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.

Persona 4 - PS2

Well, I didn't think I would play this one so soon, but it was like opening up gifts on Christmas morning - I just couldn't wait. I played Persona 3: FES not too long ago, so the concepts of the game were still fresh in my mind. Turning on Persona 4 for the first time took me back to the end of the P3 in a rush as the animated intro started. The beginning the title theme is similar to the last score in P3. It was effortless continuity from 3 to 4. I started the game and I knew that this would be another 100 hour journey into the world of Shadows and Personas.

From the start, let me warn those that have never played these games that you don't get any control of the character until 90 minutes into the story. Lots and lots of story happens and you're not too sure when a battle will even begin. I'd say you don't fully get to a first battled until 2 hours and 15 minutes of the game. So please be patient! To me, it's like watching a movie, and I am loving it so far.

Similar to Persona 3, this chapter in the SMT world begins with a young man pondering through a train car's window. Pan to something ultra-violent, and then back to signal lights blinking and you have iconic Japanese Anime sequences. It's campy, but hey, it works. The young man is transferring from the big city to a small town of Inaba because his parents works overseas and they entrusted him to his uncle, who works as a detective in town. The young man quickly makes friends with Yosuke, an absentminded boy who works at the local electronics depot, and Chie, a super jubulent Kung-fu loving girl who is turning into one of my favorite female video-game character in recent memory. Now THAT was a geeky statement.

(Yosuke, someone who literally ran into you on the first day of school.) Let's talk about some differences between part 3 and part 4. First of all, the Dark Hour is gone. Instead, you can enter the world of Persona's through the TV department of the Junes building in the day time, usually after school. Secondly, during the dungeon stages, there is no longer just one giant Tartarus dungeon but instead sectioned off areas where you can delve into. After a battle ends, the way you attain Personas is different. The new lottery for cards causes a lot more eye strain. But there's a lot more. Thirdly, there are two more sections added to your personal status, putting it into five: Emotions, Knowledge, Courage, Diligence, and Expression. If that's not enough, you still have to level up your social links. So there is a lot to learn and a lot to do.

Igor, your guide into the Persona World.

Yukiko, another classmate of yours that is born and raised in Inaba. Her parents own an inn on the edge of town. It's where all the murders have started.

Google's Monopoly City Streets - Online

Well here goes another twenty hours wasted. Google introduced their Monopoly Streets game about two weeks ago and it has been a craze on the Internet. Like monopoly, the object of the game is to be richer than the next person. Buy streets, place houses, collect rent - these are still concepts in the game, but the big seller of the game is that these are REAL streets and you're competing with people from the entire globe!

I won't go in depth about how the game works, but the hardest part about the game is finding LONG streets so you can place as many buildings on them as the eyes and see (or the screen can stretch). You make money by collecting rent from the buildings and you can only collect rent once a day, so it's a strategy of how you use your money from day to day. Since the new rule is that every street after your first five, you will get taxed 3% of your net worth, it's advantageous to keep five or less streets. I tend to keep about eight streets, so I'm taxed about 9% every day, but I do like to know I have more streets available if people attack me. Attack, meaning people putting prisons and waste treatment plants on your street, which stops you from collecting rent.

But in any case, I started with my first street: Jackson Street in Oakland, California and started buying streets in Canada, Ohio, and even Chico, Ca. I wanted to buy some streets in Japan, but they were all taken. That's the fun of the game, you can be an absentee land-owner to real streets of the world. I never knew how many little mountain roads there are in California until I started playing the game.

Well with a little bit of math, a little know-how in geography, and a lot of effort in playing competitive games, I am finally in the TOP 10 of my local area, Alameda, California. Of course, I'm #10, but I still am proud. I'm level 5 (or 7), meaning I am worth $1,000,000,000 billion dollars. My goal is to reach level 7, then I'll call it quits. Until then, let the money bags roll in!

Eternal Poison - PS2

Another one of Atlus's RPG's for 2009. It's rare to be playing PS2 games in 2009, but I still find it entertaining. The cover dissuaded me from picking this one up because it seem like the kind of game that guys with Lolita fetishes would buy. I ended up trying it out anyway with some reserve. They bundled it with a soundtrack, but I got it used at the Game Stop and unfortunately I didn't get the CD along with the game.

The game starts with a young sorceress, the one dressed in gothic attire on the cover, Thage and her wolf companion Raki. They are Majin (magical creatures I suppose) and they are seeking the power of the "Eternal Poison" to either resurrect the legendary princess or destroy the world. Early in their travels they take up a young boy that got lost along the way named Retica. He is a half-breed between Majin and Human, so like many stories, he is conflicted between good and evil. They both battle monsters and unravel a story that intertwines with the other major characters.

So here's the deal-breaker for this game: you have to play all five story-lines to get the true ending. I hate games like this. I actually was able to complete the Thage story in about ten hours, but do I really want to go through it again? four more times? I will have to make that choice soon. This game reminds me of Saga Frontier, where you have to complete all seven quests. And yes, I did complete it all but I had a lot more time when I was a student.

Fire Emblem: Shadow Dragon - NDS

Somehow I put down the Fire Emblem game for the Wii to play this game. Fire Emblem: Shadow Dragon is actually a remake of the first fire Emblem game published on the SNES. It's still new to me because I completely forsaked this series, as like many people did because it wasn't ported over to the United States until much later. 

The game follows the young prince, Marth, who is chased out of his kingdom by the kingdom of Gras. He is secluded to a small city in the far marginal eastern area of the land. Slowly he gathers his forces and lauch a rebellion. He has his trusted followers: Cain and Abel, Shiida, Frey, Coyote and Wolf, etc. It steadily gets more interesting as he recruits people from every map, reminisient of the old Suikoden games. I kind of reminds me of Japan's Onin war in the Muromachi period. It took me about seven maps to totally get emotionally invested, but now I'm determined to beat it. 

The game actually does well with the NDS. Having the bottom screen as the main screen and the top screen as the profile helps you switch information quick. The mechanics move the characters quick and you can always end all the turns just by hitting START - something that happens often to me. I just want to quickly reset. I'm on map 10 now, and it seems like I'm getting better finally, dying less. Until then, I'll be playing that and Henry Hatsworth, Goodshow!