Favorite console games in review

[altadonna]

This last week I reminisced on my personal DW about a couple of my favorite console games, both of which are somewhat obscure and underappreciated, so I wanted to give them some love ♥ I thought I'd share the posts here.

- NyxQuest: Kindred Spirits (WiiWare/Steam, 2009)
- Sphinx and the Cursed Mummy (PS2/GC/XBox, 2003)

My DW actually is mostly video game discussion, for the most part. I'm still trying to summon the strength of will to write about all my feelings re: FFX HD Remaster. If I do manage to write a coherent post about it, I'll share that here as well. :-)

Comments

[jewelfox]

I started playing FFX HD just a few days ago! I never played more than a few hours into the original game, and I'm looking forward to exploring the world an actually getting trophies for it.

The design kind of shows it's 2000-era roots, but that's mostly just been a source of laughs so far.

[altadonna]

The design kind of shows it's 2000-era roots, but that's mostly just been a source of laughs so far.

I have to say, it's been busting me up, too. I played to almost the end of the game back when it first came out, wasn't super enamored of it (I liked the gameplay the best of the FF series, but not the story as much), and then replayed it again about a year ago. That time I wound up beating it and played/beat FFX-2 as well. The HD Remaster wound up being bizarrely coincidental timing, because I don't think I would have bought it if I hadn't just replayed the game and liked it so much better the second time around.

The story did wind up growing on me and I got really attached to the characters, but there's so much cringing to be had in the animation—awkward lip sync (sort of understandable in a dub), awkward movements (less so), and then these weird glitchy moments (like at one point Tidus suddenly starts running in place and looking out into the distance while someone is talking to him). I had hoped that the HD remaster would fix some of these things but lol not at all. All they did was airbrush the old game.

The thing with me and this game, though, is that I feel like all I do is complain about it, and yet I can't stop playing it/thinking about it/obsessing over it, lol. For all its flaws and ridiculousness, I love it to pieces XD

[jewelfox]

I've mostly been playing FFXIV lately. >_>; It's kind of awesome, although it can be really annoying and sexist sometimes. I had a Tumblr about that until someone tracked me down here and basically threatened me about it.

[altadonna]

My sister had been playing that one with two of her best friends, but they all kind of drifted out of it. Now that I have a PS3, we sort of talked about me playing with them, but we haven't done anything about it yet. I don't know if I have the energy to commit to an MMO. But other players were being jerks to you? Like, just random people you encountered in game? That sucks. I guess I shouldn't be surprised, I know how awful people can be online. :-( It's horrible that people stalked you on Tumblr about it! People can be such assholes. I guess that's another reason I'm wary of MMOs, tbh :-/

[jewelfox]

It's actually not the players, aside from one asshole on Tumblr! I'm on Balmung, and it's like the unofficial RP server or something. People here tend to be decent and literate, and it's really neat seeing in-character RP going on every time I'm in town.

It's the game itself. >_>; It keeps putting women (but not my character so far) in sexual peril, there's a lot of workplace harassment of female NPCs in the crafting job quests, and the dialogue always uses "men" to refer to "all people." Plus the game designers have cracked a few sexist "jokes."

On the plus side, the leaders of all the playable factions are female and they're actually portrayed very well. >_>; FFXIV is kind of schizophrenic with that regard.

I've personally found the game to be very immersive, empowering, and entertaining, and have been pretty much subscribed constantly since the PS3 early-access period last year. I just have to give these caveats any time I recommend it, because they stick out like proverbial sore thumbs.

[altadonna]

AHH, that makes sense. It's a bit of a problem in most of the FF games, honestly. When I played FFX last year, the thing that annoyed me the most (even more than the ADR fail and the glitches) was Yuna's characterization as the very stereotypical "perfect Japanese woman" of 75 years ago or something—ultra feminine, prim, humble, bowing at everybody, not speaking out of turn, to the extent where she almost seemed subservient—which made my skin crawl a bit. As the game progresses, it starts to be implied that she's putting that persona on to make everyone around her happy, but since the game is told through Tidus' POV, that doesn't come through real clearly. You just don't get to know Yuna as a person very much in that game.

That's why I liked her so much more in FFX-2*. First of all, the game is told entirely through Yuna's POV, which lets you get to know her better as a person and realize she actually has a personality apart from "perfect". But she also changes and grows as a character. She still has a strong altruistic streak and sweet nature, but she's also more confident and is unafraid to speak her mind without apologizing and bowing 800 times. She's focused on making herself happy. Yes, she still wants to help Spira and the people around her, but she's not afraid to also do things for her own enjoyment. She gets jealous. She gets mad. She has fun with her friends and laughs and acts goofy. She seems real.

Of course, then all the fanboys complain about her personality change, so Square backpedals and we've got her acting in the new audio drama like none of the events of X-2 even happened. >:-[

* the caveat with X-2, of course, is that while the writers did a great job of making Yuna seem like a real person instead of a caricature, the designers inflicted hideous male gaze upon the character design. Some of the dresspheres have them wearing basically nothing but pasties and a thong, and it's like, "Uh..."