SetsunaSeiei

After enjoying Tales of XIllia I was a bit worried about the sequel, since reaching the same level could prove difficult. Fortunately, Tales of Xillia 2 is a fantastic Tales game and a great sequel, expanding everything good about the first game, improving the combat system in lots of ways, offering a lot of extra activities and a surprisingly deep and emotional story that is very different than that found in the first game. This is definitely a game any Tales fan, especially those who enjoyed Xillia, must give a chance.

Tales of Xillia is one of the few games I have imported from Japan in my life, and it was totally worth it. The Tales franchise has had its ups and downs, but Xillia is definitely the high point for the series when you think about visuals, systems, story and characters. The world of Rize Maxia is beautiful and vibrant, the characters are well detailed and pleasant, the battles are fast rewarding and better than ever thanks to the linking between couples of characters and the way you gain skills in a Sphere Grid makes that even more compelling than in previous games. Cities are a joy to see, and even normal fields are big and full of paths you can take. Xillia also has two different adventures depending on who you decide to play as in the beginning (Jude Mathis or Milla Maxwell), and even if the story doesn't change too much I felt more interested in a second run than in most other Japanese RPGs. Now that the game is in English, I think fans of RPG and Tales alike will end up loving it just as I did.

I gave up on this game long ago since I believed a western release was unthinkable, but then I learned Aksys translated it and, being a huge Type Moon fan, I immediately preordered the L.E.. It turns out I made the right choice, since this game is absolutely awesome and has the best dialogues in quite some time. It's also far different from the Persona games, and that pleased me since by the infos I read at the Japanese release I thought Fate/Extra was a Persona 3 clone. Characters are great, too, and I'm already loving new Saber's personality.

Adventure games on Nintendo DS have already seen many great entries such as Phoenix Wright, Time Hollow or Hotel Dusk, but 999 is really something else: mixing visual novel narrative and adventure sections, it's probably the most captivating videogame of his genre I have ever played. The true ending is something that will leave you speechless, so don't abandon the game after having seen one of its minor endings.

Technically poor, Growlanser even so manage to stand on its own among the many rpg clones out there. Its story has pathos and a deep meaning, and the way it's comunicated to the player through multiple prologues and twists make it really interesting to play. The combats are also intelligent and innovative, having the charm of an action game with the scope of a strategy game. Urushihara's artworks are also really beautiful, even if I prefere some of his earlier works.

This is probably the best example of mixing gaming and poetry, aside from Ico and Shadow of the Colossus. Fragile is the tale of a young boy left to his own device in a world devoid of humans after the death of his grandfather. It could seem like a strange mix of action and survival horror at first, but then you will notice how all of it is about the atmosphere: you find objects that tell you about dead people's emotions and last moments, manage to know some extremely interesting and endearing characters and explore many unique places in your quest to reclaim your humanity. The game was extremely sad sometimes, but by the ending credits I was happy to have been part of its world.