RyHo Vs. The Legend of Zelda

A few weeks ago at E3 2016 Nintendo debuted gameplay footage of the next installment in The Legend of Zelda series, Breath of the Wild. They pretty much staked their entire E3 presence around the game, and it has been exalted as the Game of the Show by just about all the video game news sites that were in attendance.

The crux of Breath of the Wild is that it is a massive open world which players can explore anyway they want. For a while now astute gamers have been comparing images from previously shared clips of the game and stating how it appeared to have some similarities with older LoZ titles and it looks like they were right on the money.

BotW takes a lot of cues from the first games in the Zelda series, like the original The Legend of Zelda or Zelda II: The Adventure of Link. These games, although remembered fondly, are incredible difficult and players are basically given no instruction on what to do. You're presented with an open world and you have to try and figure out what steps to take next.

This was refined in later entries in the series, like A Link to the Past and Link's Awakening, where although you're presented with a fairly open world, you're give a defined path to walk through and aren't left completely on your own trying to figure out what to do next.

Watching the Nintendo Treehouse - Nintendo's in-house North American product development team - play through BotW at E3 hearkened me back to those old 8-bit Zelda titles and I found myself wanting to revisit them. So I did!

The first LoZ game I ever finished was the first one I played, Ocarina of Time. It's still my favourite, but admittedly I've never gone back and completely finished the titles that came before it. I've put several hours into most of them, but never made it to the end.

The other day I finished, for the first time, the original The Legend of Zelda and it was a blast! I had some help - I used a map someone on the Web stitched together with screenshots of the Overworld, and consulted a walkthrough a few times - but for the most part I tried to just play the game as it was intended. I could remember a few things I'd muscled through in the past; I quickly finished off the first dungeon - Level-1 aka The Eagle - and picked up some essential items, like Heart Containers, the White Sword, Magical Shield, and Blue Ring. After that, though, things got serious as I'd never played much further than that before. It took a little while, but I managed to get to the final dungeon, defeat Ganon, and save Princess Zelda!

I haven't made up my mind on whether or not I'm going to keep this train rolling and play through all the games I've missed in the series or not, but I pretty much instantly booted up The Adventure of Link and am slogging through that game now.

I've been posting my adventures to Miiverse and Twitter and you can follow along, if you'd like! On Twitter I've been hastagging the whole thing with #RyHoVsLoZ, so you can find it easily enough. Although I do own the original games on cartridge, I've been playing on my 3DS out of convenience, so I won't be livestreaming anything just yet, but maybe down the line I'll stream some Legend of Zelda goodness on my Twitch channel, as well. Who knows!

The game of the month for the Cartridge Club is actually Majora's Mask, a game I haven't played since it first came out, so I think I'm going to change gears soon and try to complete that game. I have played that one, as it came out after OoT, but it's been a long time and I'm anxious to give it another try.

So join me as I fight and puzzle my way through the many incarnations of The Legend of Zelda! I'm more than okay with a few tips as I play. Just keep the spoilers to a minimum!

Hope you enjoy,
R

The Legend of Zelda: Breath of the Wild (2017) - Nintendo Switch

The Legend of Zelda: Breath of the Wild is the latest release in the Legend of Zelda series, which was simultaneously the final Wii U game from Nintendo and one of the launch titles on the Nintendo Switch, and hit store shelves on March 3rd, 2017 worldwide. The game was produced by mainline Zelda series producer Eiji Aonuma and developed by Nintendo EPD.

Breath of the Wild is a break from the usual Zelda formula and features a massive open-world environment and a bevy of new equipment for Link to procure and use throughout his adventure. Taking a page from the original NES game, Link is simply dropped into the world and given very little direction. The player can tackle the game in any fashion they want, trying to figure out the correct path to victory as they go.

The game was first announced to be in development as far back as 2013 and was meant to be the mainline Zelda title released on the Wii U. It had a slotted release date of 2015. This was initially bumped out to 2016, but was ultimately pushed out again to coincide with the launch of the Nintendo Switch to give the new console a heavy-hitter on release.

This decision, of course, ruffled a lot of feathers in the gaming community. There were many people who claimed they purchased a Wii U simply to get the next Legend of Zelda title that had been promised and felt burned that it would release two years later and on Nintendo's next system.

Any issues with the release of Breath of the Wild seemed to quiet instantly on March 3rd. The game has been universally touted as a wild success (pun intended), selling approximately 5 million copies as of September of this year across both platforms and taking home full marks from many of the biggest reviewing publications. As of writing this, the game has taken Game of the Year at the 2017 Game Awards.

Now with that out of the way, it's time for me to gush about how much I loved Breath of the Wild.

For years the debate of whether Zelda was an RPG or an action adventure title has raged across message boards on the Internet. Whichever side of the fence you're on in that fight, I find these games to be adventure titles and no game has allowed me to experience true adventure like Breath of the Wild.

The open world is both massive and breath-taking (again with the puns). I can remember in the opening moments of the game I actually felt daunted by the sheer breadth of it. The game opens in an area called the Great Plateau and - to put things into context - this area alone is larger than the entirety of Hyrule in Ocarina of Time! Then when I finally broke free of the Great Plateau and had the fullness of Hyrule to my disposal to explore, I felt completely overawed.

The beauty of Hyrule

The only thing I can suggest is that you just shed the old mentality of "do x, get y, beat bad guy, move to next area". This game has been made completely non-linear. You're given a loose idea of where to go next, but there's no reason you should follow that. Let the open road take you. See that strange object in the distance? Go there! What's up there on top of that mountain? Climb and find out! Just let the land lead you and you'll get so much more out of the experience than just trying to get to the end.

By the time I decided to finally finish Breath of the Wild I had clocked 115+ hours. For me, that is absolute madness. I haven't cracked 80 hours in a game in years, let alone over 100. I would just turn this game on and travel around from place to place for hours aimlessly. You're often rewarded for doing this, either by new items or Shrines, which act as the games puzzles. There are 120 Shrines hidden all over Hyrule and the only way you're going to find them all is to check every nook and cranny the map has to offer. That's what took me so long to finish the game, honestly. I had to have them all! Finally, I found all 120 and that's when I decided it was time to face the final boss.

My 120th shrine

If you find I'm being vague and explaining very little about how the game plays, you're right. I'm being intentionally nebulous, because I don't want to ruin anything for someone that may not have played the title.

In fact, I think I'm going to leave it there. This is my third full draft of this article. I've tried explaining every facet of the gameplay. I've tried gushing about my personal experiences. I've tried being over-analytical and pointed.

The hero of  Hyrule

The fact is that The Legend of Zelda: Breath of the Wild is a game changer. Or at least it was for me. I haven't done so yet, but I think I need to re-order my Top 10 favourite games of all time, that's how much this game meant to me. I can say this, without a doubt: Breath of the Wild is my favourite Legend of Zelda title of all time, ousting Ocarina of Time. And I've played a lot of them (except A Link to the Past - maybe we'll talk about that some other time).

Looks like it's time to face the final boss

So for me, this is a must-play. Whether you snag it on the Wii U or pick up a shiny new Nintendo Switch, I think you owe it to yourself to try this game. There's a lot of content here, so book out your calendar. And remember, let the adventure take you and enjoy.

Cheers,

R

P.S. I still have not played any of the DLC, but I plan to pick it up later this year, once I've played something else for a bit. I'll update on that when the time comes!

RyHo Vs The Legend of Zelda - Part II

All ready for my quest!

So, if you've somehow stumbled upon this blog and don't know what's up, get yourself caught up here!

Over the past few months I've had a real bug to play The Legend of Zelda series after seeing footage for the next installment, Breath of the Wild, releasing in March of 2017 on the Wii U and Nintendo's next console, codenamed "NX".

In my last post I mentioned that the next game I'd be tackling was Majora's Mask, the Cartridge Club Game of the Month for July 2016. That didn't really go as planned. I booted the game up a few times, but didn't get nearly enough time with it. I definitely want to play through it again. I think I'd rather play through Ocarina of Time first, though. My wife got it for me on the 3DS last Christmas and I've been dying to replay it. Maybe I'll pick up the 3DS version of Majora's Mask after that and give it a whirl, who knows!?

That said, I did continue on with my quest to complete Zelda II: The Adventure of Link and I was successful! If you're ever going to call a video game "Nintendo Hard", Zelda II is the one to pick.

Barba or Volvagia of the Hidden Palace

What I would say about the difficulty of the game is this: it starts out pretty difficult, because you don't know exactly how to handle certain enemies and you need to level up. Once you start figuring out the tricks for taking out your foes, getting new spells, leveling up, and learning new attacks the game simply gets more and more fun. It can still be very hard at times, but it's never completely out of control.

Another thing to note is that if you die and hit continue, you may have to back-track quite a way to where you expired, especially once you get to the second continent, but you always keep your levels and items so you can pick up right where you left off. I've heard horror stories of people saving their game and losing levels, but that didn't happen to me.

A knight teaching you a cool new move!

My one major complaint about Zelda II is that there are a few parts in the game where you basically have to find something totally secret to advance. Like, a false wall in a dungeon or a hidden town tucked away in a forest. I had to consult walkthroughs to find these secrets and that's annoying. If you're trying to play the game without "cheating" I don't know how you'd ever figure these things out on your own. I think it must've been a dirty trick by Nintendo to sell Nintendo Power magazines back in the day! Maybe if I was 10 again I'd have no problem searching Hyrule over and over until I found these secrets on my own or heard about them from someone at school during recess.

This is what I'm talking about...

Regardless, my opinions on Zelda II have changed completely since getting to actually play through the whole game. I think it's definitely a difficult game at times, but well worth playing. Once you get a hang of fighting in the game it can be really exciting and fun.

Yeah, I know. I'm pretty awesome, right?.

So, the question now is, what should I tackle next? Logically the next game would be A Link to the Past, another game that I've ashamedly never finished and I've always wanted to play. I think I'm going to take a little break from The Legend of Zelda for a bit, though. My wife is days away from having our second child and I don't want to start up A Link to the Past only to put it down for a few months.

I'll definitely continue on in my quest to complete A Link to the Past, though! And when I do the best places to follow are right here on Retro-Def, on Twitter with the hash-tag #RyHoVsLoZ, and on Miiverse.

Talk soon,
R

Nostalgia Bomb! - Video Game Instruction Manuals

What are they?
Once upon a time when you got a crisp new video game you would receive a small manual in the packaging, which would give you some backstory for the game you were about to play, information on how to play the game, and occasionally some tips and tricks to help you out along the way.

An assortment of NES instruction manuals

When did they come out?
Video game manuals would have appeared in just about every home released video game going back to 70s, including standalone games like Pong and the earliest cartridge-based games, like those on the Fairchild Channel F, right up to today's modern consoles.

Mega Man 3 (NES) Instruction Manual

What about today?
I just said that manuals come with modern day console games, so why the heck is this a "Nostalgia Bomb"? Well, the era of high-quality colour manuals is a without a doubt over and done with. The rare game might release with a nice manual, but it's definitely not the norm. In some cases a game might release with some form of manual, but its completely bare bones. Many are just a black and white fold-out piece of paper with the controls written on them or just a slip of paper outlining how to find the "online manual", which is often just as barren as the fold-out.

Captain Toad: Treasure Tracker's instruction manual

Why do I remember them?
Lately I've been replaying the original NES Legend of Zelda games, most recently Zelda II: The Adventure of Link. As I was playing, I found myself more interested in the story behind the game, so I turned to the Internet to see if there was ever any backstory to the title. Sure enough, if you picked up the complete in-box game on the NES you would receive a full colour manual, which not only showed you how to navigate the world of Zelda II or how to fight using Link, but it also gave you a really nice background story, which included hand-drawn art depicting Link and how he begins his quest.

Zelda II: The Adventure of Link storyline from the manual

The manuals that came with 8-bit and 16-bit games were full of wonderful concept art and backstory that you couldn't necessarily get from playing the game. It was a sign of the times. These days, you don't really need to have the story of a video game explained to you in a paper manual, because you get it all from the game itself.

I'm not complaining so much that manuals have gone the way of the Do-do. I get it. If the story is present within the game itself, all you really need is to know the controls. Honestly, most games these days take you through a tutorial to teach you the controls, as well, so I can see why dropping manuals would save money and trees.

That said, I used to love opening up a new video game and breaking out the instruction manual. It was like a first peek into the adventure that was about to unfold, and in the case of an NES title it gave you an idea of what you were actually doing in the game, as often you'd just be dropped right into the game with little idea of what was going on and just playing the game solely for the gameplay.

Old school video game instruction manuals are definitely a blast from the past!

Hope you enjoyed,
R

Nostalgia Bomb! - Topps Nintendo Game Packs

What were they?
Nintendo Game Packs (with Top Secret Tips!) were a series of scratch-off trading cards and sticker packs released by Topps for 25¢ apiece. Inside each wax-wrapped pack you would find three scratch-off cards and two stickers, as well as a stick of bubble gum!

Topps Nintendo Game Packs (1989) - image courtesy of Toys'n'Stuff YouTube Channel

There were 93 cards to collect in all. 60 of those were the scratch-off or "game" cards, which could be broken out into groups of 10 based on 6 different Nintendo games: Super Mario Bros., Super Mario. Bros. 2, The Legend of Zelda, Zelda II: The Adventure of Link, Double Dragon, and Punch-Out!! The other 33 cards were the stickers, which portrayed character portraits from all sorts of different Nintendo games and had printed tips and tricks on the back, not necessarily related to the actual sticker on the front.

A sticker card featuing Abobo from Double Dragon - image courtesy of TPsRockin.com

When were they available?
They were released in 1989. Topps would release a yearly series of sports cards, which would include the usual culprits of baseball, football, and hockey. They would also release non-sports sets each year that would be based on different movie and cartoon franchises, which included the Nintendo set. '89 would also see sets for Back to the Future Part II, Batman (1989), Batman (1966), Ghostbusters II, Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles ('89 cartoon show), and Stupid Smile Stickers, which were essentially parody cards making fun of the popular "smiley face" stickers at that time.

A full box of Topps Nintendo Game Packs

What about today?
Although Nintendo would go on to have different trading card sets over the years based on many of their popular franchises, like The Legend of Zelda and most recently amiibo trading cards for the Animal Crossing series, this was the only Topps set they would ever release.

It is worth noting that Topps also released a set of Nintendo Tattoos around the same time. They are considered much more rare than the Game Packs and I can honestly say I don't recall ever seeing them when I was a kid.

Topps Nintendo Tattoos, also circa 1989

Why do I remember them?
I was a big card collector back when I was a kid. It was completely hooked in 1990 on the first Marvel Universe trading card series by Impel (later Skybox), but I cut my teeth on these Nintendo Game Packs.

Although I have all of my old Marvel cards I unfortunately don't have any of my old Nintendo cards left today. I think it was because they were made somewhat disposable. Each of the scratch-off cards were a game and once they were scratched I considered them used up and the sticker cards would make their way into a sticker binder I kept (which is long since gone). It wasn't until the next year I'd clue in on collecting cards.

A Zelda scratch-off game card - image courtesy of TPsRockin.com

You see them a lot these days, though. They're typically easy to find on eBay or in different niche stores. You'll also find a lot of videos on YouTube of people either displaying their collections or showing off opening old packs that are still sealed.

I haven't gone so far in my enjoyment of these cards to get the set myself. I have checked out the prices on eBay now and then, but I never pull the trigger. It's fun to queue up YouTube now and again, however, and watch some videos on Topps Nintendo Game Packs and reminisce.

I hope you enjoyed,
R

Too Much Nostalgia

I was perusing Nintendo's E3 Miiverse Community today and taking in all of the rumours and speculation regarding what Nintendo is going to show this year at the annual video game expo. Amidst the calls for a new F-Zero, Star Fox or Metroid - which we get to enjoy listening to every year - I saw an interesting comment that caught my eye: "Why are so many asking for remakes? I want new experiences."

I clicked on the post to check out any comments from other users and I saw one individual make the case - and I'm paraphrasing - that "nostalgia is plaguing the industry".

The truth is that I did notice a lot of community members clamouring for more remakes of old games; gamers demanding Metroid Prime collections, or a remake of The Legend of Zelda: Majora's Mask - which has been a hot topic item since the 2011 release of Ocarina of Time 3D on the 3DS - and even off-the-wall requests for remakes of old Smash Bros. games.

If I didn't see posts for games like those above, it was port-begging for English translations of the Japan-only Earthbound titles, or outcries for a "brand new" Legend of Zelda game. We just had a new LoZ title released last year in A Link Between Worlds, which was itself a graphical throwback/semi-sequel to 1991's Super NES hit A Link to the Past!

The point I'm trying to get at is that these individuals seem to be right. No one is asking for a new game in this entire community. It's post after post for old games, sequels, rehashes, or ports.

What happened to just being excited to hear about new games? And when did we, as gamers, get so demanding about what we want to see year after year?

I - and I think of lot of people reading this - are definitely complicit in this kind of hype. I'll be the first to admit it. I mean, I want to see a new Star Fox or F-Zero game as much as the next guy. I can, however, see where we're kind of drowning in our own nostalgia. Do we really need a new Mario or Zelda game right now? I definitely don't think so, but the rumours are already swirling that we'll see Mario Maker and Aonuma's next LoZ title during this year's E3.

Let's hope for something different! I'd love more news on Monolith Soft's "X" or maybe something on this S.T.E.A.M. title that Nintendo's been cooking up.

Many of us get over-hyped for E3 as it is, but maybe hoping for more of the same isn't the right idea here. The industry could grow stagnant and what good is that to anyone? New experiences should be the order of the day, and this year I'm just going to try and sit back and enjoy the Electronics Entertainment Expo for what it is and hope that Microsoft, Sony, and Nintendo bring us something new and fresh to play in the coming years.

Thanks for reading,
R

Still Alive

The past few months have been a bit of a whirlwind for me. I'm not going to get into it, because it's the usual "real life" stuff that crops up now and then. Everyone in my family is doing great, nothing bad is happening, but I needed desperately to back off of just about everything and focus on my work and my family.

Things are still crazy, I'll be honest, but I feel like I really need to come up for air and see what's been going on in the outside world! During my hiatus I went as far as to delete Twitter and a bunch of other social media apps off of my phone to stave off the temptation to check them. It was like a detox - at first it was really tough - but pretty quickly I realized that I didn't need to check Twitter every few minutes and that life would go on. All that to say, I am completely out of the loop.

So what can I write about? About the only thing I've managed to do for myself since the start of March (and earlier than that, really) has been to play The Legend of Zelda: Breath of the Wild.

Yeah... so... I got a Nintendo Switch. On launch day. Even though I was rough on the idea of the Switch when Nintendo first did their presentation back in 2016, I softened to it over time. I realized that most of the gaming I actually managed to do lately has been on my Nintendo 3DS and it's mainly because it is a handheld and it makes games really easy to drop in and out of whenever I have a few minutes to spare. So when I started to think about how I was going to play Breath of the Wild - a game I've been eagerly anticipating for years - I decided it made sense to get it on a portable console and give it a shot.

Getting the Switch was actually a bit of a fluke. I pretty much decided on launch day I was going to do this thing, so early on March 3rd I drove out to a local Wal-mart on my way to work. I saw a line gathered at the front door, like I'd expected, but when I actually popped inside the foyer I saw there weren't that many people at all. Then the manager stuck his head out to let us know they had plenty of Switches to go around and he handed out tickets. At that point, I felt like I had to pick it up!

One hitch was that they only had a few of the Neon versions, which was the one I wanted. I was far back in the line, so by the time I got my turn up at bat they only had the Grey version available. so I picked up anyway and made my way to work.

Later that day I was browsing reddit - about the only site I let myself go to during my hiatus - and I saw that Walmart.ca was going to have Nintendo Switch for sale on their website. I popped on and saw they had the Neon version, so I snapped it up! For a brief period of time I actually had two Nintendo Switches. Considering I was so grumpy about them a few months prior, I had to take a picture of my hypocrisy.

I won't lie, I was seriously tempted to keep both.

Now I still had no games. But that was quickly rectified. My wife had seen the preorder for Breath of the Wild on Amazon Prime one day - and knowing I'd eventually get a Switch for their future exclusives - picked up the Switch copy for me at the Prime preorder price, so within a few days of the Switch launch I finally held Breath of the Wild in my hands and it was go-time.

So over the next few months - whenever I had time to spare - I would drop in and out of Hyrule. One thing I'll say about the Switch is that it is so easy to do that. Pick it up, play for 15 minutes, and put it back to sleep. Occasionally I'd get some time at the house to play, and I'd dock it and play on the TV, but for the most part I've played in handheld mode - and in the unlikeliest of places... work!

I've been really busy with work lately - a lot of traveling and ramping up on a huge project - but I've allowed myself some time here and there for breaks at work where I take my Switch, brew up a cup of coffee, and head to the lobby at the office for a half hour of blissful Zelda time. It's helped me relax at work and give a mental break, which has been much-needed, let me tell you!

On my work trips I've gotten some quality Zelda time in, as well. Between the small bursts at home and a few decent gaming sessions I'm actually over 60 hours into the game and I'd say about 50% done!

I don't want to talk too much about the game itself - I think it deserves its own post - but I will say that I'm having a great time with it and the Switch as well.

Another game I've been playing the last few weeks or so has been Friday the 13th: The Game, which although I didn't kickstart I found myself dying to play on launch, so I dropped the $40 to see what it was like. The only problem was that I bought it on Xbox One and if you've followed the launch of this game you know that things have been bumpy on all platforms, but none so bad as Xbox. All that aside I've had some serious fun playing the game in private matches (matchmaking has been totally fried) and it's another game I'd like to dedicate a post to, being that I'm such a huge Friday the 13th fan.

So that's what I've been up to. I'm going to be heading back to the Twitterverse and trying to catch up on all things Sausage Factory and Cartridge Club related, but I'm not diving back in the way I was before. I still don't have the time to dedicate to my hobbies the way I'd like to, and that's fine. Like I said, everyone is healthy and happy and that's what's important.

Just to note you'll notice a new paint job around here. I spruced things up a bit. Most people would go for an all white display these days, but I'm a programmer/developer by trade and I always code with a black screen and light text - it helps when you stare at a monitor all day - so that's why things are so dark around here. It's not related to my mood, I promise! I've directed social media related to the site to two new accounts, as well. The new Twitter handle is @retrodef83 and Facebook is @retrodef. You can still follow me @RyHoMagnifico, of course, but I'll post links to any new content to the new social sites. So follow them and stay up-to-date!

I hope everyone is well and I'm looking forward to catching up!

Cheers,
R

What's Old Is New Again

Hi everyone,

The other day I was perusing the web and I ended up reading an article on Zelda Universe that really piqued my interest. The article was about a documentary from Joe Granato, a professional videographer/programmer based out of Florida, who was planning on Kickstarting a very ambitious and interesting new project.

Entitled The New 8-bit Heroes, Joe - with the help of several other industry professionals - are going to create a new game for the Nintendo Entertainment System and film the entire process. Joe is collaborating with artists, musicians, and even a fantasy novelist on the project, which is already incredible exciting, but it gets better!

The game is called Mystic Searches and it was first imagined by Joe in 1987 at the age of seven. After finding all of his original "design documents" for the game, Joe was inspired to make the game a reality, and produce a documentary of the entire project.

Now when I say the team is creating a new NES game, I don't just mean an 8-bit homage to the NES. I mean a physical grey cartridge that will actually play on the original NES hardware! This sort of thing isn't new; homebrew enthusiasts and reproduction companies have been making new games for the NES, as well as many other vintage gaming consoles, for quite some time now.

Why does this project seem so interesting to me? This is just the sort of thing that my friends and I would have done as kids. You have to understand the time to really get the concept, I think. I'm not going to bore you with those old timey tales like, "In my day, video games were better, because they were challenging!" or "Kids today don't know how good they have it!" What I'm talking about here is the sense of adventure and imagination that only a child can muster. When I was a kid when I wasn't inside playing Metal Gear on my NES, my friends and I were outside reenacting the game. We'd pack rations (granola bars and water), take our favourite toy guns, and we would become Fox Hound hunting down and destroying the mysterious Metal Gear.

The fact is - and I'm about to go "old timer" on you, like I promised I wouldn't - that in the 80s and 90s video games were a pricey venture. Getting a video game was kind of rare, so oftentimes you'd be playing and replaying the same games. The Legend of Zelda would have released in August of 1987 to the tune of $60. That would be equivalent to $110 CAD today. The price of the NES itself wasn't too outrageous at $199, which would work out to be $363.05 CAD with inflation. Still, you couldn't just pop onto the eShop and buy a game for like $5 back then. It was a costly venture. You would sometimes take to your imagination to carry on your favourite video game's story, or in this case create your very own.

I have a son myself now, and I guess I start to look at life in a different perspective. I live in a neighbourhood that is rife with young kids. I barely see any of them out playing in the streets. When I was a kid we lived outside. We were so imaginative it was scary. I worry that's being lost if kids are just always indoors, staring at their iPad for hours on end.

I can remember my friends and I created our own comic series. None of us could draw, so it was depicted entirely with stick people, but we came up with endless stories. We'd write them together or draw and write our own and then meet up and read them all together. It was a great time, and I look back on those days very fondly.

Although we didn't create and design our own video game, specifically, this is just the sort of thing we would have created back then. That's why I want to see Joe's dream of creating this game come to fruition.

You may not be into Kickstarters. I've supported a few myself, now, and I've been happy with all of the ones that made it "out of the gate", as it were. This is certainly one I've endorsed. I've enclosed all the links to Joe's Kickstarter in this article, but I won't tell people how to spend their money. Check it out and if it's something you think you'd like to back then feel free to do so. I just wanted to spread the word about a project I think could be really special.

Thanks for reading,
R

Kamiko (2017) - Nintendo Switch

As a palette cleanser between The Legend of Zelda: Breath of the Wild and Super Mario Odyssey, I decided I wanted to play something quick and simple on my Nintendo Switch. After a little searching around the web I came across Kamiko, which was just what I was looking for.

At $6.99 CAD ($4.99 USD), Kamiko is a perfectly priced, bite-sized adventure that is ideal for killing a few hours and having some fun.

You play as one of three priestesses (known as Kamiko), who have been bestowed weapons from the gods in order to smite an evil that has befallen the land. In each of the four stages, you will have to activate several Torii gates in order to open the final door and face the boss. Each stage plays out like a bit of a puzzle. There are different switches, obstacles, etc. that you have to solve in order to find your way to the Torii gates.

Yamato squaring off against one of Kamiko's devilish bosses

The game plays similar to the original Legend of Zelda games, with a top-down view of your character. There are several enemy types you'll face along the way, including long-range attackers, and enemies that just try to run into you. The bosses are almost like something from a bullet hell shooter with multiple blasts and patterns you'll have to learn and dodge.

Each of the three priestesses change the way you play the game distinctly. In a way its like having a difficulty level setting. The first Kamiko - Yamato - is given a basic sword, which slashes in an arc in front of the her making this character the easiest to use. It's pretty difficult to miss an enemy with this weapon.

The second is Uzume, who has a bow and arrow, which is slightly more difficult to use and get used to. If you fire three shots in succession, Uzume will actually fire multiple arrows for each shot which fan out in front of her, giving you a larger area of attack. It's a little tricky to alter your brain into firing at your emeny after you've completed the game as Yamato, which adds a little bit of welcome challenge.

Uzume is preparing to find the Torii gates in another stage

The third is Hinome, who has a short sword and shield. This is sort of like a medium difficulty. You don't use the shield for defence, but rather you throw it in front of you. It's quick to release so it's easier to fire than Uzume's bow, but it doesn't reach across the entire screen. It does, however, return to you so there's some added playability there using the return arc of the shield to your advantage. Also, when the shield is released you can continue to attack enemies with a stab of your short sword. This causes Himome to briefly jet forward. The combination of these weapons is destructive. I think I may have enjoyed playing as her more than Yamato and Uzume.

The gameplay is pretty straight-forward and dead simple for Kamiko. Once you've played through the game once the challenge of the puzzles is diminished, because you'll remember all the item locations making finding the Torii gates easier and easier through each run. The change of the characters weapons and play-styles adds a slight challenge, but you'll probably get used to them in the first stage. This doesn't diminish the fun, however. The game is still a great arcade action title which you'll enjoy playing with each of the priestesses.

Hinome with her short sword and shield

The game features a beautiful, bright pseudo 8-bit aesthetic, which is very eye-catching. The images are crisp and look great in both handheld and TV mode. The colours are very vibrant and everything is easy to distinguish on-screen.

One of the best parts of Kamiko is the music. It has a very small, but well-crafted soundtrack. I found some of the stages soothing and others exciting. It's all presented in a chip-tune style that perfectly suits the pseudo 8-bit look and feel of the game, pulling the whole package together.

Once you get used to the stages each run through of Kamiko can be quick, but satisfying

Kamiko is a quick hit game that you can play in a couple of hours and is well-worth the small price to play. For me, it was a nice break after the many months I spent playing Breath of the Wild, before I buckled down to complete Super Mario Odyssey. I highly recommend you give Kamiko a try.

Hope you enjoyed,
R

Top 5 Favourite Video Game Consoles

I'd just like to begin by saying that this list is inspired by both the Cartridge Bros. and Lo Burton. The Cartridge Bros. recently posted a video from their new weekly series Not So Deep Thoughts and the topic was their personal top three favourite consoles. Being the professional lister that I am it instantly piqued my interest. Not long after watching their video I saw that Lo Burton of And Then She Games fame responded with her personal top five favourite consoles. After reading her blog post I just knew I had to make my own list!

Yes this is a list of five, which might make you wonder why am I not posting it on Five-O-Rama? The reason is that it's a personal list, so I felt it more-so belonged here on Retro-Def. If I was, say, making a list of the Top 5 Best Consoles of All Time, regardless of my personal opinions, then that would definitely makes its way to Five-O-Rama.

Also, why a top five? I tried to just pick my top three, but I kept feeling like I was leaving something important out by not mentioning the other two consoles on this list. Also I like lists of five. And Lo broke the rules first!

Onward!

Sony Playstation 2

The big beast it all its glory.

I bought my PS2 the summer I graduated from high school and I instantly fell in love with it. I'm a big cinephile and the fact that it came with a DVD player built in was a huge selling point, but also I had a deep love for its predecessor, which I'll mention in a moment. It was an easy sell.

The PS2 continued to foster my love for game series like Final Fantasy and Metal Gear Solid, and also introduced me to different types of games that I had never played before, like Dance Dance Revolution. Yes, I played DDR... and I was damned good at it.

It also lead to my first foray into online console gaming. I'd done some modem matches in PC games up to this point, but the simplicity of the PS2's network adapter and hopping online while sitting on my couch was something I really fell in love with. I became obsessed with the SOCOM: US Navy SEALs series and a few of my friends and I would stay up until the wee hours of the morning eating pizza, drinking beers, and playing with our clan in SOCOM; all thanks to my beloved PS2, which remains hooked up in my house to this day.

Also I watched The Matrix on that thing like a kajillion times when I finally got it on DVD.

Nintendo 64

Look at that controller!

I had a really difficult time placing this console in the hierarchy of this list, but in the end it still lands in my top five so that's saying something!

The N64 makes the list because of all kinds of amazing solo games, like Super Mario 64, Star Wars: Shadows of the Empire, StarFox 64, and - my favourite Legend of Zelda title - Ocarina of Time.

Most importantly, however, it is because of the incredible multiplayer experiences I had with this system. I, like so many others, played countless hours of Mario Kart 64, GoldenEye 007, and Perfect Dark. I can't tell you how often I can recall staring bleary-eyed as the sun started pouring through an open window and not even realizing that my friends and I had been up legitimately all night battling each other in these incredible games.

Nintendo Entertainment System

The one that started it all.

Another system that I had a hard time placing!

The NES had to make the list, however, simply because it is the system that started it all for me in this hobby of video gaming. It houses in its library some of my favourite games of all time, like Super Mario Bros. 3, Mega Man 3, and Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles. I didn't really understand what an entertainment system gaming console was when I first received my NES as a Christmas present 25 years ago, but I quickly became attached to the concept and it has endured as one of my favourite pastimes all these years later.

What's even more interesting (for me) is that in the last few years I've actually been getting back into my NES. If I had written this list in the not-so-distant past I'm not sure where it would have placed, honestly. I had great memories of it, but rarely, if ever, hooked it up to play it. I started picking up some NES carts for games I'd missed on the console at flea markets - games like The Legend of Zelda, The Adventures of Link, and Hogan's Alley - and in a way it's almost like I'm falling in love with my NES all over again.

Sony Playstation

The only "revenge console" on the market.

Up until the PSX (yes I still use that acronym) gaming for me was something I occasionally did on my own free time, but I'm not sure I considered the hobby something incredibly personal. I mostly loved playing games with friends. There were some games that were released on the SNES and N64 that started me down that path, but the Playstation was where I really started to take this whole gaming thing to heart.

I first decided I needed to have a PSX when I began reading about a then upcoming game from Konami by the name of Metal Gear Solid. The graphics, the ideas behind the gameplay, the correlations with film; all of these bullet points, plus my fascination with its NES predecessor, had me dying to play the game. As a huge Final Fantasy fan, you would think it would have been Final Fantasy 7 that brought me over to Sony's "new kid on the block" console, but that just wasn't the case.

I got a PSX for MGS, but there were so many other titles that kept me clocking time in with it for many years to come. Titles like Castlevania: Symphony of the Night, Final Fantasy 9, Suikoden, Resident Evil, Parasite Eve, Final Fantasy Tactics... the list just goes on and on.

I feel like I developed my taste for games with the PSX. Before that I had played a few RPGs, and I knew that I loved Final Fantasy 3, but I wouldn't say that I was an "RPG fan". Like I just mentioned, I was interested in FF7, but I was just as happy to watch my buddy play it on his PSX. It wasn't until I had my own Playstation and started wading into the ever-growing torrent of RPG titles finding their way to North American shores that I became the RPG-hound that I am today.

Super Nintendo Entertainment System

Finally, the games could top-load!

The SNES is significant to my gaming history for so many reasons. Before it if a game wasn't a side-scrolling action title, I didn't care if it existed.

Even writing that I realize that most of my favourite games on the SNES were the likes of Super Mario World, TMNT IV: Turtles in Time, the Mega Man X series, and the Donkey Kong Country series. That said, however, the SNES is where I began to cut my teeth on games of a different ilk.

If the PSX is where I cemented my love for RPGs, the SNES is where the love affair all began. I played ground-breaking titles on it like Final Fantasy 2, Chrono Trigger, Super Mario RPG, and ultimately Final Fantasy 3.

I still find my SNES to be my most accessible system. It plays all of my old, favourite games flawlessly. Just plug them in and off I go. In a moment I can be whisked away to so many worlds that I loved visiting in my childhood, whether it be Dinosaur Island with Mario, time-hopping with the Turtles, or bearing the cold winds of Narshe with Terra and Locke.

I've tried to express my love for FF3 before, and I think I've failed to truly get that across, but that game alone would probably make the SNES my favourite console of all time.

And, for the record, I love those pastel purple buttons!

Hope you enjoyed,
R

Star Fox 64 (1997) - Nintendo 64

Gotta love that N64 box-art!

Star Fox 64 is a reboot of Star Fox, the wildly popular FX-powered Super Nintendo game released in 1993. SF64 was released on the Nintendo 64 in 1997. There had been a cancelled sequel in development for the SNES during the four years between these releases, so there was a lot of hype for a new 3D Star Fox game.

The game is an on-rails shooter in which you play as Fox McCloud, leader of a group of mercenaries known as - prepare yourselves - Star Fox. The team includes Peppy Hare, Slippy Toad, and Falco Lambardi. In most of the stages of the game your team actually joins you in the battle and it is often up to you, their fearless leader, to help them out of jams. There are some benefits to keeping your team alive, such as Slippy's ability to scan bosses for weak points and a plethora of tips from Peppy.

The story goes that Andross, a mad scientist from the blue planet Corneria, banished to planet Venom for committing atrocities upon the people of Corneria several years prior, is attacking the Lylat System once again with new "bio-weapons". Fearing imminent defeat, General Pepper hires Star Fox to take down the evil Andross once and for all.

The Landmaster in action.

Thanks to the Nintendo 64's more powerful hardware, SF64 comes packed with several improvements over the SNES game. These include "all-range mode", which allows players to take control of Star Fox's Arwings in an open battlefield, complete with new moves that include a "loopdy-loop" (the technical term, I assure you) and the tried and true barrel roll. Some of the best stages in the game are dogfights against Star Fox's rivals, Star Wolf, in all-range mode. Also, several stages have been added with new environments, in which Fox will take control of the Blue Marine submarine or the Landmaster tank.

Star Fox 64 is a very short game, which most players will easily be able to pick up and finish in one sitting. As a result, Nintendo EAD had to pack a lot of replay value packed into that little grey cartridge. In order to get the true ending of Star Fox 64, you have to finish the game by taking on the different planets in the Lylat System in a certain order; the hard red path, the medium yellow path, and the easy blue path. The only way to unlock certain stages is to perform specific tasks along the way, such as defeating a certain number of enemies or saving a teammate.

Of course Nintendo had to make use of the four controller ports on the 64 and included a multiplayer component in Star Fox 64. There are three modes: Point Match, Battle Royale, and Time Trial.

There are also unlockables in the game in the form of medals. If a player can finish missions with all team members intact and obtain high kill counts they'll receive a medal. If you collect all of them you unlock an Expert Mode. You'll also unlock additions to multiplayer, like the ability to use the Landmaster tank or play as the members of Star Fox on foot and brandishing bazookas.

The Rumble Pak add-on makes for quite the behemoth.

To cap the whole thing off, Star Fox was the first N64 game to use the Rumble Pak, which was included with the game, This was one of the first implementations of "force feedback" or "haptic technology" in a home console game and would usher in similar technologies from the Playstation (Dualshock controller) and the Dreamcast (Jump Pack).

Is Star Fox 64 without its problems? Few games are. One serious downfall of SF64 is that unlocking some of the different planets in the Lylat System can be very vague and difficult to figure out. There's no clear direction. Coupled with the short playtime of the game, this isn't that big of deal honestly, but in order to replay a stage you have to sacrifice a life. This means that if you're running through Star Fox 64, play a level, and don't get to take the path you want you have to keep sacrificing Arwings in order to retry. This can get a little annoying when you just can't figure out how to unlock a certain planet. Get ready to play through the first stage of the game many, many times.

Another gripe is the aforementioned new vehicles. They do add a little variety to the game, but honestly can be a bit of a pain to pilot. For instance, when deep underwater in Aquas, the only way to light your path is to constantly fire off torpedoes in the Blue Marine. You have unlimited torpedoes (thanks, Slippy!) but it can be a serious pain to constantly spam the torpedo button. Also, one of the Landmaster stages has you having to constantly fire upon an escaping train. This wouldn't be a big deal, but the controls on the tank can be a bit clunky to begin with, and you have to be mindful of everything else going on, while trying to keep your attention on the train.

When I think about it, these are ultimately complaints about the level design. It does add some difficulty to the game, and honestly you can master these stages. It just seems unnecessarily hectic at times and probably could have been handled better.

Do a barrel roll.. in glasses-free 3D!

All-in-all I find Star Fox 64 a satisfying game. Some people don't appreciate a short play time, but I don't mind it one bit. Also, you'll find yourself wanting to play this game over and over anyway, because it is very fun, so figuring out how to access different planets in the Lylat System won't seem like too much of a chore.

It has been my experience that you can find a Star Fox 64 cartridge pretty easily at used game stores or flea markets/garage sales and they're typically pretty affordable. Rumble Paks are usually pretty easy to come by, too, if you want the authentic experience. You can also download SF64 on the Wii Virtual Console 1000 Nintendo Points, which is roughly $10, but you won't be able to play the game with any sort of force feedback functionality. Lastly, you can pick up Star Fox 64 3D for the 3DS, but be warned that it's becoming harder to find and like Nintendo's other popular N64-to-3DS remake, The Legend of Zelda: Ocarina of Time 3D, the price is rising and rising.

Star Fox 64 is May's game of the month for the Cartridge Club. If you want to join in on the fun, check out the Cartridge Bros. website and their dedicated Cartridge Club forum to chat about the game with other gamers. Also keep an eye out for their podcast dedicated to the game at the end of the month.

Good luck!
R

Extra-Life 2015: Donator-Voted Playthrough

We just wanted to take a quick moment and explain our Donator-Voted Playthrough.

It's pretty self-explanatory: If you donate to The Electric Wesleys Extra-Life campaign you will receive an email to fill out a survey. This survey includes four games of our choosing and whichever one receives the most votes will have a complete playthrough LIVE beginning at 5PM EST tomorrow night during the livestream.

The four games to choose from are:

• Resident Evil
• Mega Man X
• The Legend of Zelda: A Link to the Past
• Castlevania: Symphony of the Night

So, if you'd like to vote for a game just send us a donation! There is no amount too small! All of the proceeds go to the IWK Health Centre and sick kids.

We hope to see you this Saturday, Oct 24th, at the livestream starting at 7AM EST.

Cheers,
R

Bravely Default (2014) - Nintendo 3DS

Bravely Default was originally released in Japan in 2012 as Bravely Default: Flying Fairy. What a mouthful! A subsequent re-release came out in Japan the following year with some upgraded features, which included a second save slot, the ability to speed up battle animations, and micro-transactions. These new features were being developed for the sequel, so this release was literally entitled Bravely Default: For The Sequel.

I say all of that, because this is the release we received in the West as of February 7th, 2014 under the (sort of) simpler title Bravely Default.

Bravely Default NA Box Art

The game began its life as a semi-sequel to Final Fantasy: 4 Heroes of Light on the DS and as a result Bravely Default feels very much like a Final Fantasy game. It was developed by Square Enix and Silicon Studio, known primarily for 3D Dot Game Heroes; a 3D adventure game with some Legend of Zelda DNA, which was released on the PlayStation 3.

The game revolves around a young man by the name of Tiz and is set in the fictional world of Luxendarc. In the opening moments of the game, Tiz's entire village is swallowed by a gaping black hole that opens in the earth and he is left as the sole survivor.

He is befriended by a young acolyte of Luxendarc's Crystalism religion, Agnés Oblige - the Vestal of Wind. Vestals protect and venerate the four Crystals, which are suddenly set into darkness.

It is up to Tiz, Agnés, and their fellow companions Airy, a fairy who aids Agnés in her duties as Vestal, Edea, the daughter of the Grand-Marshall of Eternia - the governing body of Luxendarc and direct opponent to Crystalism - and Ringabel, a mysterious man who has no memory, but possesses a book, which seems to contain notes regarding the future, to cleanse and protect the Crystals and save Luxendarc from certain doom.

The heroes of Bravely Default, (left-to-right) Agnés, Tiz, Edea, and Ringabel

The game features turn-based combat with a job system akin to Final Fantasy V, but with a twist: Brave/Default commands. It's a risk/reward system that allows players to either use up future turns for extra commands, which leaves them vulnerable until their Brave Points (BP) are restored, or to stockpile turns (placing the player in a defensive stance), which can be unleashed as extra commands later without penalty.

It's a refreshing take on a tried, tested, and true battle system. There's enough there that anyone who's played an RPG in the last 20 years will feel right at home, but even the hardened RPG-lover will need to learn the right time to use Brave or Default to defeat their enemies.

Tiz and Angés using the Valkyrie Asterisk

Edea and Ringabel using the Knight Asterisk

The game features a pretty straight-up equipment setup, as well. From the Final Fantasy games of old, you simply equip weapons, armour, and accessories. You can equip a full set of armour, which I like: shield, helmet, and body. If you're familiar with Final Fantasy V or Final Fantasy VI then you'll recognize accessories as items you can equip that give you different bonuses, like extra agility or strength.

The jobs in this game are called asterisks and they can be acquired when you defeat a new boss with that particular asterisk. You'll start out in a common job called Freelancer and work your way up. Many of the jobs you'll find familiar from older Final Fantasy titles, like Monk, Knight, and Black Mage, but there are also plenty of new jobs like Templar and Vampire to try out along the way.

The game plays out like any other classic RPG: you follow a fairly defined path as you play out the game's storyline, but in true RPG fashion there are plenty of sidequests. One nice feature of the game is that it will identify on the map where you need to go for a sidequest with a blue mark. This way you know where to start off the quest easily enough or know where to avoid if you want to skip it entirely. You won't want to skip these sidequests, however, because they will net you a new asterisk. If you play through the general game, you'll get a lot of the vanilla jobs - if you will - but going out in search of these sidequests will get you the really cool jobs.

I should mention that the sidequest to get the Vampire asterisk is one of the most difficult quests I've done in an RPG to-date!

The strength of Bravely Default doesn't just lie in its gameplay, but also the presentation. The game has a striking visual art-style that makes it stand out on its own. If you've followed Matrix Software's Final Fantasy III and Final Fantasy IV remakes on the Nintendo DS this game follows in that style, but cranks everything up to 11.

The town of Caldisla

The audio in the game is top-notch as well. The music is composed by Revo of Sound Horizon, and is modeled after classic games like Final Fantasy, Dragon Quest, and Romancing SaGa. It's sonic perfection and each track matches the mood and action of the game perfectly. Also, and rather surprisingly, the game features really good voice acting. You might find the script a little cringe-worthy at times, but the voice actors that portrayed all of the characters in the game were excellent.

The story was a pretty classic tale of "boy faces tragedy, finds friends to help him on his quest", but it was still very satisfying. One thing that I found cool was that they didn't shy away from references to religion. The game plays out like an allegory to Catholicism versus The State in common times, which back in the 90s would've been completely overhauled to drop any and all religious overtones.

That all said, there is a section of this game that can be beyond frustrating and for many could easily ruin all of the great points about Bravely Default that I've made above.

The game is broken up into chapters, which is fine. The serve as good beats to the storyline. However, when you reach Chapter 5 everything goes off the rails.

I don't want to ruin too much about the storyline, so I'll be intentionally vague about this issue, but starting in Chapter 5 you begin what my buddy BuriedOnMars dubbed so adequately (on his and RamVox's podcast, Retro Fandango) "Groundhog's Day". I can't imagine what the game's developers were thinking with this, but you essentially have to do the same thing over and over for four chapters.

What does that mean? You travel the world performing four main tasks. You also have the option of taking on a bevy of sidequests, which serve as a sort of boss rush mode, allowing you to take on the main bosses of the game again. Each time you enter the loop, the bosses are a little more difficult.

So what's the big deal? It's all padding. By the time you go through this exercise the fourth time I guarantee you will be completely sick of it. For my first two runs I actually took on all the sidequests, but if you do that you can easily add hours and hours onto your playtime and with really no benefit. If you want to level up, there are much better places to do so. And even if you avoid the sidequests and stay on task you're looking at 4 to 5 hours of padding minimal just to get to the end of the game. It's an obnoxious section and could easily turn someone off from finishing the game.

I had one other pretty major frustration as I reached the end of the game I'd like to air out, as well. Once you get through the Groundhog's Day scenario and you're at the actual final chapter of the game you'll begin to face some pretty powerful bosses, which is great! I love a challenge and Bravely Default was certainly loaded with difficult bosses along the way.

Airy, the aforementioned "Flying Fairy"

What bothered me was that the last few bosses are above and beyond any that you face before them. I played the entire game with pretty much the same jobs on my team and I liked my team. I learned all sorts of other jobs, but I pretty much stuck to the same eight (each character can have one job and support abilities from others that they've learned along the way). My jobs of choice were pretty standard RPG fare: White Mage/Spirit Master, Black Mage/Arcanist, Templar/Knight, and Dark Knight/Monk. So, basically two warriors and two mages, one for healing and the other for damage dealing. Also, I had all of my characters around level 90 (the highest being 99).

The problem is that in the endgame, the amount of damage that a Black Mage can dish out isn't nearly enough to finish off the bosses. Even with the extra boosts you get from having an Arcanist as your secondary asterisk, you can't possibly deal enough damage. You can rig the warriors to take a significant chunk out of your foes, but in the end it won't be enough.

I felt like the game forced me to use what I considered "cheap" tactics to get through. I had to make both of my "warriors" into Swordmaster/Pirates with the abilities Amped Strike and Free Lunch. This allows you to dish out max damage at all times. Then I needed to completely change my tank, in this case the Templar/Knight, into a support character that just buffed everyone to insane levels, and constantly heal with my White Mage. That last part I'm okay with, honestly, but I really like playing through the game with that sort of "basic" RPG team and to force the player to completely change their tactic at the end of the game just left me feeling cheated a little.

I know I've complained for the last few paragraphs, but I wanted to be completely honest about my time with Bravely Default. And the honest truth is that I loved this game. I loved just about everything about it. The reality is that all kinds of great games have some parts that are a pain and this game is no exception. I can't tell someone not to play an amazing 80 to 90 hour experience, because 4 or 5 hours of it are annoying.

The style of the game, the story, the gameplay, the music; all of it is top notch. This is the Final Fantasy game I've waited to play since Final Fantasy XII, and if I'm being really honest with myself, probably since Final Fantasy VI.

If you are an RPG lover and grew up with the Final Fantasy and Dragon Quest games of the 90s then you will fall right into place playing Bravely Default. In a world where I find the RPG genre ever-shifting into something I don't care for, this game was made for me. It's everything I loved from the old, with a refreshing new battle system that kept me on my toes right up until the final battle.

And when you finish Bravely Default, the story's not over! Square Enix and Silicon Studio have released the highly anticipated sequel Bravely Second: End Layer. The game is actually a direct sequel to the first title, which is something you don't typically see with Japanese RPGs. It picks up two and a half years after the events of Bravely Default and follows a whole new group of characters on a quest in the familiar terrain of Luxendarc.

Bravely Second's mysterious new protagonist, Magnolia Arch

I can't speak to Bravely Second: End Layer, as I haven't had time to play it yet, but if it's anything like its predecessor I think I'm in for a treat. Do yourself a favour and pick up the first game, Bravely Default, and give it a try. I think any RPG-lover will ultimately be pleased!

Hope you enjoyed,
R