Game 42: Ogre Battle: March of the Black Queen

Ogre Battle: March of the Black Queen is a console strategy game initially released on the Super Nintendo and then re-released on the Sega Saturn and Sony Playstation. I guess the game is rare but I bought the Super Nintendo version at a rental store when they were going out of business for five dollars (also scored that day was Yoshi's Island). I consider myself lucky, too bad the battery has died since then. The game has seen a bunch of sequels including Ogre Battle 64, which I also own.

Decent non turn-based strategy games are tough to come by on consoles, but March of the Black Queen stands out as one of the first and best in the genre. I'm not so sure how the first hour will turn out though, as the game moves pretty slow. Well, let's just get right into it and find out. I'll be playing the Super Nintendo version.

(minutes are in bold)
00 - I select New Game and the hour begins. A man named Warren begins talking. He is a great Seer, which means he can see destinies. He's going to use Tarot cards to decide if I'm fit to be a leader. But first I enter my name, Greg.
01 - Warren asks me my sex and then reveals the Sun card. He then asks me a question on who do I attribute victory in a battle to. I answer, "those who fought with me."

02 - The World card is revealed next. How full is my glass the night before a battle for a toast? Filled to the brim! Warren draws the Hierophant card.

03 - I answer "a sense of justice" in what I see in a leader. The strength card is brought up, it is a woman standing with a lion. Justice, again, is the most important attribute of a warrior in my opinion.
04 - Wow, more cards still. Now the Magician. I'm asked what kind of potion I'd make: poison, wealth, or immortality. None of them sound that great. I guess wealth.

05 - The Judgement card now. Who would I save in battle if I could only save one: my mother, lover, or child. Child, no idea though, I hate these kind of questions. Warren spreads the remaining cards out and asks me to grab one. It's the Fortune card! No questions that time.

06 - I'm now faced with the world map, The Zeteginea Age. I have a few options, but I'll save my game first. Time to start the first level, the Castle of Warren.
07 - Scene 1 - Beginning. A view of a lush green island appears. I guess I have control over some golden guy and have to beat the boss? There's also a day/night indicator in the corner.

08 - I click my guy a few times and tell him to move on what appears to be a building with a pink roof. He slowly starts crossing the plains. Woah, I'm walking over a mountain.

09 - I have liberated the trade city of Daskania. "Liberation!" the female computer voice calls out! Cool! The people are cheering for me. I have the option to pull a card, woah, it's the Hanged Man. The city calls out "Boo Boo!" Oh no!
10 - Liberating towns rewards me with tribute which I need to run my army. Next up I move Greg west to another building. The screen scrolls smoothly with my sword cursor.

11 - I have liberated a Roshian Temple! I pull the Strength card and get a "Thank you" instead of boos. A monk tells me that everything is moving in real time, and that I should pause if I get overwhelmed. Well, with only one character on the screen that won't be a problem. I head further west to the boss!

13 - Sweet, the sky is turning purple, it's twilight! Warren welcomes me to his castle and tells me I must do battle with the Zenobian Empire. He's going to put me to the test.

14 - Warren won't fight me, just keeps telling me to liberate more towns and return to them. Lame.
16 - I've returned to both towns so it's time to kick some ogre butt! Ugh, Warren tells me about a hidden city to the northeast. Can my character cross water? I guess so. Slowly though.

17 - I have liberated the Walled City of Zeltenia! I pull another Hanged Man card! Nooo!

18 - I talk with Lans, a knight of the Royal Zenobian Army. He likes the look in my eyes so he'll join my cause. Wow, what is my cause anyway? And only if it was that easy in real life. I head back to Warren again.

20 - It has become day again. Finally, it's time to fight! Wow, this looks totally different than the overhead map! It's five against one, seems unfair!
21 - I don't even have to do anything, my guys just fight it out. Greg casts Icecloud on Warren and then gets healed by the mage. Sweet, I won!

22 - I have liberated Volzak! Haha, fireworks are set off from the city. I have completed the map and receive 6748 bonus Goth. Goth is what their money is called. Umm... odd.

23 - Next level is called Sharom and is south of Warren on the world map. Scene 2 - Rally.
24 - Wow, this is a big map, and I also have a ton of units available to me now. Time to start deploying I guess and sending them to towns. Interesting, it costs Goth to deploy units. Cost of an army I suppose.

26 - I send out Lans and Geena along with Greg. Lans liberates Valna. I pull the Moon card. It immediately switches the time to night! Oh, I can buy items here at Valna.

27 - Greg liberates a town and pulls the Emperor card. The enemy hasn't deployed any enemies yet.

29 - Oh, the enemy has finally arrived! Greg liberates a temple, I think I'll stay here and wait for the enemy. Another Hanged Man. I am one unlucky fellow. Temples can revive buddies, that should be helpful.
30 - Greg has met the enemy! My tactics are set to Best, which means I always attack their best character. I think I'll set it to weak and take out the little ones first.

31 - Woah, the battle has ended but they still have two guys remaining! That's weird... Interesting, their character hasn't disappeared from the map, they just got pushed back a few inches on the map.

32 - Greg starts battle with another enemy. These guys have a giant wolf. This doesn't seem to hard when Greg's group has a healer.
33 - This last battle was closer, no one got killed but I still won. Must be based off of damage or something. The enemies just keep coming so I deploy a group that looks like it has ninjas in it. Another battle with Greg.

35 - This team is another set of two, just a mage and a giant guy with a club.

36 - Oh no! I lose! None of my guy's die but that giant brute was doing massive damage and getting to attack multiple times in a row. Geena will have to hold the temple.

37 - Geena's team has two amazons, two soldiers, and a healer. We don't do a lot of damage but are rewarded the win. Geena gets into another battle right away though. Oh snaps, it's the mage and the brute with the club!
38 - We have killed the giant! Just the mage left.

39 - Oh yeah, Geena to the rescue! She has killed the mage too, even though he threw two fireballs at one of my amazons.

40 - Man, just battle after battle. It's the two-headed wolf/mage team. They're weak so hopefully I can finish them off. Well, that was easy, they're gone already.

41 - Another battle against a weakened enemy. Good thing they're not running off to heal.
42 - Well, I don't finish off their leader but their team does level up! Now if only I could get Greg back to the temple to help defend it. I'm fighting another battle against a group with a healer. Could be a long battle. We win but they have plenty of health left.

44 - Back at the map, that loser who only has a few hit points left is running back to the boss. Fighting a beastmaster now and his two-headed wolf.

45 - The wolf is dead leaving the beastmaster, but we're declared the winners.

46 - Ugh, these amazons keep getting left with one hit point and then their cleric heals them.
47 - Wow, I forgot about Lans but he found a secret temple on an island! Liberation! I pull the Strength card. The monks give me the Star of Heroes. I get a "HEROSTAR!" Haha.

49 - Greg has healed a bit so I put him in front of Geena. Greg will meet the beastmaster! Greg only attacks once per battle, and its the Icecloud attack that always seems to miss the leader. I defeat the beastmaster though with my little soldiers. That takes care of him.

51 - Greg levels up as we almost defeat the cleric. It has 8 hit points left. It's probably going to run away.

53 - Woah woah woah! Some enemy is flying across the water and might take the city near my capital! I have to deploy Warren and we race there. Geez, the enemy turns and heads right for my capital city. Crap. They have a gryphon. No wonder they moved so fast, they were literally flying.
55 - Warren just whooped down on their leader but I can't manage to kill the gryphon. It'll probably fly away. I have things under control for the moment so I start moving around my characters. I send Geena to the end of a road where a city undoubtedly is. Lans doesn't find anything in his latest search so I send him back near the capital.

57 - Sweet, I do have a ninja on my team. His name is Morgan though. What kind of ninja is named Morgan?

58 - I have re-encountered the weakened cleric, but she's picked up two more clerics. Lame.

60 - Greg's Icecloud finally hits everyone and does some pretty decent damage. Well, it doesn't look like I'm going to get across this bridge anytime soon. It's going to take a while to defend and slowly push forward. I guess that's the end of Ogre Battle's first hour.
Time for some scores out of 10.

Story: 6
About the only unique thing Ogre Battle has going for it in the first hour in terms of story is the tarot card introduction. It was pretty fun answering Warren's questions about how I would manage an army and how much wine I would want to drink the night before a battle. Maybe not fun... but definitely weird and quirky. Being given tarot cards which I can use in battle is also cool and gives the game an extra layer in what seems like a pretty straight-forward system so far. The rest of the story isn't as interesting, and seems pretty derivative of basically anything else, but the tarot card approach is unique. Destinies and fates are intriguing concepts, whether you believe in them or not.

Graphics and Sound: 7
I read a few reviews that knocked on the game's graphics, but I like them. They're simple when they need to be simple like on the world map, and more detailed when in battle. The battles have a cool background behind them that makes it look like they're just being fought out on my desk. The sprites in battle are also well detailed, but plain on the overworld. This isn't bad though, as they're distinct and are more like pieces out of a board game. The game also features the day/night system which I'm sure will be used uniquely further on, but is more just for show in the first hour.

Not much going on with sound in Ogre Battle. The highlight though is when you liberate a town, you get the sound effect, "Liberation!" I still remember hearing that 12 years ago sitting in my bedroom as a kid and thinking how cool it was.

Gameplay: 5
Two different types of gameplay, and both are relatively hands off most of the time. When managing units on the map, you have to scroll around quite a bit to get a handle on things and you have to understand your unit's strengths and weaknesses. It was kind of a shocker when the enemy sent a flying unit at me from across the sea and almost caught me off guard. But most of the time you're just fortifying a town or temple and trying to hold your ground. A lot of moving characters just a little bit in front or behind of another so they can be the won to battle it out. It's almost requires too much control for a strategy game like this.

Battling in Ogre Battle is mostly automated, which is kind of a relief. Many console RPG's just have you tapping the A button to do the same thing turn after turn, but Ogre Battle makes it easy on the player and takes over for them. You can still press the A button and mess with tactics, but other than that, not much to it. Just hope you hit them and they miss you.

Fun Factor: 5
Ogre Battle's super slow moving pieces on map may be great for planning out strategies and preparing for attacks, but it'd be nice if there was a speed up key or something for the times when you just want to get where you want to be. On the other hand, fighting in the battles can be pretty fun but since it is automated, there's nothing to get too pumped about. The battle is essentially decided before you even start, you're just there to watch it unfold. The game doesn't seem to be too heavy on micromanagement within its first hour though, and that's a plus. Ogre Battle is simply not that fun, it's simply delivers average enjoyment.

Minutes to Action: 20

Overall: 5
Twenty minutes is a long time for any game to get rolling, and Ogre Battle: March of the Black Queen suffers from this. I think it would have been more effective if after our Tarot card draw, if we immediately were thrust into battle. The game can still force us to move around Warren's island and liberate towns, but it just takes a long time to get to what the player wants: action. The game's gameplay and fun factor falter due to Ogre's Battle below normal game speed, but the story and choice of graphics save it from falling into the land of crappy first hours. If you're into console strategy games, you probably owe yourself to check out March of the Black Queen for whatever system you can find it on, but don't spend too much money on it; plenty of good strategy games are still being released. The bad part is they probably all still take a quarter of an hour to actually start.

Game 36: Mystery Dungeon: Shiren the Wanderer

Mystery Dungeon: Shiren the Wanderer is a new Nintendo DS adventure that is actually a port of a 1995 Super Nintendo game released only in Japan. Shiren's gameplay is based off the classic computer games Rogue and NetHack. This means randomly generated stages, turn-based gameplay, and harsh character death penalties. Games today are wussified to the point of being able to save anywhere and three hour long tutorials that wean you into the game, Mystery Dungeon is kind of a breath of fresh air. Even if it is a 13 year-old breath, it mixes up the portable scene a bit.

Not much left to say about Mystery Dungeon, I think the review and screenshots will explain the game pretty well.

(minutes are in bold)
00 - I select "Create a Travel Journal" and the first hour begins. I leave the character's name as Shiren (pronounced she-ren if you're wondering). A scroll unravels and the story begins... The Divine Bird of Legend, the Golden Condor lives in a golden city. A man named Shiren is looking for this city in memory of his friend.

01 - He has a pet weasel who talks to him. The pair are in Kobami Valley. In the distance we can see a tal, narrow mountain with a waterfall falling from it. Beautiful. The weasel introduces himself, his name is Koppa.
02 - Shiren is sleeping now, on the top screen is his dream. Looks like the mountain top and the golden condor are merging together.

03 - Still the opening cutscene as Shiren leaves the hut. Ah, the game is really starting now, the first level is called, "Road to the Hamlet." A tutorial begins. "Use A to defeat monsters and get to the stairs." Just A, huh? Oh, use B to move faster. Well that's easy enough.

04 - Woah, immediately after reading the dialogue I get attacked by a monster! I take him down with some timely presses of the A button. Is Shiren using a sword or what?

05 - The world is laid out like a grid, think walking around in Final Fantasy VI. What the heck? Holding B just kinda teleports Shiren across the screen. It's almost like I'm fast-forwarding the game... I'm going to be very leery of this B button.

06 - I fight another rabbit or something and get some experience for killing it. You regain HP by walking around, which is nice I suppose. This game seems very forced RPG though. Enemies run up and it's almost like a short turn-based battle between you and the baddie.

07 - I find a rice ball that I'm supposed to eat to reduce my hunger. Odd.

08 - Sweet, level 2! There's a convenient mini-map on the screen that shows me the areas I've uncovered and the positions of characters and enemies around me. Just killed a rabbit in one hit.

09 - I'm on the next level of the stage, oh, a robber is trying to kill me! He goes down in one hit. By the way, the rabbits are technically called Mamels.

10 - I find 133 Gitans on the ground. Gitans are the game's currency. Next I find and equip a wooden shield.

12 - Shiren just found a cudgel! Nice. And I also reach level 3.
13 - The game informs me that I may die of hunger if I don't eat rice balls. Ouch. My "fullness rating" is 53/100, guess I'll have a snack. That popped me up to 100/100!

16 - I'm just walking around now, killing bad guys, getting experience, and finding stairways. Nothing really to it all right now, pretty easy.

17 - Oh, I have successfully cleared the adventure. Interesting. Shiren is level 4 and my score is 70643. Next stage is Canyon Hamlet.

19 - I guess this is less of a stage and more of a town where I can talk to people and store items. I store a spare wooden shield in the warehouse.
21 - After talking to some villagers in the bar, I learn more about the game's gameplay. If you die in the game, you return to Canyon Hamlet and are reset to level 1! Woah, if you eat monster flesh you turn into that monster! Awesome! Reminds me of Final Fantasy Legend III.

23 - Interesting... every time you make a move, the monsters also move, but if you don't move, they won't move either. Good stuff to know, and pretty much confirms my suspicions of being a turn-based RPG.

26 - Well, Shiren has left the hamlet and is now on the Old Cedar Road. There are more villages every four areas.

27 - I'm in a forest now, and the gameplay seems a little deeper now that I have more information on the game.

28 - I encounter another wanderer in the forest, this guy shows off his +15 Katana and says he kept having it smithied on over and over again at the blacksmith. You think he would have called it something besides his +15 Katana.
30 - Woah, I just got whomped on by a boss I think! His name was Snaky and he was hitting me for 5-7 damage when I only have 19 total! Well, that's it for that adventure, my Shiren is returned to the hamlet's inn. I'm also back to level 1 and I don't have any items! Ouch.

32 - I go retrieve my wooden shield from the warehouse and equip it. I head right back out to the Old Cedar Road. I'm doing a lot less damage now without my trusty cudgel.

34 - What the... I just tripped over a rock, took damage, and dropped everything I had. Lame.

36 - This game is pretty easy when you don't have bosses beating down on you. Guess I just have to level up a bit before I challenge Snaky again.

38 - I entered an area thinking I was going to fight Snaky again, but turns out I'm at some mountain stream. And this chick is hitting on me! "I can make you feel special. Would you close your eyes for me?" What the... wonder how much this costs?
39 - I was blinded! All I can see is Shiren and the mini-map! This sucks.

40 - Phew, I can see again. Good thing there weren't any enemies.

41 - Oh man, speaking of enemies, Snaky just blitzed me! But this time I used a healing item and was able to take him out through attrition.

42 - Lame, Snaky wasn't a boss at all, just a normal enemy. I know this because I just fought another one! And then two at once! Unfair!
45 - No bad guys for a few minutes, but I'm starting to get hungry so I eat the rice ball I found at the beginning of my journey. It gives me 50 fullness points.

46 - I have reached Bamboo Village. Typical twangy Japanese music is playing.

47 - I enter a shop and there's crap laying all over the floor. One guy in the bar did say something about stealing... What, this ugly kid just said he was my brother. Odd.

49 - I buy a cudgel with my available funds.
50 - I'm back adventuring now, and the first thing that happens is a monster that steals 80% of my money and then runs off before I can kill him. Bastard. Another pickpocket has just stolen the last 20%. I'm sad.

52 - The good news is that I can beat Snaky's in only two hits now.

54 - I'm back in Bamboo Village, must have taken a wrong turn somewhere... Just found the blacksmith though, he can upgrade my weapon for 1000 Gitan. I only have 200 now thanks to those pickpockets.

55 - This village is really badly designed. There are a bunch of buildings and they are really spread apart so you have no idea where you're walking to next. There's just path after path and then a random building.

57 - A scene starts as I enter the bar, it's Pekeji, the brute who says he's my brother. I sympathize with him for a bit and then he wanders off. Weird.59 - Well, enough of that village, I'm now on Pegasus Ridge. Wow, there are fire-breathing Firepuffs up here. They sound fluffy but they look like mini dragons! One of them almost kills me.

60 - There's a lot more enemies on Pegasus Ridge and they're a lot tougher. Nothing is too tough for Shiren though as he hits level 7. But that's it for the first hour of Mystery Dungeon: Shiren the Wanderer.

Now for some scores out of 10.

Story: 4
There isn't much story in Mystery Dungeon beyond the opening cutscene, and there's not much meat there either. We have this wanderer named Shiren who is accompanied by a talking weasel. Shiren says his motivation for wandering and finding the golden city is because of his friend, who has died or something. My favorite aspect of this game's story is that there are also a lot of other wanderers/warriors hanging out in the levels, doing their thing. It reminds me of Final Fantasy X where there are a few other groups of people working parallel to you on the same quest.

Graphics and Sound: 5
An important part to consider when developing or porting a Nintendo DS game is effective use of both screens. Mystery Dungeon does not use the top screen well at all, it's just an overall map that is useless. I would rather see my current stats or maybe place the mini-map up there instead of overlaying it on the bottom screen. The graphics are also pretty simplistic, I don't know how they compare to the original Super Famicon version but the grid-based gameplay and a relatively confined playing area don't hold this game back as much as you would think.

The sound in Shiren the Wanderer is nothing special. The music is generic Japanese twangs and I honestly can't even remember if there are sound effects when fighting. Nothing stands out.

Gameplay: 7
Undoubted the most unique aspect of Mystery Dungeon is its wannabe-hardcore gameplay. All maps are randomly generated, though in the first hour they're all still pretty simplistic. But in this game, if you die, that's it, you're done. You restart at level one and are returned to the original village, losing all items you were carrying. I'm guessing this makes Mystery Dungeon all about slowly powering up your weapons and armor, while carefully making sure you don't lose them. I'm not sure how much I like the sound of that, but in its first hour, it's a pretty typical Zelda-style game with turn-based elements. All these combinations makes this game unique, but definitely not for everyone.

Fun Factor: 8
I actually had a pretty good time playing the first hour of Shiren the Wanderer. Once I realized that this game is turn-based it added some new layers of strategy that made me rethink what I was planning when enemies were around. There are some really annoying parts though like "running" which I'm pretty sure is literally just the game fast-forwarding itself. Worst of all, the areas that are NOT randomly generated are horribly designed. Basically every town is way too sprawled out and just plain obnoxious to navigate. Fighting is much more fun than running errands.

Minutes to Action: 4

Overall: 6
Mystery Dungeon: Shiren the Wanderer's first hour is just a slightly above average port of an old game and even older gameplay. The game runs with a unique concept that most console only gamers will never have experienced, and I believe most will be frustrated. The first hour though is nothing special. If you want to try something new, then this game seems like a really good portable experience for the patient gamer. If you're impatient or annoyed by strict death rules, then definitely pass on Shiren. By the way, what kind of lame name is Mystery Dungeon anyway? It sounds as lame Final Fantasy would now if the first game was just coming out.

The Japanese cover for Mystery Dungeon is so much better than the English release.

Game 31: Suikoden II

Suikoden II is a rare PlayStation RPG that can fetch some pretty ridiculous prices on eBay, with sealed copies climbing over $200. Expensive doesn't necessarily mean the game is any good though, as I've seen friends pay many bills for mediocre games that triggered the nostalgia portion of their brain. Either way, Suikoden II is a Konami developed role-playing game on a Squaresoft dominated system and thus never saw sales for this odd sounding game that came close to most other games. The Suikoden series is still being developed by Konami but many fans consider this as the best in the series.

The game itself features an interesting political storyline with highly memorable characters. This description reminds me of Final Fantasy XII, but the difference between the two games is that in Final Fantasy XII the characters seemed far removed from the political scheming where in Suikoden II our heroes are right in the mix of things. The battle system is unique in that your team of fighters consists of six characters in turn-based combat. There are also 108 total characters you can recruit to your cause, a number that seems way too high but is actually manageable and keeps the game entertaining. When not in use, all your recruits hang out in an ever-expanding castle that also serves as your home base.

This is all extra information mostly non-applicable to just the first hour of gameplay, but I consider myself a Suikoden II evangelist and will take any opportunity to push it to the masses. Now let's get started with the first hour of Suikoden II.

(minutes are in bold)
00 - I select New Game and the hour begins. First things first, I need to name my main character. Greg, of course. I'm then asked if I want to load saved data from the first Suikoden, interesting, but not today. Our little guy flashes his nunchucks and we begin loading.
01 - We're overhead at a soldier's camp at night, a blonde haired fellow is walking around outside and enters a tent with Greg in it. His name is Jowy. It looks like Greg is one of those Silent Protagonists who never speaks and his words are implied throughout.

02 - The two talk for a bit, something about Greg's family and his sister Nanami and a dead Master Gengaku. I get the option to get some fresh air with Jowy and we head outside. Jowy joins my party, that was quick.

03 - I talk to the soldiers in the camp and they keep mentioning a peace agreement, some soldiers like it, others don't. What's up with these characters by the way, they're all super skinny and tall.

05 - We head north out of the camp. I can see a waterfall in the distant but it doesn't seem like I'm going to trigger a scene or anything.
06 - Whoops! Guess I entered the captain's tent and he's pissed that we're out of our uniforms. I head east from the campsite this time.

07 - I see a man hiding in the shadows but then he runs off, Jowy doesn't want me chasing him tonight, I guess we're going home tomorrow anyway.

08 - Time to hit the hay, we both crawl into our beds. Woah, I can hear men shouting. "Surprise attack!!!" Intense music starts playing.
09 - Jowy joins my party again. The camp is on fire! Captain Rowd runs up to us. The City-State has broken the peace agreement! He tells us to save ourselves and run east.

11 - Men are dying and injured all over. Before we run into the woods Jowy stops us, he says that the enemy must know this is the only way out and that there must be an ambush waiting. This kid has a good military mind. We head back to warn Captain Rowd.

12 - Oh no! Rowd has betrayed his own soldiers to Prince Luca! Man, that Luca guy looks evil!
13 - Jowy and I agree to run north, no where else to go.

14 - Rowd and some soldiers have followed us! Time for our first battle. The screen switches to a 3D like isometric battle. The characters are still sprites though and they look pretty good.

15 - I have the option to do a Unite attack with Jowy, that seems obvious like an obvious choice! Jowy and I circle our enemies in dramatic and lightning quick fashion and hit them all hard! The weak soldiers go down. Only Rowd left. Next I just attack individually, Rowd counters Greg but then Jowy defeats him. The battle animations are really slick and pretty nice looking.
16 - Jowy realizes we have to jump off the cliff into the water, I half-heartedly agree.

17 - Jowy and Greg make an X on the rock with their knives so that if they ever get separted they will return here to meet back up. We jump.

18 - The graphics switch to sepia tones so it must be a flashback. The opening credits start appearing slowly. Some kids are playing hopscotch. Could be Greg, Jowy, and maybe Nanami? Next it's three little bit older kids with an older man, maybe Master Gengaku?

19 - Then Greg and Jowy looking out over some plains followed by Greg and a girl at a grave. The next scene features Greg and Jowy performing some fancy battle moves against each other in front of a bunch of soldiers.
20 - Finally it is the march to war, Greg and Jowy included in the ranks. The flashback is over, and a dark-haired man starts talking. He says "this punk is a waste of time." That punk might be me.

21 - Greg wakes up surrounded by three men, Jowy is no where in sight. The man introduces himself as Viktor, and says he's my enemy! He's a mercenary and friend of the City-State of Jowston (which sounds suspiciously like Jowy). Another man enters, his name is Flik. Viktor and Flik argue for a minute.

23 - We all head back to their fort. Viktor shoves me in a room and locks the gate. Guess I'm a prisoner.
24 - A kid named Pohl walks up, time for breakfast, and then I have to work. My job is to push all the boxes against the wall... are you serious? What is this, Shenmue? Pohl demonstrates the difficulty involved. Oh, then I have to clean up some rope! Haha.

26 - With the room nice and tidy, I head out, but Pohl has the gall to check my work. Time for supper already after that "hard day's work"!

27 - Greg goes to town on his meal. The next day I have to run errands. Two pairs of boots, three flints, and two bags of flour.

29 - I run around collecting stuff from people, but the storeroom is out of flour!
31 - I'm exploring the base, pretty large place. Flik apologizes for not saving Jowy. I'm sure he's okay.

32 - Pohl tells me we'll have to go to Ryube village for the flour, but someone will have to escort me. Why not Pohl? Woah, my escort is Gengen, some kind of giant fox person! Creepy. He's a Kobold warrior. A little kid named Tuta wants to tag along too. Why not. Both Gengen and Tuta join my party.

35 - Gengen warns us about monsters, awesome. Woah, overhead map of the area! I have to head northeast. Hope I get into another battle.

36 - Well, Ryube village was about 10 steps away. There's some traveling performers setting up in town; Bolgan, Eilie, and Rina are there names. They have portraits and real names so they're probably important.
38 - We get the flour at the store, but before we go back Tuta wants to have some fun. I'm not sure where this "fun" is so I just head out of town and back to the base camp. Too bad I didn't get into any fights.

40 - I'm locked up again and fed. The next day my chore is to clean up oil spills around the building. Odd. I get down on my hands and knees and do the work though.

42 - I clean up about five spills and then it is dinner time again.

43 - The next day, an intruder has arrived, it's Jowy! Wow, he's come for me! Jowy joins the party, time to haul out of here.
44 - We run upstairs and encounter Flit, we're desperately outnumbered but Greg tries to bust through anyway, he's knocked on his rear end by Flik's sword hilt.

45 - Now we're in the war room with Flik and Viktor for an interrogation. Viktor doesn't think our army could have originally been ambushed by the City-State, so we tell them the truth about Luca. Luca Blight.

46 - Viktor isn't going to let us go home, so he locks us both up. Pohl comes and feeds us both. Jowy offers me his carrots, how sweet.

48 - It's nighttime now and Jowy is ready to bust out, he asks what I'm holding: flint, oily rag, and rope. The perfect escape combination! Jowy uses a spoon to open the cell door.
49 - Sweet, Jowy distracts the guards by lighting the oily rag on fire with the flint and chucking it across the room. We head out on the balcony, let the rope down and escape to safety.

50 - Jowy and Greg agree to head to Kyaro town, where Nanami will be waiting. I'm back on the world map but I have no idea where to go!

52 - We do battle with some CutRabbits, they're fluffy bunnies wielding axes! We both level up to level 3 with the win.

53 - I decide to head west. We get into a battle with four Cousin Its, the Unite attack takes them down quickly!
54 - We find a bridge but some men won't let us cross to Radat town. I guess west wasn't the right way.

56 - Our Buddy Unite attack continues to kick butt. Kind of overpowered actually... Level four!

57 - I find Toto village, this is where Jowy floated ashore. Cool, I can save my game at the inn. I haven't saved yet at all.

59 - I leave town and head east and enter North Sparrow Pass, it's pretty foggy here. Some soldiers tell me that the path to Highland is closed.

60 - In the final minute I decide to head all the way north, but Toto is as far as I can go. I supposedly can head west through Toto to Muse, but another soldier blocks my way. I'm stumped, but that's the end of Suikoden II's first hour.
Story: 6
Suikoden II's first hour is the story of two young men conscripted into a war that should be over, but one evil man seems set against that. After a surprise attack, the two friends, Riou (official name) and Jowy are separated and Riou is captured by his former enemy who thinks the war is really over. Jowy then busts Riou out and they set out for home. This all sounds pretty exciting, and the first half is. But once you're captured, the game grinds to a halt as you're ordered to do a bunch of remedial tasks. This isn't Suikoden II's way of training you either, this is just an out of the way route to provide a means of escape. So up until the flashback montage, everything was really great.

As for the characters, Riou is a silent protagonist. Something that was really popular at this time but you don't see it very often anymore. Once voice acting became mainstream for RPGs, that seemed to be the end of an era, not that I'm complaining though. Jowy, Rowd, Viktor, and Flik round out the rest of the hour's main characters, and I think they're all starting to be developed well. And of course we get our first look at Luca Blight, the game's arch nemesis. Once again, games that introduce the ultimate bad guy early on usually do much better developing him and making you believe that he is evil.

Graphics and Sound: 9
The animations in Suikoden II are quite impressive. The characters and environments are not any more detailed than some of the best looking Super Nintendo games, but Konami was really able to step up the depth and complexity of the battle animations on the PlayStation. Check out the Unite Attack screenshot, there's a lot going on here and it really looks nice for its day. 2D sprites will never die, and Suikoden II is one of many games that really prove great artists can enhance a game's appeal. There is a ton of variety in this PlayStation RPG: detailed characters and animations, excellent art design (especially in the flashback montage), nice looking character portraits, and a very detailed (if sparse) overworld. And this in a game where the super skinny characters really bothered me at first.

One of the most important aspects of an RPG is the music, and Suikoden II doesn't disappoint there either. There were some great songs playing, especially during the dramatic flashback, and some were typical village songs that must be a pain to write but are a necessity for a game like this. The battle sound effects were also pretty good, with the sound of numchucks banging on the enemy's head.

Gameplay: 5
Lots of variety with the graphics, but not so much in the gameplay. But it is a console role-playing game so they're not exactly known for much more than walking around and being in battle. The battles themselves seemed really, really easy. I had plenty of hit points, and my Unite attack with Jowy was incredibly overpowering. I have a feeling this is one of those games where the battles are either really easy or really tough, but time will tell if this Unite attack will be available for much longer. Running is necessary to get anywhere fast in the villages or camps, but you have to hold a button to do so. I know that Suikoden II was released before running was the standard instead of the slow-walk, but it is still a pain. And my last complaint is on the way the dialogue was handled. It's pretty slow appearing so you're constantly tapping the X button to move it along, but if you tap it too fast and an option appears for you to select, you'll automatically select the top option and you'll have no idea what you selected! This happened to me at least three times in just the first hour.

Fun Factor: 7
Suikoden II's first hour is an enjoyable experience, we get a good story and an interesting cast of characters, along with great looking animations and battles. The story slows down a bit too much about half way through though, and my hour ended with me having absolutely no idea where to go next. Something I don't appreciate in a world this large. Other than that, I had a good time.

Minutes to Action: 14

Overall: 7
If you can find this game, definitely give it a try. Suikoden II is unfortunately too rare for its own good, there was a PSP port a few years ago but it was never released outside of Japan. The game's first hour is pretty good, especially for a console role-playing game, though it does take rather long before the first battle starts. Suikoden II doesn't come close to something like Final Fantasy VII's first hour, but if I may say it, I believe the game as a whole is the best RPG I have ever played. Geez, here I am way out stepping the bounds of just reviewing the first hour. Time to end this before things get out of hand.

Game 25: Mass Effect

Mass Effect is an action role-playing game for the Xbox 360. It was recently released in November and has received many great reviews and accolades since then. Of course, this doesn't always mean I will like it, but I have high hopes for it as it comes from a distinguished line of video games (notably Knights of the Old Republic and Jade Empire). Mass Effect takes place in the future after humans find out they're not alone in the universe and end up joining in a peaceful truce with many other powerful alien races. The human race has to deal with brand new styles of diplomacy and communication, but have also benefited from an influx of advanced technology. The concept of mass effect itself is similar to "the force" from Star Wars, but more grounded in technology and physics. It basically allows control over dark energy that species can take advantage of through the use of biotic implants and training.

For my review on the whole game, please see my Mass Effect review at Beyond the First Hour.

I'm starting 2008 (and Day 2 of reviews) where I left off with 2007: a new Xbox 360 game. And I'm actually really excited to be able to play Mass Effect finally (I've been borrowing a friend's 360 for about a month now, and have wanted to play this game more than any other, I even read the prequel book). Let's just hope my self-built hype for this game doesn't implode on itself, but from everything I've heard, I don't think it will. I'd like to quickly apologize for the choice of screenshots, they don't really fit the text but they are neat to look at! Now let's get started with Day 2 of The First Hour and my review of Mass Effect.

(minutes are in bold)
00 - I click Start New Career and the first hour of Mass Effect begins. I enter the Alliance Military Personnel Database. The database looks for me, Greg Shepard (Shepard is the last name the game gives me, so all the voice actors can actually say my name), but can't find me. Looks like I get to create my own character!

01 - Lots of options available, but I don't want to spend too much time on this. Character creation doesn't seem as deep as it was advertised, but there are still lots of options to tweak and the human head in front of me looks really lifelike.. Not as many hairstyles as I'd like though.
02 - I get to decide what Greg's childhood and military career were like before the game. I'm a Sole Survivor from Earth and a Soldier. Just the defaults really, a few cool things you can do is modify your history, like where you were born (on Earth or in space) and how you became famous (all my fellow soldiers were killed in an attack).

03 - The game starts loading... A view of Earth. Some men are talking about me, Greg Shepard. They seem to know my history. There I am looking out a spaceship's viewport.

04 - The men say I'm the only man left to protect the galaxy. Some text appear on the screen, detailing the discovery of a super technology that thrust humans to the technology state they are in now.

05 - A few shots of a ship flying by, Greg Shepard is walking through the ship. A man voiced by Seth Green is noting some technical details. Greg stops, he looks rugged and experienced. The ship is approaching a really large space object, a mass relay it's called. The mass relay sends our ship at faster than light speeds across the galaxy to another mass relay.
06 - Joker, Seth Green, reports our arrival. An alien behind him says "good job" and Joker complains. Shepard walks up behind them. I get to respond to Joker's complaints. I tell him to "cut the chatter!"

07 - Captain Anderson comes on the comm and asks for me. I now have control of Shepard and start walking around the ship.

08 - I approach Navigator Pressly, he says there's something odd about this mission. Something about Spectres, top covert agents, being on board that makes things fishy.

09 - The dialogue options are really nicely laid out, I get a few short choices (one to three words) and Shepard expands on that option. Really cool design. The characters look so real too and I can even see some emotion in their faces.

10 - I ask Pressly a few more questions, he seems biased against this Spectre who is a Turian (an alien race). Next up I approach Jenkins the soldier and Chakwas the doctor. They argue a bit, Jenkins really wants a battle, but the doctor is sick of healing him!
11 - Everything I say is kind of mean, this is fun. I tell Jenkins not to play the hero. After our conversation I get +2 Renegade points. Sweet.

12 - In the captain's quarters is Nihlus, the Turian Spectre. He asks me about Eden Prime, the world where our mission is to take place. I tell him I'm a marine, not a tourist. Shepard's got some wit.

13 - Captain Anderson approaches, he has the voice of the Arbiter from Halo 2 and 3. Very deep and military like, his voice matches his character very well. Anderson was the main character from the book so I'm pretty familiar with him.

14 - Anderson and Nihlus explain the mission: a Prothean beacon has been found on Eden Prime. The Protheans are some long extinct but super advanced race so finding their artifacts is a very good thing. Nihlus is also around to evaluate me to become a Spectre. Must be a pretty elite squad as there isn't a single human Spectre.

15 - Eden Prime will be our first of several missions together. Joker interrupts, a message from Eden Prime. We get a jerky handheld camera view of an ongoing battle.16 - Looks like someone beat us to the planet, the three of us watch some soldiers get shot and a giant spider like ship floats in the air. Then the transmission goes dead.

17 - We arrive at the planet, Shepard and his team are going in. We need to find the beacon, top priority. Nihlus is going in solo. Not sure how he'll monitor Shepard if he's not with me.

18 - I have control now on the planet, time to check things out. This all feels a lot like Gears of War: behind the shoulder camera, holding L aims, R shoots. I'm liking this setup.

19 - We turn a corner and that fool of a soldier Jenkins gets shot. Well, he sure didn't last long, shouldn't have worn his red shirt today.

20 - My first battle! It felt really awkward shooting these little flying drones with my pistol, didn't feel like I was hitting them at all, but I must have because they soon blew up. Even my remaining partner, Kaidan, hit one.
21 - Kaidan asks what to do with Jenkins' body, I say to forget about him. More renegade points!

22 - More shooting, and more similarities to Gears of War: you can cover behind objects by pushing in the left stick. The game is being super lenient with the shooting, not sure if this is just because it's the first mission or what, but I'm pretty sure I'm not even close to hitting the enemies.

23 - I take a moment and hit start and check out the Squad Screen. Here I can assign talent points to various attributes such as pistol skill, assault rifle skill, and even intimidation. I spread my points out, not trying to focus on one thing. I can also give points to Kaidan. He's got totally different options though, he can Throw (mass effect throw, like the force), and has a specialty in first aid. That should come in handy.

25 - A cutscene begins of a woman in pink running away from some drones and then shooting them down. Woah, a man just got speared by something from the ground. And now I have to shoot Geth Troopers! I take them down easily with my enhanced pistol skill.
26 - Ashley Williams, the woman in pink armor approaches me. She was patrolling when the planet was attacked. She says they're fighting Geth, but no one can believe that it could actually be them. I tell Ashley to come with us, could always use a helping hand.

27 - Holding L2 gives me a quick look at the weapons we have equipped and what ones I can choose. Everyone seems to have a pistol, assault rifle, sniper rifle, and shotgun, but we're all not necessarily trained in them.

28 - The game quickly shows me how to use cover and then throws more enemies at me.

29 - My super soldier mows them down and we approach the dig site where the beacon should be, no dice though. Looks like we have to continue on looking. The actual control of this game plays a lot like Knights of the Old Republic but the shooting feels like Gears of War. It's a really weird combination but it seems to be working.

30 - Nihlus comes on the comm and tells me to head to the space port up ahead. Not really sure where to go so I guess I'll go straight. There is a radar map but it doesn't seem too informative. Just points north.
31 - We approach a burned out camp, and some spikes are poking out of the ground, but with bodies speared at the top. Ouch. The spears retract and the (used to be humans?) zombies come to life and approach. These guys can take a lot more hits so I whip my shotgun out and blow out their innards (not actually graphic though).

33 - I just realized I leveled up, so I spend some more available talent points on my heroes. Plus I can put points into Ashley as she's a new team member. Cool. I put more points for her into Assault Rifle.

35 - I open some crates and find supplies, and then approach a security door. I have to play a quick game of Simon Says to open it. That was easy enough. There's some scientists inside, looks like they were hiding out. We ask them what happened to the beacon, Nihlus was right, they moved it to the space port. One of the scientists think that the beacon could be the greatest discovery ever, the other thinks it is the fall of mankind.

36 - I leave them in their boxcar and then a cutscene starts. It's Nihlus, he's found another Turian, Saren. Nihlus asks Saren what he's doing there, but then Saren shoots Nihlus in the back of his head! Guess there won't be any more Spectre evaluating.
38 - As we approach the space port, we see the giant spider space ship flying off into the sky. Maybe that's Saren leaving?

39 - Not too much time to wonder though as we get into another firefight. Well, it's actually us shooting at the Geth and them running at us like suicide bombers. They don't seem to be doing any damage though.

40 - Haha, I shoot at an exploding crate and Kaidan dies. Whoops. He gets back up a moment later though. We approach Nihlus' body. A man appears from behind some more crates and says he saw another Turian shoot Nihlus. He said Saren shot him right in the back of the noggin and then headed towards another platform.
42 - I push the guy a little further asking how he wasn't killed, turns out he was napping on the job and when the Geth attacked he was sleeping behind the crates. The three of us rip on the guy pretty badly. We leave the guy and head for the other platform too.

43 - Dang, Shepard is a really good shot with the pistol! I also take out a thug by blowing up the barrel he was standing next to. Loser.

44 - We're supposed to head down a narrow passage now, but there's tons of bad guys. This may take a few minutes. A Geth Destroyer shoots what looks like a rocket at us!

46 - My team ends up making pretty quick work of them. We reach the end of a platform, hop on a mini train and a cutscene begins. It's Saren, he says to set the charges. He approaches the beacon and he's suddenly lifted up off the ground. No explanation there but it looks like he's received some kind of power.
47 - Woah, I have four minutes to dismantle four bombs. I head to the first one and shut it down. Three more to plus there's bad guys shooting at us.

48 - I press Y to heal my squad and then dismantle the second bomb.

49 - I overheat my gun by shooting too much, it doesn't seem that I have limited ammo though, just can't fire too many bullets in a small length of time. Another bomb down too.

50 - Shepard disarms the fourth and final bomb. We're safe in that respect at least.

51 - I'm able to press right on the D-Pad to tell my squad to attack the guy I'm attacking. Pretty nice tactics there.

52 - I take out the last of the Geth and level up, I also receive a 360 achievement. I head to the talent screen to assign a few more points to weapons and training. Well, actually I'll max out my intimidation skill!
53 - I walk up the beacon, looks like I beat the mission. Shepard reports in to Normandy (the ship) that we found the beacon. Williams approaches the beacon and she starts getting sucked into it! Shepard runs up and throws her away from it.

54 - But now he's getting lifted up! I see a bunch of bloody red flashes of something on my screen, and then I must have passed out.

55 - A cutscene with Saren and The Matriarch (no idea). She tells Saren that one of the humans (me) touched the beacon. Saren gets ticked off and throws a tantrum. Loading.

56 - Shepard wakes up in the infirmary, Ashley calls for the doctor. The doc tells me I was out for 15 hours. Ashley blames herself for the incident, I tell not to worry. She smiles... I think she likes me.
57 - The doc says she detected some abnormal brain activity and I tell her about the red vision I had.

58 - Captain Anderson approaches and I ask why Ashley is on board, he says she's been reassigned to the Normandy.

59 - Anderson says the Council wants answers, things are not looking good. He tells me that Saren is also a Spectre, but that he's gone rogue. He has allied himself with the Geth.

60 - We talk a bit more about my vision and Saren. This guy is obviously a bad dude as he doesn't like humans and seems to have the firepower and willingness to knock us out, and maybe all the other species to boot! I like games that introduce the main bad guy early on! Well, that's it for Mass Effect's first hour.

Now for some scores out of 10.
Story: 9
Mass Effect has a huge story to tell, and the amount you want to take in is really up to you. During my review I didn't dive too deep into conversations and just skimmed any Codex entries I received. This allowed me to progress the main story and experience more action, but I started another new game and barely got off the Normandy in the first hour because I was reading so much information. The game also has a prequel novel available written by the game's writer, so there's plenty of history and backstory. However, looking purely at the first hour I experienced, the game still manages to pack a lot of cool development in. We get to meet an alien race, explore an advanced spaceship, and get to see a trusted super agent knocked off by the game's villain. There's drama and action, just what its genre of action role-playing game promises.
Graphics and Sound: 10
Mass Effect is running the Unreal Engine 3, so you know it's going to look great. The characters look awesome, more realistic than Gears of War (same engine) if you ask me. There's some funny looking texture draw-in that can draw your eye away from the real scene, but it's not too bad. Honestly, this game is like a movie, the default graphical settings have a white noise effect on and motion blur that gives Mass Effect that unique and realistic look. Sound wise the voice acting is outstanding. Shepard's voice sounds really good (both male and female versions, male in this review) and the other cast members are recognizable and even fit the part. The presentation in this game is outstanding and the best I've experienced on the 360 yet next to Call of Duty 4.
Gameplay: 8
Running around and interacting with objects in Mass Effect feels a lot like Knights of the Old Republic. This is both good and bad. The good is that the system is familiar and it works pretty well, the bad is that it feels a little last gen. I still feel like I don't have 100% total control when moving around. The action feels a lot like Gears of War. This is also both good and bad. The good is that this system is also familiar and it works pretty well, the bad is that it's hard to live up to a system like Gears of War, things just don't feel as fine tuned and a little sloppy. When I'm shooting at things it doesn't really feel like I'm hitting them, there's a health bar at top and that's really the only indication that I'm doing any damage. Assigning weapons to my squad is very easy though and they seem rather intelligent. The dialogue system is brilliant and works a lot better than the past games.
Fun Factor: 8
I was pumped to play Mass Effect and while I enjoyed it, I was surprised by a few things. I was super surprised by how the action played out, and was pleased with it at first. The shooting engine started showing its flaws along the way but my soldier was so strong I had no problem mowing down enemies. I think I had the most fun during the conversations, examining the character's faces and their reactions to what I said was really interesting. You can tell Bioware spent a lot of time on all the small muscles in the face. The story was also fun to follow but it took a while to get to the action, even longer if you want to read everything (but then maybe you don't really care about shooting things).
Minutes to Action: 20
Overall: 9
Mass Effect really does a lot of things right in its first hour: the graphics are amazing, the voice acting is outstanding, and the story is engaging. I have a warning though: if you are expecting an RPG with guns, you will probably be disappointed. The game is very action orientated, a lot more than I thought. Jade Empire also had a lot of action but that was martial arts, actually shooting something takes a lot more thumbstick skill so be prepared. Either way, I'm really excited to play the rest of this game. The minutes to action score (20) is probably the worst I will ever give to a game I scored a 9, but keep in mind that's just when the shooting starts. There's plenty of interesting cutscenes and dialogue trees to work through before then. When I reviewed Star Control 2 I made a conjecture that the classic game may have inspired Bioware to create Mass Effect and I look forward to seeing if that's true.

Game 23: Skies of Arcadia Legends

Skies of Arcadia Legends is a role-playing game developed by Overworks and released on the Gamecube. It is an enhanced port published by Sega in early 2003. The original game, simply Skies of Arcadia, was released on the Dreamcast in 2000. The game was pretty well received on the Dreamcast and has even ranked on some all time top 100 video game lists. The port to the Gamecube was an interesting decision considering the system was not known for RPGs, but Sega probably figured gamers would be eager to grab up a game when it stands nearly alone in the genre. They were also probably right (hey, even I own a copy).

Anyways, Skies of Arcadia follows a group of sky pirates who steal from the rich and give to the poor. The main pirate is Vyse, a young man who apparently wields a glass sword as some sort of useless forearm shield. He's joined by "up to 22 crew members" according to the back of the box, most of whom appear to be skinny, voluptuous women or tough looking pirate geezers. Not a bad combination there. The game also features ship-to-ship battles along with the typical RPG fights, so let's see how much Skies of Arcadia sets itself apart from those landlubbers in its first hour.

(minutes are in bold)
00 - I select New Game and the timer starts. A cutscene starts with a view of the moon and the wind howling around us. A flying airship passes through the sky with a young woman in white on board. The ship is being chased by a much larger, intimidating airship! We cut to a man in a white cape named Alfonso who says (text, no voice acting) that he finally found her.
01 - Alfonso orders his crew to fire on the other ship and capture the woman. Her ship starts going down in a slew of smoke as it is hit By the way, ordering your men to take out a ship on the run usually means they're bad guys.

02 - The woman is knocked out, she kind of looks like Princess Zelda. Some text informs me that the woman has been taken aboard. All of a sudden the bad guy's ship is rocked by an explosion.

03 - Alfonso looks stunned! "Who would dare attack a vessel in the Imperial Armada?" Imperial always means bad guys, suspicion confirmed.

04 - It's Air Pirates! A similar sized ship throws grappling hooks onto the Imperial Ship and the pirates hop aboard. A kid named Vyse is to the rescue, but he's surrounded by armored Imperial Guards.
05 - A girl that looks exactly like Pippi Longstocking joins Vyse on deck, her name is Aika. They're members of the Blue Rogues and proud of it. Time for a battle! Battle options consist of the usual: Attack, Guard, Item, Run, and Magic. There's also two things called S-Move and Focus. Side note: what's up with all the red-headed characters lately looking exactly like some real-life counterpart. Just last week we had a bully in Psychonauts who looked like an even uglier Carrot Top as a child.

06 - I attempt to do an S-Move but it's grayed out. I just attack with Vyse and Aika instead. They totally destroy the guards with some nasty swipes of their weapons. Vyse was hit but barely hurt.

07 - A man named Dyne shoots another guard, Vyse yells "Dad!" A little family drama occurs and then Vyse and Aika run off in search of treasure. I'm now in full control, there's a mini-map in the lower map. Mini-maps are a good things.

08 - After jogging a bit down below, Alfonso calls to me. He blabs on a bit but makes the mistake of showing off the girl.
09 - Vyse is stunned he kidnapped someone, but before he can react, Alfonso sends four green soldiers at us!

10 - Aikia is using some kind of boomerang, but when she's in close range she just whacks them with it. Similar to the battle animations in Chrono Trigger. I win the battle easily enough and they both level up and gain some stats. Aika also ranks up and learns Sacri. No idea what that may be. Probably some sort of heal.

11 - Being a treasure hunter, I'm also on the lookout for chests, I find one with a Sacri Crystal 2 in it.

12 - Ugh, a random battle. This time the baddies get to hit me a few times first, but Vyse counters one of them and kills them. Poor sap. These guys are being killed by a boomerang... My characters also have 400-500 hit points and are getting hit for about 40. I'm basically invincible at this point.
13 - Alfonso is stunned we beat his soldiers. A baby could have beaten them.

14 - I find a switch that turns off the alarm, maybe that will stop the random battles? I also find a save point in the shape of an anchor, looks neat.

15 - I find a door and run outside, the pirate music has stopped and I'm climbing a ladder down the side of the craft! Pretty scary, but I'm an air pirate!

16 - The bastard Alfonso chucks one of his own men off the ship to frame him as a traitor. What a loser.
17 - Good thing Vyse is right behind him to deliver justice! Oh oh, Alfonso raises his arm and an armored bull charges into the room. Looks like it's boss time.

18 - I decide to focus with Vyse... The bull counters an attack from Aika with some thunder fury!

19 - I guessed correctly that Sacri is a healing spell, I need it as this bull is hitting harder than the typical guard. Vyse misses from point blank, lame.
20 - S-Move time! The bar on top of the screen says 8/8 so it's available, no idea how it got full but I'm not complaining! Vyse does some mean slashes and does a bit of damage, pretty nice.

21 - Meanwhile, Aika is getting beat up bad as the bull is focusing on her. I manage to heal in time, turns out the heal uses 2 points from that bar on top, and Vyse and Aika share the bar. Odd.

22 - The bull dies in a fiery explosion, yay! Level up for both. But more importantly the longer battle has given me a clue on how the battle system really works.
23 - Alfonso escapes on a personal craft, quite the coward. Our heroes turn back to the girl in white and the scene cuts away.

25 - The girl named Fina wakes up in a bed, Aika and Vyse introduce themselves and the Blue Rogues. I get the option to have Vyse say that Fina is weird name and Aika gets pissed at me. Well, it is kind of strange.

26 - In the following conversation, Vyse explains that there are two types of pirates, the Blue Rogues (the good guys of course) and the Black Pirates (the mean and dastardly pirates). Vyse basically says that the Blue Rogues rob from the rich and give to the poor. How original. Vyse and Aika are called out of the room by Dyne and I'm back in control.