• 16Dec 09

  The Usual Routine

  First and foremost, yes I have a new avatar. Who is he? You'll find out later in the blog (but I'm hoping somebody out there knows already -.-). I hate to see Hazama go, but it had to be done xD
  
  For the record, I really wanted Lord Dante as my new avatar, but apparently he is so awesome that even the Internet doesn't have a picture of him O.o

  ---

  There were a lot of blog ideas I had in mind, but nothing gave me the patience and effort to sit down and type it all out. I was going to talk about developers vs. publishers when it comes to recognition in videogames, Naughty Dog and guns, end of the year awards and their main focus being for promotional purposes for the wrong games, and a bunch of other stuff. But here I am again with just another update on what I have been doing...meh, better than nothing, I guess. I'm going to try to keep everything brief, but you know how it goes sometimes

  ---

  

  ^Yep, my new avatar is Hero, right there on the cover^

  Anyway, this little game has been taking a lot of time lately, and I'm glad it is. I can ramble on and on about this one, but all you need to know is that Half-Minute Hero is like no other game, and is worth everyone's time. It is innovative to the RPG genre (which is unfortunately rare), and is full of charm that is hard to let go. The 8-bit graphical styIe blends so well with some current graphics, and the soundtrack is extremely impressive. It's kind of like a mix of c@ssical and metal (with some other genres of course). Sound familiar? Well it should because Baten Kaitos does the same thing. Except Baten Kaitos likes to combine the two genres, while HMH keeps them seperate. Another thing to note about the soundtrack is that it reminds me of a lot of other games. Just a few to mention - Okami, Final Fantasy (specifically VII), Dragon Warrior/Quest, Guilty Gear, and The Legend of Zelda.

  

  Agh, I'm going on longer than I should. Okay, long story short, the gameplay is something fresh and original, and the most fun I have had in a very long time. The story is simple, but very satisfying, and the characters are a lovable bunch with outgoing personalities. It also has a good amount of humor put into the clever dialogue and visuals. By the end, you feel like you really did accomplish something and truly are a hero. I am not entirely done with the game though. I beat Hero, Evil Lord, and Princess mode, but still have to go through the Knight's story (which is awesome so far). I plan on going for 100% completion too.
  
  For those of you who own a PSP:
  BUY IT NOW...(if you have a soul of course)

  
  ^I didn't know The Tick became a knight^

  I don't know about you guys, but Cl@ssic Dungeon looks like it's similar (or at least has a similar goal). This is probably my most anticipated game next to Fragile, but a Western release is not likely to happen at the moment
  Trailer

  ---

  

  Here we go, I hope all of you know about this Tim Schafer masterpiece by now. I am so glad I found a copy because I have been looking for this game ever since...well ever since I realized it was a huge mistake to let it pass me by. Everything about it is worth it. I'm a sucker for these kinds of games, but that's beside the point. It's just an outstanding 3D platforming and action game. So far the story is interesting, and the concept behind the gameplay is unique. The character design is nicely varied, and the voice acting for each is top notch. Ford Cruller is my new favorite character. Everything about that guy is just plain awesome (he isn't the one below)

  

  It also brings back memories of one of my favorite under-appreciated games, Dual Hearts. Going into people's minds is as fun as it sounds. Something I already found surprising is that this game is deep...and emotional. I can't wait to finish it, and maybe I'll feel like completing this one 100% too (I say that a lot though...and then I feel it's too hard xD). The real shining moment of the game for me was the humor. There are many laughs to be had with this one, and that's what makes it such a joy to play. I shouldn't have to tell you to check Psychonauts out, but please do; you will not regret it.
  
  I'm telling ya, when a game lets you set squirrels on fire, you know it's good.

  

  --
  In other news, I am still playing Warriors Orochi 2 with my brother. Proficiency takes so long to get! It's a ton of fun though, and I don't think we'll ever get tired of it. I also started Breath of Fire III, but I can't say too much about it yet because I am not that far. My brother was watching me play it, and both of us noticed something - it looks and sounds like Chrono Trigger. So that's a definite plus. Psychonauts has had me turn away from it though, but I hope I can come back soon.
  
  Oh, and I played Riviera for 15 minutes XD

  ---

  I got tempted to start another anime series before finishing Saiyuki, but I didn't. Saiyuki has gotten significantly better, and I don't feel like I have to push through it anymore. The payoff is worth it, for the most part, but we'll see if I get the feeling this is one that other people need to check out (so far not really, just a pleasant anime). That second opening has become one of my favorites One Piece is still awesome of course, but I feel like picking up the pace. Before I only wanted it to be something I would watch every now and then, but now I want to be up-to-date with it (meaning being at episode 430), and also because I really want to play the Unlimited Adventure game, but don't want to start it until I am that far in the anime.

  

  I'm not sure when I will blog next, but I don't think I will post one before Christmas, so I hope all of you who celebrate it have a very merry Christmas ^.^ (err, I guess Happy Holidays would have been easier )

  • Posted Dec 16, 2009 9:35 pm PT
  • Category: Games
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• 5Dec 09

  Memories are Precious

  Shorter blog today (EDIT ~ not really, never goes as planned ). Just wanted to give some of my final impressions on Persona 2.

  

  A couple of weeks ago I finished watching Persona 2: Innocent Sin and wrote a blog saying how top-notch everything about it was (other than the gameplay, since I couldn't judge that). Well, I just finished the second and final part - Persona 2: Eternal Punishment, and I must say that I am impressed. Again, I watched both of these because I do not have them, and suspect that I will never get them (because of money and availability). And even if I do, I still would want to play them because it's fun to go through something you already know. Some day I am going to watch the Tales of the Abyss anime, even though it's exactly the same as the game. I think it's enjoyable to go like "oh I remember this!" as if it's nostalgia, but not that far into the past.

  

  There isn't a whole lot to say about Eternal Punishment. It was not what I was expecting. I thought the story would have a huge similarity to Innocent Sin, but it doesn't (sorta), and it works. The character design is just as before, complex and superior. It was awesome to see characters from Innocent Sin come into play (and some with much bigger roles, like Katsuya), and also to see some very cool new characters as well. The overall story is impressive and engrossing. Graphics are about the same but slightly improved upon it's predecessor. The soundtrack is about the same too. Not top 10 soundtrack material, in my opinion, but it's very nice, and Maya's theme is as memorable as ever.

  

  Now that the voice acting is in English, it's...well, not too bad. I think they did an okay job with it, except for Tatsuya. It seems like he has a different poor acting voice every time, and I still don't know why they made him always wear a red jumpsuit (that's what it looks like to me anyway O.o) I hear the final boss is very disappointing, but of course I couldn't tell you. The ending is bittersweet to a point where you just want to force the writers to change it. Actually, the whole Persona 2 universe is like that, and I loved it. I can split the ending into two ideas, which I won't talk about to avoid spoilers, but basically I really liked how they handled one, but not so much for the other. Overall, I found it very satisfying.

  

  ^P2 also has the best Velvet Room^

  As a whole, Persona 2 is something truly amazing. Both parts intertwine nicely, but still hold their own weight. I like how both of them seem to take a governmental and police/mystery approach (more so in Eternal Punishment), and then turn that into a supernatural one. Looking at Persona 2 has me disappointed with how Persona 3 and 4 turned out though. When comparing them, P2 feels like the grander one to me. There is also a lot of unique ideas and gameplay elements that would be so cool to have in P3 and P4, but Atlus decided not to use them. Also, Persona 2 has a clear moral. It actually teaches you something, and I can't say the same for P3 and P4. Let's hope Persona 5 puts them back on the right track. Not that they're doing a bad job right now, but it's wasted potential.

  

  Oh, and I like the nods to the first Persona. That was pretty cool

  ---

  Anyway, I should be playing games again when I go back home for break. I have two finals to take, one on Tuesday and one on Friday, which is a pain because I'd rather just have both on Tuesday so I can leave earlier -.- As for anime...haven't watched any One Piece or Saiyuki in over a week, but the busyness has died down for now, so that should change.
  
  Actually, there is something a little bit interesting that I'm doing. I downloaded DOSBox (something I should have did a long time ago), so I'm using DOS and playing some great cl@ssic PC games. These really take me back. Right now I'm playing Alien Carnage (Halloween Harry) and Bio Menace, both are awesome of course Funny that I can start playing these games instantly, and I still have games like Dungeon Siege 2 that I haven't touched and are just sitting there. Say what you will about 3D Realms, but they offer some of their amazing games (back when they were known as Apogee) legally for free, and it just doesn't get better than that. I told my dad to find all the floppy disks and CDs of those DOS games so that I can put them on my computer during break. There's a lot

  

  ^Alien Carnage (Halloween Harry)^

  

  ^Bio Menace^

  So I guess that's it. For everyone in school, I wish you luck on the finals and hope you enjoy break ^.^

  • Posted Dec 5, 2009 11:15 pm PT
  • Category: Games
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• 1Dec 09

  A Much Needed Break

  Hello everyone ^.^ I would have posted this sooner, but I had a really big project to work on.
  
  Thanksgiving break was pretty good for me, and I hope all of those in school had a great one as well. Thanksgiving itself was nice. Just the usual, but I liked it. Anyway, on to games...for once.

  ---

  

  I played what I should have played over the break, and that is Golden Sun: The Lost Age. Well, I finished it, and here are my final thoughts:
  
  -it's definitely better than the first one
  -good relation between both games, but bad in the sense of only playing one of them
  -graphics got even better!
  -music enjoyment was about the same as its predecessor, very impressive though
  -still not a fan of the Djinn cl@ss system, but meh, it works
  -puzzles in RPGs are still something I don't find necessary, but they didn't bother me too much in this one
  -great ending (maybe a little too happy)
  -overall a pleasant RPG, just like the first
  -again, just like the first, doesn't give me the feeling of being one of the "best ever"
  
  Sorry guys, but I just don't see it. I'm not too hyped for Golden Sun DS still. I'm fine with just two Golden Sun games, especially since they closed the story. However, if it has Alex in it, it might gain my attention.

  ---

  

  I was lucky to find this one. I loved playing the first Kessen. I might even go as far as it being my favorite kind of strategy system in any game. Sure it's not that strategic. Actually, it's about as simple as you can get, but it was so easy to pick up and was immensely entertaining. You see, this is how you make an RTS on a console (not Halo Wars or Command and Conquer).
  
  Anyway, didn't play it yet, but I got it for $7, which is probably much less than what it's worth. Something related to this - I played some Warriors Orochi 2 co-op with my brother, and yes, it's still a blast. We're shooting for 100% completion (even beyond all 1000 achievement points). We're getting there, slowly but surely.

  ---

  

  My brother and I are huge Sting fans, so it's kinda obvious we would enjoy this one. Knights in the Nightmare was an early birthday gift for my brother. He is the one playing it, and it looks so cool. It also looks extremely confusing, but that's part of the fun. I probably won't play this one until I get a new DS, since my touch screen is screwed up. It's not to the point where a touch screen game is unplayable, but it can get kinda annoying and I just try to avoid using the touch screen whenever I can.
  
  Only one save file though, what a drag -.-

  ---

  

  My brother bought Shin Megami Tensei: Devil Survivor with some of his birthday money from relatives. This one caught me off guard because it was not what I was expecting. I thought it was just a regular SRPG, but nope, it's more of a traditional and old-school RPG covered up with SRPG mechanics. I played a little bit of this one, but only skipped through the beginning to get a feel for the game (I do this often).
  
  Again, what is up with the one save files?! Come on Atlus, it's so annoying...

  ---

  

  I bought Phantom Brave: We Meet Again for my brother on his birthday. He played so much of the first Disgaea game on the PSP, so I know he would enjoy this. It's still not opened, so I can't really give an opinion on it yet. Glad we didn't get the PS2 version.

  ---

  

  Another thing my brother got for his birthday. I was watching him play some of it, and this looks like our kind of game; it was awesome. I don't know why, but a lot of these kind of games that people hate (Koei's Warrior franchise, action Shining Force games, and now this) are the ones that we really enjoy.
  
  What's funny is that sometimes the graphics look really bad, and other times they looked downright Price of Persia breathtaking. It's so werid.

  ---

  

  My dad bought us Rock Band 2 over the break. But the thing is, we already had Rock Band 2. Well this is just another reason why my dad is crazy, heh. Anyway, our instruments were kinda faulty (well, not really the guitar or microphone, but the drums had that yellow note foot pedal problem, and the foot pedal broke soon after that). I figured that when Beatles Rock Band came out, we would just get all the instruments over again and it'll be all good. This was before I knew much on the Beatles one though. Now I know they're not really new instruments, and $250 is way too much. So I figured we would just get the value pack version, but then I learned that it includes the Rock Band 1 instruments, which are much more annoying than RB2's instruments. So buying Rock Band 2 was the best thing we could have did (okay, I guess buying new drums would have worked too, haha), and it just so happened that was the decision my dad made.
  
  We really lucked out on this one, but for some reason I just don't see us paying $60 for only the game. Feels like a waste, but I hope we get Beatles Rock Band some day. I'm also really interested in Guitar Hero 5's accessibility features. Even though I find GH to be worse than RB, GH5 has caught my interest, so I want to get that one too.
  
  Anyway, I played a good amount of RB2 over the weekend. I found out that Rock Band skills go away over time XD

  ---

  

  The last gift my brother got. I started playing this one, and I couldn't stop. This game deserves an award, seriously. The RPG genre rarely changes, and here comes something that's actually new and original to the genre. Half-Minute Hero is amazing, and something worth everyone's time, even non-RPG fans. It's just pure fun and has all the creativity and uniqueness that's missing from many games.
  
  Oh, and the music rocks. Definitely check this one out.

  ---

  Overall, while I didn't play that many games, I still did do some gaming so that counts. Honestly, I think this is something everyone should try. Playing my DS for the first time in 3 months was amazing. It felt like I was a little kid again, playing for the first time. These relatively large breaks from gaming are the best thing that could have happened to me. We miss those little things when playing daily or even weekly.
  
  It was fun, but now it's back to work (for two weeks).

  • Posted Dec 1, 2009 7:06 pm PT
  • Category: Games
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