Final Fantasy 12 - PS2 (part 2)

Traveling through the lush Tchita Uplands I noticed some new leopard-like monsters, the yellow Coeurls. These guys roamed in packs and pack quite a punch with their speed and magic. They give up about 1800 experience points each, but what you can nab from them changes the game. They dropped Embroidered Tippets.

These accessories double your EXP. Yes, that's what you need to get ahead in Final Fantasy games. For FF12, only those who are in battle will get EXP, but for LP even those who are not active will gain. I stole three of the Tippets and equipped them to each of my active members and then have those who aren't in my party equip Golden Amulets, so those who are in battle get double EXP and those who aren't get double LP. From there on, I jumped from level 42 to 50.

I'm still playing FF12 even though the PSN is finally up, I figure I'm too invested in the journey now. Can't let Vaan and his cohorts down. So after the Feywood and the magic city of Giruvegan, I arrived at the Port of Balfonheim. The bald skypirate Reddas joined me there. With the NPC, I decided to rack up on some more Hunts. I geared up, bought new magicks, and got ready for a string of boss battles. It also helped that at Balfonheim you could purchase teleport stones.

I quickly finished up all the Rank V hunts with little difficulty. Here's the deal: offensive Magick and Espers don't mean much in this game. At least in this stage of the game. What does matter is enhancements and emfeeblements. Keep your buffs up and dispel the ones off your enemy and you're going to be just fine. I usually equip Basch and Vaan with katanas, although it is not as strong as a spear or axe the multi-hits make them deadly. Then you buff them up protect, haste, and berserk. That's about it, I have one healer and two guys slashing away. That plan worked up until, well I started taking on the Rank VII Hunts. The fight with Gilgamesh was one that went sour.

I got killed by Gilgamesh not because I was level 52. This was not because I was low in level, but instead because he used Level 2 Sleep, Level 3 Confuse, and Level 4 blind. That totally made it hard for my guys to fight him. After a horrible Game Over screen, I learned my mistake. I leveled up to 53, a prime number. The rest is history. I did love the many swords that Gilgamesh had. I was trying to figure out the swords myself, then I learned that hey, some guys already did. He welds (1) Cloud Strife's Buster Sword, (2) Squall Leonhart's Revolver blade, (3) Tidus's Brotherhood, (4) Odin's Zantetsuken, (5) Zidane Tribal's Orichalcum, (6) Sir Erdrick's Wyrmhero Blade, and the (7) Tournesol. For more details about Gilgamesh, check this wiki out.

After that battle, I acquired the Masamune and the full set of Genji Armor, which I stole from Gilgamesh. I also got the Zodiac spear from the Necrohol of Nabudis. From here, I think I'm going to return to the story as I've swayed from it for so long.

Lastly, I started to notice a lot of references to previous games in FF12. The names of weapons. the names of airships, and even characters. Yeah, they're all from previous games. Here's another wiki that compiled the allusions of FF12:

http://finalfantasy.wikia.com/wiki/Final_Fantasy_XII/Allusions

Enjoy.

Final Fantasy 12 - PS2 (part 1)

Well, we all heard about the security breech on the Playstation Network of the past few weeks. Some guy hacked in, got access to about 80,000 credit cards, and now Sony's in a big mess. After a few days of trying to repair the network, they just said it wouldn't work, and are going to create a new one from scratch. Yeah, it seems like a Matrix movie plot, but no, it's real and a lot of people are upset. I think you can finally play multi-player games on it now, but I actually I was more worried about my trophies. A bit frustrated with it all, I just went back to Final Fantasy 12. Good ol PS2 gaming.

The thing about Final Fantasy 12 is that I never completed everything in that game. For the avid player, that's what FF games are about - you play it through once to get the feel about it, but you play it again to sweep up the nooks and crannies. The first time I finished it, I spent about 60 hours and made it past the boss with no problem. This was 2005? Bush was still in office. I remember not enjoying it much, but something rushed me. Then again, how can you tell someone you didn't like the game if you spent 60 hours on it? It's getting to the dessert portion of the meal and then telling your mate that, "well, this place kind of sucked". No, I like 12, and I like it a lot more this second time through.

So what did I miss? Pretty much everything. I didn't have the Zod spear; I didn't get the Genji gear; I finished the game with like four Espers. I finished about 20 Hunts, just to get by. It's interesting how little you have to do to complete a Final Fantasy game. I wish they remade this game for the PS3 and put in trophy pack. Hell, I wish they did that for every previous Final Fantasy game.

So starting over. Was it hard? Not really. Playing the game again was a bit odd for the eyes, as I had to go back to 480i, standard definition gaming. But I got used to it about three hours in. One thing that changed was that I got the Brady Guidebook this time, and well, I'm playing it as a cheater. Is it really cheating if you still have to DO the tasks? Sure I have access to maps, boss weaknesses, and just the general feel of the future, but I still had to play the game. Do I still die? Well, rarely. I think I got the game-over screen once. I took the wrong turn in the Fey Wood when my party had no reason to be there. Anyway, back to the game.

I really like this game. Sure it's the most different of the Final Fantasy series by far. It's engine and battle system is ported over from Final Fantasy 11, and the world of Ivalice is quite different from Spira or Gaea. So what's great about it? The characters and story. That's for another post. Right now, I'm 62 hours in, and walking through the city of Giruvegan.

Dragon Quest 6 - Realms of Revelation (NDS)

Originally released in 1995 to the Super Famicon in Japan, this chapter of the Dragon Quest series rarely made it to United States - until now that is. I picked up the new release last month and started playing it when I got home. It was the last chapter in the "Zenithian" trilogy (4,5, and 6) because they all feature the castles in the sky. I had to redo it because I don't even remember if I finished the game the first time around.

The game revolves around three characters: the hero, Carver the muscle man, and Milly the witch. They embarked on a journey to defeat the great evil of the land, Murdaw. But the fight was not much of a battle. They get their bodies separated in twos and sent into another world, the dream world. With their memories altered, they have to find their other selves and each other, and thats when then adventure begins.

The game wasn't that much different from DQ9, even though this game was released more recently, the style is noticeably older. All the modern finishes went to DQ9. I missed being able to view the characters equipment in the menus. Naturally the game doesn't have the mixing pot neither. What it does have, and a lot, were monster encounters. You get so used to seeing monsters on the screen and dodging them after DQ9. In DQ6 every five steps you'd be accosted to another quick battle. It gets pretty annoying when you're trying to complete a quest instead of out there just grinding for levels.

But the game's story was really good. I'm about 3/4ths through and I found it intriguing. It's the ultimate adventure of "finding oneself". The hero had to go through the real world and the dream world to re-unite with his other self. A lot of talking with townsfolk ensues, but for now I'm enjoying the ride. The nostalgia is definitely a treat.

Gran Turismo 5 - PS3

Gran Turismo 5 brings together some of the biggest names in the auto industry and places them at your fingertips. The game brings some of the best graphics onto the screen and includes 3D viewing and online play. Some of the sleekest cars on some of the world's premiere courses are included in this huge game. I've been playing it since November, purchased it on Black Friday, and haven't scratched the surface.

I've been a fan of Gran Turismo and played the first two in with great enthusiasm. The first one definitely blew my mind, with all the cars and all the ways to tune them. The second one had even more, and then the licenses and endurance races. But as you go to three and four, you start to wonder if the game was more for playing or just for watching. Even in Gran Turismo 5 you're tasked with completing just as many races in A-spec mode than on B-spec. The new element in B-spec is that you now get the option of entering in more than one racer. I haven't got to that point yet. I do have three racers now, all above level 10. It feels more and more like a RPG.

As for the rest of the game, not much has changed. The races are broken into five modes on A-Spec, and the first three (beginner, amateur, professional) are relatively easy. You're going to have to get back into the groove of racing since GT4 was five years ago. The licenses are hard and easy. Hard if you want to get Gold and Silver, but relative simple. Just concentrate a bit more than usual and you'll get the bronze. Some of the newer tracks takes time to get used, but nothing is too confusing.

The special events have been amp'ed up. There are now go-karts, the Top Gear track, and even a selection of Nascar races. I went through a lot of them, but still haven't got the trophies yet. The Go-Kart races and the WRC stuff seem the most fun so far. I didn't like the Nascar trials, and I think it's going to be a grueling time finishing it.

I've yet to finish one game online, but my connection is slow and the races online didn't interest me. Most people don't mind running into you at full speed or being ran into for that matter. I just hope that more interesting DLC's will come along. As for now, I'm sticking with single player mode. Until then, keep racing.

Dragon Quest 9 - NDS (part 1)

When I write about Dragon Quest I know I'll be writing for more than just one part, so just for my own sake, I'm calling this part one. While the last Square Enix game took about 100 hours plus to completely attain all the achievements, and I didn't even get there, this game might take even more. I wasn't even sure if I was going to play this game. I mean, Dragon Quest? again? Why?

Well why not? I found myself starting this game in a hotel room in San Jose. Before long I wanted to play through the night. Playing through eight games, and the sound and feel of it has not changed a bit. From the opening score to the cheerful themed songs in the towns, I feel like I'm instantly transported to another world. Final Fantasy 13 took my breath away with it's 1080P graphics in a 30 gig blu-ray disc, but Dragon Quest 9 does the same on the NDS with just 250 megs!

But the game is not just all tradition, there are many new aspects about the game. To start, you not only can choose your hero's gender, but you can create his look. It's like playing the Sims to a small extent. Then you they expanded the inventory slots to more than just four, there there are seven items that a character can equip. Plus everything that you equip is displayed on the screen. It's just sad that you sometimes have to wear something uncouth like a tortoise's shell.
Next, there are no more random battles. Perhaps that bugs players that are learning about Dragon Quest, but I've lived through so many of it through the series and don't find it too much to complain. Although now with the ability to pick and choose which enemies to encounter, I find myself rushing to attack when I see a metal slime (or any of the metal family for that matter). Next there is the experience point splitting system. After the battle, the ones with higher levels will get more EXP. I guess this prevents you from power leveling a new person you create from level 1. And yes, most of the party members you get (at least from the beginning anyway) are those that you create and recruit yourself. I start with a priest (pole arms), martial artist (war fans), and theif (daggers). Another new development I notice is that when a character dies in battle, at least for boss battles, if the party wins, he still gets EXP. That's quite helpful as I tend to fight bosses under-leveled and I win by a hair many times. I don't like to "grind" much any more, so I tend to fight bosses before the recommended levels.

There are more game concepts that developed, but I'll have to reserve those for the second post.
For now, I'm trying to hack my way through the game. But life is busy at the moment. My game time has been reduced significantly. Until then, I'll be wearing slime earrings. Screenshots to come too.

Final Fantasy 13 - PS3 (part 2)

(img: a beautiful new era.) Final Fantasy 7 traditionalists will always say that Final Fantasy 10 does not compare to the classics. Final Fantasy 3 traditionalists will always say that the Final Fantasy 7 does not compare to the classics. Then again, Final Fantasy 1 traditionalists will say the same about all the other Final Fantasy games. So every new generation of Final Fantasy seems worse than the previous. Or so it seems.

(img: the highly advanced culture of Cocoon) After a grueling 55 hours of game play, and half of it wasn't really playing, I completed Final Fantasy 13. It wasn't that bad. Any game that you put in over 20 hours on, it probably wasn't that bad. I think in the big scheme of things, it's a good RPG. It didn't fare up to the older Final Fantasies, but I still think it's a good game.

(Img: Gran Pulse is a land of nature)The adventurers fall out of Cocoon and eventually arrive on Gran Pulse, a world totally undeveloped by humans. There are ruins of course, but as far as the eye can see you feel like you're on a great plain. It reminded me of the great Veldt in Final Fantasy 6. I wanted to see if there was a young kid named Gau roaming around. The monsters are huge, and the first time you see the adamantoises you can't help but be intimidated.

Not long after Pulse, well depending on how long you want to grind experience points, the group re-enters Cocoon and Eden. Talking about crashing the party. It's one of the most intense CGI / FMV's in the game, and I'm still wondering how to replay it after the game. With them going back, a warp gate is formed and hordes of Pulse animals pour through. I'm not saying just the wolves and the winged beasts, but the giant adamatoises as well. What a fun sight.

(img: the mood before the big fight.) I won't go into too much detail over the battle in Eden. But it leads you into Orphan's cradle where you battle the evil Barthanthelus and Orphan. The battle with Orphan was actually a difficult boss at my level. I did not have a fully powered team and my weapons were barely leveled up. My final party was Lightning, Fang, and Hope; quite standard I believe and it mostly hinged on Fang being able to hold up with her Sentinel role. But with a little luck, I was able to win the game. Well, I was able to complete the central narrative of the story, but the many side quests await.

(img: why is there a couch here?)

• Game Time: 55 Hours
• Completed game
• 30% of trophies collected for PS3 version

Gran Turismo - PSX

As the release day for Gran Turismo 5 looms over us, I want to take a look back at the first Gran Turismo that started it all in 1998, twelve years ago. It's hard to believe how few racing games there were before that.

What drove me to play the game was that it almost worked like an RPG to me. Instead of gaining levels, you gained licenses. Instead of upgrading weapons, you upgraded your vehicles. Instead of fighting monsters, you raced cars. It was a numbers game to me, and I liked it. I remember the first license that you have to do is the start and stop. All you had to do was stop the car within a certain distance and do it within a certain time frame, it was like 30 seconds or something, but it was something that I couldn't do in the first try. I couldn't do it in the first five tries to be honest. The game was hard, but it was fun to play. You start buying cars and you start learning a thing or two about automobile distributors from all over the world. It was car porn and young men loved it. It sold 10.85 million copies world wide, making it one of the greatest selling titles for Sony Playstation (wikipedia).

With great music and simple menus, the game really lived up to its name as the "real driving simulator". The game was intuitive in a sense that sooner or later you learned how to slow down at S-curves and attack hair-pin turns; because if you didn't, you probably would end up losing. Sure you can use a stronger vehicle, but a lot of races limited you into using only a specific type of car. I remember the "Normal Vehicle" race, where you can only pick from vehicles with their stock options with no upgrades. I'd always use the Dodge Viper. Because it started with 400 HP and it handled awesome. My next favorite car was the Hond Del Sol, modified by Mugen. It was small and nimble so it could get through all the tight spaces easily.

And I did so to get myself to first place. I completed almost all the races and collected all of the unlockable cars. I sometimes wish I can play this on a handheld, but I didn't buy a PSP. Either way, great memories with this game.

• Game Time: 100 Hours
• Completed game in all it's difficulties

Final Fantasy 13 - PS3

Like every other RPG fan in March, I took time out of my schedule to play Final Fantasy 13. Scoreless screen shots and reviews have been written on the game and I might as well try to write one also. I'm not going to lie, this isn't a game for everyone. It's not much of a RPG game, but it is a very beautifully crafted cinematic piece of work. I'm about 26 hours in and I'm not sure if I would class this as an interactive movie or a really linear episode of Final Fantasy.

The story begins with a band of outcasts are being chased down by the local government of Coccoon. They are seen as diseased elements and all those that come in contact with them are to be "purged"; they are the L'Cie. It's not long that you realize that Lightning, a former captain of the military is the main character. Snow, the young leader of the resistance group, NORA (No obligations or Authority?), gets sucked into the mess because he's trying to save his fiancee. His wife-to-be has already been changed from L'Cie to Crystal because she had fulfilled her "focus". This will inevitably happen to all L'Cie. The other three characters that get dragged into this are Sahz, Vanille, and a boy named Hope. They later meet a fighting woman named Fang, who is in search of Vanille; she plans to rescue her.

These six characters are in search of an author. No, not really, but they are in search of some answers as to what is the connection between Coccoon and Pulse, legendary city outside of their world. They're also wondering if it's better to fulfill their focus and become crystal, or run away. They've already tried running. So they decided to take up a third alternative and rush towards the highest office of the Coccoon order, the Sanctum, and ask for answers.

So if I had to guess what happened at the game designer's table at Square-Enix, I'd have to say they were trying to concentrate all the "good" stuff in Final Fantasy and take out all the "bad" stuff. The players love the feeling of beating a boss, so let's make it so that all the battles are pretty similar to boss battles. Players loved the seeing Cloud, Squall, or Tidus slashing monsters in the air, so why not make it so that you'd get to see that in every battle?! Sounds great so far. People love cinematics, lets give them more than they've ever seen before; how about one after every chapter! Now to the bad stuff. Players didn't like talk to people in towns, let's just take out towns. Let's take out weapon shops, item shops, magic shops, and inns and put them all neatly in a save-point. Let's take out that tedious aspect of healing yourself after the battle also. Well you get the point. It's evolution, sort of. I'm not saying I don't like the game, but it sure is a different approach to Final Fantasy.

For the best, longest, and funniest review of Final Fantasy 13, please see Action Button.net's review. It's 18,000 words, and pure entertainment.

Devil Summoner: Raidou Kuzunoha vs. the Souless Army - PS2 (part 2)

Check out the first write-up about this game here: Part 1

Raidou, why did you choose to go against fate? That is one of the many conversations that the bad guys say to you in your attempt to save the metropolis of Tokyo from destruction. As your adventure goes from saving one girl to infiltrating secret government labs under the ocean, you realize that your "job" isn't just being a good detective; it's saving the world.

Well as the game proceeded to it's closure, I started getting really impatient with it. For some reason, the more I played towards the end, the more I felt disinclined to play it. Perhaps because I really wanted to get more demons, and I knew that the ending was coming up soon and I was nowhere close to getting even 80% of all the demons. My strongest persona was "Siegfried" at the time, and I started seeing enemies with higher levels from him. Then I realized that I was running out of time. Not because there are time limits in the game, but because of the big impending event, the release of Final Fantasy 13. I knew that once that came out, I'd devote all my time to it and not want to revisit this game. I made a time slot for the game, and finally beat it in a three hour sitting.

The game took Raidou to battle against Rasputin, the mythical Russian sorcerer, to a crazy robotic warship possessed by evil spirits. It was fueled by a satellite that you had to destroy. I really liked the concept of the game, and I think it would definitely make a great movie some day. There's a scene where they decapitate Rasputin's head and interrogate it for solutions as to how to stop the mutant warship robot. Why not? I guess. Magic, mayhem, and mischief - you'll find it all in this game.

But back to the battle. You defeat the warship by sending your cat buddy, Gouto, into space with one of your demons and have them destroy the core. With that, they sacrifice themselves in the skies. The robot that shook the shores and sent projectiles to the city was thwarted for awhile. But you know you have to stop the evil force that possessed Kaya. Save the cheerleader, save the world? Yeah, pretty much like that. Before you do so, the game made you go for one last pep talk with your buddies: the reporter girl, the Yakuza boss, and the rocket scientist. All great guys to have a drink with, I'm sure. From there you use a sacred talisman and transport yourself to the final dungeon, an astral plain where time moves in decades as you take a flight of stairs. I loved the lay-out of the place. Reminded me of Final Fantasy 4's Crystal palace and the final dungeons of Persona 4.

You fought left and right, destroying hour-glasses which contained "memories of old wounds". This was the game-makers' way of saying, "please beat these bosses again". It was not that bad, now that you're so much stronger, but of course it's tedious and uninteresting. Once you defeat them all you'll go on the stairway to 20XX, somewhere after 2050. You'll be greeted by an angry school girl rage and a katana. She wants to slash your head off, and that just might happen if you're slow with the controls. The presense inside Kaya will be the last boss. This is the entity that orchetrated the soulless army and defeating it will take you to the end of the game. Naturally, there's more than one boss. Perhaps a possessed warship? Yeah, why not. I stayed focus and was able to beat it in level 67. The game ends, and you're transported back to Tokyo. Kaya is conscious too. The world is saved, and Raidou the 14th did not disgrace his clan's name.

• Game Time: 36 Hrs and 10 mins.
• Completed game in normal difficulty

Call of Duty 4: Modern Warfare - PS3

I played this through in about 10 sessions, and each of them got more and more difficult as the levels got increasingly tedious. I played the first two Call of Duty games on the PC and really enjoyed it. I think the mouse made it a bit easier to control because of my experience from Unreal Tournament. I told myself to try the COD4 because it's one of the games that made the current generation systems legit. People bought their Xbox 360 and PS3's for this title and it deserved the 20 or so odd hours I put on it.

(image: battle in the night) The game is good. The game is a bit too realistic in the fact that you can die easily, like actual warfare. I'll expound on this. The next thing is the graphics. Even though all games on the PS3 are HD, most of them are 720p - not many extend to the 1080p graphics which maximizes your television's limits. You can see specs of dust from your rifle and every demolished building is rendered to the closest detail. Lastly the story is actually engaging. Pieces of it must be from actual stories from the soldiers; I recognized the Black Hawk Down episode. I mean it actually moves like a movie, using the soundless slow-motion sequences and everything.

(Image: completing the game)I have to say that the worst part about the game is that I went from playing Resistance 2 to Call of Duty and the way you play is totally changed. I'm used to being a hero and gunning down grims with a shield on or camping in far off tower trying to mow down a giant alien behemoth. But now you're doing tasks that are done in a way that if you don't do it right, you will die and start over. And there are so many ways to die: bullets, rockets, grenades, exploding cars, and even getting mauled by a dog. I guess I wanted a God-mode through it all, but hell, it probably would have made the victories less satisfying. And this game does give you some sort of warrior's satisfaction. I mean, anybody that's done mission where you're fending the farm town from four tanks and you take them down one at a time with the javelin rocket will know that when it's over, you just can't help but smile. Or the level where you're playing Price when he was a greenhorn and you had to pull your mentor to safety as you snipe down scores of enemy combatants, it goes to say that when it's done and over, you just wonder if the game changed you into a gun-wielding crazy. It feels good to kill, and if the reason is because you're doing it out of self-preservation and the bad guy is truly a bad guy, it feels even better. I'm sure the game-makers at Infinity Ward knows this. They know that there is a dormant violent spirit within us, and they're just giving it a little push with their games.

The ending, when Price tosses you the side-arm and you know what you gotta do, it's nothing but pure satisfaction.

• Game Time: 20 Hrs
• Completed the game once on normal difficulty

Dragon Quest 4: Chapters of the Chosen - NDS (part 2)

Without a doubt, this game took less time than I thought it would. I completed most of the first four quests in about 15 hours and began playing the final chapter in November. It took awhile to get back into it, but it was actually really enjoyable to play even for a game this old. I'm glad they brought it back to life with the DS remake and I think if I had more time I would play through the extras.

The game began to unfold as they described the story of Psaro the Man Slayer. He's the one behind all the evildoings in the game. Well, I guess he's the big thing that the demons have tried resurrecting. The story is that he did a lot of bad things because they imprisoned his girl, Rosa. Or was it that they killed that girl. I stopped paying attention at one point.

(My equipment for the last fight, don't forget to bring the Baron's horn so you can call your party before the boss) The fight with the final boss is tough, but not that tough. I went in there at level 36 with my crew of adventurers one or two levels below that. The boss is a golden guy, that you fight and he slowly disintegrates into a green gob with no arms or head. Fear not, he will regenerate into something more hideous and engaging. The most important thing here is remember to use the spell Oomph. It'd make your life easier. I started the part as the Hero, Alana, the Cleric, and the Black Mage. The first few forms of his body is hardly adversarial. Just keep "Kabuff" on and putting on "Oomph" on your characters. If you run into problems, don't forget that the Hero has "Omniheal", which fully recovers your entire party for 20 MP. As He starts to become whole again, in his final form, he'll start doing more fire spells so it's safe to say you'll need "insulate". But as long as you keep your Oomph up and attack him at least twice a turn, you'll be fine.

The ending is pretty much the same as the NES version. You visit all the towns of your party members and then you make a trek back to the home town, where you were raised by your foster parents. The place is burned down, but upon your return you find that young girl that saved your life by turning into your decoy. Finally you two can be together, and I guess it's speechless, but I hope you live happily ever after.

But wait! There's more. Because it's the NDS version, there's a added Chapter 6. I'm going to save that for another time. Until then, I might as well start on Dragon Quest 5.

The following are a lot of pictures I took along the way.

Culdcept DS - NDS

The hardest part about Culdcept DS is finding the control to stop playing Culdcept. This is one of the most addictive games ever made, for geeks and by geeks I presume. Seeing this new version of the game expanded into the NDS made me hesitant to get into the Magic / Monopoly world. The ability to play against your friends on your DS should be good enough a reason to get this game. It's not likely that it will get to the US any time soon, so I will talk a bit about it here.

The game is pretty much the same as Culdcept for PS2 and Xbox 360: Each player gets a hand of 7 cards, a deck of 50 cards, and you duke it out against the other players in dominating the placement of magical creatures on a board. The game play is the same and having a split view of two screen is actually quite convenient.

(Goligan, the staff) I usually specialize in Water creatures, and this time it's more than ever important to get lots them because of the card "Kelpie". This sea-horse like creature is like the Fire Card, "Old Willow" of the PS2 version - it forces the enemy to battle it upon crossing it. Getting that card will save you a lot of time.

I played it for about 20 hours before I beat the game and got my first Medal. I still play it from time to time because it's just that addictive. For a list of the medals, please check out this page. It's in Japanese, but you can google translate it.

http://exsir.exblog.jp/10076879/

• Game Time: 40 hours
• Completed the game 1x

Beating the last boss

The Goddess Culdcept has some words for you upon beating the game.

2009 - A year in review

Well let's face it, 2009 was in fact a year that I didn't play much compared to my usual. I guess that's a good thing. I got a PS3 in the last quarter of the year and started playing what I missed out on in the last four years. There were some games that I found interesting, but most of them were just eye-candy to me. I do find the wireless controllers a good and bad thing. The good is the controller works just as good as a wired one without the wire; the bad thing is that charging it is such a hassle because it doesn't charge when the PS3 is turned off. I use my iPod charger to charge it at times because the usb cord is too short for me. I am working on my Street Fighter 4 skills, but I doubt I can get good beyond Ken and Ryu. I started playing Resistance 2 and inFamous, but they're just keeping me busy in time for GT5 and FF13.

But anyway, in short, last year was a year of Shin Tegami Tensei. I started playing Persona 3 in the spring, Persona 4 in the Autumn, and now I'm almost done with Devil Summoner. They're great games and everyone should give them a try.

Here's a short recap of the games that I beat in 2009:

1. Romance of the Three Kingdoms XI (PC) - 45 hrs
2. Puzzle Quest (DS) - 50 hrs
3. Rogue Galaxy (PS2) - 65 hrs 16 mins
4. Fire Emblem: Shadow Dragon (DS) - 22 hrs 53 mins
5. Culdcept (DS) - 30 hrs
6. Persona 3: FES (PS2) - 111 hrs 41 mins
7. Google's Monopoly Streets (PC) - 50 hrs
8. Persona 4 (PS2) - 82 hrs 13 mins

*the write-up for Culdcept DS is taking longer than I thought. I keep playing it from time to time still.

I guess that's about 513 hours used on video-games last year. Hopefully I'll write more in 2010. My list of games that I didn't beat in 2009 includes: Shining Force Neo, Final Fantasy A2 (DS), Fire Emblem (Wii), Professor Layton and the Curious Village, God of War, Puzzle Quest: Galaxies, and numerous little DS games that I just start and forget all about.

Devil Summoner - PS2

I couldn't help it, I decided to put in some hours on another Atlus Shin Megami Tensei game. I started Devil Summoner and couldn't stop - even though I just bought a PS3.

This one is actually not an RPG, and it's not set in present day. The story revolves around a group of mages in industrial Japan. The order of "Raidou" is committed to maintaining peace in Tokyo. They do so with the power to see, combat, and summon "devils" (which are Personas in all the Persona games).

This was a major turning point in Japan, as they began westernizing and adopting technologies from America and Europe. I always felt that the days were pretty bleak there, but playing this game makes it feel very exciting. There're young men who are intrigued by the steam boats and trains and young women who want to try the sun dresses from Europe. I think I enjoy these aspects more because I was a Japanese history major in college.

(Raidou and his funny hat) The game itself is an action RPG where battles warp you to a fighting screen. You have a sword, a handgun, and the ability to summon devils. You fight in towns and then you fight in the dark world. This is the natural sequence of events in the game. Once again there is monster fusion, and it becomes like a mature version of Pokemon. Each monster has it's strengths and weaknesses and they also come with special abilities like "sneak" and "fly". These abilities enable the detective summoner to snoop in places where any normal sleuth cannot.

(the detective agency) All in all the game is fun and has a nice sense of challenge. You can go through levels quicker if you know how to hack and slash correctly, but you can also dominate the bosses if you rather level up. So it's got a good balance of "Action - RPG". The fusions for the devils make this game interesting for those who like to "collect them all".

I'm finally in Episode 8, and I think there will be only two more episodes before this all comes to an end. I'm about 20 hours in, so I doubt this will take more than 30.

Below are some scenes I took with my camera. I love the settings: the Red Light District, the old Ginza district, and a conversation with a huge demon.

Persona 4 - PS2 (part 3)

So there is an end after all. I was really hesitant in playing the end of Persona 4 because I really wanted to get the true ending. Naturally, I got the worse one the first time around. I couldn't find out who the true crook was and I got a quickie cut-scene in the end with no real boss to battle. So let me recall what happens, there will be spoilers from here on.

We learn that the delivery man was behind some of the kidnappings and he himself has the power to enter TVs. He kidnaps Nanako and Nanako's dad rushes after her. They go into a high speed chase and all three gets into a bad accident and ends up in the hospital; the same hospital. A very edgy scene ensues as everyone waits on the dying Nanako. This could have easily been made to a movie, and the game does a really good job in capturing the moment. My heart sunk when I saw the flat-line.

So that was December 18th in the game? If you did the wrong thing, that would be the end of the movie. It all corresponds to answering the right questions when you and Yosuke are arguing in the delivery guy's hospital room. If you answered it correctly, you'll still be playing the game after christmas and into the new year. You'll be given a new dungeon to capture the true culprit. I won't give away who he is, but I'll have to say the boss is actually challenging.

The last boss is a giant eyeball. Yes, he has a LOT of tricks so I'll try to break it down. I used Yosuke, Yukiko, and Teddie. You'll need to heal a lot. I chose Yosuke because he's the only social link that I maxed out, which enabled his Persona to graduate to Susano-O. Teddie's Amrita and HP recovery spells will help you greatly. Yukiko will be needed for reviving the dead. You'll need every thing you can to battle Ameno Sagiri, the big eye ball. It has like eight major attacks. For one, it has every elemental spell: fire, ice, wind, and lightning. So either way you'll get dazed. Along with that he also has Megidola. It's good to fully heal your guys every turn. He also has two turns. Galgagin Eyes will make you dazed, Nebula Oculous is a physical laser that will hit everyone, God's Punishment halves your HP, and Foolish Whisper makes you unconscious as well. When he does the Fog, it's best to heal yourself and replenish your MP. In attacking, I recommend using Loki and the strongest Bufu spell.

After a bitter fight, you should be able to knock him down. Defeating him will send you into the last few days before the new year. You've beat the last boss, congratulations! Not quite yet. There's still something that's troubling the main character. Like, how did this all start, and why did he have the power to enter the TV in the first place? Ahh yes, the troublesome nature of the curious human. What does it lead you to? Another boss, yes a boss after the last boss.

Enter, the Torii Gates to hell and Izanami. Yes, this is the same Izanami in the creation myths for Japanese Shinto. She was the wife of Izanagi and the mother of Susano-O. It is her that helped create the islands of Japan and it is her that delve into the netherworlds. In the end, Izanagi confronts him and he forces her to stay in the land of the night while he runs away to the daylight. The fact that Persona is based on Shinto is great! You'll have to travel through ten more levels of dungeons in Ashihara Nakatsu before reaching the boss. I hope you had charged up your social link with the Fox, because you'll need him to heal you from here on. There's no going back.

I won't go into the details in fighting Izanami. But it is not as difficult as the big Eye. After a difficult battle with Izanami, she will use a spell that will drag your guys to hell. You'll have no choice but to hope for savior, and there is one. Izanagi, the persona you started with. He will aid you in your time of need. After this, you're definitely definitely done with the game. Well, the first time around. I doubt I'll play it again in the near future, so this is the end for me.

• Game Time: 80 Hrs and 13 Mins (plus 2 hours)
• Completed the true ending
• Maxed out all personal statuses

Persona 4 - PS2 (part 2)

(Image: Yukiko a little tipsy after a couple of spiked drinks.) Well, this game is done! But what do I have to say about it? It took about a month and a half to do this and a so much has happened in the game. The little town of Yaso-Inaba will never be the same again. As usual, the masses do not really know what happens in the middle of the night.

(Image: Rise question's the hero's true nature.) The crew of four grew into nine, with new members that include Kanji, Rise, Teddie, Naoto, and a mysterious magic Fox. They have their days dealing with the murders, and they have their days studying for exams. There is a moment where they go on a school camping trip, and there is a moment where they all go to the ryokan. Lots of happy days, and lots of sad days. I can't believe how much I enjoyed this game and then it all ends.

There're even a few characters that are carried over from Persona 3: like Tanaka the salesman, and Mr. Edogawa, the teacher. Tanaka can be seen every Sunday morning as he became a tele-marketer and Edogawa makes a cameo appearance when the kids go to Gekkokan High for a visit in the big city. They got to stay in a love hotel and visit a night club. Somebody spiked their drinks, and they started saying more than then intended to.

(Image: Battle with Evil Teddie) All I have are all these pictures that I've taken along the way. The next post will be about the end boss, the boss after that, and the boss after that. A girl is fighting hard to stay alive in the hospital, and the the entire town is enveloped by the mysterious fog. What's left for a guy to do? But to kick-ass and take names.