I quit TWEWY

25.07.11 / Action RPG, Nintendo DS, Square-Enix, Video game / Author: / Comments: (0)
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I’m a casual RPG gamer. I can’t deal with all this mindless dashing about, running all over the screen with one hand, using pins to slash and stab enemies with the other hand, controlling your partner on the top screen with your third hand, reaching for a rope to hang yourself with your fourth hand…

1. I don’t like Action RPGs. And this has an exceptionally hectic and confusing battle system. I just poked and slashed at random until something died, which worked for Days 1 and 2 but would have caught up to me eventually.

2. Every mission seemingly consists of “Erase the Noise.” Wanna walk through the park? Erase the Noise. Wanna scratch your nose? Erase the Noise. Wanna take a shit? Erase the Noise.

3. Amnesia protagonist. Seriously. He doesn’t help his case by being an unpleasant little twerp.

4. Characters I don’t care about. “We’re trapped in Shibuya and we have to fight to get out!” Yeah, uhh, good luck with that.

5. Story I don’t care about. Reapers, Noise, battles, sulky teenagers… what part of this am I supposed to give a damn about? The game is all “funky” and “cool”, I get that, I just don’t get the “likeable” and “relatable” part.

6. I spoke to the friend who recommended the game so strongly and it turns out…he hasn’t finished it either! And what he liked about it the most was not the story or the gameplay, but…the SOUNDTRACK. As a matter of fact TWEWY been on his “Keep meaning to finish” list for almost 3 years, he can’t even remember where he got to, and yet he keeps pushing it on other people. Why am I friends with him again?

Phew, that’s a weight off my chest. I was on the verge of repeating my Saigo no Yakusoku no Monogatari mistake, where I kept plugging away at a game that was making me suffer, even as other games were waiting to be played. Not saying it’s a bad game – for the right kind of gamer – but it’s definitely not for me.

So, that’s a third item struck off my Half-year resolution list. Unfortunately I probably won’t be able to play Summon Night 3 this year because my PS2 is, uhh, indisposed. I need to have it fixed, but things are, uhh, complicated so I can’t do that for a while. As for last two items on that list, Nora to Toki no Koubou is out! I’m struggling with whether to buy it or just pirate it, which is why I haven’t said anything so far. I’ll wait and see a couple of reviews first. I started Persona on the PSP the other day. Whew, old school is OLD. But not bad, I guess.

I’ve also been testing various other games and gotten pretty far in some of them, but that’s all stuff for another post, another day.

Games that just didn’t work out

16.07.11 / Action RPG, Nintendo DS, Otome game, PS2, RPG, Simulation game, Sony PSP, Strategy RPG, Video game, Visual novel / Author: / Comments: (0)
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I play a lot of games from start to finish. I play even more from start to whenever-I-get-tired-of-it. However every once in a while (…actually pretty darn often) there’s a game that I try to play only to give up very quickly for one reason or another. I usually don’t even mention them here firstly because I have nothing to say, and secondly because I have better games to write about, but I’ll list a few recent victims of this practice here.

Remindelight (DS) – Long intro, cliched story about rescuing sister from forces of evil, meh graphics, massively squashed-up text that’s incredibly difficult to read, terrible battle system that consists of slashing randomly at the screen, etc. I don’t think I got even an hour into this one.

Houkago Shounen (DS) – One of the games you have to be Japanese to appreciate, I guess. It follows the life of a little boy in 80s Japan as he goes to school, comes home, plays with his friends and tries to avoid moving away with his family at the end of summer. It was heartwarming but, frankly, extremely dull, and none of the mini-games he plays seemed like any fun. Instead of me playing a game about him, he needs to play the game about my childhood.

Astonishia Story (PSP) – I played about an hour last week, and it reminded me of Tactical Guild in terms of sheer terribleness. Even the samey-looking bad guys, walk-up-and-attack battle system, forced humor and paper-thin characters are similar. I could grow to love this game, I know I could. But I’ve already played one so-bad-its-good game this year, so AS will have to wait till at least 2012 to get its turn. If ever.

Inugami DS, Allison & Lillia DS – Not games, just books put on the DS by publishers out to make a few extra bucks. I thought reading light novels on the DS might be more fun than reading scanned copies on the screen (Buy? what is this “Buy” you speak of?), but this probably only applies to books that are worth reading in the first place, i.e. NOT Inugami.

Destiny Links (DS) – Shame, it’s a really promising game. Destiny Links had lots of elements I love in an RPG (quests, item crafting, world exploration, multiple character scenarios to play through), but I just couldn’t get past the pure action RPG battle system. I can handle ARPGs with level ups because then I can just grind till I’m strong enough, but systems that require me to actually show some skill and dexterity are a no-go. I managed to finish the first island, then threw my hands up after that. The tiny characters and the mostly-hiragana text didn’t help either.

Mimana Iyar Chronicle (PSP) – Plays like Tales of the Tempest, feels like a Grandia II rip-off. If I had a dollar for every grumpy mercenary with a chip on his shoulder… I made it to the first boss, who promptly wiped me out. Now I either have to grind or actually get the hang of the battle system,  neither of which appeals to me right now. Dumped until further notice.

The World Ends With You (DS) – I’m giving it my best shot, I really am, but… It’s not doing anything for me. I’m just getting more and more stressed by the moment. Not only is the “story” not going anywhere I care to follow but also the battle system is all over the place. Which part of this is supposed to be fun? If it’s the 7-day Lockdown in Tokyo thing, I already did that in Devil Survivor, thank you. And can I get another couple of dollars in here for the “Everybody just leave me alone” protagonist? I haven’t thrown in the towel yet, but…

Hoshigami Remix (DS) – From the makers of my beloved Stella Deus, but this one is a wash. The battle screens make me claustrophic and the battle pace is downright catatonic. The characters on the screen are tiny (I complain about tiny characters because I have bad eyes, true story), the character designs are fuzzy and awful, the story is boring, the music is unremarkable, etc. Basically everything that can be wrong with a game is wrong with Hoshigami Remix. But I like SRPGs enough that I’ll probably play it on and off for a while to come. I especially like the Tower of Trial being unlocked right at the beginning. Maybe I’ll even finish it, eventually.

Harvest Moon Boy & Girl + Hero of Leaf Valley (PSP) – I shouldn’t have to repeat how much I love Harvest Moon games, but both original versions on the PS2 were a bit of a failure for me (I liked Innocent Life though, for some strange reason). I don’t know what I expected from the PSP remakes, but what I got was a whole lot of nothing. Hero of Leaf Valley seems to have a bit of potential – I did play quite a bit of Save the Homeland – but Boy & Girl is definitely out.

Breath – Toiki wa Akaneiro (DS) – I probably haven’t mentioned this before, but I don’t really like visual novels. Every couple of months I give one a shot just to see what’s going on, but it never works out. Breath would have been bad enough on its own, but the existence of several stupidly irritating games that force you to blow into the DS mic repeatedly was the last straw.

Hiiro no Kakera (DS) – Like I said, I don’t like visual novels. I gave this a shot because it’s one of the few otome ‘games’ for the DS, but I sorely regretted it. None of the male character designs appealed to me. The main character was whiny, ungrateful, stubborn, bitchy and mean. My dream was to lead her to a painful, ugly death, but I quit long before I got the chance. The story seemed to have potential, but every single scene, no matter how petty, dragged on for ages and ages so I gave up. This is a feature of all visual novels, btw, which is part of the reason why I don’t like them.

Berwick Saga: Tear Ring Saga series (PS2) – Gave up right in the middle of the first mission. I love SRPGs, but the hexagonal model was too confusing and the battles were hard. It would probably have turned out well if I’d pushed through to the end, but it came at a time when I was up to my nose in other SRPGs, so it just couldn’t compare. I looked around to see if it had gotten stellar reviews or anything, but “meh” seemed to be the general response so I dumped it.

Legend of Heroes I & II (PSP) – Nothing wrong with them, they’re just boring. I should have played them 15 years ago along with BoFII and Lufia I, then they’d have fit right in. I tried both LoH I & II in turn, but I think I’m going to have to save them for when I’ve run out of other PSP RPGs to play. Gotta say, I love Falcom’s character designs though.

Now back to the stuff that is working out. I really need to get off my butt and just finish Saigo no Yakusoku no Monogatari and three or four other games I’m almost done with but never got round to posting about.

Half-year resolutions

04.06.11 / Action RPG, Nintendo DS, PS2, RPG, Sony PSP, Strategy RPG, Summon Night, Video game / Author: / Comments: (2)
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I forgot to make New Year’s gaming resolutions this January, but better late than never. Last time I made them I managed to play all those games before the year was out, so I’m hoping I’ll have the same luck/leisure this time round. There are only six months left till 2012 (where does the time go?) so I’ll limit the list to six items for simplicity.

1. Nora to Toki no Koubou (DS): I’ve stopped following the news on this. Apart from cancellation there’s nothing they can say or do that would stop me from playing it. Even if they come out tomorrow and announce it’s now an FPS, I’m still going to play it.

2. Jeanne d’Arc (PSP): I hear it’s an excellent SRPG, and that’s all I need to hear. To be blunt, I don’t know anything about it except that, but there’s no way on earth it could be worse than, say, Tactical Guild, so I’m going to play it, and soon.

3. Tokimeki Memorial 4 (PSP): I love the Girls’ Side games, but apart from the first TM game on the SNES, the others haven’t done anything for me. It’s not that I don’t enjoy chasing girls, just that TM2 and 3 looked and felt clumsy so I’ve never played more than a few “days” of each. Maybe the 4th time is the charm.

4. Summon Night 3 (PS2): It’s been over a year since I played Summon Night 2 (which cooled my Summon Night ardor for a while) so I’m ready to jump back in the fray. With a few exceptions I’ve gotten used to playing my SRPGs on handhelds so it’ll be a bit of an adjustment to make, but I’ll get used to it soon enough. I just hope my old PS2 can take it.

5. Persona (PSP): I seriously overdosed on Shin Megami Tensei and related games in 2009 and 2010, which is why I haven’t even looked at one so far this year. I was going to play Devil Survivor 2 instead, but I just can’t work up the enthusiasm. The lame-ass ending I got (Gin route) in the last game still rankles a bit, plus I want to get it in English if possible so I’ll add that to my 2012 list.

6. The World Ends With You (DS): To be honest, I don’t really want to play this. Nothing I’ve ever seen or heard about it even remotely implies that it’s something I’d enjoy. But someone’s been nagging me for years to give it a shot, so I’m going to do it just to get it over with. If I get a pleasant surprise, cool, but I’m not holding my breath.

I’ll fit other games in there when I get the chance, like the upcoming UnchainBlades Rexx which I’m more than a little excited about. The main character’s design looks more than a little “inspired” by Jin from Shining Force Feather.

I was going to say Sega should totally sue but it turns out they have the same (evidently unimaginative) character designer. One more reason to look forward to it.

Tales of the Tempest – Mercifully short

27.05.11 / Action RPG, Japanese, Namco, Nintendo DS, Video game / Author: / Comments: (0)
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I killed the final boss and finished the game about 15 minutes ago and I’m still waiting for the usual feeling of relief to hit me. I don’t think it’s coming this time. Tales of the Tempest couldn’t even do the final battle right, that’s how useless a game it is.

Not like the battle itself was bad or anything, it was tough in its own way and I died twice (let me skip the talking scenes, dammit!) before realizing that letting Arria waste her MP on Tempest wasn’t such a bright idea. Now that I think of it, if I had taken control of her and spammed Nurse endlessly, the final battle would have been even easier. Luckily the (nameless) final boss had a pitiful amount of HP, so he went down pretty quickly and…stayed down? Huh? I was waiting with bated breath for his real transformation where he would show me his true power gained over 100 years of manipulating humans but nope. He lay there while my party gloated, “Nyaah nyaah, we beat you ‘cuz we have friends and you don’t!” Then he winked out of existence, presumably from sheer embarrassment, and that was that. Pitiful.

In some ways, playing Tales of the Tempest was a real education. I got to experience once again how the inclusion or omission of a few basic things can be enough to ruin a gaming experience. For example Tempest‘s story was weak all around, but it would have been almost passable if it didn’t contain so many cliched and predictable elements. Oh hey Caius, Lucius looks exactly like you! Wouldn’t it be funny if you two were twins separated at birth? And if the pope was your dad, wouldn’t that be funny too? Wait, WTF? That’s what really happened?! Excuse me, this calls for a song. Ahem *clears throat* A-one, a-two, a one-two-three-four:

BBBUUUULLLLSHIIIIITTTT
BBBUUUULLLLSHIIIIITTTT
BBBUUUULLLLSHIIIIITTTT
BBBUUUULLLLSHIIIIITTTT
(repeat till end of game)

I’m not even going to touch the whole speciesim thing or the whole Arria “I was a spy, but now I’m not, so you guys have to instantly forgive me for everything, because you were too stupid to notice I was suspicious from the start” twist (BBBUUUULLLLSHIIIIITTTT). And the pope and Rommy, “I’m not really evil, I was just possessed by spots. Yes, spots” thing (BBBUUUULLLLSHIIIIITTTT) doesn’t even deserve a mention.What a weak cast of characters. The only ones who get any character development are Rubia and Arria and in both cases it goes like, “I am a wishy-washy insult to all females. Oh wait, no I’m not.” *yaaawn* I wager by this time next month I’ll have forgotten all their names and faces.

I finished the game at around 15 hours, since my last save says 14:47h. I’m not kidding when I estimate at least 8 of those hours were spent walking or fighting. In fact, that’s probably an underestimation. Here the basic things that were missing were: a) A way to walk or run faster, or b) A means of land or air transport, or, c) A way to warp back to places you’ve already been to. All these things were missing, so most of Tales of the Tempest consists of slow, random-battle-filled crawls from one place to another. Apart from artificially inflating the game time, this also prevented me from doing most of the sidequests because most towns and cities were too far out of my way. That the few I did do had crap rewards didn’t exactly help either.

The menu was hard to figure out, which is weird because menus are the most basic of basics. The letters were frequently tiny and hard to see, and the interface was just messed up. For one thing, instead of having all your equipment options obvious at a glance, first you have to press Equipment, which gives you the Equipment/Title options, then you can go to Weapons/Armor/Accessories. Was there really no way they make all those options display at once? It’s just so unwieldy.

So, crap story, crap characters, crap world map, crap movement, crap menus, crap game. Was there anything good about it? The battle system was okay, I guess. Tales series fans must find it pathetically easy, though. I’m not exaggerating when I say I’m bad at action RPGs, and even I made it all the way to the final boss without dying even once (which he quickly corrected). And I did it just by mashing A, B and the directional buttons. I almost never blocked, and I certainly never figured out how to use 奥義s and 必殺技s. So it’s all right for newbies, but probably a slap in the face for any veteran Tales player. Unless they’re all that easy, in which case, bring them on!

On top of that, being able to customize your weapon was helpful for fighting certain enemies, and it was nice of them to add a cooking option. One that I almost never used because I never needed to, but it’s the thought that counts. And it was nice of them to keep it short. When a game sucks this much, keeping it short is like a mercy-killing, ending things quickly instead of prolonging the suffering unnecessarily. Thanks to this solitary act of kindness, I am now free to explore other games, which I will proceed to do with gusto. Adieu, Tales of the Tempest.

Tales of the Tempest – Dull

22.05.11 / Action RPG, Japanese, Namco, Nintendo DS, Video game / Author: / Comments: (2)
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Tales of the Tempest is one of those mediocre games I find it difficult to write about. This is my first real attempt at a Tales game (apart from a few hours of Tales of Symphonia long ago), so it’s not like I had any previous standards or super-high expectations. I just wanted to know what all the fuss was about.

After 9:07 hours of play, I still don’t know. I just got to Laymon city, for anyone who knows the game. The hero Caius is level 24, everyone else is 23 or 22. The game is so dull. So little has happened in all that time. The beginning was packed with events for the first hour or so, after that I’ve just been walking along through huge fields and forests and deserts fighting tons and tons of thieves and monsters. I reckon at least 6 of those 9 hours have been spent either fighting or walking.

The remaining 3 hours devoted to story progression have been disappointingly ho-hum. Caius’ adopted dad gets captured for being a Lycanth (beastman) and Rubia’s parents are killed by the same people, so they set out on a rescue/revenge adventure. Eventually they find out the always-evil Church is capturing Lycanth because they’re after special red stones, some of which Caius just happens to possess. So now they’re half looking for the truth, half on the run from the church. That’s how far I’ve gotten and if the story is going to pick up, now would be a good time to do so.

If the battle system wants to pick up, now would be a good time as well. In general I kind of like it, in that it’s simple enough even for someone like me to be able to play. I haven’t been Game Over’ed even once! It’s so easy, just mash A repeatedly, occasionally push B and a direction to unleash set attacks. Move back and use an item if your HP/TP gets low, otherwise bash away until enemies are dead. There are three lines of battle that you can move back and forth between, which lets you target different enemies or escape if you find yourself being ganged up on. There are also things like ultimate attacks and weapon-strengthening options, which I have been half-assing because I don’t really get them.

I think it’s a feature of Tales games in general that you can only control one person in battle. I remember Symphonia being like that, at least. In this game Caius does the most consistent damage so I stick with him. Your other party members are close to useless. Even if you have their AI set to “protect life” your healers will still heal you only when they feel like it. Meanwhile your attackers will hit the enemy a few times, then run to other side of the screen, then run back and hit them a few times, then run away again… none of which helps them stay alive longer or helps the battle to end faster. So I’d like the battle system to make my ally AI not so horrible and my healers not so stingy with their MP. I’m going to experiment with a few more strategy options and see if that helps any.

The encounter rate is pretty high, but there are items that can fix that. I’m just saving them for the final dungeon which is sure to suck, so I have only myself to blame for that.

All the other aspects of the game have been meh-to-bad so far. The music is ordinary, though I do like the opening thing. The characters are mostly inoffensive, but not particularly likeable. Caius and Rubia feel particularly childish, but this isn’t exactly a bad thing. Tilkis and Albert, why do you guys look so girly? If you have issues, I’ll have you know I’m a very open-minded gamer, wink wink. Forest and Arria, were obviously thrown into the game because it needed more playable characters. They have no real reason for being there, but they don’t get on my nerves either, so they can stick around.

The bad guys are awful. Albert, “I am evil and ambitious”, Lucius, “I am not-so-evil and conflicted,” Rommy, “I am evil and crazy” and their minions make up the bulk of the serious enemies so far. They go down like pussies in battle though, I can’t believe they ever managed to kill anyone. Bunch of worthless sissies. Gotta hope their true motives will be revealed soon because I’m not impressed by what I’ve seen so far. The writers are not trying at all.

Graphics are the meh-est of the mehs. The fields are needlessly large and extremely bland, which is doubly painful when you realize your grandma runs faster than Caius. The trees and other natural features look unnatural. You can’t pass through any forests except one, you have to run around them. You can’t scale any ridges. All the towns have the exact same architecture, just slightly bigger or slightly smaller. Most townspeople have a sickly pink skin color that’s just disturbing. Faces lack detail, even for main characters. Limbs and bodies are blocky and pixelly. Colors aren’t exactly washed out, but they aren’t vibrant either. And so on, and so forth. Again, were they trying?

It’s not a fun game, but it’s not hard to keep going either, so I guess I’ll keep going and see how it all ends. I remember reading somewhere that it’s pretty short, so maybe I’m about halfway through. This shouldn’t take too long if I keep at it. Wish me luck!

Final Fantasy Crystal Chronicles: Echoes of Time

08.04.11 / Action RPG, Nintendo DS, Square-Enix, Video game / Author: / Comments: (0)
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I mentioned that I had started Final Fantasy Crystal Chronicles: Echoes of Time earlier. Well I didn’t get very far before I quit, just about two or three hours into it. I was on Fire Mountain, for those of you familiar with the game.

Why did I quit?

1. Action RPGs are usually not my thing. When I do play them, I like them to be simple affairs like Rune Factory. The minute I start having to think and plan, I get stressed out and frustrated. FFCC:ET was easy enough that I didn’t get wiped out even once, but it was no fun at all.

2. Magic was next to unusable. First you have to select a particular type of magic on the bottom screen, then press a button and align the circle with the enemy, then let go to cast the magic. What if the enemy won’t stay still? What about all the other enemies whaling away at you at the same time? So it’s much faster to just hack away at random.

3. Your allies are confusing and just get in the way. Jumping all over the place like jackrabbits, falling in the water at random, failing to come to your rescue when you need them the most, doing the same thing over and over regardless of which AI strategy you pick, etc, etc. When I tried to pick stuff up, I’d end up picking them up instead. Sometimes enemy drops would end up on their heads and they’d run all over the room with them. Not to mention your allies are characters you create, so they have no personality or relevance to the story at all. I have no idea why they are with you, unless the final boss sent them to sabotage you. I considered ditching them all, but I didn’t have the confidence to go it alone.

4. Story? What story? It’s been a bunch of fetch quests and dungeon crawls so far. This is my first FFCC so far (apart from My Life as a King), so maybe that’s how they all play out. I don’t know, but I don’t like it. I like it even less when the main character has a dream about an evil character, then meets said evil character, then proceeds to do his bidding without stopping to look at the huge, flashing signs saying “VILLAIN ALERT!” “VILLAIN ALERT!” “VILLAIN ALERT!”

5. I hate the dungeon puzzles. In fact, I hate dungeon puzzles in general, especially ones that involve any form of running or jumping or platforming. This is why I can only love Zelda games from afar, i.e. I get other people to play them while I watch. There were all those crate puzzles and block puzzles and set-this-pot-on-fire puzzles in this game, all the things I hate in one convenient package. It’s a wonder I even got as far as Fire Mountain.

6. I don’t know whether it’s an FFCC:ET flaw, or whether it’s more of me just sucking, but the camera is impossible. I kept falling into holes and crevasses because I couldn’t see properly and the camera wouldn’t let me change the view to a more amenable one.

7. The game world is bland and insipid. I was attracted by the cute characters, but once I got in there, it had no content. One village, one city, massive wasteland and no room for new cities as far as I could see. Having the NPCs change their lines from time to time was a nice touch, but they didn’t have anything interesting to say to begin with, so it makes no difference. Plus you can’t enter their houses and plunder their goods either. What, you don’t trust me? I’m hurt. :-(

8. The quests suck, plain and simple.

9. I couldn’t get the hang of the armor and weapon system. Let’s see, you buy them, then you equip them for a while, then they level up, then you take them off and turn them into jewels and equip those jewels on your new weapons and armor and repeat the whole process. It sounded complicated and off-putting. Don’t fiddle with the basics too much.

10.You can’t save at any time. There isn’t even a Quick Save function. Once you enter a dungeon, you have to keep going until you’re right before the boss. If you have to save, then you have to go back to town and do so. When you come back, you have to do aalllll those puzzles all over again. That’s close to a dealbreaker for me. I do most of my gaming late at night before bed, and sometimes I get really sleepy. If you won’t let me save anywhere, then either keep my progress in the dungeon or dole out the save points more generously.

In short, it just wasn’t my kind of game. I’m just glad I didn’t end up wasting more time on a game I wouldn’t have liked anyway.

Real life keeps getting in my way!

17.03.11 / Action RPG, RPG, Strategy RPG, Video game / Author: / Comments: (0)
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It’s been a busy week, but I managed to sneak in some video games here and there. I plugged away at Color Cross and now I’ve unlocked all the big pictures! I only have about 3 puzzles left to go for each category, so maybe I’ll go ahead and finish the game. This is way easier than Picross!

I’m also close to finishing Tactical Guild, which is a terrible game by any standard. It is seriously bad. It does have a certain primitive charm to it, though, and it’s so short that it was almost over before I knew it. More on that when I actually finish it.

Third thing I’m playing, The Kayou Generation. It’s a rhythm/music game along the lines of Ouendan or Elite Beat Agents but far less polished. Fun and addictive in its own way, of course. I’ll probably post about that next.

I also started Saga 3 (Final Fantasy Legend 3) at long last! They’ve made a few changes to the battle system and the graphics look slightly better, but everything else looks the same. I only just started and there was so much talking that I saved and turned the game off first chance I got. I’m not sure I like this new trend where every RPG starts with 30 minutes of straight exposition.

Last thing I’ve been fooling around with, Final Fantasy Crystal Chronicles: Echoes of Time. Yes, it’s an action RPG, yes I do usually avoid those. It looked cute though, and not too hard. I’ve played a few hours, right up to where you’re supposed to kill some monster in the sewer. Then I got too sleepy and had to warp back to town to save and sleep. That was sometime last week, haven’t touched it since.

Of course, playing is one thing and blogging is another, but if you don’t hear from me for a while you’ll know which games to blame.

Deltora Quest – Nanatsu no Houseki

31.01.11 / Action RPG, Japanese, Nintendo DS, Video game / Author: / Comments: (2)
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Now that the DS is winding down in preparation for the release of the 3DS, I’ve been taking the time to go back buy or and pirate those games I’d always meant to try but never had the time or money to.

First on the list is Deltora Quest – Nanatsu no Houseki (the seven treasures). Unfortunately I didn’t get very far with the game. I’d heard a little bit about Deltora Quest here and there, a young adult fantasy series about a blacksmith’s son trying to save the world. I’d even seen an episode of the anime, which was really boring to be quite honest. Still, I’m a fan of RPGs and I’m a fan of fantasy series so I thought I’d give it a shot.

I gave it a shot. For about 30 minutes. 30 minutes of lots of talking, but that’s standard for RPG openings. Only…the story wasn’t very interesting. Neither were the characters. The character design was squat and ugly and the graphics were meh. Well, it was an early DS release. As such it also suffers from that terrible habit early developers had of making all the controls touchscreen only. In short, it read horribly, looked horrible and played horribly. Plus it was an action RPG, which I tend to dislike unless something really stands out in the game.

In short, I can’t really give a review of this game. It is so not my sort of game that I really couldn’t keep going. Delete, move on to next.

Recettear – Finished!

26.01.11 / Action RPG, Simulation game, Video game / Author: / Comments: (0)
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Well, finished everything except for Crystal Nightmare, that is. Doing suicide runs with Louie is more stressful than fun, and the rewards aren’t that great anyway. I hate games with poor item drops, they just stress me out.

But anyway, I spent quite a bit of the New Year playing Recettear – An Item Shop’s Tale, so I thought I should at least give it a brief mention here. It’s a really cute, fun game, and both the store-running and the dungeon-crawling aspects have just enough challenge to be fun but not rewarding. I used to hate dungeon-crawlers, but Rune Factory changed all that. Now I’ve been looking for more to play through, I’m thinking of trying Shiren the Wanderer next.

Anyway, story… Recette Lemongrass’s dad disappeared and left her with debt. The debt-collector, Tear, suggests she open a store and use the profits to pay off the loan. They open the store together, hence Recettear. And that’s pretty much it to the story. You pay back the loan pretty quickly and then you can either play all over again or you can continue until you get tired. Along the way you pick up a few adventurers you can visit dungeons with, picking up stuff to either sell in your store or fuse with.

Like I said, it’s a cute game, it’s fun and the challenge level is moderate (except Crystal Nightmare). The characters are likeable and memorable and some of the dialogue is outright hilarious. The only thing that stopped me from enjoying it more was that I’ve played a number of similar games over the past few years, so both the concept and the execution didn’t feel that fresh to me. I’m talking games like Atelier Viorate, Lemuore no Renkinjutsushi and Harvest Moon: Grand Bazaar, where you make stuff, forage for stuff, sell stuff, etc. The unrewarding nature of the dungeons in Recettear made it lag behind the other games when it comes to fusing items, but unlike them you can get filthy rich just by retailing stuff from the main stores. The game interface is far more polished than Lemuore’s, and the selling mechanics are deeper than Grand Bazaar’s.

All in all I had a good time both selling stuff and plundering the dungeons. I think I got filthy rich a little too quickly, which meant I bought excellent equipment for my adventurer too quickly, which meant I finished the dungeons really quickly, but while it lasted it was great fun. I hear the localizers plans to bring over another game by the same company, called Chantelise. More stuff to look forward to in 2011.

Speaking of localization, Luminous Arc 3 is never coming out in the West, is it? And now Imageepoch is making games for the PSP instead. Goodbye, Luminous Arc. You’ll be missed!

Rune Factory 3: Character introductions

02.11.10 / Action RPG, Harvest Moon, Japanese, Marvelous, Nintendo DS, Romance game, Rune Factory, Simulation game, Video game / Author: / Comments: (2)
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Somewhere in my heart I’m not quite ready to let RF3 go yet, though I am looking forward to the upcoming “Twin Villages“. So while there’s still lingering affection in my heart for this game, I thought I’d do a quick write-up of the villagers in the game (excluding the marriage candidates) and their likes and dislikes. If I still feel up to it later I’ll do the marriage candidates as well.

Wells

Head of the village. Monica and Shia’s grandfather. Dislikes monsters but is generally a good guy.

Birthday: Winter 19
Favorites: Dango (だんご), expensive flowers (高級な花), mago no te (まごの手).
Also likes: Japanese food, grilled fish, sashimi, ordinary flowers.
Hates: Jams, cakes.

Monica

Wells’ granddaughter, Shia’s little sister. Cries easily and has a penchant for biting. Dislikes anyone who takes Shia’s attention away from her.

Birthday: Spring 26
Favorites: Expensive flowers (高級な花), rings, arm rings and other accessories.
Also likes: Jewels, knit items, ordinary flowers.
Hates: Fish, sashimi (刺身), grilled fish.

Gaji

Touna’s guardian/brother figure. Owns the weapon store. A quiet considerate guy who understands more than he usually lets on.

Birthday: Summer 12
Favorites: Curry udon (カレーうどん), gold (金), platina (プラチナ).
Also likes: Metal ore (including junk ore), udon dishes.
Hates: Sashimi (刺身).

Gluten

Father of Chocola and Rusk. Runs the town restaurant. His cooking is so good travelers come from far away to try it. Likes chocolate so much he named his daughter after it. No, seriously.

Birthday: Fall 10
Favorites: Chocolate cake (チョコレートケーキ), hot chocolate (ホットチョコレート), chocolate cookies (チョコクッキー).
Also likes: Sweet snacks, honey (ハチミツ), chocolate (チョコレート).
Hates: Wine (お酒).

Rusk

Gluten’s son, Chocola’s younger brother. A notoriously finicky eater who hates vegetables of all kinds but loves sweets.

Birthday: Spring 26
Favorites: Chocolate cake (チョコレートケーキ), hot chocolate (ホットチョコレート), chocolate cookies (チョコクッキー).
Also likes: Sweet snacks, honey (ハチミツ), chocolate (チョコレート).
Hates: Vegetables.

Marjorie

Marion’s wise grandma. A sensible old lady with a wealth of knowledge about magic and medicines. Will revive you if you pass out (for a healthy sum of money).

Birthday: Winter 11
Favorites: Relax tea leaves (リラックス茶の葉), relax tea (リラックスティー).
Also likes: Colored grasses.
Hates: Cheese (チーズ) and cheese dishes.

Hazel

Karin’s hot but sharp-tongued mother. She’s openly critical of her daughter but really loves her and wants what’s best for her.

Birthday: Spring 8
Favorites: Diamonds (ダイヤモンド), diamond ring (ダイヤモンドの指輪), diamond brooch (ダイヤモンドブローチ).
Also likes: Vegetables, cakes
Hates: Desert fish (砂漠の魚) and desert fish dishes.

Don Charcos

What’s Rune Factory without a fat, food-loving rich guy? Don Charcos is Eliza and Sophia’s dad. Like Sophia he has a habit of saying the opposite of whatever he means.

Birthday: Summer 8
Favorites: Fried sand flounder (焼き砂ヒラメ), boiled rockfish (岩石魚の煮付け).
Also likes: All cooked food.
Hates: Ores.

Eliza

Don Charcos’s daughter, Sophia’s older sister. A fashion designer with a very unique sense of fashion, Eliza also runs a store that sells home furniture and clothes. She’s got a very nice, mature personality, I really wish she was a marriage candidate.

Birthday: Spring 21
Favorites: High quality fur (上質の毛皮), ball of wool (毛糸玉).
Also likes: Sheep down (モコ綿), pretty spider silk (キレイなクモ糸), fish.
Hates: Mushrooms (きのこ).

Shinonome

Runs the local inn and bathhouse. Smiles a lot but is tougher than she looks.

Birthday: Winter 26
Favorites: All sashimi (刺身).
Also likes: Mushrooms (キノコ).
Hates: Fruits and fruit dishes.

Carlos

Aion’s overprotective, overloving big brother. Has a sunny, thoughtless personality. Loves fishing and runs the fishing hole with his sister.

Birthday: Summer 3
Favorites: Shining tai (カガヤキタイ), tokimeki tai (トキメキタイ) and all tai (sea bream) dishes.
Also likes: Fish.
Hates: Bread (パン) and bread dishes.

Ondolfar

One of the horned people. A bookish, knowledgeable guy who supports Cururufar from behind.

Birthday: Summer 30
Favorites: Premonition of love (恋の予感), gold juice (ゴールドジュース), rune staff (ルーンスタッフ), magic broom (魔法のほうき).
Also likes: All juices and staves.
Hates: Items dropped by monsters.

Zeze

Hyperactive dwarf who lives in the monster village. Kinda cute, really.

Birthday: Fall 26
Favorites: Tempura udon (天ぷらうどん).
Also likes: All udon dishes.
Hates: Sweet dishes.

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