The following contains spoilers for Lightning Returns, including the ending, and a few other games.

Lightning Returns: Final Fantasy XIII is an amazing game. As someone that enjoys Final Fantasy XIII and the character Lightning, to see the direction that both this series and character have evolved has been one of my joys of this past generation. It’s a series that was really never meant to be, at first; after all, Final Fantasy XIII itself ends with closure; a closure ripped wide open by Final Fantasy XIII-2, if only because the development team sought some way to both address the original game’s critics while pleasing its fans.

This could have been a disaster. I count Final Fantasy X-2 among the worst games in the franchise because of the way it unnecessarily warped the characters and world of Spira into something of a parody of itself, with an ending that wasn’t the insane effort and requirements necessary to see it in full. But rather than create sequels both incongruous and insulting, the developers instead expanded on that lore, maintaining a tone that’s somber, yet not so dark that it becomes depressing.

One of my favorite games of all time is the original Valkyrie Profile, released here in North America all the way back in 2000 when Enix was still its own entity. It happens to share quite a bit in common with Lightning Returns; whether these similarities are intentional or not, and whether the development team looked toward it and its sequel Valkyrie Profile 2 for certain inspirations, I can’t say. But as I write here, I’ll reference Valkyrie Profile quite a bit in helping explain my attitude toward Lightning Returns.

Protagonists and Narratives

At the core of the story is Lightning, of course. The protagonist, she begins the game having been pulled into the service of the god Bhunivelze; the highest power in the Final Fantasy XIII universe. With the world due to end in a matter of days, she needs to save as many souls as she can in order to allow them to move on to the next work that Bhunivelze is about to create. At regular intervals, she must report back to Hope, and deliver the Eradia energy she has gathered from those souls she saves in order to extend the time she has remaining.

At the most rudimentary level, it’s a premise not that dissimilar from Valkyrie Profile. In this game, the protagonist is Lenneth, a Valkyrie of Asgard awakened by Odin to recruit the souls of dead warriors to serve the gods at Ragnarok; the final battle at the end of the world. She must regularly report back to Freya and deliver worthy Einherjar to Valhalla for the coming war with Surt and the frost giants.

However, there is more to each story than the initial premise would indicate. Both Lightning and Lenneth are manipulated by their respective deities and are expected to do little more than serve like good little worker bees. But through various twists in their narratives, greater truths are revealed.

In Lenneth’s case, she ultimately discovers that been born into a human incarnation, and after her death, her memories of this life were locked away by the gods. She had only been reborn temporarily as a human in order to make her more apt at recruiting souls when the time came, but her human life was a remarkably short, tragic one, filled with abuse. She barely avoided being sold into slavery only because a village boy, Lucian, the only being in any plane of existence to show her actual compassion and love, managed to convince her to run away with him, and yet she died shortly after because of a tragic mistake.

Lightning, on the other hand, begins the game with dead emotions. She presumes for the longest time that they had been cast away by Bhunivelze, as they would get in the way of her mission; the enormity of the task she’s given would be soul-crushing otherwise. Her primary motivation for carrying on in her mission is Bhunivelze’s promise that her deceased sister Serah will be resurrected in the new world, yet she can’t even feel the joy at such a prospect.

But unlike Lenneth, whose memories were indeed locked away by the gods, it is revealed at the game’s end that Lightning’s loss of emotion was brought upon by herself. She had worked so hard to shun her perceived weaknesses and reject who she is on the inside that when she entombed herself in crystal in XIII-2, her heart, and the memory of Serah she had intended to keep safe within it, splintered away into its own entity in Lumina. One that antagonizes her while at the same time pushing her in the direction of what her heart truly wants.

As a friend of mine put it, it’s very Kingdom Hearts in that fashion. But unlike Kingdom Hearts, there’s no Disney whimsy here to lighten what is, in fact, a very dark tale. Lightning is so self-assured in what she thinks she wants, and what she thinks she has to do, that she doesn’t understand her heart’s true desire until it’s almost too late. Similarly, when Lenneth awakens to her memories, her journey is also almost brought to an end by the gods that wished for her to be nothing more than a puppet; it’s through the aid of the Einherjar she gathered and a little necromantic power on the side that she is restored to life, more powerful than ever before.

Antagonism

Though Lightning’s journey begins with her cast in the role of something like Bhunivelze’s Valkyrie and she grows in power with each passing day, she comes to realize that the god has something more in store for her. Bhunivelze is testing her, wishing for her to replace the fallen goddess Etro and restore the cycle of human death and rebirth. Where his plan falters, however, is that in his desire to create a new world, one that won’t come crashing to an end as before, he wishes to wipe all memory, history and emotion from humanity, purging the souls of the deceased from existence. He is a cruel, callous god, incapable of seeing or understanding the human soul, and thus he’ll simply destroy what he does not want.

Though Lightning lacks the capacity to feel, she understands what truth this means, and how it should matter to her. It would mean that Serah would never be reborn; whatever Bhunivelze creates in her place couldn't possibly be the same. And after a life filled with being used and manipulated by one higher power after another, from fighting the fal’Cie in Final Fantasy XIII to serving as Etro’s protector in XIII-2 to her role as Valkyrie in Lightning Returns, she understands that the gods would only continue to manipulate humanity, and thus the only way to free humanity from that cycle is to slay God himself.

Similarly, Odin and Freya had no love for humans, but they’re betrayed by Loki, who has stolen ultimate power for himself and struck Odin down. When Lenneth, reborn and with her memories intact, comes across Freya mourning Odin’s death, she cares nothing for them. She’s after Loki; not because he killed Odin, but because she unwittingly sent Lucian, the only being in all of existence that showed her love, to Valhalla, where Loki used and murdered him. Lenneth doesn’t care about higher powers; she just wants justice and forgiveness for what she’s done.

Killing a God

Lightning Returns ends in really the only logical way it can; with Lightning standing up to the creator and using all of the power that he imbued her with in order to kill him. It’s a relatively common idea in video games for humanity to fight against gods. For example, it’s an aspect that’s frequently seen in the Megami Tensei franchise, which has even gone so far as to include an incarnation of the Judeo-Christian god as a final boss on more than one occasion. Persona 4 begins with a murder investigation and ends with a team of high school students engaging in battle with an ancient Japanese creation goddess. And despite Lenneth’s already divine status as a Valkyrie, her connection to humanity is what drives her to end Loki’s life.

As for Lightning, she was given power to potentially replace a fallen goddess of death, and though she lands a serious blow, she can’t end the battle on her own. She needs the souls of her friends, and all of humanity, to serve as a blade that can kill Bhunivelze once and for all. It’s a story point that I seem to gravitate toward a lot, and yet it’s old as humanity itself. The struggle against the divine, and overcoming it through that human will. In the end, that Lightning manages to kill Bhunivelze is no more or less sensational than the Investigation Team, and Yu Narukami in particular, taking down Izanami at the end of Persona 4.

The Ending

As is promised in the beginning, at the end of Lightning Returns, the world is destroyed. But humanity is able to live on in another world, free from the gods that had oppressed it. And from the personal standpoint of Lightning, she’s able to live a new life, reborn with memories of her friends intact, her heart whole, and at peace. After such a long journey, Lightning, or Claire Farron perhaps, is able to rest. Her final reward is well deserved and justified after the struggles she’s needed to face, both internal and external, in order to attain it.

The World

Nova Chrysalia, what remains of the world of Pulse from Final Fantasy XIII and XIII-2, is not in a good state. It’s a world that’s been forced to stand still for five hundred years. With Etro’s death and the cycle of death and rebirth broken, what humans are left live an existence that’s part purgatory, part hell, in which people can’t age or mature, and new life can’t be born. Children remain children mentally and emotionally despite the hundreds of years of experience they’ve been forced to endure. Yet they can still die as easily as you or I can, falling prey to sickness or injury. With little other choice, they live their lives day in and day out, emotions worn by the unnaturally long years they’ve lived.

It’s a near hopeless, forsaken world that Bhunivelze can’t save, populated by beings that he ultimately cares nothing for. It’s Lightning who must grant its people some measure of peace, filling the holes in their hearts and lives despite the gaping emptiness that exists in her own. She is ultimately rewarded for her efforts, as stated above, when the souls of humanity join her in the final battle.

Despite the depressing, cruel nature of the world and the plight of those forced to live in it, Lightning Returns does offer a degree of levity, both in its story and world, as well as in its gameplay. Though missions in the game can be incredibly dark, like a murder mystery that’s gone unresolved, or helping a child actress that’s lived for so long that she’s forgotten how to cry for herself, there are others that provide a balance, offering lighter, more absurd moments and showing that people haven’t lost their spirit. Like Lightning being forced to say a ridiculous code phrase to gather fireworks from ladies dressed in chocobo attire. Or being rewarded by completing missions for the game’s Biggs and Wedge, which results in them becoming buskers that play Terra’s Theme from Final Fantasy VI, complete with vocals, of a sort. (Ba da DA da daaaaaaaa!)

Lightning’s interactions with the moogles are particularly notable for their silliness; an appropriate tone for the cute, somewhat absurd nature of these fantastic creatures. Interactions like the way that they swarm around Lightning excitedly, or the way that she helps find particular a trio of lost moogles back to the village by throwing them into the stratosphere. Or particularly Lightning’s reunion with Mog, in which he flies toward her in excited slow motion, only to be comically swatted away, as she’s not interested in offering a hug. Moments like these help give the game’s dreary world splashes of color and life, and remind us that there’s still worth in this doomed world.

Costumes, or “I feel pretty, oh so pretty…”

Speaking of the game’s lighter side, there is of course the schemata system, which is so key to the way that the game plays. Much has been made about the extensive wardrobe that Lightning can acquire in the game, as well as how revealing or ridiculous some of these costumes and accessory adornments are. Unlike the game’s world, where in what humor exists as a part of the story, these costumes, and their looks, are under the player’s direct control. It’s up to each individual if they wish for Lightning to look serious, or sexy, or ridiculous. It’s, in short, a system that helps allow the player to get what personal enjoyment they wish out of the game.

I personally tended to shy away from the more absurd garbs and accessories my first time through. For the most part, my schemata were the Spira’s Summoner garb (the FFX Yuna DLC costume), the Red Mage garb (and eventually, the accompanying hat adornment), and various samurai and warrior style schematas. Part of the way I equipped Lightning was born out of gameplay, of course; each garb affects Lightning’s stats in different ways, and different garbs come with certain abilities that are preset, making them more ideal for certain situations than others. I personally find the Spira’s Summoner garb one of the most useful costumes in the game, regardless of its appearance. On the other hand, the Red Mage costume, in addition to being fairly versatile in its abilities, looks pretty snappy. Add the hat, and you have the ensemble I most enjoyed running around in.

If other people prefer Lightning in the Miqo'te Dress, or in the more revealing outfits like the Watery Chorus, or to give Lightning the absurd facial hair adornments, I’m not going to argue. The outfits are there, and there are plenty of options for just about any taste, whether that taste leans more toward playing it straight, being silly, or searching for garb combinations that could potentially break the game. The point is that the system is incredibly versatile, both in terms of customizing Lightning for the purposes of gameplay as well as aesthetics. Play how you want, and get what you want out of it.

The Nature of Time

A key element of the gameplay in Lightning Returns is the flow of time, as well as the nature of having to deal with a time limit. It’s a concept that other games have tackled in different ways; The Legend of Zelda: Majora’s Mask is built around the concept of resetting and manipulating time in order to complete everything the game asks of the player in a three-day period. Dead Rising is much more strict, in that time is constantly running and the player has very tight windows in which tasks must be completed if the player wishes to see the game through to its true end. And Valkyrie Profile, which doesn’t feature an active timer or a daily countdown, forces a time limit upon the player in the form of chapters, each divided into a set number of turns. Any time Lenneth takes an action such as entering a dungeon or a village, turns are consumed, and once all of the turns are used up, the chapter is forced to end.

The path to Valkyrie Profile's best ending is also quite possibly the most complex of all of the games listed here. In order to uncover the truth behind Lenneth’s past and the road to the final battle with Loki, the player must engage in an elaborate and very specific set of actions throughout the game while monitoring numerical values associated with Lenneth to ensure that they are never too high (which can block off the game’s best ending) or too low (which can trigger the game’s worst ending). It’s a byzantine path that’s unfortunately difficult if not impossible to uncover without the use of a FAQ and one of the few serious strikes I can really level against the game. Yet even so, its difficulty and obtuse obscurity mirrors the difficulty that Lenneth faces in following the orders of the gods while pursuing her own objectives.

Lightning Returns is, by contrast, actually not all that difficult to manage. Though the time limit seems daunting at first, the game does provide tools that affect the clock. Specifically, the power of Chronostasis can be used to temporarily stop the clock and give Lightning more time before the current day is out. Its low cost also makes it a power that can be easily used over and over, so long as the player has the points to spend on it. Also, unlike a game like Dead Rising, time’s passage pauses while in battle, and the objectives are designed in such a way that even without the constant use of Chronostasis, achieving the game's real ending is not a strategy guide-necessary task. Chronostasis certainly helps, and the player needs to be mindful of the clock, but the deadlines are rarely as tight as they are in Frank West’s zombie-slaying jamboree.

What ultimately matters is that Lightning completes missions to earn Eradia, which she must turn in at the end of each day (beginning and ending at 6AM sharp), and at certain thresholds increases the amount of days she has remaining. The impetus for performing well is there, but that impetus isn’t so strict that the player ever feels trapped in a dead end, or in need of outside help.

The Music

The soundtrack to Lightning Returns is the culmination of three games’ worth of music. It features battle themes and remixes of tracks from XIII and XIII-2 in addition to its own original music, producing a sum total soundtrack that feels like a natural evolution. But the game doesn’t simply draw from the XIII series, but from Final Fantasy as a whole. The game’s cities are littered with street performers that play remixes of various tunes from past Final Fantasy titles, it’s a charming touch that adds a little flair to the game without drowning the soundtrack in fanservice.

The ways that some of these existing tracks are used is inspired. There is, for example, a battle in the game that pits Lightning and a chocobo against an extra powerful chocobo eater. And the theme chosen for this battle in particular is the hilariously metal red chocobo theme from Final Fantasy XIII-2.

Though, a little fanservice also doesn’t hurt. Should the player win a battle while wearing any of the special Final Fantasy-character inspired DLC garbs, the standard victory fanfare is replaced with the fanfare of the representative game. And if there’s one version of the classic fanfare I love more than any of the others, is the version used in Final Fantasy X. I heard it a lot in the nearly fifty hours I've pumped into the game, and it's great every time.

But it’s not all just reused tracks, old or new. The original music composed for the game is very atmospheric, and again suited to the game’s tone. The soft, vocal melody that plays while on the Ark in the space between days is a somber tune; one that brings to mind both Lightning’s status as a servant of God and the haunting nature of the messed up world.

And then there’s the theme to the final battle with Bhunivelze; a thirteen-minute-long operatic cacophony bringing to mind battles from Lightning’s past as well as past entries in the franchise. Its length, and the dissonant madness of confronting the almighty god it represents, brings to mind in some ways Dancing Mad, the equally cacophonous, operatic theme to the final battle against Kefka in Final Fantasy VI. Indeed, one of Bhunivelze’s most powerful attacks, seen in his second form, is named for that theme.

The Use of Mythology

Behind the Final Fantasy XIII series, there’s something called the Fabula Nova Crystallis mythos; a fictional mythology that was originally intended to serve as a shared backbone between Final Fantasy XIII, Final Fantasy Agito XIII, and Final Fantasy Versus XIII. Things changed, of course; Agito and Versus are no longer explicitly named for XIII, though their connection to the mythos is supposedly still there. What remains to be seen, however, is how the exploration of this mythos in Final Fantasy XIII-2 and Lightning Returns will relate to other games, particularly Final Fantasy XV. The god at the center of the mythos is now dead; killed by Lightning. Does this mean that plans for Final Fantasy XV and its relation to Fabula Nova Crystallis have changed drastically since its days as Versus XIII? A friend of mine, one who is particularly into world building, pondered whether XIII-2 and Lightning Returns may have in fact used concepts that were intended for Versus. Is it possible that the new world seen in the end of Lightning Returns is the same that will be seen in Final Fantasy XV? Will Final Fantasy XV still reference the gods and the mythos surrounding them as a separate continuity, allowing dead gods to be alive again? I guess we’ll have to wait and see on that.

On a related note, as touched upon before, Lightning Returns otherwise takes bits and pieces directly from Norse mythology. Lightning is more or less a Valkyrie in service to a god. The Eradia she gathers is delivered at the end of each day to Yggdrasil, the world tree; a name taken from a tree of the same name in Norse myth. And even further, Odin, Lightning’s Eidolon dating back to the original XIII, is named for the god of thunder at the top of the pantheon. These references, while overt and in some cases aren’t much more than surface-level, are handled well. Certainly, they carry more meaning than similar references in past games, such as Final Fantasy VII’s Midgar and Nibelheim; references to the human world of Midgard and the frozen hell of Niflheim. References that, in all honesty, don’t make that much sense in or out of the game’s context.

Conclusion

If you managed to make it this far without summoning the teal deer, I thank you. I can’t say that there’s anything profound here for me to end on. My goal was to explain some of the ways in which I find Lightning Returns so fascinating and enjoyable with some context from another game that I hold in the highest of regard. Lightning Returns struck a strong chord with me; one that few RPGs have. It is a game that I find fantastic and invigorating for numerous reasons, and a lengthy, rambling blog post such as this can only get so much of that across. The last thing I’ll say here is this:

Lightning Returns may very well be one of my favorite games of all time. That’s a difficult bar to truly judge until enough time has actually passed, but it’s an argument that seems plausible to me and that doesn’t require hyperbole in order to make. Lightning’s journey is a grim, sad, goofy, and ultimately joyous one, and it’s an experience that few games have been able to match in my own heart.

The Set-Up

Back in the days of the DS, I bought only a scant few import titles for the platform despite its lack of a region lock. Specifically, the Ouendan games. And I've already written about those. Unfortunately, the 3DS isn't as open as its predecessor, which means that if I wanted to play a game for it from another region, it means either finding some way to mod my North American unit or buy a Japanese model. I went with the latter option and bought a secondhand Japanese 3DS from a local retro/import game shop. (Pink Gorilla Games. They're pretty awesome. If you're ever in Seattle, look them up!)

So why did I buy a Japanese 3DS? Well...

The Reason

I really wanted to play Hatsune Miku: Project Mirai 2. (The notebook underneath the game case actually came with the edition of the game I bought off Amazon, amusingly enough.) Was it worth it? Oh hell, yes, it was worth it!

The Game

Project Mirai 2 actually stands out a bit from other rhythm games for the simple fact that it offers more than one rhythm play style. It's an unusual touch for any game in the genre that isn't based on the use of plastic instruments. The original game (which I didn't play) was based entirely on button input, but for the sequel, they went back, added in a touchscreen-based rhythm mode, and then completely redid the button-based mechanics of the original mode for good measure. Add in the fact that both modes have three difficulties each for all forty-seven songs, and wow that is a lot of rhythm.

As far as challenge goes, touch mode is definitely easier than using the buttons, and while challenge will vary depending on experience and skill, the lower difficulties have yet to prove too demanding. The hardest button mode, oh wow. That's going to take some practice.

Also, there is an unlockable version of Puyo Puyo in the game. Also, as someone that has never played much Puyo Puyo, I'd say that it's a fair version of the game. The AI is at least easier to deal with than it was in Dr. Robotnik's Mean Bean Machine. But no matter how well I do in the first few stages, I get to MEIKO and she just annihilates me with godlike Puyo power.

Is it Import Friendly?

Yes. Like the Ouendan series, knowledge of Japanese is not a requirement to play the game, though there is some side content such as a dance hall and some other extraneous features that will be more difficult to get your head around. I've had the game for only a few days and there are a couple of features that I'm still prodding at to see if I can use them properly without having to search for online help. That aside, the base rhythm mode is absolutely easy to get into with plenty of helpful graphic prompts right where they're needed.

Is it Worth Buying the Original Project Mirai?

Actually, it's safe to skip. Not because the mechanics are inferior; I'm not in a position to judge that. However, because the mechanics in the sequel are so different, they brought back the whole slate of songs from the original to take advantage of them, which is a little less than half of the total roster.

Any Favorite Songs?

The song selection in Mirai 2 is actually, really, really strong. It has it's share of light and fluffy, including a song devoted describing the recipe for a Clover Club:

Or a little kung fu and Chinese language lesson in Yi Er Fan Club:

And songs that tell stories, like Kokoro (Heart):

And for those that played Project Diva F, a few songs that appeared in that game, like Senbonzakura, also appear in this game:

So it's a pretty diverse game in its song selection, though it leans more heavily toward Miku's songs than those of other Vocaloids. (Poor KAITO only has one solo in the whole game.) If Japanese Vocaloid music is your thing, you're very likely to have some favorites among the list.

Unfortunately, it being an import-only title does make it less than easy for a lot of people to get just because of the extra costs involved. But hopefully Project Diva F is doing well enough for Sega to get them to consider localizing it along with Project Diva F 2nd. Time will have to tell on that, though. For now, the extra costs were well worth it. Project Mirai 2 is a blast, I have a Japanese 3DS for other import titles, and this particular secondhand unit just happened to come with the Virtual Console version of the original Fire Emblem installed on it. Hmm...

Like many on Giant Bomb, I recently caught the Spelunky bug thanks to Patrick’s travails in Spelunkin’ with Scoops.It was a week ago tomorrow that I downloaded the game from PSN and started my own cave-diving expeditions on the PS3.There was triumph.There was cursing.And now, I think I’m just about done.

It’s not that I don’t think Spelunky is a good game; on the contrary, it’s a fantastic concept and design.The art style and music are full of personality and helps it stand out in a sea of pixel-art indie platformers with chiptune music.I also appreciate the clever touches, like the randomized nature of the prologue text that appears as the game starts up and the intrepid Spelunker enters the cave.And as someone that’s enjoys a good Roguelike, or Roguelike-like (but despises Like Likes), I really appreciate its qualities.

It’s also, in a strange way, helped me cope a bit.A week ago, I learned that a coworker of mine passed away.I worked with him at times, being in the same department, and we’re all going to miss him a lot.And I guess part of the reason I started playing Spelunky was to fill my time with something else I could really focus on.It helps that a good portion of Giant Bomb has been focused on it as well.So even though no one else on my meager PSN friends list has been doing the daily challenges, there’s still a sense of community there.

But it’s time I hang up my fedora and whip and move on.I’m far from mastering the game (I’ve made it to the ice caverns once and usually can’t get more than halfway through the jungle), and there’s a lot left that I could discover.Yet it’s hard to continue to find that drive when a good run is done in by insurmountable obstacles laid by the random seed.I understand that’s sort of the nature of a Roguelike, but unlike a proper Roguelike, which at least presents the player with the consistent ability to grow strongerwith experience points and leveling, Spelunky puts the player’s ability to grow in power entirely at the whims of the randomizer.I’ve had runs where I’ve been swimming in bombs and damsels without effort, feeling really good about myself, and I’ve had runs where I’ve stocked tens of thousands of dollars and have been unable to spend it because an enemy managed to send a shopkeeper into a berserker fury.My ability to progress is only partially based on practice and skill and largely based on whether or not the game has deemed fit to give me a good shot of even making it to 1-4.It’s just not a challenge that I feel willing to endure at this point.

So I’m not going to ever face Olmec, much less challenge Hell.I don’t really feel the inclination to do so.I feel that I’ve just had my fill of Spelunky.I have other games, new and old, that I’d just rather put more time and effort into.Maybe it’s just been the mourning mindset I’ve been in as of late has faded, or maybe I’ve just gotten tired of getting knocked into spikes by cobra venom, but the itch to Spelunk just isn’t there anymore.It’s been fun, duders, but while I’m bowing out, may you succeed in carrying that eggplant all the way.

Looking back at my recent blog and forum history, I’ve written an unusual volume about Zelda lately. But it’s kind of hard for me not to, what with A Link Between Worlds being an excellent game and Hyrule Warriors looking like a Zelda game that was designed specifically for me in mind. Given that I’ve barely touched a Zelda game otherwise in recent memory, it’s been a very peculiar month in that regard.

To go along with all of this, I decided to finally sit down and read through Hyrule Historia, the combination art book/Zelda chronology that was published in English close to a year ago. I actually bought a copy of the book when it was first released, but other than glance at some of the artwork, I hadn’t actually read through it until recently. So yes, I am late to the party on that.

That being said, Hyrule Historia is also the most comprehensive compilation of information on The Legend of Zelda from an official source you’re going to find anywhere. Fans had speculated for years on the existence and make-up of an official Zelda timeline, and the news did make the rounds when it turned out that Nintendo does have an official Zelda timeline that they had kept internally for some period of time. What’s surprising upon reading the book is just how much thought was actually put into making the timeline fit together, even when it does that three-way split with Ocarina of Time’s time travel shenanigans.

Of course, before the book even touches upon the chronology, it dedicates a substantial portion to Skyward Sword, in particular. This makes sense, given that when the book was published, it was it was still the newest title, and there’s an absolute wealth of Skyward Sword artwork included, from character and monster concepts to weapon, landscapes, and interiors. And it’s all annotated with insightful commentary into the game’s artistic design process. And you know? Reading this book really makes me wish I was more comfortable playing Skyward Sword, but being a lefty, the motion controls just didn't click with me when I tried them. Which is really a shame, because this book makes the plot sound fantastic.

Following this is the chronology, which is, as I said before, incredibly detailed. Though it acknowledges up front that not every Zelda game is considered canonical (naming Link’s Crossbow Training and BS The Legend of Zelda as examples; no, it doesn't make any mention at any point of the CD-i games. Why are you even asking that?), there’s still fifteen games listed as a part of the timeline. And the book doesn’t simply describe events game by game, but by the actual chronology; for example, it starts off with the creation of Hyrule as told in Ocarina of Time before moving on to Skyward Sword, then talks about some more of the history as divulged in Ocarina of Time before moving on to the events of The Minish Cap and Four Swords. And then it discusses the “present” events of Ocarina of Time in detail. Throughout, the book points out little details here and there that connect the games here and there, like recurring symbols and other representation.

Most importantly, this detail doesn’t get mired as the timeline splits. It handles one branch at a time, and does a great job of detailing how the histories of each game weave together. There are times when it’s evident that some connections or explanations are reaching, and certainly some continuity inconsistencies, but on the whole, anyone that has an appreciation for the storylines in Zelda or for fictional histories in general would probably get a kick out of the presentation. Also, just to anyone that's lamented the lack of a "dark" Zelda: Shut up and read this book. There are plenty of dark elements in Zelda's history, and Hyrule Historia makes no attempt to sugarcoat it. It also raises some interesting questions that aren't discussed in the text, like whatever became of Lorule and Termina in the timelines in which they haven't been explored.

Following the chronology, there’s a collection of artwork and production materials from throughout the series. It’s unfortunate, but understandable, that not every game is represented equally here. There are very few surviving designs from some games, and Link’s Awakening in particular is limited to a collection of sheets depicting design concepts for the game’s opening, which are all displayed on a single page. On the other hand, it also reveals a certain lighter side to the development; there are a couple of rough Zelda sketches from A Link to the Past that depict her dressed in a goofy 80s/early 90s-style of sci-fi anime costume.

The newer games, with their larger scopes and more recent development, have a much greater wealth of material to pull from. There are thirty pages of artwork from Twilight Princess alone. And like the opening section on Skyward Sword, it’s all given thoughtful annotation.

All of the above are bookended by a foreword and afterword by Shigeru Miyamoto and Eiji Aonuma, respectively. And then as an added bonus, there’s a short-story manga prequel to Skyward Sword at the very back written and drawn by a pair that have been adapting Zelda games into manga for over a decade. It’s very well drawn, and an interesting short-story (Holy shit, Link talks, and he doesn't sound like someone that ate paint chips as a toddler!), and in retrospect, might actually have a few hints at things to come in Hyrule Warriors.

So I guess the end result of all of this is, I wish I had actually sat down to read Hyrule Historia sooner. It goes above and beyond the usual art book to present a lot of very detailed information that a hardcore Zelda fan would eat up and even casual fans should find interesting. It’s just as interesting as a historical work on the series and its development as it is as a book of pretty pictures.

(Warning: There will be spoilers!)

The Legend of Zelda was one of my earliest video game experiences, and an unusual one in a lot of ways. It wast the first game I had ever played that featured an open world of any sort. There's a constant demand for the player to explore and experiment. There was a whole remixed version of the game to play hidden within. And that fancy gold-colored cartridge was pretty eye-catching, too. But from those earliest days of Zelda, my history with the series has been spotty, at best. There are a lot of games that I either haven't played, or only partially played but never completed, or maybe only played a scant little before never going back to it.

So I'm hardly the hardest of the diehards when it comes to being a hardcore Zelda fan. I've enjoyed what bits of the games I've played, but tend to feel like an outlier at times (I like Twilight Princess, for example). Within the past year, I started playing Link's Awakening on the 3DS Virtual Console and the Wii U version of Wind Waker and set them both aside early on. I keep telling myself I'll get back to them, but will I? I'd like to. They're both fun games. But the draw isn't there for me at the moment. Yet despite this on-again, off-again interest in Zelda, I asked for and received The Legend of Zelda: A Link Between Worlds as a Christmas gift.

And it hooked me more than any other Zelda game I have ever played. A lot of its appeal for me does relate to its status as a direct sequel to A Link to the Past; one of my all-time favorite SNES games and one of the few Zelda titles I've put more than a modicum's worth of time into. There's nostalgia at play in recognizing the familiarities of the world map, the enemy designs, the sound effects and music. Even after so many years, A Link Between Worlds managed to bring a number of dormant memories to the surface of my recollection. And yet it doesn't feel cheap in doing that, or like it's merely a nostalgia cash-in, because it does so much more than just emulate the look and feel of Hyrule of old.

Part of this is due to the gameplay, which is like a Link to the Past in many important ways, but the biggest key difference is in the way that the subweapons are all up for grabs, almost from the very start. Not only does this free up the player to tackle the game's dungeons in any order and explore at will, but it frees up the dungeon designs as well. In A Link to the Past and similarly structured games, it's generally the case that the player explores a dungeon to find a specific item that is key to completing that dungeon and/or defeating the boss before moving on to the next dungeon in a specific sequence. But in A Link Between Worlds, these dungeon designs have the freedom to be more open-ended. True, they generally each require a specific piece of equipment in order to proceed, but there's never a point where not being able to explore dungeon X because you don't have item Y is a problem that can't be solved by a quick item rental or purchase. The whole wall-merging mechanic has an equally profound effect, taking a map that was once strictly explorable in two dimensions and turning it on its head in dramatic fashion, from the initial reception of the power to the final moments of gameplay. For everything that the world provides with its nostalgia, it provides even more in making the old feel brand new.

Just as important, to me at least, are the characters. Zelda games have always had their recurring figures with a colorful cast of newcomers, and A Link Between Worlds delivers on this in ways that again play on nostalgia while feeling entirely fresh. There are Link and Zelda of course, as well as secondary characters like Sahasrahla and the potion-brewing witch. There are also the seven sages that Link has to rescue, each given a smattering of screen time before being sealed in paintings for the majority of the game.

But then there's the goofball merchant in the purple rabbit hood, Ravio, the androgynous Ganon stand-in, Yuga (hey, I thought he was a she when I first saw him), and Hilda, the Princess of Lorule. I'm not going to sit here and say that the game is unpredictable; there were some twists that I saw coming from a distance, particularly in the endgame, but it's possible to be telegraphed while still maintaining punch, and this game has some punch. Whether it's Hilda revealing herself as the mastermind behind the sages' kidnappings or Ravio turning out to be Link's less courageous, Lorulean doppleganger, the pieces in the ending fall firmly into place in ways that are satisfying on numerous levels. The way that the game plays with certain expectations (because of course Yuga betrays Hilda in the end for his own gain). The twist on how the final battle is won using the traditional magical arrows seen in past Zelda titles. The way that Lorule's myriad woes are resolved via the power of the Triforce, much like how the Dark World's woes were fixed by the Triforce in A Link to the Past. The way it all ties up left a smile on my face.

Yet, the ending isn't something I'd have experienced were it not for the fact that the gameplay that makes up A Link Between Worlds is so much fun. It's certainly not the most challenging game I've ever played in terms of combat difficulty (I only died seven times on my first time to the ending), but the dungeon layouts and puzzle designs are teasing enough to encourage pushing forward, rarely falling into the realm of frustrating. Really, the most frustration I had with the game as early on in the Lost Woods. I became stuck on a glorified shell-game of a puzzle for an embarrassingly long time, while made me feel even sillier when I realized the obvious solution that I had been ignoring the whole time. It was the sort of trip-up that made me realize how I had to focus not just on what I was seeing, but on what wasn't in plain sight. Whether that be through merging with walls to find new pathways or trying items in unintuitive ways to locate maiamais.

(And Mother Maiamai is just the sweetest lady you'll meet in this game. Believe me!)

It can often be the case that when someone declares a game the best in a series they've ever played or a best game ever mere days after playing it, it comes off as hyperbole that is difficult to take seriously. It's like listening to Comic Book Guy from The Simpsons. But I feel that with everything that A Link Between Worlds brings, gameplay, characters, and everything else, it has easily become my favorite Zelda game, beating out the age-old luminaries. I wouldn't have expected this, but then again, for everything familiar about A Link Between Worlds, there's a welcoming unfamiliarity.

Another year, another yearly awards blog post! It was a very eventful, strange year in games, what with two console launches (Or three, I guess, if you really want to count the Ouya) and a variety of high quality games that made the Game of the Year awards from professional outlets more unpredictable than in recent memory. But this isn't about talking about other awards. These are my awards, and I'm handing them out right now!

Biggest Disappointment: Microsoft, WTF?

This was a hard one to decide on this year. And though I'm not an Xbox 360 owner, nor particularly a fan of Microsoft in general, even I was taken aback by just how they screwed up the Xbox One reveal and the PR disaster that followed. If there's anything truly disappointing about the fiasco, it's that it happened in the first place. Insistence on an always-online connection and DRM scheme and murky details regarding the simple act of borrowing games are just examples of things that made people annoyed with the direction Microsoft was taking their new console. And while some of the complaints veered into the realm of paranoia, justified or not (the NSA spying revelations didn't exactly help Microsoft's plan to make Kinect a mandatory component of the console), the fact remains that they had grossly misread the market and spent the following six months putting the Xbox One on an emergency course correction. A course correction that, to no surprise, has left the console with some very strange quirks. Quirks that could be ironed out in time, given enough firmware updates, but the fact remains that the console wouldn't have been in the state it launched if Microsoft wasn't compelled to spend half a year undoing a large portion of their business plan for the console.

I work at a company that employs a few former Microsoft employees, and to hear them tell it, this is a situation that unfortunately could have been seen coming a mile away. Microsoft has a history of launching products designed with features that they think consumers should want, rather than what consumers actually want. It bit them before and it bit them again. And they wouldn't have learned their lesson this time had the audience the depended on not made it loud and clear that what they were intending to serve up was a huge mistake in the making. I can only imagine what they would have done had the uproar not occurred until after the console launched.

Best New Hardware: PlayStation 4

This award comes with the caveat that I honestly don't have much to say about the PlayStation 4 at the moment, other than it's a very well-designed console. I preordered a console for launch, but it's mostly been collecting dust for the time being; none of the retail games are appealing to me at the moment (shooters, sports, and, uh...Knack), but Resogun is a legitimately fun title, and the PS4 version of Flower shows off the capabilities of the DualShock 4's motion sensing. It's a solid piece of hardware, I'll give it that.

Now I just need more to actually play on it.

Worst Game: Grand Theft Auto V

I know that some of you are thinking I'm crazy right now, but hear me out. For one thing, I did not play that many bad games this year. I certainly played some games that were more underwhelming than others, but I've managed to avoid touching straight-up garbage like Ride to Hell: Retribution, so here we are.

There's a lot to do in Grand Theft Auto V, with a variety of missions and side activities spread across the storylines of three characters, and that's about all the praise I can muster for it. I wrote in a previous blog that prior to Grand Theft Auto V, I hadn't touched a GTA game since Vice City. And yeah, it's still GTA all right, but in the long interim between my days of ramping cars in Not Miami of the 1980s and now, it's apparent that Rockstar's priorities have shifted into the realm of self-indulgence and excess. Los Santos and the surrounding wilderness are comprised of a ludicrously vast amount of space, but much of it is wasted. The writing is consistently and continuously undone by terrible attempts at satire that wouldn't make the cut of a weak episode of South Park. It's not funny. It's horribly written and presented. It's legitimately embarrassing at points. And it's made all the worse for the fact that when the game isn't trying to be satirical, it's actually pretty entertaining. The characters, while not great, are interesting in their own ways, and the storyline is one that could have been amazing had it not been drowned in a septic tank of horrible, cliche, offensive, straight-up moronic attempts at satire and comedy.

The gameplay also has its issues. Trying to decide whether auto or manual aim on guns is a continuous puzzle in and of itself, as the game doesn't seem particularly suited to either. Flying aircraft is both terribly introduced and needlessly complex. The police still react like psychopathic lunatics and prefer throwing as many police cars in your path as they possibly can over anything resembling an intelligent tactic. In a genre that's seen more and more quality entries in recent years, from the Saints Row series to Sleeping Dogs to Lego City Undercover, games that were once "GTA clones" are outshining GTA in just about every way possible save for map size. And that map is just way too damn big.

Grand Theft Auto V is a bloated, god-forsaken mess of triple-A excess. And I haven't even mentioned the broken state that the online component launched in.

Best New Character: Isabelle (Animal Crossing: New Leaf)

I didn't see this coming.

Animal Crossing is a series that does not have characters that are particularly deep or complex. You're never going to find the dramatic pathos of The Last of Us while swapping T-shirts with that hyperactive cat that is your neighbor. That being said, Animal Crossing: New Leaf is the most fun I've had with the series since the original GameCube game. And while there is a plethora of reasons why this is the case, one of those reasons is a brand-new character: Isabelle.

New Leaf switches things up by making the player the town mayor, and Isabelle, the secretary at the mayor's office, is always there to assist you. She's the character that greets the player each time the game is booted up and the town is loaded. She helps pick out locations for new construction projects. She's a fluff-headed dog that is always doing her best to help the player keep the town in top shape, no matter the time of day. In a town where the residents move in and out and the shops open and close at various times of day, Isabelle is one of the true constants. She helps give Animal Crossing new life in New Leaf, and for all of this and more, she's my best new character of the year.

Also, she wears bells that jingle when she walks. Trump card deployed.

Best Graphics: Super Mario 3D World

It's about time Mario was in HD blah blah. Whatever your feelings on Nintendo's late arrival to the HD party, one thing's for certain. Super Mario 3D World is a beautiful game. Filled with bright, brilliant color and artistic touches, it's a beautiful game to simply behold, whether it's in the early stages of green grass and blue skies or the final ascent of Bowser's tower. It's yet more proof that when it comes to graphics, horsepower isn't everything.

Best Music (Licensed): Hatsune Miku: Project Diva F

Rhythm games live and die by their music. The Project Diva series, which had seen a number of installments on the PSP before making the jump to the Vita and PS3, is no exception, and the franchise's western debut in Project Diva F has a track list that is wonderful, top to bottom. The game is loaded with an assortment of songs from the silly to the sincere, the light and fluffy to the bizarre and demented. Hopefully, Project DIva F 2nd continues that trend next year.

Best Music (Original): Fire Emblem: Awakening

Fire Emblem: Awakening's soundtrack is my favorite of the year for the simple reason that it compliments the game so perfectly. Whether it be in the barracks or in battle, the soundtrack always has something to fit the mood. Even the DLC battles, which largely thrive on the nostalgia of the legacy characters, have music that fits them perfectly. In a Fire Emblem game that practically has the best parts of every game that came before it, this is the perfect soundtrack for it.

Best Christmas Present: The Legend of Zelda: A Link Between Worlds

This award could also be called "The Best Game I Started Playing Too Late to Award Properly This Year." I normally wouldn't give out an award like this, but A Link Between Worlds is deserving of some sort of recognition, even if I only started playing it this morning. The nostalgia of A Link to the Past is there in full force, but the game doesn't depend on it. It's a fun Zelda game that just happens to be set in the same incarnation of Hyrule as an old Zelda game that also happens to be fun. I'd say more about it, except I've just barely gotten started with one Lorule dungeon under my belt. But yeah, in case you haven't heard, hey, this game is really good and you should play it!

Best Vita Game: Dragon's Crown

This one is sort of a winner by default. I own a Vita, and I own several games for it, but I hardly ever actually use it. I honestly forget I have it sometimes. But Dragon's Crown makes owning one worth it. An RPG beat'em up with beautiful, exaggerated character designs, it feels well-designed as a portable title, and it can be fun to pick up and grind away at. Well, when I remember that I own a Vita, anyway. Maybe I should have gotten the PS3 version? Speaking of which...

Best PS3 Game: Hatsune Miku: Project Diva F

Hell yes. Despite the fact that the game is a port of a Vita game that retains some of the side content that made more sense on the Vita, the core rhythm gameplay and the Vocaloid presentation more than make up for that. It's a game that starts off inviting on the lowest difficulty setting and consistently ramps the challenge up with each notch on the scale. Pair that with the aforementioned soundtrack, and you've got the best game on the PS3 all year.

Best Wii U Game: Super Mario 3D World

Simply put, Super Mario 3D World is the best platformer of the year. Whether you're playing alone or with friends, it's a fun time. A gloriously fun time, and it puts every ounce of itself into being as fun as possible. I honestly haven't had this much fun with a Mario title since Super Mario World. This game is basically everything I've ever loved about the Mario series as a whole in one package, plus more.

Best 3DS Game/Game of the Year: Fire Emblem: Awakening

Speaking of games that are everything I've ever loved about a franchise, plus more, Fire Emblem: Awakening is exactly that. It has just about any and everything I could have asked for in a Fire Emblem game. Intelligent interface improvements, new twists on old gameplay concepts, the return of rarely seen mechanics like marriage and the world map, a fantastic cast of characters, and a fun, engrossing story. That the game has been made more accommodating for newcomers and those scared by the staple of permanent character death with Casual Mode just makes it all the better, even if it is something I'd never use myself.

Like A Link Between Worlds, Awakening makes good use of nostalgia, harkening back to the earlier games without leaning on them. Not just in the DLC, which specifically brings back past characters, but in the main game as well. The story and dialogue both are entertaining and well written, with the large cast of characters able to stand out from each other with their diverse personalities. It's easy to become attached to particular favorites and to have specific pairings in mind, not out of any desire to minmax the second generation cast but because certain characters just seem so right for one another. And the story itself, a tale of multiple wars, battles against evil kings and encroaching Armageddon, is made all the better because of the characters involved.

The strategy at the heart of Fire Emblem is there, and it's as challenging and engrossing as ever. I strove to make it through each battle with all of may units alive, and though the difficulty is on the easier side thanks to the world map and DLC that make leveling and promoting units less of a worry, that isn't to say that the game is a cakewalk. One wrong move can still spell early doom, or at the very least, trigger the desire to reset and try the battle again from the top. It's something I've always enjoyed about the challenge of Fire Emblem, and it's good to see that for all of the modernizing that the series has gone through, old truths still remain the same.

Oh, man. Oh, MAN! Last night, I would not have predicted that I'd wake up this morning to learn that Nintendo kicked off their latest Nintendo Direct with the announcement of a Zelda/Warriors collaboration with Tecmo Koei. Suffice it to say, the news left a lot of people rather stunned. And I have to say, I love it!

Regardless of what this game ends up being called in the west (I'm betting it'll turn out to be something similar to The Legend of Zelda: Hyrule Warriors), I am psyched. Perhaps even enthused! Earlier this year, I wrote about why I love the Dynasty Warriors series, and you're free to read up on that if you want; this is not going to be another post along those lines despite the almost comical level of bile coming from certain corners of the internet. Seriously, I haven't read bile this vitriolic regarding a Zelda game since the Wind Waker reveal.

Anyway, here's what I hope and half-expect (I'm not going to guarantee myself anything) to see in Hyrule Warriors based on my past experience with the larger Warriors franchise.

Will there be multiple playable characters?

My guess: Yes. One of the staples of Warriors titles are large, diverse casts of playable characters. And while The Legend of Zelda is historically light on the number of playable characters (Link, Kafei for like ten seconds of Majora's Mask, Zelda in one of those shit CDi games), that doesn't mean that we'll be seeing the pointy-eared guy in the green tunic exclusively. Looking at the franchise as a whole, there's a pretty large cast of characters that would make for intriguing combatants.

• Link
• Zelda/Sheik
• Ganondorf
• Zant
• Midna
• Agahnim
• Hilda
• Impa
• Saria
• Skull Kid

That's just off the top of my head, and we're not getting anywhere near the true oddballs. How would such a cast mix together? Well, that's a good question and I'll tackle that in a second. My main point here is that it's fairly easy to cook up a roster of player characters for a Zelda-based Warriors title that doesn't devolve into seven different flavors of Link and Zelda. And other Warriors games have had their share of odd choices for combatants.

So a related question that comes to mind is, will there be only Zelda characters in this game? Will there be any character crossover from Dynasty or Samurai Warriors? Well, probably not. The Legend of Zelda is far from the first third-party property that Koei has adapted in this manner. Gundam, One Piece, and Fist of the North Star have all been given the Warriors treatment, and none of them feature any figures from Dynasty or Samurai Warriors running around. So I would guess that this will be a fairly straight-forward cast of Zelda characters, with one potential exception.

Several years ago, Tecmo Koei partnered with Nintendo on Samurai Warriors 3 to produce a whole side mode based on an old Famicom game called Nazo no Murasamejou (The Mysterious Murasame Castle). Along with this mode, they included the old game's protagonist Takamaru as a playable character, given a modern, Warriors-influenced makeover.

Could Takamaru reappear in Hyrule Warriors? Well, I wouldn't bet on it, but stranger things have happened.

What will the story be like?

Good question. This is something that could be approached in numerous ways. For example:

1. The story mode is simply a retelling of various events from the Zelda timeline in episodic fashion and features Link exclusively as the player character.
2. The story mode is divided by character, like the older Warriors titles with smaller casts, giving each playable character their own narrative set somewhere in the timeline.
3. Similar to number one, the story is an overarching retelling of events from the Zelda timeline, but with different characters playable at different points, similar in nature to the story modes found in the most recent Dynasty Warriors titles and Fist of the North Star: Ken's Rage 2.
4. Crazy hijinks involving time travel, because well, why not? The mash-up approach worked for Warriors Orochi, which mixed figures from ancient China and sixteenth century Japan without any trouble. This approach may also involve a new original character to serve as an antagonist and dare I say require Link and Zelda to work together with Ganon in order to save the day?
5. It could be set in a self-contained dream world not unlike Link's Awakening.
6. Something else entirely!

Really, there are a lot of ways that they could take the game's story mode, and it's hard to say which guess is likely to be the most accurate. It could be focused on a very specific Zelda title or a span of the timeline. Or it could just do its own thing.

But speaking of the story, Warriors titles are very heavy on voiced dialogue. Zelda is not. Will this be the game to break the trend and give everyone voice acting? Man, it would be really interesting if it is. It would also be strange to play a Warriors game without constant dialogue, but more in tune with the Zelda franchise's history with voice acting.

What about side modes/other content?

There's, again, a lot of ways that this could go. Warriors titles have had a pretty diverse range of side content outside the main story mode, and it tends to vary heavily based on the specific sub-branch of the franchise in question. Many games have featured character encyclopedias and timelines, and it would be interesting, to say the least, if Hyrule Warriors contained an interactive archive of the timeline and of numerous characters found within it.

There's the possibility of a survival mode similar to what has commonly appeared in Samurai Warriors. Fighting through floors of a castle until either reaching the top or finally getting stomped. Or the game could offer more than one type of story mode. The licensed franchises like Gundam and Fist of the North Star have featured games with both a story mode that reflects official canon, and an original or dream mode that takes the characters and puts them in an original scenario. It's possible that if the game's primary story mode were to feature Link almost entirely if not exclusively as the main character that the otherwise secondary characters could be unlocked for use in this second story mode.

There's also the question of multiplayer and online play. This is practically a given; if not in the main story mode, there will be at least one mode, be it the standard Free Mode that allows replaying stages with any character or what have you, that will at minimum allow two-player simultaneous play. It will also likely be the case that online play of some sort, cooperative and/or competitive, will be present.

So while there's no definitive way to state what will be present, history has shown that there are a vast number of possibilities. Certainly, some are more likely than others. Whatever is the case, it will certainly be heavily Zelda themed.

What's with that rock guitar Zelda music?

Pretty cool, huh?

In Conclusion

Well, there's a little that we do know, and a whole lot more that we don't. I'm intrigued in finding out what the details truly are, but in the meantime, there's plenty of options on what it could be. It's very likely that the concept of Hyrule Warriors I currently have in my head is way off-base, but then again, who honestly saw this game coming?

What would you guys like to see?

Having recently bested Super Mario 3D World (well, save for the bonus world), I felt that it was a good a time as any to get back into a genre that doesn't command much of my time in fighting games. As much as I enjoy them, I'm not of the competitive mindset; something that has tended to incite some of the fighting game community duders in these parts into some very critical replies to my what few fighting game blogs I've written. Whether this will turn out the same way, I don't know.

My Amazon order for Aquapazza came in last night, and I've had the opportunity to put a couple of evenings worth of time into it. For those of you that don't know what this is, it was published in North America by Atlus, and was developed by Examu, whom a few of you might know as the developers of the Arcana Heart series. Well, Examu teamed up with Aquaplus to create a fighting game based on a collection of their properties. And for those of you who don't know Aquaplus, well, they're a company mostly known for dating sims. In particular, the Aquaplus name is reserved for their lighter, console-friendly content; they also produce explicit adult games for PC under a separate label called Leaf.

Yes, I'm still talking about a fighting game. And no, it's not pornographic. Either that, or the T-rating doesn't mean what it used to.

I don't have any actual hands-on experience with Examu's other titles, so Arcana Heart veterans would be better equipped to suggest where Aquapazza ranks among their fighting game efforts. Just from my hands on experience, it's a very unusual fighting game, and that isn't just because of the source material. Battles are one-on-one, but in addition to a fighter, each player also selects a partner character that can be summoned by pressing X. It's sort of like Persona 4 Arena in that way (in a very loose sense), save for the fact that the partner needs time to recharge after being called.

And then there are the emotions. These are basically status effects that encourage aggressive play. Being aggressive in battle raises the fighter's mood, which in turn adds a bonus to damage percentage, while being overly defensive can lower the mood and incur a penalty to defense. So it pays to be on the attack as much as possible.

The other odd thing about the game is that it features two separate story modes. There's nothing particularly special that links them; the primary difference is which characters are fought during the "story beat" fights. It's also not possible to play the second story with a character until that character has been used to clear the first one. The stories themselves are light, fluffy, and inconsequential, getting their entertainment value mostly from how ridiculous their premises are.

As for the actual fighting, I can't personally say that it's up there with the Street Fighters of the world. It's competent, at the very least, and can be entertaining for how ridiculous some of the fighters and their attacks truly are (one is a high school girl that carries a large stack of books and throws them as arcing projectiles, another is a maid robot (in a school uniform) that can make part of the ground slick with her mop). It's a game that is largely forgettable, save for how esoteric and unusual its cast is for a fighting game.

On the other hand, that ridiculousness does lend itself some goofy charm. It reminds me, in a way, of games like Waku Waku 7; games that are technically inferior to their Street Fighter cousins but have enough to them to be entertaining in quick bursts. Is it something I'd recommend anyone looking for a good fighting game? Oh, heck no. It firmly occupies that niche space in fighting games populated by the likes of lesser titles that would never see the light of day at the main stages of EVO, but might be found in hotel rooms hosting quarter matches for games (much) more technically competent than Jackie Chan in Fists of Fire. It is aggressively mediocre.

Though I will admit that the game does hold some nostalgic value for me that exists separate of the game. (No, I didn't play any of the dating sims.) Back in college, the anime club actually ran through the anime adaptation of To Heart, one of the games represented in Aquapazza. Not a good show, honestly, but the characters were memorable enough that seeing a couple of them appear in this game was what actually piqued my interest enough to try it. And I'd be lying if I said I felt cheated out of money paying for the game; I wouldn't call it necessarily good, but to me, it's amusing enough.

With the Thanksgiving holiday giving me a blessed long weekend from work, I decided to take the opportunity to try out some of the Wii U games that have been sitting in my backlog; some for quite some time. Coincidentally, the three games I've looked at so far all have the M rating in common, and well, yeah, it's a weak unifying them. But anyway, I've spent a good couple hours at least with each of these games, and I thought I'd give my impressions on them.

Deus Ex: Human Revolution Director's Cut (Rated M for Microchips)

I believe that at this point, those of you on the forums that know me fairly well are already aware that by and large, I am not an FPS fan. I can count the number of titles in the genre that I've spent significant time with in the past decade on one hand. That being said, Human Revolution is a game that interests me because it's not the "standard" FPS. You an sneak. You can hack. You can shoot. You can do all of these things. Unless you're playing the original version and encounter a boss. Then you're pretty much just shooting.

I played a little bit of the original version of Human Revolution on the PS3; not enough to get particularly far into it, but enough to see some of what it had to offer, encounter a really weird environment glitch, and then say to myself "Maybe I'll get back to this when I have time" as I picked up a different game. (That never happened.) But with the Director's Cut on the Wii U, I felt that I should give the game another shot.

Right off the bat, it's one smooth port. The GamePad screen is basically useless up until after Jensen becomes a cyborg; during the prologue, all it displays is the game's title logo. But as he's undergoing the live-saving augmentation, the touch screen plays along by generating each of the primary icons one at a time. It's a nice little touch. And once you actually get to a point where the screen becomes usable, it's pretty easy to manage the game from it. The minimap is particularly useful in showing the position of nearby enemies and which way they're facing. No awkward minimap with small icons tucked in a corner or behind a menu; it's just there.

Also, hoo boy, this game is ruthless. I've died a lot. A lot. Mostly from me tripping over my own shoelaces at points I'm better off just being stealthy. But I'm at least able to understand why it is I'm messing up. As far as the boss fights are concerned, I haven't gotten far enough to encounter the first one. It'll definitely be interesting to see what sort of tactics I end up feeling comfortable with in those.

Splinter Cell: Blacklist (Rated M for "MIchael Ironside, Where Are You?")

Unlike the other games I'm talking about here, I had never actually played a Splinter Cell game before today. I was always more of a Metal Gear fan. But anyway, this game has Sam "Not Michael Ironside" Fisher Sam Fishering the shit out of terrorists. Which is the plot of every Splinter Cell game, as far as I know. Anyway, I really like the game's stealth mechanics. It's not to punishing, though Sammy Boy is not very sturdy in a firefight, so there are sections I've had to redo after getting spotted and immediately filled with lead. Sort of like my Deus Ex experience, but with less black and gold.

The touch screen in this game offers quick selection between Sam's arsenal, which is handy. And it's also possible to lay the entire game from the GamePad, if I wanted. It has that enemy tagging and "last known position" mechanic I'd seen in previews of the previous game. (Whichever one that was. I think Sam Fish kills terrorists in it.) And I've had decent fun with it...up until the first point in the game when you're forced into an actual firefight against waves of enemies. I have to protect a guy that's prone on the floor from the terrorist bad guys that are starting to swarm, but that also means me finding a good cover position and taking on these guys when I have only limited handgun and machine gun ammo. Also, there's no way for me to tell when a guy is shooting at me from behind except for an on-screen indicator suggesting the direction I should be pointing to make the guy stop shooting me. Except that by the time I see it, I'm usually dead. I died so much at that point that I just had to turn the game off before I got too frustrated. It didn't help that the closest I got to finishing that objective, characters were talking like it was time to move, so I turned to the window only for another terrorist that was still in the room to run up and shoot me in the face.

God damn it. Maybe I'll get back to this? I don't know. The action bits are not as fun as the sneak-up-on-dudes-and-kill-them bits.

Resident Evil: Revelations (Rated M for Mutants!)

I had previously played a bit of Resident Evil: Revelations on the 3DS. It's one of the games that is able to use the Circle Pad Pro that gives access to a second analogue pad, but even so, it's kind of unwieldy. I was able to get through Kid Icarus: Uprising with the accessory because I'm left-handed and so it was essentially mandatory (also, Uprising is an awesome game and you should really all play it if you haven't). So like Deus Ex, I had previously played through part of the game, but not the whole thing.

And it's...actually kind of wild how well the 3DS game holds up on the Wii U. The controls are essentially the same as they were on the 3DS with the Circle Pad Pro, complete with the touch screen inventory and map. I never played Resident Evil 6, though I get the feeling that this game was ported to consoles mainly because it's the most recent Resident Evil game that wasn't shat on in reviews. I wouldn't really call the game scary (though it at least makes an attempt at creating a spooky atmosphere). But there's definitely that sense of need for ammo conservation and scrounging for health items.

If there's one thing that I do have to knock the game for a little, even though it can't really be helped, it's that it's obvious that it's an upscaled 3DS game. It's not ugly, or anything, but there's just something about the way the game looks that feels a bit off. Sort of like when you take a movie that's meant to be viewed in 3D and show it in 2D. But it's a small quibble; the game controls well and it feels like a good Resident Evil game. So hey!

I mean, they could have ported The Mercenaries 3D.

I arrived home from work today and found a welcome package from Amazon waiting for me, as many others did today. A brand spanking new PlayStation 4 awaited. But did greatness come with it?

The Set-up: Stage 1

I'll spare you the drama of an unboxing video or uncomfortably pornographic photographs of hardware. But I will say that, after reading posts online about people receiving consoles with physical cracks in them and just plain-old non-functioning hardware, I gave the system a thorough examination to see if anything of the sort had happened to my console. Fortunately, it was delivered in one piece.

Connecting the console to the TV was fairly easy, despite the comments from Jeff and Brad about the angled back end of the system in the Giant Bomb unboxing video. Though it helps if you have enough slack in the cable to actually plug the HDMI and power into the system before setting the PS4 in its proper resting place. Still, so far, so good.

The Set-up: Stage 2

Next came powering the console on, connecting the DualShock 4 using the USB cable, and going through the basic steps of connecting to a network, setting the language, date time, and all that fun stuff. I was also prompted to connect a PlayStation camera if I had one, which I don't, so I just skipped that part. There was also the requisite Terms of Service agreement and all that.

Once that was done, I had my first taste of the dashboard, or XMB, or...well, whatever Sony is calling the new PS4 UI. At this point, I just had to wait for the 1.50 system update to finish downloading. That was a relatively quick and painless process, though before the update began, I had to agree to the Terms of Service again. After the update finished and I was able to sign in with my PSN ID, I was prompted to agree to the terms of service again. And again. And...Jesus, Sony, I get it. Do I need to agree to them again just to play a game?

Everything Works!

Amazingly enough, I connected to PSN on my first try. No mysterious error messages or requests that I try again later. I got online, used the thirty-day trial code for PlayStation Plus, and then went into the store and downloaded Resogun. I should note at this point that Resogun is my only PS4 game.

Wait, Why Is Resogun Your Only Game?

Because nothing on disc enticed me into a purchase at this point. Duh. Anyway, Resogun is pretty fun. Like Brad noted in his review, it's basically Defender, if Defender were a dual-stick shooter and dressed up with flashy graphics. Not a bad game, though I'm not sure how much play I'll get out of it. Can't really argue with it being a freebie, though.

The DualShock 4

The new controller is comfortable to hold. Not that different from past DualShocks in terms of its general shape and size, though it's kind of funny seeing Sony continue to appropriate elements that other companies pioneered in their own controllers first. Hopefully games make good use of the controller's speaker.

Other Notes

• I'm not really sure what to think of the UI yet. I actually don't mind the XMB and actually prefer it in some ways to whatever this weird thing is.
• The UI is also replete with Sony slickness. It's clean and professional to the point that its personality is...almost a complete lack of personality. It just feels corporate and cold. I much prefer the Wii U's Wara Wara Plaza and the accompanying touch screen UI.
• Seriously, why the heck did I have to agree to the terms of service so many times?
• It'll probably be a while before I'm in danger of filling up my hard drive, but I think that's going to do more with the lack of games than anything else. The prospect of these 50GB installs, streamed or not, is eye-opening, to say the least, and file sizes like that could start making even terabyte drives start looking insufficient.
• ...When does the PS4 version of Final Fantasy XIV come out?

In Summary

Well, it's a new console, all right. Not nearly a religious experience in any sense. And while it's a good piece of hardware, I'm going to need more time (and games) to determine for myself if greatness has arrived or not. As it stands, it's probably going to just be waiting for a long while before I get truly significant use out of its since the games I'd really like to play on it aren't going to be out for a while yet. I'll likely be getting more use out of my PS3 in the meantime.