This is the list of rare and hard to find
games that I know about. Of course I didn't list any PSP or
GBA games because I STILL don't own a PSP (I need to get one though) or keep up with either
PSP or GBA really. I didn't note games that are really far back because
most of those games can be found on digital services
usually also because that would take too long. Of course, I'm sure I'll come across some rare, expensive, hard to find game not too long after making this list or remember one I may have missed but as for now, here's
the list that I have come up with.
PS1:
Tactics Ogre (PSP version is cheap)
Breath of Fire III
Tales of Destiny
Lunar Silver Star Story Complete
LUNAR 2: Eternal Blue
Star Ocean: The Second Story (PSP version is cheap)
Legend Of Legaia
Saga Frontier
Saga Frontier 2
Rival Schools
Ehrgeiz
Strider 2
Einhander
Suikoden II
Brave Fencer Musashi
Mega Man Legends
Mega Man Legends 2
The Misadventures of Tron Bonne
PS2:
Xenosaga
Xenosaga Episode II: Jenseits von Gut und Böse
Xenosaga Episode III
Suikoden 3
Suikoden IV
Suikoden V
Rogue Galaxy
.hack, Part 1: Infection
.hack, Part 2: Mutation
.hack, Part 3: Outbreak
.hack, Part 4: Quarantine
.hack: G.U., Vol. 1: Rebirth
.hack: G.U., Vol. 2 - Reminisce
.hack: G.U., Vol.3: Redemption
Champions Return to Arms
Shining Force Neo
Dark Cloud 2
Legaia 2: Duel Saga
Unlimited Saga
Romancing SaGa
Radiata Stories
PS3:
Tales of Graces f
Trinity Universe
Hyperdimension Neptunia Mk2
Arcana Heart 3
Cross Edge
GC:
Eternal Darkness: Sanity's Requiem
Luigi's Mansion
Tales of Symphonia
Sonic Adventure DX Director's Cut
Phantasy Star Online, Episode I & II Plus (original version is
cheaper and the xbox version is extremely cheap)
The Legend of Zelda: Twilight Princess (Wii version is drastically
cheaper)
Naruto Gekitou Ninja Taisen 4 (I traded this with Jose T.T)
Wii:
Zero: Tsukihami no Kamen [Japan Import] (aka fatal frame 4)
Metroid Prime Trilogy
The Legend of Zelda: Skyward Sword (music CD version and the gold
remote cost more)
Xenoblade Chronicles
A Boy and His Blob
Toshinden [Japan Import]
Naruto Shippuden: Gekitou Ninja Taisen Special [Japan Import]
One Piece: Unlimited Adventure
One Piece Unlimited Cruise: Episode 1 - Nami ni Yureru Hihou [Japan
Import]
One Piece Unlimited Cruise: Episode 2 - Mezameru Yuusha [Japan
Import]
Bleach: Shattered Blade
Agatha Christie: Evil Under the Sun
Animal Crossing: City Folk
Kirby's Return to Dream Land
Super Mario All-Stars: Limited Edition
Super Mario Galaxy 2
Mario Party 8
Mario Sports Mix
WarioWare: Smooth Moves
PokePark Wii: Pikachu's Adventure
PokéPark 2: Wonders Beyond
Pokemon Battle Revolution
Star Trek: Conquest
Pikmin for Wii with new play control
Donkey Kong Country Returns
Godzilla Unleashed
Dokapon Kingdom
Kororinpa: Marble Mania
Fire Emblem: Radiant Dawn
Arc Rise Fantasia
Skylanders Spyro's Adventure Starter Pack
DS:
Disgaea DS
Super Princess Peach
Yoshi's Island DS
Yoshi Touch and Go
Contact
Advance Wars: Dual Strike
Advance Wars: Days of Ruin
Super Robot Taisen OG Saga: Endless Frontier
Luminous Arc
Luminous Arc 2
Knights in the Nightmare
Front Mission
Age of Empires: Mythologies
Age of Empires: The Age of Kings
One Piece : Gigant Battle 2 New World (Japan Import)
Infinite Space
Sands of Destruction
Pokemon Ranger: Shadows of Almia
Pokemon Ranger
Pokemon - Diamond Version
Pokemon SoulSilver Version
Pokemon Pearl Version
Pokémon Mystery Dungeon: Explorers of Sky
Pokemon HeartGold Version
Pokemon Platinum
Avalon Code
Shin Megami Tensei: Strange Journey
3DS:
BlazBlue Continuum Shift II
Cave Story 3D
One Piece Unlimited Cruise SP [Japan Import]
Xbox:
Shin Megami Tensei Nine [Japan Import]
Panzer Dragoon Orta
Phantom Dust
Otogi: Myth of Demons
JSRF- Jet Set Radio Future
Shenmue 2
360:
Spectral Force 3
Magna Carta 2
The Lord Of The Rings: Conquest (cheaper on PS3 and PC)
The Lord of the Rings: The Battle for Middle-Earth II
DC:
Dead or Alive 2 (PS2 and Xbox versions are cheaper)
Project Justice
Tech Romancer
Cannon Spike
Power Stone (Powerstone Collection on PSP is cheap)
Power Stone 2 (Powerstone Collection on PSP is cheap)
Gundam Side Story 0079: Rise from the Ashes
Plasma Sword: Nightmare Of Bilstein
Grandia II (cheaper on PS2)
Shenmue
Shenmue II [PAL] (cheaper on Xbox)
Showing posts with label 3DS. Show all posts
Showing posts with label 3DS. Show all posts
Tuesday, August 13, 2013
Thursday, October 18, 2012
Nintendo's Major Changes
I'm sure, by now, everybody has heard the many articles about how Nintendo is... or rather was doing. What many people don't realize and the press rarely talks about is the major changes Nintendo has made in order to turn things around. As one of the people that wrote into them and has seen the dramatic changes they've made in the past year or so, I'm actually really impressed and would like to write about it.
The Email
Around the end of June/beginning of July last year, I was one of the many frustrated gamers that emailed Nintendo. This was before Operation Rainfall officially formed but after news officially broke that Nintendo of Europe had Xenoblade ready to be shown at E3 but Nintendo of America didn't want to show games they had no intention of releasing. Happening right off the heels of an E3 where the Wii U was being shown as a device that's supposed to be more for the core gamers, this didn't set well with me and many other gaming and RPG enthusiasts. So I emailed them about the current situation they were in as a whole, not just the RPG's, in pretty specific detail.
My email:
“Wii was not accepted by core gamers because they did not want to abandon their preferred
control approach.”
“Additionally, Wii did not use HD because HD cost performance at the time was low.”
“Wii U makes it easier to use conventional controls. Also, the Wii U controller is not as big or
heavy as it looks.”
My comment in response to the above comments:
Wrong, those people that wouldn’t touch it because of the control or the graphics aren’t
hardcore gamers PERIOD. Those are the mainstream junkies that play maybe 1 or 2 games a
year.
The hardcore gamers complaints were things like FRIENDCODES, low demo count for wiiware
games, no demos for retail and vc games, unstable online, no voice chat – then bad voice chat –
then lack of use for both voice chat devices, lack of real mii integration into the system, not
being able to communicate with random people through the net and make friends, small
storage and lack of integrating the SD card properly for storage, not supporting SD card music
in most games (only one did this), sloppy online shop set up (even the 3DS isn’t exactly
organized), and for the 3DS at least no communication between the people on your friends list.
Lets be serious, 3DS does fix a lot of things that the Wii had problems with, but not being able
to communicate between your friends is a slap back down to ground 0 in bad online set up. If
you want to fix your game sales and get the hardcore back, increase the space, start doing
demos, and fix your online. Making it so online communities can’t form and not letting people
try games before they buy them are your biggest faults, for hardware and features at least. It is
so sad that people can turn on there Wii, DSi, and 3DS and look up porn but can’t chat with
there friends, make new friends, and play game demo’s. At this day and age where the iphone
and ipad are creeping up on the console and handheld markets, you need to have these features
or you will fall behind.
My comments on the games not getting released in the US:
The core gamers are the ones who are campaigning to get games released in their region. If you
really want core gamers you would stop these PR mind games and stop ignoring your fans and
release the games people want. This includes Xenoblade and The Last Story in NTSC, Arc Rise
Fantasia in PAL, and Mother 3, Pandora's Tower, and Earth Seeker globally (as well as many other
games).
Gamers are like hardcore movie goers. It's not about the genre, its about the quality. When we
see a quality product, we get it. There are a lot of people though including core gamers who
aren't convinced just at glancing at a product, reading about it, or seeing it in action and need
to try it before they drop money on it. This is where demo's come in. If you want game sales,
you need to make these games available, push knowledge for the games, and let people try
them out, not just the press. Demo's are essential to game sales, just look at how well stuff
does on Xbox Live. For system sales (at least for the hardcore) you need a strong, well rounded
game line up. This is where Xenoblade, The Last Story, and Pandora's Tower come in as they're
all exclusive to this platform and are high quality experiences that the core gamers want, just
like Mother 3. To add to this, where is Earthbound? Why hasn't it hit the Virtual Console? Do you
not realize the demand for this game and the sales it would make?
What is happening right now is right on par with the PSN Network outages and 360 RROD. This
is a huge problem that needs to be fixed, not ignored and overlooked through a bad PR stunt.
How do you intend to sell the Wii U to the core when you're refusing to localize core games for
your current systems and ignoring the core gamers (and your own fans). I'm no Nintendo
company fan, I'm not a fan of any publication or console company. All the systems have their
strengths and weakness's and ultimately are there just to run the designers work. I however am a fan of Nintendo software, just as I am of Mistwalker software, Monolithsoft software, Blizzard
software, Bioware software, and MANY other great developers software. I want to support the
developers as it is their products that I purchase the sometimes expensive, unsecure,
underpowered, locked down, and/or faulty hardware to play them on. Hardware and publication
companies need to understand this, as most real gamers only real reason to purchase hardware
or support the publisher IS the software.
Their response:
Hello,
Once again, I want to thank you for taking the time to write to us with your feedback regarding the Wii, Wii U, and those games that you'd like to see translated. I can certainly understand your thoughts on this matter and want you to know how much we appreciate you sending them in. I also want to assure you that your comments have been added to our records for these topics and made available for other departments at the company, all they way up to our executives at Nintendo Company, Ltd. in Japan.
I'm afraid I don't have any new information to share, but I do want to say that we're very aware of your last point that it's the games and the gaming experience that sell the systems. As we go further in to the life of the Nintendo 3DS and as we approach the launch of the Wii U, I hope you find that we're providing a gaming experience you find worthwhile.
Sincerely,
Shawn Ford
Nintendo of America, Inc.
The Changes
The response seemed very standardized but shortly after, we seen major changes in just about every area I mentioned in that email. First was the price drop on the 3DS which was the official moment when people who may of not realized what was really happening with Nintendo took notice. The price drop came because of many reasons, none that really need to be discussed again but the move was intended to get its price in line for the holidays. To compensate those who adopted the system early, they announced the Ambassador Program in which they gave away 10 NES games and 10 GBA games away. To my knowledge, they are the only gaming company that has ever done this after a price drop and is above and beyond the level of compensation that other companies gave for much worse.
Soon after this though, they introduced Nintendo Direct which was basically their mini E3's. The first one was all in Japanese and shown off a number of really big titles on the way, including 2 new Monster Hunter games for the 3DS. This of course made a huge splash on holiday sales in Japan but it also had a huge effect on Nintendo globally. They were shocked by the amount of people that tuned in and were overwhelmed by the amount of people that watched it internationally. This was their first major step in communicating what they're doing and what's going on behind the scenes better with the fans and the gamers and it payed off very well. 3DS saw major success during the holidays, exceeding all expectations and drastically softening the blow of the predicted money loss.
This didn't just happen because of the price drop, it was also a number of changes and things they did right that made people interested again and got them taking a second look at their products. Some of those changes were also listed in that email. For the sake of shortening the article I'll just list what all Nintendo changed and did right:
I don't think in any way that my email alone made them change there stances but I wonder if the feedback given to them from other fans and gamers had anything to do with this. I do know that they've been listening to the feedback from developers and were getting help from other companies with their online but changes this drastic means they must of really taken the feedback to heart.
The Email
Around the end of June/beginning of July last year, I was one of the many frustrated gamers that emailed Nintendo. This was before Operation Rainfall officially formed but after news officially broke that Nintendo of Europe had Xenoblade ready to be shown at E3 but Nintendo of America didn't want to show games they had no intention of releasing. Happening right off the heels of an E3 where the Wii U was being shown as a device that's supposed to be more for the core gamers, this didn't set well with me and many other gaming and RPG enthusiasts. So I emailed them about the current situation they were in as a whole, not just the RPG's, in pretty specific detail.
My email:
“Wii was not accepted by core gamers because they did not want to abandon their preferred
control approach.”
“Additionally, Wii did not use HD because HD cost performance at the time was low.”
“Wii U makes it easier to use conventional controls. Also, the Wii U controller is not as big or
heavy as it looks.”
My comment in response to the above comments:
Wrong, those people that wouldn’t touch it because of the control or the graphics aren’t
hardcore gamers PERIOD. Those are the mainstream junkies that play maybe 1 or 2 games a
year.
The hardcore gamers complaints were things like FRIENDCODES, low demo count for wiiware
games, no demos for retail and vc games, unstable online, no voice chat – then bad voice chat –
then lack of use for both voice chat devices, lack of real mii integration into the system, not
being able to communicate with random people through the net and make friends, small
storage and lack of integrating the SD card properly for storage, not supporting SD card music
in most games (only one did this), sloppy online shop set up (even the 3DS isn’t exactly
organized), and for the 3DS at least no communication between the people on your friends list.
Lets be serious, 3DS does fix a lot of things that the Wii had problems with, but not being able
to communicate between your friends is a slap back down to ground 0 in bad online set up. If
you want to fix your game sales and get the hardcore back, increase the space, start doing
demos, and fix your online. Making it so online communities can’t form and not letting people
try games before they buy them are your biggest faults, for hardware and features at least. It is
so sad that people can turn on there Wii, DSi, and 3DS and look up porn but can’t chat with
there friends, make new friends, and play game demo’s. At this day and age where the iphone
and ipad are creeping up on the console and handheld markets, you need to have these features
or you will fall behind.
My comments on the games not getting released in the US:
The core gamers are the ones who are campaigning to get games released in their region. If you
really want core gamers you would stop these PR mind games and stop ignoring your fans and
release the games people want. This includes Xenoblade and The Last Story in NTSC, Arc Rise
Fantasia in PAL, and Mother 3, Pandora's Tower, and Earth Seeker globally (as well as many other
games).
Gamers are like hardcore movie goers. It's not about the genre, its about the quality. When we
see a quality product, we get it. There are a lot of people though including core gamers who
aren't convinced just at glancing at a product, reading about it, or seeing it in action and need
to try it before they drop money on it. This is where demo's come in. If you want game sales,
you need to make these games available, push knowledge for the games, and let people try
them out, not just the press. Demo's are essential to game sales, just look at how well stuff
does on Xbox Live. For system sales (at least for the hardcore) you need a strong, well rounded
game line up. This is where Xenoblade, The Last Story, and Pandora's Tower come in as they're
all exclusive to this platform and are high quality experiences that the core gamers want, just
like Mother 3. To add to this, where is Earthbound? Why hasn't it hit the Virtual Console? Do you
not realize the demand for this game and the sales it would make?
What is happening right now is right on par with the PSN Network outages and 360 RROD. This
is a huge problem that needs to be fixed, not ignored and overlooked through a bad PR stunt.
How do you intend to sell the Wii U to the core when you're refusing to localize core games for
your current systems and ignoring the core gamers (and your own fans). I'm no Nintendo
company fan, I'm not a fan of any publication or console company. All the systems have their
strengths and weakness's and ultimately are there just to run the designers work. I however am a fan of Nintendo software, just as I am of Mistwalker software, Monolithsoft software, Blizzard
software, Bioware software, and MANY other great developers software. I want to support the
developers as it is their products that I purchase the sometimes expensive, unsecure,
underpowered, locked down, and/or faulty hardware to play them on. Hardware and publication
companies need to understand this, as most real gamers only real reason to purchase hardware
or support the publisher IS the software.
Their response:
Hello,
Once again, I want to thank you for taking the time to write to us with your feedback regarding the Wii, Wii U, and those games that you'd like to see translated. I can certainly understand your thoughts on this matter and want you to know how much we appreciate you sending them in. I also want to assure you that your comments have been added to our records for these topics and made available for other departments at the company, all they way up to our executives at Nintendo Company, Ltd. in Japan.
I'm afraid I don't have any new information to share, but I do want to say that we're very aware of your last point that it's the games and the gaming experience that sell the systems. As we go further in to the life of the Nintendo 3DS and as we approach the launch of the Wii U, I hope you find that we're providing a gaming experience you find worthwhile.
Sincerely,
Shawn Ford
Nintendo of America, Inc.
The Changes
The response seemed very standardized but shortly after, we seen major changes in just about every area I mentioned in that email. First was the price drop on the 3DS which was the official moment when people who may of not realized what was really happening with Nintendo took notice. The price drop came because of many reasons, none that really need to be discussed again but the move was intended to get its price in line for the holidays. To compensate those who adopted the system early, they announced the Ambassador Program in which they gave away 10 NES games and 10 GBA games away. To my knowledge, they are the only gaming company that has ever done this after a price drop and is above and beyond the level of compensation that other companies gave for much worse.
Soon after this though, they introduced Nintendo Direct which was basically their mini E3's. The first one was all in Japanese and shown off a number of really big titles on the way, including 2 new Monster Hunter games for the 3DS. This of course made a huge splash on holiday sales in Japan but it also had a huge effect on Nintendo globally. They were shocked by the amount of people that tuned in and were overwhelmed by the amount of people that watched it internationally. This was their first major step in communicating what they're doing and what's going on behind the scenes better with the fans and the gamers and it payed off very well. 3DS saw major success during the holidays, exceeding all expectations and drastically softening the blow of the predicted money loss.
This didn't just happen because of the price drop, it was also a number of changes and things they did right that made people interested again and got them taking a second look at their products. Some of those changes were also listed in that email. For the sake of shortening the article I'll just list what all Nintendo changed and did right:
- Dropped the price of the 3DS to be in the range of what parents would buy for kids
- Started doing Nintendo Directs to communicate with the gamers and fans to show what the future has in store
- Got many of the games out people were wanting on both 3DS and Wii, including Xenblade, The Last Story, Kid Icarus, Resident Evil, Mario Kart, Super Mario 3D Land
- Implemented Swapnote as a messaging system so people can finally communicate
- Started pushing major eShop titles to really make people get connected and check out what all is in the systems online store
- Started doing demos so titles that may not be as big or don't have the major following that the major Nintendo titles have can garner interest and get support
- Tweeked the eShop to be easier to browse and find what you want
- Introduced full downloadable games into Club Nintendo giving people more incentive to buy there games new
- Started doing summer sales on eShop games
- Bundled different color and style 3DS's with major games to help pick up sales including a completely awesome Legend of Zelda limited edition 3DS bundle
- Miiverse fully integrates Mii's into the system
- Miiverse allows people to communicate easily and is all about the community
- Wii U will have more then just voice chat, it'll have full on video chat
- We'll have more storage options then ever before
- It'll have a new Pro controller and full Wii Remote support to go along with the Pad controller
- Nintendo TVii
- Lots of praise from indie developers and major developers
- Unity support
I don't think in any way that my email alone made them change there stances but I wonder if the feedback given to them from other fans and gamers had anything to do with this. I do know that they've been listening to the feedback from developers and were getting help from other companies with their online but changes this drastic means they must of really taken the feedback to heart.
Saturday, September 29, 2012
Long Overdue Game Update
Once again, here I am, a good 2 months after my last blog entry, needing to write and inform and wondering why I haven't been blogging regularly. With that said, a lot has happened that I haven't yet talked about, so again, I'm going to write about some of it and try to cover it. This time, some of the games I've been playing.
Xenoblade Chronicles
Xenoblade finally came out, after a very, very, VERY long wait Yes I know, this came out back in April and yes, I've had it since launch. I've been slacking in talking about it as well as slacking in playing it. I was actually doing a live stream of it but due to a major SWTOR patch dropping (and my net being really nasty) I haven't gotten back to it. With that said, this is an incredible experience and I feel I should note that and give this game some praise and notice.
First, let me go ahead and say this. This game is by far one of the biggest and deepest RPG's I've played ever. It easily holds its own to any RPG that came out this generation, regardless of region and is easily the biggest most robust single player experience on the Wii. The amount of depth and thought put into this game is jaw dropping. The soundtrack is an instant classic, the English voice acting is a lot better then I thought it would be, and if you're an Otaku, you have the option of listening to the whole game with the Japanese voices. The environments are enormous and show off a scope not seen in any game this generation, EVEN SKYRIM. The combat system seems simplistic at first but even 15 hours in the game, you're constantly learning new features that the combat system offers. There's crafting in the game (yes crafting in a single player Japanese RPG) which is mostly for the "gems" but the amount of stats and effects that go into play from gems plus the fact there's several tiers of them leaves a very deep element of the game that you'll actually need a wiki or a quick gamefaqs search in order to know exactly what to do.
There's tons of side quests that have you killing tons of named mobs and exploring the world, that can seem overwhelmingly daunting because there's so many (kind of like MMO's and Elder Scrolls games) but ultimately help drastically in the items you obtain, the equipment you find, and levels. Of course just like the crafting, you'll need to refer to a wiki or gamefaqs more then once in order to find out what you need to do and some named mob fights such as Reckless Godwin you may even need to refer to youtube gameplay vids for help.
Ultimately this game is, so far, one of the best games I've played in the past 10 years, the best JRPG I've played this gen, and easily the most bank for your buck as far as single player games go on Wii. I can't stress how much fun this game is or how good this game is. All you need to know is if you want to play a game where Western RPG mechanics meet a Japanese style RPG, you're wanting a very lengthy and deep single player Wii game or if you're looking for an excellent RPG regardless of platform, look no further. If not, well, you're missing out. I'm over 50 hours in and far from finished. I'll be going back to this game very soon.
Kid Icarus: Uprising
When Super Smash Bros Brawl was first revealed, many of us, myself included had the question "Where have I seen this angel character before?" That's when rekindled interest in the Kid Icarus IP first started. Fast forward to March 23 of this year, Nintendo released Kid Icarus: Uprising, which is the first new game in a series that has been dormant for over 20 years since the gameboy sequel to the original Kid Icarus. This was a series that I never played but remember hearing about and seeing many years ago. Ultimately what pushed this purchase over the edge for me was the inclusion of the 3D remake of the original NES title and the 3DS stand that came with a pre-order of the game. Boy did I make a good purchase.
This game is one of the most content heavy, fully featured titles on a handheld, ever. The voice acting is fantastic and reminds me of a Saturday morning cartoons while the music ranges from absolutely gorgeous to cheesy heroic on the fly. The single player takes you through stages that are broken apart as part rail shooter and part 3rd person action game. The difficulty scales from drastically easy, ultra casual friendly to insanely intense bullet hell most hardcore of the hardcore. Along the journey, there's tons of items for collection that range from quick healing and power items to weapons and gear that you can equip to ultimately make you play different and get stronger. I should also note, throughout the entire stage, all the major characters, whether good or bad, talk with each other constantly leaving plenty of comedy and adds a nice touch of detail to the experience that most other games can't match.
Between each level you're brought to a Super Smash Bros Brawl like menu (which is interactive and a game within itself) that lets you use an in game currency for "idol tossing" which gives you a random chance to get different unlocks, which usually have a nice description and story to them. Also in the menu you can equip new gear, combine gear and make new gear, and you can go to a practice range to test out your equipment. You can also equip sub items that you can use during your adventure, such as 1 use bombs, healing items and buffing items.
Like other 3DS games such as Dead or Alive Dimensions and Super Street Fighter IV: 3D Edition, the game makes very good use of the 3DS's wireless, featuring local and online multiplayer which is very well polished and addictive. Furthermore, they implemented street pass and spot pass features that allow you to send and receive gems with people you pass by, which the gems contain the same stuff you get from the idols, which basically is more collectables and codex entrees. Also you can fuse gems together to make more items. They also took advantage of the systems AR features allowing you to collect cards with different gems and duke it out in 3D, which I should also note, this game has so far, the best 3D I've seen on the 3DS. As for the AR feature, after messing with it in this game, if this catches on, I can see Pokemon being bigger then it ever was before.
Over all, this is another fantastic experience that if you can get passed the controls (which work fine to me) and you own a 3DS, I'd highly recommend it! Very few games have this much content for only $40.
Radiant Historia
Radiant Historia is one of the many MANY games that got completely overlooked as it's a JRPG, on the Nintendo DS, and doesn't have huge designer, publisher, or series name behind it. Because of this, Atlus made the decision to initially make this game a limited print when it came out February 22, 2011. However, it sold out pretty quickly, became an underground hit, and made a cult following. Kind of like Demon Souls, the demand for the game was completely unprecedented; they never knew that it would become such a hit. Four months after the release, the game was rare and hard to find, with amazon being the only reliable source for purchase but even there the game was going for well over $100 new and $50 used without booklet or case. Luckily, me and many other gamers were pleasantly surprised and taken off guard when Atlus made the brave decision this February and announced that in due to high demand, they were going to reprint the game and have it available online on March 19, 2012. Needless to say, Amazon and other stores started taking pre-orders and of course, this time, I plopped the money down.
I was sitting on this game for a long time without playing it but this August I decided to put in my 3DS and start playing it. Boy is this game a good experience. The graphics are reminiscent of Xenogears, the story is reminiscent of Chrono Cross/Trigger, and the battle system has an interesting grid base, not for your allies but rather the enemies. Nothing is truly "new" about the game but it's a very well polished and extremely enjoyable experience. One thing though that it does do different then most other games, is it has 2 simultaneous stories going on that stem from 2 separate realities from 2 separate timelines that stem from a decision you make early on in the game. All throughout the game you can make decisions than go back to them via a time transport, which allows you to accomplish different things and alter history. It isn't an open ended story like that of an Elder Scrolls or Bioware game but it does offer an interesting method of story telling, especially as you're constantly going back and forth between story lines in order to progress the over all game.
The music in the game is enjoyable but far from memorable when set side to side with the 2 previous games I talked about. It does definitely fit the game and set the mood though. Also going back to the combat, while it doesn't feel entirely original, it does offer a very strategic and engaging experience from the typical turn based system. Just doing attacks won't get you very far and you really have to pay attention. The combat is consistently a lot tougher then most turn based RPG's and even after getting 50 hours in the game, I still struggle with some groups of mobs. Expect to deplete your mana regularly. If you're looking for a challenging and very polished RPG that's reminiscent to past PS1 and SNES games, I recommend checking this game out. Don't wait too long either, as it can disappear again.
Heroes of Ruin
In a previous blog I noted that there were many games I was anticipating. One of them, was the overly ambitious isometric dungeon crawler action RPG, Heroes of Ruin which is made by N-Space and published by SquareEnix. SE in recent years has been publishing more western games, which is good for them as it helps sales, keeps them competing with the giants like EA and Activision, and keeps smaller developers who's publishers may of dropped them still making games. This game however, unlike many others, really caught my eye because of the strong online features most online RPG's, on not just handhelds but even consoles, lack and the big focus on randomized items and dungeons.
Ultimately, the randomization of the dungeons was hurt drastically by not having respawning bosses and respawning randomized dungeons for each stage. This and of course the lack of a new game + killed the longevity of the game. That said, there's a lot of loot with 3 main stats but a lot of sub stats, the talent tree while basic offers a lot more depth then expected, and the actual core gameplay is rock solid. The online, while hindered by the lack of respawning content, is a lot of fun, offers voice chat, gives perks for playing with friends, tracks your stats on the website, and balances the game out to be a good mix for the levels of the players in the game.
The presentation isn't really anything to write home about. The menu's are bland and basic, the story is told in still images that only really look good in 3D, and the voice acting is nothing to write home about. With that said, while the voice acting isn't stellar, it's better then expected and the music is pretty stunning. Furthermore, while the models could be a lot better, the environments are gorgeous. Over all, the game is a hit or miss. For me, I enjoy it for what it is but it definitely lacks the polish and budget of games like Torchlight 2 and Diablo 3.
SWTOR patches 1.2 - 1.4 and Server Merges
I've written a lot about Starwars: The Old Republic. It was easily my most anticipated game in 2011 behind only Xenoblade. When the game launched, there was a lot of good things about the game that made it a really awesome experience, particularly while questing, however after spending a good amount of time with it, you began to start noticing certain things that really need to be changed, dropped, and added. I actually stopped playing the game in February due to some of these problems and issues and came back a little after patch 1.2 dropped on April 12th, right during the middle of my Xenoblade playthrough.
This patch fixed 2 major problems with the game. First and the reason why I stopped playing SWTOR, it fixed codex entrees. During my time playing SWTOR, I really REALLY got into the story and lore of the game. I did every quest, I watched every cutscene, and of course, I read every codex entry. When I got mid way through Belsavis, my codex stopped working after I got a glitched out datacron. From there my experience started getting really flat and mid way through questing on Voss, I just closed out of my account because the experience became too flat for me. Luckily, patch 1.2 fixed this problem and rekindled my interest in the game. The other major problem that this patch fixed was an annoying and rather troublesome problem with crewskills. While crafting, in order for me to learn higher versions of my crafts, I need to reverse engineer them which turns items I make into materials but also has a chance of letting me learn higher end versions of my the item I'm crafting. The problem with this was, at the time, it would roll a dice on it and usually, it would try and give you a version of the item you already know, making you have to constantly RE (reverse engineer) and use tons of materials in the process of trying to obtain the higher end recipes. The fix basically made it so that when you RE and it lands on a version of the item you already know, it goes automatically to the next version so you're not constantly getting the same thing over and over and over. This was a huge fix for me and when I came back, I finally got the things I've been lusting after.
Patch 1.2 wasn't all good though, as they didn't add in ranked warzones the way they said they would and do to this, many players that were holding out for it, left the game out of frustration because of the lack of it. Also, while they introduced legacy, many of the things they shown off with legacy didn't make it to this patch (and still aren't in the game) though myself, I haven't kept up with what all that was and in the coming months after 1.2 enjoyed the crap out of 1.2 and legacy. I should also mention, the addition of UI customization was a very nice addition for me.
One thing I did notice was after 1.2's event and all the hold outs left, the servers became barren. PVP queue's took sometimes upwards of 2 hours, getting a group for anything was impossible without friends, and the questing hubs felt very empty. This spawned the need for server merges and transfers. Right before 1.3, they started allowing people to transfer their toons from low population servers to a group of about 10 servers for higher amounts in the population. Soon after this 1.3 dropped, which brought group finder, ranked warzones, character perks for legacy, same faction warzones, and the ability to add augment slots to your gear. All of these were long overdue features but after the server merges and with a larger concentration of players to do stuff with, they all helped drastically.
Of course, soon after this we learned that the game will be going free to play and a lot of negative news came out that SWTOR is dieing but the fact of the matter is, with the server merges and the switch to the F2P model, it seems like they're making the correct moves needed to save their game. They did a lot already to fix major problems and added missing features, most of which a good amount of people who bought the game at launch won't know they changed because they stopped playing early on. Doing this can and most likely will rekindle interest and get people to take a second look at a game that has, since release, gotten a major face lift.
The recent patch 1.4 however, while adding more content, fails to deliver any major face lifts, which is a bit of a disappointment. It could be because the game will soon shift to free to play and they'll soon be doing a lot of new things or it could be that they feel there isn't anything else that needs to be changed but there is still one glaring issue that I've had a problem with for a very, VERY long time and it's a PVP thing. There are some stats in PVP that play little next to nothing in the grand scheme of things for PVP, those being accruacy, defense, shield rating, and absorption rating. This is also do to how the game works, basically having most attacks labeled to being elemental, kinetic, and internal, rather then playing off of weapon damage, which is the only type of damage that any of those stats work with. This is a problem imo for all aspects of the game, it makes DPS not have to worry about accuracy in PVE and PVP and it makes it so that tanks with tank stats get shredded apart in PVP. If you're a tank, you should be able to dodge a fist, knife, and kick better then a blaster shot, which is not the case with this system. Furthermore, an energy shield is not a middle aged big clunky piece of metal. It should go off any time an outside force gets close, even something as small as a fly. The fact that all these attacks don't bring up my shield generator's shield not only doesn't make any sense logically, it's also a broken system all around and needs to be fixed. Hopefully, this will get looked at because currently, it's one of the most frustrating elements in PVP in SWTOR. Furthermore, hopefully they fix Illum soon.
Xenoblade Chronicles
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| This game is absolutely gorgeous |
Xenoblade finally came out, after a very, very, VERY long wait Yes I know, this came out back in April and yes, I've had it since launch. I've been slacking in talking about it as well as slacking in playing it. I was actually doing a live stream of it but due to a major SWTOR patch dropping (and my net being really nasty) I haven't gotten back to it. With that said, this is an incredible experience and I feel I should note that and give this game some praise and notice.
First, let me go ahead and say this. This game is by far one of the biggest and deepest RPG's I've played ever. It easily holds its own to any RPG that came out this generation, regardless of region and is easily the biggest most robust single player experience on the Wii. The amount of depth and thought put into this game is jaw dropping. The soundtrack is an instant classic, the English voice acting is a lot better then I thought it would be, and if you're an Otaku, you have the option of listening to the whole game with the Japanese voices. The environments are enormous and show off a scope not seen in any game this generation, EVEN SKYRIM. The combat system seems simplistic at first but even 15 hours in the game, you're constantly learning new features that the combat system offers. There's crafting in the game (yes crafting in a single player Japanese RPG) which is mostly for the "gems" but the amount of stats and effects that go into play from gems plus the fact there's several tiers of them leaves a very deep element of the game that you'll actually need a wiki or a quick gamefaqs search in order to know exactly what to do.
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| Gem Crafting |
There's tons of side quests that have you killing tons of named mobs and exploring the world, that can seem overwhelmingly daunting because there's so many (kind of like MMO's and Elder Scrolls games) but ultimately help drastically in the items you obtain, the equipment you find, and levels. Of course just like the crafting, you'll need to refer to a wiki or gamefaqs more then once in order to find out what you need to do and some named mob fights such as Reckless Godwin you may even need to refer to youtube gameplay vids for help.
Ultimately this game is, so far, one of the best games I've played in the past 10 years, the best JRPG I've played this gen, and easily the most bank for your buck as far as single player games go on Wii. I can't stress how much fun this game is or how good this game is. All you need to know is if you want to play a game where Western RPG mechanics meet a Japanese style RPG, you're wanting a very lengthy and deep single player Wii game or if you're looking for an excellent RPG regardless of platform, look no further. If not, well, you're missing out. I'm over 50 hours in and far from finished. I'll be going back to this game very soon.
Kid Icarus: Uprising
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| Kid Icarus: Uprising box art |
When Super Smash Bros Brawl was first revealed, many of us, myself included had the question "Where have I seen this angel character before?" That's when rekindled interest in the Kid Icarus IP first started. Fast forward to March 23 of this year, Nintendo released Kid Icarus: Uprising, which is the first new game in a series that has been dormant for over 20 years since the gameboy sequel to the original Kid Icarus. This was a series that I never played but remember hearing about and seeing many years ago. Ultimately what pushed this purchase over the edge for me was the inclusion of the 3D remake of the original NES title and the 3DS stand that came with a pre-order of the game. Boy did I make a good purchase.
This game is one of the most content heavy, fully featured titles on a handheld, ever. The voice acting is fantastic and reminds me of a Saturday morning cartoons while the music ranges from absolutely gorgeous to cheesy heroic on the fly. The single player takes you through stages that are broken apart as part rail shooter and part 3rd person action game. The difficulty scales from drastically easy, ultra casual friendly to insanely intense bullet hell most hardcore of the hardcore. Along the journey, there's tons of items for collection that range from quick healing and power items to weapons and gear that you can equip to ultimately make you play different and get stronger. I should also note, throughout the entire stage, all the major characters, whether good or bad, talk with each other constantly leaving plenty of comedy and adds a nice touch of detail to the experience that most other games can't match.
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| Screens of the game look better on the 3DS and in 3D |
Between each level you're brought to a Super Smash Bros Brawl like menu (which is interactive and a game within itself) that lets you use an in game currency for "idol tossing" which gives you a random chance to get different unlocks, which usually have a nice description and story to them. Also in the menu you can equip new gear, combine gear and make new gear, and you can go to a practice range to test out your equipment. You can also equip sub items that you can use during your adventure, such as 1 use bombs, healing items and buffing items.
Like other 3DS games such as Dead or Alive Dimensions and Super Street Fighter IV: 3D Edition, the game makes very good use of the 3DS's wireless, featuring local and online multiplayer which is very well polished and addictive. Furthermore, they implemented street pass and spot pass features that allow you to send and receive gems with people you pass by, which the gems contain the same stuff you get from the idols, which basically is more collectables and codex entrees. Also you can fuse gems together to make more items. They also took advantage of the systems AR features allowing you to collect cards with different gems and duke it out in 3D, which I should also note, this game has so far, the best 3D I've seen on the 3DS. As for the AR feature, after messing with it in this game, if this catches on, I can see Pokemon being bigger then it ever was before.
Over all, this is another fantastic experience that if you can get passed the controls (which work fine to me) and you own a 3DS, I'd highly recommend it! Very few games have this much content for only $40.
Radiant Historia
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| You'd be crazy to miss this one |
Radiant Historia is one of the many MANY games that got completely overlooked as it's a JRPG, on the Nintendo DS, and doesn't have huge designer, publisher, or series name behind it. Because of this, Atlus made the decision to initially make this game a limited print when it came out February 22, 2011. However, it sold out pretty quickly, became an underground hit, and made a cult following. Kind of like Demon Souls, the demand for the game was completely unprecedented; they never knew that it would become such a hit. Four months after the release, the game was rare and hard to find, with amazon being the only reliable source for purchase but even there the game was going for well over $100 new and $50 used without booklet or case. Luckily, me and many other gamers were pleasantly surprised and taken off guard when Atlus made the brave decision this February and announced that in due to high demand, they were going to reprint the game and have it available online on March 19, 2012. Needless to say, Amazon and other stores started taking pre-orders and of course, this time, I plopped the money down.
I was sitting on this game for a long time without playing it but this August I decided to put in my 3DS and start playing it. Boy is this game a good experience. The graphics are reminiscent of Xenogears, the story is reminiscent of Chrono Cross/Trigger, and the battle system has an interesting grid base, not for your allies but rather the enemies. Nothing is truly "new" about the game but it's a very well polished and extremely enjoyable experience. One thing though that it does do different then most other games, is it has 2 simultaneous stories going on that stem from 2 separate realities from 2 separate timelines that stem from a decision you make early on in the game. All throughout the game you can make decisions than go back to them via a time transport, which allows you to accomplish different things and alter history. It isn't an open ended story like that of an Elder Scrolls or Bioware game but it does offer an interesting method of story telling, especially as you're constantly going back and forth between story lines in order to progress the over all game.
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| The time chart |
The music in the game is enjoyable but far from memorable when set side to side with the 2 previous games I talked about. It does definitely fit the game and set the mood though. Also going back to the combat, while it doesn't feel entirely original, it does offer a very strategic and engaging experience from the typical turn based system. Just doing attacks won't get you very far and you really have to pay attention. The combat is consistently a lot tougher then most turn based RPG's and even after getting 50 hours in the game, I still struggle with some groups of mobs. Expect to deplete your mana regularly. If you're looking for a challenging and very polished RPG that's reminiscent to past PS1 and SNES games, I recommend checking this game out. Don't wait too long either, as it can disappear again.
Heroes of Ruin
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| Hit or miss |
In a previous blog I noted that there were many games I was anticipating. One of them, was the overly ambitious isometric dungeon crawler action RPG, Heroes of Ruin which is made by N-Space and published by SquareEnix. SE in recent years has been publishing more western games, which is good for them as it helps sales, keeps them competing with the giants like EA and Activision, and keeps smaller developers who's publishers may of dropped them still making games. This game however, unlike many others, really caught my eye because of the strong online features most online RPG's, on not just handhelds but even consoles, lack and the big focus on randomized items and dungeons.
Ultimately, the randomization of the dungeons was hurt drastically by not having respawning bosses and respawning randomized dungeons for each stage. This and of course the lack of a new game + killed the longevity of the game. That said, there's a lot of loot with 3 main stats but a lot of sub stats, the talent tree while basic offers a lot more depth then expected, and the actual core gameplay is rock solid. The online, while hindered by the lack of respawning content, is a lot of fun, offers voice chat, gives perks for playing with friends, tracks your stats on the website, and balances the game out to be a good mix for the levels of the players in the game.
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| The environments look great but the models need work |
The presentation isn't really anything to write home about. The menu's are bland and basic, the story is told in still images that only really look good in 3D, and the voice acting is nothing to write home about. With that said, while the voice acting isn't stellar, it's better then expected and the music is pretty stunning. Furthermore, while the models could be a lot better, the environments are gorgeous. Over all, the game is a hit or miss. For me, I enjoy it for what it is but it definitely lacks the polish and budget of games like Torchlight 2 and Diablo 3.
SWTOR patches 1.2 - 1.4 and Server Merges
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| Darth Malgus and a Jedi Master flash mob cosplay |
I've written a lot about Starwars: The Old Republic. It was easily my most anticipated game in 2011 behind only Xenoblade. When the game launched, there was a lot of good things about the game that made it a really awesome experience, particularly while questing, however after spending a good amount of time with it, you began to start noticing certain things that really need to be changed, dropped, and added. I actually stopped playing the game in February due to some of these problems and issues and came back a little after patch 1.2 dropped on April 12th, right during the middle of my Xenoblade playthrough.
This patch fixed 2 major problems with the game. First and the reason why I stopped playing SWTOR, it fixed codex entrees. During my time playing SWTOR, I really REALLY got into the story and lore of the game. I did every quest, I watched every cutscene, and of course, I read every codex entry. When I got mid way through Belsavis, my codex stopped working after I got a glitched out datacron. From there my experience started getting really flat and mid way through questing on Voss, I just closed out of my account because the experience became too flat for me. Luckily, patch 1.2 fixed this problem and rekindled my interest in the game. The other major problem that this patch fixed was an annoying and rather troublesome problem with crewskills. While crafting, in order for me to learn higher versions of my crafts, I need to reverse engineer them which turns items I make into materials but also has a chance of letting me learn higher end versions of my the item I'm crafting. The problem with this was, at the time, it would roll a dice on it and usually, it would try and give you a version of the item you already know, making you have to constantly RE (reverse engineer) and use tons of materials in the process of trying to obtain the higher end recipes. The fix basically made it so that when you RE and it lands on a version of the item you already know, it goes automatically to the next version so you're not constantly getting the same thing over and over and over. This was a huge fix for me and when I came back, I finally got the things I've been lusting after.
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| All of this + broken system = not fun |
Patch 1.2 wasn't all good though, as they didn't add in ranked warzones the way they said they would and do to this, many players that were holding out for it, left the game out of frustration because of the lack of it. Also, while they introduced legacy, many of the things they shown off with legacy didn't make it to this patch (and still aren't in the game) though myself, I haven't kept up with what all that was and in the coming months after 1.2 enjoyed the crap out of 1.2 and legacy. I should also mention, the addition of UI customization was a very nice addition for me.
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| Seems small but it helps a lot! |
One thing I did notice was after 1.2's event and all the hold outs left, the servers became barren. PVP queue's took sometimes upwards of 2 hours, getting a group for anything was impossible without friends, and the questing hubs felt very empty. This spawned the need for server merges and transfers. Right before 1.3, they started allowing people to transfer their toons from low population servers to a group of about 10 servers for higher amounts in the population. Soon after this 1.3 dropped, which brought group finder, ranked warzones, character perks for legacy, same faction warzones, and the ability to add augment slots to your gear. All of these were long overdue features but after the server merges and with a larger concentration of players to do stuff with, they all helped drastically.
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| This is a pretty accurate representation of how I felt. |
Of course, soon after this we learned that the game will be going free to play and a lot of negative news came out that SWTOR is dieing but the fact of the matter is, with the server merges and the switch to the F2P model, it seems like they're making the correct moves needed to save their game. They did a lot already to fix major problems and added missing features, most of which a good amount of people who bought the game at launch won't know they changed because they stopped playing early on. Doing this can and most likely will rekindle interest and get people to take a second look at a game that has, since release, gotten a major face lift.
The recent patch 1.4 however, while adding more content, fails to deliver any major face lifts, which is a bit of a disappointment. It could be because the game will soon shift to free to play and they'll soon be doing a lot of new things or it could be that they feel there isn't anything else that needs to be changed but there is still one glaring issue that I've had a problem with for a very, VERY long time and it's a PVP thing. There are some stats in PVP that play little next to nothing in the grand scheme of things for PVP, those being accruacy, defense, shield rating, and absorption rating. This is also do to how the game works, basically having most attacks labeled to being elemental, kinetic, and internal, rather then playing off of weapon damage, which is the only type of damage that any of those stats work with. This is a problem imo for all aspects of the game, it makes DPS not have to worry about accuracy in PVE and PVP and it makes it so that tanks with tank stats get shredded apart in PVP. If you're a tank, you should be able to dodge a fist, knife, and kick better then a blaster shot, which is not the case with this system. Furthermore, an energy shield is not a middle aged big clunky piece of metal. It should go off any time an outside force gets close, even something as small as a fly. The fact that all these attacks don't bring up my shield generator's shield not only doesn't make any sense logically, it's also a broken system all around and needs to be fixed. Hopefully, this will get looked at because currently, it's one of the most frustrating elements in PVP in SWTOR. Furthermore, hopefully they fix Illum soon.
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