It’s a little late, but Happy New Year!
Now, straight to business. What am I playing this year? Last year’s resolutions were a bit of a disaster. I packed the list with games I’d “always wanted to try,” little realizing that the real reason I’d never actually tried the games I’d “always wanted to try” is because somewhere deep inside, I didn’t really want to try them. Although I only ended up playing three of those last year, with the exception of Monster Hunter*, I will probably play all those games one day. However I see no reason to deceive myself or anyone else by listing any more “always meant to try” games this year.
After all, I had much greater success with my half-year resolutions, when I put down stuff I was eager to, or at least fairly interested in playing. That’s what I’m going to do this time. Taking a leaf from that book, I will also limit the list to 6 items, for now.
Enough with the preliminaries. Here’s what I’m looking to play.
1. Conception: Ore no Kodomo wo Unde Kure (PSP) – A dungeon-crawler with a relationship aspect, if I recall correctly. I’ve steered clear of spoilers as much as possible, but it’s a game I’ve been wanting to play for a long, long time. Why I’ve held off so long, I don’t know, but I’m going to rectify that as soon as I can.
2. Tokimeki Memorial 2 (PSX) – I’m still waiting for the announcement of either TM5 or TMGS4. In the meantime, I’m going to pass the time by finishing off the only game in the series I haven’t played. Something tells me I’ve actually tried this game before, but I don’t remember when or why I didn’t get anywhere (bad sign?) so it’s time to do a proper job of it.
3. Atelier Lilie (PS2) – The only non-PS3 Atelier I haven’t played. Actually, I’ve tried it before. And uhh, I didn’t get very far. Aaand I didn’t like it very much. Buuut it’s very likely I was playing it wrong, trying to blaze through a game where you’re meant to slow down and think before you move, paying careful attention to what NPCs tell you. The same thing happened to me with Atelier Lina, where I tried a little bit then went on a rampage when it didn’t immediately ‘click.’ I ended up loving that game, so it’s likely I’ll do much better with Lilie too.
4. Castlevania: Dawn of Sorrow (DS) – Ore ga Omae wo Mamoru opened my eyes to the world of Metroidvania games, which I’d like to explore a little further. I was told by that a trusted source that, “Even you can play this game,” so I will proceed to do just that. By the way, this trusted source was the same one who recommended TWEWY and Earthbound, and we all know how those turned out. Third time’s the charm? We’ll see.
5. Rune Factory: Tides of Destiny (Wii) – I started it right after Rune Factory: Frontier, decided it was a little too soon and benched it for a while. The colors look messy and garish on my ancient 21-inch TV too. I don’t quite know what to do about it, but maybe 2014 will be the year I finally upgrade my TV? <_< with whose money? Still, I know I’ll have an RF/HM craving before too long, and this will be there to meet that need.
6. Dragon Shadow Spell (PS2) – Assuming the PS2 doesn’t flatline on me before I can get to it, that is. A colorful and dramatic SRPG from the sadly-missed Flight Plan. I started this several years ago. The gameplay was nice, but the story seemed really complicated, and I wasn’t in the mood for that. But if my PS2 is on its last legs, then I definitely want to play this before it goes.
There. I’ll start off with these for now. As usual, all this assumes I’ll have the time and strength and the same interest in games all the way through the year. It’s funny, I was only half-serious last year when I said I was looking to quit gaming. But once I got the thought out there, suddenly it started sounding more and more feasible, even desirable. On the other hand, that didn’t stop me from playing at least 44 (o____o I must have counted wrong) different games last year, so I wouldn’t take myself too seriously just yet.
The list doesn’t include titles I’ve already started like Tales of Legendia or Arc the Lad: Twilight of the Spirits. It also doesn’t include those games I’d agreed to give a final chance to, like Disgaea, Avalon Code and the first Shiren the Wanderer game, so I’ve already got more than enough to keep me busy for the next 6 months at least. If I’ve made good progress by that point, I’ll add some more games halfway through the year. Have a good one!
* Re: Monster Hunter: Nothing against it. I just spent the holidays watching my brother play Monster Hunter: Tri on the Wii. It’s a good “spectator game,” if there’s such a term, but the more I saw of it, the less I could see myself playing it. It’s too stressful! And they’re so stingy with the rewards! I have better things to do than spend a whole day cutting off Rathian tails looking for a Plate.
I’m interested in knowing whether the original Conception is any good now that Atlus has announced localization of the sequel (well, that was unexpected)
As far as Metroidvania goes, I always thought most people would recommend the original Symphony of The Night (which isn’t a hard game either, the only game in the series that’s hard would be Order of Eccelstiraosiqwoieqwoe however you spell that)
I heard about the localization as well, but it seemed like the kind of thing Atlus would be into (teens, dungeon crawlers, slightly suggestive themes) so I wasn’t surprised.
I’ll be sure to leave Ecclesia till last, assuming I even like any of the other games.
Ah, Conception. I had fun with it for the first 20 or so hours thanks to the novelty of the battle system and child-making, but it isn’t exactly the kind of game that remains interesting after 80 hours of getting all endings, defeating all bosses, etc. etc. To be fair, my impression of the game would probably been better had I stopped after clearing each dungeon once and gotten one ending.
That’s how I usually play games anyway. It’s the rare, rare game that motivates me to 100% completion. If Conception is even slightly good as a dungeon crawler and the characters aren’t too annoying, I think I’ll enjoy myself.
As long as you’re planning on tackling the Castlevania series, I’d recommend Aria of Sorrow as well on the GBA. It’s the prequel to Dawn of Sorrow.
And yes. ORDER OF ECCLESIA, you NEED to play that.
Now, Dragon Shadow Spell. Being a complete Flight Plan nut, I had downloaded and burned the game from various sources but all attempts failed. My PS2 simply refused to load that game. Hope you’ll review that one and I’m looking forward to it :p
I like to play things in order, so if Aria of Sorrow is the prequel then I’ll start with that.
As for Dragon Shadow Spell, it worked just great last time I tried it (which was a couple of years ago, tbh). If I play it I’ll definitely review it. Count on it.
The Metroidvania order by order of release btw is
Symphony of the Night -> Circle of the Moon (clunky and flawed, but for whatever reason I still liked it) -> Harmony of Dissonance (REALLY don’t like this one) Aria of Sorrow -> Dawn of Sorrow -> Portrait of Ruin -> Order Of E
I’ll note that SoTN -> AoS -> DoS has the strongest “plot” connections. Maybe PoR. Everything else is almost standalone or has been retconned out of existence.
Looks like starting with AoS is the right decision. I like to go in order, but I don’t want to go so far back that I turn myself off either.
Well, Symphony Of The Night is actually more advanced than CoTM, HoD actually, because it was a PSX game and the 3 games that came after it since those were on GBA.
In fact I still think it’s much bigger than most of the games that came after it.
Symphony of the Night = PSX game. Suddenly jumping into a console game = hurdle is high.
CotM = “clunky and flawed” by your own admission.
HoD = you “really didn’t like this one.”
By your own words they have been condemned. >:D
Don’t worry, I’ll get back to them eventually if AoS works out.