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As I promised, today, after about 15 years, I can finally say I’ve accomplished all the goals in Crash Bandicoot 2: Cortex Strikes Back. It took me  a few days of persistence and it probably did some damage to my nerves, but I did it.

The most difficult level? I’m surprised to say it was Un-Bearable. It contained the last clear gem I got and I found what I needed to do by pure accident. I kept missing about 20 boxes at the end of the level and I was sure I didn’t miss any forking paths or anything of the sort. On one of my many attempts, it just so happened that, on the point where the big bear falls through the wooden planks,very few of the planks got broken. At that point, I was sure I had to now jump over the gap and go back to find some hidden passage.

Crash Bandicoot 2: 100% Save

That save slot looks so nice I’d like to frame it and put it on my wall.

I failed to jump over, but I managed to fall in. THAT was the secret passage. You actually have to jump into the hole. About ten lives later, I managed to get through it to, and even found the two sneakily hidden extra life crates at the only checkpoint in the area. Finally, I got the last gem.

My reward? An extra ending scene where Coco, Crash and Nitrus Brio use a cannon powered by all the gems to destroy the Cortex Vortex. Well, I got that, a nice “100 %” on my save slot image, and the satisfaction of completely clearing one of my most fondly remembered games.

Crash Bandicoot 2 : 100% Ending

I’ve 100% cleared Crash Bandicoot 2 and all I got was this scene.

What now? I’ll move on to another one. I also might write up a short guide on all the gems,or at least on how to get those I personally found the most difficult to find or get.

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After the fight in Burmecia, I actually had to change discs. Disc two started with Dagger and Steiner again. The tram ride to the top was over and we now had to wait for the next tram to arrive. We decided to wait that the local rest station, where we soon met Markus and Cinna of Tantalus.

They’re on a mission to help Blank, who was still petrified in the Evil Forest. They heard a rumor of an item called “Supersoft” being in possession of a noble in Treno. Since she felt she owed blank, Dagger decided to help them out with the item.

Final Fantasy IX, Black Waltz #3

Black Waltz #3 was the must stubborn one of the bunch. He just refused to die.

We all got on the same tram, but the ride was soon interrupted by an old friend, Black Waltz #3. He was badly damaged and near death, but he could still pack quite a punch, especially considering Dagger and Steiner were still level 6. Eventually, I got through the battle and we moved on to Treno.

I remembered I got the coffee from the South Gate, so I tried going to Dali first, but I couldn’t give it to the old man yet, which actually makes sense, since Zidane’s group was the one that found the item.

I entered Treno and the group split up again, leaving me with Steiner. A bunch of ATE’s later, we all regrouped and decided to break into the noble’s mansion to get the Supersoft. At the mansion, we met professor Tot, who knew Dagger and decided to help her.

I met up with the professor at his house later, where he gave me the Supersoft and opened up a secret passage to Alexandria for us – The Gargan Roo.

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I had a lengthy session today, so I managed to explore most of the swamp and clear a bunch of quests along the way.

I started at the shrine, which was devoted to the same goddess as the one in Vizima, but I didn’t have anything of “nature’s harvest” this time. I decided to go back to the dock and start exploring the area from there. On the way back, I stopped by an abandoned brick making site infested with drowners. I cleared the area and found the bodies of a couple of Salamandra, as well as the witcher I’ve been tracking since I entered the Outskirts. I guess that quest is over.

I got to the docks and spoke to the guard there, who offered me money if I bring him ten wolf pelts. Nearby was a brick maker’s village. An old woman who was their leader wanted someone to get rid of the drowners I already killed, so I got my reward right away. She also asked me to find a missing boy and pointed me in the direction of the druid camp to the north.

The Witcher, Gramps the Cannibal

Apparently, Gramps is a cannibal.

Then I went to Gramp’s house, where I got a surprise. It turns out Gramps practices cannibalism. I had the option to either kill him here, or let him live. Since he promised me some scrolls if I spare him, I agreed, hoping I’ll be able to deal with him later. However, once I agreed to spare him, the game wouldn’t let me chose the option of killing him anymore. I’m probably gonna pay for that later, but at least I got a new potion recipe.

I kept getting attacked by drowners further north, so I went back south, all the way to the shrine. I bought some dried fruits from the village elder, so I offered them at the statue and got some minor item I can’t remember anymore. Further from the shrine, there was a wolf cave, so I got my pelts there. In one of the rooms, there was also a crypt, as well as a wraith defending it. Once the wraith was dead, which was tough because I had to fight a bunch of wolves alongside it, I checked the crypt and found another Sephiroth, meaning I was only missing three now, possibly even two, I can’t remember. In the same room, I found another circle of elements, which taught me Quen. This is a rune I actually intend to train in, since it casts a damage absorbing shield.

The Witcher, Gnome

I guess this is a gnome, but I’m not sure.

I got out and continued in the same direction, finding a lumberjack camp soon. Their leader, who I think is a gnome, but I’m not sure, offered me gold if I gather some swamp plants and deliver them to the ferryman at the docks. I agreed, of course, and continued in the northern direction, since I went as far southwest as I could.

Further to the north, I finally got to the druid camp. The only dried there told me there’s no way they would abduct the missing kid, as the village elder was claiming, since they would have no use for him. Apparently, only girls can become dryads. From one of the druids, I bought some books, describing some local plants. It cost me a fortune, but I would have probably had to buy them eventually.

The camp also contained another circle of elements – Yrden. This one creates a trap that slows enemies passing through it, which probably isn’t to useful for me, but time will tell. Finally, I talked to an elf there, who asked me to deliver a message to Vivaldi in Vizima. I agreed, since I was soon going there anyway.

The Witcher, Druid

Regular fantasy druids here!

The druids told me the herb I was looking for grew to the northeast, so I decided to complete the circle and continue in that direction. I found the plants, but I’ve also found plenty of enemies, so I nearly died a couple of times. I ran out of Swallow potions during the initial escort quest, so I had trouble during the entire exploration, but it was really getting risky by now.

Because of this, I went back to the druid camp and spent some money buying alcohol so I could brew more potions. With a stack of five Swallows, several White Gulls and a bunch of others, I went back northeast and cleared most of the area. I passed the first ruined tower of the alchemist, but I didn’t go to the one that was still standing yet. Instead, I went as far east as I could and found a Squirel camp, but there was nothing I could do there, so I went back.

This time, I finally went to the middle of the whole area, where the tower was. There wasn’t much I could do there, but I did manage to nearly kill myself by messing around with some pillars surrounding a frozen golem, causing lightning to strike me.

I got back to the docks, delivered the pelts to the guard, as well as the herbs to the ferryman and then paid him to take me back to Vizima.

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The Review : Is Brave Story a Proper JRPG?

As you can tell, I really love classic style console role-playing games, and Brave Story is a perfect old school example of one. Brave Story is a new game, but everything about it feels old school. You have this unremarkable kid who ends up becoming the savior of a world, loyal friends and companions he meets along the way and evil enemies he must defeat, rivals he takes back on the right path and plenty of adventure along the way.

The mechanics of Brave Story are not too complicated. You have your primary attributes which grow with experience and get increased by equipment. As you level up, you learn new skills, and as your party members grow fonder of you, you learn new unity skills, which are combo attacks involving multiple characters. Your companions can change their weapon and armor, while the main character’s sword upgrades during the story. Each character can also equip three accessories which are either found, bought or crafted, provided you find the right recipe.

Brave Story - Screen 1

The graphics are in the 3D anime style, with the level of quality close to the PS2.

There are plenty of characters in Brave Story, but you are slightly encouraged to choose a fixed group to play the game with. Still, switching isn’t impossible and if you like, you could max out every one of them.

Brave Story also includes plenty of side quests, which provide rewards in the form of new crafting recipes, equipment or various other items which help you on your main quest. You can also catch birds in special mini games, which you can then use in bird fights and acquire even more rewards this way. There’s plenty to do aside from the main quest and you don’t have to wait until you reach the end game to do a lot of those things. It is, however, much easier to complete the side quests once you can freely fly around the map.

Once you come to that point, you also get to visit an extra hard bonus dungeon, where you can fight a special boss, for even more rewards. The graphics are simple, but nice and the characters are very detailed. The sound is just as good. Brave Story looks and feels like one of the classic PlayStation era JRPGs so any fan will truly love it. In any case, if you love a good JRPG, you won’t go wrong with Brave Story. It’s one of the best games of this genre the PSP has to offer. While we’re at it, I should also recommend watching the Anime. It has different characters, which appear in the game as cameos you can actually play with for a while.

The Verdict

Score: 9/10

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The Review: Is Final Fantasy II – Anniversary Edition Worthy of Its Legacy?

This was the other remake I completed on my PSP and I have to say, it’s just as good, even better than the first. I must admit, I haven’t played this one in its original edition so I have nothing to compare it against except various reviews of the original by other people. Again we have the beautiful high resolution (for the PSP screen) 2D graphics, the recognizable Final Fantasy music and the good old Square style which seems lost on the newer games. Again, not much has changed from the original, other than the addition of the optional dungeons. Again, we have the pure retro RPG experience.

Final Fantasy II - Anniversary Edition - Screen 2

Everything looks beautiful. The graphics alone would have been upgrade enough.

So why is it better then? Because the original Final Fantasy II was better than the original Final Fantasy I. It had a more complex story, a more complex level up system and many of the “rookie” mistakes of the first game were fixed. This time, there are no levels and no experience.

Whatever it is that you use in battle is what increases after it. Use sword attacks? Your sword skill and offensive physical attributes increase. Get hit by spells? Your spell resistance goes up. Use a spell? Its level will increase. This is a system that is extremely simple to use and understand, but that at the same times creates a huge complexity in your choices. There is also no limit to it. If you use your characters in a certain way, you will get your tanks, mages, healers, and other typical roles, but there is nothing stopping you from doing some grinding and building up characters.

Final Fantasy II - Anniversary Edition - Screen 1

The high resolution 2D graphics look amazing. They boosted the spell effects to.

As I understand from other people, this system was also a bit of an issue in the original game. You could abuse the system by attacking your own party members, which would always give a more sizable increase compared to regular enemies. You were even encouraged to do so to go past the pretty high difficulty level the original game was known for. I don’t know if they really changed this, but throughout my playthrough of the remake, I never once felt the need to do this. At a few points, the difficulty of the game would increase quite a bit, but with a bit of smart spell use, my characters would quickly catch up.

The Verdict

To conclude, Final Fantasy II – Anniversary Edition is true to its roots and a great Final Fantasy game. It gets an absolute recommendation from me.

Score: 9/10

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The Review: Is Final Fantasy I – Anniversary Edition Worth It?

Since my PSP finally got hacked, I can “afford” to play games on it. Final Fantasy I – Anniversary Edition is one of the games I managed to complete in the last few months. All in all, it’s a remake true to its roots. Not much in the mechanics has changed, but the whole game received an excellent graphical face-lift, without losing its retro charm.

While the DS remakes of Final Fantasy are fun, the 3D graphics aren’t really that nice and, in my opinion, take away from the experience. On the PSP, however, Square decided to stick to 2D sprites, but made them in beautiful, high resolution which looks excellent on the PSP screen. The characters, backgrounds, enemies, effects, everything has been upgraded.

The mechanics of Final Fantasy I, however, remained the same. You get to choose between several classes, which differentiate in their stat growth on level up, equipment they can wear, and the maximum spell level they can eventually use. Each class can also, in mid to endgame, be upgraded, allowing for even higher level spells and more equipment. Final Fantasy I was one of the first proper console role playing games so the mechanics are pretty simple for today’s standards. This is why those who played these games in the past will love them, while those that started gaming recently might find them a bit dull or tedious. The frequent random battles do not help with this.

Other than the graphical upgrade, Final Fantasy I – Anniversary Edition also received a set of bonus dungeons, each with an elemental orientation and each unlocked after killing the associated elemental boss in the main story. The dungeons hold strong opponents and extra treasure, but not much else.

All in all, this is a game that true fans of the franchise should definitely play through. As for everyone else, try it. Some might give up after a while, but for those that stick with it to the end, it will be worth it.

The Verdict

Score: 8/10