Pokemon..why won't you obey me?!

I've been playing Pokemon Platinum for quite a bit today since I got it the other day. 

I decided before I got the game on a team that I would trade some of across from Diamond to help me through the game. I didn't expect to get so many problems with the pokemon not obeying me. 

Here's my team at the moment, with 1 badge. White text is from Platinum, Silver is from my Diamond game ie. traded across

Grotle lv18

Sneasel lv15

Aerodactyl lv13

Meditite lv13

I had intended to include a Horsea and another, but I gave up on those, I'm gonna pick 2 more up as I go through the game. 

Anyway, here is the problem I was mentioning before. Pokemon that are traded from another game benefit from receiving 1.5x the normal Exp from battles, however they don't always obey the new trainer if you dont have enough badges. So far I have 1 badge, but that doesnt seem to prevent any of my Diamond OT pokes from wacking off or whatever they do in battle, cos it sure aint fighting. My Grotle is lv18, a decent level for where I am in the game and obeys me no question, but the lower level traded pokemon don't! I guess I'm just getting frustrated, but its getting hard to level them when they keep passing their turns and dying.

End of passion play, crumbling away
I'm your source of self-destruction
Veins that pump with fear, sucking dark is clear
Leading on your deaths construction

Taste me you will see
More is all you need
Dedicated to
How I'm killing you

Come crawling faster
Obey your Master
Your life burns faster
Obey your Master
Master

Master of Puppets I'm pulling your strings
Twisting your mind and smashing your dreams
Blinded by me, you can't see a thing
Just call my name, 'cause I'll hear you scream
Master
Master
Just call my name, 'cause I'll hear you scream
Master
Master

Needlework the way, never you betray
Life of death becoming clearer
Pain monopoly, ritual misery
Chop your breakfast on a mirror

Taste me you will see
More is all you need
Dedicated to
How I'm killing you

Come crawling faster
Obey your Master
Your life burns faster
Obey your Master
Master

Master of Puppets I'm pulling your strings
Twisting your mind and smashing your dreams
Blinded by me, you can't see a thing
Just call my name, 'cause I'll hear you scream
Master
Master
Just call my name, 'cause I'll hear you scream
Master
Master

Master, Master, where's the dreams that I've been after?
Master, Master, you promised only lies
Laughter, Laughter, all I hear or see is laughter
Laughter, Laughter, laughing at my cries
Hell is worth all that, natural habitat
Just a rhyme without a reason
Neverending maze, drift on numbered days
now your life is out of season
I will occupy
I will help you die
I will run through you
Now I rule you too

Come crawling faster
Obey your Master
Your life burns faster
Obey your Master
Master

Master of Puppets I'm pulling your strings
Twisting your mind and smashing your dreams
Blinded by me, you can't see a thing
Just call my name, 'cause I'll hear you scream
Master
Master
Just call my name, 'cause I'll hear you scream
Master
Master

Come on, they gotta obey me after I post those awesome Metallica lyrics =p

Oh well, back to the grind. Maybe if I get some more badges it'll even out.

Bit of a random update.

I havent really updated with much interesting recently. Thought I'd post, even if it might not necessarily be interesting to you. But hell if it isn't interesting, people probably aren't reading so I don't see why I'm thinking into this too much.

Its starting to feel more like summer now, with the football leagues finished and the weather in the past few days improving insanely. Damn Rangers winning things this season...I don't think they deserved the league this year, but hell, I am biased. Plus Celtic dropped a stupid amount of points. actually...thats nothing to do with Rangers and probably one of the reasons they went on to win the league title. And although I hate to say it, Novo's goal in the cup final today was quite something.

I noticed that I've been overusing commas recently, don't know why... I can't remember the exact "ruling" for when to use commas, semi-colons, colons, dashes and as a result use some in the wrong situation. But OMG...I'm getting stupidly sidetracked again by minutae. I'm pretty sure people won't want to read about my grammatical errors. 

I've finished my Black Mage 8-bit painting, I'll try upload it somewhere to the interwebz at some point soon hopefully. Also been trying to work on a new banner for the blog, the one you see now (Cloud) is the result, but it might get tweaked or changed because I'm not 100% satisfied with it yet.

I've been spending stupid amounts recently on games, I'll give you a roundup of what I bought in the past few months. Some of these I am very pleased with =D I'll also tally up the total price and most likely cry.

Star Ocean IV: The Last Hope Limited Collectors Ed. (X360) £49.99 Preorder from Amazon

Knights in the Nightmare (DS) £39.55 from Ebay (with Atlus Preorder Spoils only available in US) Spoils

Pokemon Platinum (DS) £28 from HMV

Atelier Iris 2: The Azoth of Destiny (PS2) £11 from Amazon [complete with soundtrack]

Unlimited Saga (PS2) £5.50ish from Ebay [complete with FFX-2 prologue disc]

Castlevania: The Dracula X Chronicles (PSP) £12 from Ebay

Riviera (PSP) £18 from Ebay

Total: over £160...

Some of those games are only getting rarer..yeah I'll keep telling myself that. T_T 

Also, I've not paid for Star Ocean yet, as its not shipped: and I think its gone lower than 50 since I placed the preorder, so I only have to pay the lowest price its gone too.

Till next time ;D

Geometry Wars Galaxies and stuff.

I've been playing a bit more of this on and off when I need something simple but fun and addictive.

The game is on a few different systems, but I'm playing the DS version. I really like the control system with the D-Pad and stylus at the same time-its quite well done. 

This screen is not from the DS version which has slightly weaker visuals, but still looks nice. 

I think I played too much of this game somehow. The other night I had dreams of a neon wire frame dragon attacking me lol.

I'd definitely recommend the game, even though it doesnt have any storyline its still a game I really like.

Link.

I kinda forgot what else I was going to talk about actually..oh, my Black Mage painting is almost done. I'll put that up if I can get it scanned once its done =D

Upcoming PSP RPGs.

The PSP is a system that has plenty of promise, but for me, doesnt have that many RPG titles. Not many of the non-RPG titles have really jumped off the shelves at me either. It has a fair few now and that number is growing but I still prefer the DS. Perhaps given time the PSP will accumulate RPGs similar to the PS2 which has a huge collection. I'm gonna focus on some of the RPGs that are coming out soon in this post.

Disgaea 2: Dark Hero Days (PSP)

I posted this video before, but this one is the US trailer and has english comments.

Persona (PSP)

I'm still not sure about this, heard some bad things about the original game, hopefully they change the bad stuff for this version, like some kind of map. The Etrian Odyssey games apparantely do FP-Dungeon crawling and map management quite well. Dark Spire was another that I was looking at.

Crimson Gem Saga aka Garnet Chronicle (PSP)

This is the sequel to Astonishia Story, and known as Garnet Chronicle in Japan. I heard bad things about AS, hopefully I don't need to play it in order to enjoy this one. It looks very promising.

http://www.atlus.com/cgs/

Class of Heroes (PSP)

This one looks quite lighthearted and cheery and with what seems to be quite a common theme in rpgs-some kind of magical/adventure school. 

"This is as classic as dungeon crawling gets in an ever-changing 3-D labyrinth containing more than 75 maps full of puzzles, traps, and treasure. Over 500 character possibilities are available to you. A flexible alchemy system with more than 400 recipes allows you to synthesize new items from random items found in the labyrinths, as well as customize your weapons attributes, range, and strength.

Available June 2009."

The "500" character possibilities could be good, but could also be quite limited. There are 10 races from what I've heard, and quite a few classes for them to choose from. Could be interesting. Its kinda americanised in that the classes are called "majors." Interesting to see if they change that for the PAL release, or not. If one is on the way, I'm not too sure.

http://www.atlus.com/classofheroes/home.html

Final Fantasy XIII Agito (PSP)

*Damn...I shoulda left out the "(PSP)", these are all PSP titles...

I'm not too sure if this is within copyright laws...as trailers have been removed from youtube. So I wont bother uploading the vid. Go here to watch it and find out some more.

Also, official site, with which I cant seem to find any links on... Nice pic though I guess hehe...

Kingdom Hearts: Birth By Sleep (PSP)

*I started putting PSP after each, might as well stick with the format :P

For those confused by the forthcoming KH titles and I still am too at times, here is a bit of info for clarification/recapping. There are 3 Kingdom Hearts games set to come out in Japan. Probably only 2 of these will make it to America and the rest of us any time soon. 

The 3 games are;

Kingdom Hearts: 358/2 (DS) ~ This is an interquel, between KH1 and KH2.

Kingdom Hearts: Birth By Sleep (PSP) ~ This is a prequel to the original PS2 game.

Kingdom Hearts coded (Mobile) *We probably wont get this one where you play as a Digital Sora*

I'm not gonna look up any videos for these, as although I've beaten Kingdom Hearts, I havent started the 2nd one and I'm pretty sure I would get some spoilers if I watched vids or read through all that info in detail. Look at the links above, or do some searches if you are interested in these.

That is all for now, I'm running out of steam.

Some more gaming news.

Here's some more stuff, some of it oldish but meh.

Dragon Age Origins (PC, Xbox 360, PS3)

A video from a while ago showing the graphic content that we will see in this Bioware RPG which some people have described as a spiritual successor to Baldur's Gate.

Dragon Age Origins 'This is the new Sh*t' trailer HD

This one should be good! I might have actually posted that video before, but I'm looking forward to the voice acting in this game. They've got a big cast working on it, and it sounds good in quality!

Sometime Q4 this year for this one.

http://uk.gamespot.com/xbox360/rpg/dragonage/index.html?tag=result;title;1

Pokemon Platinum (DS)

This is coming out in the UK very soon - May 22nd. Everyone else has had it for a while now and we'll soon get addicted to this, well I will... I was close to getting the NTSC version or preordering it but resisted. This is one of the games I might actually pick up at launch because I love pokemon games. I don't usually buy games at launch because I am stingy but this series is one that can tempt me with my money. =D

http://uk.gamespot.com/ds/rpg/pokemonplatinum/index.html?tag=result;title;0

http://www.1up.com/do/feature?cId=3173364

Monster Hunter Freedom Unite (PSP)

I've not played any of the games before this, but the trailers look pretty cool. This one will be out on..well sometime. I'm not sure.

Tales of Vesperia (Xbox 360, PS3)

This is due out across Europe on June, 26th 2009. I really like the look of this one.

Looks very similar to Tales of Symphonia, which I liked some things about but couldn't finish.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Tales_of_Vesperia

http://uk.gamespot.com/xbox360/rpg/talesofvesperia/index.html?tag=result;title;0

Star Ocean IV: The Last Hope (Xbox 360)

Wow, he can run almost as fast as Kaim from Lost Odyssey :o

I've actually preordered this one already, even though I heard some things about it weren't quite up to scratch. Looks too cool not to! 

June 5th 2009 PAL release for this one.

Some gaming news.

Thought I'd post up some more news..news in the video gaming industry moves fast and I'm not usually up to date or the first to know, but hell...I found this stuff awesome so you might too!

I'll start off with Knights in the Nightmare, the genre-crossing game from Sting and this one is apparantely the 4th title in their Dept. Heaven series, which includes Riviera: The Promised Land and Yggdra Union: We'll never fight alone. The 3rd title in the series isn't out at the moment, and there are few current details on it. This one looks really unique and different from any of the games out there on the DS. Its kind of a mashup of srpg, strategy and shooter from what I can tell, but take that with a pinch of salt. Style-wise it is slightly similar to Riviera and Yggdra Union and this is one game that looks so nice I really want to get the artbook. It might cost me a bit, but I'll probably look into ebay for the package that ships with US preorders. 

Some nice art from Gamespot, RPGfan, RPGamer dunno where else...

Some links and details because theres lots of stuff on there I cant really fit on here. Take a look at these for more;

http://uk.gamespot.com/ds/strategy/knightsinthenightmare/index.html?tag=gallery_summary;title

http://www.rpgamer.com/games/other/nds/kitn/kitn.html

http://uk.ds.ign.com/objects/142/14235020.html

Knights in the Nightmare (DS)

Developer: Sting

Publisher: Atlus Co

Release Dates: Jun 2, 2009 (US)

Disgaea 2: Dark Hero Days (PSP)

I'm quite interested in this one as I really liked the quirkyness, humour and references in the story of the first game. Its a remake or port of Disgaea 2 from the PS2, with added story and aspects of gameplay from the 3rd game on the PS3 from what I can tell. I've not played the 2nd one before, so I'll be looking to get a hold of this one. UK gamers have got all of the recent Disgaea releases, so hopefully we'll get this one as well. If not, I can always import the US copy.

We'll have to wait for this one a while longer, it'll be out later this year in the US.

Disgaea 2: Dark Hero Days

Developer: Nippon Ichi Software

Publisher: NIS America

Release Dates: All we've got is Q4 2009 at the moment.

Source: http://playstation.joystiq.com/2009/02/27/disgaea-2-dark-hero-days-psp-trailer/

Mana Khemia: Alchemists of Al-Revis (PS2)

Us PAL gamers have this now, its released with a pretty cool premium edition with lots of nice stuff: soundtrack, poster and stuff.

I might check this out if I can get it reasonably cheap.

Ar Tonelico 2: Melody Of The Metafalica (PS2)

This is also coming to PAL regions, hopefully there is a better job of it done than the US gamers got. Bugs, bad localisation are not good things, so I'll look at some reviews for this first. Don't know if the insane amount of innuendo and whatnot would be my thing, but still, its cool that PAL gamers get a chance on this one. There is too much going on in this post. I will edit or do another one after this.

Finished Odin Sphere finally!

I finally beat Odin Sphere and the ending is...amazing! Such a breathtaking, emotional final few scenes and it ties together everything that had come before it in the story. I won't give any spoilers because I don't like getting games, anime or movies etc spoiled for me. I'll simply recommend the game, it definitely is way up there among my favourite games. Yeah, there are some bits and aspects I didn't like, perhaps it was a tad too drawn out, slightly repetitive, it often lags and is quite hard at times, but all of those flaws are only minor superficial scratches and really don't take too much away from the overall experience of the game.

My final clear time was 65 hrs 20 and I got the true ending (yeah, I had a peek at Gamefaqs to find out what order to do things in to get it =p) and it is such a beautiful ending to an incredible game.

I'm going to sleep now. ^o^

Mass Effect 2 - Prelude to E3

Bioware have released a trailer which they dubbed "prelude to E3" and gave us a lot more insight into the game mechanics, graphical overhaul, storyline, weapons and a few other things. 

Check out the link for the article I saw below;

http://exophase.com/xbox360/mass-effect-2-prelude-to-e3-trailer-11467.htm

This has just jumped way up on my list of anticipated games. I can't wait for this. Roll on E3 so we can get more on this!

Here's the video;

Finished Castlevania: Harmony of Dissonance.

I finally completed Castlevania: Harmony of Dissonance today, with all of the main endings (I had to look up a guide on how to get them, but meh..)

Its a pretty cool game once you get into it, but still its not as good as some of the other Castlevania titles. Even though its short (took me less than 8 hrs to beat) and very easy, it still had some features I quite liked.

So anyway...after I beat the game with the 3rd main ending, I turned the DS off, victorious at last. Then decided a bit later to turn it back on to have a look at boss rush mode. Turned it on to find I had no data. What the hell?

Yeah, somehow the data had vanished into nothingness just like Dracula's stupid ass castle. No error message, no "your data has been corrupted" message, no nothing. OMG...

I guess the one positive is that it happened after I beat the game and not during it or just beforehand. Still it pisses me off no end. I'm not usually too bothered about keeping backup saves but this is probably gonna change that. I would have smashed stuff in my room, or cried if this had happened on my 60 odd hr Odin Sphere save which is unfinished, but so close to the end.

*Backed up my PS2 saves just incase*

I guess the fact that I hadn't put that much time into the game either means it shouldn't be so hard to take...but I just wish hardware and game testers would pick up on these things. 

Its not my first experience with losing data, its happened before but a long time ago...it sucks. I'm gonna go listen to some angry music and vent some anger now. Arch Enemy sounds good.

Arch Enemy - My Apocalypse

Cradle of Filth - Tonight in Flames

Disarmonia Mundi - Celestial Furnace

Megadeth - Symphony of Destruction

Slayer - Angel of Death

Thats a bit better...metal has some awesome power! \m/

Odin Sphere, nearing the endgame now.

I played some more Odin Sphere in the past few days, I think I'm getting close to the end now. Well..."epilogue" in the last character's story (Fate) would suggest that I'm damn near the end.... -.< 

It's pretty difficult...I had to do fight 2 bosses at a time but strangely I got through that and I'm on the final area now. I tried a few stages and then went back to up my HP level as much as I could before I make my way through. The story in this game is really gripping at times...it steals hours of my day at a time. I really like the way the stories have overlapped and we see things from each character's perspective. They each have different motives, feelings and loyalties. Even though I am basically going through the same stages I have been through 4 or 5 times, it still keeps me interested as the story is different each time and the script is so well done. 

The game is so shiny and gorgeously drawn. The backgrounds are just amazing...actually everything about the game, the backgrounds, the characters, the enemies-graphically the game is incredible.

I'm about 55 or 60 hours into the game(I can't remember) and getting very close to completion. I might write more about it after I beat it, maybe a review or something. 

It makes me want to  get a hold of some other Vanillaware games, GrimGrimoire or Princess Crown perhaps.. I don't want Odin Sphere to end...I don't know if I could bring myself to play through it again though..even on the lowest difficulty its got me to throw the controller, attempting to snap the controller, punching things...frustrating, but an incredible game still! =D I don't think I'm good enough at fast action rpgs like this to play through on hard mode...I've got this far on normal, with some stages or bosses on easy when they served me too much hehe...

I'll most likely be getting Muramasa from what I've seen of it though!

This gorgeous image from the artbook (which I want) made me feel..colourful, so thats why the text is like that :p

Castlevania: Harmony of Dissonance.

I started Castlevania: Harmony of Dissonance on the GBA the other day for something a bit different to the other games I was playing (and getting frustrated with.) 

So far it seems really easy compared to a few of the other GBA/DS titles, but I am still liking it. Juste Belmont (pictured) is a character with some really nice intricate character design even though there is not much character development yet or even personality, but I'm not far through the game yet. 

It seems a very short game, I'm already 68.2% through after 2 hours and 20 minutes of gameplay. Despite the shortness, it has loads of atmosphere and remains addictive. I love sinking time into exploring the castle and finding items, relics, spells, collectibles (furniture for some sort of sidequest lol.) Lots of Castlevania staples in there, but its all good stuff. 

The game seems very easy compared to other titles, I've only died a handful of times so far, with none of the bosses giving me any problems. I kind of wish I would get rewarded for killing bosses with relics/abilities straight after defeating them, they dont always seem to give rewards immediately, which left me kind of dissapointed. It feels satisfying defeating bosses, replenishing HP/MP and getting an interesting new ability at the same time. 

A few things aside, I really like the game, I would recommend it from what I've played so far. I'll probably talk some more about it as I progress through.

I got into playing it also because I had just made a music video for youtube, its embed below. Nothing spectacular, but I love the song and some of the images in there.

Here's some pretty cool Juste images and cosplays also, that hair is almost Sephiroth like at times!  :P

From http://www.cosplay.com/costume/178891/

 From http://www.cosplay.com/costume/187429/

Halo Final Fantasy. :D

I <3 the 80s.

Man, the 80s were an awesome time to grow up. Its funny looking back on those crazy fashions and trends (some of which have come back into fashion..dont ask me why) and thinking of how different life was back then. I still don't understand how sometimes people's hair just "looked" 70s or 80s even without being cut in one of those hilarious styles such as a mullet. 

Video games back in the 80s were a different beast to the ones we have now, we had crazily hard platformers, arcade and sci-fi influenced side scrollers, role playing games based on D&D style rules and premises and loads of other stuff.

Take a look at this link for some hilarity from the 80s and early 90s. Wow, there are some awesomely bad boxes in there and there is 4 pages of the stuff! Its crazy to think they would be thought of as anything close to well-made video game boxes at the time. I'm actually almost left speechless by some of those random geometric shapes, neon-pastel colours, hairstyles and other crap in there. Hilarious, read the link XD. Ninja scooter simulator, Skateboard Joust...man I only vaguely remember the 80s, but man was it fricken GNARLY!