Nintendo DS: Foul's Impressions

[Worm of Despite]

Castlevania: Dawn of Sorrow has just arrived too, though I haven't played it yet.

I've hidden my Crash, for it makes me weep.

Good choice with Dawn of Sorrow. Perhaps the best Castlevania, next to Symphony of the Night.

And hey--I had to buy a crap game once when it was bundled with Metroid: Zero Mission. We must all suffer it once and a while!

[Holsety]

I've nixed Contra 4 and Final Fantasy Tactics A2. Both games are solid but do little to advance their respective series--just more of the same. Plus, Advance Wars: Days of Ruin sounds more interesting than a sequel to Final Fantasy Tactics Advance, simply because Days or Ruin will feature a dark, post-apocalyptic storyline, whereas Tactics Advance is light in tone and plot.

Hmm, Tactics Advance would have to advance the series quite a lot, because FFTA was easy, boring, had bad music, and the jobs were dull compared to the PS1 jobs. The game mechanics also weren't anywhere near as transparent as FFT's.

Frankly, the PSP rehash of the original tactics still looks way better.

[Worm of Despite]

I really enjoyed FFT for its brutal nature: it had an involving plot and plenty of betrayalas, plus two feudal kingdoms ripping one another apart.

Tactics Advance, though, is too saturated with the Nintendo kiddy feel. With some games, like Zelda or Mario, Nintendo's policy fits, but Final Fantasy and its spin-offs require edgier writing and less censorship. In that sense, Tactics Advance is not more of the same but a step backwards.

And yeah, if I had a PSP, I'd definitely own the FFT remake.

[Cagliostro]

I really enjoyed FFT for its brutal nature: it had an involving plot and plenty of betrayalas, plus two feudal kingdoms ripping one another apart.

Really? I couldn't follow the plot at all. And I tried real hard the second time I played it. Maybe I'm just dumb, but I've spoken with others who just said it seemed like filler in between acts.

Tactics Advance, though, is too saturated with the Nintendo kiddy feel. With some games, like Zelda or Mario, Nintendo's policy fits, but Final Fantasy and its spin-offs require edgier writing and less censorship. In that sense, Tactics Advance is not more of the same but a step backwards.

Point taken, and I agree. I remember starting it up the first time, and you are involved in a snowball fight. Not exactly what I was hoping for, but, well, I could at least follow the storyline, what there was of it, and it was okay. But storyline aside, the gameplay was better in the original as well. However, my copy is a bit scratched up, and I can't take it along with me. I did honestly enjoy FFTA which I've played through a few times, but yeah...I'll admit that I prefer Advance Wars to it. MUCH more playable. I just wish I could beat Advance Wars 1 & 2 on the hard difficulty. I just hit a stopping block in the missions, and I just stop worrying about it.

[Worm of Despite]

I really enjoyed FFT for its brutal nature: it had an involving plot and plenty of betrayalas, plus two feudal kingdoms ripping one another apart.

Really? I couldn't follow the plot at all. And I tried real hard the second time I played it. Maybe I'm just dumb, but I've spoken with others who just said it seemed like filler in between acts.

FFT's story is high quality, but the problem was it had one of the most bizarre English translations ever. I had to read a couple summaries on the Internet to really get the overall plot.

I hear the PSP remake has resolved that problem.

[Holsety]

I didn't find it hard to understand although I guess I could see someone getting confused. The translation is pretty meh quality.

I thought the plot was pretty cool myself. It isn't the best ever or anything but it's pretty solid. It would have been nice if guest characters like Agrias and Mustadio got a role in the plot after join time (well, agrias gets some lines in the chapter immediately after she joins) but ramza was pretty well developed over the course of the game.

Also the game's score was excellent, especially the battle theme that first plays in the fight against wiegraf (it's a redo of the game's intro theme). And the diversity of the battle tracks was nice.

The thing that pissed me off most about tactic's story was the intro to chapter 1: The Meager. The text comes on the screen SO SLOWLY! It's insane how much time it takes.

Again, one of the other big strengths of tactics was how much information it gives the player about how the game works. The skills have CT, range, splash radius, etc in their descriptions, and with the exception of jump you can track any action in the game with ease. (I think the game's formula for jump is just your character's speed as the CT but I might be wrong).

EDIT-And as far as advance wars, I agree: much better game.

YOU SHOULD TRY FIRE EMBLEM for the GBA. It's about as close to advance wars as an RPG w/ individual characters and levelups will get. Well...except that ARCHERS SUCK and ARTILLERY/ROCKETS RULE!

Super CO power + battleships = 9 range attack! Lulz.