"You ladies can relax now. Dekar has come to the rescue!"

Today's review is the second of two, focusing on Lufia II: Rise of the Sinistrals for SNES.

Anyone who has ever played this game probably just came upon seeing this image.

Lufia II was developed by Neverland and published in Japan by Taito, in North America by Natsume, and in Europe by Nintendo. It was released in 1995 in Japan and 1996 in North America and PAL territories. Lufia II was a prequel to the first game, and featured vastly different (and WAY more fun) gameplay. Let's jump in and see just why this game is so much better than the first.

Story: 10/10

Lufia II, as mentioned, was a prequel to Lufia I. The game follows Maxim, the ancestor of the hero from Lufia I, in his quest to destroy the evil Sinistrals. One of my favorite parts of the story is that instead of Maxim being just some random guy who turns into a hero, he knows he's the strongest guy in his town and a likely hero right from the very beginning.

If you've previously played the first game, you'll notice a lot of references to events that happened (rather, will happen) in Lufia. There are numerous times the story is weaved together very tightly.

The best part is that even though Lufia I opens with the ending of Lufia II, there are still a lot of surprises to be found. I'll just say that the full ending wasn't given away in Lufia I. The other best part is the addition of the character Dekar, the single best character in--yes, this is true--any video game ever.

This game features the standard betrayal, intrigue, triumphs, and sadness that any RPG will have. However, there's also a lot more to it. There's a love story in this game as well as a mid-game 'pre-ending', both of which are amazingly well done. The story will make you feel for the characters and laugh along with them (or at them, in Dekar's case) and cry when they hit their lowest points. It's a beautifully crafted story. I'll stop discussing it now, lest I give something away. This game is worth playing spoiler free.

Graphics: 9/10

Lufia II took a major step forward graphically from its predecessor. Enemies have more detail, colors are more vivid, and the characters' spells, attacks, and even the characters themselves look 10x better than they did in Lufia 1.

Edges are a little rough, but it's MUCH better than Lufia I.

The only minor downside is that a lot of the environments look a lot alike. Dungeons especially are prone to looking very similar to each other. They look nice, but it would've been nicer to have varying environments rather than just towns, mountains, towers, shrines, and dungeons.


Gameplay: 9/10

Lufia II was pretty different from the first in gameplay. Instead of a standard RPG, this one plays more like The Legend of Zelda: A Link to the Past and similar titles. You do the same thing as the first one, going from town to town, dungeon to dungeon, fighting battles and gaining gold for better equipment and EXP for better stats. However, dungeons work much differently, as do random encounters.

In dungeons, this game focuses very heavily on puzzles. You have different tools you acquire throughout the game to help you complete the puzzles like a sword, bombs, a bow and arrows, and a hookshot. The puzzles aren't usually too difficult, but there are some that will give you a pleasant challenge. There are also some that will make you smash your face against the wall, they're so hard.



Enemies are also dispersed throughout the dungeons. They're visible on screen before you fight them, and if you're good, you can avoid almost all of them. For every move you make (whether actually moving or just swinging your sword), the enemies also make one move.

Another new addition is capsule monsters. These little buggers are super useful. They work sort of like Pokemon. You find them at set points in game. They fight alongside you in battle; though you're unable to directly control them, they all have a specific set of moves they use whenever it's most appropriate. If you feed them certain pieces of equipment (they'll tell you what they're hungry for), they'll gain EXP and eventually 'evolve' through their several forms.

Foomy, the first capsule monster you find.

Yet another addition is the idea of IP skills. IP stands for Ikari Points, roughly translated to Anger Points. Basically, certain weapons and equip will have specific IP skills attached to them. As you get damaged, your IP will go up. When you have enough IP for a skill, you can use it in battle. This makes things much more strategic; you need to decide a lot between upgrading to more powerful equip with worse IP skills or keeping your old equip with better IP skills.

The best new addition is the Ancient Cave. I'll detail that more under 'Replay Value', as that's really where it belongs.

Sound: 10/10

The soundtrack in Lufia II is AMAZING. Seriously, it almost rivals anything Uematsu has done for the Final Fantasy series. Of course, this is quite subjective, but the soundtrack really stands out to me as being waaaaaay above average. Words can't do it justice. Here's a few tracks, starting with the boss battle theme.



That song lends itself PERFECTLY to any number of metal remixes. Here's another great one, the epic Island in the Void.



Last one, here's a more mellow track, The Earth. This is the world map music.



Replay Value: 10/10

This game should get more than 10/10 for replay value, truly. First, there's the 'Retry' mode that becomes available after you finish the game once. This lets you play through, getting 4x the EXP and 4x the gold you'd normally get. After you beat the game in Retry mode, 'Gift' mode is unlocked. Gift mode is related to the Ancient Cave, and the Ancient Cave is the number 1 reason to replay this game. Normally, in the Ancient Cave, you can't pick your characters. You can only take whatever party members you happen to have when you're in Gruberik. In gift mode, though, you can ONLY do the Ancient Cave, but you can pick whatever characters you want to take into the cave.

Basically, in the city of Gruberik, there's a 99 floor cave that you can either choose to explore or completely skip, with the uberboss Master Jelly at the end. When you enter the cave, you start with 0 EXP at level 1 with none of your equipment or spells. Don't worry, when you leave, you get all of those things back. Now, as you go through the cave, there are red chests and blue chests. Red chests are items and spells you only have for that particular run through the cave. Blue chests contain spells and items that you retain for the next time you go into the cave. The idea is to go through and get a few blue chests and then exit, getting deeper and deeper every time because you have better equip (blue chest items) at the start. After floor 20 or so, there's an item called Providence that's specific to the Ancient Cave. Using it will return you to the surface, keeping all of your blue chest items.

Every time you enter the cave, it's different. Every floor is randomly generated. This lends it ENORMOUS replayability. There's also these things called Isis Treasures. They can be found randomly in red chests, though they have a low chance of appearing. Sometimes, you can find one every run through the cave, and sometimes, you won't find one for 100 runs through. Finding all of the treasures will keep you coming back to the cave over and over again.





tl;dr
PLAY THIS GAME! I can't say enough how truly fucking awesome it is. It's subjective, sure, but for me, this is one of the best RPGs I've ever had the pleasure of playing. Make sure to try out the Ancient Cave, too. And enjoy all the scenes with Dekar; he's one of the best characters ever put into an RPG.

"Who needs story in an action-RPG?"

In response to a comment asking about whether I reviewed RPGs, today's review is on an action-RPG in the Ys series called Ys III: Wanderers From Ys.

Ys III is a game developed by Nihon Falcom Corporation, released initially for the NEC PC-8801 and NEC PC-9801 in 1989. The NEC-series were very popular home computers released only in Japan. In 1991, several home console ports of this game followed, the SNES port being one of them. This review will be for the SNES port, as I've yet to play any of the other ports. Let's wander in and see what this game's all about.

Story: 4/10

Story is easily the most important part of an RPG in my mind. Sadly, Ys 3 really disappoints in this field. My review is a bit biased due to never having played any of the other Ys games, but still, as a standalone, the story is very bland and uninteresting.

Basically, you play as Adol Christin. You and your buddy Dogi are on your way to Dogi's hometown, Redmont. When you arrive, you hear news of threats from the nearby Valestine Castle, crops going bad, and monster attacks. Adol, always up for adventure, sets out to figure out just what the fuck is going on.

The story takes a few twists from there, but really nothing you haven't seen in a hundred other RPGs. Without having played any of the other Ys games, it's very hard to develop any feelings toward the characters. As a standalone, this game's story falls flat. It hinges on a main character that goes to adventure essentially for the sake of adventuring, and in the words of Hall and Oates, I can't go for that (no can do).

Graphics: 4/10

The graphics are much like the story: bland and uninteresting. I understand that the game was an early SNES title, originally written for a computer released in 1981, but wow...

Mediocre graphics are mediocre.

There are a lot of other SNES games I've played with similar graphics, but there are 1000 more that took full advantage of all the SNES hardware had to offer. Maybe I'm being a bit harsh on this score; ultimately, I'll leave that up to you.

Gameplay: 5/10

To be completely fair, Ys 3 wasn't that terrible of a game on the surface. You start off in a town that looks suspiciously like a town from Zelda II (another game I found to be mediocre beyond belief). From there, you can stock up and talk to the townsfolk, though nothing of any real import is mentioned. You can exit out to the (single screen) world map and begin your quest from there.

First thing you should know before actually starting into your quest, though, is that this game is short. I mean, SHORT. It's fully possible to beat it within 5 or 6 hours if you're quick, and up to 10 hours if you're really shitty. Normally, for a SNES game, that's really not too bad, but for a SNES RPG, that's pitiful. Even RPGs that really weren't that great like Secret of the Stars or Final Fantasy: Mystic Quest lasted about twice as long. The length of this game becomes evident when you first see the world map.

The only image I could find is a bit dark, and also from the Japanese version, but ignoring those minor issues, that map doesn't look so bad, right?

Wrong. There are about 8 areas grand total on that world map; the equivalent of 8 'levels'. Basically, you choose to enter the first area and walk inside. It's a side-scrolling platformer in its most basic form. You run until you find enemies and tap/hold down the attack button to swing your sword, all in active time. Enough of this and you'll level, like in any RPG. Eventually, you find a boss and kill him, and a plot advancement of some sort usually follows. However, you'll notice two things after exploring a little ways into the first area.

1.) You'll get your first Game Over very quickly. The enemies can kill you before you know what happened in the start. However, if you leave the area momentarily, your HP is refilled. So, you run in, kill one enemy, then run out to fill HP. You run back in, kill two, and run back out. You go on like this until you level enough to make it to the end of the area without dying. The ENTIRE GAME works like this. It gets super tedious after the 2nd or 3rd level.

2.) The clipping in this game is fucking terrible. Perhaps it's just the SNES version, perhaps it wasn't a problem in other ports, but in this version, you will die AT LEAST once because of it. An enemy several sword lengths away from you will attack you on one side (your right, if I recall correctly) and damage you without touching you, and an enemy on your left can be touching you and then some without it registering. This can get extremely frustrating through the course of the game, especially when fighting bosses.

Fortunately, there's one addition that makes things a tad easier on you (though not much). This game employs a ring system. There are 6 rings that do basic things like increase your power, defense, and heal you. While you have them equipped, your 'RING' counter goes down. Depending on the ring, it will decrease slower or faster. The ring system was flawed, though. You could only equip one ring at a time, which in and of itself isn't really too bad. The problem is just how quickly your ring counter decreases. It also decreases the second you equip a ring until the second you unequip it, regardless of what you're doing. Towards the last few levels, the rings are basically useless unless you save them through the entire level and equip them only when fighting the boss. However, this throws off the game's balance in the other direction; equipping the Shield Ring and swiping away at almost every single boss in the game will guarantee a victory in about 15 seconds using absolutely no strategy.

Another thing you'll notice while playing this game is just how incredibly linear it is. You will never, ever get lost...ever. Every area is a straight line, whether it be up or down or left or right. Very infrequently, you get to choose a branch, but even if you choose wrong, you'll be back in the right spot within a minute or two. Seriously, if you get lost in this one, I question your sanity, and indeed, I wonder how you even manage to read the text on your screen.

To see I'm not blowing smoke about what an odd setup this whole game has, here's a very basic gameplay video showing a series of boss fights. I know not everyone wants to watch an 8 minute video, but at the very least, watch the 1st minute or so. It shows every single thing you need to know about this game, including the clipping issues mentioned earlier as well as the equip/ring system.



I can't help it...it even seems like a shitty game to me through a minute of a YouTube video, let alone playing it for 6 hours.

Sound: 6/10

The sound in Ys III is only slightly better than the graphics and gameplay. The sound effects themselves are all entirely unremarkable. Literally. I won't remark on them.

The music is actually pretty decent, though. There are a few tracks that really stand out, especially during some boss battles, but the problem is the bosses all take about 15 seconds (except for that goddamned dragon!) so you never get to hear them for too long. Instead of posting more videos of the sound, I'll refer you to the above gameplay video. It's a compilation of boss fights and as such includes some of the better music in the game.

Replay Value: 8/10

This is probably not going to make a whole lot of sense, but even though this game doesn't really have very many redeeming factors, it's not that bad of a game to go back and play through when you're bored. It beats trolling around on the internet. Again, it's super short, and there is something entertaining about mindlessly hacking away at shit and watching your level go up. It's also an incredibly easy game as far as RPGs go, simply because it's so linear. You don't really ever have to think while you play this game. It's as though Final Fight tried to have an involved storyline and also had much shittier graphics.



If you can find it anywhere, the game's worth at least one playthrough. It's short, it's mindless, and it's overall pretty mediocre, but that doesn't stop it from being a good way to kill an afternoon. Shit, it's better than an oatmeal enema.

Until next time, remember, even the meek can attain heights undreamed of.

"Is it that it's fun, or that it lets you forget yourself?"

Today's review is a follow-up of yesterday's; I'll be covering the sequel to the insanity that is Katamari Damacy, an amazing title called We Love Katamari.

We really do heart Katamari.

We Love Katamari, like the original, was developed by Namco. It was released in 2005 in both Japan and America. It was also the first Katamari game to be released in PAL territories (most of Europe). This game is equally as insane as the first one, but better in almost every single way. The gameplay is infinitely superior, the graphics have been given a shot of awesome directly to the veins, and even the story is more entertaining. Let's dive in, rainbow first, and see why it's so much better.

Story: 10/10

The story in this game is even more bizarre than the first. This game takes place almost immediately after the conclusion of the first game. The King of All Cosmos has just finished fixing the heavens (which he destroyed during a drinking/drug binge) by throwing all of the katamaris that you have rolled up for him into the sky. He's ready to lay back and get some rest. However, he hears a voice calling out to him. It's a fan of the first game! Of course, for someone as vain as the King, there's no time to rest when there are fans to please. He quickly sends his son, the Prince, back down to Earth to talk to the fans and fulfill their katamari requests.

We Love Katamari is obviously very self-referential. The whole thing is set up around the idea of fans of the actual first game, Katamari Damacy, asking the King/Prince to roll up certain things or huge katamaris or roll under strange circumstances, all the while praising how awesome it is to roll. I really love this idea of breaking the 4th wall.

There's also a very cool side story that runs through the whole game. Every couple of levels, a cutscene plays explaining the King's origins; going from a little boy who wants nothing more than his father's approval to an angry rebellious teenager who moves out of his house (castle?) to the man that he is when we first met him in Katamari Damacy. This gives some great insight into why the King is who he is. No longer is he just an insane, fucked up, conceited, vain, weird-as-shit dude...he's an insane, fucked up, conceited, vain, weird-as-shit dude that we can all empathize with.

Graphics: 10/10

I gave the last Katamari game a pretty mediocre score for graphics. This game is why. They took the same idea for the first one but really put a lot more money and time into making it look absolutely beautiful. The environments are fully fleshed out, the katamari rolls seamlessly from 1 centimeter to 3000 meters, the colors are bright and vivid, and no detail that the PS2 can handle is spared. They really pushed this game hard graphically, and it just looks wonderful. I can't say enough how big the change is. I never noticed it at first, but after playing through both games at least twice, this one clearly had the budget and skill to fully take advantage of the PS2's hardware.

Compare this to the image from the previous review...a huge improvement.

From the image, you can see the difference in detail between this game and the one before it. The most amazing part is that this game only came out a year after its predecessor.

Gameplay: 10/10

This game takes the general idea from the last game and takes it 10 steps further. Instead of the Make a Star mode being the primary gameplay mode, you wander around on (a tiny portion of/version of) Earth, finding people who are shouting out for your help. Every single person has something different that they request of you. Some are like the original Make a Star mode where they want you to just build a certain sized katamari as fast as possible within the time limit. Some, though, are incredibly cool variations on the idea. One of my absolute favorites is a level where your katamari always has forward momentum, just like a racecar with the gas pedal held down. Another is a level that takes place entirely underwater. Another is one where you roll around in the dark, collecting only fireflies to make a katamari as bright as possible. There's one where you roll around a sumo, making him eat as much as possible to get him fat for the big fight. Another favorite of mine has you rolling up as many flowers as possible. Yet another great one sets you in a Hansel and Gretel-themed map, rolling up a house made of candy and then rolling up the children at the end. The diversity of the levels is mindblowing. Here's a video sample of a bunch of the different levels.



Most of these levels offer at least two modes, too. Usually, if it's a Make a Star-type level, you can do As Large As Possible or As Fast As Possible. Other levels have variations on the first mode, like in the sumo level, you have to reach larger sizes for each of three modes, rolling up a heavier sumo at the end each time. Another has you roll up things that are flammable to start a campfire, only the pile of wood you need to light is larger every time.

Making things much easier, the control scheme hasn't changed at all in this game. Other things, like the cousin and present system, both make a return, but in a much more awesome way. There's now an ASSLOAD more presents that you can find hidden amongst the levels, and you can also wear two of them at a time (3 if you can manage to find the bikini). With cousins, instead of them only being usable in multiplayer mode, you can select amongst all that you've found to use as your character for any given level. There's also a lot more of them, and trust me, some look too hilarious for words.

The one on the top right is actually named Johnson, I shit you not.

Multiplayer mode has also gotten a HUGE overhaul. Instead of the crappy little versus-type mode from the previous game, there's now a cooperative roll mode for every level. It's a bit tricky to get the hang of: each player controls one side of the katamari rather than each getting their own (except in the snowman level). Usually, the game will give you more time to complete a level due to the difficulty in coordinating movements. It is pretty hard to get used to, but once you do get used to it, it's an absolute blast.

Sound: 10/10

I almost feel like giving this game's soundtrack a higher score than 10. The soundtrack is absolutely perfect. It takes the range of genres from the first game and widens it and increases the quality of the songs in those diverse genres. I won't even bother writing any more on the soundtrack, as it will do them much more justice to be heard rather than described.







Replay Value: 10/10

Holy shit, this game will make a completionist wet his pants. There's still a collection just like in Katamary Damacy, only there's a shitload more items to collect. There's trying to get a shooting star for every level (doing it in under a certain very quick time), there's collecting all of the cousins and presents, and there's finishing the extra levels that open once you finally do get all the cousins.

There's also the rose level. Holy shit...I don't know if this raises the replay value or lowers it, honestly. Basically, when you've done everything else you can possibly do, a rose shows up along with all of the other fans. It asks you to do it a favor...roll up 1,000,000 roses. This is an INSANELY LONG task to complete. Your katamari never gets larger in this level. You can pick up a single rose or a bouquet of 10 roses. The roses constantly replenish, but seriously, this is a several months-kind of task. Your progress saves every time you quit, so you can do something like get 1,000 roses a day, but wow...it's a helluva task. I've completed every aspect of this game several times, but I will never ever get all 1,000,000 roses.




All things considered, We Love Katamari is vastly superior to its predecessor in every way. Katamari Damacy was onto something amazing, and We Love Katamari fully realized the developers' lofty ideals. I've yet to play any of the newer games, so I can only hope they've continued this theme of getting better and better. However, the creator left the series after the second game, making me a little reticent to play on. Perhaps it's best to keep the memories we have rather than risk tarnishing them.

Normally, I wouldn't do this, but the quote from the King of All Cosmos that I used as my title strikes me as being so profound that I have to end with it. Think about this quote in relation to almost every game you've played, video or otherwise; even in relation to most other hobbies, I think there truly is some weight to this idea.

"Is it that it's fun, or that it lets you forget yourself?"

"Oh! I feel it! I feel the cosmos!"

Today's review will move into more modern realms and focus on a little game called Katamari Damacy.

Those cows are unaware of their impending doom.

Katamari Damacy is a game developed by Namco for the PS2, released in Japan in March of 2004 and USA in September of 2004. This game was developed for less than $1 million, pretty cheap by today's standards, but holy shit, did they hit the jackpot with this one. It's fun, unique, completely bizarre, insane beyond all reason, humorous, quirky, and charming to no end. This game is completely worth checking out. Let's look at this LSD-influenced creation a little more deeply.

Story: 8/10

The story in this one is just the beginning of how truly insane and unique it really is. It opens with the King of All Cosmos flying through space after an epic drinking (and presumably drug) binge, destroying every star and planet he flies by. The King of All Cosmos is an amazingly large humanoid who always insists on speaking about himself in the royal tense ("We are very displeased with you") and who is consistently disappointed with everything his son does.

A staple of the series is the King's tights, which are way too tight for comfort, both his and mine.

You play as the Prince, the king's incredibly tiny son. You're given the task of cleaning up the king's mess by going to Earth and rolling up a series of katamaris, gigantic sticky balls that pick up anything smaller than themselves. By rolling up a large enough katamari, the King will throw it into the sky, turning it into various stars and constellations, basically rebuilding the universe.

Graphics: 6/10

My opinions on the graphics have changed a lot since first playing it. The very first time I saw it, I was just so blown away by how insane and fun the game was, I took it for granted that the graphics were amazing, too. It was only after playing the sequel (We Love Katamari) and then replaying the original that I realized that the graphics in the original were really not very great.

See? Not terrible...just a little...umm...'blocky'.

Don't get me wrong, they're not terrible by any means, especially for being done so cheaply, but they're just nowhere near as good as the graphics in the sequel that was also released on the PS2. It's a little blocky and largely devoid of any real detail.

Gameplay: 8/10

First things first, let me just say that this game is fucking FUN. Using the two analog sticks, you act like a snowball, rolling up everything smaller than you. The goal is to roll up to a set size (measured in centimeters and meters) before the allotted time runs out. The amount of time and size necessary increase as you move through the main mode, a series of 'Make a Star' levels. As you play, you also unlock bonus levels where you attempt to make a constellation by rolling up as many of a certain object as you can, like rolling up as many crabs as you can for Cancer, and as many pairs of objects as you can for Gemini. There are other bonus-type stages like rolling up the largest bear possible, but you can only roll up one bear, and a similar stage with cows. Certain Make a Star levels also allow you to unlock an endless mode for that level by rolling your katamari up to an excessively large size. To demonstrate the gameplay rather than just describing it, here's a video showing the entire intro and then the first level. Seriously, just watch how completely insane the intro is. How can you NOT want to play this game?



The controls work spectacularly well for being so simple. Holding both analog sticks forward, you go straight...tilting the right one forward and left one back will make you turn left and vice versa...holding both backward, you move slowly in reverse. Moving both back and forth quickly will give you a huge speed boost for a short time (very helpful when the time is running out and you're not quite to size yet). Hitting R3 and L3 at the same time makes you flip to the other side of your katamari quickly. L1 brings you to a first-person viewpoint, and R1 sends you high in the sky quickly so you can see your surroundings but not move.

This game's a blast for a completionist, too. There's a collection that's viewable from the main map that shows every type of item you've collected. It can be very difficult to collect 1 of every item, but also super rewarding. Also, hidden in every level is both a present and a Royal Cousin. The presents are all mostly useless, but aesthetically pleasing nonetheless. They're all wearable, and there's items like a wig, a guitar, a scarf, and a mini royal crown. The cousins are little dudes similar to the prince, but usually a lot stranger looking. The cousins can be used as playable characters in multiplayer mode.

Speaking of multiplayer mode, that's one of the reasons Katamari Damacy doesn't get a perfect score for gameplay. It's entertaining enough for a short period; you and another player roll around in a small arena, picking up items that constantly respawn, seeing who can get the largest. If you get big enough, you can roll up your opponent. This tends to get very boring very quickly, though.

The other reason Katamari Damacy doesn't get a perfect score is because it's just too damned short! The game really is amazingly fun for how simple it is, but you can finish the main story easily within 10 hours. The sequel really remedied this issue, but this one could have definitely had 10-15 more levels.

Sound: 10/10

This game has an absolutely amazing soundtrack. Most of it is Japanese or Engrish styled music, but you don't have to be a fan of Japanese lyricism to enjoy it. The genres range from jazz to swing to samba to J-pop to electronic and everything in between. Seriously, nothing I could possibly say will do justice to how amazing it actually is, so I'll just post a song or three here so you can check it out yourself.









I'm a huge fan in particular of the last two songs there. They tend to get stuck in my head for days at a time.

Replay Value: 10/10 


I guarantee you, if you give this game a try one time, you will play it many multiple times. It's so much fun to jump in and play through a level that you almost can't resist coming back to it. You'll find yourself trying to just make the largest katamari possible, rolling up every single object in a level. Present and cousin hunting, completing the collection, getting 100% on the constellations, making a perfect North Star...this game may be short, but there's an assload of bonus things to keep it fresh.



Go out, get this game whatever way you can, and play it. If you've already played it, replay through it. It's the start of a phenomenal series of games, and they only get better as they go along. It's quirky, it's weird, it's 110% Japanese insanity...and it's one of the best games you'll ever play.

Time to catch a ride out of here on the Royal Rainbow.

"AAAAAAAAAYUM!"