Zwei: The Arges Adventure - Review

Whoo buoy, here we go again

DEVELOPER:

Nihon Falcom

PUBLISHER:

XSEED Games, Marvelous USA, Inc.

PLATFORMS:  GOG
                          Steam

DISCLAIMER: XSEED did not provide me with a free review copy or any financial incentives to review this game. My opinions are my own and I am not directly affiliated with XSEED or the game's original developer, Nihon Falcom, in any way.

Good day fellow adventurers! Having played Zwei: The Arges Adventure for +/- three hours, I am in the process of recording my thoughts about this lovely little game in the form of a review-in-progress, with a full review to follow once I've beaten the game. Hopefully this will give you some idea of the mechanics and general vibe. Let's start the adventure!

UPDATE: After +-44 hours of laughing, raging and grinding my way through this game, I have finally beaten the final boss, and hummed along to the jaunty ending credits music. Check out the rest of this review for my thoughts!

Visuals

This game is draped in beautiful, hand-drawn chibi sprites and watercolour-style backgrounds, combined with lovely old-school anime cutscenes and images (see the tutorial screenshot for an example). There is some minor pixelation here and there, and the 3D models of the bosses look pretty low-poly, with muddy textures, but that's pretty much to be expected of a game originally released in 2001, although XSEED have done a valiant job of updating the visuals for 2018's standards, e.g. with widescreen support and higher resolutions available.

Visuals Score: 77% (Hey, that's pretty good!)

XSEED have lightly garnished the game with a meme here and there. Oh, you!

Audio

From the lively yet stirring score that accompanies the game's anime intro video, to the toe-tapping melody of Puck Village, the hometown of the MCs, Pipiro and Pokkle, I have been thoroughly taken in by the games musical charms so far. The sound effects aren't anything to write home about, and the combat lacks a lot of the oomph of Zwei: The Ilvard Insurrection as a result of the lacklustre sound effects. Overall, though, I wasn't too bothered, as I was too busy jamming along to the dank tunes on offer.

Audio Score: 74% (Mildly spicy)

Story & Dialogue

Pipiro, the Queen of Shade-Throwing, at it again.

The story is shaping up to be another fairly standard "save the world" plot, but the tongue-in-cheek humour, peppered with copious puns (that mainly spew from Pokkle's mouth) help to liven it up. XSEED's localisation also appears to be up to their usual standard (i.e. excellent), with every line of dialogue and every description sounding perfectly natural thus far. The almost constant stream of puns and American slang throughout the dialogue (mostly from Pokkle and Pipiro's banter) gets a bit tiresome, and even a bit jarring at times, but it's not a deal-breaker by any means. This is probably one of the most light-hearted stories to be found out of any Falcom game, so don't go in looking for soul-crushing tragedy or profound philosophy, and you'll probably have a grand time.

Story & Dialogue score: 71% (Light and fluffy)

Gameplay

The gameplay falls very much in line with standard action-RPG fare, although of course, as this is the predecessor to Zwei: II, there is the twist in the form of chowing food down to gain experience in addition to the standard function of healing HP - eating is the only way to gain experience in this game, actually! Thus the player is faced with chowing food as needed in order to avoid getting wrecked by the rather brutal enemies, or saving up ten of each food in order to exchange it for a richer, fancier, and thus more experience-bestowing food at the local bar/restaurant in Puck Village. This leads to flexibility in levelling up as compared to other systems - although players who struggle to dodge enemy attacks well and judge whether or not to fight or run from particularly dangerous foes will find themselves quickly depleting their food supplies. I know I have, multiple times! I have the feeling that things will eventually smooth out a little as I progress - at least, I hope so!

After struggling through most of the boss battles, which are more a test of endurance and resource management than skill and strategy, the gameplay is unfortunately the weakest link due to them, not to mention the simplistic, slightly unsatisfying combat, and the basic bitch dungeon layout (although the last few dungeons do get a bit more interesting). Full disclosure: I'm not the most persistent or skilful gamer, so there were times when I felt like giving up on the game in absolute despair at the boss battles. It was only through sheer bloody mindedness and enjoyment of the game's aesthetics and charm that I managed to push through to the very end, although I still have post-game to tackle!

The mini-games do spice up things somewhat, although I found them too unforgiving (even on "Easy" mode) to be enjoyable for more than a few minutes, particularly The Typing of Ys, which left my wrists and fingers aching by the time I reached the last level (which I STILL haven't cleared, grrr).

Gameplay Score: 59% (Note to Falcom: do better next time ;))

So that wraps up this review! My conclusion: if you can tolerate some frustration and challenge in exchange for charming music, humour and graphics, then run out and buy this game from Steam or GOG, preferably on sale.

FINAL SCORE: 70% (GOOD - NOTHING MORE, NOTHING LESS)

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Games of 2017 That Deserve More Love

During the course of 2017, I played many games (mainly RPGs) that were excellent in their own right, but perhaps have not received the attention that they deserve. I'm going to list off a few, in no particular order, and why they deserve more love.

Zwei: The Ilvard Insurrection

An action RPG from Falcom that oozes charm from every pore, particularly in the visual and audio departments, aided greatly by XSEED's sterling localisation. The characters and environments are styled in vibrant anime fashion, and the music ranges from earworm town tunes to atmospheric and sometimes even moving ballads. The visuals and sound effects that accompany every blow the main characters (Ragna Valentine and Alwen du Moonbria) strike make combat particularly satisfying, even if it isn't particularly complicated, and the food system that is used to level up the MCs is inventive and flexible. Zwei: II can be bought from GOG or Steam.

The Legend of Heroes: Trails in the Sky the 3rd

A follow-up to The Legend of Heroes: Trails in the Sky FC and SC, this instalment stars a new protagonist, Kevin Graham, who is working for the Septian Church as a Dominion, recovering dangerous sacred artifacts from the likes of Ouroboros, and punishing heretics on behalf of the Church. It can technically be enjoyed on its own but is mainly aimed at fans of the previous two games, as it follows up on the stories of the main and side protagonists from those games, as well as fleshing out the background of some characters. At turns heartbreaking and achingly beautiful in both narrative and music, this is a deep delve into Kevin's psyche as he strives to escape the realm of Phantasma together with Ries Argent, a colleague of his, and uncover the mysteries behind Phantasma's creation and who trapped them there. Yet another excellent JRPG from Falcom, with a wonderful localisation from XSEED, this gem can be bought from GOG or Steam.

Danganronpa V3: Killing Harmony

A visual novel cum murder mystery set in a deadly killing game that takes place at a school that has been taken over by the psychotic bear Monokuma and his Monokubs, this is an incredibly stylish and darkly disturbing game from Spike Chunsoft, developers of Danganronpa: Trigger Happy Havoc and Danganronpa 2: Goodbye Despair, and localised with proficiency by NIS America, although certain parts of the localisation, such as Gonta's dialogue, could be better. Nonetheless, Danganronpa V3 delivers a wild ride, with a very controversial but also thought-provoking and challenging ending. It can be bought on Steam, PS Vita or PS4.

Torment: Tides of Numenera

Perhaps not quite the spiritual successor to Planescape: Torment that it was claimed or expected to be, this western RPG from inXile Entertainment is nevertheless a worthwhile journey that asks, "What does one life matter?" and answers it in insightful, sometimes surprising ways. The production values aren't stellar and the characters could have done with more depth and development, but the environments that I encountered along the way, such as the Maw (basically an organic, gigantic sentient being that devours souls and has people living in it) are mostly artfully constructed and full of side quests and nooks and crannies. The "Effort" mechanic that involves deciding how much effort (represented by points) you want your main character to put into any activity, whether it is in combat or dialogue, adds an interesting twist, even if it doesn't always make a noticeable difference to the outcome of events. Keep your expectations in check (this is a Kickstarter game after all), and you might find yourself enjoying this little RPG with a lot of heart. It can be bought on Steam or GOG.

Honourable Mentions

Miitopia

A thoroughly weird and often amusing JRPG from Nintendo starring the Miis, the virtual avatars that used to be the stars of the Wii, Wii U and 3DS. You get to create Miis or choose from your own or others' Mii collections to star as playable characters in your party and as NPCs, leading to some downright outlandish results, especially if you opt to let the game randomly choose the Miis. The dungeon crawling is very basic and pretty much on-rails, other than allowing you to choose which path to take your party down. Random events and traps spice up the dungeons though, providing humorous moments which sometimes affect your party or their relationships. Your party's relationships are also a big part of the game, leading to various gameplay bonuses as their relationship levels increase, depending on who you pair them up with. It all wears a little thin towards the end of the game as events start repeating and the relationships all follow the same track, other than the occasional quarrel. I still found it to be a relaxing and charming experience, with some pretty great tunes to accompany it. It can be bought for Nintendo 3DS.

Animal Crossing: New Leaf - Welcome Amiibo

Why, oh why, did I not get this game earlier? Yes, I know, it wasn't released in 2017, but that's when I bought it, and it's an honourable mention, so shush mmkay? Anyway, this chilled and expansive life sim from Nintendo starring a human (played by you) in a village full of animals is an experience that has brought me new experiences and surprises pretty much every time I fire it up, from an oceanic encounter with an otter whose hippie-ish catchphrase "Maaan" cracks me up a little when I read it, to the pleasures of sipping and serving coffee at The Roost with Brewster the pigeon. The Welcome Amiibo update added quite a chunk of content, including the camp-ground, which is run by a hippie dog called Harvey, and brings in many new interesting faces and items. The only pity is that the DLC is no longer in circulation, but this instalment of the cult AC franchise is still quite possibly the best yet, and well worth getting on Nintendo 3DS.

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Adventuring Through Impressions - Neverwinter Nights: Enhanced Edition Digital Deluxe - Head Start

These impressions are based on roughly an hour's time with the latest version (as of writing) of Neverwinter Nights: Enhanced Edition Digital Deluxe - Head Start (which is basically a beta version available to those who pre-order). Check out my thoughts after the jump!

Thursday's Child Has Far to Go: Character Development in Games

Today, for all you Thursday's Children out there, I will take a look at how "far to go" characters in certain games have, in other words, their character development.

1. Kanji from Persona 4 - At first glance, Kanji might seem like a stereotypical thug with an attitude problem. However, the game explores his insecurities that mainly revolve around his hobbies, such as sewing, which are generally perceived as feminine, as well as his attraction to Naoto before he even discovers that "he" is a "she". He slowly but surely learns to come to terms with who he is and who is he attracted to, and realises that it doesn't matter what your hobbies are or who you're attracted to, as long as you're happy and not hurting anyone. Therefore, even though Kanji is never explicitly stated to be bi or gay, he still serves a great message to LGBT people everywhere, which is, quite simply: "Be yourself - no shame, no fear."
2. Geralt from The Witcher 3 - Geralt comes across as very gruff and even cynical at first, but as the game progresses, you get to define how he develops as a character - within the limits of how he was written of course! You get to choose if you want "harsh, tough Geralt", "kind, good Geralt", or "somewhere-in-between Geralt". The best part? The game dishes out consequences for almost every single action or sentence performed on Geralt's behalf, but it never ever judges you with any kind of hackneyed morality system. This makes choice vs consequences framework feel truly organic, unlike, say, BioWare's games.
3. Estelle from The Legend of Heroes: Trails in the Sky FC & SC - Estelle starts off as a pretty obnoxious "genki" (energetic) girl stereotype, but gradually matures into a compassionate, wise and determined young Bracer, while never treading into "Mary Sue" territory. All of her growth and accomplishments feel earned, and all of her relationships with the main cast are interesting, or at least enjoyable. Her relationship with Joshua in particular is very bittersweet at first, but they do finally get their "happily ever after" by the end of SC. You can buy the first Trails in the Sky right here.

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Wednesday's Child is Full of Woe: Depictions of Suffering in Games

I am a "Wednesday's Child". I have endured depression for the better part of my life, and therefore I am drawn to depictions of suffering.

Depicting suffering that arises from misfortune or the deaths of loved ones is a common theme in videogames. In this article I will go into four games that I feel depict suffering in sensitive and deeply moving ways.

1. To The Moon - This game is about two doctors' attempts to fulfil the last wish of a dying old man. The gorgeous piano-heavy music and the simple but evocative visuals transform an already moving story into something transcendent. I delve deeper into the game's mechanics and themes in this article. You can buy To The Moon here.
2. Persona 3 Portable - One of my favourite Persona games of all time (link contains a fairly minor late-game spoiler), mostly due to its moody, ominous atmosphere and the in-depth tackling of themes like terminal illness, family matters, suicide and apathy. You can buy Persona 3 Portable here.
3. Unrest - An unusual indie game that explores what it means to be a young girl in a society where arranged marriages are the norm, and how trying to fight against that norm can often lead to suffering many forms, e.g. social ostracisation and sexual harassment. The game also explores political upheaval and questions of faith, sometimes a little heavy-handedly, but mostly intelligently. You can buy Unrest here.
4. The Legend of Heroes: Trails in the Sky the 3rd - Last but not least, a game I recently reviewed, that covers  suffering so comprehensively that it sets a new bar for other games wishing to tackle it. I mean, what aspect of suffering ISN'T covered in this game? Let me count the ways: guilt, abandonment, sexual abuse, torture, implied child prostitution, military experimentation (even on minors!), trauma - the list goes on and on. However, none of these themes EVER feel forced - they all arise naturally from the characters' backstories and they are all explored with a deep, deep sense of compassion and humanity. I applaud Falcom for daring to tread where few others would dare to, and I applaud XSEED for their absolutely brilliant localisation of what will surely be viewed as a classic, must-play Japanese role-playing game. If you loved Trails in the Sky FC and SC, do yourself the favour of buying Trails in the Sky the 3rd here. You will NOT regret it.

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Common Mistakes in Video Game Storytelling

WARNING: this article has some (mostly minor) spoilers for various games.

We all know that games can offer great stories. Anyone who says otherwise is most likely ignorant or has an agenda against gaming. However, there are some commonly repeated mistakes in how games tell their stories. These mistakes hold back the medium as a whole, and often serve as barriers to newcomers, and unnecessary annoyances to veterans. I'll give a couple of them, along with games they appear in.

Too Much Exposition At One Time

This occurs when a game decides to dump exposition the player in a long, often unskippable, ream of text, voice acting, and/or cutscenes. It almost always destroys the pacing of the game, because of the unnatural and excessive method of clueing the player up on how the world works. I understand that sometimes exposition is necessary, but it should be spaced out evenly, and given at appropriate times in the story, via appropriate methods. For example, to inform the player of the game world's history, an in-game book would be far more appropriate than a character spouting off endless lines of historical facts, unless these facts are so crucial that they cannot be conveyed in any other way.

EXAMPLE: Super Paper Mario, in the form of TWENTY minutes of cutscenes and dialogue right at the start of the game (possibly the WORST time to have an exposition dump).

Unskippable Cutscenes

This is one of the most IRRITATING mistakes a game can make, ESPECIALLY when replaying it, even for ten minutes. Christ, just let the player get on with the bloody game! I know you want players to experience your "masterpiece" of a story, but don't prioritise it over fun.

EXAMPLE: The Walking Dead - this game NEVER lets you skip a single cutscene, even when playing through it for the umpteenth time. This really discouraged me from playing to see different choices, simply because it's too damn tedious to do so. What's worse is that Telltale Games keep making the same idiotic mistake in ALL of their games! FFS.

Making Gameplay Worse Because Story

Okay, so this is a bit of a general one, but it basically means any time the actual gameplay is hindered in some way in order for the game to tell its story. What's sad about this one is that it is so easily AVOIDABLE! I love a good story as much as the next guy, but PLEASE don't make it so inconvenient for me to make progress in the game that I just want to give up!

EXAMPLE:  The Legend of Heroes: Trails in the Sky SC - as awesome as this game's story is, it makes this unforgivable goof: it disables all the airships in Chapter 8, AND all the orbments, forcing the player to walk everywhere on foot!

Poor (English) Voice Acting

This mistake is self-explanatory, and unfortunately occurs frequently in Japanese RPGs.

EXAMPLE: Final Fantasy Type-0 HD - one of the most egregious and most recent examples of shoddy voice acting. Most of the characters just sound WRONG. The rest of them speak like robots speaking English for the first time. This is pretty sad because the game actually has an interesting story.

A Lack of Diversity

Okay, so this point is a bit controversial, but screw it - it's important to me, mmkay? Far too many games have middle-aged, bearded white guys as the protagonist. It's really boring and lazy. Why not try a different protagonist? Variety is the spice of life, after all.

EXAMPLE: Prototype - a game with an extremely vanilla protagonist, about as generic as you could possibly get! Oh well, at least he has interesting superpowers.

Too Many Damn Power Fantasies

Too many games focus on making the player feel like an overpowered badass, instead of challenging them thematically and narratively. This is the easy way out for most developers, and it's been proven to sell a shit ton of games, BUT it's SO boring!! The irony is that the more power fantasy there is in the gameplay, the less choice there is in the story - the player basically has no option other than to become the saviour of the whole world/universe/human race.

EXAMPLE: Mass Effect 3 - as much as I LOVE the Mass Effect games, what I hated is that they dumbed down the narrative choices available to the player, to the extent that there is no "evil character" option - you can't choose to fuck over the galaxy or join the enemy; you can only choose between being a "nice guy" hero or a "douchecanoe" hero, i.e. Paragon and Renegade, respectively.

Feel free to comment or even give your favourite examples of mistakes in video game story telling!

Five Awesome Story-Rich JRPGs

There is an almost overwhelming abundance of JRPGs with great narratives out there, but I'm going to list off five really memorable/worthwhile ones (in no particular order):

The Legend of Heroes:  Trails in the Sky



A modern classic, with cheerful, jazzy music, and a narrative that burns slowly at the start, but soon builds up the tension and drama.  It also has enough difficulty options (e.g. retry offset) for players of all skill levels.  Buy it from GOG.com

Shin Megami Tensei IV



A dark, somewhat brutal game, but with a fascinating, choice driven narrative of Law, Chaos and Neutrality, set against a post-apocalyptic background, and buttressed with addictive demon negotiation and fusion mechanics.  Buy it from the Nintendo eShop

Final Fantasy X



A somewhat divisive installment in the Final Fantasy series, perhaps, due to its linearity and occasionally cringeworthy acting, but still a very worthwhile JRPG experience, with a deep Sphere Grid system for character customisation, and an engaging narrative centred around faith, doubt, and duty.  Get it from the PlayStation Store (Note:  US PlayStation Store link provided)

Persona 3 Portable



A slightly stripped down, but still very worthwhile, PSP port of Persona 3, with refined game mechanics and the option of playing as a female main character, which opens up new Social Links.  A narrative themed around facing death and making the most of life is enhanced by compelling characters and a sense of urgency.  This article goes into the game's narrative a bit further.  Buy it from the PlayStation Store

Costume Quest



Technically not a JRPG in terms of its origins, but certainly in terms of its battle mechanics and overworld.  Cute and charming as all getout (how can you not love those costumes?), and doesn't take itself seriously at all.  Plus, collecting all the Creepy Treats cards is a rabbit hole into addiction.  Buy it from GOG.com

Feel free to comment below - give your thoughts on my choices, or even your picks for great JRPGs.

Walking A Mile In Another's Shoes

It is rare that I come across a game that actually encourages me to examine my own beliefs and principles, and challenges me with multiple perspectives on situations that I would probably never experience in real life.  Unrest is one such game.

From the start, I was put into the shoes of someone in a difficult situation - a peasant girl whose parents had arranged a marriage for her.  There were various ways of dealing with the expectations and attitudes of her parents, relatives and friends - violent, accepting, defiant or even sometimes light-hearted.  No single choice or approach was ever really pushed over the others, although violence carried more risks than the other approaches.

One thing that kept sticking out in certain dialogues and situations was the difficulty of deciding which approach or choice was the most appropriate.  Was it better to defiantly assert her individual rights and risk alienating her friends and/or family in the process?  Or was it wiser to simply accept her lot in life and sacrifice some of her individual freedoms and happiness?

Other characters, with equally challenging circumstances, were presented:  a priest working at a local temple in the city to feed his family, a Naga (snake-like mythical creature) diplomat sent to negotiate on behalf of their empire, a princess whose parents are murdered in a brutal coup, a mercenary working for the perpetrators of the coup.

Questions of faith, loyalty, economic status and racism/speciesism are raised.  The priest is faced with the challenge of whether to keep working at the temple even as uncomfortable questions regarding his superiors and their activities arise.  The Naga must deal with near-constant racism/speciesism and xenophobia directed at their species and empire.  The princess is forced to flee for her life and must decide how she will deal with the people who murdered her parents, as well as how to take back power.  The mercenary has to grapple with the knowledge of what he supported and what his employers have perpetrated in order to gain power.

There was no "perfect", neat, happy ending.  No triumphant fanfare or celebrations.  Only more uncertainty and unrest.

You can get Unrest from GOG.com here.