— Final Fantasy Girls

Peace, serenity, and economic abundance now surrounds Alexandria; the curse of the Mist has been lifted and all of Gaia’s people are enjoying the calm brought by the rogue efforts of Zidane Tribal and company. Alexandria shimmers in the dead of night – the blade encapsulates the castle’s stronghold as the mightiest defense in all of Gaia flanked by its ruthless female soldiers and Knights of the Pluto whom have metamorphosed as vicious sentinels of peace. While Alexandria is dreaming, one warrior walks its streets, armed with courage and unyielding conviction for the Queen.

“This alley?” General Beatrix spoke in a soft voice, “This alley brings back a lot of horrific memories; Steiner and I dragged the civilians to safety during Bahamut’s indiscriminate attack. The Mist Horrors – putrid and revolting – also made things harder for us to protect Alexandria’s panicking citizens. Even this mighty blade of mine that shows no sign of rusting couldn’t cut through their corrupted mane. Perhaps, it is I that is demonstrating signals of weakness and…”

“Gggh!” Beatrix staggered into a distance. Stands in front of her is a cloaked stranger armed with a menacing trident and posture that can easily intimidate the Goblins of Evil Forest. “I must say that it is very unusual for Alexandria to open its Holy Wings to uneducated vagabonds such as yourself! Show yourself, villain!”

“Is that how you greet a former ally? I must say General, I never imagined that I could take you down with a pathetic lunge like that?” The stranger took of her tarnished clothing, revealing herself as Freya Crescent, a Burmecian dragoon who accompanied Zidane in his journey in liberating Gaia from the accursed Mist. ”

Beatrix confidently stood up from her fall and slowly approached her former comrade. “Freya, I’m aware that you are a Dragoon of the highest level, but using your leaping abilities to greet me is inexcusable. Nevertheless, our short-lived partnership of taking out the Bandersnatches that were chasing Zidane down the castle’s hidden underground labyrinth is the only reason why you are still on you’re feet.”

“Your memory is sharp as your blade, but if memory serves me correct, those Tantalus performers pulled us from a humiliating death at the hands of your former master’s slaves.”

Insulted, The General quickly took out Save the Queen and pointed it at Freya’s throat.

“Never talk to Queen Brahne with such ill-mannered foibles! You know very well that Kuja was behind all the conspiracies that led to her Majesty’s fate! I will never sever my associations with the former Queen. One more assault against her would mean your grave!” Unfrazzled, Freya quickly disarmed Beatrix, throwing Save the Queen to the ground. The confident dragoon looked at the sword, and returned it to its surprised owner.

“Twice at the same night? Is this the same Beatrix that who have struck me down thrice in three different occasions? Honestly, I paid you a visit for a rematch but seeing your frantic disposition makes me uninterested in facing you in a blood duel.”

“So you came here to Alexandria to avenge your loss?” Beatrix slowly turned her back at Freya, hesitating to accept Freya’s bold invitation – “I accept your challenge. Meet me by the castle’s fountain when the clouds turn gray and the goddesses begin to cry.”

Outraged with Beatrix, Freya pointed her trident at the General’s rose-adorned back – “Are you mocking me?! Ridiculing me in front of a cold tempest, which witnessed my agonizing defeat against your wicked blade!” Calming down, Freya’s collected attitude came back, answering Beatrix’s challenge with unrelenting confidence – “When the first raindrop lands, my spear will come howling, resonating the anger that rivals the sound of the thunder!”

Freya’s signature leap left Beatrix alone in the dark alley where horrendous memories culminated as a result of Kuja’s machinations of the Mist. The General consulted her confused feelings, searching for answers, rummaging for reasons. “Freya’s strength… She would have defeated me back then if only…,” Beatrix stopped, waving her long against the cold winds of the night.

-To be continued-

Final Fantasy Girls will now feature short stories and encounters that will re-define the relationships of famous Final Fantasy heroines on titles which they appeared in failed to exploit to audiences.

Image Source: http://magestrial.net/freya/v3banner.jpg

 

 

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Andriasang’s latest news for Final Fantasy XIII-2 reveals that the game will arrive with one or two DLCs – a monumental leap for the series itself since this will be the first time that a single Final Fantasy game will embrace DLC for additional gameplay content.

Downloadable content (DLC) for the PlayStation 3 is treated as a gameplay extension and bonus for players who have unlocked everything that is to own, discover, and defeat in one single video game. Final Fantasy is the perfect definition of an in-depth role-playing game emphasized by item collection, 100% sidequest completion, optional bosses, and many more hidden content, which does not change the storyline or flow of the game. Therefore, the DLC for Final Fantasy XIII-2 hopes to carry on the tradition of immersing players with additional content that goes far of bringing stylish costumes, powerful weapons, and dangerous enemies into the mix.

In an interview with Dengeki PlayStation, Yoshinori Kitase made it perfectly clear that the upcoming DLCs for Final Fantasy XIII-2 will become synonymous in quality in terms of content and price. Final Fantasy XIII-2′s producer was silent on how much the DLCs will cost players and he instead enlightened the audience by answering key aspects with the game’s upgraded battle system.

Yoshinori Kitase revealed that Final Fantasy XIII-2′s battle system will incorporate a unique reward mechanism called “Summon Raid,” in which players can control monsters previously defeated in battle. Additionally, these monsters will serve roles (or Paradigms) dependent on their style and fighting capabilities. Captured monsters also have the ability to perform powerful attacks via Feral Link. Similar with character Limit Breaks, monsters are gifted with the Feral Link ability, which gives them powerful offensive moves that can trigger quick time events for a more satisfying, fashionable finish.

 

 

 

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Dissidia 012 Final Fantasy is not the best fighting game available out there, but it makes up for its innate ability to draw to players to utter the words, “Just one more match.” Since its on the PSP, it is highly impossible to stick with such flimsies, and you could just imagine how silly you are breaking Ex Death’s Blocks with Ixion’s Aerospark Bravery attack. The prequel to the original Dissidia released way back in 2009 is an atmospheric comeback that pits the warriors of Chaos and Cosmos in heated (and sometimes, unnecessary) battles.

Upon loading the game, players will be greeted with a slow but upbeat remix of the original Dissidia theme and an overhauled  menu much like similar to that of the Dissidia. Make no mistake about it, Dissidia 012 Final Fantasy is much different than the original Dissidia in terms of story flow, gameplay, and replay value. We all know that Lightning, Vaan, Laguna, Kain, Tifa, and Yuna are participants in the war between Chaos and Cosmos; the characterization of the game is deeper than what most people think. You will be playing the game not  because you’ll be able to use Tifa and see her bosoms bounce while pummeling Sephiroth with a barrage of somersaults and feints.

Dissidia 012 Final Fantasy swims in a pool of rewards and discovery, but before you get to the exciting part, you will have to first endure the game’s turtle-paced narrative. Personally, the game’s Story mode is all fluff; nothing makes sense as you switch between characters, and chapter progression is not that impressive. Dissidia 012 Final Fantasy struggles to keep up with the pace, merging hard-to-watch character encounters like that annoying meet-up between Kefka and Vaan. There are certain scenarios wherein you will not hesitate to select the Skip Cutscene option.

Square Enix is known to have produced the most impressive continuation in gaming history by piecing Final Fantasy VII and Crisis Core together into one, complete adventure. Sadly, Dissidia 012 Final Fantasy has exhausted every bit of idea just to remind players about the raging war between Chaos and Cosmos. The final product: a confusing masquerade that does encourage players to invest time repeating Story Mode bonuses.

Dissidia 012 Final Fantasy’s story has weak and lackluster expositions. The biggest shock, perhaps, is that after you finish main scenario titled “Treachery of the Gods,” you will unlock the original Dissidia with a few alterations and encounters hidden behind chapters. Overall, Dissidia 012 Final Fantasy’s tale of two gods and their band of merrymen (and women) fails to deliver a riveting and atmospheric narrative of what is truly the behind the essence of the ongoing conflict between Cosmos and Chaos.

The story is the ONLY  problem that I had experienced during my first 30+ hours of play through. The rewarding and enriched options in Dissidia 012 Final Fantasy finds a way to recall players back and drown them with in-game bonuses such as an increased number of collectible items such as weapons, accessories, basic accessory boosters, player icons, summonstones, and other unlockables.

Dissidia 012 Final Fantasy is like an undiscovered mine filled with sketchy samples of pebbles and rocks or gold bars enough to pay the Philippines’s foreign debt. There is so much to explore that it is going to take another part of this review to understand Dissidia 012 Final Fantasy’s aesthetics.

I’ll come back for Part Two after I have spent considerable amount of time playing in-between Battle and Arcade mode.

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