The Temple of Bague

It is complete - at a little over 50 hours, and I reckon there’s 2-3 hours of optional stuff and at least 10 hours of fishing quests still in there. The ending was as epic as games get, really, with lovely protracted titles showing events in the world after the end of the story.

Spoiler Alert - skip this bit if you don’t want a bit of a final-boss giveaway.

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Well, the climatic boss fight with Ganondorf was completey ace - his final (fourth!) form was the longest and toughest section (although still not HUGELY tough) - it was a gimmick-free straight up walled swordfight. No tools, no hookshot or bow required - just the shield and the Master Sword against the Big Bad. And it was fab!

So, chalk up another completed Zelda to Mr Gubbins - not only that, but I think it’s the first game I’ve completed since my Castlevania binge at the beginning of the year. Time to get on with Paper Mario methinks.

Guhh! Death’s second form is quite breathtakingly hard. Fortunately you’re free to go and find a save point after his first form. Which is just as well, because I’ve spent well over three hours play time being killed by Dracula, going off and getting up a level, coming back, getting killed, levelling again, etc. By the time I finally defeated him I was level 51 and started the fight at level 46.

Anyhoo - I ended up equipping as much defensive gear as I could and then staying as far away as possible at the top of the room, listening for his rushes (74% health lost in one rush == gnot gnice). Anyway - he sometimes does two rushes in a row, sometimes three and sometimes four - no way to tell except to listen for the rush sound, wait and see if there’s one immediately afterwards and then rushing down to find him and hit him with a thunderbird summon if not.

So there he is - ganked horribly. And even though I’m in the middle of Final Fantasy III, Puzzle Quest, and Children of Mana, I must start Portrait of Ruin, just to remind myself what Castlevania games became like when they weren’t as ROCK HARD as Circle of the Moon. An utterly, utterly ACEBEST game.

Oh yes indeedy - it is c0mpl3t0rat0red! I can’t really say much about the ending without giving spoilers, but I will say that this is one of the best and more entertaining RPGs I’ve played. Sure, it’s a little (lot) on the easy side, but it’s funny and clever and never gets dull. The closing titles rolled at a little over 25 hours and everything in the story was neatly wrapped up with a huge gaping space where several sequels can fit.

Hopefully we’re seeing the beginning of a series here because the DS needs games like this - interesting RPGs that don’t stretch into a hundred hours of levelling drudgery. Top marks!

w00+! Aria of Sorrow is c0mplet0r1z0red! (or something). Not as substantial as Harmony of Dissonance, but still an awesome game. The end of game boss was so easy he practically beat himself, but by that time I was too knackered to deal with a hard boss anyway - the guy (no spoilers, please, we’re British) just before him was hard enough.

All in all, beautiful. Faster paced than Harmony, and certainly prettier, but overall less engaging. But only just - we’re talking 9.5/10 against 10/10.

The final boss was a bit of a bugger, but loads of fun. The first form can be done without taking any damage and the second just requires a lot of mobility and the death soul to take care of the flying gobs of doom. So, loads of potions later and it’s closing cutscene and an unlocking frenzy! Huzzah!