Locked Out

It's been a while, yet again, but that can hopefully be glossed over for now as it's been a regular occurence for some time. What isn't a regular thing is that I'm going to start this off with a rant.

You see, for a while, I used to import games. For some time before that, I just bought domestic ones. Now, I'm maintaining a mix of the two, based purely on the game itself, when it comes out, and how much it might cost me. As a consumer, it's ideal for me. There were occasions where I would have to bypass region protection that was on consoles, but this was either through buying a disc that enabled me to do so, or in some cases, actually having a console from a different region. It was all over the counter and didn't really involve anything suspect.

These days, with regular firmware updates, to do something like that involves messing around with the firmware on your system, sometimes putting you at risk of breaking it, and is a process that companies are trying somewhat vigilantly to stop. It's not something I approve of, simply for the risk involved and the cost of replacing a potentially broken console.

Last night, Etrian Odyssey IV was announced, a series which I have long held a soft spot for. It was announced for the 3DS. Nintendo, as of recent years, have been enforcing region protection on their handhelds, something which was nonexistant from the beginning. It was there on a few games on the DSi, but is system-wide on the 3DS. I've never exactly been a big fan of Nintendo, but this hardly helps matters.

As far as I can tell, importing is still something that is a very, very minor part of the market, and actually making an effort to stamp that out doesn't make sense to me. With Nintendo having a large part of the casual market under their thrall, I can't imagine that the user base there would look into obtaining a game from a different country.

Furthermore, I was in the Pokemon Centre in Tokyo recently, where they had a couple of the games on sale, that proudly advertised that the games worked on any DS model, just that the language would only be in Japanese. Pokemon is one of the main offenders for games with this recently installed region protection, should you own a DSi or anything beyond it. It leads me to believe that Nintendo doesn't actually pay attention to it's own enforcements, provided there is some form of profit to be made.

It reminds me of the whole issue with DRM these days, that "protection" and whatever it actually is does more to punish the regular consumer than those who completely bypass it with less than legal methods. I just can't see what there is to be gained by it.

I just want to play videogames.

Hitting dragons in the face, yet again

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

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.