Czaros' Game of the Year 2014 Part 3

Welcome back to another part of Czaros' Game of the Year 2014. Today I'm gonna list the Best Story and Best Indie Game categories.

Best Story
#5 Dust: An Elysian Tail
The story in Dust isn't the most complicated or even the best written, but it's good enough and since I'm also counting the characters in the category, I couldn't not put this here as the characters are trully lovable. On top of it all, there's a lot of humor that works well. This game does so many things right.

#4 Disgaea 3: Absence of Detention
Disgaea 3 has a lot of cutscene so obviously it has quite a lot of story. The English dubbing is actually superior to the Japanese one and the dialogues are very well written and will give you many laughs. Aside from the humor, the characters are very likable and the twisted way of thinking in the Netherworld is fun to watch. The story itself is really good too and the characters go through a lot of development during it.

#3 Bioshock Infinite

Sadly, this game has been "collecting dust" in my Steam library last year, but when I finally played it, I was positively surprised. This FPS has a great focus on the story and it's presented very well. The floating city of Columbia is not only a great looking place with all those awesome visuals, it is also full of life and details and the player can learn more about the game's world through audio messages and video clips hidden throughout the city. A great game with a great story.

 #2 Valiant Hearts: The Great War

War games + good story are a very rare combination. Valiant Hearts does many things right. First of all, it is not an FPS, it doesn't use realistic graphics and it is tells a great story about the First World War, which is also a rather unused territory in gaming. The story centers around multiple characters in the time of World War I. Most of the story is told by characters' gestures/actions, picture bubbles and sometimes a narrator. Aside from the well-made story, you can also read some historical facts about every chapter of this game. I haven't gotten far yet, but it already left a good impression


#1 Bastion

The story of Bastion is made great by the amazing narrator. The story is told as you play, without any unnecessary cutscenes. He talks about what the backstory as well as talking about what is happening to your own character as the narrator tells the story to another person in the Bastion. I won't say much more as this game has a story that wouldn't be as good if spoiled.

Best Indie Games
#10 Starbound
A game similar to Terraria, but has a space theme and has enough differences to not feel like the same game.

#9 Goat Simulator
A game that is supposed to be bad and glitchy, but the thing is... That's what makes it fun to play.


#8 BattleBlock Theater
This game has some nice comedy, cool gameplay, it's a blast to play with friends and even has a nice level editor with Steam Workshop support. Tons of fun for anyone!


#7 Thomas Was Alone
This was actually last year's #1 indie game in my opinion. Thomas was Alone makes it to this year's list because of the release on WiiU. This game shows that you can make great characters who are just a bunch of rectangles. Together with a great storyteller, beautiful music and some nice puzzles to solve, this game is a true gem

#6 Rogue Legacy
A Metroidvania style game where you explore a big castle and need to defeat four bosses in four areas to open the final door. But here's the catch: once you die, the character is dead and you have to pick that character's child as your new character. The money the previous character collected can be used to upgrade your character. Each time you enter the castle, it will be randomally generated, so you'll start in a different layout every time. Oh, and every character has some sort of trait like ADHD, Near-sighted etc. On top of that, nice gameplay, challenge and awesome music


#5 SteamWorld Dig
I bought this game for every possible platform, do I even need to say more? This game developed by a Swedish company called Image & Form is set in a western themed world populated by Steam Bots and mixes Metroidvania with mining. A great game with great gameplay, visuals and music. Check it out!

#4 Bastion
I already wrote a lot about it. Sooo... Great story, awesome music, nice graphics, nice gameplay. Buy now!


#3 The Binding of Isaac: Rebirth

Just look up my review of it ;)


#2 Dust: An Elysian Tail

I already said that I love everything about it, right? The gameplay, the story, the wonderful soundtrack, the beautiful visuals, lovable character. Also, it's a very good PC port. Go buy it now!

#1 Shovel Knight

To tell you the truth, I feel bad for putting Dust on #2 instead of here, but in the end I chose Shovel Knight because it came out this year and Dust originally came out in 2012. The game is a love letter to all retro gamers as well as a great introduction to the retro gaming for newcomers. The game mixes elements from many great games from the 8-bit era and what you get is a great new-retro adventure that you just need to check out.  

Day 19 - Czaros' Game of the Year 2014 Part 2

Today's categories are Best Looking Game and Best Soundtrack. Without further ado, here are the lists:

Best Looking Game
#5 Shovel Knight (WiiU/3DS)

 

The highly anticipated indie-game Shovel Knight is finally here and it lives up to the hype. It captures every aspect of retro gaming perfectly and the looks are one of them. It looks really nice.

 

#4 Mario Kart 8

With the power of the Wii U, it was obvious that Mario Kart 8 will be the best looking Mario Kart 8, but what we got might actually exceed the expectations. The graphics are beautiful, but on top of that, the courses are amazingly designed and very detailed. Each tracks feels like its own living world.

#3 Valiant Hearts: The Great War (PC)

It's rather unsual to see a game about war that isn't a first person shooter and games about World War I are even more rare. This game utilizes the amazing UbiArt engine to create that artistic cartoon/book/drawing style. The visuals are only one of the things that are good about this game though.

#2 Child of Light (WiiU)

While UbiSoft failed multiple times this year, they also managed to release two very beautiful looking game. Child of Light uses UbiArt as well and it looks even more beautiful than Valiant Hearts. It's a true work of art. The game itself is really good too. Good job, UbiSoft!

#1 Dust: An Elysian Tail (PC)

There are many reasons why I love this game. I love everything about to be honest. The most impressive thing about it? Aside from the music, voice acting and some writing, the game is made entirely by Dean Dodrill. A single person made both all the programming and the beautiful visuals. It's one of the most beautifully looking 2D games out there. The PC port does those visuals justice as you can now enjoy it in native 1080p.

Best Soundtrack
#5 Shovel Knight

As I said before, the game captures the retro feeling perfectly and the soundtrack is a wide collection of amazing, authentic sounding 8-bit music. Wonderful!

#4 Pokemon Omega Ruby/Alpha Sapphire

I gotta admit, I wasn't that big of a fan of Ruby/Sapphire's music. It was still good, but my least favorite and mostly due to its overuse of trumpets and the rather poor quality of GBA music. The Hoenn remakes on the other hand have amazing remixes that are just nice to listen to. It may not be AS good as Pokemon X/Y's soundtrack, but it's great.

#3 Bastion

 

 

Yes, this game has been out for a few years now, but I didn't really play it until now and I kinda regret that, as the game is amazing. Aside from amazing story told by an awesome storyteller, there's also some awesome music and three nice songs.  

#2 Dust: An Elysian Tail

Told you that I love everything about this game, right? Well, there's no doubt that the soundtrack is amazing. HyperDuck Soundworks did a very, very, VERY impressive job with the music. I can go as far as saying that The Glade is one of the best gaming tracks of ALL TIME. 

#1 Super Smash Bros for Wii U

I actually had a hard time choosing between this and Dust but in the end I decided to go with this as it most likely one of the biggest soundtrack ever and the vast majority of tracks are well done. That's impressive considering there's over 400 of them. From originals to remixes there's something for everyone and the music only makes the already awesome game even better.

That's it for today. Tomorrow's categories will be Best Story and Best Indie Game. See you then!

Day 17 - Czaros' Game of the Year Awards Part 1

It's the second half of December and it's time to conclude this gaming year with my personal Game of the Year list. 2014 was full of both amazing titles and major disappointments. It was also quite eventful for me, as I was at the Retro game fair and got into the world of Playstation with PS3 and PS Vita. Without further ado, let's start with the rules for these countdowns:

While most of the games have been released this year, I always do this list based on the games I've played this, so some of the entries are indeed released before 2014. Also, keep in mind what I just said... These are the games I've played. So except for a few categories, there won't be any titles I haven't played and let's face it... I'm a single person and couldn't possibly play all the games to come out this. Not to mention... I don't even have a PS4 or Xbone and seeing as there are still no games I want on them, this won't change for a while.

So... Let us begin with the first two categories...

Best Gaming Events
I gotta admit... I haven't really followed any non-Nintendo events. News on websites were good enough for me, and this list would probably stay the same regardless, as neither Sony or Microsoft impressed me with their news.

#5 The various Nintendo Directs
Another reason this category is almost Nintendo-exclusive is because Nintendo went into some sort of hyperdrive this year, bringing us some awesome Nintendo Directs. The first Super Smash Bros Direct hosted by Sakurai, The humoristic Mario Kart 8 Direct, the comedic Tomodachi Life Direct and more. In fact, the Nintendo Directs are in my opinion the best way to basically give us multiple E3s every year. Good job, big N.

#4 Super Smash Bros. Wii U 50 things Direct
So, I bought Super Smash Bros for 3DS, as expected, it was awesome and I loved it... Then the 50 things not in the 3DS version Direct came out and made the 3DS version look almost bad in comparison. And considering how good SSB3DS is, that's saying a lot!

#3 Majora's Mask 3D reveal

While the whole Direct was amazing, it is the way it started that pretty much shook the entire gaming world. The anticipated remake of The Legend of Zelda: Majora's Mask has finally been revealed after a lot of teasing. The reveal trailer was perfect and the many reaction videos show that. "What's that? Wait, this looks familiar! No way, could it be? IT IS! IT'S MAJORA'S MASK 3D!"

#2 Nintendo at E3

This year, Nintendo shown us that no press conference at E3 can actually be something positive. With no unnecessary talk, better planning and those cool Robot Chicken animations, Nintendo really made the Digital Event the best thing to happen at this year's E3. And they also had events for the visitors, so they were actually present at E3. Heck, even the E3 announcment trailer by Mega 64 was freaking awesome. Reggie Fils-a-mech for Smash? Oh, yeah.. Let's not forget that awesome Reggie vs Iwata trailer.

#1 Retrospelsmässan Göteborg 2014

Yes, this is just a Swedish event, but heck, this is without any doubts the best event I've expererienced this year. Tons of awesome people, tons of games and console to test, Nintendo with all eight Mario Kart games, tons of merch, 100+ StreetPass hits and most of all, meeting Charles Martinet, the voice of Mario and Paarthurnax. Oh yeah, and Gothenburg is my favorite Swedish city as well. It was tons of fun and I'm already looking forward to RSMGBG 2015. Forget Comic Con Gamex, THIS is the best big gaming event in the country.


Biggest Disppointments
Hey... Not all GOTY categories have to be positive. This category gives Czaros' Seal of Disapproval instead. It is also this category that will mention games that I actually haven't played.

#6 Steam Machines
I really like Steam and initially I kinda liked the idea behind Steam Machines. But they done f*cked it up by planning countless varations of them with different prices, specs and even companies. You know what it reminds me of? Oh, yeah... regular PCs. If this was meant to bring new audiences to the PC gaming world... Valve failed.

#5 Pokken Fighters
This reveal was supposed to be some "shocking news" and shocking it trully was. A cool looking Pokemon x Tekken crossover in HD. Neat, right? Oh wait... It's arcade and Japan only. Okay then, thanks for getting me hyped for no reason.

#4 Destiny
I liked Halo (liked because in my opinion Halo 3 was a perfect ending) and this new game by Bungie actually kinda got my interest. Well, now I am glad that I didn't pre-order it. This $500 million dollar game is basically just a big build-up for the expansion pack. It maybe isn't as bad as the case of MGSV Ground Zeroes where they literally gave you a demo from 30 dollars, but with that game it was to be expected. With a budget like this, I expected a FULL game on release and more than just a questionable MMO-esque experience.

#3 Final Fantasy VII for PS4

Ok, so I personally didn't trully play FF7 until this year, and I actually find the game not as great as people say, but I really wanted to see a proper remake. What did we get? An HD version of the original... Yes, because I really wanted to look at those very low-poly models and pixelated pre-rendered environments again in Full HD. And since it's a port of the PC rerelease, it will probably keep the crappy 30 fps in field, 15 fps in battles too. Sqaure Enix... Start listening to your fans!!

#2 Sonic Boom

All the way until the game's release I've been actually looking forward to this game a lot. The fact ex-Naughty Dog people were working on it seemed like a good idea and it was shaping up to be something big. What we got was... Sonic 06 all over again. A good example of rushed to market: mediocre gameplay, bad graphics, big frame-rate issues, tons of glitches and overall not interesting game. Even the music is forgetable, which never happens in a Sonic game, no matter how bad...

#1 Conker in Project Spark

The JonTron video above sums up everyone's reaction very well. While we all know that Rare became crap after Microsoft bought them, we still wanted to see a new REAL Banjo-Kazooie and a new Conker game. And here we have this Project Spark trailer when suddenly, Conker appears and everyone is like: "OMG! Finally, he's back!". And then they just slap the fans not only by making him only a character in another game, they also made that "Guess we will have to make our own" line... This is a true example of a very bad atempt at fanservice. It's been almost 10 years since we last saw Conker and the fact he will only have a minor role in a non-Conker game itself is bad, but they also basically say "we won't do another Conker, do it yourself". Well, let's face it folks... Rare is dead. 

See you tomorrow with three new categories.

Day 16 - Too much Mario? I don't think so.

One thing I've noticed when people talk about Nintendo is how they constantly talk about how Nintendo is making Mario games all the time. And here's my problem with it... many people take all the games with Mario in it and put it in the same bag. Mario isn't a single game series. I can understand that you have something against the many games in the main platforming series, even though I myself don't mind since the games are always top-notch, but if also throw in Mario Kart and other titles with Mario... it's just dumb.

Mario is starring in many kind of games in completely different genres. The main series is a platformer, Mario Kart is a racing game, Mario Party is a party game etc. Sure, if you put it in a single bag, it would seem as if Nintendo milks the Mario horribly, but let's face it... Despite sharing the same characters, locations and artstyle, the different games like Kart, Party, Tennis and Strikers are actually their own series.

Taking the different games apart will suddenly make it look like less of a "franchise milking", though honestly... I don't care anyway... The games, with some minor exceptions, always feel fresh enough and are extremally fun to play. Even the main platform series has something unique for almost every game, especially the 3D Mario games. Mario Kart is released once per console, so you have a lot of time between them. Honestly, most Mario games have that special kind of gaming joy that no one does better than Nintendo.

During the winter break, me and my family are most likely going to have some awesome gaming moments with Mario Kart 8, Nintendo Land and Super Mario 3D World. So, I don't really understand why it's so popular to complain about the amount of Mario games... Especially considering how TONS of people buy CoD and Fifa every year, which actually have less new stuff than Mario games. And why complain when the games hold such high quality after all these years? Super Mario Galaxy 1 & 2 are in my opinion the best games ever aside from Mother 3 and many others are close to being as good.

 

Day 15 - Review: The Binding of Isaac: Rebirth (PC/PSVita)

After a day off because of my birthday and problems with adware yesterday, here's another post.

Before I do my Game of the Year list this week (maybe even tomorrow), I would like to review one of the games that will be on that least. The Binding of Isaac: Rebirth is a new version of the popular The Binding of Isaac, created mostly by Edmund McMillen, who is also responsible for the indie hit Super Meat Boy, is an action RPG shooter with rogue-like elements. The game has the player controlling Isaac (or later other similar characters) on his journey through dark underground locations on an escape from his mom who wants to kill him.

The game takes some inspirations from the original Zelda with its dungeon layouts (especially the original Isaac game) so the dungeons are divided into rectangular rooms in which you have to defeat all enemies in order to proceed to the next room. The goal is to find a boss room and kill the boss to advance to the next "floor". But here's a catch! Unlike Zelda, these dungeons are randomly generated so the layout of the dungeons is never the same and there's a lot of different room layouts too. On your way you'll collect many different items that are also random. Many will somehow give you an upgrade in one way or another, while some will make your life even harder (especially the pills which have different effects for different colors every time). And trust me, there's A LOT of different items and all of them affect the look of the character too. The player must fight through 6-9 floors to complete the game and every time you die, you're dead for good, so you have to start over in a brand new dungeon with all your upgrades gone.

The story is a darker alternate version of the story of Abraham and Isaac from the Bible. Isaac's escape his mom who wants to make him into a sacrifise and he finds himself in a basement full of monsters. I guess some religious people would find this game offensive since it's full of different religious symbols, but I personally am a Christian and don't find it offensive at all. It's just my interpretation, but the game shows how evil things can corrupt a person, which can be seen by how some nastier items change your character into something ugly.

The graphics have been switched from a flash-game style (well, the original was made in Flash) to a pixelated 16-bit-ish artstyle and it made the game look so much better. The environments looks nice and have some cool details like reflections on walls in rooms filled with water etc. Some of the really ugly, creepy monsters look even better in this style and it also fits to the old-school difficullty of the game. This is definietly not a game meant for kids as there's quite a lot of blood and stuff.

The audio quality is greatly improved. The soundtrack is completely different and while it is great I did like the original better, maybe because Danny Baranovsky's work is just so good.

The gameplay at its core remains almost unchanged. The player controls Isaac's movements with WASD and Isaac's head (direction in which you shoot) with arrows. This mechanic is very useful since if you could only shoot in the direction in which you're moving would make the game harder but in an unfair way. You can move freely, however shooting is limited to four directions. Q is used to use pills and card items, E is used to plant bombs and space uses items. The previously mentioned upgrades can drastically change the gameplay. While some are just simple boosts that will make you move faster, improve the speed, range, fire rate and damage of your tears (shots), give you an extra heart container etc., others can for example change the way your tears behave. Everything from an ability to shoot through walls to the one I hate the most: orbiting tears. The item play a huge role in the game and there's hundreds of them. Besides all these items there are also coins, bombs and keys and their uses are rather self-explanatory.

However, items aren't the only things that come in big numbers. Just like with everything else, the big amount of different enemies have been increaed for this game. There's tons of different monsters, with different behaviors and strenghts. There's also a ton of bosses which aside from the final bosses are also chosen randomally.

The game works pretty well with a stable framerate, few glitches and bugs, none of which are major and it controls very well. It is challenging and yes, some runs can feel unfair depending on what items you'll find. Some will make you very powerful quickly, some will barely have any effect. However, this game has an ability to make you wanna play over and over again even if you keep on losing. There's a lot to to unlock and tons of achievements to get. Completing this game to 100% may actually take a few hundred hours and that actually also means finding new items etc. The fact it's all randomly generated makes every run unique so it doesn't get too boring or repetive.

Day 12 - Ports, remasters and hypocrisy

There's this one thing that have been bothering me lately in the gaming community. I myself, while having Nintendo as favorite, also own and am a big fan of PS3 and PSVita and have a big library of PC games. There's this one thing that constantly bothers me as fan of both Ninty and Sony: the hypocrisy.

When Wii U had a big day one patch, people were saying how "Nintendo released an unfinished product". Meanwhile when the other two also had big day one updates, people were saying that "It's normal as the console was produced long before the release date".

And now, both Xbox One and Playstation 4 is flooded with ports, HD remasters (aka slightly better textures and rendered in 1080p) or games that can be played on last-gen consoles. I'm personally not okay with that, this doesn't make me wanna buy PS4 at all. But that's not the point here. The point is... We're over one year after the release and trully new games are few and barely any of them seem next-gen. When Wii U released, people were saying that: "It's same graphics as last-gen, no new games, only ports and that Wii U has no games". These kind of comments were common then and are still quite common now. Meanwhile, Playstation 4 and Xbox do the same thing: The Last of Us: Remastered (a remaster of a ONE YEAR OLD GAME),  Halo Master Chief Collection, FFX Remaster till PS4, FF7 port from PC, all the games that can also be played on last-gen without any major differences and so on. And guess what? Close to everyone is perfectly okay with that, contantly throwing dirt against Nintendo and Wii U while praising Sony and Microsoft.

And it's the same every time: Wind Waker HD? "Nintendo fanboys getting hyped over a remake are pathetic"
The Last of Us Remastered: "OMG Thank you Sony, can't wait to buy again"

I can understand being a fan of something, but stop pointing out flaws in others if the thing you like does the same. To be honest, all those arguments about which console is better are dumb. Why making those dumb console wars? The creators of them aren't fighting with each other, they actually respect each others work.

It annoys me because I'm gettin tired of people constantly telling Nintendo fans that they are blind fanboys who only play "same things over and over again" while the others do the exact same thing. All biggest names in the industry are long running series.

Day 11 - Winter Video Game Music

Well, since true winter weather doesn't seem to be here anytime soon, let's listen to some Winter-related music in video games.

Winters Theme from EarthBound/Mother 2

 

This theme plays in Winters, a snowy region in EarthBound. It has this upbeat winter/christmas feeling to it.

Snowman from Mother 1-3

 Snowman was originally a town in Mother 1, but the music could be heard in both Mother 2 and 3. In Mother 3, it played when Lucas visited a snowy mountain in Chapter 7.

Christmas/Toy Day Theme from Animal Crossing

This song plays during Toy Day, which occurs on Christmas Eve from 6PM. A charming track that captures both the feeling of Christmas and the feeling of Animal Crossing.

Snow Theme from Super Mario 3D World

 SM3DW has got some nice sounding orchestrated music and this beautiful piece is no exception.

Freezeezy Peak from Banjo-Kazooie

Banjo-Kazooie, one of the finest examples of Rareware's former greatness which was destroyed when Microsoft bought them. But let's forget that and take a listen to this amazing piece by Grant Kirkhope.

Snowpeak and Snowpeak Ruins from The Legend of Zelda: Twilight Princess

Unlike most of the entries, this one is more about the harshness of winter. It plays while you're visiting the snowy Snowpeak province in Zelda: TP and during Snowpeak Ruins, where while in the kitchen, a nicer melody is added to it.

The Silvery Snowland - Keterburg from Tales of the Abyss

 TotA is one of my favorite JRPGs and it has a nice winter themed town with a nice songs. In fact, the whole soundtrack is nice. Might replay this game sometime.

Shop - Town from Mario & Sonic at the Olympic Winter Games

Say what you want about the game... I actually like this one (and only this one). It had awesome music and my favorite was this one that played when you were in the Olympic town. The place itself was pretty nice too.

Route 216-217 from Pokemon Diamond/Pearl/Platinum

Platinum was my first true Pokemon game and man does this bring back memories. I love the Sinnoh region! Gotta replay that game as well.

Snowbelle Town from Pokemon X/Y

A rather sad sounding music that is the theme of Snowbelle Town in Kalos Region. It's a snow-covered town where the last gym is.

Route 15 from Pokemon X/Y

My favorite route theme in the game. It's simply wonderful.

Day 10 - What makes Mother 3 such a good game

A picture I did with Colors 3D! about a year ago, close to completing the game

The meaning behind a game changes a lot between players. Players add more than half of the meaning and value to games, which is more than any other mode of expression. So I feel like that half that you've added is entirely your own... all I did was provide assistance. [...] My personal feelings steer me to want to affirm everything the player thinks about the game. I wanted to make MOTHER 3 like a mirror. One that reflects the heart of the player off of the screen."

—Shigesato Itoi

Mother 3, the third and last official game in the Mother-series (EarthBound in the west) and currently my favorite game of all time. Today, I want to talk about why this particular game is so good in my opinion. Just like with the Fullmetal Alchemist analysis, there will be minor spoilers ahead.

The Mother series is different from most RPGs as it is set in the everyday world instead of some kind of fantasy land. The first two games take place in an alternate version of America, in EarthBound (Mother 2) called Eagle Land. Mother 3 on the other hand takes place on Nowhere Island, which location is not specified. On the island there's a peaceful village called Tazmily, a town that seems like it is "stuck" in the 19th-ish Century and has some western-ish elements to it. People live in harmony with each and the creatures of the island. Not only that, but they also don't even know money. That idyllic lifestyle is about to fade as the game starts.

In the prologue of the game, Lucas, the main protagonist of the game is visiting his grandpa Alec in his cabin beyond the Sunshine Forest together with his brother Claus and their mother Hinawa. After their joyful visit, they leave for Tazmily in the evening. When Hinawa sends a letter to her husband Flint, a mysterious object flies above the island and later that night a fire is set to the forest.

The first chapter of the game begins: "Chapter 1: Night of the Funeral". I'm not gonna spoil anything here, but I will say this: Chapter 1 is a really strong, emotional way to start a game and that is kept through the whole game.

Here's a thing: Mother 3 is much more serious than the previous installments in the series, but that doesn't necessarily mean that the game lost its light-hearted funny moments. Not in the slightest. In fact, the game is full of charming things and comedic moment. And that's one of the reasons it is so great. It's got a perfect balance of serious and funny. The slogan for the game was:  "Strange, Funny and Heartrending" and it lives up to it by having these saddening and tragic moments but still keeping lighthearted stuff.

While EarthBound had tons of characters who all have something unique and often memorable to say, the characters of Mother 3 are even more well-written and have their own purpose. The main characters are more complex and at some point during the end of the game, everything you know about them will change.

The story itself is probably the best story in a Nintendo game ever, many thanks to Shigesato Itoi's amazing writing. That might actually be the strongest reason why I love this game. From the well done main story elements, through the amazingly written (and wonderfully fantranslated) dialog and those small charming things like a sign reading: "Thank you for taking your time to read this sign. This sign loves you". The game itself isn't the longest. It will take 20-30 hours to beat, but replaying it will make you realize some new things you wouldn't care about before. The ending and the final battle are one of the most emotional and most memorable things in the game and very few games, if any, manage to accomplish that. There's even a chapter that lasts 5 minutes, but manages to be one of the most memorable, emotional moment in the entire game.

Tazmily Village

(A rather big spoiler ahead)
One major theme that really affected me is how Tazmily changes when Fassad introduces money and "Happy Boxes". The pretty idyllic village turns into a more modern town, people are no longer as nice and they're changing all the time, in the end all leaving to the big city of New Pork City with only Lucas and a few others left in an empty, once perfect village. It reflects the real world: how money affects people, how some good values are forgotten and how bad we people can be when influenced by such things.
(End of spoilers)

GBA isn't the best when it comes to music as the sound chip in it is... well, kinda crappy and many games didn't utilize it well. Mother 3 however, not only has the best soundtrack on GBA, it also has one of the best soundtracks ever. And it's both quantity and quality. The soundtrack is massive! The full OST on YouTube is 6 hours long! There's 10s of battle themes and many tracks are used during small portions of the game instead of having specific themes tied to specific areas. There's a variety of wonderful musical tracks like F-f-fire, Love Theme etc. Almost every important theme will be burned into your mind after playing it as it perfectly ties to what is happening in the game.

Lastly, the gameplay and the graphics. The Gameplay is not too complicated, it's a rather traditional RPG with turn-based battles with a little rhythm based twist. It's just right and so is the difficulty while you finally master it. The graphics may not be the most beautiful, but it fits the Mother style well. The sprites are wonderful though. With that small amount of pixels, they manage to express themselves really great.

Mother 3 is a masterpiece in terms of story, characters, themes and music. It's strange, funny and heartrending. It is a game everyone should play.

Day 9 - Mother Forever Rumors (HD Trilogy)

I found this fan-art once and edited it to resemble
a Wii U cover art 

So, there has been this strange rumor about an Amazon leak for a February issue of Game Informer would reveal EarthBound Forever. A remake of the whole Mother Trilogy for the Wii U. From what I've heard it's already been confirmed fake and it looks pretty fake as well, but just the mere thought of the Mother series being remade gets me exited. Mother 1 (EarthBound Zero) was never actually released outside of Japan and Mother 3 is only possible thanks to a fan-made translation which while being amazing and all, means most people didn't play it. And that's a shame as Shigasato Itoi's trilogy is one of Nintendo's finest gems. More people should play these games and a good HD remake would be perfect.

Well, there isn't really any point or even resources to speculate about this rumor so instead I would like to share what I would like a Mother Trilogy remake to be like:



- Hand-drawn HD graphics. While Mother 3 was originally planned to be a 3D game for the Nintendo 64, I personally think that a hand-drawn style fits the series much better. All three games have this cartoonish artstyle and in my opinion, 3D models would kinda ruin it. Not to mention, it wouldn't have that specific "camera angle" of Mother 1 and 2


- Remastered and/or orchestrated music. The music in the Mother series is already amazing as it and many or the music tracks should just be slightly remastered, but still midi-like while others could be orchestrated. There are already some nice orchestrated versions made by fans on YouTube:
(Example 1: click)
(Example 2: click)
(Or even the official improved soundtrack: click)

- Some animated FMV cutscenes simply because I love animated game intros etc.

- New features such as a hard mode and some extras like concept arts, music player that lets you play the original and remastered music etc.

It is unlikely that we will see a Mother HD Trilogy, but then again... We did get EarthBound on VC which was also promoted like a new release (which it also was for Europe) and Nintendo did mention "Give us Mother 3" in the E3 Robot Chicken sketch.

Day 8 - Memories of 3DS gatherings

In the year 2012, I have found a swedish 3DS related group called Mii Swap Sverige and through that group I've found out that 3DS gatherings have just began taking place in Kalmar, pretty close to where I lived. Those weekly events took place in two of the members' flat and the number of participating gamers varied from about 7 to even about 14 so sometimes there was even quite little room for everyone. One of the first thing that surprised me was that I was, for a long time, the youngest there even though I was almost 18 when I started (because you know... Nintendo is only for kiddies).

We would be playing all the awesome games alone and in multiplayer, talk, occasionally watch videos and more.  One of the most memorable things were the 8 player Mario Kart 7 races when everyone was Shy Guy. It was loud, full of laughter and Shy Guy noises. We also had a few special events including an awesome E3 2012 event where we watched the Nintendo E3 press conference and later tons of funny YouTube videos. It was extremally fun. Another time they had a big weekend-long Monster Hunter 3 Ultimate release event with 2 Wii Us and many 3DSes. I was only there for a few hours though. Yet another time, while celebrating 1 year of the gatherings, we've been watching Wreck-it Ralph together and it made an already amazing movie even better.

I personally arranged an event with my friends for my 18th birthday and that was an awesome experience too.

Sadly, all good things come to an end and the friends who were organizing the gatherings moved out and the events were instead moved to a Game Club locale instead. It was still fun, but never the same. The place was nowhere near as comfy and cozy as the flat (the locale is in a basement of a bigger building) and with many of the original members being gone, it was never quite the same.

Day 7 - Nintendo's 2015 Line-up

This year, the Video Game Awards actually had some good things about them. Nintendo got a well-deserved Best Developer award while I don't agree on GOTY at all (especially since it's EA Games). But aside from that Nintendo and Sony had some awesome announcements. Well, except for FF7, Square disappointed everyone. Come on guys, we want a REMAKE, not low polygons in 1080p.

Seems Mario Maker will be much more advanced than we thought

Nintendo has shown some new things in Mario Maker. It looks fantastic! Two new styles have been shown: Super Mario 3 and Super Mario World and the editor looks much more advanced now as the player can change a lot of properties of enemies, there are some new gameplay elements etc. I am a big fan of level editing and this is a perfect game/editor for me. I also look forward to seeing all crazy creations on Miiverse.

The world of Zelda Wii U seems impressive already, big and beautiful

The second and probably biggest thing on this whole thing was some off-screen gameplay and commentary on the new Zelda games and it already shows how giant the open world is. It looks fantastic too, even from that low-quality off-screen footage. And it will release in 2015 so I already can't wait.

There's more things coming to Wii U next year though. I'm not the biggest fan of shooters, but I really love the idea behind Splatoon. It's like the opposite of most shooters. Instead of war-torn browns, the whole point of the game is to fill as much of the map with brightly colored ink while also trying to take out your enemies. And to top it all, there'll be a sort of platformer/shooter hybrid single-player. It comes out in Q2 2015.

During the previously mentioned Zelda announcement, they also confirmed that the new Star Fox game for the Wii U will launch in 2015 and all I got to say is: It's about time we got a new Star Fox game!

And that's not even all of it... Kirby and the Rainbow Paintbrush, Yoshi's Woolly World, Xenoblade Chronicles X, Monster Hunter 4 Ultimate (3DS), Majora's Mask 3D, Codename S.T.E.A.M (3DS), those new games by Miyamoto and more. Next year seems to be bright for Nintendo and Nintendo gamers. I just hope Wii U finally gets the attention it deserves. If it doesn't... Then I don't think I'll have any hope left in the gaming community.

Day 6 - Christmas Gift Recomendations

Today's the 6th of December, which is the Saint Nicolaus Day in Poland (and Germany as far as I know) and I figured that it is the best day to talk about some christmas gift recommendations. These are mostly gaming related stuff and there are three personal picks on the bottom of this post.

How to Train Your Dragon 2 on DVD/Blu-ray

HTTYD2 was in my opinion the best movie to come out this year. It features all the good things from the first movie and makes it bigger and better. The visuals are stunning, the characters lovable, the story is great. There's no reason not to love this amazing movie.
Perfect for: All ages


Tomodachi Life for 3DS

My first impressions of the game were rather negative due to the small amount of actual gameplay possibilities, but as the time went on and I added more Miis, the game became something I'd pick up for a few minutes a day. It's really fun to see Miis living their lives and doing all those crazy things
Perfect for: All ages


eShop/PSN Store pre-paid Gift Card

There is a lot of wonderful downloadable games on both eShop and PSN Store. There's something for everyone and tons of great indie games await you there. And a gift card also means that the person you're giving it to can buy whatever suits their taste. My personal recommendations would be: Shovel Knight (3DS/WiiU), SteamWorld Dig (3DS, WiiU, PSVITA, PS4), Thomas was Alone (WiiU, PSN), The Binding of Isaac: Rebirth (PSVITA) and Minecraft: PS Vita Edition.
Perfect for: All ages (Since games on the eStores vary in age ratings)


Mario Kart 8 for WiiU

The 8th entry in the best kart racing series is the best one yet. Amazing visuals and audio, incredible and detailed courses, 60 fps, great online and amazing DLC content await. A perfect party game for everyone to enjoy.
Perfect for: All ages


A Wii U Console

If you want to give someone something bigger, a WiiU is a great idea. With many great games out already and a lot of amazing games on the way, this console is in my opinion the best next-gen console at the moment. I could also recommend a 3DS, but I think it's better to just wait until the New 3DS comes out.
Perfect for: All ages


Super Smash Bros for Wii U

A Massive roster, 400+ music tracks, 1080p 60 fps, 8 players at the same time, tons of different game modes and things to unlock. If you still weren't convinced to buy a Wii U for great games like Bayonetta, Super Mario 3D World etc., this is a game nobody can miss. What more to say than: Settle it in Smash!
Perfect for: Everyone 10 and up and with some gaming skills


Pokemon Omega Ruby/Alpha Sapphire for 3DS

A remake of the Gameboy Advance games Pokemon Ruby/Sapphire not only brings Hoenn to the 3D-dimensions and imroves gameplay, it actually adds a lot of new content. This is a great gift for both long-time fans and beginners.
Perfect for: All ages


Fantasy Life for 3DS

An RPG game where you choose a "Life" (aka profession) and go on adventures, help people etc. There's a total of 12 different lifes and you can master them all. A really enjoyable game full of content and suitable for both RPG fans and those unfamiliar with the genre
Perfect for: All ages


Theatrhythm Final Fantasy: Curtain Call (3DS)

A perfect gift for a Final Fantasy fan. This rhythm game features 220+ songs (!) from across all FF-games and also some additional DLC that you can purchase. With its fun gameplay, random quests maps and enormous song list, it is a must-have for any Final Fantasy fan
Perfect for: Any Final Fantasy fan


Bayonetta 2

For the more mature players who love some good action and beat-em-ups, there's Bayonetta 1 & 2 for the Wii U. Fight tough enemies in these action packed games.
Perfect for: Ages 16 and up


Any Nintendo game that is meant for play with family and friends
Many of the best gaming memories from the past few years were from playing with my family and games for Nintendo consoles are the best for that purpose. There's a lot to choose from and listing everyone of them as a separate entry would make this post way too long. These games are sure to leave you with amazing memories and many can be enjoyed by both experienced gamers and complete newcomers.

Perfect for: Everyone


Pokemon Christmas Merch

It may be the last chance now or even too late (unless you live in Japan or USA), but there's a lot of cute Christmas related Pokemon merchendise include adorable snowman plushies. A perfect gift for any Pokemon fan.


Amiibo

Similar to Skylanders, Amiibo are figures of your favorite Nintendo characters with functionalities in many games, including Smash Bros, Mario Kart and Hyrule Warriors. A nice collectible with in-game use.
Perfect for: Any Nintendo fan


Special personal recemendations

Scott Pilgrim vs The World and/or Scott Pilgrim comics
Scott Pilgrim is a story about a guy who falls in love with a girl called Ramona Flowers, but to date he must defeat her 7 evil Ex-es. The comics and the live-action movie are great and full of gaming references. It's most perfect for the older gamers. The comics consists of 6 volumes. Oh, and the XBLA, PSN game is great as well, with amazing soundtrack by the chiptune band Anamanaguchi.

Fullmetal Alchemist on DVD/BluRay

My favorite anime, of course I recommend it. A great story with good characters, good music etc. Hey, you should just read my review and analysis ;)

Disgaea 3: Absence of Detention (PS Vita)

My favorite PS Vita game. Disgaea is a strategy RPG with a story centered around the Netherworld Evil Academy. The game is a little hard to master, but it should be enjoyable for most people. It has nice amount of humor, good voice acting and nice story.

Day 5 - Taiko no Tatsujin

Since yesterday I got Taiko no Tatsujin Wii 5, it's a perfect time to talk a little about my favorite rhythm game, or more specifically, why I adore this series even though it's Japan-only.

I got to know about this game through the best PC music game, osu! which is a free-to-play rhythm game with multiple playstyles and one of them is Taiko, so I began playing the originals and started to love these games. The End

The songs in the games are divided into several categories: Original Songs, J-Pop, Classical, Anime, Game and Variety. Almost all songs are in Japanese and many have a childish vibe to them. So why do I love to play it then? Well, there's a rather simple reason I prefer Taiko over Guitar Hero and such. In those game there's always just a few songs you know and will want to play and the rest is boring and if you don't know you don't feel like playing it. With Taiko, you don't know the songs, but their catchyness and playfulness makes you wanna play them. The game can be enjoyed by everyone too since difficulty varies from super easy to super hard. The gameplay is very enjoyable and satisfying. It's the kind of game that will easily bring a smile to your face.

Day 4 - Why Nintendo is my favorite

It's pretty easy to notice that I like Nintendo more than any other video game company out there. I do like Playstation and play a lot on PC, but despite that Nintendo is still the number one for me.

The reason for that is quite simple: their games give you the most pure gaming joy. I'm not trying to say that other games aren't fun, because they obviously are, but Nintendo is a special kind of fun. While many other developers try to have the best graphics and realism, Nintendo wants to make their games fun, play well and be accesible for everyone. Many people accuse Nintendo for "making the same games over and over again", (which by itself is funny seeing how everybody else does the same thing) but even though it is yet another entry in the series, they still feel fresh and are very fun to play.

The fact many games are accesible for everyone is a plus for me as well. There isn't too many games that you can enjoy with your family and friends at home that aren't made by Nintendo. To be honest, those games give the most pure gaming joy, whether it's Mario Kart, Smash Bros, Wii Sports or Super Mario 3D World.

The consoles may not have the best graphics, but Nintendo themselves know how to use it well and on top of that they innovate the industry with new gaming ideas such as motion controls, handheld console with a touchscreen and 3D etc.

Let's not forget all the amazing game series they're behind: Mario, Zelda, Metroid, Pokemon, Kirby, Mother, Star Fox, F-Zero etc. I love their games and look forward to seeing even more.

Day 3 - Fullmetal Alchemist and why it is so great

Recently I have written a short, spoiler-free review of the anime series Fullmetal Alchemist. Some days later I stumbled upon a big video review of the series and that inspired me to write about why this particular series works so great and why it appeals to the audience both young and old. This analysis include some minor spoilers.

The story of Fullmetal Alchemist takes place in a fictional country of Amestris in a world where alchemy is a powerful art that can be used to deconstruct and reconstruct materials. However to obtain something, one must sacrifice something of equal value. FMA's world is otherwise rather similar to the real world somewhere around the first half of the 20th Century. The Elric Brothers visit many different towns and meet many different people along the way.

Hey, if I was always mistaken for someone else and called short
all the time I would react like that too.

But what makes Fullmetal Alchemist such a great anime series? One thing is the themes. It gets both funny and serious, often in a single episode, within just a few minutes. For example one returning joke is that Edward is very sensitive to people calling him short, always getting furious and overreacting to it. In fact, most of the characters have their funny traits like this and those things can actually make the characters more likable. However, when the series wants to get serious, it does a great job at portraying moments of sorrow.

Episode 7, The Night of Chimera's Cry is a great example (A scene from the later half of the episode https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=IdTzcp1YLY8). When the day of Shou Tucker's assestment draws near, he uses his own daughter Nina and her dog Alexander to create a chimera that can understand human words. When the chimera recognizes Edward and calls him "brother" (the brothers' have previously befriended the girl and she used to call them that), Ed realizes what has happened. He later stops the military from taking the Chimera away, as he knows it will be for further research. Later they find out that the chimera was brutally killed, leaving Edward cry in sorrow and helplessness. The episode was strong in many ways, the voice, the dialog and the look of the chimera itself
makes this whole situation heartbreaking.

As a State Alchemist, Edward is often called a dog of the military, however he doesn't really care about the military at all. Another theme in the series is said military. The viewer as well as the characters will often have doubts about their actions. What's right or wrong is often questioned and the civil war of the past is often mentioned and the view on it changes multiple times.
The Equivalent Exchange is often mentioned and it is widely belived to be a rule of the world, that one cannot gain anything without giving something so when you do work hard, you get good things etc. It's a idealistic look at the world, but the main characters will get to see how unfair the world can actually be.

Ed and Al spending an entire day at their mother's grave after the
funeral reminds me of Mother 3.

Last, but definietly not least, is the theme of family. Right from the start you get to see how close the two brothers were to their mother and how her death affects them to the point that they desperatly wanted to bring her bad, even though that would mean commiting the greatest taboo of alchemy. When it fails, Ed, with his remaining strength, binds his brother's soul to a suit of armor. The two brothers themselves are inseparable and trully care about each other. The theme of family relations is a returning theme as well, with many instances of it throughout the series.
The second thing is the characters. There's a lot of them and what's impressive is that basically all of the those who play a bigger role have a lot of personality and unlike many animes, games and movies, they're all three-dimensional and many of them, especially the main characters, go through character development. To make them more likable and fun, they also have something special about their personalities. Edward is the rather reckless type, but also smart and talented, being able to spend tons of hours on research. Alphonse is the calmer one, more thoughful, gentle and often acting more mature despite being the younger brother. Some characters are likeable for their more unusual personalities, such as, Loius Alex Armstrong, who always shows of his strength and muscles, bragging how all his best skills have been passed for generations and despite that is also someone sensitive.

This guy chops wood with his fists and yet gets very emotional at
the story of Elrics. (He is also the only one to make sparkling look cool)

Characters are a really strong point, both the protagonists and the antagonists have their motives and true, most often realistic personalities with enough silliness to ease off the overall serious mood the series can get to sometimes. You'll understand why the brothers want their bodies back. Sure, being bound to suit of armor, which means you'll never age and that you're much stronger may seem cool at first, but then you'll see how painful it must be for Al to not be able to eat or even feel the rain, touch or sunshine.

All this summed up makes the series very memorable. The themes are releatable, the characters really good and likable. The story well written (even though it doesn't follow the anime and that the ending is just well... weird and even kinda stupid in this version). The music is great, the world is nice (I especially love countryside of Rizembool), there's action, there's feelings etc.. These things are the reasons it is my favorite series. It does something not many animes, or most of other media in the genre can accomplish. It makes you laugh, it makes you sad, it makes you think. There's something for everyone to enjoy and even relate to.
But you know what I realized while writing this? You can't really express it through text, it's something you have to see to understand and experience (alternatively read the manga I guess)