2010's gaming progress

Happy New Year everyone! Hopefully you've all been having a good holiday season so far, and I hope you have a good year of 2011.

In my eternal quest to finish my backlog of games, I've been tracking my progress on the backloggery, a site designed for people to record their collections and get to know other people with similarly perilous amounts of unfinished games. I'd say that using the site has definitely helped me stop buying so many games actually, as I can actually see in terms of numbers how many games I have, instead of just having a stack of games on the shelf. I've taken a note of the games that I've finished and 100% completed in 2010, and I'm quite pleased actually. I've kept my amount of games unplayed in check and finished up many RPGs and other games that I'd been meaning to play for a while.

Finished (ie. finished the main story)

Final Fantasy VI Advance (GBA)
Castlevania: Order of Ecclesia (DS)
Halo 2 (Xbox)
Final Fantasy IX (PS1)
Castlevania: Judgment (Wii)
Castlevania: Symphony of the Night (PS1)
Dragon Quest: Hand of the Heavenly Bride (DS)
Dirge of Cerberus: Final Fantasy VII (PS2)
Dragon Age: Origins (360)
Uncharted 2: Among Thieves (PS3)
Flower (PSN)
Final Fantasy XIII (PS3)
Blazblue: Calamity Trigger (360)
Mass Effect 2 (360)
Kingdom Hearts II (PS2)
Shin Megami Tensei: Devil Survivor (DS)
Castlevania: Rondo of Blood (PSP)
No More Heroes (Wii)
Suikoden Tierkreis (DS)
Disgaea 2: Dark Hero Days (PSP)
Final Fantasy X (PS2)
Castlevania: Curse of Darkness (PS2)
Sakura Wars: So Long my Love (Wii)
Tales of Eternia (PSP)
The Legend of Zelda: Phantom Hourglass (DS)
Dragon Quest IX: Sentinels of the Starry Skies (DS)
Demon's Souls (PS3)
Ys Seven (PSP)
Valkyria Chronicles (PS3)
Kingdom Hearts: Birth By Sleep (PSP)
Super Street Fighter IV (PS3)
Prinny: Can I Really Be The Hero? (PSP)
Half Minute Hero (PSP)
Bayonetta (PS3)
Blazblue: Continuum Shift (PS3)

100% completed

Flower (PSN)
Golden Sun (GBA)

Master runs/challenges

Pokemon SoulSilver (DS)

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I'm still taking part in RPGamer606's RPG marathon, even though my progress has slowed due to university starting up. I'm aiming to finish up Castlevania: Lords of Shadow, Golden Sun: The Lost Age and Dragon Warrior Monsters next, and then go onto Golden Sun: Dark Dawn and Shin Megami Tensei: Strange Journey.

The year has actually gone really quickly...being at college or uni really takes a lot of time. Still, I've enjoyed the year for the most part. Some gaming highlights for me have been the talk of the 3DS, Demon's Souls release in PAL regions(its one of my favourite games this generation) and experiencing some rather awesome RPGs I missed out on at release-FFIX for one.

I've got a few ideas for a some features coming soon, some Game of the Year lists, and some retrospective playthroughs of old series. I will see what I can do. Currently it feels like I am cursed with technology: things seem to break when I even go near them.

Sakura Wars: So Long, My Love Review

OK, time for another review! This time it is on a Wii title that I was willing to pass on when I first heard about it, as it didn't exactly sound like my thing. The more I saw of it however, the more curious I became, and by the time it was announced for European audiences by publisher NIS America, I was curious enough to want to pick it up. I had read a few reviews and heard positive things about it, so what did my experience of this first of the series to be brought outside of Japan turn out to be?

Well, I was pleasantly surprised by this light hearted strategy rpg that is as full of anime cliches as it is cheese and mechs. For my first experience of the series, I was very satisfied and in future would definitely pick up other games in the series if they are ever readily available in English. Importing the titles for me isn't that appealing. Not because I am afraid I wouldn't like the games, its just down to the amount of dialogue and text that would be a bit of a barrier to enjoying the games. My Japanese is only the most basic understanding, so I would need to use a guide for understanding the stories. 

Before I start, I should note that this review is for the Wii version of the game, as we didn't get the PS2 version over here in Europe. I'll try and keep this review spoiler free as well.

Story and Characters

The story takes part in an alternate universe full of steampunk mechs and strangely advanced technology, this really got me interested in the game, but unfortunately wasn't utilised as well as it could have been, apart from the mechs and some other technology. More emphasis seems to fall on the characters and how they interact with each other. The story follows Shinjiro Taiga, an ensign that travels to 1920s New York to lead a fighting troupe disguised as a musical troupe to defeat an evil warlord and his subordinates from conquering America as its kingdom. Yeah, it sounds like something from Power Rangers or some ridiculous anime and at times it basically is. If you go into this expecting a deep, dark, serious story you will probably be dissapointed. Or at least, you won't get that, but hopefully you will enjoy it regardless. I had a lot of fun with it.

The characters are probably where the focus of the game lies. The amount of dialogue and character building throughout this relatively short (20 or 30 hrs) RPG is quite impressive. Shinjiro is at first not taken seriously by the rest of the squad. He came over to America in place of his father or uncle, who was some kind of legend in the military. So he has to prove himself worthy, and does so slowly throughout the game. Within the game, of the 8 chapters, there are 5 or 6 which are mainly devoted to telling backstory of one of the other girls in the squad as they either join the squad or have some problem that needs to be solved. Through these chapters, you learn more about the character's past and it uncovers a lot about them. 

Gemini Sunrise
A very cheerful cowgirl who tends to be a bit clumsy. Her master's last words bring her from Texas to New York with her horse, Larry(?!). She is very interested in Japanese culture and tends to daydream often.
Sagiitta Weinberg (Cheiron Archer in the English language version)
A strong-willed lawyer who practices out of Harlem. She is very intelligent and is recognized for her exceptional perseverance, toughness, independence and confidence. She serves as a sub-antagonist in Episode 2 as she works with Steam Frontier to demolish her hometown of Harlem. After facing her in a mock trial, Shinjiro helps remind her why she studied law in the first place and becomes closer with him.
Rikaritta Aries (Rosarita Aries in the English language version)
A Mexican markswoman and bounty hunter despite being only 11 years old. She is very energetic with an abundant appetite and obsession with food.
Diana Caprice
A local birdwatcher who is incredibly compassionate. She is a doctor in training who has initially given up all hope to live until Shinjiro comes and gives her the hope she needed to keep going, despite everything she's been through.
Subaru Kujo
Subaru's true gender and age are completely unknown, though the character tends to use pronouns such as "herself" when speaking in the third person. However, Subaru is definitely a noble from a Japanese family and excels at Noh and other traditional Japanese dances.

There are a few supporting characters in Sakura Wars: So Long, My Love include Ratchet Altair, a former captain of the European Star Division and captain of New York's Fighting Troupe until Shinjiro replaces her, she becomes the vice-commander soon after; Michael Sunnyside, the commander of the Star Division; Cherry Cocker (Plum Spaniel in the Japanese version) and Anri Yoshino of the Rainbow Division, who help the Star Division in battles; Yuichi Kayama of the Moon Division, who owns a Romando shop; and Xingzhi Wong (Gyouchi Oh in the Japanese language version), who is the designer of the STARs and owns a Chinese restaurant. Unfortunately, many of these supporting characters aren't developed as much as they could have been I felt. Yuichi, for example, remains way too mysterious. 

You might be able to tell from these characters that the game has an intensely Japanese feel to it, and you would be correct on that. Despite being set in America, the Japanese culture seems to be deeply ingrained in the game. I found that strange at times but appreciated it as we don't get many games like this. The characters are very strong and over the top and really make this game succeed in my opinion.

Gameplay

In Sakura Wars: So Long My Love, the gameplay is split into two sections-Adventure Mode and Battle Mode. Adventure mode is where you will spend time with the other characters, talk with them and look for various things around the city, all the while building your friendships and relationships with the other members of the New York Combat Revue's Star Division, who, as it turns out, are all girls who you can eventually go out with. Yeah, it definitely feels like a harem anime at times. There is quite a bit of variation in Adventure mode. You will usually have some kind of goal or deadline, before which you should try and accomplish or find something. Outside of that, you will usually have a lot of leeway; you can do things as you see fit. You will have to make a lot of choices, and these come in the forms of multiple choice responses to questions or conversations. Sakura Wars uses the "LIPS" system, seen in many of the other games in the series. There are four types of the LIPS system, these consist of Normal LIPS, which is displayed when the player must make a decision in a certain time period. If you run out of time, you will get a hidden response(usually not a good one); Analog LIPS, which the player can raise the action gauge up or down depending on the situation ie. to shout if you raise the gauge, or speak quietly if you decrease the gauge; Double LIPS, which gives the player a longer amount of time to make important decisions; and Stick LIPS, where the player can manipulate the Analog Sticks to follow commands on screen and raise gauges depending on the situation. As you go through the game, your relationships between Shinji and the other characters grow for better or worse depending on the choices you take, and this is how your characters become stronger in battle. If you are getting on well with a certain character, they will get boosts to their stats in battle; do more damage, take less damage and so on. For me, that was quite an interesting idea in a strategy rpg-there is no grinding to keep up, instead it ties the Adventure mode and the Battle mode together really well. It also puts some degree of challenge into the game. If you screw up a lot of the questions, and this is fairly easy to do in some chapters, where it seems like you are supposed to fall out of favour with the character the chapter focuses on, then you will find it hard to keep that character alive in battle. One thing that frustrated me a lot was that when the character falls in battle, they dislike you even more. I could rage on the stupidness of that...sure I am in control of their actions, but it was their fault they didn't like me to begin with, so they hate me even more when they get themselves killed in battle? @#"%! off! Anway, it didn't really get to the stage that the characters hated me, there are always plenty of options to get them back on your good side. And I can see that they were trying to make the game a bit more tricky.

Battle mode is where you and your team pilot their mechs in a strategy RPG battle system. There is no grid, but similar to say Valkyria Chronicles, when you select a unit, they will have a limit to how many actions they can perform in that turn. There are quite a few options you can choose from: normal attacks, joint attacks, unique supermoves for each character, healing, defending and perhaps some others that I can't remember. There are overall mission strategems that Shinjiro can select on his turn. These skew your characters in one of three directions in terms of stats. You can also transform into the mobile forms of your mechs for aerial battles in certain battles. Sometimes this is used for moving between areas of the battlefield and at other times you need to fight battles in these forms. This adds a whole new layer of depth to the battles and I appreciated this function. I mean, transforming mechs! How can that not make a game better?! =D 

The game is relatively easy once you get used to it. I actually died on the first battle, but after that I got used to it and didn't have many problems until one or two battles right at the end that I had to retry a few times. 

Graphics

Graphically, this game isn't the best titles I've seen on the Wii, far from it. The only times that this really bugged me at all was during the battles, when it doesn't look particularly good in places. I mean, the graphics don't look terrible but they aren't exactly very standout either. They are kinda basic polygonal mechs with not the most detail in their designs, but hey, I wasn't that bothered about them. The graphics, while not the best, didn't particularly detract from my experience of the game. Some of the attacks in battle are nice and flashy, which is good. The character portraits are fairly well done for the most part. 

It does have some gorgeous anime cutscenes, there are a fair few more than a lot of other RPGs out there which only usually have one or two. Still, I would have liked more of these cutscenes.

Audio

The soundtrack to this game fits well with what you would imagine 1920s New York to sound like, and is fairly consistent all the way throughout. Perhaps there are not quite enough tracks, but I thought some of the tracks felt a bit overused. I was starting to get sick of the same songs after a while, even though the game isn't particularly long. Little things like that can begin to grate on my nerves subconsciously for me, at least.

The songs in there are fairly upbeat and catchy, with others that are a bit more serious during certain scenes. Kohei Tanaka's work on this game fits pretty well.

Overall: 8/10

This is a fun, light hearted game that is probably best enjoyed if you are a fan of anime, strategy rpgs, mechs and perhaps dating sims or visual novels. Its a bit of a mix of all of those things and the result is very Japanese and very enjoyable. It may seem on the short side at 20 or so hours, but there is a lot of replayability in there if you want to try and get all the endings. I think there is one for each of the main girls in the story. I'd recommend this Wii title, I liked what I saw of it. 

I'd give it a 8/10. The only reason I'd drop 2 marks would be for perhaps the shortcomings in the story and some of the areas feeling a little bland and lacking depth, ie. some battles.

Dragon Quest IX: Sentinels of the Starry Skies Review

I thought I'd try get back into reviewing games as I've not done any since I was involved in my Final Fantasy marathon, of sorts. I'm always looking to improve on my review writing though, I tend to go on about things a bit uneccessarily, in terms of length. Plus the rating system is something I've always struggled with. Currently, I'm using a rating out of 10 points (10=top), with individual ratings for certain categories ie. Graphics, Gameplay and a few others, you'll see which ones over the course of this review. (If you read it)

So, first a little about my experience of the series and some background. I'm a fan of the Dragon Quest series, I have been for a few years since I initially played Dragon Warrior Monsters 2 (one of the spin off titles) many years ago. I actually picked up a copy of the first Dragon Warrior Monsters when one of my good friends randomly sent it out to me in along with a lot of other stuff, but thats another story. I've played DQIV and V on the DS (the recent remakes) and really enjoyed them. I'm definitely looking forward to picking up the last of those 3 games when it is released eventually. Dragon Quest VI will be remade for the DS at some point soon, I'm hoping. I still need to get around to playing Dragon Quest VIII on the PS2, I've heard a lot of good things about it, plus based on what I've liked about the series, I might pick up some of the older games at some point if I can find them. So how does this one rank in terms of an entry point to the series? Well, in short, I think it is a fairly good entry point. Similar to Final Fantasy, there isn't any overarching story between the games, so  you don't have to worry about not having played I through VIII before this. Secondly, this one has many of the core aspects fans of the series enjoy, but mixes things up slightly as well, and has some features that will keep people interested, such as the job system, side quests etc. Lastly, this one is not a massively long game, and has a good difficulty balance-it isn't overly grindy or hard so newcomers will not necessarily be turned off. By no means do I believe I am an expert on the series, so hopefully that is clear and hopefully that viewpoint will resonate with some of you out there in reading this review-maybe some of you are in similar situations having played a few of the games and enjoyed them.

Gameplay

Ok, starting with the gameplay. This is one area in which the games are very similar it seems. The fans love the games because of the traditional feel to them-from what I've heard they haven't deviated much from the original games in terms of the battle system, lengthy dialogue explaining things, menus and many other things. So its clear that you have to be ok with the relatively (some might say) archaic gameplay mechanics in order to enjoy these games. Personally, I am fine with this. I don't want to over-generalise, but many jrpgs and some western rpgs still reuse a lot of the unique features that were seen years ago in the genre. Anyway, I am going off on a tangent. 

So where to start? The battle system perhaps. The battle system in this is pretty standard stuff. It has the same commands as some of the other games in the series; you can set up tactics and lineup in the middle of battles (but it isn't that important, I didn't use those once the whole game.) You have standard attacks, spells, abilities, as well as Coup de Grace attacks (basically limit break type attacks depending on the vocation your character has.) So there is quite a lot of depth to the battle system, mainly coming from the different attacks and abilities each enemy has, and the ones your party has access to. It is quite a traditional turn based battle system, basically the same as IV and V although they do make this one look a lot better. The enemies move and the backgrounds are fairly nice but nothing groundbreaking. I do like that when you've selected your moves, the characters and enemies move around the battlefield in order to launch their attacks. It reminded me of FFXIII. Its kind of unneccessary but makes it more interesting to look at. One thing that was absent from this game was the monster recruiting seen in other games in the series. It added a lot in my opinion and would have liked it if this one had that feature. Although there is plenty more to make up for the lack of that. 

There is a lot of optional content to partake in. There are 184 sidequests, including the ones that have to be unlocked via wi-fi. These range from simple fetch quests, item quests and alchemy quests to very challenging combat related accomplishments which might unlock one of the 12(?) vocations and quests involving grottoes, which are pretty challenging postgame dungeons. I'll mention quickly that there is a lot to do after the main story. You'll definitely get your money's worth with this game. Other than the quests, there is the Wardrobe and Item List, the Alchemy list (I can't spell it off the top of my head) and Accolades, which are essentially titles given when you reach certain milestones ie. 1000 battles or progress in your main character's skill tree. Some might not really be that bothered about the accolades, but I think they could be fun to get, and definitely add to the list of things to do, at least for some people.

Traditional stuff: Saving in churches, still there of course, although the quicksave is there and is a welcome addition for a portable game. I used it a few times when I had to get off the bus or whatever. You still need to go to a churce to find out how much exp you need to level up, but there is a spell to make up for that. Thats a minor addition, but it does show that they were trying to move away from some of the pointlessly annoying mechanics. Which brings me to the next point, there are no random encounters in this game, instead, you've got monsters appearing on the world map or dungeon you are in, similar to a lot of games now ie. Tales of Symphonia. If you touch the enemies, you then get drawn into one of the turn based battles. This might have annoyed purists and it can be annoying when you are trying to farm certain enemies such as Metal Slimes, but it does help in places for example when you have to backtrack or run a large distance across the map. Personally, I'd probably rather have the random battles, but its not to say I don't like this system. I enjoyed this as a slight departure from the standard of the series.

I've been going on about the gameplay for about 3 years now, so I'll quickly run over the last few things. There is a strong multiplayer aspect to this game, you can do co-op multiplayer via a local network ie. you need to be in ds-ds close range. But what happens is your friends replace any of your 3 'NPC' characters, well NPC isnt right..I mean they replace any of the characters in your party who are not your main character. I think they get boosted experience while doing this, so that is something I haven't tried but could be fun. You can also do multiplayer things with Treasure Maps and other stuff. In some ways, the game seems intended for this multiplayer, which of course would have had a better chance of taking off in Japan with the serie's success there. Perhaps the game would have benefited from wi-fi multiplayer available from the start, and the Japanese release. So does the game feel weaker as a result of this multiplayer aspect? I don't think so. It doesn't feel essential, but it feels like it could be very seamless and easy to set up. I'd have to experience it to say more though.

Gameplay: 9/10

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Story and Characters

The story in Dragon Quest IX started out full of promise for me. The story starts out in the Observatory, a stronghold in the sky inhabited by the Celestrians, a winged guardian angel race essentially. Your character (which you can customise in a fairly deep creator) basically has to protect and help out the mortals in the realm of the Protectorate below, in order to gather crystallised Benevolessence (yeah, some stupid names in this game.)  The story takes a bit of a twist and you are forced to gather up Fyggs. This takes the form of mini stories involving different towns, and usually a dungeon and boss to solve a major plot quest. I felt this stop start story telling went on a bit too long, you have to gather up 7 Fyggs from what I remember, and meanwhile the main story is essentially put on hold. It leaves a lot of things to the end, in which it picks up a bit, but I was still feeling a bit confused when I first learned of the character who was to be the end boss. The story could have been handled better, but I did enjoy it when it worked. The characters in this game are another area in which the game could have been a lot stronger. The main character and the Celestrians are fairly interesting, we see them at the start and through various points in the story, but perhaps not enough is shown of Apus Major and the other ones. I would have liked more cutscenes interspersed throughout the game, especially during the Fygg collecting bit of the story. Stella, the fairy that joins you throughout your quest is actually quite funny and a good addition. My main gripe about the characters is that the 3 other party members do not talk or have any personality. This is due to the fact that they easily swap out in the event of co-op multiplayer. They are also randomly generated using the character creator. Although you can make your own if you are not happy, you could end up with some bizarre looking silent party members. To be honest, I didn't mind the fact that they didn't have any dialogue. A lot of RPGs are similar in that respect, plus I like the fact that you have a lot of customisation options, in terms of appearance and vocation for your party.

Story and Characters: 7/10

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Graphics

For a DS game, Dragon Quest IX actually looks pretty good. While its obviously not up to the level of Dragon Quest VIII, a PS2 game, textures and colours look pretty good. It seems it is in the same direction as VIII, a semi-cel shaded look for this one. They had the same developers on board for this one and it does show. Things are outlined in black and look quite bold and vibrant. There is a lot of detail put into the important characters and the polygonal stuff never looks too rough or pixelated (not obtrusively so, at least.) 

The graphics in battle look really good compared to the remakes of IV and V. Everything is smooth: the enemies and your character's models are very well done, and move around the battlefield without any technical issues. The font and numbers in battle, for displaying damage etc are clear, easy to read and link in with the sound effects very well. 

The monsters, many of which are staples of the series are well animated and well rendered, especially in the overworld and dungeons. As for cutscenes, they look very nice in this game, with a sketchy, watered down colour look to them. They look good in my opinion and don't seem to tax the DS hardware that much. Take a look at this video and see what I mean. Of course, a bit is lost in quality in the transition to youtube, but you'll at least understand what I mean by the style.

So, it has a nice graphical style throughout, the only real flaw I can note is that there is slowdown in places on the overworld and towns. This only seems to happen occasionally when you have a full party of 4 and there is a lot going on in the area. Its isn't crippling, just a very minor slowdown of things. It might annoy some people, but it is on the verge of unnoticeable. Very good looking game in terms of a DS title. You can tell it was developed with the DS in mind.

Graphics: 8.5/10

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Audio

I was speaking about the combo system in battle earlier. Think of it as a Zelda: Wind Waker style combo system linked with the sound effects. If your characters hit an enemy in close succession, you will get a boost in damage, 1.2x and so on, indicated by a sound effect. This was a nice addition and the sound here is integrated very well. 

Overall, the audio quality is good for a DS game, but many of the actual tracks weren't that memorable. They do fit in with the tone of a lot of the scenes though. I feel they won't be given much credit, as they don't jump out and scream in your face, if you know what I mean. Instead, they are well orchestrated pieces of music by the series composer Koichi Sugiyama. The tone of the story in many places is actually quite dark and sad and some of these pieces fit quite well with the melancholy mood. Some songs are nice and light though as well, like the Tavern song. The battle theme is fairly average, but it works. Its the "I Won't Lose" video below. 

Audio: 7/10

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So overall, I do recommend this game-I had a lot of fun with it and I intend to go back and do more of the postgame optional stuff at some point. The game isn't perfect, but I think its nearly right up there amongst my favourite DS games, despite its few flaws. So if you are one of the people who haven't picked this up and are interested in it, go out and get it. I hope you'll enjoy it. If you weren't interested in this to begin with and managed to read all the way to here, well, thank you! =D I hope I've sold you on this game, which as with all Dragon Quest games, has a lot of charm. There is something about them that always draws me in. This is a solid title, and comes recommended.

Overall: 8/10

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Information on the game:

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

http://dragonquest.nintendo.com/

http://www.nintendo.co.uk/NOE/en_GB/games/nds/dragon_quest_ix_sentinels_of_the_starry_skies_17296.html

RPG-a-thon update.

I've finished FFXIII now, and tried out Vagrant Story...but some its game mechanics pissed me off and made me ragequit, so now I've removed it from the marathon, and put a few other titles in. Here is the list as it stands.

Final Fantasy XIII (PS3)
Shin Megami Tensei: Devil Survivor (DS)
Mass Effect 2 (360)
Shin Megami Tensei: Digital Devil Saga (PS2)*New*
Shin Megami Tensei: Digital Devil Saga 2 (PS2)*New*
Jeanne D'arc (PSP)
Dragon Warrior Monsters (GB)
Star Wars: Knights of the Old Republic (Xbox)
Kingdom Hearts II (PS2)
Yggdra Union: We'll Never Fight Alone (GBA)
Star Ocean: Till the end of Time (PS2)
Planescape Torment (PC)
Breath of Fire III (PSP)
The Elder Scrolls IV: Oblivion (360)
Suikoden Tierkreis (DS)*New*

Adding 1 more portable title like I said I would, and the Digital Devil Saga games which I got really far into, but never beat the first one.  Oh, if you're wondering where I'm doing this, head on over to the link.

Now Playing - "must resist emo urges"

Sunday once more, time for some musings on the vidya games I've been playing this week. (Only its not Sunday anymore...I failed by a half hour or so. Tempus Fugit...)

I've been putting a fair chunk of time into Final Fantasy XIII on the PS3, I'm pretty far through now, to the point where it has opened up a bit and I have the chance to grind and do side quests. So it has grown on me a bit, but I reckon that is just because I have the opportunity to do some rather tedious grinding, probably partly due to the story as well. The story is pretty good, but not brilliant so far at least. The battle system is fun at times, but a lot of the time I feel pressured into hammering X to finish battles as quickly as possible with the auto-battle option to get 5* ratings to recoup some TP. Bit too 'arcadey' was one of my first impressions of the battle system and a bit too simplified. Its good, definitely but not one of my favourite battle systems. 

Overall, I think the game has grown on me a bit since the start, but I still reckon it is quite an average game. Even though it looks brilliant and has a pretty good story and battle system, the limitations, linearity early on and the characters, none of which I particularly like kinda kill the game for me.

 

I also joined up with rpgamer606's RPG-a-thon  on the backloggery. Have a look here. Since I love RPGs and that seems to be the genre I play most of the time, I thought I'd try get through a bunch of my titles as part of this.

I decided on a list of 10 at first, and then wanted to include FFXIII in it since I was enjoying the open nature of the part I was at, so upped it to 13 games, which are below. I'm considering adding or replacing some titles as I'll be going on holiday in a couple months, so might put some more DS or at least portable games on there, cos I'll have some long journeys getting there and back.

rpgamer606's RPG-a-thon

Final Fantasy XIII (PS3)
Shin Megami Tensei: Devil Survivor (DS)
Mass Effect 2 (360)
Vagrant Story (PS1)
Jeanne D'arc (PSP)
Dragon Warrior Monsters (GB)
Star Wars: Knights of the Old Republic (Xbox)
Kingdom Hearts II (PS2)
Yggdra Union: We'll Never Fight Alone (GBA)
Star Ocean: Till the end of Time (PS2)
Planescape Torment (PC)
Breath of Fire III (PSP)
 The Elder Scrolls IV: Oblivion (360)

How did I pick em? I just tried to have some short, some with more length to them, cover as many of the RPG subgenres as possible and cover as many developers as I could in the selection. Some of them are games I've wanted to play for a while now, hopefully I can have some fun with some of them. 

So I've started up Shin Megami Tensei: Devil Survivor (DS) and got a couple hours in so far. It feels very SMT so far, and quite like The World Ends With You and Death Note. I'm definitely enjoying it so far. It looks to have quite a bit of depth to the Demon Auction and Cathedral of Shadows (liking that name) which let you bid on new pokemon style party members (only not so cute for the most part) and fuse new species if you so desire ...

OMG...I had loads more stuff written here, blogger thought it would be funny when I hit publish to give me an error message and chop the end off. Nice one.. ¬_¬