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Chrono Cross
Developer: Square Product Development
Publisher(s): Square, Square Electronic Arts
Platform: PlayStation
Genre: Role-playing Game

The Story
Knights, magic, dragons, demi-humans, parallel universes, seers, mermaids, time travel, talking plants, skeletons, and voodoo dolls. All that and more in this 1999 PlayStation® classic, Chrono Cross.

You play as the perpetually silent Serge, who, on all objective accounts, has lead a perfectly normal life. That is, until he faints on the beach, wakes up on the exact spot, and finds out that he—gasp—has died! Apparently, he drowned ten years before at the beach and is now in a parallel universe aptly called “Alternate World,” where he is long dead and should to be dead. As you go along the game you will discover what really happened ten years prior, why there are now two worlds, and most importantly, why is Serge where he is.

The Gameplay
The gameplay for Chrono Cross resembles most RPGs during its time; you control the protagonist through the story (at the earlier parts of the game by foot and at the latter parts boat), navigating through the game’s world and interacting with its elements in a very non-linear fashion; you can go into areas you can properly wade through only on higher levels as you please. You will eventually be given the option to return to the “Home World,” as some of the key moments in the game requires you to travel through either worlds.

The battle system for Chrono Cross are primarily governed by Elements. Each playable characters, as well as the enemies you encounter, has their own innate color, which enhances the physical and magical damage of an attack. Red innate color, which governs fire and magma spells, is effective against Blue innate color, which governs water and ice spells, and vice versa; Green innate color, which governs wind and flora spells, is effective against Yellow innate color, which governs earth and lightning spells; and White innate color, which governs light and holy spells, is effective against Black innate color, which governs darkness and gravity spells.

All battles are turn-based; both your party and your foes have equal chances to deliver their attacks. However, each party members will have their own Stamina Bar, which will be full at the beginning of every battle, that depletes whenever a move is executed. The Stamina Bar will also dictate how potent and powerful your attacks and spells will be. Hit points, stamina bar, and elements will all be indicated in the battle menus.

Experience points are non-existent in this game. Instead, additional status bonuses will be given to each party member at every end of a battle.

Furthermore, there are a massive total of forty-five playable characters which will join your party. But here is the catch: You can never collect the entirety of the roster. Some of them will join you with the consequence of losing a potential party member forever. This can be easily countered with an “All Characters” Gameshark cheat, if you have it.

The Conclusion
Chrono Cross, being one of the earliest video games I have ever played, has held itself exceedingly high in my regard, the same way Final Fantasy VII, Tomb Raider 2, and Spyro have. This is not only because half of my vocabulary at nine-years-old I have learned playing these games, nor they are part of the one thing I can no longer have but I can now only recall, my childhood. Of course they were/are those things, but there is something more.

Chrono Chross has all the makings of a beautiful game: An exquisitely heartfelt soundtrack that can rival those of Uematsu’s (Final Fantasy Series) and Shimomura’s (Breath of Fire, Legend of Mana, Street Fighter), a complex and deep, but nevertheless compelling storyline like virtually no other (trust me, I have looked), a fresh, innovative battle system that has managed to retain all the elements of the traditional RPG combat enough for it to be easily familiarized with. The graphics were at its time top-notch, to the credit of Squaresoft (back when it still has not merged with Enix and was still an exemplary company), and more than a decade after its release, still commended for its overall presentation. Chrono Cross is simply a [expletive deleted] great game.

I doubt there will be one singular RPG game that would be half as good as Chrono Cross or its contemporaries, much less surpass them. I do not think I will ever live to see the day, not unless Square Enix decides to make a remake of FFVII.

There is nothing more to say about this game, but I’ll say this: I love it.

(Source: carlxy)

officialtombraiderblog:

Game Trailers asks, “How do you redefine a character like Lara Croft?” Brian Horton steps in front of the camera to talk to the art direction of Tomb Raider. Check out the interview here.

inFamous (Playstation 3)
Developer: Sucker Punch Productions
Publisher: Sony Computer Entertainment
Genre: Action-Adventure

The Story
Cole MacGrath, a nondescript, run-of-the mill bike messenger was asked by an anonymous customer to deliver a mysterious package that, unbeknownst to him, gives the bearer powers. The device activates, wiping out six blocks of the city in the process, with Cole in the middle of the explosion. Cole eventually survives, and finds himself possessed of the ability to produce and manipulate electricity.

Now that the entire Empire City is under quarantine, thanks to the destruction caused by the mysterious device, Cole wants out, but unwillingly finds himself in the center of action as circumstances forces him to uncover the secrets behind the destructive device, the Ray Sphere.

The Gameplay
inFamous is a third-person shooter, open world video game in which you control our unwilling protagonist with electricity-based super powers. What you do with his power, I believe, is what sets this game apart from its compatriots: you use Cole powers for transport, defense and offense, and also for helping or terrorizing the people of Empire City.

Because Cole doesn’t have an unlimited supply of electricity in is body, you have to siphon it from a source (i.e. lamp posts, telephone booths, cars, generators) to maintain your power supply and as well as your health, which you don’t actually see in bar form or otherwise but becomes aware of whenever Cole gets hit.

The leveling system of this game revolves around XP points. XP points are gained from enemy kills, with bonus points given when you execute your moves with a flourish (executions called as Stunts), and are also received from completing vast numbers of optional side missions scattered about. These points are used to enhance Cole’s artillery and abilities, some of which could only be achieved when you reach a specific Karmic Rank.

Another interesting concept of the game is the incorporation of the Karma System, which basically gauges Cole’s every action and categorizes them as either Good Action or Evil Action. If you decide to go along the proverbial path of a Hero, your every action must always center around the best interest of the people of Empire City and work toward deeds of the quintessential hero. If you want to take the evil side and be a villain instead, try and remove all traces of humility out of your mind and channel your inner Joker: electrocute the living bleep out of pedestrians, wreck havoc and blow up cars, drain the life out of the injured instead of healing them. The path you decide to take will have crucial consequences to the outcome of the story.

Because this is an enormous game, you will encounter slight technical issues at some point or another, such as framing. Fortunately these are only minor setbacks and are not enough to deter you from enjoying the game.

The Verdict
inFamous is a beautiful game, with an interesting story and entertaining gameplay. I have spent a hefty portion of the week doing nothing but playing this game and I haven’t even seen  fifty per cent of what the game has to offer; there are so many things to do and places to explore. (I had decided to be a baddie my first playthrough because then I get red-colored lightning, and seeing innocent people suffer brings be great joy. I am yet to see what the game looks like if I play as a goodie, which, although I think would be less fun, would be a different ball game altogether.) Our hero, Cole MacGrath, despite his lack of distinctive features, I have eventually found quite a handsome protagonist, with a voice that could make anyone pregnant. The only issue I had had with this game was that it ended, and with good things that is a letdown.

Never had I dreamed of saying this ever, but I am somewhat glad of Sony’s incompetency (see: The Great PSN Outage of 2011). If it weren’t for their foolishness I wouldn’t have gotten this game for free. I give inFamous four stars.

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