Final Fantasy Fables Chocobo Tales

While often overlooked, the Nintendo DS era marked a surprisingly strong period for Square Enix, when the company was still actively expanding its IPs in creative directions rather than relying solely on its flagship titles. Among the more unusual releases on the system, Final Fantasy Fables: Chocobo Tales stands out as one of the most distinctive JRPG spin-off experiences.

The Chocobo series itself is a long-running Final Fantasy spin-off, placing the series’ iconic yellow bird in the role of the main hero. What began as a modest experiment on the original PlayStation eventually found new life on the DS with Chocobo Tales, reimagined with a more playful and experimental design.

Threads of Fate

 One of those One-shots old school JRPG Title made by Squaresoft before their eventual merge with Enix and this one had a particular nostalgic feel. Threads of Fate or Dewprism is an Action-RPG game with Lighthearted story two heroes adventure, Rue and Mint in search of vague Powerful wish granting treasure called "Relic". I used to play this game ages ago but always quit early and only manage to settle the debt after getting a copy on my Vita. 

 In a hindsight, Threads of Fate is comparable to Megaman Legends and appears to be half-assed attempt by Squaresoft to make a fantasy version of the latter.   Threads of Fate shared plenty of game formula with MML with Ancient Civilization theme played a huge part in the storyline and the illusion of Epic Adventure that the game tried to evoke. The Nostalgic feeling toward Threads of Fate probably made me highly regard the game before i managed to play it once again and to be honest Threads of Fate is mediocre at best. The game is more like a Action Platformer with some RPG element instead of a genuine Action RPG and the mechanics is rather unpolished. The only redeeming value of Threads of Fate for me would be the distinct Concept Art and the game do have a couple of good Music Score.

 So currently i have finished Rue's Storyline and will finish Mint's route as well to completely wrap up my trip with this game. While most of JRPG game like Threads of Fate failed to deliver, I am always have personal fondness with PSX era RPG Game where they tried to offer an experience of Epic adventure. Given how Megaman Legends 2 end up, i do see why Threads of Fate didn't get any continuation even if it had a shot in early 2000s but by this time the window of opportunity definitely has long gone.
 

Final Fantasy Chocobo Mascot Coin Bank Review

 Just a Chicken Mascot passing by

Front Mission Wander Arts Kyojun Glen Duval ver

 After more than 6 months of inactivity, i thought Square Enix had given up continuing their Front Mission Action Figure line up probably due to lack of demand. Turns out that Square Enix has not finished with this franchise yet and put up another attempt. The timing maybe unfortunate with the COVID plague still ongoing but Square Enix has announced the second wave of Front Mission Wander Arts which features 3 Wanzers which are Frost, Grille Sechs and Kyojun. All these 3 Wanzers appeared in Front Mission 3 but probably appear at the latter game as well

 Each Wanzers come with 2 different color variant and cost 8800 Yen with August 2020 release. Out of these three Wanzers, Glen Duval's Kyojun look the most appealing to me. I haven't played FM5 but from what i know, Glen Duval is one of the main character in FM5 who was the close friend of the game's main character, Walter Feng. Kyojun itself in FM3 is a Wanzer specialised in ranged combat with skills geared for Rapid Firing guns and i recall used by Ryogo, Kazuki's wingman. I think if Square Enix want to revive Front Mission Franchise, i think the rebooting the original trilogy would be a decent starter as the plots for the original Strategy Game is good enough filled with intense Geopolitics and heavy dose of Gray Morality.

Front Mission Wander Arts Zenith

  Front Mission is one of those series that seriously lacks merchandise like some other Gritty Real Robot Series. Square Enix did make an official release announcement for a Front Mission action figure dubbed Wander Arts lineup. The first one to make it into this lineup is no other than the workhorse Wanzer of OCU faction, Zenith. Bring Arts Zenith comes with two variants, Urban and Desert Camo and design wise it is based on the first game. Scheduled for September Release, Wander Arts Zenith comes with the price tag of 9000 Yen. This would have been still acceptable if the size is comparable with Robot Damashii or SRC but it is a 12 Cm toy for almost 100 USD price tag. The sculpt looks great but this is one of those products that the manufacturer shoot itself in the foot due to the absurd price tag. I suppose either Square Enix lack of expertise in sculpting mecha action figure or it just want to spite the original creator of Front Mission series. Almost a decade ago Square Enix did make another Front Mission toy with 15 Cm Size and it was only half of this Bring Arts Price tag. While i was eager to get a Front Mission based toy, this is a skip for me and i will just wait more reasonable version of the toy even if it is model kit.

Front Mission Evolved

 Tried this Black Sheep of Front Mission series to figure out why it is badly panned and it turns out as expected. To put it simply, Front Mission Evolved only nailed down the gameplay while leaving everything else a lot to be desired. The Original SRPG Front Mission had good gameplay, but it is most known for its Gritty Sci-Fi yet Realistic Geopolitics and Evolve is nowhere close to its Predecessor. I do like the gameplay even if it is short since it had the potential but a Front Mission action game should have more tactical element on it instead of being a run and gun Mecha Game. My main gripe with the series are the customization system and mandatory loadout levels which are easily the worst aspect of Front Mission Evolved. I dont actually mind the FPS sequence but it not anything solid either. I suppose with the departure of the original Devs, it is hard for Evolve to deserve a place among its predecessors as it lacks the Soul and Vision that the previous games had. To be honest if Square Enix put more effort to polish this game, Front Mission Evolved could have been something though i doubt this will be the end of the series. I still had 4-5 more titles to go with this series and definitely looked forward to it and I am still waiting Square Enix to release the Play Arts Kai for Front Mission which they had shown the prototype a while ago.

Play Arts Kai Naked Snake Battle Dress ver

Recently i have played MGS Peacewalker on my PSP and i find it to be quite fun game despite having slightly different gameplay orientation with previous titles. I have been browsing for some MGS merchandise and i find Play Arts had plenty of its lineup made from this series. One of the MGS Play arts that i am interested with is the Big Boss/Naked Snake with Battle armor featured in Peacewalker. This uniform provide greatest protection for Big Boss in exchange of stealth and mobility which are great for all out combat against Metal Gear or Armored Vehicles. The Action Figure comes with Machine Gun, RPG and handgun as the armament and extra headpiece to portray the action figure as regular MSF soldier. This action figure would be the first one that i will get if i ever consider to get a MGS action figure as it is still affordable compared to the Playarts version of the Metal Gears.