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Ar Tonelico 2: My January 20th 2009 Is Open.

Kaze No Honoo — Wed, 10 Dec 2008 23:24:04 +0000

It’s not dead, well, yet..

I’m always tried of people saying the PS2 is dead. Well, not yet of course, come on. Well, I guess my guys and girls at GUST/NIS are going to have to prove them them dead wrong with Ar Tonelico II. Yeah, how did they pull that off?

Well, anyway, you take the role of a young church knight named Croix Batel that is sent to find the source of a epidemic of some sort in the region of Metafalss. But, eventually, the simple quest turns into something more and it’s up to Croix and his crew to uncover the secrets that at work. I know, it’s not much of a story and the way I explained it is not much better, but at least you get to see the beautiful artwork AR is know for.

There have been plenty of new changes made to the game such as the Dualstall and battle system as well as the good old features coming back, so no need to feel as if it has been done before. I won’t spoil all the fun for you, but, there are a few surprises too, that been added to this game (I played parts of the JPN version, so yeah I know XD)

But in all moderation like with Persona 4, I can’t exactly score this game, until I see the English product done. So, if you have a couple bucks left from the holiday season and they don’t change the date: You can see AR2 coming January 20, 2009.

A few more screenshots

Persona 4 + December 9th= Best JRPG Of 2009?

Kaze No Honoo — Sun, 07 Dec 2008 03:18:41 +0000

Persona 4? Yeah, coming this month.

Well, all you persona fans, dust off the PS2 and get your memory cards ready for the next installment in the Persona series. Oh yeah, I’m talking about Persona 4. So what can you expect this time around? Well, here it is.

Synopsis (From Dev Games)

Inaba, there have been mysterious murders occurring whenever there was fog after heavy rain. There were also rumors about a channel on television airing only at midnight called Mayonaka TV (The Midnight Channel in the English version), during which it is said that one can see his/her “other half” when staring at the TV screen. After hearing about a recent unsolved murder which occurred during the fog, the main character, Chie, and Yōsuke—discuss how each of them had attempted to watch the mysterious TV channel and witnessed the murder victim. The protagonist later realizes that during midnight when the channel is on, his body can phase into his television set as a gateway to enter another world infested with shadows. When first completely entering the world, dazed and confused, the main character meets Teddie. Mayonaka TV and the town murders seem to have a connection. The murder victims may be merely victims of Mayonaka TV. Everyone decides that they will together try to solve the mysterious murders by exploring the hidden world of Mayonaka TV.

Translation, Please ?

All, that means is this: More Persona goodness. If you are familiar with Persona 3 (and if not, go buy Fees, shame on you. Which you don’t have to) it takes place in the same world, but fourteen months afterwords. There have been various additions made to this game as well.

Well, the first self-evident change, a bigger world. Yeah, it is bigger than Persona 3, meaning more shops, more locations, and more things for you to do. So when you are not diving into the tube, you can be fishing, working a part-time job, and so much more. Plus, the Dark Hour is gone, you can go out at night time. That is the job of the weather forecast to help pull show when misty days come, it time for another dungeon shift.

Speaking of the tube and Persona 3, you no longer have to worry about going back to the same area. Well, to access the tube, yeah probably, but when you in dungeons, the locations are scattered, so you don’t have to worry about seeing the same old layout and floors.

Now, lets talk combat. A big change to P4 is that you can control all the characters if you want to unlike the previous installment. Now, it is still game over if the Main Character falls, but if you manage the social links right, your battle party will assist you greatly, even saving the MC from a “Game Over,” hit. Also, shadows can join the battle when you are done fighting one, so be on guard. But I don’t think that will be problem, with “All-Out” and “More One” returning, taking out the shadows is too sweet. Yea h, hence the glasses, which are another addition, but I let you find out about that on your own.

Now, the soical links. What are they? Well, when you speak to specific character in the game (Non-battle party or not) you can form a social link. Hanging out with character and being there friends net you awesome rewards like making more Personas or forces of the mind to help you out. Every time you spend time with a character, the social link increases and so does the ability to make higher level persona. Igor will help you there.

Igor, yeah that old dude with pointy nose. You may know him from pervious Megatan games, and he is back once more. With a new Velet Room and new lady assiasnt, he will help you create and fuse persona based on the soical links you made. Which makes them, better. Pretty sweet, right? You, bet.

Well, persona is a great game, and there is so much to get into that, it will be shame to shortern it by this messly review. So, if you have PS2, $39.99, and free-time, pick up Persona 4. I promise you, YOU WILL NOT BE SORRY. IT COMES OUT DECEMBER 9TH. WATCH FOR IT.

PS: WHEN YOU BUY THE GAME, you get a Free Music CD inside. Pre-order it, and you a get visual art book at no extra charge. Now, that is sweet.

Game On: Report from an Exhibition

newgeekphilosopher — Sun, 23 Nov 2008 12:28:58 +0000

It’s like Timezone only old school! 0_0

I couldn’t take any pictures myself because of copyright issues with the games at the Game On exhibition, so here’s some Google impressions of what the exhibition looks like.

Here is Donkey Kong and Galaxian. I love Galaxian and play it often, whereas I recall spending hours completing the Donkey Kong game in order to progress in Donkey Kong 64. There were plenty of old arcade games like this in the Game On exhibition as the exhibition is a showcase of the history and future of video gaming. I got to play on a few of these but didn’t get a very high score. Discs of Tron was another game I tried, and I found it entertaining but somewhat overrated. It’s like a throwing disc game where you generally have to hit the other guy off the platform, but you have to make sure you don’t get knocked off yourself.

This exhibition reminds me how annoying old arcade games used to be as I played them when I was a kid exploring the back of Timezone, because sometimes people would leave a game unattended in the middle of a game without finishing their game! Who does that? Clearly people at the Game On exhibition do, because there were plenty of paused games on consoles like the PS2 (Odin Sphere was an example of an abandoned and lonely game, as was the Dreamcast Tennis game). The Dreamcast looked so lonely and neglected, crying out for love. But it was playing a crappy tennis game so it got none. T_T

Oh Sega Dreamcast, you always did lose out…

While I was at the Game On exhibition I tagged along with a Romanian guy who was one of my brother’s dorm buddies. He has the biggest crush on Kasumi (the girl in blue in the middle) from Dead or Alive, so naturally he always plays as her when he plays Dead or Alive Ultimate. Even though he was getting his arse handed to him by his brother who was visiting from Romania, he insisted that Kasumi was awesome. Still, she has less dignity than Chun-Li from Street Fighter II Turbo, which I had a go at playing as Chun-Li with my brother who was playing as Ryu. My brother handed my arse back to me too, but not only that, he called Chun-Li a slut just to knock me off my SNAG guard.

I mean how is Chun-Li a slut compared to Kasumi from Dead or Alive? Chun-Li has dignity, and is awesome without having to expose too much chest.

I got the chance to play a real Game and Watch instead of just my newly acquired second hand copy of Game and Watch Gallery Advance. Sadly to say, Game and Watch Gallery Advance makes the Game and Watch games a hell of a lot easier to play than the original format. Donkey Kong on Game and Watch is a pile of donkey doo, at least on the original version. The presentation of the handheld in the exhibition was poorly lit because most of the playable handhelds featured were backlit, like the DS Lite, PSP and Game Boy Advance SP. The Game and Watch was left to rot in the dark by comparison, and I might have been able to play the damn thing had I better lighting.

I played some Final Fantasy VII, only to find that the graphics suck. Boy do the graphics suck, the story is great, but boy do these graphics suck. I mean look at the guy on the left’s arms, he looks like he has Elephantiasis or something.

After a round of Doom on an authentic Windows 95 PC, me, my brother and his dorm buddies decided to wrap it up with a try at the Steel Battalion mecha simulator. It was all your Gundam nightmares come true!

Who the hell can control 40 buttons? You’d need to be a hentai tentacle monster to play this!

Well that’s it for my Game On exhibition coverage, hope you enjoyed it. The exhibition was held at the State Library of Queensland and you can see it until February next year.

Dragonica — New MMORPG Worth Looking At! Extra: How Fun Is DotA?

blissmo — Sun, 20 Apr 2008 09:48:41 +0000

Dragonica: Official Site Screenshots Video Looking for Dragonica wallpapers? Click here

I had saved time to blog Macross Frontier 3 and Oinarisama 2, but I’m capped! Dragonica is 2008’s most anticipated game, featuring six breakthroughs which will leave you drooling. Barunson Interactive is the developer of this new full 3D side-scrolling MMORPG game and has so far launched a CB test and 3 Alpha tests by game publishers NCSoft and IAHGAMES. Apparently, the team spent 7 years designing this game, enhancing a player’s sense of space by surpassing the restriction of traditional side-scrolling. Also, they’ve cleverly mingled elements of action and arcade with new 3D looks, adorable character designs and scenery modeling. The music will be enjoyable enough so that you won’t have to mute the sound and listen to your own music – music composer Lee Byong Woo will be the one responsible for it, and his other works include the music for King and the Crown and The Host (this information doesn’t really help since I have never heard of Lee Byong Woo and I’ve never seen any of those movies, nor am I familiar with the titles!).

Furthermore, players will be able to experience time and space change; there will be an alteration between the four seasons (summer, autumn, winter, spring). A “Big Boss”, “Middle Boss” and “General Boss” will exist for those who enjoy challenges. There will be a total of 19 Big Bosses in every dungeon, beginning from level 10 and appearing in the every five level ups. Apart from dragons, there will also be other bosses and the boss battle mode provides various game styles like a shooting style, side scrolling and free style battle. In all, there are 21 Middle Bosses which are located in mission maps and provides a lot of different battle patterns. The “General Boss” is basically the largest monster in a general field. Fortunately, there are four classes to choose from: Magician, Archer, Thief and Fighter. Plus, the monsters are really adorable and this MMORPG is very similar to MapleStory, except in 3D! Also, you get your own room and your own pet.

So now, it’s time to write what I think. I’ve practically reworded everything up there that’s important for you guys to know and to somehow make it easier to understand. Anyway, I’m really looking forward to trying this game out and someone’s apparently already tried it out and has responded with a kind review. Although I despise MapleStory – erm, honestly? I just got bored of it after I stuffed my character up at level 18 Warrior and then it became way too common that I dissed the game just to tease my friends who were addicted to it – this game looks worth trying out. And for those who don’t know me well yet, I get bored of games really easily. I used to play Seal Online, but after a month and reaching level 50, I quitted I seriously cannot wait until this game becomes available in English! *blissmo continues to stare at the official site, hoping for a new announcement about the English version for the game*

On a side note, I’ve been thinking of inviting some of my fellow blogging friends, but I dunnoes if they’re interested in mmorpg games, PLUS such things as a “different time zone” exist. *sob sob* It’d be fun if all of the anime bloggers played the same mmorpg game along with the people who frequently comment on blogs every now and then, and we had like our own guild lol. Then we could own people! Muahaha!

Exclusive! blissmo’s experience in DotA-ring:

Well, this is probably not really important but I’ve just recently tried playing DotA. Actually I tried a while back too, but I can’t remember what I did. I think I was just watching midnightrose and she was telling me to choose a character but I didn’t want to because they were all too ugly. Anyway, I played in Bored Aussie and just to let you know, my friend’s a moderator, so he can ban anyone he wants, or so he told me. Back to the topic, I was seeing how awesome the game would be since my friends talk about it non-stop and are always saying stuff like: “Tree tag,” or “Guild VS Guild,” and “C’mon, go on at 8, I challenge you.” I was getting a little jealous since they seem to be getting along really well and close by playing this game together (games can really bond people, can’t they?), so I was like “what the heck, let’s see how good it is.” Hence, the second time I’ve ever played DoTA. Before I get to the positives of the game, let me start with what happened before I actually got to try it out:

There was zero existence of a game room entitled “NOOBS ONLY” or something along those lines, so already I was an outcast.
The moment I thought “stuff this” and joined a random room that most likely read “PROS ONLY” I was so lost, I disconnected on purpose.
I attempted the game again and this time clicked everything that was “clickable.” Unfortunately, this method did me no good, hence I purposely disconnected again.
After a few days, I was bored and decided to have another go. I was more wary so I clicked in a room that read “tree tag” and the moment the game started, I had no idea what the hell I was supposed to do. This resulted in me leaving yet again.
So bored that I almost died, I tried the game again and joined a room that said “For Noobs.” Those liars! They were all so pro I think someone drew first blood by killing me T.T
None of the characters suited my liking – they’re all ugly and talk funny. Especially the warthog … he won’t stop grunting! And the characters are slow and the “Boots of Haste?” were worthless! Or maybe I just never saw the difference.
Finally, I played one game and it was fun, sorta, except I was afk-ing most of the time and after like 15 minutes of just sitting ther,e doing the usual killing, I got bored! ><”

Okay so here are the positives things I found about this game:

I just love it how a voice says “*someone* drew first blood!” or another team is owning the other one. It’s so bloody awesome!
THERE IS BLOOD! And it’s so fun seeing someone else die. They actually scream or go like “argh” and their voice fades. Also, when you die, you have to wait like a minute or so to recover depending on your level.
It’s like a real war where you have to think logically or something and you get a lot of different attacks. Plus, it’s fun to target or gang up on one person. Muahaha!
It’s so fun to talk with the other people. Most of the time, it’s bagging the other team or just talking about random stuff like anime.
It’s really fun when someone keeps chasing you but they can’t keep up cos you’re too fast. And then you can tail someone and just follow them wherever they go.
The characters can glow! And they have things pretty things around them that make them look awesome.

And you’re probably wondering why I didn’t read the manual or whatever, but I’m such a lazy ass that I never do. My friends have to teach me or I learn on my own. Annnd if you’re wondering whether or not Dragonica is out yet, it isn’t and the release date isn’t available either.