No fancying Phantasy Star Universe

(tags game, Xbox 360, RPG, Phantasy Star)

Phantasy Star Universe for the Xbox 360 is ugly and repetitive and slow. Well I did get it for about 980 yen so maybe that makes up for it. I'm only two hours into it, though. The songs are in English, oh so laughable. About the only thing that makes up for this is the zettai ryouiki, but I'm already grasping straws if it comes to that.

Is that DS ejecting a cart in your pocket? Shiren

(tags game, RPG, Dual Screen, Shiren)

To tell you the truth, I haven't been playing Shiren since last Friday. On that day, I decided to chance an epic adventure through many floors I haven't seen. Unknown floors, unknown danger! And I got past them with luck and skill on my side, even while escorting a NPC. I think it was floor 16 or something, where I got to the third town. I felt really satisfied with Shiren, despite the constant fear of losing my progress while on my concentration-breaking commute.

Anyways, I had to put away the DS for a moment, so I closed the cover while the power was on and stuffed it in my bag. The next time I checked up on it, though, the cart was sticking out. Oh no! Yes, I lost my progress, because "this save game is corrupt so resetting your save to level 1". Argh! I don't carry epic swords any more, but to think that all that time levelling up gone made me... not turn on the DS for a week. Haahhaha. :-/

It's a Monster House!

(tags game, RPG, Dual Screen, Shiren)

In Mysterious Dungeon: Shiren the Wanderer, I recently playing through the same floor 8 over and over again. I found that the usual room corridor room layout was replaced with one huge room filled with baddies. This configuration is called a "Monster House" in game. I got away from one Monster House through luck, and the second time around, though I was totally surrounded by Spike Bombs, I got through one using some skill. Yay me. Then again it's only floor 8.

I am getting impatient because I don't know if I have enough progress (XP and/or items) to handle the next unknown floor. And the next unknown floor will definately kill me, since I play like I'm in Zelda and not a Rogue-alike. Pretty much when I die, I suspend exploration to re-level up my character, which is pretty much lost time.

I am reminded of the Slashdot thread "Have Modern Gamers Lost the Patience For Puzzles?" Perhaps my Final Fantasy gaming has caused me to first consider overpowering any game tactic with brute force. Then again I still like Sudoku (even though I am never going to play it again) and Rubik's Cube.

Unfortunately I keep on bouncing between floors 1 through 10. I only get the rank of "Baby Adventurer" so I must be missing out on a lot of the game. I need more gold to build better weapons, or I need more weapons so I can get rid of or get pass enemies, but this game doesn't drop enough stuff.

I am not looking at a Gamefaq, though. No matter how many times that thought comes to mind I am not going to give in. I will either quit the game or keep trying.

Put two and two together: Chrono Cross

(tags game, PlayStation 1, RPG)

I realized something recently.

I have Chrono Cross for the PlayStation 1, U.S. region. I think I bought it 5 or 6 years ago from a Toys 'R Us.

I also have a PlayStation 2 Slim US region I bought last year around this time.

I could play Chrono Cross on this U.S. region while waiting for Chrono Trigger DS.

Stupid me. :-/

Beyond excited: Chrono Trigger DS

(tags game, Dual Screen, RPG)

Chrono Trigger. I would probably claim that this was the best (J)RPG for me up until Final Fantasy XII. I, along with many people, have been waiting for a remake on a recent console. Now its coming to the Nintendo DS. Yes! YES! (thanks DS Fanboy, DS Fanboy)

Um, I could have always played the PlayStation version, which seems to reward you for replaying the game.

Hello Xbox 360, jealous of my Game Boy Micro?

(tags Idolmaster, purchase, Xbox 360, demo, Burnout, racing, RPG, Final Fantasy)

Well I have to turn on my Xbox 360 today, because I have to buy this month's sale DLC in Idolm@ster. Bye bye 2800 points. Yeah, "Japan Downloads Idolm@ster Content Big Time" (thanks Kotaku). It doesn't seem like there's any announcement for the next catalog or sale. It's time to concentrate on Live 4 U.

Yesterday, I finally checked out the Burnout Paradise demo. I want this game. It looks pretty cool and I can really dig into the stunts. With a city this big and seamless, it would be a shame to not have any taxi mini game. But no Burnout to date has any images of people, so it doesn't make sense. Some parts of it remind me of driving around Los Angeles, like the big white Paradise sign and the beach area. Oh yeah, the announcer is in Japanese, except for the part where he says "right here, on Crash FM". It sounds okay, but wierd. Japanese radio announcers are so cool, they speak perfect intonation (American) English while shredding it up in Japanese. I wanna be like that.

I bet you Xbox 360 owners have downloaded your Undertow for free right? It's an apology gift. (Game Watch: マイクロソフト、Xbox LIVE アーケードで「Undertow」を期間限定で無償提供 )

And I am still playing Final Fantasy Tactics Advance. It's not hard, it's just a easy treadmill of leveling up and acquiring spells/skills through combat points (AP?). 43 hours, probably most of it in bed before I go to sleep.

Digging for treasure: Boulderdash and others

(tags game, Dual Screen, GameBoy Advance, Xbox 360, RPG, shmup, puzzle)

Yesterday, I completed Mario & Luigi: Partners in Time in about 21 hours in-game time. There's not much left to do in it because there are really no side quests except for collecting more items of dubious worth. There aren't any more interesting enemies to fight either, so there's no sense in leveling up.

I collected 166 beans from the map, and probably won 1 from a mini-game. I need 450 beans (10 + 20 + 30 + 40+ 50 + 60+ 70 + 80 + 90) to get all the "ultimate" badges, but the only way to get more beans is to play "pachinko/slot machine" at 5 beans a win, for the remaing 283. That's not fun. M&L is over for me.

So I tried out some other games. Gradius Generations for the GBA kills me with cheep death but I managed to get to level 3 without continuing. I was buzzing out of habit.

Atari Arcade Hits for the GBA, ugh I still suck at Tempest. Oh wait I have this on the DS, gotta try that some time.

Boulderdash EX for the GBA? It's surprisingly engaging as a puzzler. I got this game a long time ago to make up for missing the Apple II version. Classic mode sure looks ugly.

And I popped in Final Fantasy Tactics Advance, despite my dread. Right now the battles are easier than I thought. I am having fun without worrying too much about positioning and Laws. I was even Judgement Point scraping. What do you mean I can only reap 10 JP from this nearly dead guy here? But the item changing and job system doesn't make much sense to me. Also the GBA's small screen gets in the way of figuring out which item/weapon is better. It sure it more convenient to play M&L. Still, 13 hours in-game, so the clock says. And the music reminds me of Final Fantasy XII, but of course FFTA came first.

And this morning was a little bit of Hexic HD (Xbox 360). Every time I get rid of a bomb I say "GTFO". It's stress relief.

All of this to resist the thought of new game purchases. Yeah right. I'm going out today and tomorrow. Let the money flow freely. :-)

Putting off new game purchases? Mario & Luigi and Wipeout Pure

(tags game, Dual Screen, RPG, PlayStation Portable, racing)

On Thursday and Friday, I tried to see if that PlayStation Portable game Suzumiya Haruhi no Yakusoku (涼宮ハルヒの約束) was up for purchase, but it looks like it totally sold out at all the stores I know. And the inevitable Yahoo Auctions (search phrase:「涼宮ハルヒの約束」) shows a seller's frenzy. I'm not really in the mood for a text adventure which is why I didn't bother to pre-order, but the completist in me is saying that my DVD set needs a companion. (The voices, I hear them.)

I am still trying to put off game purchasing by playing games I have. Mario & Luigi: Partners in Time is still slow going because of my need to collect everything. It's... slow. But at least it should be more rewarding that trying to play Final Fantasy Tactics (GBA) or Final Fantasy 1 (PSP). Both of those just sounds like work to me.

And I woke up yesterday, playing WipeOut Pure. I haven't even gold-award cleared the Venom single races (Venom is the second step of five difficulty levels) so I spent some time on it. Sometimes it feels slow but that's only because I am trading paint with the walls. Still it feels pretty smooth when I don't.

My mom said yes to Peggle on the iPod, but I think I'll purchase it when I go back to work early next month. That is, if I don't want to play Rubik's Cube on the bus, which is unlikely.

How much 3 color-clearing games can I take? Puzzle Quest DS

(tags game, Dual Screen, puzzle, RPG)

I finally opened my copy of Puzzle Quest for the DS.

After a night and day of non-stop playing, I can say this game is alright. Certainly there's an inherent addiction to the puzzle part which is a lot like Bejeweled 2. But I've already played Bejeweled 2's Endless Mode for countless hours on my Sony Clie (Palm). Do I want to keep doing the same thing for this RPG-stat based game? One part of me says yes, the other part says no.

This game makes so much more sense on a touch-panel system instead of a D-pad system.

I am learning something new though. It was difficult for me to think ahead but now since my opponent is playing on the same puzzle as me, I must think about how the pieces fall and how not to give the good moves away.

This will be my commute game for this week. So long PSP, it was nice toting you.

So glad that I didn't buy Gripshift; Puzzle Quest for the DS

(tags game, Dual Screen, import, RPG, puzzle)

One of the themes of my trip to Akihabara was import gaming.

As I mentioned before, I was looking for Puzzle Quest for the Nintendo DS. I canvassed my regular haunts, Game Hollywood and Messe Sanoh Chaos but there was none to be found. Sure, there were plenty of copies of the PSP version, but who wants to play a Bejeweled clone with a DPad? Frankly I've already had enough time logged with my Palm version of the Bejeweled 2 to know the answer.

I kept my eye out, but still I didn't have any luck. Aso Bit City seemed to be very promising for import PC and console gaming, but they didn't have a copy. They did have some discounted games such as Gripshift for the PSP. (In the same bin there was a new import GBA Micro going for 2000 yen but I passed on it). I didn't know if this game was any good, and though 2000 yen is my insta-grab price, frankly I have enough to play with. So I waited to consult the Internet. My hotel had a free Internet terminal so "metacritic gripshift"... Given the comments, I decided to buy first thing on Sunday morning.

Unfortunately, Sunday morning and there was no more copies.

On a chance that maybe I overlooked where they put the discount bin, I went to the store again at around 22:00 (no donuts, natch). But of course it wasn't there. However, Puzzle Quest was available!

I don't know why, but maybe they got a shipment late Sunday? In any case, score!

I'm not likely to open this game any time soon though, for reason I will reveal in another post.

Oh yeah, I already saw the video of some homebrew hacker giving himself the win with one touch.

Final Fantasy presentation, gaming later

(tags game, PlayStation Portable, RPG, Final Fantasy)

So I did go out and buy Final Fantasy for the PSP. So much for never playing another menu-fighter RPG without the Gambit system.

I checked up on the language selection and sure enough there was "hiragana", "kanji" and "english", so I passed on the message to GameLife.

The characters are redrawn and the text font looks absolutely beautiful for reading, in both English and Japanese. The FMV looks like it's from another remake, though. It doesn't quite fit the 16:9 screen. The map is flat, doh! I don't expect much from the music and sound. There's the catch-em-all "Bestiary" list that is quick-binded to the square button. And I did quickly try to customize the window colors to match my "champagne gold" (R, G, B order):

Top left: 31, 30, 25 -- Top right: 23, 18, 0
Bottom left: 23, 18, 2 -- Bottom right: 12, 7, 0

I gotta get this started... A whole game post without even playing the game!

But then again I gotta finish Comic Party. And I want to finish reading that bite-sized snack of a book The Indian in the Cupboard. And I watch my premium DVD set of The Girl Who Leap Through Time (時をかける少女). And there's FF12RW for DS next week. It never ends.

Final Fantasy in Japanese?

(tags PlayStation Portable, game, RPG, remake, Japanese)

Games blog at Wired has the screenshot scoop on the Final Fantasy 1 remake coming out for the PSP, uh, tomorrow. The photo shows, for the US version, language options "English", "Japanese Kana" and "Japanese". Dood that's like with kanji for those too slow to read kana. Win is me.

I've played Final Fantasy 1 almost 20 years ago, but I haven't replayed it since then. I skipped the various remakes. Since I've been very satisfied with the whole PSP gaming experience, I had the mind to take up Kohler on the offer to buy the Japanese game to see if it had the English, but I'm sure I can handle the four elements in Japanese, right?