Final Fantasy Crystal Chronicles Article at HG101 (by Nester!)

Nester mentioned to me quite some time ago that he was considering submitting an article to Hardcore Gaming 101. Having done that myself with Body Harvest, I gave him my full-fledged support towards such an endeavor. Today the site posted up that article, a comprehensive look at Final Fantasy off-shoot Crystal Chronicles. This is much more extensive than my own piece over there, with three pages covering all six of the current titles (I didn’t know there were so many!). He probably planned to post about it himself, but I wanted to both surprise and congratulate him on getting his work published elsewhere. I read through it all and found it both informative and entertaining. Definitely reads like a Nester article!

News Roundup: 5/2/2012

Learn how to play Persona 4: Arena in English with Rise and Teddie!

And while we’re on Persona 4, the Vita port The Golden is coming to America this fall. Siliconera has the details here.

Unfortunately, XSEED had to cancel the American port of Vanillaware’s Grand Knights History due to lack of funding. I imagine the PSP market is also shrinking in our neck of the woods. Shame, though.

It would seem the original Deus Ex is coming to the PS3 as a PS2 classic, according to Siliconera. I don’t know how good the port was, but the PC game is a definite classic!

Dragon Quest VI goes under the Gamespite Microscope

Jeremy Parish tackles Enix’s Super Famicom classic Dragon Quest VI in this article, which I presume is up to his usual writing greatness (I’m avoiding spoilers, you see).  Grace just so happens to be playing the DS remake, and she’s been quite enraptured by it thus far.  As a huge fan of the franchise, I hope it’s as fun as she’s been telling me it is.   Anyway!  Check out the article if you’d like.

Gamer’s Playlist – “Zu Ambush ~ Sky Dive!”

There are highly divided opinions about Square Enix’s Final Fantasy Crystal Chronicles: The Crystal Bearers, but one thing must be said: it has one of the greatest and most eclectic gaming soundtracks of its generation. For example, this track from the beginning of the game is brief, but it really soars and is highly exhilarating.

Title: “Zu Ambush ~ Sky Dive!”
Composers: Hidenori Iwasaki, Ryo Yamazaki

Google Maps has become Dragon Quest-ifed for April Fools!

This is freaking awesome.  Go to Google Maps and click on the Quest icon in the top right corner, and suddenly the world is rendered a la Dragon Quest for the NES.  I don’t know who made this happen, but you are a genius.  Best April Fools EVER.

Gamer’s Playlist – Spring Break Game Remixfest 2012 – Day 3

Today is a RPG-focused set.  Famicom Guitar shreds some Dragon Quest, Darangen rips some Final Fantasy, and we all win!

Love Song 探して*, Famicom Guitar (Dragon Quest II, NES, Square-Enix, Koichi Sugiyama)

Warriors of Light, Darangen (Final Fantasy, NES, Square-Enix, Nobuo Uematsu)

*= Famicom Guitar’s site is in Japanese, but I can tell you it’s Disc 3, Track 9 for this particular song if you’d like to have it for yourself.

Song Highlights – Heroes of Might and Magic IV, Final Fantasy, Blast Corps, Street Fighter II

Terrain Swamp, Heroes of Might and Magic IV (PC, 3DO/New World Computing, Paul Romero, Rob King, Steve Baca, Paul James)

Man, I forgot how lovely the Heroes music was until I was listening to a few of the songs recently.  This is among one of my favorites from the game.  I love the overall ambiance of the instrumentation and vocals.  Great song.

Temple of Fiends, Final Fantasy (NES, Square-Enix, Nobuo Uematsu)

I heard a remix of this Darangen did (I’ll put it up later on this week as part of the Spring Break Remixfest) and was reminded of how great the original Final Fantasy music actually is (apparently, this is a “something reminded me” type of post. XD ).  Anyway, this is menacing and well-tempoed.  A good way to build the tension on the way to Chaos.

Angel City, Blast Corps (N64, Nintendo/Rare, Graeme Norgate)

Surprisingly rocking stuff on the N64 soundchip.  Rare was no stranger to making that thing rock, but this is one of the better examples of a hard-hitting tune.

Chun Li’s Theme, Street Fighter II (Arcade, Capcom, Yoshihiro Sakaguchi, Yoko Shimomura, & Tetsuya Nishimura)

Another piece from the SF2 STK, this time the theme to Chun Li’s stage.  I like the distinctly Chinese sound this song eludes.

GameSpite discusses Secret of Evermore

Mike Zeller at GameSpite.net has written a brief article expressing the overlooked merits of SquareSoft’s Secret of Evermore on the SNES:

The hero traverses a variety of exotic dreamscapes, and yet all of them have an earthy, tactile feel, like the kinds of old stop-motion puppets one would encounter in those movies. As the player explores, the places he visits seem comfortably familiar, while simultaneously feeling as if adventure and secrets can be discovered around every corner. The game’s music contributes to this phenomenally. Unlike the progressive rock found in most of Square’s other titles, Evermore’s music is extremely ambient, using sounds like bird calls and people’s voices to make each area feel distinct and alive. Given that the game essentially takes place inside the dreams of four of its characters, this familiar-yet-alien feeling is undoubtedly deliberate.

I was a huge fan of this game back when it was released, and I’m always glad to see it get the recognition it deserves.

Check out the full article at GameSpite.net: Secret of Evermore

Jeremy Parish Succiently Praises Chrono Trigger’s Timelessness

Gamespite Quarterly today brings us an article on one of my personal favorites, the amazing Chrono Trigger.  Jeremy Parish manages in a few paragraphs to speak volumes about the game’s charm and excellence, which is fitting considering Chrono Trigger is in itself a masterpiece of consciously focused design that is so delightfully polished.  Definitely worth a read if you have a few minutes.

Gamer’s Playlist – “Ogre Battle”

Gamers may be familiar with the classic strategy RPG Ogre Battle: The March of the Black Queen on the SNES and Wii Virtual Console. What they may not be aware of, however, is that it was named after this 1974 Queen song from their album Queen II.

Incidentally, “The March of the Black Queen” is also a Queen song, as is “Teo Torriatte (Let Us Cling Together)”, which inspired the subtitle for Tactics Ogre. Designer Yasumi Matsuno must be a big Queen fan, but we’ll save those for another time.

Title: “Ogre Battle”
Composer: Freddy Mercury
Artist: Queen