring game about a boy who loses his memory and goes into the world of a book to get it back. Didn’t get anywhere because I was bored just by the prologue. Long ago I tried another Brave Story game on the PS2 and that was boring too so, yeah.

Densetsu no Yuusha no Densetsu (PSP) – Another sucky anime quickie cash-in game. I tried episode 1 of the show and couldn’t get into it, but I thought it might make a good fantasy RPG. Guess I was wrong. They let me fight one battle and then talked at me for 30 minutes. I didn’t have the strength to go on after that. Do please go on, this is most interesting →

Arc the Lad: Twilight of the Spirits (1)

Arc_the_Lad;_Twilight_of_the_Spirits_English_cover10 hours in. I didn’t know what to expect from an Arc the Lad game, but this seems like a normal SRPG so far. I’m really liking half of the story, and the battles are slow but highly playable. I don’t know how long this is or whether there’ll be a difficulty spike later on, but at this rate I should be able to finish it without too much trouble.

The story: Twilight of the Spirits tells the tale of half-human, half-Deimos twin brothers separated at birth, and the game switches from one perspective to another. From Kharg, brought up as the prince of a human kingdom, to Darc, brought up as a Deimos slave and mocked for his mixed heritage. As both of them rise to leadership positions of the opposing races, an collision is all but inevitable.

In terms of story quality, Darc’s route >>>>>> Kharg’s. If the game was just about Kharg it would be the standard, tedious RPG fare: prince of a small kingdom, evil empire taking over the world, mysterious girl on the run with magical trinket feeds prince cock-and-bull story, prince immediately swears to protect her to the death. I shouldn’t even have to spell all this out, you know it so well. Kharg is such a bore, such an annoying goody-two shoes with his little ponytail and his nice-guy attitude and his mommy running up every five minutes to wipe his little nose, it makes me sick.

That’s where Darc comes in. He’s no less goody-goody (despite his protests to the contrary) but his story is waaaay better for several reasons. First, visually and setting-wise his route is more appealing because of all the different kinds of Deimos and Deimos designs. Humans come in one flavor: human, but there are all kinds of Deimos. Orcon, Drakyr, Pianta, Coleopt, Lupine and many more besides, so there’s a lot more to look at. They also have different cultures, viewpoints and rivalries, so it’s an interesting world to read and learn about. Do please go on, this is most interesting →

Kanuchi: Futatsu no Tsubasa – Should have known it was too good to be true (spoilers)

kanuchi_frontRemember how I said last time that I thought I’d be done with Kanuchi soon and that Kasuga’s route would be relatively drama-free? Yeeeahhh, I kinda underestimated Idea Factory’s readiness to ruin a good story. Kasuga x Aki really seemed like a match made in heaven to me. The ordinary blacksmith girl and the ordinary royal bodyguard, just two normal people falling in love in a normal kind of way. What could possibly go wrong? Well, how about Kasuga actually being a time-traveling zombie from 14 years in the future, for starters?

It all went downhill from that reveal, and I won’t bore you with all the details of how he and Shin (who is actually a time-traveling murder-arsonist-matricide-patricide) came to Aki’s time, how Kasuga turned into a zombie/immortal and all the struggles they go through. The story does makes sense, more or less. I was just utterly blown away by the suddenness and unbelievability of such a turn of events. There was no indication of any such secret until the minute I got locked into Kasuga’s route.

(And it’s not just sudden, but it actually contradicts some earlier parts of the story. For one thing, if Shin really was the son of nobles, how could he burn down the house, kill his parents, go on the lam for a few years and then up and join the palace guard a few years later without changing his name or anything else about himself and have absolutely no one suspect a thing? But we’ll be here all day if I start picking the story apart, so I’ll give it a rest here.) Do please go on, this is most interesting →