Finished playing Jeanne d'Arc

Finished playing Jeanne d'Arc (2007, Level-5, PlayStation Portable) on 12/27/2015.
Gameplay Hours: 75

After losing her home village to a fire set by the English, Jeanne and her friends set out on a journey to take revenge upon them and drive them out of France with the help of mysterious armlets that don their wearers with divine armor and abilities.

8/10 – Jeanne d'Arc is a good tactical RPG that much resembles Final Fantasy Tactics, although with many interesting battle mechanics of its own. The game's aesthetics also remind me of FFT specially since the main character is blonde and has a sort of "rebellious" strand of hair that has been a staple to FFT main characters. The divine armlets that some characters wield in the game can be compared to Pokemon's Mega Evolution mechanics. The game's cutscenes are decent anime sequences and the voice acting is... hmm, alright. It's just a little awkward cuz they're all trying to do a French accent. The animation is good though. It's important to note that this game is very loosely based on the official Jeanne d'Arc tale, but I like how they stayed true to Jeanne's brash and reckless personality.

Finished watching On the Way to a Smile: Episode Denzel

Finished watching On the Way to a Smile: Episode Denzel (2009, A-1 Pictures, 28mins.) on 12/27/2015.

After the events of Advent Children, Denzel is inspired by Cloud's feats and decides to join the World Regenesis Organization. To do that, he meets up with WRO's head, Reeve Tuesti for an interview in which Denzel reveals his past and everything that drove him into this decision.

7.5/10 - This short movie shows quite an interesting side of the events of Final Fantasy VII and it helped me understand the mechanics of Geostigma a little better. The animation is great and so is the storytelling. And I think that perhaps, Denzel might just be the future of Final Fantasy VII.

Finished watching Cardcaptor Sakura

Finished rewatching Cardcaptor Sakura for the second time (1998 – 2000, Madhouse, 70 epi., 2 movies) on 12/18/2015.

Elementary-school student, Kinomoto Sakura comes across a magical book in her basement. After opening it she accidentally releases the magical Clow Cards inside and Keroberos, their guardian from slumber. With Kero-chan's help and a magical staff he bestows upon her, it is now her task to retrieve all the cards back into the book. But it's not an easy task as the cards take their sprite form and use their powers to keep Sakura from overcoming them.

8/10 – I had already watched this wonderful series a few years ago but had forgotten how great it is and why I was always so psyched for Sakura and Syaoran #otp. The movies were great as well with incredible quality and animation. All the characters are wonderfull, even the bad guys. Also, gotta love Tomoyo-chan. I believe she could be a Batgirl if she wanted to. The soundtrack is quite memorable as well.

Finished playing Kingdom Hearts Re:Coded Final Mix HD Remix

Finished "playing" Kingdom Hearts Re:Coded Final Mix HD Remix (2014, Square Enix, PlayStation 3)

Hours: ~3

King Mickey and his trusty subordinates try to figure out a strange, new message in Jiminy's first journal by digitizing it into the datascape, or as Maleficent calls it "date escape".

But they can't travel the datascape so they create data-Sora to explore the worlds within the journal, which are now suddenly filled with computer bugs and glitches, including the Heartless which data-Sora must fight.

6/10 – The story for this game is confusing and only half of it is necessary in my opinion. Heck, even the characters themselves are confused about the whole thing. But you can tell the game knows that and tries really hard to simplify it for you, albeit not a so simple and clean task to be honest. I still don't understand if all the stories that Jiminy wrote were actually restored as words on his journal. However, watching this without having to play the game helped me understand it a little better. I now know what the "hurt" is and where it's coming from. It all makes perfect sense. There's a reason why this "game" was bundled with KH2, and especially KHBbS. Still, I might have to review the story again. Maybe by playing the game again in the future I'll pay closer attention. I actually enjoyed the Nintendo DS game, it's just the story that's hard to grasp.

Finished playing Kingdom Hearts Birth by Sleep Final Mix HD Remix

Finished playing Kingdom Hearts Birth by Sleep Final Mix HD Remix (2014, Square Enix, PlayStation 3) on 12/12/2015.

Hours: ~65

Three keyblade wielder apprentices see their friendship split up in the dawn of a new era of darkness. In trying to find each other again they travel to different worlds where they meet new friends and eventually learn of a most foul betrayal that might separate their hearts for eternity.

100/10 – This is my favorite video game in the world. It’s story directly prequels that of Kingdom Hearts. And it’s quite the emotional one. And this Final Mix version only makes it even more so. I really love the battle pace of this game. It’s faster compared to the first Kingdom Hearts installment. The soundtrack is extraordinarily beautiful… naturally. I think something that’s been really heavy in Kingdom Hearts is item synthesis. In this game you also have that aspect in form of ability synthesis. By leveling up and combining them, you end up with sweeter ones.