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

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.

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

Final Fantasy - NES, NDS

Well, it seems odd to have a video-game website that mentions Dragon Quest but not Final Fantasy. To tell the truth, I'm such a Final Fantasy fan that I actually thought I'd dedicate them all on a separate sight. That didn't go so well. So now I'm just going to port over some of the results from that sight.

I've played Final Fantasy about 11 times in my life, it is just one of those games that I can play over and over just to see if I can still do it over again. It's like a Rubix cube for me. So when I found out that they did a re-release for it on the GBA with extra dungeons, I jumped at the chance to play it once more. I won't go into the details, but I will just port over the results from my other blog, the Final Fantasy Challenge.

(from September of 2007)

So as you can guess, the posting isn't going to catch up with the gaming. I need to back-track and talk about the end of Final Fantasy one.

The fight up to Tiamont took up 12 hours, but the optional bosses took up another 8 hours. Our friend Garland was the culprit the last boss. Channeling the powers of time and evil he becomes Chaos. By the time I got there, I was a whopping level 77. The last time I played and beat it, I was level 43. This game definitely was made easier. Also back then my strongest weapon was the Masamune and the Excalibur, now I had the Ultima Weapon and armor that never existed back then. It was just a breeze. Well here are some stats, and I'm on my way to Final Fantasy II (not the one with Cecil, but the one with Firion).

Chaos Shrine - defeated Chaos (level 77)

• Game Time: 21 hrs 28 mins
• Total Time: 21 hrs 38 mins (10 mins added)
  
• Days: 9 of 80
• Bestiary - 93%
• Weapons Completion - 99% (missing Assassin's Dagger)
  
• Optional Bosses - 100%
• Optional Quests - 100%

Persona 3: FES - PS2 (part 4)

Back again, for the last time on this epic game. Where I last left, the Persona users of Gekkokan High School were given an ultimatum by Ryoji, the avatar of Nyx. They had until the 31st of January to fight the bringer of Death. What this translates to is "it's time to get your act together".

I began by leveling up some more and trying to get the final personas and fusions. This was not as easy as I thought as the stronger personas required the highest social links and higher character level of the main character to create. I had maximized about 10 social links by then but there were a couple more that I knew I could do. I wanted to do Akinori's, which only occurred on Sundays and Mamoru's, which took more time than I thought. And some new ones opened up once you got the highest personal traits: Badass for courage, Genius for academics, and charismatic for charisma. But as the game dragged on, I realized I couldn't get them all in this first run, so I just tried to finish it after the 110th hour.

The battles after the 252nd floor of Tartarus were not too difficult, all the way until you battle Nyx. Sure, you'll fight Jin and Takaya again - and you learn about their origins. The fight's are pretty much a joke with my guy at level 82 and some of the strongest personas at my disposal. I do want to say something about Nyx. He's not a push-over.

The fight with Nyx takes endurance. You should reserve about 2 hours for him and the ending that comes after. I made the mistake of playing it and having to meet someone for lunch and had to shut off during mid-battle. It's a long drawn-out fight and it would be smart to bring a lot of items (especially precious eggs for MP). My final party was Main character, Yukari, Junpei, and AIGIS. I think any party would do, but I do recommend a healer and AIGIS because she has a lot of status increase skills. You'll have to use tactics often. Nyx can be tough if you let him get advantage of your low HP, so I recommend wearing Vitality rings that add 30% more. Nyx has about 13 forms, as you could have guessed by the big stress on Arcana in this game. While most of the forms have about 1200HP, the last one has 6000HP. I learned that the hard way.

Here's what you have to watch out for. First there is his defensive spell, "Night Gown". When he does this, a reflective barrier appears and every attack that you unleash upon him will be reflected to you with an added damage. Usually this hits about 500+ HP to a character, so I highly advise not to attack or have any of your guys attack when this is up. You'll have to set characters like Junpei to "Wait" almost. It's also a good time for you to heal yourself. Secondly, he uses "All Mighty" often. This spell is like a severe holy strike spell, but he does it after he does mind charge or power charge, so it doubles the effect. You have to have defenses up if you see him do his charges; it can wipe you out if you have low HP. Lastly, there is his most animated attack, "Night Queen". This attack is similar to Final Fantasy 4's "Big Bang" attack. It's a magical attack that damages and sets random effects to your characters. Here's the thing, be sure to dis-charm those that have been charmed! A person that has been charmed with the Diarahan (full-heal) spell will use it on Nyx. That's how I found out he has 6000 HP. From there it's pretty much unload on him as usual. I use Norn with Mind Charge and "Panta Rhei" spell on him mostly, and it gets the job done.

After the battle it goes to a super charged anime scene that throws all your guys into darkness. You're in an one-on-one fight with Death himself. He's angry and pissed-off. Your guys think it's the end and find themselves stranded in space, similar to limbo. All they can do is send you their powers. Your only hope is, well as corny as it sounds, a wild card in the arcana deck. Story ensues, and you use the "Great Seal" send subdue Nyx's fury. Everything turns white, and well, you wake up days later.

The ending is good. One of the better ones for role-playing games in recent memory. A very weird scene in the end includes the main character resting himself on AIGIS's lap. She does all the talking, and you just rest there, on the school's rooftop: half awake, half exhausted from the battle. I really loved this game. Will I play the "Answer" featuring AIGIS? Nope, not in the near future. After 100 hours of this game, it's time to move on.

Completion: Beat the game,

Collected 87% of all Personas,

Maxed out personal status (academics, charm, and courage)

Hours Spent: 111 hrs and 41 mins (+ 3 hrs of dead time)

Fire Emblem: Shadow Dragon - NDS (part 2)

So it finally ends, with a lightning spell to a big brown dragon - the Shadow Dragon. 

For some reason, this game felt amazingly long. I spent only nineteen hours on it in recorded time, but it felt like fifty. I guess it was because of the agonizing defeats along the way. 

Fire Emblem revolves around Marth, our displaced hero of Altea out to get revenge for those who destroyed his kingdom. Of course there is a conniving neighbor king, an evil wizard, and a dragon. I won't go into detail about the fellows he met and joined his cause, but it does help putting some names down for my final roster. I kept Abel (level 9 Paladin) and Cain (level 1 Paladin) and Frey as my knights. Then I had Wolfe, Merric, and Shiida. Tiki, the dragon princess, played a sacrificial role. I had to use Beck, the ballistician, to knock off other ballistas. I had one swordmaster and two heroes also, but they just played minor roles.

To defeat the end, I think you'd either have to have the Falchion sword, or bring the wizard up to the dragon and have him use Thorn. I didn't think it was that easy so I spent a lot of time restarting; trying to find the perfect way to get all my ways to the end without dying. It was impossible for me, so I ended up sacrificing a lot of key characters. In the end, the plan worked, and I was awarded a simple ending. I got to see Marth and Shiida finally come through with their feelings, and the credits began to roll. 

All in all, I think this was a good game for the NDS. It took advantage of the dual screens nicely; one for profiles, and one for the map. The menus were fast, and the story was quite compelling - although it was recycled from the 1990's version. I think if you can get through the defeats (and you will see the game over screen often), you'll enjoy this game. I don't think I'll be replaying it though. Next up: Valkyrie Profile, the covenant of the plume. 

Completion: Finished the game (with deaths)

Hours Spent: 18 Hrs 53 mins + 4 Hrs (dead time)

Street Fighter 2 - SNES

In an effort to go along with the times, I picked April to be the month to talk about fighting games. With the release of the much talked about Street Fighter 4, I find myself thinking of all the hours I spent playing fighting games with my Junior High friends. 

Street Fighter 2 was not just a game, it was a phenomenon. It was at every arcade center and every home (when the SNES version came out). I lived on top of a small convenience store and day and night I could hear the haduken's and shouryuken's being punched out on the arcade sticks. It was part of the 90's. If you grew up at that era, you or someone you know were hooked on that game. It literally created the genre of fighting games. For the longest time before that, games like Final Fight and Double Dragon were labeled as fighting games, for they were side-scrolling games that you fought in. But Street Fighter changed that, it was a 1-on-1 fight to the end ~ with NO JUMP BUTTON. The idea of using UP for jump was so new. Of course it's natural to us now. But those guys at Capcom really were on to something. And six buttons? That was probably the only game that had that at the time. 

Now the part that I loved about Street Fighter 2 was that there was an incredible balance in the characters of the game. We all know and love Ken, Ryu, and Guile, but if one put effort into learning the other five: Chun Li,  Zangief, Dhalsim, Blanka, and E.Honda, they could be formidable too. Each had their strengths and weaknesses. I've seen Zangief players crush Ryu types, and I've seen Chun Li players lay waste to Guilde players. It was a wonderful game. 

The game went into some craze about sequels, spawning titles such as Champions Edition, Turbo, Turbo 2, Super Street Fighter, etc. But every one of them have their intricacies. Kind of reminds me of the many editions of Windows. 

I spent a lot of time playing the game. Learning combos, block patterns, offensive strategies, etc. Eventually I learned how to use a bit of every character. I think I ended up liking Guile the most, but I'll probably be able to play Ken and Ryu too; like everyone else. I even remember the stupid tricks, like the "handcuffs" freeze from Guile, and the "invisible throw" glitch. Those who know, know what I mean. I met a lot of friends at the arcades, and had my share of beat-downs by kids younger than me.  I still want to play it once in awhile, and I had the chance to re-use those skills three years ago when I started playing it in Japan with my friend Tim. It's odd how playing Street Fighter is like riding a bike. Nostalgia ensues even as I'm writing this. 

Now I if I wanted to put an hour-count on the hours (or days) I spent idling away on Street Fighter 2 and all it's sub-series, it would be close to the 1000's I think. But just for the blog's sake, I'll just say 200 plus. 

Completion: Yes, at all difficulties.

Hours Spent: 200+ hours. 

So when I learned of Street Fighter 4, I was more than happy to welcome it's return. Too bad I don't have a PS3 or Xbox 360. Nevertheless, the heart still hungers for some thumb crunching ass-whooping. Enjoy this trailer from 1up.com. Doesn't the Ryu theme remind you of all the battles of the past?

Street Fighter 4 'Ink Bleed' HD trailer

Ogre Battle: March of the Black Queen - SNES

When I first played this game, it was the only game of it's type in 1997, and well, twelve years later, I still feel like it's the only game of it's type. Ogre Battle is a RPG game that acts more like a strategy game. You control parties instead of individual characters and you send them all out from your base to defeat the enemy parties. Your characters have HP, MP, levels, and character class. Naturally there are special characters that have unique abilities. The "new" concept of the game is that you don't actually control your parties in battle, you have to learn their tendencies and just hope that the outcome goes in your favor. It was truly novelle at the time; I consider it like Final Fantasy 12 of today. It also has a great soundtrack with memorable tunes perfect for battle. The way the game is set up and the rich story of how you're the last bastion of light rebelling a giant empire (cliche nowadays?) made it an awesome game for 1997. 

I spent that summer in the 11th grade playing it for the first time. I got through it begrudgingly at snails pace and missed out a LOT of characters. It was also the first game that had good, evil, and neutral meters that reflected your actions in battle. Using your sense of morality, you can dominate over the weak or using weak characters to overcome adversity; creating a good alignment for your campaign. It had like 13 endings and I played it four times. The fourth time, with the help of a FAQ, I finally got it right, the uber ending.

Why did I bring this back up? Because I read this morning from 1up.com that this game is coming back, yes to the Wii as a Wiiware for like $8.00. Great deal for a game that is limited to 25,000 copies in North America. Ebay was selling this for at least $50.00, thankfully most of these games belonged to RPG lovers in the first place so they were kept in good condition. Ogre Battle, celebrated as an "A+" game, has finally made it's way back to our homes. 

I've included a video I found on youtube that shows how some of the battles go. I say don't go watch the ending videos, it spoils the game... even though it's 12 years old. 

Completion: Collected all characters and received rarest ending.

First Run: 35 hrs

2nd Run: 30 hrs

3rd Run: 60 hrs

4th Run: 80 hrs 

Hours Spent: approx. 205 hrs

Castlevania 1, 2, and 3 - NES

Castlevania is not just a game, but an entire franchise for Konami. Yeah, we tend to think of the Wii title that flopped recently, but it's definitely one of those series that will go on for a long time. The story is simple: Dracula is alive and well; he commands an army of darkness; the Belmont family has a tradition of killing vampires. Yes, we all remember the whips, the crosses, and funny potions. Where else can you battle the Grim Reaper, the Sand Man, Frankenstein, and Medussa in one game? Let's travel back in time for a minute and look back at these classic games. 

The first one was basic. You side-scrolled your way through levels, grabbed hearts, and fought bosses. You had a whip and a little knife to throw, and that was enough to make a classic. I know I beat this game, but I can't even remember what the pitiful ending was. It might have just been a picture of you looking at the castle with words scrolling up... which is usually the case in old NES games. 

The second one was totally different. Coined as, "Simon's Quest", it became more of an RPG mixed with elements from Metroid. You had to complete quests and find runes, all while defeating ghouls and goblins of all types. Bosses lead to more questions and questions lead to more quests. There were events in the day and events in the night. I remember beating this game, but I don't think I liked it too much. 

The third one of the first trilogy involved one of my favorite characters, Alucard (of course that's Dracula spelled backwards). He's on his quest to defeat his own father. Now the gameplay of this one is more like the first one, but for the first time, there were more than one main character. The clock-tower was one of those places that burned into my memory; something about jumping and having medusa heads loom towards you made me hate that level. 

The Belmont family continues!

Completion: Beat the game:

Castlevania - 20 hrs

Castlevania 2 - 40 hrs

Castlevania 3 - 20 hrs 

Hours Spent: approx. 60 hrs.

Check out the Angry Video-game Nerd bashing Castlevania 2:

Swords and Serpents - NES

Ahh yes, another heavily forgotten game for the NES. Another game that I am writing about because it's old and lesser known? Well, just like the Magic of Scheherazade, I owned Swords and Serpents as a kid also. It was an RPG in the first person, and boy was it boring. I think when you're a kid, you had a knack for boring things, or at least I was. 

The game consists of your four characters fighting in a labyrinth to save the world from a certain evil. Sounds like Gauntlet doesn't it? Well, it's not because it's turn-based and the graphics were sub-par. You really don't know if you've hit the monster well because all it does is blink. The map on the screen was interesting, because you basically felt like a rat in a maze. Worse of all is that a lot of the rooms are filled with dead-ends, and yes, they just kind of sucked. You had to figure out where the trick was, because sometimes you can just jump through. 

I couldn't remember what the hell the ending was to this game, but I know I beat it. It was a crazy hot summer, and I wasted too much time on my Nintendo. 

Completion: Beat the game 

Hours Spent: approx. 40 hrs.

Check out these retro videos on you-tube, amazing!

And this TV commercial of the game!

the Magic of Scheherazade - NES

What is this game? Why is this worth writing about now? Why talk about this game that nobody cares about anymore? Well it's only important because it belonged to me. This game came out in 1989 and I actually went out and bought it at a Woolworths with my mother. It's odd why I picked that one, but I think it's only because I liked RPG's, and back then RPG's were few. I had a lot of fun with this one. Just look at the cover-art! Still looks inviting today. I think another reason was because my friends already had Final Fantasy and Dragon Warrior. 

The game is basically one of the earliest action RPG's for Nintendo. You're a warrior that is out to save the Princess Scheherazade (I still have a hard time pronouncing that name) that is abducted by an evil wizard. Not the most original of plots, but it establishes the mission. The setting is Arabic, and pretty much as stereo-typical as it goes. You weild a scimitar, you have balloon-like pants, and heck, you even wear a turban. You walk around from place to place talking with merchants and wacking monsters. You have a health bar and a magic bar, and you had levels. 

I don't remember much about this game after that. I knew I bought it, I played the hell out of it, and it was lost in this mass jettison of old stuff that I owned in my past. I'd like to see it again, but I doubt I'd really have the patience for it now. It just reminds me of the good old days. 

Completion: Beat the game 

Hours Spent: approx. 40 hrs.

Enjoy this video from youtube! Ahh, the 8-bit graphics. 

Rogue Galaxy - PS2 (part 2)

Sometimes you reserve an hour to finish a game, and sometimes you realize that RPG's need more than that. I should have learned from my last play of Dragon Quest 8 that games these days take more than an hour to complete (from the last save point), and damn, the endings are long. 

In the finishing of Rogue Galaxy, I have to say there are a lot of things left to do. I beat the game, but my completion of it is way under par. I have an empty log for the Factory mini-game, missing one beast on my battle recorder, the Ghost ship to conquer, several uniforms to find, and yet to begin the insectron breeding game. I guess I just want to see the end. And a fine ending it is. 

Before we get to the end, I shall recap since the first time I wrote about Rogue Galaxy. Your team of eight space pirates wander into a warp gate to reach the lost planet of Eden. They find out that Eden has been the only thing holding off the Evil of the galaxy from spewing into their world, and the root of all evil is Mother. She becomes the new villain of focus, outdoing Valkog the war profiteer. The tactic for defeating Mother is explained as the collecting of Dregellum (spiritual essense?) orbs and forging a sword with it. With that all done, and as stories unfold about your starting line-up of eight, we go on to fight Mother.

She turns out to be a being living in a river of rune power, the source of all evil in Rogue Galaxy. The first two bodies are not difficult, just hack away with Illusion Sword, and since you have three guys, you will always have one guy to revive the other two. The Third form comes with a twist, Valkog returns. Yes traveled all the way from Zerard to find you and more rune. His air-ship flies a bit too close to the river of rune, and since the rune has lost it's host, it decides to suck in the next most evil dude... there you have it, a reason to create a half-mecha, half-alien boss to end the game. 

Now here's the hard part: each of your characters must destroy a part of the machine. Hopefully you have not neglected your lesser used party members. Their levels should be fine, anything above 58 or so. But the problem might be your equipment. Use the Frog! Get weapons that are above level 47. I think the hardest two are Lilika's and Zegram's bosses. For Lilika, you'll have to attack the boss on the wall while the walking tank is falling apart. For Zegram, you'll have to run around until the evil scientist wacks its arm down to the ground, then quickly use Twin Sword and run up the arm and attack as fast as you can. Now everything is a bit harder, because as you can guess, you'll die if your guy dies. Nobody will be there to revive you. 

And lastly Jaster fights Valkog. You know how these last fights are. Ending is pretty good and of course there is a New Game Plus Mode, so I'll have to see if I want to play that. 

Completion: Beat the game, 100% of Frog Log, Reached #1 of Hunter Rankings. 

Hours Spent: 65 Hrs 16 Mins

Puzzle Quest DS - NDS

Last played - January, 2008

Let's face it, when you're playing the DS, you usually want just a quick game of something to kill the time before you get back to what you're doing. I usually find it that way, and the best games to play on it are puzzle games. I am a firm believer that Tetris DS is a must have for the DS owner. So of all the puzzle games that are available to the DS, one really that I find highly addictive is Puzzle Quest.

Puzzle Quest is an RPG where the battles are done in puzzles. You choose a hero and fight monsters and mages with weapons and armor - all this done with puzzle games. The game itself is a cross between Bejewelled and columns. Match things and you can unleash skills.

Somehow this game got me through 50 hours of boredom spread out workdays and outings. Too bad my save was erased not too long after I defeated Bane. It was the journey that counted.

Completion: Beat the game.
Hours Spent: 50 Hrs