Backloggers #2: Only on Pay-Per-View

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Backloggers #1: Stop Leaning on It.

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Sim Tower

Oh, I remember this game's origins in my life like it was yesterday. I was with my dad at an Office Depot. I was about 8 or 9 and had never played a "big boy" PC game. All I knew was Math Blaster and Solitaire. Then, I saw it. The game that would herald in a new day in my gaming life. I would finally be kicking it grown-up style on my dad's state-of-the-art Gateway 2000 (with 1 GB of disk space!). The soon-to-be crown jewel of my young gaming collection: SimTower.

...alright, maybe it wasn't quite that epic.

But all things aside, SimTower was a pretty fun game that I only got to play occasonally. I had seen my older brother's friends play SimCity and tell me that it was "too complex" for me. Well, they hadn't played the new hotness in the Sim world of gaming. The concept for the game was to build an "veritcal empire" of offices, hotel rooms, public entertainment facilities, and ultimately, a 100th floor Chapel for weddings as a crowning achievement. Needless to say, I decided at that time so long ago that I was going to play that game until I was sitting on the top floor, watching Brad and Janet having a shotgun wedding after meeting earlier in the 75th floor movie theatre, spending a few hours in Brad's Hotel Suite on Floor 47, and crazily purchasing a condo on the 4th floor. This would be the building equivalent of the Galactic Empire, with my iron left fist controlling the every movement of my tenants while I counted money with the other hand!

"Once I build the P.F. Chang's on the B3 floor, the circle will be complete!"

Obviously, since this game is being blogged about on the Backlog, I met with unfortunate failure in accomplishing this. I have come back to this game from time to time, but it has always returned to the back of the gaming queue without being fully conquested.

The question I ask is why. That's what I'm finding out in this revisit.

At the start up of the game, you have what you have in all Sim games: a blank slate. This time, rather than an overhead view of your canvas, you are give a 2D sideview. As well, you only have certain build options at the beginning, such as offices, lobbies, fast food restaurants, and condos. As your tower grows, you make more money through rent (or sales in the case of condos), your population grows, and you rinse and repeat. As your population increases, your tower's Star Rating (essentially the same concept as the different city categories in Sim City) improves, which results in the ability to build more lucrative and impressive structures, such as a Metro Station or Movie Theatre. Simple enough premise: make money, build more, people move in. Rinse and repeat.

"Look honey! The blue skies. Crisp air. Time to build a polluting monstrosity to block those sightlines!"

However, before you can get to the nitty-gritty construction of your edition of the Sears Tower, you have to build a foundation: your lobby. Essentially, this is where your Sims enter the building to pick up some mode of transportation (elevators, stairs, escalators). I would say there is nothing fancy to this, but that would be to overlook one of the cool easter eggs in the game. If you hold down the CTRL button and build your lobby, you end up with a two-story lobby. If you are really looking for the fancy-schmancy, you can hold CTRL and SHIFT and build the lobby, which will produce a state-of-the-art, Waldorf Astoria-quality, three-story lobby!

It doesn't do jack crap, but it looks kinda cool in a 2D, 1990's sort of way.

Alright, foundation laid. Now the fun begins with building your offices, hotels, Starbucks, brothels, and whatever else you decide to throw in there. Well, not entirely true. While you cannot build actual brothels, you can rename businesses and people however you like. You can in fact track the people you name with the "Find" dropdown menu option. This makes for a chuckle every now and then when you see your blue sim name Engelbert Humperdink walking around.

Of course, to be able to name businesses, you need people. To get people, you have to have transit through your building. Which brings us to what is the biggest challenge (and pain in the ass) in the entire game:

ELEVATORS.

Now, you are probably asking yourself, "Aren't elevators supposed to make things easier?" To this, my friends, Sim Tower answers with a resounding "No, bitch!" followed by a firm slap to the face.

Prime example of elevators making things worse.

This is do largely to the game mechanics by which Sims move through your tower. Creator Yoot Saito, perhaps attempting to simulate people's want for simplicity in travel, established that Sims moving in the tower can only use 2 different transportation units to get where they are going. That means they can only use 2 flights of stairs OR a flight of stairs and an elevator OR 2 elevators and so on and so forth. This wouldn't be a big deal if it wasn't for the limitations for building elevators and stairs. That's right. You can only build a set number of each in your building. This means that double coverage is possible for only so much of your tower, then you up a creek without a paddle. Also, these shaft can only go up 30 floors (and are effective for only 15). Add to this the fact that you can only have 8 cars to an elevator shaft, and you have an epic, organizational mess to untangle.

Furthermore, due to these limitations, you become more and more reliant on the Express Elevator shafts that you have to build as your tower grows (an option that becomes available with a 3 star rating). These solve the issues of getting people to the highest floors without straining your 15 floor elevators. However, you get to a point where the Express shaft is strained, which in turn ruins the rest of your elevator system. Overall, elevators in this game instill the same kind of frustration in you that a Rubik's cube does for those of us who still don't get the trick.

F*$% this thing.

I could continue on, describing each and every little facet on irritation that attempts to derail you from ultimate success in the game, but I can explain why this game constantly returns to the Backlog: it gets repetative. For as much fun as it is starting out in this game, you reach a point where you are installing your 34th elevator, adjusting all the options for said shaft just to make it work, and thinking about building your next 50 office suites, at which you ask yourself "What's the point?" Whereas in Sim City or other Sim titles, you can find a rebuttle to this question, Sim Tower doesn't offer enough satisfaction in complete victory to outweight the annoyance you must endure to achieve it. At the end of the day, Sim Tower is worthy of a good college try now and again for the fun you can have with it. God knows I keep coming back to it and enjoy it each time. Just don't go in expecting Risk-like World Domination as you try to take it off your Backlog. You might end up with one of those neverending games where all the players start muttering "Make it stop."

Final Fantasy XII-2, Or FFXII Log, Supplemental

Alright, so I didn't beat this game in the short amount of time I estimated it would take.

Reason being, I forgot that it's terrifyingly addictive.

Final Fantasy XII in powder form

I've been at the point where I could rush in and fight the final boss for over a week now, but I keep going back to try and accomplish all the other hundred things there are to do which are completely inconsequential as far as the story is concerned. I made the ultimate weapon. I beat the giant monsters. I even took part in a minimally rewarding foot race, simply because it was there. I have no doubt that if this game included a sub-quest wherein you grow and manage a farm in real time I would be writing to update you on the progress of my delicate yet promising tomato patch.

Oh wait, I DID play that game.

As of the time of this writing, I am currently attempting to obtain the last two trophies available in the game's "Sky Pirate's Den," an achievements-style feature the game has. The two are tied together; one requires me to beat the game's hardest monster, Yiazmat, the other requires me to beat every monster. I'm going through right now killing everything except the strangely-named dragon (named for, I'm told, FFXII's director Yasumi Matsuno, nicknamed "Yazz" by his colleagues, and "maker of the best damned games anywhere" by others).

The only thing he doesn't know how to do is fail

The problem for me is that Final Fantasy XII's Ivalice is so alive. The actions you take actually have meaning; the horde of NPCs occupying the sprawling land change what they say based on world events usually caused by you. Sometimes this follows the main plot, other times it is entirely up to you whether or not you will perform the actions necessary to enact a change. The refuge of Mt. Bur-Omisace, for example, left in ruins after an Imperial attack, will begin to turn around if a wandering Viera decides to lend her help to the wounded - but she will only be inspired to do so if you choose to hunt down a monster in an entirely optional portion of the story's narrative. There is another character, also a Viera, whose ultimate fate is determined based on whether or not you decide to have regular conversations with her. The people in Ivalice react to the things you do, the game is not in a bubble. They live in a world where information flows freely, and when something happens they talk about it.

It's the vast, interconnected nature of the world which inspires me to keep traversing every inch of it, searching for each new change in response to my adventures. This is just like another Matsuno game you might be familiar with; a little piece of work called Final Fantasy Tactics.

Our most important accomplishment since the invention of breathing.

In Tactics, as you progressed in the game, you might want to quench the main character Ramza's thirst for distilled spirits instead of distilled justice. A trip to the bar would yield the option of hearing rumors flying about regarding not just your exploits, but the goings-on within the powerful Church, amongst the royal family, and in other battles you had no hand in. So yes, you were important, and people would certainly discuss your exploits, but you were living in a large and complicated world, and more than one important thing happens at once in the world. Quests you had performed earlier, optional quests, keep in mind, would have ramifications you would find out about in the form of other quests along the same line, sometimes in different towns as the repercussions traveled outwards. This compelling system was mirrored in Final Fantasy XII, and only good came as a result.

Talking to NPCs, of course, is hardly the sole motivator to keep playing. I made a pledge to myself that I would eschew attempting to obtain all of the improbably rare equipment in the game. Some of the requirements for obtaining certain weapons and armor in the game are a little absurd; certainly not worth the time it would take to get them, especially since I already have most of the best stuff.

But . . .

You knew this was coming.

The fact that they're there, and people have gotten them, and I can't browse GameFAQs wtihout reading about how people got them makes me want to try. I get in the mindset of "well hey, maybe I'll be that lucky guy who gets it on the first try." Which turns into "okay, the second try is almost as lucky." That quickly evolves into "Well, if I get it in the first hour, that's not too much time wasted," and eventually "screw it, I've put so much time into it now I can't just give up."

3D Realms operates under the same philosophy.

On the plus side though, I'm up to the point where I'm running out of anything to do except beat the game. There are 9 more enemies I have to kill (including Yiazmat) to get those last 2 trophies. Only two, maybe three rare items remain for me to obtain. I've advanced the story to the point where confronting the final boss is something I can do at any point now. And I do want to beat it, I really do, but I just can't let myself leave these last few goals unachieved, not now as I am on the brink of complete triumph. When I beat this game, it's going to know it's been beaten.

So I anticipate that when next you hear from me, I shall include perhaps a brief blurb regarding my victory, and then finally moving on to more of my ever-expanding PS2 library. Next on my list shall be a run of either the Devil May Cry series or Ratchet & Clank. I suppose which one I choose will depend on whether I am in the mood for ruthless slaughter or adorable hijinx.

So adorable.

Nevertheless, with Final Fantasy XII now rivaling Persona 3 for sheer amount of time I spent playing and attempting to master, I can finally say I got my money's worth out of this (I mentioned it was a gift, right?), which is, after all, the point of The Backlog.

Until next time, keep playing.

Another gem overlooked: Hexyz Force

Sometimes, there's a game that just clicks.

You turn it on, and from the beginning the story has your attention. When you get to the actual meat of the game through the combat system, there's enough depth that it's not overly simplistic, yet it's easy enough to pick up that you're not completely frustrated. This has been my experience with Hexyz Force; a solid game that's managed to grab my attention for some time -- to the point where David wondered if I would ever put the game down long enough to make this post.

If you followed my previous post on Spectral Force 3, you already know I have a knack for picking up some of those niche RPG titles that are easily overlooked. I'll wholeheartedly admit that I have a penchant for enjoying said titles (after all, I enjoyed the SaGa games on some level) that the mainstream seems to abhor. While this PSP RPG is not a frontrunner for handheld game of the year, Hexyz Force still manages to stand out as a enjoyable experience that has a few cumbersome quirks, but does the majority of what it sets out to do right. Read on for some insight into the story, the few annoying points I found while playing, and an overall look into the game.

The Story

Hexyz Force takes place in the world of Berge. Due to a calamity long ago (you know the usual: God of destruction running rampant, the rest of the pantheon sacrificing their powers to stop him, etc.) the world was split in two halves: Lustrous Berge, a land of eternal light, and Dark Berge, a land of perpetual night. As the game begins, you are prompted to select one of two protagonists. Cecilia, a priestess, hails from Lustrous Berge. Levant, an imperial knight, hails from Dark Berge. Although both character stories eventually intersect, each character's tale is essentially its own game until the final chapter.

























Of the two, Levant's story sounded more interesting, so I went with him. Plus, he has a cool coat, which I can dig in the guy I'm controlling for the majority of the game. Next up, I'll give a brief overview of Levant's story:

A Tale of Loyalty, Betrayal and Floating Furry things

Levant's story begins with a meeting between him and the emperor of Rosenbaum, Axel, who just happens to be his best friend. Axel, a just, honorable, and kind-hearted ruler is realizing that the strife between the humans of the empire, and the non-human races (elves, turtles, and lygars -- collectively referred to as "Halbs") has to come to a stop. In an attempt to show unity between the races, and end centuries of warfare between the races, Axel introduces Levant to his new bride to be: An Elven woman named Natulle. While taken aback initially, Levant is able to put aside his deep-seated prejudice against the Halbs long enough to support his friend's choice in bride, and ultimate desire to unify the land.

You're introduced to a few other characters as the opening scenes continue: Irene, Axel's younger sister and Levant's love interest; Bahn, a close friend of Levant and Axel's, as well as a distinguished soldier who has worked his way up through the ranks; Faust, a seemingly kind-hearted scholar who vaguely alludes to an injury he treated Levant for, and Ulu, your obligatory fuzzy mascot character who's there for no real explainable reason.

The opening scenes continue with Bahn and Levant being promoted to the distinguished rank of Cerulean Knight, as well as plans to meet with the elves for Axel and Natulle's engagement dinner party. With his best friends leading his army, and his elven bride ready to support his vision of a brighter future, it all seems as if things are going Axel's way.

Naturally, we know this can't last, right?

Don't get me wrong: The opening is well written, the characters are believable and have good dialogue (for example, Irene doesn't totally throw herself at Levant, but the affection is apparent), but the cynic in me could not help but notice a few things signalling the inevitable train wreck to come. I mean let's lay it out:

First, how often in the history of gaming, movies, or any other form of entertainment has an -empire- ever done good? A kingdom? Sure. A republic? Why not. A Federation? As long as it's not Gundam, sure. But an empire? No matter how noble their plans are initially, they always go south eventually:

I'm sure the Death Star was originally intended as a children's hospital.

Secondly, there's the matter of interracial marriage. Now I'm not against this at all, considering the relationships I've been in. Interracial marriage, however, is something that's still not fully accepted in the 21st century. When we move things back to the equivalent of the middle ages, it's pretty evident how it works out. Furthermore, we're talking inter-species marriage here, and if you read over David's post on Arc the Lad, we've seen how well that can work out.

In Rosenbaum, Keith Bardwell would be a hero.

Lastly, there's a guy named Faust. For those who are well read, you'll recognize the name Faust originates from German literature, named for a brilliant scholar who, in spite of his success, is unsatisfied with his life, makes a deal with the devil to attain greater power, and ends up eternally damned. If you're one of those people who gave up reading in favor of MMO playing, you might recognize this guy:

Sneaky bastard, no matter what game his namesake is in.

I won't spoil much, but if you see a picture of Faust, in spite of his kind words, everything about the guy screams "mad scientist" -- maybe it's the crooked monocle.

It doesn't take long for things to go sour. During Axel's engagement dinner, the party is attacked by unknown assailants, Natulle is murdered, and the empire and Halbs alike are blaming each other for the attack. Since a thorough investigation which gets to the bottom of the matter is far too time-consuming, Axel decides to have a change in foreign policy, going from an amiable fellow like this:



To donning a mask and overhauling his army to be more like this:



Axel, understandably, is a little bit upset that his future wife was murdered. Well, maybe a little upset is an understatement. With some strategic planning from his imperial advisers, Axel comes up with a new vision and course of action:

"Kill it with fire" is the new foreign policy.

Levant, being the stand-up guy that he is, can't quite support his buddy's "flames and genocide" agenda shift. During an attack on the Spirit Forest, the home of the elves, Levant saves a few of the fleeing survivors. In the midst of this attack, he happens upon a monument sacred to the elves, which bestows upon him the Holy Sword Kravunado: A relic meant to appear to the champion of elves in a time of crisis. Of course, considering that most of the able bodied elves are well, dead, the powers that be decide that Levant works for now.

Axel, unfortunately, gets wind of Levant's noble actions. While the Axel of old may have praised his actions, the new Axel is well, sort of a dick. Levant is promptly charged with treason, stripped of his Cerulean Knight commander rank, imprisoned, and sentenced to death. Shortly after, Irene hears of this and confronts her brother, being none to pleased that she's jailed her man. Axel being well, sort of a dick, hasn't changed much, and he promptly reminds his sister that she's an unwanted bastard child of their father and has her thrown out of the castle. Irene, naturally is not happy about this. Fortunately her response to stress is a little less flame-filled than her brothers, but nevertheless bold. She enlists the help of a Halb rebel organization -- Argent (named for a deity in the world) -- led by the Lygar Griek, breaks Levant out of jail.

All of this takes place in roughly the first -hour- of the game, so it's easy to see how the story gripped me early on. Of course, story alone doesn't make a game: What keeps an RPG engaging are the mechanics and battle system, which I'll cover next

Game Mechanics

Overall, there aren't many flaws with Hexyz Force. It attempts to keep things simple while adding a few innovative touches with battle and the overall gameplay. A lot of these elements work well. Some of them, however, are explained so confusingly in the tutorial that even sharp minds would be left in the dark without the help of Gamefaqs:

Certainly not elementary.

The main culprits here are the Hexyz Charge System, the elemental affinity system, and the Creation/Destruction scales. First, let's look at the Hexyz Charge system:



The percentage marker at the top notes the Hexyz Charge, which accumulates points by properly aligning the three divine aspects (Crimson Lotus, Pearl Light, and Cerulean Flame -- representative of each major diety) in battle. The higher the percentage, the more damage the next attack deals. Failing to match the proper alignment leads to it resetting. Really, once you play for a bit, you can figure it out (and the game helps you along if you look at the charge meter), but the way it is initially explained in the tutorial makes it quite confusing. This, perhaps, is due in part to being introduced to the elemental affinity system shortly after. In addition to having to consider the divine aspects, you also have to consider enemy elemental attributes.

Don't get me wrong: I don't mind systems like this. In fact, the whole Hexyz Charge system has potential since it's influenced by both player and enemy alike. What you find out as you play more, however, is that the game is so painfully easy that neither really matters: If you sufficiently level up your weapons (one of the systems that was done quite well, honestly) and occasionally level your characters, you'll pretty much stomp everything in the game. As such, it's often not worth bothering with elemental based attacks, save for maybe the holy or dark based ones. Sigh.

The real culprit in all of this, is the creation/destruction system, also pictured below:

Balan-Sight is a jerk.

The choices you make, how you handle battle, and how you handle quests all affect this scale, which eventually determines which ending you get: One of creation, or one of destruction. It's a neat idea, but one that again, is never really explained well. The scale pops up at the end of each chapter to show your progress, with a decision being made in the final chapter.

In spite of these gripes, however, I've found a lot to enjoy about the game

The Perks

I mentioned before that Hexyz Force is a rather easy game. Frankly though, after taking a break from the sometimes punishing difficulty of Spectral Force 3, this was a welcome change. The easier pace of combat (augmented by the fact that you can fast-forward battles), combined with the rather engaging story made for an enjoyable experience. Here are a few key areas:

Combat is fun: It's your standard turn-based fare, but the variety of weapons and abilities at your disposal, in addition to a slight tactical element with enemy positioning makes for an easy, yet fun combat experience.

Interesting Weapons: There are a host of weapons in the game: Some have limited durability (which you'll likely never used) and others with unlimited durability, like Levant's sword, can be leveled up to gain new abilities, additional attack power, and speed. As each character has a range of weapons they can use, this adds an additional depth to combat, and is fairly straightforward.

Item Fusion: While it can be a little cumbersome to find the ingredients for items sometimes, the game forgoes your standard shops in favor of having your little furry mascot thing sytnhesize items for you: Accessories, capes, spiritfacts (the weapons with limited duraility) and more are available to you through the synthesis system.

The Story: I've already mentioned an overview of the first part of Levant's tale, but the story is rather gripping. It's not too cheesily written, NPCs have enough amusing dialogue to keep one's attention, and the character development, as well as interaction (at least in Levant's tale) is believable and well written.

With all of this going for the game, it didn't take me long to reach the closing chapter of Levant's tale. It's already an amazing feat when a game makes it off the backlog, but even moreso when it happens in such a short amount of time. Unfortunately, as I stand at endgame, I'm suddenly brought to a stop. It's already been established that there's more than one tale, and while Cecilia's playthrough, should I elect to do so, will be an easier playthrough, there's another factor:

So what's the hold up?

Remember the creation scales? I discovered that if balanced properly, you can go towards a neutral path, which is essentially the "true" ending. Balancing the scales in this way is already a task in itself, but it also requires you to do certain things in Levant's quest before you finish. Furthermore, to make Cecilia's quest a quicker playthrough, I'm stuck doing a certain amount of grinding, and making sure I get the items that carry over.

Sure. I could just ignore all of this. I could finish Levant's story, breeze through Cecilia's, and possibly watch the "neutral" ending on YouTube. After all, I've enjoyed the game enough, and I have plenty more to go through. However, there is one person that stands between me and allowing myself mediocrity:

I hate this guy almost as much as David does.

..Thus a game that could have been finished a week or two ago is still going on. These days, I'm getting a little better about not getting absolutely everything in one playthrough, and even resigning myself not to go through a second time. However, I know that guy is there. Watching. Laughing. Mocking.

Fortunately, I've completed those annoying sidequests, and after wrapping things up with this post, I fully intend to finish Hexyz Force by tonight. Maybe I'll do Cecilia's playthrough, maybe not. But I can at least consider it 'finished' with this playthrough should I choose.

For those of you considering a purchase of Hexyz Force, you'll find it well worth your time. Sure, it's an easy game, and sure, there are other RPGs on the PSP that stand out more. Sometimes, however, you don't need to be awed by everything in a game, nor do you need every encounter to be an edge of your seat challenge. For a game that's meant to be played on the go, Hexyz Force does an excellent job of providing a great experience.

Final Fantasy XII: An Experimental Narrative

Whenever a writer sits down to put words on paper, there is a lens through which those words are focused. Works of fiction, non-fiction, biographical and autobiographical writings, short stories, comic books, movie scripts, even most poetry - it's all told through somebody's point of view. There's a voice guiding the story along, usually in first or third person, letting us, the reader, know who the main character is. This is important, because writers need that filter in place to make sure they elicit the desired reaction from their readers. For example, if the entire narrative of Harry Potter wasn't focused on Harry's experience, we'd probably be wondering why this kid with the vaguely Batman-like origin was the title character when so much of the book was dedicated to Hermione trying to find new ways to bend the laws of physics so she can give herself more homework.

Marty McFly would slap her right in her stupid mouth.

So I think in that respect, there's something to be said for the daring creativity of the writing team behind Final Fantasy XII. Because somewhere in the course of drafting the script for the game, they decided they were going to spit in the face of all established convention and create something with absolutely no main character.

It's something they tried once before, in the epic Final Fantasy VI. There, they established early on that most of the story was going to focus on the mysterious backstory of protagonist Terra Branford. However, as the game progressed, the supporting cast grew in importance and the audience was given powerful revelations regarding their histories and motivations. By the end of the game, it could still very much be Terra's story, but everyone has firm enough ground to stand on that it emerges as an ensemble game. Taking away any of the characters would subtract from the narrative. Except Gogo and Umaro.

The Rosencrantz and Guildenstern of the Final Fantasy world.

So while Final Fantasy VI tries this to a degree, Final Fantasy XII goes all out. The thing is, they don't really make it obvious they're going to do that. Vaan, the first character you can control, has all the trappings of an honest-to-goodness lead protagonist. He lives in the slums of a city controlled by an oppressive, war-mongering empire. His older brother, whom he idolized, died as a result of that empire's actions. He's the leader of a local group of young ruffians. He dreams of breaking out of his station in life, defying the empire, and becoming a freewheeling Sky Pirate, sailing the skies in an airship.

Then you meet other characters and we forget Vaan exists.

See, the thing that made FFVI work is that every character became the main character. By the end of the game you could put any combination of your extensive roster in to the final battle and it wouldn't feel terribly out of place. I feel like when I get to the end of FFXII it will be similiar, but not because everyone was developed to have an equal stake in the story. More likely, it will be because I care about everyone so little that I really won't care who I throw in there as long as I win.

You see, Vaan begins as so archetypal a protagonist that the only revelation missing is that his father is actually Darth Vader.

"Luke . . . I . . . kind of got around a lot."

But then we meet Balthier Bunansa and his leggy assistant Fran, Sky Pirates with Han Solo and Chewbacca written all over them. Following that is the rescue of Princess Leia, I mean, Ashelia Dalmasca, ruler of the kingdom of Dalmasca, which was overthrown by the Empire. Then we throw in Basch, whom we all think at first is a horrible traitor, but discover that this was actually another trick of the empire. He can be Lando. It's close enough, shut up. Then for no real reason, we add Penelo, Vaan's childhood friend. Whatever, she's an ewok. Anyway.

This was the Christmas Special.

Now of course, their actual resemblance to any Star Wars characters is circumstantial at best. The point is that they serve essentially the same function. We've met our Luke, now we bring in the supporting cast to tear him away from his provincial life and make him the empire-smashing hero we know he can be.

And then none of that ever happens.

From the moment other characters come into the game, the viewpoint of our narrative starts ping-ponging around as if the writers wrote individual scripts for all the characters and then threw them in the air and grabbed random parts to stick together. Okay, so the story is about Balthier having to face his past and stop his evil father (he's got an evil father! He must be the hero). No wait, the big issue is Ashe trying to overcome the empire and win back autonomy for her small kingdom (that's even more heroic!). Oh, hold on a second, no, it's Basch's story, and he's got to defeat his evil twin and take revenge for the empire ruining his life while restoring honor to his name (oh come on!). Wait, what? We're not going to really focus in on any of these as the main plot? So what IS the main plot?

And that's the question which remains unanswered. When you don't have a focused point of view, you can make as many great storylines to follow as you want. If the central idea boils down to "our heroes good, empire bad," then the writing is flawed in a pretty major way. Vaan, for his part, is quickly relegated to making occasional inane statements and generally being completely out of place with the others.

So instead of Luke Skywalker, we end up with Anakin. Episode I Anakin, as essentially his purpose is hang out with the grown ups and occasionally stumble into something which forwards the plot. What's worse is that if they ever just solidly backed one character like Basch or Balthier, this game could've been the Original Trilogy. Since we're stuck with Vaan, it is unfortunately the prequels.

Lead Consultant for Final Fantasy XII.

As long as I'm getting all the Star Wars comparisons out of my system, this is Jar Jar Binks:



This is a Bangaa, native to Ivalice, where FFXII takes place:


So we even have bumbling lizard-things with annoying voices. My prequel analogy runs deep.

Alright, enough about the story. Let's talk about the game. Why would I keep playing something when the plot - or lack thereof - obviously leaves me baffled and uninterested? Simple answer; it's actually pretty fun.

I received Final Fantasy XII years ago as a gift when it was brand new. I have been trying ever since to actually sit down and beat this game. When I opened up my save file to try and pick up where I left off, I was staring at a game with 130 hours already on it. This was from when I tried to play through it a year ago. Two years before that I'd already put in 100 hours on my original attempt. FFXII is an absolutely enormous game, and there's so much to do that I'm fairly certain both times I put it down was just because I had become overwhelmed at the sheer volume of tasks which had to be accomplished in order to achieve everything.

And I MUST achieve everything.

I know he's there, watching. Judging.

Now, since Final Fantasy VI brought us its Colosseum, every subsequent entry into the series has offered us a mini-game - a time-waster that really has nothing to do with the story, but can net you some nice rewards and is actually pretty fun. VII had Chocobo Breeding and Racing, as well as the Golden Saucer casino. VIII and IX had card games, very, very addictive card games. X brought us Blitzball, and holy crap how awesome was it to have an actual sports league as an optional part of the game? That's like if every new iteration of Madden included a 100+ hour bonus game where Eli Manning treks across the world gathering allies and combating evil.

It would be mostly biographical.

XII has . . . fishing.

Gripping.

Alright, there's certainly more to it than that. The fishing system is a rapid button-pushing stress-fest, where you get 6 chances to catch something and each perfect game gives you a chance to advance to another fishing spot with even harder, faster combos. If you want one of the best items in the game, you've got to beat all the fishing holes. It CAN be fun, when you're winning, or it can be an experiment in whether your controller is more durable than your wall.

Now, besides fishing, FFXII does offer some other distractions. Personally, I can't get enough of its hunt system. This game breaks away from the others by making itself more like it's online predecessor, Final Fantasy XI. The world is littered with notorious monsters; beasts that are larger, stronger, and immensely more powerful than their regular counterparts.

They are the Alecs in a world of Stephens.

The game keeps track of which of these monsters you have found, and some you must first fulfill a series of arcane requirements to make appear. A few of them can show up at anytime, but others require you to sign up with a hunting club which will reward you with trophies for each successful hunt. Those monsters also drop rare and powerful items. Other unique monsters are called Marks, and you make them show up by signing contracts to go out and hunt them for big rewards. New Marks show up at regular intervals as long as you keep forwarding the main story, and that alone provides some motivation to keep doing so. I've caught myself several times running to check if new Marks are available after every minor advancement of the plot.

Still waiting for this one to show up.

There's also a system of crafting new weapons and armor by collecting the things monsters drop and selling them. Naturally, the best weapon in the game can only be obtained by collecting a number of the rarest drops and selling them in the correct order. This is less entertaining and more a time sink, since a lot of the better items drop so infrequently you have to wonder what they were thinking. I know that following FFXI they wanted to give players the feeling of the online game but in single-player mode, but was it necessary to include the Rat Tail aspect I alluded to in my previous post? You do that with MMOs so people keep playing every month. There's no subscription fee for this. The company already got my money. I don't know why they insist on forcing me to play long after the part where you hunt monsters and hope to get their items becomes fun and meanders over into tedious.

I'm still interested in fulfilling these requirements and getting the best items because . . . well, they're there, and I think Square Enix understands that so long as they keep putting stuff in games, there will be people who will spend hours trying to get it. So I'll keep playing, but with The Backlog now in my life, I've got some motivation to maybe leave a few things untouched and power through to the ending.

Overall, this game is fun for me. Not great, but good - perhaps the experience can best be summed up with this appraisal of JRPGs. Despite my issues with its core, there are enough bells and whistles to keep me playing. Maybe one day this week I'll be able to sit down and really whittle down all the extra content thrown in until I've got nothing left except beating the game to accomplish. Although this also depends on whether or not I try to navigate my way through The Great Crystal, a hellish zone whose every turn is a descent into madness dictated by non-Euclidean geometry.

Pictured: Map of the zone

If nothing else, I'll at least be able to say that I finally got my money's worth on a game I received as a gift.

Hey, wait.

Final Fantasy XI: On Permanent Backlog

I mentioned in my post regarding Arc the Lad: Twilight of Spirits that I spent a number of years playing Square-Enix's MMO offering, Final Fantasy XI: Online. Since this is a game which will permanently be on the backlog (or one that I simply took 6 years to beat, depending on your perspective) I felt it appropriate to discuss here. Also, I still haven't beaten Arc, and needed something to write about.

I picked this game up about a month after its initial release, around the end of November in 2003. The concept is pretty simple; you're an adventurer in the world of Vana'diel, which is, as fantasy worlds tend to be, overrun with giant monsters and evil world domination-plotting villains. I got into it very easily, and played it until the end of 2009. If you take out time I stopped playing for various reasons, this single title dominated my gaming experience for roughly 5 years of my life. Especially impressive considering that for the last two I hated it.

Why did I keep paying to play a game that wasn't fun? Three reasons.

First, I grew up with this:


And this -


Definitely this -


And I saved up the $5 an hour I got working for a plumber when I was 15 until I had enough to buy this -

Someone stole my original. It remains one of the only games I've ever bought twice.

Final Fantasy had been a part of my life practically since I started playing video games when XI came out. The idea of an FF game which never ended seemed impossible to ignore.

Only, when you actually start playing it, a few things become clear. This game has some striking similarities to the Final Fantasy property line, but only insofar as it uses them to attract that fan base. This game is an MMO, and it will use every trick in the book to keep people playing. For example, do you remember trying to get a Rat Tail in Final Fantasy IV? The monsters that dropped it appeared only rarely in one area of the whole game and then had a ridiculously low drop rate for the tail. But you needed it to get the best armor in the game, so you'd spend hours hacking away at those rats until you got it.

Now imagine that you need to do that for pretty much every piece of equipment you're going to wear, on any of 18 jobs in the game you can choose from. Since you can level multiple jobs on the same character, this means you're going to be hunting that Rat Tail a few hundred times. More often than not, getting it also means waiting for the one monster that drops it while competing against others trying to do the same thing you are. For the biggest, most important items in the game, you'll need 17 or more of your closest friends to help you take down the monster that shows up once every 24 hours and has only a slim chance of actually dropping what you want.

So it looks pretty, and it has chocobos, moogles, cactaurs, a guy named Cid, and everything else that screams "Final Fantasy," but it's just a series of gimmicks to get people interested and try to make them pay for it. So why keep it up so long, even having figured this out? Well . . .

The second reason was that Final Fantasy XI is a social game. For douchebags, this is a problem, though many of them got around it simply by banding together. People with relatively acceptable degrees of social interaction skills, on the other hand, were harder to find. I was extremely lucky to fall into the linkshell - FFXI's version of a guild - known as ThoseGuys. Early on in their lifespan, the shell attracted people who would eventually become some of the best players in the game, and were also for the most part very cool to be around. As we progressed in the game, we'd do everything together. Like fight monsters, talk about fighting monsters, and wait for monsters to show up so we could fight them.

Occasionally we'd just stand and look at monsters.

The thing about playing with the same group of people for years on end is that you make friends. And Final Fantasy XI provided a lot of friends for me, accented by the annual TG Gathering, where members from all across the country and around the world would congregate in Brooklyn for a 3-day event. We would have a barbecue, games of Super Smash Bros. and Rock Band, card games, bar-and-restaurant hopping across New York City, and in general just being awesome. They transitioned from being people I'd talk to in a video game to people I drive three hours to hang out with. I also used ThoseGuys as a creative outlet, dabbling with this short story about our fictional adventures.

So I'd sign in every day, and sure we'd hang around just waiting for something to happen a lot of the time, but it didn't matter. This was for me the same as going and hanging out at a bar with my friends, and cost less money in the grand scheme of things. We got to joke around, tell stories, and if we could fit it into our schedules, occasionally kill giant monsters.

"Hey man, want to hang out this weekend? Drink some brews,
maybe kill Cerberus, magma-blooded guardian of the underworld? Cool."

And then one day I signed on and all my friends were gone.

It happened much more gradually than that, but over time I realized that all those people I would drive up to New York to see had stopped playing. Other people joined ThoseGuys, and they were friendly and all, but not really my friends. There was no longer a social aspect for me, and yet I kept playing, more or less now for the sake of playing. So I wasn't enjoying it as a Final Fantasy game, and I didn't have a network of friends to play it with. Why, why was I still so determined to spend hours a day signed on to this game?

This fucking guy.

I love being the best at video games. For single player games, there is almost always a very definite way to establish yourself as highly skilled; for one, you can just beat the game. However, in recent times, the trend has tended away from using the warp zone to skip 6 levels of the game. Instead you want to revisit all 8 levels, as much as possible, because you never know what secrets or power-ups are lying in wait for you there. It is to your advantage to scour every single inch of the game and find absolutely everything. The addition of Achievements only helps solidify this way of thinking. There are now very real ways to demonstrate your absolute mastery over a game, and MMOs love giving you as many of them as possible.

You might never run out of things to do in Final Fantasy XI. And there's always someone else trying to do that thing too, and do it better. You are literally always in competition, and not just against the people you're playing against directly. There's a huge community of players out there endlessly speculating about exactly what equipment is exactly right for each situation. If you don't have the precisely perfect combination of gear, skills, and support? You're a gimp. A noob. A failure at life. This is what I contended with every day I played that game. For someone like me, an aggressive play schedule was the only way to try and keep up.

Then one day I realized that I could keep putting in all the effort I wanted, forever, and nothing was going to really ever change. There wasn't any tangible benefit attached to being good at this, and it would never end like a regular video game. I wasn't enjoying the game, I didn't have any friends playing, and I would literally never win. That's when I made the decision to give up the ghost. I turned everything that was my character over to Ayn, uninstalled FFXI from my computer, and rode off into the sunset.

This actually happens when you uninstall an MMO.

So now it's been nearly a year since I spent any appreciable amount of time playing. Over the course of the 6-year period in which I owned the game, I spent somewhere in the area of $700 on it. However, it was pointed out to me that most people would count themselves lucky if they got the kind of time out of a hobby I did for only $700 over half a dozen years, so it was, in a way, a pretty sound entertainment investment. It just took me a lot longer than it should have to realize that I had exhausted the possibilities of the game for myself.

Now, not everyone has my kind of mindset. Plenty of people are actually rational, sane human beings when it comes to games, and this kind of thing is something they can really just sit back and enjoy without it impacting their lives in any significant way. Others are much, much worse than I ever was, and spend nearly every waking second online, escaping into the virtual world. Ayn, whom also played - and still plays - FFXI, never had a problem prioritizing his life over the game. It would be cool if I could say the same, but it simply wasn't always the case. If anything, I'd say being able to "beat" Final Fantasy XI means maintaining that happy medium. While I certainly wasn't the worst at it, I unfortunately won't be able to claim I was the best.

So, now Final Fantasy XIV is on the horizon, the next online installment of the franchise. I'll be giving this one a shot, and hoping that I've taken enough lessons from my time on FFXI to treat this one like a game, not a job. I'll have some old friends from ThoseGuys returning to play with, and hopefully I'll be able to talk some of my other buddies into getting into it as well. I've got high hopes that this time will be different. Let's hope I'm right.

With that out of the way, I'm going to get back to Arc the Lad, and everything else waiting for me here at The Backlog.