Beaten: Cthulhu Saves Christmas (Switch)

 “What the what?” I said to myself as I pulled the small red case that said “Cthulhu Saves Christmas “ off the shelf of my local mom and pop video game store, where it blended in with hundreds of other Switch games.

As I turned the case around and read the back it was clear what I was holding. Chtulhu Saves Christmas is a classic 90s style top down turn based RPG from the same crew at Zeboyd Games that brought us Chtulhu Saves the World as an XBox 360 indie game way back in 2010. Mind blown.

I purchased and downloaded Chtulhu Saves the World when it came out but only sampled it at the time, so I had to check to make sure it was still there on my 360, as a part of that console’s downloaded library. Thankfully, it was, because it turns out Chtulhu Saves Christmas is actually a prequel to Saves the World, so I was right to hold out these fifteen years so I could play them in order!

It’s also worth noting that I am out of touch with wherever video game journalism is these days, so news about this game never reached me until I found it on that store shelf. Finding it that way was also a weird thing, as it is a Limited Run game, produced by a small company that releases physical versions of some downloadable games for a premium price. So, it's sort of rare.

Graphically, it's gorgeous, as these modern top-down games tend to be. Cthulhu is joined by three party members as they attempt to save Santa from various non-Grinch Christmas villains. The party themselves are also characters from Christmas lore and each has unique abilities to add to the mix. Even though Cthulhu desires to destroy the world, he's a likable, personable character who gets along well with others in this quest.

The story is great and the writing and humor are superb. There is a central hub called Christmastown where, in between parts of the quest, Cthulhu can do various activities with the other party members or on his own which lead to useful loot items for the four party members. This part is important as the relationships he makes with the party members seem to play some role.

Turn based combat is fun, and sometimes challenging, but never unmanageable. What is manageable is the grind, thanks to monster variety in each area, as well as an actual countdown of the random encounters per area. A three bar meter on the screen builds up as the player explores the area, and when it turns red, a battle begins. After the first area I noticed it had a countdown number above it for the number of these encounters remaining.

In addition, there is a button on the menu to just go ahead and start an encounter. So I would start a new area, fight every encounter, then be free to explore and loot the remaining dungeon before fighting the boss. There is not a lot of loot, and it's just items, no money. There are no shops and upgrades come from the few chests found as well as the relationship quests back at Christmastown.

I had a great time playing and beating Cthulhu Saves Christmas, even though I hate the holidays myself. It's just long enough to matter and a great game for the Switch itself. I also love the fact that small games are getting physical releases thanks to Limited Run Games. I'll certainly be paying them and their releases more attention going forward.

Beaten: Phantasy Star (Master System via Sega Ages/Switch)

 My latest deep dive into the past of gaming brought me to the Sega Master System for some unfinished business with the classic RPG Phantasy Star. I once owned a used Master System and had this game, but had barely touched it.

My hope was to play this on my Game Gear portable using the Master Gear Converter (Sega loved cranking out hardware) but Phantasy Star was the one cartridge not compatible with it. Which was fine, as there were bigger fish to fry by the mid 1990s.

Phantasy Star was Sega’s answer to Final Fantasy which itself answered Japan’s desire for western RPGs like Ultima and Wizardry. Sega also copied using “Ph”  instead of “F” from the Strategic Simulations Inc. RPG series Phantasie and the mix of dungeons and space travel from Ultima II: Revenge of the Enchantress. Derivative, yes, but with enough brilliant and fresh design of its own to stand out. I’m sure no one cared back in the day when RPGs were few and far between, especially on a system that was dwarfed by the NES in terms of market share.

The Sega Ages re-release for the Nintendo Switch presents a slick, polished package that maintains everything I remembered from the original with a few tweaks. An automap fills in along the right side of the screen as one explores, sparing the need to break out the graph paper. Looking closely at the map reveals the location of hidden doors so the party of adventurers doesn’t have to slam into every wall along the way.

There are also character bars on the right showing health and magic power. The pause button calls up a handy list of most items, weapons, armor, and spells for reference. Finally, my research on the internet confirms what I thought was happening - experience points and money gained from encounters is greatly multiplied from the original. 

Purists who want the original experience can set the game to play that way, but fuck that, I have a life. In addition, all those tweaks do not change the classic RPG grind of near-constant enemy encounters and the eternal mystery of every classic RPG where the player hits the “Um, what do I do next” wall.

By mid-campaign I had maxed out my cash, had bought the best gear available in stores, but was stuck to a point where I had to keep sweeping through every town, dungeon, and NPC conversation to figure out what to do next. 

Thanks to a good save system allowing for pick-up-and-play sessions, I persevered to the satisfying ending with my maxed out characters. The overall experience was very rewarding by itself and the Sega Ages version of this game is definitely the way to go.

The Switch is seeing a lot of these retro re-makes and collections and is proving itself a great platform for them. I highly recommend Sega Ages Phantasy Star, but would caution that, even with the vast improvements to gameplay, a big commitment of time and endurance is still required to reach its end. 

Beaten: Deadly Premonition 2: A Blessing in Disguise (Switch)

 Sometimes, a game's story, characters, and all-around quirkiness can help the player overlook technical issues and seemingly primitive graphics. There has never been a much better example of this than the two Deadly Premonition games. 

The cult status of the first one, emerging in the years after its release, is testament to this."How did you know it had cult status?", one might ask, to which I answer "I saw a boardgame version of Deadly Premonition at a videogame trade show a few years ago." That's how you know a game has made it, just ask Zaxxon.

I downloaded Deadly Premonition Director's Cut for the Playstation 3 as a Playstation Plus free game at some point in the 2010s, sat on it awhile, then checked it out in 2016 and loved it. It's a silly masterpiece but a joy to play. Lots of it is original, some of it is derivative, but all of it is such a refreshing change from the giant studio cookie-cutter stuff (I'm looking at you Ubisoft) that I couldn't help but play, if just to see how wacky it was going to get.

When an unexpected sequel turned up on the Nintendo Switch this summer, I decided my enjoyment of the first game warranted a day one purchase.  Plus, I'm sure the cult fame of the first one granted the team more development funding and therefore the second game would be a much more polished one.

Well, not so much, and the rageful internet panned the sequel's technical issues and other gliches, as it is rightful to do. Nonetheless, and once again, everything under the hood the game is running along fine in terms of story, character, setting, music, and style. 

As the main character Francis York Morgan, you are tasked with solving murders in the small town of Le Carre, Louisana. There is a supernatural element to it as well, and in traditional Japanese norms, a bright and fiesty teenage girl sidekick. It's set in a relatively small open world which the player navigates by skateboard (fast travel is unlocked early on though). 

Combat is fun enough with just one gun that uses rubber bullets -  but I only counted 6 enemy types (3 natural and 3 supernatural) and 3 boss fights total. All of it was easy and not frustrating at all, which is good since the focus of the game is in interacting with the zany characters and solving the case.

Lots of side quests (kill 30 squirrels, gather ingredients for something. etc.) and some unique mini-games (stone skipping) add filler that is good, because sometimes you get stuck without much direction as to what to do. At one point, I was supposed to find 6 Anaconda Skins at "Park". I visited what I thought was the park, looking for anacondas and not finding them. Later, I realized that the skins were just more random loot lying around the park.

Crafting exists to use up all that random loot, but as usual, I did not dive in too deep. After some basic enhancements to my gun and physical stats, I really never found the crafting something I wanted to or needed to return to time and again.

The overarching story between both games comes to a head in a climactic and satisfying conclusion, wrapping up all the character threads and opening a small door for more Deadly Premonition. I hope a third game does show up in a decade or so, because the game's technical primitiveness is only forgivable by its charm, and I don't think that anyone's patience with those issues could be put aside for more frequent installments. 

Deadly Premonition 2: A Blessing in Disguise is a fitting sequel and yet another triumph of substance and style over technical expertise and programming elegance. I'd recommend it only for gamers who still care about that difference and want something truly unique once in awhile.