Now Playing: Dead or Alive 5: Ultimate

 Oh, Japan....

 So, I go into the options, y'know, I wanted to turn off Action camera, but turn on Hit effects... and there I see it "Breast Motion". Japan... why are you so... so... Japan? Even funnier, you can set it to Off, Natural or DoA, yet even Normal look like sacks of jello, Team Ninja have you ever, ever seen breasts? Someone has to have seen at least a pair, heck, you must have more than a couple female members on your team, that is not how breasts behave. Oh Japan!. What's truly saddening is that DoA fans are equally... weird, DoA forums are filled with brilliant topics such as "Why do they have flat butts?" "Who has the best boobs?" and a couple of other gems, no wonder Team Ninja panders to them, and DoA 5 looked so promising when it was first revealed, less fanservicey 'n everything...
 As for the game itself... it's basically DoA 5 with 5 new characters and some new stages. True, there is this new Power Launcher feature, but it's not quite a game changer. There are a lot of costumes per character now, actually, characters have the amount of costumes, more or less, fans of the series have been used to, that's kinda cool. Bleh, not much else to say, it really does feel like just an update, a v1.0 to v1.1 if you will.

Review #80: Pokemon Y

 After you get over how fantastic it looks, you realize that it's more of the same.

 First things first, obsessive fanboys are disgusting. Secondly, whoever's been playing Pokemon since Blue and Red doesn't get the right to complain about Call of Duty or Dynasty Warriors being the same every year. What I mean to say is, this game is more of the same, if you like Pokemon, you'll like Y and X, if you don't, this game won't change your mind.
 The newest installments place you, a teenage Pokemon trainer, in the new region of Kalos. Pokemon has never had much of a strong narrative, but they tried to change it this time around. The supporting cast is larger than any other game before, and you'll get to interact with them much more than in previous installments. This time around, for example, you don't get a single rival, instead, four other kids set out alongside you, and each one has a different goal in mind. As you go from town to town you'll occasionally run into them, sometimes they'll want to battle, sometimes they'll just run alongside you. I like this change, while they don't get a whole lot of development, they do have their own personalities and you'll get to grow fond of them. The story also touches a few darker subjects, at least when it comes to Pokemon, such as wars or the whole point of Pokemon Battling, the latter never amounts to anything, but it's interesting none the less.

 The game plays just like any other Pokemon game. You must go from town to town, capture Pokemon and earn all 8 Gym Badges in order to gain the right to challenge the Elite 4 and their champion. Battles are turn based and come in to types: Random encounter or Trainer Battle. Trainer Battles are battles-to-the-death(Or rather, 'till one faints), while Random encounters let you capture the opposing 'mon if you have a Pokeball. While going from town to town, you may sometimes have to use a Pokemon that knows a specific "HM", like Cut, to cut bushes, or Surf to traverse the water. Luckily, HMs have been kept to a minimum(5, and you don't really need Fly). Besides HMs, there are also TMs that let you teach your Pokemon techniques to use in battle, and just like Pokemon Black and White, these can be used indefinitely. 

 The game is not too easy and not too hard. Very early in the game you get the Experience Share, an item that gives the Pokemon that fought full experience gain, and gives half of it to the rest of your party. It can be turned off, and if you want a challenge you probably should. I actually like the new Exp.Share, as it makes it easier to grind Pokemon levels, but next time, give it much later into the game, maybe before or after the Elite 4. Lastly, the game has over 600 different creatures now, up to Ruby and Sapphire, it was easy to remember every Pokemon type, or you could roughly tell at a glance the type of the enemy Pokemon... not anymore. It'd be nice to have some kind of way to know the type of the enemy Pokemon, maybe let you access to the Pokedex during battle?

 Finally, one of the most requested features has been introduced: Customization. At the outset of the game you get to choose your gender, and afterwards one out of three generic appearances. As you go through the game you'll run across Boutiques were you can buy new pieces of clothing. There's a nice variety of clothes, although it'd be nice to be able to take off the hat! You can also get a different haircut and change the color of your eyes. Customization is, ultimately, pointless, but it's oh so much fun to finally be able to more-or-less taylor your character to your liking.  As for gameplay, the most important addition is a whole new type, Fairy. and the addition of Mega Evolutions. Some older Pokemons type has been changed to the new Fairy type, and while it's no the gamechanger  they make it out to be, it's one more type to keep in mind. Meanwhile, Mega-Evolution is a temporary(Lasts for the duration of the battle and you can only use Mega-Evolution on one Pokemon per battle) form that gives you a couple of stat boosts, nothing too mind blowing. Then there's also the new horde battles, in which one of the random encounter may pit your Pokemon against five others, these are a novelty and drag on for so long, waiting for each of the 6 'mons to finish their turn, not fun at all, and "Sky Battles", in which you are only allowed to use flying Pokemon, gimmicky at best.
 For the first time ever, the game shows you and keep tracks of IVs. Previously, you had to, if you wanted to undergo specialized EV training, keep track of these yourself, not anymore. One of the three Touch-screen features shows how your EVs are distributed. Then you also get Super Training. Super Training are minigames, all have you drag your Pokemon around with the analog stick while you tap on the screen to shoot. Doing this allows you to increase the EVs in whatever way you want, and even if it's time-consuming, it sure as hell is faster than finding the enemies that drop the EVs that you want. You can also use the touch-screen to pet your Pokemon, Nintendogs-style, feed it muffins or play some minigames that raise their happiness level. Raising their happiness means less missing and more dodging in battle.

 The game is very easy on the eyes, actually, it's drop dead gorgeous. The game is incredibly beautiful, so much so that for the first few hours it will feel like a completely different game from previous installments, which is not. As pretty as it is, animation is a bit inconsistent, the animations for certain attacks are smooth and pretty, but other moves, Double Kick for example, just move the model up and down with no real animation to speak off, which comes off as a bit disappointing. Graphics are a bit too much for the game too handle as well, so much so that you can't turn on 3D on the overworld, 1-on-1 battles, however, can be played in 3D without affecting the framerate, however, when you choose which moves to use and what have you, the game makes use of a dynamic camera on the battleground, which does gets some pretty cool angles, but when it closes up on both Pokemon, the framerate stutters quite a bit, luckily, it doesn't get in the way of the game. Music is excellent, what were you expecting from a Nintendo franchise? Oddly enough, every Pokemon still keep their growls from their older installments... except Pikachu who now says "Pikachu", it feels quite out-of-place.
 The game is a bit shorter than previous games, but you do get post-game content, such as the Battle Maison where fight for points to trade in for items. You can also battle at restaurants in order to get money(There's an entry fee, but between the trainers and the sellable rewards, you earn your money back and more)  Almost every post-game activity is battle-related, but there are some quirky activities like helping out at a Hotel for money, by making beds, finding items and remembering the orders of some customers. I also found the story to have a few pacing problems at the start, you'll get through two-three towns in a row with no Pokemon Gym or Boutiques of their own, so it'll be a while before you can really start customizing your trainer.
 Pokemon Y and X are not bad games, if you've loved the formula so far, you'll still love it now, especially thanks to the new coat of paint. Most new additions are gimmicky(MegaEvolutions, Horde and Sky Battles, Pettin Pokemon) or merely cosmetic(Albeit customizing your trainer is really fun). Being able to see and train your EVs without having to fight is a godsend, though. As a whole, it's a great game, but it's a bit slim in content when compared to other games in the series, and it's the almost same game I've been playing since Pokemon Blue.
 8.0 out of 10.

Review #79: Asura's Wrath

 Don't make him angry, you won't like him when he's angry.

 Here at "Of Swords and Joysticks" I've stood against Capcom's shady DLC practices. I've stood against games that tried to be movies. I've stood against "true ending" DLC, also known as "necessary" DLC. Asura's Wrath has all of these, but it's just so off-the-wall insane in epic proportions that I'm willing to forgive it and look the other way, this one time.
 You'd be wrong to call Asura's Wrath a game, it's not game, it's an interactive movie. Every chapter is made up, most of the time, of three long cut-scenes and two very short gameplay moments. What little gameplay there is, it takes the form of a very simple action-brawler or an even simpler shooting gallery, think Sin and Punishment. Both of these are very basic and repetitive, and every now and then you'll be bombarded with QTEs. I repeat, this is not a videogame, if you want a videogame look elsewhere. If, on the other hand, you are in for a very anime-inspired story that could very well be a tribute to the Shonen genre, with great characters, a very unique look and don't mind the fact that you won't be making the flashy stuff happen, then this could be your "game".

 The game pits you as Asura, a demigod that embodies the Mantra of Wrath. Betrayed by the other 7 demigods, they murder his wife, kidnap his daughter and leave him for dead. But not even the depths of Naraka(Hell) can hold the anger of this man, fueled by anger, it takes him 12000 years to climb out of Naraka, and he is going to stop anyone and everyone that dares make his daughter cry. The story pays homage to plenty of Shonen tropes, the friendly rival, the anger makes you stronger trope, the bazillion punches at the same time technique and many, many more. The game also takes a lot of inspiration from Buddhism, with character designs directly inspired on many statues and depictions of it's more mythical ethos mixing it with a lot of Sci-Fi for good measure. It's also very, very insane. Bosses can power up and get bigger than the planet itself, Asura can render a whole spaceship fleet to scrap just by shouting. The feats that Asura will pull off are nothing short of epic, and they make you want to keep on going to see just what will happen next! Cut-scenes are fantastic, and they better be if they are gonna take up 80% of the game!
 As for the gameplay, after a cutscene ends, you'll either be in a brawling or a shooting stage. Brawling stages pit you against tons of enemies or a boss, and they get reduced to the same objective: Hit them or cause enough damage to raise a gauge below Asura's Health bar in order to trigger Burst Mode, which basically pits you in an epic QTE and takes you to the next cutscene. As good as these are, failing the QTEs have no impact on the outcome, most of the time anyways, they only punish you in the grade you receive at the end of the episode and sometimes lose a bit of health. Fighting is very simple: You have a weak attack, a Strong attack that has a certain cooldown period and a dodge button. Asura can also jump and shoot energy pellets from his hands, but most of the time these are pretty useless in brawling stages. Shooting stages also need you to fill the burst gauge, but now you control an aiming reticule as Asura moves along, and you must dodge enemy blasts as you shoot back. As a whole, the gameplay is very basic and at times repetitive, but gameplay is not the game's focus, so in a way, I can excuse it.

 The game's strongest point is, definitely it's presentation. Firstly, the game is styled after an anime show, during each chapter you get mid-chapter bumpers and after each episode you get an "In the next episode" advance. These advances are totally legit and feel right out of a show, so believable that it's quite fun to watch them, even if they spoil a bit of what's gonna happen next. After each episode you also get a couple of extra scenes, these are just handrawn artpieces, by various artists, with text and no voice overs. The art is pretty good and these fill in a couple of details from the story so it's worth going through them. I've stated it at least twice already, but the cut-scenes are really well done. They convey actions very clearly, and blows feel very, very powerful. The sense of scale is truly marvelous.
 The graphics are deceptively involved. Y'see, the game has an art-style all of it's own, but if  you delve deeper, you'll notice that the skin of the demigods was made to look like lacquer, like the Buddhist statues. As demigods get damaged, their skin gets cracked. And that's not even counting just how good character design is, every demigod is memorable and each one has their different markings and styles on their bodies, they are also complimented by their fantastic personalities(And all of them are reminiscent of stereotypical anime characters mixed with the Mantra they are supposed to embody). Music is every bit as good, there's plenty of pieces and they all sound amazing, it's also used in very smart ways, like pitting some pretty depressing songs during certain fights. It works, it works so well. The game has dual audio, and while I didn't delve into the Japanese track, the american dub is nothing short of fantastic. They also have some heavy hitters like Steve Blum as Sergei, Robin Atkin Downes(My favorite voice actor, he voices Travis Touchdown in No More Heroes!) as Yasha and Liam O'Brien as the titular Asura. They do their jobs perfectly, and everyone pulls a convincing performance.

 The game is on the short-side, but there's a nice amoung of unlockables. There's original artwork and concept art, these come with information that explains the world of Asura's Wrath, it's highly recommended that you read them if you are invested in the story. There are also various unlockables life gauges, and these confer various changes to Asura. One makes him die in one hit, one makes him stronger, one makes the Burst gauge raise faster, etc. But it's not all good... Capcom does it again with their shady DLC practices. The game ends with a pretty nasty cliffhanger, so much so that you'd better consider the "Normal ending" as the ending.... unless you cough up 7 dollars for the True Ending DLC. Really Capcom? This DLC is really good, it has some of the most epic moments in the game... but I recommend you skip them and Youtube them. Do not encourage Capcom's shady practices, this is a fantastic "game", but do not encourage Capcom. Do not. And you know they planned it all along, as a DLC-only character's voice actor is credited during the ending. Capcom, what happened to you? When did you stop being cool? You embody everything that is wrong with Videogames this days. EVERYTHING.
 Honestly? I'd rather games not follow Asura's path. Games should be games, not glorified movies. I want to play, I want to make stuff happen, not watch it happen or have the game make me believe I am making it happen by pressing buttons. But still, despite that, the story the game tells is pretty friggin' good. If you like the Shonen anime genre, this is a no-brainer. But if you expect a good game? Skip this one, avoid it like the plague. Asura's Wrath is not a game.
 9.0 out of 10.

Now Playing: Okage Shadow King

 I adored this game.

 Okage: Shadow King was my first PS2 RPG, and I remember loving it. I also remember never finishing it, but that changes this month! Overall first impressions? Graphically dated, but the dialogue is hilarious, it's hilarious how poor Ari gets disregarded so easily. It's also kinda tough as I died on the first battle in the game. Not so fun.
 AH well, I gotta study, gotta go, Asura's Wrath review tomorrow!

Now Playing: Asura's Wrath

 This guy makes Kratos' anger look like a hissy fit.

 This game is not much of a game, but it's a fantastic piece of... interactive media. Yes, this is a case of style over substance, I admit it, and I love it. I love how it has mid-episode breaks, how after each episode you get an advance of the next one, and this advances are so good that they completely sell you on the idea that this is a show, presentation's this game's forte. I love it. I love the story, I love the character designs, I love the world, I love the characters, I love the cut-scenes and what little gameplay there is, I enjoy it.
 I'm up to chapter 5, the game is getting crazy. It's also giving me a very Hokuto no Ken vibe, which is really cool, as Hokuto no Ken is one of my favorite franchises ever. Ever. I can't say enough good things about this non-gamey game. The only con is that the game is, basically, a glorified cut-scene. I admit it. But this is like junk food, you know it's bad, you know it's not good food, but you still love it. This game is not a good "game" because it's not really a game, and it's not trying to, it's trying to be an anime, and it works. It works.
 And hey, it's better than Saint Seiya.

Review #78: Pandora's Tower

 Operation Rainfall: Success

 Pandora's Tower can be considered as somewhat of a swan song for the Wii on North America. Crossing overseas was never a certainty with this game, but we finally got it, and even if Companies want to downplay the effects of Operation Rainfall, the point remains: We got all three games. The good news? The game is really good. The bad news? There's some pretty infuriating game-breaking bugs near the end.
 The gist of the story is as follows: Aeron's sweetheart, Elena, gets cursed, and she will soon turn into a monster unless Aeron can gather the flesh of the 12 masters of the Thirteen towers in order to break the curse. Besides Elena, there's Mavda, a mysterious old woman who serves as a shop, there are no other NPCs. As Aeron traverses the towers, he'll come across notes and letters that further explain the mystery behind the towers and how the 12 Masters came to be. While it's not the greatest of stories, it delves into some pretty dark subjects.

 You start the game at the observatory, the only place in which Elena's curse won't develop, probably due to the power of love? Before heading to each tower, you can speak with Elena and gift her things, which you must do if you want to enhance your relationship with her. Yes, it does feel pretty date-simish. It's not all that bad, if you gift her leather, she will enhance you backpack, gift her food and she'll cook. There are some time-related events too, such as talking to her before dining. While at the observatory, you can also save your game, or talk to Mavda in order to buy or sell items, repair your items(Both equipment and items can be broken by enemies) or craft new items, you can also sleep which helps to restore your health or move the clock forward, as the items you can find on each tower sometimes change depending on the hour at which you tackle them.
 The moment you step into the towers, a gauge on the lower right part of the screen starts decreasing, this is Elena's curse. If you let it deplete, you automatically lose the game. Beating each tower and the boss on your first go is nigh impossible, so you'll have to return to Elena and give her flesh from normal enemies in order to increase this gauge. While it sounds as artificially extending the game's length, returning to the observatory is actually beneficial, as you have limited space on your inventory, plus you get to heal, so it's not as annoying as it sounds, plus, you can activate shortcuts to the exit on the towers themselves, so going back and returning to where you were is not much of a hassle.

 Each tower functions somewhat in the same way. You must find and destroy a certain number of chains, from 2 to 4, in order to open the door to the boss, and then you must find the boss door in order to fight him. The game is more of an adventure game than action game, this means that it's filled with puzzles, usually involving the use of your chain. You see, Aeron is equipped with a chain that he can use for combat, by binding enemy's limbs, chaining enemies together, chaining enemies to objects, shooting at them with it or simply throwing them with it, it also serves as your main tool for most of the puzzles. You will use it to grapple to higher places, spin cogs, pull or push levers and objects and a few other actions. Bosses also follow suit, being puzzle fights, most are pretty easy to figure out, but figuring out what you have to do and then do it while avoiding damage is a bit harder.
  Combat is very basic and simple. The A button is your attack button, you can also charge it for slower, rhythm based blows. Eventually your charge attacks will become your go-to attacks, as they are so much stronger than your normal attacks with the added bonus of interrupting most enemy attacks, and since the clock is ticking, there's no better way to off your enemies. There's three different weapons, and an extra joke weapon, a Sword, two Knives or the Spear, and they function the same, but with different combos, damage and speed, heck, they also affect your moving speed. Aeron also gets a block button, and moving while holding it down produces a dodge, and you'll better get used to, as enemies later on deal quite a hefty amount of damage.

 Rounding up Aeron's options are items that you can carry. There are healing items, items that give you temporary boosts and a couple of offensive-explosive kind of weapons. You also have to keep in mind that Aeron's bag holds a very limited space, so you can't carry everything you find and want, plus, the you equip things in a grid, so you have to sort and turn items in order to make the most of it. Everything but your weapons can break, this includes potions, from enemy attacks, if this happens you have to return to the observatory and have Mavda repair them for a fee. Some enemies also have attacks that place debuffs on Aeron, from the usual poisoning to burning, to attack or armor debuffs, some can even buff themselves up.
 While Aeron starts off pretty weak, as you defeat enemies you earn experience and level up, which gives you higher attack power, a longer life bar and occasionally more room to equip items. Regardless, the game has a very clear emphasis on puzzle solving rather than combat, at times it's even encouraged to avoid it altogether. Occasionally you'll also come across enemies with purple auras, these are more resistant and deal even larger amount of damage than common enemies, earlier in the game it's better to just stay clear away from them, although by the time you can tackle them, they will grant you a large amount of experience points.

  I liked the gameplay, for the most part, although combat quickly became repetitive, dodge attacks and counter with a charged Combo. Sometimes, don't even bother dodging, interrupt them with charge attacks and pummel them. Some enemies are a bit more interesting, you may have to bind their legs in order to trip them, or bind an enemy's wings in order to bring them to the ground in order to attack them. Still, there's a huge setback: The camera. The player has no control over the fixed camera angles, and sometimes the switch can mess up your controls, you may end up attacking the air. It can become pretty annoying when you find yourself fighting in between to different pre-set camera angles. Then there are the deadly game-freezing bugs. As soon as you get to the 11th and 12th towers, the game will freeze when loading them. Luckily there are roundabout ways to get them to load(Copying your savefile to the second slot and then loading your original save, for some reason, works). Every time you return to the observatory you have to quit and repeat the process if you don't want the game to freeze on you. This is quite aggravating, especially since these two towers are very long and will require at least three trips back and forth.
 While nothing too fancy, the game does look very pretty. The thirteen tower are visually appealing, and the 12 Masters are pretty unique. Character designs are pretty alright, Aeron looks like any other anime-hero, who likes to bare his midriff for some reason, and Elena is pretty basic as well, Mavda's design fares much better though. The music serves the game well if anything, and voice acting gets the job done. Aeron's voice isn't very convincing, but he hardly gets any lines so it's no biggie. The game lasts a solid 14-15 hours, with about 5 endings, and finishing the game unlocks a key to open up previously locked red doors, the rewards aren't really worth it(Besides the joke weapon), but it's something. There's also a New Game plus that let's you pick up from different moments in the game, so getting each ending becomes easy.

 Bottom line: Pandora's Tower is a really good game, it's not the game that could've saved the Wii, but it's a great swan song for the system. But as good as it is, the end-game bugs can't be excused or forgiven, which is why I can't give it an 8.0, as much as I would've liked to, as I really enjoyed the game, up to that point.
 6.5 out of 10.

Now Playing: Dragon's Crown

 Do Dragons even wear crowns?

  Dragon's Crown is a game that has received a lot of critical praise, and I myself was looking forwards to it, so... it's not as great as I expected. It is sorta fun, and having four heroes on the screen, with no slowdown, at the same time is a chaos, a fun one at that. Gameplay is also very easy to grasp, but... I'm not feeling it too much. I can't point the finger at the why, as this is the sort of game I've loved since I was a kid.
 Ah well, forwards it is.