Backlog Burnout Review of Lost Odyssey: Making Memories

Title: Lost Odyssey
System(s): Xbox 360
Release Year(s): 2008
Rating: Teen
Current Amazon Price: $88.88 (New) $13.75 (Used Like New)

The Skinny:

A beautiful return to form for Hironobu Sakaguchi and Mistwalker studios, Lost Odyssey is a shining testament to the power of a well told story and old school JRPG mechanics. Its gripping story, solid gameplay, immaculate presentation, and wonderful characters make this one Xbox 360 exclusive that should not be missed.

The Meat:

Has a video game ever made you cry? That may sound like a silly question to some, but those people have obviously never played Lost Odyssey. This game tells a tale of love, loss, and the pain of memory that will make you feel feels that you didn't even know you had. The mastermind behind this work, Hironobu Sakaguchi, is a name you're seen mentioned in my reviews before. He was the visionary behind the Final Fantasy series, and after his departure from Square Enix following Final Fantasy X, he formed his own game studio called Mistwalker. After their disappointing first outing called Blue Dragon, which was a formulaic, bland RPG with little to offer, I was worried that Sakaguchi had lost his touch and that Mistwalker was going to fade into obscurity. However, this game assuaged all my doubts and reminded me why I'm a Sakaguchi fanboy. Lost Odyssey is the tale of one Kaim Argonar, a man who cannot die. It is a tale about the pain of immortality, the importance of memory, and the toll that 1000 years of life can have on a person.

Saying too much more about the story would be a disservice to the player. It is a tale well worth experiencing, simple in its structure, complex in its ideas, and beautiful in its poignancy. The Thousand Years of Dreams feature, which involves Kaim remembering snippets of forgotten memories from his past in the form of beautiful flowing text and images representative of his dreams, features some of the most impressive writing I've ever seen from a game. These tails of tragedy, love, laughter, despair, and hope are emotionally evocative on a level many people would not think possible from this medium and it really is a treat to unlock each one.

Now what about the nuts and bolts of what makes a video game great: the presentation and the gameplay? From a presentation standpoint Lost Odyssey is a feast for the senses. The ever talented Nobuo Uematsu has once again created a musical score that perfectly fits each situation, from the brooding urban city themes to the expansive and whimsical world map flutes. While not as iconic or immediately memorable as some of his Final Fantasy works, each piece really does help set the mood and create an atmosphere for each location and event experienced. Graphically Lost Odyssey makes excellent use of the Xbox 360 hardware with impressive areas and detailed character models for both NPCs and enemies. It must be noted however that every now and then a texture will pop up that is downright ugly and wouldn't have looked out of place on the Nintendo 64. These moments are rare, but noticeable and they are largely background or ground textures. While overall the visual presentation is superb, these occasional hiccups are rather glaring. That being said, the visual style and art direction more than make up for any short comings on the presentation front. Unfortunately the same cannot be said for the load times. There are extremely long load times for battles in particular. While the encounter rate is thankfully low, the 10-15 second load time for each one can really start to add up. While not a huge negative, this could be off putting for some players as it does tend to drag the pace of things down now and then.

Speaking of encounters this is a JRPG in the truest of fashions. Gameplay consists of exploring areas for treasure, getting into random encounters with groups of enemies at regular intervals, and choosing combat options from menus for each of your characters. While this is par for the course for the genre, Lost Odyssey does do a few things to shake things up. For example, as mentioned above Kaim is immortal. In most video games this would be simply a "story device" and Kaim would still be able to die like any other character. Not so in Lost Odyssey. If Kaim's hit points reach zero he will collapse for a couple of turns and then revive. Game over only arrives if all party members are incapacitated at the same time. Non-immortal party members behave just as characters normally would in an RPG, becoming unconscious and/or dead when their energy is spent. While it's a small change, wrinkles such as the immortality aspect of battles really help freshen up the gameplay and keep it engaging and interesting for veterans of the genre. Furthermore, this game has a robust and interesting skill mechanic that once again draws from the game's thematic ideas. The mortal members of your party learn skills as they level up. This makes sense as they are growing and changing as people. However, after 1000 years Kaim is pretty set in who he is. As such he does not gain skills from experience and combat. Instead, he learns from the people around him and the items he finds. Immortal party members link themselves to mortal party members and their equipment, either slowly learning the ability attached to the piece of equipment or the skills of the person they are linked to. This helps to create a literal bond among the party members and adds a sense of cohesion and shared experience to the proceedings.

Similar to the above ideas, the elemental affinity system present in so many RPGs can be found here as well. At first it seems pretty standard, with enemies that have an affinity with fire taking more damage from water based attacks and so on with a rock, paper, scissors style across the elements. However, again Lost Odyssey manages to perfect and old system and tweak it just enough to be fresh and interesting. You can change your equipment mid battle at any time, and the game has an extensive ring crafting system. Using drops from monsters and items purchased or found the player can craft a wide variety of rings that add additional effects to attacks, from changing their element to causing status effects or bonus damage against specific enemy types like insects or mechanical types. The power of these effects is triggered by an extremely precise quick time overlapping ring system in battle. It keeps the player engaged and adds a whole new level of engagement over the top of the simple battle system.

Enough about the combat, let's discuss the people. Lost Odyssey is a game filled with incredible characters, from the mysterious nature of our immortal protagonist, to the wacky personality of Jansen, the party's resident drunk, womanizing mage. From the heroes to the villains the characters of this tale are well written and engaging, with understandable motivations and often times relatable experiences. Rooting for these characters, or actively rooting against some of them, allows the player to feel a great sense of engagement with the world, and go off the beaten path to find tidbits of information about their mysterious pasts or possible futures. I laughed at Jansen's antics more than once, and I felt great sorrow for the misfortunes of some of the souls who find themselves accompanying Kaim on his long journey.


The Bottom Line:

Lost Odyssey is an incredible game that any fan of JRPGs or a good story should really experience if they can. It's ruminations on the nature of memory and experiences that are accrued over a lifetime are thought provoking and make playing the game an unusual exercise in self reflection. Its system exclusivity, and on a system not known for its wealth of quality RPGs, could be a sticking point for some. Furthermore, the game is fairly difficult as far as turn based RPGs go and has a distinct old school mentality. That being said, its masterful writing, familiar but fresh gameplay, deliberate pacing, fantastic presentation, and wonderful cast of characters really make it a memorable and worthy journey that is well worth taking.  This game receives a firm recommendation from me with very few reservations, with only a couple minor graphical hiccups and some unfortunate load times holding it back from being a truly immaculate experience.

Reviewed by Grant Nielsen

Backlog Burnout Review of Shin Megami Tensei Persona 3 FES: Face Yourself

System(s): PS2, PSP
Release Year(s): 2007, 2008, 2010
Rating: Mature
Current Amazon Price: $98.70 (PS2 original), $15.16 (PS2 FES), $34.99 (PSP)

The Skinny:

A shining testament to the powerhouse that is the bizarre Shin Megami Tensei JRPG series from Atlus, Persona 3: FES is a lengthy, meaty, dark experience that is chock full of fun, personality, story, and enjoyment. This is a game with a unique idea pouring out of every orifice and its all wrapped up in a super stylized world that needs to be experienced.

The Meat:

Final Fantasy meets The Sims meets Silent Hill meets Pokemon. This is how I would describe Persona 3 to someone who is not familiar with it. If that sounds really bizarre to you that's because it is. It should also sound extremely fun and intriguing which would also be a correct assessment. Persona 3 is one of the most eclectic, strange, and stylish games ever made. Its mash up of genres and ideas should leave it a jumbled mess but instead it comes together to form an exquisite gaming experience that really needs to be played to be understood and appreciated.

Persona 3: FES is an updated version of the original Persona 3. There are several gameplay enhancements, as well as new story content. The entirety of the original Persona 3 is contained in a mode called The Journey, while the new 20ish hour mode called The Answer continues where The Journey left off. The basic story is that you take on the role of a new exchange student who has just arrived in the fictional Iwatodai/Port Island station of Japan to attend Gekkoukan High School. Everything seems normal when you get off the train and begin walking to your dorm, however soon everything takes on a green sheen, pools of blood appear on the ground, and all the people around you transform into coffins. Hurrying into your dorm you are met by a creepy little boy who asks you to sign a contract before disappearing into thin air. Then several other students come down the stairs with guns and begin questioning you. From this strange beginning your character embarks on an adventure that unlocks his ability to use personas, or physical manifestations of his personality. He uses these to battle monsters in the mysterious time known as The Dark Hour, an hour of lost time that exists between 12 and 12:01 AM that is only experienced by those who have unlocked their personas. i won't say any more, as the story of Persona 3: FES is excellent and one of the games many strong aspects.

From a gameplay perspective Persona 3:FES has two distinct styles that it switches between. The first of these is the exploration, persona collection, and combat that takes place around town and in the mysterious tower Tartarus that appears during the dark hour. You explore the tower floor by floor, constantly questing upwards. The tower is populated by Shadows, which are many armed black blobs wandering the floors. If they spot you they will aggressively and quickly charge at you. If you can manage to hit them with your weapon before they reach you then a turn based battle will begin on even footing. However, if they catch you by surprise or you miss then every enemy in the fight will get an extra turn to act before your party. This can be devastating and easily instantly wipe your team because the enemy AI is smart, brutal, and takes no prisoners. On the flip side if you can sneak up on a Shadow without being seen you get the same advantage. Once in battle your character can switch between the personas you have collected or created. Each different persona has different abilities, weaknesses, and stats, much like Pokemon. Magical abilities cost SP whereas powerful physical abilities cost your own HP to cast. This creates an interesting risk/reward system where to damage your opponent you must damage yourself. There are three different kinds of physical attacks (slash, pierce, and strike) as well as a full elemental system. Learning enemies weaknesses and keeping track of your own is key. If you hit an enemy's weakness it will be knocked to the ground and you will be granted another turn. Knocking down all enemies will give your party access to an all out attack where they jump on the downed party in a comic book style dust cloud of dirt and smacking sounds, dealing massive AOE damage. Care must be taken however because the enemy enjoys the same benefits as you. Get hit by an element you're weak to and you lose a turn and the enemy gains another. After battle you gain experience as well as occasionally gaining access to shuffle time. This mini game consists of cards ranging from experience boosts to additional personas. The cards rapidly switch around and it's up to you to track the one you want.

Speaking of acquiring personas through shuffle time, in classic Shin Megami Tensei fashion this game contains a robust fusing system. You can take two personas and fuse them together into a new, more powerful one, providing your character is equal or higher to the resulting persona's level. Mastery of this system is key to beating the game, as your power is directly related to your personas. There is an inheritance system in play for abilities known by the base personas as well, so careful fusing can result in powerful, custom made fighters. As the game progresses your fusion options open up to fusing 3,4,5, and even 6 personas into one powerful new force. Collecting all the available personas in the game is a similar feeling one gets from collecting Pokemon. It's fun, functional, and experimentation with different personas can reveal some fun new strategies.

One thing that may turn some players off is the lack of direct control of your teammates. They are controlled by the AI and you can give them general instructions like focus on healing or focus on knocking down the enemy. Overall the AI does a very good job and makes fairly good decisions. I actually like this system because to me it feels like you're really playing as this one character, and your party members are your friends, acting on their own to help you instead of just being mindless meat puppets tied to your whims.

Aside from the slick and smooth combat that can be found during the dark hour, there is another side of the game. This one involves time management and building of relationships in the normal world. This is an extremely strange and wonderful addition to the game. Aside from being this demon fighting bad-ass by night, your character, along with his friends, attends school and lives a fairly normal life by day. Aside from your combat stats you have social stats as well. These are charm, courage, and academics. These are raised by doing things like studying, standing up to bullies, or helping your friends with homework. These determine things like who you can ask out on dates or what activities you can take part in. The relationships you form with people, be it through dating, hanging out after school, or taking part in music club determine the strength of your social links. Each relationship you have has a specific tie to one of the arcana of the tarot cards (i.e. the magician, death, the hanged man, etc). These act as the class system for your personas. The stronger your social link is with that particular arcana, the more bonus experience it will get when you fuse it. For example, lets say you start dating a girl and your relationship with her is associated with the strength arcana. When you fuse a strength persona it will gain one bonus level. Now lets say you've been dating her for months of in game time and your relationship is pretty serious. Now when you fuse a new strength persona it will gain 6 bonus levels. This system is great because it requires decisions to be made. Do I go hang out with my girlfriend to raise the strength social link or do I go to practice with the swim team to raise the chariot link? And what about the exams coming up? I could either go to Tartarus tonight to fight some shadows and increase my combat stats, or I could spend the night studying to increase my academics stat to do well on the exams. This interaction between your social world and the combat world is the meat of the game and it meshes unbelievably well. It creates choice, tension, risk, and reward perfectly, all while giving the events of the game real meat and gravitas, all while telling a plethora of extremely interesting, interconnected sub stories.

A few final notes about the nature of the game in general and the differences between versions. One thing that must be mentioned is that this game is hard. Like really hard. The enemies are powerful, dangerous, and smart. Oftentimes elaborate strategies need to be planned out to deal with certain bosses. I personally enjoy this sort of challenge but it may turn some gamers off. This is only emphasized in The Answer mode which is significantly more difficult than the main part of the game. The game is incredibly long as well (hence the long delay since my last review). My final game clock, after completing both The Journey and The Answer was 110 hours. If that length of game is intimidating to you then I would recommend you steer clear because once you start playing you won't want to stop.

 Furthermore, there is a PSP port of this game. The graphics of the game were significantly downgraded for this version, however there were several gameplay changes. The option to play the entire game as a female was added which is a nice change of perspective. The story is the same but new character interactions and social links can take place. Also, in the PSP version it is possible to directly control your party members. So if letting the AI do its thing doesn't appeal to you then the PSP version is the way to go. However, this version does not contain The Answer, and neither does the original PS2 version.

The Bottom Line:

Perfectly fusing a multitude of disparate styles and designs, Persona 3: FES is a beautiful, bizarre, dark, wonderful game that I highly recommend. If you've got the time and the desire this game will provide you with an experience unlike any other and one I bet you will enjoy thoroughly from beginning to end. Also the soundtrack is one of the best in the business. All around an extremely solid game, and one I think any fan of JRPGs should play.

Grant Nielsen

Backlog Burnout Review of Dragon Quest: Wait is it Quest or Warrior?

System(s): NES, SNES, Gameboy Color
Release Year(s): 1989, 1993, 2000
Rating: Everyone
Current Amazon Price: $80.00 (NES), $50.00 (SNES), $299.98 (GBC)
(Please keep in mind all listed prices are for new or like new products. Buying used will significantly lower price.)

The Skinny:

This granddaddy of JRPGs, while not unplayable, is a relic of an age gone by. With very little story to speak of and gameplay that is 90% grinding very few modern gamers would enjoy this experience. However, hardcore fans of the genre may find some historical enjoyment in experiencing what many consider to be the genesis of the turn based JRPG.

The Meat:

Not too long ago I did a review of the original Final Fantasy. While that game and series was instrumental in forming the genre we now know as the Japanese Role Playing Game, there is another series which is perhaps even more instrumental. That series is Dragon Quest (known here in the states as Dragon Warrior until its eighth iteration). As an amusing side note, the reason for this name change is kind of a funny story. In the United States there was already a pen and paper RPG series with the name Dragonquest, so in order to not violate United States copyright law the name of the game had to be changed. It seems U.S. copyright law being a convoluted quagmire of handcuffing rules and annoying regulations is nothing new. Anyways, back on topic, published by Enix, this original game in that legendary series had random encounters, turn based combat, an overworld map, grinding for experience and gold, and talking to npc's (non-playable characters) to figure out where to go next and what to do. Basically, all the core elements that are so standard in modern JRPGs were popularized right here, albeit in a much more simple form. Dragon Quest would go on to release 10 more games in the main series across many different platforms, much like Final Fantasy. In fact, in Japan Dragon Quest is on par with Final Fantasy for rabid fandoms. Before taking a look at some of the later entries, some of which are among my favorite games ever, let's dig up this old dinosaur and see how it holds up.

The game opens with the King informing you that you are a descendant of the Legendary Hero Erdrick, who fought demons in ages past using a ball of light. Then the Dragonlord came, stole to ball of light, and hid it away in the darkness. It is your job as the descendant of Erdrick to defeat the evil Dragonlord. That is basically the extent of the story that is present in this game. There are a few more details that you uncover if you talk to every single npc, but the overall gist of it is found in these few sentences. And while its not the most enthralling story ever, I kind of like it for its simplicity. Here's this evil things. Go kill it. It's kind of refreshing in its own way after some of the convoluted messes I've seen in some more recent JRPGs. However, while the story may be refreshing in its simplicity, the gameplay is not.

Doing any kind of action in this game is incredibly cumbersome. Your character moves slowly and there is no run button. This wouldn't be a problem if all of the areas weren't so maze-like and sprawling. Secondly, once you manage to actually get to where you are going interacting with objects or people is more difficult that it should be. In most games, you would push the A button to interact with someone or something like a treasure chest. Not this game. When you press A a menu pops up with the options talk. status, stairs, search, spell, item, door, take. This means that to talk to people, you have to stop in front of them, open a menu, and select talk from the available options. Same with using stairs or opening a door, Nothing is automatic. You have to manually tell the game exactly what you want to do at all times. While this may seem like a small annoyance, it becomes frustrating after the 200th time you have to do it just to go up or down some stairs.

Once you manage to navigate your way out of the starting castle you will find yourself on the overworld and more than likely entering your first battle immediately due to the extremely high encounter rate. Battles in Dragon Quest consist of simple turn based 1v1 combat. It is your hero vs one monster and you take turns whacking each other until one of you dies. If its the player that dies you are revived by the king back at the starting castle with half of your gold gone. If it is the monster that dies then you are rewarded with tiny amounts of gold and experience. And here is where one of my major beefs with this game comes in. The reward you get for killing monsters is far far too low, leading to excessive amounts of grinding. And I really mean excessive. As a fan of JRPGs, I'm used to grinding and usually it doesn't bother me. However, this game takes it to a whole new level. You have to grind for upwards of 2 hours on level 1 monsters outside the starting town just to get enough gold to buy the basic starting equipment. And that is basically the entirety of the game. The monster level jump between towns is massive, so unless you've ground up enough money to buy the best available equipment from your current town you won't stand a chance. On the subject of equipment, this is another area where the game isn't very user friendly. There is no way to tell how a new piece of equipment will affect your stats or combat effectiveness in the shop. You just have to guess, based on the name and price, whether the equipment will be better than what you're wearing. Sometimes this is obvious, like the sword of fire is probably better than this dagger I'm using. However, if you're wearing the mirror armor and you see the holy armor on sale for 100000 gold in a shop, you have no way of knowing if that armor is better than what you're currently wearing and worth saving up for. It can be very frustrating to grind for 3 hours to afford equipment that is equivalent or only marginally better than what you have currently.

On a more positive note, the music is quite nice, especially considering how old the game is. Before doing the playthrough for this review, I hadn't played this game since I was a kid. Immediately when I started the game the music in the castle took me back to playing this on the NES in my grandma's basement as a child. I remembered every note from the town music, the castle music, and the overworld theme. It was a really fun experience and a testament to how well done the tunes were that they stuck with me for more than 10 years. While there are only 4 or 5 different tracks in the whole game they are all enjoyable and entertaining.

The Bottom Line:

While not a terrible game, Dragon Quest is just old. The frustrating mechanics are tolerable for a few hours, but after a time begin to really bog the experience down. From the archaic interaction system to the extreme level of grinding required to do anything at all the game just screams ancient. If you're like me and a huge fan of JRPGs and want to experience a little piece of gaming history, or if you played it when you were younger and are looking for a nostalgia trip then you may be able to glean some enjoyment out of the experience. Otherwise my recommendation would be to look elsewhere for your JRPG fun, because this old dinosaur is long since dead.

Backlog Burnout Review of Final Fantasy: Far From Final, Still Fantastic

System(s): NES, MSX2, WonderSwan Color, GBA, PSP, PS1, IOS, PSN, Virtual Consoles
Release Year(s): 1987, 1990, 2003, 2007, 2010
Rating: Everyone, Everyone 10+
Current Amazon Price:
$499.94 (NES), $9.99 (PS1), $54.99 (GBA), $9.99 (PSP), $8.99 (IOS), $9.99 (PSN)
 $9.99 (Nintendo Virtual Consoles)

The Skinny: 

While the original version of Final Fantasy is nearly unplayable in the modern day many of the re-releases are still extremely enjoyable and solid JRPG fun.

The Meat:

Final Fantasy as a series will always hold a special place in my heart. This is the series that originally got me seriously into video games. Final Fantasy II was the first RPG I ever played and Final Fantasy VII is one of my favorite games of all time. While the series has had its ups and downs (I'm looking at you Final Fantasy III -_-) it is safe to say that this is one of my favorite series ever and has been the most influential on me as a gamer and a person. It is also debatably the most popular and well known JRPG series in existence. Most people have at least heard about Final Fantasy if they haven't played one before. Also, as you can see from the information provided at the top of the article, the Final Fantasy games have been released and remade on a staggering range of consoles over nearly 30 years. While the main series is about to see the release its 18th major, numbered game I thought it would be interesting to take a look back at the one that started it all.

In the late 80s there was a small software company called Square that was the computer software division of a power line construction company called Den-Yu-Sha in Japan. In 1986 Square became an independent company. They proceeded to release a series of unsuccessful games and were in danger of going under. Then, a part time employee named Hironobu Sakaguchi had an idea to develop a role-playing game similar to the Dragon Quest series (known as Dragon Warrior here in the states) from Enix that was incredibly popular in Japan at the time. The development team raised the funds internally and had complete control over their creative product as a result. No one at the company expected the game to be popular and were all anticipating that it would be their final project before the company closed permanently. As such they decided to develop the game they had always wanted to make, not the game that the higher ups always told them to. If the game was going to bomb, why not do it on their own terms, This labor of love, the team's Final Fantasy if you will, went on to become one of the best selling RPGs of all time. It not only saved the company, it rocketed Square and Hironobu Sakaguchi to the forefront of the video game industry as the people to develop quality JRPGs. Final Fantasy has gone on to become one of the most popular and beloved series ever and the original game has been re-released countless times in many different forms. Some of these versions hold up much better than others.

Final Fantasy was first released in 1987, 1990 here in the United States on the Nintendo Entertainment system. This is the version of the game available on Nintendo's virtual consoles. The setup was simple. Players chose four heroes from a list of available classes. These classes are now known as staples of RPGs the world over. Fighter (warrior), black belt (monk), thief, black mage, white mage, and red mage. The player made party are the four heroes of light, and it is their duty to restore the power to the four crystals of earth, fire, water, and wind which are being sapped by the Four Elemental Fiends. The Fiends of Earth (Lich), Fire (Marilith), Water (Kraken), and Wind (Tiamat) serve as the games primary antagonists for the majority of the experience. While this may sound like a cliche plot nowadays, this is where it started. The gameplay is simple, party oriented, turn based combat. You select your characters actions and targets from a menu and then they carry them out according to their speed stats. Monsters are fought in random encounters that are entered while moving around the overworld map or dungeons. Since this game comes from an older school of RPGs the encounter rate is extremely high. While toned down slightly in later releases of the game, it remains quite high across all versions. These encounters are where the original version of Final Fantasy falls flat. They just haven't aged well in the slightest. Some of the mechanics are so antiquated as to be laughable. For example, if you have all of your characters select the same enemy to attack and the first character kills it, the remaining three will execute their attacks against the now empty space where the enemy was instead of switching to an available target. This wouldn't be too big of a problem if it didn't take 4000000 years for characters and enemies to execute actions. A basic encounter in this version of the game can last up to 7 or 8 minutes easily depending on the amount of enemies and how often your characters waste their time wailing on empty air. While these issues can be explained away or forgiven due to how old the game is it doesn't make them any less frustrating. Luckily, these grievances are fixed by subsequent releases of the game.

In 2003 a compilation of Final Fantasy I and II was released for the Playstation titled Final Fantasy Origins. This is the version of the game available on the Playstation Network. This compilation consisted of updated versions of both games, including improved soundtracks, updated graphics, and vastly improved gameplay. The gameplay went from being a slow plod of uncooperative mechanics to a smooth and sleek experience that is fast, fun, and nice to look at. Characters now auto acquired new targets if their current targets were already destroyed and the overall pace of combat was sped up vastly. This version of the game was a dramatic improvement in every way. The soundtrack especially is worth noting. While confined to the beeps and boops of the NES the original soundtrack was still extremely impressive. Now it was freed from the technological constraints of the NES to soar to its true potential, and its easy to see why Nobuo Uematsu, the man responsible, went on to become one of the best video game composers of all time. In my opinion he is one of the best composers period, in or out of the realms of video games. From chippy MIDI tunes to sweeping orchestral pieces and even operas he never ceases to please and amaze and later releases of Final Fantasy really showcase his early talent. While this version of the game is a vast improvement over the original, it is still far from the optimal version.

The next important North American release of the game was on the Game Boy Advance in 2004. This compilation of Final Fantasy I and II was titled Dawn of Souls. This version of the game is a blast. Slight graphical improvements over the Playstation version are nice, but the true draw of the game came from it being portable and including 4 massive bonus dungeons. These dungeons are awesome love letters to Final Fantasy fans, featuring bosses drawn from Final Fantasy III-VI. These bosses and dungeons are vastly more challenging than what is found in the rest of the game and are a blast to try to complete both for new players and especially for fans of the series. If you're looking for a good version of the game to play this is an excellent choice, however the best is still to come.

The 2007 release of Final Fantasy on the PSP is the crown jewel of the game's existence, released as a celebration of the series 20th anniversary. Featuring updated graphics, updated sound, and a new bonus dungeon in addition to the bonus dungeons from Dawn of Souls, this is the most comprehensive and complete version of the game to date. The gameplay is smooth, fluid, and the animations are absolutely beautiful. While basic, it is a supremely enjoyable and fun experience. Seeing where many accepted and familiar mechanics of RPGs began is a fun experience for game enthusiasts, and casual players will enjoy the simple yet rewarding story and gameplay. This version of the game is what can be found for apple devices from the app store. However I would caution against that version of the game as the controls are not nearly as fluid as the PSP version's.

The Bottom Line:

This one is an oldie, but a goodie. While the original NES version hasn't stood the test of time all other versions of the game are still a blast, especially the anniversary edition. If you are a video game enthusiast or an RPG fan you owe it to yourself to see how the legendary series began and experience this classic. Seeing the origins of Cid (referenced here as the ancient creator of airships long ago) and other such Final Fantasy staples is a major treat as well. However if you're jonesing for Chocobo riding you'll have to wait until Final Fantasy II.

Grant Nielsen

(Also just because I'm a Nobuo Uematsu fanboy enjoy the unbelievably awesome Final Boss music from Final Fantasy I)

Backlog Burnout Review of Etrian Odyssey: In a labyrinth this dangerous I would expect to find David Bowie

System(s): Nintendo DS

Release Year: 2007

Rating: Teen

Current Amazon Price: $21.50

The Skinny:

If you like extremely traditional turn based Japanese RPG (JRPG) combat, exploring, and don’t mind getting your teeth kicked in every now and then Etrian Odyssey is a must for you. Others may want to give it a pass.

The Meat:

Etrian Odyssey is an interesting beast. This Nintendo DS exclusive title from Atlus, the folks better known for the Shin Megami Tensei series, is a first person turn based dungeon crawler that cares little for the gameplay innovations of the past 20 years. From a gameplay perspective this 2007 release would not look out of place among the early 90s fare that it so clearly draws its inspiration from. The task it sets before you is simple. You are an explorer who has come to the town of Etria which is situated near a massive maze known as the Yggdrasil Labyrinth. Form a guild and explore it. What are you waiting for? Off you go! The game offers little explanation or guidance in the form of story that we have become so accustomed to in modern games. While this may seem like a criticism, it is actually one of the game’s greatest strengths. Presenting the player with this mysterious labyrinth and giving them no direction or instructions other than “go exploring” creates an interesting and unique experience. Every player will approach this task in their own way. Will you create a party of brutish thugs who rampage through the labyrinth smashing everything in your path or will you create a team of agile archers and survivalists who harvest materials and items from the labyrinth to sell for increased funds? Will you explore every floor carefully and find every hidden nook and cranny or will you rush through each layer of the labyrinth in a mad rush to uncover its deeper mysteries? The game places no pre conceived notions or requirements on you other than “go forth”.  While this task is simple and refreshing in concept, it is far from easy.

Standing in your way first and foremost is the Yggdrasil Labyrinth itself. As its name would imply it is a forested maze teeming with life. You explore the labyrinth in a first person perspective and this really allows you to realize how convoluted and twisted the pathways and locations are. Without a map you will quickly become hopelessly lost. This is where one of the more unique aspects of Etrian Odyssey comes to the fore. Most modern games would provide you with a map or have a map be filled out automatically as you explore. Etrian Odyssey would never hold your hand like that. It requires that you utilize the lower touch screen of the DS to draw your own map. While this may sound cumbersome it is in fact brilliant and enjoyable. You step into this labyrinth with no knowledge of what to expect. And then through your careful exploration of the starting areas a map of your own creation begins to take shape. You find shortcuts and secrets. The exploration becomes personal and you feel as if your guild is actually exploring an unknown realm. It gives a feeling of accomplishment and success to get to the end of a floor and see your carefully created map detailing every bit of the inhospitable maze you just traversed.

As mentioned above, the labyrinth is far from a dead place. It is filled with creatures and beasts, none of whom appreciate upstart adventurers wandering through their territory. When you inevitably bump in to these critters in random encounter battles, which happen at an extremely high rate, you enter first person turn based combat. This combat is about as traditional as it gets. Monsters are represented by nice static sprite drawings, and what battle animations can be seen are quite simple. Your options are the normal attack, skill, item, defend, escape, etc. If you've played a turn based RPG before you will be immediately at home here. However, unless you cut your teeth on old school NES RPGs of the early 90s the difficulty might catch you off guard. These monsters aren't playing around at all. Even basic battles can kick you to the game over screen faster than you can say Dragon Warrior. However, while difficult, the combat never enters the realm of unfair. With proper preparation, leveling, and strategy you will persevere and fell your foes. Once dead they will drop pieces of their bodies or materials that can be taken back to town and sold for currency to purchase items and equipment. And the more materials you sell to the shopkeeper the more equipment you can buy. Looking for a better shield? Better go find a dragon scale that you can have the shopkeeper make it from then. This almost Monster Hunter-ish aspect of the game makes hunting for a specific monster or drop meaningful and fun. While nothing in the gameplay and battle department is new or exotic, it is all executed with such precision and expertise that it never gets stale, repetitive, or boring. The developer knew what they were doing, and it can be seen and felt clearly in the end result.

Aside from the basic monsters you run into in the maze there are also the imposing FOEs. These monsters can be seen as angry looking orange or red snarls of energy in the dungeon. If they see you, they will chase you. If they catch you then you’d best hope you’re ready. These mini boss level monsters are extremely dangerous. When you first enter a floor you had best do your best to avoid them until you have done some serious leveling. This adds an aspect of cat and mouse to your exploration of the unknown. Turning a corner and seeing a FOE waiting for you leads to a terrified run hoping nothing gets in your way and that it doesn't catch you. Finding ways around these obstacles is a kind of puzzle solving in its own way. If it’s blocking your path do you let it see you and lure it out only to sneak behind it or do you wait until it leaves on its own? Is it moving in a set path or randomly? Only one way to find out.

As stated earlier the game gives you very little direction or purpose. Every now and then a member of town will ask you for a favor or the town leadership will task you with slaying a particular monster or collecting something. However, the exploration of the unknown is the true driving force of the game. As you go deeper into the labyrinth and it begins to change around you more questions arise than answers and you can feel that the answers are waiting if you can only get a bit deeper. Why is this labyrinth here? What is it? Where are these creatures coming from? The only way to find out is to play and go deeper.

The Bottom Line:

Etrian Odyssey is a supremely difficult, perfectly executed traditional JRPG firmly rooted in old school mechanics. If simple turn based combat isn’t enough for you then you may want to look elsewhere for your fun. This is not the place to go for a deep, gripping story or in depth character development. However, if the thrill of exploring the unknown and a really solid battle system coupled with an addictive mapping mechanic sounds like your cup of tea then drink up because this game is a blast for the right type of audience.

Grant Nielsen