seieko_pherdo

Once again Devil Survivor is an odd one. The mechanics have been vastly improved since game one. The fate system works well and is a nice extra incentive to speaking with them. Yet despite that story feels less intense despite the whole world being in danger as apposed to just one city. And like last time this game is irritatingly grind-tastic making the first play through somewhat of a slow choir because every boss demon/monster has the convenient ability to blast your ass to space from thousands miles away while the only thing you can do in defense is start cursing and resign yourself to hours of level grinding. New game plus is much smoother as there is no need to level grind and extra boss while as unfair as the main bosses are excitingly hard without the need to spend half the day level grinding. But in short the game is better while the story is a little less exciting which could be because it's on the DS instead of the Playsation 2. So if your fan give the game a run and you too can start wishing it was on a home console instead.

We have a sorting hat problem here. How to rate this game has proven to be difficult. For starters the story is fantastic and so are the people in it. The atmosphere created by trying to survive in an awful situation that only gets worse is stellar and if we could see it on say the Playstation 2 that would be absolutely fabulous. And while at first the choices you make don't seem to matter much near the climax those choices of yours will decide which of the many endings you will receive though and the game can be very vague about which choices decide which outcomes. But the game has a big problem being the combat system is too grind-tastic. It doesn't help that unlike many other games there is no demon compendium which means getting the right demons for the sudden situations you'll be thrown into takes far longer than it should, which in turn slows down the pace of the story.

As the title states strange journey is strange. Quite unexpectedly we are lead back to the old days of the Megami Tensei franchise and no it isn't any less brutal. There is no press turn system and exploiting weakness is less important. The game's main theme is exploration which is why almost every area can be an absolute choir to travel through and can feel borderline impossible without some sort of online map. Resource gathering is also tedious. Not to mention demons can only have 6 moves instead of 8. The demon password system works well and while you can abuse it, it is very costly and while you're not hard pressed the game doesn't just hand it out ether. The story is unsurprisingly awesome, and while the demons may seem overtly preachy many of them are connected in some way to the planet that humanity has spend most of it's time desecrating. However the story as good as it is, the DS screen is small and reading a big text dump on the really small screen can get irritating. And because the game's main theme is exploration there is no way you can rush through this game. It's a solid title but the changes added since Nocturne were added for a very good reason and this game will shoehorn that point into you if it does nothing else.

About I don't know say 11 or so years later Innocent Sin finally graces our shores in a form other than a fan translation. While it isn't as polished as Persona 3 & 4 it stands up well on it's own. It's a good thing that a game made in 90's has more of a soul than most triple A games today. The battle system has been made easier, fusion spells are easier to do and easier to to contact demons slightly. That being said the fusion system this game is not as useful as it would prove to be in later games. You can beat the entire game with the main persona you get at the beginning of the game and use nothing but and you'll be fine at least on easy mode. Also some of the translations seem off but I've seen the entity of the fan translation online so it's not a big deal. The new theater mode is neat too offering three interesting side quests, and yes while the quest make was not added to the North American version I don't that's a big deal though some are mad about it. Story wise this game is great though it gets bogged by the annoying high encounter rate. Though there is meter and on screen map that will flat out tell you when monster showdowns will occur and the high encounter rate often means you won't have to level grind for the most part, though the battles can interrupt the flow of the story and it's also easy to miss certain things. The voice acting has improved from the 90's compared to Eternal Punishment. Though in the Persona 2 saga the silent protagonist makes little sense since the main character IS NOT a blank slate. But that's a little annoyance Persona 2 is still a very solid game.

Well it's Persona 2 AGAIN and this being the 3rd time it's graced the world with it's presence. Due to limitations and what not the game now adopts somewhat of a visual novel feel to it. As a person who has played the hell out of Persona 3:FES it's interesting to see the little changes. For one the battle system has adopted the Persona 4 style including the ability to command your teammates because let's face it their not the smartest people in the world. It's easier to raise your social sats and earn money this time around. And the skill card system is a welcome addition. Now the people who get this are more than likely the have played a previous version of this game and like before the social links and japanese student life simulation is surprisingly entertaining as ever. And even after all this time the really emotional part still punch jut as hard even when you've seen them about 4-5 times before. But the best for me is the effort into the female portion of the game. And it isn't just for females and if you can handle the idea of playing as a girl there are lots of interesting things to be found, though the social links are divided oddly and the male can no longer use all but two weapons. The girl side may be better as it explains your teammates better and the emotions displayed by the female are nicely varied. So in short the game is a vast improvement on a already awesome game and it makes me look forward to Persona 5 a lot more considering the vast potential the female side has.

I'm sure we all remember the last Batman adventure and how it was awesome. Well so now's here's more of that. now Batman has a whole city to run, fly, and glide around in while finding random hoodlums and ruining their days. The good this besides more neat toys and is as far as squeals this one is well done though not without problems. The story while still good doesn't have the same impact the first game had and most twist are reveled as a "and then suddenly this villain shows up" The boss fights are fun though even if they do boil down to figure out the method and repeat. And the Riddler is back which will take up more of your time then dealing with the actual story. The side missions and the game story are a tad bit loosely connected. But worst of it is that the villains have less screen time then they should because we all know the supervillians are more interesting than all the generic henchmen Batman eats for breakfast. But the worst is the ending, it doesn't leave a "what next" feeling like the last game, it leaves a "that's it?" feeling. And we all know the people of this game can do much better.

Well have you watched anime? Have you watched a lot, because if you have then you will recognize the story and characters for what they are, generic. As a primary story loving guy playing this game becomes difficult because everyone feels like a generic person from a generic anime you stop watching. Combat is what this game does best but it's also very hard. While I don't mind difficultly with the story bland as it is I don't feel like I'm getting anything out of it. The battles or more like animated chess than turned based beat the crap out of foes. But this is a long game and battles can get tiring when it's the only dynamic thing that happens. More so when having teams mates get killed rather often so you'll be spending money a lot which like in Tales Of The Abyss is really tight. Then we have the relationship faction every now and then you get a choice and it effects in ways that don't make a lot of sense. Such as: deciding to use your teammates ability to see the future so you know that walking into the forest won't get you killed, suddenly you feel less affectionate with someone. And during the times where you roam around towns you don't really learn much maybe you'll get a sentence or two. While I enjoy the battles it's all there really is, okay there is a second generation thing where you get child and he continues to save the world but once again the story being as dull and generic I just don't care. Music isn't all that good ether. The world map is also just a string of dots and anything that isn't a town is pretty much a chess battle. Even the quick battles can feel drawn out. It has it's moments but I feel it's a game that requires a lot of work for little payoff.

Now if you know me I'll tell you I hate today's first person shooter games with a passion. Now I don't remember why I looked upon the trailers of this game fondly knowing it WAS a first person shooter game. Anyway not only was this game a first person shooter, it was a game with a grand story, interesting choices, debates, and solid snake sneaking. All games should strive to the level of this game, I know I'd enjoy Call Of Duty games a hell of lot better if they were like this game. And through the game there is more than one way to do things, whether you prefer dog fighting, hacking, or just remaining unseen it's possible thought not always easy. There's still cover based shooting and chances are you will die a lot. Though like all games it has a few problems, some things don't seem resolved and you don't get to see the results of your ending. (Yes there are multiple) That aside this is an excellent game, now go you yourself and the world a favor and play it.

What make Tales Of The Abyss a great game comes with the fact that everything it does it does well. The combat is fun as always and the free run system is an nice addition. The music and character growth is done superbly. And while I'm a fan of open world roaming I tend to get lost a lot when on a boat. The game has a lot of great moments if you can forgive the repetitiveness of go here, unleash magic seal thing, repeat. Tales Of Symphonia did the same thing while I don't mind it too much it can be annoying. Another small thing that irks me is some of the more interesting places you visit in the games you only visit once. But those are small problems, although the ending may leave something to be desired.

Tales of Legendia in the bluntest terms possible is basically a downgrade from Tales Of Symphonia. It mains flaws besides how easy it is to get lost in the world map (which may just be my fault) are in the battles and the random encounter's can get a more than a little annoying. The story while well told isn't as endearing as it could be and the characters seem a little mismatched. However a point is it's favor is the music, and in certain places because of the music the game really shines or rather certain moments within it. Now while comparing this game to Tales Of Symphonia may be a little unfair but after that game came out it's easy to see this game could have been so much more than it was. By time I got through half of the game I just didn't care and stopped playing. And in my opinion that is a shame as the Tales Of Games contain some of the best stories and game music I've ever seen.

Ignoring the fact that this game is the lesser version of God of War it is an entertaining day length trip, though it doesn't offer enough for replay value. Now my opinion of this game could be a bit biased because I've studied the epic this game was based on, and not to my surprise this game is inferior to the book. While I have no gripes with the combat as it is functional enough it feels weird the judge celebrity damned souls considering Dante in the game is a self righteous moron. Most of what happens in the game is his fault and it feels weird for me to go into hell because his lover decided to take severe punishment for things that were entirely his fault. While in the book Dante had growth while in the game it seems cheesier than some of the anime I've watched. He leaves hell the same person he came in as. And it's also more than a little jarring when the last two rings of hell are short and dull. As I said it's a fun little game good for wasting a day of your time, but compared to the book it's based on this game is insulting.

For those who played the last one will notice everything from has been vastly improved. The great characters and interesting environments return, the dialogue has been improved with choices that actually mean something although their effects are limited. Like last game it can be beat in a weekend making replay runs not all that tedious. Combat has been improved and you can use two demons in battle instead of one. Demon fusing also had an upgrade and it's very easy to get almost any demon overpowered moves making it a little bit too easy once you learn how to abuse the demon fusing. However the real test lies in completing the optional cases. The story like most Shin Megami Tensei games is suburb and there is very little wrong with it. However combat while fun can become dull and some dungeons are a choir to go through. Not to mention you'll see a lot of insects, but it's still a fun little game that will easily make for an enjoyable weekend.

I'm not going to lie I haven't played the pre-Iris days of this franchise. Mana Khemia was what got me into this series. Now I don't mind not having to save the word or playing a game where I'm not going on some grand quest. For the most part you'll be finding ingredients to make a bunch of things for a kingdom, some of your friends, and other people. And I'd be perfectly content doing that. However this game walks in with a serve injury that cripples it the entire time. The imposing time limit which is attached to everything you do. I could only play this game for 4 hours before the seer claustrophobic feeling made never want to touch it again which really is a shame since I might have liked everything else the game had to offer. Now for those who can handle the overbearing feeling of time may enjoy this but I wouldn't recommend this game purely for how overbearing the time limits are.

While many might have been turned off by the news of this game that's been spreading around those who stick with and can handle how ruthless this game is will be rewarded. I know some who might complain about the meter system in regards to what you make Vincent believe in it works well for this game. When your not pushing blocks to save your boxer short wearing ass you spend the time talking to people some which you'll meet during your climbing escapades. While the social interaction isn't as good as it was in Persona 4 it's still enjoyable as are the characters. The story is a blast and is very amusing to watch. Not only that once you overcome the numerous block puzzles you will feel proud of yourself. I don't even remember the last time I felt so rewarded after playing a game for the current generation of games. But be warned in on easy difficultly this game is a lofty challenge and once you get past stage two you'll find yourself dying, a lot. Those who preserve however will be rewarded and once you beat the game once you can climb blocks with friends to see who's the puzzle master among anyone else who plays this game. While the game isn't perfect any of the grips I have are small and since it's the first game to make me feel fulfilled in the entire year I've owned a Playstation 3 I'm giving it a ten.

[SPOILER ALERT: This review contains spoilers.]

Rarely if ever do I consider a game perfect. However Persona 4 is the closet thing to perfection I have ever played. Everything from Persona 3 is back and done far better. The dungeons are all different instead of the giant tower of doom you get sick of going through. The social links and the people within them are done much better. Not to mention you can control your party members whenever you want so you can make all the stupid choices in battle. Yet this game does have flaws as all game must and I think they should be pointed out. The main thing in this game that bothers me is the fact if you go out with anybody throughout the story how nobody in an entire town filled of noisy rumor loving people every figure out your going out with somebody. And most of the girls in the game are popular and well known so the fact this small thing was not worked on is a bit a jarring, but and the end of the day it is a small fault and doesn't bother me all that much. After all this is the game I've spend around 400 hours of my life playing.

Pokemon doesn't change much aside from the sheer number of them. That being said I always liked the Gold/Silver versions the best. And then they made it again, only better. While all the Pokemon not in the first version don't appear till much later it's nice traveling through the lands I enjoyed when I was nine. The phone system has been improved though I miss the VS seeker from Fire Red. The rematch of gym leaders and elite four with new stronger Pokemon was a big plus.Though the game has some annoying flaws namely the how only certain Pokemon appear in the safari zone after 30 days, and it is really annoying. I'm not even sure how one could come up with such a bad idea. I know kids don't want to wait forever for one Pokemon to hopefully appear, the ones who you have to wait for have about a 5% chance of showing up in grass. That aside as far as Pokemon games goes this is the best one.

For whatever reason Black and White Version have there own separate pages, and I don't see why since since there basically the same game. Well in truth every Pokemon game is the same game. Ok the story is good and questions where you bring harm to your army of cute fire breathing badge getters, but just who is this game really for? While the rating says everybody is game aimed at the old fans or the young kids who may not be old enough to care and just want to catch strange looking creatures. While I'm 20 and while I liked the plot I though they could have pushed it farther. However my real issues lie within some the other things the game does. The C-Gear is my biggest pet peeve as I missed the useful menu thing Soul Silver had that made use of the bottom screen apposed to some online thing you will rarely use. Well if you have a lot friends who play this then it has some use but once again whose buying this game? I know more people my own age who have this apposed to kids but I have no life. As the for the new Pokemon I don't care for them much with the exception **** type. The game seems unbalanced since if you pick the fire pig you can basically pat your self on the back since most of the Pokemon you will encounter will be weak to moves the pig will learn. While I thought it was nice that you can't resort to old favorites till you beat the game once. I liked the fact the levels were higher too so you can't just wipe out your foes with ease though the new music that plays when your health hit the red zone is really annoying. It's also annoying how they took out most of the neat stuff from Soul Silver such a gym leader rematches, the phone system (still in need of work). The world just feels like a closed off island. But they did finally make TM's unlimited so you could use a move more than once. In general I'm not how to look at this game, personally I think there should be a game that reaches out to the older players instead of trying to jumble the old and the young players. Until then I think for people like me Pokemon will stay as a kitchen sink game, the kind you play to waste time till class starts.

After the first's game flawed emergence into the world followed up by superb squeal (with a not so superb localization) one would think the 3rd game would a golden rainbow that hands out candy. Sadly this game is a step backwards, in more ways than one. For whatever reason it's similar to the first game rather than the second one. The combat while no longer turned based is not all that good. While the match the attacks with the meter thing at the bottom of the screen was a nice touch the combat lacks the "Tales Of Game" flexibility to pull that off. For the most part the Reyvateils that are considered so useful and valuable throughout the games don't even feel necessary. By time the magic is strong enough to be useful without spamming super attacks the enemy will already be dead from constant wailing. Then there's the weird stripping function which replaces different song magic, while the system works well there is no reason for the strange removal of clothes. Though to make it even the males lose theirs when they use their super moves too which creates what I like to call, "The hot spring laser barrage" Besides the music being awesome and story tying up all the loose ends through the last two games, it was a nice touch to add more detailed conversations during item creation. And while the mind diving is still interesting the Characters aren't as good as the ones in Ar Tonelico 2 and their respective life stories are not as interesting. In a way moving the last game to 3D didn't do a whole lot of good for the game and it's sad that the grand finale of the Ar Tonelico saga wasn't as good as it could have been.

Well let's get a few things out of the way. 1) if you didn't like the first one you won't like this one. 2) I am not marking this game down on the bad localization since it wasn't made by the people who made the game, not mention the infamous one can be avoided and the rest don't really hamper much. 3) This game has innuendo, and while some complain about if you can handle a bus ride home during high school you can handle this. Now that's out of the way this game is an improvement of basically everything in the first game. I enjoyed the Characters a lot in this game and like last game their development is fabulous. The concept of chatting with shop owners was a nice little perk which makes the whole world feel more alive. Once again the mind diving returns longer and more detailed than the last. Though this time around you can't go through everybody's full mind dive experience in one game, which is a nice touch unless your a huge fan of polygamy. And the combat is vastly improved and you don't get a bunch of magic you will never use. As for combat you can block attacks instead of just standing there and getting hit with doom lasers and such. While it's still easy and not really hard it's surprisingly fun to block attacks and then annihilate them with killers dolls formed by singing, or unleashing the closest thing I've ever seen to a Death Star. While the story is the same old "We got to save the world" thing every JRPG goes through the ending gave me a nice fuzzy feeling.

Ar Tonelico is a difficult game to judge, as fan of Japanese things and story I tend to like these kind of things. However my reviewer self is not a kind. This game excels in story, music, and character development. Not going to lie despite all the characters being generic I liked them a lot. I loved the concept of diving into people's minds to know more about them as well as the conversations after making a item. The encounter rate at bottom was a nice and once you killed enough things in a area they would all leave you alone. However the battles themselves are easy and boring. While I don't mind turn based combat this game does not do it well though the song magic was nice twist. However while you acquire new ways to kill foes by singing the you get overburdened with songs most of which you never use. It is quite possible to beat the game using the default beginners magic for the entire game. However I liked the concept of Ar Tonelico and while the combat isn't at all great a lot of detail went into the creation of it's world. While it's all done in sprite based artwork and doesn't look all Final Fantasy fantastic I enjoyed the look of it. Not to mention you can switch over the god awful English voices for the Japanese ones. While it's a nice treat for us fans of Japanese things it's easy to see why someone would get bored of it.

American McGee's Alice is a nice morbid trip to wonderland. Well the nice portion can be debated a bit. While the game because a cult classic for story and music it's has some serious flaws. First the good, the voices are excellent even after 11 years have passed. The music also has the same superb quality despite being made from Fisher Price toys for the most part. For a game made in 2000 the levels have a great deal of detail sadly the same cannot be said for the rest of the game. While the game is part platforming the jumping is a bit awkward which makes some of the later stages outright brutal. Next problem is the weapons, while there all neat and wonderland related you have too many of them. For the most part once you get the Ice Rod you will never use anything else ever (With the exception of the Jacks and few others but only for the last three bosses), at least not for combat. Once you get a new weapon the old one get replaced instantly because it's no longer useful and switching between them can be a pain when you need to deal with the flying enemies early on. And if you get this game you should religiously thank whoever came up with the Auto-Save function because some the later levels would be nearly impossible without it as this game is not friendly towards players. Especially at the end of the game where the card guards all have nuclear weapons for some reason. And then there's the Jabberwock which while not the final boss is the hardest boss in the game and even one Easy difficulty will turn you into Alice-Flambe a few times. And the last flaw is the swimming engine, which does not work for the game at all. The few levels where you have to swim are difficult because of the failed swimming engine. And there's a rather special level of nothing but along with endless stream of Alice-eating fish. And since you can't swim very fast and will often get stuck on nothing you might as well rename yourself Fish Food for the duration of the level. Not to mention trying to use the knife underwater is about as effective as trying to use a marsh-mellow to fly into space. Though despite all the horrible things I said about the game stick with it and you'll be rewarding with a journey of remarkable (and slightly eerie) visions. And now that it comes with Alice:Madness Returns you can play it without shelling out 100$ bucks on E-bay.

To me Alice's new adventure in wonderland gives off mixed feelings, though the fact they add the the prequel from the year 2000 is a nice touch. While nothing is out of place (memories, weapons, abilities, so on and so forth) the game has picked up some flaws. Thankfully the combat is vastly improved and instead of having weapons sit forgotten and unused you get a maximum of five which the game will make you use all the time. The levels while nicely varied and symbolic of Alice's real life problems at times feel empty. While the platforming works well and they removed the swimming which didn't work all that well in the last game most of the levels are spent jumping from one floating platform to the next, and repeating the same switch puzzle over and over again. While it may not bother you too much on the first play through once you find everything going through the levels can be quite a choir. What Alice does best however is tell a story which it does through good dialogue, little trips in and out of wonderland, and all the memories hidden throughout. The levels themselves tell their own story. This game is for people who are fans of symbolism and Alice in Wonderland renditions, and while I can recommend this game despite it's faults if your not into symbolism and platforming games then I would stay away.