samurai rocket

Hitting dragons in the face, yet again

2012-01-22T11:47:00.005Z

I always find it surprising when I realise that I've been playing Monster Hunter for several years. Somehow it still seems like such a young series, and yet I've been playing it for almost four, maybe even five years. Being a Capcom game, it's obviously had it's fair share of releases, expanded editions and ports, but I still feel like I've only ever scraped the surface.

For reasons I never quite grasped, I didn't take very strongly to Monster Hunter 3 on the Wii. Something about it felt... off. As if it was lacking a special ingredient. I am fairly sure this is a reaction that is purely my own, as it did very successfully, and has already spawned two expanded editions. Neither of those have been translated yet, and as it's been out for a year or so in Japan, I picked up a cheap(ish) second hand copy of Monster Hunter Portable 3rd.

First thing I noticed is that it's actually a lot easier than 3 on the Wii. At least, I am fairly sure that is the case, as I struggled to do the early quests on that, and yet I'm nearing end game on Portable 3rd. I am fairly sure I have not dramatically improved without playing the game, so it seems like the most natural conclusion to come to. Not that I am complaining, as it's actually let me feel I've got into the game properly for possibly the first time, despite having played five different editions already.

Aside from that, it's more of the same really. Which I definitely find a good thing, I like that Monster Hunter doesn't try to keep reinventing itself, or overcomplicate itself with lots of hidden criteria, which is how I felt God Eater and Lord of Arcana worked, which were both attempts in what seems to be a hunting genre.

So, Monster Hunter Portable 3rd has done a good job of reinvigorating my interest, which had been almost completely dulled after 3. The concerning thing about this development, is that I've found myself interested in 4, which is going to be on the 3DS. If I end up getting tempted enough, it's going to be an expensive risk, which is almost exactly the case I had with 3.

More thought may be required.

Quested

2011-11-16T12:33:00.002Z

You know, I never thought I'd use Jedward in one of my header images, but it's related to my feelings about Dragon Quest IX, and therefore is quite suitable.

Previously, I'd mentioned how I bought the game a second time, albeit in Japanese, with the aim of giving it a second chance. I did. It still doesn't do it for me. I'm really not sure what it is about it, but it just feels... weak. I guess it's a similar feeling to Final Fantasy IX, in that it's brought in multiplayer to a predominantly single player experience, and feels too light in most aspects aside from how much a timesink it is. I can accept that, I know it's silly to think that I would enjoy every game in a long running series simply for being part of that series, but I still feel a bit let down about it.

However, in my previous post I'd also mentioned plans to go to Dragon Quest's 25th Anniversary exhibition in Roppongi. I've since been, and it filled me with happy feelings. Which is, of course, what you want from a videogame.

The largest part involved a history gallery, with the walls covered from floor to ceiling in screen shots, with framed artwork dotted around. There were a few full size monster statues in the same section. Those were the only things you were allowed to take photos of, but it was busy enough for me to get away with a few photos of the artwork.

After that was a performance, with audience participation included, where a large animatronic dragon appeared midway, and had to be defeated by a few members of the audience being given replica weapons and the rest of the audience being encouraged to lend their energy. It was an interesting experience, but quite hard to summarise in words. It's a shame that most of it did not allow cameras.

Following that, and perhaps the most interesting of all, was a behind the scenes section, which had very, very early concept ideas and sketches. The vast majority of this had apparently not been shown to the public before, and therefore was the busiest part of the exhibit. I was amazed, quite oddly, at several filing cabinets containing folders that detailed every single bit of text in the entire series thus far. Not only were you not allowed to take pictures, but they'd even established a barrier to stop people getting close to it. After that was a shop, with some obscenely overpriced goods, most of which I fawned over but refused to allow myself to buy, as such a thing could destroy my wallet.

I'm sort of on the fence about Dragon Quest now. It's certainly a lot more popular worldwide, which is a good thing, but with the next one being a full online RPG, I really don't know if it'll be my sort of thing again. I suppose there are always remakes to look forward to, at least.

ReQuesting

2011-10-31T14:34:00.003Z

There are not many occasions where I buy a game more than once. The amount of times I have done so could be counted on one hand, and the second edition bought usually has some form of additional content. I have not, however, bought a game just for being in another language. That has since changed.

For some reason, Dragon Quest IX never really clicked with me. I wanted to like it, tried to like it, played through to the end of the game, but then rather than continue on with the mass of post-game content and downloadable content, chose to shelve it instead. I'm not really sure why, but I mostly attribute it to the sudden lack of focus on party members that had made the previous titles so enthralling for me. I'm well aware that the original titles worked in this manner, but that just makes it feel like even more of a step back. There was also the poorly executed inclusion of downloadable content. Normally, I'm not someone who is opposed to such a thing. However, for DQIX, it was only possible to obtain some specific pieces, and some of the most interesting pieces, by attending a roadshow that was touring up and down the country. If you didn't attend, your chance was gone. I found this more frustrating upon learning that this content is already on the cartridge, you were simply obtaining data to unlock that content.

So, why then, considering my dislike, did I decide to try it again? The first reason, and perhaps most compelling, is finding it second hand for a mere 900 yen. Secondly, at the moment in Japan, there is an anniversary event in Roppongi. I've assumed, perhaps foolishly, that there will be some way to obtain previous downloadable content there. Finally, DQIX seems to be one of the few Japanese games that has furigana, which could simply be described as a reading guide, for all of the kanji in the game. It makes learning fun!

If in the end, this is a futile attempt, then at least I've given it an honest try. I just sincerely hope that with Dragon Quest X being an MMO, that the series hasn't changed drastically enough with IX for me to wish for the good old days.

Tokyo Game Show

2011-09-21T09:39:00.003+01:00

Recently, I made a trip to the Tokyo Game Show. It's a yearly event, and open to the public on certain days. I've been eager to visit to many years, and as I'm in Japan for the time being, it seemed as good an oppurtunity as any, especially as there were a handful of games I wanted to check out.

Unfortunately, the actual amount of games I was able to play was a lot less than I'd have liked. Admittedly, the vast majority of these were all by Capcom, but with around an hour to wait for each game, I had to prioritise. As much as I'd have liked to play Dragon's Dogma, the queue for that dwarfed the one for Capcom's merchandise stall, which in turn dwarfed several of the ones are Square-Enix's booth. Kudos to Capcom, certainly, but I could only watch from the sidelines.

Of course, one of the games that I made absolute priority to play, regardless of wait, was Street Fighter X Tekken. Even before the release of Marvel vs Capcom 3, I'd been more hyped about SFxT, mainly because Yoshinori Ono was in charge. Almost purely because of my love for Street Fighter 4, I have a lot of faith in the man, and SFxT did not disappoint, thankfully. I did only get two matches, due to time constraints, but I was very pleased overall.

Other titles I tried were the latest Dragon Ball game, the Puyo Puyo Anniversary on 3DS, which is a console which I really dont like all that much and... that was possibly it. I think the main focus of the day was watching trailers and being impressed at booths.

If I ever get the chance to go again, I'll need to be a bit more focused!

Lording about

2011-09-15T10:19:00.003+01:00

It's been a while! For some time now, I've had several articles in mind, across quite a few topics, but it seems a bit beyond that now. They're either not that relevant anymore, a bit long-winded, or have simply been covered better elsewhere. With that, and with the established reputation of Samurai Rocket being quiet for long periods of time, I'm simply going to get on with things.

A few months ago, I had the pleasure of trying Lord of Arcana on the PSP, which is mostly a Square-Enix attempt on Monster Hunter, with a fair bit more gore and a lot of guest designers, with Todd MacFarlane being one that comes to mind. It's a bit by the numbers as these sort of games go, with a few little extra features, and certainly better than some of the other attempts out there.

However, more importantly, and more interestingly, Lord of Arcana is a spin-off of an arcade game series, Lord of Vermillion, which I played today. LoV is an arcade based card game, which I admit I'm not exactly enamoured with, but having one in an arcade seemed enough of a novelty to give it a try. First impression is that it's very expensive. 500円 yen for a starter pack, which is required to play, and then 200円 for a game, with some places offering subsequent plays for 100円 after the first credit. With those places, that's generally considered the best method, as after each credit you receive a new card, and rather than one card for 200円, you can get two for 150円 each.

The game is quite simple, with the focus being on your placement of cards/units and which way they're facing, putting them into the best position that enables you to do a special attack. It's definitely something that will take some time getting used to, as there are a lot of things going on at once, but it's not like anything I've played before, so I'm still very interested in it.

All I'm going to need soon is a packet of card protectors... which saddens me greatly.

Once again, from the ether

2010-12-05T13:14:00.003Z

Good grief. Based on the last post I made, you can pretty much tell when the academic year started, along with my perhaps overzealous drive to try and understand things. In any case, thanks to several snow days, I've managed to progress enough with assignments to justify the time to write on the internet about my opinion on videogames. A worthwhile use of my free time, I'm sure you'll agree.

Recently, in the patches of time I have to waste, I've been getting into Dragon Quest IX. Obviously, I'm somewhat behind on talking about this, potentially just as well, now that my frothing rage over Jedward promoting it in the UK has settled. It's something of a radical change for the main series, which in itself is an oddity. For a series that seemingly prides itself on staying true to it's roots, it's quite a surprise to have it featuring mulitplayer and wifi features so heavily.

Thankfully, these are done well. A half-baked feature in a series as big as Dragon Quest would not go down particularly well. The multiplayer aspect in IX allows another player to replace one of your party members, and then you can play the entire game together, should you wish it. Having the entire game work in multiplayer is something that, from my experience, is generally limited to FPSs these days, such as Halo. Having that on a portable seemed like something of a step forward. Also, similar to DQIII, as you make your party members, there is nothing lost by replacing one with a friend's character. Again, similar to III, is the fact that you have control over party member's classes, and from the more recent editions, control over what skills they learn as they level up. It's a very good blend of old and new.

But, herein lies my only gripe with the game. After how well the characters in VIII were handled, it seems like a slight step back to have characters with no motivation whatsoever to join you on your quest. I do understand that it could have been something sacrificed to allow multiplayer to work properly, but considering how well character development has been done in the past, I'm not sure yet if I prefer it.

Regardless, so far, DQIX has easily been one of the best RPGs I've played lately. Although, considering the time I have for RPGs these days, "lately" consists of Dragon Age and Final Fantasy IV, the latter of which isn't even halfway completed. I'm hoping to have a real solid session with it over the Christmas break, and judging from the enjoyment I've had from my brief stints with it so far, that will be a very pleasurable experience indeed.

Counting sheep

2010-09-01T14:24:00.007+01:00

If there's one RPG series I can claim to like, with little doubt, it's the Persona series. For some reason, an RPG set around a coming of age style story for a bunch of teens just held appeal for me. Especially when mixed in with the occult, to some pretty funky music. I honestly don't know why, as typing that could made me realise it sounds pretty damn awful. Almost like Buffy the Vampire Slayer really.

In any case, when I found that the Persona team was working on a more "adult" title, my interest was at least a little piqued. Having seen the trailer, I'm almost sold on the title already. Going by the name Catherine, the game is about a dream. For some reason, people in the dream look like sheep, and if they die in the dream, they die in real life. Taking the lead is Vincent, a salaryman with no drive in his life, who meets someone who claims to not have died in the dream, but to have killed in it. There's also some kind of seductress, who is most likely related to Vincent being continually caught in the dreams every night.

Design and music wise, it's quite clearly related to Persona. But as for the game itself, from the small glimpses of actual ingame footage shown in the trailer, it appears to be some form of platformer. I'm certainly intrigued. The trailer can be seen on the official site, here.

Fantasy-lite

2010-08-24T12:31:00.002+01:00

Thanks to a housemate of mine recently picking up Final Fantasy XIII, I've recently been dabbling in it's delights, when previously I had no intention to do so. I was less than keen on VII's treatment as a "project" rather than just a game, partly due to that aspect of it being decided much further down the line. With XIII supposedly going to be a project that's double the size of VII, I decided I'd rather avoid getting involved entirely.

Despite that, seeing it in action did help. While it's rarely a strong selling point for me, the graphics and presentation are gorgeous, even though I'm currently limited to an aged SDTV, it still doesn't fail to impress. If I do enjoy it enough to see it through to the end, I could potentially return to it at a later date in HD, which is has clearly been made for, as shown by it's large borders and occasionally minuscule text.

While I don't intend to get too involved in talking about the storyline, I feel it's worth saying that it's actually rather good so far. It's told in a very disjointed pattern, with the game beginning near the end, and then sometimes hopping back in the timeline to fill in the blanks on character history and motivations. It helps that it's done well, some RPGs have tried this before and it just didn't really work that well. It's not quite as sparse as XII, and definitely not as compressed and simplified as X was. It's something close to a happy medium. It is very cutscene heavy though, moreso than usual, so it's less tedious than some games make it.

Music wise, I'm very impressed. It's changed again from XII, which had Hitoshi Sakimoto doing the soundtrack. Having previously worked on titles like Ogre Battle and Odin Sphere, the grandeur his music offers was very well suited, but obviously with XIII being rather different, that wouldn't really fit. Instead, they've gone with Masashi Hamauzu, who I've only experienced before in Unlimited Saga. It's a not more contemporary and varied, something which lends itself very well to XIII. While it's always a shame to not have Uematsu on board, more variety like this is definitely something that Final Fantasy as a whole can benefit from.

The game's system and battle sequences have been drastically streamlined, with levelling and recovery being removed entirely. It seems like less of a solid RPG, and more like an extended cutscene with RPG elements in it. While I'm still in the early stages, character customisation seems to present itself as an illusory method of decision making. While you can develop a character as you progress with new abilities, it's very linear, meaning you can quite happily continue through the game with the required skills and statistics available to you. While I do often agree with the idea of cutting out needless complication in games, it seems a bit misleading to present the player with the idea that they're developing a character when really, that could also be done automatically. I've yet to encounter any difficulty spikes as it's all so linear at the moment.

That's not to say that I'm not enjoying it, however. One thing it does succeed with is offering an enjoyable experience. While I was quite happy to let this one pass me by, I've found myself hooked to some degree. I'm not sure yet if I'll consider it one of my favourites, but for the time being it's a nice little distraction. It just so happens that playing such a simple RPG, I'm finding myself even more eager to sink my teeth into something like Dragon Quest.

Farming Factor

2010-08-04T16:01:00.000+01:00

Around the time I was introduced to emulation, I started playing Harvest Moon. To my knowledge, the SNES version wasn't released in Britain at the time, which is a bit odd, as you'd imagine a game about farming would have quite a market here. To this day, I still consider it one of the best titles in the series. As odd as the concept was to me, I found myself hooked, and ever since then I've maintained a passing interest, playing at least one of the many releases that each generation of consoles receives. Despite that, I never bothered with the somewhat recent spin-off series, Rune Factory. That is, until I picked up a Wii.

Perhaps it was because I really didn't like Harvest Moon on the Game Boy Color, but I shied away from Rune Factory, as it started on the DS, and has two sequels on said format. Perhaps I had some sort of preconception about the quality of portable Harvest Moons, but it never appealed enough for me to play it. For some reason though, I was quite eager to play the Wii version, Rune Factory Frontier.

While the other DS games are standalone sequels, Frontier features the hero and heroine from the first game, along with a few other characters who have come along for the ride. In a bizarre act of continuity, there are original characters who do and don't remember the hero, which I really can't seem to get my head around. Especially as he can marry most of those characters in the original game. It's as if the first game did and didn't occur. Minor gripes aside, I'm really rather keen on the game itself.

For those unaware, Rune Factory takes the basic concept of farming and relationship building from Harvest Moon, and adds dungeon exploration and combat. It might be because I'm already keen on going into dungeons and bothering dragons and their kin, but I've become hooked. Such a simple addition has almost reinvigorated the love that I had for the very first game. Another addition is my favourite aspect of Magical Melody, one of the Harvest Moon titles, which allows you to build friendship with any of the villagers, rather than just potential brides.

However, due to the story's progress being closely linked to how successful your dungeon exploration, villager relationships and crop growth, it's very slow moving. In one instance, I had to unlock a gate. To do so, I had to develop a friendship with a resident near to the gate. Doing so introduced a character who merely appeared, said nothing, and walked off. Upon following him, the following areas had a couple of substantial difficulty spikes, which I've yet to conquer. The problem is, to survive said spikes, I have to make my farm a lot more profitable in order to have access to better equipment. It's not a game that can be rushed.

That, however, is possibly what I find most appealing about both Harvest Moon and Rune Factory. While Rune Factory has added some degree of excitement to it with the dungeons, they are still essentially time sinks. Both series are perfect examples of how to reward effort, though. The more time and effort you're willing to put in, more variety and content becomes accessible. I find, though, that I enjoy the slow pace of the game. For a game that started off about daily life and building friendships, the ever so gradual development that exists in Rune Factory is perfectly suited to it. Provided I don't get too bored, I'm hopefully going to see this through to the end. After that? I might take the plunge and try one of the DS titles, portability be damned.

Cat-eared Odyssey

2010-07-29T14:58:00.001+01:00

Since having studied Japanese at university for a little under a year now, my proficiency with the language has developed somewhat. Rather thankfully, considering my interests, it has developed to the extent of me being able to blunder and stumble my way through Japanese language games more successfully. Obviously a great deal of the nuance is lost on me, but the fact I can work out what I'm doing without just assuming or consulting some kind of guide is a rather rewarding experience.

Now, while I've been steadily working my way through Chrono Trigger these past few weeks, I also picked up 7th Dragon, after it became part of a value range. I became interested in the game almost as soon as I'd heard of it. As you may have worked out from a few posts on here, I'm a solid fan of Etrian Odyssey, and some time after the second game came out, 7th Dragon appeared, with a some of the key team members behind it. The main difference that struck me was that the character designer was different, acceptably so. But the real hook for me was that Rieko Kodama was a part of the project, who was involved with a handful of favourites of mine. Most notably, Skies of Arcadia, which is often in steady contention with Chrono Trigger as my favourite RPG.

Plotwise, the events are a bit beyond me at this point, but as for the game itself, I'm very satisfied. The best way to describe it is as if they've taken the core mechanics of Etrian Odyssey and made it more of a JRPG, similar to the early Dragon Quest and Final Fantasy games. The concept of creating a guild and creating all of your party still exists, as does taking quests and developing every skill and ability of your party, but it now takes place with an overworld, towns, dungeons and a top down camera view.

Presentation wise, 7th Dragon is quite easily more impressive than Etrian Odyssey, which I can only assume is due to the budget available for a Sega game as opposed to an Atlus one. While in both games you were able to choose a class and appearance for each of your characters, 7th Dragon has overworld and battle sprites for each and every one, whereas Etrian just had a portrait. I can quite happily accept that that is part of Etrian's appeal, to provide a solid, no frills RPG, and it's perhaps a tad unfair to compare the two so directly, but it's hard not to be swayed by 7th Dragon's abundance of sprites dashing, gesturing and leaping across the screen as the battles play out.

I remember that before Etrian Odyssey 3 was revealed, I was concerned that 7th Dragon had marked the death of the series, as if the team had moved on to create a spiritual successor of sorts. Thankfully, that wasn't the case. Despite that though, now that Etrian looks like it'll continue for some time still, 7th Dragon seems to have been a one off, with no release outside of Japan having been mentioned and, to my limited knowledge, no word of a sequel yet. It's a shame too, as while I'm in the early stages still, it seems as if it's going to be something I'll enjoy.

Pirates were always cooler

2010-07-23T14:39:00.002+01:00

With the current generation of consoles, I've been something of a late adopter. With previous generations, I'd often be in some sort of frenzy, eager to get my grubby mitts on the latest pieces of hardware, and then experience a drought of good games for a lengthy duration, extended even further by the fact I had more than one console to provide for. It wasn't an ideal situation. The 360 has benefited from this, as I waited until the hardware was slightly more reliable, and there was a decent selection of games on offer.

For some reason, one particular game I was especially eager to play was Lost Planet. Everyone I knew advised against it, that it was a sluggish game that had very few saving graces, and an awful final boss. They were right. Despite that, I still enjoyed playing through it. I had left it a bit too long, as everyone on the multiplayer side of things knew every single little thing to do, and I essentially just logged in to die quite quickly and unspectacularly. Despite those gripes, I found myself looking forward to the sequel.

As access to the internet has become something of a rarity for me these days, I've taken longer than planned to actually talk about Lost Planet 2. But, as I've finished it during this time, I'm more well informed than I usually am on whatever I choose to write about.

The most notable thing about Lost Planet 2 is that it's definitely aimed at fans of the original, with very little having changed with how the game plays. It's simply moved onto a much larger scale. It also features online and splitscreen multiplayer, so that aspect involves slightly less death for me. Unfortunately, with the splitscreen, it suffers from the same thing that Resident Evil 5 did, in that it's clearly been made for large HD TVs, so there's no point trying it if you don't have access to one of those. Which is a bit odd, as the campaign mode has been made with multiplayer in mind, to the extent of having a lobby even if you're playing solo.

It's also perhaps worth noting that the plot, or excuse for one, is absolute nonsense. I spent the majority of the cutscenes, of which there are plenty, not really knowing what was going on. Action wise, they're impressive, but they mainly exist to justify whatever it is you're doing, if you actually do know what you're doing and why.

As mentioned previously though, it's only really been made for the fans, the people I knew who disliked the original still aren't especially keen on the sequel. But, this brings to mind something that I love about Capcom. If you enjoy one of their series, it seems a relatively safe bet that you'll enjoy the other games in the series, they don't seem to try and change too much of it to appeal to a different market, which is something that seems a waste of time regardless of the medium. While it could be argued that Resident Evil is the exception to this theory, having changed quite radically in recent years, it fits quite well for their other games. I'm a solid fan of Street Fighter, and know that I'll most likely, without a doubt, enjoy the others, while there are very few Megaman games I've enjoyed, and as they actually do seem the same for the most part, I don't approach that series often, if ever.

This style of development is somewhat rare I feel, with a lot of developers catering more towards wider market appeal. Granted, it's all part of business, so I can't and won't whine too much about how developers "should" do something. Obviously, Capcom have had a lot of time to accrue the sort of revenue required to take such risks, even for sequels of games that didn't do spectacularly, but it's nice all the same that a company will make games for their fans. And that is why I love Capcom. Lost Planet 2, on the other hand, I'm still gradually warming up to.

A late arrival to the Garden of Madness

2010-06-16T20:10:00.003+01:00

Once again, I've left this blog in limbo. Not to say it had been forgotten, not at all. I simply had the wonderful world of study to contend with. Which sounds a bit better than laziness, which could have potentially played a big part. Regardless, summer holidays have arrived, as has a substantial amount of free time. As such, I now have things I can write about! I've no doubt you've been waiting in mild anticipation for this moment.

Unfortunately, I'm taking this moment to talk about a Wii game. An old Wii game. Having recently come into possession of one, I made sure to pick up No More Heroes shortly afterwards, and as I've now spent most of this week playing it, I'm feeling confident enough to ramble on about it.

The thing is, when you come as late to the party as I have, it's hard to actually say anything valuable about it that hasn't already been said before. Perhaps the most notable thing is that around the time of it's release, I saw a lot of criticism about how tedious and repetitive it is. It may say something about my gaming habits, but I've not actually found that to be the case. Maybe it's because I'm often playing retro games, where there's little to do aside from the core part of the game until the end credits roll, but the supposed tedium hasn't really struck me. There's also quite a strong retro vibe in the game, with score charts, 8-bit sound effects and at one point an old fashioned shmup. With that and the general feel that Suda51 games have, it's really been striking a chord with me.

And on the topic of chords being struck, Masafumi Takada, the game's composer, has really had some room to play around. There's a few soundtracks of his that I'm fond of, but this in particular is wonderful, to the extent that I'm tempted to stick the soundtrack on my mp3 player.

Something that I've not failed to notice however, is that Suda and Takada both seem to have referenced other works. There's a few references to Flower, Sun and Rain in the landscape, along with some other references in advertisements. Takada seems to have some riffs from God Hand in the soundtrack, which are more than welcome. It's odd, as neither game did particularly well sales wise, and neither did No More Heroes.

Impressions and theories aside, No More Heroes is something I've been getting some solid enjoyment from. While it's hardly one of the best games around, it does what it sets out to do, and as I've not finished it just at this moment, it may do more than that. I'm seriously considering picking the sequel up when I've finished with it, only I may already have a stockpile of games that I said I'd finish over summer. With any luck, I'll be making some posts about those in the near future. Or that's the plan, at least.

Hero to Zero

2010-05-03T19:13:00.003+01:00

Surprising as it may seem, this blog is still active! Due to work commitments and so forth, I've had less time to play videogames and fawn over figures, and therefore, less to talk about on here. That has changed somewhat though! As I'm currently limited to handheld formats, I've been playing more games on those, and I've recently found that Phantasy Star Zero is ideally suited to short bursts of gametime.

I used to be a big fan of Phantasy Star Online, and it could easily be one of the contributors to me seriously becoming someone who loves Sega, as opposed to being a mere fan. Unfortunately, all good things come to an end, and eventually it was superseded by Phantasy Star Universe. It was an odd one, it may not have been a "bad" game per say, but nothing felt right about it to me. It seemed like a very different game, but still masqueraded as a Phantasy Star game. I wasn't keen, and didn't stick with it for long.

A year or so ago, Phantasy Star Zero came out for the DS. It sported an anime look this time, whereas Universe was more realistic. I never bothered with it though, Universe had done it's damage. However, I recently decided to give it a try, and I'm actually rather glad that I did.

While my time with it has been short, it seems as if Sega have taken what worked from Universe, added it to Online, and then simplified it. It works perfectly as a handheld version, and I'm looking forward to hopefully trying the multiplayer mode on it. It also isn't limited to local multiplayer only, as many portable games seem to be, so hopefully I'll get to experience that as well, if it's still being played by the masses at this point!

Saber rattling

2010-04-04T18:00:00.006+01:00

It's been a while since I've made a post about figures, but it's probably time since I made a change from posting about videogames and nerded out in a different way. For a while now, I've been a fan of Type Moon, and by extension, Fate/Stay Night. While it was originally just a visual novel, it's branched out into a range of different media, such as anime series, manga, a few fighting games, books, and probably a few other things on the side.

I've usually maintained the view that you can judge a character's popularity by the amount of merchandise they have. With that in mind, it would easily be Saber, the main female lead of the series. I'm generally aware of this because I'm also a fan of the Figma range of figures, which Saber has a few of already.

The first ever Figma I saw was the standard look for Saber. At the time, I wasn't so sure about it. I was only just getting into poseable figures, but was limiting myself to the Revoltech range. It was modestly priced, but for some reason I didn't feel like going for it. Currently though, I'm quite strongly tempted to pick it up.

However, I really became tempted with Saber Lily, a very limited one that only came bundled with a limited print of the PS2 version of Fate/Unlimited Codes, a fighting game by Capcom. I think I've missed my chance with it now, as it's been out for some time, but I really like the look of Saber Lily. I've also not played Fate/Unlimited Codes, and as it's a Capcom fighter, I should probably rectify that. But despite missing out on that limited edition, there are others.

With the soon to be released Fate/Extra, there's a limited version that comes with yet another Saber, the imaginatively titled Red Saber. I've no idea what's the justification for her is, but generally it seems that if there's a new version of Fate, there's a new Saber to go with it. I'm actually quite tempted with Fate/Extra. Not only is it an alternate take on the original story, but it's also following Persona's current example and adopting a school life simulator. However, the limited edition is £100, and as nice as that figure is, I'm not sure I can justify it. I remember once hearing limited editions described as a trap, which seems very fitting in this example.

Perhaps the one I'm most tempted with out of the Figma Sabers though, is the newest, Saber Alter. Or Dark Saber, she seems to go by two names. I already have a Revoltech version of the character, but I've come to appreciate Figma more than Revoltech recently, due to the fact that they're generally better presented. I'm usually not keen on the "dark" versions of characters, but I've always been keen on this version of Saber. I could easily cave and add this to my ever growing collection. Of course, this may depend on how many other forms of Saber get the Figma treatment, I can easily see more being added, as long as she keeps getting different outfits.

Blogging about frontlogging

2010-03-13T10:54:00.010Z

Last time I made an update, which was actually longer ago than I intended it to be, I talked about having to deal with a backlog. This time, I'll be talking about a frontlog! An esteemed friend of mine came up with the term. As a backlog is a collection of things you own and intend to complete, then a frontlog is essentially the same, with the only and important difference being that you don't own them yet. And you know what? I actually have one of those too. Although, for the sake of not writing this update forever, I'm going to only feature a sample.

Bayonetta

It irks me no end that I'm yet to play this. I'd been looking forward to it for some time, but due to circumstance, I've not been able to play it. My main reason has become one of intrigue, though. From the people I know who have played it, there seems to be an even split. The detractors have told me that it's just like Devil May Cry. Those who like it, tell me that it's just like Devil May Cry. I happen to be a fan of Devil May Cry, so if it's just like it, I'll be happy. Although, I'm more of a fan of DMC3 and 4 than the original, which I believe Hideki Kamiya was less involved in, yet he's the one who helmed Bayonetta. So, I'm almost after it just to find out how it plays. Odd feeling, that.

Mass Effect 2

Yet another game that's been released, but I'm unable to play. Probably a huge surprise that it's featured on here to people who know me as well. This is the sort of game that I actually could lose a few days if not weeks to, so there's the possibility that I'm going to wait until summer until I can truly spare the time to focus on it. Again, it's another one I've been looking forward to for a while, only this time I know more or less what to expect, what I'm able to do and so on and so forth, but because I'm just a massive nerd for all things BioWare, I seriously crave this.

Ace Combat: Joint Assault

The only portable game in this update, and also the first one that isn't actually released yet. I find it hard not to be a fan of Ace Combat, it's one of the few games I know that I could honestly describe as epic. It's also one of the very few Namco games I don't get disappointed by. I've been playing through Skies of Deception lately, the first PSP one, and on a gameplay level, I'm pretty sure I prefer it to Fires of Liberation, the most recent console entry, which is obviously going to be superior on pretty much everything else. With Joint Assault though, Namco seem to be utilising the PSPs potential as a multiplayer system, like with how Monster Hunter works. Up to four players can play in a campaign this time, with everyone's performance effecting what the mission outlines are for the other players. It does seem like the sort of game that has to be played with others, which might be difficult for me, but I think I'm already sold on the idea.

Lost Planet 2

Out of the people I know, not many have played Lost Planet, and those who have weren't too keen on it. I really enjoyed it, apart from the multiplayer aspect of it. Lost Planet 2, however, has co-op added to it, rather than simply being limited to deathmatch. The main attraction though is the sheer size of Akrid this time, with the demo featuring one that you actually had to go inside of to kill, shooting up it's insides as you progress through to... other parts of it. And that was just for the demo! I've got to wonder what will feature later on. I'm pretty sure it's going to be more enjoyable than the original, so it should be a solid game at any rate.

Super Street Fighter 4

I'm not actually sure if I need to explain why I want to play this, or if I know how to put it into words. I'm a solid fan of the series, I've even got to the extent of preordering it, which is an all too rare thing for me. I believe the last game I preordered was Pokemon Red, in a Woolworths. While I don't think I'm that great at the game, I've always come back to it, and I've always enjoyed it. With the addition of Street Fighter 3 characters, I'm very interested in seeing how they adapt to the system in 4, especially as one of them was the main character I used in 3, and have already decided to use in 4, just because I like how the character plays so much. I could easily ramble for a considerable amount of time about this, and already feel like I'm reaching for excuses to justify it, but I simply cannot wait for this game.

Blogging about backlogging

2010-02-07T20:39:00.012Z

Backlogs are quite a conundrum. I'm sure every gamer has them, or indeed most people with hobbies. Be they books, movies, comics, I'm sure everyone has bought something and then not given it the attention it deserves. But, I'm sure that every backlog also contains a mixture of things that people really want to finish off and then ones that they're really no longer bothered about anymore. I've recently been considering games that I've started, but have yet to complete, yet still have some sort of urge to finish off. I've no idea if I'll actually get around to doing that, because that's just the nature of a backlog in a sense, but there's only a handful really!

Trauma Center: Under the Knife

I've had this for several years now, uncompleted. But not without at least having tried to finish it off, which is a good sign in some regard. I remember being really hyped up for the first entry in the series, but the steady increase in difficulty throughout the game eventually proved too much for me. I'd really love to finish it off, and the later games on Wii and DS look really good, but I just can't bring myself to move onto those without having finished an earlier game in the series. Especially as I already own it! The worst part is, I know I'm near the end of the game. I think this is probably the only game in this list that I could theoretically finish off some time soon.

Mother 3

The only game in this list that I've had to resort to emulation to play. Which is part of the problem, actually. I would have loved to play this on an actual console, but as there's no official translation, I had to resort to the fan translation. Which I must mention, is a stellar job. Regardless, I find myself having less conviction to play a game fully when I've not bought it. The other issue? I was so hyped about playing this that when I finally got around to it, I played it solidly, and eventually reached saturation point. I really should finish this off because, again, I'm near the end, but it's just finding that motivation to do so.

Professor Layton and the Curious Village

First one in this list that's the first entry in a series! And what a series it is, with a second trilogy having recently started in Japan and with a tie in movie to go along with it, it's quite the success story. I really am quite enamoured with Level 5, there's a lot of effort and detail put into their games from what I've experienced, which is just the sort of thing I like to see. However, I've never really been one for brain teasers, which this game consists of. The overall mystery and quirkiness of the characters are quite endearing however, so this will most likely be something that requires willpower to complete.

Jeanne D'arc

Another title by Level 5, and a lesser known one to boot. Some time ago, I was really into strategy RPGs, which was almost entirely the fault of Fire Emblem. There are some obvious similarities between Fire Emblem and Jeanne D'arc, but D'arc seems to be somewhat deeper. I remember also being quite impressed with the production quality, it actually pains me to admit that I was initially interested due to the box art, as I'd never heard of it before. Worth noting though is that the attempts at French accents did grate a bit. I'm really not sure why I stopped playing this, but who knows, maybe this year I can finish it off!

Shin Megami Tensei: Nocturne

First title on the list that isn't on a portable system! How could I do an update on here without mentioning Shin Megami Tensei? Oh, I do love it so. But this one. This was too much for me. I'm well aware that SMT in general is a pretty tough series, but this one takes a lot of time and effort just to survive making it to a dungeon at some points. And then obviously you've got to retreat the way you came to recover. I think that this is probably the main game on this list that I've got the strongest urge to complete. I loved the setting, the music was fantastic, and I've always found Kaneko's character design has an odd charm to it. I've just got to see if I've got the spare time to commit to this. No doubt that if I do somehow finish it off, I'll develop an urge to get some of the alternate endings as well. Good times indeed.

Visitors

2010-01-13T10:41:00.002Z

Now that the excitement has calmed down some, and by that I mean purely my own, it's time to say a bit more about Etrian Odyssey 3! Looking back on my previous post about it, I think I spoke about it a bit too soon, seeing as I hardly knew a thing about it. Just goes to show that this blog doesn't really work as one for up to date news, unless frenzied speculation counts as news.

Anyway, one thing I was correct about is that sailing is a big part of it! I admit I'm still not exactly sure how it works, but it seems as if you sail from island to island and map those out. I assume there's some degree of linearity to this, or that there's something that has to be found on each island, otherwise it could be fairly easy to sail to someplace you're not meant to be at by that point in the game and get wiped out but creatures way beyond your ability. Oddly, that's exactly the sort of thing that appeals to me, just the mere possibility that you could encounter things that you shouldn't be, maybe even succeeding and having a boost for a little while. I love what possibilities non-linearity can provide.

One thing I honestly wasn't expecting however, is that while this has a lot more content added for a sequel than EO1 did in comparison to EO2, I didn't expect for content to be removed. In that, I'm speaking purely about what's going on with classes, partly as I previously said they were additional. It seems that this time, all previous classes have been removed, and that the ones shown at the moment are the replacements. I can understand the reasoning for this, as there were a few classes that were rather similar, but it's a bit of a shame to be lacking the Paladin and Gunner classes, as they were almost acting as mascots for the series. I'm rather eager to see how they work though, obviously my traditional team won't work this time.

Having a look around the website though, it's a delight to hear new compositions by Yuzo Koshiro, which I admit was part of the reason I originally took a look at the first game. I don't know what it is, but something always grabs my attention with his music. I can only assume it's tied into the fact that I grew up with his music in the games I played as a child. Either that or it's just good music. I'm happy with either possibility. It's also pretty awesome to hear this combined with the new character designs by Yuji Himukai, who I've praised before, in the announcement trailer! While understanding the game in Japanese is beyond me at this point, I really feel like March can't come soon enough.

Most played 2009

2010-01-11T17:59:00.007Z

Well hey, look at that! Second time I've made one of these entries! This blog can't be doing too badly! Or what's more likely is that I'm not bored yet of typing words into the ether on a vaguely regular basis. Regardless, it's the same deal as last time. I'm simply giving impressions of my most played games for the year, since I've never been too great at keeping up to date with new releases.

Ridge Racer 6

Which this title does a good job of proving. While Ridge 6 was a launch title for the 360 several years ago, I only got around to actually playing it last year. I've always been a fan of Ridge Racer, and while 5 was a bit poor, 6 is definitely back to how Ridge should be, awesome cars, fancy scenery and a great soundtrack. It's still not quite as good as Type 4, but it's a solid title nonetheless. Absolutely love the remix of the Galaga theme that's featured in this as well, but I've got a thing for retro remixes to begin with. Only downside is the amount of time and effort required to unlock everything, there's about five hundred races at least if you want to get all of the cars in it, and that's still not enough to finish the game! Obscene stuff really.

Resident Evil 5

It's weird, it actually feels like a really long time since I've played this, and it probably is. The thing is, I'd waited so long for this that I ended up blitzing through it about three times in one week. Then I moved onto the extra modes. After that, it became pretty hard to consider playing it again, I completely overdid it. I admit, it was partly for the achievements in it, but I honestly loved playing through for that one lone week. It was probably the joy of having the old gang back in the game. Now if only they'd get around to having Barry back in the series.

Left 4 Dead

It took me a little while to properly get into this, even though I bought it the previous year. It's hard to really say anything about it that hasn't been said already, I mean, in a sense there's not actually a great deal to it. But considering I'm mildly into FPSs, quite strongly into things featuring zombies, and enjoy what I've played by Valve, it's quite hard to go wrong with it. While the sequel is already out, I've got to admit that I don't feel any need to get it, I'm more than happy with the original at the moment. Once I started playing for achievements, I really got into it, it's not really the sort of game that's made for playing through in one sitting, it gets better the more it's played. Still haven't finished a campaign on expert either!

Persona 4

Probably not much of a surprise! Anyone who has read more than a couple of entries on here has probably worked out that I'm a big fan of the series. Took me a while to complete 4 for some reason, it was one of those RPGs that I took a break in during the middle. It drags a bit towards the end, and some plot twists reach a bit, but the ending made up for it, and it's easily got some of my favourite characters in a JRPG. Really tempted to play through it again at some point, there's still quite a few characters I never spent much time with in game, lots of stuff to discover!

Street Fighter 4

Absolutely no surprise this one, I've spent more time on it than I dare to even consider. I'm frequently finding myself learning new things on it, and occasionally I just decide to learn a new character and then discover even more things I didn't know about. Then there's the amount of time I spend online playing people, mostly people I know, but the occasional stranger. Thankfully I'm beyond the stage of getting incredibly irritated by the antics of some people, because it was a love/hate thing for a while. Expanded version out this year as well, so I imagine it will be appearing in the next update of this style as well!

Origins

2010-01-08T16:03:00.003Z

As a "spritual successor" to Baldur's Gate, one of my favourite RPG series ever, I was hoping for a lot from Dragon Age. Usually that's something that leads to disappointment. I often try not to expect much from games just on the off chance I feel let down due to having such high expectations. I needn't have worried though, it's a fantastic game, and even though I've recently finished it off, I only feel like I've scratched the surface, content wise.

The sheer amount of possible outcomes from dialog is something I'm yet to experience from many other games. Usually when I play through a western RPG, I like to have a character personality to stick to, where I'll be playing with a different set of ideals and morals each time through. I guess in that sense, it really is a role playing game, and it's great that western RPGs actually allow for that concept to work for the most part. Often, I'm able to play through a western RPG a few times with a different character archetype, and feel that I've experienced pretty much all of it, with Mass Effect being the most recent example I can think of. However, the amount of choices in Dragon Age may mean that's something I'll struggle to feel I've accomplished! While I've played through once already, I'm considering at least three other playthroughs to try and experience more, and that won't even cover all the possible character origins.

Added to that is the addition of downloadable content, apparently a year's worth of it, and at least one retail expansion announced so far, it's really a massive game. Furthermore, there are at least two novels now, it's a safe assumption that there's even more to come. I wouldn't be surprised if there's a comic on the way at some point as well. It's a pity that something like this comes along when I've got some proper commitments to stick to! It's exactly the sort of thing that I could lose myself in for a substantial amount of time.

I must admit though, I really like that BioWare have fleshed out their own series to such a degree. Back when they were making licensed games, or something of their own like Jade Empire, it was either in a well established setting or in something that you just had a taster of. Now that Mass Effect and Dragon Age are around, they really seem to be expanding on these two settings. I'm yet to read the codex featured in Dragon Age, but I remember spending almost an entire afternoon on the Mass Effect one.

Problem is, whenever I type out something like this, and then read over what I've just said, I come to the conclusion that my hobbies require a massive commitment to get everything out of them. I may need to get out more, deary me.

Inazuma!

2009-12-16T21:54:00.003Z

Well, it's one of those rare occasions I'm thankful towards the World Cup it seems. It might even be the first occasion. Inazuma Eleven has been confirmed for a release outside of Japan at long last! Perhaps more surprisingly, it's been announced for Europe before the US.

I've been interested in Inazuma Eleven for a while. It's a football RPG by Level 5, who I'm finding myself increasingly impressed with every time I get around to playing one of their games. As it's for the DS, the touch screen is obviously involved in some way, but from the footage I've seen it looks as if it'll work rather well, rather than feeling somewhat fiddly.

Furthermore, the anime is going to be aired in Europe. Doubt it'll reach terrestrial, but regardless, I'm pretty interested in the prospect of both of these reaching Europe! I assume football games have changed a while since I last played one as well, which was all the way back in 2000, which was almost purely for the career mode in ISS. Good times!

The World Labyrinth

2009-12-10T11:23:00.004Z

Well, Christmas is steadily approaching. I've got the usual backlog of games to get through at this time of year, at a time when I'm most likely going to receive at least one extra (not that I'm complaining about that, oh no). Instead, what I'm going to simultaneously rejoice and complain about is the fact that another RPG I really want to play has appeared on the horizon.

For some reason I wasn't expecting another title in the series, but at long last, Etrian Odyssey 3 has been announced and revealed. I was already sold on hearing it, without having heard of the additions this time around, which look to be quite large compared to the second game. Five extra classes have been added this time, with perhaps the best ones being Pirates and Ninjas. Other additions are Princess, Monk and Phalanx, which judging from the picture will be some kind of variation on the Paladin.

The main attraction seems to be sailing. The maps look pretty damn huge for that section, along with quite a few new icons for map making. The thing that really intrigues me about that though is the setting, and what it might mean for this game's particular story. With the first game focused on descending deep down into the earth, then the second focused on ascending a tree into the sky, what could happen with a naval setting? At the moment, I can only assume it's either venturing to the ocean floor, or sailing to the edge of the world. Either sound appealing to me, but then as I said earlier, I'm already sold.

Final Remake Quest I

2009-12-05T21:49:00.003Z

So, as many are probably aware, I'm really into RPGs. For some reason that escapes me, it seems to be a genre that gets more remakes than any other. Not that I'm complaining, personally I'm really keen on them. I'm not entirely sure why either, but the idea of replaying a game I've already been through with a few more tweaks, graphically or otherwise, is something that is more appealing to me than actually playing something new.

I'm not completely sure of the reason why, the main thing that comes to mind is that it's the closest thing there is to a combination of old and new. They maintain the retro feel of an old RPG, especially with a traditional Good vs Evil storyline, produced with the technology and in many instances, the improved scriptwriting of today.

The Good vs Evil storyline is definitely something that appeals to me, even with the cliches that go with it. I suppose the main reason for that is that I'm fond of the characters being clearly defined in simple black and white terms, with the rare character who has shades of grey in their moral compass. This is opposed to many modern RPGs where most characters have shades of grey in their character, and are somewhat morally ambiguous. For me, I find it more interesting when it's only a handful of characters have something suspicious in their past, rather than every character having something special about them.

Perhaps I've become somewhat sceptical over the years towards new RPGs. The more I'm writing about this topic, the more I find myself remembering the games that are particular offenders. Obviously, there are exceptions to this, my options would be extremely limited if I only played remakes. To an extent, it's probably more the fact that I enjoy the setting and feel of a classic RPG, as there's been a handful of new RPGs lately that have a retro feel to them, such as Dark Spire and Etrian Odyssey. Hopefully this doesn't mean it's just a case of rose-tinted glasses, due to them being new titles, but I'm not ruling out the possibility.

Actually, it's occured to me that most of what I've written here is essentially a side topic to what I meant to say from the beginning. I'll have to have a follow up article I think, there's potentially a lot of things I could talk about on this topic, as this post has actually proven.

The Velvet Room

2009-12-02T21:41:00.004Z

Quite often, I find myself trawling around the internet for merchandise related to things that I like. It's one of the many productive ways I spend my free time. Every now and then, I learn of something that's completely passed me by and is, by that time, old news.

Which is just what happened a couple of days ago! I recently learnt of a second concert for live renditions of music from Persona. The first event was something I was completely unaware of until now. Having listened to some of the music though, I actually really like how it's done. Live music isn't something I'm particularly keen on, with a few exceptions. I guess part of it is the novelty of a different version of a song I'm already keen on.

Regardless, I'd be tempted to try and get a hold of the music from this second concert. There's a DVD of the first one floating around, which is somewhat pricey (admittedly I don't know what sort of price live concert DVDs go for), but I could be tempted.

A return to Minegarde, Sinnoh and blogging.

2009-11-11T21:53:00.002Z

It's all been a bit silent on here recently, with good reason, but the few readers I have can rest assured, this blog remains active! It's mostly a combo of working a lot at university and having less time to play games. Either of those could be argued as positive things, but that's for another time! Another factor is that I've not been playing anything that's new to me lately. So, you may wonder, what prompted this update? Well, I've been playing old games!

Firstly, an old favourite, Monster Hunter! Having met a few people at university who are into it, I've been attempting some quests with players new and old. I also managed to complete my second set of armour! An occasion that's all too rare for me, I'm often in a mix-matched set of whatever I can get my hands on. So, I'm now kitted out in a rather lovely set of Tigrex armour. Despite the better gear though, Kushala Daora is still a major issue for me. It seems to be my Everest.

Secondly, Pokemon Diamond! The amount of people I've met who are fans of this is pretty staggering, especially as I hardly knew a single person in my hometown who actually played it. It's been really good though, I've rediscovered just how good it is, training up new Pokemon and refining my current team. It's a lot better than I remember, which I assume is to do with the multiplayer aspect of it. Another aspect is that I've not bothered with a lot of the more recent Pokemon before, so I've been paying some attention to those. As a result, I've become quite a fan of Croagunk, he's a pretty awesome looking dude.

So, unfortunately this is a brief update. But what's to expect afterwards? I've got a few things in mind, almost entirely themed around games and figures, but there may be some new things I'll branch out into. Potentially a few new games on the way at some point as well, so there will be updates, I just can't assign myself to a routine at the moment. Expect things to be even more sporadic on here!

Good times.

Unlock the Underworld!

2009-09-16T18:57:00.001+01:00

I've never really been a fan of Nihon Falcom. The Ys series has confused me with the sheer number of versions that exist, with remakes of the first game still on the way. I'm never sure which version will offer the best experience, so I tend not to bother in the end. As for Legend of Heroes, I've been tempted on a couple of occasions, but actually locating them has proved to be an issue. So why then, have I taken an interest in the PSP remake of a relatively unsuccessful dungeon crawler? It's at this point that I'd like to state it's not for the scantily clad wizard girl on the front cover.

The game is Brandish, and I only became aware of it due to a rather vocal minority who seemed excited about the prospect of a remake. I gave the SNES version a try, as I'm considering going for the remake. Firstly, it had aged badly. Admittedly many games I like have done the same, but this seemed poor even considering that. Regardless, I stuck with it, and it ended up being pretty fun. The best way I can describe it is an adventure game crossed with a rogue-like, with the usual addition of RPG elements. Nothing amazing, but a fun way to pass the time.

Interestingly, the remake seems to be mostly the same, with most of the update focusing how the game looks and handles rather than changing the core mechanics. So, considering how I've enjoyed a really dated version, I reckon I'm sold on this remake. Plot was light, so I could probably stumble my way through with my limited knowledge of Japanese. Although with any luck a localised version won't be too far off. Plus, scantily clad wizard girl is playable in this edition, so that definitely helps. A little.

I'm yet to find out how to stop widescreen youtube videos messing up the formatting on this blog, since I'm just that talented in my knowledge of how to code such things. So for now, a link to the page will have to suffice!

Nano!

2009-09-11T14:39:00.008+01:00

No, despite the title of this update, this is nothing to do with an iPod in any shape or form. No, this is something much worse than that. This is another occasion where my obsession with videogames and figures rears it's ugly head.

One of my favourite games on the DS is Etrian Odyssey. A slow paced, first person dungeon crawler that offers little reward to the player for struggling through. It's certainly got a classic feel to it, with minimal plot and a no-frills battle system. It's exactly what I began to crave though, with RPGs becoming bigger and fancier, I felt myself drawn towards the core values of the genre.

It's also got some of my favourite character design. To the extent that I frequently find myself checking the blog of the artist, Yuji Himukai in the hope of seeing some new drawings of the cast, which he does from time to time. Naturally, when there's a new figure from the series I find myself oh-so-tempted to order it. Which I have done on numerous occasions. This time however, I accidentally became aware of a whole series of figures, due in the next few months.

Like with a few other figures from the series, these are being manufactured by Wave, who I've only got a few figures by, but I've always found the small details they have to be very endearing, details which are often lacking from others. So, figures from a game I love, with character design I obsess over, by a manufacturer that I find myself steadily impressed with. I get the feeling my wallet may be hurting soon.

There's a knock at the door!

2009-08-28T22:55:00.007+01:00

Those who know me will most likely know that I'm a fan of RPGs, Japanese ones in particular. Admittedly my interest is marginally less rabid than it used to be, but I still have a large interest in the genre. But, a couple that I've been playing through lately got me thinking. Just a short while ago, I finished Devil Survivor. Generally, games in the Shin Megami Tensei series are harder than most other RPGs, in my experience at least, with frequent difficulty spikes being the lesser of evils to worry about.

It's certainly more of a challenge than Final Fantasy, which seems to steadily get easier as time goes by. Best example I can think of is in X, where your party is healed for using a save point, which is located right outside an inn. Traditionally inns are used to heal your party, which means you can simply heal your party without the penalty of paying to use the inn. Not only that, save points littered throughout dungeons, so you're pretty safe.

Which is something that really gets to me, on the really nerdy levels, because I've always perceived an adventure as something where the characters put themselves at risk for the sake of saving the world. Now, with that previous example of Final Fantasy X, there's little to no risk. If I were to use the example of Shin Megami Tensei 3, where a boss appears towards the end of a dungeon right before a save point, then there's certainly some risk involved there. Both games are on PS2 and came out within a few years of each other, so it's a fair comparison to make.

But, this is beside the point really. Neither of these games are what I want to talk about. What I really want to mention is Phantasy Star 2, another JRPG that came out over a decade before those two. Thanks to the Mega Drive Collection on 360, I've revisited a lot of older games. Now, I've played it before via emulation, but I always find that anything I emulate is rarely seen through to completion. No point in getting my money's worth I suppose. But this time I'm determined to at least see the later stages of the game.

But you know what? It's already doing it's best to stop me before the midway point. Usually in JRPGs, if a section is difficult, you can simply train for a bit and return with stronger characters, but even that proves to be challenging at times, with my characters frequently getting wiped out, and with weapons and armour being priced incredibly highly, that simple boost is out of my reach quite often.

The thing is though, I'm finding it addictive. The simple notion of my characters being weak, being frequently defeated when I'm moving from one town to another, or dreading each and every encounter as I try to escape a dungeon with only one, injured party member keeps me coming back for more. So much more than being overpowered and facing no challenge. Certainly, it can be argued that RPGs are plot centric, but these are still games, and therefore have to be played to be experienced.

I do find it reassuring though that older games such as these can be easily played thanks to collections and emulation. At least that way no matter how advanced new technology gets, the things that made me take an interest in the first place will always be around. I'm not really sure if there was much point to this post beyond "older games are really tough" and "I like challenge", but it's just been on my mind for a while now. Writing this out has also made me consider a few other things along a similar vein, so chances are I'll have a few more introspective posts like this in the near future.

Burning my dread (again)

2009-08-18T18:03:00.003+01:00

Bit of a surprise announcement today, Persona 3 is being ported to the PSP, with the imaginative title of Persona 3 Portable. So far, little is known. It seems to allow you to play with a female lead character this time, or that's the assumption, as she's accompanied by a female version of the original lead character's persona. It's also apparently going to have the battle system from Persona 4, which is a nice addition as that gave you the ability to directly control your team, rather than hoping they did something you needed them to do. It's also out in November! So they wasted no time.

It does make me wonder though. Persona 1 has received an enhanced port to the PSP, Persona 3 is due out on the PSP soon, but there's been no news at all of Persona 2 being ported to it, when something like that would make sense. But as Persona 2 was a two parter, maybe they have something special planned for that. Plus! I've got to wonder if Persona 4 will be receiving the portable treatment. Not only that, maybe it gives hints as to what platform Persona 5 will be appearing on. Finally, I never thought I'd type "persona" so much in one paragraph.

Despite not knowing exactly how this deal with the new character will work, and having not seen any screenshots at all, I'm already sold on this. I mean, honestly, I'm not the sort of person who is able to turn down the prospect of slightly altered cutscenes in a game I've played through multiple times already. I know I've said it before, but I'm sure I choose the wrong hobbies sometimes.

A disjointed series of injokes

2009-08-14T19:13:00.003+01:00

I'm never really sure what I think of Suda51's games. The story is usually odd for the sake of being odd, the gameplay itself is never really that impressive, sometimes intentionally bad, and there's often a lot of subtext that's hidden away which can be a major part of understanding what's going on. Usually, these either turn me away from a game. With Suda, I find myself drawn to them. So, along comes Flower, Sun & Rain on the DS. First time available in English, ported from the PS2 to the DS, and my second Suda game, the first being Killer7.

First off, the game itself features a great deal of walking. You'll often spend time walking down a motorway or a beach for up to five minutes at a time, sometimes more. You'll also have characters happily tell you how much you'll be walking more and more as the game progresses, and as the pedometer in the top corner steadily increases, you'll find you get better abilities. It's a bit like an RPG where you improve your character by walking. There are no shortcuts or modes of transport beyond walking and running, which does feel a bit like padding at times, but thankfully the lead character, Sumio Mondo, shows some annoyance about what he has to do. It's nice to have someone share the pain in a sense. The other major mechanic in the game is puzzle solving, which is entirely number based. Now, I've never been that great with numbers, but this is a game that features puzzles such as: lospass = 0445644; lunatics = ?, so I knew I was going to struggle.

However, I found my enjoyment doesn't come from actually doing those things. There are a lot of puzzles in this, all number based with some really obscure solutions (for example, the one I listed above is solved by counting the right angles in the letters), but I found myself enjoying how the solution to a puzzle is discovered along with interacting with the characters. For a lot of puzzles, you will receive a somewhat vague hint, and then you'll have to look in the hotel's guidebook (where else would you find a solution but in a guidebook, after all) and find a subtle reference to the vague hint, and then work the puzzle out from there. The other thing I enjoyed was how good the script is and how the characters are defined.

The story itself is centered about Sumio's latest job, where he's been called to Lospass Island to stop a terrorist planting a bomb on a plane. Upon arriving at the Hotel Flower, Sun & Rain and reaching his hotel room, he glances out the window to see the plane explode. Then he has a dream about a young girl trying to find her pink crocodile. Waking up the next morning due to a phone call from the front desk, he's told that breakfast is ready. Then he stumbles out of bed, quite literally, and reflects on what a strange dream he just had, and that he'd better stop the terrorist blowing up the plane.

From then on, the game is determined to prevent you from reaching your goal, with a resident of the hotel asking you to find something for them, followed by the plane exploding and you waking up back in your room the next day, determined to stop that plane exploding. You may have realised already, but this is a rather surreal game. But as it's by Suda51, that is to be expected. Music wise, it's also a bit of an oddity. Masafumi Takada, who usually seems to work with Suda has kind of done most of the music this time. I say most of, as the music generally consists of remixes of works by famous composers such as Debussy and Bach, with there being very few original songs in it. The game makes sure to point out that this is a pretty cheap decision by the designers.

I do kind of feel like I'm neglecting to mention something about Flower, Sun & Rain, but I also don't want to go too much into it, as a game focused on such a confusing mystery like this really needs to be experienced first hand to get the most out of it. That, and I can often go on endlessly about a game I'm really taken with. It's an odd one, but it's also an experience that I don't think I'd find anywhere else.

Tokyo Lockdown

2009-07-31T21:52:00.003+01:00

I'm quite a big fan of the Shin Megami Tensei series. So when the most recent one, Devil Survivor, was revealed to be on the DS, which was a first for the series, and that it was also going to be a strategy game, another first, I was intrigued and concerned. I've nothing against the DS, so that wasn't an issue. It was more to do about the strategy side of it. Most of the ones I've played, which I admit is a small amount of the ones available, have been pretty good. But there are always some awful ones. I've played a few myself.

All concerns were alleviated when I actually got around to playing it though. Movement is like any other grid based strategy game, which isn't anything out of the ordinary. Being an RPG at the same time though, there are a variety of skills you can assign, that range from increasing movement range, to simply ignoring walls and stairs and just teleporting right next to an enemy. Actual combat though, is more like traditional SMT. Since the series moved to PS2, you were rewarded for abusing an enemy's weakness. Use a fire based attack on something made out of ice for example and you'll be rewarded with a bonus attack to deliver. The enemy gets the same chances though, so you have to think about who attacks what based on their strengths and weaknesses lest you walk right into a battle that wipes you out, which can and most likely will happen. Much better than some RPGs where you can simply select 'Attack' over and over to win the game.

Despite that though, it's not what has me hooked. A lot of RPGs, Japanese ones in particular, are very linear. Devil Survivor seems to be one of the rarities that allow you some degree of choice in how events play out. Based on your decisions throughout the game, certain characters may live or die. There's also a large range of responses you can make in cutscenes, which helps make you feel like you're relevant, rather than along for the ride. I have noticed that I'm acting nicer towards some characters than others though, in an attempt to keep them on my side and, hopefully, alive until the end. I've always been keen on stories where there's a large amount of risk involved for the characters. Again, not something that's too common in Japanese RPGs.

I've yet to finish it, but it already feels like the sort of RPG that I'm going to play through more than once, which is unfortunately not a regular occurrence.

Vocaloid!

2009-07-20T16:57:00.005+01:00

For the past couple of weeks, I've been playing quite a lot of Hatsune Miku: Project DIVA on PSP. It can be a bit complicated explaining quite what that is though. It's not every day that you play a rhythm game by Sega featuring a virtual idol who is the face of synthetic singing software by Yamaha. Although she's also featured on a Super GT racing team's BMW Z4, maybe a videogame isn't that odd.

The game itself is standard rhythm game fare, essentially consisting of pressing a sequence of buttons in time to a display, scoring points depending on how accurate you are. If you do well, you unlock extra songs, costumes and items for Miku's room. In Miku's room, Miku will simply wander about and interact with furniture and decorations that you put up for her. It's very simplistic.

Which seems to kind of be the point for Project DIVA. It's mostly feels like a game for existing Vocaloid fans where they can see Miku actually move about to songs, rather than fan made videos featuring a sequence of static images. There's even a feature to simply watch the music videos rather than play the rhythm game section.

Because of it's origins as music designing software, the game features a variety of composers and in some cases, animators for the dance routines. It's nothing spectacular, but it is fun, and the music is pretty damn catchy at times. I'm just glad I was already a fan!

Gatherin'

2009-07-15T16:21:00.004+01:00

I don't often go to London. In fact, on this occasion I got lost a couple of times. But getting lost wasn't going to stop me, I had a mission to accomplish! I think I've mentioned it before, but Capcom have recently set up a Gathering Hall for Monster Hunter in London. I was pretty determined to experience it at least once.

For those who are unaware, Monster Hunter is best experienced as a multiplayer game. That's part of the reason it's been so successful in Japan, especially as most players are closer together and gaming is more common. Problem is, that's not the case here. So, Capcom have rented out part of a gallery in London for a couple of months to give players a convenient place to meet and play together. Only, not so convenient when you live closer to the Scottish border than London.

Regardless, I made my way there. As I was walking up Charing Cross Road, I was starting to wonder if I would notice it, I'd hate to walk right past it. I needn't have worried at all though, as seeing the front of a building with a Rathalos painted across it, along with "Gathering Hall" on the front, it was somewhat hard to miss. Some other people seemed intrigued as well, I saw a lot of people paying attention to the front as they walked by.

Anyway, I headed in, introduced myself, got myself a free t-shirt almost instantly (which is very nice by the way) and was then taken upstairs to where most players were. I only saw the lobby and the first floor, but I think there was maybe another floor above that. The decoration on the front also continued inside. The lobby had several weapons painted across the walls, whereas upstairs had various pieces of artwork and characters, along with the soundtrack playing in the background.

I quickly found a seat, received some free drinks, and started playing with a couple of others who were well above my level. At the time, I was Hunter Rank 2. The people I joined were both Rank 9, which is the current maximum I think. "What do you want to hunt?" they asked, so I explained that I'd been struggling a lot with Tigrex recently, only just defeating it before the 30 minute deadline was up. Two minutes later, they'd defeated one for me.

The rest of the session continued in this way, with them asking what I wanted to hunt and then they would continue to slaughter it incredibly quickly, with me offering some assistance, which was mediocre at best compared to them. They were very accommodating, and I probably didn't express my thanks as much as I should have. Later on in the session, one of the Capcom employees came in and said how they thought the Monster Hunter soundtrack kind of sucked, so they put some Daft Punk on instead. I'm pretty sure that fighting Lao Shan Lung, easily the biggest dragon in the game, to the sound of 'Harder, Better, Faster, Stronger' will probably be one of my favourite experiences with this game for some time.

Unfortunately, my time was limited. As I don't visit London often, there were some other places I wanted to see, so I did have to leave before I really wanted to. Eight hours on a train for two hours playing Monster Hunter is probably a good sign of dedication though, or stupidity. Probably somewhere between the two.

I'm certainly going to try and visit again before the place closes down. I really hope it's not a one off.

Vanguard Princess

2009-07-06T00:32:00.003+01:00

There are never enough times when I'm impressed by a game I've never heard of before. Usually I'll just see a screenshot somewhere, be ever so slightly intrigued, find out what it is and then how I can play it. Which is exactly what happened with Vanguard Princess. Of course, it helped that it's a 2D fighter, I'm always more receptive to those than say, the latest generic shooting game with angry bald guys in the future.

Thankfully, it's one of the many games in the freeware doujin category, so finding a copy was relatively easy. Unfortunately little is known about the developer (or indeed, developers), as there's some really impressive sprites and music in this. The main thing known is that the lead behind the project is an ex-Capcom employee, which you could argue is a good start!

I'm yet to try every character in it, but so far, most have either been reminiscent of existing characters in fighting games as is the norm, or something new entirely, slightly similar to Street Fighter 3 in some senses. For example, the character I've currently settled on using, Kaede, has a variety of wall jumps, uses slashing attacks and spends a lot of time being pretty, very similar to Vega from Street Fighter. Whereas Luna, a scantily clad buxom mecha pilot is like no character I've used before, as all her attacks seem very contextual and occasionally get delayed. It's early days yet, but there's quite a lot of potential with these characters.

One big difference however is the idea of having an assist character. These usually follow you around in the background until you've built up enough charge on a separate meter to your super bar, at which point you're able to command them to do a variety of attacks or counters. There are only four, but my experience with them so far has been a good one, especially as an escape to a long combo. Most of them however are young girls, most of which look like rejects from magical girl shows.

Mentioning the looks of characters reminds me however. It's clear that the character designer knew what sort of market would play this. Which is an obvious observation to make really, but the characters are clearly aimed at anime and fighting game fans. The entire roster is all female, and usually in fighting games the women often wear clothing that's at least a little revealing. But as for Vanguard Princess, the most conservative bit of clothing in it is probably a skirt that goes to knee level.

That's probably beside the point however. It's really good fun to play, and a new 2D fighter these days is a rarity. Despite being a doujin game, the animation is probably better than a lot of commercial efforts. It looks great in motion, the music is catchy, and it's got some depth in it. It's going to be a good game to stay indoors with over these sunny days!

Unite!

2009-06-26T22:10:00.004+01:00

Well, Monster Hunter Freedom Unite is now released, and at the risk of making this a Monster Hunter related blog, I've decided to do a brief follow up with my impressions of the finished product.

Firstly, I absolutely love the Felyne companions. My interest about this edition was sparked by the possibility of having someone adventuring with me, mostly as I know very few people who play the game. So, I'm currently being assisted by a little cat called Jet, who loves weapons according to his profile.

Secondly, one feature I wasn't aware of before was the option of installing data to the PSP to cut down on load times and by extension, battery life. For a portable, that's a pretty awesome idea. It wasn't a particularly large install either, weighing in at around 560MB. Although as my memory stick is a measly 1GB, I'm considering an upgrade.

Now that I've given the Felyne companions a proper go, and the addition of installation, I can't help but think that MHFU is something more than just an expansion, as those two features really add a lot to it. Otherwise, it's business as usual, I haven't really progressed far enough to see the new content.

I'm certainly excited about the prospect though!

For the spirit of the hunt!

2009-06-19T22:40:00.004+01:00

So, I've been having a little play around with that Monster Hunter Freedom Unite demo. As with most expansions, it's more of the same with extra content. Before I could get to that though, I had to deal with the abnormally strong glue that Capcom had used to keep the demo discs in the package.

After that obstacle was dealt with, it was onto the demo! My main focus was having a look at new monsters and areas, as such I only tried two out of the three scenarios. First off, I was to hunt a Hypnocatrice in the Great Forest, both of which are new to Unite I believe. I was also able to choose a Felyne companion, which are new to this edition. Rather than being solo all the time, offline players can get assisted by a small cat. I chose Kota to assist me, who was apparently best for close range fighters. Which is just as well as I was using my usual, the Long Sword.

First thing I noticed upon the start of the hunt is that you no longer have to find and then mark a monster, they're on the map right from the start. It saves some time, sure, but it was a feature I liked. Surely part of hunting is, well, hunting something. Anyway, it did enable my intrepid hunter, going by the imposing name of CAPCOM01 to get straight to work. Of course, as it's been a few months since I last played, he spent most of the encounter falling for basic mistakes and wasting some opportunities.

Regardless, CAPCOM01 prevailed. Although I did notice a lack of blood during the attacks. I'm not sure if it's been removed for the demo, and it did make critical hits easier to see, but it was slightly odd nonetheless.

Second hunt was going for a Plum Daimyo Hermitaur in the Old Desert region. This time I went for a Lance, something I've never really used before. My felyne assistant was Ginger, ideal for gunners and mostly used bombs. I just knew it was going to go well. The Hermitaur and their bigger relation, the Ceanataur are probably the monsters I enjoy fighting the most in Freedom 2. Admittedly there's very little skill involved, it usually just involves the two of us trading hits at close range until one collapses, but it's fun!

This time though, it went badly. The Lance is almost a complete opposite of the Long Sword. Instead of evasion, which I'm used to, it's more about solid defence and attacking when the chance is there. I didn't try this though, instead I chose to run at full speed, lance aimed right at the Hermitaur's face. Repeatedly. In the moments between my attacks, my Felyne ran at it while carrying bombs, in some kind of cat themed suicide run. It could have been the best offense if the attacks had connected and I didn't get blown away by the bombs. As expected, I lost that one.

Monster Hunter Freedom Unite probably won't win back anyone who disliked previous entries in the series. But it will provide even more content on top of the staggering amount that already exists. With Capcom's recent attempts to build up awareness of the series and bring in new players, along with multiple games on the way, Monster Hunter could stand a chance of succeeding in the west.

A chance that's well deserved.

Nuns with guns

2009-06-17T20:59:00.006+01:00

Those who know me will most likely know that I like figures. Others will no doubt be aware that I also like fighting games. Issues arise when these two interests are combined. Especially when there are multiple things. Pricey things.

I was doing my usual trawl of the internet, when I became aware that there's a figure of my favourite character from Tsukihime and Melty Blood, Ciel. As it was only a thumbnail, I had to have a closer look.

I'm really tempted with it. It's not too often that there's merchandise of her in that outfit. Or with glasses. Both of which are integral parts of the character! Maybe. But anyway, it's manufactured by enterbrain, who seem to make quite a few models of Type-Moon characters, usually in high quality, usually expensive. This particular one is a rather fetching £60, way over the limit I try to stick to.

It doesn't quite end here though. Because of the accursed 'related products' section of the site, I became away that the same sculptor has made an alternate version of this Ciel. Different outfit, similar pose.

Again, it's another one that I really like. Admittedly I already have a figure of her in this outfit, also with the oversized stake cannon, but this is really nice. Unfortunately, it's also the same price. Ideally I'd like to go for both, but I know that's a bad idea. Ideally I'd have lots of money to afford such things too but that's not the situation.

Sometimes, I think I have a bad choice of hobbies.

Everyday hunting life!

2009-06-15T13:02:00.004+01:00

I'm really quite impressed with how Capcom are pushing Monster Hunter in places other than Japan at the moment. Sure, lots of games get advertised, some with a lot more effort than others, but seeing as they're only now getting around to it with the expanded version of the second portable game, then it's better late than never. Almost seems like a novelty.

It's a bit more than I'm used to with demo discs. Last time I saw one, it was just in a plastic case and that was it. Instead, this has four discs, along with control scheme descriptions in multiple languages and how to enable the multiplayer. I've no idea how popular Monster Hunter is in mainland Europe, but it would appear Capcom are going to try and get it running there too.

I haven't actually tried the demo yet. I'm hoping it'll feature some decent solo content as that's all I'll probably be able to make use of. Regardless, I'm looking forward to what Capcom might do with the series next. But seeing as there's the Wii title on the way along with a gathering hall in London starting up next month, I'm somewhat intrigued to see what happens next.

More fighting!

2009-04-03T23:53:00.002+01:00

So, another fighter is on the way to Europe, and Capcom are responsible again. Fate/Unlimited Codes Portable for PSP has recently been announced for a release by Capcom Europe. I could be wrong, but I think this is the first time a Fate game has been released outside of Japan. But, it's an actual game this time rather than a visual novel, so no doubt that has something to do with it.

Originally an arcade title, it was eventually ported to the PS2, and then eventually ported to PSP, but with additional characters and a simplified control system. I'm not sure how much it's been simplified, but as long as it's not as simple as Capcom vs SNK 2 EO, then it's fine by me.

Looks a little combo heavy for my tastes, but I kinda want this already.

Down right fierce

2009-03-19T16:00:00.006Z

So, Street Fighter 4 has been out for a few weeks now, which is more than enough time for some merchandising to start doing the rounds. Some good, some bad.

The most important bit of merchandising is obvious. Figures. Which is where Mr Kenneth Masters steps in.

As you can probably see, there's a fair bit of detail to that. It's even using fabric for his gi, which is a nice touch I suppose, but I've never been sure about that. It's also eighteen inches in height, and has a rather fetching price of around £170.

Of course, maybe you don't like Ken. Maybe all his shoryukens and frequent moments of winking and giving a thumbs up at the camera has made you dislike him (although it shouldn't).

In that case, Capcom are continuing their Capcom Girls Collection, which has been going for a good few years now. The latest entry is the lovely Ms White.

Despite having a release date in July, for some reason they're not going for her classical look sported in Street Fighter 4, and is instead in her Alpha series outfit. The main problem with that is her beret isn't as awesome.

It's also got a much more reasonable price, coming in at around £55. So, some of the recent merchandising is pretty pricey, but often it's worth paying a bit more for some of these figures. They're often limited, and finding them after they've gone out of circulation can be incredibly frustrating.

That is, of course, if you like such things.

Street Fighter 4!

2009-01-28T19:57:00.002Z

So, the intro is out on the interwebs now, and it's pretty damn smooth. I'm probably echoing a lot of other people's opinions if I say that I love the ink stylings that you get around the fighters, especially in that little sequence with Guile and Abel.

Still not entirely sure about the theme though. It has grown on me a little, but I think the saving grace is that the music that's been used on a lot of trailers turns up around halfway through. I'm also fairly sure that I prefer it to the music that Third Strike had, since that was just cringe worthy.

Saying that though, as music in fighting games go, it could always be worse!

Tokyo Beat Down

2009-01-09T20:59:00.006Z

God damn. This looks like it could be one of the best games ever. Originally known as Yajuu Keiji, or Beast Detective, it offers a range of characters and multiple endings, while, most importantly having what looks to be some solid old school action going on.

I don't think the DS actually has any beat-em-ups on offer, so this is filling a rather important gap in the market. As Atlus are localising it, chances are it'll have a pretty good translation to top it off.

How could it get better? It's got gruff cops riding on APCs and firing rocket launchers!

Most played games of 2008

2009-01-08T22:49:00.003Z

Okay, so I know a lot of places are doing, or indeed have done, a best of 2008 by now, but that's something I'd kind of struggle with.

You see, I've never really been one to keep up to date with new releases and such. With games in particular, there are many occasions where I'll choose to replay something I've finished rather than play something new. I'm not sure what the reason is, maybe it's comfort in the familiar, maybe it's just really liking the things I like.

So, instead, I'm going to make a top five list of the games I've whittled away most of the year with. Some of them are new, most aren't.

Devil May Cry 4

I never really got into Devil May Cry until the third game in the series. I did play the original, but I never understood what the point of it was supposed to be. It was only after repeated attempts to get into 3 that things finally clicked and I started having fun with it. Since I'd become so attached to 3 in such a little amount of time, I guess I became a bit protective of it, as I was pretty wary about the addition of a new lead character in 4, Nero.

Thankfully, that wariness was completely unfounded, as I find myself having more fun using Nero than I do with Dante, almost entirely due to the ability to grab and throw enemies around (although, I remember Capcom claiming that couldn't be done on last generation hardware, which I'm still unconvinced with.)

Either way, I'm even more keen on 4 than I was on 3. It's not without it's faults, the most popular being the fact that Dante's levels are just Nero's ones in reverse order. That's not really something I'm particularly concerned about though, as it's the sort of game that's made for replays. The other fault is a particularly infuriating platforming section in the early stages, which I can't try to excuse.

As with the aforementioned replays, it really does have a lot on offer. With multiple difficulties, most of which have to be unlocked, along with a huge amount of abilities that you can earn for Dante and Nero, it's just as well that it's a long lifetime game that you can dip in and out of.

Street Fighter 3: 3rd Strike

This is certainly the oldest game featured in this list, but as it's a fighting game, it's got a nearly infinite supply of replay value. As with DMC, it took me a while to get into Street Fighter 3. I remember initially not being too keen on the range of characters it had to offer, with Ryu, Ken and Chun-li being the only recognised faces. It was some time before I realised that this is one of the best parts the game has to offer. It's nearly a fresh start.

In motion, it's absolutely gorgeous, the amount of animation that each character has is bordering on the obscene. Despite the fact that it originally came out in arcades in 1999, the only game that seems to have that level of animation is King of Fighters XII, which isn't even out yet!

The unfortunate side is, Street Fighter 3 doesn't really seem that popular with people outside of fans of the series. The character roster in Street Fighter 4 is a good indication of the fact, as so far it's done a good job of including characters from each game besides any iteration of 3. In fact, I think it's only in Tatsunoko vs Capcom that the new characters have had any kind of recognition, and even then it's only Alex. More Makoto and Ibuki are required in Capcom games!

Monster Hunter Freedom 2

I'm a big fan of Monster Hunter. I'm well aware that it's a love or hate game, but I can safely say that I'm on the loving side. In fact, I think it's the only game that I'm glad I own a PSP for. As such, the PSP spends many an hour on my bedside table, ready for when I decide to try a few missions first thing in the morning, or I'll occasionally hunt a few dragons on the bus.

Saying that though, while I really do love the game, I admit I do kind of suck of it, I've not beaten a single dragon in it, they're much too tough. But that is what I actually love about the game. Originally, I became very interested after learning that, with enough skill, it's possible to take on and defeat the last monsters in the game with basic weapons and next to no equipment being carried around. It does make me a little bit depressed when I have to upgrade my armour regularly to stand a chance against mid-game monsters, but the fact I've got that far is something I'm happy about.

The other thing that needs mentioning, is that I've only played solo so far. While I love it at this point, I've heard from many others that the game is much, much, much better when playing multiplayer. If I ever get to that point, I dread to think how much I'll love it.

Mass Effect

Just as well this game came out really, since this post seems to have become a bit of an "I love Capcom" one. Which is understandable, but I also love Bioware, and this game is a great example of why I do. It's hard to speak about Mass Effect without simply reiterating what other people have said before, so I guess all I can really do is talk about my thoughts and experiences with it. That's surely what you're here for after all.

While it's usually classed as a shooter/RPG, I'm going to have to make myself sound like an incredible fanboy and say that there's just so much more to it. Which is okay because I am an incredible fanboy. For a start, the magic equivalent in combat is fantastic fun to use. Called Biotics here, it's pretty much an excuse to do battle by messing around with physics. Charging into a room and making a bunch of people slam into the ceiling with a slight hand gesture is pretty awesome. There's also a range of attacks that focuses on technology, but I'm yet to give that a proper try yet.

Which is one of the things I like so much about it and it's why it's in this list. There's a huge amount of content to it. While you've got the usual good or evil responses to make use of, the quality of writing and the sheer number of things you can do is fantastic.
Also, while writing these few small paragraphs, I experienced several urges to play it again.

Persona 3 FES

Final one! Which is also kind of cheating a little. You see, Persona 3 came out for western audiences towards the end of 2007, which was followed up with what is essentially a director's cut during 2008, which is the FES version, apparently an abbreviation of festival. While it is the second RPG in the listing, it's also the only Japanese one. JRPGs as they're known, usually have the reputation of being cutscene heavy and having a very simple battle system to work with.

Both of these are true for P3, but the great thing is that it's all done so well. During most cutscenes, you often get responses that you can give. They have next to no impact at all on the actual narrative, but being able to take part a little is a good start at least.

As for the battle system, as Persona 3 is a spinoff of the Shin Megami Tensei series, it uses a slightly tweaked and simplified version of what that has. That system is one that greatly rewards exploiting enemy weaknesses, and managing to exploit all of the weaknesses of enemies in one battle allows your party to for an all out attack, creating a giant dust cloud with comic style sound effects coming out of it.

This is all mixed in with having a school life simulator, which means you have to maintain a social life, prepare for exams and save the world at the same time. School life simulators are fairly common in Japan, but they're a rarity over here. All of this comes with a flashy presentation and funky soundtrack. It's pretty damn awesome really.

I thought what I'd do was, I'd become one of those bloggers

2009-01-07T18:40:00.002Z

Hello internet!

I'm not entirely sure where I'm going to go with this entry, let alone the blog itself, so I figured it'd be easiest to start with an introduction.
My name is Peter, most of my hobbies are to do with videogames, comics (I'm counting manga in there, they're pretty much the same thing anyway), movies and toys. I also like giant robots and maids.

So, this blog. The plan is to mostly focus on the aforementioned hobbies, as well as featuring whatever I consider to be cool, which I admit is vague, but it works. It's probably safe to say this will mostly have reviews, recommendations, things like that. Depends on what I can think of mostly.

Will it be any good? Hard to say. Will it even be worth reading? Even harder to say.
Regardless, I shall give it a try! On the remote chance that you enjoy it, then I shall consider it a success!