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Hello, my name is Roy Havenstone. I recently lent my voice to the main character of Wingdaria Destiny, a western indie visual novel that's currently seeking funding on kickstarter to turn it into a full-fledged game. Set in a medieval fantasy, Wingdaria Destiny focuses on the forbidden love between a princess and a blind peasant. It features all original artwork, characters and music, and promises 4 different paths and 20 different endings. This is all from the mind of youtube JoyDreamer and her team, so I hope you'll give it a shot and maybe donate, as every little helps. All information about rewards, stretch goals, and link to the game's website and a demo of the game can be found here: https://www.kickstarter.com/projects/390897415/wingdaria-destiny-adventure-romance-visual-novel Thanks again and let's make this destiny a reality!

Summary: What if Robin/Avatar had woken up in a different timeline? What if he had woken up in the dire future of despair that the children came from? Could destiny be changed once again or would he fail this time? -Feel free to review by PMing me :) ------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------ Prologue: Premonition ------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------ "This is it! Our final battle," he told her determined. "You seem anxious. I've never seen you like this," She responded to him surprised. It was true. They had been through a lot together, and in that time he never expressed any sign of nervousness. He was always calm, smooth, collective, and ready for battle. This time he looked different, as if something was troubling him. "It's because everything has led up to this moment. Everything we've done, all our hard work, and our struggles. They are what got us right here, right now," Robin said with a serious tone. "I can't afford any more losses. Much like I can't stand losing you." She smiled. "We've faced so many things together, so I think you should know by now that I can watch my back. Right?" "Yes, I know. It's just that, I would never forgive myself if something happened to you tonight." He looked straight in her beautiful eyes. In those two pools he saw his own reflection, and the best out of himself. "Neither would I, if anything happened to you. Do you remember the plan?" She asked him seriously. "Of course. I created it after all." "Right, and this is like the Valley. Risen had us surrounded, we were outnumbered and alone." She pointed to what she could see in front of them. It was getting dark, and there was no sun to light the way while Risen covered the land that expanded before them. They couldn't even see the grass beneath the zombie horde, only the dark gray sky and the burned trees were visible. "No, the Valley differs from now." "How's that? I see no difference," she asked him curious. "Ehmm… because of this." He pressed towards her, and she couldn't help but feel the adrenaline of her heart when he put his lips on hers. She felt so protected and joyful, because she had someone right by her side. Someone she knew that had stolen her heart and would do anything for her to smile. Her blood flowed rapidly in her cheeks, making them as red as ever. He put his hands around her waist and she put hers around his neck, pulling him closer. "We should focus on our mission, we're about to start the battle. Did you forget that?" She told him in a slightly bossy tone while pushing him away, but she was unable to hide her excitement and her rosy cheeks. "I did." He replied with a broad smile, like she hadn't yelled at him. "Although, when this is over, I have prepared a small surprise for you." She nodded and asked, "Really? Then, shall we go ahead so I can see it later?" "Yes. Tell the others to guide our forces towards the enemy. We must focus on entering the castle. It's your job to tell us how to get in, and with our new weaponry, we have a chance of winning." "I know. Tonight, we will write a new future for Ylisse." "Together." He told her confidently and held her hand. ------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------And so the battle began. The zombie fighters rushed at them with a vicious aura. They couldn't listen or feel. They could only see their enemy in front of their eyes. That was their mission, to kill with no remorse of their actions. That was why the fell dragon was so powerful. Although he had great power himself, his army was the one that terrorised the countless cities it found in its path. Did that mean they were better than humans? Of course not. Although their enhanced battle abilities and skills were something to notice, they lacked human's skills like improvising, insight and the two most important ones, compassion and supportiveness for each other. Those skills, unheard to Risen, made the remains of humanity gather and forge a team with one goal in mind, the fall of the fell dragon, once and for all. In this battle, that dream was about to become real after all those years of pain and slaughter. It was the time for the sun to rise, and for the long period of peace to begin. The man, followed by his beloved one, found a path that guided them and their selected forces inside Ylisstol's castle. The building was the key for them to open the door to a bright new world. At least, that was what they thought as he looked around the room. They had just gotten in, but he told them to stay alert for anything. "What is it? You looked troubled," she asked him worried. "I don't know. This is way too easy. It was never that easy," Robin responded concerned. Right then, they heard a huge noise from outside. The man quickly turned around to see what was going on. Unfortunately, in that moment their forces were surrounded by Risen. He couldn't understand what was going on, but before he could even think, he was knocked out from behind. The last thing he remembered before closing his eyes was his beloved one and the feeling of extreme disappointment. He had failed her, something he swore never to do. He awoke disoriented and confused when he slowly opened his eyes. He tried looking around to get his bearings and unconsciously moved his hand only to find that it was tied tight to a metallic chair. With a quick look around the room, he saw nothing but a dim light from a candle nearby. At once, he tried to think of ways to get out of this condition. Alas, the metallic chair was bolted to the ground so he couldn't break it. His hands and legs were also tied with a plastic-like cord making it impossible to move. Not to mention that he seemed very weak. Unable to find an idea to escape, he waited there looking towards the candle's light, and smelling its wax scent. All he could do now was worry about his friends and his love, about their failure, and about the person who betrayed them. Suddenly, he heard noises of footsteps. Then, the sound of a door cringing open. Before he knew it, a man appeared before him, holding another candle and a knife. "Thank goodness! Hurry! Cut the ropes and let's save our men! Hope isn't lost yet!" The man in front of him laughed sarcastically. "Your plan failed tactician. We've been holding you here for a while now. The battle was lost before it started, and there is nothing you can do anymore." "What?… We? It was YOU! You hit me from behind! You… Traitor! How could you? We trusted you! I trusted you!" He tried to move in a fury but he couldn't. "I am definitely going to enjoy this. You are alive because I ordered them not to kill you. You know, for old times' sake, but I came here with a deal. You will tell us where you are keeping it. You kept that secret for yourself and-" "Don't speak her name!" He cried furiously as his face reddened in anger. Robin moved his body with rage to escape, only to be stopped a third time by his ties. "Haha! I won't. I was so close, but so far away. You lied about its place. It wasn't where I thought it was. Tell me where the real one is and I will grant you a place right next to lord Grima." "I prefer to die before I help you! Snake!" He spat at his face using the only way to attack he could think of. However, the man wiped it away from his eye and continued like nothing had happened. "Don't worry I am not in hurry. I have all the time I need. I finally defeated you! Could I ask for more?" "Arrrgggghhh!" It was a female scream. One he recognised immediately. "NO! What are you doing to her? You crazy psychopath! Tell me, damn it!" "You will tell me where you hid it! Or she will die. I will slaughter her in front of you, but if you comply then I will let you keep her head! Haha!" The man laughed evilly. "Now, tell me where you hid it!" Robin was lost in thought. He had no other choice but to comply. "Tell me Sir Robin. How did everything begin? Tell me everything you know or she will suffer." ------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------ Fire Emblem: The Man That Never Was Prologue-Premonition ------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------ A/N (Author's Note): Hello everybody :) This story was created to become something completely new, based on the characters we all love (from Awakening) and maybe answer in some interesting questions, like "Can Robin change the fate of a doomed world?, Can love be found in such place?" Well... I believe there is only one way to find out :P This prologue is a bit shorter on purpose to smoothly proceed into the main story. Please don't mind any grammatical errors. No copyright intended. Until next time! Please have yourselves a darn good one :D ------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------ J.D. King

Quick Summary: This story is set after the events of Fire Emblem : Awakening. The male Avatar/David faces a new threat far greater than he or anyone could ever imagine. Will he be consumed by the upcoming darkness or will the light inside him prevail? ____________________________________________________________________________________ ____________________________________________________________________________________ Many historians, poets, and bards did their best to recount David's deed's, though everyone agreed though in one thing . . . ____________________________________________________________________________________ Prologue: "The End's Beginning" ____________________________________________________________________________________ He was silent. In front of him he saw himself, lying powerless on the beast's body. "David", corrupted by Grima, the fell dragon. Then instantly he listened to Naga's voice once again … "If Chrom takes the final blow, Grima will be put in another 1000 years slumber. But in order for Grima to vanish permanently, you David must deliver the final hit." … "That's how I died in the future. My conscious was taken over by him. My emotions weren't strong enough to resist the dark inside me" he thought. "David don't do it! You can't" Chrom shouted, in a desperate try not to lose his best friend. David, Ylisse' s Tactician, remained silent. He looked around him. Then, he was staring at a particular person. ____________________________________________________________________________________ "Your highness, my prince! I am afraid I must deliver bad news! " the messenger said. He looked terrified. "What is it, hierarch? You look shocked." Chrom replied. "Ylisstol my prince, it … it has fallen sir. " "It can't be… David! We must think of a new plan now!" the prince ordered. "No way…" David shed a tear. "Its … my fault, Chrom, Emmeryn … I am sorry … How many were lost ?" The tactician was shocked by the news. Who wouldn't? Houses were torn apart and others were burned, only to become nothing more but ashes. "More than a thousand sir, I am afraid. Including some of our finest pegasus knights". David couldn't forgive himself. This marked his first failure as a tactician. He wasn't thinking straight and of course he blamed himself for this. The rest Shepherds lowered their heads. "My lady… I… I am-" He barely could speak. When Chrom had found him unconscious in the valley, he saw David's potential as a tactician. It was David's duty to protect him, but he failed today and miserably. "There is no need to apologise David, everything will go fine. I must go back to Ylisstol. I must help my people. Chrom you should take care of the Fire Emblem. Huh?" Suddenly, they saw a white pegasus flying above them. The rider gently hit the pegasus with their boot, as an order for the mythical creature to land. The rider rushed at the exalt. "My lady I will deliver bad ne-" the rider tried to speak, but Emmeryn told her to stop. "I already know. The hierarch told us." Emmeryn replied. "But how my lady ? I was the only survivor of the pegasus knights… I was the only one to flee." They seemed confused. A wave of wyvern riders appeared in the horizon. They knew Emmeryn was there and had the Fire Emblem with her. "Oh no …." Emmeryn's eyes revealed her fear. "I am sorry my exalt. They told me that they would kill me." The hierarch said. "That's how you knew the news before me!" The rider said. In a blink of an eye, the hierarch started running away and escaped. "Hey! How would you betray us? Come back here, coward!" Chrom shouted out of anger. "David, Shepherds, everyone we must stand by for battle!" The battle was indeed rough, but quick. Vasto the Plegian's wyvern rider forces commander was exceptionally skilled and had a well trained army. In the end though, the Shepherds won thanks to David's great tactics, Chrom's battle instinct and the pegasus knight's skill. Some of them were injured, but Lissa' s and Maribelle' s staff took care of them. David then went to thank the pegasus rider. "My I couldn't be more thankful for your help …" David tried to learn the knight's name. "Oh, Cordelia! My name is Cordelia". She pulled her helmet off her head. David was astonished by her beauty. Cordelia had long straight red hair, white as snow skin and beautiful red eyes. "There is no need to thank me. Your tactics brought us the victory". David could barely speak. "Is everything okay ?" She asked. David blushed. "Yeah sorry I just remembered I need to talk to Chrom". A quick excuse for him to leave and stop embarrassing himself. He wasn't very good with women. He was always anxious around them. He thought they found him boring. Alongside his memories, the feeling of love was forgotten as well. A feeling that he remembered today. ____________________________________________________________________________________ "David! There must be another way! I won't lose my best friend! I beg you... Please!" Chrom was desperately trying to convince David not to kill Grima. David remained silent. His other self was unconscious, lying on the floor. He was still unsure what to do. Then, he listened a familiar voice. "David ! When you proposed me, you made me the happiest woman on earth. I want to keep you close to me for the rest of our days. David I love you! I need you! Don't you turn your back at me!" "Cherry this for your own good." He liked to call her "Cherry" as her signature red hair reminded him cherries as well as her scent. The scent of his woman was, for him, priceless. "For the good of our children." he continued. "I … I don't want be responsible for the death of more people, even if they die 1000 years from now. I can destroy him once and for all. You, Severa, Morgan can finally have a good life, you can shape a world that I will have ensured that is safe. I don't want you to live in fear anymore. I don't want any other future Severa or Morgan to lose their parents, or their beloved ones. He started crying. "I … I love you too much… Sorry, but I hope one day you will understand." "Nooo! What are you doing! You fool. Stop!" Severa shouted. "Dad … I know I wasn't the most loveable daughter … I only want us to be a family once and for all. Please … you promised me that you'll stay with me!" She stayed close to her mother. Her legs were shaking, she couldn't bare the stress of losing her father once again. "I'm sorry if I hurt you with my manners, I'll change!" She shouted out of desperation. "Father! No… You mean everything to me… Don't do it. Chrom Hurry!" Morgan shouted. Chrom, though, stood still, listening to them. His family was crying. They begged him to stay. He broke his silence once again, with tears running down his cheeks : " I am sorry everyone. Don't worry, I will always be close to you. You see … we are all connected with the bonds we forged together! I will forever be close to you as long as I live in your heart. This is the most mystical and powerful spell of all, love. I hope I will return. Cordelia, my children, Chrom… Everyone… It was an honour to meet you, thank you for everything, I just hope you understand. Farewell…" His hand became a powerful source of light. He then listened to his family's and friends' voice for one last time. He pointed his hand to Grima. "As long as my bonds with my beloved ones are strong, you will never corrupt me… This is a checkmate Grima!". A white beam, coming from his hand, hit Grima. The light was so strong that no one could see what was happening. When they could finally see, they stood in the ground, David, though, was nowhere to be found. What remained was the dragon's bones. Everyone mourned David's apparent death. Chrom, when he stopped, was the first to speak. "Don't cry everyone! David was right! He is and will always be in our hearts! And… And…" he became excited at this point. 'As Naga said, David might be somewhere out there. Our bonds must be strong enough to keep him alive. I will find him, even if it takes the rest of my life, I will find you David! Do you hear me? I will create a better world. A world which you gave us." He wasn't afraid for his friend's luck anymore. He was sure that David was alive and he was determined to find him. It was Cordelia's turn to speak. "Chrom is right! We will find you David. I will find you my love." Cordelia's and Chrom's words brought hope into each of the Shepherds' heart. Everyone was sure that David was lying somewhere, hoping to be found. "David! Do you hear me! You better stay alive! " Sully said. Each part of the team swore to find David. Everyone had hope except Severa. She was shocked, again. Something changed inside her that night. She decided that she should change and become a better person. A person that her father would want her to be. Her heart seemed that would never be cured from this incident. Inside her she was feeling the pain. The pain that she felt when her parents died in the first time. This time it was different, though. She didn't blame herself, she didn't want to blame anyone. She wanted to abandon her old self. She didn't want any more pain and that meant to change. Morgan, on the other hand, never stopped believing that her father survived. It was Chrom's words that gave her strength and hope. Was her bonds with her father strong enough? She was sure that this was the case. ____________________________________________________________________________________ One year later... ____________________________________________________________________________________ Chrom approached a wonderful house, built alongside nature. It had a large beautiful garden filled with trees, bushes and flowers. It was certain that someone had devoted themselves to it. Chrom stopped walking and remained still. He took a deep breath. "Aaah… There is nothing better than life at nature. The fresh air is all I need," he thought. Living in a castle was surely a rough thing for Chrom, as he rarely went out. He had become really responsible and worked hard. He was Ylisse's Halidom exalt after all and he had done a great job restoring peace and uniting all the kingdoms. Finally, he knocked the door. "Good morning Crodelia!" he said. "How are you? Morgan is coming as well in a few minutes. May I come in?" he continued. "Of course my lo- ehm, Of course Chrom! Its been a while since you've visited me. Has Morgan been any helpful?" She asked. "Haha. Well its always a pleasure to visit the leader of our Pegasus Knights Squadron. Indeed, Morgan has proved to be quite the tactician. With her help, we've finally brought peace to our country. She helped with the "Treaty of Ylisstol" and with her genuis thinking we have eliminated at least 90% of the bandits that once burned villages and destroyed the homes of thousands, including the infamous "Twins". He talked with passion for Cordelia's daughter. "She is undeniably David's kid". Cordelia shed a tear. "He would have been proud," she said. "Get inside! Severa has already come and waited for you. She had something to ask you," she said. Chrom definitely felt guilty at this point. He had tried finding David with no luck. He was convinced that he was gone. He had to stop searching though, as it had been an expensive task (buying equipment, feeding the paladin's horses, etc.), but he always missed his old friend. He got into the house. Cordelia had done a great work with the place. Everything was in order. The chairs, the paintings, the vases, everything. She was a perfectionist after all. Chrom took a seat. "Food will be ready in any minute". Cordelia said. "How's Sumia and the kids?" "They are quite fine thank you! Lucina is getting better at her sword technique and I believe she is ready to become the head general of our army. Cynthia… Well… Cynthia is as always cheerful, clumsy, but exceptional with a lance. She had a great teacher after all…" Cordelia smiled. She heard footsteps. It was Severa. "Hey … Chrom". She was speaking with an aggressive tone. "Why? You had vowed to find him. Don't you remember that?" "Of course and I remember. Severa I had to. You were right, our bonds weren't as strong as I thought. But he will alw-" "Nonsense! I was wrong. I want to be wrong. You were his friend. Find him! I can't take it anymore, Chrom. Life's became a pain." She was crying. Her tears broke Chrom's heart. "Honey! Its alright…" Cordelia gave her a hug. Severa put her head on Cordelias shoulder. She was unable to control her emotions. "Don't worry. I haven't lost my faith." She said. "We haven't searched Valm yet. Sorry Chrom. She hasn't got over it yet. Honey, sit down. You know it's unfair talking to Chrom like this. He is our king and our friend. You know he tried his best". Severa nodded her head. "I am sorry Chrom. It's just hard for me… Its like the old days." "Hey! It is hard for everyone. I live everyday with the burden that I could have saved him. I know. But you know as well how much your exceptional sword skills are needed by the Shepherds," he said. He tried changing subject, because he always felt uncomfortable talking about David. His order, to stop searching for him was hard for everyone. "But I thought the war was over," she seemed confused. "Yes it is. But we must always be prepared for anything that might occur. Should I send Cynthia to come and pick you tomorrow for training?" He needed Severa's talent. She could easily beat anyone, but Chrom or Lucina with her sword. She always believed that falchion was the reason of their win. The Shepherds hadn't change. They only became more experienced and famous across the land, as they were the king's best crew. A crew that slew the fell dragon. A crew that united Ylisse. Severa had always being rejecting his proposal, because she spent most of her time searching the lands for her father. This time though she felt that it was time to reunite with her friends and fight, if needed, alongside them. "Thanks Chrom. I believe its time for me to say yes. With one condition, though. Promise me that you will continue searching. Promise me!" "Okay. I will. So I'll tell Cynthia to come here at the dawn. Thank you Severa. Your sister needed you. As a matter of fact, where is Mo-" he stopped talking as he heard a loud sound. "Craaaack!" Something definitely broke. They went to see what happened. They got out of the house, only to find Morgan laying down next to the broken, of course, white fence. Immediately, they helped her get up. "Damn it Morgan!" Severa shouted. "It took me a while to make that fence. Now I got to-" Morgan interrupted her. "Mum, Chrom, Sister! He's back!" She was ecstatic. Her face was shining brightly. It was the happiest day of her life. Anyone could tell. And she had quite a smile. The red haired tactician continued. "I've found him Mum! After a year of searching. Dad is alive!". Everyone was shocked by the news. "Could it be?" Cordelia asked. Severa, on the other, started again crying, not from sadness but from joy, this time. An emotion she had long to feel. Chrom was chuffed to bits as well. "Where is he?" he asked nervously. "Ta - da !" Morgan said cheerfully. A man approached them. He had brown hair, seemed muscular and (of course) wore a black and golden robe. He was speechless. He finally saw his family again. Cordelia rushed at him. "Dave… I thought I wouldn't see you again. I never ever lost hope for you. My love". She put her lips on his. She kissed him with passion. He missed her kiss and her scent. "Cherries". When she stopped Severa came close. "You …" She slapped him in the face and hugged him. "How could you do this to me. Do you know how much I cried. Dad, why did you break your promise? You promised to be with me! Never do this again!". He kissed her at her cheek. Chrom told him: "David. Its so good to see you back! But, I must tell you that I did it! I finally made your dream true! Peace has been restored once and for all! Man how much I missed you". Chrom gave him a hug as well. "We have a lot more to tell." he said. It was David's turn to speak. "I… I… am sorry everyone. You have been through a lot because of me. But I had to. I had to. Forgive me". "Consider it done!" Cordelia said. "Come we have a lot to discuss about". "Cherry, everyone, there is something more… Please forgive me once more, because after what happened, I was away this whole year on purpose." He lowered his head. He stopped smiling. "What?" Everyone said at the same time. "Why would you do such thing?" Cordelia asked with surprise. ____________________________________________________________________________________ A/N: Hello everyone! I am J.D. King a huge fan of Fire Emblem : Awakening (or FE:A). I have read a lot of great stories from other authors and I believe its time for me to tell my own story about Chrom, Avatar and the rest. Keep in mind that this is the first time I am doing such thing (I am a bit inexperienced) and I might not update constantly (busy life). In this small pilot chapter I wanted to relate how Avatar/David met and fell in love with Cordelia and start my story smoothly with their reunion. I aim to become a better author. An author that will provide you with quality stories. Someone who will one day create an "Epos" and through it people can smile and be excited or inspired. So what you thought about the "Prologue"? That's what reviews are for. I accept both bad and good. Please refer if you are reviewing a specific chapter or the story as a whole. I use them to see what you like and don't, so I can improve myself. Next chapter will be uploaded fast. No copyright intended. Please don't mind any grammatical errors. Until next time, Cya! ;) J.D. King

Phase into Phazon: Introduction: Metroid Prime 3: Corruption is the final game of the Metroid Prime series, and the closing of the Phazon saga. Metroid’s first jump to 3D was successful enough for not one, but three games. As the ending of the trilogy, it has more to live up to than Prime 2 did. So, is it good? How well does it do its job of ending this epic story? That is the question I intend to answer in this review. Full Review: Story: Metroid Prime 3’s story starts out with Samus waking up from a nightmare, in which Dark Samus is resurrected after the events that happened on Aether. If you saw the secret ending of Prime 2, then you saw this coming. After waking, she is ordered to board a federation ship and meet up with Admiral Dane who has a mission for her and three other bounty hunters. The other hunters are Rundas, basically an ice lord. Gohr, who is apparently obsessed with giant robots. And Gandrayda, who appears to resent Samus and thinks she’s better than all of the other hunters. Admiral Dane informs the hunters that the galactic federation’s Aurora units have suffered from Phazon corruption, and hires them to hunt down and eliminate the viruses and rescue the Aurora units. The Aurora units are basically the federation’s own mother brains and run the information networks for the Federation. The mission briefing is cut short by a pirate fleet who comes to ruin the party, and a meteor that is about to crash into planet Norion. So Samus and the fellow hunters immediately go to Norion to reactivate the cannon generators there and destroy the meteor. But Samus gets derailed not just by pirates, but the Berserker Lord, a baller status trooper that knows how to make one hell of an entrance. He gets defeated but not before absorbing a ton of punishment. After reaching Norion and repairing the first generator, Samus encounters Meta Ridley, who's back again with a vengeance. Samus then defeats Ridley and Rundas rescues her before she falls into the abyss. After activating the final generator, the hunters hurry to the cannon before the meteor hits Norion. When they get there, however, they are attacked by Dark Samus. Damn, those dreams came true! Dark Samus kicks all the hunters butts and leaves as Samus desperately crawls towards the cannon and fires it to destroy the Meteor. Overall, the intro sequence of this game does a solid job of building up tension before shit hits the fan. I like it a lot. Samus then wakes up a month later and discovers that all the hunters who were attacked by Dark Samus are now corrupted. Samus acquires the PED (Phazon Enhancement Device) suit as an upgrade of her iconic Varia Suit. Admiral Dane tells Samus to go and cleanse the Aurora units from Phazon infection and destroy leviathans that have landed on three different planets. She will encounter the other hunters who have been completely corrupted by Phazon, so you are forced to kill them. Honestly, the hunters lack enough character development for me to feel sad about their loss. The only exception is Rundas, who is a great character that had a good amount of interaction with Samus before his corruption. It looks to me like Retro Studios ended up putting a lot of detail and depth into the story, but sadly not much to the character development (except for Rundas). That’s my only gripe about the story. Otherwise, it’s very well presented, with epic cutscenes to boot. Every character except Samus is fully voiced, and every planet you visit has its own backstory, told by a series of logs. Of course, that means none of them have even close to the amount of depth that Tallon IV and Aether had, but it's a fair trade off. Graphics and Presentation: Metroid Prime 3 is the best looking game in the trilogy, at least on a technical level. The game has really good lighting for the Wii and the textures look really good. Artistically speaking, it’s more impressive than Prime 2, with some gorgeous environments. But for every Skytown, there’s a Pirate Homeworld which is kinda repetitive on the visuals side, and the leviathan seed levels all look too similar to the impact crater. But from a narrative standpoint, I’d say it makes sense. But there are a lot of good looking vistas and areas, which are memorable this time around, unlike in Prime 2 where I kept getting lost, at least in the Temple Grounds. Two little notes on the graphics side, one is that the Plasma and Nova beams can sometimes fire from locations away from the barrel if you tilt the Wiimote enough while shooting them, but it's not a big issue. A brighter note is that you can now see Samus’ face fully reflected when you use the scan visor, complete with eye tracking. The game’s sound design is on par with the rest of the Prime series. I’m not sure how I didn’t mention this in earlier reviews but I like how the game has a sound effect when you near a power up or expansion. The soundtrack is on par with Prime 2, but I think it could’ve used more memorable tracks if it wants to catch up to Prime 1. It focuses a bit too much on the atmospheric tracks, but I like the Super Metroid pirate remix in the Pirate Homeworld. The voice acting is superb, both in cutscenes and in-game dialogue. All of the characters feel down to earth and the lines are delivered convincingly. Overall, Prime 3’s presentation was awesome, but then again, it was not really lacking in the previous two games. Gameplay: Prime 3 proves to me that I made the right call to review these three games separately, as they always do some things differently. First of all, the objectives are more clear. The Aurora Unit give Samus all of the objectives and hints she needs to progress through the story. It’s like the hint system from the previous two games except it’s more frequent, it’s voiced, and it’s forced. And you now have a log to view your objective, now described in-depth. With that, the game’s exploration feel is somewhat hurt since I know where my goal is and don’t have to search for it as much. It's understandable since the developers were probably trying to appeal to a wider audience; it’s just I’m not particularly a big fan of that. Since this is the first Wii Metroid game, it was bound to have motion control gimmicks attached to it, but I actually like them in this game. The motion controls help immerse the player further into the game. Stuff like pulling handles, twisting them, pumping power into some machines, inserting codes and accessing elevators all felt natural, with nothing too gimmicky about them. Some of the power ups you obtain such as the grapple lasso are pretty fun to use. Speaking of power ups, the game doesn’t take them all away from you; instead it just doesn’t give you that much in the first place. But you still have to collect them all over again, but having played Super Metroid and the last two Primes, I’m already used to that. So let’s do it and re-obtain our lovely missiles, beam weapons, grapple upgrades, and the good ol’ Screw Attack. You actually get the screw attack quite early this time around, which is good because one of my complaints in Prime 2 is that you got it so late that you couldn't experience how cool it is that much. But to be honest, it was still utilized way better in Prime 2 despite getting it earlier here. And it’s still a pain to hit enemies with it. The seeker missiles have returned, which were useful for me in Prime 2 and just as good now. The morph ball has a new-ish type of puzzle, air puzzles which allow you to use bombs to launch yourself into the air. Your missile combos are gone now, but later in the game you obtain the Nova Beam, which lets you shoot through Phazon. Combined with the X-Ray visor, you will go to town on any enemies or bosses that gave you trouble beforehand. The beam weapon system is different from the first two Primes. This time around, your weapons stack their effects by the new ones. The power beam is replaced by the Plasma beam which now fires as rapidly as the power beam. The Nova Beam is essentially a green plasma beam, but the awesome thing about it is that you can shoot through Phazon with it and destroy enemies from their weak spots. The Ice Beam is not back, but instead you’ll get Ice Missiles which were featured previously in Fusion. And it still freeze your enemies regardless. I think Prime 1 had the best weapon system of the trilogy because you had four completely different guns that never became obsolete and always had their uses against different enemies. I would also say that Prime 2’s weapons were better than 3, honestly. But the weapons are at least different enough that it’s exciting to get a new one. You can now use Samus’ Gunship in more ways than ever before. You can travel not only between planets, but also different landing zones on each planet, which cuts down on the backtracking present in pretty much every Metroid game. Not all that necessary since the only Metroid game where I felt that backtracking was a pain in was Prime 2, but this is still greatly appreciated, and perfect for newcomers to the Metroid series. You can also command your ship on specific parts of levels, with commands including landing, attacking, and picking up or dropping off cargo. It’s kinda disappointing though. I never used the ship missiles at all because I never knew what specific parts of the map I could use it on, and it wasn’t needed because Hyper Mode destroys every enemy out there. Frankly, I would’ve preferred having the power bomb back. If there is ever another Metroid game, it would be nice to have the ability to fully pilot Samus’ gunship. It would be epic. Another cool new thing introduced is the achievement system. Bowling Bots is a funny one. They’re satisfying to earn but I didn’t pay much attention to them. There are green ledges that can be grabbed onto, so Samus can now finally grab ledges outside of Smash Brothers. 'Atta girl! The game’s boss fights are once again well done. The Berserker Lord is the best first boss in any of the Primes. Omega Ridley and Meta Ridley are epic fights. Helios is a fun, challenging and complex boss battle with many different attacks. Gandrayda is my favorite of the hunters because of how many different forms she uses through her shape-shifting powers. Rundas’ battle is epic and the music is fantastic. Mogenar, on the other hand, is a terrible boss. He never gives you room to attack - at all! It’s impossible to get a straight hit on him without screwing up a thousand times over. And the Metroid Hatcher is annoying and you fight it three times, but the second and third are not that bad because you can defeat it easily with X-Ray Visor + Nova Beam. Speaking of the Metroid Hatcher, I got stuck during the Norion fight. I dunno why but I just jammed for 40 seconds before regaining control. I thought that the Repticlus Hunters were gonna be the new Chozo Ghosts/Pirate Commandos but they’re much easier and you only encounter them once or twice. The Steamlords, however, ARE the new Chozo Ghosts/Pirate Commandos, but they’re not nearly as bad or common. Let’s talk about this game’s biggest gimmick, Hyper Mode. Hyper Mode is basically god mode. It’s the Phazon Beam from the first Prime that you only got to use during the final boss battle. Now you can use it all the time as long as you sacrifice a single energy tank. Despite playing on veteran, the game is still generous enough with health drops that you can use Hyper Mode almost all the time, I didn’t abuse Hyper Mode to keep the game fairly challenging, but there are some enemies who have a Hyper Mode of their own which can only be countered by your own Hyper Mode. If you stay in Hyper Mode too long, it will fill up and lock you in until you consume all of your Phazon. But that actually makes the game easier since it gives you more time in Hyper Mode. Overall this is the easiest of the Primes. It even has save points right before bosses, but this is a plus since it kinda bothered me that it didn’t have that in the first two games. The game was fairly challenging while not abusing Hyper Mode and the pacing remained solid throughout. Even collecting energy cells for the Valhalla wasn’t bad because you can collect them throughout the main story. In fact, I had 7 by the time I reached Valhalla. And you only need 5 of them to proceed to the final level anyway. As for the final level itself, without spoiling anything, it is terrific. Unlike the Impact Crater and Sky Temple, Retro added a challenge to their final level this time around. The time crunch scenario feels rewarding to pull through at the end. But the final boss was really disappointing. The concept and execution behind it were decent enough, but it could have been done better. In Prime 1 and 2, the final bosses were a test to all of the skills that you acquired throughout the game. And in Prime 3, the final boss gets his ass whooped by Hyper Mode! It's way too easy. Thankfully, the boss preceding it was spectacular. Despite the game having a big and large scale feeling it was actually not that huge, as I finished it in 12 hours unlike the first two games, which took around 20. But at no point did I feel like the length was bad - the story covered most of what it needed to, and the ending was great. So there’s not that many complaints I can throw toward it in that regard. Final Verdict: Prime 2 and 3 were great games, but the highlight of the trilogy in my opinion is the first Prime. It was the perfect blend of exploration, puzzle solving, and storytelling, and it was an absolute blast to play through. But Prime 2 and 3 were also a blast, despite not having as much impact on me as the first Prime. All and all, the Metroid Prime games are some of the most atmospheric that I’ve played, and I loved how each of them had their own personalities, their own differences to distinguish them from each other. Retro Studios have succeeded not only in adapting the Metroid series into the 3D realm of gaming, but also providing quality games in that dimension. And that is an achievement I find very admirable. Metroid Prime 3: Corruption is a great ending to a well crafted trilogy. It is an excellent game that has served its job well in ending one of the best game trilogies of all time. The ending was climactic and satisfying, despite the final boss not being all that creative. The game felt too easy at points but at no times did it feel like a chore to play through. It may not be a new gold standard in the first person shooter genre but it’s a great entry in an already great series of games. And a great Metroid game in general. Final Score: 9/10 Update on Upcoming Reviews: Hoo, I didn’t expect to come back this early, not even a month after my Prime 2 review. I got a week off, and I took the opportunity to play through and finish Prime 3. At this moment, I am 60 hours into Square Enix’s Bravely Default for the 3DS, I still got a few chapters to go, but after I finish it, it’s gonna be my next game to review. So please stay tuned for that. For those of you who were with me throughout my run through the Metroid Prime Trilogy, I must thank you for doing so. Since game reviews are pretty much my favorite side hobby right now, I am here to stay. Sin & Punishment: Star Successor is on my radar since Zera recommended it to me. I will definitely play and review that at some time in the near future.

The Legend of Metroid: A Link To The Past: After playing Super Metroid and Metroid Prime, both of which I loved, I have finally played through and finished Metroid Prime 2: Echoes. Here are my full thoughts of the game. Story: Let’s talk about the story, Metroid Prime 2’s story is different than the first game with some similar elements, it takes place after Prime 1, the game starts out with Samus hired by the galactic federation to go to a rogue planet called Aether which had some marines that called for an emergency signal. Aether’s atmosphere damages Samus’ gunship, leaving her stranded on Aether, with her initial objective being to find out what happened to the marines. Samus encounters Dark Samus, essentially the daughter of Metroid Prime if you will, come to avenge her dad’s death on the hands of Samus! seriously, though, she’s just the remains of Metroid Prime. Samus then she gets attacked by Darklings who hijack all of her items, ALL of them….except for the charge beam, Varia suit and Morph Ball, the game doesn’t have any heat based areas so the varia suit is purely cosmetic. She then proceeds to find that the marine troopers have been wiped out by the same darklings that attacked her, and then she encounters a Luminoth man called U-Mos, this NPC serves as the driving point of the story, giving Samus her objective and providing a lot of context to the world in a lengthy bit of exposition. Samus’ goal now is to restore power to Aether’s energy controllers so that she can gain access to the Sky Temple and take out Emperor Ing. Graphics and Presentation: Graphics and animations have been notably improved from the first game on a technical level, Samus’ model is fixed, no longer does it look jaggy a bit, it now looks all smoothed out, the game now has better cinematography than ever before, not that it was terrible in the first game, but cutscenes are now fully animated, even saving the game has it’s own animation. The game now has in-game dialogue unlike Prime 1 and it actually works well within the game. Dark Aether’s has a great post apocalyptic atmosphere feel to it, I heard some people complain that it makes Dark Aether’s graphics too repetitive and boring but I beg to differ, that’s the whole point of the game and it succeeded in that part. The UI however was very difficult for me to get used to at first, Prime’s menus were much cleaner and easier to navigate through. One thing the UI did greatly improve upon was the scan visor, it now highlights scannable objects by three different colors: Blue being unscanned, red being unscanned and important to progression and green being scanned. Gameplay: Now let’s talk about Prime 2’s gameplay which can easily be considered hit or miss for some people. This is considered to be the black sheep of the series, it’s gameplay structure deviates greatly from the first Prime game, now much more similar to Link To The Past than its prequel, Echoes plays around with LTTP’s light world, dark world mechanic, where the game is divided into two halves, light Aether and dark Aether. The game has a lot of returning powerups and a few new ones here and there. The Dark Beam is essentially a much faster Ice Beam, it freezes your enemies, making them vulnerable for some hilarious missile kills, in true Metroid style, its combo is the Darkburst, it’s an awesome looking and very powerful powerup that shoots a dark portal that absorbs the enemies’ HP like it’s nothing. The Light Beam is super effective against dark enemies, and can disintegrate them, it’s combo is the sunburst, a powerful yet quite slow attack that I rarely use. Then finally, there’s the annihilator beam which besides using it to open its doors, the only combat scenario I used it for was against the final boss, that’s how impractical I thought the weapon was, it uses both your light and dark ammo, its combo is the Sonic Boom which I just about never use because it’s too expensive for a combo that’s not much stronger than the previous ones. Oh, by the way, there’s ammo in this game, a traditional thing in first person shooters yet it was completely unnecessary and very unfitting in a Metroid game in my opinion, managing missiles and beam ammo have gotten very cumbersome for me throughout my playthrough. Missiles are really enough, and the Beam weapons from the previous Metroid games were personally much more interesting and enjoyable for me. In Prime 1, none of the weapons felt obsolete because you would always encounter enemies that require different guns in order to defeat. But in this game, there was no reason for me to use the Dark Beam over the Light Beam unless I wanted to open Dark Doors or do a darkburst. The exception was the Ingmasher enemy and Emperor Ing who both required switching your beam weapons constantly, besides from that, there was no incentive for me to use the Annihilator beam due to its cost except for the occasional sound wave puzzle. The Morph Ball in this game is utilized very well and has some really fun and clever puzzles to get through, overall, the puzzle design in this game is as great as ever, and at points, feels even better than before. The dark visor lets you see stuff invisible objects and enemies, and the Echo visor allows you to detect sound waves. The gravity boost replaces the gravity suit and instead of just allowing you to walk better underwater but also gives you an ability to hover in the air underwater; Torvus Bog is the only region with water so this power is rather underutilized. Speaking of underutilized, the screw attack comes in very late in the game that you can’t experience its greatness well enough, the best improvement is that it’s no longer just a very powerful attack, it’s used for traversing the game’s world, too, and reaching area otherwise unreachable. I consider this game to be overall not as strongly paced as the first Prime game, which is the biggest problem for me, one that hurts the replay value greatly. The game starts out with a strong opening sequence, not nearly as strong as its predecessor’s opening but it was good regardless. Then the game takes you to dark Aether and for the first hours of play, you will find yourself taking ridiculous amounts of damage by just standing in dark Aether, the only way to avoid damage is using light energy fields which not only prevent you from taking damage but also SLOWLY regenerates your HP which can be quite boring, you can shoot the light field with a light shot which powers it up to deal more damage to dark enemies, which is a great level design technique because it encourages players to save ammo by luring enemies to light fields and powering it up, but that doesn’t increase health regeneration speed, it’s incredibly slow and boring, I’ve never played a game where I had to sit there and wait for my health to refill for potentially more than 3 minutes if you have high enough energy (HP for non Metroid players.) It’s not until a bit later in the game when you obtain the dark suit which boosts Samus’ damage resistance but also significantly decreases the damage you take from dark Aether. There’s the point where the game becomes much more fun and overall more playable than before, now I can play the game without feeling constantly feeling stressed. Now that the game picked the pace back up when you obtain the dark Suit, let’s talk about the game’s bosses. There are a lot more of them here, there’s almost a boss for every power up obtainable, most of the bosses have a gimmick where they use your power ups against you until you defeat them. I liked most of them, with the exception of the Boost Guardian, the Alpha Blogg and Grapple Guardian. My favorite bosses and some of my favorite moments in this game as a whole were Quadraxis, the Spider Guardian (Yes, I’m serious) and Emperor Ing. I didn’t have that much trouble with the spider guardian, in fact, I beat him on my first try, and perhaps that was because they made jumping easier with the Wii controls. Quadraxis was a masterful boss, why can’t we have other bosses this good in pretty much any FPS? Quadraxis is a fun and challenging boss that is a great test of skill and everything you learned in the game, he’s more complex than the final boss of the first game, nuff said. And I won’t spoil much about Emperor Ing, see for yourself. I also loved every boss fight against Dark Samus as she uses a lot of Samus’ signature skills. And when you reach the late game part is when the game slows down once more and gets rather tedious because of the final mission objective. Collect the 9 Sky Temple keys. Before you take on Emperor Ing, you HAVE to do this. Oh, man, this mission was boring. And it killed the game’s pacing right there, this is why the replay value is hurt for me, besides the early hours with Dark Aether damage. This time around, you acquire the Light Suit which allows you to fast travel between energy controllers, go through rays of light, improve your defense once more and of course, completely negating all dark Aether damage, as well as damage taken from swimming in dark pools which is awesome. But that doesn’t change the fact that the reward for finding 9 temple keys is finding 9 more that are even harder to find this time around. Some would argue that the same criticism could be leveled against Prime 1 for finding the 12 Chozo artifacts, but the game instantly gave you hints on how to receive at least most of them. The thing here is when I killed the Omega Pirate in Prime 1, I already had about 80% of the Artifacts I had to collect. However, when I killed Quadraxis in Prime 2, I had literally just ONE sky temple key out of nine. This part of the game is just there to pad out the game’s length whereas in Prime 1, I didn’t even feel like it was there. The Final Verdict: All in all, my final impressions of Metroid Prime 2 is that it did some things better than its prequel and did some other things worse. The game’s fun factor had some really strong and really weak moments scattered throughout. Unlike Prime, which remained a consistently solid experience that I never got sick of. Don’t get me wrong, I really liked Metroid Prime 2, it’s the sequel to what I consider to be the best first person shooter ever made, and I still adored the boss fights, I loved how they added more of them and made them feel varied. I feared that this game would feel too samey but in fact, it changed but perhaps changed too much for its own good, when I play Prime 3, I hope it expands on what the first game offered more than I would like it to be like another Prime 2. And heck, if it can manage to be a nice blend of the first two games, then that’s great. But bring back the weapon system from the first game, please. I will be taking a break from Metroid Prime Trilogy for the time being to play some other games and do some work. But I will hopefully be done with Metroid Prime 3: Corruption hopefully in the near future. One thing very much in common between Prime 1 and 2 is that I felt very satisfied when I reached the end. As disappointing as it felt at times, I still enjoyed this game. And that's enough for me to recommend it to Metroid Fans and FPS fans alike. Here's a link to my review of Prime 1 if you're interested http://serenesforest.net/forums/index.php?showtopic=52669

I've cut off work on Dark Days (Probably permanently) because various things, including this: Endless Adventure A project on RPG Maker XP In the world of Grandia, explorers and spelunkers are extremely common. Can you stand up to the challenge of Grandia's dungeons? Will you make is out alive? Only time will tell. It's like the RPGs of old, with lots of gameplay and exploration, and not that much storyline. The story will exist, but it isn't important, nor is it good, nor is it deep and enriching. Basically an old Final Fantasy game, except obviously not 8-bit, and with no end. That's right. Just lots of dungeon-crawling, character leveling, and loot-gathering. Now, I know if you're looking for a game like this, you can get some MMO or something that's probably way better than this. But anyways, yeah, that's about it. Lots of updates can be expected soon. Thanks for your time. Also, I don't know where this should go, Rom hacking just seemed the closest to it.