Triangle Strategy - Switch

 

When Square Enix revealed a new game under the working title Triangle Strategy, they implied that the finished game would be called something else. It appeared to be a spiritual successor to Final Fantasy Tactics, so I was immediately interested. The HD-2D art style, utilized on many Square Enix games of late, looked amazing. It took some time, but ultimately my wife gave it to me for Christmas in 2023.  

The story follows a young Lord named Serenoa as he prepares to wed the sister of another nation's archduke. Meanwhile, the three nations of Norzelia are working together on a mining project, 30 years after a bitter war. Something is found in the mines that sets into motion a betrayal and invasion, kicking off another brutal war. 

As you play through the game, there are opportunities to choose where you will go next. You explore the area and talk to NPCs who can provide you with information that you can then take back to your party and try to convince members to choose a particular path. The game's first few choice moments have two options, and continues the rest of the game with three options each time. It allows for four different endings and a high level of replay value. 

The music by Akira Senju in the game is top-notch. Many times, I would just sit and listen to the music and not do anything at all. Square Enix games tend to have great music, so this should not be a surprise. 

I told my wife the other day that this is one of my favorite games I've played on my Switch. No hyperbole. My favorite may be Breath of the Wild, but this would be very close. Come to think of it, I've played several games since I started blogging here that I have not posted. I'm not sure I want to go back and do that now, though.

My Rating: *****

NEXT: I am starting Final Fantasy VII Remake: Intergrade now, which follows Yuffie. I will then play through Final Fantasy VII Rebirth. I had debated playing the original FFVII next, but I think I'll do that after Rebirth. Or maybe finish Arkham Knight.  I have time to think about it.

Marvel's Spider-Man Remastered

 

Spider-Man has been my second favorite superhero for most of my life. First is Batman, but Spidey comes in a very close second. Maybe 1.5 on the list. Anyway, I've played many Spider-Man games, such as Spider-Man and Spider-Man 2: Enter Electro on the original PlayStation, Spider-Man (the movie) and Spider-Man 2 (the movie) on the GameCube. Then there's Spider-Man and the X-Men in Arcade's Revenge for the SNES. That game was cool. While there are others that don't come to mind, there are still many I have yet to play. 

Back when Final Fantasy VII: Remake was nearing its release, I found a great deal on a PS4, which came with three games. I noticed that Best Buy was selling Marvel Spider-Man Game of the Year edition for $15, so I knew I had to snag it. I didn't realize it would be almost five years before I would play it. In fact, in preparation for Final Fantasy VII: Rebirth, I purchased a PS5. Luckily, I was able to upgrade Spider-Man (and the Miles Morales version) to the PS5 editions. 

On to the game itself. The story is not based on any storylines in the comics, so it does a few things that are different, and that's ok. Kingpin is the main villain, but a few others appear throughout it. Overall, a really good story for this game. The controls are fantastic, and I had a lot of fun battling enemies. The boss fights could be very tough, but you could keep trying after you die.

The music is really good in this game. There are many collectibles that you can try to gather, and while I did try to do just about everything, it wasn't worth it to me to get all the secret photos and the highest scores on the challenges. 

I played this on my PlayStation Portal. It was usually great, but lately I've had some connection issues, which I don't think are the fault of the Portal. I did finally try plugging my headphones into the controller, so I may play further PS5 games out in the living room.

My Rating: *****

NEXT: My wife has bought me a few games over the years, and I always try to prioritize those. A couple Christmases ago she got me Triangle Strategy for the Switch. I'll be playing that on my Switch 2 (I don't have any Switch 2 games yet, but I do play to upgrade to the Expansion Pack online to upgrade BotW and TotK when I am ready to play the latter). After that, I'm probably going to do Final Fantasy 7: Remake: Intergrade. 

LEGO City Undercover - Switch

 

I've played a few LEGO games over the years. LEGO Batman 1/2, LEGO Star Wars "The Complete Saga," and LEGO The Hobbit (unfinished) are a few that I have enjoyed. Waiting to be played are LEGO Jurassic World, LEGO The Avengers, LEGO Batman 3, and LEGO Marvel Superheroes 1/2. I may have missed one or two.

These games are a lot of fun. They are not too difficult, and if you want, you can spend hours playing after the story mode. There isn't a lot to say about this story, other than you are going after a bad guy named Rex Fury. You need to go undercover to find him and bring him to justice.

The music is really good in the game. The graphics are nothing special, but they are smooth.

As with all LEGO video games, you have many collectible items throughout play. Gold bricks, red bricks, characters (although in this game they are considered disguises), and vehicles can be found in many locations and by doing various things.

I picked up this game for about $6 digitally during a sale, and it was a supremely great value. I put just under 60 hours into it.

My rating: ****

Coming next: 

I'm not using the spinner this time, or am I? I'm going to play Spider-Man for the PS4 (on my PS5, the upgraded version). I'm very excited. I read the prequel book recently, but I'm not sure how much the narrative in the game builds on it.  At any rate, I'm finally going to use my PlayStation Portal to play a game.

The Messenger - Switch

 

When I was trying to figure out what game to play next, I was really struggling. My backlog is large. This is not news to anyone that has read these blogs. After talking to my kids about it, I had a thought of putting it in a random generator of sorts. I found https://pickerwheel.com/. I was able to put a lot of my games in the list and when I clicked "Spin," it landed on The Messenger. 

This is a game I've wanted to play for a while. It was rated well, and it looked a lot like a Ninja Gaiden style game. Little did I know that it was more Metroidvania. 

You are a ninja who is trying to get a scroll to another person on the other side of a large island. In the meantime, demons are trying to attack you. Not the most elaborate story, but there are interesting interactions you have with other characters as you complete the game.

Visually, the game appears to mimic the old 8-Bit style for the first part, but later it takes on a more 16-Bit style. 

The music in the game is fantastic. It also switches between an 8-Bit style to 16-Bit style along with the visuals. Rainbowdragoneyes is listed as the composer, and I added the track from Autumn Hills to my running playlist on Spotify. It's cool.  

I also downloaded the free DLC, which extended the game a bit. It was cool.

Rating: ****

Coming next:

I have played Final Fantasy Crystal Chronicles with my older son, so I will likely continue that off and on while I play the next game. I decided I wasn't going to use the spinner this time, as I will be playing LEGO City Undercover on the Switch. It looks like fun.

Final Fantasy Project - Final Fantasy VI

 

It has been a year and a half since the last Final Fantasy entry. I've really enjoyed the games I've been playing over that time. My oldest son has been a Minecraft fan for a long time, so I had been playing a lot of that with (and without) him. As fun as it is, I don't think it's worthy of a Blogger entry. 

It goes without saying that many consider this to be the best Final Fantasy ever made. Others insist that FFVII is the best. The precise year I played FFVI for the first time escapes me, though I do know that it was many years ago. It was certainly long after I had played through FFVII. Had I played FF6 first, maybe I would have a different opinion, but FFVII is my favorite, followed by FFIX and FFX.

The story in FFVI is top notch. Every main character is well developed and given an opportunity to become someone's favorite.  Locke has always been my favorite, and there are no characters that I dislike. No one character takes the lead, though you may argue that Terra is the most important overall.

What sets this game apart from others is the villain. Kekfa plays the role of assistant to the emperor while working towards his own goals of achieving godlike powers. The party works to undo the damage done by this evil jester, though it may be too late to prevent a world of ruin.

The music this time around is some of the best work Uematsu has done. Many of these songs are iconic, and I have enjoyed TPR's melancholy versions of them. Check him out. I was thinking that the songs from FFVII were more unique than other FF games, but it turns out that a lot of the sounds, instrumentation, and melodies relate quite well between games. It helps to connect these games a little more, though FFI-FFIX are standalone games. 

My rating: **** 1/2

Coming up: I honestly don't know. My oldest son and I are starting to play Final Fantasy Crystal Chronicles Remastered, so I will be playing that off and on for a while. I have the Playstation Portal (for FREE for BlueCrossBlueShield BluePoints, pretty cool), so I can now play PS4/5 games from the comfort of my bed.

I'm going to use a picker wheel online to figure out what I will do next. It's too hard to choose. After a little while I'll play through FFVII, then play the Remake-Rebirth games.

Dragon Quest XI - Switch

Back in 1990 Nintendo offered a copy of Dragon Warrior with a new subscription of Nintendo Power. My brother and I thought it was a no-brainer, so we signed up for it. The magazine was well worth the price, and to get a free game was very exciting. I can't remember if I had played Final Fantasy by then or not, but it was still early in my RPG experience. Great game. Years ago I played through Dragon Warrior 7 on the PS1, and I really enjoyed it. It was a long game. 

In my Final Fantasy V post I mentioned that I had just started Dragon Quest XI. Well, 9 months later I finished it. I logged well over 200 hours in this game. 

WOW. This game was fantastic. There was never a moment, even through all of the grinding, that I ever got bored. The story was intriguing, the characters were extremely likeable, and the post-game material was worth the time spent. 

The music was excellent. It took me a little while to let the battle theme grow on me, though. Still, Square-Enix usually delivers on this front.

My Rating: *****

No hesitation in that rating. 

Up Next: I'm going to play some shorter games for a bit before I delve into something else. Mega Man 9, 10, and 11, Mark of the Ninja Remastered, The Messenger, and the like. I'll probably play those until Final Fantasy VII Rebirth is out and play that one. I upgraded to the PS5, but I didn't realize I had to transfer my save files separately from the games, so I may need to replay FFVII Remake first.

I can't complain, I'm enjoying it all.

Tales of Phantasia - SNES

 

I played Tales of Symphonia about 15 years ago on the GameCube. It was a fantastic game. After seeing so many different versions out there, much like the Final Fantasy project I started, I wanted to start from the beginning. 

There is a website that has retro games on it. This game was translated by De-Jap, so I was able to play it in its original form.

The story was great. A little bit of time travel and fantasy combat was involved here. The battle screen was not what I expected. I was thinking it would be more of a traditional JRPG type, but you could move left and right on the screen and do melee attacks and magic that way. Pretty cool, though I suppose playing Symphonia should have clued me into the battle style. 

Great game.

My rating: ***