Legend of Korra review

The sequel to the ridiculously popular and successful Avatar: The Last Airbender, comes this very highly anticipated animated series.

Does it live up to the legacy?

Hell-fucking-yea. (Warning: Spoilers ahead)

Dibs

Set after 70 years from the first series, the Avatar cycle has now reincarnated into a Southern Water Tribe girl named Korra, a headstrong, hotblooded, tough, tall, beautiful, and strong-willed 17 year old girl.

Goddamit, I'm in love.

I wonder why.

I find it refreshing to have a strong female lead for once, we definitely need more of those in entertainment nowadays.

As the story begins, Korra aged 4, has already somehow able to firebend, earthbend and waterbend! That is one hell of a feat.

Thus, her Avatar training begins in a secluded area protected by the Order of the White Lotus, as instructed by Aang, the previous Avatar and protagonist of Avatar: The Last Airbender. Which is not surprising, considering the Fire Lord Ozai almost wiped out the Airbenders in an attempt to stop the Avatar from reincarnating 70 years back.

With Airbending left to master, Tenzin, Aang's youngest and only Airbender child, was supposed to train Korra in Airbending. However, his duties as councilman in Republic City forces him to put it aside temporarily and go back.

Korra, the headstrong girl that she is, decides to follow Tenzin all the way to Republic City, and after a rocky start, settles there to continue her training.

Along the way, she joins the Fire Ferrets: the tall and stoic Mako, and his lovable brother, Bolin. 

From top: Tenzin and his bald and beard of awesome sauce; Mako the firebender;
Bolin (left) the earthbender and his Pabu, his pet fire ferret;
and lastly, Korra, my ficitional girlfriend

But all is not well in Republic City, as the Equalists, an anti-bending movement starts gathering momentum, lead by the powerful, charismatic and mysterious Amon (perfectly voiced by Steve Blum).

All in all, the story is a solid A+ piece of writing for me. It starts off a bit slow, but it soon picks up speed by episode 5-6. Despite the fact that the first season is only 12 episodes long, they managed to tell a very satisfying tale overall, with a few snags here and there in my opinion.

So, here's the breakdown:

Graphics, Animation


They really, really pulled out all the stops for the production of The Legend of Korra.

The quality really shines through.

A breathtaking view of Air Temple Island (hehe)
Breathtaking? Geddit?? GEDDIT?? Cause you know, Airbenders and...oh forget it...

The art and animation department really pulled out all the stops for this show. In most cases, the scenes are extremely beautifully detailed.

I wonder how much of a budget they actually had for this show.

And the most impressive thing is the amount of research they put into the show, Republic City reminds me of the roaring 20s immensely, but set in a hybrid city of San Francisco or New York mixed with Shanghai or Hong Kong.

Even has a giant statue of Aang in the bay ala Statue of Liberty.

There are very obvious uses of CG in certain scenes, though it is not too blatantly obvious nor jarring. But sometimes, it does take your attention away for a short while.

Like so.

The animation and choreography too deserves mention. If you thought that the action scenes in The Last Airbender was good, Legend of Korra tops it even further.

Using dynamic camera angles, excellent use of the bending arts and various cinematic techniques, Legend of Korra makes every battle a joy to watch, whether its the pro-bending tournament or two benders really beating the crap out of each other.

The art of Bending has never looked so gorgeous.

Who's a half-baked Avatar now??

The animation quality is to die for. A lot of care and love has been taken to ensure that the animated series is given life. The most surprising thing is that the quality is extremely consistent throughout the season, the fact that it's only 12 episodes for a single season might have something to do with it.

Still, it is a marvelous achievement.

There are no animation errors at all.

Well almost.

Characters

All the characters are very well written, and there are alot of them. Other than the aforementioned quartet, there is also Asami Sato, Mako's sorta-girlfriend. But thanks to the very indecisive Mako, the situation is rather muddy.

Dibs again.

She is a non-bender but proves to be more than capable of holding her own ground with martial arts, badass driving and the electric glove she stole from the Equalists. She sort of serves as a counterpart to Korra in terms of attitude and all, and I find her a very nice addition to the team.

She is also the daughter of Hiroshi Sato, the man sponsoring, supplying and allied with the Equalists, which is a good call, as it provides her with a legitimate reason to stay with Team Avatar and also provides a good father-daughter conflict. Far too many shows have used the cliche of the son/daughter following their evil parents footsteps.

Hiroshi apparently is a goddam engineering genius, who somehow designed MECHAS made from pure platinum so that metalbenders can't control them; he also built those electric gloves that electrifies people; that son of a gun even built biplanes!! In an era where blimps and cars were still relatively new.

If only he wasn't so insanely focused on just taking revenge on benders all over the world because one firebender killed his wife. He may have been able to focus on doing something much more productive for the world.

That is an awesome mustache.

Like building the atomic bomb.

There's also Lin Beifong, daughter of Toph Beifong, Chief of Police in Republic City. And she is every bit as badass as her mother was. Using the metal cables, she swings like Spiderman and hits like Whiplash. And all this while she is in her 50s.

She starts off clashing heads with Korra at first, but soon Korra gains her respect. Also, it turns out, Lin and Tenzin use to be in a relationship!! But along the way, they separated, and Tenzin is now with Pema and has 3 children. Well, four, by the end of season 1.

Tenzin, Lin and Pema with their youngest son Meelo.
Pema is 16 years younger than Tenzin. Tenzin you sly dog you.

Now, to Tenzin, he is my favorite character in the whole series. He is also voiced by J.K. Simmons, so he's got an awesome voice to boot. Though he is suppose to be a stoic at times, sometimes his emotions get the better of him.

He's also Aang and Katara's youngest child and only Airbender, so its pretty down to him to restore the Airbender culture. He's a councilman in Republic City and he kicks lotsa ass!! Probably because most people in the world has not fought Airbenders before, thus have no idea how to counter one.

Seriously, watch this.

Still, everytime I see Tenzin come on screen and he has to bring his sandal up some baddie's ass, I look forward to it. The animation for his fight scenes are beautifully chereographed, and showcases a lot of badass Airbending moves. I don't recall Aang using quite as many tricks as Tenzin did either.

TENZIN AIRCYCLE!!! I don't know why, but there is just something inherently awesome about this.

He's also a great teacher and father figure for Korra, though of course, they didn't start off so well at first (notice a trend here?). But he does care for her, and its really heartwarming seeing them interact.

And speaking of Korra.

I love her. Despite a short twelve episodes, I find her a really great character. No matter what happens, she takes her role as the Avatar seriously, though letting it define her has made her vulnerable and emotional at various times. Hopefully we will see her deal with this issue somemore in Season 2.

Oh, Korra, you looks so fine <3

In this season, she has been scared shitless, kidnapped, being in love, had her bending removed, had her heart broken, involved in a war the world has never seen before, and yet...she never gives up. She never once shirked her spirit-given duty as the Avatar. Watching her is fascinating. She makes mistakes here and there sure, but still, she's a very likable character.

She also has a very cute polar bear dog. I want one.

And now, Amon, the villain.

Look at that face!! Even behind a mask, he's more
expressive than most real actors and actresses 

Oh boy...compared to Ozai or Azula, Amon is a real terrifying basterd. He has an army of fanatics, super tech at his disposal, incredible charisma and the ability to take away someone's bending. :O

He constantly make speeches about the oppressive Benders who well...oppress the non-Benders. And to a certain extent, he is right. There are clearly some gaps in power between the two groups, and Amon wants to rid the world of Bending because of that.

It's very hypocritical, but more on that later.

The terrifying thing is that Amon actually came very close to accomplishing his goal. At least in Republic City anyways.

He managed to take away Lin and Korra's bending!! Well, they got it back in the last 2 mins of Season 1, but the point is, he did it. He kept his word. 

His voice actor, Steve Blum, has done a fantastic job of voicing him. A low baritone, menacing voice. He never raises his voice. Hell, he never needed to. He is just that terrifying.

By far, I find him a much better villain than Ozai ever was.

Also, he has his right hand man, the Lieutenant. Who is voiced by LANCE FREAKING HENRIKSON.

LOOK AT THAT FU MANCHU MUSTACHE!! LOOKATIT!!

When Lance Henrikson is your top follower, you know you're a badass. Too bad the Lieutenant always gets his own ass kicked.

The irony is that the main two male characters are rather flat: Mako and Bolin. Who, by the way, are suppose to be Korra's love interests. Although I do find Bolin more likable than Mako, simply because he provides the comic relief in a lot of scenes.

Mako is suppose to be torn between Asami and Korra, but I felt that the love triangle issue has not been handled well. Hopefully, we'll see it handled better by the time season 2 comes around.

Hell, this guy is a minor character. But he's still damn awesome.

Storyline


The overarching storyline in general is very well done, it's the sidestories that are not quite fleshed out. Probably due to the lack of time.

Let's narrow down the sidestories.

Mako/Korra/Asami love triangle: Not done too well I feel. Or perhaps its not finished yet.

Mako/Brolin/Korra love triangle: Resolved a bit too quickly.

Lin/Tenzin's history: Done pretty well, though too short for my liking.

Pro bending tournament: At first it was pretty normal, I felt it cut into the main storyline a wee bit much. But then they skillfully connected it with the overarching storyline, which was unexpected and pretty well done in my opinion.

One of the major mysteries of the series was to who exactly Amon is, and what are his true goals.

I want a banana split.

Theories were being thrown left, right and center; ranging from his true identity as Aang, King Bumi and even Asami herself; how he can take away someone's bending; what he really looks like etc etc.

The list goes on and on.

My theory was that he is a bender who took away his own bending after realising how much of a horrible person he is as a firebender. And because Asami lost her mother to a firebender and Mako and Bolin lost their parents to a firebender, I thought it might tie in nicely with their background, providing them with a reason to hate him. 

Of course, in the last episode of Season 1, Endgame, we finally learnt who Amon really is, from a now-broken and de-bended Tarrlok.

He is Tarrlok's brother, Noatak.

My monitor still smells like chocolate.

At first, I thought the whole thing was ludicrous. That the main villain, is somehow the other villain's brother?? And they didn't know about it?? The revelation came right out of the playing field and slapped me across the face. There was nothing to indicate that they were related AT ALL.

I'm pretty sure a lot of people felt that way too.

I thought to myself, "Seriously? What the fuck?"

Then, Tarrlok started to tell Korra of their background story: Of how they were actually the children of Yakone, some mutant Waterbender who could bloodbend without the full moon. After Yakone escaped prison (after having his bending removed by Aang), he had magic plastic surgery, and escaped to have a new life.

Everything was all fine and dandy, Yakone even got married. Then, both his sons turn out to be Waterbenders and he started back down on the dark path again. This time, teaching his children to bloodbend as instruments of revenge against Republic City.

Forcing his children to bloodbend each other, Noatak finally had enough and ran away. He tried to convince Tarrlok to run away with him, but he refused to leave their mother. Tarrlok turned out to be the nice one AND he still grew up to be a monster. Suddenly, Amon's hypocritical agenda became more sensible and tragically sympathetic.

Noatak defending Tarrlok from the wrath of their father.

Their father's abuse and brainwashing was so thorough that even as adults, somehow, the two brothers gravitated towards Republic City.

After Amon/Noatak's identity was revealed to the Equalists, he escaped and even freed his brother, Tarrlok, whose bending he removed, hoping to escape to a new life with his younger brother.

On the little speedboat they were in, Noatak was a completely different person: sociable, smilling and full of love for his younger brother, telling him "It will be just like the good old days."

Tarrlok apparently thought differently. Perhaps he thought that they were beyond redemption, or that they need to be held accountable for the all the misery they have caused, or that their evil bloodbending powers should end with them, or that they can't just go back to the good old days when there were none in the first place.

Tarrlok took the electric glove and ignited the boat's fuel tank, destroying it and killing themselves.

It will be just like the good old days...
Did he know what Tarrlok was going to do? Or was he regretting all his actions?

Oh my god. Did we just saw a murder/suicide scene in a kid's show??? The guys at Nickolodeon must really love Michael Dante DiMartino and Bryan Konietzko (the creators).

It all happened within...what? 10 to 15 minutes of the last episode? And it was beautifully done. I found it to be shocking, tragic, tearjerking, heartwarming and...I'm at a loss for words.

This. This is by far my favorite moment in the entire series. And one of the most well done in any series EVER.

In just those short periods of time, two of the most despicable villains in the show got one of the most tragic and heartbreaking endings ever.

Well done guys. Well done.

On the other side of the story, we have Korra and her friends at Katara's place where even the best healer in the world couldn't restore her bending.

Devastated, Korra flees and cries at the edge of a cliff, where at her darkest and lowest hour, she finally finds her spiritual side and Aang visits her, telling her, "You are never alone." as all the previous Avatars appear before her.

I thought that this will be the point where she regains her strength and willpower, and Season 2 will be a journey for Team AVATAR to find a method to restore all the bending that was taken awa....

Wait, Aang whatchu doing?

Bah-weep-Graaaaagnah wheep mini bong

OH COME ON. REALLY?

That was bloody convenient, wasn't it?? Feels like a wasted opportunity to explore how Korra would face the prospect of life NOT being an Avatar, or for Benders to experience life as a non-Bender or even for a chance to explore what bending truly is...

It's a deus ex machina flying out of nowhere to smack us in the face, and provides an alternative to some dire situation.

Wait, that sounds familiar.

Oh. Right.

And just like that, Korra's bending is restored and she can also restore other people's bending as well. 

Everyone lives happily ever after.

Oh yea, and I think Mako cheated on Asami with Korra.

_____________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________ 

Legend of Korra is a great animated series, I've always been a fan of the Avatar: The Last Airbender, and when I heard news of it, I was happy as hell.

It starts off slow, but it soon picks up pace and becomes an exciting piece of work.

It's more than a worth successor to The Last Airbender, in fact I daresay, it trumps it in every way imaginable.

I wonder if M. Night Shyamalan's movie adaption had anything to do with pushing the production to produce the best possible series in order to recover their reputation.

It's unfortunate that some of the best series have such short runs. But I guess that's how they keep it so high quality.

3 episodes per season, every two years. Goddamit.

Now, when is Season 2 coming out dammit?

Hello, Korra, my soulmate.

Mass Effect 3 review

One of the most anticipated games of 2012, Mass Effect 3 is the ending to the epic sci-fi trilogy that is Mass Effect.

It has been ages since any franchise has generated as much a huge fanbase as this. Sure, there was Halo, Gears of War, Call of Duty etc...but honestly, when it came down to storyline and establishing an entire universe, Mass Effect is king of the hill.

Now the question is: Does Mass Effect 3 live up to its incredible hype? Does it deliver the satisfying ending that everyone is hoping for?

Lets find out.

Even in the far future, global warming is still an environmental issue on Earth.

Gameplay

ME3 brings back some older mechanics and improves on Mass Effect 2's combat system. Weapon mods make a return (YAY!), bringing more options to individual weapon loadouts as compared to the previous game.

Now you can add scopes, heat sinks, stabilizers, extra thermal clips and even knife attachments! Each weapon can have up to two different mods.

You can even add scopes to a HANDGUN.

Weapon mods can be brought from shops or found during missions just lying around, in addition to armor pieces and new weapons littered around the battlefields. So, it really pays to explore the environment to reap these rewards.

Unlike ME2, ME3's weapons are much more varied and more fun to use in combat. They also implemented ME1's weapons upgrade rank system, but much less cluttered but simply having the superior ranked weapon replace the inferior one. Thus removing one hell of an inventory nightmare that was prevalent in the first game.

Also, grenades make a return. Finally they're not the shitty frisbee thingy that we last saw in ME1. On the other hand, thermal clips make a return, but since the game is much more generous with the amount of thermal clips littered around, I guess it's not too bad a thing.

The armor system more or less follows the one from ME2, the only difference is that whatever DLC armor you had from the last game (Terminus Armor, Collector Armor, Blood Dragon Armor etc) will be available for purchase from various shops.

And we have lost the manliest armor of all time.

Generally, the combat in ME3 is much more varied, more challenging, and overall, more fun than its predecessors. In the previous games, only a few battles were challenging enough that simply shooting at the enemies without any tactics would pretty end badly (example: ME1's battle with Saren, ME2's Human-Reaper hybrid thingy).

In this game however, the firefights can end very badly if you decide to just gungho it without using your powers properly. The AI is smarter for one thing, and the various enemies now have special abilities which require tactics to defeat.

Especially Cerberus forces, which had taken some lessons in badassery apparently, probably due to Shepard's short time with them, and they have picked up some useful lessons.

The lowly Cerberus Assault Troopers are their cannon fodder grunts, but they are usually supported by Cerberus Centurions that come with shields and lay down thick smoke grenades to fuck with your vision. Later in the game, they will be accompanied by Cerberus Nemesis with sniper rifles or Cerberus Combat Engineers (which are pretty much the player character's Engineer class) who lay down turrets OR the Cerberus Phantom with guns for hands and an instant kill katana.

Sometimes, they bring out the big guns. Literally. By dropping the Atlas mechs to go against you.

It has always been my dream job to pilot a mech. Damn you, you lucky basterd.

And the best thing is? YOU CAN HIJACK THAT MOTHAFUCKA.

Even the Reapers are not pulling their punches. Now that they have made their presence known, the first thing they did is harvest the other races and start making husks out of them. The resulting husks are some of the toughest enemies in the game.

And slightly nightmarish.

Thank you Bioware. As if the Broodmothers from Dragon Age wasn't bad enough.

The scanning minigame returns! This time, the least time-consuming and more fun of the three. Third time's the charm apparently.

Now the Normandy scans the planet systems, like a radar, if there is anything interesting, EDI will point it out. Usually it's either more fuel from destroyed fuel stations or War Assets to scan on the planet. If the planet has something interesting, you will revert to the planet-scanning minigame from ME2. 

However, if the planetary system is under siege from the Reapers, you risk getting discovered by them everytime you "ping". Eventually, they will come after you and you will need to run.

It's much more simplified and by far the best implemented. It's much more fun and does not break the flow of the game. No more time wasted by spending untold minutes trying to mine some goddam minerals.

ME3 also made changes to the skill trees so that they are not as rigid as before, and by the 4th level of the skill, you get to choose one of the two perks that would modify the skill.

Like so.

 The changes are mostly just choosing between more damage, shorter cooldowns or longer durations though, so its not to say they are a hugely customizable. Only a few skills have drastic changes, like the Sentry Turret skill for Engineers.

So, overall, gameplay wise, Mass Effect 3 is probably the best of the trilogy so far. Fittingly. Bioware took what worked and made it better, and removed the unsavoury elements.

Storyline

Now for the main draw of ME3: The storyline.

After all, this is the final part of Shepard's story. The Reapers invade and take over Earth, and Shepard has to rally all of the galactic races together to fight back against them and save the galaxy before they take out every organic being in the galaxy. Again.

No pressure.

One thing I have noticed about ME3 is that compared to the previous two games, it's a lot more linear. And that's saying something. In fact, it has gotten progressively more linear.

In ME1, you could recruit Liara as the last companion despite being told to go do her recruitment mission very early on. You could also trigger other important missions in a different order.

In ME2, you could only recruit maybe 2-3 members during any particular part of the game. You weren't allowed to recruit the others until the game gave you access to the particular mission or star system.

In this game, the game only gave you one priority mission at a time. There are other side missions which you can choose to do or not, but will affect your War Assets and the characters that you meet. But in the context of this game, Bioware probably made the right choice, they wanted to make an epic ending after all.

If players were given a lot of free choice, it'll probably break the epic flow of the story. Thus, ME3 kinda just nudges players down the linear path with a few side quests littered about.

If there's one thing Bioware is good at, it's the stories. They have always been outrageously popular for their ability to tell stories, and Mass Effect 3 does not disappoint.

Well hellloooooo Ashley...

By far my favorite parts of the game are when Bioware focuses on the people. The way they interact with each other, not just with Shepard but with everyone else as well.

On the Normandy, the NPCs don't just sit around waiting for you to talk to them. Well at least not all the time. They do interact with each other, and I spent quite some time just standing there and listening to them talk, which really hits home how well written these characters are.

Joker and Garrus trading completely politically incorrect jokes with each other, which includes nods from Bioware about the silly things from the previous games; Joker asking Liara over the intercom about her hair scalp functions; Cortez and James (two new characters in ME3) joking about the pros and cons of the Mako and the Hammerhead. etc

My favorite scenes involve Garrus and Tali. In a lovingly endearing bonding moment, Garrus and Shepard decide to just break the rules and went shooting at bottles over the top of the Presidium at the Citadel. You could choose to miss it or hit it on target. I chose to miss it, and Garrus was jumping with joy declaring: "MY NAME IS GARRUS VAKARIAN, AND THIS IS MY FAVORITE SPOT ON THE CITADEL!!"

It is a ridiculously cute moment for the both of them.

As for Tali, well I romanced her *ahem*.

Look at those delicious hips...mmhmmmmm..

Towards the end of the game, as Shepard becomes more and more worn out by having the burdens of the galaxy on his shoulders. Tali was the one that stood by his side and helped him stay strong. One of Tali's lines still stands out in my mind long after that scene has passed:

Tali: "I want....more time."


The way her line was delivered was extremely good, but it was the simplicity of it that drove it home for me.

The named characters are not the only ones that are well written, completely random NPCs in the background will talk with each other, and every single one of them has a sad tale: the PTSD Asari soldier talking to her therapist; The Batarian comforting the Human female; the Human soldier requesting a transfer from fighting Cerberus forces after she found out her brother has joined them; two Turian C-sec officers who are also best friends who decide to resign so that they can go back to their homeworld of Palaven, just so they can search for their families together.

Garrus and Tali remain my favorite characters in ME3, but I spent time listening to these random background chatter, immersed in their dilemma.

They somehow made The Illusive Man a tragic figure by the end.
THAT is an accomplishment.

The war with the Reapers has taken its toll on the galaxy, and it shows. Everyone is affected.

Yet, at the same time, Bioware never forgot about the humor, acknowledging the memes that spawned from the games, and the silly little things that caught gamers attention.

Which is a shame, because the ending was not satisfactory at all.

Mass Effect 3, the final battle, the conclusion to the epic story that is Commander "BADASS" Shepard lasted all of 10 minutes.

Probably less.

Without spoiling anything, right at the end of the game, you are forced to make choices. The choices pretty much end the same way.

The worst part was that there was no closure. And was not exactly an ending that made any damn sense.

This was literally what I looked like and what I said when I saw the ending.
Minus the people in the background of course.

I feel a bit cheated to be honest.

It was not because it was not the ending I expected, in fact I was surprised by the turn of events when they revealed the purpose of the Reapers and why they do the things they do.

Nor was it because it was far from a happy ending, as the game repeatedly knocked into my skull: "You can't save everyone." I already had to make very difficult choices throughout the game, it would be obvious the last one would be one of the most difficult.

It just feels that everything that I've done (THREE GAMES WORTH!!) was for naught.

It didn't matter what I did, it was like towards the end, I didn't have a choice in changing the outcome. In fact, a number of things didn't make sense either.

Goddam. It's Evangelion all over again.

And multiple endings my ass.

There were suppose to be 16 different endings, according to Bioware, and after looking up all of them.

THEY WERE ALL THE SAME. WTF.

They were only different in minor ways. And apparently there was a secret ending, but to get that, you have to do things in a specific manner to get.

What the hell Bioware??

The most appropriate picture for this moment.

Why do I have to do things "correctly" to get the best ending? Player choice was suppose one of the main draws of the entire Mass Effect series.

And it got thrown out the window. But still, that is a minor gripe compared to the ending.

After three games, the ending just showed nothing.

You have no idea what happened to Shepard.

You have no idea what happened to the entire galaxy.

And to add insult to injury, you get a fucking screen with less than a paragraph of text. That tell you you can continue Shepard's journey via DLC.

WHAT? SERIOUSLY?? WHAT THE FUCK IS THAT???

I think the worst part of it all is that simply...the ending took your choices away. It didn't matter what you did in the entire Mass Effect trilogy, everyone will reach the exact same ending chapter.

Did I mention that the 16 endings are functionally the same and made no damn sense whatsoever?

Still the most appropriate picture for this moment.

_____________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________ 


To summarize Mass Effect 3
The good

• Epic storyline build up to the end.
• Graphics are overall pretty good, especially facial animations
• Awesome music
• Awesome fights: Fighting a Reaper on foot!!!
• Bioware finally gets the perfect balance of RPG and action-cover shooting
• Characterization/development is top of the crop
• Optimized engine means that the loading time is almost nonexistent

The bad

• Texture are pretty pixelated up close and noticeable texture loading
• The ending....just...the ending.

As you can see, pretty much the ONLY bad thing about this game is well...the ending.

It's as if Bioware, just like Commander Shepard, just couldn't take the pressure any more and just went "Fuck it" and that's how we gamers end up with Mass Effect 3's ending.

So, is Mass Effect 3 the best game of the year? Maybe. Everything else it does is just absolutely perfect. The storyline. The gameplay.

Best game ever? Not Mass Effect 3.
No doubt though, that it will be close to the top of anyone's list. However, I feel that ending is such a huge setback that prevents it from being there. At least now without gripe or ill feeling.

The trilogy as a whole however, is definitely something that should be representative of what video games are capable of, and will stand the test of time.

The entire Mass Effect trilogy for best game ever? 

DEFINITELY.

Goodbye Commander Shepard.
It has been an honor to serve you.

Final Fantasy XIII-2 review

After the fanbase-breaking Final Fantasy XIII, it actually came as a surprise that Square Enix made a sequel to it.

However, they made promises to fix what was considered bad design decisions in the previous entry.

The question is: Does the oddly titled game fix what was broken?

It does. But unfortunately, it also tried to add too much, and fix what ain't broken.

Storyline

The game picks up three years after the end of Final Fantasy XIII, but for some reason, Lightning has disappeared and many people believe she had sacrificed herself along with Vanille and Fang to save Cocoon.

Except Serah, who is the only person who does not believe it, as she saw Lightning alive at the end of the events of the previous game. Worse still, Snow, Hope, and Sazh are now separated from her as well, off doing their own thing, for one reason or the other.

But then one night, Serah has a vision of Lightning in her dream just as her new home, New Bodhum is attacked by monsters. Then for some damn reason, her clothes change.

Honestly, was the costume change necessary?

And then TADA!! Noel comes out of nowhere, helps Serah and tells her that he met Lightning and he is suppose to help bring Serah to her. From there, the story starts.

Now, I won't spoil too much of the storyline here, partly 'cause that would be really bad of me, but mostly because I DON'T REALLY UNDERSTAND THE DAMN STORY.

A lot of things are not clear in the story, such as the existence of the time travel gates, the artefacts, the Goddess Etro, the Farseers, Academia and so forth.

Compared to FF13, the storyline is far less focused here. The basic plot is fine: Serah and Noel have to go find her sister, and stop Caius from destroying the world!! There.

But when it comes to explaining beyond that, the story falters.

And, somehow, despite only having only two characters to play with, the game failed to bring out anything meaningful to them. They feel rather flat.

Not everything was flat in game though.

Not because of poor writing, but rather, the storyline does not focus on the characters but keep emphasizing on Finding Lightning and most of the time, the mission amounts to nothing more than just "Go there and make things right in the timeline". Which is rather weird, considering that FF13's main draw was that it was far more character-centric and were more compelling.

At some points in the game, the storytelling shines. *Spoiler Alert*
At one point in the game, you, as Serah, see Noel at his timeline, where he was one of the last few humans still alive about 700 years into the future.

The bleak setting, combined with the sad music, painted a rather character-defining moment for Noel. Suddenly, Noel's narrative about changing the future for the better, are no more just empty words sprouted over and over as Noel walks across the desert, alone after Caius left, and Yeul died (again).

Unfortunately, the game does not do this often enough, and thus loses a lot of focus. A bit of a 180 turn there compared to the last game, for the worse.


Gameplay

A lot of changes to the gameplay mechanics were made in the sequel.

One of the more significant changes is that the monsters are now not on the battlefield anymore, well, at least most of them. Only a few very powerful monsters are actually there, but these are few and far in-between.

We meet again, you overfed turtle.

Which I thought was rather dumb to change. Because now, instead of being able to see what monsters you could engage and plan somewhat ahead; the monsters randomly jump out of some chrono-arsehole and engage you.

If you can time it right, and hit them with your weapon, then you will get Haste bonus effect and a pre-emptive strike. If not, the battle goes on as normal.

However, there's a Mog Clock system that ticks down during this situation, if you want to avoid combat, you must run as far away as possible from the enemies before the time runs out. If you fail to do so, you will engage in combat penalised and WITH THE RETRY OPTION LOCKED.

Bloody annoying system. Why change what was not broken?

The same can be said of the Crystarium System: instead of being multi-faceted, it is now rather linear, and you choose from a menu which role to upgrade. And at the end of each path, you choose what bonuses to get, such as an extra ATB segment or unlock a new role.

Not to say that this system does not work. It just feels like a trivial change; change for the sake of change.

Thankfully, there are a few gameplay changes that are more thoughtful and fun. For one thing, if the selected leader gets K.O-ed, you simply switch to the other character to continue the battle, unlike the last game, where the loss of the leader means GAME OVER. Even better, you can switch leaders anytime during battle to take advantage of their skills.

Also, the linearity of FF13 is gone, due in part to the storyline. Similar to Chrono Trigger, Noel and Serah can time travel between different locations and time.

Obligatory Latin naming: Historia Crux.

Each different location has their own little distractions to complete, though the side quests amount to little more than fetch quests. Still, it is a refreshing change to be given this much freedom after the last game.

However, unlike Chrono Trigger, the consequences of changes in the timeline are not governed by you, but pre-scripted storyline progression. So, for those looking for the chance to have their own unique ending will be a little disappointed.

FF13-2 brings something completely new to the table, the monster taming system.

Kitteh!!

Since you can only play as Noel and Serah, the third slot is now taken up by a monster which you have a chance of taming upon defeat. And, each monster has their own Crystarium to expand upon, using certain materials to progress.

This system is addictively fun, not unlike Pokemon, as you go around the maps trying to obtain rare monsters to add to your party. Each monster has their own pseudo-limit break, and unique skills to add to the battles. Although you may only interchange between any three chosen monsters at any point.

The monster element brings a pretty fun angle to battles, as you come up with strategies to make the best of them.

Which is why the game becomes extremely disappointing, when it comes to the enemies you can fight. Despite having a wealth of battle options, almost all the battles in can be fought with minimal effort. The effort being switching paradigms.

The final battle took me a glorious two minutes to beat.

Square Enix, if you're gonna give us so many options to toy with in battle, then give the players something challenging dammit!!

I think there was less than a dozen boss battles and most of them were damn bloody easy to defeat. The rest was just easy.

Effectively, there was no tension at all when it came to battles. No sense of excitement at all. And, no sense of achievement after beating them.

And then, there are the puzzles.

Usually, in order to repair the timeline in some of the locations, players have to solve and get rid of "Temporal Rift Anomalies". They consist of three types of puzzles, and they are also bloody boring to solve.

God ,I hated doing this one soooo much.

They serve as rather unwanted pauses in-between the action, and more often than not, they take up far too much time to solve, especially the Hands of Time puzzle variants shown above. 

In fact, instead of putting up these goddamn puzzles, I feel that the team should've spent time making the anomalies a small story in itself, and end with a boss fight instead.

Overall, I'm not too impressed with the changes in gameplay. There are good ideas, but too many unnecessary ones.


Graphics

As usual, FF13-2 looks gorgeous, especially during the important story-relevant CGI cutscenes.

Absolutely gorgeous

However, those CGI cut scenes are shown very rarely. Instead, a lot of the scenes are done in-game, while it's not horrible by any means, the graphics level is certainly nowhere close to the beautiful CGI. And, during those scenes, the range of movements for the models are obviously limited.

There are noticeable framerate drops as well during the more graphic intensive scenes.

Somehow, I get the feeling that the graphics department were somewhat rushed to push the game out. Taking into account the fact that most of the monsters are recycled from the previous game, that fact gains more footing.

_____________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________ 

To summarize Final Fantasy XIII-2.

The good:

• A better battle system
• More character development for Hope
• Open world exploration returns
• Stupidly addictive monster capturing system

The bad:

• Character progression is flat, limited
• Lack of a challenge
• Bloody annoying puzzles
• Bad music choices, especially that heavy metal, rapping boss battle theme
• Gives illusion of being able to have multiple endings, but actually does not
• Making changes to aspects that were not broken in the first place

Overall, I am not impressed with Final Fantasy XIII-2. While it is by no means a half-hearted attempt, obviously alot of thought were put into it, but due to a short production time, it does not feel like it was all implemented properly.

Honestly, if you ain't a fan of the XIII universe, give this one a pass.

Katawa Shoujo Review

Now for a more serious review, cause this game (well...visual novel) deserves it in my opinion.

Now I came about this game after seeing it appear on the Escapist website's front page, specifically this article. Of course, my first reaction, probably similar to a lot of people's, was WHAT THE FUCK.

I have, erm, experience with visual novel games, so it came as a bit of a shock.

If you are not familiar with the visual novel sub-genre of games, here is a brief rundown of it: Visual novel has limited interactivity with it then almost every other game genre, usually only at certain points in the game can you choose an option that may or may not change the storyline.

It's actually more like digital choose your own adventure game. Traditionally, visual novels will contain sex-scenes, though it is not compulsory. However, if the visual novel in question is a dating-sim, then expect adult scenes aplenty in them.

Which was why 4Leaf Studio's Katawa Shoujo piqued my interest, when reaction towards it is universally positive. In fact, most players actually posted in various forums saying they were motivated to make themselves better, and some even cried. And interestingly enough, it's not made in Japan, but by a international group of programmers, artists, writers etc etc. It has a rather interesting production story.

So, to satisfy my curiosity, I went to their website, and downloaded the game. It's available for free.

So the storyline starts off with you, playing as Hisao Nakai, who has a heart attack from a slumbered heart defect known as Arrhythmia (Fucking hell, that's a mouthful). And it happened during a confession from his crush, which should have been a beautiful moment with all the pretty white snow and acoustic music.

That's harsh dude.

So, in order to cater for his heart condition, he has to move to Yamaku High School, a school that specializes in taking care of disabled students, as long as they are not mentally-disabled in some way. Thrown into a completely different environment, cut off from his friends and his crush, and carrying a life-threatening condition that could kill him if his heart so much as fluttered, Hisao certainly has had a hard time.

But, with the help of new found friends, Hisao gets his shit together, and, depending on your choices, may even find love.

Following anime stereotypes, there are a lot of cute girls in the school.

Now, before any of you assholes out there call me a bastard pervert with a disability fetish (although, granted that if you managed to read this far into the post, you're a very understanding asshole), this game does not really make an issue of the disabilities. Yes, they have emotional baggage, and it is partly YOUR job to help them get over it. But their problems are only mildly related to their disabilities.

In fact, the disabilities portrayal in Katawa Shoujo is very well handled. Basically, it comes down to this: They are people too. Look past their physical limits. They are not defined completely by their deformities. Of course, there are certain difficulties and complications because of it, but the point is, just like anyone else, they are defined by their personalities.

To be defined by their disabilities is a slap to their face, as if the rest of person does not matter.

As a thought, no one is perfect after all. We are all flawed in more ways than one, especially mentally.

And, before you ask, yes, there are sex scenes in the game, though there's an option in the menu to skip them. But they are not there for the purpose of eroticism nor fetish and those scenes are not like the primal love-making stamina olympics like in pornographic movies.

Those scenes, in my opinion, add to the story and the personality of the girl, placing the couple in their most tender, loving moments (most of the time), which gives a little more insight into the mind of the girl in question.

So,in total there are 5 girls to pursue (took these off a forum):







My personal favorites are Hanako and Lily, Emi comes in close.

Lily's route however does not have much character development on the girl's part, but more towards Hisao and Hanako's development. This relationship is probably the most normal (relatively) and has the least emotional conflict out of the five, so this route is akin to a childhood love story, but set in high school. Also helps that Lily is an exotic mix of Japanese-Scottish and is really, really beautiful. It's probably her motherly conduct that appeals to me the most.

Hanako on the other hand, well...I'm surprised that I like her. She's very reclusive and I never thought that those kind of girls would appeal to me. The way her route plays out surprised me as well, it made me think properly on how even the best of intentions and actions, can be harmful. Goodwill and intentions mean NOTHING, if you do not understand the person. It was an emotional roller coaster for me, but by the end of it, I was shedding tears alongside Hanako and Hisao (if you get the good ending).

But no matter which girl you eventually pursue, for whatever reasons, the writing in this game is extremely good. You can actually feel the people changing, for better or for worst: when you pull through to the girl, and get her to smile, it's a huge satisfaction; when it goes horribly wrong, despair and a bit of misery sets in.

With just sprites and a paragraph of words, the writers at 4Leaf Studios can tug at your heartstrings, make you laugh out loud and sometimes just smile.

Kenji Setou: The legally-blind Japanese Harry Potter feminist conspiracist nutcase.
And I LOL-ed everytime he appears.

Certain scenes, when the girls or Hisao are at their most vulnerable, as they spill out their emotions, or their past, the writing really shines.

I shit you not. I cried.

Yes. I cried.

I'm not afraid to admit it.

Oh no, don't remind me of this scene again...
FuckfuckFUCKKKK...
I need a box of tissue T__T

Especially Hanako's route for me. I cried like...3-4 times I think. And yet I soldiered on with the rest of her story.

For the most part, the story is solid, though I feel Shizune's part is rather bland: lack of choices and I did not feel satisfied with the ending, but that is just me perhaps. Some of the choices feel forced too, there are some given choices which I knew would lead to something bad, but you have no choice but to pick it anyways.

But beyond that, there really isn't much to complain about. The graphics are beautiful too, every special scene and animated cutscene is lovingly drawn and well...as they say...pictures speak a thousand words.

And yet...I can't find a single word to even describe
how beautiful and touching this simple hug is.

And the soundtrack...God...it is beautiful.

It is first class composition and their timing is perfect. The game does not have any voice acting (due to their refusal to take in funds and status as a volunteer-based project obviously), it is up to the music to do the job of setting the mood and the characters, and it does a fantastic job of it.

My particular favorite is this tune, aptly named: "Innocence", very prominent during Hanako's route.

And listening to that...ah dammit...

I'm fine.

I have something in my eye.

Now I have something in my other eye.

Now I have something in my heart...

_____________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________


So, to summarize Katawa Shoujo:

• Extremely good writing
• Excellent character development and story (most of the time I guess)
• Beautiful soundtrack
• Great art
• It's free!!

They said never to judge a book by its cover. And I'm glad I did not, and took the chance to try out this game.

It's too bad that 4Leaf Studios have no plans to make any other visual novels or games after this one, and will probably disband. I feel like they have the potential to make more heartwarming stories.

The bottom-line is: it's about humanity.

It will make you cry.

It will make you think.

It will make you smile.

We need more of these kind of stories that reflect on the subject of humanity.

What are you waiting for? It's available for free anyways. >>Download<<

I think this short poster by the developers said it best. Go be a better person.