Review #110: Flower, Sun and Rain

 Delightfully bizarre.

 I am a lover of all things Suda 51, what can I say, the wonderfully bizarre worlds and characters he creates, alongside the deeper meanings and themes he explores in his games never fails to hook me all the way to the end. While most of his games, from a gameplay stand point, are nothing stellar, as a whole they are phenomenal, at least in my eyes. Flower Sun and Rain is, as a game, probably the worst I've played, coming from Suda 51, but to say that I didn't enjoy it would be a lie...

 The game puts you in the shoes of Sumio Mondo, a Searcher. His job? Searching for stuff, it's also what defines him, he will search for everything and anything until he finds it. In this adventure, he is hired by Edo, the manager at the Flower, Sun and Rain hotel, in order to stop a plane from blowing up from a terrorist attack. Delving much deeper would mean to spoil the fantastically bizarre setting of the game, but needless to say, as every Suda 51 game, it can get quite confusing, specially taking into account that this is a pseudo-sequel to The Silver Case, a game that was never published over here. NPCs come in the form of guests at the hotel, each one has their own weird traits, there's a kid who keeps breaking the fourth wall,  Edo himself, who grows continually frustrated as the days goes by, Stephan, a writer obsessed with Soccer, etc. The game is divided in 18 requests, each one taking place in a different day(Or is it?) that begins with Mondo being woken up by the manager, and then as he tries to make his way to the airport but gets stopped by other people who require Sumio's services, finishing with the plane exploding in the sky. The setting and the characters were so engaging, that I kept pushing through even though the gameplay was so dull.

 Most of the Suda 51 games that we got were action games, this is not. Since Sumio is a Searcher, the whole game has you searching for stuff, usually culminating in a puzzle of sorts. Puzzles come in three varieties: Reading, Arithmetical and Mixed. At the start of the game you are given a 47 page brochure of the Hotel, and most of the Puzzles have you finding, through hints, the page in which the numbers you require are. Sometimes it's as easy as finding the number, sometimes you have to decipher it, or figure out how to use the numbers mentioned in the article. There is a lot of reading involved. Arithmetical puzzles are, as the name suggest, easy math problems, and you just have to input the resulting number. Lastly, the Mixed variety has you finding the numbers and then doing simple math with it. Each day also features 3 extra puzzles, rule of the thumb is: If these three are easy, then the storyline puzzles will be hard, but if these three are hard, then the story-related puzzles will be easy. Doing these is entirely optional, and these are invisible to the naked eye, but a radar that you unlock early on will help you finding them. Clearing them will unlock alternate costumes to use in subsequent playthroughs.

 As a whole, the game is a bit dull. Expect to do a lot, and I do mean A LOT of running around. Plenty of times it's done on purpose, and Mondo being quite self-conscious, will complain about it, just like the player. As a matter of fact, there's a lot of parallelisms between gamers and Mondo, as a Destructoid Article very well described. Gameplay is very dull, the final day in particular has you solving 23 different math problems, they are not even hard, but they are dull, repetitive and feel like filler, but in the end, I felt satisfied. I felt that treading through each puzzle was worth it.

 Graphics are a very mixed bag, usually indoors look alright, but outdoors are very plain and simple. Textures are very pixelated, which is impossible to ignore when the game zooms in. Character models are very stylized, and personally, I thought the style was great. Music is... very odd, there are some very suiting tones, but there are some that are quite grating to the ears(Take the music used in the Hotel's nearby outdoors for example), but it does fit the whole weirdness of the setting. There is no voice acting, but whenever characters speak, a garbled, distorted musing plays, not unlike Killer 7's, although these make even less sense. While Gameplay, Graphics and Sound are passable on their own, alongside the script they all add up to the atmosphere, and it works.

 Flower, Sun and Rain is a very difficult game to recommend, definitely not for everyone. If you love weird games that have quirky characters, mysterious settings and odd situations, like Deadly Premonition or any Suda 51 game, then it's worth a look, otherwise you might not "get" the game.
 6.0 out of 10.

Archile's Grab Bag: About to hit the sack Edition

 A new package! Yay! Except that I kinda wanna sleep.

 Let's open this bad boy up.

 Dark Cloud 2: I loved this game when I was younger, but I never got around finishing it. It's also gotten sorta expensive.

 Pursuit Force - Extreme Justice: The Sequel to Pursuit Force, I actually have Pursuit Force... but it's on Miami, since the package would've been to big had I shipped that one in!

 Guilty Gear Judgment: I love Guilty Gear, and this includes an exclusive Beat'em up mode, so why not? I will have to get Accent Core Plus down the line though.

 Lord of Arcana: The screenshots make it seem mundane, but I tried the demo and I sorta kinda liked it.

 RetroGame Challenge: This one had been on my radar for quite a while, and since it's going up in price, why no?

 Gladiator Begins: I loved the demo, I can see the game growing repetitive, eventually, but the demo was so much fun!

 Lunar - Silver Star Harmony: While I loved Lunar 2, and finished it when I was younger, Lunar 1 didn't hook me so strongly. I did like it, just not as much as Lunar 2, and I never finished it! Since the PS1 version is kinda expensive, this version will have to do.

Rengoku - The Tower of Purgatory: I debated a long while over weather to get this game and its sequel or not, but the badass designs won me over, seems to be done by Guyver's author? I dunno, but they seem mighty interesting.

Review #109: Orphen - Scion of Sorcery

 I call upon Sword of the Fallen Devil!

 Orphen - Scion of Sorcery was one of the early PS2 games, and the only Orphen game ever released. It tried to mix the action-adventure and RPG genres to mixed results, which probably explains why it never got a sequel.

 The game boasts an all new story, featuring the main characters from the Sorcerous Stabber Orphen anime, Orphen, Magnus(Magik), Clio(Cleao), Vulcan and Dortin are all here, and are joined by three new characters, Mar, Zeus and Sephy, all three who have lost someone important to them. The game offers three different routes, one for each newcomer, and in order to get the true ending, you'll have to go through all three. Each story is fairly alright, each one deals with slightly different subjects, all releated to the theme of loss. As for the main characters, they are a little bit different from their anime incarnations, they took the characters main traits and defined their personality around it, Orphen instead of being a jerk with a heart of gold is just a jerk, Cleao instead of being a tsundere, spends all her time whining(it quickly grows annoying)  and Magik instead of being a insecure trainee is just insecure.

 The game's adventure mechanics consist of playing as Orphen or one of the 5 allies(Zeus, Sephy, Mar, Magik and Cleao), jumping around, attacking bugs or evading traps. It sounds alright, but it's all very flawed. For instance, the camera is very unwieldy, it turns too fast, and the distance to the character is not ideal, getting a good angle through objects on a small room is a chore sometimes. As for the jumping, characters perform huge, gravity defying jumps, so sometimes seeing where you'll land is a bit tough. Then comes attacking, for some reason, only Orphen, Zeus, Zephy and Mar get attacks on Adventure portions, not that you'll use it much, there are very few enemies on this mode, and they are usually just bugs. Something that I found hilarious, is that you'll amass a ton of items(healing, bug stoppers and bug attractors, the latter two which you'll have to use, at most, only on one part in Mar's route), and the descriptions for the healing items are "Heals 10 hitpoints", "Heals 30 hitpoints", etc. Why so funny? The HP in the action-adventure portion is portrayed by a colored orb. How numbered hitpoints translate to colored orb is beyond me.

 Eventually, your walking and jumping will take you into scripted RPG-like battles. These are not random encounters, the amount of these battles is limited and they cannot be replayed. Most of the time you'll play as Orphen, sometimes you'll have your allies(CPU controlled) and other times you'll battle as Zeus, Mar or Sephy on their own. Mar, Sephy and Zeus can find equipment on the adventure portions, while Orphen gets spells that he learns every now and then after certain boss fights. All four of them can have up to three weapons/spells, which you'll use with X, Circle and Triangle, and you also get a block button in the form of Square. Battles are not turn based, however, after using an spell, Orphen loves to strike a pose, so you just can't use another spell right away. Your playable character remains stationed on his place, and you select your targets with the analog stick. The combat system is not terrible, but it feels a bit clunky and not much fun, and it's poorly thought out as well, the best way to dodge an attack, for instance, is to wait for the attacker to get close to your character, and engage a melee attack on a far away target, your character will rush towards his target, avoiding the attack of the nearby enemy!

 The game also has some rather "interesting" design choices. Saving can only be done after certain scenes, at which the game will promt a save screen, if you don't save then, you are out of luck until the next checkpoint, keep this in mind as I'll go back to this in a second. The game is filled with conversations at every turn. While it's entertaining at the start, the huge amount of these quickly turn tiresome as they are very, very dull. And they are unskippable. Remember how you can only save at certain moments? Well, if you die, it means back to that checkpoint, which means having to go through all of these unskippable, dull conversations. And Cleao's constant whining, obnoxious shouting is very grating to the ears, shame she gets so many scenes. There's a little trick to aid you, on the combat scenes, if you press start and go to change "equipment", you can restart a battle, if it is not going your way, it might be cheating for some, but it beats having to go through these annoying cutscenes again.

 Oh, presentation. Keeping in mind that this was an early PS2 release, it's not too bad. Environments are pretty big, when compared to PS1 games, and colorful, even if they feel a bit lifeless. Character models look alright when standing still, but when they move, you'll notice just how stiff the are. And sometimes they don't move their lips when they talk, but sometimes they do, it's very odd, and the way they move their mouths is so freaky that it's better when they don't! Still, there are a couple of anime cutscenes, they use a very different style from the Sorcerous Stabber Orphen anime, but they are still very good and pretty high quality. There's not a whole lot of music in the game, most of the time you'll be adventuring in silence, but the few tunes that the game employs are actually kinda good, if a bit generic-sounding for the genre. Voice acting is actually pretty good, sometimes the models and their stiffness don't convey well how the character sounds at the time, but it's alright.

 Orphen - Scion of Sorcery, is not a terrible game, it's actually pretty playable, but it simply has nothing going for it, nothing to stand out. For fans of the anime, it's probably alright, but otherwise it's best to skip it.
 5.0 out of 10.

Now Playing: Final Fantasy VIII

 I shouldn't be having this much fun with it.

 Let's go back in time, back to when I was younger and Final Fantasy VIII was announced. Final Fantasy VII was my favorite game, and back then, when graphic leaps still meant something, I would salivate over screenshots from the game. And when it came out? I loved every second of it. I actually finished it, unlike VII. While my first experiences with both VII and VIII were on the PC, I did play the PS1 version of VII, but not VIII's, so this is kinda new for me.

 The core combat gimmick is terrible. While I can see how drawing magic and using it against the enemy that possesses it is amusing, having to stock on magic is a terribly dull time consuming experience, and each character has its own magic pool! Back when I was a kid, I didn't mind this system, but now that I'm older, I can see just how terrible it is, specially considering that this game came after the fantastic Materia system. There's no mana, now only your current HP is displayed, instead of getting both the max and the current HP, which is odd, and Limit Breaks can only be used when your HP drops to a certain point, instead of filling a gauge. Weapons are now made instead of bought(Though you can only "make" them at certain stores), money is earned through an allowance and not battling, and enemies level alongside you. Basically, every change was for the worst.

 And despite it all... I'm having fun. A lot has to do with me smiling at all the little things that I remember or am reminded of, but I'm still having fun.

Now Playing: Castlevania - The Dracula X Chronicles

 Classicvania, yeah!

 My first Castlevania game was Castlevania 64. While everyone hates it, or finds it acceptable at most, I liked it a lot(I was young). I think the second one I played was Symphony of the Night, I was very hyped for that one, as on the months leading up to the PS2 release, I was already thinking of all the awesome PS1 games I'd get to play, and Castlevania: SotN was one my most wanted ones. The game didn't disappoint, I fell in love with the metroidvania/castleroid genre. I did discover classicvania via Castlevania Chronicles, pink-haired Simon rules, and I loved that one as well. Throughout the years I've done my best to play every Castlevania I could, but one had always escaped me: Rondo of Blood. This changes now. Or whenever I unlock it.

 I'm up to Stage 3', and I know I will just have to use some kind of FAQ to keep up with all the secret routes and alternate stages and what not, but for now, I'm just limiting myself to the two unlockables, Rondo of Blood and Symphony of the Night. But as for the remake itself... It's a blast. It's quite challenging(I might've gotten a game over on Stage 2, really), but the controls are very responsive. The game also looks fantastic, Ayami Kojima's style was translated pretty faithfully into 3D, and after going through Killzone, the brownest game on earth, this is pretty awesome.

 The best thing about this game? Not only is the main game pretty solid(So far), but you can unlock the classic Rondo of Blood version AND Symphony of the Night, how awesome is that?

Review #108: Killzone - Liberation

 The other "We got hacked" freebie.

 Making a FPS for the PSP should be nigh impossible, unless they go with the classic Doom route, but I digress. Guerilla brought Killzone to the PSP, but it is no longer an FPS, rather, an isometric shooter. I had never played a Killzone game before, nor am I interested in the franchise, but it was a freebie so I can't complain!

 The game puts you in the shoes of Templar, a guy fighting for the... good guys against the Helghast, a group of guys with luminous red eyes. And it's your mission to... bring them down? Yes, there is a story to the game, and it is told via text before each mission, and on cut-scenes every now and then. What's the problem? The text summaries take to long to pan out, I was willing to give the story a chance, but these "scenes" took too long to go from page to page, so I just gave up on it. It's not an interesting story, to a newcomer, anyways.

 The game consists of four chapters with four missions each. The first thing you need to learn, is that this is a very slow-paced game, while the isometric look could lead you to believe that this is an arcadey, fast run-and-gun game, you'd be wrong. Templar's running speed is pretty slow, and enemies can be deadly even when few in numbers, so you need to learn to take cover. You take cover by holding the R button, which makes Templar crouch, and you need to make use of your surroundings as cover, enemies will do so as well. And this is when you realize that this is a very slow paced game, as you'll be popping in and out of cover to shoot your enemies. Melee is somewhat of a gamble, as you have to press X when the prompt appears, but enemies sometimes get to hit you before your attack goes off, or sometimes Templar just won't react in time. Melee is unreliable, so you'd better just stick to your guns. Not that it's much fun either, the PSP only has one analog stick, so Aiming is relative to where you are looking at. While you do get a form of "soft-lock" on enemies close to where Templar is looking at, it's kinda unreliable, and guns don't have much accuracy... it's not much fun. You can hold L to "Strafe", but sometimes Templar will just break out of the strafe for no reason, or if you press L twice fast enough you perform a roll, sometimes, when trying to get the strafe right, you might accidentally roll into an enemy! The awkward controls coupled with the poor accuracy of the weapons make for a less than fun experience, as shootouts against one or two enemies can over extend their welcome, and many times deaths feel as if they were caused due to the controls and not your mistakes.

 Every now and then the game will give you a CPU ally, they are pretty self sufficient, and you can order them around with the directional D-Pad. Besides shooting bad guys, placing C4 or disabling mines, you'll also come across cases. These cases are worth "money", which further unlock weapons for you to start each level with or unlock upgraded versions. Speaking of weapons, Templar can only carry one weapon at a time, if you run out of ammo, you are outta luck. Levels have plenty of "stashes" placed throughout, where you can get more ammo, different weapons, health packs or grenades, so it's hard to run out of weapons. Lastly, clearing each chapter unlocks a small collection of Challenge levels, they come in a small variety of placing C4 in certain places, shooting targets or even surviving an endless slew of enemies for as long as you can, the latter being easily the most fun of the lot, while the others are passable. Scoring on these challenges unlocks "perks" for you to equip before each mission, these are small buff like carrying 3 or 5 grenades instead of two, or placing C4 faster, earning Gold on all challenges gives you infinite ammo! Each of the 16 missions lasts 10-30 minutes, but the challenges and finding all collectibles do offer a decent replay value.

 Graphics are... serviceable. They are nothing special, and the game is filled with greys and browns, definitely not a looker. Even worse, slowdown is a bit of a common occurrence, and can ruin your shooting, even if the slowdown, usually, doesn't last too long. Music is almost non-existent, and what little music there is, is very forgettable. Voice acting is alright, not that the dialogue  is anything special.

 Finally, the game does offer local Co-Op and Multiplayer... which I couldn't try since I don't know anyone else that has this game. It does seem like it could be interesting, though. Then there's also a downloadable fifth chapter, but since it's not on PSN and Killzone.com went down, you have to download it elsewhere and get it to you PSP via USB cable, which I don't own yet, so I couldn't try it either.

 Killzone: Liberation is a game I didn't enjoy. According to the Internet, it's a good game, so I might be on the minority here, but I just couldn't get over how slow-paced it is, and how awkward the controls were.
 4.5 out of 10.

Now Playing: Orphen - Scion of Sorcery

 Another one from my younger years!

 And it blooooows! Animation? Laughable. Music? Small in quantity and uninspired in quality. Gameplay? Awful.
 So, there's like two modes: Adventure Mode, that sucks and has a terrible camera, and Combat Mode, that features one of the dumbest battle systems in RPG hist...? This ain't even an RPG, I don't know what this is, but it ain't an RPG.
 The "best" thing about it, is that you have to play the game three times to get the true ending, although to be fair, as far as I remember, all three paths are different. I hope. I chose to start with Zeus this time, then Sephy and I'll leave the kid for last. Oh well....