Owlboy review

Owlboy is a game that was in development for almost 10 years and I hadn’t heard a thing about it until earlier this year. I saw rejoice on the internet the the game would finally be coming out. I looked for more info about this game that was sure to be a hot item and found a video showing a trailer of the game. Immediately I was taken away by the amazing pixel art graphics and music. The game was now on my radar and November 1st couldn’t come soon enough. I eventually ended up ordering a physical copy of the game through Indiebox and knew I’d have to wait a bit for my copy. Reviews came pouring in on release day to an overwhelming amount of praise. When I finally got my copy a little more than a month later, it being a physical one, I jumped in immediately. Was all the praise for the game genuine? Was the game worth such a long development time? Well...

As I loaded the game up I was greeted with the amazing art style and music but there was more this time, a story. Otus is a mute whose mentor, Asio, is kind of a dick. Actually, he’s a real dick to Otus. Nothing is ever good enough for him and you can see the emotion on Otus’ face when he lets his mentor down. I had a genuine frown on my face when Otus did and felt connected to him as I have in the past when I feel I let people down. The emotion of the game is a key component whether it’s happiness, sadness, or humor..looking at you, Boguins. The ending...oh man the ending. I haven’t felt that impacted by a video game ending for quite some time and the journey was well worth it.

While I didn’t track how long I played for I would say the game lasted 7-10 hours which is perfect length especially instead of the 40 hour long RPGs I’ve been playing this year. The levels are fun, combat flows well, and the difficulty was just right. The visuals made the dungeons feel alive and each enemy was unique. There are puzzles but they weren’t challenging, again, perfect for me. You’re able to freely fly anywhere in the game except for the last part of the game due to...circumstances, and luckily the game still holds up.

Overall, I’m in love with Owlboy. I haven’t stopped thinking about it and looking for more fanart since I stopped playing. I’m listening to the soundtrack as I write this and it brings back great memories. Owlboy is a feelgood game that can whisk you away to another world whenever the real one gets to be too much for you. I highly recommend it to anyone.

Where it all started

Originally written 7/12/15

News came out today that Saturo Iwata, the President of Nintendo, had passed away. It was really yesterday but it was a private thing for awhile. I guess maybe it’s time to buy a WiiU. Maybe trade in my Vita towards it, sort of a one dying system for another type trade.

I don’t need a new console. I don’t need any of my consoles. I am a gamer though and I owe it to Nintendo because they were the ones that started it all for me. I would go to my friend Matt’s house after school in first grade and he had a Nintendo Entertainment System , or NES, for short.  I have so many memories with that big gray box from the games we played to having to blow in the cartridge almost every time you put a new one in because that’s just how games were back then, kids.

Mario Bros was the very first video game I saw, like many people my age at the time. There I learned don’t jump under the first block because the Goomba will get you. Or, having to run and jump to get to that far away ledge. I still play that game no  and it’s one that will always hold up.

A teal Gameboy with Pokemon Yellow and Super Mario and the 6 coins were a couple presents for my tenth(?) birthday. It took me months to figure out how to even leave my room in Pokemon and I remember freaking out after I finally walked on the stairs to go to the next room only to go right back up and scrambling to do what I had just done again. To this day Yellow version always holds a place in my heart and when it was released on the 3ds all the sounds and sprites took me back to those days when things were just simpler.

I got a Gamecube as my first home console as growing up with a single mother I wasn’t handed anything and always had to treat my stuff with care because if it broke I sure as hell wasn’t getting another one anytime soon. I’m glad that was the case though because it makes me care so much more about things knowing that if something happens it would be my fault and my responsibility to get a new one if it really meant that much to me.

I look back on my past a lot, probably more than I should, but one thing is constant and that’s video games. Nintendo started that for me and so many others and I don’t think a lot of people that play games would be who they are if it weren’t for Nintendo in one form or another. Maybe it’s time to go relive those memories and dive into the virtual console of the WiiU that has all my childhood games and more. I’ve made plenty of dumb purchases in my time but mayb this would be a good one.

Rest in peace Mr. Iwata. Thank you.

Ni No Kuni is the greatest game ever made

Ni No Kuni is now my favorite game. I think what really makes this game so special for me was just how magical the world was. I was always looking forward to what the next area would look like, what it would sound like, and what part of the story was ahead. The character animations and design were great and the overall art of the game being done by Studio Ghibli had me knowing this was going to be a special game for me.

Ni No Kuni is a JRPG but the one trope of the genre that wasn’t present, at least for me, was grinding. I only died maybe four times in my playthrough while playing on Normal difficulty, the highest difficulty available, but that’s fine with me. Games that are needlessly hard tend to not click with me so it was nice to have such a colorful and friendly world not be hindered by insane difficulty spikes.

Let’s talk about that colorful world for a little bit. The game gets it’s art from the famous Studio Ghibli which has always held a special place in my heart and whose art always cheers me up. Whether it be from the first town you enter in Ding Dong Dell, a town ruled but King Tom the cat, to the eerie Nevermore Castle the game oozes atmosphere and stunning visuals. The colors pop on the overworld and even in an ice dungeon later in the game everything just looks so perfect.

I feel the best aspect of the game is the characters, though. Mr Drippy is one of your companions throughout the game and everything about him is just perfect. He has some kind of British accent and a sassy attitude which is always a winning combination for me. Esther and Swaine are your other companions and to me only Esther felt kind of flat to me with no real reason for me to really care for her or her motivations, if there were any that I missed. Swaine on the other hand had a great story and without spoiling much gets reunited with someone close to him and you can actually feel the emotion between the two in the scenes that unfold. The game has a theme of emotion throughout the whole story and it always feels genuine.

So when you’re not following the main story what else is there to do? Each area has an errand board to pick up side quests and bounty hunts to be completed to fill out stamp cards for passive bonuses. There’s something so satisfying about filling your log up with side quests and seeing them get crossed off after completing one after another. The quests might seem boring to some though as they can be very straightforward but a few make you think for a minute as to where exactly to go or what to do.

The other thing to do is capture and evolve monsters. Since the art is done by Studio Ghibli the monsters are absolutely the best enemies I’ve ever seen in a video game. Each monster is unique and with a creature compendium there’s that “gotta catch them all” feeling. You can also feed familiars special treats to boost their stats and when they reach a certain level you can feed them an item to evolve them to their next stage where they can go from looking like one thing to a totally different thing which is awesome, again I couldn’t wait to see what was next.

So why is Ni No Kuni, in my opinion, such an amazing game? It just makes you so happy while playing it. The characters, the world, the gameplay, just work so well and create a sense of joy. Sure the AI isn’t perfect and things can seem a little simple and easy at times but that didn’t take away from my experience.  If you enjoy RPGs you owe it to yourself to give this game a try even if it’s just to experience the world, put the game on easy and experience a gripping and heartfelt story. For the first time in an RPG I’m looking forward to doing the post-clear content because it all goes back to that question for me...what’s next?

Oliver with Mr. Drippy