Games of The Year 2008 Part 2

5. Soulcalibur IV

A fighting game this far up on MY list? Shocking. Still, I've been a pretty big fan of the Soul Calibur series since it's Dreamcast days. Though for whatever reason I was really excited for this installment in the series. I was not disappointed.

It should be noted that I'm not very good at fighting games, but I still had a lot of fun with SC4. There is a great selection of characters to choose from, as well as a robust "Create A Soul" mode which allows you to make your own characters with series characters' move sets.

Aside from really fun multiplayer both online and off, there's a lot of things to unlock in SC4, and I even had fun completing the easy story mode over and over again for each character. Sadly there is a downside to SC4 and that would have to be the Tower of Lost souls. Not only do I think it's not as good as the special mode that was in SC3, but it's just too damn hard. Jerry was able to get through a good portion of it, but I could never make any progress in that thing. It's just frustrating.

Still when it comes down to it, the main reason for playing the game is the vs. mode, and it's fun as hell. So mission accomplished.

4. Tales of Vesperia

At this point on the list, the rest of the games are all pretty close to each other. With that said, Tales of Vesperia comes in at #4 on the list. I previously made some fairly negative early impressions, but later I was singing an entirely different tune.

I already touched on most of the highs, and the very few lows in my above review of the game, but I'll just say it again anyway - Tales of Vesperia is an amazing RPG, it's got a pretty good story, with awesome characters, a whole lot of style, and it's just a whole helluva lot of fun. And out of the very few RPGs on the 360, I really consider this to be the cream of the crop.

I'm in the middle of a second playthrough of the game, and sadly I just got side tracked from it by a bunch of other games. However I fully intent to get back to it as soon as I can, assuming my 360 isn't still dead by then.

3. Persona 4

Hey! It's the follow-up to last year's Game of The Year winner Persona 3. What's it doing back here in third place? Well, I think there are three possible answers to that question. One, I haven't actually finished the game yet as it only came out a week or two ago. Two, I'm not sure I like it as much as Persona 3. Three, the other two games on the list are just that good.

Sort of unfair all around, but that doesn't mean I don't love Persona 4. I'm really hooked on it right now and I'm playing it a lot to keep my mind occupied from other things. Seeing as how it's a SMT game though, it takes about a hundred hours or so to complete - so yeah didn't quite finish it in time. As far as it not being as good as Persona 3, well that sounds overly harsh. Truth is I'm not sure how I feel about it at this point. I really like everything about Persona 4, but I was really obsessed with Persona 3 - so those are some hard shoes to fill.

Anyway, Persona 4 is another awesome hardcore RPG from Atlus, and it has the same social aspects and monster catching mechanics tied into it that Persona 3 had. On the other hand there have been quite a few upgrades and changes to this installment. Chief among them being that you don't explore one big dungeon anymore - but a collection of smaller ones. Another big change is that you can directly control your party members now.

There are several various tweaks like these that make playing the game tighter and for the most part more user friendly. The game can still be balls hard though, so RPG lightweights need not apply. Still, if you're up for a challenge and a really lengthy and enjoyable experience make sure you check out Persona 4 - possibly the last great PS2 game.

2. Super Smash Brothers Brawl

Aha! We have a bit of a predicament here. Wasn't this supposed to be my number one game? It was indeed. And I certainly wrote enough about it here, here, here, and here. Let's not dwell on the fact that it clocked in at second, instead let us focus on what a great game Brawl is, and will continue to be for many years.

With the exception of the Sub Space Emissary mode, there isn't a whole lot I can fault Brawl for. At it's core it has the same fun as all hell four player fighting madness that fans have come to know and love. Throw a bunch of characters into the mix - including some really good new comers - and you've got yourself one helluva party game.

I already fell in love with the SSB series back when it launched on the N64, and with all the new stuff Brawl just makes things even better. Having such a wide selection of stages, including ones you can make yourself is awesome. Even more so since you can customize the music that will play on those stages from a selection of classic game tunes.

The inclusion of the Smash Ball, which gives every playable character a super move also adds a lot to the game. And while some Final Smashes are certainly made of finer stuff than others, they all add an element of surprise to the battlefield.

With all that said and done, I just feel like playing more Brawl now. It's been a couple months since the last time we put the disc into the Wii, but I'd say it's about time to start cracking out on some rounds again.

1. Metal Gear Solid 4

Well, if it wasn't Brawl gracing the top of the list it would have to be that other game that I wrote extensively about. You can find my Metal Gear Mania post here, here, here, here, here, and here. Yeah, I went a bit nuts with this one. So, I shouldn't have too much to say about it at this point, but just what makes Metal Gear Solid 4 my game of the year?

For one, it combines everything I love in a video game. Excellent gameplay, an amazing story, great characters, and an awesome soundtrack. True, the gameplay and the story are segmented into different parts. The first two acts of the game will primarily involve you taking action typical Metal Gear style. Than the last three acts of the game focus more on wrapping up this epic series' story. It's true that this sort of layout turned some people off, but I couldn't be happier with the way they set it up.

I didn't just play through the game once though, blogging about each act as I went mind you. I played through the game about five times before I finally decided I'd done enough of the game for the time being. True I skipped most of the story segments on those extra playthroughs, but that's to be expected when you've got a game with 90 minute cutscenes.

Even if you only play the game once, I still feel that the experience you'll get from it is more than worth the purchase. But there is certainly enough stuff to do on following playthroughs that will keep you coming back if you're into the gameplay. Though lets not speak of the less than stellar online play.

Much like Brawl, I totally feel like I could pop MGS4 back in right now and play it all over again. Watching all of the cutscenes again no less. I really feel that MGS4 is Game of The Year material, and it even justified my purchase of a Playstaion 3. And what more can be said than that?

Games of The Year 2008 Part 1

Well, it's been a long year full of way too many games, and I've played more than I'd like to admit. When it comes down to it though, there were 10 that really stuck out to me and come highly recommended to anyone that is into the hobby. There is no doubt that my list will conflict with many people's, but that's the great thing about list. Well than, let's get this thing started.

*Bonus* 11. Chrono Trigger / Dragon Quest IV: Chapters of The Chosen

Oops, Did I say 10 games? I guess I meant 12. Again I find myself breaking my own rules, but for good reason this time! Dragon Quest 4 is one of my favorite RPGs of all time, and Chrono Trigger is one of my favorite games of all time. I think it would be pretty unfair to the 10 new games on this list to rank them in the top 10. So I put them both in as a special runner-up position just so you'd know that they are definitely work checking out. And Yes, I know I ranked the Final Fantasy Tactics remake in last year's list - but give me a break!

Chrono Trigger is regarded by many to be one of the finest RPGs of all time, and it certainly holds up today. Crono and his friends travel through various time periods trying to prevent the destruction of the world by a mysterious entity known as Lavos. The game is a prime example of how to do Turn Based Combat right, and the game's cast of wonderful characters all support various different abilities that can be combined to form more powerful combo attacks. The DS remake didn't go through a graphical overhaul or anything like that but they did provide some additional content along with the upgraded translations.

Chrono Trigger itself is still one of my favorite games of all time, but the added on content is a little questionable. If anything it kind of drags down the quality of the rest of the game. True, more Chrono Trigger should be a good thing by default - but when you're forced to run back and fourth across the same dungeon over and over and over and over again it really takes away from the pace of the original game. Still you're rewarded with several overly powerful upgrades for your characters, it gives you another place to grind levels at, and you get a brand new final boss and bonus ending. A pretty great package regardless of the setbacks.

Chapters of The Chosen on the other hand is quite a big upgrade from the original NES/Famicom days, but honestly the graphical reboot originally took place in the Playstation port that was unreleased here in the States. However the DS port gave me a chance to get in touch with my inner child and relive a game that I played so many years ago.

Dragon Quest IV puts you in the roll of several different characters spread across several chapters, and eventually you'll take control of the Hero of the story. The plot is pretty standard, legendary Hero saves the world from a rising evil. It's all good though, it's good old fashion RPG Goodness, and a big dose of nostalgia for long time fans of the genre. The graphical upgrades certainly make the game a lot more pleasant to look at, and various other additions make the gae even better. Such as the ability to control your party member's actions and a much better translation.

There is a little bit of bonus content that provides players with an Extra Dungeon, More Bosses, and another playable character - but I won't spoil any of that for you. Just know that it's good, and a welcome addition to the original game.

If you're any sort of an RPG fan you owe it to yourself to check out these games.

10. Grand Theft Auto 4

Okay, let's change things up a little bit. Instead of going into so much detail about the games I'll just try and describe what I liked about them. Starting with what might've been the most overhyped game of the year. GTA4 was released on a wave of perfect reviews and while the game has managed to make it to the number one spot on some people's list, it's amazing everyone doesn't feel that way based off of the initial reception. However it didn't take long for GTA4 to get some serious backlash from the community.

Truth be told, I loved GTA4 when I first got it. Couldn't stop playing the game. It's only the second GTA game that I've cared to play it until completion. It has a great story that kept me hooked, and the gameplay is better than ever before. It also doesn't hurt that the world is gorgeous and populated full of people - it really gives the city of "real" feel to it. So why is it number 10 on the list?

Well, as I think is probably the case with a lot of people, the game didn't quite live up to the hype when all was said and done. It was fun while it lasted, but looking back it's really hard to see what all the fuss was about. Even the multiplayer which should've kept the game alive for months was pretty poorly executed.

So while I may sound a tad bit negative about the game, the initial experience was amazing, that thrill of a new open world game, and perhaps just a touch of buying into the hype. It may not be Game of The Year, but that didn't stop me from playing it straight for a couple weeks once I got it. And that I feel is worthy of a spot on this list.

9. Final Fantasy Tactics A2: Grimoire of The Rift

I spent some time talking about this game a few months ago, so it really shouldn't be a surprise that it's on the list. I'm a huge fan of the original Tactics, it got me into SRPGs in the first place, and while the "Advance" series of Tactics games might lack certain parts of what was so great about FFT, they make up for it with refined game mechanics, a robust selection of classes spread across the games various playable races, and an equipment system that adds quite a bit of depth to the game.

A2's story might've been weaker than the original FFTA, but I really liked the characters a lot more. Plus the additional race of winged females known as Gria was a real treat. I spent over a hundred hours with the game and enjoyed it's laid back difficulty and surprising amount of content. And that is why it's made the list.

8. Valkyria Chronicles

Quite the opposite of Tactics A2, VC is an unrelentingly hard SRPG that can drive you crazy if you aren't careful. Also, unlike A2, VC is a totally different take on the SRPG genre. Blending Turn Based Tactics with Real Time Action, Valkyria Chronicles is certainly a unique game. It also looks absolutely beautiful, and provides a fairly emotional war story.

There are some speed bumps though, a couple of missions that seem overly cruel, and certain sections which require pure luck more than anything else. Despite this Valkyria Chronicles has proved to be a really enjoyable game if you can get past those obstacles. I'm not the biggest fan of difficult games, but it is rewarding clearing out some of these challenges.

I really like the story, it's basically another war torn world that revolves around a group of heroes trying to beat the bad guys - very akin to most Fire Emblem stories, and has the mature flavor of something like the original Tactics. Also I'm attached to several of the characters and interested to see what happens next. I really enjoy the gameplay too , I just wish it was a little less luck based at times. Being able to upgrade my units by either pumping experience into them in hopes of unlocking hidden abilities, and being able to upgrade their equipment with the right amount of money is also quite rewarding.

Overall Valkyria Chronicles is a solid experience that offers a challenge that feels rewarding. It definitely doesn't hurt that the game is a breath of fresh air into the SRPG genre.

7. Fable II

Here's another game making the top of a lot of people's Games of The Year list. So it might come as somewhat of a shock that I'm ranking it so low on mine. Don't let it fool you though, I really loved Fable 2. Hell, I really loved the first Fable, a game the received a lot of flack from people for not living up to what was promised. Sadly it seems Fable 2 suffers a little bit in that department too, but not nearly so much this time.

The major complaint people have with Fable 2 seems to be that the social interactions are pretty shallow, well that and a pretty piss poor Co-op mode. Honestly, they are kind of shallow, what with being able to get a women to fall madly in love with you just by pumping your arm a couple dozen times. But it's all in good fun.

And the rest of the game? Wonderful. The infamous "one button" combat is great, mix in an easy way to use your inventory of spells, and another button to use a ranged attack and you have got yourself a pretty sweet and simple combat system. Another thing that works surprisingly well is the Dog companion and bread crumb trail system. Both of these features are new, and highly welcomed into the series. Some people might not like being shown where to go next, but hey you can always turn that off.

The story is pretty great too, the only downside would be the ending which is a topic of much debate. Personally? I wasn't that impressed with the whole ending segment. Though I'm not going to ruin any of that. Another sort of bummer is that there doesn't seem to be as much equipment as in the first game. I'd really love to have more armor and clothing options. The Legendary Weapons are pretty good though.

The game does offer quite a few side quest for you to do, ranging from pleasing the various Demon Doors by fulfilling their ridiculous quest in exchange for loot, to hooking up with a widow that her husband's ghost has a grudge against.

All in all, while I may not consider this Game of The Year, it's certainly a good one.

6. Fallout 3

I was half expecting this to be my Game of The Year, and while that may not be the case I still really loved Fallout 3. I'm a huge fan of Oblivion, it's one of my favorite games. Not so much a fan of the old Fallout games sadly. I mean they aren't bad, but I just got into them too late. I only just played a bit of 1 and 2 earlier this year in preparation for Fallout 3. Regardless of it's roots though, Fallout 3 is still an amazing game, if not a little depressing.

The gameplay is more than just "Oblivion with Guns" thanks to the VATS system which lets you pause time to target enemies' individual body parts. It's also not simply a shooter for this very same reason combined with the fact that shots are still based on statistics more so than actual skill.

The world is vast, and full of all kinds of people and creatures that you'll either want to kill, or talk to, or do both. The main story line is kind of linear, but theres just so much to do for Side Missions and just general exploring. I clocked about a hundred hours into the game completing the main story, and all of the actual side quest - but there is still a ton of freeform stuff I haven't done yet.

The best part is that theres DLC on the way that will offer even more to do, so I'll easily be playing Fallout 3 well into next year. It's a good thing too because I've grown really attached to my character and her wide variety of Power Suits and Tools of Destruction.

Phew, well stay tuned for the next installment of the list that'll cover games 5-1.

Anime of The Year 2008

Well, I've been absent for a long while, largely due in part to my desktop's monitor being completely shot. Thankfully I'm back with a new monitor just in time to dish up another annual round of "of The Year" list. As always I'll be starting with the 3 best anime of the year, and you can expect the much bigger list of best games in the following week. So than, let's get it started.

Introduction: I watched a lot of anime this year, like a ton. More than I've ever watched I think. For whatever reason this year I decided I would check out every new show for myself instead of waiting to hear about the new hotness. The result? Well when FAKKU decided to do a Character Battle pitting characters from 37 different shows against each other - I had seen 28 of those shows. Unfortunately I only have room for three series on the list, but there were plenty of shows that I probably should have at least wrote about throughout the year. I'll try to do better about that next year.

However earlier this year I wrote about Code Geass Season 1 which is one of my favorite anime at this point, and I would have loved to put it on this list, sadly it came out last year though so it is disqualified. Sadder still is that it probably would've topped last year's list if I had watched it in time. Than there was Season 2 of Code Geass which was unfortunately not as good as the previous season and thus has been excluded from the list. Knowing this, I really should've taken the time to watch EVERY show I've downloaded this year in it's entirety or at least as far as it has been put out so far, however that isn't the case as I just spent too much time playing games instead. Thus I might end up with another Code Geass on my hands. Regardless, even if I find a hidden gem later on down the road, the following shows come highly recommended and are without a doubt worth checking out.

Runner-up: Toradora

Here I am, already bending the rules. But with so many great series this year it's really hard to pick just three. So why not extend the list you say? Well, I guess this is an attempt at doing just that. Anyways, Toradora is anther tsundere filled romantic comedy with infamous tsundere master Rie Kugimiya taking on the roll of Taiga Aisaka, the "Palm-Top Tiger". Taiga along with the leading male character Ryuji Takasu are trying to hook up with the other's friends - Yusaku Kitamura and Minori Kushieda respectively. However it becomes increasingly apparent that Taiga and Ryuji are developing feelings for each other. The show revolves around the two constantly working together to try and pursue their love interest, and the result is usually hilarious failure.

Now I really like this show, it's just really cute and funny, the animation is great, awesome theme song, and great characters. However I do have one glaring problem with the series and it's my general dislike towards Rie Kugimiya characters. Like every Rie Kugimiya character, Taiga is a small flat chested girl with serious personality issues. And a lot of the time I find her attitude and general mistreatment of Ryuji quite annoying. Though to be fair Taiga is kind of in the middle on my "Rie Kugimiya Scale". You might recall her other popular characters Shana from Shakugan no Shana, and Louise from Zero no Tsukaima. While Shana is pretty low on the "scale" because while she is still certainly a tsundere character she doesn't go to overboard. Louise on the other hand is the exact opposite, where in later seasons of ZnT she almost makes the show unbearable to watch. Taiga is kind of in the middle, leaning more towards the Shana side, but can spike towards the Louise side at times.

I guess what I'm trying to say here, all the while beating around the bush is - Taiga is kind of the reason the show isn't in the top three for me. It's not that I hate her or anything, she can be quite adorable and funny at times, but at the same time she can be really annoying too. The main reason this show is worth mentioning though, and the fact that it's the Runner-up is because the show really is quite good the rest of the time. The situations are usually pretty hilarious, and the characters despite some personality issues on Taiga's and Ami's part are quite awesome. The relationships in the show are interesting, where Ryuji and Taiga make a cute enough couple, even though I'd rather see him with his own crush Minori, or the slutty Ami Kawashima who is introduced a few episodes in. I also wouldn't mind seeing Taiga with her crush Kitamura because she is quite adorable whenever he's around.

Speaking of Ami though, don't ask me why she doesn't bother me. She can be quite the bitch towards Taiga, and has a pretty bitchy personality overall. But there's just something about the way she treats Ryuji that I find enjoyable. Maybe it's just because it's the exact opposite of tsundere which if you couldn't tell already I'm not very big on. Anyway, I've gone on long enough about a show that isn't even in the Top Three, but it should be obvious that I have an invested interest in the show. I highly recommend it if you're into romantic comedies, and especially if you're a tsundere lover - this would be your wet dream.

3. Kannagi: Crazy Shrine Maidens

Aw Yeah, I love Kannagi. It's another new show that I've only gotten 11 episodes into. It came out during the Fall Season along with Toradora and many other shows I've been keeping up with. Initially I wasn't sure of what to think of the show. From what I read about it, it didn't sound terribly interesting. And the Intro is pretty misleading thus far. But damn, I'm certainly glad I gave it a chance as it has turned out to be one of my favorite anime series in recent memory. You don't have to take my word for it though, if you ever find yourself lost in 2chan you'll quickly learn that Japan is ape shit about this show - and for good reason.

Enough gushing though, Kannagi is the story of a boy named Jin Mikuriya who just so happened to be carving a statue out of a sacred tree that was possessed by the spirit of a goddess. So imagine Jin's surprise when the statue comes to life in the form of Nagi - a pun cracking goddess who loves to lay around all day snacking on junk food and watching TV. Jin is forced to live with Nagi while trying to convince his friends that she's a sister he never knew he had. This doesn't always go over so well and there are plenty of hilarious interactions between her and Jin's friends. Among the supporting crew is Jin's childhood friend Tsugumi Aoba who totally wants Jin, and Nagi's sister Zange who also wants Jin. Nagi though? She doesn't seem to care either way as long as shes keeping herself occupied with something. The show doesn't seem to know where it's going either as one moment Nagi is trying to purge impurities from the world. The next shes trying to gather a fanbase in order to restore her goddess powers. And than shes locked herself in a closet because Jin accidentley recorded over one of her shows. It's so awesome and random, and I love it. Doubt it's that great? Just check this... oh wait. Sorry I was going to link you to an awesome video from the latest episode of Kannagi, but YouTube if fucking gay. Check out Episode 11 for "The Song of Hello Soybean" though and you won't be disappointed.

So, if I love this show so much - Why isn't it Number 1? Well, honestly I can't fault it for anything other than a pretty lame ending theme and terrible cock-blockery "Next Episode" previews. All I can say is that the other two shows on this list were just better to me. And that should be saying a lot at this point.

2. Kimi Kiss pure rouge

Bending the rules again here, seeing as how Kimi Kiss started in October 2007, but it ended this year and I love it so much that I just have to put it on the list. I shouldn't need to go into too much detail about this show seeing as I already have previously (IMPORTANT - SPOILER WARNING: If you follow that link, the last few paragraphs contain major spoilers. You have been warned) I'll give you a quick rundown though in case you're too lazy to click. Kimi Kiss is about childhood friends Koichi Sanada, Kazuki Aihara, and Mao Mizusawa. Mao moves into Koichi's house after being in France for many years, only to find herself mixed up in a crazy love tangle. Koichi has the hots for his classmate Yumi Hosihno, and Kazuki has an interesting encounter with a mysterious girl named Eriko Futami. However it doesn't take long for things to get confusing when Mao starts realizing her feelings for Koichi, and another girl Auska Sakino starts to pursue Kazuki.

When I was coming up with the list for this year, I never forgot about Kimi Kiss, but I did consider bumping it off the list. That was until I reread my entry from earlier this year and remember how much the series grabbed me. The series teases you throughout and I would find it hard not to be excited trying to figure out how things will turn out in the end. The story, the characters, the relationships between those characters, and the emotions - they're what makes this series so damn good. If you're looking for a show that's more on the romance side of things this is really one to check out.

1. Soul Eater

It didn't take long for me to decide that Soul Eater would be my Numer One pick of this year. I already had a good feeling about the show going into it seeing as how it's done by Bones - the guys who brought you Full Metal Alchemist, another show I really love. After watching those first few episodes though I was instantly hooked, and here we are on episode 36 and I'm still loving the show.

Soul Eater is about a group of students known as Meisters who partner up with individuals who are actually Weapons. These two partners fight against various evils in search of souls which the weapons devour to increase their power. Among these evils are powerful Witches who posses a truly power soul that is required to unlock a Weapon's true potential. The main characters are Maka Albarn and her Scythe Soul Eater, Black Star and his multi-purpose weapon Tsubaki, and Death the Kid with his Twin Guns Liz and Patti Thompson. The series starts off the same way many Shonen Jump series do, with the main characters facing some minor challenges early on, but eventually having to band together against a greater threat.

The thing that's different about Soul Eater, than say Bleach or Naruto is the fact that the action kind of takes a back seat not too long into the series. The show tends to focus more so on comedy and the dramatic parts between fights. Honestly, I'd be lying if I said this wasn't a little disappointing, seeing as how I totally eat up shows like Bleach and One Piece. However the overall story, the characters, the comedy - it's all top notch stuff. The show is actually one of the funnier anime I've watched with crazy filler episodes involving an exam at school that goes terribly wrong, and the Legendary Weapon Excalibur who turns out to be a really annoying jackass. Don't get me wrong, Soul Eater certainly has it's fair share of "Oh Shi-" moments in and out of combat, but I think it's an entirely different beast than your typical Shonen show.

The series is supposed to be 52 episodes long, the same as Full Metal Alchemist was, and it's looking to be a fine series worthy of Number One on this list. If you're any sort of fan of anime be sure to check this one out. And if you're not hooked between the ridiculously awesome opening theme, the stylish look and feel of the show, and the hilarious antics, than you're probably not an anime fan.

Whatcha Playing? Too Many Games

Dead Space: I haven't gotten too far into Dead Space just yet, mainly because I'm too scared to play it at night by myself. Which is sad considering the game isn't even that scary, it just has a few shock and panic moments. Other than that I'm pretty pleased with the game so far. It's kind of like a combination of Resident Evil 4 and Bioshock, so you can't go wrong with that formula. The game's atmosphere is what really sells it though. The game has amazing sound that makes each area feel intense and it really makes you feel like you're in a desolate space station. I'll hopefully have more impressions of this soon.

Disgaea 3: I finally got around to starting up Disgaea 3 not too long ago and I'm glad that I did. The game really does seem to be quite a bit better than 2, but I'm not quite sure if it can manage to beat the first game overall. I'll say one thing for certain though, is that I like a lot of the changes they've made to the game. Overall it seems easier to progress through the main story, which is a good thing since it was pretty fucking hard to do in the first two games without leveling up a bunch. The new Class Room system is neat, with you being able to assign your characters to different clubs to gain benefits like Stat Growth, and more Experience. The game's story is a pretty good one, though it's a bit more silly that usual (and that's saying something to be sure). There's a whole bunch of great story characters, including a nice selection of bonus characters.

Like every Disgaea game there are short cuts to leveling. While it might not be as easy as it was to obtain a maxed out character as it was in 2, but it still seems pretty easy in this game. There is of course a ton of bonus stuff to do and it requires some pretty beefed up characters in order to survive. I've seen Jerry do a bit of the bonus stuff and it looks like a mix of awesome and difficult. Needless to say I can't wait to start maxing out characters, but with so many other games - who knows when I'll get around to it. The only real problem I have with the game are things that are staples of the series. Mainly Geo Effects, and the Dark Assembly. Geo Effects are a double edged sword, as they can be really nice (ie: power leveling) but they can also make maps really hard and complicated. The Dark Assembly though, I hate it. Having to pass all the clubs, side quest, and characters can be really annoying. Still, Disgaea 3 is a really awesome game and I'm sure it'll rank nicely on my GoTY list.

Dokapon Kingdom: I was pretty interested in this game when I first heard about it, even if Jerry wasn't. However since we started playing it we both seem to enjoy it well enough. Basically it'sa Board Party Game mixed in with RPG elements. You start by making your character and picking one of three starter classes, than you roll a spinner and move around the board. Landing on different spots will allow you to win items, or fight random encounters, or even fight against other players. If you kill another player you can steal their items, play a prank on them, or forgive them. I've pretty much just stolen from every character I've killed so far, but it might be fun to pull one of the pranks. My only real complaint with the game so far is that players have the option to "sell their soul" to a demon guy and they get turned into a demon themselves. This results in some of the gayest bullshit I've ever seen in a game. The demon player will pretty much be able to move anywhere on the map, kill anyone he wants, and just fuck with everything in the game. He doesn't gain anything from it, he just gets revenge I guess by ruining the game for everyone else. It's pretty stupid, but other than that little set back - a pretty enjoyable party game.

Dragon Quest VIII: I actually haven't touched this one for about a week now. Just so many other games to play. But after beating Dragon Quest IV DS, I was inspired to pick this up again since I never really got into it before. The game is good, and I do plan on finishing it at some point, but I'm too swamped with actual new games to really be playing and old one right now.

Fable 2: Here's another game I haven't played enough of yet, but that's okay since it just came out. I'm a huge fan of the original Fable, and this one certainly doesn't look to disappoint. I've completed the first few quest and the game still feels like the Fable I know and love. Your new Dog companion is an interesting addition to the game, he can be quite useful in finding treasure, but sometimes his tagging a long comes off as somewhat annoying. I can't wait to play this game co-op with Deac, as this is certainly a game where two players could have a blast just fucking around.

Harvest Moon: Tree of Tranquility: It's been a while since I've gotten into a Harvest Moon game, but I am a fan of the series. Luckily ToT seems to be one of the better installments in the series with a large island to explore, full of people, and a ton of things to keep yourself occupied. There's also a main quest line that helps progress the game along and provides a little variety to your everyday chores. I'm only nearing the end of the first Spring, but I'm having a lot of fun with it. There's always so much shit to do in the first year, what with trying to woo over your future spouse, start up your crops, and gathering materials to upgrade your house and build onto the farm. Fun Stuff to be sure.

Infinite Undiscovery: I haven't played much of this recently, and to be honest I'm still not sold on the game. With so many other quality RPGs to play, it's really hard to invest time in this one. I did make a little bit of progress though and have access to a wide number of characters. However that was only after going through one of the worst fucking dungeons in a game I've seen. Firriann said he didn't start likeing the game until the end of the first disc... so christ. I dunno. Well, here's hoping.

Warhammer Online: I haven't been playing a lot of WAR lately, mainly because I got back into WoW (more on that in a minute). Sadly I think that'll be the case with many people who switched over to Warhammer from WoW. Of course there are others who are content to stay. Anyway, I got my Sorceress to 17, a level 9 Black Orc, and a level 8 Magus all on Praag. After going back to WoW, I appreciated some of the things WAR does - like being able to queue for RVR anywhere, and the PVP in general. I'm sujre I'll play more WAR at some point, but again - so many games.

World of Warcraft: Yep, with Patch 3.02 Live I've gotten back into WoW. Still waiting on Lich King, but in the meantime I'm getting some last minute gear on my Shaman, and still trying to level my 65 Warlock. There's a lot of cool stuff in the patch for both of my characters, and I even picked up a couple of the new Glyphs. Sadly there is one glaring flaw with the patch - Ret Paladins are retardedly overpowered. Not only do they still have the ability to fully heal themselves, bubble, stun, and wear plate - but now they do an absurd amount of damage. They're slowly getting nerfed, but it needs to happen faster, and harder. Sad that I currently do have any friends or a guild playing on my server, but I'm still having a lot of fun soloing stuff.

Infinite Undiscovery: Early Impressions

I'm only about three hours into the game at this point, and I should warn you. I'm feeling pretty damn negative about the game right now. Sure, I haven't made it very far yet, and a lot of my complaints might have to do with the game being so different than what I'm used to that I'm not comfortable with it yet. None the less, I figured I'd throw up a few quick impressions, or rather a list of complaints as it were.

Story: I can't really speak to this one so much since not a whole lot has happened yet. And since it's been a couple weeks since I started the game I can't quite remember the opening. I think it was some ridiculous fight that involved chains? I dunno. Also I was assaulted by a series of gibberish when I entered a town. I had no fucking idea what those people were talking about.

Characters: I don't really feel anything about the characters so far. The main guy Capell seems like an alright guy. Aya is pretty hot. Everyone else looked pretty dumb to me, don't really like the art style and the voice acting is fucking terrible.

Combat: Combat seems like it would be pretty good, but so far it comes across as pretty clunky. There are other elements I don't like about the combat too, like not being able to control your other characters, having to draw/sheath your weapon constantly, and having to "connect" to get party members to perform a certain action. I don't understand the combo system, and surprise attacks are seemingly impossible to pull off.

Connecting: This is one of the game's gimmicks. You can "connect" to another party member. This has two functions. In town you can connect to one party member and they'll follow you around town. Elsewhere you can command your team mate to perform one of two preassigned actions. Both of these are annoying to me. In town you can only bring one character around with you at a time, and sometimes you need characters with you to gain access to items and side quest. Than when you want to complete the side quest you need to do the process over again. If you accidentally disconnect with someone than you have to go all the way back to them to connect again. And when you need to connect in battle, things get really sloppy because everything is in motion and you don't have time to fuck around with trying to get Dipshit A to perform Bullshit Move B.

Everything Else: I haven't messed around with the Item Creation system so far, so I can't speak to that. I don't like the Menu, it takes place in real time and if you don't have your weapon out you have to sit down everytime you access it. I do however like the Flute music as it's an interesting concept, and I like the Personal section in the Menu. I like that you can issue party members to Heal with the Y Button.

That's about all I can say about the game at this point. Hopefully I warm up to it a little more. Another problem might be that I have entirely too many other games to play at the moment that it's keeping me from getting comfortable and adjusting to this game. I'm not sure. I'll certainly be playing it some more in any case.

Release List 2.3 October - November

Wii

Sam and Max: Season 1 - 10/7
Dokapon Kingdom - 10/14
Wii Music - 10/20
Naruto: Clash of Ninja Revolution 2 - 10/21
Cooking Mama World Kitchen - 10/21
Spider-man: Web of Shadows - 10/21
King of Fighters Orochi Saga - 10/21
Guitar Hero World Tour - 10/26
My Sims Kingdom - 10/28
James Bond 007: Quantum of Solace - 11/4
Call of Duty: World At War - 11/11
Rayman Raving Rabbids TV Party - 11/11
Star Wars Clone Wars: Lightsaber Duel - 11/11
Tales of Symphonia: Dawn of the New World - 11/11
Animal Crossing: City Folk - 11/16
Tomb Raider Underworld - 11/18
Rock Band 2 - 11/18
Sonic Unleashed - 11/18
Castlevania: Judgment - 11/18


DS

Bleach: Dark Souls - 10/7
My Japanese Coach - 10/14
Naruto: Path of Ninja 2 - 10/14
Populous - 10/14
Rune Factory 2: Fantasy Harvest Moon - 10/21
Castlevania: Order of Ecclesia - 10/21
Spider-man: Web of Shadows - 10/21
My Sims Kingdom - 10/28
James Bond 007: Quantum of Solace - 11/4
Tom Clancy's End War - 11/4
Star Wars Clone Wars: Jedi Alliance - 11/11
Call of Duty: World At War - 11/11
Guitar Hero On Tour: Decades - 11/16
Tomb Raider Underworld - 11/18
Luminous Arc 2 - 11/18
Rayman Raving Rabbids TV Party - 11/18
Chrono Trigger - 11/24


Xbox 360

Fracture - 10/7
Guilty Gear 2: Overturn - 10/7
Golden Axe: Beast Rider - 10/14
Dead Space - 10/14
Saints Row 2 - 10/14
Rock Band 2 Bundle - 10/19
Fable 2 - 10/21
Far Cry 2 - 10/21
Spider-man: Web of Shadows - 10/21
Guitar Hero World Tour - 10/26
Fallout 3 - 10/28
James Bond 007: Quantum of Solace - 11/4
Tom Clancy's End War - 11/4
Gears of War 2 - 11/7
Mortal Komat vs. DC Universe - 11/10
Command & Conquer: Red Alert 3 - 11/11
Call of Duty: World At War - 11/11
LIPS - 11/11
Mirror's Edge - 11/11
Banjo Kazooie: Nuts and Bolts - 11/11
Left 4 Dead - 11/17
You're in The Movies - 11/17
Naruto: The Broken Bond - 11/18
Tomb Raider Underworld - 11/18
Sonic Unleashed - 11/18
The Last Remnant - 11/20
Huxley - 11/25

PS3

Fracture - 10/7
Golden Axe: Beast Rider - 10/14
Dead Space - 10/14
Saints Row 2 - 10/14
Rock Band 2 - 10/19
Far Cry 2 - 10/21
Bioshock - 10/21
Spider-man: Web of Shadows - 10/21
LittleBigPlanet - 10/21
Eternal Sonata - 10/21
Guitar Hero World Tour - 10/26
MotorStorm: Pacific Rift - 10/28
Fallout 3 - 10/28
Naruto Ultimate Ninja Storm - 11/4
James Bond 007: Quantum of Solace - 11/4
Resistance 2 - 11/4
Tom Clancy's End War - 11/4
Mortal Komat vs. DC Universe - 11/10
Command & Conquer: Red Alert 3 - 11/11
Call of Duty: World At War - 11/11
Mirror's Edge - 11/11
Valkyria Chronicles - 11/11
Tomb Raider Underworld - 11/18
Sonic Unleashed - 11/18
Alone in The Dark - 11/18
Tekken 6 - 11/25

PSP

Valhalla Knights 2 - 10/1
Star Ocean: First Departure - 10/21
Spider-man: Web of Shadows - 10/21
King of Fighters Orochi Saga - 10/21
Tom Clancy's End War - 11/4

PC

Brothers in Arms: Hell's Highway - 10/7
Dead Space - 10/14
Saints Row 2 - 10/14
Command & Conquer: Red Alert 3 - 10/27
Fallout 3 - 10/28
James Bond 007: Quantum of Solace - 11/4
Call of Duty: World At War - 11/11
Wrath of The Lich King - 11/13
Left 4 Dead - 11/17
Grand Theft Auto IV - 11/18
Neverwinter Nights 2: Storm of Zehir - 11/18
Tomb Raider Underworld - 11/18
Huxley - 11/25

PS2

Eternal Poison - 11/11
Persona 4 - 12/9

Tales of Vesperia

I was a little harsh on Tales of Vesperia in my early impressions. However I'm delighted to say I've had a change of heart, and many of the things I took issue with before have been resolved through playing the game more. There are still a few setbacks, and some other annoying elements in the game - but Tales of Vesperia has really turned out to be an awesome installment in the series, and just the sort of JRPG this generation needs.

The Story

For the most part, Tales of Vesperia's story is pretty standard, especially among the Tales series. The protagonist Yuri sets off on an adventure to deal with a small problem, and ends up involved in a conflict that will determine the fate of the world. If I just spoiled anything for you, you haven't played enough RPGs before. That isn't to say the story is bad, no - from time to time I enjoy the simplistic story of good versus evil without things getting overly convoluted. And besides, there are still some twist and turns that add a little spice to the story.

Speaking of which, I'm a pretty big fan of the character roster in Vesperia. Yuri, the main character, is one of my favorite protagonist at this point. He's very carefree and has his own sense of justice. He's an Outlaw looking out for the small people, and he's not afraid to get his hands dirty. That's my kind of Hero. His partner in crime is his faithful pooch Repede. Yes he is a dog, and yes he does have style, but he doesn't talk. For this reason it's hard to relate to the character, but it's something new and I found him to be pretty cool.

The leading lady Estelle is another matter. She's your typical goody-goody Princess who is naive in the ways of the world. And she's pretty conflicted with just about everything. She never seems to be sure of what to do, and she changes priorities at the drop of a hat. Estelle has her charms certainly, but I found myself getting annoyed at her frequently. Another female character I feel conflicted about is Rita. If you recall I pointed out my dislike in her during my early impressions. And while it takes quite a while, Rita slowly starts to change into a more likeable character. Though she's your typical Tsundere type character, so some people might love her from the get go. Another interesting thing about Rita is she seems to have a thing for Estelle. This becomes pretty obvious as the game goes on, and it's kind of cute.

Karol, who is in my opinion a pretty terrible character to fight with, is actually a pretty interesting character. The poor kid is trying to face his fears and take responsibility for a change. He's also surprisingly knowledgeable about the world. Raven who IS the worst character in a fight is kind of a boring character. Sure he has a few secrets to hide, but for the most part he's just a lazy "old man" despite being 35 years old.

Finally Judith - my favorite character. She's awesome, everything from her character design, to her voice, the way she fights, and her personality. Judith shares a lot in common with Yuri as she is also a pretty liad back character. She has an agenda, and she is always up for a good fight. She also has a playful side, and she can be a bit of a tease from time to time.

For the most part we've got some pretty awesome characters here, but there is one rotton egg in the world of Vesperia. I complained about him before, and he only got worse. I'm referring to Zagi of course, one of the game's main villains. He's like a mirror version of Judith. Everything about him sucks, from his design, to his way of talking. Unfortunately you see a lot of him throughout the game, and even more sad is that a lot of the GameFAQs kids seem to love the guy. He's not evil, or insane, or cool - he's just dumb.

The Combat (and Skills)

Previously I ripped on ToV's combat for being slow, and a step back from what had been established in Tales of The Abyss. While I still think the game is sorely lacking the fonic fields system from ToTA, I found out that the combat in ToV isn't nearly as slow as I thought it was.

Perhaps I just wasn't used to the Tales combat since I hadn't played a Tales game for a while, or it might have had something to do with my skill setup. For whatever reason though, as I kept playing the game - the combat got better, and I was once again enjoying the action packed, combo filled combat that I'd come to expect from the Tales series.

One of the more interesting things about the combat in ToV is that your fighting style can change pretty drastically based on the character you're using. Sure, this has always been a part of the series when you go from a Melee fighter to a caster, but just about every character in ToV has some unique mechanic, or fights differently.

For example, Yuri fights like your traditional Tales melee character, though he has access to an absurd number of combos and hits. Where as Judith, another melee character, is all about aerial combat and doing combos in the air. Karol has an interesting system where he can charge up his attacks and release them for big damage. Estelle can add additional hits in a combo string, and Rita can rhythmatically tap the B button to speed up spell casting.

All of these and more are largely due to the Skill system which I touched on before. Basically character can learn various skills from all the Weapons and Sub-Weapons you obtain throughout the game, and while all the character share many of the same skills, they also each receive their own unique skills that allow for variety in combat. So while the fonic fields might be missing, ToV certainly has it's own brand of depth added to the combat.

Another thing I expressed concern with was the balance of the game. I complained that sometimes you'd be doing fine and than you'd go into a boss battle that would totally wreck you. Luckily that isn't the case, save for one boss battle in the game. For whatever reason that one boss is just really fucking hard for no reason. I never had any other problems with boss battles after that one.

Synthesizing, Side Quest, and Secret Missions

Aside from the main game, there's also a ton of extra stuff to keep you occupied and to warrant several playthroughs of the game. Synthesizing will play a large part in the main game, as you craft new equipment for your characters, but you can also go out of your way to get the best stuff in the game. Side Quest will have you revisiting areas around the world, collecting items, and completing missions for various people. And the Secret Missions are little objectives that can be found in most boss fights.

To Synthesize you need to gather a set of materials and take them to any merchant in the game. Once you've unlocked the "blue print" and have the materials you can make your item. You'll use this mostly to synth and upgrade weapons. But you can also make armor, accessories, and attachments. Attachments are a really fun addition to the series, they're basically cosmetic accessories for your characters. For example you can make Sunglasses for Yuri to wear.

To get the materials, you can go about it in a couple of ways. The more common method is to collect loot from the monsters you defeat. Sometimes this can be easy, by just farming a certain monster over and over again. Sometimes it can be a pain in the ass, when you have to hunt a Giganto monster. An overly large, mini-boss type encounter that will spawn randomly in certain dungeons and fields. Farming these Giganto monsters can take hours upon hours of reloading areas.

The other method is similar to grabbing materials from previous Tales games. Through various Search Points scattered across the world map. These search points will respawn randomly, though they seem to have a set list of items they can produce. It's still random what you'll actually end up getting though, so it takes a bit of luck.

Moving on, there are many Side Quest in Vesperia, not unlike previous Tales games. These quest can reward you with various items, abilities, or titles. Unfortunately these side quest most of the time require you to revisit a certain area at a certain times. Without a guide this can be pretty frustrating as you'd have to revisit every area and talk to everyone every time you progressed a bit in the game. Also unfortunate is that the official Strategy guide doesn't even touch most of these side quest. Lucky for me Kouli made a handy little guide on his blog that I'm using for my second run of the game.

But let's consider the fact that you don't have access to this sort of guide, like I did originally. You can actually miss out on abilities for your characters. That is pretty fucking annoying. You can also miss out on equipment and titles, which is slightly less annoying, but still not cool. Than again, I guess the point is that these are in fact side quest - and you don't need any of this stuff to finish the game.

Finally you have the Secret Missions, which in my opinion are way more trouble than they're worth. It's basically taking advantage of the 360's Achievement system, the problem is you can get items and eventually a title costume from doing all of them. The Secret Missions will always require you to do something specific against a boss. For example, one of them has you knocking the boss down while he's trying to do his special move. Some of these missions are easy, most of them are annoying as shit. I think I bothered to do about half of them on my first playthrough, and I'm not sure if I'll even be able to do them all on my second run.

Closing

Before I wrap things up, there is one last thing to note about ToV, though it shouldn't come as a surprise to any Tales veterans. Once you beat the game you can spend your accumulated Grade points to buy bonuses for your "New Game EX". Basically you can buy things like x10 EXP for your next run of the game. This is in my opinion the best sort of New Game + option out there. I think the first game to do something like that was Chrono Trigger which let you start the game over with just about everything including levels. I find this system to be a little more enjoyable as you still have to build your characters up, but you can do it much faster and with far more efficiency due to your knowledge of the game at that point.

With all that said, it's about time I wrapped things up. If it hasn't become abundantly clear at this point - I'm a huge fan of this game. It's certainly going to place high on my Games of The Year list, and it's just the sort of game I was looking for in this generation of console gaming. If you're a fan of the Tales series, I'm pretty positive you're going to enjoy this game. If you're a fan of RPGs but haven't jumped on the Tales bandwagon yet, this is a good time to start.

Star Wars: The Force Unleashed.

First let me start off by saying there will be massive spoilers in this entry. I usually try to avoid spoilers when reviewing a game, but in this case I felt it was necessary because the story was the most important part about my playing TFU. Unfortunately I can't do an LJ cut on Blogger, so if you don't want anything spoiled I suggest you skip down to the gameplay section, or ignore this entry entirely.

The Story

So the point of the story in The Force Unleashed is to gap the bridge between Episode III and IV. How well it does that is debatable at best. I didn't think the game did a terrible job of tying things together, but it did make for some annoying twist, and a couple of other loose ends.

The game starts off with you playing as Darth Vader as you invade the Wookie home planet of Kashyyk. Darth Vader than finds a young boy gifted with the Force. Vader than raises the boy as his secret apprentice Star Killer and the game begins proper. This is where things start to get ugly. Star Killer isn't nearly as bad ass as previews would lead you to believe. He's kind of a bitch and he's not really that evil. He just follows Darth Vader loyally. You meet his ship's crew which consist of your staple comic relief Droid, and love interest Juno Eclipse.

Your first few missions have you going around hunting down remaining Jedi, including Rahm Kota, who plays a more important role later on, and infamous Jedi Master Shaak Ti. After finishing off Shaak Ti, Star Killer goes to meet with Vader, and the Emperor just so happens to show up. So Darth Vader kicks Star Killers ass in an attempt to save his own ass. Later Vader explains his reasons to Star Killer and gives him a new mission of finding an army to fight against the Empire. But first we gotta take the worst turn in the game.

Apparently due to his love interest with Juno, Star Killer starts to see the Light Side of things. So an already disappointing Sith becomes another aspiring Jedi. This helps to move things along in the canon, but it doesn't make the transformation any less retarded. Anyway, Star Killer meets up with Rahm Kota who is still alive, and they decide to try and form the Rebel Alliance. So Kota points Star Killer in the direction of Leia Organa, which eventually leads to Bail Organa. With the key figures in place The Rebel Alliance is about to be formed. Until The Empire Storms in, with Vader leading the charge.

The Rebel leaders get captured and Star Killer gets left for dead. But he doesn't die just yet. Star Killer and Juno head for the very incomplete Death Star and Star Killer infiltrates it. After making his way through the Death Star, Star Killer faces his Sith Master - Darth Vader in a pretty epic fight that leaves Vader pretty fucked up. At this point you get to choose the canonical Light Side ending, or the retardedly pointless Dark Side ending.

In the true ending, Star Killer fights against the Empire after refusing to finish off Darth Vader, and instead choosing to save Kota's life. What follows is one of the dumbest fights in the game, followed by the Emperor killing Star Killer while everyone else gets away. The Rebel Alliance is officially formed, and enter Episode IV.

In the false ending, Star Killer kills Darth Vader, and than the Emperor ask Star Killer to be his new apprentice. Star Killer refuses, and than the Emperor kills everyone except for Star Killer. I'm assuming Bail Organa, Mon Mothma, Juno, Proxy, and just about everyone. We than see Star Killer clad in the Sith Stalker armor and reduced to being a puppet to carry out the Emperor's bidding.

Now with all that said, the story accomplishes what it was intended to, minus the whole false ending thing. However that doesn't really make it good, I suppose it was okay, but it left me wanting. I'm not really sure how they could have done it differently though, seeing as how I'm not some sort of Expanded Universe Author, but I'm sure they could've come up with something better. Than again, maybe I'm just being too picky, or letting the other weak aspects of the game affect my judgement.

More Spoilers

In this section I basically wanted to complain about certain aspects of the game that would still be considered spoilerish, and that didn't really fit into the story summary. So there might be some gameplay stuff here, and there might be some story related items. In any case, they all share one thing in common. I didn't like them.

For starters, what happens to Juno, Proxy, Kota, and Maris Brood. I'm not really into Expanded Universe, so that could all be explained there. Or these characters could've just been created for the sole purpose of this game. I guess it's similar to the Prequel movies, in that you can't really add anything new to movies that came out a few decades ago. But you could remove the loose ends before then. In any case, they didn't and these characters go unaccounted for.

The Star Destroyer segment of the game is like something out of Too Human. It's that fucking bad. Honestly, for something that this game was supposedly based off of, how the fuck could they mess this up so badly? Not only is the entire process of pulling the thing out of the sky boring as hell, it's also made annoyingly hard thanks to the respawning TIE-Fighters that do waaay too much damage. I was about ready to give up on the game altogether until I entered a few cheats to make things slightly easier. The best tip I can offer you is to have Force Grip maxed out and stand on either side of the platform and pull TIE-Fighters out of the air. Sheesh.

The Fight with the Emperor was really fucking stupid, especially after the epic battle with Darth Vader. Of course, I guess it's in the canon that the Emperor fights like a little bitch anyway. He basically flies around the area throwing shit at you, hitting you with force lightning, and summoning guards. You just have to avoid most of this shit, and dash in to hit him a few times with the Lightsaber. Rinse and Repete. It's a really shitty way to end the game, and considering this is your "Reward" for choosing the Light Side. If you pick the nonsensical Dark Side you get to fight against Vader again. Lame.

These last two I actually like, surprising I know. Though I do have a complaint about one of them - that's more like it.

First, the battle with Proxy is dumb - UNTIL he for whatever reason turns into Darth Maul. This is retarded, but I still really enjoyed it. Duel of the Fates was playing and everything, it was epic. Sorta. The battle is way too god damn easy, granted I was playing on Easy mode, but there are way too many parts in the game that are needlessly hard for me to bother playing on a harder difficulty. So the epic battle was kind of ruined because of this. I still enjoyed it though.

And finally, The Darth Vader fight was really cool. It's gotta be the best part of the game. That's not saying too much, but trust me - it's cool. In the last stage of the battle you're both fighting in a darker area and it looks like some of the epic battles from the movies. And from the way I was wailing on Vader it really reminded me of Luke VS Vader in Return of The Jedi. Finally at the end of the battle Star Killer royally fucks up Vader's shit. It almost made him redeemable - almost.

The Gameplay

Christ this is turning out way longer than I'd like for a game I didn't even really enjoy that much. Anyway, thank you for joining us if you've skipped the massive block of spoiler text above. In the final segment of this review I will trash this mediocre game, and rant about some of it's more serious flaws. Fun stuff.

TFU is your typical run of the mill action game, with some force powers tossed in. The basic Lightsaber combat is average at best, though it becomes a little better as you unlock more and more combos. It's the force powers that would set this game apart from other games in the genre. But sadly LucasArts decided they didn't want you to use your force powers on most of the enemies in the game.

See, one of the most annoying parts about TFU to me is that you don't feel nearly as powerful as you should be. You're a Sith Apprentice, you've got all kinds of bad ass Force Powers, and a Lightsaber. But just about every Stormtrooper in the galaxy is either pretty resistant to your Lightsaber, or has some way to block out your force powers. Yes, amazingly during this stretch of time in the Star Wars universe your average solider either had knowledge of the force or some gadget to negate it. All of this goes out the window by the time Episode IV happens though, and it wasn't present in the Prequel movies either.

Yes, I understand that they did this to make the game more challenging. But it's not fun. Honestly I would've preferred to be a bad ass killing machine. Slicing stuff up with my Lightsaber in one stroke - not twelve. And using the force to devastate everything around me. Yes, you can pull a Star Destroyer out of the air, but no you can't force grab that blue Stormtrooper.

Enemy placement gets a bit ridiculous at times to. You might find yourself constantly getting stunned or knocked down unable to do anything while being beaten on by a hoard of enemies. Other times you'll fall to your death after you've been pushed out of the stage by... just about anything.

There are certain parts of the game that are just not fun, no matter how you slice it. And the difficulty can spike quite a bit for no reason. Even on the easiest setting you can find yourself in some pretty frustrating situations.

I also encountered a few bugs in the game where I got knocked into an object ans was stuck, forcing me to exit game (there is no reload checkpoint option or anything of the sort) and reload my last save. This also almost caused me to stop playing the game when it happened.

In closing, if you're a fan of the Star Wars story, rent this sometime and try to play through it. That isn't to say the story is exceptionally good either, but it should be the main reason you want to check the game out. If you're looking for a good action game? Go pick up Devil May Cry 4, or Ninja Gaiden 2 instead.

Warhammer Online: Second Impressions

Let me start by saying that I really want to like this game. Really. I can see the potential of the game, and I have friends who are playing it. But time and time again, I find myself utterly disgusted with the game. That isn't to say the game is bad, but there are so many problems - large and small - which just keep me from being able to enjoy the game.

I'll start with the smaller problems. Firstly, I mentioned Public Quest before. They're great, I love em. But there has been a problem with them recently. As you progress with the game, and move onto more difficult areas. You find more and more of these public quest. In a single area, for one chapter there can be three or four different public quest for you to do. The problem with this is, there are too many PQs, and too few people to do all of them. If there were only one, or in some cases two PQs - more people would be able to focus on a single PQ instead of being spread out among many PQs. So the problem I've been experiencing recently is there aren't enough people to complete the public quest.

This is pretty troublesome considering the PQs are one aspect of growing your character in the game. In both levels and gear. And when there aren't enough people working together to complete a public quest, you start to miss out on opportunities to advance your character. Like I've said, Public Quest are a really great idea. But there's no point if nobody is doing them.

Another problem is I think I might have picked the wrong class. I'm not entirely sure yet. The Sorceress is a glass cannon. I'm not really used to playing glass cannons, and that might be part of my problem. However I seem to do fine in PVE, I just have problems in PVP. Though it's hard to say, because there are way too many things wrong with WAR's PVP at this point in time for me to really be sure why I hate it so much.

So enough beating around the bush here, the real problem with WAR lies in it's PVP. I've touched on the RVR previously. And unfortunately I'm going to have to complain about it again.

Let me start off by explaining the three RVR battles I just had. They were all in the Nordenwatch area. This is a first tier RVR scenario for levels 1-11. I'm level 11 myself. The first game we got stomped on. Their team outmatched us in just about every way. They had several level 11s, 10s, and 9s. We had a bunch of low levels. So admittedly this wasn't too surprising, especially for the Destruction side. I did about 15k damage and got 7 kills. Meanwhile Bright Wizards on the Order side were doing just as much damage, but they had 40 kills. Yeah, balance. We lost something like 500 to 150.

The next game pitted us against a group of low level Order. They had 1 11, and 1 10, and a bunch of 5s and 6s. On our side we had 1 11, 2 10s, and a handful of other levels. We won that round pretty handily. Yet that is the only way Destruction can win from the games I've played. You have to outrank the other team so severely that it's near impossible for them to win. The Proof?

The third game pitted two equal teams against each other. We had about the same number of every level. The result? We got pounded. I still did a ton of damage, only got a single digit amount of kills. The other team had Witch Hunters and Bright Wizards with 30 or so kills. What the fuck?

So to recap, Destruction side can only win when the odds are stacked against Order. Every other time the Order wins - easily. So Yeah, losing all the time and being vastly inferior to your mirror class on the other faction isn't very fun at all. In fact I'd rather just not do RVR at all if that's the way the game is going to be. And that, coupled with the problem of Public Quest - the game is literally no different than WoW - and there's very little reason for me to stick with it after Wrath of The Lich King comes out.

So what is the problem exactly? I mean, it seems pretty fucking obvious that the game is unbalanced right now. Another problem might be that the Destruction side just got shafted with all the shitty players, and The Order side is full of elite PVPers. In either case, that implies that I have to roll Order in order to enjoy the game. Wonderful.

And guess what? I did try that. I rolled one of the most overpowered classes in the game - The Warrior Priest. I've seen these guys take on a group of enemies in RVR, kill them one by one, and not die. They're like Paladins from WoW, but they can do tons of damage at the same time. I was able to get to level 3 from RVR alone, we won every single time. And I was always near the top for Most Healing done, and in the top 10 for most damage done. Fair, right?

So back to my actual main character, the one on the side I actually want to play. Aside from the whole Destruction side losing all the time. I don't seem to be contributing much to the battle myself. I always do a ton of damage, but for what? My kill count is always really low, and my deaths are many. Not that it would really change much, but maybe I'm just playing the wrong class.

One other thing, which is pretty minor when you consider how broken the RVR is, but it doesn't pop nearly enough. I don't know why Mythic didn't make the RVR cross-realm like WoW. Because it just does not pop nearly enough, especially for a game that is very PVP focused. Even on a high population server - which we are on - we get server queues during the day - the scenarios maybe pop once every 15 minutes, if we're lucky? This is on an Open RVR realm by the way, so there should be more than enough people willing to PVP.

Regardless of the reason, I'm not having nearly as much fun with this game as I thought I would. It's nice to be playing with a couple friends, and the majority of the PVE is just like WoW so I don't have many complaints there. But it would still be nice if I could properly experience the unique things about WAR. In any event, I'm sure I'll stick with the game until Wrath comes out regardless. I just wish it were more enjoyable along the way.

Whatcha Playing?

Domino Master (Demo): There is no "knock over Dominos" mode, so I didn't play this game for more than two minutes.

Dragon Quest IV: Chapters of The Chosen: Dragon Warrior IV was one of my favorite games growing up, and it's a real shame I haven't played the game since I was eight years old. However this remake of the classic game has provided me with plenty of nostalgia and glee even though I'm only half way through chapter 2 at this point.

True to the series, DQIV is about as old school as it gets, with pretty archaic gameplay, and tons of grinding. However I'm finding it to be a rather pleasant experience at the moment, which makes me wonder why I couldn't get into the series eighth installment. Maybe it helps that the game is portable, and I can play it while I'm on the can, just grinding away. Who knows?

My only real complaint with the remake so far is the new translations. I'm sure they're better than the old ones, but for whatever reason Square Enix decided to give most of the people in the game accents. And no, there's no voice acting, so you have to read these accents. It can be rather painful at times. Despite that though, I'm really enjoying the game and will be playing it off and on for some time.

Feeding Frenzy 2 (Demo): Feeding Frenzy 1 was better.

Fracture (Demo): I was expecting Fracture to suck for whatever reason, despite knowing nothing about the game. Imagine my surprise when I found a pretty unique experience. Fracture is a Third-Person shooter with a twist. Several of your weapons can effect the terrain, by either raising or lowering the ground. It might sound like a gimmick similar to the environmental destruction found in Red Faction so many years ago. However it's surprisingly clever in that you can manipulate the land to access platforms, provide cover and blow your way through a tunnel.

Despite the fact that I could give a shit about the game's plot or any of it's generic looking characters - I found myself enjoying the short demo quite a bit. I'm not sure that I would buy the game, but it certainly seems like prime rental material. It's hard to say if the whole terrain manipulation thing will get old, but it should provide a couple hours of entertainment at least.

Mercenaries 2: World in Flames (Demo): I didn't like the first Mercenaries, so it isn't really a surprise that I don't like the second one either. But maybe I'm being unfair, after all - all I played of it was the demo. Still, it doesn't seem like much has changed to win me over. The game is still a sandbox for mindless destruction. Which you'd think would be fun, but I'm just not feeling it.

The game also seems to throw way too many enemies at you, and while you don't actually die very easily - you don't feel very powerful either. It's easy enough to kill a few guys, but you never seem to be able to squash all of them. So like annoying little insects they constantly swarm around you and you rinse and repeat the whole process.

Tales of Vesperia: I'm just about done with my first run of the game, and man have my impressions changed since my previous entry about the game. I'm pretty much fully in love with the game at this point, and can't wait to dive into a second playthrough. I'll have a full post for Vesperia coming up shortly, so I'll leave it at that for now.

Warhammer Online: Not much has changed in WAR since my last entry. The RvR is still a mess, and it's getting harder and harder to find people to complete public quest with. Admittedly I haven't played the game much yesterday - launch day - so things could be different at this point. I'll keep you posted.

Next Month: I don't know what I'm going to do next month with so many games coming out. I'll have to give up on purchasing a good deal of them I'm afraid. I got lucky this month with Force Unleashed and Guilty Gear 2 getting less than stellar reviews, bumping them down to rentals. Plus I think the Guilty Gear got bumped back to next month anyway. Silent Hill is still coming out at the end of the month but I'm flat broke at the moment, plus I think I'm too scared to play that shit anymore - I dunno.

Next month I'll have to pick up Fable 2, Fallout 3, and Little Big Planet. I'm sure there will be something else I really want. And that's not even mentioning Rock Band 2 and Guitar Hero World Tour. I'm still not sure which bundle to get, but I'll probably end up getting one as a Christmas present. I'd like to think that I don't have to worry about picking up too many more games for the rest of the year after October. But sadly that isn't the case - as November is also full of tempting purchases. Too many games.

Warhammer Online: Early Impressions

The new kid on the block, WAR has been taking up a bit of my time lately. I spent a little bit of time in the Open Beta, and I've been playing a few characters in the game's pre-order bonus Live Head Start. And now, the game is out for all to consume. So what's the deal? Is this the real WoW Killer? Or is it another Age of Conan? Allow me to provide you with a beginner's insight on this new massive multiplayer game.

First of all, I haven't made a ton of progress into the game yet. I've gotten about 5 different races to level 5 at least, and my highest character right now is a level 7 Sorceress. I've played two Order characters, and have pretty much tried out just about every Destruction class a tiny bit. With that said, here's what I think of the game so far.

For starters, the game is very similar to WoW. This can either be considered good, or bad depending. For me it's a good thing. I like WoW quite a bit, and the last time I tried a new MMO it strayed too far from WoW's established formula, and I just didn't feel comfortable with the game. With that said, there are quite a few differences between the two games too.

For instance, WAR tends to lean more towards the PVP side of the fence. This really shows when you take into consideration that you can level up and gear your character out solely from PVP. This is all well and good, but the problems I've encountered with PVP - or the RvR Scenarios as they're called - so far leave me wanting.

As it stands right now, the server I'm on isn't terribly populated, like many of the servers seeing as how this has only been the Live Head Start. I suspect that will change when the game goes live for everyone. Hopefully this also fixes another problem I've been faced with, and that is there are way too many high level Order characters, and not enough high level Destruction characters. Out of the three games we managed to play tonight, there were 4-6 level 10 orders, vs. 0 level 10 Destructions. While it's true that when you enter an RvR scenario, your stats get bumped up to that of a level 8 character if you're lower than 8, but that still leaves us at a pretty unfair disadvantage.

Lastly, it could just be because we haven't had the best of luck in RvR, but the Order classes seem to be a lot more powerful than many of their Destruction counterparts. One example would be that my friend, a level 7 Goblin Shaman, was outhealed by a level 1 Warrior Priest, by like a lot. That doesn't really seem right considering he was healing a whole helluva lot.

Aside from the RvR setbacks, the rest of the game has been pretty smooth. The majority of the PVE experience is identical to that of WoW's, and you can easily solo many of these quest smoothly regardless of class. If that weren't enough, you've got WAR's exclusive Public Quest system which allows a large number of players to work together to complete one big quest. The beauty of this system is that you don't have to group up with anyone, everyone in the Public Quest zone can take part in the quest as a group, or by themselves, and it contributes to the overall progression of the Quest. This allows just about every player in the game to experience an epic feeling quest, and pick up some pretty sweet loot, without all the raid drama.

That's about all I've been able to experience so far, there are still many aspects of the game I have yet to see. Such as the crafting system, the living Guilds, higher end PVE and PVP content, and many other little things like the Tome of Knowledge, and exploring the world. So far I'd say I'm pretty satisfied though, and if the actual launch of the game, and Mythic can work out some of the kinks, I can only see it getting better. Who can say how much time I'll end up investing into the game? Will it just tide me over for another two months until WoTLK comes out? Hard to say. But I'm certainly feeling this game a lot more than any other MMO I've played since WoW came out, so things are looking bright for Warhammer.

Final Fantasy Tactics A2: Grimoire of The Rift

Well, I've made several post about the game now, and it's finally time to give the game a proper review of sorts. After clocking 102 Hours on the game, and still missing some things - It goes without saying that this game will definitely provide some bang for your buck. That is if you can deal with some repetition, and a fairly weak plot.

To start, FFTA2 shares a lot in common with the first Tactics Advance. It's set in the same version of Ivalice, thus it includes the variety of races that were introduced in that game, as well as some from Final Fantasy XII. It also shares the same lighthearted story and cutesy characters. Original Tactics, this is not. In fact the story is one of my only qualms with the game. It's not even as good as the previous game, even though I like the characters more in this one.

However the game exceeds where it counts, and that's providing a rich strategy RPG experience. Thanks to the game's seven races, and a multitude of job classes to choose from - there's a lot of variety to be had here. Each of the races have access to a set number of jobs, some unique to that race, and some shared among other races. You learn the abilities for these classes through equipment, which is acquired through a bazaar system identical to the one from XII. That is to say, you collect a bunch of loot from your encounters and trade them in for equipment.

The main story line of the game is surprisingly short with only 24 required missions, but the game more than makes up for it with the side quest. Seeing as how there are very few random encounters in this game, the majority of your experience will come from completing these quest. There has to be somewhere around 300 quest in total, and if this is starting to sound like Crisis Core - you'd be right. This is where the repetitiveness comes into play, however unlike Crisis Core I never really got burnt out on these missions. They aren't all that varied, but to me it doesn't seem like that much of a stretch from leveling up in the previous Tactics games through random encounters.

While the game's story might not keep you hooked, it's likely the quest to fully outfit your ideal team will. I can't count how many times I spent hours just getting new gear for my team, and doing quest to learn the new skills from that equipment. And as you can probably tell from my previous entry - I took some pride in the team I built up.

The only other thing I can think to bring up may be considered a pro, or a con depending on who you ask. The game is pretty laid back, I never had any difficulty completing any of the battles in the game at all. It might have something to do with the fact that I did every available quest I could, and was fully prepared for anything the game had to throw at me, but I found it to be a relaxing playthrough. This might be a turn off to some people though, so be warned.

All in all, I really enjoyed A2. I'm pretty sure it has a spot locked in for my Games of The Year list at this point. Even if it doesn't make the cut, I still think this is worth the price of admission for fans of the genre, or even people who might be interested in getting into the genre.

FFTA2 Character Sheets

I just finished up Final Fantasy Tactics A2: Grimoire of The Rift, and while I do intend to write up my final thoughts on the game at some point, I wanted to try something new first. Basically I'm just going to list the status and equipment of my six main characters and a little explanation of why I set them up that way.

Notes: This is my main party right after beating the game. I still have some stuff to do like Brightmoon Tor, and a few quest. I'm alos missing some equipment still, which I'll hopefully get whenever I do get around to BT. Also it should be noted that I'd equip all my characters with Ninja Tabi and Ribbons if I had enough for everyone.

Luso - Hume
Level: 73
Job: Paladin
Skills:
-Chivalry
-Flair
-Strike Back
-Geomancy
Equipment:
-Sequencer
-Genji Helm
-Genji Shield
-Peytral
-Orb of Minwu

Notes: Luso is a power house, and this is a good thing since you have to use him a lot throughout the game. He's not quite Ramza, but it's a start. I picked Paladin class strictly for the equipment - Sequencer and Peytral are the best weapon and armor in the game. He doesn't use Chivalry at all, but relies on the power of Flair - using skills like Hoarfrost Blade - combined with the enhanced damage of Geomancy to do a huge amount of damage to the enemy. The only problem is Luso's naturally slow speed, and the lack of Ninja Tabi.

Cordia - Viera
Level: 69
Job: Sniper
Skills:
-Sharpshooting
-Assassination
-Return Fire
-Blood Price
Equipment:
-Seventh Heaven
-Cachusha
-Galamia Frock
- High Seraph's Plume

Notes: Cordia is probably my best unit. The reason? Free Ultima Blows. Giving her the Assassination tree to use Ultima Blow, and having Blood Price which allows her to spend HP instead of MP ensures that Cordia can use Ultima Blow - every turn. Not to mention the fact that it's ranged. As a backup, the Sniper naturally has access to Doubleshot - which also does a fair bit of damage - especially on monster's weak to Seventh Heaven's holy property. The High Seraph's Plume is there as a backup healing method.

Alakina - Gria
Level: 69
Job: Ravager
Skills:
-Feralism
-Devastation
-Strike Back
-Unscarred
Equipment:
-Tournesol
-Genji Armor
-Ribbon
-Ninja Tabi

Notes: Alakina's forte is using Sneak Attack for massive damage when she is behind her enemies. It's a good thing Gria's have access to Sneak Attack since they can make the most of it by being able to fly around the map, and more importantly - over enemies. Alakina's effectiveness is severly reduced if she can't get behind the enemy - but not all is lost. She can still rely on Full Assault - which thanks to the Ribbon - won't put her to sleep. She also has her Devastation skills like Whirlwind for ranged attacks, and her "Breaks" which will nerf the enemies stats. Obviously, Alakina is at her best when at full HP - as all her attributes are buffed at full health thanks to Unscarred.

Orinella - Gria
Level: 68
Job: Hunter
Skills:
-Trapping
-Feralism
-Strike Back
-Unscarred
Equipment:
-Seventh Heaven
-Cachusha
-Judicer's Coat
-Sprint Shoes

Notes: Orinella shares a lot more in common with Alakina than just being the same race. She also has access to the whole Sneak Attack game, though for her she has some range to work with. She also has Unscarred so full health works best. The difference though, and what ultimately makes Orinella a bit better than her sister is her Trapping abilities. Sidewinder will do massive damage to monsters, and believe me - there are a lot of monsters in this game. Double that if they're weak to Holy. She also has access to Ultima Blow which she can use once she reaches 32 MP. The only bad part about Orinella is that she's damn near useless against foes that absorb Holy damage - but those are few and far between.

Eveline - Viera
Level: 66
Job: Summoner
Skills:
-Summoning Magick
-Elemental Magick
-Evade Magick
-Blood Price
Equipment:
-Nirvana
-Brint Frock
-Barette
-Angel Ring

Notes: Eveline is my mandatory Healer. She has access to the Unicorn summon - which while not the greatest healing spell in the game - works just fine, and effects units in a large radius. She also has access to the uber Phoenix spell which also restores HP, but also revives allies to full health. Thanks to Blood Price, Eveline can cast all of these spells on a whim. Elemental Magick is there as backup, as I found the offensive summons weren't always useful due to allies being caught in the blast. Elemental Magick is surprisingly good in that it does decent damage, and causes status effects. Eveline's only downfall though is that she really needs a Ninja Tabi. For the time being, Angel Ring is nice insurance.

Adelle - Hume
Level: 66
Job: Heritor
Skills:
-Instinct
-Pugilism
-Strike Back
-Dual Wield
Equipment:
-The Fallen ANgel
-Hyakushiki-masamune
-Ribbon
-Ever Robe
-Ninja Tabi

Notes: Adelle is probably the weakest link in my group. That isn't to say she's bad, but she just doesn't have any sort of devastating moves. She works best up close when she can hit enemies twice for some decent damage. Her ranged game basically involves using Aurablast for AoE damage, and some of her Instinct abilities to cause status effects. One great thing about her is her Elpe ability - which allows her to sacrifice herself to revive and restore full HP to all allies. This is a great backup plan for if things go south for Eveline. Aside from that - she's pretty well geared at least.

XBLA Wednesdays 09/03/08

It's a shame I didn't think to do an entry like this any time last month when amazing games were being released every week on XBLA. Than again, that would've actually required some effort.

Shred Nebula: Do you want to know the secret of the Shred? Well, I'm not sure what the big secret is, but apparently it involves too much shit going on at once. In Shred Nebula you race through a series of pathways shooting down baddies and collecting power-ups. Sounds like your typical shooter. The problem lies in the fact that you have to navigate around corners while sloppily shooting at oncoming enemies. You're all over the controller too, holding LT to move, LB to go backwards, RB to bring up shields, X to shoot, and A for special weapons. Trying to press all these at once is awkward to say in the least.

The goal of each level seems to be survive a series of twist and turns, while killing everything that moves, and collecting anything that doesn't. Once you reach the end of the stage, if you've collected enough shit you can warp to the next level. That's about all there is to it. I'm sure you'll run into more complex levels, with more guys, and more power-ups. But that seems to be about all you'll be doing.

The game just feels sloppy, and things are pretty cluttered. The demo only lets you play the tutorial, and a short stage afterwards - so I can't speak for the entire game. However I don't really see the core problems changing anytime soon. While I wouldn't recommend downloading this, I would like to direct you to the trailers of the game which can also be found on X-Box Live - they're amazing.

Gin Rummy: I'm sure fans of Gin Rummy will enjoy this one. Me? I don't know how to play Gin Rummy, so I played the game for all of 30 seconds. Done

Pirates V Ninjas Dodgeball : This game is fucking terrible, do not waste your time or bandwidth downloading it. It's your typical Game Cock garbage. How much fun did you think a Dodgeball game could be anyway? You run around a field with the camera pulled way back, and you collect one of two balls to throw at the other team. The balls are pretty much homing balls, so they'll hit you most of the time regardless of dodging. Whoever can pickup the ball over and over again in quick succession will win. That's all there is to it.

Also, it's great that they decided to cash in on this "new" internet meme. Pirates vs. Ninjas? Who would've thought!

In other news...

Jonathan Blow, creator of Braid sure likes to talk a lot. The man is at least tolerable to listen to unlike Denis Dyack, but he can't see to stop pushing his opinions on everyone else. He doesn't think you should use a guide to play Braid with and he can't seem to stop reminding us of that little fact. He also likes to trash talk successful games like World of Warcraft and Bioshock.

I enjoyed Braid, John. But it wasn't that great.