What Would Your Adventure Start With?: THE LEGEND OF ZELDA, A LINK TO THE PAST

Jumping on a late train (no, not a Spirit Train)
Okay, so here's a game I haven't played even though apparently I should have, Legend of Zelda: A Link to the Past. Why haven't I played it? I really think it was just because I didn't know it existed. Like, I had heard of it, but I've never seen it or had the chance to play it really. Until I saw MatPat on the Game Theorist talk about it, saying that it was better than Ocarina of Time! What?! Well this simply cannot be, A Link to the Past is a 2D top-down game, while Ocarina of Time is a 3D third person game. How can the 2D game be better?!

You can actually see how here!

Well, actually, that's a stupid question, a lot of games are better in 2D than 3D, but those things are beside the point. The point of this is, A Link to the Past starts on a...weird note.

 Don't leave the house!

If we jump back to the original Legend of Zelda for the NES, our hero link starts out with no equipment except his shield. If you walk into the first cave you'll get Link's sword, an (apparently) nonessential item that REALLY REALLY helps with the rest of the game. Like, I don't really see how people could beat the game without a sword, but apparently they do, so whatever. Anyway, so yeah, the first item you have in this game is your shield, and the first one you obtain is your sword.

Take this!

That...makes sense right? Well obviously in any action/adventure game, the most important thing is your main weapon, so you have to start with it, or get it first, right? Let's take a look at a few others...Zelda II, Link starts with his sword and shield. Ocarina of Time, Link starts with nothing, but the first thing he obtains is his sword (or his shield if you decide you want to pick up and throw enough bushes to get those forty rupees.

 Remeber this?

Yeah, the good ol' Kokiri Sword, speaking of which, guess what items you start out with in the next game in the series? That's right, the Kokiri Sword, and the Hylian Shield too! Thank the Great Fairy...that Deku Shield sucks. Where do we go from there? Well, I really haven't played much after that in the Zeldaverse (I know, I know, blasphemy) except Wind Waker, and I don't remember it all that well. But...we can look at some other Action Adventure games...Metroid? We start out with the arm cannon, and we keep it the rest of the game!

 Here's a link to that website too.

There are hundreds of action adventure games, and most of them start you out with a weapon that will be iconic for the rest of your journey, or at least will be improved upon later. MOST of them...but not A Link to the Past.

You got the lamp!

Yep...ol' Link to the Past gives you...the lamp. Now at first, I thought "This is the stupidest thing ever." And I mean, really, you're about to set out on your grand adventure and you get a lamp, how lame is that? Well, for starters, that lamp is really useful, you're going out at night, during a storm, so obviously Link may need the lamp. Then you get to the dungeon and you get your uncle's sword and shield (spoiler alert!) and then you need the lamp in the basement because there are no lights. There's even puzzle elements like lighting torches...or...or...to...open a door...

Wait...it's the first item you get...it sounds useless...and then it turns out to be useful early on...

 #IlluminatiConfirmed

Okay, so technically this is not the first item you receive, but you do receive the lantern early on in Fable, and as far as I recall it serves literally no purpose except to open the first demon door you encounter.

Looking at it now, in broad daylight, not in the middle of the night tiredly pecking away at my DS buttons trying to progress through the game, I can see whereas the Lamp might be a cool item, heck it would kill some difficulty in the 3D Zelda games, at least before the fire arrows, and even then if you don't have arrows it would still work. Or...you could just break a pot or bush and find some arrows. Either way.

 I love lamp.

Hey! Thanks for reading this through to the end! I hope you enjoyed, and I'll catch you next time, in My Arcade.

Just Tear up your Deck: KINGDOM HEARTS: CoM

STRUGGLING
I didn't think I would have as much trouble with naming game-breaking abilities that I've used in the past, but apparently I haven't exploited as much in games as I thought. At the very least I don't remember it, or didn't realize how great it was. Either way, here's the idea we're still focusing on, sometimes games have one or two things intentionally included, that break the game. They're not necessarily intended to break the game (as is the case here) but ultimately they have the potential to.

So far we've covered clothes, the Hero of Kvatch's 100% Chameleon armor, and Spiderman's alternate costumes in Spiderman 64 (2000). Today, we'll actually tackle a weapon, sort of.

TITLE: Kingdom Hearts: Chain of Memories


Kingdom Hearts is one of my favorite game series of all time, and I'm really bummed out that I haven't beaten Coded, RE: Chain of Memories, or 358/2 Days, and even more so that I haven't played Birth by Sleep and Dream Drop Distance, but Chain of Memories is part of the original three, and I kicked the crap out of it backwards and forwards. (Literally sort of, since beating the game unlocks the Rebirth mode where you play as Riku.)

So, what are we covering here? Cards. In Chain of Memories, Sora's memories have been turned into cards that he must call on to utilize his abilities. Different Keyblade cards allow him to attack with different Keyblades (the graphic doesn't change, just the damage and effects, if I recall correctly), spell cards allow him to cast various magic abilities, and items allow him to restore his deck on some level or another. So what's so game breaking about this? Nothing in itself, the cards are handed out in a balanced enough fashion to where you don't just get a full deck of 9s (the most powerful cards in the game aside from 0s, which are situational), and the bad guys always have the ability to counter-play (such as using 0s), but there's one card combination I ran from beginning to end. Omnislash.

The game allows you to have certain characters join you in battle. Friend cards drop throughout fights to allow you to summon Donald, Goofy, and of course some situational world characters (Aladdin and Jack are some examples). But summon cards also make a return, with a summon exclusive to Chain of Memories, Cloud. Cloud was a miniboss in the first game, serving as your first real challenge in the Olympus Colosseum, you later face him again and he utilizes the sheer might of the Omnislash against you. Don't worry, you get a bit of revenge in Chain of Memories, because chaining three Cloud cards together (called a Sleight) allows you to perform the Omnislash technique. The best part is, this ability doesn't require you to expend any level ups on additional sleights, and its powerful enough to where if you manage to pick up several Clouds, you'll never need other abilities.

This isn't necessarily a "solve all" for every single battle in the game, but boss fights are often cut short by three sky dropped whacks from the buster sword. Utilizing mega-ethers and a large collection of Clouds will allow Sora to waltz right through basically every major fight in the game, and it's not even a secret card. There are some cards that require rare key cards to obtain, but not Cloud. Seriously, best. Summon. Ever. Never underestimate the power of a big sword.

Now, of course you can be countered with 0s, and it's honestly hard to get a whole lot of Cloud cards, but it's not impossible. In fact, the best method to do this is to complete the game only to the point that you unlock Olympus Colosseum, then repeat the previous floors over and over, buying card packs from moogle shops and actively seeking Cloud cards in the scenery. Just like that, you'll be good to go.

There's a down side of course, you CAN'T afford to get a lot of Sleights or a ton of HP, because summon cards are expensive. You basically have to spend all of your level ups increasing your maximum card point capacity. What levels you have left you definitely need to invest in HP instead of Sleights, because you'll need that HP for the time you have to spend standing still trying to recycle your deck.

There are other potentially broken mechanics that can be used, and sometimes a simple deck full of 0s and 9s is all you need, but if you want to just go ham, Cloud is your man.