Sony looking to gain Upperhand with the Playstation Phone

Nintendo might by the leading game company for now, but they better keep their eyes on Sony. The same could be said for Apple and their iPhone. If what Engadget.com reported is true, then Sony may take the lead as the industry's leading company.

It's being reported that a Playstation Phone is on the way, possibly as soon as the holiday season. It would be running the Android 3.0 interface and special Sony marketplace would be set up for downloadable games, apps, etc exclusive to the Phone.

If this phone does in fact hit the market this year it would be a gamers wet dream come true. Up until now the iPhone was the ultimate mobile device. But at times simple iPhone games aren't enough to match up to games from the PSP or the DS. Now gamers won't have to compromise. They will have the convenience of a Smart Phone and the game playing ability of a PSP.

First, Sony beat out Microsoft by being the only next-gen device to play Blue Rays, then started competing with Microsoft and Nintendo by putting out the Eye Toy and Playstation Move, now they look to put a stranglehold on the market by being the only company with a Phone/ Legit Gaming device in one. Time will only tell what becomes of this latest move.

Suikoden: No One's Trying to Take Over the World!

Shocking isn't it? It's the biggest cliché of the genre: The main antagonist trying to take over the world ("Of Course!"). The story of this game is more reminiscent of the Final Fantasy Tactics story. It's more politically driven with a bigger emphasis on larger scale battles. That's not to say this game is boring by any means. It is a unique specimen that I thoroughly enjoyed. That being said here are my thoughts on Suikoden.

Just as a little disclaimer, I'm going to change the style of reviews to a combination of my last 2 and my 1st. More about my thoughts on the game as I played it, like Grandia, but still telling you the details that matter.

So as I started playing one thing stood out to me, as it will for most people, namely the graphics are not much better than Super Nintendo graphics. Granted, they are better than Lunar, but not by much. The nice thing about this though is that  it makes everything look really crisp. Every part of what you see on the screen is a pixel and nothing is pre-rendered. I particularly enjoyed this sprite-esc design to the game and it fit well overall.

The one thing I hate about certain RPGs plagued this particular game. That being that the main character never talks outside of when you have to make a choice in certain dialog scenarios. In some games it might not matter, but in Suikoden your character is the Commander of a rebel army (spoiler!) so him talking seems like it would be important. Instead, you have a characters that act like your right hand men/ supervisors and the you just select agree or disagree with them. The story moves along fine without your character talking, but it would have been nice if he talked.

As I traveled through different towns, forests, and dungeons I really fell in love with the music and ambient sounds. It sets a nice tone for the various locations. The music is really solid up and down. It's nice because they don't often re-use tracks so everything seems unique. Also, sometimes there isn't even music it's just sounds. For example, theres a forest you walk through and instead of music its sounds of birds chirping. Makes it feel like a nice and relaxing setting.

One main feature of the game I thought was really cool was your fortress. At one point in the game your crew is getting big so you need a home base of sorts. You find this abandoned castle at sea and claim it as your own. It's cool because as you accumulate members to your army the fortress gets upgraded. You find people in the world that want to join the resistance and feel like they have something to share. For example, a former blacksmith, inn owner, even bath house maker. So you don't have to waste to traveling everywhere after you add these people. You can rest, upgrade items, learn new skills, and relax in the hot bath all in one place! It makes the experience smoother and you don't have to waste time running to various town.

The battles in the game are different and varied as well. There are three types: Normal turn based battles but with up to 6 members, larger scale army battles, and also 1 on 1 duel battles. All require some thought and strategy. I actually had to re-do certain battles multiple times because they were quite challenging.

The 6 man battles do require a bit of strategy, mainly in how you arrange your party. The front 3 members will essentially act as tanks while the back three will act as the damage dealers and cant be attacked except with long range or AOE (Area of Effect). Each character also has a limit to their attack range. So sometimes a character that wouldn't be good as a tank has short range and is forced to be put in the front.

The army battles aren't quite as epic as it might sound. Essentially each army has a troop count and can perform one type of attack per round:Arrows, Magic, and Charge. Each attack has a weakness so you either have to be a lucky guess or have a few spies that tell you the enemies next attack.

In the duel battles each character gets a health bar and its pretty much a guessing game. You either attack, defend, or do a desperate attack. It's simple but again takes a bit of thinking.

I will say the one thing that bugged about battles is that you are often forced to include certain characters in your party. I had this dream group that I wanted to make, but never had the opportunity because I had to keep using characters involved in the story. Granted, they were strong but I still would have liked the option. Just don't get your hopes too high because you're dream party may never become a reality.

Final Thoughts: PLAY IT

The game might seem daunting with its various battle types and the fact that it boasts having 108 recruitable characters. However, the story and gameplay is paced really well so you never get overwhelmed or confused. It's very clear where you're supposed to go and what you're supposed to do next. All things considered this was also a pretty short game. I finished it in around 18 hours.

It was surprising to me considering that I took my time level grinding, getting extra characters, and making sure my party was optimally equipped each time I had to change members. So if you want to play something a little different and not spend too much time doing it then Suikoden is right up your alley. It's also only $5.99 on the PlayStation network so it's well worth your money.

Until I get back in the states I'm probably going to hold off on reviews since I don't have any more games at my disposal. I'll keep writing articles though and more will come as we update the new site. Take care. Later gamers!

Updates and Review Coming soon

Sorry that I haven't posted in a little while. I recently beat Suikoden, a bit abruptly It was way shorter than I expected, especially considering how much extra work I put into side quests and outfitting my party. It's less than 20 hours, but was enjoyable. Also, I recently purchased Lunar Silver Star Story Complete for the PS1. Yeah that's right, the big huge box with all the extras. I'm looking forward to unwrapping that!

Thanks for reading and stay tuned for a Suikoden review soon. Later Gamers!

Wild Arms: Final Thoughts

After a long weekend of re-doing boss fights, looking up guides, and actually having a little bit of fun I finally finished the game! I know in a lot of my previous posts I have given this game a really hard time, but as I write this I want to try to be as fair as possible. I recently found out this was only 1 of maybe 5 RPGs that came out on the PS1 before Final Fantasy 7. So this game really was innovative for the time and probably seemed really original. Unfortunately I'm a bit biased since I played this game post- FF7. With all this said it's time to lay down my thoughts and tell you what I think of the game.




Gameplay:

To be totally honest the game-play in this game is actually really unique. Not only for it's time but overall. The way you explore dungeons, upgrade abilities, build up to "limit-break" esc abilities is like nothing I've seen in an RPG before (outside of the sequels for this game).

As far as abilities go, each of the 3 characters you control in the game have their own unique way to level up their abilities. Cecilia uses magic and you don't simply start off with magic abilities. You find these items throughout the game called "Crest Graphs". You take these Crest Graphs to magic shops and they will exchange them for spells essentially. The more you find the more varied your spell arsenal becomes. Later in the game you can also find a "Secret Shop" that allows you to purchase higher level spells. Rudy has guns which are named ARMS in the game. You can find various ARMS and upgrade their stats, such as: Attack Power, Accuracy, and Ammunition. Lastly, Jack as any array of attacks called Fast Draw. He discovers them through the game either in story events or side quests. The battles themselves aren't anything too special. It's pretty much your basic turn based battle.

One really fun aspect of the game are the characters' various Tools. Each character will eventually acquire 4 tools. Each one has a different puzzle solving purpose. Maybe it's Jacks' lighter to make fires, Cecilias' canister to put out a fire, or Rudys bombs to blow things up. Now I've never seen a puzzle-solving dynamic this fun or unique. It makes the puzzles not only challenging but really fun. It makes you think how you can utilize these tools in unique ways. It also leaves you really satisfied when you finally figure out some of the more challenging ones.

The one thing that really did bug me is that there were WAY too many random battles, especially in dungeons. Just when your about to figure a section of a puzzle out theres a battle. It also can take like 7 attempts to run away at times.  Then after the battle you cant remember if you took a certain path already and end up wasting time back tracking.

Sound:

Personally, the sound of this game didn't wow me in any way. I can't remember any music from the game outside of the battle music, and thats only because i heard it every 30 seconds. The sound effects are okay I guess. They go with the game and add life to it. I wish I could write more here, but the sound in this game is just forgettable. There weren't any moments in the game where I really wanted to go find that song on youtube or anything. The only song that was the least bit intriguing to me was the ending sequence. It's got a soft acoustic guitar feel to it. it's calming and fits the scene well. Other than that, I think you'll live if you never buy the soundtrack to this game.

Graphics:

Like I mentioned before, this was Pre-FF7 so not much can be expected. The characters look extremely blocky, which was common in early on in the first fully 3D consoles such as the PlayStation. But to be totally honest I don't really mind it that much. That's the era that brought me into gaming and those kind of graphics are endearing in away. There's a certain charm to it and brings me back to the good ol' days.

The spell and attacks effects are basic but work well with what they're trying to do. There are really no pre-rendered backgrounds like in Final Fantasies. The building and world map graphics are pretty similar to the characters graphics which kind of adds a wholeness to the game. But the one thing that kills the game aesthetically for me is practically everything is earth toned. The towns, dungeons, and castles are all a shade of brown, green, or gray. The only real color we get is in the characters' costumes. Cecilia has a bit of pink, Rudy has a red shirt and blue hair. Overall it's just kind of ugly to look at.

I guess you can say it adds to the feeling of the game, like its supposed to put you in the setting of that time. But I just find it unappealing. Also I have to add, where is this "Wild West" theme that seems to follow the series? It certainly didn't start here because there is nothing remotely Western about this game. There are Knights in Armor, Kings, and Demons. The game never even hints at it being remotely Wild West esc.

Story:

The game starts in a really odd way actually. You start the game separately with each character until they each find their way to Adlehyde. They all meet in this town and decide to travel together. After your first quest, finally the opening title sequence rolls. When this happened I had two thoughts: This is either the shortest game ever or I just got a game over somehow. It turns out this is when the game really starts.

So the story essentially revolves around Jack , Rudy, and Cecilia stopping the world from falling apart (in more ways than one). Demons have been in Felgaia for sometime are about to take over. The world loses hope in itself and the guardians of the planet cease to exist. The 3 heroes travel around trying to restore hope in the world and the spirits of the guardians to help defeat the demons. At least I think this is the plot....It was pretty hard to follow and I couldn't really get into it.

You go off on side quests that are part of the main game that deviate you from the main story for hours at a time. The story seems to just go all over the place for me. One thing that this game did that I really hate in RPGs is that Rudy, essentially the one main character, has no dialog. Why? Chrono Cross did this and so did Legend of Legaia if I'm not mistaken. I hate it. You never get to know what the character is like, you're just told instead of experiencing it. Most of the dialog is kind of cheesy and the revelations the characters have just seem forced. There isn't a lot of build up. In a good story the story arcs make sense and there events that correlate to why they happen. In Wild Arms it just seems to happen only to serve the purpose of moving along the story as opposed to it coming to fruition based on past events.

Finally, the one HUGE thing that killed the game for me was not knowing where you're supposed to go. There are an uncountable amount of times where you either need to collect something, kill a monster, etc. After you complete the task and the event following, nothing happens. You are just expected to walk around and talk to everyone in town and towns you've been to before to figure out where to go next. You could play this game for probably close to 80 hours just because you'd be wondering around helplessly trying to figure out what to do next. There are even ESSENTIAL items to completing this game that aren't given to you as part of an event in the main story. You have to find them on your own.

Here is the best example I have of this (*WARNING SPOILER ALERT! SKIP TO THE NEXT PARAGRAPH IF YOU DON'T WANT TO KNOW WHAT HAPPENS.). At one point in the game you un-earth an ancient Golem and eventually bring it back to life. You can also you it as vehicle to cross certain terrain you can't cross with any other vehicle in the game. Well how to do you summon the Golem? You need an Ocarina. Where is this Ocarina, does someone give it to you or tell you where it is? Who knows and of course not! First, you have to find a secluded house in the forest that has no visible game graphic on the world map until you're on top of it and it says "Forgotten Ruins". If that's not bad enough, you have to walk around a house to find it. Once you play the ocarina, only then can you summon the Golem and ride it. How cryptic is that? The Golem is so essential that you can't enter the final dungeon of the game without it. That is just plain ridiculous. I would have never figured that out without a guide.

Final Thoughts: Don't Play It
All things considering (price on the PlatStation Network of $5.99, fun puzzle solving, and nostalgic graphics) this game should be worth a play through right? Maybe. But I personally can't recommend it. The puzzles are fun, really fun, but it just doesn't save the game from how cryptic it is. There are parts in the game that are down right agonizing to figure out without a guide. I personally used one for a good majority of the game. I wanted to finish it to see the whole thing and I was pretty sure I never would without a guide. The game is just difficult for the wrong reasons.

The fact that the game rarely explains what to do next is annoying to me. Some might see it as a challenge but it takes away too much from the game for me. I'm also recalling a few puzzles near the end of the game and am baffled at how anyone is supposed to figure them out. Even in the guide it says "if you didn't know where to look this would be difficult for you to get." The fact that I had to switch online walkthroughs is a testament to the difficulty and crypticness of this game. As I was looking for images and screen shots I was reading comments about the game and most of them said something like "This game was awesome! But I got stuck and never finished it..." So unless you like extreme challenges or plain don't mind using a walkthrough then I'd say avoid this game. It's not worth the headache and the ending isn't too satisfying either.

For my next game...I think I'm going to avoid playing Wild Arms 2 for awhile haha. So that pretty much leaves Suikoden. I might hold off on playing it for a bit considering how much of a chore Wild Arms was. Thanks again for reading everyone. Spread the word and share this blog with your friends who enjoy games or just want something interesting to read. Later Gamers!

Oh the games I lost...

So I just wanted to share a sad story about games I had and lost. As you know I'm trying to build up my game collection, but I cringe at the games I had lost to a move or other factors. I had to re-buy 3 Final Fantasies that I use to have, thankfully for a discounted price. I also use to have games like the original Resident Evil and 3, Saga Frontier 2, Star Ocean 2, Tales of Destiny (which is pretty pricey now), and the one that hurts the most...Suikoden II. This is the most sought after game for the PS1 and is valued anywhere between $120-$300. AKK =P.

But what's done is done and I can't change anything. I'm looking forward to all the new games I'm buying up that I never got a chance to play. I'm also close to finishing Wild Arms (I think?) so look for a review sometime soon.  Have a great weekend everyone. Later Gamers!

RPG Maker: One of the best game concepts ever

Okay so technically it's not really a game, more like software to make a game. But none the less when I saw a preview for this game I went crazy! It was set to be released in America in 2000, while already released in Japan in 1997. Sure the graphics were nothing more than a bad SNES game, but hey it was MY bad SNES game. It was so fun just to play around with tile sets to make towns, characters, monsters, and special attacks. This franchise became so popular that it would eventually produce (to my knowledge) 5 more titles with the same name. Each one including upgrades form the previous game that included better graphics, battle system, and event editor. There was 1 on the PS1, 2 on the PS2, 2 on the PC, and apparently one for the PSP.

Now I will admit I've played and/or owned every single title with the exclusion of the PSP game. You know what the saddest thing about all of this? I never completed a single game I started! I think my problem was that my imagination was bigger than the effort I was willing to put into making these games. I did get pretty far in a few of them and wrote outlines of stories. However, I never finished them. It was either due to boredom, interest in other things, or just plain forgetting about it at some point. Although I may not have completed a game this "game" created countless hours of entertainment and great memories with friends. We still talk about small projects we started but never finished.

So with all this renewed interest in  RPGs lately I decided to give it another go. I will say that I have the basic story idea and how long I think it will last. I have a bad feeling that once again I'll get in over my head and never finish it. But here's hoping I'll do it and make a good one! I'm planing on making it with VX version for the PC. It seems to be the most crisp, least amount of lag, plus the easy ability to upload custom titles and characters. There is a cool forum I found that hosts plenty of resources if you want to add them to your game. People also post their game for you to demo and play. I've only just modeled the exterior of the starting town and the main character, so don't expect anything soon. But I will keep updates going here and let you know if and when it's finished.

Me and a friend decided to make a game for each other to play when I get home in August. I'm hoping mine will be around 5 hours, while he's saying his will be 30mins-2 hours. Who knows! Anyways I'm excited and if I can figure out how to take screen shots I'll show you some towns I make. Here is a link to the forum if you wanna know more about it and also a link to the official site if you want to try the 30 day trial and make a game of your own!:

RPG Maker VX Forum

RPG Maker VX Official Site

Until next time thanks for reading.  Later gamers!

Final Fantasy 7:Either Remake it or Don't!

So I want to start off by saying thanks to Shana for reading the blog and RSSing it! Good to know that I'm writing something worth while! It's all for fun but you know!

So there have been rumors flying around for years that Final Fantasy 7 might be remade on the PlayStation 3. I blame all this hype and ridiculousness on two parties: 1.) Sony. Yeah that's right I'm giving a lot of blame to Sony, why? Well it's for a very simple reason...they could have chosen any other game to show off the graphics. A new racing game coming out, an FPS anything but a graphic face lift for arguably the most popular title Sony has released yet. I know they were thinking "Hey why not make a tech demo for our new system with our most popular game?" But they had to know there would be an outcry for a remake. It looked so good and rabid fan boys went crazy after seeing an updated version of the opening scene of one of the most beloved games ever. And more of the blame gets thrown on to to my second party: EGM(Electronic Gaming Monthly).

They basically took this PS3 tech demo and automatically assumed it was a trailer for a remake even though it clearly said on the video "Technical demo for the PlayStation 3". They couldn't rush to release a comment in their May 2006 issue fast enough that said it was a remake. I'm sure at this point they feel like idiots, but this mistake caused so much hype it was unreal. People were all excited, contemplating what new features would be part of the game, etc.And then to further the hype even more, what did Square Enix do? They released a slew of Final Fantasy 7 spin-offs that included: Before Crisis(A Mobile Phone Game), Dirge of Cerberus(A 3rd Person shooter staring FF7's Vincent Valentine), Crisis Core(An action RPG for the PSP staring Zach Fair from FF7), Last Order: Final Fantasy VII(A short anime-style film retelling the events of Zach and Cloud before the game FF7), and lastly Final Fantasy VII: Advent Children(A feature length film that takes place 2 years after the events of the game.)

So the hype surrounding this game was astronomical. With all these spin-offs of the game, the tech demo, and the hype building surely there would be some sort of announcement of a remake right? No. Unless the developers are living under a rock, which to be fair they might, they have to know that fans want a remake and would be down right ignorant to think that not only would it sell well but also would increase PS3 hardware sales as well. Hell, I know I'd be the first to go out and buy a PS3 if this game ever came to fruition. So why don't they cut the bull crap and make the damn game? Well FF7 Director Yoshinori Kitase said, "We'd have to hire 300 people and it would take about 5 years." Fair enough...but I think that investment would be worth it. Final Fantasy 7 is the franchises top selling game (nearly 10 Mil. units sold) and has a large fan following. Wanna know what makes the hype even worse? Square Enix refuses to deny nor confirm the remake.

 I realize maybe they are thinking about it and that there are many factors involved in remaking this game, but throw us a bone, anything! As recently as March 22 of this year Square Enix continues to play with the idea and CEO Yoichi Wada has said,
"Right now we don't have a clear direction, but many fans have requested we remake Final Fantasy VII...We're going to explore the possibility - whether or not we're going to do it, if we're going to do it, and the platform." 

The Platform? Oh God I hope he's referring to the PS4,Im sure it'll come someday, and not the PSP. Also, last month Final Fantasy XIII producer Yoshinori Kitase said: 

"If it were possible that we had all the right facilities and the right environment to be able to make and prepare a Final Fantasy VII remake within a year, we'd very much like a go at it!"


Thanks for yankin' our chains SE...so either until this game gets made or the world ends fans will continue to demand a remake. It's personally my favorite RPG and game of all time. I haven't made it through all the RPGs yet so that may change. But for now it stands as the biggest title demanding a remake,and a definitive response from the RPG juggernaut would be nice too :). Until then I'll leave with you with a fan made interpretation of what the FF7 remake's intro and start menu might look like. Later gamers!