Hiatus...

To whoever reads this blog, 

I'll be going on hiatus for a while, so unfortunately, Walking Dead Month will be postponed. I'll probably be back in a month or two, so stay tuned!

Walking Dead Month!

From http://www.twdenthusiasts.com/2013/02/february-giveaway-the-walking-dead-game-steam-telltale-games/

In celebration of The Walking Dead: Season 2 coming out, I've decided to spend the entire month releasing Walking Dead blog posts, starting with a review of the entirety of Season 1! So, we'll have a double-feature this week to make up for last week, and then one post every week after. See you soon!

P.S. This is totally not an excuse to gush over Season 1. It was so good...er, no gushing.

The Walking Dead: Season 1 Review

From http://8-bitgirl.blogspot.com/2013/01/the-walking-dead-game-review.html

[WARNING: Spoilers to follow about The Walking Dead: Season 1)

I’m done. I’m done, man.

Holy crap. That ending.

The Walking Dead was amazing. Regardless of the any issues that the game had at times (which were frustrating at times), the story was fantastic, and that was the driving force of the entire game. 

I’ll be reviewing the game primarily on the story, mostly because I’ve covered the other qualities that the game has in the first episode, and it stays mostly consistent the whole way through (the issues, too, though I noticed they aren’t as bad in the final episode, at least for me).

The story of The Walking Dead: Season 1 moves along at a pretty fast pace, though it won’t seem like it as you go through the episodes.  It’s interesting that the season doesn’t just focus on one big tale per episode over a big, long 5-episode arc like, say Sam & Max. At least, not entirely. No, it’s a story that moves from event to event, understandable given the setting and the circumstances. The zombies are a major danger – the characters have to keep moving in order to survive. People join the group, people are lost….it happens a lot throughout the game. Like other works like Frankenstein, Night of the Living Dead, or 28 Days Later, it sometimes makes us ask who the real danger is, who the real monsters are – is it really the zombies? Or is it us?

Episode 1, being the beginning, gets you used to things and how the game will go. You are introduced to the setting, the apocalyptic world that you’re put in. You get used to bonding with people that you think might be with you through the whole season, but they won’t. At least, most of them won’t. You get to start bonding with Clementine, and you learn more about yourself and the others. The game also introduces you to the choice system, which can change your relationships with other people. You’ll have to choose to save the lives of certain characters, like Doug and Carley.  Though it only happens twice in this episode, it’s only a taste of what’s to come. This was only the beginning. Most importantly, the choice system defines who you are and what you’d do, if you choose honestly.  Overall, the first episode is a great set-up to what will feel like a long journey.

Episode 2 moves forward to three months later, where it ups the ante, and forces you to take sides. You can only be in the middle for so long, because there will be a point in the game where things come to a head, and you have to pick one person’s side over the other. And that is the one of the defining moments in the game. It’s great, honestly, though there is one new character – Mark – that I wish we got to know better. He’s introduced so suddenly, and is taken away just as suddenly, which kind of makes it feel like he was just there to die so that the others could live instead in the whole carnivore plot at the dairy farm. The impact of his loss, while strong, could have been stronger if we had just gotten to know him longer. Plus, we learn about this whole military base side-plot that we were never a part of, which is slightly disappointing. 

Episode 3 maintains, or even heightens the tension from the previous episode as things get really bad at the motor inn, the main “safe” haven of the group. It questions our trust of people who we’ve gotten to know, and things, like before, come to another head. While the episode is more of a transitional point to the next episode, but it still comes out pretty well. People come and go, sadly, as they often do in this game. And the train gets moving...

(P.S. I liked the references they made to the dumb radio puzzle back in the first episode)

Episode 4 puts Lee and the group in a new place- Savannah, Georgia. There, a lot of the story is devoted to finding a way out of Savannah. Trust again becomes an issue in this episode, but between Lee and Clementine, due to the sudden appearance of this seriously creepy stranger. Finally, as they accomplish their task in getting a boat that they discover in working condition, another problem occurs – Clem’s gone. The end of the episode is a prelude to the final episode, and Lee gets bit.

Episode 5, aptly titled “No Time Left”, is Lee’s final mission to save Clementine from the hands of the stranger. You go through a lot of trials, and there are several indicators that remind you that the clock’s ticking. Lee, and in turn, you, don’t have much time left before turning into a walker. When you finally get to your destination after a visceral sequence that shows just how far Lee’s willing to go to save her, you finally meet the man who has Clementine. The stranger questions the choices that you’ve made thus far, criticizing them, and you have to answer for them. Why did you do the things that you did? Was it justified? Was it alright? And you find out that you may have helped to ruin this guy’s life, directly or indirectly. It’s a heavy sequence, yeah, but not as hard as what comes afterward.

The ending, man. Geez, that ending. It’s heartbreaking. Just…heartbreaking. I can’t, man.

It’s tragic, but genius. It’s painful and tear-jerking in all the right ways, if that makes any sense. It’s amazing. There was no better way to end the tale, and from the outset, you know that this story won’t end well.

And it doesn’t.

Just a quick note about the choice system: I’ve seen some complaints saying that the choices you make in the game don’t really matter. But they kinda do. Though Telltale Games wants to tell its own story, it manages to tell one that adapts to your choices. Like I mentioned before, you do affect your relationships with others, with Clementine, and save or kill others in the process.  You change the way people look at you by what you say or do. Sure, the choices aren’t meteoric, and the main tale is still told, things do change from player to player. As a result, each player’s experience of The Walking Dead won’t be exactly the same. It’s the little touches that make your own experience of the game so special.

The gameplay mainly consists of puzzle-solving, QTE, and decision-making, which is fine, considering that this is more of an adventure game than a puzzle game. The puzzles are there to both help in the development of your own character, Lee, at times, and to progress in the story (obviously). The QTEs are often done during action sequences, which do heighten the tension a little bit, and aren’t totally overdone. The decision-making is, like I mentioned before, the crux of the game due to it's story-bending ways, and it’s quite good, letting you personalize both Lee and your own journey by doing the things I mentioned before with the choice system.

I’ve also mentioned this before, but on my playthrough of the game on the PS3, I experienced some bad lags, screen-tearing, points where the game wouldn’t load for me, some glitches – one that’s really bad, too, where I couldn’t even move Lee in Episode 3. It’s a shame, since I really wanted to keep playing. However, they aren’t too much harm to the game. They don’t happen constantly, but they can be very deterring.

I’m glad I didn’t play the game the way it was originally released last year – episodes released every couple of months. By experiencing the whole ride in a short amount of time, I got the experience the full impact that the game provides – no long stops in-between to forget anything important, no cliffhangers (well…), none of that. I have to admit, however, that it’s a lot to take in by not doing so. I don’t know if I want to start playing The Walking Dead: Season 2 so immediately (since it apparently comes out this month! Awesome!), and have to wait so long just to continue to the next episode.

This game shows why video games can be so incredible. Because it is incredible.

9.5/10 - Incredible 

The Walking Dead: Season One - Episode 1 ("A New Day") Review

From http://www.digitaltrends.com/gaming/telltale-games-ceo-dan-connors-on-the-walking-dead-fables-and-building-a-television-studio-model-for-games/

So, in celebration of the announcement for The Walking Dead: Season Two by the awesome Telltale Games (I loved the Sam & Max series!), I’ve decided to visit Season One of The Walking Dead on PS3. Here we go!

Episode One: “A New Day”

Gameplay:

Things start off peacefully, for the most part. You play as criminal Lee Everett, sitting in a police car, speaking with the officer that’s driving you. It’s then that you get to explore the dialogue/choice tree system that the game offers. This is the crux of the game, because what you pick to do or say decides how the narrative will go, and what characters survive. And you never know which choice is the “right” one, because it questions your own values and morals.

Normally, the controls would be point-and-click, as usual adventure games on the PC go. But as this is the console version, you’re allowed to move using the left analog stick on the PS3 controller, and examine/do things by moving a mouse-like target with the right stick. You can make decisions/actions using the PS3 buttons.

During the action-filled moments, it can get quite quick-timey. However, these moments are fleeting, and as a result, don’t really hinder the game. In fact, they sort of help to add to the tension during these sequences, and the tension can get even higher when the choice system gets involved.  

There are puzzles (as there often are in Telltale games) that you need to solve in order to progress the story. For the most part, these puzzles worked, and worked well; for example, there is one puzzle sequence where you try to defeat all the zombies. You strategically take out the zombies one-by-one, and it’s great. There is only one puzzle that completely falls flat during the game, that really hurts one the intelligence of one the characters. They don’t know how to work a radio, and it’s up to us to fix it. It’s honestly a stupid puzzle.

Story:

I don’t want to spoil anything, but in just one episode, a lot happens. We get introduced to the character of Lee Everett, even find out about his own background, and meet many interesting characters, each with their own motivations and personality. The bond between Lee and Clementine, a young girl who appears early in the beginning, is often touching and a bit emotional. Overall the story goes along great, hitting exciting or sad beats with ease. There are no truly middling or uninteresting moments, and the tale moves at a relatively quick pace.  The episode ends on a cliffhanger and shows you a preview for Episode Two, making you excited for what the next episode will bring.

Graphics:

It looks good. It has its own almost comic book-like style to it (which is really cool), and can be very expressive in showing each character’s emotions and feelings. The only issue that I really had was that the game could lag really, really badly at points, and the animations could be stiff and sudden, which is a bit jarring.

Audio:

The voice-acting is very well done, expressing the emotion and personality that players need to believe that these characters are real. The music keeps the tension going, and helps the story move along, as there are quiet moments, adrenaline-filled moments, creepy/scary moments, etc., and the sounds/sound effects all support those beats.

Lasting Appeal:

Really, the episode only takes a couple of hours to complete. If I didn’t have other things to do, this would have taken 1-2 sittings at the most.  You might want to replay this game to explore different choices that you could’ve made, but I would recommend doing so only after you’ve completed all 5 episodes, so that way you can see how your decisions affect the story up ‘til the end.  

---------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------

Overall, I was pretty satisfied with my playthrough of the game. It wasn’t perfect, but it was pretty darn good, and very fun to play.

8.5/10 - Great

Magic Moments: Vs. Red

[NOTE: SPOILERS regarding post-game content for Pokemon Gold, Silver, and Crystal, and that includes the remakes)

The 2^nd generation Pokemon games – Gold, Silver, and Crystal – were brilliant. The games refined, added, and improved upon what made Pokemon Red and Blue (or Green, if you played the Japanese version) so good. More moves, more Pokemon, new types, Pokemon breeding, better sprites, holding items, the Pokegear, in-game clocks that changed day into night and vice versa, specialized Pokeballs, berries, the list goes on and on.

One of the coolest ever features to come out of the 2^nd generation of games was the ability to travel to a different region – in this case, a previous region, Kanto. It’s awesome that you’re not only given the opportunity to travel to a new land, but one where you can fight more gym leaders and prove yourself to be the champion of both regions! It was a stunning idea; one that, unfortunately, hasn’t continued on in later generations, (aside from HeartGold and SoulSilver, which are just remakes of Gold and Silver, albeit great remakes).

To return to Kanto in particular was a great move by the developers. It affected two different kinds of gamers – the players who had played Pokemon Red and Blue (or the remakes FireRed and LeafGreen), and those that did not.  The players who had never played Red and Blue before were allowed to travel to an entirely new region filled with new places to visit and new trainers to battle, which is really impressive. For the players who had played the previous generation of Pokemon games, by going to Kanto, they received a fantastic nostalgia trip through memory lane, as they went against past trainers that they previously fought and saw familiar locations and people. They could also see what’s changed in the time since they visited Kanto through Red and Blue. It was a win-win situation for both kinds, really.

The best part of this re-visitation was the chance to battle the ultimate trainer – Red, previous Champion of Kanto, and your avatar back in Red and Blue, and its remakes.

You’ve probably noticed by now that this moment is more important to those who had played Red and Blue (or FireRed and, in my case, LeafGreen) than those who hadn’t. I mean, those who never got to be Red in the original games won’t get the full impact of fighting him, but it will still be a great, fun challenge. But to the veterans, it just meant so much more.

It blew my mind when I realized I was fighting Red back in the day, and I still think it’s such a cool idea that we got to. In the original games and the remakes, we were Red. We experienced everything as him and with him. We had caught and raised Pokemon together. We had overcome many challenges together. We fought a multitude of skilled trainers – the gym leaders, the Elite 4, even the Champ, together. And together with Red, we became Champions ourselves. We developed a bond with him because he was both our guide and our partner. He helped us become involved and immersed in the world of Pokemon, and we were with him from the beginning to the end of the journey.

And so, fighting him was an incredible experience. From a different perspective, through the eyes of another up-and-coming Pokemon trainer, we got to see what Red became after we left – an amazing opponent, and a fantastic trainer. The very best, like no one ever was. And we got to battle him. In a way, we were also fighting ourselves. And we got the chance to prove that we were better than ever before.

And that's a magic moment. 

Reminiscing: The Original Spyro Trilogy

[Reminiscing is a series I’d like to start doing as a way to remember all the games I’ve played over the years. These aren’t reviews, but remembrances - memories of my experiences. A long time has passed since I’ve played some of these games, so I don’t think I can be as detailed or perhaps as accurate as I would like, but I hope this turns out well.]

It’s been a long time since I last played the original Spyro games. Like, 2-3 years or so? I loved playing the games, and I even got to 100% completion on all of them! The games had a certain magic that just couldn’t be compared to, say, Crash Bandicoot 2: Cortex Strikes Back (the only Crash game I’ve played in the original PS1 trilogy). Not to say that Crash Bandicoot 2 or the Crash Bandicoot series in general isn’t good, but it just didn’t hook me or affect me as much as the original Spyro trilogy did.

My love for the series as it is now is interesting in that in the beginning, I didn’t like what I played. Spyro the Dragon was the first game I played in the series when I was around 10 years old, and at the time, I remember not understanding what was going on all that much and being a bit confused as to what was going on. Chasing after dragon eggs didn’t really appeal to the me who was used to adventure games like The Legend of Zelda or roleplaying games like Final Fantasy IX (my favorite Final Fantasy of all time, by the way) and Pokemon. I think I was too young to really get and appreciate what was there at the time – a good beginning to a great trilogy.

It would be a couple years later, when I was 13-15 years-old, when I would decide to try Spyro 2: Ripto’s Rage! on PSN. This was the game that got truly me hooked to the Spyro series.  From the exciting worlds you could explore, the abilities you could unlock, the great boss battles you had, and the excellent humor and charm, it was just good times. The final battle with Ripto was slightly less awesome than I would’ve liked it to be, though, because…

[SPOILER WARNING] though it was exciting and fun, the issue with the fight was that it relied less on Spyro’s own abilities and more from the energy balls or whatever that you could pick up and use on Ripto. [END SPOILER WARNING]

Otherwise, Spyro 2 came off to me as a really amazing game. I had to play more.

I picked up Spyro: Year of the Dragon (basically Spyro 3) afterward on PSN. I was excited, and I went in with high expectations. If Spyro 2 could be so good, Spyro 3 had to be amazing, right? Listening to some of the music pumped me up, too. It sounded FANTASTIC! I was so hyped.

In the end, I left mostly satisfied. It was a great game! The worlds were great, the characters were funny and interesting, the different missions were fun, skateboarding was awesome, and the gameplay of most of the new characters were entertaining. However, there were 2 frustrations I had with the game and one disappointment.

This first frustration I had with the game was purely my own fault. Remember when I said that I managed to get to 100% completion on all of the Spyro games? Well, while I was trying to get 100% completion on Year of the Dragon I was constantly frustrated by my inability to complete certain missions. It drove me crazy! I just wanted to completely finish the game, you know? I really thought I could reach that 100%, and eventually I did, but trying to complete it all the way almost ruined the game for me.

The second frustration I had was with the gameplay of one of the characters: Agent 9. I’ll be honest, I was frustrated by some of the shooting segments featured in Agent 9’s levels (though the music was so rad). I absolutely grew to hate these sections. They would have barrages of enemies coming at you, and I would be completely overwhelmed at times, which meant I had to play that section over and over and over again. It just wasn’t that fun.

Lastly, if there is any disappointment of the game I remember having, it is regarding the endgame boss fight with The Sorceress. In the last battle, the song from the very first hub world, Sunrise Spring, plays, and if you don’t know what that sounds like, it’s like this:

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=XisEmbOZo_Q (posted by yearofthe)

This is completely inappropriate for a final boss battle! The feeling of challenge, of danger, of excitement, of tension is completely lost with this song. And it ruined the boss fight for me. What made it worse is that the actual song for this battle sounds like this:

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=mmHScpFsD_0 (posted by CrystalFissure)

That is glorious. And depressing that it didn’t play in my version of the game (it only plays on the Greatest Hits version of Year of the Dragon, while the PAL version features the song “Spike’s Arena”, which is also heavy with tension and more appropriate than frickin’ “Sunrise Spring”). The extra boss fight after endgame is great, but it just couldn’t make up for the terrible mistake that final boss battle had.

I went back to the game that started it all and picked up the original Spyro off PSN too, since I had lost the original PS1 disc while moving to a new neighborhood. It wasn’t as annoying or confusing as I had originally remembered it to be. It was a really fun experience, and it was quite a charming game, but it lacked some improvements or worlds that made its sequel so special to me. The bonus world was great fun, though.

In the end, I’m left with a very good trilogy of games with a few flaws, but what game is perfect? Insomniac did fantastic work, and I left the trilogy feeling impressed and mostly satisfied with the comedy, the fun action and platforming, the awesome levels/worlds, the addictive music, and the good times that were had.

My Experience with: Yakuza 3 - Chapter 3

Chapter 3 is where the game really starts to open up. There were no barriers blocking me from exploring Downtown Ryukyu this time, and there were many things to see and encounter. Being more expansive, Chapter 3 took me 3-4 hours to get through.

The theme of family is again present throughout this chapter, from the main stories featured in the chapter, to the sub-stories that I experienced while exploring the city. It’s great, really – it can definitely get very emotional at times. There are scenes between the kids where I just had to go “Awwwww” again. The feels, man. The feels.

I took fishing for the second time, equipped with 3 worms to use as bait. I managed to catch 2 things, this time – a coral branch and a porcupine fish. Success! I managed to adjust to the fishing system – which is pretty natural; it’s similar to what you’d do in real life, I would think (don’t let the line slack too hard, but don’t let it get too tense, either), and the music that plays when you catch something on your fishing hook definitely pumps up the action.

I also got to play virtual golf, which is actually part of the main plot in this chapter. I would probably describe the gameplay of golf to be a more sophisticated version of the golf game from Wii Sports, in that there are bars to measure how much power you put into your shots, different golf clubs to use depending on the distance, etc. I like the fact that there’s no music while playing. The ambience felt very nice and somewhat calming, but it would be frustrating when I kept hitting out-of-bounds. I wasn’t too good at playing golf – I would often have to redo my shots, which you’re allowed to do. Maybe it was because I wasn’t that good at it, but I just felt like the golf game was okay. Not amazing, just decent.

Like I said before, I had access to most of, if not all of Downtown Ryukyu, and took a lot of time exploring the stores and side-missions. There was a side-story where I encountered some con men (I didn’t fall victim to their tactics, of course!), and one where I rescued a street musician.

There was an interesting side-story where I met a girl named Mika while going to get a bite to eat at a fast-food restaurant (and recover my health), Smile Burger. It was interesting, as she asked me on a date. I ended going up on 2 dates with her – one to a restaurant and one to a karaoke box. When you do karaoke, you play a rhythm game. I’ll be honest, I was pretty terrible, and I had 2 tries (I did better later, though). I remember two things: “Tone deaf”, and “Are…are you all right?” Enough said. Anyway, after fighting her family bodyguard and finishing her story, we faded out of the sidewalk and faded into the outside of the “Casual Hotel” Urban Castle…  

Then I got an appreciative message from her. Yes! Totally worth it for the message!

Of course, I got into more battles, but by this point, I’m sure you have a good idea of how it went. There was actually one really funny moment where one guy who stops me while I’m running goes and tells me he’s been having a pretty bad day. And so he says, “Do you mind if we take out our aggression on you?” before he and his pals gang up on me. Really? Oh well.

The most notable battle was the boss fight, which was actually pretty hard; the dude kept blocking. And the boss used weapons this time, which made him much more difficult to defeat. I ended up using half/most of the food in my inventory to heal myself, which had to happen quite often as I receive some brutal beat-downs. It was tough, but I made it.

By this chapter, you should have a pretty good idea of what’s going on, and how it ties in with the prologue. Things are getting more and more interesting… Anyway, you’ll hopefully know what to expect in the early parts of Yakuza 3 by this point, and this is a game I definitely recommend playing. A review might be written in the future when I’m finished with the game, so stay tuned!

5 Reasons why Kingdom Hearts HD 1.5 Remix Should’ve Had 358/2 Days Playable

I was hooked from the moment the first Kingdom Hearts started playing, and the series has been a part of my life ever since.

I’ve managed to play most of the Kingdom Hearts games in the past few years, from Birth by Sleep all the way to Kingdom Hearts II, though I’ve missed a few games such as Dream Drop Distance. It’s hard to keep up with a series that gets around to so many consoles, and I think that’s an issue that the series has, especially when the story progressed a bit on many of these spin-offs (Chain of Memories is a prime offender in that regard, if it’s considered a spin-off, since you NEED to know what happened in that game to get a better understanding of what happens in Kingdom Hearts II).

This new HD collection of Kingdom Hearts, Kingdom Hearts HD 1.5 Remix, sounds awesome. It’s got the never-before-released-in-the-US Final Mix edition of the original game, which will let me walk down memory lane, and Re: Chain of Memories, which I never played (though I did play the GBA version), and have always been interested in playing. I’d love to pick up this collection one of these days. It’d be great to play these two games, but…

Why did 358/2 Days, the third “game” in the collection, have to be just HD cut-scenes? In all honesty, the package would have been so much better and much more appealing if the game had been playable, and here are 5 reasons why:

1.       Gameplay  - Obviously, being made into a collection of cut-scenes, you lose the gameplay aspect of 358/2 Days – basically what makes this a game. You couldn’t just conclude that, “Hey, 358/2 Days is like the gameplay of Kingdom Hearts, so I’m not missing much”. You lose so much by not making this a game. You lose the customizability that 358/2 Days offered (the Panel System was great, allowing you to upgrade yourself with panels, or customize your Keyblade, etc.), you lose the missions you could’ve completed (with or without friends – a point I’ll bring up later), you lose the boss fights you could’ve played, you lose the worlds you could’ve explored in, and most importantly….

2.       Interactivity – As cut-scenes, you lose the interactivity that you would have playing a video game. You lose something that would’ve made you feel like you were a part of the story more. There’s a disconnect between you and Roxas now; you’re separate people. He is no longer your avatar into the world of Kingdom Hearts. How else can you feel the exhilaration or difficulty facing enemies such as the Heartless or bosses? Plus, You wouldn’t be able to feel as connected to characters who you fight together with in missions in the game, like Xion.  

3.       Multiplayer – By removing the gameplay aspect of 358/2 Days, you’re also stripping away one very enticing feature – multiplayer. How cool would it have been to play Kingdom Hearts 358/2 Days with friends? Finishing missions together, fighting bosses together, etc., etc. The appeal is apparent. It would have been really cool, since there are only 2 games I can think of in the series that features multiplayer (358/2 Days and Birth by Sleep).

4.       Revision/Expansion – The problem with making 358/2 Days into nothing but cut-scenes is that you also take away to opportunity to make better and expand upon what was already there. You could create longer, more exciting missions (removing the potential issue of missions being too short, coming off from a handheld game) or maybe add onto the backstory and characters that 358/2 Days already had. You could even add more to the multiplayer, like PvP, or make new mini-games like in Birth by Sleep. So many opportunities…

5.       It’s a game, not a movie – Lastly, there’s the fact that you buy a game collection to play games. Doesn’t this sound obvious? Why would you buy Kingdom Hearts to watch a movie when a big part of the fun is the great gameplay? 358/2 Days would be so much more appealing as part of a “game” collection, which would make the collection 3 games total, not 2 games and a movie.

Don’t get me wrong, I understand that it would have taken more time and effort to make 358/2 Days more than collection of HD cut-scenes; they would have had to create new assets and everything in order to make a faithful translation to the PS3 from the DS (and I heard about how they had to remake the original Kingdom Hearts from scratch - http://www.destructoid.com/kingdom-hearts-hd-s-graphics-rebuilt-from-the-ground-up-257161.phtml). Maybe the pay-off wasn’t worth it, since people were probably going to buy the collection just for the first two, regardless.

Some people didn’t like 358/2 Days, and I’m okay with that; maybe it’s easier to watch than to play for those people. But still, the overall package would have been so much greater for those who did like the game, who did want to play rather than watch, who did want a "complete" collection.

My Experience with: Yakuza 3 - Chapter 2

Chapter 2 starts off 6 months after the end of Chapter 1. It was a pretty short experience for me (30 minutes – 1 hour). Kiryu-san has already begun running the orphanage in Okinawa, and taking care of the kids living there.

I forgot to mention this before, but the theme of family is prevalent throughout the game, from what I’ve played – from the prologue up to where I am now, Chapter 3. There are stories in the game that are often family-oriented – a dad’s acceptance of a relationship, a foster father doubting himself as a parent, a girl being depressed about not having a “real” mom and dad, etc. It’s both saddening and heartwarming at times, and I’ve gone “Awwwwwwww” quite a bit.

I also got to try fishing one time during this chapter. I got a worm in front of the orphanage (it always sounded weird every time the screen said “You got a worm”) and used it as bait, it didn’t save my fishing skills. In short, I sucked. Hard. I will defeat this beast called “fishing”, mark my words.

The main conflict in Chapter 2 is that Kiryu receives an eviction notice. Obviously, Kiryu won’t accept this, and goes off to stop the owner of the land, the head of the Ryudo family, from evicting him and the kids from the orphanage. 

This ends up involving a lot of punching and kicking. I end up in one random fight on the street, where oddly, people gather and cheer. I hadn’t noticed it before, but it happens every single time I get into a fight. Anyway, I also get into a fight with Rikiya, the “Fighting Viper” of Okinawa, and the lieutenant of the Ryudo family. The 2 fights I got into are, as expected, a step-up from Chapter 1’s enemies, though it’s not too difficult.

I didn’t tour as much of Downtown Ryukyu as I should’ve, or got to, but it was still an entertaining chapter. I explore much of the city in the next chapter.

My Experience with: Harvest Moon - Hero of Leaf Valley

I’ve been a fan of the Harvest Moon series for many years (and its awesome spin-off series Rune Factory), though I haven’t played any of the newer games like A New Beginning or The Tale of Two Towns.

Harvest Moon: Hero of Leaf Valley is the most recent game I’ve played, released back in 2010 in the US. I personally like it a lot.

It’s got some seriously addictive gameplay. I’ve stayed up way longer than I should on some nights just playing this game and telling myself, “I just gotta go mining one more time, and then I’ll be done…” 2 hours later, I’m still playing, watering my crops, taking care of my animals, doing miscellaneous jobs, again telling myself that I’ll go do this thing or that thing one more time and then I’ll put the game down. But I won't. I'll keep playing. It’s a terrible, vicious cycle. But it’s fun.

Being an expansion of Harvest Moon: Save the Homeland, Hero of Leaf Valley’s story is similar. A town is being threatened with renovation for a theme park, and so you have to raise 50,000G in 2 years if you want to stop it.

In actuality, there are many different paths that you can take to stop the development of the amusement park – you don’t have to just raise 50,000G. You can experience different plotlines depending on who you interact and become friends with, which encourages you to make friends with everybody if you want to experience everything. Or, if you wanted to play the game a second time, you could make friends with people you never did before, and have an wholly new experience than when you played the game the first time. This is pretty awesome.

The basic farming gameplay returns, where you raise and harvest your crops; some (potatoes, for example) you can only harvest once, and some crops stick around (tomatoes, breadfruit, rice) so you can harvest them multiple times. It’s definitely a time and energy consumer, but if you stick to it, you’ll definitely profit doing it. And isn’t that the focus of the Harvest Moon series? How putting in a lot of time, dedication, and hard-work into what you do pays off?   

There’s also animal-raising, like in past games. You can take care of a dog, a horse, chickens, and cows. Like caring for your crops, raising your animals is a lot of hard work, but it pays off in the long run. Nurturing your dog and horse is especially important, because they do two things for you, respectively: increase your stamina meter and allow for fast travel.

Besides the socializing, farming, and animal aspects of the game, you can also work at various places in the town. At first, there’ll be at least 5 jobs – taking care of horses and cows, cooking, taking care of chickens, cutting down trees for lumber, and mining. 2 of these jobs – cutting down trees and mining – will go away after you work them enough times, but then you’ll be able to get certain resources – lumber and ores. Overall, these part-time jobs are enjoyable, though it can feel like a chore at times. The mining activity – which involves solving puzzles – is probably the most entertaining of the bunch.

The music is nice and calming, and definitely has an appropriate nature-ish tone to it. It can repetitive, I’ll admit, but it’s decent, and so are the sounds.

In terms of graphics, the environments are nice, and the characters look appealing. This looks alright for a PSP game, though I personally preferred the cel-shaded art style of Save the Homeland.

All in all, this is a good game. It’s pretty delightful and addicting. I’d recommend this to anyone interested in farming games.

My Experience with: Yakuza 3 – The First Chapter

[My Experience with is a series of posts detailing, well, my experiences with games. They're kinda like previews or quick-sees that I have and want to write about.]

Full disclosure: I’ve never played a Yakuza game before. I heard about it, I watched some cut-scenes and gameplay, and I read some reviews about how it’s a pretty good series. But I never played it myself, so I never got to get into the story, and I tried to keep it (mostly) spoiler-less before playing for the first time.

I started off the game on the Normal difficulty, and as of this post, I’ve played about 6 hours in the game (excluding the time it took to go through recaps). It’s pretty fun and interesting.

So far, after watching through the recaps of Yakuza and Yakuza 2, and playing through the first three chapters of Yakuza 3, I have a decent idea of how the series is. Today, I’ll just cover the prologue and the first chapter, which for me was about 2 hours long, but it really depends on how long you spend in the city.

I would recommend that you play the first two Yakuza games first, just to get a more detailed background on the main character, Kazuma Kiryu’s past adventures, and just who everybody is. Though the recaps do a pretty good job of getting you up to speed in a little over half an hour, it can be a bit confusing or difficult to remember everything.

The prologue, which is purely cut-scenes, starts off in an interesting way. Fish are caught, yakuza are attacked, and the dead come back to life… It definitely hooks you in the beginning, though you might not know who some of the newer characters are. You do get a gist of what is going on, though.

Chapter 1, you’ll find, actually starts BEFORE the prologue, and that’s when the game really begins. You play as Kazuma Kiryu, a man who plans to quit the yakuza life, going to Okinawa to run an orphanage. You gain control of Kiryu in Kamurocho, a town with bustling streets and stores, to say good-bye to close friends and associates.

I spent about 2 hours in this chapter mainly exploring what places I could with my adopted daughter, Haruka, and increase her trust level. It took a long while to actually level up my trust with her, as you can only boost her trust level by having her stop at certain stores she wants to enter and satisfy her wants, like buying food and toys. I have to admit, it was slightly irritating having her follow me around, as she ran/walked pretty slow, and in a big area, I wanted to run around and get where I wanted as fast as I could. I just couldn’t leave her behind, though. I would feel so bad if I did. But if I went too far away, she would constantly call out to me before catching up. It was definitely a minor annoyance.

However, this did let me see what Kamurocho had to offer. I saw many different places like stores, restaurants, and an arcade. I had to enter the arcade in particular, called Club Sega, to satisfy Haruka’s intense need for a stuffed calico kitten. And I ended up playing one of the most boring, frustrating mini-games of all time.

It was a crane game called “UFO Catcher 7 MAX”.

You know, playing crane games are fine and all, but a simulation of a crane game just doesn’t cut it for me; you don’t get any of the interactivity that comes with playing a crane game in real life, but with all the frustration that can come with it. I pressed one button twice and let the claw drop. That was it. Yet it was so annoying to constantly try over and over and over and over to capture just one calico kitten! I lost 3000-4000 yen trying to get it. It took me 30 minutes- 1 hour to succeed in my goal.

This is how they getcha. You get so close to getting that one stuffed animal, and it falls off the claw. And you hate your life. I pondered what I was doing with my life while playing. “Oh yeah, I’m playing a virtual crane machine mini-game.” Sigh.

After playing that terrible game, I promptly went around the arcade trying to find a better, more enjoyable mini-game. And I happened upon a game called “Boxcelios”.

It’s a side-scrolling shooting game where you play as an indestructible fighter ship. You get 30+ seconds to defeat enemy ships as fast as you can and as many as you can. It was an incredibly fun, amazing, and enjoyable experience. Plus, I loved the music. It definitely made up for the crane game.

Besides exploring, while following the story, I got into fights with some street punks. This is where the combat section of Yakuza 3 comes in, and it’s quite enjoyable.  You kick and punch the enemies’ hard and fast, and though they can block, you can often get some shots in. You can also use objects in the environment as weapons, too, and bash your foes with them.

I also got into a one-on-one fist fight with a man named Majima Goro. I’d consider this a boss fight, since it was certainly a step up in terms of difficulty from the punks before. But this wasn’t too hard, given that this was Chapter 1. All in all, the fighting is pretty sweet.

Before I’m finished, though, I have to mention the 2 things. First, there’s the sound. The sound effects are realistic and appropriate. The music is nice when it plays, like during battle sections, though I do like it when there are simply the ambient noises of the city and its people. It makes me feel more immersed in Kamurocho.

Second, the graphics are quite nice for a game that came out in 2009. Though it could be better, it’s acceptable. The graphics are much more vibrant during the cut-scenes, where there’s more detail to character expressions, and actual, well-done voice acting.

The start of Yakuza 3 is a good one. It definitely got me hooked and I wanted to play on to the next chapters, which I'll talk about in later posts! 

Welcome!

Hi! Welcome to the Postscript Gaming Blog, a place where I'll write about my thoughts, experiences, and reviews on games! I'm planning on posting some new content soon, so stay tuned!