Review: Nostalgia

Would you just look at that name? Nostalgia. This is a game begging to stir the signals in your brain and mash enough of them to recover something from your childhood; something you loved and enjoyed. When we feel nostalgic we get this weird feeling of maybe being somewhere, maybe back home. It makes you feel comfortable and happy. Nostalgia for the Nintendo DS does not make me feel nostalgic or fuzzy. It makes me feel frustrated and like I just wasted 20-something hours of my life. Go figure!

Nostalgia is a Japanese RPG for the 3DS that was released back in 2009 in North America. I absolutely love the JRPG genre but this title does absolutely nothing to be original except in setting. Your name is Eddie and you are the teenage son of the famous adventurer Gilbert Brown. Gilbert gets caught up in some trouble as usual and saves a girl named Fiona from the Ancient Cabal. The guys dressed in black are always the bad guys, right? So Fiona has lost her memory and you as the hero take on the task to help her not only get her memories back but also go on a mission to save the world by collecting powerful ancient tablets. Joining you along the way is a mage named Melody and a marksman named Pad. You have the perfect, four-person party with a swordsman (Eddie), gun support (Pad), black magic (Melody), and white magic (Fiona). On a scale of 1 – 10 I would give the story a 3 or a 4, but only because Nostalgia takes place in an alternate steam punk history.

In the game you have access to an airship right from the beginning and you zip around the world fairly quickly to collect each tablet. I came across Egypt, a cape town in Africa, London, and New York City to name a few. The sad thing is each of these towns/cities are all mostly copy and pasted with updates to their visual textures. Each location feels the same with hardly any effort given to distinguishing culture beyond simple features and NPC names.

The battle system is not unique whatsoever as it harkens to the most basic of turn-based RPG combat. You mainly bash A the entire game without much thought. The top screen of the DS is used to show you the combat while the bottom screen outlines which character is up next to take their turn. It simply allows you to strategize so that you will never lose, because honestly you sort of have to try to get a game over in Nostalgia. You make enough gold in the game to never have to worry about healing items so battles will be a breeze.

But what frustrated me the most in Nostalgia was how sometimes it would take the liberty to become extremely difficult for no reason. This mainly happened when I would fly my airship around the world and encounter air battles. It sounds cool right? Skies of Arcadia had an excellent combat system set up and airship battles in that game are now nostalgic. Well, Nostalgia falls flat because the creators for some reason decided to make airship enemies extremely strong. In fact, I made sure to save after every battle while flying because you never knew if you were going to encounter another airship that could blow yours out of the water in just two hits. If the rest of the game was so easy why were they making airship battles so challenging? Because enemies in the air took longer to defeat the fast pacing in the game was lost to silly air battles.

In addition to these low-quality attributes the creators did try to add some extra features to Nostalgia to keep you entertained… That’s if you could stand the general gameplay on its own. The game has over 30 sidequests for you to try out at the Adventurers Association but it seems the rewards were never really worth it. They mainly consist of flying somewhere, talking to an NPC, going to a location you have already cleared, finding something, fighting a boss, and then returning that item to whomever asked you to go on such a boring quest. Because the locations aren’t very entertaining to travel through the first time around, why would you want to go back for a reward that doesn’t even make the journey worth it? There are also landmarks in the game that you can fly your airship around to find, but the best prize comes after finding all of them and to me that’s a waste of time. In fact, I only did one quest in the Adventurers Association and that was all.

One element that made Nostalgia completely broken was the fact that when you saved your health and magic points were always completely healed. So if you were in an area with monsters giving high EXP you could just train for 20 minutes and level up substantially. This is probably the easiest game that I have ever had the privilege to play where I could level up so quickly, and bosses were usually a breeze because of this. In fact, as I mentioned earlier, airship battles were actually more challenging than most boss battles. Why would the game be made like this?!

Nostalgia was developed in part by Matrix Software, the people behind the DS remakes of Final Fantasy III and IV. Now those were alright looking games but they were successful because they had a great story behind them. Nostalgia looks alright but the gameplay and story are so basic that Matrix’s contributions to the game are a sad sight to see. There are a few in-game animations that are hardly impressive to say the least, and the only potential I saw in these animations were at the very end when the story actually briefly became interesting. I’m sorry to say that yes, it takes until the very end for the game to become interesting in its storyline. Such a shame!

Nostalgia is a fake title for an RPG that is so basic it should be renamed “How to Play a JRPG” or something to that like. I know this review is entirely negative but there really isn’t anything nice to say about it. Okay I can find one complement: the artwork for the game is nice to look at. You can see it in the intro movie and at the very end. Whoever drew those pieces did a good job at portraying a concept for what should have been a good game. The characters actually look like they have some life behind them, instead of the simple-minded drones that we got in the game. The one thing that may have been nostalgic was how quickly the characters were able to get over a death or some grand emotional moment and move on in the quest at a fast pace. This reminded me of Final Fantasy IV for example, but then I realized these scenes were more comical instead of nostalgic to watch. I’m sorry Nostalgia, but you are nothing that resembles the name.

Title: Nostalgia

Developer: Matrix Software, Red Entertainment

Genre: Japanese Role-Playing Game

Year: 2008 (JP) 2009 (NA)

Platform: Nintendo DS (Played on a Nintendo 3DS)

Completion: In-game timer states that I played for roughly 21 hours, but my 3DS stats application says I played for over 24 hours; this is due to dying a few times in ridiculous airship battles. Did not attempt any sidequests as the main adventure was more than enough, although rewards for these quests are additional character information, gold, and weapons/armor.


-Jared Cyhowski

Review: The Legend of Zelda: Skyward Sword

The Legend of Zelda: Skyward Sword was hailed as Nintendo’s last great game to be released on the Wii in North America. Well that was until Xenoblade and The Last Story were announced, but that’s another story. Regardless, Skyward Sword is indeed one of the last good games to be released on the Wii, and dare I say one of the few. The Wii has had its championing days in Super Mario Galaxy and Super Smash Bros. Brawl, but it never had a true and proper Zelda title released to the system. Say what you may of Twilight Princess, but there is no denying its Gamecube roots. And so we have the one and only true Zelda title for the Wii, completely catering to the system’s core gameplay aesthetic of motion control. Nintendo of America’s President Reggie Fils-Aime stated that he didn’t know if “there’s going to be a video game in history that’s going to be able to compare to Skyward Sword," clearly pushing the title to be one of the greatest of all time. Hmm… let’s take a look and see.

The Legend of Zelda: Skyward Sword features the main characters we are used to in every Zelda game: Link and Zelda. Link is training to become a knight of Skyloft, a rather large and floating island in the sky. Zelda has been chosen to be a part of a ritual for the Goddess of Skyloft, and so it is her duty to sing and sew a blanket. Okay just kidding! On the day of the ceremony Link must prove himself to be a knight to Zelda, or rather pass a few challenges to be worthy of the ceremony. In these events Zelda falls through the clouds to the land below and it is your job as Link to save her.


The game goes on to reveal that you are the hero of legend and that it is your duty to save and protect Zelda, similar to other Zelda games in the past. Overall the story is good and well worth completing to the end. That said, Skyward Sword is rightfully hailed as an origin story for the series. The ending explains what the Legend of Zelda truly means, and that alone is worth playing through. Although the story also has its weaknesses that are primarily featured in structure and not quality. Much of the game feels like you must do this to get this and to get here. You then repeat this process throughout much of the game. It’s not a terrible structure but it slopes to being repetitive and somewhat tiresome.

Thankfully the dungeon designs are well fleshed out and truly fun to experience. Although none of them are extremely challenging, some areas will have you thinking for quite a while. I will admit that I looked up what to do at least twice when I was stuck, and each time it was for a silly reason. Most of the time the game is smart in making use of the equipment you have, and as long as you don’t forget what options are available to you the game will be fluid in its challenge.

Battling a foe in Skyward Sword is different from any other Zelda because of the Wii Motion Plus sensitivity to your hand and arm movement. Whichever way you swing your hand Link’s sword will also move that way. It’s an incredible feature that can’t be taken lightly. If you plan on playing Skyward Sword by waggling the Wii-Mote around, you will soon learn that you won’t get very far. At first it’s challenging to get used to the necessity of swinging your sword in a particular direction but over time you adapt. In fact there are a handful of enemies that will block your sword if you strike a certain way. And so you have to constantly think of a new strategy to defeat such foes. Some of the more challenging boss fights in the game utilize these concepts to their fullest potential.


Aside from the main quest there are a number of mini-games and sidequests to explore. The mini-games are okay and I only dabbled in them a bit but sometimes they have good rewards. The sidequests in the game mainly originate with the people of Skyloft and the various issues they may be having. Whether it be the young love between some of Skyloft’s students or the request to clean a woman’s house, you will dabble in the many facets of life on a floating island.

A strong issue I do have with Skyward Sword is its graphical presentation. It’s entirely difficult to judge Wii games on the basis of graphics because it’s as if we need to place them in a separate category. The Wii is not an HD system, so technically the games will never be in a higher resolution. Skyward Sword has a beautiful art direction that’s entirely gorgeous, yet unfortunately the Wii holds the game back. Colors become blurred and washed out, objects aren’t sharp like you would want them to be, and playing the game on an HDTV only makes these imperfections more obvious. I started playing Skyward Sword on a standard definition TV and the game was nice to look at and everything was fluid. But in transitioning to my flatscreen a lot of the game’s atmosphere was stripped of its virtual beauty. It’s a shame, really, and I do hope the next Zelda title makes great use of the current technology at hand.

Like the majority of Zelda titles, this one shouldn’t be missed. I don’t believe that Reggie was right about Skyward Sword being one of the best games ever made, but I do believe it’s one of the finest in the series. It has an extra dash of heart that adds to the characters and the way they interact with one another. Story is a key element in an enjoyable video game, and I believe The Legend of Zelda: Skyward Sword has mastered this art. A few tweaks to the game’s progressive structure and a warning that you’re playing a game that’s not up to snuff with the current generation of gaming consoles would have put a little more oomph into this installment of the franchise. Regardless, I believe it will sustain in being a title worth comparing to future installments and it has the aura to be a classic.

Title: The Legend of Zelda: Skyward Sword

Developer: Nintendo

Genre: Adventure/Role-Playing Game

Year: 2011

Platform: Nintendo Wii

Completion: Beat the game in roughly 55 hours and erased the file to make room for Hero Mode. Collected the majority of Goddess Chests, had four bottles, and was missing one item pouch. In the treasure display I was missing two items completely. Fulfilled a number of sidequests but didn’t attempt to win any of the mini-games. Could hold 5,600 rupees at end game and was missing two full hearts.

-Jared Cyhowski

Kid Icarus: Uprising is Coming Soon

When recently visiting a Gamestop in Manhattan I noticed this display image for the new Kid Icarus: Uprising 3DS title. It’s been getting some great exposure recently, especially with a newly released featurette as presented by the game’s director Masahiro Sakurai himself. If you’re not aware of Sakurai’s previous work, just know that he has been behind all three Smash Bros. games. I have a feeling his new title for the 3DS may have the ability to create a new multiplayer atmosphere that will survive for years.

Kid Icarus: Uprising will be released on the Nintendo 3DS on March 23^rd, 2012 at $39.99.

-Jared Cyhowski

Discussion: Dragon Quest IX - Sentinels of the Starry Skies

Dragon Quest IX – Sentinels of the Starry Skies was released in Japan in July 2009 and in North America a year later. Released to strikingly high praise, the Japanese gaming magazine Famitsu gave it a 40/40 and Nintendo pushed its marketing campaign to the roof. I just recently beat this title last weekend, all while starting it back in August of 2011. Yes, it took me five months to get through Dragon Quest IX so I cannot review the game with a fair accuracy. Instead I will be looking back at my experience with the RPG and select to be what I believe is the game’s mix of high and low points.

First I must point out my thoughts on the story. I only thought it was okay. I thought it was boring and too simple throughout the majority of the game. But that’s what gets me. The story is mostly based on the fact that your character needs to collect seven pieces of a mystical fruit that have been scattered around the game’s world. For an RPG on the DS, Dragon Quest IX’s world is admittedly large, but that doesn’t make up for the repetitiveness of the story. Go to a town, learn about something bad that’s happened there, learn it’s because of the fruit, and then go fight whatever consumed the fruit. You save the day and everything’s okay. This happens for over two-thirds of the story until you’re so late in the game that if you’re still playing, then you’re committed to the end. This is where part of my own faults shine through, as I would take long breaks from playing DQIX after retrieving a piece of fruit. Or I was too tired during a school semester, and sometimes it was because I got bored. Thankfully some element of an overall story shines through in the end and really hits home with why you just spent 40 hours collecting pieces of fruit… repetitively.

The gameplay fulfills the Japanese RPG standard for what is expected in a turn-based game. You run into an enemy, a battle screen is initiated, and you take turns fighting the enemy. Dragon Quest IX doesn’t really differ from other RPG’s in its combat, but it does animate the battles in a way that’s fairly entertaining. Some boss battles are challenging, especially near the end, so this is when I found myself grinding through levels the most. Other than battles there really is only one other thing to do, and that’s running around getting to your next destination. I will mention here that yes you can do quests, but no they aren’t very worth it. Why should I go and put time into a quest when the item I receive isn’t necessarily useful? As long as you have money, which is actually hard to collect later in the game, you will be able to purchase equipment that suffices more than enough.

One of the reasons why I am criticizing Dragon Quest IX so much is because it’s clear it was built as a game to be shared with other people. It’s actually a lot more fun that way. I was only able to play DQIX with a friend in multiplayer mode for a short 40 minutes or so, but it was completely worth both it and the hassle it is to get your DS’ to communicate. Dragon Quest IX differs from other games in the series in that your supporting characters are entirely created by you. Their character class, hair, eyes, etc. are all your creation, and thus they are sort of meaningless to the plot of the game. You take them into battle and everything, but they don’t have a single line of dialogue. In multiplayer mode you can either traverse someone else’s world or they can be invited to yours. Then you can play through the story together and fight every enemy with a friend. This just makes the game more enjoyable and I wish I could have played more of it this way. But in the end it takes away from the single player experience in that the game feels somewhat lifeless on your own.

Everything I just touched upon seems to be more negative than positive, but Dragon Quest IX isn’t necessarily a bad game. It just lacks what I find to be of key importance in a JRPG: story. I need something that keeps me entertained and on the toes of my feet. DQIX tends to feel like a shopping list of “here’s what to do next.” As I mentioned it took me months to play through the game for various reasons, but in the last few weeks is when I pushed forward to the end of it. That last quarter of the game is where any hint of real story come to life, and thus my most recent impression isn’t wholly negative. If I played DQIX all the way through right when it came out, or rather, when I started playing the game, I think I would have possibly found the game more enjoyable overall because of its improved ending. But I may have also found it to be an extreme chore to keep collecting fruits. Damn that “fygg” tree for spreading fruit around the world. I can’t help but mention that Inuyasha did the same thing with those damn crystal shards, and for some reason I sat through every episode of that series. Same concept, same persistence on my end to make sure every fruit/shard was collected at last. That’s how I roll.

After beating Dragon Quest IX I learned that there’s actually a ton more stuff to do, but I don’t think I could put myself through more because it features what I didn’t really care for in the game to begin with. Level grinding, gathering items, quests, etc. Sometimes those elements are fun, but not so much unless there’s a great story to go with it! I know in Final Fantasy XII I went a bit overboard with collecting almost everything in the game, and let’s admit it, the story wasn’t exactly the greatest either. So maybe something just didn’t click with me in DQIX.

In the meantime I have purchased Dragon Quest IV and Dragon Quest V on the DS, and Dragon Quest VIII for the PS2. I hear these titles are better than DQIX and they feature actual characters and a more solid story. I will let you know what I think whenever I get to them. Until then, everyone can look forward, or not, to Dragon Quest X Online. We’ll see how that one goes.

Title: Dragon Quest IX – Sentinels of the Starry Skies

Developer: Square-Enix

Genre: Japanese Role-Playing Game

Year: 2009 (Japan), 2010 (North America)

Platform: Nintendo DS (Played on Nintendo 3DS)

Completion: Beat the game in 52 hours on the dot. Earned 23 accolades and completed 5 quests (not many). Spent a little over 40 minutes in multiplayer. Party level was 45/46 at end of game.

-Jared Cyhowski