J-Games

2009 is PSP year!

2009-04-30T12:46:00.004+08:00

John Koller promised us year 2009 will be PSP year, and he is not joking. We have a list of Triple-A titles coming out on PSP in year 2009 (at least till Q3 of 2009/10). Rumors of PSP2and PSP Go! or something new-PSP related keep us excited till at least E3 (I personally would sure hope PSP2 is a real thing!).

So, set aside the rumor of new PSP hardware coming out or not, the library of PSP software certain has and will be expanded to an enticing degree! Even though not all the games are my pick, but I am still happy the beloved little piece of gadget has got so many love from first- and third-party game developers and publishers. Sony certainly has done a much better job compared to last year. Looking at these new hardware (yet to be confirmed) and software (yet to be exhaustive), I am confident year 2009 is really PSP year! I sure hope its big brother PS3 would get the same treat real soon!

Year 2009 of PSP for Versus!

2009-04-13T13:50:00.009+08:00

Not Final Fantasy Versus XIII, mind you (albeit wouldn't it be cool to have that game on PSP -- dream on!) Neogaf has a very nice thread regarding PSP in 2009 listing a rich library of PSP in 2009. Among those several caught my attention. In addition to RPG genre (i.e., Kingdom Hearts: Birth By Sleep, .Hack//Link, Persona, Cardboard Senki, Disgaea 2: Dark Hero Days, Undead Knights, Ushiro, Ys Seven, Final Fantasy Agito XIII, etc.), maybe because of Dissidia: Final Fantasy, I kinda draw to more alike RPG/Fighting game.

Yes, I have already got my Japanese import, and yes I have put in precious 90+ hours in the game, but, frankly I still love it! Love it! And, surprisingly (even to myself) I look forwards to the English version (coming out in this summer) hoping there will be some extra bonus stuff (as happened to some games before during the localization, some extra stuff is added). I am not kidding when I said I am going to get the English version as well! It is really a masterpiece, putting all Final Fantasy protagonists and antagonists fighting to each other till death, certainly is brilliant idea. And, the sale is certainly quite impressive -- As of February 1, 2009, Dissidia: Final Fantasy has sold 900,000 copies in Japan, making it the fourth best-selling game for the PSP in Japan. And, it has obtained quite good reviews from all sorts of critics -- Famitsu (36/40) and Dengeki (90/95/85/85).

Probably, that's why there are two games coming out that can fall into the similar genre. One is Koei's Dynasty Warriors: Strikeforce. This game probably is a marriage of Monster Hunter Portable (that has been crazily popular in Japan) and Dissidia: Final Fantasy. Almost all the Dynasty Warriors will appear in the game, and the game features a mission-based multiplayer theme, as well as, versus mode for players to fight to each other (4-on-4!). From the gameplay, we can see the warriors now have the ability to fly (or more precisely float/glide) in the air. The graphic is certainly quite impressive (almost as good as Dissidia). That's why I really like to get my hand on this game. It (the English version) will be released end of this month. Time to pre-order it on Play-Asia!

Now long ago, Namco Bandai announced a new game Tales of VS for PSP. I personally welcome such announcement. According to the announcement made, the game will be released in Japan this coming summer (and hopefully soon in English-speaking land). From the scans, pictures, and even trailers, the game looks very promising. Tales of VS would utilize a Linear Motion Battle System or LMBS which is used in previous games in the series. Characters will be able to carry out normal attacks and use new intricate actions such as jumping off of walls. Characters are able to gain experience by collecting Grade Points from winning battles and use these Grade Points to upgrade the statistics of three character. Like previous games in the series characters are also able to customize their weapons. Battles can feature up to a total of 4 characters at a time. Basically, it looks a lot like Dissidia, and I believe I am going to love it!

2009 is certainly a year for PSP, and I am really happy for it! I have my PSP for almost 5 years now (damn! time flies), and I am not even a single bit tired of the system. Good job Sony. And, now that there is rumor going on for PSP2. I am not really an early adopter, but I will go and buy this PSP2 when it is out the first day!

Metal Gear Solid Touch is not bad!

2009-03-29T19:20:00.003+08:00

Metal Gear Solid is certainly a franchise that no gamers wouldn't know. The 20-year old series (I think now is 21 years old or so) certainly has captured a lot of attention, especially when the 5th episode, i.e., Metal Gear Solid 4: Guns of the Patriots was released last year. I myself have played through Metal Gear Solid: Portable Ops (and Plus) on PSP and LOVING IT! It is short and sweet with definitely near-perfect visual. Now, Metal Gear series expands to iPhone/iPod Touch. I certainly welcome such addition. The graphic certainly lives up to PSP one, and the gameplay fully exploits the touch feature. Moreover, Kojima really renders the whole game sweet and short in one go, that makes it perfectly fit into its portability.

Story: It follows the same story line of Metal Gear Solid 4 without the epic cutscenes, dialogs, dramatic visualization, etc., replaced with some text. I personally don't have any objection on that, in fact, since I don't have Playstation 3 (man, how much I wish I have one), I now can enjoy the epic story of MGS 4 on iPhone. That certainly is welcomed by other people like myself, who do not have Playstation 3.

Control: It fully uses the touch feature, and I must say, perfectly applying it! To aim, we just needs to move our finger to the target, and to shoot just quickly tap it. To avoid the bullets, just remove the finger from the screen. It is certainly intuitive enough that even without reading the instruction, gamers can just straightforward plays it and figures out in one second. One thing to mention is that the gameplay is merely shoot and dodge, yet so much fun so. Snake is not going to move around like in Playstation 3. I think it is very nicely designed to fit on iPhone/iPod Touch.

Graphic: Like I said earlier, the visualization is really sweet and neat! I think, this might be the best looking iPhone/iPod Touch game. Of course you can argue that I rarely play any iPhone/iPod Touch games. But, you would agree with me when you play this game. Somehow, I hate to admit that the graphic beats PSP version of MGS.

Sound: What can I say, the sound is great! The gun shoot, background music, etc. everything is done very well. Kojima's team certainly has nailed it one more time on this! Well done, well done!

Overall: I will certainly give it 4.5/5!!

Suikoden is quite nice on DS

2009-03-16T12:47:00.004+08:00

I haven't really played any DS games for a while (the last one probably was Dragon Ball Origin). More importantly I haven't played any RPG (well, Dissidia Final Fantasy is hardly a pure RPG) for a while now. So, Suikoden Tierkreis is certainly welcomed by myself very much. I guess I kinda like Konami style of RPG, or maybe in general I like those anime-quality RPG. This game certainly reminds me of Jeanne d'Arc for PSP. Anyway, this game is fantastic, considering I have spent 8 hours over the weekend staring on the small DS screen for this game (maybe that is the reason why I got the headache).

Gameplay: This is a classic turn-based RPG, with some new elements. I have mentioned about "fast-paced" in the beginning. Basically, you assign each of the character an action such as attack, using Mark of Stars ability, defend or use item. Then, just chose "Start Battle", and then the sequence of attacks are launched or actions are initiated. If you think it is too troublesome to do that everytime, you can choose "automatic battle" too, and that is really convenient if your characters levels are so much superior than the foes. Of course, similar to other RPG, you can customize your characters with weapons and armors. Good thing is that you could see the weapon change, bad thing is that you don't see any change on the armor. But, I am already satisfied with the weapon change.

Story: The plot opens as the leader of 108 heroes engages the main antagonist known as "The One King" in battle. It is currently unknown whether the defeat shown in the introduction precedes the game or if the game is actually a flashback leading to that scene. The game is set in the Kingdom of Salsaville hich is a part of one of the many universes in the Suikoden multiverse, known as the Infinity. Anyway, the story from my own point of view is quite interesting, and got me hooked continuously for almost 5 hours! I must say, and I always think, Japanese is much better at story-telling in RPGs then those in Western world.

Presentation: It is a universal fact that DS has that much graphic capability. Thus, I don't ask much on the presentation, yet it certainly has satisfied me. The battle field is in 3-D (nicely deployed!). The movement of the characters among different places on a map is done in 2-D, which is quite huge! And, the freedom of movement in the location is done in 3-D, and good thing is that it is not so huge or twisted with multiple paths that can easily get lost. Anyway, I love it. Voice acting is always a challenge. If it is not done correctly, it would become an annoyance, but if it is not enough, it would be like missing something in the game. This game does it just right. Not too much, not too shabby, not too lack.

In conclusions, with a classic RPG with fast-paced elements gameplay (8/10), a good and interesting story (8/10), and nicely done presentation (9/10), I do think this game deserves our attention (25/30)!

Review : Crystal Defenders

2009-01-07T12:25:00.000+08:00

Square-Enix starts showing some love for Apple. Crystal Defenders is the first love! So, I decided to give it a trial, and somehow paid for it afterward. I guess somehow I just love whatever Square-Enix produces. What is the game then? It is simply a casual game that fits nicely on an iPhone / iPod Touch. For USD 7.99, does it worth it? I guess it really depends. So, the game is simply like the Tower Defense game.

Basically you have to deploy a number of Final Fantasy Tactics characters with different jobs such as soldier, monk, thief, black mage, etc. And, what they are going to do is to beat or eliminate those marching monsters and protecting those crystals from being stolen. Each of these characters has its strength, speed and attack range. So, the player has to plan carefully to deploy the characters because each deployment consumes some amount of Gils, and it is limited. But, you can earn Gils by beating the monsters.

Story: There is no story... So, nothing to say about this. Basically, just deploy as many strong characters as your amount of Gils allow you to to defend your crystals. Another thing, there aren't a lot of levels or scenarios to choose from. In total, I think there are only about 12 scenarios... I mean seriously!
Control: Honestly, the control is a bit clumsy on iPhone. There is a big orb with some directional arrows around it at the bottom of the screen. And, they are not that useful and intuitive. I have to do some trials to know how it works, and the directional "button" certainly is not that responsive.
Graphic: It is satisfying for me. I can really see those cuteness of the FF Tactics characters. And, the presentation is certainly stunning on the small iPhone.
Sound: The quality of sound is cool, but I have to complain about the music. As far as I know it only replays the one song over and over again at the background. I am a bit disappointed, really. I mean Square-Enix should do more than that!

In conclusions, does it worth USD 7.99? Like I said, it depends on yourself. For me it is good enough, but of course always the more the merrier. So, I give it a 2.5 out of 5.

Import Review: Dissidia Final Fantasy

2009-01-06T22:19:00.000+08:00

It certainly has granted me the excitement everyday in my boring routine life ever since I got my order from Play-Asia. I am really thankful for Square-Enix to bring this celebration of 20th anniversary of Final Fantasy to PSP! And, I have to say, Dissidia Final Fantasy certainly worth the money I have spent (even though it is Japanese import), and certainly is the representative to 20th birthday of Final Fantasy. There are tons of modes for playing the game, including Story Mode and Dual Mode. I have been playing Dual Mode, i.e., fighting with the CPU, which is fun enough. Story Mode requires some knowledge of Japanese... Even only Dual Mode, I have already spent like 30 hours in the game -- got addicted to improve the levels of these characters. Moreover, there are still so many modes that I haven't tried yet (damn my poor Japanese).

As a lot of sites mentioned, the battling system is certainly innovative and interesting. You press 'circle' button to "rob" your opponent's brave points (BP), which determines your attack power, i.e., the amount of health points (HP) damage that you are going to impose on your opponent when you press 'square' button. And, you have that EX gauge that when reaches maximum you can inflict flashy, stylish, critical final blow (most of the time anyway) on your opponent. Let's quickly have a review on this game using these common aspects, namely Story, Control, Graphic, and Sound.
Story: It simply is a (ever-lasting) fight between evil (Chaos god) and good (Cosmos goddess). Somehow, both sides able to summon the bad guys and good guys from Final Fantasy worlds (I to XII) and fight to death to each other. Story sounds lame, but as a fan, I really love it!
Control: Control is simple enough (not like Street Fighter kinda game that you have to use the directional knob like a monkey), yet so in-depth. It has so much customization, I am really impressed.
Graphic: OK, I don't need to talk about this cause no doubt, and no one would say otherwise, the graphic makes you think this is a PS2 game!
Sound: I even have the soundtrack! The music is just... amazing!

In conclusions, it is 5 of 5 stars game!!

Finally! It is here!!!

2008-12-29T13:39:00.002+08:00

After more than 1 week of waiting, due to the stupid UPS service, it is here, in my hand. My beloved Dissidia: Final Fantasy is so lovely to look at. Yeah it is in Japanese, but luckily it has some English/Chinese instructions in the booklet inside the box. And, some Website has provided quite a comprehensive guides to play the game without knowing any Japanese.

Happy 20th Birthday Final Fantasy

2008-12-28T23:14:00.003+08:00

Famitsu has a very nice features on Final Fantasy birthday. Too bad it is not on sale in China here, so I just have to find some scans on the Internet. And, I am lucky enough to find it. Here, I just put the history map of Final Fantasy series. It is very nice to go through the history...

My favorite: Onion Knight!

2008-12-28T12:09:00.003+08:00

This is probably the 25th hour since I have started playing Dissidia: Final Fantasy. Out of 20 characters, I am particularly fond of Onion Knight, one of the protagonist from Final Fantasy III [Wiki]. Onion Knight actually is not the exact name of the protagonist, but it is the strongest job class in the game. And, that's why it makes sense it is the main representative of the game. So, why do I like him so much? Probably because he is small, the fastest in speed of all other characters, and he has very swift move. I somehow relate myself to him, in a way I always the shortest among my friends, and always hope I am very swift in moving. Anyway, it is fun playing him. I have been using him to do the dual fighting with the CPU, and will use him to fight with my colleague in the office soon! Yeah, I have recommended this game to one of my colleagues who has PSP, and we will play WiFi fight! Very looking forwards to it!

Square-Enix is showing more love to Apple

2008-12-24T22:10:00.007+08:00

Square-Enix, yeah... you can tell somehow the stuff produced by this company always fits my taste perfectly. It has shown a lot of love in PS3, PSP, NDS, and some love on XBox360 (nowadays). And, I certainly love Dissidia: Final Fantasy on PSP, so love that I cannot stop talking about it. And now, Square-Enix is showing love on iPhone/iPod. Crystal Defenders is the second game after Song Summoner: The Unsung Heroes produced by Square-Enix for Apple. Well, I haven't tried Song Summoner mainly because I couldn't find it on iTunes Store. And, I somehow enjoy more Final Fantasy related stuff. This game is not about Final Fantasy, but it does use Final Fantasy characters, jobs, items, monsters, etc. So, it does give me a nostalgic feeling.

Crystal Defenders probably is one of those casual games, and it fits smartly on iPhone/iPod. What is the game all about? Simply put it, it is like that flash game Tower Defender. Basically, just pick and deploy any character with a job (e.g. archer, soldier, mage, etc. from Final Fantasy job classes) on the field, and start the wave of enemies (i.e., monsters from Final Fantasy) from stealing the crystals, i.e., reached the end of the route. There are quite some RPG elements too, like Gil (money of Final Fantasy). To deploy or upgrade the character, you have to spend Gil, but you can earn that by killing the monsters.

Easy and casual! Yeah, good for my iPhone!

Top 6 Handheld Games of 2008 (that I have actually completed)

2008-12-22T14:44:00.010+08:00

Many games are released in Japan, America and of course Europe. There are so many that I don't even remember if the one that I really like is actually released in 2008 or not. And, somehow I feel like I haven't really spent a lot of time on games in 2008 (which is a good trend I guess). So, probably there aren't a lot of games that I really enjoy that I have really completed. Here, I list those that I really enjoy, and that I really will finish eventually (especially those that I got not long ago and those are in Japanese).

Without a doubt, this would be the best PSP game (or best game at least for me!) of all time, Dissidia: Final Fantasy. I don't understand a single word of Japanese (or maybe some that look like Chinese characters), yet I enjoy this game the most! In Dissidia, there is an ongoing conflict between two gods: Chaos, the god of dischord, and Cosmos, the goddess of harmony. The two gods have battled for eons, until Chaos summoned a number of villains from other universes to serve him. These villains built an army and decimated the forces of good, and the balance of power tipped in Chaos' favor. The few survivors of the forces of good have banded together to strike back at Chaos and his forces and return order to the universes. The fun is that it is not only button smash slashing, but also some strategic in it. More importantly it has so much RPG ingredients - customization, storyline, etc. And, well, of course, it also represents the 20th anniversary of Final Fantasy, that gathers all the main protagonists (and antagonists) of FF 1 till 12!

Crisis Core: Final Fantasy VII is released in North America on 25 March 2008, what a fate! With individual scores of 9/9/8/9, the game received an overall rating of 35/40 points from Japanese gaming magazine Famitsu. And, certainly it is one of the best PSP games ever made in 2008. It follows the story of Zack Fair, a best friend of Cloud Strife (of Final Fantasy VII). So, the game is actually a prequel of Final Fantasy VII. The game is visually stunning, and the game-play experience is nothing like any previous PSP games before - quick, stylish, intuitive, and never-boring. And, well, if anyone who has followed the story of Final Fantasy VII would be so touched by the storyline of this game. Some even cried at the end of the game...

The World Ends With You is released on 22 April 2008 in North America and 18 April 2008 in Europe. I picked up this game right away when it is released. Well, I didn't play the Japanese version like I am doing now with Dissidia because it sure really needs a (at least) basic knowledge of Japanese to get a hold of this game. Let me tell you, it worth the long wait. The amazingly stunning art style from Nomura certainly is one of the attraction points for me, but the innovative game play itself is another thing that boy I enjoy most on the DS platform -- it uses the both screens for controlling. The story is interesting enough -- it follows Neku Sakuraba, a 15-year-old teenager who somehow being an item of games for those Reapers. So, he has to finish some sort of missions with a partner in 7 days or else he dies.

Bleach Soul Carnival is a 2D platformer game of the Bleach manga. There are already a lot of Bleach-related games, but almost all of them are 1-on-1 fighting, which I dislike. Finally, this game provides me another experience of Bleach, and I picked up this game instantly. The experience could get a bit boring at the end, but luckily with so many characters to "pick" up and try, I haven't got bored with the game at all. So far I have spent about 30 hours in the game, and I certainly am taking my time to complete this game. Let's put it this way, this game for me is a casual game, which means I play it when I am really bored, and needs some quick slashing experience. But, I am afraid this is going to be replaced by Dissidia. By the way, another extra point for me is that this game also comes in Chinese!

There are two DS games that I am currently enjoying, which I think deserve some fame here. One is already been released in North America and one is just released in Japan. Chrono Trigger is one of those games that have won the hearts of most gamers. Chrono Trigger takes place on a fictional alternate timeline of earth as the characters frequently travel through time to obtain allies, gather equipment, or learn information for their quest. The time periods the characters travel to range from 65,000,000 B.C. at the dawn of civilization to 2300 A.D. in a post-apocalyptic world. The party also gains access to the End of Time (year \infty), which serves as a hub to travel back to other time periods. Eventually, the party is given the Epoch, a vehicle that is capable of time travel between any period without traveling to the End of Time first.

Alright, the game is in Japanese. And, the English version will be released on 17 March 2009. Valkyrie Profile: Covenant of the Plume is one of the item from the Valkyrie Profile franchise (I have played the PSP version, Valkyrie Profile: Lenneth). I guess I would pick up this game is also because of the PSP version. The game play is presented mainly from an isometric view. The player's two-dimensional character sprites move about on a three-dimensional map akin to those of a tactical role-playing game. I enjoy RPG, and I like strategic... And, the story is interesting enough. I think I will pick up the English version in 2009.

No doubt he is a god of game creator

2008-12-22T14:12:00.003+08:00

Tetsuya Nomura (野村哲也) from Square-Enix probably is one of those best game developers, designers, directors out there that not many people know or care (or maybe I am wrong). He is not as famous as the-one-and-only Hideo Kojima (小島秀夫) for the world-acclaimed Metal Gear Solid franchise. I admire Kojima for his creative and dare-to-try spirit. But, I admire more Nomura's artistic style, wild story-telling mind, and creative game-play design. I mean Kojima has Metal Gear Solid franchise (mind you, I really think the franchise is one of the best in the gaming history), but Nomura has Final Fantasy VII, VIII, etc. and Kingdom Hearts, II and the spin-offs, as well as the DS game that I love the most, The World Ends With You. Not the mention the currently well-known, for me the best (really, the best) PSP game ever made, Dissidia: Final Fantasy, and the up-and-coming Final Fantasy Versus XIII (for PS3), Kingdom Hearts: Birth by Sleep (for PSP), Kingdom Hearts: 358/2 Days (for NDS). He has so many credits in so many games developed in Square-Enix. So, it is not exaggerating to say that he is the treasure for Square-Enix. And, all the games mentioned are all my favorites. So, you can imagine why I admire him that much. Sometimes, I am just jealous of his talent!

Anyway, at this moment, I am really enjoying Dissidia (albeit I have no idea what the story is about since it is in Japanese). And, I know I will enjoy the games developed or created by him soon in the near future!

Kingdom Hearts trailers from Jump Festa

2008-12-21T22:36:00.002+08:00

Something to look forwards to in 2009 after Dissidia: Final Fantasy. By the way, that game rocks! It is certainly have a huge place in my heart! Definitely the best game ever!

All the characters of Dissidia

2008-12-07T17:16:00.001+08:00

These are from the scans of Chinese version of Famitsu, and I just exerted those about the characters from the magazine! Can't wait any longer for the game!

Games I am currently playing (or will play)

2008-12-05T13:02:00.004+08:00

While waiting for Dissidia: Final Fantasy, which I have already pre-ordered on Play-Asia, I am currently playing or planning to play the following games (from PSP as well as DS):

Chrono Trigger is a role-playing game developed by Squaresoft(now Square-Enix). It is a remake for DS, and has been well-received. Maybe I can try to live the classic in the 2000 with this game. It is role-playing, which is a genre I enjoy. So, why not?! The game follows the story of Crono, traveling through different time, locations, and meeting different companions. This game has been praised for the story, music and gameplay. With those compliments, I definitely need to give it a try (albeit the graphic on DS is always a turn-off).

Tales of Destiny 2 is also a remake from its PS2 version. For me, Namco's "Tales of" series is always the next best thing of RPG after Square-Enix Final Fantasy series. That's also the reason I like to try this game. Yes, it is in Japanese, and unfortunately not released (hopefully it will be) in English version. But, well, who cares. Moreover, it is on PSP! Tales of Destiny 2 is around Kyle Dunamis and his efforts to restore history as it once was, deals with the events that take place 18 years after Stahn Aileron's exploits in Tales of Destiny.

Finally, they are gathered.

2008-11-18T11:04:00.002+08:00

PSPHyper has some great pictures (scans) of all the heroes (and villains) gathered in Dissidia: Final Fantasy. Only one month to go! I certainly am extremely excited of that! Certainly will get a piece of this, even though it is in Japanese!

Finally a PSP Bleach game that I really enjoy!

2008-11-10T13:00:00.004+08:00

There are already bunch of Bleach games released on multi-platforms. However, most of them are fighting games, which I have no love for. Basically because I suck at fighting games (seriously, I can never beat a character in Street Fighter). So, when I know that Sony is releasing Bleach: The Soul Carnival, I am so happy! And, after trying the game, I am sure this would be one of the PSP games that I love. What makes it more fantastic is that it has a Chinese version of the game (i.e., the dialogs, control, etc. are in Chinese even though the voice over is in Japanese).

Unlike those 1-on-1 fighting games, this game is a side-scrolling action game. The characters are presented in a "chibi" or super-deformed style, which actually worked quite nicely. The game-play even though is not innovative per se, but fit perfectly well on PSP. In fact, it runs smooth, and honestly it could be quite addictive to for instance collect all the playable or supporting characters, train new skills, etc. I really enjoy its fast-pace, colourful fighting sequences, and not to mention its intuitive game control. Even though the sales in Japan is not as good as those fighting games, I still think this game is a very high-quality game. I really suggest you go ahead and have a trial with it, than you will know I am right.

Back to my childhood Dragon Ball

2008-10-28T13:03:00.003+08:00

When I realized in university that I was still reading some of those Dragon Ball mangas, it was already 10 years since I was in primary school. Unbelievably, Dragon Ball has severed at least 2 generations of childhood, including my own. That is pretty impressive for a manga (well, not as impressive as Doraemon, which has been around more than 50 years of course).

There have been a lot of branches developed from the main original (I really really want to call this original) storyline, i.e., gathering the 7 dragon balls and make a wish to the dragon god. There are Dragon Ball Z, Dragon Ball GT, etc. etc., which from my own point of view are ridiculous and meaningless. And, sadly there are tons of games developed based on these ridiculous branches of storylines. That's why I am so happy to know that DS is going to have a game based on the original storyline, namely Dragon Ball Origins DS, where we play as the young Goku, meeting with young Burma, and heading for collecting the dragon balls. Boy, it sure has brought back my childhood memory of discussing the story with other classmates in a very enthusiastic yet childish way.

The gameplay is all stylus (of course you can control Goku movement with D-pad, which I use). Basically, it is quite a fun, but can get boring sometimes cause there is no fancy big flash of combos or magic (like those of FF series). Luckily those dungeons labyrith is not that annoyingly complicated. And, the storyline is really based on the original storyline, which counts for everything (at least for me). I really enjoy this game...

More leaked trailers from TGS 08 Square-Enix

2008-10-15T10:11:00.002+08:00

New poster for Final Fantasy Agito XIII

2008-10-13T20:45:00.000+08:00

Man, I love the style!

OMG: Final Fantasy Agito XIII for PSP

2008-10-12T18:02:00.001+08:00

Look at the trailer. Even though it is taken using cam, but you could tell this game is going to be fantastic! At this moment, we have to wait till 2009 before we could see this game. But, luckily we have Dissidia coming in this year.

Some noticeable games from TGS

2008-10-12T09:52:00.003+08:00

Of course, other than Dissidia FF, FF Agito XIII, KH series for PSP and DS, we have other noticeable games for 2009!

All the characters are revealed for Dissidia

2008-10-10T15:11:00.003+08:00

Tokyo Game Show (TGS) of 2008!

2008-10-08T12:46:00.003+08:00

Tokyo Game Show (TGS) is always a huge event for gamers throughout the whole world. All the gaming giants including Sony, Nintendo, Microsoft, Square-Enix, Konami, Capcom, EA, etc. would take this chance to do just about anything in order to steal the hearts of the gamers. So, starting from tomorrow till 10 October (Friday), we will see waves of news from TGS over the Internet. Hopefully some of which will rock our world. I personally hope to see some great news for Playstation 3 (PS3) considering its late track record of bad or no good news and Playstation Portable (PSP) considering its loosing support from 3rd party game developers. PSPHyper has listed the complete PSP lineup to be shown in TGS, some of which certainly are my focus such as Dissidia: Final Fantasy. Apparently, we will see the remainder characters from Final Fantasy V (most probably Bartz and Exdeath) , VI (most probably Terra), and VII (of course everyone hopes is Cloud) appear in the game. So, lets get excited together in the following 3 days (despite my busy work work work...)

Sigma Harmonics gives me a dose of detective thrill

2008-10-07T13:05:00.004+08:00

Square-Enix is always my favorite company despite the fact that they really slow in developing and releasing any games (especially their trademarked Final Fantasy franchise and now famous Kingdom Hearts series). The quality of their games are undeniably of top-notch quality. In fact, Square-Enix is always not afraid to attempt unconventional spins on the role-playing genre. I mean look at Kingdom Hearts series, The World Ends with You (TWEWY), certainly have rocked the gaming industry and gamers world. OK, the sales of Sigma Harmonics is not that satisfying, but it doesn't mean it is a bad game. In fact, I love it!

The plot of the game is (quote from Wikipedia): The story revolves around Sigma Kurogami (黒上シグマ, Kurogami Shiguma?) (voiced by Daisuke Ono), a high school student and "sound user" whose family guards a huge clock sealing off the demon Ōma (逢魔, Ōma?). One day, his past is rewritten, causing chaos in his present. He then works with his friend Neon Tsukiyumi (月弓ネオン, Tsukiyumi Neon?) (voiced by Aya Hirano) to solve an increasingly complex string of murder cases and return his life to normal.

Lets see what to like about this game from my own point of view. It has the Japanese anime / manga-style of representation, which always suits my appetite in gaming. The RPG-style of battle game-play has a certain direction-related strategy (which you will know what I mean when you play it). Well, it is card-based meshed with music themes, but I don't think that is the uniqueness (look at pin-based with music themes for TWEWY). And, this is the main part why I love this game. It lets me play some detective in the game. Certainly it is a surprise to me because I couldn't really link crime-solving detective with weird-monsters-fighting and time-and-alpha-space-traveling storyline. The crime-solving detective part of the game is (for some people maybe very frustrating and boring) quite challenging. I love this game so far. I have already spent 2 hours last night, and see if it is going to let me hooked up till I finish this game.

What to expect in from end of 2008 till 2009?

2008-09-23T13:07:00.003+08:00

2008 is coming to an end soon. In two weeks, one of the biggest game show / exhibition, i.e., Tokyo Game Show 2008, is going to be held in Japan. Then, probably we will have more (shocking or surprising) news of any (announced or unannounced) new games. Lets summarize what games are there for DS and PSP from now till the end of 2009.

From the picture, you might think PSP has more games than DS. But, if you look carefully, DS has more my-beloved RPG genres from all sorts of the big companies. However, PSP does beat DS with the quantities. I mean at least the PSP titles are worth mentioning, and one of which beats them all -- you know which one, Dissidia it is.

After a long time no FF...

2008-09-22T09:47:00.004+08:00

I haven't played any Final Fantasy for a while now (since Final Fantasy Tactics A2: Grimoire of the Rift). Ever since "Dissidia: Final Fantasy" is announced, I have revisited almost all the Final Fantasy storyline, understanding the characters (their backgrounds and relationships) and also the background of the story. From Final Fantasy I to Final Fantasy X, each of which has its own uniqueness, and each of its has its own fascinating story. I really am impressed by the creativity and innovative of Japanese (maybe for some all these stories are crap). If possible, I will also love to play through some of these games. Lately Cecil and Golbez from Final Fantasy IV have been announced to join the casts. Almost at the same time, the English version of remake of Final Fantasy IV for DS has been launched in the market. I wouldn't let the chance of understanding Final Fantasy IV to slip away.

The story begins with Cecil the commander of Red Wings from Baron obeying the order from the King to steal all sorts of crystals from all sorts of places. Of course, he was very reluctant and of course he turned away from his King's order. And the story evolves into his adventure to seek for justice with Golbez, the alleged man that have been manipulating the King for all the bad behaviour. The story is cool enough to grab my attention. The game play, similar to remake of Final Fantasy III, is wonderfully and beautiful -- all in 3D yet still keeps its fundamental FF gameplay elements. Well, I see I will finish this game in another 2-3 days (after 2-3 days of gameplay throughout the weekend). Now, we will have to wait for Dissidia in December!

More information and scans for Dissidia

2008-09-17T13:57:00.005+08:00

Frankly, I check for the information about "Dissidia: Final Fantasy" first thing every morning when I turn on my computer. Sadly, there are not much news everyday. The game won't be released till December (and it is in Japanese version). I am seriously thinking of importing the game. Anyway, today I got two new pieces of scans. One is about "Final Fantasy IV" showcasing Cecil (Dark and Paladin version) and Golbez. Still impressive! But, the other scan actually got me hoping. Apparently, each character in the game is given a function to change costume. Cool! But, wouldn't it be cooler if each of these characters is actually given a "power" to "invite" another close character to join the fight, even for temporarily, for instance Tidus can call for Yuna!

Dragon Ball Origins for DS

2008-09-17T10:21:00.004+08:00

I remember the first manga / comic book I have ever had is Dragon Ball. And, if my memory serves me right, it would be when I was in Grade 5 of Primary School. Now, after God-knows how many years, this manga / comic has evolved into a God-knows how many TV series, movies, more manga (with side stories and side stories of side stories), games, action figures, dolls, bags, etc. Frankly, I don't give a damn for those side stories (or side stories of side stories). They are mere crap. I guess a lot of people out there agree with me, and finally this Nintendo DS game goes back to the original storyline (hence the name Dragon Ball Origins). That's why you could see the young Son Goku and the gang.

The gameplay itself is not really innovative. I mean, yeah it is using stylus, but there are already plenty of games out there which have been using stylus gracefully. To name one prominent, it would be no doubt The Legend of Zelda: Phantom Hourglass. However, it is still quite cool to play Dragon Ball not in a 1-to-1 fighting way.

Dissidia - The good and evil

2008-09-11T00:00:00.005+08:00

Cosmos Warriors

Chaos Warriors
After the promotional video of "Dissidia Final Fantasy" showing briefly all the main characters in the game, not surprisingly some people have tried to guess from the video who are the remaining characters that are yet to be announced. So, I just summarize it with one picture here.

Dissidia of DKΣ3713

2008-09-07T16:56:00.000+08:00

I am becoming an addictive monster hunter

2008-08-30T20:25:00.004+08:00

Never in a million year I would think I could be addicted to this game. Monster Hunter portable franchise has been a huge success in Japan, considering the top 5 best-selling PSP games in Japan all time, 3 of which are no other than Monster Hunter Portable series (namely Monster Hunter Portable 2nd G - 1st place, Monster Hunter Portable 2 - 2nd place, and Monster Hunter Portable - 4th place). Considering the huge success in Japan, I actually tried Monster Hunter Portable, and... I wasn't exactly enjoying it at all. Probably because of all the shortcomings that have been mentioned in a lot of game critics, including bad camera, no storyline, etc. That actually made me overlook the fun part (also the strong part) of the game, including in-depth and ultra-freedom customization, great graphics, tons of interesting monsters, and more importantly the strategy and strength required to hunt down all those monsters.
After almost 24 hours of playing the game in total, surprisingly I haven't really enjoyed most parts of the game. In fact, the skill, weapon, armor I am currently having are only capable of hunt down monsters of level 2-star, considering there are like 6-star... Certainly needs a lot of time and attention to really upgrade the skill, weapon and armor because those couldn't be acquired merely with money, but with stuff that you could find during missions. Sometimes I could be very frustrated because of that, but I guess, it is OK, cause I don't have to play it through in one day. I enjoy playing it once I am free in the subway or maybe after lunch break in the office.
Moreover, I actually have played this game in an ad-hoc mode with a colleague of mine. It was really fun to hunt down a huge monster together. The satisfaction of hunting down a utmost challenging monster could be quite addicting. Again, I really didn't expect I would be enjoying this game so much! Probably much more than RPG...

Another great video for Dissidia: Tidus vs. Jecht

2008-08-29T20:47:00.000+08:00

Fight between Onion Knight and Cloud of Darkness

2008-08-24T20:57:00.001+08:00

What not like about this game!? Absolutely nothing!

More HD Famitsu scans of Dissidia

2008-08-08T10:34:00.004+08:00

Captured Gameplay from DKΣ3713

2008-08-07T21:39:00.004+08:00

We have seen a lot of game play scans from Famitsu on Dissidia Final Fantasy, Kingdom Hearts: 358/2 Days and Kingdom Hearts : Birth by Sleep. Frankly those are very nice scan pictures, to feed my hunger for more information on these games. But, they are not enough. So, I captured some nice screen shots on the IGN video of the game play!

Dissidia Final Fantasy is certainly the game I look forwards the most, and it won't come out until end of this year. Even though only 4 months away, yet it feels so long (considering the localized English version is not yet on the horizon). GameSpot has a nice hands-on review on this game, and boy after reading that, I really want to get hold of this game (even though I am not really a big fan of fighting genre).

Frankly, even though I have seen a lot of scans or images of Kingdom Hearts: 358/2 Days and Kingdom Hearts: Birth by Sleep. I have not seen yet a game play footage, and thanks to IGN, finally I can see and feel how the game play looks like. And, Square-Enix again doesn't disappoint me. Both games graphics are top-notch, and the game play is perfectly smooth. Year 2009 will be a great year, I really believe so!

DKΣ3713 Game Scoop Video

2008-08-06T13:40:00.003+08:00

This is a cool short video footage showing the private event of Square-Enix from IGN. Here, you could see the fantastic game play footage (albeit short) of Kingdom Hearts: Birth by Sleep (PSP), Kingdom Hearts: 358/2 Days (NDS), and Dissidia Final Fantasy (PSP). After seeing the footage, I must say my expectation towards all these games just raise higher, much higher! And, I am more certain that these games won't disappoint me. See it for yourself.

Phantasy Star Portable is in a good start!

2008-08-05T12:27:00.004+08:00

According to PSPHyper, Phantasy Star Portable (PSP) is off with a good start in Japan. I am really happy to see that cause some PSP games do deserve a good sale for their quality. After watching some trailers and gameplays of PSP, I must say I want this game more than the Monster Hunter franchise. I guess the main reason is that it appeals to me more with the Japanese anime style, and it seems more fast-paced than the MH franchise.

Even though I really want to play this game, the language barrier is always the hurdle. I guess, I just need to wait a while (probably a long while) before this game hit the Western shore with some localization. Sometimes, I really have the urge to learn the Japanese, but my laziness always overcomes me. It is the one of the aging process I guess. Let's wait and see then. At the time being, I guess I can still play the MH franchise. At least trying to really see the attractions, and let the attractions come to me. I guess I am trying to get myself hooked up with this legendary game.

PSP has a lot of love from Square-Enix

2008-08-04T09:31:00.008+08:00

DKΣ3713 Private Party 2008 is over in Japan, and a lot of news, great news have been released. Apparently, after Crisis Core: Final Fantasy VII, Square-Enix definitely has shown a lot of love towards this wonderful piece of machine. I guess it makes sense, since the Nomura team has mastered the development of such machine with Crisis Core, and they should really further exploit such skills. Now, lets have a look what we can expect in the near future (till end of Q2 2009 at least I think) for our PSP.

Kingdom Hearts: Birth by Sleep was playable in the event, which is a surprise to me because Square-Enix has already mentioned that the game won't be ready until 2009. According to a number of hand-ons (IGN and 1UP), the game definitely will become one of the masterpiece for PSP. Honestly, I really look forwards to it, and I definitely hope to see the trailer in the closed-theater of the event. Hopefully there will be a leaked footage, but I doubt it would happen due to the high security (man!).

Dissidia: Final Fantasy is another game that really gets my blood boiling. I am not really a fan of Street-Fighter-kinda games, mainly because I am very clumsy. Luckily according to 1UP and IGN hands on, it is not entirely Street-Fighter, there are some RPG elements in it. Moreover, the graphics and gameplay are unique and fantastic. I really think this game certainly is a representation of 20th anniversary of FF franchise, with all the representative characters from I to X. It is coming out in Japan end of December 2008, and I am going to save money for that! So far the confirmed characters include Warrior of Light and Garland (I), Firion and Emperor Mateus Palamecia (II), Onion Knight and Cloud of Darkness (III), Kefka Palazzo (VI), Sephiroth (VII), Squall Leonhart and Ultimecia, (VIII), Zidane Tribal and Kuja (IX), Tidus and Jecht (X).

Final Fantasy Agito XIII will be released on PSP, which probably is the biggest announcement in the private event. This game still remains a mystery for me. According to 1UP and IGN impression on the trailer, this game would be like Crisis Core, which is an Action RPG and it might have multiplayer feature! This game was supposed to be only for mobile phone (Japan only). I guess due to the increasing popularity of PSP worldwide and the success of Crisis Core, Square-Enix has decided to make such move (which certainly is a great decision from my point of view). The release date of this game is still in the midst, so, I guess I will have to wait a little longer to see this game.

Parasite Eve The 3rd Birthday is definitely a game that I know nothing about. Apparently, the sequels (The 3rd Birthday is actually a prequel for the Parasite Eve series) have gained quite a fanbase in Playstation One. Similar to Agito XIII, this game was supposed to be on mobile phone (Japan only). I guess Square-Enix really starts showing love towards PSP, and decided to move it to PSP (not sure if the mobile phone development has been terminated). A trailer is shown in the private event, but from IGN and Yahoo, the trailer has shown a number of CG cutscenes but no real-time footage of gameplay. So, I have no idea what this game is about. Anyway, who cares, it is a good thing there will be another game to look forwards to for PSP!

The game that got my blood boiling

2008-06-26T21:51:00.004+08:00

A new trailer of "Dissidia Final Fantasy" is shared on the Square-Enix official website. It really got me "WOW"!

All childhood robots are in the PSP!

2008-06-24T12:48:00.004+08:00

I remember my childhood is filled with those sweet memories of cheering of victory or mourning of failure for those robots from Japan on TV. Not surprisingly a lot of games related to robots are produced in Japan on Playstation, Gameboy, and now PSP! Super Robot Wars is certainly a long series. Now, on PSP the GBA version will be further enhanced and turned into Super Robot Wars Advance Portable (スーパーロボット大戦Ａボータブル, or in Chinese 《超级机器人大战A》). In this game, it features a series of robots from almost all of the Japan robots animations. For me, especially at my current age, certainly would love to relive the childhood, which is care free spirit free. The animation/cut scene of those robot fightings certainly are colourful and thrilling. Moreover, it is strategic/tactical type of gameplay which is one of my favorites. Hopefully (even though the odds are against me) it will be localized into English version...

What I am playing recently on PSP?

2008-06-22T22:51:00.005+08:00

There ain't many games on PSP lately frankly. It is a widely known dry season, even though the hardware itself still sells pretty well in Japan. I have to say it is a mixed feeling for myself. I really crave for the games like Crisis Core: Final Fantasy VII or God of War: Chains of Olympus. Well, the big titles are yet to be released in Japan (let alone the English-spoken regions) like Phantasy Star Portable, Dissidia Final Fantasy, Kingdom Hearts: Birth of Sleep and more... So, there are two games that I am currently playing from time to time. I can't say I like them so much.

Secret Agent Clank is a platformer developed by High Impact Games exclusively for the PlayStation Portable as a spin-off to the Ratchet and Clank series. The story begins with Clank's best friend Ratchet being (falsely) arrested for stealing a huge priceless diamond from a museum. So, Clank, as a secret agent needs to figure a way to rescue him by proving him he is innocent. I am not really a big fan of platformer because I can be very clumsy for that. The game is squeezed with a lot of mini-games, a lot! Some don't even really make sense. But, luckily most (so-far) could be quite fun (well, can be quite frustrating too). Anyway, the game itself is not really bad. If 10 is perfect, I would give 7 to presentation, 7 to game play, 6 to audio, 6 to control, so overall would be 7. For the drought season, I think this game seems to be like a droplet of life source in an oasis.

The next game would be Space Invaders Extreme. It is a re-vamped incarnation of the classic arcade game Space Invaders. It has been released to mark the 30th anniversary of Space Invaders which saw its original arcade release in 1978. So, basically the game play is the same as the arcade version, but for the PSP it has some enhanced background (dancing moving) graphics and some techno musics accompanying the game-play. I didn't play a lot of games in arcade center in my childhood, yet I know this game pretty well. So, you could imagine the popularity of this game. And, it can be quite fun to play the classic. I really think this game is a nice collection to those classics (even better than some). So, let me say 7 to presentation (due to the nice graphics at the background), 7 to audio (the techno music is seamlessly playing during the game play), 7 to game play (quite frantic and fast-paced, which is a good improvement!), and 8 to control (simple, intuitive, and nothing complex about that). So, overall would be 7.

MGS 3 is going to land on PSP?

2008-06-10T22:50:00.003+08:00

It would be great, certainly a great news for Sony's love baby. Considering PSP lacks of any new lineup of games (yet it still sells very well in Japan surprisingly), and considering lately PS3 has a lot of bad publicity (except the Metal Gear Solid 4), this news if it is true would add some sweets in PSP.

According to GameRush Entertainment, the new game is going to be named "Metal Gear 3: Revolver Ocelot", and it takes place between MGS: Portable Ops and Metal Gear 2: Solid Snake. It will feature some scenes from the original Metal Gear. The game uses a recruitment system similar to MGS:PO and the main character is Revolver Ocelot, looking similar to both MGS3 and MGS1. Big Boss is not a playable character, but appears sometimes during the cut scenes supervising the construction of outer heaven

Birth by sleep certainly is a masterpiece

2008-06-03T21:15:00.001+08:00

A leaked trailer proves that!

Final Fantasy Tactics A2 is great!!!

2008-05-29T14:07:00.005+08:00

Final Fantasy Tactics A2: Grimoire of the Rift (ファイナルファンタジータクティクス A2 封穴のグリモア, Fainaru Fantajī Takutikusu Eitsū Fūketsu no Gurimoa) has been released in Japan for a while now. After finishing The World Ends With You, I resume playing this game. As the name implies, it is the sequel of the GBA's Final Fantasy Tactics Advance. I always love tactical games, again considering I have spent tons of time on Final Fantasy Tactics: The War of the Lions. This DS game is built around a more lightweight (i.e., no epic war between two big clans) background compared to Final Fantasy Tactics: The War of the Lions. Somehow a kid named Luso of an unknown world and time other than ours got zapped to a fantasy world, which is filled with different races, jobs, clans and classes. And, to get back to his own world, he has to "finish his own story in the book". From here you could tell it is definitely Final-Fantasy, i.e., an interesting, abstract, somehow-weird, sometimes-doesn't-even-make-sense storyline. But, who cares, I in fact enjoy this type of storyline.

The gameplay is just like any other Final Fantasy Tactics franchise -- turn-based tactical board. That's actually why I like most. I suck at chess, but I think I can play this game better. Another unique feature of FFT is that there are myriad of classes and jobs that the gamer can use to customize, upgrade, change the characters. Moreover, in addition to the main storyline, the gamer can enjoy finishing some other side quests to get some treasures or weapons. Of course, finishing the quests could grant me some satisfactions. No wonder to finish this type of game we could spend more than 40 hours.

Lullaby for you

2008-05-12T21:15:00.002+08:00

After about 35 hours in the game, I completed it, and will come back for more. The theme song is pretty nice.

Pins art of "The World Ends with You"

2008-05-05T21:22:00.001+08:00

Square-Enix Worlds

2008-05-02T11:03:00.010+08:00

I love the world created by Square-Enix. The fantasy worlds of Final Fantasy, the dark and light worlds of Kingdom Hearts, the medieval-alike worlds of Dragon Quest, the spacious out-of-space universe worlds of Star Ocean, and of course, The World that ends with You.

Final Fantasy series has been with us for more than 20 years now (the first one begun in year 1987 created by The Father of Final Fantasy Hironobu Sakaguchi). There are 13 (excluding the compilations or spin-offs) "episodes" counting from Final Fantasy I, II, III, IV, V, VI, VII, VIII, IX, X, XI, XII, and XIII. In addition to these 13 episodes, we have Final Fantasy Tactics, Final Fantasy Tactics Advance, Final Fantasy Tactics: The War of the Lions, and Final Fantasy Tactics A2: Grimoire of the Rift. Not to mention those spin-offs or direct sequels including Compilation of Final Fantasy VII (Before Crisis: Final Fantasy VII, Dirge of Cerberus: Final Fantasy VII, Dirge of Cerberus Lost Episode: Final Fantasy VII, and Crisis Core: Final Fantasy VII); Final Fantasy X-2, Final Fantasy XII: Revenant Wings and Fabula Nova Crystallis (Final Fantasy XIII, Final Fantasy Versus XIII, and Final Fantasy Agito XIII). Each of these has its own unique world, its own distinct story, and definitely its own emotion, not to mention its special gameplay experience. It certainly requires a human extraordinary creativity and imagination to cook up such beautiful recipe for gaming! I am really looking forwards to seeing how FNC going to play out.

Everyone would think Square-Enix only has Final Fantasy as the only ammo on its belt. And, everyone would think it is out-of-their-mind for Square-Enix to have a game developed with Disney. Led by Shinji Hashimoto, Hironobu Sakaguchi and Tetsuya Nomura, Kingdom Hearts worlds are created linking different worlds from Disney to encapsulate different characters from Disney and Final Fantasy. A 3-musketeers (two of them are Donald and Goofy) are born to explore all these beautiful worlds, to fight for the light (Mickey) with the darkness. Who would have thought such "insane" world could become such a big hit in 2002. The worlds are beautifully illustrated, with a touching story behind - a love and friendship between three characters (Sora, Kairi and Riku). Then, out of our surprise, Square-Enix has decided to have the worlds of Kingdom Hearts built on GameBoy Advance in the form of Kingdom Hearts: Chains of Memories. In 2006, not surprisingly there is a sequel Kingdom Hearts II. This time, the worlds of Kingdom Hearts are expanded with more worlds from Disney. After two big hits, Square-Enix definitely is not going to let us go without more worlds from Kingdom Hearts. After revising Kingdom Hearts I and II into Kingdom Hearts: Final Mix and Kingdom Hearts II: Final Mix+, we will see the Kingdom Hearts worlds on PSP, DS and mobile phone with Kingdom Hearts: Birth by Sleep, Kingdom Hearts: 358/2 Days, and Kingdom Hearts: Coded, respectively. I am actually very happy to see more Kingdom Hearts worlds, they are child-like that reminded me of my youth.

During the mid-1980s, Dragon Quest was created by Yuji Horii. The series monster and character designs, as well as box art, were by famed Dragon Ball manga artist, Akira Toriyama. Unfortunately, I didn't know anything about Dragon Quest, of which the series somehow only is famous in Japan, until Dragon Quest VIII: Journey of the Cursed King released in English version in 2005! The game certainly has grabbed the attention it deserves from other nations. The beautiful world, interesting characters, lovable monsters, and not to mention the stories and interaction of these characters have become the selling points. One might wonder, how the worlds of the previous Dragon Quest (Dragon Quest I, II, III, IV, V, VI and VII). Lucky for us, Square-Enix has decided to bring several previous Dragon Quest IV, V, and VI on to DS. And, out of everyone expectation, Level-5 is going to develop and Square-Enix is going to publish Dragon Quest IX: Hoshizora no Mamoribito on DS.

Last but not least, we have Star Ocean. Even though this series is not as famous as Final Fantasy or Dragon Quest, but it definitely has its own huge fan base. It sure has a long history too (roughly 10 years), ranging from Star Ocean, Star Ocean: The Second Story, Star Ocean: Blue Sphere (direct sequel of Second Story), and Star Ocean: Till the End of Time. Frankly, I am not that lucky to have a chance to try out those games because of they are published in different consoles, some of which have long gone. However, lucky for us, Square-Enix has decided to remake some of those and publish them on PSP, namely Star Ocean: The First Departure and Star Ocean: The Second Evolution. Both remakes have received very good critical claims. Hopefully the English version is going to be made soon, real soon.

Forever love

2008-04-24T12:46:00.010+08:00

After years of gaming (my PS2 was bought in year 2002, PSP 2004 and DS 2007), I definitely have my own "forever love". I am going to just focus on PSP and DS because they are relatively new. There ain't many games that I have my forever love in. Basically it means I would replay it even though I have finished the game. I guess, it has a lot of personal, aka non-objective opinion in it but who cares. The list is in the order of release time:

Metal Gear Solid: Portable Ops is a stealth game directed by Masahiro Yamamoto, with series creator Hideo Kojima acting as a producer. I myself is not very good in stealth game (basically I am a clumsy person). However, out of my surprise, this game has the RPG depth in it. The missions are short or nicely tuned to fit in the PSP. More importantly you could capture and recruit soldiers to build your own army. You could deploy your arm to spy on the enemy, to medic team, or even could put them in the frontline to stealth for you (of course with your control). Due to this depth, I have spent roughly 20 hours in this game, and I like to revisit all the missions. It has won its beautiful 87 average score from all games reviews.

Final Fantasy Tactics: The War of the Lions is a tactical role-playing game produced by Takamasa Shiba and the characters are designed by Akihiko Yoshida. I always love tactical games, especially those produced by Square-Enix. Considering I have spent 50+ hours in this game, it shows how much love I have in this game. There are tons of customizable job classes, beautiful cell-shaded cutscenes, not to mention attractive game play experience. It just has so much in it than any other games that I have played before. I certainly hope it will have a sequel (not the DS version that I will talk about later) on PSP! This game has won 88 average score of the reviews. Don't forget it is actually an enhanced port from Playstation One.

The World Ends with You is a action role playing game developed by the Kingdom Hearts team led by Tatsuya Kando (game director), Tomohiro Hasegawa (co-director), and Takeshi Arakawa (planning director). And, it wouldn't be complete not to mention the famous Tetsuya Nomura and Gen Kobayashi who design the characters. I think I have already mentioned about this game more than 4 times now. Thus, it goes without saying that I really love this game - colourful presentation, wonderful music and beautiful gameplay system. I am now already 6 hours into the game, but I guess I can go further to 15 hours without any problem. This game has also won 87 average score.

God of War: Chains of Olympus is a hack and slash, action-adventure game developed by Ready At Dawn founded by Didier Malenfant, Andrea Pessino and Ru Weerasuriya. The game series is actually started by David Jeffe for Playstation 2, but Ready At Dawn certainly has done a lot to squeeze this game without really shrinking its epic style on the PSP. In other words, the small size does not constrain the epical adventure at all. It runs perfectly smooth on the PSP, with flawless presentation. The gameplay itself certainly feel the same as with the PS2 version. Even the total time required to finish the game is short (roughly 6 hours), but since it has so much worth to revisit, it could lasts actually as long as you want. Not surprisingly, this game has won 92 average score!

Crisis Core: Final Fantasy VII is an action role-playing game developed and published by Square Enix including Yoshinori Kitase, Shinji Hashimoto, Hajime Tabata, Hideki Imaizumi, Takeharu Ishimoto, Tetsuya Nomura and Kazushige Nojima. This game definitely has attracted a great deal of attention because of Final Fantasy VII (for Playstation One). As a prequel, this game is about Zack Fair, a close friend of Cloud Strife. Square-Enix certainly has spent a lot of effort in developing this game. It has push the limit of PSP to another level. The presentation is so beautiful that some even though this game is a PS2 game. The gameplay is interesting and novel in a way it is action, but also a time-based RPG. The combination of both is seamless. Story is thrilling for those hard-core fans, but also touching for those who know nothing about Final Fantasy VII. The game is no doubt won 85 average score.

Patapon is a genre-straddling video game combining gameplay features of music and rhythm games, real-time tactics and God games. The game was developed by Pyramid and produced by Japan Studios, the same studio that developed and produced Loco Roco (the men behind Loco Roco are Tsutomu Kouno and Keigo Tsuchiya). The main reason I choose Patapon over the more-well-known Loco Roco is due to its strategic RPG features. The cartoon-ish-big-eye-ball characters are lovable and customizable, i.e., you could "produce" different types of these to fight for you. The fighting itself is literally musical because you need to beat your drums rhythmically to command your army. This game can surely attract casual and hardcore gamers. I myself even though after 10 hours of gameplay still enjoy it whenever I feel like a music. Patapon has 86 average score.

Ninja Gaiden: Dragon Sword is an action adventure role-playing game produced by Tecmo, led by Tomonobu Itagaki. I have played this game for about 3 hours (and the total time to finish the game is roughly 6 hours). The gameplay experience using the DS stylus is certainly a fresh experience. Sometimes I hope I didn't use too much force to scratch the surface. Since the gameplay is so interesting, I really love this game. I don't care much about the story cause I think the story itself is not that interesting. I will replay this game whenever I am really stressed at work. A good way to really release any grief. It has won an average 84 score.

Final Fantasy XII: Revenant Wings is a real-time strategy RPG developed by Square Enix and Think & Feel Inc. The men behind this game include Yasuhito Watanabe,
Motomu Toriyama, Toshitaka Matsuda, Hitoshi Sakimoto, Kenichiro Fukui and Ryoma Itō. This would be the first real-time strategic game for Final Fantasy franchise. By using the stylus function of DS, this game certainly live up to the name of Square-Enix. The gameplay is certainly refreshing. OK, the graphics probably are not as nice as Final Fantasy XII for PS2. But, I think it is the game play and (perhaps) the story that count. I mean DS is a small device, which will never beat console PS2. I have spent about 20 hours (finishing all those side quests) to finish the game. From time to time I am also replaying this game. It has averagely 81 score from the game reviews.

Final Fantasy Tactics A2: Grimoire of the Rift is a strategy roleplaying game from Square Enix developed by Akitoshi Kawazu, Yuichi Murasawa and Ryoma Itō. This is the sequel of Final Fantasy Tactics Advance for Gameboy Advance. Unfortunately I am currently playing the Japanese version. The English version won't be so soon. However, the game play experience is still wonderful. I can't wait for the English version.

Love the hip hop and action packed

2008-04-23T10:06:00.005+08:00

I think I have been talking about "The World Ends with You" a lot. I have been playing this game a lot. I really like the whole hip-hop, trendy, music style with the action packed. Not to mention the whole gameplay system for me is total buzz for me. "Stride Cross Battle System" is really interesting. Of course, I get frustrated sometimes when I couldn't make the sync fighting between both of the characters flawlessly, but if I can make it, the satisfaction I get is certainly beautiful.

I have only spent so far 4 hours into the game. At first I thought it would be a very short game (probably about 5 hours or so) because the background of the game is restricted to a small part of Tokyo (the huge city) namely Shibuya. However, now I realize there is such RPG depth in the game. For instance, you could enhance the characteristic of your character (albeit not shown on the screen) by putting on some match-to-the-current-trend fashion, you could even have some food or meal to enhance some elements of the character, moreover, you could also purchase pins to have some extra psych power for Neku.

OK, gameplay is cool. Now, how about the graphics? As I have mentioned for such tiny DS, the game presentation is stunning. The Japanese manga style of the characters designed by Tetsuya Nomura (the guy who is behind Kingdom Hearts and upcoming Final Fantasy XIII). Moreover, I have never been to Shibuya before (and I hope one day soon I could roam around Tokyo). The game itself definitely has granted me the feel of the place - rich with its own fashion, accessory, and music culture.

The story itself is definitely interesting and "page-turning". I mean I can't wait to see how it turns out. Even though maybe for some people the story is silly, ridiculous and nonsense at all. But, I guess this is also the beauty of the game. Why do you want to make the game story believable if it is a game.

"The world ends with you" never-ending fun

2008-04-18T21:02:00.006+08:00

Finally, this game has arrived in my hand. I am so happy. My family has been here since 3 weeks ago. It has been fun for me to travel with them to Hong Kong, Gui Lin and also Yang Shuo. Of course, now this game is a bonus! This game is wonderful. A very unique game play system, which I have never encounter before. It certainly trained your brain in a very interesting way (not that this game is designed to do that).

It features a main male character named Neku, and a female protagonist named Shiki. Somehow in one of the busiest place in Tokyo (Shibuya), Neku, who is (not surprisingly in most Japanese manga or comic) a character who does not like anyone or anything (some sort of loner), is stuck. He is forced to play the game given by Reapers. Within 7 days, each of these days he is given a mission. He has to clear the mission to not get "erased". Worse (for him), he has to partner with another gamer. And, he met Shiki, a bright young girl. During all these missions, Neku has to scan around (some sort of power) to find and fight the Noise. To do that, he has to fight simultaneously with those Noises along Shiki (i.e., split screens top is the girl bottom is him), and that's the interesting part. You have to sort of follow the "green bubble" to control the characters. At the beginning, I was not really used to it, but after a while, it is kinda fun!

The presentation is great for such small device. The music is hip-hop trendy and cheerful. And, well, it has those Japanese touch in it that I like! Definitely a game that I would buy and collect (and of course play)!

Dead vs. Fantasy

2008-03-25T11:04:00.006+08:00

Montyoum is the creator of this series. The series features a fantasy fights between female characters from Final Fantasy series and Dead or Alive series. Frankly, I don't know much about Dead or Alive girls, but I am very familiar with FF girls. So, when I see Yuna (Final Fantasy X and X-2), Rikku (Final Fantasy X and X-2), Tifa (Final Fantasy VII) in Episode 1, and then Rinoa (Final Fantasy VIII) and (surprised!) Kairi (Kingdom Hearts 1, 2 and 3) in Episode 2, I am so excited. And Montyoum certainly has done a bang-up job! See for yourself.

Chinese translated games!?

2008-03-24T10:13:00.002+08:00

Piracy is a serious problem in gaming industry. Considering there are mod chips for XBox 360, Wii, and PS2, adapter for DS and software cracks for PSP, certainly a lot of people would choose the "free" way -- download and not purchase.

Some even go further than merely downloading. A gang of Chinese "hackers" even try to change the script of the games. There is always a process of publish games. For instance, if it is a game developed and published by a Japanese company, it would (apparently) first distributed in Japan in Japanese. If the game found a western publisher and distributer, then the company will localize the game (i.e., translate the game into, say, English). This gap normally lasts at least half a year to one year. So, these Chinese "hackers" would do a lot of the Chinese a favor (free!), translate the script into Chinese and put it back into the game. See the videos. I must say I am very impressed by their work. Well, the process could be slow, but it really requires a lot of work (a lot of man-hours work).

"World ends with you" battle system

2008-03-17T12:40:00.005+08:00

《世界的尽头是你》, this would how I translate this game into Chinese, but of course the meaning might be far from the origin. Anyway, from the team who have developed the world-acclaimed Kingdom Hearts franchise, this game has already gained some well-respect reviews (Famitsu magazine has granted a nice 8 to this game) in the land of rising sun. One thing is so nice about this game is that this is not a sequel or prequel of any game from Square-Enix.

Another unique thing about this game is the gameplay system. Battle actions take place simultaneously between both characters. The touch screen is used to move and attack with Neku, whose abilities depend on the pins equipped. On the top screen, movement can be controlled with the D-Pad, which is tapped for specific techniques. And, on top of that, some sort of hip-hop trendy pop style (of the music for instance) is blended seamlessly with the game. It certainly brings up some style from this game. Anyway, after Kingdom Hearts, I have all my confidence in Tetsuya Nomura's team.

(via AllRPG.com)

DS Games in March 2008

2008-03-15T20:07:00.003+08:00

March is really a busy month for me. Work (my own project), work-related work (some workshops and some proposals), not-really-work-related work (MC tasks and newsletter editing), and definitely-not-work work (preparing for family visit), etc. A lot need to be handled - Internet service extension, gym card extension, etc. So, from first glance, I definitely have no time for game, but I do. In the weekends, despite of doing all the definitely-not-work work, I really relax, i.e., do nothing at all. In addition to the PSP games, two DS games definitely have most of my attention, namely "Final Fantasy Tactics A2: The Sealed Grimoire" (FFTA2) and "Tales of Innocence" (ToI).

FFTA2 certainly suits me well cause I love strategic role-playing-game (SRPG). Considering I have spent more than 50 hours on "Final Fantasy Tactics: The War of the Lions" (FFT) on PSP. This is a sequel of FFT. The game takes place in Ivalice, like Final Fantasy Tactics Advance and Final Fantasy XII. There are seven playable races in the game: Hume, Moogle, Viera, Bangaa, Seeq, Nu Mou and Gria. Chronologically, the game takes place some time after "Final Fantasy XII". The main character, Luso Clemens, is a mischievous boy who lived in the real world until, after being punished for teasing and being late countless times and sent to library clean-up duty right before summer vacation, he finds an old book in the library. The book is full of pictures of swords and wizards, but abruptly becomes blank in the middle. After this, the book commands that the reader should tell/write the person who should fill in this blank (presumably the 'hero' of the story). He then writes his own name on the blank page, Luso Clemens, after which he is transported into the world of Ivalice. And, the adventure goes on.

Next, ToI is semi-action role-playing game (ARPG). The Imperial Capital of Regnum kept itself in peace during the long-lasting world war. Slowly, people with a "special power" began to appear. Feared by normal people, Regnum set out a law to capture all people with special powers. One day, Ruca, the son of a merchant in Regnum, realizes the special power within him. So, the main protagonists are teaming up, with different special power seek for the special power that is going to "save the world". Tales of Innocence has six playable protagonists to the story. Ruca Milda, the protagonist of the game, lives in the Imperial Capital Regnum and is a shy honor student who is picked on by other children. Iria Animi is the impulsive, quick-tempered heroine of the game who runs away from her village after being chased by a mysterious group. A small, strange creature named Coda follows her. Spada Belforma is a warm-hearted, righteous young man from a family of nobility who cut off ties with his family for unknown reasons. Ricardo Soldato is an experienced mercenary who wields a rifle and bayonet with impressive ability who meets with Ruca for unknown reasons. Hermana Larmo is a young girl who was orphaned because of recent wars, who moves at her own pace. Ange Serena is a sister at a sanctuary in a city. She posses powers of healing, which causes the people to refer to her as a "holy woman". She is skilled at the worldly and political matters of society.

Patapon 300

2008-03-14T16:00:00.003+08:00

"Patapon", I love this game very much. I guess it is because of its quirky representation. If you think deeper, it is definitely not a game suitable for kids -- with violence and everything. However, the rhythm and the cuteness of patapon certainly make you think otherwise. Even though it could get very frustrating sometimes -- like didn't really "beat" the "drum" at the accurate timing to launch an attack or to avoid one, the enjoyment is certainly there. In fact, sometimes you just don't know where to get what needed to go on the next stage. In other words, the instructions are not really there or just too subtle or implicit. Put all these not-so-negative things aside, the game is certainly fun and addictive to play.

What attracts me more is that RPG feature of the game. It is possible to customize patapon by for instance generating a new type of patapon, or customizing the amour and weapons. I definitely have a lot of fun doing that. In short, patapon is certainly a casual game for hardcore gamers.

Ninja Gaiden Dragon Sword

2008-03-13T23:24:00.001+08:00

After "God of War: Chains of Olympus", this would be another one on DS that I am going to experience some bloody experience. "Ninja Gaiden" franchise has been around for a while now. "Ninja Gaiden Sigma" was on XBox360 then on PS3, and soon this month "Ninja Gaiden Dragon Sword (DS)" is going to land on DS (I wonder and sometimes hope it would be on PSP). So far, this game has gained some good reviews, with average of 84 ("God of War: Chain of Olympus" got average 92, but not to compare or anything).

The gameplay defines the specialty of this game. It is using the DS stylus to perform all sorts of fighting, magic and ninjutsu. For example: By tapping the screen Ryu will throw one of his shurikens; by tapping and holding Ryu will run to the desired location; by drawing a horizontal line on an enemy Ryu will do a horizontal slash with his sword; by drawing a vertical line he will do a vertical slash; and by drawing up on the screen he will jump. Use of Ryu's Ninpo magic will be activated by tapping an icon on the touch screen; this will bring up the outline of a Sanskrit letter to be traced with the stylus.[2] Successfully tracing the letter will activate the appropriate magic.

Here, I put the reviews of GameTrailers.com and IGN just to give you a rough idea how good this game is.

Wild Arm XF

2008-03-10T23:51:00.003+08:00

Yeah I love strategic RPG, and I almost forgot this one is coming out soon in this month in US (yes, the English version). Can't wait. The reviews are generally good about this game!

The World Ends With You

2008-03-10T23:39:00.000+08:00

After "God of War: Chain of Olympus", which I have beat up the final boss (a sad goddess), I am now waiting for "Ninja Gaiden: Dragon Sword" (which I will talk about next time), and also this one - "The World Ends with You". I am really looking forwards to this game, mainly because the producer and the developers are the same team of Kingdom Hearts franchise.

"The World Ends With You", known in Japan as "It's a Wonderful World" (すばらしきこのせかい, Subarashiki Kono Sekai?, literally "This Wonderful World"). The character designs are by Tetsuya Nomura and Gen Kobayashi. The distinctive art style is inspired by the aesthetics of Shibuya youth culture. Set aside the style, I think what attracts me more is the gameplay. Most of the gameplay focuses on finding clues and battling Noise. Players can use Neku (the main character)'s mindreading abilities to hear people's thoughts by using the touch screen of the DS. The combat system, called the "Stride Cross Battle System", uses both screens. Neku has three partners, one in each and specific chapter of the game. The player can freely choose which partner to use, once clearing the game. One of the three partners is displayed on the top screen, while Neku is displayed on the bottom. Battle actions take place simultaneously between both characters. The touch screen is used to move and attack with Neku, whose abilities depend on the pins equipped. On the top screen, movement can be controlled with the D-Pad, which is tapped for specific techniques. This game (the English version) is set to release in April in USA!

PSP 2.0 (A Dream?)

2008-03-10T13:08:00.000+08:00

There have been a lot of PSP 2.0 (or Next-Gen PSP as some may call that) designs proposed by a lot of users on the Internet. Some look non-sense, stupid even rubbish, but this one certainly grasps my attention with its slick design, practical consideration, and moreover intelligently integrate all sorts of human-machine interaction technology (e.g. touch screen).

Monster Hunter is back again with a big G

2008-03-09T15:45:00.000+08:00

"Monster Hunter Portable" and "Monster Hunter Portable 2" have been really well accepted in Japan, considering Monster Hunter Portable 2 is elected as the most enjoyable game in Japan (a survey done by Dengdeki). So, it is no surprise that Capcom is releasing this golden masterpiece in "Monster Hunter Portable 2G". There will be more monsters, more G-rated missions and on top of that you won't be hunting those monsters alone, a cat is going to join you. Anyway, I am not so good with Monster Hunter, but I think I will definitely pick up from this 2G title!

God of War

2008-03-09T14:59:00.001+08:00

Been playing this game for approximately 4 hours now, on and off. As to finish the game it only requires maximum 6 hours, so I think I am about to finish the game soon. Anyway, I could say this is a wonderfully adorable game. Even though the screen is so small, the epic and impressiveness of the game could be quite scary. Without a doubt, "God of War: Chains of Olympus" is certainly a game that could hook me up real quick and nice. However, this is certainly not a game suitable for kids -- violent, bloody and a bit of sexual scenes. But, I must say the story is great, at least it is certainly interesting. A story of Kratos, the slave of gods of Olympus, with a devasting past that have been haunting him, and causing so much rage in him.

Let's see, I will try to use some information from other sites to guide you through the game. At this moment, I am at the stage of "Temple of Persephone", and there are 7 stages:

Shores of Attica

City of Marathon

Temple of Helios

Caves of Olympus

Falls of Oceanum

Depths of Tartarus

Temple of Persephone

New launch

2008-03-07T12:58:00.002+08:00

A new site for me to talk about games (especially for NDSL and PSP)... life is too hard, games are not only fun but inspiring.