Game Reviews

12 days of christmas: hardest items to find in the Final Fantasy series

Julian Cannon Leave a Comment

hello everybody, Julian cannon has returned for a new post. I am sorry that I have not been posting, I was busy with Christmas shopping and family and etc, but anyways, Christmas is here and I love it because you have your gift there and you wonder what it is. on this case, you would want to know where it is, here is my new top 10 and it is the 10 hardest items to find in the final fantasy series

10. final fantasy X-world champion

I played final fantasy 10 at least 5 times and I never wanted to do the blitz ball minigame because I hated it. but then I did it again just to get waka waka’s ultimate weapon, the world champion..without it, you will not be able to use him properly, especially during the 3rd battle against Seymour. to get this item, you literally have to play that minigame and win about 10-15 times without loosing at all. this can take a full day or week depending on how often you play. if you have the time, do something I should have done the first time and do it

9.final fantasy X- venus sigil

another one from this game but this one is extremely hard. for the venus sigil(lulu’s ultimate weapon) you will have to go to the thunder plains and doge 200 lightning bolts WITHOUT getting hit. once you get hit, it starts over and you are stuck doing it again after 199 times. that is a killer is it. I was so mad everytime I got close and I never wanted to do it again.The best way is to stay at the south part of the Thunder Plains and dodge the lightning bolts at where there is a white path near at the right side. Reach to the white path, and stand still until the lightning bolt comes down, this way is alot more faster then any other way of dodging lightning bolts. I managed to dodge the lightning bolts 200 times in about 35 minutes.

8.final fantasy  XII-2- clock master skill

this skill, or in this case item, is the most useful ability in the game period. Final fantasy XII-2 was released in January 2012 and it has got positive feedback. but I have never got this until I saw a youtube video. and that is the clock master skill. to do this you have to collect all 160 fragments in the game. that is very tough because that is very impossible without the dlc features. also some of them you will have to find the 7 paradox endings in the game after you beat the main story. what does this skill do? it speeds the ENTIRE game, including cutscenes so that is very usefiul for traveling to do more stuff and to finish battles very quick, even at the hard setting. Try to get this if you can because it will take over 100 hours to do so

7. final fantasy VIII- triple triad cards

it can be debated that the card game in final fantasy VIII is the most annoying part of the game. when you first play the minigame, you get worthless cards(umm remember the yu-gi-oh games too) but you will get stronger ones on the way. That is the keyword, “on the way”. the rules are basic but on the way, the rules change too often that you cannot get the cards. for example, the “elemental”,”plus” and “combo” rule makes you want to turn of your playstation because u will loose your strongest card. now when you win, you can get to choose what card you want to win, however, there will be new winning situations, such as whatever card you take you win. that can be the easiest and hardest task of the minigame. now the cards are used to turn into items, you can easily get everybody’s strongest weapons from these but if you keep loosing cards, then you also will loose the parts of the weapon.

6. Final fantasy V- ragnarok sword

final fantasy 5 to me is the hardest game in the series and the most broken also. I loved the job system and the very hard bosses but this stands out for all of them. somewhere in the last dungeon, there will be a treasure chest, you will not know what it is until it shows “monster in a box”. that monster is no other than shinryu. you will think of nothing until his first or second attack which is tidal wave, which will do about 7000-8500 damage to your party. you can go back there many times but he will still be there until you beat him. when you do, you will get the strongest sword in the game, which is the ragnarok. that sword doubles the damage done to an enemy, and if you have that equipped while you have the “rapid fire-spellblade-one handed” abilities, not only its the most deadly combo in the game, but you will attack for a total of 8 attacks.

5. Final fantasy XII- zodiac spear

final fantasy XII is on my top 3 of the final fantasy series. the battle system is arguably the best in the entire system, and the environments were well done. the story is pretty much law and order mix with star wars. but the only downside to XII is getting the weapons. the zodiac spear is the strongest weapon in the game and all characters can equip the spear. it also gives the user 150+ attack, 20% chance of attacking more than once, and evasion 40%. but to get this spear, you would have realized it when you were looking it up online to find out that you cannot open all the treasure chests in the game. that left so many players confused into why square enix would do that. I will not post on what chests that cannot be open because it is a long chart. but after you find out which ones it is,  the Zodiac Spear will appear in the Necrohol of Nabus.

4. final fantasy IX- Excalibur 2

Excalibur II is one of the hardest weapons to obtain in the entire Final Fantasy series, as it cannot be bought from a shop or dropped or stolen from any monster. The only way the player can obtain the Excalibur II is to make it to the game’s final dungeon, Memoria, into the room Gate to Space (where the party fights Lich) without exceeding 12 hours of playtime. Once Lich is defeated, the player must search the pillar on the right of the room to receive the sword.Passing three discs in 12 hours is a challenge, but if one is going after a “perfect” game save, there is much more that needs to be considered, such as many items, key items, and such cannot be obtained after their respective disc. This is made harder by the fact that to get one key item later on, one will need to have not missed any treasure. Another issue is achieving “perfect stats”; if one is to make the most of a character’s stat potential one must play a “level 1 game” until disc 4, when the best stat-boosting equipment becomes available. However, there are four battles in which EXP must be gained: the three battles fought in Pandemonium, and Tantarian. So players have to choose what players absorb what EXP. So “perfect stats” and the issues mentioned above make the challenge probably the hardest challenge available in Final Fantasy. For years, this challenge was thought impossible on the PAL version of the game due to the 50/60Hz conflict, but recent runs have shown that a PAL play-through is possible, but extremely difficult. Similarly, the challenge is possible in the PS-one “classics” downloaded version of the game but difficult due to the inability to skip FMVs (which adds about 2 hours to game time).

3. final fantasy XII-omega weapon

final fantasy XII is a game known in the series for being way too linear. but the after game missions kept me interested. but the one thing didn’t was getting the omega weapon. this is lightning’s strongest gunblade in the game. to get it, you would have to upgrade all of your weapons until the ultima weapon stage, then you would have to find  51x Chobham Armor, 45x Electrode, 28x Crystal Oscillator, 6x Particle Accelerator, 2x Trapezohedron. all in which will take hours and hours of battles or 5 star missions. you can buy these things but one item each is over 900,00 gil and you would have to transfer from different locations to get the rest of them for the same price. but anyways, this blade has a quick stagger ability, which means after the stagger bar goes up to 50%, it will auto stagger after that poiny, leaving you to do some pretty impressive damage every hit.

2. final fantasy VII-omnislash

this game is widely considered the most overrated video game of all time..and at some points I do agree. final fantasy VII is not on my favorite list but it is still a great game. but getting cloud’s level 4 and final limit break omnislash is a real pain in the ass. you would have to go to the battle square at that carnival and try to get 32000 points in total. that seems easy but you would have to go through stage fights( just like the 100 floors in paper Mario-the thousand year door) and it gets tough every time. if you do not want to get the move, then you will have to wait for the final battle( after safer sephiroth) to use the move. recently, the pc version that was re-released this year gave you an achievement for learning the move for 200 game points, that means you would have to go to the battle square to actually learn the move

1. final fantasy IV- pink tail

final fantasy IV was released in 1991, and since that release and remakes on various systems, I have never ever got the pink tail. and I bet nobody else got it either. to get this you will have to defeat a flan princess. seems ok at first but you will have to wait for the flan to drop the item. but it does not!!!. I have read that it has a 1/64 chance of dropping the item, which means it can take you hours or even months to get this item. which also meand that you will have to battle them in groups again and again until you get it which can be a real pain in the ass. while you are doing this, you will realize the pattern after every battle but the ratio starts over again for some reason. this issue was never fixed until the psp release of final fantasy IV-the complete collection. with this item, you will trade it to a blacksmith for adamant armor. not only that it is the strongest armor in the game, it can be equipped to any party member despite their character class. also the longer your character does not do an action, the more the defense will rise during battle

31 days of Halloween: retro video game review:Zombies ate my neighbors

Julian Cannon Leave a Comment

I am back again with another retro video game review. this time is one of my favorites and a cult classic, zombies ate my neighbors

also follow me on twitter on your thoughts @julianexcalibur

Who doesn’t love a good campy horror flick every now and then? With Lucas Art’s Zombies Ate My Neighbors, you may never have to watch another one!

Just look at the premise of the game: Monsters are running amok in the neighborhood and it is up to two kids armed with squirt guns to stop them! It may sound cliche’, but that feeling will soon be discarded once you begin playing and discovering what a triumph the game design is!

At the start of the game you can choose between two kids; a boy and a girl. Aside from the look of the character, there is no inherent advantage to picking either of them, so just go with want you want. From there you are dropped in the first neighborhood to begin your quest of saving as many neighbors as possible. The game controls marvelously, and you will never once have a problem doing what you want once you figure out how to sort items! They even give you a radar to help in locating the neighbors which you can toggle on and off by hitting your trigger buttons.

It’s a good thing too! Ten of your neighbors ranging from mean teachers to helpless babies are scattered throughout each level. Your goal is to get to them before the monsters do. This may sound simple until you realize that if a neighbor is killed then you lose that neighbor FOR THE REST OF THE GAME! That might be a problem since the game has over 50 levels to keep them alive through, and eventually you would be down to one. Except the game developers were way ahead of us on that one! The fix was to award an extra neighbor for every 40,000 points you score! And since you will be scoring a TON of points throughout the game most players will be fine as long as you don’t mess up TOO badly.

On the other hand, that doesn’t mean that the game is a cake walk, either. The monster horde is out for your blood (or the neighbors! They’re not picky)! There’s the titular zombies, the masked killer, the evil dolls, the vampires, the werewolves… put it this way: If its been in a horror film, it will be in this game! It is shocking how much content they managed to stuff in a game that is over 15 years old! Each monster acts differently than its brethren, with different patterns, aggressiveness, and weaknesses, and you’ll have to learn each one’s intricacies in order to survive!

That is what the weapons are for! Zombie’s myriad of weapons and items are pure bliss, adding yet another layer of content into an already stuffed game. I love how the game uses things typical of suburbia and turns them into a viable arsenal. Squirt guns filled with holy water act as a pistol. Shaken-up Cola cans act as grenades that can be hurled over walls. Bazookas (Yes, bazookas!) dropped by military can be used to blow down obstacles such as hedges and walls. Every weapon and item has a purpose and add strategy to the game, but it is the various ways that the weapons interact with the monsters that steal the show. Silverware one-shot werewolves! Weed-Whackers one-shot plant monsters! POPSICLES ONE-SHOT BLOBS!! If you are a horror aficionado, you will have a distinct advantage here since it is obvious that this was a labor of love from a development team that loved horror movies!

It all comes together beautifully. Levels are incredibly detailed, and as with the monsters and weapons, it’s the small things that make the difference. Need to get in a house? You can use a key. Or you could blow the door open with a bazooka! Or you could smash it down as a monster using a special potion!

Do you want to explore, or just rescue your neighbors and move on? It is in these moments that the game ceases to be good and becomes extraordinary. My favorite example is the hedge maze in level 3. Viable options include turning into a monster and killing all seven chainsaw maniacs or using a bazooka and blowing holes in both walls AND maniacs in order to fast-track to your neighbors. Or you could let the maniacs cut a path for you, luring them into making shortcuts for you before breaking out the fire extinguishers and decoy clowns to slow them down! The possibilities are endless!

Did I mention that you can do all of this WITH TWO PLAYERS? Bringing along a buddy makes for two times the fun, and makes it more likely that you can finish the game in one sitting. Make no mistake: THAT IS THE WAY IT IS MEANT TO BE PLAYED! Zombies features a password system that punishes you for using it by stripping you of your items. If you have to use a password then you start from the later levels with just a squirt gun and a first-aid kit! I would normally chalk this up to bad game design, but it almost seems deliberate as a way to challenge more advanced players. I think that they expected veterans to use the passwords to skip ahead and try their luck at some of the punishing later levels with a limited inventory.

As for graphics and sound… The game cannot stand toe-to toe with the SNES’ best, but I don’t think it’s supposed to. The graphics get the job done and do a great job of painting a varied landscape. Animation is great with unique animations for all neighbors and monsters, not to mention the kids which are very expressive. This may explain why the graphics are a little toned down, and I consider it a fair trade. Sound-wise the game is fantastic. The soundtrack may repeat too often, but the tracks that are there are all mood-setters with my personal favorites being Dr. Tongue’s Castle and the Baby Theme. Sound effects are also varied and used to great effect, from the roaring of a chainsaw to the screaming cries of the neighbors as they are spirited away to the next world.

Overall, I cannot praise this game enough! That is why I am always confused that more gamers have not heard of this game. It sold reasonably well but seems to be forgotten among modern gamers. It was only recently that it clicked into place! I was playing Dead Rising and bitching to a friend about how clunky it was when memories of this game came flooding back to me. Zombies was a game before its time, and nothing makes that clearer than the zombie-obsessed society of the modern age! Dead Rising, Left 4 Dead, The Walking Dead, The Zombie Survival Guide… Even Call of Duty has been invaded by the undead! This game combines EVERYTHING appealing about horror films, ties it to solid arcade action, and then throws in some trademark Lucas Arts humor. The final result is a fresh and addictive title that still holds up to this day! That is why I am officially using this platform to call for Konami to make the sequel that ZAMN deserves!!

They might as well do something while they are busy doing nothing…

Retro video game review:the legend of Zelda, a link to the past

Julian Cannon Leave a Comment

If you never experienced A Link to the Past, or if you didn’t experience it when it first came out over a decade ago, you might not get what the big deal is about this title. For those of you who were lucky enough to get the opportunity to play A Link to the Past, you probably would agree it is a wonderful game, especially considering when it came out.Also to point this out, according to the zelda timeline, this game takes place right after the ocarina of ime,in the timeline, it follows link in the path that branches to “the hero of time is defeated”

Gameplay

At heart, A Link to the Past is just a blend of the original Legend of Zelda with a dash of The Adventure of Link. You navigate Link through Hyrule and the dungeons via a top-down view and choose your equipment via an item sub-menu. You can initially explore much of Hyrule, but to progress on to later areas, you must aquire new items which you get from the dungeons. The Super Nintendo allowed for a much more complex game system, which can be seen in the vast amount of items Link can utilize, the enormous dungeons with multiple levels, the plethora of enemies on screen attacking Link and the challenge of tough puzzles.
Just start with Link’s primary weapon, the sword. Link can now use it in so many ways; he can swing it normally, he can charge it up to unleash a spin attack, he can hold it out to poke at things, he can dash with it and he can shoot out swirling lasers from it. Many of the classic items made a return, like the boomerang, bombs and bow and arrows, but some of the new ones became staples of the series. Who can forget the Hookshot, the Bombos Medallion, the Magic Cape or the Bug-Catching Net?

The overworld is laid out in a way where Link can initially peak around in every single area, but he can’t necessarily access all he sees. Boulders block his path in the mountains, while stone statues barricade the way into the Desert Palace. I wonder how many people got stuck trying to reach the Tower of Hera, a puzzle which forces the player to finally enter the Dark World for the first time. Besides the essentials of the overworld, there are tons of secrets hidden throughout the land. Heart containers, rupee caves and fairy fountains are aplenty in Hyrule.
However, the true beauty of the game comes from the dungeons. Masterfully designed, and probably unmatched even today, the dungeons in A Link to the Past were both challenging and numerous. More than just pushing blocks, killing all the enemies or bombing a wall like in the previous installment, A Link to the Past made the player truly think in order to progress. Items had to be used to their full potential in order to advance onward. Those lucky enough to survive the dungeons were rewarded with extremely awesome boss battles. You may have heard this already, but each boss truly feels unique.

The ease in which you control Link is the crux of this masterpiece. If you played the original installment, you already know how to operate the sword and your special item. Additionally, the extra buttons are put to good use. The A Button will later on allow you to utilize the Pegasus Shoes, an item which makes Link dash at full speed. Link could also access a graphic map instead of a plain and blocky grid-map. Bottles allowed Link to store items like magic potion or fairies. The hookshot could be used to pull Link across long distances, or pull distant things to him. Bombs could not only blast enemies and walls, they could blast Link and hurt him (which is actually a blessing if you know how to exploit it). All future Zelda games owe their gameplay to this installment.

Graphics

A Link to the Past was made relatively early on in the life cycle of the Super Nintendo, which many would label as a first-generation title. Even still, the graphical achievement in this game was superb. The SNES showed off its ability to render layers and scale objects. This is crucial for all of the dungeons and several areas of the overworld. The animations of Link as he traverses Hyrule makes it hard to believe how convincing he looked in the NES games. Enemies came to life; just knock a guard off the edge into a pit.
The overworld truly felt like it flowed together extremely well, as opposed to the blocky nature of the previous installments, in which the world radically changed at the advancement of a single screen. Players will also notice that even though the screen “scrolls over” at edges, that the screens themselves will actively scroll with Link to give the effect of a larger on-screen area. The graphical power of the SNES also allowed for NPCs to exist in the game, along with a sprawling town in the form of Kakariko. Hyrule felt alive.

In sharp contrast, the dungeons in the games were each very unique and had a very dark and grim feel. The Desert Palace had sand across much of the floor. The Swamp Ruins had water running through it. The Ice Palace gave our hero trouble as he slid across the slippery surfaces. The entire game just felt so massive and alive thanks to the excellent work the graphical design team did for A Link to the Past. Sure, by today’s standards, Four Swords Adventures and The Minish Cap make A Link to the Past look a bit dated. But not that dates. Even amongst next-generation two-dimensional games, A Link to the Past still holds its own.

Audio

Sure, The Legend of Zelda established the famous Zelda theme. But it was A Link to the Past that established nearly every other great Zelda tune fans have come to love. Would you like us to list off some of the great hits? How about the soothing melody of Kakariko Village, the powerful charge of the Light World theme (yes, it’s just another version of the original game’s overworld theme, but it still rocks), the elegance of the Fairy Fountain theme, the majesty of Hyrule Castle’s them or the power of the Dark World theme?
Just about every song in this game went on to become a fan favorite, and many of them have been used over, and over … and over again in later installments. But it’s not just the soundtrack. It’s the sound-scape. The sound effects in this game were pretty good. Though the sound of Link swinging his sword sounded a bit goofy, and the loud bang made when dashing into a wall is a bit overexaggerated, many of the other effects were nice. Take that sword and tap it against wall. Notice the ping it makes, especially when you do it to a weaker section of the wall with a crack. Blows against armored foes made a clang. Arrows impacting against a surface made the pop you would expect.

Alright, so maybe by today’s standards, the effects are a bit weird and unrealistic. But this is a fantasy game, and one that is over a decade old. I don’t think I’ve ever heard somebody tell me that the sounds in the game annoyed them or detracted from the game at all. It is just too bad that wit the re-release on GameBoy Advance a few years ago, Nintendo had to add in those horrific yells of Young Link from Ocarina of Time. Even still, the sounds give the game a fantasy tone, which is sufficient.

Challenge, Fun and Replay Value

A Link to the Past probably will frustrate gamers who grew up in the three-dimensional era, but those who somehow missed this gem the first time around who are familiar with two-dimensional adventure games should really find themselves at home with this title. Sure, some of the puzzles will make your brain hurt or cause you to check GameFAQs, but that’s pretty much a requisite (well, at least once in each game) of a Zelda title. The boss battles, should you actually find out the key to their weakness (cough, dungeon items, cough), become a bit more manageable.
But this isn’t like the newer titles, in which Link can withstand one-hundred blows before dying. Some bosses will take down Link in as little as two-to-three blows. So be prepared to try again frequently on most dungeons. However, the challenge never gets to the point of frustration, and most will find the challenge a welcoming element for those pampered by the built-in game aids in future installments. Also, unlike its three-dimensional brothers, doing everything in A Link to the Past won’t take up the rest of your lifetime.

Simply collecting the extra heart containers, finding all the upgrades and locating all the items is the only requisite of this title. No trophy or statue hunting. No excessive heart container collecting. No Skulltula or Mask collecting. Everything is very manageable and very rewarding for the time it takes to accomplish. The pace of play is very good, with the story developed very loosely in game to drive the player on.

Final Verdict

This is like the Bible of Zelda. If you haven’t played it, you don’t know Zelda. If you have, you get it. The graphics and two-dimensional gameplay may turn off fans who grew up on Ocarina of Time (or joined the bandwagon then). But if you liked The Minish Cap, you will love this game. If you can get over your graphic obsession, you will find that A Link to the Past is truly a great game, and you will finally understand why fans frequently call out its name when the discussion of best game ever is thrown around.

Gameplay: 10.0
Graphics: 9.5
Sound: 8.0
Challenge, Fun and Replay Value: 9.0
Final Score: 9.1