Fan Fiction:The Game

Not that there's anything wrong with fan fiction, oh no. One of my friends is writing one and I often roleplay BUT THE POINT IS that if you're into crossovers thanks to other successful games that do the same crazy concept but just as good (Ex: Super Smash Bros, Marvel vs Capcom) then you're probably going to really like this game too.

 

 There couldn't possibly be a proper caption here to describe how awesome this screenshot is to me.

~ The Biggest Celebration of Lots of Games ~

First thing's first: this game is a celebration of almost all of the franchises that are a part of it, and by that I mean it does as much as it can to show a part of every franchise that's in it be it through a musical piece, an actual level taking place in its universe (which are referred to as chapters), or enemies appearing from that franchise. Eventually it starts to become overwhelming but if you're ready to hop into this head first then you probably already came mentally prepared. For everyone that's not, let me coast you along the way the best I can.

When it come to how unique PXZ is outside of its crossover idea and wanting to make the idea of this work in terms of a game, it goes on the Tactical RPG route akin to Fire Emblem or say, Final Fantasy Tactics. Players move along a level via a grid-like number of spaces and once near an enemy (indicated by a yellow flashing area) they go into combat.

 Encountering an enemy gets usually one out of (?) number of intro conversations started by your team (and their assistant, more on that in a bit) and then the fight starts. The way how this looks is similar to fighting games but the commands are a lot more simplified than that. You press the A button for a regular attack and should you have a high enough level, A + (direction indicated here) for other attacks. Early on in the game your teams of characters only have roughly 3 or 2 attacks to use at the start before the turn ends, but if you merely follow the menu of attacks in order (or out of order) and use one attack of every kind that you have then you get an extra attack. For example, a full leveled Ryu/Ken team can use their A, A->, A<--, A^, and A (Down) and then obtain an extra attack afterwards for more possible damage. Attacking enemies fills up your "xp" meter. Fill it up to 100% in combat and you can unleash that team's special attack which deals out a tremendous amount of damage on top of giving a really nice sequence that accompanies them. For example, attacking with Ryu/Ken in this manner (by pressing Y once obtaining 100%) will get Ken and Ryu to attack with their Ultra combos often seen in the Street Fighter games all the while the Street Fighter IV version of the theme song is playing! Doing this with any team nets you some flashy fanservice and that's how a lot of the game feels like upon playing it.

But as you have a set number attacks you should pay attention to the red bars below the % number as that will be your indicator for how many attacks you have left. Afterwards, the enemy (if they're not defeated) can decide whether or not to counter attack.

Throughout the game you can also call in for assistance during your encounters with enemies or bosses.

Assistants are assigned to you and YOU have the power of decision for what single character gets to be the 3rd wheel for any team. What is also up to you is who you allow to help you in that single encounter. Teams who are near you on the map can be called in for an attack during battle (R button) and can give extra damage right alongside your assistant character (L button). Put this ALL ON TOP of the 3 or more attacks you yourself can do and now you can understand why this game can get chaotic, flashy, but never fails to attract. The picture on the left, for example, shows that Jin & Xiaoyu from Tekken can face a Chaox (Blue) enemy with the support from the Valkyrie Chronicles 3 team characters. The "change Y" command shows that he can also switch between choosing to use them or anyone else. For some encounters this could mean doing some damage and doing A LOT of damage to the enemy so as long as you play in the spirit of teamwork you should never end up overwhelmed.

Defeating enemies nets you experience to level up each team separately as well as items: this can range from basic recovery items to actual equipment gear that teams can use to enhance their statistics. While fighting common enemies and actually defeating them doesn't have a big difference on how much experience teams are rewarded, actually defeating boss characters DOES. I've had situations where a team leveled up TWICE in the end of a chapter because they were the ones that defeated a boss

 Encountering with enemies who are using their turns can turn out poorly, or okay for you depending on how prepared you are and how much of the meter you've built up in combat. If you have 20 or higher % on the meter from combatting enemies you are given up to 3 options most of the time (unless the boss character decides to override your choice, which happens a lot). Using up 20% allows you to take damage but immediately counter it back, using up 40% allows you to defend against some of the damage taken from the enemy, and using up a whopping 60% allows you to be completely defended against the attack and take 0 damage. Take note that when in combat you can work your way up to 150% on the meter by successfully attacking at the same time as assistant and support groups OR you can use items to automatically give you that meter (but only up to 100%. The extra 50% has to be accomplished/earned in-battle).

At the end of chapters you're given the option to rework who is an assistant for whom and equip either gear or accessories for your teams...although to be honest the difference between the two is so minimal I'm not sure why there's a separation: both can be as equally important as the other part that's equipped to the team as they both can give enhancements to any stat.

You'll notice that by this time up until now I haven't bothered with the story, and well....that's because I don't really find the story that great to be honest and that's an awful shame to me. If you aren't playing an RPG for purely the fun of its combat mechanics, you usually try to find a way to salvage your enjoyment through the story. However with Project X Zone there are problems: all of it coming from the original characters made purely for this game. Absolutely none of the characters that make cameos here from other video games are to fault for what I'd say is a needlessly convoluted plot for a simple and stupid 'end game' solution that the villains cook up.

Enter Project X Zone's protagonists, Kogoro(left) and Mii(right). The one on the left is supposedly a detective who also happens to be a ninja from a family of detective ninjas. The walking pair of tits on the right is Mii, and her only contribution to the entire story is that the villains deem her "really important" because she has some 'mystical power' she doesn't even know she has and won't be informed about until a mere 3 or so chapters until the end of the game. But sure, both of these characters are quite capable of defending themselves with an interesting style of combat but neither Kogoro and Mii are...how can I say this...endearing? Throughout the game's 46 chapters as they encounter and meet many of the other characters from franchises like Mega Man X, Space Channel 5, Virtua Fighter, Street Fighter, Darkstalkers, Tekken, or even Dynamite Cop, they don't really stand out. They stand around most of the time encouraging everyone to 'keep on moving', being just as clueless as anyone else why dimensional rifts have opened up somehow merging other people into other worlds (which is the explanation for how any of these characters meet in the first place), and for Mii...just spend time not developing.

As much as you'd think there isn't some interesting point to the story, there actually IS and it rests on everybody else actually. The other characters such as Ryu and Jin remember having met each other thanks to the events of the game Street Fighter X Tekken and you go "Okay so that's cool, that makes sense where this takes place" but then the game throws other supposedly linked worlds like Chris Redfield and Jill Valentine knowing exactly who Dynamite Cop is and have 'heard of his contributions'. Things like that are a little bit hard to swallow but I digress: most of this is forgiven due to the idea that Morrigan constantly acts like a tease around EVERYONE (and I mean EVERYONE) as well as other franchises that haven't been paid attention to (such as Shining Force or .hack) are given so much love. Conflicts that are often known to be key points of story in THOSE games have a high chance of showing up and rearing its head here and that's what's so interesting about the story. You want to keep playing because you're not sure why you're fighting Selvaria from Valkyrie Chronicles but you can't hate her because she's only fighting you for the premise that "They promised to bring me back home". You want to enjoy taking down so many zombie enemies because Frank West (Dead Rising) paired up with Hsien-Ko (Darkstalkers) and their chemistry together is...strangely cute.

The same however cannot be said at all for the game's chosen created villains for this chaotic, rolling avalanche of a premise.

These 3 pictured here are the reason this game's story could have been so much better, but it isn't. The first two on the left appear early in-game and at first you don't get the idea that these two will be around constantly to poke their heads in and ruin your enjoyment of a level. But once you keep playing and notice that these are Project X Zone's answer to Team Rocket then you quickly realize how much of an annoyance they become.

For one, these characters are named essentially "1, 2, 3" but in German, and have no personality other than to be brooding, stupid, ridiculously over powered and annoying. By "annoying" however I mean moreso in the context of their contribution to the story. Throughout roughly 42-43 of the game's 46 chapters (this includes the 5 Prologue Chapters) they allude that what they're doing is a mere tiny part of a 'greater plan' and that you, the puny humans and denizens of the multitude of franchises that are represented in this game have NO IDEA OR UNDERSTANDING OF THEM and will only understand 'in due time'. This would be interesting (if not unoriginal) if they didn't keep it up for so many chapters. The beginning chapters of the game don't take long to complete but quickly grow in length just to complete (from over an hour long to up to 3 or 4 hours), and throughout these, the picture villains I showed you do nothing but go:

- "Oh so I guess we're here. Time to have some fun and initiate our plan."
- *player defeats them in battle*
- "Meh, whatever. The plan's working anyways without my being here so my losing is ACTUALLY WINNING TROLOLOLOLOLOLOL"

Ergo making every single encounter with these guys complete filler.

Now mind you I don't find villains in general stupid and annoying by nature unless they are cleverly written and engaging (like Seth or Juri from Street Fighter IV), and thus it makes their encounters very exciting. But these...I just can't. The game would have been better without the build-up to what essentially ends up being the most stupid and cliche plot from the villains.

I'm not going to spoil it, but think of the most cliche, JRPG-tier 'reason' that any villain would want to endanger life on Earth as we know it, and you probably have an idea for the supposed climax of Project X Zone.

That's not to say that there's nothing in this game saving it if you're paying attention to what you're reading, but it's mostly meta stories that help you appreciate them a bit more if you've already played the games they represent. For example, T-Elos (pictured left) wants KOS-MOS to fuse with her at the end of some battles but comes along (eventually) to fight alongside the good guys, Chris Redfield and Jill Valentine bump into Nemesis and try to forget the horrors of years past, and X and Zero bump into someone they thought was dead and must destroy once and for all. Things like THESE are why I (or I think anyone) would enjoy my time with PXZ on top of the combat. In the end, I only wanted to continue the story to see where the conflicts of these other characters would end up, if they would resolve, and what they'd say to each other as they inevitably leave each other's dimensions/worlds/time lines. I mean, as weird as it sounds, but I think Frank West and Hsien-Ko have more chemistry than Kogoro and Mii...who are already supposed to be 'dating/not dating' by the subtle hints here and there.

Project X Zone ended up being everything (and more) of what I wanted, however a terrible original protagonist/villain pair, little replayability (outside of redoing the story, much like a lot of JRPGs), and no extras anywhere take away what would have otherwise been an absolute perfect recommendation. Beating the game nets you a "new game plus" mode which lets you continue with your levels and gear but on a harder difficulty setting, but if there's nothing special for beating that then I can't say I would bother unless it was to have a completely new save. Nevertheless, Project X Zone is a great title, and I do think it's a worthy buy.