If you like Final Fantasy, Kingdom Hearts, Pokemon, Dragons, Werewolves, Griffons, or Fantasy in general, then you have come to the right spot. Fantasia, hosted by Starvix Draxon and Kyogreman, is a news update for the latest fantasy games, movies, and books. We have game reviews and book reviews on the latest fantasy material we've experienced. Come with me and dream Fantasy. I hope you enjoy this blog. Thank you for your time.
Studioh Ghibli is one of the best animation studios in the world. They have released and produced several outstanding films, including My Neighborhood Tottoro, Grave of the Fireflies, Castle in the Sky, and Ponyo. But the best film studio Ghibli ever created is Spirited Away. This animation film was made by none other than Hayao Miyazaki himself. He is indeed a master storyteller and this amazing film proves it. I hope to also show you the elements of the story and reveal what makes this a literary and storytelling masterpiece.
The movie is about a little girl named Chihiro who's moving to another town. She starts as a whiny child setting the stage for the character growth. Her father takes a wrong turn and they find themselves in front of an old dilapidated building. They explore and find food Kiosks. Chihiro looks around and finds a mysterious boy known as Haku, who tells her to leave. When she finds her parents, they've been turned into pigs. Chihiro begins to dissapear and Haku saves her by making her eat food from this world. He promises to help her free her parents from the witch Yubaba. In order to save her parents, she must get a job at Yubaba's bath house. Chihro confronts Yubaba and continuously asks for a job. Yubaba tries to turn her away, but Chihiro persists relentlessly. Yubaba gives her a job and steals Chihiro's name, renaming her Sen. If she forgets her name, she belongs to Yubaba forever. Sen proceeds to work hard and actually helps a river spirit who gives her medicine. Chihro soon saves Haku, who turns out to be a Japanese Eastern Dragon, from Zeniba. Haku stole her golden seal and if she does not get it back, he will die. The two escape from Zeniba and Sen gives Haku some of the medicine. He spits out the seal and a black slug, Sen eventually stepping on it. It turns out later that the slug was how Yubaba controled Haku, and that Zeniba's spell could only be broken by true love. Sen also faces a demon called No-Face, who througout the movies continues to offer her more than what she needs. When he offers her gold, she declines showing her innocence compared to the other bathhouse workers. She then gives the remainder of the medicine to No-Face saving him from his disgusted self. Sen goes to Zeniba to return the seal and apologize for Haku. Haku appears and takes her back to Yubaba. Sen then remembers Haku's real name as the Kohaku river. Haku is now completely free and now can leave Yubaba. Sen faces Yubaba with one final challenge and succeeds again. Haku then tells her to go and hopefully someday they will meet again. Her parents are alright and they head back to the car. To their shock, the car is covered with leaves suggesting that all that happened really did happen.
I love this movie because the story has a great artistic design. Every scene has exquisite detail in the scenery and in the action. The music also is very lovely. Each music piece fits the mood of the story perfectly. I love the story most of all because of all the story elements that are found in fantasy and in children's literature. Facing an evil witch, parents being turned into pigs, someone that looks around their age wants to help them, a child's innocence versus and adult's greed. I love how Chihiro grows as a character, from a whiny girl to a mature girl who can handle moving on. I especially love the dragon, Haku. This is a unique romance in that no direct feelings of love are expressed. It is the actions of the characters and the feelings they share that make their love unique. I think that's what Hayao Miyazaki was after when he wrote this story. Love comes in all forms. As for me, this is one of the best love stories in the world. It's suttle and heart warming.
This is my favorite Hayao Miyazaki movie. I hope all of you get a chance to watch it. I rate this movie a 100% and give it five stars. I hope I have encouraged you to watch this masterpiece.
It's Halloween when goblins, ghosts, and gouls prevail, where witches boil malevolent potions and werewolves howl to the bright full moon. Sketletons dance clatter, clatter. Demons, devils, and evil spirits whirl about dancing dark and seductive. Halloween is coming up soon. Be sure to dress up. This is a tribute to our name sake, Fantasia. The movie Fantasia had a special tribute at the end, something that fits the mood of Halloween. We have here the musical piece of Night On Bald Mountain written by the Russian Composer Mussorgsky, followed by Frans Shubert's Ave Maria. In the film Fantasia, the host tells the audience about the two contrasting pieces how one depicts Satan while the other shows the sacred nature of good. In actuallity, the demon is not Satan but heathen slavic god, called Chernobog. In slavic mythology, one set of the mythology believes in dualism between two gods, the white god, Byelobog, and the black god, Chernobog. I find it very interesting how they use mythology for Mussorgsky's music. It fits perfectly giving an appreciation of the culture. It's the 15th of October, so I might as well share it now. Ladies and gentlemen I give to you, Night On Bald Mountain!!!!!
If you liked the T.V show, Once Upon A Time, well get ready everyone, because the show is coming back. The show starts tomorrow on Sunday. Hope all of you are as excited as I am.
Pokémon Mystery Dungeon: Magnagate and the Infinite Labyrinth is the next installment in the Pokémon Mystery Dungeon series to be released in Japan for the 3DS later this year.
Pokémon Black 2 and Pokémon White 2 come out on October 7. Also at this time you can pick up the Pokémon genesect over wifi connection starting October 7.
According to khinsider and the Kingdom Hearts Wiki, there is a new game, Kingdom Hearts 1.5 HD Remix that will feature Kingdom Hearts Remix and Kingdom Hearts Re: Chain of Memories and from what I gather and based on the trailer, never before seen cutscenes from 358/2 Days. The game is said to be for the PS3. Here is the trailer.
Exciterd? I know I am! Keep listening to the news.
For all you demigod fans, as we have known for some time now, Rick Riordan's latest book, "Mark of Athena" comes out October 2nd 2012.
Excited? You bet. The plot thickens right where Book 2, "The Son of Neptune" left off. What will happen next? Will Camp Halfblood and Camp Jupiter get along? Or will there be internal struggle and conflict? I'm looking forward to it. Mark the release date on your calendars, everyone.
When I saw the trailer for this movie, my first reaction was, Oh cool Dragons, oh wait, disgusting humor, never mind. I never saw this movie in theaters for some stupid reason. I guess I thought it was bad for some unknown reason. But I eventually watched it, and I fell in love with the movie, How To Train Your Dragon.
The dragons in this movie are very exotic and diverse. Although I do not care for some of the appearances, each dragon has a different kind of personality. My favorite dragon is Toothless, the Nightfurry. Why? Answer: HE'S SO CUTE!!!!!!!!! I swear those eyes he has makes you want to just stab your heart out!!!! You want to cry so badly, he's that cute! I apologize, I just had a geeky moment. Here's some images of Toothless. What's interesting about Toothless, is all the expressions he uses with his eyes and ears. When the pupils are large, he is showing a kinder emotion. When his pupils are slits, he is angry or very focused. His ears also express many emotions from flat unhappiness, to curriosity, or playfulness. I have never seen a dragon so full of expression. This dragon has cat and dog features. Such features include rolling in the grass (dog) and chasing the light (cat) and expresses unique features that show the audience that these dragons are misunderstood creatures.
The story starts off showing a conflict between the dragons and the vikings. It's a typical conflict, but it works just fine. We also meet Hiccup and we see that he and his father, Stoic the Vast, do not see eye to eye. We see Hiccup attempt to kill dragons but always seems to get into a mess. So there is a father son conflict and also a social conflict, because to be a viking is to be fierce, large, aggressive, everything Hiccup is not.
Hiccup then shoots down a Nightfurry, a dragon that has never been seen, and has been feared more than anything. But when he attempts to kill it, he cannot, so he releases the Nightfurry. At first it appears that the dragon is going to kill Hiccup but doesn't and just flies away. Throughout the movie, Hiccup learns more about dragons, and discovers that they are not the creatures that the vikings think they are. But his father refuses to see that. Hiccup and the Nightfurry, Toothless, develop a great relationship and change the minds of all the other vikings and learn to work together with dragons.
I love this movie's music, it's detailed art, it's dragon design. I loved the story's flow. I loved everything about this movie. For all you dragon lovers out there, I reccommend this movie. I give this movie 5 stars and 100% approval. I hope all of you see this movie.
Of all the Final Fantasy games that Square Enix has made, Final Fantasy XIII has by far impressed me the most. At June 9th 2011, this game has sold over 6.5 million copies world wide. And there's a reason why. This game has astounded players in gameplay, artistic design, muisic, story, and world creation.
Let's start with artistic design. One of Square Enix's prime objectives is to be really imaginative. And by far they have done a grandiose job at it. Compared to all the other games, Final Fantasy XIII has surpassed all other games in graphics. The clarity and amount of detail in the cut scenes and gameplay has by far surpassed all other Final Fantasy games. It is treated like a Blue Ray HD movie. The detail I cannot describe with words only that the scenery in the game is by far the most beautiful, most stimulating, and most captivating art in the gaming industry. The following images are promotional artwork. I rate the artistic design in the game 5 stars.
Let's now talk about music. Final Fantasy XIII's music strikes at the heart in various styles of music such as Rock, and classical. I am amazed at the high quality of music Square Enix has put into their game. Not many games have such grand orchestrated music. Here are some examples of the music.
This music leaves me with images of all sorts, in my mind, especially the last two. And that's just a few of them. Massashi Hamazu composed Final Fantasy XIII music and he has earned my honorary respect for creating astounding pieces of music. I rate the music 5 stars.
Let's now talk world creation and Story. The world in which the game resides is actually apart of a group of video games in the Final Fantasy XIII saga. The collection is called Fabula Nova Crystalis. In a Youtube video it displays the core theme of the Fabula Nova Crystalis series. They at one time had an English Dub of the video, but it no longer exists for some strange reason. We do however, have and English Sub. So this is the video of the Fabula Nova Crystalis Mythology.
In Final Fantasy XIII we have divine god like machines with crystal hearts called Fal'cie. It is actually a Latin text to Famulus caelum, meaning sky servant or servant of the sky, which they are nothing like. According to the Final Fantasy wiki, Pulse and Lindzei created more fal'cie. Those created by Pulse became Pulse Fal'cie and those created by Lindzei are the Fal'cie that late build Cocoon. In Final Fantasy XIII we have two worlds, Cocoon, the utopia in the sky, and Pulse, the lower world. The cocoon fal'cie become known as Sanctum Fal'cie. Here are some images of fal'cie
In this world Fal'cie have the power to create L'cie, humans that are branded by the fal'cie with a tattoo. The tattoo is a focus. The Focus is basically the quest or goal the fal'cie gives the human L'cie. If they succeed and complete their Focus, they gain eternal life.......as a crystal. If they fail, they turn into a mutilated monster called a cieth. That is the main conflict of the game. Here are the images of the Pulse and Sanctum L'cie brands.
Sanctum and Pulse fal'cie wage a war against Cocoon. Pulse was determined to destroy Cocoon but failed. After that war, several centuries of peace began, and fear of the unknown barbaric world of Pulse grew. Where the game starts is during an active Purge, deporting humans who had been living unknowingly next to a Pulse Fal'cie, for fear of contamination of Pulse L'cie. That is another conflict in the story.
In the story, we witness innocent victims of the purge lose loved ones and become Pulse L'cie. As the story continues they struggle to move on when they know that death is inevitable since one either becomes a crystal or a cieth. They also struggle to defy their fate from the curse they possess, ignoring their focus but coming to grips and believing that they were chosen to save Cocoon. Another theme explored in the game is the idea of fear of the unknown and how it makes people to vile and immoral acts such as purging innocent victims for just being near something so feared, and waging a pointless war. It shows how peace can also turn into violence through the act of fear.
Characters in the story I find are incredibly round. Each character we see change and develop in the game as each character has their own grudges, desires, hopes, and back stories that shape who they are and what they do. Each main character has a unique personality, including the villains. We see them struggle, feel that all hope is lost, but get back on their feet to save the day. I rate the Story and World Creation 5 stars.
Now comes the trickier and more harshly judged part of the review. Unlike the other turnbased system games of the previous Final Fantasy games, Final Fantasy XIII has a unique turnbased system called the Command Synergy Battle system. It is more real time but still turn based. The single player has an ATB gauge where the player stocks up on commands and then selects the target it wishes to unleash all the commands on, allowing a faster pace of gameplay and allows a decent amount of time to kill an enemy.
The game also features a unique set of roles. Commando, Ravager, Medic, Sentinel, Synergist, and Saboteur.
Commando = Attack Commands
Ravager = Magic Commands
Medic = HP recovery and removal of negative stats
Sentinel = High Defence and protector of players
Synergist = Status enhancements
Saboteur = negative stats on enemies
In gameplay, the player must strategize his paradigm - the arrangement of the Roles for three characters, in order to defeat certain enemies and bosses.
We also have the Crystarium, where characters level up their stats and gain commands and abilities along with HP, Strength, and Magic Points. There are no Defense points in this game, making it more difficult to stay alive.
The negative aspect of the game play is its difficulty. I would not recommend this game to first time gamers who are new to the RPG genre. There is no Beginner's or Easy mode, nor is there a Hard mode. It's just plain difficult. Although it is a very fun game play, the game is in fact slow and annoying. It is in the sense that it takes forever to defeat enemies. The player has to struggle and spend more time gaining Crystogen points(EXP points), and even then it takes forever to kill the enemies, especially the bosses, making it rather difficult and extremely frustrating. Since there is no Defense, the player has to worry about gaining more HP than anything else. Some of the enemies are rediculously difficult to beat, with loads of HP and extremely lethal attacks, and some bosses have the Doom Counter making it even more annoying and worrisome to defeat a boss, especially when the player is almost close to defeating the enemy he has been fighting for 20 minutes. If the player does not have the right amount of stamina strength and magic, the gameplay will be slow and boring, and soon the player will be so bored he'll put down the game and never finish it. I haven't even beaten the whole game.
But despite these minor downsides(actually, I wouldn't call them minor), the gameplay is still fun filled with spectacular graphics, unique combos, and of course the famous summons. Each character has their own summon, and can first fight along side it in order to charge the summon's gauge. Then the player can enter Gestalt mode and perform unique moves to the summon. There are also minigames, but those should be played after the player defeats the final boss. I still have fun playing them. But it can get rather boring doing the same ATB gauge system over and over and over again. I rate the gameplay....3.5 stars.
Overall, the game has a unique game system, spectacular artwork and graphic design, mesmorizing music, and amazing world full of plot elements, story lines, characterization, and themes. I rate this game 100% despite weaknesses in the gameplay. It has impressed me through it's ability to stimulate my mind through the artistic beauty, passionate music, and an amazing complex story. Square Enix is unlike any other game company in the world. And so, I recommend this game to all game lovers who value a game for it's artistic beauty, storyline, and gampelay. I hope this review statisfies any wonders about the game. Thank you for listening.
Hey y'all Kyogreman here, the event for the colt Pokémon and the fourth Musketeer Keldeo.
Keldeo is downloadable at Gamestop stores around America to your Pokémon Black and White Version games. When transfered to Black 2 and White 2 allows you to teach him his exclucive move Secret sword will change him into his other forme.
Hello, everyone! According to http://multiplayerblog.mtv.com/2012/09/01/lightning-strikes-twice-square-enix-announces-lightning-returns-final-fantasy-xiii/ , Square Enix has announced it's new sequal to Final Fantasy XIII-2, called, Lightning Returns: Final Fantasy XIII. This particular source says that it is possible that the game may contain some real time gameplay elements. I sure hope so. Turn base can get boring sometimes. But either type is good. This game will include a new world and new characters. I posted the website so anyone can see the news for themselves. I have decided however to post some images that I found in that article.
This place is called Novus Partus. Lovely place. Looks like an island. This game company never ceases to amaze me.
This next one is called Luxerion. This place looks rather twisted.
This is character design for what is called a red dragon. I think its wings are deformed. Definately a work of art though.
So there you have it. There are some videos on that website that you can play if you'd like to look and learn. Feel free. I really like these drawings. What are your opinions on them?
Alright Wereworld Fans!!!! We have a confirmed source of info on the release date of the one and only Book three of the Wereworld Series: Drumroll..........
Shadow of the Hawk
This book is to be released October 16th 2012!!!! Hooray!!! I don't have to wait a whole year for the next book to come out!!!! Ding!!!! Yes it took a whole year for book two to come out in America. I waited entire year for book two. The wait won't be much longer. It is already September 2nd and the days keep going by. Be prepared my furry friends. The Story Continues!!!
Alrgight. Rage of Lions is Book 2 in the Wereworld series. WARNING!!! PLOT SPOILERS MAY BE FOUND. This story follows Drew's rescue mission to save the werefox, Gretchen from Prince Lucas, the werelion, while also running from his fate as rightful King of Lyssia. Through the book we see Drew trying to run from his fate and in the end facing the truth that he is supposed to be King. Typical, but the author's method of telling the story makes this typical cliche archetype work. We also see Hector, boarloard of Lyssia go through a psychological disturbance from communing with the dead to often. We see how he slowly deteriorates from sweet innocent to slightly dark. We have yet to discover what will happen to him. My suspicion is that he might turn villain. I can't say for sure. He seems to be heading in that dark direction.
Over all the written language is easily readible. The cliche of being the lost prince and the trying to run away from his fate fantasy cliche is written well enough to where it actually works and makes a good story. We also get good characterization in the story as well as its predecessor. However, if you are a child or rather a very sensitive child to pain and several casualties(in other words, death), and you have issues with severed limbs and blood, I'd wait a few years before you read this book series. After finishing this book, well...I felt rather depressed. But that's good, because you bond with the characters. You feel their pain. You want to then know, who will survive and what happens next. The story does end on what is considered a cliff hanger. So be excited for the next sequal to Rage of the Lion.
Wings of Fire: The Dragonet Prophecy has me bursting with tremendous joy. This story takes place in a magic world where dragons are like living civilians. However there is a terrible war going on and only 5 dragonets can bring an end to this war. Each dragonet is a different kind of dragon with a unique ability. Each of the dragonets also has a unique personality for their dragon type. I rate this book as a must read for any fantasy lover and anyone who loves a heart warming tale of friendship and bravery.
The language structure of the story is simple as to be expected from a Children's Book but is easy enough to follow and draws you in to the story to make you feel emotion. Each character has a unique personality that gives them character. The only thing I found extremely difficult was the size of the dragonets. I could not tell at all how large they were compared to other dragons. I couldn't tell if they were supposed to be small or large and if they were on the verge of puberty or what. So the only downside is not being able to figure out how large and old they really are. But if you ignore that you get a very heartwarming tale of friendship, discovery of chosing who you are, and finding your inner dragon. This book is also a series. Book two is scheduled to come out January 1st 2013. I will definately be counting the days for its sequel to come out. This is a great book. I highly recommend it. Do read it.
Hey y'all the colt Pokémon keldeo will be availible for download to your Pokémon Black version and Pokémon White version games at gamestops starting August 27.
Welcome to the Arcade!
Here is where I make announcements on upcoming fantasy games and and mmo's!
Anyone here is free to post comments on upcoming games or expansions. Also feel free to review games that you have played and give user-friendly and honest reviews!
For safety-reasons we'll ask you to edit or delete any post that can be seen as flaming, contain spoilers, spam, or for vulgar language. No matter how bad it was, it couldn't have been THAT bad people!
As always, if there is a game or expansion you want me to do a cover on, then please leave a comment on the home page, and we'll see about getting around to it. : )
Wereworld: Rise of the wolf is an incredible book. As a reader of fantasy, I read it and absolutely loved it. This book takes place in a world that is ruled by wereanimals. Not only are there werewolves, but there are also werebears, werestags, wereboars, and werelions and so one. This aspect makes this book a superb work of fantasy in my eyes. It deviates from the typical, overdone, supernatural werewolf that I really to not like. It views werewolves not as monsters of the supernatural world, but as a living fantasy creature that has other wereanimals alike. From a literary point of view, the language is simple, maybe a little too simple, but pleasant enough to be very enjoyable and entertaing. The flow of the story feels natural. Occasionally dialogue sounds a little odd but all in all it has a good flow. It isn't often you come across books like these.
It is very rare a book this good comes across. I have been dying to read its sequel, Rage of the Lions for some time now. It recently came out. I haven't read it yet, but I sure can't waitto read it.
This book series is actually a foreign set of books from Britain. The author Curtis Jobling apparently was the maker of Bob the Builder tv show. I find that quite bewildering. Anyway since it's a foreign book that means it takes longer to get to America. Joy. I recommend this book series if you love fantasy, especially werewolves.
This is another game I also have started playing. I recommend it if you are okay with having to heal yourself all the time. It is a fun game full of diverse abilities and roles. Bestiary wise, it's not tha diverse. But it is a fun game. I'll write a review on it later. I hope you enjoy it.
This is a very good game. I intend to write a review on it later. If you have the PS3 and their PS wand motion controllers, then you will be able to play this game. It is very fun. So far I have enjoyed it. The game is already released but I just want to put this on as a reminder to all you fantasy lovers. Enjoy.
