Sunday, September 1, 2013

EarthBound Review






        Just recently, I got to play EarthBound (known in Japan as MOTHER 2) , a RPG game for the Super Nintendo. Before I sit down an played, I thought I knew all the lore that the fans admire; But as I came to play through the game, I realized I didn't fully knew it all.

     
         The game starts in a small town in Eagleland called Onett. In the town, A teenage boy named Ness' journey to save the world, along with his 3 other friends he meets through the game) , against Giygas. It starts with a Meteorite crashing down in his hometown and that's just the start of it. Throughout the rest of the adventure, Ness and pals encounter a bunch of things. Stuff like this includes the following: Hippies, Police Officers, an Insane Group of Cultist obsessed over the color blue, Mr. Saturns, and a plethora worth of other things.

       
         Among some of the enemies, I found it to be nice that all the enemies you face are not Dragons and other things that you'd find as typical RPG enemies. Instead, Enemies you come across throughout the game are the fore mentioned Hippies, Police Officers, and Happy Happist (the Insane Group of Cultist). I thought this was great since it gave you a feeling that you are not playing an RPG while actually being the true RPG at the core with the battling, Eight Xs, and EXP.

   
    When it comes right down to it, I can draw parallelism to the Grand Theft Auto series, in a sense. What I mean by this is that the fact that they both have parodies of everything and anything in the game. Because of this, I call "The GTA before GTA III". I know this sounds crazy, but believe me. Most of the things that are parodized in the game include The Klan (Happy Happist), The Blues Brothers (The Runaway Five), The Beatles (so many of these here. There's a Yellow Submarine, One member of The Runaway Five sings a bit of Money, The "Yes" or "No" day question in Onett), and others. I liked the game for this because it gave me a bit of "hahaha, I get the nod".


    Other than these little parodies, There where some other little things that gave me a good chuckle. Most of these I did post to my Miiverse (like the "Keep this board in mind." pic above). There were clever and I liked them.


     Another thing I liked about the game was it's Original score. A lot of you that has played the game will agree with me on this one. It's such a great achievement for this game of having probably the best OSTs in any video game even though it was a Super Nintendo game. Among others that where also apart of the game, These are my personal favorites...




      Overall, Experiencing the game for what it really was about all the way through was quite an enjoyable. There's a few characters that I liked (The Runaway Five) ; A few I hated (Pokey) ; and other great cast of characters that made this Japan Cult Classic an enjoyable ride all the way from the fateful night in Onett to the war with Giygas being over. It was a little more dark than I thought (especially with the whole thing at the end and the whole "Giygas" ordeal), but it's a great game none the less.


      In the end, This was probably the greatest Retro game I've ever played. I also got to feel the fire of the EarthBound fandom. And after experience playing the game all the way through, I'd like to admit that I'm truly now an EarthBounder. I'd like to thank Mr. Itoi for making this game and all the people over at Nintendo of America for localizing it plus deciding to re-release it on the Wii U via Virtual Console. 

MY SCORE FOR THIS GAME IS A SOLID...
10 out of 10.

  P.S.... Hey Nintendo of America, Please localize MOTHER 3 since we want to play it. ;D




Friday, August 9, 2013

Characters I'd like to see in Smash Bros for Wii U/for 3DS (Part 1)

 As with any new entry in the Smash Bros series, Everybody wants to make these dream rosters and come out and say what new characters that they would like to see in the series. Here is mine for the upcoming Smash Bros game that will be coming out for Wii U and 3DS.


Ghetsis (Pokemon)
 Probably one of the more interesting characters that I'd like to see, Ghetsis would play out in a similar way to how the Pokemon Trainer did in Brawl but with a little more too it. Instead of the Kanto starter trio, Ghetsis would control Kyurem with the DNA Splicers turning Kyurem into either Black Kyurem or White Kyurem. With a Final Smash, He would order Kyurem to launch Glaciate which would be a whole entire stage attack (like Jigglypuff's in Brawl) that would KO every character on screen.

Waluigi (Mario)
 Knowing that there is alot of you out there that would agree, I also would like to say that Waluigi should be included as a playable character this time around. Keeping with his crazy like style and appearances in multiple sports spinoffs in the Mario series, Waluigi's attacks would more closely resemble around the same basis with his tennis racket smashing when he was an assist trophy in Brawl and other stuff like that. One of his taunts would be the same taunt he uses in Mario Strikers Charge. His final smash will involve his Doc Oct backpack from Mario Sports Mix throwing various sports items (like bowling balls, Rugby, hockey pucks, Dodge Balls, baseballs, etc.).

Skull Kid (Legend of Zelda)
  Yet another interesting character, Skull kid would work in a interesting way. He'll cause chaos through out the stage. He'll use the powers of Majora's Mask to wreck havic all across the stage. Most of his attacks will be magic. Hexs and curses would be some of his standard attacks. His final smash would be him bringing down the moon down on the entire stage causing the same sort of effect that Ghetsis' with Kyurem's Glaciate.




Panne (Fire Emblem)
 One of the more interesting characters that I've covered, Panne would be a Smash Bros first in the terms of how her character would play. When the match starts, She'll turn automatically into her beast taguel form. In a similar sense of how I'd see a Wolf Link working out in the field. In a similar manner of Zelda to Sheik, she could turn back and forth between the two forms. Her "normal" non-beast form would be in the same like manner as how Zelda is. Most of the attacks in this form would somewhat have her with a sword or something using it as a "man-spawn" weapon in which can be used to attack with. In beast form, Most of her attacks would be used doing with the hash/slash type of matter. Her final smash would be somewhat in a matter like an Beaststone+ item from Awakening in the terms of power, but it would be a more like how Marth's/Ike's in a wombo combo type of ordeal.

And that does it for this first round of my wish list for the new smash bros game. Next time, I'll be talking more about veterans I'd like to see return that haven't yet and how they could be changed from either Brawl (or Melee if it's anything like Mewtwo).

Friday, July 12, 2013

Why EarthBound 64 should have came out originally for N64


    As some of you might have known, MOTHER 3 (a Japanese only GBA game) was originally intended to be released as an Nintendo 64 game known over here as EarthBound 64.

    Another game that was originally going to be an Nintendo 64 game was the classic Final Fantasy VII. 

    After getting to start around playing Final Fantasy VII here in the last day on my Playstation Vita, I've gotten to think about that EarthBound 64 should have continued as plan as an Nintendo 64 game instead of the GameBoy Advance game we know of it today. Now don't get me wrong, The guys at Brownie Brown did great in the graphics department, but I don't think it should've taken the "Duke Nukem Forever" or the "Final Fantasy Versus XII" approach.

    What I'm saying is this....

     Now knowing how much Final Fantasy VII was for the PS One, I think that EarthBound 64 would have brought about the same feel for the Nintendo 64. That plus the fact that it would've filled the void that was left for a 3D RPG on Nintendo's 5th gen homeconsole system after the Final Fantasy VII project was moved over to the PS One due to hardware restraints (a total of little over 1 GB was it's file size).

     Yes, I know that there were other RPGs out on the N64 (namely Paper Mario for example) but EarthBound 64 could have filled the void after the Final Fantasy series moved to Sony (Please also note that both the MOTHER series and Final Fantasy series started out on the NES/Famicon system). I also know that EarthBound was a total blunder on the North American audience at first, but blame it on Nintendo's slogan department at the time. But look at it this way, Both the Final Fantasy series and the MOTHER series have the same feel of an RPG with your turn by turn battling and all that RPG stuff. They both also have the unique feeling in both of their very own in them.

   With this in mind, the MOTHER series had the moment of replacing the Final Fantasy series starting with the N64 but because of the poor sales in North America put the choke hold on it and it never happened. The Fire Emblem series (also began in the NES era) , however , took the hold with this but didn't come out here stateside until the first game for the GBA in the series came around.

   So in all, There was a lot of potential in the MOTHER series and their still is. I for one hope that we get both EarthBound Zero and MOTHER 3 out in the states officially and that Itoi would continue with a new entry in the series (MOTHER 4) since it has the fan base both here in the states, in Japan, and worldwide also.

Thank you for your time in reading this,
DaAuraWolf
     



Thursday, July 4, 2013

Region-Unlocking - The Great Debate on Region-Locking


       With this new generation of gaming just getting started, The debate on region locking is being brought up. Sony and Microsoft have both confirmed that they are going to let their 8th generation home consoles be region free, but both of Nintendo's consoles in this generation are both region locked.

        Looking back, Nintendo had both the original DS and it's remodel (the DS Lite) as region free. Though the began to put the region lock back on their handlehelds with the DSi.

        If you don't know what region locking is, region locking is a virtual lock on items like DVD players, video game consoles, and other electronic devices that will only allow products for them from the region they are sold in.

        Personally, I'm not that much of a HUGE fan of region locking even though I always play games that were designed for my region on a device from my region. I'm not that much of one since I think that it puts barriers on really good products that will more than likely NEVER reach other markets. Take for example MOTHER 3, It is apart of one of those game series that has a huge fan bases around but was never released in America (at least up to the point which I'm writing this). But thanks to Mato and his team that worked on the English fan translation team, We got a chance to play the game..

        Now look at the mater in full, Region Locking has it's up and it's downs. An up to it is that it will cause companies like Nintendo to take an advantage in making sales in every market, but it has it's downs for companies like Nintendo since simply because of the for mention fan bases of game series like EarthBound. What I mean is that the region locking will help with companies like Nintendo so that they wouldn't loose sale s for games that other's have already played in a different region and other things in that matter. But, Region Locking hinders from experiences of games that will ALMOST NEVER release elsewhere in markets.

        I understand why some local branches of big companies prefer not to release every single game that is released because they are afraid of loosing their profits if they take a gamble on releasing something and they are a big loss in the end of all things. But if they are afraid about it, They can always make region free products so that consumers can play the games that they really want to play. It will also save on not making huge gambles on games that don't as much fan bases when it comes to localization. By this, I mean that those fans of these fan bases can still play the games that they would want to really play even though it wasn't release in their region.

       In all, I hope that they get rid of region locking in full and let the people play what they truly want to play even though it's from another region. It doesn't matter how right it seems in a sense, but it is the same amount as wrong as it is right.

       With this all being said, I hope you all learn and understand why their shouldn't be region locking. I'd also would like to thank all of you that have read this for your time in reading this.

         If you want to learn more about the region locking matter or about the thing about MOTHER 3, You can read about it at these links below...

About the MOTHER 3 Fan Translation project done by Mato and his team
About Region Locking in general

Thank You for your time,
DaAuraWolf

Saturday, June 29, 2013

Quick Update on my Let's Plays.

Hello, It's me DaAuraWolf.

As some of you know, I also have an YouTube channel.

Just writing on a quick little update about it right here.

First off, I'd like to thank all of you that has watched my videos. Without y'all, I'd wouldn't have kept continuing after the first episode of Plants Vs. Zombies and the SOPA ordeal. I'd also like to thank them for the over 100,000 views on the channel. Because of this milestone, I'm planning on doing a special for it sometime this week.

Next, I'd like to thank y'all for the patience between the videos uploads. I'm hoping to get back on the regular everyday (more so every other day) routine pretty soon. I will have a new episode of Angry Birds Space going out on Monday with probably same days as upload commentary.

On Cthulhu Saves The World, I'll try to pick back up on that series. Going to hopefully resume it here on Tuesday.

On Cut the Rope, I honestly have to say that I plan on not continuing on with the series. Sorry for starting an LPing and not finishing. I really hate to do it, but doing it makes my iMac have more hardware space for other projects. This is because Cut the Rope had multiple language settings that I honestly didn't need and it was clogging up space when it came to working on videos.

On Angry Birds, I plan on picking up on the recent levels here in just a few days. Hope you are looking forward to it.

On Angry Birds Space, I'm hoping that the Pig Dipper will be finished up with this week. I'll try my best to work on it so that it will.

On Angry Birds Seasons, I'll begin the new Season dealing with the Magicians next week (July 11 through 17)

On Angry Birds Star Wars, I've got Cloud City levels episodes coming out for that here in the next days/week.

On Bad Piggies, I'll get back to them levels here in just a few days/weeks too.

If you are wondering about the next new LP I'll be doing, It'll begin when Cthulhu Saves the World gets back in the swing of things.

Other than that, I'd like to thank you again for y'all's patience and I hope I can branch out more on the channel.

Friday, June 28, 2013

Which way to buy New Super Luigi U.

As you may know, The downloadable content known as New Super Luigi U for the Wii  U game New Super Mario Bros U was released about a week ago. This DLC came be purchased directly through the eShop now as DLC for New Super Mario Bros U or as a stand alone game come August 25th here in the states. Now some of you may have either a digital or retail copy of the original New Super Mario Bros U or you might not have a copy of it yet and might be wondering what option is best for you on how to purchase these new 82 Luigi based levels. In this post, I'll break it down for ya.

Now if you have already bought New Super Mario Bros U, I think it's smarter to buy New Super Luigi U as DLC from the eShop. This is mainly because you're going to save money in the long run. Take a look at it this way, New Super Mario Bros U MSRP (Manufacture's Suggested Retail Price) is roughly about $60 and the DLC via eShop for New Super Luigi is roughly $20. When added it up, That's roughly somewhere around $80. Now if you take the New Super Mario Bros U's MSRP and add it up with the cost of a retail packaged version of New Super Luigi U that's going to release on August 25th (roughly $30), That is roughly $90. This is roughly a ten dollar difference in the pricing for both. You're going to save money if you get New Super Luigi U as DLC from the eShop. Though I'd only recommend getting the packaged version of New Super Luigi U along with New Super Mario Bros U if you are one of those collectors or if you can not connect to the eShop if you do not have high speed internet.

Now if you don't have New Super Mario Bros U, You are going to have to go with the retail version since the DLC version via eShop is for those who HAVE New Super Mario Bros U.

Though I highly recommend getting New Super Mario Bros U if you don't have it already and want to play New Super Luigi U. This is because New Super Mario Bros U is a good game and you're going to save roughly $10 on both it and New Super Luigi U in the long run.

I hope this clears up everything that you might have been wondering about this DLC.

Thanks for you time in reading this,

DaAuraWolf

Thursday, June 27, 2013

Advice on Drawing

As some of you know, I like to draw. I draw ever time I have the urge to draw something that I think would be a good idea to draw. Those things range from comics to characters from video games to other stuff like that.

Now some of you might also like to draw. But, some probably think that they are not that good enough to draw. That's plain crazy to me. I mean, you ain't going to be somebody like Da Vinci all of a sudden. It's going to take some time before you get good at it.

In my case, It took me a little bit of almost like 5 to 6 years to get good at it. Even though I started drawing when I was a little kid, It didn't become something like a pastime to me. I started on doing like a hobby back in 2008 and , honestly , I wasn't as good as I thought. It took sometime for me to actually practice at it before I got to the peak of where I think that it's great.

In all, Here's some of my advice on how to be the best artist you can be.


  1. Don't Give Up - just get on trying at it, and you'll get better.
  2. Use a Pencil not a Pen - this is because you can erase any mistakes that you might have made.
  3. Colored Pencils look way better than Crayons - it just makes your art look prettier
  4. Try to take Art classes - these will teach you skills that you can use when drawing.
  5. Express your self in it - don't just copy or trace it, Make it unique and how'll you'd draw it
  6. Get Constructive Criticism - Don't take all criticism since some are just to make you made. Listen to the criticism that will point out and explain on what you need to improve on.
That's all that I have to say on that. Below is a picture that I've drawn here recently. It is a portrait of Panne from Fire Emblem Awakening.



Thank you all for reading,

DaAuraWolf