Mega Man (Rock Man) Rocks in X

I was working on my Legend of Dragoon post before my wife and I left to go to DC last week so she could run the Marine Corps Marathon (it was her first marathon ever).  She totally rocked it as well.  I am so proud of her.

I will finish up my Legend of Dragoon post, plus talk about our experience up in DC and then the subsequent being stuck in DC soon.  I wanted to talk about another game I just completed.

MegaMan X with no upgrades

MegaMan X with upgrades.  Pretty badass, minus his thunder shins

I have loved MegaMan since I was a kid. The original games on the NES were a bitch to beat.  I attribute this to the fact that back in the day everything was harder, including kids growing up.  We didn't have as many limitations by people or people looking out for us.  There was a constant concern of natural selection taking over and we would end up dead in the street.  This mentality also was taken into video games.  Many people have played the original MegaMan games and never completed them, myself included.  It was so damn hard to get through the levels to the bosses for each stage and not just having to beat them.  Some of them had an easy mode that you could try to use to help get through the game, but still it was hard as hell.

There are many trademarks to MegaMan.  Dr. Light, Dr. Wright, the ability to take your enemies ability and use it.  Robots Robots Robots.  It is fun.

Now MegaMan X is a reinvention of the MegaMan series for when Capcom decided to develop the MegaMan for the SNES.  It has 16-bit graphics, new characters, new story, and takes place ~100 years in the future.  MegaMan X was made by Dr. Light in the past but locked away due to certain factors.  If you are really concerned about the back story to him, you can find it here.  

X has an added bonus to him from MegaMan in that you find capsules with Dr. Light's hologram in them giving X newer armor and body.  I don't know why but when I was a wee lad I loved this concept of upgrading beyond just getting new abilities.  It was so cool looking for upgrades, heart tanks, extra energy tanks.  I loved it.  I needed it.

Maybe this is what fueled my wonderful OCD.  Who knows.

So now that I have laid down the foundation for MegaMan X and my attraction, the question is why did I just play it?

Well, the reason is I needed something to break up the monotony that has been going on in terms of the games that I have been playing.  I love RPG's.  I love them oh so much.  But when you play a whole lot of them at one time then it feels as if your life is dragging on and on.  Just grinding away the days.  Because you have to spend a lot more time on a RPG (on Legend of Dragoon I am currently around 56 hours) you need a break.  And MegaMan X provided that for me.

I was able to beat Mega Man X in maybe 7 hours tops.  I did a full Complete as well and have updated Backloggery to reflect that.  All upgrades and tanks and weapons GOT bitches.

I guess this is when I talk about Mega Man X and its coolness factors and all.  It was cool.  It did well in terms of setting off the X series of games.  I will be playing the other X games, mostly cause I have them on my list, but because I like the series.  Because I am playing my SNES for the most part on a PC emulator I get the added benefit of having save states.  I love save states.  I can instantly save anywhere and return to it whenever.  Its great.  But I think this can also damper the experience sometimes.

Instead of having to deal with dying and then going back through the stage, or replaying the boss again and again, with whatever energy I have left over in terms of my weapon energy usage, I got to cheat the system and restart exactly where I was.  I used this to help me with the final boss fight for the game cause I could save state each time I landed a hit on him so I would not lose my process.  In normal play you would have to keep track of passwords that you get when you complete stages or whatever, but the save state process knocks all of that out.  It cuts out the fine property of the game where you have to be really careful and plan things out.  You can't explore too much or you have to start alll over again.  That is something that is nice for someone who wants to experience the game as opposed to someone who wishes only to complete things.

I try and not to play through just to play through.  I like to experience the story and all.  However the other part of me is like "Hey dude.  There is this ability with the emulator that you can use.  Might as well."  So I did my best to balance the two and didn't abuse the system.

Bottom line time.  Should people play this.  I think everyone should play this that has every played a Mega Man game and enjoyed it.  It is different but the same.  I guess you could say it is a same difference.  Its a great game.  I am glad it is not something where it is a completely different path from the original series.  Its a great game and keeps to a similar route, maybe just off to the side.  Like a highway access road.  Yeah.  Like that.

Play it!

Bring on the 16-bit madness!!

So, I have finally decided to delve past the time of the Playstation. Before the the DS.

It is time to go to the era of 16-bit, and the first Final Fantasy game that I will talk about on here (I have completed many other ff games, however this is the first one blogged about for me).

Let me get this off my chest. Plain and simple, I am a fan of Final Fantasy games.  Maybe I should rephrase that.  I love Final Fantasy games.  The first one I can remember playing was Final Fantasy III on SNES, which was actually FFVI.  If you want to know more about that weird change up then look it up.

I remember renting FFIII on SNES as a lad.  I remembered Terra and Lock and so on.  Squaresoft/SquareEnix has always done well with a story, especially in the beginning of the series when they were still trying to prove things.  The graphics and gameplay have always pushed the envelope as well, and this is what sucks the player into the coding of the game.

This entry is not about the Final Fantasy series though.  I could write about it, however that may come on a down day.  The center stage belongs to Final Fantasy V, or in this case Final Fantasy V Advance for the Gameboy Advance.  The background for this FF game as with the previous games is the crystals.  The foundation of the world (cause it is not Earth is the game) is maintained and balanced by these crystals.  Usually 4 crystals, earth, wind, water, and fire, but I do believe that sometimes changes.

I think the enjoyment of this classic game comes because it was original and during a time when the series was still working on its rise to fame.  The class system in FFV is so enthralling because of the combinations available, but as well the customization and strategy available to play the game.  It's this to me that makes a good RPG.

Now I know I said that I would be restarting each game I play, but this is one that since I did remember the story, I decided to continue off where I was.  Plus, I am pretty far in the story now and I really really did not want to restart after hours of grinding to get up in level.

SPOILER!!!


I am at the point in the story where I have just gotten the power of the meteorites to send me to the other world, and Exdeath almost got me.  But being the total badass that Bartz and company are they escaped.  I found this idea of going to other worlds kind of repeating in some of the FF games, however it is entertaining cause there is a purpose behind it and not just some excuse to go to some other planet.

It is exciting to me to be playing these classic games again.  It just seems to be very refreshing and exciting to have these games, even though they are soo different from the modern batch of stuff coming out today.