A whole lot of Fantasies being Finaled... that is horrible.

That awkward title is because almost all my gaming over the last couple weeks has been 99% Final Fantasy related. I've played some other games like Bastion, and I'm currently working on Orcs Must Die! for the PC to break up the RPG-ness of it all, but for the most part 2012 has been the Year of the RPG for me. Orcs Must Die! was a game I picked up during the end of year Steam sale, and so far it's been a lot of fun. It's dungeon defense, but with an action component, since you are actively running around placing new traps and also attacking enemies physically while they run through your dungeon. I don't have a lot more I can say about it so far, since I'm all of 9 levels in. Everything else has been Final Fantasy.

Final Fantasy XIII is probably the one I've spent the most time on. I am still in Clapter 11, where it becomes more of an open world, although even when I say that I am referring to "a series of tunnels, but ones where I can backtrack". I think it just feels more open because of that backtracking option, and because not only do things respawn quickly, but I actually need to grind some to continue on. The regular encounters got way harder once I got here, and the bosses at this point are notably harder. Up until this point I think I died a total of 5 times-- and now, I might die 5 times on a trash fight. However, maybe it's exactly that toughness, but now I'm totally behind this game. I didn't exactly hate it before, but I kept thinking "how is this a game?" Now, it's beating my ass regularly, and I'm often running from fights to get to a safer area, bringing back memories of Everquest and running from giants because they could kill me in one hit.

Final Fantasy IV (my "Play at Work" selection) is coming along well. I'm now in the underworld area with the dwarves, and I recall that's roughly the halfway point, at least in the regular game. It's nice to play this and FFXIII at the same time, because they're both annoying in totally different ways that somehow the other game satisfies. FF13 always feels like I'm not in control most of the time, but FF4 feels like I'm exactly in control of every single thing my team does. As a counterpoint, FF4 is slow and plodding sometimes (especially in dungeons) and I'd want a more involved auto-attack option-- just like FF13 provides. FF13 has loads of spells and items, with stats and effects that are poorly documented sometimes (WTF is "Stagger Lock"?). FF4 is a traditional sort of game-- if a spell casts "Sleep", you know it puts a guy to sleep. Both games are turning out to be a lot of fun (not that I am surprised by FF4), even though they're very different games in the same genre.

Dirge of Cerberus : Final Fantasy VII is a completely different game in the series. If I thought FF7: Crisis Core was different, Dirge of Cerberus is "much more differenter". It's a shooter, but not an FPS, more of a clunky Syphon Filter or Metal Gear Solid. I'm 4 levels in, and playing on the Hard setting (as recommended by the game for "people with experience with shooters"), and other than dying to poor control schemes, I'm not having any real issues. You play as Vincent from FF7, and it takes place 3 years after the events of FF7. Vincent has guns and can occasionally transform into a werewolf-demon, which makes him an excellent candidate for an action game. However, you can tell that this game was not made by people who make other exceptional action games, because the controls and camera make part of this game feel more like a chore than fun. There are parts of the game where I've lost solely because I'm fumbling around trying to remember how to switch guns or reload. Despite those problems, the cinematics are damn good, and the story is interesting enough to keep me playing through this.

I need to take a break from the FF series after this I think.