One & Done: Games Without Sequels - Part Four

Welcome to the return of One & Done, an article series on SPC that talks about games that never became franchises. They were literally one and done! Now, the purpose of these articles isn't to beg for sequels, as some of these games don't need them and not every game needs to become a franchise. Instead, we're just exploring and fondly remembering these terrific titles from generations' past and giving them some more time in the old spotlight.

Speaking of the old spotlight, check out the games featured in the spotlight on past editions of One & Done with these links:

Part One
Part Two
Part Three

The Last Story (Wii)

From the creator of Final Fantasy, Hironobu Sakaguchi, comes a game with a title that really WAS the final, last, and only game in the IP--unlike Final Fantasy. It's none other than The Last Story. It's a shame that Nintendo of America did not decide to localize the title during the Wii era, as not only could the game been a strong release when the system was winding down in popularity, but it's just an excellent game outright. Xseed Games ended up localizing and releasing The Last Story in North America, and it's a great thing that the publisher did, as Wii owners would have missed out on this ode to classic RPGs with modern window dressing. Between the highly capable and deep combat system with an action-RPG feel, and its abundance of quests to highlight the cast of characters, The Last Story remains a solid RPG, not just for the Wii, but in today's market as well.

Opoona (Wii)

We go from a classic-style RPG on the Wii to one that's quite the refreshing and utterly adorable type with the Koei-published Opoona. The big thing that distinguished Opoona from its contemporaries--other than the obvious whimsical characters with floating orbs over their heads--was the ability to play the game solely with the Wii Nunchuk, if one desired, harkening back to days and nights of playing PS1 RPGs with that one-handed controller, if you remember that. The Nunchuk wasn't just for ease of playing with one hand, one used it to flick forward to attack enemies with projectiles, whose firing angles could be altered based on the combat situation. No worries, though, if motion controls aren't for you, as Opoona does allow the Classic Controller to be used. Though Opoona never received a sequel, the character has appeared in another game: Warriors All-Stars aka Musou Stars in Japan.

Puppeteer (PS3)

Most likely mentioned in one of SPC's Most Overlooked games articles, Puppeteer had the ill fortune of releasing on the PlayStation 3 after the launch of the system's successor, the PlayStation 4. While many PlayStation gamers had moved on to the new hotness that was the PS4, Puppeteer was left to languish on store shelves and out of the spotlight completely. It's a shame because Puppeteer was yet another insanely creative and crafty platformer from PlayStation's excellent first-party studios, this time around Japan Studio. Protagonist Kutaro wielded a mighty pair of shears to slash and slice through the game's myriad levels and fascinating worlds. Speaking of which, the whole world was a stage essentially, as Puppeteer was presented with a clever play-like atmosphere, complete with curtains and the occasional audience. Sony hasn't forgotten Kutaro or Puppeteer, thankfully, as one familiar with the game can see a callback to the game--among many, many other PlayStation games--inside the PlayStation 5 pack-in title Astro's Playroom.

Jeanne d'Arc (PSP)

Jeanne d'Arc has all the makings of an awesome game--tactical RPG, based on the story of Joan of Arc (albeit decidedly incredibly loose in its interpretation), beautiful visuals, and Level-5 as the developer back when it had better success stories. Fortunately, with all of these makings of an awesome game came... an awesome game! There are influences from lots of games within Jeanne d'Arc's genre, such as Fire Emblem most notably with its rock, paper, scissors-like affinity system, and it made for strategic and quite frankly, satisfyingly challenging battles! All of this was balanced wonderfully with battles that weren't slow and plodding but instead fast and fluid in their pace. Really, Jeanne d'Arc stands with the greatest tactical titles in the PSP's impressive arsenal, including the greatest of them all (in this writer's opinion, at least) Final Fantasy Tactics: War of the Lions.

Sphinx and the Cursed Mummy (Multi)

Alternating between two different playable characters, Sphinx and--if it wasn't obvious from the title--a mummy who was originally a prince who received a curse from the game's main villain. While Sphinx's sections play out like a traditional Zelda-like with action-focused combat, exploration, and dungeon-crawling--and who can't have enough of those!--the mummy's sections were dungeon-based but focused heavily on puzzles, particularly involving the mummy being crushed, shocked, set ablaze, and all other manners of non-painful torture to make progress. Although Sphinx and the Cursed Mummy originally released back in the PlayStation 2 era, the game recently received a remastered version on the Nintendo Switch, which by the by, the above screenshots come from. Is it possible we'll see more from Sphinx in the future?

Geist (GCN)

The final game of this edition of One & Done is a first-person shooter with a fresh possession mechanic, though one that wasn't executed to its full potential. It's the GameCube's Geist. The game's story was one of conspiracies and a protagonist whose specter was separated from its body, allowing them to freely enter all sorts of objects and living creatures. The latter, however, had to be spooked first in order to be possessed. So, in essence, part of Geist wasn't just focused on high-octane action with run and gun blasting at baddies, but also puzzle aspects in how to approach possessing specific targets. Geist is an idea that again, wasn't executed perfectly, as the game was quite linear. I would have loved to see more freedom in tackling challenges rather than the game having just one way to go about accomplishing things, but overall, it was an enjoyable shooter published by Nintendo in an era of interesting titles published by the world's biggest game creator.

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What games without sequels are your favorites? Do you want to see sequels to them? Let the SPC community know your thoughts in the comments section below.

Sequels, Please! - New Installments We'd Love to See

Similar to other segments such as Localizations, Please! and Remakes, Please!, Sequels, Please! is another segment at SuperPhillip Central where we more often than not fruitlessly beg for games that we desire. Although we do not get what we want most of the time, we've gotten what we begged for several times, such as a new Donkey Kong Country or localization of games like Bravely Default, Theatrhythm Final Fantasy, and Tales of Xillia. Obviously we had nothing to do with these games being released, but we'll take what we can get.

Sequels, Please! delves into individual games or franchises that we would absolutely love to see new installments for. From a Smash Bros. inspired fighting game to an intense stroll through the zombie apocalypse, these games are ones we'd greatly enjoy seeing sequels for. After you've read our picks (we have plenty more in mind, but we gotta make this a series of segments somehow!), please let us know what sequels you've always been dreaming of. The wilder, the better!

PlayStation All-Stars Battle Royale

We start off with a game that we cannot believe didn't do as well as we (and Sony) were hoping. PlayStation All-Stars Battle Royale was without any question the PlayStation brand's answer to Nintendo's Super Smash Bros. series. While the games did have their obvious similarities, PlayStation All-Stars altered how points were made. We realize that this caused much criticism, but we can't help but be thankful that SuperBot Entertainment tried something different to distinguish this party fighter from its point of inspiration. With some fine-tuning of the formula and better roster choices, we'd love to see Sony return to this series with a title and cast that definitely are worthy of the PlayStation name.

LEGO City Undercover

Here comes a game that we had no problems declaring it as the best LEGO game yet. It's not even a close race. LEGO City Undercover introduced Wii U owners to a sprawling city with myriad activities to take part in, things to collect, and tasks to complete. While the Nintendo 3DS saw a prequel to its Wii U bigger brother, that game was a technological mess and did not possess even half the charm and wit of the Wii U game. We would absolutely love to see Tt Games return to Chase McCain's world and deliver yet another hilarious and addicting LEGO City game for Wii U. Heck, it doesn't even have to take place in LEGO City!

The Wonderful 101

Give thanks to Nintendo's horrible handling of this game commercially, which funnily enough is a prime reason why the Wii U is a sales disgrace, as to why The Wonderful 101 did not do gangbusters at stores. Quite the opposite actually. The demo, with its lack of a real tutorial, infuriated and turned off many players. However, those of us who have played the final version of the game experienced an increasingly escalating game that continued to dial up the crazy from start to finish. Oh, that ending sequence! On his Twitter (if you don't know the handle, ask your mom), Hideki Kamiya has expressed interest in a possible Wonderful 102, but that's up to Nintendo. Seeing how risk-adverse and safe they have been with their game announcements lately, we're less than hopeful. Still, we'd love for our pessimism to be unfounded.

3D Dot Game Heroes

For a series that is so popular, The Legend of Zelda series has seen very few imitators, much less ones that can hold a candle to any installment. However, the PlayStation 3's 3D Dot Game Heroes is an homage to the classic game, The Legend of Zelda proper, offering an abundance of NES-related game references and a nostalgic take on the action/adventure genre. The game used blocks for characters, enemies, and settings, delivering a world that was as fun to look at as it was to explore. While 3D Dot Game Heroes sold poorly in Japan (less than 20,000 its first week), U.S. sales were more than admirable, exceeding Atlus USA's (the publisher) expectations by six times. We'd be grateful for another trip down memory lane in an adventure that blends old and new with another 3D Dot Game Heroes.

Final Fantasy Crystal Chronicles

In our review yesterday, we gave a relatively glowing review of the GameCube's Final Fantasy Crystal Chronicles. Since the original 2003 release, the Crystal Chronicles sub-series has spawned new iterations, two similar dungeons crawlers on the Nintendo DS, a duo of city-building games on Nintendo's WiiWare service, and a completely different take on the series with the Wii's Crystal Bearers. However, we'd be most interested in seeing Square Enix return the Crystal Chronicles line of games back to basics with the enjoyable dungeon crawling, treasure finding, monster defeating, boss beating, multiplayer action that games like the original GameCube Crystal Chronicles and the DS games contained. We don't care if it's on Wii U or Nintendo 3DS-- we just want our dungeon crawling thirst quenched! Plus, it would take the bad taste out of our mouths from the Final Fantasy XIII trilogy. Couldn't hurt, right?

ZombiU

The Wii U launch title, ZombiU, sold poorly. As a result, Ubisoft opted to delay Rayman Legends and port it to multiple platforms. That's a shame, not just the Rayman game being sent to die in September, but because ZombiU is still one of those Wii U games that makes the greatest use of the GamePad, something that Nintendo can hardly design creative ideas for. It's safe to say that without the GamePad ZombiU wouldn't be the same, wouldn't be as scary, and wouldn't be as much of an experience. Using the GamePad in real time to check your backpack's inventory while making you vulnerable to zombie attacks made things all the tenser. Solving puzzles with the controller and doing so much more made ZombiU more than just another shooter. Add in permanent death, and you have an original and criminally overlooked Wii U exclusive that should have gotten more attention. The hope of a followup is pretty low, but even if Ubisoft needs to make a sequel multiplatform, we'll take it. We need our zombie fix!

Puppeteer

Severely overlooked by PlayStation 3 audiences, the insanely charming and whimsical platforming adventure known as Puppeteer was a game that released to no pomp, no circumstance, not even a little "hey!" Instead, Puppeteer was relegated to bargain bin status quite quickly. We are of the minds that Kutaro and the rest of the gang deserve another chance; this time for redemption. Whether it be on PlayStation 4 or PlayStation Vita as a retail or downloadable title, we don't want to see the immensely interesting world of Puppeteer vanish when there's so much potential to it.

SuperPhillip Central's Favorite VGM - Winter Warm-Up Edition

SuperPhillip Central is preparing for the upcoming official beginning to winter. Sure, we could have taken the easy way out and sat down with some cocoa, but we'd rather warm up with some genuinely fantastic video game music. From Mega Man Battle Network to Gods Eater Burst, the range of music is unspeakably wide.

v526. Mega Man Battle Network (GBA) - Home (ACDC Town)

Oh, good old ACDC Town, the hometown of hero Lan in the Mega Man Battle Network series. We've featured a theme from this game's sequel, but this is actually the first time we've had the original Mega Man Battle Network on our list of favorite VGM. While there have been many versions of Home throughout the Battle Network series, nothing beats the original.

v527. Gran Turismo 4 (PS2) - Soul Surfer

Dakota Star was a band that did a lot of work with Daiki Kasho, a composer who has done work for games like F-Zero GX, Gran Turismo, and other projects outside of gaming. One of our favorite Kasho compositions comes from Gran Turismo 4, Soul Surfer. It's perfect for making the minutes pass much faster in one of those confounded endurance races.

v528. Jeanne D'Arc (PSP) - Take the Fortress

The PlayStation Portable was home to so many excellent games. Between the PSP and the DS, both handhelds had the greatest number of stellar and noteworthy titles. That's right, consoles-- move it on over. Jeanne D'Arc was a strategy RPG with great art, interesting characters, and fun gameplay. Its music was sometimes forlorn, sometimes cheery, but always entertaining.

v529. LocoRoco 2 (PSP) - Uwauwau

One of the best PlayStation Portable franchises that came out and premiered on that system is the LocoRoco series. Its innovative and functional control scheme, stylized visuals, and clever design made it a series to remember. Its eccentric music, meant to come across as being performed by the LocoRoco themselves, might not be everyone's cup of tea, but it fits our tastes just nicely.

v530. Gods Eater Burst (PSP) - Merciless Lord

Go Shinra is a fabulous composer, who has also done work on the Ace Combat series. His signature style is readily apparent in Gods Eater Burst, a game made to ride on the success of the Monster Hunter series. While the player in the game can kill immense beasts and creatures, the Gods Eater series couldn't come close to killing Monster Hunter.

Jeanne D'Arc (PSP) Review

For the first review of the marvelous month of May, we're going back to the year 2007. The PSP was in its early goings, and the platform had a lovely future in-store for it. The game is Jeanne D'Arc, and the review is right now so get ready!

Viva la France!

It seems that the handhelds this generation are the ones rich with RPGs of all kinds. There's the traditional JRPG, the tactical RPG, and the strategy RPG. For every big-time RPG that gets released like Dragon Quest IX, Final Fantasy Tactics, and Mario & Luigi, there are multiple smaller-scale RPGs that come from out of nowhere to surprise and delight gamers who are looking. One such of these titles is 2007's Jeanne D'Arc, a Level 5 production published by Sony Japan. This RPG was sadly overlooked when it was originally released, but that isn't stopping me from checking it out in 2011.

It's France in the 15th Century. France and England duke it out against one another in the Hundred Years' War. A farmgirl named Jeanne has her hometown burnt to the ground by a small army of England's demons. Obtaining a powerful armlet on her wrist and given orders from an oracle from the heavens, Jeanne heralds out to fight for her country and take down England, saving her homeland of France. The story plays out through text bubbles using the in-game engine. Special scenes are shown via animated anime clips. These are pretty rare in total, but feature the voice actors doing their best to present French accents.

Some cutscenes play out in an anime presentation...

Jeanne D'Arc is a strategy RPG. There's about three dozen main story battles to partake in, each featuring set rules and win conditions. Some have you defeating a certain enemy while others might have you escaping a map at a certain point without letting any of your soldiers pass away. Each battle has a set number of turns you have to clear the battle in or else it's game over. Several encounters have it where if Jeanne falls in combat, it's game over. With no way to resurrect fallen characters, it's important to plan ahead and plan smart.

...While most scenes play out using the in-game engine.

About a dozen or so characters will join up with Jeanne's cause during the duration of the game. Each has their strengths and weaknesses. There's the typical brute force soldier, the slow but strong lion who loves to speak in the third person, the archer, the map-combing thief, the lancer, the weak offense healer, and many more. Lancers can attack two squares ahead meaning that they can avoid getting countered by attacking a space too far from an enemy's grasp. Each character can be equipped with weapons, armor, accessories, and skills and spells. As you progress far enough in the game, you can bind skills and spells to create newer, more powerful abilities. What skill once boosted a character's HP by 20 now does so by 50. As characters gain levels, the amount of skill slots is increased by one every five or so levels earned. This means you can equip your troops with powerful abilities to make battles all the more easy.

Battles in Jeanne D'Arc take place in a turn-based fashion. Unlike Final Fantasy Tactics, however, each side gets to move their units before the other gets a chance to move theirs. There's no individual units from both sides taking turns in combat. First, Jeanne's units move out, and then it's the enemy's phase. Close encounters make for strategic thinking as attacking from the front means that the enemy has a better chance of evading your attack. Bashing a foe from behind gives greater odds that your attack will connect. If you are right next to your opponent after putting on some offense, they will counter, giving off an attack of their own. Again, unlike Final Fantasy Tactics, counters give experience points. Experience points are used to gain levels to strengthen your party members. Even party members not in a given battle will earn experience points-- just not as much as those doing the dirty work.

Even dragons are no match for La Hire.

After a myriad of turns, Jeanne can access her armlet to turn into a spiritual being, capable of attacking multiple times in one turn as long as she continues to defeat enemies while doing so. Her attack and defense capabilities are exacerbated sevenfold meaning that Jeanne is one mother not to mess with. This power goes away after a couple of turns, and it can only be used once per battle. Thus, it's important not to waste it as it can be a true tide-changer.

The tides will definitely need to be turned in battles in which enemy reinforcements arrive. In most battles you will be outnumbered, outmanned, and outmaneuvered meaning you'll have to keep your wits about you if you wish to survive or at least not be totally assimilated. There are some points in Jeanne D'Arc where you will have to participate in Free Battles (more on those later) to grind levels to be at a high enough strength to gain victory in these encounters. This can be viewed as a bad thing, but when the gameplay is as fun and enjoyable as it is in this game, grinding really is not so annoying. It also does not need to be performed as often as say in a game like Final Fantasy Tactics.

Battles get hot and hectic in the world of Jeanne D'Arc.

There's an abundance of maps in Jeanne D'Arc which causes the player to adapt new strategies if they want to survive. Players must take into account the height of foes. A baddie standing two feet above you cannot be hit with a simple sword strike. Instead magic or a piercing arrow must be used. Free battles are simply battles that have nothing to do with the story. These can be selected from the world map and are recommended for those needing to level their troops up. Meanwhile, shops can be explored to purchase new goods, armor, weapons, and skills. You can save from the world map or before battles. The game even encourages you to save on multiple files in case you get stuck during one of the encounters with no plan but to start the game over from the beginning.

Use the analog nub to adjust the camera view.

Visually, the cel-shaded characters and colorful worlds of Jeanne D'Arc are impressive to say the least. The game is rich and detailed and a delight to look at. Battles seldom show any sign of slowdown, and the framerate stands at a steady clip. Sound-wise, the music is sensational and will get you into each battle you encounter in the game. The voice acting is passable at worst and great at best. Who doesn't love a forced French accent for every main character in the game? I don't know if that last statement was sarcasm or not.

Overall, Jeanne D'Arc is an exemplary SRPG that doesn't so much redefine the genre as it does takes what is great about SRPGs and reminds the player why they play them in the first place. The 36 chapter campaign will last at least 25 hours, the post game content lasts an additional amount, testing out new teams in battle will have players going at it for hours more, and binding new skills and spells will last a long time. When all is said and done, there is a lot of meat to this game. If you're searching for a Final Fantasy Tactics-like game without the convoluted story or mass grinding, then Jeanne D'Arc is an excellent substitution for you.

[SuperPhillip Says: 9.5/10]