Alright well it has been quite a while since the last update because of my recent move to Osaka. It has been a busy period of settling in plus starting work at new schools in the Osaka area. I finally feel like I am settled in so I figured it would be a good time to update the blog.

I just wanted to give some quick impressions on Level 5s new Soccer RPG, Inazuma Eleven. It was a complete impulse buy as I had not really followed it since the first couple of trailers but I am really happy that I picked it up now. I have put about 10 hours into the game so far and it is quite a bit better than I expected.

The story and setting are just cookie cutter sports anime fare, but a part of me has always found this style at least a little charming so it is hard to hold it against the game. I am also extremely impressed at how they managed to mesh this setting together with what is basically a traditional RPG. Nothing feels out of place even though it is quite different when compared to other RPGs.

It still keeps the standard random battle system, but the battles are actually just 4 on 4 soccer matches with no rules. They are extremely painless and can be ended fairly quickly once you get the hang of the controls. Boss battles actually take the form of a full on 11 man soccer match, which are the highlights of the game. Things can get extremely hectic mainly because of the number of special abilities that get thrown around. The abilities basically come in 4 different types; they consist of shooting, dribbling, blocking, and goalkeeping moves. All have ridiculous over-the-top anime cinematics which are fairly entertaining. There seems to be quite a wide variety even this early in the game also, so you don’t get tired of watching the same thing.

The controls are pretty simple, although it can be overwhelming if you try to micro-manage too much. You draw lines from your characters in the direction you want them to run to. You can draw a zig-zag or a wavy line and they will follow it to the tee. If you have the ball, tapping anywhere on screen will kick it there, so you tap in front of a teammate to pass or tap a spot on the goal to shoot. You can also tap on your character which will preform a juke type move. If an opposing player is close when you do this it will stun them. If you characters runs into an opposing player then it will prompt you with choices. The choices range from various special abilities or normal juke/slide moves. If you tap on the goal for a shot then you are also prompted with the choice of normal kicks or special abilities.

The controls work really well and become second nature pretty fast. There are also a couple of factors that help to smooth things out a bit. Teammates will automatically run for the ball if you lead them with your passes. You can also do direct shots, which are basically assists. If you pass the ball to a teammate in front of the goal and tap on the goal for a shot as soon as he receives the ball you are given this opportunity. It basically just allows you to use a heading technique or another faster kick instead of the normal shots. Very useful move. Another helpful tactic is a little icon on the top right that allows you to stop time and input commands for your entire team if you want. You can use it once every 10 seconds or so. A very good idea that helps to cut down on the hectic nature of the game.

Overall I am very happy with the game, and plan to finish it before I move onto any other DS games. A very fun and original take on the normal JRPG formula.

Well after thinking about it for a while, I decided against doing reviews on this site. I was planning on doing a review of Valkyria Chronicles as my first one, but instead I will just do a detailed post about what I believe the game did right as far as the SRPG genre is concerned. In a genre that has been plagued with a lack of substantial innovation, Valkyria Chronicles stands out as a fine example of a new idea which was perfectly executed.

As a longtime fan of the SRPG genre, I always have my ears open for new titles that try to implement new and interesting ideas into the genre. The problem comes with the fact that this doesn’t happen nearly as often as it should. The majority of the games are still stuck using the same basic gameplay principles that have become staples of the genre. The most common of these are terrain advantages and weapon circles. Even if you look at one of the leading series in the genre, Fire Emblem, a good 90% of the strategy in the game revolves around these two systems. In fact the only notable addition in the newer games is the ability for heavier characters to push lighter characters one space over. Looking at this it’s pretty obvious to conclude that they are stuck in a deep muddy rut, and instead of putting something under the back tires to actually move forward they are happy just spinning their tires deeper and deeper.

Enough with talking about the past though. I came here with the purpose of detailing all the things that Valkyria Chronicles manages to do right. As far as SRPGs are concerned it is one of the freshest offerings I have played in a very long time. One of my main problems with the genre is that they haven’t done a very good job moving into the 3D era. Any of the series that have made this transition have only did it aesthetically with practically no real implementation as far as gameplay. How Valkyria Chronicles approaches this is by giving you a 2D map view that any SRPG fan would feel comfortable with. Once a unit is selected the game zooms in on the character, giving you full control in a 3D field. The character is now under your control, allowing you to move freely until your ability points are spent for that round. Once you are in position next is the aiming phase in which the action stops and gives you a chance to attack the enemy. It works like the majority of previous SRPG games in most areas, except that the action is carried out by you in a full 3D field.

Valkyria Chronicles is one of the few games that actually managed to capture the idea of a SRPG inside of a 3D world. You can actually look up and see the snipers on a rooftop above you, or jump back when you turn a corner to see a tank waiting in ambush. It is just common sense that these kinds of details in a 3D engine would help to increase immersion, but it does not stop at just that. The game takes on a different feel when you are actually running up to an enemy, stopping and taking aim, then firing a volley at their head. It also adds some strategy in this respect because you have different areas to aim at with different advantages and drawbacks. Shooting at the upper body or head will result in more damage but there is always a chance the enemy will go prone to dodge the attack. On the other hand you will get less damage from shooting at their lower half, but are guaranteed to hit. Small details like this help to add more variety to each individual encounter.

There are a lot of new exciting things to do as far as strategy thanks to the 3D world. There are actually alleys and openings between buildings which if used effectively allow you to flank the enemy’s position. Instead of having a sprite in an normal SRPG standing at the entrance to a base so no one can get in to destroy your troops, Valkyria allows you to hide troops from the enemy’s view behind walls. I really believe this adds a lot more believability to the “Fog of War” aspect that is a standard in most SRPGs. Instead of being based on a certain distance you can see, it is more about line of sight. Climbing a sniping tower for example will give you the positions of any enemy you can see in the distance. On top of this, good positioning will make sure that they fire at anyone who crosses their line of sight. The fact that action happens even when you are not actively attacking or being attacked really speeds up the game’s flow.

The next aspect that stood out to me was the way the game handles a character’s death. The game does have permanent death which might scare some of the more casual SRPG fans off, but you can rest easy. The implementation is nowhere near as brutal as other series with this feature, namely Fire Emblem and the Tear Ring Saga. Once a character loses all of his/her HP they will collapse on the battlefield, and will stay on the ground wounded for a limited number of turns or until an enemy approaches them. If you move one of your own characters up before either of these happen they will call in a medic to rush them back to your base. Also nice is that if you give them one turn to heal then you are able to call them back out into the field during the same battle. One other detail which I found useful is the fact that you can use your tanks to recover characters also, in case they collapsed in a dangerous area.

Now that I have mentioned the tanks, I just need to put it out there that I love them so much in this game. The game does a great job emphasizing the importance of the tank as more than just pure firepower. For most of the missions it is extremely important to use it as your shield against enemy counter attacks. Although it might sound redundant to repeat this again, it’s another example of the possibilities opened up by a full 3D SRPG.

Earlier I mentioned the “Fog of War” feature that is used to usually add challenge to most SRPG games, limiting your field of view as a result of nighttime or other battlefield conditions. One of the problems I always felt was the fact that it was mostly just giving you a disadvantage, with the AI still able to detect your movements and ambush accordingly. However in Valkyria Chronicles it factors in on both sides, as the enemy will be totally clueless if you manage to hide from their sight. Not only this, but the game also gives you another option around halfway through that relates directly to this topic. In preparation for a particular mission you are given a smoke bomb to use with your main tank, the Edelweiss. By using this smoke bomb you are able to cover your troops’ advancement, protect them from heavy fire, etc. It really adds a lot of potential to the game if you use it correctly. I managed to defeat a couple of bosses very handily with strategic use of the smoke bombs. The game basically gives you the ability to use something that was previously an extremely annoying factor in SRPGs wherever and whenever you want against the AI. It was very much a refreshing change in this respect.

Well, I ended up talking about the game more than I originally planned and I haven’t even touched on the presentation or graphics. Good thing that there really is nothing to say other than the game is absolutely beautiful. The entire game has a very consistent art style which was beautiful throughout. The environments look great and really come to life with destructible obstacles and small details like manga inspired sound effects. The animation and lighting were also top notch, as I was especially taken back by the beauty of the night missions. All of the cutscenes were well directed and most of them were absolutely breathtaking. As far as presentation, the interface was easy to use and very intuitive. The way the game was broken down into chapters in a book was an interesting way to do things which worked very well. The story was also a pleasant surprise, complete with a couple of twists which I did not see coming at all.

When it comes down to it, this was one of the best and most refreshing SRPGs I have played this generation. There are still tons of other details that I just don’t have time to gush over including a great variation in mission structure, challenging and well thought out boss battles, and a memorable soundtrack to boot. Anyone who considers themself a SRPG fan would be making a big mistake in skipping this one.

So it is finally here. The king of good ole hot-blooded street fighting returns!

I have put about three hours into the game so far, and just wanted to share my general impressions. I am a huge fan of both Ryu Ga Gotoku 1 and 2, so it might be best to take that into account when reading this.

Alright so first lets just talk about the meat of the game, which is the awesome street fighting. So far it is still pretty similar to the first two games, except with the addition of swords. I personally love the addition because I constantly carried swords in my inventory in the first two games. Now they have been fleshed out and are a big part of the combat. I haven’t gotten any special abilities yet, but it is still very enjoyable. As much as I love using swords in the game, I am also pleased that the hand-to-hand combat hasn’t been rendered ineffective. In fact I still find myself sheathing my sword just to beat 7-8 armed bandits to hell and back. It is also nice to see the enemies jump back out of fear when you draw your sword on them again.

It seems that they have ditched the three stats you could level up yourself in the first two games. Now it appears that you do certain kinds of events and training in order to learn abilities and HP and power just level up normally. I really like this system better, as it feels a little more natural. My one dissapointment so far is that there still doesn’t feel like enough useable items are in the combat areas. I have ran into a bunch of cool ones so far, but they still seem kind of scattered unlike the first two games. The numbers might go up later, not really sure.

It really is a beautiful game on many different levels. The shadowing is some of the best I have seen in any game, as are the character models. After tweaking some settings on my tv I was completely blown away by how good the models look in game. Some of the environments aren’t exactly mind blowing but they are still solid and the art direction is good. The game also shines in the animation department. Not just the main character, but even random NPCs dancing through the streets have solid animation.

The team did a great job of designing Gion. The streets are crowded and it really has a great mood and atmosphere to it. Lots of small details such as drunks passed out in dark alleys, Geisha blowing bubbles out into the crowd, and fireworks constantly firing into the sky. Overall the presentation is really delivering what I want. Also a great addition is the auto-advance feature when listening to voiced conversations. You just hit R3 and the conversation will flow nice and smoothly. The voice work is just as good as the first two games, which still rank up as my favorite voice work ever.

The story so far seems solid enough. It definitely has my attention and makes me want to play more and see where it leads. Only problem is I am now flipping through the manual and I know I am going to get distracted racing turtles or hitting on Geisha and end up spending 60+ hours before finishing the game. I already blew like half the money you start off with hitting on a geisha. I suppose I can’t really complain about that though.

This is going up a little later than I expected, mainly due to the fact that I hosted a party this weekend and the preparations that go in hand with that.

Alright so let’s just jump right in.

I am completely in love with this game. This is might be because I have been craving this type of game for a while now and this one delivers where it’s important. However, I would like to believe it is just a result of the game being amazing.

The story so far has been fairly predictable but some of the dialog is at least interesting. I really don’t care for most of the characters so far either, although I am just on Act 3(out of 6). I am hoping that both of these will change by the end. So far it just hasn’t added anymore enjoyment to the game for me. I sometimes feel the urge to just skip scenes and hit stuff but then Mitsuda’s amazing tracks keep me watching.

Well now that I have mentioned it I will go into a little more detail about the music in the game. I have been playing with headphones and for the most part the music is beautiful. The boss tracks have an epic feel and add even more tension to some epic boss battles. I have also enjoyed all of the field music too. It has a great mood to it and I sometimes feel it zone me even more into the exploring and combat. Another plus is the fact that the headphone mix is amazing even on a technical level. This is by far the best sounding DS game I have played. No disappointments at all in this area.

The graphics are great and so far the backgrounds and areas have had a good amount of variety. It can get tiring to feel like you are running over the same place copied and pasted over and over with color swaps being about the most variety you see(looking at you Children of Mana). Luckily this game doesn’t fall into that trap and there are obstacles and little additions that help to make the fields more interesting to traverse. The character models are great looking, and even hold up when you zoom all the way in. The attack animations are a pleasure to watch and I am really liking the variety. The backgrounds do get pixelated and blurry the more you zoom in, but that is just to be expected really.

So now on to the meat of the game, the combat and gameplay. This is what will have me coming back to this game for a while. The first word that pops up into my mind when thinking about the combat in Soma Bringer is “satisfying”. Especially once you get into more difficult battles, you understand that the game isn’t just pressing a button over and over with no real strategy. It is important to save certain moves for certain situations and the correct timing can go a long way to turn the battle in your favor. The Break system is a really great idea and helps to add variety to battles. It basically amounts to subsequent attacks ‘breaking’ an enemy’s guard and opening them up to combos and knockback/juggle moves. I would really put it up as one of the deeper action RPGs I have ever played, especially considering that enemies can also do Breaks on you which will put you in a world of hurt. Backing up just long enough from a tough enemy to avoid his punch and a crippling Break really helps to add tension to the battles. It just gets even better when you then follow up that dodge with a Break of your own to juggle the enemy to death.

My next little tangent has to do with the knockback and juggle properties that are so important in Soma Bringer. Just like the Break system this was a great idea for an Action RPG. The biggest plus for me is it helps to give the feeling of weight to the enemies. Usually in Action RPGs it just feels as if you are slashing through endless colored pixels that move and hit you, but this added weight to the combo system really helps to bring the enemies and combat to life. I just can’t desrcribe how cool it is to juggle a tank 2-3 times before sending it flying off the screen with your best knockback attack.

The last thing I want to touch on is the multiplayer. I started a fresh character a few days ago and went through the first half dozen or so quests with my friend. I am really liking this game even more in multiplayer and it just makes the lack of wi-fi hurt even more. The setup is very simple and allows plenty of freedom. You are allowed to run anywhere that you have unlocked without having to worry about what your friend is doing. Also important is that even when you join their game/world you are still limited to the warp points and such that you have unlocked yourself. The only restriction I saw was that to activate an event you both need to be in the area. There is a trading system which is simple and is a nice addition where you basically load things into a box and then both of you okay it. I unloaded a bunch of blue and yellow swords off on my friends lvl 1 character before we started.

The combat feels even better in multiplayer just because you can actually organize your attacks. We were just plowing through enemies without any problems because of this. The AI in the singleplayer is good enough but it is just so much nicer to have another person throw in his own style to the combat. This especially shines in the numerous boss battles because of their length. We had several cool moments where he told me to save my magic for one second so he could perform a Break on the boss and send him in the air with a juggle and make him an easy target for my spell. Overall it just makes an addictive game even more addicting.

I can’t wait to play some more when I get home tonight, and every night thereafter

So after some adventures I finally found a DS station that was playable. Unfortunately the demo isn’t actually available for download and you are forced to use the demo unit to play. Considering a lot of these demo units are used and abused daily it’s not too much fun.

I played a few minutes with around 3 characters, and managed to get to the boss with the Einsatz character. He was equipped with 2 swords and it was really easy to pull off combos with him. His attacks were flashy and had quite a bit of variety. I didn’t get to finish the boss because the DS demo unit decided to reset for some reason, but even the boss in the demo was impressive looking. A big serpent carrying a badass sword. It was fairly easy, but isn’t that how all demos go recently?

The combat system is exactly what I want, simple but customizable which lends it to have a little more depth than some of the more recent ARPG offerings. One thing I didn’t know is that it allows you to have two different attack setups mapped, and you just switch between them with R button(you also switch to your item layout with L). So you are actually able to have around 8 different attacks mapped at one time. Not sure if you are required to have the basic attack mapped or not though.

The Break system is probably my favorite addition. Being able to combo enemies until you break their guard is a nice feature and really adds some flair to the normal hack and slash formula. I also like the fact that certain attacks allow you to knock back or send enemies into the air, giving you more combo opportunities. Another interesting tidbit is the fact that some enemies also have this ability and especially on the boss I found myself in the air quite a bit.

Next I spent a few minutes with the Jadis character, who carries a huge axe and has access to black magic. The spells had nice effects and looked pretty nice. It definitely seems that the various characters will give the game a lot of variety, because the two characters were completely different. Jadis was a slow character but a lot of his attacks had knock-back properties. Completely different play style from Einsatz.

And as everyone can tell from all the videos, the game looks amazing. It has a great style to it and the animations are some of the best seen on the DS ever. Definitely no complaints in that compartment. The ability to zoom in with the select button is also nice, and allowed me to drool all over the animations for a few minutes.

So my next game purchase has been decided and it is Soma Bringer! I have decided to bite the bullet and hope for the best come next week. I never really paid any attention to the game until they finally updated the official site last week. The videos for the game alone have gotten me hyped. I have recently been pining for a good Action RPG, especially one with co-op and this seems to fit the bill perfectly. But it doesn’t seem too far-fetched to believe the game will be good as the people responsible for it are Monolith Soft, known for their work on games such as Xenogears and Xenosaga.

The official site can be found here with several videos spread throughout the site. The trailer is on the bottom button which says Touch-DS.jp and then some videos under Battle and Keywords. I can’t help but be excited mainly because of how good the 3D engine looks. The animations are incredibly smooth and are beyond anything else I can think of on DS. The combat also seems fairly customizable which is something important in making an Action RPG interesting for long periods of time. So far I am also digging the music in the trailers and videos. I am hoping to get the soundtrack with my reservation. 

The only gripes I have at the moment are the character designs which just appear a little too cookie cutter and mediocre, and the lack of wi-fi play.There will be a demo out today that I will be picking up after work, so I plan to get back with some impressions after trying it out.