Final Fantasy XII The Zodiac Age

Final Fantasy XII The Zodiac Age is finally out now World Wide for the PlayStation 4.  In my opinion one of the best Final Fantasy games out there.  I was so excited to play this game that when I got it (a day early) I streamed 2 hours of it.  Maybe I’ll stream again when I get halfway through the story so you’ll see more gameplay than cutscenes.

If this is a game you passed on back in 2006, I suggest giving it a go.  With the bumped up graphics and even a newly recorded orchestral soundtrack, this game is a beauty to listen and watch.

Now watch me defeat the dreaded Rogue Tomato!!! [Read more…]

Ramen Redux

Ramen and a Half is back!  We decided to revive our original podcast as a new webcast where we talk about some of the latest in nerd news all while playing a random video game and of course while doing it all Live! So don’t forget to Like, Comment, and Subscribe and catch it all here on Retrenders.com!

Uncharted 4: A Thief’s End Review

Uncharted 4 Title

 

Uncharted 4 came out just last week, May 10th, but with it having not only a Singleplayer campaign but also a Multiplayer, I wanted to play this game a little while longer before I wrote anything about it.  I had been waiting for this game since they first talked about it, and I pre-ordered the collector’s edition of the game back in September of 2015.  Learning that it was going to be the final chapter in the Uncharted series, I was a bit nervous on how they would end his journey.  Would he get a happy ending?  Would this adventure be to much for him and have him perish at the end?  As the day of release came closer and closer, I sat down and played through the three games that came before it, getting ready for my final adventure in this great series.  Half way through the third game my doorbell rang and a large package was left outside my house; my collector’s edition had finally come, and it was time to set aside all responsibilities and play through both the single and multiplayer game.

Uncharted 4 Collector's Edition [Read more…]

Rebel Galaxy Review

Rebel Galaxy

Rebel Galaxy came out on Steam in October, but it just recently came out for the PlayStation 4 at the beginning of the month, January 5th.  I had never heard of this game before it came to the PS4 but the opportunity to be a “Space Cowboy” was too much to pass up.  The game played a lot like the naval side of Assassin’s Creed: Black Flag.  You sail the ocean of space in a straight line, not being able to pitch up or down, however your opponents are given that option and the smaller crafts will often fly above and below you, while the larger ships are stuck flying on the same level that you are.  Think of it as a less maneuverable version of the “Freelancer” game.

Rebel Galaxy - 2

Most of this game will be you flying your ship from one end of the solar system to the other, complete a mission and head back across the solar system again.  One of the best way to make money in this game will be doing missions that you can pick up during your stops at different space stations; however, after you jump to the next solar system, you will be able to join the mercenary guild which will give you a lot more money but for a lot more risk of course.  This means you will be going back and forth in one system just to scrounge up enough money to to buy upgrades or new weapons/armors for your ship.  Speaking of the stations, the game will automatically save your game when you visit one so always remember to stop by one before heading off to a difficult mission.  Missions and mercenary work aren’t the only way to make money in this game though.  You can also scavenge for parts scattered around space, which to be honest will probably take the most time since you can barely find cargo floating around, look around the space system for bounties to collect or mine asteroids for goods.  Everything you find can then be sold at the commodities market, but be warned as the price for different goods fluctuates.  Then once you get enough credits to buy the new spaceship you’d been eyeing, you’ll be doing missions, mercenary work, scavenging for parts, hunting down pirates and mining asteroids all over again to get more money for new upgrades.  In other words, you will probably be spending most of your time trying to make enough money to use on your ship than actually going through the games story.

Rebel Galaxy - 3

So is this game fun?  Should you try it out or pass on it?  Well I’ve been having a blast with it myself, though it really depends on if you have the patience to play a game like this.  You won’t be getting into space battle after space battle unless you are actively looking for them.  Most of your time will be flying through the emptiness of space.  For a game created by a two man team, this game is amazing.  Still it would have been better if you could fly up and down because there are times when your enemies or certain asteroids are above or below you that your guns can’t seem to shoot at.

In the end, I give this game a solid 8/10.  The price point of 19.99 may drive off a few customers, but for those who enjoy these types of games, I say go for it.  It’s a good PSN game to pass the time with.

Review Rewind: Final Fantasy 7 (PS4)

Final Fantasy 7

Man… when this game showed up on my PS4 on the PlayStation Store, I didn’t even hesitate to buy this game.  I’m a huge Final Fantasy fan, and this was one of my favorites growing up as a kid.  So I buy it, install it and get ready to play through a game I haven’t touched since the turn of the century.  I couldn’t wait, it had to be as good a I remembered it to be right?

Well, they added three mechanics to the game this time around.  Three cheats to get you through the game faster.  While I was fine with one of them, and used it probably throughout the whole game, the other two were game breakers.  The first, and only one I really used, was a ‘3x Speed’ cheat.  After playing with it on for most of the game, I couldn’t switch it off; I had forgotten how slow this game was.  The second was was a ‘no random encounters’ cheat.  With that on you could make your way down to Sephiroth without having to deal with any of the tough enemies in the Northern Crater.  Lastly… the worst offender of all was a ‘power-up’ cheat.  This cheat kept healing you, meaning you couldn’t die unless you were hit with an instant death attack or their attack did more damage than you had health.  Not only that, but your Limit Break meter would refill every time you used it.  It broke the game and took most of the fun away from it.

Final Fantasy 7 - Zolom

So there were two reasons I wanted to replay this game.  The first, and most obvious one, was that I wanted to refresh my memory for when I played the Final Fantasy 7 Remake; the second reason was to actually pay attention to the story.  As a kid, back in 1997, I never fully paid attention to what they were talking about.  I always just mashed away at the buttons to get past the long dialogue parts of the game, and you know what?  I didn’t miss a single thing.  Now I’m not saying the story for Final Fantasy 7 sucks, but it’s not that great either.  The story just felt silly if you sat down and thought about it.

But in the end it all comes down to the remake.  Will it be good?  Will the episodic style hurt the game?  Will they be taking out or putting in content in the remake?  I guess we’ll just have to wait and see.  All I can say is ‘Lady Luck don’t fail me now…’.

Cid - Lady Luck

This game is slower than I had remembered, but with the ‘3x speed’ cheat I cut down a game that once took me over 70 hours to complete down to a 30 hour game.  The story isn’t anything wonderful, but the characters are fun.  Raising Chocobos and trying to breed yourself a Gold Chocobo will probably take up most of your time, as well as racing them.  Trying to master every one of your Materia is hassle but feels rewarding after you do, and of course let us not forget about Ruby and Emerald Weapon.  Final score, I give this game a solid 8 out of 10.  Play it and get ready for that remake…… in about 2 years or so.

Batman: Arkham Knight – The Novel

arkhamknightOne of the most popular video games of the year for 2015 is Batman: Arkham Knight and if you haven’t gotten around to playing the game just yet, why not read the official novelization by writer Marv Wolfman to get your Batman fix?  Batman: Arkham Knight – the official novel follows the same story-line as the video game with some extra background information and spicy tidbits for DC/Batman comic book lore.

It’s been a year since the Joker has died and a relative calm has presided over Gotham City, but all that is about to change as the Scarecrow unleashes a new fear toxin in a diner, causing everybody to kill each other.  The Scarecrow gives an ultimatum to the citizens of Gotham that he will unleash the fear toxin all over Gotham City in a few hours.  Now it’s up to Batman and his team to stop Scarecrow’s plan, while all this is happening a new player gets involved.  Like in the DC Universe and Jim Lee’s Batman run “Hush” story-line, this new protagonist, the Arkham Knight knows Batman and his allies inside and out.  In this fight against Scarecrow, we find that Batman has been exposed to Joker’s “blood” and as he carries on the fight to save Gotham City and his friends, Batman will be tested mentally and physically.

[Read more…]

Final Fantasy Type-0 HD Collector’s Edition Review

Final Fantasy Type-0 HDFinal Fantasy Type-0 HD had me right from the get-go. Even thought the beginning was more cutscenes than it was gameplay, it was the cutscenes with the Chocobo that probably stayed with everybody in the beginning. Watching a Chocobo die was kind of strange. The only other time I remember seeing Chocobos dying was probably in Final Fantasy X, and even then they, and their riders, just disintegrated. In this game we had to sit through it and a human bleeding out… it was kinda dark. Well, what do you expect from an M-rated game. Yes that’s right, an M-rated Final Fantasy game.

When I started playing the game, it took a while for me to get used to the controls. I played on a PlayStation, so the square button was used to do the normal attacks, but it was also used to pick up something called ‘Phantoma’. Now that wasn’t that bad, but you had to wait a second of not attacking to pick it up, you couldn’t just kill the monster and pick it up right as it died. So watch out if you still have a Behemoth to kill and you’re trying to pick up the other dead Behemoth’s Phantoma. You might as well just let the Behemoth disappear and focus on grabbing the other Behemoth’s Phantoma. Another thing that annoyed me was the camera movement; it was too fast. In big open spaces like the overworld map it was fine, it moved at a decent pace; however, places like in a city you were fighting in, small spaces, the camera would move faster than it should sometimes. I’ll admit I got disoriented a few times, but nothing too major. It was just something that annoyed me, and there was nothing I could do about the speed.

Final Fantasy Type-0 Overworld [Read more…]

Takara PlayStation History Collection

playstationhistory20thIf you’re a Sony PlayStation fan, a miniature model collector or blind box buyer, then you might want to grab this Takara PlayStation History Collection 20th Anniversary.  Takara which has already done an NES and SEGA collection, so you know these will be popular.

[Read more…]

Dragon Age Inquisition Review

Dragon Age InquisitionPicked up Dragon Age Inquisition for my PS4 on the day of its release, hoping that this game would make up for the faults of its predecessor, and, well, I can’t stop playing it. So much so, I haven’t even touched my Far Cry 4 yet. Currently, I’ve already clocked over 35 hours into the game – eating up most of my playing time are all the side quests, such as, picking up herbs and materials to craft new items. I haven’t even gone through half of the main story, which i have to say is a pretty decent story, but far from perfect.

[Read more…]

Fan Film: The Last of Us

thelastofusApparently our Ramen host “the Eddie” is correct.  “The Last of Us” is not just a video game but a film too, well, a fan film made by fans.

[Read more…]

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