Ratting it out

Recently I completed a second run-through of Legend of Heroes: Trails in the Sky (FC). No reasoning beyond a) it's a great game and b) achievement hunting.
However in playing this game again I am reminded of one of the grips I have with it: I am following a very rigid path with little opportunity to deviate from. Thus it makes achievement hunting quite a challenge with so much stuff having the potential to be missed and the game becoming something of a battle between a player who wants to do their own thing and a DM who is furious that the player isn't going where they should be.

More recently however, I have been playing Vermintide 2 with the intention of leveling up so I can keep the pace with my gaming buddies. And in order to level up quickly, it seems that I need to grab so many collectables in each mission (ie tomes). And it suits me fine as I take a methodical approach to game playing and am willing to take the time to pick up certain details - which is subsequently at odds with the design of Vermintide which demands the player act fast and not hang around. As sch, Vermintide comes across as a battle who between a player who wants to do their own thing and a DM who is furious that the player isn't going where they should be.

Personally, finding similarities between Legend of Heroes: Trails in the Sky and Vermintide 2 is absolutely hilarious to me.

That was the year it was: 2018

And so another year comes to an end. And with the end of the year, Game Tumor goes into hibernation and I am liberated from the pressures of coming up with more posts for this corner of cyberspace (at least until next year....).

So what has 2018 has to show for itself? Well I had the pleasure of casting more games from my Hall of Shame: Homeworld and God of Thunder were both beaten at long last, Trails in the Sky SC was finally concluded and Oxenfree turned out a massive delight; I finally entered the current console generation with the purchase of an Xbox One; mini retro consoles are proving to be a huge success; and Blizzard has made a major mistep that has thrown the internet into all sorts of chaos.

But whatever.
You may have noticed that this post marks the 900th post to this blog. Yeah, I can hardly believe it myself. So after nine years and 900 posts this blog is still going.
It just refuses to die!
One would think that I would eventually run out of things to say (especially considering that I'm shooting out fewer posts annually than previously) but apparently not. One would think that, seeing as this blog has lasted longer than the usual internet time span, that it's time has well and truly gone but no. I suppose as the wonderful world of gaming keeps trucking on, i will have things to say. And as long as I keep having games left unplayed, this blog will keep on going.

So here's the future and I hope to speak you all again when the curtain rises on 2019.

Sky High

Another game has been struck down from my Hall of Shane. Goodbye Legend of Heroes: Trails in the Sky Second Chapter!

Original image located here. Accessed 15th July 2018

Clearly I liked the first one enough to find out what happens next.

Well what can i say about this one? There's a lot of charm to it, the dialogue is hilarious, the plot has some great twists and the boss battles are nothing short of epic. Funnily enough, I've often found with RPGs that I spend more time grinding to a point where the final boss seems like a pushover when compared to their predecessors - but this one was a rare exception. The end boss was just as challenging as some of the previous bosses that, somehow, the grinding didn't really feel like I was levelling the playing field.
Which is fine by me as I enjoy a challenge and appreciate the fact that the game was keeping me on my toes.

Ultimately though, this game has had an interesting localization history: It came out eight years after it's initial release, and the localization team, XSeed, had a series of well-documented troubles of their own to deal with. You often hear about how fans are left hanging when their favorite series comes to an abrupt end (Firefly anyone?) but you never hear (as much) about how fans are grateful when their favorite series has a proper follow-up let alone one that resolves everything.

So while I have no idea if anyone within XSeed would bother with this corner of cyberspace, may I say the following regardless:

You did good.

You put yourselves through a lot to get this game to the eager punters who have been left hanging.
You went out of your way to make sure the cliffhanger in the first game was properly resolved.
You did a Herculean task in translating a game with  a monumentally large amount of dialogue
And I, along with so many gamers, are grateful for the effort.
And you have certainly earned those big sales.

You did good.

Mass Effort

One can only wonder.

Falcon Around

Ya gotta love Sieg.
He's the only sane one in the entire party

Who ya Gonna Call?

Hey Estelle, does a trip to New York appeal to you?!

Reach for the Sky

Lately I've been playing Legend of the Heroes: Trails in the Sky Second Chapter.

Man, has this has been a long time coming. I enjoyed the first game but, to be honest, I came away from it flat out drained: It was a very demanding game with tough boss battles and a very strict linearity (which made achievement hunting challenging as there was little to no room for error). Needless to say, it would have to be while before I took up the sequel.

But that time has now come. Maybe it was the fact this was a Steam game going unplayed, maybe it was the well documented trials and tribulations the localization team had to go through, maybe it was wanting to know what would happen next or maybe it was me being put off by the linearity of Final Fantasy X. Whatever the case, here I am.

So far, I'm enjoying this game a lot. I'm seeing some familiar faces, I'm finding the dialogue constantly amusing and the cooking mechanic is still unmatched. However the linearity is still creeping in, with the aforementioned demands and little room for error. Never in such a game have I seen such a rigid approach to game design: There's so many things that can be missed, whether they be items, recipes, sidequests or treasure chests. There's no room for deviation and is indeed frustrating. It certainly makes my grumbling about the linear nature of FFX look feeble by comparison.

Still, it would be interesting to see where this goes....

That was the year it was: 2016

And so we reach the end of another year of Game Tumour. The festive season has come around again and it's time to step away from this blog.

2016 has been a quiet year for this blog - although some of the cynically minded would say that 2016 for Game Tumour ended months earlier. I guess Real Life got in the way for a bit there. Still, at least I can say I beat Legend of Heroes: Trails in the Sky. And by playing Don Bradman's Cricket I've gained a new appreciation for the sport. Oh and Xcom. Xcom Enemy Unknown is an excellent game.
So in the end, a quiet year is not without successes.

However, maybe a quite year may pave the way for a more active year in 2017.
So, in that sense, Game Tumour is done for 2016 and I hope to speak to you all again in 2017

The Legend Lives on

And for the first time this year, a game has been cast down from my Hall of Shame. Goodbye Legend of Heroes: Trails in the Sky (FC)!

Original image located here. Accessed 30th March 2016

It's been awhile since I last sat down and played a JRPG. True there's no shortage of them but I don't feel that such a thing is working for the genre. Allow me to elaborate: I personally feel that, as a genre, the JRPG is in a terrible state of stagnation. Nothing has really come along that has really changed the genre dramatically. In fact, I firmly believe that the genre peaked with Chrono Trigger and Final Fantasy 7 and everything that has followed since hasn't reached such lofty heights. Instead, the genre has been reduced to repetition and formula. Thus what we end up with is so many JRPG titles, subsequently representing quantity over quality, and the challenge of any JRPG needing to do something really special to jump out from the pack.

So in that front, how did Legend of Heroes: Trails in the Sky fair?

I will admit that this game certainly adheres to the familiar tropes that are so common in JRPGs: A spunky, hyperactive female lead? Check. A sullen male lead that functions as a straight man to the female lead? Check. A lot of party members including a cute kid, a martial artist, a cocky grump, a genteel type, a pretty boy and a 'big sister'? Check. Airships? Check. A sequence involving cross-dressing? Check. Ancient tech? Check. A battle system involving super moves built up by taking so many hits? Check.

So getting past the trappings of formula, is there anything left to Legend of Heroes: Trails in the Sky? Yes there is: Heart. It may sound corny but there is clearly a lot of love put into this game. It has a lot of charm and personality that makes Legend of Heroes: Trails in the Sky's adherence to JRPG formula forgivable (it should also be noted that this was the same impression I took away from Skies of Arcadia).
I really enjoy the dialogue and often found myself laughing out loud at some points. I really enjoy these characters to a point where I found myself wanting to know what happens next. In fact I think this may well be the biggest selling point for this game: It is well-written. And that's saying a lot coming from a genre that's, as stated above, stagnated badly.

All in all, I really enjoyed playing Legend of Heroes: Trails in the Sky and I'm looking forward to the Second Chapter - which is already in my Steam account and ready to go. And considering the trials and tribulations the localization team went through, the fact that SC is here is a miracle and one to be savored.

Narrowing it Down

Still truckin' through Legend of Heroes: Trails in the Sky.

However, it is now that a major problem with the game rears its head and make's it's presence known.  I hate to say that I have a problem with this game as I've been enjoying it so far but this is a problem that has repercussions that are truly felt (and how!).

The problem is this: A lot of the side-quests have a time limit to have them done - and a very narrow time limit at that. If they aren't completed by a certain point then that's it! You can't go back and beat them at a later point - no, you either have to complete the side-quest within the time-frame the game demands or live with a black mark in your journal.
Naturally, this makes an annoyance for completionists like myself. And such was the case of me when I realised I couldn't fulfill a side-quest so i had to start all over from a certain point - and in my case, lose six hours worth of game time.

Still, I did pay $26.89 AUD dollars for this game so at least I know I'm getting my money's worth....

Didn't I see you in another game?

So.... this happened:

 Gotta love the Princess Garnet Til Alexandros XVII vibe you got going there Joshie XD

You're the Voice

Still truckin' through Legend of Heroes: Trails in the Sky.

I will admit I am disappointing that this isn't fully voice acted. Sure there are sound bites in the combat sequences but it is kind of frustrating that these characters otherwise only speak in text. Okay, so maybe there is a lot of dialogue in this game but some of it is real gold and it's shame to not hear it spoken.
Besides, considering how Stephanie Sheh seems to play a lot of cutesy/moe roles, it be hilarious to hear her voice say something like this:

Your Goose is Cooked

Still trucking through Legend of Heroes: Trails in the Sky.

A point of interest: I really enjoy the cooking mechanic this game has. For the uninitiated, it works like this: You obtain a food of some kind and when you eat it, the recipe on how to make it will be entered in your recipe book. Thus, by obtaining ingredients throughout the game, one can make any healing agents/buffs anytime and anywhere.
I've never seen anything like this before and believe you me, I liking it a lot :)

Castle has Crashed

Lately, in between my progress through Legend of Heroes: Trails in the Sky, I've been playing Castle Crashers.

This is not my first time playing Castle Crashers - Previously it was something I played at my friend's place on his Xbox. But now, I have Castle Crashers on Steam and I'm going all the way through it.
Currently I am playing this with the same people I played ESO with. Funny thing to say: It's like we traded well realised, immersive worlds for cartoonish graphics and general absurdity.

Of course this only solidifies Castle Crashers' reputation as being one of, if not the, best multi-player games in existence. However compared to the previous multi-player games, Castle Crashers has been something of a change of pace: Previously, in this group, I have been the lowest leveled. I've lagged behind everyone else who are well ahead of me and, despite my best efforts, I can never catch up and/or keep the pace. But with Castle Crashers, it's the exact opposite: I am well ahead of everyone else in the leveling department. I suppose this can be attributed to the fact that I was the only one who started with a controller (as opposed to to a keyboard), but it does make a welcome change that the guy who was behind everyone else suddenly came out in front (Steven Bradbury anyone?).

Only drawback is that everyone tends to gang up on me in the Princess fights, making me the first one to go down but still.....

The Sky's the Limit

As promised, I've been playing a lot of Legend of Heroes: Trails in the Sky lately.

At time of writing, I'm eleven hours in and I've cleared the prologue.

This is going to be a long game.....

That was the year it was: 2015

Well here we are at the tail end of 2015. The festive season is well and truly upon us so now is the time to step away from this blog and spend some time with family and friends - which is what we all should be doing around this time.
Therefore, this will be the final post for Game Tumour in 2015.

This year has been a quiet one: Its not just because I choose to scale back the amount of time and effort in this blog due to outside commitments.
No, much of my time has been invested in playing Star Trek Online. But if playing World of Warcraft has taught me anything it is too easy to fall in the trap that is common with MMORPGs: You find it is the only thing you play, the one thing you invest the most time in that the other games tend to get neglected and because you're continually investing money in this game you convince yourself to make the effort not to make the investment going to waste (WoW with the subscription, STO with Pay-as-you-go). But being in that trap doesn't mean you can escape from it.
Why, in the past week I've found myself moving away from Star Trek Online and enjoying an old favorite, Dragon Age Origins, again.

Still it's not all been bad news: I've knocked down more games off my Hall of Shame: System Shock 2, Curse of the Azure Bonds and some of the Leisure Suit Larry games.
Other highlights of 2015 have been:

• my delight at seeing the Gold Box finally make it's way to GoG
• Convincing a friend to play Divinity Original Sin and both going into it blind - and both of us finding it quite enjoyable
• Meeting Bajo and Hex
• In another coup for GoG, the arrival of the original Star Trek Adventure games!
• Obtaining a copy of New One Lives Forever (and defying the legal confusion preventing it's re-release)

So what can I take away from 2015? Well, I think the less time I spend on MMORPGs, the better. Yes they are time-sinks - hell, that's what they're designed to be! - but the amount of hours invested in a MMORPGs can really be better invested in working on some of the many games that I have left untouched.

You know, I've been playing a lot of Western RPGs these past few years that it's been quite some time since I last played, and enjoyed, a JRPG.
Therefore, I think I will, in 2016, play Legend of Heroes: Trails in the Sky...

So this concludes Game Tumour for 2015. Thank you to everyone who has visited this blog over the past twelve months and I look forward to speaking to you all again in 2016 :)