Let's celebrate Theatrhythm's impending localization with some merchandise

I suppose we all knew it'd happen eventually, but if you haven't heard, Theatrhythm Final Fantasy will be coming out in the US and Europe sometime this summer! How's that for great news? To celebrate, hit the play button on your favorite Final Fantasy track and take a look at some of this awesome merchandise I managed to wrangle up!

First of all,  I have to say I've been warming up to the cutesy art style used in the game. It first appeared in a Kingdom Hearts cell phone game in Japan, and I never found myself very partial to it... But the more I see, the more I find myself starting to like it. I mean, who can resist drinking their favorite beverage of choice out of one of these Theatrhythm mugs?

You can purchase it online here!

Or how about a tumbler, for when you'd rather your drink available on the go?

source

I personally like the color on the tumbler, but prefer the simplistic design of the mug. But it's hard to pass up chocobos!

But better yet, perhaps you already have a trusty water bottle you'd like to spruce up a bit? In Japan they have bottle cases like these all over the place:

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Love the addition of the plush music note!

There is certainly a lot of drink-related Theatrhythm Final Fantasy merchandise, isn't there? But never fear, the usual cute keychains have also made an appearance:

I'll be honest – that's not my favorite Final Fantasy moogle design (I'm actually partial to the more rabbit-like moogles from the Ivalice Alliance titles, but don't tell anyone I said so), but the chocobo is pretty darn adorable. I particularly like the contrast of the yellow and blue.

And last but not least, we have a special item that I could only find on Kuma's Mad Dog Blog, a Square Enix blog dedicated to their merchandise (the previous two photos were also taken from there):

A tote bag?? Better yet, an unreleased tote bag?? It's a little known fact on the internet that I am actually obsessed with tote bags. They're good for groceries, books... everything, really! Ok, I'm a little obsessed. But I do love something that's both cute and functional, and tote bags really do fit the bill. According to Kuma's Mad Dog Blog, where this image was posted on March 15th, it's a brand new item, and currently no more information is available, so we'll have to wait and see when and where this is released. Admittedly, it is a little on the plain side, but I think owning a Theatrhythm Final Fantasy tote bag trumps all. I think I'm going to make it my personal mission to make sure I get my hands on this lovely thing.

Do any of these items catch your fancy? What would be your ultimate Theatrhythm merchandise? I wouldn't mind some stickers...

Tutorial: How to play Social Theatrhythm Final Fantasy online

If you're at all like me, you're chafing at the bit waiting for an announcement that Theatrhythm Final Fantasy will be released outside of Japan. With two demos now available for Japanese 3DS owners and the official release only a few days away, I for one am feeling even more anxious to get my hands on this adorable-looking title. 

Luckily for all of us lacking in the Japanese 3DS department, Square Enix has opened a special promotional website for the game where you can select a character and play along... It may not be anywhere close to the real Theatrhythm experience, but it's the best we're going to get for now! The site and game, called Social Theatrhythm, will be open until March 30th. Click on the link to head on over to the site, and use this tutorial so that you can join in the fun!

Upon loading the page, you should be treated to this: 

Click on the image to view a larger version

Before we get started, it should be noted that the "social" aspect of Theatrhythm requires you to allow the application to be linked to either your Twitter or Facebook account. I signed in using my Twitter, but either is fair game! 

Click the left-most orange link to get started! It's worth noting that the greyed-out link at the bottom that says "coming soon" will eventually lead to a number of promotional commercials and movies. Knowing Japan's knack for creating some of the wackiest and most adorable commercials in the world, it'll definitely be worth checking out later on. 

The next screen will have two options, highlighted in orange (sorry, I don't have a screenshot). It should be easy to make out – one will say "Twitter" and the other "Facebook" followed by some Japanese. This is where you select which account you would like to use to play the game. Clicking on the link will then take you to a pop-up window where you must authorize Social Theatrhythm to access your account. When it's finished, just close it and return to the previous window – if everything's linked correctly, then you should next be treated to the character select screen.

Now you're free to select the character of your choice out of the heroes from the numbered installments in the series. Click the left and right arrows and, when you're happy with your selection, simply click the orange button on the bottom there to proceed. I meant to select Zidane (the hero of my favorite Final Fantasy, of course!), but for some reason my web browser didn't register my click and went ahead and selected the Hero of Light for me. Bummer! 

Next you'll see your character profile page! There's my character, the Warrior of Light, on the left, and you can see I'm signed in as me from my avatar up there next to "apricotsushi" on the top. In order to level up your character, you must select the orange "training mode" button on the bottom and fight against your friends – or anyone who happens to pop up on the user list, really. Just for kicks I "fought" a level 2 Japanese Twitter user, and upon defeating them I had enough experience to level up to level 2. 

If you feel like kicking my butt with your rhythmic prowess, be sure to follow @apricotsushi over on Twitter! People who you are following will appear highest on the list, and even your friends who haven't signed up will appear with randomly-generated characters. I assume the system works the same for those of you who choose to sign in using Facebook, but I can't say for sure. Upon defeating a player, a message will pop up asking you if you want to post a status to your Twitter/Facebook – click the left button to simply return to your character screen, or if you want to really confuse your friends with a Japanese status update, go ahead and click the right one. 

After you've leveled up some, click on "monster mode" to go off and fight Final Fantasy monsters alongside other users!

The gameplay is pretty straightforward – simply click the mouse at the appropriate time to line up the colored circles over the grey one on the right to deal damage to the enemy. A miss results in your own HP being depleted. The screen is exactly how it would appear in the game, but as this is a browser-based game and not being played with the stylus, all you're required to do is click the mouse and occasionally click and hold it down for the longer actions. 

And there you have it! After defeating a few of the monsters, you'll be treated to a fight with the last boss, who's face takes on the appearance of a famous Japanese comedian. Some players who manage to defeat the final boss will be randomly selected to receive a free 3DS, but I'm sure you must be a resident of Japan to participate. I haven't gotten that far yet, but I'll let you know when I do!

If you leave the page and come back later, remember that you will need to authorize your account all over again, but this doesn't mean you'll start from scratch. After it's done doing its thing, you'll bypass the character selection screen and return to your profile page.

Be sure to tell me what you think of the game when you give it a go! Of course it's very rudimentary, but it's cute none the less, and you're treated to some snazzy Final Fantasy tunes. 

Let me know if you have any questions or experience any problems! 

4 games I'm looking forward to in 2012

This post is coming a tad bit late, but who said I had to follow the herd, eh? As the title suggests, I've wrangled up a few games that I'm particularly looking forward to in this hopefully epic year of the dragon. It should come to no surprise to any of you that all of these are Japanese games. I am very predictable.

Kingdom Hearts: Dream Drop Distance


Or Kingdom Hearts 3D, as it is also known... Get it?? Ahaha... Anyways, pretty much anyone save die-hard fans will tell you that Kingdom Hearts has been on a downward spiral littered with obsolete and downright unnecessary plot threads with still no true Kinghdom Hearts 3 (that 3D may be as close as we're ever going to get). But I've been playing some Kingdom Hearts: Birth By Sleep over the holidays and I have to say, its rekindled my Kingdom Hearts spark. And besides... The World Ends with You character appearances? A Hunchback of Notre Dame world? I was in before Disney could utter "Frollo."

Hakuoki: Demon of the Fleeting Blossom


Why look, it's another predictable title on Anne's list. I think all that needs to be said here is "first major English otome game." If you want to read more about otome games, I've written plenty about it. Here's a sample of what I'm looking forward to:

Theatrhythm Final Fantasy


Dream Drop Distance, Theatrhythm... Japan will never get over its absurd use of English in game titles. If you're wondering, the official Japanese site states that "theatrhythm" is a combination of "theater" and "rhythm." Well, it helped me remember exactly how to spell the title, at least.

As a fan of both rhythm games and Final Fantasy, this one is yet again another no-brainer for me. I am decidedly not a big fan of the cutesy art style used in the game's character art, but I'd be willing to overlook that if the game plays as well as I'm hoping. And with three different modes to play all of my favorite Final Fantasy songs in, it should provide many hours of fun.

Pokémon x Nobunaga's Ambition

Admittedly, I'm a bit of a shameless Pokémon fan. Okay, there's not much shame in that, as most of my video game loves are based on silly reasoning, but here's one to take the cake: After I saw these two character designs from Pokémon x Nobunaga's Ambition, I was sold. Also, Pokémon combined with feudal Japan? A fresh take on the old Pokémon formula? Sign me up!

 

Of course, there are plenty of other great looking titles that I am very much looking forward to this year, including, but not limited to: Atelier Meruru: Apprentice of Arland, Final Fantasy Type-0, Rhythm Heaven Fever, and Rhythm Thief and the Emperor's Treasure. 2012 is looking to be a great year indeed!

In which I rant about Final Fantasy XIII-2

Okay, I'm generally not much of an angry gamer, but I may come across as one in this recent article I did at GamerANX about my lack of enthusiasm for Final Fantasy XIII-2. I really don't harbor feelings of intense hatred for the ultra-linear predecessor to the second direct sequel in FF history, I promise! But I do get a little snarky (and poke fun at the new weird bulbous-headed moogles). Give it a read, if you're interested!

I did do a bit of research for the article, since I haven't really been keeping up on the news regarding the title. Once I heard Ezio was going to be a DLC costume for the new male lead Noel, I pretty much threw in the towel. I admit that I probably will purchase the game in the future, because in all honesty, the gameplay looks pretty intriguing, but I'm definitely not in a rush. Even a 40/40 from Famitsu will not sway me (which it did get, by the way, and I'm not sure who really puts much faith in those scores anyway, outside of rabid fanboys).

Well, through my research I did stumble on a couple of character design-related annoyances that I would've loved to put in the original article, but they just didn't fit. When you think of absurd costumes, you think of Final Fantasy, right? I thought X was about as weird as it could get, but check this out:

This is Caius Ballad, the main antagonist of XIII-2 and the character you see fighting with Lightening in the first teaser trailer, as well as the game's logo. There are so many things about this character design that just rub me the wrong way! Honestly, I don't even know what to say without digging myself an early grave. I am notoriously a fan of Seymour, after all...

What I liked about Seymour and Final Fantasy X (overall), was that the majority of it didn't seem to take itself too seriously. I mean, who takes Seymour seriously? Or Kuja, for that matter (another favorite FF character of mine). The problem with XIII, and potentially XIII-2, is that it's taking itself far too seriously, and yet Tetsuya Nomura is churning out silly character designs like these. [edit: It's come to my attention that I'm not really articulating my point very well. I think my major beef with Caius stems from the fact that his design seems like one big a big mash of character stereotypes. Or maybe I just think he's ugly?]

And have you heard of Chocolina? When the name first arose, all that was known about her was that she appeared around the world dressed in chocobo-themed clothing selling goods. Me, being the naive gamer I am... I pictured a dorky little girl dressed in full-body chocobo costume. Instead, we get this:

And of course this single image has already spurred dozens of news articles talking about the "hot new shopkeeper" who'll make "sexy cosplay." Yay? I should be excited, right?

Naw, I'm just all-around disappointed and throughly unamused by pretty much everything surrounding Final Fantasy XIII-2 at this point. Maybe I'm just grumpy, maybe I'm stuck harboring some metaphorical ideal of what a Final Fantasy game should be, but either way, this game really couldn't interest me less at this point. I play RPGs for story and characters above all else, and Final Fantasy just isn't pushing the right buttons anymore. I'm sure the gameplay will be pretty neat, though.

What are your thoughts on Final Fantasy XIII and XIII-2? Are you excited for the sequel?

Talking games, importing, blogging, and more with The Gay Gamer

Bryan Ochalla is by far one of my favorite people on the internet. He's the voice behind the colorful gaming blog, The Gay Gamer (not to be mistaken with GayGamer.net), and is known for his quirky tastes in games and a penchant for collecting boxed retro titles in immaculate condition (sometimes just for their cover art). He covers all manner of games from the PC Engine right up to current-gen titles in his Great Gaymathon reviews, compares regional differences in game box art, and takes some incredibly sexy photos of his game collection. His newest series, Manual Stimulation, focuses on highlighting some of the best game manuals in his collection, reminding gamers how much care and attention used to be put into those few often-overlooked pieces of paper.

All of this is done with a down-to-earth yet cheeky pizzaz that makes The Gay Gamer a joy to read day after day. Bryan also fosters a great community of like-minded gamers who have some great discussions in the comments section of almost every single one of his posts (and he posts pretty much daily, mind you!). Rest assured, if you comment on one of his posts, he will always read and respond to you, making him one of the most easily-accessible and charismatic people I've ever had the pleasure of "meeting" online. 


Bryan was kind enough to agree to answer a few questions via email, so I took the opportunity talk with him about his gaming history, interest in Japanese import titles, and a bit about what it's like to maintain a blog. He gave some great responses, so please take the time to read through the whole interview, even though it's a bit long! 

Apricotsushi: Would you mind starting with sharing your first influential game?

The Gay Gamer: Wow, that's a pretty difficult question to answer, especially since I'm not sure I can remember that far into my past. That said, I can recall at least two games that were pretty important in terms of turning me into a fan of video games.  

The first is the arcade version of Bubble Bobble.  It's one of the first games of any sort (arcade, console, etc.) I remember playing, and to this day it remains one of my favorites.  Everything about it amazes me -- its wonderfully realized graphics (especially all of the food and other items you collect -- I've been a sucker for that kind of thing ever since), its hummable soundtrack, its ability to pull you back for "just one more game."  I don't think I'll ever tire of playing it, to tell you the truth, which is pretty amazing given its age and simplicity.

The second game, strangely enough, is Kid Icarus, which is the first console game I remember obsessing about as a kid. Oh, I liked Super Mario Bros. well enough, and Metroid and The Legend of Zelda, too, but for some reason Kid Icarus really stood out for me.  I think it was mainly due of the mythological theme, as I've always been a sucker for Greek gods and goddesses and the stories that surround them.  I also remember being entranced by its graphics -- especially the enemy sprites -- and Hip Tanaka's amazing soundtrack, though.  Anyway, I know the game isn't all that highly regarded these days, thanks to its overt difficulty (some would say cheapness), but I loved it as a kid and still play through it now and then in order to relive some of those "good old days."

Japanese import Hello Kitty World 

Apricotsushi: What are your favorite game genres?

The Gay Gamer: If I were forced to whittle them down to just two, I would say two-dimensional platformers (a la Super Mario Bros.) and turn-based JRPGs (like Dragon Quest, Final Fantasy and EarthBound/Mother, especially).  I also like puzzlers a lot, though, and rhythm games, too.  Really, I like most genres, with the exception of first-person shooters. I actually enjoy watching other people play FPSes, but I can't for the life of me play them myself (due to the perspective, I think). 

Apricotsushi: As a fan of Japanese games myself, I've noticed you do a lot of importing of niche Japanese games. What do you find so appealing about them? 

The Gay Gamer: When I was a kid, I thought Japanese Famicom games and PC Engine games -- and their boxes and cartridges -- seemed so much more exotic and beautiful than the ugly NES and TurboGrafx-16 games my parents bought me.  I've also always liked quirky games and, back in the day, especially, companies either didn't bring the quirkiest titles (like Parodius, for instance) to our shores or they altered them to make them more American (which didn't appeal to me at all).  Anyway, that's what finally prompted me to start importing -- I wanted to play Parodius and TwinBee on my TG-16, but I knew neither NEC nor Konami would bring them to the US.  So, I imported them from Japan Video Games or some company like that.  From then on, I was hooked.

Apricotsushi: Do you have any favorites in particular?

I still consider my copies of Final Fantasy V and VI for the Super Famicom to be prized possessions, even though the former is completely mangled and worth about $2 (if that).  That's probably due to the fact that they were among my first import purchases and because they're two of my all-time favorite games.  I also love my original white PC Engine and the many games I've amassed for the system -- Parasol Stars, Photograph Boy and Mizubaku Daibouken, in particular.  Oh, and my Famicom "Pulse Line" carts.  If I could, I would mount all of them in some sort of museum-quality case -- they are that beautiful and interesting to me.

Bryan's photos of his Pulse Line carts are just gorgeous!

Apricotsushi: You've been writing at your blog, The Gay Gamer, for a couple of years now, right? Have you done any other game-related writing for other sites/publications?

The Gay Gamer: Yep, I started the blog in early 2007, so it's been around for more than four years now.  I did take about a year (or more) off, though, so I guess that's not entirely accurate.  

Anyway, I wrote a few features for Gamasutra.com when I first started freelancing and I also wrote a number of gaming-related articles for The Advocate (a North American LGBT magazine) and GayWired.com a few years ago, but I haven't written anything gaming-related for money (professionally) in a long time, mainly because it often doesn't seem worth my while monetarily speaking.  

Also, I like that I have full control over what I write for my blog.  I don't have to worry about what would appeal to the masses or bring in the most hits, I can just write about whatever interests me at the moment.

Apricotsushi: I know you've mentioned you write for your day job, as well. Even so, you post daily for your personal blog. After writing for work all day, what motivates you to post in your free time for The Gay Gamer?

The Gay Gamer: Well, to be honest (and maybe a bit blunt), I like writing posts for my blog more than I like writing anything else -- and that includes the articles I write for the magazines that help me and my husband pay our bills.  So, I basically use my blog writing as a "getaway" of sorts from my day job. 

I have to admit that sometimes I feel a bit burned out in regards to the blog, but it never lasts long.  Plus, something inevitably pops up -- a game announcement, the release of a new system -- to get me excited again.  

Also, I really like interacting with the folks who visit my blog and comment on my posts.  In fact, oftentimes the "high" that I get from that kind of interaction is even more enjoyable than the one I get from writing posts in the first place.  

One of the many great manuals featured in Bryan's Manual Stimulation series

In closing, I asked Bryan if he had any tips he has for fellow aspiring game bloggers. Here's what he had to say: 


Write about the games and systems that interest and inspire you if you want to make the most of the time you spend writing.  Also, if you have a blog and you allow comments (and you get comments), respond to them!  It just might help you create a bit of a community -- if that's what you're looking for, of course. 

You can find Bryan at his blog The Gay Gamer and on Twitter @TheGayGamer. For his drool-worthy game collection photos, check out his Flickr.