racketboy.com

This game has been in my backlog for a while. I got about 20 hours in and didn't finish it when I first got it a few years ago. I was determined to get through it this so I started it again from the beginning in December. Overall I enjoyed it as it has a bit of Chrono Trigger vibe to it. Aht is seriously overpowered though. Her traps...omg. I ran with Stocke, Aht, and Marco whenever possible because all three could heal and between the three of them, you could position enemies wherever it was needed for Aht's traps.

The only thing I didn't like was how the final chapter just seemed to drag on. I think you end of fighting the final boss something like 4 or 5 times as you chase him across time. It started getting pretty tedious. While I enjoyed the game, I don't see myself playing this one again. I will likely end up selling it.

It was just as good as I remembered it. I probably haven't played the campaign since 2002ish. I think they did a great job remastering it for the Xbox One. So far still my favorite Halo out of the two I have played. I may even give the multiplayer a spin once I get through Halo 3 and 4's campaigns.

I had forgotten how much of an increase in production value Halo 2 saw over Halo 1. Gone are the in-game engine cut scenes which are replaced with lengthy prerendered cut scenes. Personally I never really cared for playing as the Arbiter so that is probably why I didn't like this one as much as the first. I didn't ever get to play the multiplayer for this one very much back in the day because I didn't have Xbox Live and at the time I had no one to play with locally. Hopefully all the online issues with the MCC will be sorted out by the time I get around to it.

Story Mode indeed... Mortal Kombat 9 showed me what a good fighting game story mode is all about. As much as I love KI, its story mode doesn't even compare. KI's story mode consists of a brief character bio and then one of three endings per character. The endings are very short and advance the plot very little.

The only reason I unlocked all the endings was to get more familiar will all the characters. Being able to recognize the difference between light, medium and, heavy attacks is critical in executing combo breakers. (Something that I still need to work on. I am currently getting wrecked about 1/2 the time in online matches) Maybe Season 2's story mode will be better when they release it?

Ys: The Ark of Napishtim is Falcom's return to the Ys series after an 8-year hiatus. The game was originally released in Japan in 2003 (where it was titled Ys VI: The Ark of Napishtim) and then later ported to the PS2 and, eventually, the PSP.

Hilariously Falcom continues to use the same plot for every Ys game. Our hero, Adol Christin, washes ashore in a "mysterious land" where he must work to unravel a mystery and inevitably end up face-to-face with some unspeakable evil. If this guy had any seafaring skills whatsoever these predicaments wouldn't occur.

The gameplay picks right up where Ys V left off. The player controls Adol (and only Adol - no party system yet) who can swing his sword (no "bumping"), jump, and perform dive-slashes, upward-slashes, and a few other special moves unique to specific swords. The combat is fluid and smooth, and the controls function nicely for the most part.

But then there's the infamous dash-jump. This is essentially just a long horizontal jump - much longer than the standard one - used to clear long horizontal gaps. The issue is that executing this jump requires a very specific sequence of perfectly timed button presses. It's something that would feel more at home in a fighting game than an action-RPG, but then again most fighting games lack moves this awkward. It's so bad that the Napishtim strategy guide has dedicated a section to explaining the mechanic (the actual instruction booklet is useless in this regard) and a Google search of "Ys dash-jump" will net you tons of links wherein people question, ponder, rant, and complain about this maneuver. Failing to perform it properly usually means that Adol will fall- not simply off a platform - but generally down a chasm into a pit of unsavory monsters. Thankfully, the "ds" is never required to complete the game, but is needed to get a slew of items. And skipping these items will make the game about twice as hard. Go figure. Thankfully Falcom realized how hard this move sucked and it was scrapped after its sole appearance here.

One of Ys VI's strengths lies in its brevity. While far too many 5+ gen RPGs are absurdly bloated and pseudo-"epic" Ys VI is short, linear, and straightforward. The game consists of two towns, three shops, a small overworld, and a handful of dungeons. The dungeons are well-crafted, claustrophobic, and creepy. They can also prove to be too difficult to complete in a single run; I often found myself fleeing and making trips back to town until I was strong enough to continue.

Then there are the bosses. The Ys series is known for some ridiculous (and ridiculously tough) bosses, but prior Ys games always featured some clumsy moments mainly due to the bump system or - in the case of Ys V - bosses that are just way too flippin' easy. In Ys VI, however, the boss design has finally been perfected. These are some massive foes requiring specific strategies, rather than just brute force, to overpower. Notable bosses include the giant "Afrocan" frog who uses its tongue as a whip, multiple insects that lay eggs that need to be cleared off the battlefield lest they hatch into more insects, and the final boss which looks (and behaves) more like some abstract art piece than any traditional enemy.

The Ys VI OST is decent, as expected. It's not as inspired as the redbook CD soundtracks of old, but there are some choice cuts I still find myself humming along to. There's no voice-acting whatsoever though, and Konami's localization is rather dry. I frequently found myself wishing XSEED has published this one.

The PSP port of Ys VI features some (unfortunately negative) material not found in the other versions. First, there is a "Sealed Cavern" one can eventually unlock. Contained within is a collection of mini-games. Completing these nets one experience points, money, or items that can be used to upgrade weapons. These mini-games are ostensibly designed as an alternative to level-grinding, but they are so tedious and difficult that old-fashioned grinding turns out to be the better choice. Also present in the PSP port are some rather absurd load times. The game must load every time Adol moves to a new "screen" and while bringing up menus. The bosses most "load" before they appear on the screen, and even some regular enemies "load" their attacks! This kind of stalling feels especially awkward in an action-RPG. Thankfully the game is short enough so it never becomes a colossal issue.

I would recommend The Ark of Napishtim on PSP with some hesitation. It's a good game - but to put it simply - there are better alternatives. For starters, the PS2 port is vastly superior. The load times are absent and the Sealed Cavern is replaced with the vastly superior set of sub-quests known as "Alma's Trials." Secondly, it's worth noting that the engine used in Napishtim was reused again for both The Oath in Felghana and Ys Origin. Both of these are noticeably better games, especially Origin.