February 10 – February 16

Section: 

Square Enix has certainly been busy of late. On the heels of last week's, critically well-received Bravely Default, they hit the bigger consoles this week with Lightning Returns: Final Fantasy XIII.

Before I talk about that, I feel like I should follow up on my promise last week to buy and play Bravely Default. My legacy with modern JRPGs is well documented, and punctuated primarily by a sense of confusion masked as disdain. My more recent efforts to break through the boundaries of comprehension and mutual understanding usually met with disastrous results, most notably with The World Ends With You.

So it may come as some surprise to hear that I'm generally enjoying Bravely Default. I'll talk more about it on the podcast this week, and there are certainly elements of this game that make me wince in cultural dissonance, but I'm a solid six hours into the game (read: I've finished the tutorial and actually started the game proper) and it's still holding my attention fairly well.

As for Lightning Returns, apparently this is the third major release in the Final Fantasy XIII universe. I glanced at a wiki for the backstory of the game, and I have no idea what I just read. Something about crystals, and merged worlds and a bunch of gods and goddesses that generally sound like jerks. Then I watched a trailer for it, and it ended with a tiny yellow bird pecking at some warrior-looking guy's face as comical music played in the background.

I'm still going to give it game of the week, anyway.

PC
- Eschalon: Book III (download)
- Mark H. Walker's Lock 'n Load: Heroes of Stalingrad
- Metal Slug 3 (download - $8)
- NaissanceE (download - $20)
- OMG HD Zombies (download - $5)

Xbox 360
- Far Cry Classic (download - $10)
- Lightning Returns: Final Fantasy XIII
- The Borderlands 2 & Dishonored Bundle
- The Elder Scrolls: V:Skyrim & Bioshock Infinite Bundle
- World of Tanks (download - free-to-play)

PS3
- Blowout (download - PS2 Classic)
- Far Cry Classic (download - $10)
- Far Cry Compilation
- Lightning Returns: Final Fantasy XIII
- The Borderlands 2 & Dishonored Bundle
- The Elder Scrolls: V:Skyrim & Bioshock Infinite Bundle
- Wolf Fang (download - PSone Import)
- Zombeer (download)

Vita
- DanganRonpa: Trigger Happy Havoc
- Fort Defense (download)
- Toukiden: The Age of Demons
- TxK (download)

3DS
- One Piece: Romance Dawn
- Spot the Differences! (download)

Comments

Nope, the wallet gets another week off.

Nothing matters this week, next week is Banished.

And EDF 2025.

Eschalon Book III! I had plum forgotten. HOORAY!

Eschalon Book III? Guess I need to finish Book I at some point.

I get to spend another week not spending money. Hurray!

tanstaafl wrote:

Eschalon Book III? Guess I need to finish Book I at some point.

Confession time: I never did. Book II was excellent and stood on its own just fine. Given where Book II ends, I also suspect that you could jump right in at III if you wanted. The plot is secondary to the fun, old school RPG mechanics (at least for me). Might as well take advantage of the more polished systems.

Sean, I'm starting to think when you had your heart surgery they actually implanted a new heart in you, that came from a Japanese person.

tanstaafl wrote:

Eschalon Book III? Guess I need to finish Book I at some point.

Yeah same here, but then I also just finished Avadon, and have the sequel sitting on the pile, and someone gave me a gift code for Avernum. Piles of piles, that's what I have.

Minarchist wrote:

:shock:

Sean, I'm starting to think when you had your heart surgery they actually implanted a new heart in you, that came from a Japanese person.

He got a compile heart.

ClockworkHouse wrote:
Minarchist wrote:

:shock:

Sean, I'm starting to think when you had your heart surgery they actually implanted a new heart in you, that came from a Japanese person.

He got a compile heart.

Hyperdimension Elysium?

On Eschalon Book III, I talk about it a bit on the podcast this week, but I got some time to spend with a preview of the game over the past week. I haven't played either of the previous two books, but I was able to jump right in and feel like I could catch up on the fly. It's pretty good, though a little slow paced. A very nice homage to the classic CRPG style.

Elysium wrote:

On Eschalon Book III, I talk about it a bit on the podcast this week, but I got some time to spend with a preview of the game over the past week. I haven't played either of the previous two books, but I was able to jump right in and feel like I could catch up on the fly. It's pretty good, though a little slow paced. A very nice homage to the classic CRPG style.

Looking forward to hearing you talk about it. My experience jumping in at Book II was similar. With a focus on exploration, it doesn't require too much backstory to jump into.

I have very fond memories of being down to my last few arrows while pinned down in some dungeon, desperately trying to figure out how I could stay alive until my Feat unlocked. I hope the third one is as hard and relentlessly brutal as the second was!

I should really try forgetting things are coming out more, it makes for such delightful surprises!

garion333 wrote:

Nothing matters this week, next week is Banished.

+1

I might get Lightning Returns.
Some day.

Had a good amount of fun with both FF13 and 13-2.

tanstaafl wrote:

Eschalon Book III? Guess I need to finish Book I at some point.

Likewise. It casts a long shadow along the Pile.

In fact...installing it again now....

I'm utterly confused as how those 2K & Zenimax bundles exist.

shoptroll wrote:

I'm utterly confused as how those 2K & Zenimax bundles exist.

No idea, but as someone who hasn't owned any of those games, they're a little tempting.

Mark H. Walker's Lock 'n Load: Heroes of Stalingrad

Neat, I had no idea Lock 'n Load was getting a PC version.

Minarchist wrote:

:shock:

Sean, I'm starting to think when you had your heart surgery they actually implanted a new heart in you, that came from a Japanese person.

Nothing being purchased anytime soon, but Lightning Returns will eventually make it into my pile.

DanganRonpa was robbed... Though, I'll probably enjoy Lightning Returns as well.

DanganRonpa for me; Lightning Returns a few months down the line

TxK because Tempest 2000 made the Jaguar worth owning.

ClockworkHouse wrote:
shoptroll wrote:

I'm utterly confused as how those 2K & Zenimax bundles exist.

No idea, but as someone who hasn't owned any of those games, they're a little tempting.

I'm in the opposite boat where I own the 2K half of each bundle. But I doubt they're running this promotion on Steam

garion333 wrote:

Nothing matters this week, next week is Banished.

Agreed.

Not sure what the policy is for listing DLC on these week ahead posts, but I noticed that The Last of Us: Left Behind DLC is available globally from Valentine's Day (6 am GMT - ie. very soon!) and is a 5 GB download!

I didn't see the DLC's cost in there anywhere. Was there no mention of it, or am I the worst of skimmers?

ccesarano wrote:

I didn't see the DLC's cost in there anywhere. Was there no mention of it, or am I the worst of skimmers?

The article doesn't mention it, but you might still be the worst of skimmers anyway, can't tell! It's $15 in USA. I had some Best buy Reward codes to use (and had to use on downloadable stuff, since I'm no longer in USA), so got it through them, and now the Sony Redeem Code isn't working. Grr - I wanted to get started on my 5 GB download (slow connection means it's gonna be an overnighter...)

Oh, FF13-3, I'll get to you as soon as I finish Xenosaga series and FF13-1 and 2.