Review #319: Silent Hill 0rigins

 Did they seriously go with 0rigins? With a 0? Seriously?

 After Silent Hill 4 Konami decided that the only direction they could take the franchise was backwards, and with that, I mean back in time. Taking place before the first Silent Hill, and developed by a different studio based outside Japan, Silent Hill 0rigins manages to capture the spirit of the franchise, and offers new insight into Silent Hill's sweetheart, Alessa. Even if it slightly contradicts a few events from the first game.

 Supposedly, you find out about a certain accident that saw a house burned down with Alessa inside during Silent Hill 1's story. Well, this game pick only a few moments before that fire, with Travis Grady stopping in the middle of somewhere to follow a little girl who leads him to the burning house. Travis, being the good guy that he is, rescues the girl and passes out, only to find himself inside Silent Hill. The roads are blocked, the girl is, supposedly, dead. And someone is guiding him somewhere. And like every good Silent Hill protagonist, Travis has his own demons to face, literally. I've read some people call the story a bit derivative of Silent Hill 2, which I didn't play in its entirety, but there's a Pyramid-head like enemy, and a few enemies that represent the same things they did for James. Still, I liked the story, I found it to be perfectly in line for the series, and I also really liked the enemy design and how it tied to Travis, particularly the Carrion enemies, who are reminiscent of a twisted take on Roadkill.

 Gameplay is standard Silent Hill fare(well, at least the couple I played, 2 and 3), having Travis go from area to area. Unlike, say Resident Evil, while the entire game takes place in Silent hill, each 'section', or 'level', or however you want to call it is clearly defined: The Hospital, The Sanitarium, the Theater and the Motel. Each level is one relatively long, self-contained area filled with puzzles and enemies. Each building also comes in two flavors, when Travis comes in front of a mirror, he will warp to the 'Mirror world' version of the stage, while the layout remains the same, enemy and item placement will be different, and certain doors that were locked before will now be open and vice versa. And that's the game's main mechanic, traversing both versions of an area in order to collect the information and items required to clear puzzles and then make your way to the boss. And to the game's credit, some puzzles can be rather hard. To the game's... discredit, however, unlike previous games, there's no difficulty toggle, so you'll have to deal with the same puzzle difficulty and enemy difficulty, which, y'know, I'm fine with it on practice, but I like it when games let you tailor the difficulty to your preferences.

 Now then, as for the combat... it's a bit of a mixed bag. Something that I really like with Silent Hill games is that melee is almost always a viable strategy. Not always the best or the most efficient, but it can get the work done. They went the extra mile in this one, Travis can PUNCH HIS ENEMIES TO DEATH. Travis. Can. Punch. His. Enemies. To. Death. Badass. Or you could turn off your flashlight and try to sneak or run your way through, but I digress. There's a reason for Travis' fists of death, close-range weapons actually break this time around. Not that it really matters, since there's hundreds of them, and Travis has infinite inventory space to carry typewriters, iron wrenches and even slabs of wood. Then there's also a large variety of long-range weapons... The game might seem hard, because enemies re very resilient, and the enemies start tough from the start, probably a byproduct of being on a handled, and therefore trying to have a more distilled, experience, but by the end of the game you'll be overflowing with healing items, guns and melee weapons.

 The game had a few audio issues, it seems like... either the voice samples lost quality or something, as you'll hear how certain parts of certain dialogues suddenly go up in volume and lose some sharpness. And while, most of the time, you can put the camera behind your back with the L button, there's a few forced fixed camera angles that will mess you up. Lastly, I played the PSP version, and sometimes it felt like... the audio disappeared when it shouldn't have? I'm not entirely sure though. That said, I've read that the PS2 version is a bit of a bugfest, so pick your console carefully.

 I loved Silent Hill 0rigins, I really did. It's almost surprising, considering how it came from a different development team, and on a handled device! Yet they managed to capture the feeling of the series perfectly. I found myself easily engrossed in the game, waiting for nightfall and dimming the lights, as to get the best atmosphere possible. It's not a perfect game, particularly if you compare it against Silent Hill 3 and 4, it doesn't have as many spooks, and the combat is a bit wonkier than on those games. But even then, all things considered, it's a game I enjoyed. A lot.
 7.5 out of 10

Now Playing: Silent Hill 0rgins

 Did Konami really, REALLY titled it '0'rigins? Seriously? I guess they did...

 So there I was, thinking to myself 'Sigh, I really have to play Mass Effect? That'd mean leving my room. Sigh', so I did the only thing that made sense: Started Silent Hill 0rigins.

 So far so good, I just cleared the Hospital section, and the game is relatively fun. I hate how it seems like you can't kill enemies while in the Darkside, I lost a bunch of health and a few melee weapons to the nurses. Speaking of nurses, I found it interesting how they decided to open up the game with the nurses so soon!

 It seems to run at a pretty consistent framerate, sometimes clearly going over 30, goddamn, PSP games usually have framerate issues!

Review #318: Valkyrie Profile - Lenneth

 It has seen better days.

 Valkyrie Profile was a fun little JRPG on the PSone, one that was produced in rather small quantities, so good luck finding it for cheap! Luckily, there's this PSP port of the same game available on the cheap. Valkyrie Profile has... it has certainly aged a bit, but it's still a relatively fun little adventure while it lasts.

  The story pits you as the Valkyrie named... Valkyrie. At least until you learn her real name later down the line(Not like you could easily figure it out...), and she is tasked with bringing Einherjar, souls of fallen men, to Nibleheim in order to fight the Vaenir and prevent Ragnarok, The game features about 20 different playable characters, all with their own backstory and.. and that's pretty much all the character development they'll ever get. Y'see, the game is divided in 8 chapters divided into 28 periods each, and during each chapter there's different dungeons to explore and different Einherjar to recruit, but before getting them, you are treated to their last moments. The game can get pretty depressing, seeing them die, betrayed, tortured or by sacrificing themselves... And the writing is pretty sharp, so it's easy to like these characters. As for the overall plot, it's easy to forget that it's actually there, as there's not a whole lot of story outside the end of the world and the different Einherjar. There's also three different ending, but only ending A gives you any kind of closure, and it delves into who and what Valkyrie is, as well as revealing more about the gods... basically, aim for Ending A.

 There's three difficulty settings: Easy, Normal and Hard. What changes the most are which dungeons are available, Easy has mostly straightforward dungeons, while Hard has the most complex ones. Easy is actually the hardest difficulty settings, enemies don't give much experience points, equipment isn't as good and you don't get the best characters, plus, you lose access to ending A. Besides dungeons and a few characters exclusive to Hard, the real difference between Normal and Hard is that on Hard, every character starts off at level 1... which can actually be a good thing, since there's a few items you can use to boosts their stats on leveling up, allowing you to have some pretty tough party members. There's also a bonus dungeon, unlockable on Normal and Hard, by using the last Save Spot in the game, but the only way to get the extra goodies, like bonus characters, is to use the 8 Flame Jewels, which are only found in Hard Mode, and hopefully you found them all, cause there's no going back to previous dungeons during this bonus dungeon.

 Where the game shined the most back in the day was with its combat system, you make a party of four, and each character is tied to a different face button. Depending on which weapon they have equipped, they can deliver up to three different attacks, and you want to create combos in order to fill a gauge that allows you characters to unleash powerful super moves. It bears mentioning that, while it's relatively fun, it's a bit more slower paced than it sounds. Until you get the really good weapons, battles can take a while, not due to their difficulty, but because of all the damage enemies soak, or them deciding to block and/or dodge your attacks.

 Dungeons are explored in 2D, and Valkyrie can create crystals as platforms, or even break them to boost herself, which in theory lends itself to some interesting puzzling and jumping. In theory. I played the game on hard, which means I got the most complex dungeons, and they can be downright terrible as level design goes. From labyrinthine roads, that you must go all the way back on foot upon defeating a boss, to the game demanding more precision on your jumping than the controls allow. Maybe the PSP isn't very comfortable when it comes to jumping from moving platforms or disappearing blocks or what have you, but at least on this console, dungeons can be a pain in the neck.

 The worst part about the game is getting the A ending, it's impossibly convoluted and has oh so many ways for the player to screw up. Basically, up to chapter 7 I advise you to get a FAQ and follow it to a tee. There're no hints whatsoever as to what you have to do. You have to learn about the Seal gauge, and somehow you must figure out which events trigger it to lower. And you also must avoid doing key scenes until a certain chapter unless you want to lock yourself out of the A ending. And there's absolutely no hints about it, but Lucian must be sent to Odin during chapter 5 or 6. Having to second guess myself why consulting a FAQ just to make sure I don't screw up is not my idea of fun, and Ending B is so boring and dull, that the only way to get a satisfactory ending is with Ending A.

 As for the PSP port, it's based on the Japanese release of VP, which means item sorting is out, not that I really needed it, but it would've been convenient. The Graphics can get relatively blurry as well, it didn't bother me too much, but it doesn't look as good as the original PSOne version. And lastly, this port introduced about 15 CG cutscenes. I was afraid they'd look terrible, but they are actually pretty alright. A bit out of place on an strictly 2D game, but they are not bad at all.

 Valkyrie Profile - Lenneth has certainly aged a bit. Dungeons can get pretty annoying, at least on hard mode, both due to the nature of some of the puzzles as well as to the precise jumping and reactions it demands, and locking the A Ending behind such convoluted means is downright mean. But even then, there's plenty of fun to be had if you don't mind its age and its rather slow pace.
 7.0 out of 10

My Favorite Wii Games

 Here's the gist of it, in this world there's only one constant I'm entirely subjected to: Change. I am a person, and right now I'm not the same man that I was when I first began writing, heck, that guy wasn't even the same guy that wanted to write this in the first place! What I want to get to, once I stop digressing, is that this list is how I feel right now, at this very moment, so when and if I feel like making this list again, and knowing myself I probably will, it might change.

 So, what is that list? These are the games I liked the most on each particular system, this time around the Nintendo Wii. These are not necessarily the games I consider best, but the ones I liked the most and the ones I have the fondest memories of. For these lists I tried to stay away from multiplatform games, or from ports. I tried to, but in a few cases it was impossible to.

10) Red Steel 2

 So, I never really liked Motion controls, which begs the question just why did I buy a Wii, and said reason is entry number 4 on this list, but I'm getting ahead of myself. Red Steel 2 was the first game I truly, really adored despite it being built around the motion controls. But it works. I remember feeling my arms sore after some sessions with this game, but I always felt like it was worth it. The art direction is fantastic, and the moves look so cool, and it feels good to pull them off. And... I can't believe I'm gonna say this, but I think the motion controls actually do add to the overall experience.

9) Mario Kart Wii

 Mario Kart DS might be the Mario Kart I like the most, but Mario Kart Wii is, easily, the Mario Kart I've spent the most time with. I've played this game with most of my buddies, I've played it online, and I even played it online with and against some of my friends. The amount of fun I've had with this game is undeniable... at least when not trying to unlock everything and having to deal with the blue shells!

8) The Legend of Zelda - Skyward Sword

 Apparently, it's cool to dislike Skyward Sword now, but that's alright, my views are not as flimsy as most of Zelda's fanboys. If only it wasn't for the motion controls, this would've been my favorite Zelda ever. Not only do you get the usual assortment of puzzles and goodies to find, not only does it have a fantastic new water-colored art-direction, but for the first time ever in a Zelda game, it made me care about the characters. Zelda was loveable, Impa had a surprising amount of depth and some of the best moments in the game, and it made me care about Groose. It made me care about flippin' Groose. It's the newest Zelda out there, I've only finished it once, unlike the hundreds of times I finished Ocarina of Time or the three times I finished Twilight Princess, and even then, it has more memorable moments and characters than both of those games combined. I should probably mention that I did finish other Zelda games, but I don't really like 2D Zelda games, don't even let me get started on how much A Link to the Past bored me...

7) The Last Story

 Ah, The Last Story, you poor thing you. Victim of mixed opinions, heck, as a matter of fact, my two favorite critics, ProJared and Jim Sterling, the latter with whom I usually agree with on his reviews, hated it. I remember after reading a few more reviews I came to the conclusion that your enjoyment of the game is directly related to the CPU allies, those that found them useful usually liked it, but those that found them useless usually hated it. I had no problems with the CPU allies, and I really, really enjoyed it. I liked the loveable cast of characters, I liked the story, even if a few twists were a bit predictable, I liked the customization and I liked the art direction.

6) Xenoblade Chronicles

 Operation Rainfall: Success. There was a lot of weight heaving on Xenoblade's shoulders, a game that had been released in Japan and Europe years prior, which made it outdated by default. But Xenoblade pulled through. Featuring a massive world, where if you can see it, you can reach it. Featuring a decent combat system built around changing the future and comboing skills together, which while not perfect(I hated the fact that your attacks would miss 90% of the time against enemies that overleveled you), worked great. There was also a ton of little neat touches, like the armors reflecting on the character models, and when flashbacks played, the characters would wear the armors they wore back then!

 I was particularly fond of the story, since it was very reminiscent of Xenogears', as a matter of fact, it felt like a remake of sorts. Much more of a spiritual sequel to it than the terrible, terrible Xenosaga series.

5) Arc Rise Fantasia

 Oh, Arc Rise Fantasia, you poor, poor thing you. As soon as the first English trailer dropped, most people completely forsook about the game due to its terrible voice-acting. And it is terrible, but all the people that refused to give it a chance because of that missed out on a fantastic JRPG. Clearly inspired on the Tales of series, which shows, they even borrowed the skits! The game has a somewhat original combat system, and it gets really tough, really fast unless you learn to rely on Magic.

 Regardless, where it really shines, and where it matters most in an RPG, is in its story. There's this particular moment in the game where half your party betrays you for different reasons, which is one of my favorite moments in a JRPG ever. EVER. It was there and then that I realized just how much this game engaged me, and it only got better and better afterwards. It's hard to be original, particularly now a days, where JRPGs go full anime and try to cover as many waifu stereotypes and cliche scenes as possible, but then there's Arc Rise Fantasia, doing its own thing, even deconstructing a few tropes along the way.

4) Super Smash Bros. Brawl

 This is single handedly the reason I decided to get a Wii. And I adored this game, spending over 200 hours in it. In hindsight, it's probably among the weakest entries in the franchise, and whoever came up with tripping, even while playing at a casual level, needs to revise his priorities. But even, even taking tripping into account, this is Smash Bros, and it's still a damn fun game, with the largest character roster to date(At the time), and countless forms of fan service, from hundreds of trophies with colorful descriptions, stickers, timed demos, to a ton of achievements to clear! Few games pack as much stuff to do as Brawl, and it's all fun to play through. And say what you will about Sub-Space Emissary, I liked it, and the cutscenes were damn good.

3) Tatsunoko VS Capcom

 When it comes to 2-D fighting games, I love them. I have a few favorites, Street Fighter III, Garou - Mark of the Wolves, NeoGeo Battle Coliseum, Capcom VS SNK 2... but one of them stands tall above the rest: Tatsunoko VS Capcom. I even consider it a superior game to its successor, Marvel VS Capcom 3. I could go on and on about how much I love the mechanics, the Baroque system, the character roster or the stylized graphics... but I think this sums everything up pretty nicely: I bought an Arcade Stick just for this one game. And I regret nothing, I used to rock that Soki/ Tekkaman Blade team like there was no tomorrow. And I even took the game online against a couple of buddies.

2) Resident Evil 4

 Alright, so I've pretty much tiptoed around the 'No Ports' rule I decided to use all throughout my lists, by shielding myself with excuses. But, but, I think the Wii's unique control scheme makes the game feel different enough from the other versions of the game, and I'd argue, that it plays much better than the other versions. Alright, so the gameplay is an absolute blast, I mean, this game did change third person shooters forever(Or at least up to 2016, where its influence is still felt to this very day), but it's more than just that. It's about the fantastic setpieces, like having to survive a zombie raid inside a little house, not unlike a few horror movies. Or what about infiltrating a castle full of Ganado? Like, seriously, I could sing this game praises all day long and it still wouldn't be enough.

1) No More Heroes/ No More Heroes 2

 It's tough having to pick between both games. While No More Heroes 1 has more personality. you just can't deny just how much better the combat is on the second game. Still, personality is half the reason why these games are so good. Suda 51 games have a certain quality to them, a certain insanity that makes each game he directs an absolute pleasure to go through. At face value, the story in the first game makes no sense, but it's built around its unique personality, its characters, its fantastic dialogue, its truly hilarious moments. No More Heroes 2 toned down the insanity a bit, a few of the bosses weren't quite as memorable as NMH 1's, but the gameplay got polished immensely. The way the different beam sabers work, how much more smoothly the combos flowed, or even letting you switch between beam sabers at will. Both are unforgettable games that showcase Suda 51's style perfectly, a style that, on the surface, favors style over substance, but if you're willing to look, hides a surprising amount of depth. Both to the stories and as to the gameplay, hiding a few mechanics that are up to the player to discover by himself.

 Oh, and Robin Atkin Downes did a stellar job with the role of Travis Touchdown, it introduced me to his voice, and it's a pleasure getting to discover him on plenty of other games, easily becoming my favorite voice actor in the gamingdom.

My Favorite Playstation 2 Games

 Here's the gist of it, in this world there's only one constant I'm entirely subjected to: Change. I am a person, and right now I'm not the same man that I was when I first began writing, heck, that guy wasn't even the same guy that wanted to write this in the first place! What I want to get to, once I stop digressing, is that this list is how I feel right now, at this very moment, so when and if I feel like making this list again, and knowing myself I probably will, it might change.

 So, what is that list? These are the games I liked the most on each particular system, this time around the Playstation 2. These are not necessarily the games I consider best, but the ones I liked the most and the ones I have the fondest memories of. For these lists I tried to stay away from multiplatform games, or from ports. I tried to, but in a few cases it was impossible to.

 Also... this list was by far the hardest to make, so many games got cut, and I even cheated a bit to get to talk about a few more games, which is a testament to just how good the PS2's library is.



10) Zone of the Enders 2

 Even though I prefer Gundam VS Gundam when it comes to mech games, as a 'Japanese mech simulator', of sorts, this is my choice. I must've finished this one hundreds of time already, and it never gets old. Non-stop, fast paced, all-terrain mech on mech action. It also has some of the most memorable setpieces I've ever played, like the battle in the desert, or using the Cannon to bring down giant gunships. And then you get the Zero-Shift and the game gets ridiculous, in the best kind of way.

9) Neo Geo Battle Coliseum

 I've been a fan of SNK's fighting games for as long as I can remember, always preferring their characters over Capcom's, although, in my opinion, Capcom always beat them at gameplay. Regardless, Neo-Geo battle Coliseum is a celebration of everything SNK. There's nods and cameos even to their non-fighting franchises, like a playable Marco from Metal Slug. I remember that most of the time my sessions of NGBC ended, my thumb would hurt a bit, the mark of a really good fighter.

8) Capcom VS SNK 2

 Did I mention that I preferred SNK's characters but Capcom's gameplay? Well, this game is exactly that. True, it's mostly Street Fighter VS King of Fighters, but there's a few surprises here and there, like Last Blade's Hibiki or Rival School's Hyo. There's a great number of characters, and 6 different ways to play them, all mimicking different Capcom and SNK's games, and the soundtrack is just amazing. Easily on my top 3 2D fighting games.

7) Shinobi

 While I played this game when I was younger, I don't think I was able to appreciate it as much as I did a couple of years ago. It's challenging, fast paced, exhilarating and offers it own brand of hack-and-slash, different from other games of its ilk, like Devil May Cry, Ninja Gaiden or God of War. It helps that Hotsuma is one of the coolest ninja designs ever.

6) Virtua Fighter 4 - Evolution

 The ungodly amount of hours I must've poured into this game! I remember playing vanilla VF 4 when I was way, way younger, and when the PS2 graphics were still amazing, and seeing the little trails fighters would leave in the snow, or seeing the tiles of the floor break. It looked amazing, and it didn't stop there, the moves looked amazing as well, it all leads to some of the most fantastic fights I've ever had the pleasure of watch, and even perform in. I would even duke it out with my best friend, I clearly remember this one time we did over 100 rounds of Akira VS Akira. I love this game, and while VF 5 is probably the better game, it doesn't hold the same amount of memories this one does.

5) Wild Arms 3

 Wild Arms 2 was pretty good, but Wild Arms 3 completely blows it out of the water. Now then, Wild Arms 2 had a very original, and fun, battle system, and Wild Arms 3 expanded upon it and polished to a sheen. The exploration remains the same, although in this case, it's a good thing, offering a hearty amount of puzzles and different locales to traverse. Then there's also the huge amount of side bosses and sidequests to complete, even though I could never really trigger the UFO event!

4) Outrun 2006 - Coast to Coast

 I'm not really a 'cars dudebro', so I'm not really into racing games. Which is a good thing, since this game is more of what I like to call a racing adventure game. You race against checkpoints, you race against yourself, while going though different routes and scenery. It's beautiful to look at, and I always manages to give me a certain sense of adventure, which I really like. But it doesn't stop there, the gameplay is very arcadey, appropriately of an Arcade game, easy to pick up and play, and once you get the hang of the drifting, it's pure bliss. It's easy to lose yourself into a trance while playing this game, and it feels so good. So. Good.

3) Killer7

 Suda 51 is my favorite videogame director, but I'm ashamed to admit that I didn't get to this game as soon as I should've. This is easily Suda 51's masterpiece, a game unlike anything you've ever played before, and quite probably, unlike anything you'll ever play. It's hard to delve into what makes the game so good. How about the insanely engaging premise? The unique gameplay? The amount of depth behind the story? Trust me, there're FAQs out there in order to help you understand the story. And it's true, this is a port of a Gamecube game, something I tried to avoid, but... It's Suda 51, dammit.

2) Shin Megami Tensei Nocturne / Digital Devil Saga part 1 and 2

 Alright, I'm cheating, I admit it, but I wanted to fit more games into the list, and... and they are both Shin Megami Tensei games(At least outside Japan), so... so.... I'm slotting them together. I tend to dislike games with mute protagonists, since it's almost impossible to give them any depth, so I was worried before starting Nocturne... but somehow, somehow, they managed to make you feel like you mattered without uttering a single word. It's a gripping tale, after the World ends and only a few humans survive, all trying to recreate the world under their own personal views, and you, the Hitoshura, while not able to recreate the world, have enough power as to be able to ensure the victory of whoever you aid. It's fantastic, the supporting cast is interesting and engaging, and the setting is so bleak, but so interesting....
 Digital Devil Saga is a more interesting case, with a stronger emphasis on the supporting cast. The first game is downright amazing, and while the second part is not quite as good, seeing the characters evolve as the story moves along is a thing of beauty, as you learn to love these characters. Even Cielo, who I never used in battle, I wanted to see him succeed. It's a phenomenal story.
 Oh! and both games run under the same combat engine, which is another fun twist to the turn-based system of yore, focused on hitting the enemy weakenesses in order to get extra turns.

1) Shin Megami Tensei - Persona 4

 Oh, poor Persona 4, getting milked to hell and back again by Atlus. But it doesn't matter how much they milk it, how much they dilute and ruin their characters with Persona Arena or Dancing All Night, the original Persona 4 remains a fantastic little game. Not only does it borrow most of the battle mechanics from Nocturne and Digital Devil Saga, but it mixes it with pseudo-dating sim elements, which sounds like a drag, but it works, it works really well! But it's the characters and their stories that really take the cake, all the supporting cast, from playable characters to NPCs, have their own trials and tribulations to go through, and they're so interesting that makes you want to follow them all the way to the end, and not for the reward, but to see them coming to terms and solve their conflicts!
 And they somehow managed to give personality to the mute hero. Sure, your decisions don't matter much when it comes down to it, but they somehow managed to give the protagonist a semblance of depth thanks to how he interacts with the characters around him.

My Favorite Playstation Games

 Here's the gist of it, in this world there's only one constant I'm entirely subjected to: Change. I am a person, and right now I'm not the same man that I was when I first began writing, heck, that guy wasn't even the same guy that wanted to write this in the first place! What I want to get to, once I stop digressing, is that this list is how I feel right now, at this very moment, so when and if I feel like making this list again, and knowing myself I probably will, it might change.

 So, what is that list? These are the games I liked the most on each particular system, this time around the PSOne. These are not necessarily the games I consider best, but the ones I liked the most and the ones I have the fondest memories of. For these lists I tried to stay away from multiplatform games, or from ports. I tried to, but in a few cases it was impossible to.


10) Chrono Cross

 Chrono Cross was, at one point in time, my favorite game ever. So much so that it even influenced my E-Mail address. Time has certainly started to show the game's edge, with a rather weird leveling up system, terrible, terrible enemy design, and a convoluted summoning system. Not to mention the fact that they tried to cram in over 40 playable characters, which meant that most of them hardly get some character development, if any at all. Regardless, the combat system is a joy to use, taking some cues from Xenogears of all games! And the plot had some fun moment, like having your body hijacked!

9) Strider 2

 Strider 2 is nonstop Arcade action from beginning to end. Honestly, the game isn't very deep, combat-wise, but it makes up for it with style, pure, pure style. It also has some fantastic boss battles, and segments, how cool is running over a giant iceberg while stuff blows up behind you? The game's Arcadey pick-up and play gameplay as well as its short length contributed to me replaying this game every now and then, it just doesn't get old!

8) Parasite Eve

 When I was younger, I used to play Parasite Eve II, but I didn't really like it. And then, two years ago, I decided to give Parasite Eve 1 a chance and it blew my mind. It's amazing, the JRPG/Survival Horror blend is fantastic, with a phenomenal combat system and a story that remains very original to this very day.

7) Legend of Legaia

 In this world, there's two things I love: JRPGs and Fighting games. Legend of Legaia mixes both to spectacular effect. While you explore towns and dungeons as you would on any other RPG, triggering a random encounters results in a turn based system in which you input combos with the four different directions of the digital pad. And performing certain combinations produces special attacks. And then there's super attacks. And ultra attacks. I love this game.

6) Lunar 2 - Eternal Blue Complete

 Remember Working Designs? Those guys knew their craft, which is the reason their localizations are fondly remembered. But it helps when the source material is so fantastic. This is an oldschool JRPG, so a little grinding is in order, but the game is so good that that is hardly an issue. The game really shines with its story and characters, if you played Lunar 1, you get to see how the world has evolved, and even get to meet a few familiar faces or the grandsons and granddaughters from the original cast of characters. But that's just a plus, it's the new cast of characters that really make the game so engaging, which each of the five(or rather six) get to go through their own personal arcs and actually evolve. The game also mixes the gameplay with the story to great effect, Lucia is AI controlled, so while at the beginning of the game she'll run away or only care about herself, she'll begin healing the party, and even prioritize Hiro over herself!

5) The Legend of the Dragoon

 I used to hate this game when I was younger, but lo and behold, now I like it even more than my then-favorite game, Chrono Cross. And I wonder why, it's a JRPG, with a transforming hero, and I always like heroes that can transform. And it's not just the designated hero Dart, the entire cast of characters have alternate transformations into all powerful Dragoons. This is a four disc epic filled with surprising twists and turns, as well as fun battle mechanics, which have the player timing their button inputs in order to maximize damage and fill the Dragoon gauge faster.

4) Crash Bandicoot 2 - Cortex Strikes Back / Crash Bandicoot 3 Warped

 While Crash Bandicoot 1 has aged rather poorly, both Crash 2 and Crash 3 are every bit as good as they once were. It's hard to me to pick between both of them, Crash 3 had tighter collision detection, and smoothed out the levels to take out some of the most annoying bits from 2, like having to run towards the camera if you wanted to 100% it... but Crash 2 had a much stronger emphasis on the platforming and its higher challenge was welcome, which is where these games really shine. Regardless, there's no going wrong with either game, both offer the same tight of gameplay, even if one diluted the jumping a bit with vehicle and 'variety' stages.

 The Crash PS1 games have shown their worth as time went by, one has to remember that the mascot platformer market was pretty much saturated by the time, and in an era when everyone wanted to be Mario, the Crash games delivered their own twist on the formula, making them unlike other platformers of the era.

3) Castlevania - Symphony of the Night

 I always felt like the Metroid games were a bit boring. I played, but never finished or got into, Super Metroid and Metroid, and while I did finish Metroid Fusion, I never really liked it too much. Castlevania takes Metroid's exploration approach, a giant interconnected map for you to explore, having power ups and routes blocked off by obstacles requiring a specific tool to bypass, but adds RPG elements. Now combat actually matters, because you constantly grow stronger, not to mention the fact that they may drop equipment pieces. Armor not only increases your defense, but sometimes even comes with passive abilities, like allowing you to walk through otherwise lethal spikes. And while Metroid gives you dull energy cannons and missiles, here you get a whole slew of medieval weaponry, axes, swords and... Nunchuks? Knuckle dusters? Well, maybe not all that medieval, but you get the gist of it. Symphony of the Night made the Metroid formula fun for me. It's endlessly addicting to earn new abilities and then get the ability to cross-over obstacles you couldn't before, and it seems as if every time I play it I get something new, a weapon, an armor, an item, what have you!

2) Xenogears

 Fact: Xenogears is incomplete. The developer team had four discs worth of content planned for the game, but legend has it that Square cared more about Final Fantasy VIII, so they decided to pour more money onto that project, leaving the Xenogears team to cram three discs worth of content onto the second disc. And it shows. But y'know what? Even despite that, against all odds, I still consider this game a masterpiece. Just like Legend of Legaia, it has a combat system with roots in fighting games, only that you have three attacks here: Weak, Medium and Strong, but they too can be tied together into powerful special moves. And then there's mech-on-mech combat, with its own combat mechanics. And the mechs? They look amazing, each character has his or her own machine, and it reflects on the owner's personality. And let's forget about the gameplay for a second, the story is amazing. Even though the storytelling took a huge hit on the second disc, it still managed to put forth a cohesive narrative, that delves into more philosophical matters, religion and even some psychology. I adore this game. It's a shame the spiritual prequels, Xenosaga, are so bad(My first blog posts were a bit more... candid about how much I hated those games), but at least Xenoblade turned out great.

1) Final Fantasy VII

 I've already sung this game oh so many praises, but... let's do it again. Before Final Fantasy VII there were games I liked more than others, yes, but I don't think the word 'favorite' ever came to my mind. And then Final Fantasy VII happened. And it's true, as I grew up, other games took its place. I was young, so at a time, even Final Fantasy VIII seemed like a better game. Chrono Cross, Disgaea, Zone of the Enders 2, Persona 4... just a few of the games that held the 'My favorite' label over time. But as time goes by, as I replay them, those game start to show their age. But Final Fantasy VII is like wine, it only gets better with age. After Final Fantasy VII, everyone wanted to make the next big RPG, they even aped the amnesiac hero. Heck, with time Cloud was flanderized into a brooding, silent hero, which he never was. But it doesn't even matter if Squeenix keeps diluting the franchise and Cloud himself, they can't touch the original Final Fantasy VII.

 The combat system remains just as good as it once was, featuring a surprising amount of depth centered around linking materia on the different equipment pieces. Materia not only alter your stats, but they also grant you access to magic... and they can level up. And depending on what materia orbs you link, you can create some very powerful combinations. It's not an amount of depth you used to see in the day, heck, even by today's standards.

 The story has lost some of its originality, since it's been copied oh so much, and it doesn't help that the translation was so bad as to sometimes treat Tifa as a 'he'. But even then, I still get goosebumps when Cloud's reveal happens. And just as with the greatest RPGs of its time, each party member gets a surprising amount of depth and backstory, each getting their own arcs they have to go through. Even Yuffie and Vincent, while optional, have their own scenes, even if shorter and making less of an impact than those of the main cast, you still get to learn about Vincent's past, and how Yuffie's upbringing is tied to her hometown, Wu-Tai.

 What can I say, as JRPGs continue to get more and more terrible, with pandering games that appeal to the lowest common denominator, like the Neptunia series, Final Fantasy VII gets better and better in comparison. Heck, most of the JRPGs of the era do, but that's a rant for another time.

Review #317: Metal Gear Rising - Revengeance

 More like, rethink your title so that it's a real word. Am I right or am I right?

 Metal Gear Rising is a hack-and-slash action game spun off from the Metal Gear Solid franchise, starring our favorite Cyborg Ninja: Raiden. It's a wildly different take on the franchise, that offers a lot interesting ideas to the genre, even if it doesn't break any new ground.

 The story takes place after Metal Gear Solid 4, Raiden now sporting a more human-like cyborg body fails to protect his client, and is left eyeles and armless by Jetstream Sam, a member from group of terrorists, Desperado. Armed with a new cybernetic body and a need of vengeance, Raiden goes off to stop Desperado. The story is... a bit of a mixed bag. The story itself is alright, but sometimes it feels as if it was written by a group of people, or the writer hadn't a clear idea of what he wanted. You'll go from learning about kids being stripped of their bodies and organs, turned into cybernetic brains and eyes, forced to endure combat VR training, to... to getting punted like a ball by a boss and having an invisible audience cheer him. As a matter of fact, the final boss sometimes feels like a caricature, which is funny, because at times it felt like this pseudo american parody was getting somewhere... only to turn into something out of a caricature, that likes to use Sumo moves. Yeah. It also goes full anime at times, with a pre-teen girl building a rocket ship, or juvenile humor like 'Taking a Doomp'... yeah, it's hard to pinpoint what the tone they wanted for the game was. Also, they decided to bring back Raiden's nickname, 'Jack the Ripper', y'know, that thing that is mentioned during Metal Gear Solid 2? Now it's somewhat of a split personality.... I don't even.... For what its worth, the cutscenes are at their best when stuff happens, because there's some seriously cool scenes to be seen. Just try to turn your brain off when the characters start talking. The audiovisual presentation is a bit lacking as well, characters' faces are off somehow, and Raiden's voice actor sometimes tries to sound ruff, but it comes off as forced.

 But gameplay is where it's at with this game, and it delivers. Your main offensive tool is your sword, which is can be used with weak and strong attacks. Later in the game you'll earn new weapons that can be equipped as your strong attacks. It may throw you off at first, but there's no sidestepping in the game, so you'll have to rely on parrying, which is done by pressing weak attack and the direction the attack is coming from. Parrying is very important and a necessity, the game will quickly pound you into the ground until you learn how to parry incoming attacks. The game's main mechanics is Blade Mode, holding L1 enter you into 'Blade Mode', in which you can cut in almost in direction by combining both analog sticks... or you can just mash square and triangle. A lot of stuff on the environments can be cut down, but enemies need to be worn down before you can freely cut them apart, which you can tell since their weakened body parts will blue. As a matter of fact, once their torso turns blue, you can cut them apart to reveal cells that can be used to refill your entire health bar and the gauge that allows Blade Mode.

 Combat works almost perfectly. I felt like the targeting system was a bit weak, as pulling off certain moves was a bit hard, and even while targeting an enemy, if you accidentally push towards another and attack, you will attack this other enemy instead. I also disliked the relatively high amount of QTEs the game is filled with, just give me cutscenes, they look cool and I don't need to bother pressing buttons in order to make me feel like I'm doing something when I'm not. I mean, some of the QTE segments are impossibly cool, like running over missiles, but if you are gonna use QTEs I 'd rather get a cutscene. There's also a few optional stealth sections. They feel very out of place in an action game, but the icing on the cake comes from the fact that characters will chastise you for not approach the enemies stealthily. Guys, this is NOT Metal Gear Solid, this is an Action game. I want to fight stuff, not silently kill it from behind. And I need to mention just how good the soundtrack is, and it's timed so that the music gets really cool during the coolest moments.

 And now comes the bad news.... the entire game is 4 hours long, less if you skip cutscenes. On its defense, there's about 20 VR Missions to find, and then complete, there's also unlockable weapons and costumes by finding hidden Data storages and cutting 30 arms of certain enemies, so there's certainly a fair amount of replay value. Early in the game's life, Konami released two Campaign DLC packs, one letting you play as Jetstream Sam, and the other as Bladewolf. Each costed $10, but Konami eventually made them free. And it's easy to see why, both are about an hour long, have no new environments, enemies or bosses, although they have a few new cutscenes. Since these include so little new stuff, they might as well just made both characters playable in the main Story, since they offer entirely different movesets from Raiden, and it would've been nice to have more game to try them on in.

 Metal Gear Rising - Revengeance was a valiant effort from Platinum games. While it took me a while to learn just how important Parrying was, I eventually ended up loving the combat system. Cutting stuff is so much fun! But there's so little game to try all these fun mechanics in, and the story was so... baffling, I didn't know what it was going for. And it's true, MGS has always had humor in its story, but this one had some very off-putting moments. Not that it really matters, since the gameplay is what matters, and gameplay they got right.
 8.0 out of 10