Digging deeper

Day 407

Although I fully acknowledge that it's against my better judgment, I purchased two new games today. This is the first time I've purchased physical games in several months--although I did buy Borderlands 2 and Divinity: Original Sin digitally through Steam somewhat recently. I don't feel guilty for doing that though because I completed both of them--and they were co-op. That might imply I'm guilty about my purchases today, but that's only half true. I've had my eye on these games for some time and I'm sure it won't take me long to finish them--and I also fully intend to make Innocent Sin my first priority for the moment. Right after I finish writing this entry, I'm going to get back to it!

Anyway, the two titles I purchased today were Theatrhythm Final Fantasy: Curtain Call for Nintendo 3DS and Persona 4 Arena for PlayStation 3. I'm obviously a huge fan of both franchises and I've been craving some games that aren't just straight up RPGs. Playing so many back to back has been particularly exhausting. Theatrhythm is pretty much exactly as I expected. Not much has changed since the first game of the series but that's not necessarily a bad thing. I'm a tremendous fan of music from the Final Fantasy series and I'm thrilled to see that Square Enix has decided to include music and characters from less popular titles as well--like Final Fantasy Tactics! Maybe this means they'll make another Dissidia title sometime down the line in which Ramza (or Marche? or Luso) appears. 

It hardly seems necessary to clarify at this point, but Curtain Call is a rhythm game in the vein of Elite Beat Agents or Osu. I'm not familiar with the former but I've heard the comparison made for games that follow the format of tapping circles and following patterns to the beat of music. It's evidently a reasonably popular subgenre of rhythm game, but I've only played Osu! and the aforementioned Theatrhytthm titles. They're quite fun but Curtain Call has the added benefit of being endorsed by Square Enix and having the rights to all of the Final Fantasy characters. The game allows you to assemble a party of characters from the games and vanquish mighty foes and travel across the world, all of which is rendered in an adorable chibi art style. The RPG elements present in the game seem to be little more than background noise for the rhythm game itself, however. I was hoping Curtain Call would have made these elements more relevant, but I suppose I can't render a judgment so quickly since I've only played it for an hour or so.

Persona 4 Arena on the other hand is a reasonably straightforward fighting game at least as far as my expertise on the subject would suggest. What is unusual about Arena is the extreme emphasis on plot in the story mode. I've played several traditional fighters over the years, most of which feature skeletal story modes that treat the player with little more than brief blurbs to suggest that things are indeed going on in the background. Arena structures its plot in much the same way as the main series RPGs do--with a lot of dialogue and exposition. In fact, it's a little overwhelming just how much emphasis there is on that plot especially when one considers the fights themselves generally span 30 seconds or so. I've played the game for probably two hours now and I've been in four or five fights. The balance seems to be a little off but I can't say I mind since I am genuinely interested in the plot of the game.

Yes, this is a photo of my television

Persona 4 Arena strikes me as nothing so much as a visual novel combined with a fighting game. It's a strange hybrid but so far I feel it works for me. I enjoy the Persona series mythos and I'm relieved to find that Atlus hasn't skimped on their storytelling in a genre that typically places less emphasis on plot. I can only hope I'll grow accustomed enough to the game that I won't feel I'm button-mashing my way through every fight. I'm certainly not the best at traditional fighters even if I find them really interesting.