aelf
Ashen One
You win 1 internetz!
Where WE review our games
- Thread starter Rub'Rum
- Start date
You win 1 internetz!
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- Mar 31, 2008
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Dreamcast
Thanks Sonereal, good review of one of my most favourite games.
Thank you. I never actually played the Dreamcast version but SoA: Legends is something I could come back to gladly thanks to nostalgia and the fact that it was a pretty solid game. I remember that when I got that game, I was starting to play more and more first person shooters yet I remember SoA: Legends over any of those.
Civ'ed
I ain't gotta explain a thing
*makes review for Silent Hunter III*
Silent Hunter III
Silent Hunter III (SH3 for short) is a simulation game. Except you play as an U-Boat, and you have to shoot down the allies convoys (note: Germany has no affilation with this game, and no, there are no Nazi symbol). Which is fun. No, really. It's got all the things you need (some torpedoes, AA gun, normal artillery on deck) and the amount of ships you can shoot is quite nice - battleships to innocents (which is just as well if you do not want to die). Flak is very fun to use and train (dem planes) but for some really odd reason me and my friend can't figure out you can shoot a fighter 70-odd times and it'd NOT crash.
Also, with the (very realistic) limited torpedoes, you can go beserk at the amount of times you actually have the torpedo bounces OFF. But it looks cool if one does sink (explosions galore!)
Also, that artillery thing is your last resort, but it's also quite fun to screw the other ships by blowing all the masts off their ships.
One other minor point: "ship sighted, captain" for a continuous 10 in-game hours.
Overall, this game gets a 80% for being good.
Silent Hunter III
Silent Hunter III (SH3 for short) is a simulation game. Except you play as an U-Boat, and you have to shoot down the allies convoys (note: Germany has no affilation with this game, and no, there are no Nazi symbol). Which is fun. No, really. It's got all the things you need (some torpedoes, AA gun, normal artillery on deck) and the amount of ships you can shoot is quite nice - battleships to innocents (which is just as well if you do not want to die). Flak is very fun to use and train (dem planes) but for some really odd reason me and my friend can't figure out you can shoot a fighter 70-odd times and it'd NOT crash.
Also, with the (very realistic) limited torpedoes, you can go beserk at the amount of times you actually have the torpedo bounces OFF. But it looks cool if one does sink (explosions galore!)
Also, that artillery thing is your last resort, but it's also quite fun to screw the other ships by blowing all the masts off their ships.
One other minor point: "ship sighted, captain" for a continuous 10 in-game hours.
Overall, this game gets a 80% for being good.
Maniacal
the green Napoleon
And I'm still waiting for your HoI3 one too!
Civ'ed
I ain't gotta explain a thing
scamp, what do you mean? I wrote them already...
Maniacal
the green Napoleon
MajKira
King
recopyin somethin written on a forum already becuz Im too lazy to write a new
Genre/Puplisher/Programmer/year/Systems:
Anime-RPG,Square,Eidos,1997/98,PC/PSX
Characters:
Cloud- ExShinraSoldier,who has been damaged by Hojo thru infection with Jenova Virus, joins the Avalanche rebell group fighting a desperate battle againt Shinra company, who built a monopol with planets Mako energy and suppresses the common people. Main protagonist in FF7.
Aeris- Last reminder of the old race Cetra, who had fought and won over Jenova in Ancient times, holds the key to victory in co-op with the planet.
Tifa- Childhood girlfriend of Cloud. Loves Cloud dearly. MeleeFighter par excellence.
Barret- Leader of Avalanche, originated in Mine City of Corel, is an excellent gunfighter and has a justified hate against Shinra company.
Cid- Builds Gaias first spaceship, is adopt engineer and possesses various deep knowledge about technic.
Yuffie- NinjaFighter and Princess.
Vincent- Another Victim of Hojos experiments, capable of using extraordinary power to aid party battle.
Marlene- Daughter of Barret.
and more
Story/Graphic/Sound/Music/World:
The world Gaias people are being suppressed by the Shinra Company, who uses their monopol over Mako energy to suppress people. A dystopian world full of suffer and cyberpunk.
Graphic was bombastic as well as the sound and music. It has revolutionated the anime rpg sector and made Eastern RPGs popular worldwide. Huge impact it gave to the gaming world is sheer undiscribable in 97/98.
""The transition from 2D computer graphics to 3D environments overlaid on pre-rendered backgrounds was accompanied by a focus on a more realistic presentation. While the extra storage capacity and computer graphics gave the team the means to implement more than 40 minutes of full motion video movies, this innovation brought with it the added difficulty of ensuring that the inferiority of the in-game graphics in comparison to the full motion video sequences was not too obvious""
The FF7 Original Soundtrack features 4 CDs. Tracks gathered you hear ingame.
The remaing Avalanche members rebuilt by Barret after the great war and leading role passed on Cloud have two enemies: Shinra company and Sephiroth. They start to operate from hideout in the capital Midgar with Shinras Turk Gang pursuing them into hindering terorrist attacks being successful.
The planet is in grave danger. Sephiroth, made incredibly strong thru Jenova virus, is about to co-op with the rebirthed Jenova destroying the planet and taking its energy into space, continuing on to an another planet.
Gameplay:
The game uses the ATB battle system which is not turn based and means active time battle system. It has two modes, the active and the wait mode. In the active mode time flows constantly during a battle, while in wait mode time pauses when player is about to give a command to a character ready to take an action. The player is in control of Cloud and moves him and if some party members are with him, they are moved together in the Cloud figure with the exception when Cloud is not in the party or other characters performing single story part actions. There arent any real voices inside text windows or cutscenes, they were implicated in games later upcoming.
Overall Rating:
Immense high at Millenium, nowadays a long planned remake would give it another full shot, as seen in Advent Children (+Complete (uncutextended)version).
______________________________________________________________________
Additional infos
Shinra/Turks
Preface:
The Shinra Electric Power Company is a large corporation that pretty much runs the planet. They have a monopoly on the power, the waterways, and the gas pipelines of the world. They also have millitary and pollitical power and have developed millitary power including biological weapons and a space program.
They build gigantic Mako draining power plants in city's such as Nibelheim and Midgar. Five years ago their plant in Nibelheim exploded, killing most of the residents of the town including the wife of Barret Wallace who is the current leader of the terrorist group Avalanche, leveling the entire town. This incident also
resulted in the apparent death of Sephiroth, the greatest soldier on the planet. The Shinra reactor in Midgar city was recently destroyed in a terrorist attack by the Avalanche. The company has no concern for the planet's well being therefore the Avalanche is dedicated to stopping them at every turn.
The Shinra Company's board of directors:
President Shinra: The founder and leader of the Shinra Electric Power Company. He rules the company with the power of his vast amount of money
Rufus Shinra: The vice-president of the Shinra and the president's son. When he becomes the president of the company after the death of his father he begins to rule the company by fear by using the Turks to impliment his commands.
Palmer: President of Galactic Development
Scarlett: President of Weapons development
Heidegger: President of Public Welfare. Commander of all the Turks.
Hojo: President of Chemical Development.
Reeve: President of Municipal Development.
Tseng: The leader of the Turks. He is only assigned to important missions. He trusts the other members of the turks and is trusted by the Shinra.
Elena: She always follows orders and is very responsible. She always do what Tseng wants her to not only because he is her commander but because she is in love with him.
Rude: He is both a sniper and a heavy drinker. He is very dedicated to the Turks and he is always concerned with the well being of the other members of the Turks.
Reno: He is fun loving and enjoys gossiping about subject such as romance. He may not appear to be dedicated but in reality he can be as serious as the other members of the Turks.
Article Source: Kuponut
Jenova Analysis
Jenova played an interesting role in the story as an entity that travels across the universe essentially sucking the life, called the life stream, from planets. Herein, Jenova's relevance to the Final Fantasy 7 universe will be discussed and analysed. As a result, this article will contain spoilers.
Overview
Jenova is said to be an entity that travels across the universe and sucks the life force from planets. According to Final Fantasy 7 lore, this life force is a stream of green energy that flows beneath a planet's crust and is responsible for fuelling all life forms of that planet, which are subsequently born from the life stream and return to it once they die. The planet on which Final Fantasy 7 is set has been attacked by Jenova but was saved by the early ancestors of humanity, who imprisoned it thousands of years before the start of the game.
Jenova As A Virus
Jenova truly resembles a parasite, most clearly a virus. It goes about infecting planets and reproducing itself in a very similar manner to how viruses infect cells. As each of the planets is a living entity, Jenova is essentially a virus of the universe. The crust of the earth is basically the cell wall, with the life stream representing the interior cytoplasm. As a result of this, while Jenova is a powerful creature it lacked any real sentience until its cells were injected into a child who would later grow to become a sentient version of the virus, Sephiroth.
Jenova and the Monsters
When facing the boss battles against Jenova, it would seem that Jenova is a huge being. In reality, Jenova can be almost any size that is suitable to infect those around it. The monsters of Final Fantasy 7 are largely the result of Jenova infecting creatures that were natives to the world on which the game is set. This can even include humans, which is why Jenova's appearance in the tank was that of a pale blue woman and also is the reason Sephiroth was born as an evolution of Jenova.
Sephiroth Analysis
Sephiroth is often seen as the iconic villain of the Final Fantasy series of video games and perhaps of video games in general. Despite this, the reason why he was so well received as a character are not so often discussed in any sort of depth. Herein, Sephiroth will be analysed by revealing any metaphors related to him. This article does contain spoilers.
Overview
Sephiroth was a member of the military organization called SOLDIER and was basically a heroic and somewhat legendary figure before disappearing some time before the events of the game. As he was growing in the womb his mother was injected with Jenova cells, Jenova being an entity that travels from planet to planet and dries them of life in order to feed and replicate itself.
Sephiroth As Sentient Virus
Jenova is in essence a virus that travels about the universe and infects planets as though they were cells. As a result, Jenova is extremely powerful relative to humanity but is also lacking any real sentience. Due to being injected with cells from Jenova as a child, Sephiroth essentially became the 'child' of this virus alongside his human parents. As a result of this, Sephiroth basically became a sentient incarnation of the Jenova virus and longs to repeat what Jenova did by draining the life force of the planet and travelling to other planets.
Sephiroth As WMD
In order to understand how Sephiroth can possibly be a metaphor for a weapon of mass destruction (WMD) elements of Final Fantasy 7's back-story must be compared to World War II. For example, the Shin-Ra Corporation represents the United States of America as a group controlled completely by business, ala US capitalism. The Wutai, with whom Shin-Ra was at war with, represent the Japanese. Sephiroth is the result of the science of the Shin-Ra and was instrumental in the defeat of the Wutai, just as the nuclear bomb was the result of the science of the US and instrumental in the defeat of Japan. Further reference of this metaphor is how the scientist Hojo is his father. Following this war, Sephiroth essentially turned against the Shin-Ra, which is where the game starts off.
Article Source: esotericarticles
Cetra:
The Cetra (セトラ Setora), also known as the Ancients (古代種 Kodai-shu), are mentioned frequently in Final Fantasy VII, although few Ancients are actually depicted in the game. Those depicted are Ifalna, her daughter, Aerith Gainsborough, and the spiritual manifestation of another within the Temple of the Ancients. The Cetra look identical to regular humans, but are deeply spiritual in nature. According to Sephiroth, regular humans were Cetra who forsook their migratory nature to form permanent settlements millennia ago.
The migrations of the Cetra were a Planet-reverent pursuit of the fabled Promised Land, one conducted by traveling from one area to another and cultivating life as they went. The Cetra had the unique ability to commune with the Planet, an ability which regular humans lost once they gave up their close relationship with the Planet in favor of leisure and convenience. Cetra also had the ability to guide the flow of the Planet's spiritual energy, this being the means by which they were able to cultivate life on the Planet's surface. The Crisis Core Complete Guide states the Cetra are said to have opened up Lifestream veins in the land, working to make the Planet fertile.
The Cetra were on the Planet long before the events of Final Fantasy VII and long served as its caretakers until their race was nearly reduced to extinction by the extraterrestrial entity known as Jenova. Jenova arrived on the Planet some 2,000 years before the events of Final Fantasy VII, crash-landing on the northern continent within a meteorite. The impact site was a massive crater that would come to be known in later times as "the Northern Crater," a wound to the Planet that would not be healed even by the time of the game's beginning.
What was already a bad situation became all the worse once Jenova emerged from the impact site and approached the Cetra settlements, gleaning their memories and emotions from their minds and adopting the forms of their dead relatives in order to get close to them. Jenova released a virus upon the Cetra (in actuality, its own cellular material), a substance that drove the Cetra mad and caused them to transform into monsters. A small band of unchanged Cetra united and mounted on a final assault on the being they referred to as "the Calamity from the Sky," surprisingly managing to defeat it and seal its body in the Planet at Jenova's point of arrival, the Northern Crater. Jenova itself would later be excavated by Shinra Electric Power Company scientist Professor Gast Faremis and be mistakenly identified as a Cetra.
Many fans incorrectly believe that the Cetra are actually an alien race which migrates from planet to planet. This is due to translation issues and a failure to clarify the interchangeability between "land" and "planet." In actuality, the game's script states through Aerith that the Cetra were born on the Planet of Final Fantasy VII, and that - upon death - they will return to the Promised Land. This is an allusion to the return to the Lifestream, it being the Promised Land of the Cetra. This concept is confirmed by the Hoshi wo Meguru Otome novella in the Final Fantasy VII Ultimania Omega Guide.
Ifalna was among the last known living Cetra, and her daughter Aerith is believed to have been the very last (though, technically, she is only half-Cetra, as her father was an ordinary human). Because Sephiroth kills Aerith at the Forgotten Capital while she is praying for Holy, the Cetra are now believed to be extinct.
Interestingly, in the early plans for Final Fantasy VII's story, Cetra were very different from what they ended up in in the final version. Final Fantasy VII Ultimania Omega reveals that in the early story drafts Cetra, or Ancients, were an extinct race, who were said to have written the Book of Jenova - a book detailing the unknown workings of the human brain - and the race who created Materia. According to legends, Ancients could use magic without Materia, and had an advanced magical civilization. It was believed that the race of regular people also existed at that time, and that there were wide-ranging exchanges between them, or that the non-magical people were made into slaves. Due to the belief that Ancients could use magic inherently, it was rumored that people who harbor supernatural abilities are their descendants.
Article Source: finalfantasy.wikia
______________________________
Genre/Puplisher/Programmer/year/Systems:
Anime-RPG,Square,Eidos,1997/98,PC/PSX
Characters:
Cloud- ExShinraSoldier,who has been damaged by Hojo thru infection with Jenova Virus, joins the Avalanche rebell group fighting a desperate battle againt Shinra company, who built a monopol with planets Mako energy and suppresses the common people. Main protagonist in FF7.
Aeris- Last reminder of the old race Cetra, who had fought and won over Jenova in Ancient times, holds the key to victory in co-op with the planet.
Tifa- Childhood girlfriend of Cloud. Loves Cloud dearly. MeleeFighter par excellence.
Barret- Leader of Avalanche, originated in Mine City of Corel, is an excellent gunfighter and has a justified hate against Shinra company.
Cid- Builds Gaias first spaceship, is adopt engineer and possesses various deep knowledge about technic.
Yuffie- NinjaFighter and Princess.
Vincent- Another Victim of Hojos experiments, capable of using extraordinary power to aid party battle.
Marlene- Daughter of Barret.
and more
Story/Graphic/Sound/Music/World:
The world Gaias people are being suppressed by the Shinra Company, who uses their monopol over Mako energy to suppress people. A dystopian world full of suffer and cyberpunk.
Graphic was bombastic as well as the sound and music. It has revolutionated the anime rpg sector and made Eastern RPGs popular worldwide. Huge impact it gave to the gaming world is sheer undiscribable in 97/98.
""The transition from 2D computer graphics to 3D environments overlaid on pre-rendered backgrounds was accompanied by a focus on a more realistic presentation. While the extra storage capacity and computer graphics gave the team the means to implement more than 40 minutes of full motion video movies, this innovation brought with it the added difficulty of ensuring that the inferiority of the in-game graphics in comparison to the full motion video sequences was not too obvious""
The FF7 Original Soundtrack features 4 CDs. Tracks gathered you hear ingame.
The remaing Avalanche members rebuilt by Barret after the great war and leading role passed on Cloud have two enemies: Shinra company and Sephiroth. They start to operate from hideout in the capital Midgar with Shinras Turk Gang pursuing them into hindering terorrist attacks being successful.
The planet is in grave danger. Sephiroth, made incredibly strong thru Jenova virus, is about to co-op with the rebirthed Jenova destroying the planet and taking its energy into space, continuing on to an another planet.
Gameplay:
The game uses the ATB battle system which is not turn based and means active time battle system. It has two modes, the active and the wait mode. In the active mode time flows constantly during a battle, while in wait mode time pauses when player is about to give a command to a character ready to take an action. The player is in control of Cloud and moves him and if some party members are with him, they are moved together in the Cloud figure with the exception when Cloud is not in the party or other characters performing single story part actions. There arent any real voices inside text windows or cutscenes, they were implicated in games later upcoming.
Overall Rating:
Immense high at Millenium, nowadays a long planned remake would give it another full shot, as seen in Advent Children (+Complete (uncutextended)version).
______________________________________________________________________
Additional infos
Shinra/Turks
Preface:
The Shinra Electric Power Company is a large corporation that pretty much runs the planet. They have a monopoly on the power, the waterways, and the gas pipelines of the world. They also have millitary and pollitical power and have developed millitary power including biological weapons and a space program.
They build gigantic Mako draining power plants in city's such as Nibelheim and Midgar. Five years ago their plant in Nibelheim exploded, killing most of the residents of the town including the wife of Barret Wallace who is the current leader of the terrorist group Avalanche, leveling the entire town. This incident also
resulted in the apparent death of Sephiroth, the greatest soldier on the planet. The Shinra reactor in Midgar city was recently destroyed in a terrorist attack by the Avalanche. The company has no concern for the planet's well being therefore the Avalanche is dedicated to stopping them at every turn.
The Shinra Company's board of directors:
President Shinra: The founder and leader of the Shinra Electric Power Company. He rules the company with the power of his vast amount of money
Rufus Shinra: The vice-president of the Shinra and the president's son. When he becomes the president of the company after the death of his father he begins to rule the company by fear by using the Turks to impliment his commands.
Palmer: President of Galactic Development
Scarlett: President of Weapons development
Heidegger: President of Public Welfare. Commander of all the Turks.
Hojo: President of Chemical Development.
Reeve: President of Municipal Development.
Tseng: The leader of the Turks. He is only assigned to important missions. He trusts the other members of the turks and is trusted by the Shinra.
Elena: She always follows orders and is very responsible. She always do what Tseng wants her to not only because he is her commander but because she is in love with him.
Rude: He is both a sniper and a heavy drinker. He is very dedicated to the Turks and he is always concerned with the well being of the other members of the Turks.
Reno: He is fun loving and enjoys gossiping about subject such as romance. He may not appear to be dedicated but in reality he can be as serious as the other members of the Turks.
Article Source: Kuponut
Jenova Analysis
Jenova played an interesting role in the story as an entity that travels across the universe essentially sucking the life, called the life stream, from planets. Herein, Jenova's relevance to the Final Fantasy 7 universe will be discussed and analysed. As a result, this article will contain spoilers.
Overview
Jenova is said to be an entity that travels across the universe and sucks the life force from planets. According to Final Fantasy 7 lore, this life force is a stream of green energy that flows beneath a planet's crust and is responsible for fuelling all life forms of that planet, which are subsequently born from the life stream and return to it once they die. The planet on which Final Fantasy 7 is set has been attacked by Jenova but was saved by the early ancestors of humanity, who imprisoned it thousands of years before the start of the game.
Jenova As A Virus
Jenova truly resembles a parasite, most clearly a virus. It goes about infecting planets and reproducing itself in a very similar manner to how viruses infect cells. As each of the planets is a living entity, Jenova is essentially a virus of the universe. The crust of the earth is basically the cell wall, with the life stream representing the interior cytoplasm. As a result of this, while Jenova is a powerful creature it lacked any real sentience until its cells were injected into a child who would later grow to become a sentient version of the virus, Sephiroth.
Jenova and the Monsters
When facing the boss battles against Jenova, it would seem that Jenova is a huge being. In reality, Jenova can be almost any size that is suitable to infect those around it. The monsters of Final Fantasy 7 are largely the result of Jenova infecting creatures that were natives to the world on which the game is set. This can even include humans, which is why Jenova's appearance in the tank was that of a pale blue woman and also is the reason Sephiroth was born as an evolution of Jenova.
Sephiroth Analysis
Sephiroth is often seen as the iconic villain of the Final Fantasy series of video games and perhaps of video games in general. Despite this, the reason why he was so well received as a character are not so often discussed in any sort of depth. Herein, Sephiroth will be analysed by revealing any metaphors related to him. This article does contain spoilers.
Overview
Sephiroth was a member of the military organization called SOLDIER and was basically a heroic and somewhat legendary figure before disappearing some time before the events of the game. As he was growing in the womb his mother was injected with Jenova cells, Jenova being an entity that travels from planet to planet and dries them of life in order to feed and replicate itself.
Sephiroth As Sentient Virus
Jenova is in essence a virus that travels about the universe and infects planets as though they were cells. As a result, Jenova is extremely powerful relative to humanity but is also lacking any real sentience. Due to being injected with cells from Jenova as a child, Sephiroth essentially became the 'child' of this virus alongside his human parents. As a result of this, Sephiroth basically became a sentient incarnation of the Jenova virus and longs to repeat what Jenova did by draining the life force of the planet and travelling to other planets.
Sephiroth As WMD
In order to understand how Sephiroth can possibly be a metaphor for a weapon of mass destruction (WMD) elements of Final Fantasy 7's back-story must be compared to World War II. For example, the Shin-Ra Corporation represents the United States of America as a group controlled completely by business, ala US capitalism. The Wutai, with whom Shin-Ra was at war with, represent the Japanese. Sephiroth is the result of the science of the Shin-Ra and was instrumental in the defeat of the Wutai, just as the nuclear bomb was the result of the science of the US and instrumental in the defeat of Japan. Further reference of this metaphor is how the scientist Hojo is his father. Following this war, Sephiroth essentially turned against the Shin-Ra, which is where the game starts off.
Article Source: esotericarticles
Cetra:
The Cetra (セトラ Setora), also known as the Ancients (古代種 Kodai-shu), are mentioned frequently in Final Fantasy VII, although few Ancients are actually depicted in the game. Those depicted are Ifalna, her daughter, Aerith Gainsborough, and the spiritual manifestation of another within the Temple of the Ancients. The Cetra look identical to regular humans, but are deeply spiritual in nature. According to Sephiroth, regular humans were Cetra who forsook their migratory nature to form permanent settlements millennia ago.
The migrations of the Cetra were a Planet-reverent pursuit of the fabled Promised Land, one conducted by traveling from one area to another and cultivating life as they went. The Cetra had the unique ability to commune with the Planet, an ability which regular humans lost once they gave up their close relationship with the Planet in favor of leisure and convenience. Cetra also had the ability to guide the flow of the Planet's spiritual energy, this being the means by which they were able to cultivate life on the Planet's surface. The Crisis Core Complete Guide states the Cetra are said to have opened up Lifestream veins in the land, working to make the Planet fertile.
The Cetra were on the Planet long before the events of Final Fantasy VII and long served as its caretakers until their race was nearly reduced to extinction by the extraterrestrial entity known as Jenova. Jenova arrived on the Planet some 2,000 years before the events of Final Fantasy VII, crash-landing on the northern continent within a meteorite. The impact site was a massive crater that would come to be known in later times as "the Northern Crater," a wound to the Planet that would not be healed even by the time of the game's beginning.
What was already a bad situation became all the worse once Jenova emerged from the impact site and approached the Cetra settlements, gleaning their memories and emotions from their minds and adopting the forms of their dead relatives in order to get close to them. Jenova released a virus upon the Cetra (in actuality, its own cellular material), a substance that drove the Cetra mad and caused them to transform into monsters. A small band of unchanged Cetra united and mounted on a final assault on the being they referred to as "the Calamity from the Sky," surprisingly managing to defeat it and seal its body in the Planet at Jenova's point of arrival, the Northern Crater. Jenova itself would later be excavated by Shinra Electric Power Company scientist Professor Gast Faremis and be mistakenly identified as a Cetra.
Many fans incorrectly believe that the Cetra are actually an alien race which migrates from planet to planet. This is due to translation issues and a failure to clarify the interchangeability between "land" and "planet." In actuality, the game's script states through Aerith that the Cetra were born on the Planet of Final Fantasy VII, and that - upon death - they will return to the Promised Land. This is an allusion to the return to the Lifestream, it being the Promised Land of the Cetra. This concept is confirmed by the Hoshi wo Meguru Otome novella in the Final Fantasy VII Ultimania Omega Guide.
Ifalna was among the last known living Cetra, and her daughter Aerith is believed to have been the very last (though, technically, she is only half-Cetra, as her father was an ordinary human). Because Sephiroth kills Aerith at the Forgotten Capital while she is praying for Holy, the Cetra are now believed to be extinct.
Interestingly, in the early plans for Final Fantasy VII's story, Cetra were very different from what they ended up in in the final version. Final Fantasy VII Ultimania Omega reveals that in the early story drafts Cetra, or Ancients, were an extinct race, who were said to have written the Book of Jenova - a book detailing the unknown workings of the human brain - and the race who created Materia. According to legends, Ancients could use magic without Materia, and had an advanced magical civilization. It was believed that the race of regular people also existed at that time, and that there were wide-ranging exchanges between them, or that the non-magical people were made into slaves. Due to the belief that Ancients could use magic inherently, it was rumored that people who harbor supernatural abilities are their descendants.
Article Source: finalfantasy.wikia
______________________________
KaiserElectric
Total Freakin Besties
- Joined
- Dec 2, 2007
- Messages
- 3,461
Okay, here's my first review. It's an older game, but the world must know of this travesty.
Empire Earth III
The RTS series Empire Earth is a somewhat obscure one, often overshadowed by other games in the genre such as the Age of Empires and Civilization series. Think of it as the Saint's Row to the Grand Theft Auto series. Still, EE has a sizable cult following and the second title and its expansion, called the Art of Supremacy, is a strong RTS game that has enough strengths to overcome the flaws in the system. If I were reviewing EE2 and it's expansion, I would probably give it about an 80%. If you ever crave some retro RTS gaming, give it a try one weekend. You won't be disappointed.
Tragically, I am here not to discuss EE2, but to discuss its abysmal sequel, Empire Earth III. Put simply, it is an abomination. Never before have I played a game that makes you want to hate everything about the RTS genre this badly. The core concepts are simplified to unacceptable levels, the graphics are poorly done and buggy, and everything original about the series is either forgotten or butchered beyond comprehension, all amounting to a dull, painful, and nauseating experience. I will never forgive this game for wasting a day of my life and killing what may have been an excellent RTS series.
First of all, there is a grand total of Three unique civilizations to choose from: West, Middle East, and Far East. For comparison, EE2 had three archetypes, four if you count the expansion, which have eleven or sixteen civilizations split between them to suit your style. Think of the leader traits in Civilization IV for comparison to civilizations. Once you find your way into a game, via Skirmish or World Domination mode (the latter of which I barely got through as it's more boring than regular old skirmishes), you see the game in all it's cartoon-graphic goodness (I use the term goodness lightly). To collect resources, in this case gold and "materials" (EE2 had food, wood, gold, stone, tin, iron, saltpeter, oil, and uranium), you must build collection buildings near deposits, which ferry antonymous units back and forth to collect stuff. Convenient, but it takes all the joy about building a booming economy to fund a massive attack force to mow your enemy down.
Combat functions decently, but it could have been oh so much better. Combat functions at the same level or less as the previous title, using a revamped version of the RTS system the first titles used. It's not terrible, but it isn't good enough for a sequel, I felt. Naval combat is essentially the same, but buggy at times. Nothing much to say on the matter, really.
Graphics, on the other hand, are sinful. Granted, the graphics in the first two titles wouldn't win awards, but I would gladly take par-level graphics if it meant I got a decent game. EE3 tries to solve this problem by improving graphics. It isn't THAT terrible, and I would forgive it if the animation didn't have more bugs than the Amazon Rainforest. Land units and buildings will often lag when several occupy the screen, and I have yet to see any sea unit that didn't lag in it's animation. The end result looks messy and incomplete at best.
What infuriates me most is the voices they gave the units in game. EE2 took the easy way out and gave all units similar voices, no matter which nation they belonged to. Again, I can forgive this seeing how good the game was in spite of it. EE3, however, elects to give units unique voices that end up as stupid, insulting, and borderline racist (I kid you not). Some western units, such as spearmen, light horses, and javelin throwers, are given silly, often clichéd personalities (superstitious, cowardly, and Scottish/Irish, respectively) and spout out one-liners and terrible puns when you order them around. Far Eastern units are given voiceovers that are at best unfunny and racist (think samurai and Chinese manservant), and had I stopped projectile vomiting long enough, I would be able to go over in greater detail the stupidity of the Middle Eastern voiceovers. I ended up praying for the "mediocre" voice work of the predecessor by the time it was finished.
Bottom line, I would recommend this game for tasteless practical jokes, skeet shooting, kindling, and torturing international prisoners (although the Geneva Convention would probably object). I feel guilty even giving it a rating as high as 10% Empire Earth III isn't even worthy to be called a game in any sense, and you would be much happier if you never laid eyes upon it. So don't.
Empire Earth III: 10%
Also:
Empire Earth II: 80% (Art of Supremacy 85%)
Empire Earth III
The RTS series Empire Earth is a somewhat obscure one, often overshadowed by other games in the genre such as the Age of Empires and Civilization series. Think of it as the Saint's Row to the Grand Theft Auto series. Still, EE has a sizable cult following and the second title and its expansion, called the Art of Supremacy, is a strong RTS game that has enough strengths to overcome the flaws in the system. If I were reviewing EE2 and it's expansion, I would probably give it about an 80%. If you ever crave some retro RTS gaming, give it a try one weekend. You won't be disappointed.
Tragically, I am here not to discuss EE2, but to discuss its abysmal sequel, Empire Earth III. Put simply, it is an abomination. Never before have I played a game that makes you want to hate everything about the RTS genre this badly. The core concepts are simplified to unacceptable levels, the graphics are poorly done and buggy, and everything original about the series is either forgotten or butchered beyond comprehension, all amounting to a dull, painful, and nauseating experience. I will never forgive this game for wasting a day of my life and killing what may have been an excellent RTS series.
First of all, there is a grand total of Three unique civilizations to choose from: West, Middle East, and Far East. For comparison, EE2 had three archetypes, four if you count the expansion, which have eleven or sixteen civilizations split between them to suit your style. Think of the leader traits in Civilization IV for comparison to civilizations. Once you find your way into a game, via Skirmish or World Domination mode (the latter of which I barely got through as it's more boring than regular old skirmishes), you see the game in all it's cartoon-graphic goodness (I use the term goodness lightly). To collect resources, in this case gold and "materials" (EE2 had food, wood, gold, stone, tin, iron, saltpeter, oil, and uranium), you must build collection buildings near deposits, which ferry antonymous units back and forth to collect stuff. Convenient, but it takes all the joy about building a booming economy to fund a massive attack force to mow your enemy down.
Combat functions decently, but it could have been oh so much better. Combat functions at the same level or less as the previous title, using a revamped version of the RTS system the first titles used. It's not terrible, but it isn't good enough for a sequel, I felt. Naval combat is essentially the same, but buggy at times. Nothing much to say on the matter, really.
Graphics, on the other hand, are sinful. Granted, the graphics in the first two titles wouldn't win awards, but I would gladly take par-level graphics if it meant I got a decent game. EE3 tries to solve this problem by improving graphics. It isn't THAT terrible, and I would forgive it if the animation didn't have more bugs than the Amazon Rainforest. Land units and buildings will often lag when several occupy the screen, and I have yet to see any sea unit that didn't lag in it's animation. The end result looks messy and incomplete at best.
What infuriates me most is the voices they gave the units in game. EE2 took the easy way out and gave all units similar voices, no matter which nation they belonged to. Again, I can forgive this seeing how good the game was in spite of it. EE3, however, elects to give units unique voices that end up as stupid, insulting, and borderline racist (I kid you not). Some western units, such as spearmen, light horses, and javelin throwers, are given silly, often clichéd personalities (superstitious, cowardly, and Scottish/Irish, respectively) and spout out one-liners and terrible puns when you order them around. Far Eastern units are given voiceovers that are at best unfunny and racist (think samurai and Chinese manservant), and had I stopped projectile vomiting long enough, I would be able to go over in greater detail the stupidity of the Middle Eastern voiceovers. I ended up praying for the "mediocre" voice work of the predecessor by the time it was finished.
Bottom line, I would recommend this game for tasteless practical jokes, skeet shooting, kindling, and torturing international prisoners (although the Geneva Convention would probably object). I feel guilty even giving it a rating as high as 10% Empire Earth III isn't even worthy to be called a game in any sense, and you would be much happier if you never laid eyes upon it. So don't.
Empire Earth III: 10%
Also:
Empire Earth II: 80% (Art of Supremacy 85%)
KaiserElectric
Total Freakin Besties
- Joined
- Dec 2, 2007
- Messages
- 3,461
I'm glad to see some more Empire Earth fans coming out of the woodwork. 
Civ'ed
I ain't gotta explain a thing
You actually made me look it up on Wikipedia 
From what I see, EE2's graphics look a lot like AoEIII's.
I'm sure that if I get it I will like it.
From what I see, EE2's graphics look a lot like AoEIII's.
I'm sure that if I get it I will like it.
KaiserElectric
Total Freakin Besties
- Joined
- Dec 2, 2007
- Messages
- 3,461
You actually made me look it up on Wikipedia
From what I see, EE2's graphics look a lot like AoEIII's.
I'm sure that if I get it I will like it.
I think you will. It's not top notch, even for the time, but it's aged quite well.
KaiserElectric
Total Freakin Besties
- Joined
- Dec 2, 2007
- Messages
- 3,461
I'm planning on acquiring Dynasty Warriors 7 soon. Expect a review.
Civ'ed
I ain't gotta explain a thing
More reviews:
The Settlers: Rise of an Empire
The Settlers: Rise of an Empire is a strategy game (yarly) which focuses on you creating a kingdom. Well, City-State really. You have to balance the needs of your Settlers and also try to give your Knight of choice a lot of titles.
Gameplay
Well, can't say this is bad. In fact, it's pretty good. You have to start out with some resource gatherers and a few food stores. then just continue to level up.
In fact, it's not that simple. A personal favorite of mine is the climate zones: A Northern one - lots of snow and freezing over - a temperate one - which is very nice - a Southern one - cold winters, sure, no snow or anything, less good ground - and a Desert - oh hell, so much useless ground.
The settlers build their homes themselves and everything, and at a certain point, you can have a party at the warehouse (where everything goes) and give CITY settlers a spouse which makes your production go up.
Minor point: Strikes. Happen too often and are hard to solve on account of the people who you need to solve it being on strike.
Also the campaign doesn't continue on the Settlers V campaign.
9/10.
Graphics
Graphics are pretty sweet, and the winters are stunning. Absolutely beautiful. there's a lot of detail into this game and so on.
9/10 again
Sounds
At this point I am slightly disappoint in the music. I can't help but feel Ubisoft ran out of different music by Anno 1701. Listening to the Settlers 6 music and Anno 1404 music is rather... Deja vu-ish.
Still, every different type of settler can have his own voice!
7/10
OVERALL
this game recieves a 8.333333333333333333333333333333333333333333333333333333333333333333333333333333333333333333333333333333333333333333333333333333333333333333333333333333333333 recurring.
It's a nice game, but the music wrecks it.
The Settlers: Rise of an Empire
The Settlers: Rise of an Empire is a strategy game (yarly) which focuses on you creating a kingdom. Well, City-State really. You have to balance the needs of your Settlers and also try to give your Knight of choice a lot of titles.
Gameplay
Well, can't say this is bad. In fact, it's pretty good. You have to start out with some resource gatherers and a few food stores. then just continue to level up.
In fact, it's not that simple. A personal favorite of mine is the climate zones: A Northern one - lots of snow and freezing over - a temperate one - which is very nice - a Southern one - cold winters, sure, no snow or anything, less good ground - and a Desert - oh hell, so much useless ground.
The settlers build their homes themselves and everything, and at a certain point, you can have a party at the warehouse (where everything goes) and give CITY settlers a spouse which makes your production go up.
Minor point: Strikes. Happen too often and are hard to solve on account of the people who you need to solve it being on strike.
Also the campaign doesn't continue on the Settlers V campaign.
9/10.
Graphics
Graphics are pretty sweet, and the winters are stunning. Absolutely beautiful. there's a lot of detail into this game and so on.
9/10 again
Sounds
At this point I am slightly disappoint in the music. I can't help but feel Ubisoft ran out of different music by Anno 1701. Listening to the Settlers 6 music and Anno 1404 music is rather... Deja vu-ish.
Still, every different type of settler can have his own voice!
7/10
OVERALL
this game recieves a 8.333333333333333333333333333333333333333333333333333333333333333333333333333333333333333333333333333333333333333333333333333333333333333333333333333333333333 recurring.
It's a nice game, but the music wrecks it.
- Joined
- Mar 31, 2008
- Messages
- 14,927
Solar 2
9/10
I played the demo. Directly after playing the demo, I bought the game for $10.
Think about that for a second. There was no pause between me playing the demo and buying the game. Why? Because this game is strangely addicting.
-------------
Solar 2, I think, is about you starting off as a small asteroid in the vast, two-dimensional universe. You're a special asteroid, however, because you're sentient. Your goal? Well, my goal was to destroy the universe but I'm getting ahead of myself. S2 is a sandbox game in that, you don't HAVE to advance further. As an asteroid, you can float around the vast universe, sure, but that's asking to get destroyed by planets flung through space or hostile alien life.
Therefore, you can smash your asteroid against other asteroids to become a larger asteroid until you become a planet. After that, you have to get asteroids into orbit with and absorb them to become a life-supporting planet.
After which, you get alien ships to follow you around and shoot the organized, red civilization. If you see red ships, you either need to get out of there or be prepared to smash their planet with asteroids. If you run into White Ships, it means their home planet or, in many cases, home system has been destroyed. Your main goal, still, is to keep absorbing asteroids until you become a small star.
And then things get even more interesting.
In short, for $10, the game is actually pretty fun. There are in-game missions that you can choose to do but in many ways, the game is a sandbox. I sped through the game the first time but there's a lot you can do if you can think of it.
Graphics
Ships are simple white or red triangles (well, not simple, you can tell they're ships. Asteroids, planets, and stars look very nice. The background are nebulae and the blackness of s pace.
9/10
I played the demo. Directly after playing the demo, I bought the game for $10.
Think about that for a second. There was no pause between me playing the demo and buying the game. Why? Because this game is strangely addicting.
-------------
Solar 2, I think, is about you starting off as a small asteroid in the vast, two-dimensional universe. You're a special asteroid, however, because you're sentient. Your goal? Well, my goal was to destroy the universe but I'm getting ahead of myself. S2 is a sandbox game in that, you don't HAVE to advance further. As an asteroid, you can float around the vast universe, sure, but that's asking to get destroyed by planets flung through space or hostile alien life.
Therefore, you can smash your asteroid against other asteroids to become a larger asteroid until you become a planet. After that, you have to get asteroids into orbit with and absorb them to become a life-supporting planet.
After which, you get alien ships to follow you around and shoot the organized, red civilization. If you see red ships, you either need to get out of there or be prepared to smash their planet with asteroids. If you run into White Ships, it means their home planet or, in many cases, home system has been destroyed. Your main goal, still, is to keep absorbing asteroids until you become a small star.
And then things get even more interesting.
In short, for $10, the game is actually pretty fun. There are in-game missions that you can choose to do but in many ways, the game is a sandbox. I sped through the game the first time but there's a lot you can do if you can think of it.
Graphics
Ships are simple white or red triangles (well, not simple, you can tell they're ships. Asteroids, planets, and stars look very nice. The background are nebulae and the blackness of s pace.
Two Worlds 2 - PC
I'm one of the few people who seemed to have played all the way through the first Two Worlds. It wasn't a very good game. But somehow I kept on playing. It is an open-world RPG like Oblivion, except with almost no interesting places, very small and drab dungeons, some of the worse voice acting in history, and tedious quests. It did have a fun inventory and equipment system where you'd upgrade your stuff and you didn't invariably end up with the same equipment at the end of the game, because you could upgrade mid-level stuff to be competent later in the game...
I also finished Two Worlds 2, and the above description kind of fits this game too. A bit tedious, meaningless quests, boring story, cool equipment upgrade system... However it did everything slightly better than Two Worlds 1, so the developers should at least be congratulated on improving their game considerably.
The magic system was probably the most interesting part of the game. I'd urge people to play as a mage if they try the game, but it means your equipment will be rather boring for most of the game and you will end up looking like a ridiculous mage from Harry Potter with a stupid hat.
The magic system uses a card system where you can combine various effects and types of spells and chain the effects too. You could cast a spell that 1) spawns a bunch of anvils and 2) immediately casts a tornado that has them spin around you. One of my favorite spell was a firebolt (1) that had an area effect (2) which spawned a zone of confusion (3). So my enemies would get charred and promptly start attacking each others. The mage is kind of overpowered.
The game looks very good too. The environments are gorgeous... But again mostly emptied of anything interesting. There is even a large disappointment in that a huge part of the world map ends up being unexplorable. You think you still have a huge island to explore (the biggest one on the map) but nope, can't go there.
I can't say I was THAT disappointed when I started to realize that this last island was unexplorable... Mostly because the repetitive quests were getting really boring and I was looking forward for the game to end. I don't remember even Two Worlds 1 being as annoyingly overlong towards the end.
Also it has one of the worst endings of all times. And the final boss is a horrible frustrating gimmick where you can't really use your hard-earned powers to fight.
So in brief, for ameliorating the UI, character builds, equipment system, magic system, graphics, combat handling (combat animations are pretty cool!), and most aspects of the game, the company deserves some praise. But for creating yet another uninteresting story, repetitive quests, and lots of tedious parts... Um, Two Worlds 2 can't get much higher than a 63% from me. This means it's average but does some good things.
I'm one of the few people who seemed to have played all the way through the first Two Worlds. It wasn't a very good game. But somehow I kept on playing. It is an open-world RPG like Oblivion, except with almost no interesting places, very small and drab dungeons, some of the worse voice acting in history, and tedious quests. It did have a fun inventory and equipment system where you'd upgrade your stuff and you didn't invariably end up with the same equipment at the end of the game, because you could upgrade mid-level stuff to be competent later in the game...
I also finished Two Worlds 2, and the above description kind of fits this game too. A bit tedious, meaningless quests, boring story, cool equipment upgrade system... However it did everything slightly better than Two Worlds 1, so the developers should at least be congratulated on improving their game considerably.
The magic system was probably the most interesting part of the game. I'd urge people to play as a mage if they try the game, but it means your equipment will be rather boring for most of the game and you will end up looking like a ridiculous mage from Harry Potter with a stupid hat.
Spoiler :
The magic system uses a card system where you can combine various effects and types of spells and chain the effects too. You could cast a spell that 1) spawns a bunch of anvils and 2) immediately casts a tornado that has them spin around you. One of my favorite spell was a firebolt (1) that had an area effect (2) which spawned a zone of confusion (3). So my enemies would get charred and promptly start attacking each others. The mage is kind of overpowered.
The game looks very good too. The environments are gorgeous... But again mostly emptied of anything interesting. There is even a large disappointment in that a huge part of the world map ends up being unexplorable. You think you still have a huge island to explore (the biggest one on the map) but nope, can't go there.
I can't say I was THAT disappointed when I started to realize that this last island was unexplorable... Mostly because the repetitive quests were getting really boring and I was looking forward for the game to end. I don't remember even Two Worlds 1 being as annoyingly overlong towards the end.
Also it has one of the worst endings of all times. And the final boss is a horrible frustrating gimmick where you can't really use your hard-earned powers to fight.
So in brief, for ameliorating the UI, character builds, equipment system, magic system, graphics, combat handling (combat animations are pretty cool!), and most aspects of the game, the company deserves some praise. But for creating yet another uninteresting story, repetitive quests, and lots of tedious parts... Um, Two Worlds 2 can't get much higher than a 63% from me. This means it's average but does some good things.
70% is "Good, only a few glaring flaws which prevent it being rated higher". And I have to say the flaws I gave were more than just "few". They were noticeable all the time.
I think our rating system was meant to use a bigger span of the numbers, and not just the 75-95 range that crappy gaming websites tend to want to use. I like it that way. That's also how Angry Joe does it on his review website, where he commonly gives 60-70 to games that are alright and/or recommendable.
I think our rating system was meant to use a bigger span of the numbers, and not just the 75-95 range that crappy gaming websites tend to want to use. I like it that way. That's also how Angry Joe does it on his review website, where he commonly gives 60-70 to games that are alright and/or recommendable.
Disgustipated
Deity
I agree with that number range. Basically anything above a 60 is passable (in American school systems), which means a game is passable, and does have some play value. Anything less than a 60 should be considered failing, and not recommended for playing. I know of few gaming websites or magazines that give less than 60% (except for games like Big Rigs: Over the road racing). Most don't have the balls to give a major release less than 60%. But I have given a game here less than 60%, although I was flamed for it.
I have considered I was too hard on Civ5. And I have played a full game recently after the most recent patch. And I have considered revising my score. I'm not going to re-review the game because the gameplay hasn't changed significantly. But it does flow a little better. It still has major problems with 1UPT and the fun factor still.
I still do not recommend Civ5, and I do give it a failing grade. Why? Because in my opinion (obviously some people will like the game and disagree), the game isn't fun enough to play consistently.
I am raising my review of Civ5 from 25% to 50% (post-patch, my 25% still stands pre-most recent patch). I feel I'm being very generous there. But I feel if they can do a few more things, the game may have replay value even despite the 1 UPT flaws. But right now, even though I finished an entire game, it has no replay value. For a TBS style game to be passing, you have to be able to want to play it again.
I have considered I was too hard on Civ5. And I have played a full game recently after the most recent patch. And I have considered revising my score. I'm not going to re-review the game because the gameplay hasn't changed significantly. But it does flow a little better. It still has major problems with 1UPT and the fun factor still.
I still do not recommend Civ5, and I do give it a failing grade. Why? Because in my opinion (obviously some people will like the game and disagree), the game isn't fun enough to play consistently.
I am raising my review of Civ5 from 25% to 50% (post-patch, my 25% still stands pre-most recent patch). I feel I'm being very generous there. But I feel if they can do a few more things, the game may have replay value even despite the 1 UPT flaws. But right now, even though I finished an entire game, it has no replay value. For a TBS style game to be passing, you have to be able to want to play it again.
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