game girls now has a snazzy new home (and domain)! Archived posts will remain here for your reading pleasure, but new action will take place at yon new site. (Who knows, though? Maybe we’ll find some other use for this version.)

Roughly a year after its humble beginnings in a long and rambling WordPress post, the Clash of the Handheld Titans has come to its conclusion.

Meet Akane.

Isn't she pretty? ^^

Armed with an R4 and nearly 150 games – most of which I deleted because I probably won’t play them – Akane joins her somewhat stand-offish older brother Hideaki (the white PS2 I got for my 22nd birthday) and her temperamental and slow-witted big sister Natsumi (my temperamental and slow-witted Dell Inspiron 1525) to complete the Reenie Technological Trifecta (at least, until I get a new iPod).

Naturally, I’ve been playing like a madwoman since I got it. I’m in the middle of Chrono Trigger and FFIV DS (yes, Kane definitely sounds like a 40-year-old man) and have just finished polishing off Mario Kart DS so as to be fully prepared for kicking some multiplayer ass. I tried playing Dragon Quest V: Hand of the Heavenly Bride, but SquEnix got tricksy and implemented some sort of anti-piracy code that causes the game to freeze somewhere in the middle of the prologue. Shame on me. I may actually be buying this one myself. I’ve also been enjoying Cooking Mama (despite the fact that no matter how amazing my takoyaki turns out I still can’t make instant ramen to save my life) and all manner of puzzle games (although Professor Layton and the Curious Village makes me feel like the biggest imbecile ever to walk the face of the planet).

I’ve also discovered that they’ve been coming out with DS accessories for the hopelessly girly crowd. I was looking for a case for Akane, was faced with a lot of garish pink and blue, and managed to dig far enough into the frills to find a black-and-white houndstooth wristlet case. It’s… actually quite fetching, really.

All in all, I’m a happy camper. ^^

When my sister and I were first testing out Wii Music last year, we decided to try out Turkey in the Straw for kicks. The default tempo is a little bit slower than we were hoping for, so we adjusted that in the settings.

Of course, that meant we now had to play the song much faster than our tired thumbs would let us.

But no more!

You too can create a hilarious video featuring the likenesses of you, your boyfriend, your immediate family and a guest Mii you added for reasons we’ll get to later with a greatly reduced likelihood of mistakes by (jarring chord) beating the system! *insert maniacal laughter here*

Say you want to make a video featuring one of Wii Music’s faster songs, or want to speed up a slower song, but are having a hard time performing at your desired tempo. By selecting the “tempo” menu in the settings, you can set the song’s speed to suit your comfort level. All you have to do is move it back to your desired final tempo before you record your last track — so if the tempo you really want makes playing the song tricky, make sure that last track is an easy one!

Yes, that pesky “real life” thing got in the way again, but we’re determined to make it up to you. game girls will soon be getting a bit of an overhaul, complete with a makeover and regular posting (we promise!).

Until then, dig the Super Mario RPG song. It’s retrotastic.

And the Legendary Frog Final Fantasy video too:

Under normal circumstances, this would be my least favorite part of the Christmas holidays – having to watch those holidays wind down and make way for second semester. However, for reasons that sound an awful lot like first-graders bickering in a sandbox at recess, my teachers are on strike, the school’s been locked up, and 50,000 students have been stuck at home for nearly two months with little to do other than do readings and work on assignments and essays that may never be marked.

Granted, there’s only so much of that you can do before either you run out of things to do or your brain starts to leak from your ears. So, now that getting to bed at a sensible time has fallen a bit on my list of priorities thanks to being able to wake up at 10AM, I’ve been taking the opportunity to flex my long-inactive gaming muscle.

I started Perfect World International some time in November. An MMORPG that originated in Southeast Asia, Perfect World is based heavily on Chinese mythology and places the player, as a member of one of three warring races – the airborne “elder race” of the Elves, the neutral anthropomorphic Untamed, and the “upstart” Humans – in the heart of a conflict that requires each race to put aside their own issues with each other and unite against a force far larger and more dangerous than themselves.

As MMOs go, Perfect World doesn’t have anything particularly stunning in terms of game dynamics. You’ve got your quests, your stats and skill sets, your multiplayer territory-defending/team-attacking endeavors, and all the other elements of the average RPG – none in any eye-popping, jaw-dropping, show-stopping brilliance. PW, however, has a particularly fine aesthetic sense, especially for a free game. This is most prominent in the character customization system, which boasts endless possibilities for your hero’s appearance, from facial features to coloring to makeup (except if your hero is a Barbarian, in which case you’re stuck as a tiger-dude, a wolf-dude, or a panda-dude who is honestly far too cute to be wielding such large and spiky implements of destruction). If your character doesn’t feel like wandering the world of Pangu in their armor (which, by the way, is quite nicely designed), you have the option of purchasing or crafting customizable clothing, affording you all the protection of your armor of choice with style. The backdrop against which PW’s cosmic drama unfolds is also particularly beautiful and wonderfully detailed, from the buildings in each city to the terrain crossed in-between. At the very least, having something pretty to look at makes flying from city to city a bit less of a drudgery for Elf characters.

Taking a departure from my usual MMORPG habits, I’ve decided to try all of the classes – even the ones I usually can’t stand playing. Normally, I hate playing spellcasters. Especially cleric-type spellcasters. My usual modus operandi in solo and group play situations is to tank the party while dishing out tons of damage. I used to play Ragnarok Online on a free server with some friends, and because they’d all chosen their classes before I got there, I got screwed into being the acolyte, and would usually somehow get myself killed before I could get a single Heal off. This was usually because I was somewhat new to the idea of supporting a party and thus kept forgetting that as a particularly weak and squishy support character, I have no business running up to the monsters and trying to smack them silly. Later on I was able to start up a Paladin, but by the time I hit the grinding levels (if I remember correctly, I didn’t make it past level 25 or so), two things had happened: school began, and I had become quite bored with the game. Due to constraints on time and technology, that was the last MMO I played for a good long while.

And then I got a laptop. And then we went on strike.

When I first started PWI, I ran right to the Blademaster – and ran right into the same problem of getting bored before the game could really get going. I deleted her and, for a challenge, started up three of those pesky spellcasting classes I really hate. At around the same time, I discovered the skill tree (and also discovered that that’s where I’d gone wrong with my Blademaster and with game dynamics in general – of course you’d be learning your skills from a Master and not just making them up as you go along!). Put the two together, and stand amazed as baddies explode before getting close enough to smack you silly.

I discovered the above using my Wizard. PW’s Wizards master a variety of fire-, water-, and earth-elemental spells that do damage, afflict status effects, and affect the Wizard’s physical and magical defense. The Wizard was lots of fun – fire was my element of choice, most of the time – but statistically I was far too spread-out, with skill points in places I’d never need them (honestly, when is a Wizard ever going to need Strength?) and too much money and Spirit points (gathered from killing monsters and completing quests) invested in skills I would likely never need past level 1 (since fire was my element of choice, levelling up water spells was superfluous). As a result, things weren’t exploding fast enough, and poor Jerith did a lot more running than casting.

The Venomancer was just ridiculous. Venomous Scarab, her starting skill, has a wicked-fast cast and cooldown time even at level 1, and on top of that most of the monsters I’d run into with my Veno didn’t have Wood resistance. Throw in an attacking pet, and I could stand there, spam VS to my heart’s content while my wolf keeps the baddies at bay, and come out completely unscathed. If I’m feeling a little melee action for my Veno, I can switch to her Fox Form and kick butt up close with a nice boost to physical strength. To top it all off, I made her a catgirl. Baka Neko for the win. \o/

Surprisingly, my highest-leveled character is Sivaya, my level 17… wait for it… Cleric. (“Reenie, you bloody hypocrite, you!”)

Sivaya was the product of several things coming into play. First off, after working with the two aforementioned classes, the spellcaster’s code of “You are too squishy to hit things up close” finally sunk in. Secondly, I started reading class guides so I wouldn’t waste my stat points, Spirit, and money on abilities I wouldn’t need. Thirdly, the PW Cleric differs from typical healer-type classes in that he (or she) possesses offensive magic that doesn’t suck. For example, FF’s White Mage characters only reach their offensive potential in the Holy/Pearl spell series, which are powerful but magically costly and usually unavailable until later levels. Traditional healers have the option of Heal-bombing Dark-aligned and undead monsters, and in the case of Ragnarok Online the Priest and High Priest classes possess devastating magic that could rip the zombie hordes a new one or two. Unfortunately, the very obvious drawback here is that unless you feel like explaining to your party just why you felt the need to Heal the boss they’ve been hacking at for half an hour, you will be limited to brandishing your shiny holy powers on the undead.

In contrast, PW’s basis on Chinese mythology means that we’re dealing with the five Chinese elements as opposed to the Western four – fire, water, and earth compose the Wizard’s skill set, the Venomancer’s spells are all Wood-aligned, and this leaves the Cleric with the element of Metal. In PW, this translates into two things: light, which doesn’t hurt, and lightning, which very obviously does. This is illustrated in the Cleric’s two available starting skills – Blessing Of The Purehearted, a quick-fix healing spell that is rendered obsolete by a far more potent healing skill just a few levels later, and Plume Shot, a Metal-elemental magic arrow that becomes the Cleric’s offensive bread-and-butter (and, admittedly, looks pretty damn cool). A high MAG stat and loads of MP allow Clerics at the earliest levels to use their innate MP-dependent flight ability to their heart’s content, as the speedy MP regen rate outruns the MP drain on Elf wings. Travel might be a little slow at first, but at least it’s free.

On top of that, I have found that in-game Clerics tend not to be jerks. Those that I’ve run into while on the daily grind or quest track like to buff me even though I’m perfectly capable of doing so myself (if only at a much lower capacity). It’s nice to know that not everyone out there’s a self-absorbed jackass. ^^

I find that I’m a little bit underwhelmed by PW’s physical classes – the Blademaster, Archer and Barbarian. I’ve only recently restarted my Blademaster, and so far she’s doing a lovely job of cutting things to little bits and not getting hurt. My only complaint is that her skills still require MP and I run out of that just a little too fast. Perhaps a reassessment of my skill spamming is in order.

I wasn’t happy with the Archer at all. I’m dealing negligible damage and getting skewered right and left. It’s quite sad. This will most likely clear up in a few levels’ time, but I don’t know if I have that kind of patience. My Barbarian’s about the same; stuff is dying, I’m not getting hurt, but my hit rate is absolutely atrocious no matter how many points I pump into DEX. An increased damage output isn’t worth having to watch that annoying little “Miss!” bubble pop up every other hit. Once again, my Barb’s at a very low level, and these problems will most likely clear up in a few levels’ time, but again, I don’t know if I have that kind of patience.

Overall, if you’re looking for some light MMO fare without the soul-sucking tendencies of the big players in the RPG genre, a foray into the Perfect World may be just what you need.

Fear not, game girls is not dead. That pesky beast known as the real world gets in the way of blogging every once in a while, forcing us geeks to contend with various responsibilities including school, jobs and covering federal elections. But with things calming down — and me getting some serious gaming done in my new apartment — we should be back on track here soon.

I’m still working my way through Final Fantasy IV DS (same pathetic excuse about “real life” getting in the way). Yours truly is now on the moon and about to earn the best summon of all. I’m told the giant backstory video featuring the characters as children comes after the Giant of Babil, which comes after the first trip to the moon, so I don’t have any “experienced it for the first time” moments to share yet. In much happier news, FuSoYa still looks very much like a mop, and still looks hilarious when he’s been knocked out.

I’ve been getting a fair bit of mileage out of my Wii, especially since getting Wii Fit just over a month ago. I’ve only missed a few days in that period and I’ve already noticed my posture improving. Nintendo gets mad bonus points for creating a fitness product that goes beyond weight loss and strength training, even though I can only do three or four of the yoga poses at this point. My spine isn’t made of Jello (to the best of my knowledge).

Since I’ve been finding Wii Sports and Wii Fit so entertaining, I took the plunge and rented Wii Music this week. The game has endured criticism from gamers used to the more streamlined Guitar Hero and Rock Band series, and, as Wired notes, hasn’t been selling very well. As a gamer and a music geek, I felt compelled to give it a shot.

To put it simply, it takes a little while to get used to.

The game begins with instructions on how to produce sound while “playing” different instruments — different types of instruments use different motions and buttons and have different settings. The overall setup is confusing at first, and the manual isn’t terribly helpful. Once I got comfortable with the interface, it became kind of fun.

Wii Music levels the playing field, so to speak, when it comes to gamers’ musical abilities. You don’t need to be able to read music or have experience with any instrument to be able to play the game; the only necessary skills are the ability to use a Wiimote and Nunchuk. (Rhythm helps.) I had some trouble with it at the beginning despite playing a few instruments in real life for that very reason — I play music on instruments, not Wiimotes. Fortunately, the notes to a given song are already lined up for you in the proper order. The trick is getting the timing right — or is it? The game’s first lesson is that it’s okay to improvise. You grade your own performance when all is said and done, and can watch it as a “music video” that plays out on a stage chosen by you.

The game’s highlight is the overdubbing feature, which allows players to not only select a song and a backdrop for their “performance,” but also record multiple instrument parts over each other. Depending on how many players go at it at once, you could complete the melody, harmony, bass and percussion sections of a single song with one Mii, then watch five avatars designed to look like you break it down together, complete with adorable animated interactions. Up to four players can “jam” together, and the actions required to produce sound border on the amusingly ludicrous, suggesting this might make a decent party game for kids too young for the more advanced music games.

If nothing else, it gives those of us who can’t sing something to do while the rest of the world sings karaoke. B-

Square Enix decides 18-hour battles might be a bit much after all.

Not long ago, a friend pointed me to a VGCats strip that appears to sum up how a lot of gamers are feeling about the casual gamer revolution.

I have to admit that I don’t mind it quite as much as some others do. Granted, it’s not the greatest thing in the world — I’d love a new Zelda (or six) and maybe, if we’re really really lucky, a return to the old-style FFs, right about now — but I am also horribly addicted to Brain Age (and Brain Age², its hyperactive cousin^*). I will not rest until I’ve beaten my sister at every “event” in Wii Sports.

And I’ve only tried Wii Fit once, but I’ve become a step fiend.

All that said, I do feel an incredible sense of nostalgia for the way things used to be; game series consisted of classics rather than random knockoffs intended as cash grabs. At the same time, that’s probably what people said about Dr. Mario when it was first released.

Nintendo realized long ago that a huge part of keeping its base audience happy is nostalgia — hence all the remakes and ports of old-school games for newer systems. Will it be enough to keep people tuned in in the era of gaming as a casual endeavour? Only time will tell.

^*Mad bonus points if you get the Clone High reference.

Yes, it sure has been a long time since I posted anything here and no, I haven’t been holed up in a closet playing Final Fantasy IV DS the entire time (just most of the time). The game is progressing nicely, though I’ve recently come to everyone’s favourite part: wandering around the Eblan area in a vain attempt to get Edge up to a level that won’t cause him to hinder everyone else. Which he will, anyway.

This, coupled with an impending move, have led me to take a little bit of a break. I’m still gaming, of course, but focused mostly on my daily Brain Age activities (it’s sad, I know).

Nonetheless, I do have thoughts on things up until this point:

• It’s pronounced “Yah-ng?” Seriously? We can name a character something that rhymes with “chlymidia,” but a name that rhymes with “wang” is out of the question?
• Edward’s big moment (trying so very hard not to spoil anything) made more sense when the device was called a “Twin Harp” instead of a “Whisperweed.” Seriously. It’s an actual weed now.
• I think I miss the Dark Elf’s old speech patterns, hard as they were on the eyes.
• The programmers have spoken: it’s a scythe.
• Finally bothered to start using augments, though I’ve missed the boat on some of the better ones (or so my book tells me). Draw attacks + counter = fear me!
• The Underworld looks gorgeous.
• The dolls are scarier than ever.
• The Namingway thing is starting to get a little bizarre — but seriously, why is he suddenly a rabbit rather than some dude with a turban?

Onward we go.

SquEnix announced last month that they will be releasing Chrono Trigger for the DS “this holiday season”. The remake will feature a new dungeon and wireless gameplay capabilities, but the official trailer reveals that unlike its Final Fantasy predecessors, the game will remain in 2-D. Gamespot’s E3 review says that even with the addition of a few touch-screen capabilities on the world map and during battle, the port looks fantastic but still retains the feel of the original.

All the awesomeness of the SNES version and the full-motion videos from the Playstation release in a portable package. As if I needed another reason to invest in a DS.