The dangers of the sea

The world of Dragon Quest IX is now mine. With the ship, I can go anywhere. So long as the monsters along the way, or  wherever I end up don't destroy me.

That's happened surprisingly little. And only in the sense that Peridot's been killed.

That's one of this game's oddities to me. The status effect that a character is labelled with when they have zero HP isn't "KO" or "Fainted," but simply "Dead."

The only other games that I've played that have been so frank are Ogre Battle and Fire Emblem titles. What's more, in at least one Ogre Battle game dead characters can come back as undead beings.

Frank as it is with it's status effects, will a coffin drug along long enough (even if behind a ship) in Dragon Quest IX eventually spring open, revealing an undead class character?

Away Game Special: Fire Emblem Awakening

I'm not always at home, and while I'm away I'm not always going to be playing the games from my list. So, since I'm away for the next few days, the next few video game entries will be "Away Games Specials." Today's game? Fire Emblem Awakening for the 3DS. Or, rather, its demo.

A short look into what sounds like a long game (according to episode #324 of Radio Free Nintendo (RFN)), the demo offered on the 3DS e-shop gives a review of the game's basics, introduces the beginnings of its story, and hints at what the new mechanics can do.

However, if I hadn't listened to that episode of RFN, then I'd have no idea that the relationship mechanic could lead to characters marrying and having children. Plus, I'm sure that in the full game every combination of characters doesn't just give your hit rate a 10% boost. That's all that seemed to be in the demo, though.

What bothers me most about the demo, though, is that in the second cinematic it looks like there's a 16-bit sprite in the middle of the inter-dimensional gate. Yet, it's blurred just enough to be impossible to make out.

Maybe it's a character from a Fire Emblem game from the SNES/Super Famicom era? Or just something thrown in by a nameless designer with absolutely no meaning attached to it.

But the more I look at it, the more it looks like a Chrono Trigger sprite.

Video Game Potpourri

I recently traded for some games from K.W.'s Games Exchange. Since they've got a three-day, no-questions-asked return policy, I figured that I should actually try out what I bought so that it could be returned if they didn't turn out.

Now, into the specifics. I traded Final Fantasy V (GBA), Final Fantasy Adventures III (GB), and Tales of Phantasia (GBA) for Dragon Ball: Origins, Golden Sun: Dark Dawn, and Fire Emblem: Shadow Dragon (all three of which are for the Nintendo DS).

All of these games checked out, and even Dragon Ball: Origins was decent. Not much more than what I expected, but if the game's as long as its pre-start screen intro suggests, it was quite a steal at 5$.

The other two titles are solid RPGs. Golden Sun: Dark Dawn is the third in the oft-forgotten Golden Sun trilogy, and though it's already introduced two features which set it apart from most other RPGs that I've played, its intro is prohibitively long. It's not as bad as Twilight Princess - but 20 solid minutes of exposition and set up without any break for wandering around or non-scripted interaction is a bit much. Especially if your game has a disclaimer about needing basic reading ability to enjoy it.

All the same, even the game's exposition heavy intro had some elements of interactivity which helped to buoy its experience among the sea of dialogue and name dropping. One of these is the encyclopedia feature, that allows you to tap on certain nouns in dialogue for more information; and the other is the ability to choose your character's emotional responses to various situations. These choices might not resonate very seriously in terms of plot or relationships, but at the very least it's a distraction from all of the exposition going on. That the intro needed this sort of thing to keep it interesting is something of a bad sign. I'll soldier on in the game later though.

Shadow Dragon is by far the best of the bunch. Its simple use of the dual screens really makes it appealing, and even though it's been a while since I played a Fire Emblem game, its interface makes it as easily played as if I had recently finished The Sacred Stones or Path of Radiance.

However, I don't remember how Fire Emblem handles the balance of the weapons. I'm sure I'll pick it up quickly once I actually start my play through of this one.

Speaking of games I'm actually playing through, the second dungeon of Link's Awakening has been beaten. It took some doing since I needed to grab some bombs (huzzah for no hand-holding!), but all the same, it was done.

However, in my travels I came across Crazy Tracy, and since I had the rupees I let her rub her medicine on Link. So, when the boss of the second dungeon singed away my last heart with a fire ball I was instantly revived.

All the same, my save file still shows that I've died three times. Is this really fair? I went to the extra trouble of getting what's basically a fairy in a bottle, and I still "died"? I suppose the system's right, on a technicality. Plus, it's also the way that A Link to the Past counts deaths. Nonetheless, hopefully my death count stays in the single digits at least.