Destroy, erase, improve

Agility, strength, wisdom, and luck in addition to HP, MP, attack and defense stats. Equipment for the head, body, arms, and a shield in addition to a weapon and an accessory. An auto-battle option to go along with full direct control of all FOUR party members. Ability to equip different classes of weapons across assorted party members, which not only look unique in the battle screen, but change the way the character's sprite stands and animates (sword strikes look different than axes, which are different from daggers, etc). A speedy battle system where no random enemy encounter lasts more than 10 seconds. An overworld, complete with towns, shops and NPC's. The ability to save and load a game anywhere. Vay is in every aspect the superior game to Final Fantasy XIII. Sad.

Programmed only for destruction

I recently stumbled upon a messageboard thread where the poster was singing the praises of 16-bit CD gaming. No shit Sherlock, 16-bits + CD audio = full of win. One of that era's shining examples was SEGA/Sims VAY, thankfully brought over to America by official market leaders, Working Designs*. I've always loved this game, with its sci-fi anime style, and traditional RPG gameplay, and rocking techno music, but never had a Sega CD of my own, and never caught on to the notion of buying the games and playing them via an emulator. During my break, I've found a copy of Shining Force CD that I had picked up a few years ago, in anticipation of buying an actual physical Sega CD console. I've been playing through that game using Kega, and it's been performing very well. It's nice to see my 2.93GHz dual core CPU, 4 GB RAM, 64-bit OS machine can properly handle emulation of a 19-year-old console. Back in my day, emulators had no sound, ran at 1/3 the frame rate, and only had keyboard controls, that you couldn't remap, so you kids can just get off my lawn and piss off.

The red card next to it is probably the dumbest thing I've ever paid money for (again). It's one of those pre-paid point cards for Sony's Playstation Network. The first time I ever bought one of those things (for the Xbox 360) I had the actual card shipped over from Japan. Paid over $60 for less than $30 worth of points. That was long before everyone figured out that that was a god damned idiotic idea, and started emailing the codes over. I've bought points from these guys before, so I was quite annoyed to learn that they no longer email codes, but only ship the physical cards. What happened to you japanvideogames.com, you used to be cool? This will eventually become Dark Awake, and Bijin Tokei. You can see why waiting for shipping is a bad idea when the points are meant for insta-dumb purchases.

* I'm not even kidding about that. If you're a fan of companies such as Atlus, Xseed, Mastiff, NISA, or even Ignition, you owe Working Design and Victor Ireland a huge debt of gratitude. Because if he wasn't crazy enough to do it first, none of these upstarts would have had any clue.

Time out

After the Castlevania series managed to completely kill off my interest in video games, I found myself staring at the Summer Sale page on PC gaming download site, gamersgate.com. There I noticed a game I've had my eye on for a while, Borderlands, on sale at 66% off, or $12. It didn't take me too long to register an account and PayPal over the bucks.

The game is very cool. A sci-fi/comedy/RPG/FPS. I've read a postmortem of the game in Game Developer Magazine, which made me curious about the technical back end, I've seen screenshots and character designs which made me appreciate the art style, and just prior to hitting the "Confirm" button I read a quick comment about the music, which made me even more interested. I'm very pleased to see that the game more than lives up to the praise it received on all fronts. The action is fast, the skills and stats count for a lot, and the music is very moody and atmospheric. Gearbox Software hit this one out of the park. The first game I got on sale, Borderlands 2 is getting bought at full price on launch day. Provided they don't turn it into a fucking MMO.

That same night I also downloaded the demo for Mafia II. This is another huge surprise, not the least of which since I didn't even know there was a Mafia II in development. Not only is there a sequel to a game I actively couldn't give a shit about, it's fucking amazing. This is GTA 1950. Old timey cars, fedoras, Elvis on the radio, gang wars, B-list actors doing the voice overs. It's also fun, something the last few GTA games themselves lacked. The vibe I got from this one almost immediately was GTA III, but in the 50's. It's a smaller, slower paced more concentrated world where you can just get lost driving around the city, stopping by shops to buy hats or over coats. It doesn't hurt any that this game looks fantastic. The photo realistic textures on the buildings and trees are almost literally out of my own back yard. As someone who recently found an appreciation for the era gone by, I'll be picking up this game primarily for the city and atmosphere it recreates. (Doubly impressive, since the developer is based in the Czech Republic. A little bit aways from Brooklyn.) Oh and so I can kill some dudes, maybe, if I feel like it.

As a life-long console gamer, recently burned out on console gaming inability to not suck huge balls, the PC has found a new friend. I hear they sort of need it, too. I'm here to help.

Cacophony of misery

Ironically, I have a ton of crap to post on "closing day." For some bizarre reason, the announcement of Castlevania Harmony Of Despair sparked a Castlevania kick for me. I've stopped buying these games after the PSP Dracula X Chronicles. I was mostly greatly offended by the art tonal shift of the second DS outing, Portrait Of Ruin, and the producers own admission that it directly relates to a shift in the targeted demographic. Kiddy shit is kiddy. The only time I should see a tween in a Catlevania game is when she's getting kidnapped by Dracula, so her older brother can pick up the family heirloom Vampire Killer whip, and kill some shit dead. Never the less, it was a hole in my collection. Ever since Symphony Of the Night's legendarily horrendous dub, I've also tried to pick up the Japanese versions, if for no other reason than their polished presentation. Every bit fit, and felt like it naturally belonged. I've played through Dawn Of Sorrow (DS) and Dracula X Chronicles (PSP) in Japanese without any problems. I suppose that can be attributed to the dumbing down of the franchise in general. But this created a disparity with my older games, which have been US localizations. I decided to fill in the gaps then. What follows is not something I'm necessarily proud of, but it explains what I've been doing over the past month.

Order Of Ecclesia was a game I've previously mentioned here, and even expressed interest in. For some reason, I never bothered picking up either version, despite it looking infinitely more interesting than any previous, recent Castlevania. After finally giving it a go, I'm greatly impressed. The game is a bit of a 'Sorrow clone, but it has enough variety to make it stand out. A very solid effort, which makes me believe that Koji Igarashi, or at least his team, can actually turn out a good game, given enough resources.

Pay no attention to that orangy box on the left. As I mentioned, I have the Japanese Dracula X Chronicles, but wanted to have a uniform collection, so I had to pick up the US version. The feature that sold me is the ability to switch VO languages. A feature the Ecclesia shares as well. We've covered why that's important before.

*Shudder* "Completeness-sake" is my excuse. Move along.

Another make-up assignment. Aria Of Sorrow (GBA) was an excellent game, this is more of the same. However, this is where the tonal changes begin, with the obvious removal of Ayami Kojima as lead concept artist, a Saturday morning cartoon villain and plot, and blatant fan-service in bringing back Symphony Of the Night's protagonist, Alucard as an NPC. All these add up to a sour taste in the mouth of an older fan. Never a smart thing to do.

All of this, leads up to the "main event," Harmony Of Despair (XLA). Which, in an ironic twist of fate, is a horrible piece of shit. The game combines the worst parts of other, mainly PC genres, hack-n-loot, and arena combat, and shoves them down the throat of a console series that's been primarily about action platforming, and exploration. This one makes about as much sense as putting peanut butter on your tuna fish. And yields similar results, vomit all over the floor. I'd only recommend purchasing this, since it would earn Igarashi's team money to make a proper game in the future.

After all that, I dusted off an old SD TV, hooked up my PC Engine DUO, and played some Dracula X Rondo Of Blood. Still to come, Castlevania Bloodlines (Genesis), and Super Castlevania IV (Virtual Console).

And in case you're wondering, this is not a Castlevania game.

Quiting time

I've really let this place go to hell over the past few weeks. Like most endeavors, I was all gung-ho about it at first, since I felt there was a need for it. Over time, I've since discovered plenty of outlets that cater to my tastes, and do a much more comprehensive job of it than I could ever do at the same time. Every once in a while I'll still stumble upon something that falls through the cracks, so I'll put it up here if there is no better place for it. That means in order for this place to not turn into a link log or duplicate of places like andriasang.com or siliconera.com, I'm officially removing myself from the news reporting side of things. That means that updates will now be extremely irregular, and infrequent. I also refuse to turn this space into a diary of twitter-level uselessness. That means I will not be taking pictures of what I eat, or muddying the waters with gadget reviews or some other such nonsense. After two years of activity, I'd like to at least think that the reader has learned something, and can now stand on his own two feet, as it were, and learn about new interesting things on his own. And at the very least, I'll have more time to play some damn video games, eh?

Des-portable

Not much going on this week. I only got Suchie Pai (IV) Portable noted down. Checking someone else's release calendar, I see that Beauty Clock is hitting PSN tomorrow, and that Corpse Party was actually delayed into this week. On a side note, Corpse Party has a demo on PSN. Haven't tried it yet though. PSP: 3, real game systems: 0.

Next week looks similar. Us dirty American bastards get Ys Seven, on PSP, while Japan points and laughs while picking up Another Century's Episode R, the HD (PS3) sequel to the licensed mecha cross-over franchise. I'm not much of a Gundam fan, but I've actually come to appreciate Banpresto's OG mecha, which are featured in this installment. The game is developed by From Software, themselves no amateurs when it comes to giant robots, so I'm hoping for some From cameos. With the straw grasping they went through to pad the roster of this installment, I don't see why Frame Gride or Chrome Hounds couldn't be represented.

Shining under fire?

Over at HCG101 they have a new article about the history of Korean gaming. It's always been an interesting topic, mainly because there is so little information about it on the English speaking internets. The article unfortunately confirms that Korean gaming has pretty much always sucked, and the industry seems quite dead-set on staying on PC's and churning out MMO's. That said, the most interesting Korean companies are Phantagram, and its one time subsidiary, Blueside. The two are primarily known for developing the Kingdom Under Fire series, originally for PC's and eventually moving it to Xbox, with the "encouragement" of Microsoft. Unlike their countrymen, these two, and specifically Blueside seem to be gravitating more and more towards the Japanese console gaming mold. I'm down with that. Korea always had enough talent and potential to blow Japan out of the water in terms of media creation, but they've always took a purely technical supportive role, happily creating content for other countries media companies, who took advantage of the exchange rates to get cheap, talented labor. Japan, for one, has been outsourcing anime production to Korea for decades. To that end, there was a new vapid looking DS RPG announced over in Japan, which looks to be solely developed by Blueside, with the unfortunate moniker of Shining Legend. (Unless this is a stealth SEGA project, I think I hear the lawyers sharpening their pitchforks.) While no screenshots have been made available, I for one hope this one is the final form of Princess And Knight, and that it's still as nice looking as those old shots. 2D KUF? Hell's yeah!

Perchance TO dream?

Just a quick aside. Due to circumstances beyond my control, I turned on my GameCube last night, with the Baten Kaitos disc inserted. Good gravy! You want shitty dubbing, THIS is shitty dubbing.

ARF!

I've spent the weekend playing this one. I've got to admit, I'm liking it a lot. The game seems to be made up of all the possible RPG clichés, and looks to be designed to be as convoluted as possible, but at the end of the day, the player can just tap the A button and come out on top. It has the complexity if the player wants to get their hands dirty with micro-managing everything, or if he just wants to kill some Gr.Imps he can hit the auto-battle option. The (turn-based) battles themselves are very fast, with most enemies taking only a single hit from the sword fighters, or two from the girls' staves. With up to four characters in a party (but only three being playable, with the fourth acting only on AI) field encounters are never much of a challenge. The enemies are also always visible on the map, so they can be skipped altogether if the player chooses. That's the ticket here, choice.

The biggest controversy about this game has surrounded the voice dubbing for the localization. I've never sampled any of the YouTube clips available before lunch, so the first time I heard this game was through my headphones in Dolby Digital. Bottom line is that the internet is full of shit, as usual. While the dialog does often sound unnatural, it's not for lack of talent on the actors part, or the quality of the writing (which is actually quite well written). I'd lay the blame entirely at the feet of the VO director. There isn't anything wrong with this game that couldn't be solved by another take. The shoestring budget that UTV likely provided obviously didn't help. The odd delivery of the dialog matches the awkwardly jerky character animation, and uneven technical performance, with framerates ranging from 15 to 60 FPS. The dialog is actually very well written, and entertaining, with the characters trading verbal jabs during battle. It all is quite charming. If you're old enough to remember playing RPG's on the Sega CD or Turbografx CD, (or Star "80 points" Ocean 2) there is nothing here that would surprise you.

The music has been attributed to Yasunori Mitsuda. From the stuff I heard so far, I can't really tell. There has been only one recognizable Mitsuda-ism that I've heard, with most themes reminding me more of Motoi Sakuraba than Mitsuda. The whole game feels like it wants to be Tales, and the music definitely fits, which is a complete waste of Mitsuda's talents.

After the high-falutin' bullshit of Final Fantasy XIII, and the overbearing technicality of Resonance Of Fate, Arc Rise Fantasia is the perfect antidote. It's the Saturday morning cartoon to the prime-time movie school of game design.

Tanks with girls

You may remember the IdolM@ster X Ace Combat DLC from last year. I guess painting machines of war with anime girls is the new hotness in Japan. Meet the Amagami X Metal Max tanks. Amagami is a great looking ADV game for the PS2 from a few years ago, while Metal Max 3 is the latest entry in a "classic" RPG series just released for the Nintendo DS. Both games were published by Enterbrain, hence the crossover promotion. I was already interested in Metal Max, and I've always loved Amagami's art style, so this is a pretty cool promotion in my book. It also helps that the codes to unlock the paint jobs are free, instead of costing 500 DS points.

Blood covered

Don't have much from America this week, which is just fine by me, for reasons which will be revealed a bit later. Japan gets Zill O'll Zero on PS3, and Corpse Party on PSP. It's nice to see HD games being made at all over there, but when you're upstaged by a PSP port of a doujin game, you got problems. The thing I'll be getting this week is Castlevania Harmony Of Despair. By all accounts it looks like a terrible idea, but I'm hoping it'll at least have some nice music. Next week is even worse, with Suchie Pai IV Portable the only thing I have noted down. Some more interesting stuff is on the way, though, we'll just have to make out own fun in the mean time.

I also would like to apologize for the general shittyness of this blog over the past few weeks. Can't get blood from a stone, and when Japan decides to stop making games, we're sucked. I suppose I could waste hours coming up with original content, or, you know, play some video games or some shit.

Tales Of Edit: Dropped the ball some more. Welcome to Monday morning. Tales Of Phantasia Narikiri Dungeon X, a remake of a GBC (that's GameBoy "Color" for you kids, as opposed to non-color of the original GB) is also hitting this week. Not only is it a remake of an old game, it's also like the 10th port of Tales Of Phantasia in Japan. With every iteration Bamco adds a new feature, this time it's widescreen display. By the time the games 20th anniversary hits, they'll have enough new features to call it a remake. Clever.