It's awesome,it's atmosphere is amongst the best I've experienced in a video game and I like it's psychological horror.The thing that holds the game back a bit is it's fetch quests which are boring and is why I've given the game a score of 9.0 instead of 9.5 .Also the fetch quests kinda put me off replaying through the game again.But playing the game once is an awesome experience.I'll do an in-depth review for it in a couple of days.

Oh yeah,I wanna say Xbox One sucks,yeah I know it's not out yet but I'm talking about the system itself,not necessarily it's game library(yet).

Yeah,the game is hella amazing,I wish more FPS could be like Bioshock in terms of story/setting creativity and that have an in-depth and interesting story.Bioshock's atmosphere is the main thing that makes me love it though but I think I'm asking too much for every FPS game to have an atmosphere as compelling as Bioshock's.

I'm not going to play it tonight because I am sick.

I'm also interested in Bioshock infinite but I think I'll wait for it to drop in price a bit before I get it but I want to play it because it will likely receive one of my personal game of the year honorable mentions or maybe even an award.I am interested to see how the concepts of 'racism' and 'racial supremacy' are used in Bioshock Infinite's story because in it's Gamespot video review it had people in the game saying some extremely racially derogatory remarks about blacks and Asians so I'm assuming there is a very good story-related reasons for this because this is a very sensitive issue.

After experiencing darker-style stories and atmospheres with Shadow Hearts Covenant and Bioshock,I think the next game I will move onto will be Paper Mario Thousand Year Door because I want to play something colorful and charming next.I'm still midway through Tales of the Abyss which is quite a colorful JRPG but it's story is a bit intense and I want to experience a story that's charming and lighthearted.And I still want to find time to play through Wild Arms 4 too and this doesn't even count the 2013 releases I want to play(Lightning Returns,Soul Sacrifice,Remember Me,Project X,A Link to the Past 2,Bioshock Infinite and Bravely Default if it gets localized).

It's rare that I find a FPS to be addictive but that's how I'm finding Bioshock.I'm a little bit past the part when you get to the submarine.

It's story is quite good and unique and in-depth.Basically in it's story you play as a character named Jack who finds a hidden city at the bottom of the ocean,the city's name is Rapture and it's supposed to be a place where science is free to flourish without religion getting in the way and a place free from political oppression.Something disastrous happened in Rapture and now it's infested with creepy-looking and psychotic genetically mutated humans that will attack you on sight and there's very few 'normal' people left and there's a lot more to your character,Rapture and the story than this but I will let you discover it for yourself but the story is quite good.

The atmosphere inside Rapture is incredible,I love how when you walk past glass areas you'll see the ocean surrounding it and it creates an atmospheric blue all around you and Rapture is quite detailed in how it has recreational areas and science areas and even commerical areas so you can imagine people living there.

The gunplay is surprisingly satisfying,the aiming mechanics and character movements feel fluid and fast and combine that with a good story and great atmosphere and a bit of psychological horror it makes for a great experience.

If the experience holds up till the end I might pick up Bioshock 2.

I haven't posted my Shadow Hearts Covenant review but I will soon,because I am hoping to get a reviewer of the month award for May(I recieved one for March for my Flower review and one in April for my Another Code R review and hopefully my Shadow Hearts Covenant review or my Bioshock review will be good enough for such an award,I still haven't received an emblem for reviewer of the months even though Gamespot said they would give out emblems for people choosen for reviewer of the month but I understand Gamespot staff are busy right now and probably emotionally distracted since Jody is leaving.

That's all for now.

Like I've said,it's one of my top 5 PS2 games and I've played over 120 PS2 games.

It's plot twists are truly epic and I love how it can be dark and poetic at the same time.

Dunno what game I will play next,I was going to buy Soul Sacrifice but the cheap copy of it is no longer for sale and all the other eBay owners want around 50 dollars for it if you include postage and handling.

I'm thinking I might play Bioshock next because I want to play something with flowing gameplay since I've played through a few JRPGs and a visual novel recently.I have the PS3 and PC version of Bioshock,I am thinking I'll play the PS3 version because it has trophies even though I prefer to play FPS games with a mouse and even though the PC version will look better.After Bioshock then I'll give Wild Arms 4 a try,I've never played a game from that series but I've heard it's good.

That's all for now.

Not long now until Yuri meets the woman of his destiny...

The story has taken more great twists and has had some very emotional moments in regard to love interests but I won't spoil it for you but it was quite heart felt.The villains in the game are great and the story has had some exciting moments too.If Shadow Hearts Covenant was a 2013 release it would probably win my game of the year award because I like it more than both Ni No Kuni and Fire Emblem Awakening and even though they are both great JRPGs I like Shadow Hearts Covenant a lot more than them.Shadow Hearts Covenant is not only one of my top 5 favorite RPGs for the PS2,it's one of my top 5 favorite PS2 games now,and believe me I've played a lot of RPGs on the PS2 and I've played a lot of PS2 games(I own over 100 of them).

My top 5 PS2 games are

Final Fantasy X

Persona 3 FES

Persona 4

Clannad

Shadow Hearts Covenant

I've been playing for 17 hours but I'm not even half way through the game.It looks like it's going to be a long journey.I love the way the story builds up and as I was hoping it would,it's starting to give hope that Yuri can somehow bring Alice back or can be with her again.

That's about all I have to say for now.I've had some unexpected financial burdens in the last two weeks and that means I'm not going to buy Soul Sacrifice in the next two weeks like I originally planned which is disappointing because I found it for a great price and the game looks awesome.

Anyways that's all for now,I'll leave you with a pic of Yuri and Alice,I'm not sure which Shadow Hearts game this cinematic screenshot is from,but I love it,it has a beautiful hazy atmosphere/use of lighting that I've seen a lot of in Shadow Hearts Covenant.

Last night I typed out a long blog but my computer freaked out and I lost the blog.

Shadow Hearts Covenant story is starting to get very good.There's been more good twists,a new character,and I like how even though the story often has a dark feel the game still has Japanese charm at times to lighten things up.I've witnessed an amazing cinematic that is beautiful,emotionally powerful but has the dark feel at the same time and the way it's narrated and presented in a dark but beautiful way sends chills down my spine in a similar way to Demon's Souls.

Just like in many other places in the game,Wales has a beautiful,dreary atmosphere.

Speaking of dark JRPGs,localized versions of Soul Sacrifice have been released recently.Western critics seem to be scoring it between the 7.5 to 8.5 range and since I usually score JRPGs 10%-20% higher than western critics it's a good sign.It's trailer looks awesome(elements of it's battle system and it's artstyle remind me of NieR,which is one of my favorite JRPGs of all time)and it's good the Vita has another exclusive that I'm likely to think is great.When I hold my Vita and look at it's functions and think about it's graphical capabilities it makes me think it's a system that I really want to see do well because it's a great piece of hardware and has so much potential.

[video=6396791]

I haven't been gaming as much as I'd like to recently because personal problems keep getting in the way.

I want to at the very least beat Shadow Hearts Covenant and Wild Arms 4 before I buy any new games.But I really want to play Soul Sacrifice,Lightning Returns(I like FFXIII and I love FFXIII-2 and platinumed both games and I want to see what happens in Lightning Returns story),Remember Me(it's story and dystopian futuristic world intrigue me and it's atmosphere looks great too),Legend of Zelda A Link to the Past 2,Project X(so many characters from numerous JRPGs and fighting game universes in one SJRPG sounds awesome)and Ong Bak Tri(I love my culture).I'm hoping for Bravely Default.So far the 2013 releases I've beaten are Ni No Kuni and Fire Emblem Awakening,both are amazing games.

I've showed my backlog of shame on a few occasions already,besides Shadow Hearts Covenant and Wild Arms 4 I hope someday I can beat Paper Mario Thousand Year Door and Skies of Arcadia because they're classics and shouldn't be left unbeaten and I hope to beat the first Bioshock game oneday because even though I don't like many FPS games I love Bioshocks's atmosphere(there is something about it's dark,underwater city environment that I love)and I wanna review it,same like all the other games :)

Right now I'm enjoying Shadow Hearts Covenant a lot and honestly there's something 6th gen about it that makes me enjoy it more than most of the 7th gen JRPGs(and I've played lots of 7th gen JRPGs).I guess it's a combination of it's creative story setting,the way it's towns look and the way it's battle system is and the way it's cinematics don't try too hard to flaunt the PS2's graphical capabilities and instead focus more on being artistic and give a beautiful dreary atmosphere with beautiful use of shades of yellow for it's lighting but it has enough technical realism to give a nice real world feel.

Not long ago I beat Fire Emblem Awakening and even though it's technically an 8th gen system,it's visuals are a mix of 16-Bit and 6th gen quality visuals and I loved it's in-depth story telling for the game's characters and turn-based system.

Earlier this year I beat Ni No Kuni on the PS3 and even though it's an 7th gen game,it feels like a SNES/PSone JRPG because of it's charm and because of how it's world map is set out and the way it lets you visit towns and interact with NPCs.

Final Fantasy VII Crisis Core is one of my favorite games of all time and is a PSP exclusive and even though techically the PSP is a 7th gen console it's basically a handheld PS2(PS2 is 6th gen).

Lost Odyssey is one of my favorite games of all time and even though it's a 7th gen game,it's style is much like a 6th gen JRPG(which is part of why people criticized it).

I can't wait for Final Fantasy X HD(a remake of a 6th gen game and my favorite game of all time).

Even though FFXIII,Demon's Souls,Valkyria Chronicles,Resonance of Fate are great and innovative 7th gen JRPGs,I still prefer many 6th JRPGs over these games.

Many people bought Persona 4 The Golden which is a remake of a 6th gen JRPG.

Some people say Star Ocean The Last Hope reminds them of the PS2 JRPGs and is why they love it.

This is why after I beat Shadow Hearts Covenant I'm going to finish Tales of the Abyss and then I'll move onto Wild Arms 4 and then Paper Mario Thousand Year Door.I'm even tempted to buy a Wii U simply to play Zelda WindWaker,one of my favorite action/adventure games ever to be released,which was released for Gamecube during the 6th gen.

I've been playing the game for 5 hours and the story seems like it's building up to something interesting because it has evil factions whom use sorcery and want to rule the world and people in the world can fuse themselves with demons to make themselves powerful and since it's set during world war 1 the group of characters experience war-related obstacles which makes it harder for them to travel around Europe and they need to because the main character named Yuri has been cursed and they'll need to stop the bad guys anyways.I like how the characters and demons have an effect on World War 1.The story already has a big and well thought-out plot twist already.

Even though I haven't played the first Shadow Hearts game,I read what it's story is about because I wanted to get a better understanding of the story for the series and the characters and I must say Shadow Hearts story sounds quite emotional and now I can understand the pain Yuri must be going through in Shadow Hearts Covenant after certain events in the first Shadow Hearts game.

I like the cast of characters,Yuri the Japanese man whom can fuse with demons and

MINOR SPOILER FOR THE FIRST SHADOW HEARTS GAME

whom lost the woman he loved in the first Shadow Hearts game

END OF SPOILER

Karin is a busty,female German military officer whom has reasons to join Yuri,Gapetto is an old man and famous puppeteer who uses his puppet in battle and Blanca is a white wolf whom can unleash powerful physical attacks(Red XIII anyone?).Other characters might join my party but these are the characters in it so far.Also,one of the villains I've experienced so far is quite interesting(I won't say who it is because it will be a spoiler).

I like the battle system because it's turn-based but uses a ring system where you need to press the button at certain times to perform attacks and how much damage you do depends on the timing and it's possible to miss out on a turn if you time your button press badly.I like how the game encourages you to utilze various character abilities/stats.For example,Gapetto can perform powerful summon attacks but due to his old age and frail-looking body he is vulnerable to physical attacks.Yuri can transform into various demonic forms which gives him various elemental properties.Karin has good physical and magical attacs and Blanca has the most powerful physical attacks but his magical abilities aren't good(so far).I don't have a healer in my party yet,so it's a bit annoying relying on healing items.The battle system also has a combo system which focuses on risk vs reward.

Like I said on previous blogs,I love the dreary cinematics,I love the shades of yellow and lightning the cinematics use.

Anyways I'm enjoying this game and it looks like it's going to build up to be something epic!

I'm happy my PS2 still works,and yes it was covered in lots of dust.I'm happy my copy of Shadow Hearts Covenant works,I bought it years ago,PAL versions of it now are rare and expensive,I bought my copy of it for less than 40 AUD in very good condition.The cinematics are quite beautiful and I love their dreariness.I'll talk about the game more when I'm further into it.