RPG Fishing

Boom Headshot!

Odin Sphere

I played some more Odin Sphere today, I'm on the 2nd book that you get to play through-The Pooka Prince. It didnt take me long to get quite far through this one because I used most of the stuff I knew about the game from the first book - Valkyrie, where you play as Gwendolyn. At first, some of the gameplay aspects were quite confusing to me, for example the Alchemy-I didn't understand that at first, but now I can make useful potions and tonics quite easily...well when I have the materials necessary. That isnt very often, at the moment I have quite a bit of a drought..I dont have materials to make anything like Health Tonics which would be really useful. 

I'm right at the end of Prince Cornelius's story, in the Epilogue and my god...its hard... and annoying. I died so much before giving in by returning to the base...meant I have to start the level over, but I could not be bothered anymore. The game is usually hard, but this area just frustrates the hell out of me. I usually play the game on normal difficulty, only really turning it down to Easy when I get stuck or frustrated. I'm not going anywhere near the hard difficulty lol.... But anyway, this sewer area of the Titanian capital or wherever is much harder than anywhere I've seen so far. The miniboss, the Axe Knight took me so long to kill....its that stupid combination of a lack of decent healing stuff some of the time and insanely powered bosses that this game throws at you so often. I finally figured out a way to exploit the goblin reinforcement's poisoned knives to inflict poison on him by killing them and then striking their knives as they fall to the ground. So I did that boss eventually, and then tried to complete some of the other stages in the area...I shouldnt have done that. I was near the end of the area, almost having done all the stages despite the fact I didn't have the map somehow, and went to a 5 star stage. Shit...that place was hard...It has this crazy amount of goblins, the wizard dudes that teleport whenever you attack them and the wee green slimes that are resistant to physical attacks and if they trap you, you are pretty much dead. So I could go on, but thats what pissed me off and made me go back to the start of the level. I'll have to do it over some other time....I'm thinking I'll have gamefaqs open next time I go through, stock up on healing stuff first and then go through only the stages I need to.

It may look like I hate this game, but I actually love it. I really like 2D RPGs such as this, and I like games to have some sort of challenge, like this does. Sometimes though, its quite sadistic...It may just be that I suck a little too much still at the game. Maybe when I get further through I'll be better at it. If I can get past this damn level...

Mass Effect 2

Teaser trailers arent really always the best trailers, and this one isnt really an exception to that, but still, when the trailer was put up a while back I was excited about this release...I mean the sequel wont be out until some time in 2010, but the first game was really good I thought, with just a few minor flaws here and there. I'd definitely recommend Mass Effect, in my opinion one of the best (western) rpgs on the Xbox 360 along with Oblivion and Fallout 3. Its also on Windows, which could possibly have dealt with the texture issues the game had a bit better. 

Mass Effect Online

Bioshock 2

I just found some more stuff out about this game, I liked the first, but never finished it. Looks like I'll have to finish it before this one comes out in Q4 2009, thats quite a while. Apparantely they ditched the name Bioshock 2: Sea of Dreams. Dont know why, cos that is a nice name...

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Bioshock_2

Final Fantasy VII Advent Children Complete

Looks like Square Enix will be getting more of my money...if I can get a PS3 by then. 

Info from Wikipedia; 

At the Tokyo Game Show 2006, Square Enix showed a trailer of a director's cut of the film, titled Final Fantasy VII Advent Children Complete for release on the Blu-ray Disc format. New scenes will be added to the film. The film will also benefit from high-definition video and audio that the Blu-ray format offers. It will also come with a playable demo of Final Fantasy XIII. The cut had formerly been expected to be released in mid 2007, but Square Enix announced at the Tokyo Game Show 2007 that they would postpone the product until 2008.[8]

At the 2008 Square Enix DKΣ3713 Party, it was announced that Final Fantasy VII Advent Children Complete would be released in March 2009 in Japan,[9] but it was delayed soon after and now has a release date of April 16, 2009. A separate bundle will be sold that includes a demo of Final Fantasy XIII. Both editions will include the first HD trailers of Final Fantasy Versus XIII and Final Fantasy Agito XIII, making them the first released HD trailers of the Fabula Nova Crystallis series. It has also been reported that the film will feature a 20-minute long extra movie on the disc which is an anime version of the "Case of Denzel" chapter featured in the On the Way to a Smile novella.[9] It has also been announced that Advent Children Complete will be released in North America on the 7th of June, 2009

DSi release

So the DSi is out in the UK now. Its nice and new and shiny(wait, its not even shiny? What the hell? ><) I've already seen lots of people buying them in store. 

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

I'll probably try and keep my eye on the DSi ware stuff and apps, but I will probably forget about these. For me, there is not much going for the Dsi, well not enough for me to buy one straight away....too costly. 

http://www.nintendodsi.com/

It reminds me of the Wii shop channel, which there is lots of nice stuff on, go check it out! For some reason my DS can connect to my router, but my Wii can't....

I dont like the way there is no gba slot, for pokemon games and a lot of other stuff, this really kills the DSi. 

Recently Released PAL RPGs

I played some more Kingdom Hearts today, got to the Olympus Coliseum and I'm kinda stuck on the Phil Cup, I kinda suck at this game lol. I think I just need to restock up on items and I should manage it fine.

There are a few games out at the moment that I've got my eye on. Lots of good PAL RPGs have been released recently-here are a few;

Persona 4 (PS2) - published in PAL regions by Square Enix on March 13th and developed by Atlus this comes boxed with a soundtrack disc. Last time I checked it was around £20 in Gamestation or around £15-20 online. It has had good reviews so far - http://www.rpgamer.com/games/persona/persona4/persona4.html and I wanna pick it up before it goes up in, but I dont think it will for a while. Even if it goes out of the charts in stores here, there should be lots online on Amazon, Ebay etc.

http://uk.gamespot.com/ps2/rpg/persona4/index.html?tag=result;title;0

 Chrono Trigger (DS) - This got released in the UK on February 26th, 2009. It is a DS port of the fan favourite SNES rpg. I like the way they havent changed too much and they've given the players options to cjoose what they want the game to play like. They have apparantely tacked some extras on, which is good even though they dont flow too well from the game.

http://www.rpgamer.com/games/chrono/ct/ct.html

   Dragon Quest V: Hand of the Heavenly Bride (DS) - released recently in PAL regions, this remake/port has had good reviews so far, I've heard its one of the best Dragon Quest games, so I want to pick it up sometime soon, also because I am playing through DQIV at the moment. 

http://www.rpgamer.com/games/dq/dq5ds/reviews/dq5dsstrev1.html

http://www.rpgamer.com/games/dq/dq5ds/reviews/dq5dsrdrev1.html

 Castlevania: Order of Ecclesia (DS) - I've talked about this one before. I'm a huge Castlevania fan and I want to try this one soon, I've heard good things about it. Apparantely its VERY hard in places. I love challenging castlevania games, so far I havent been beaten by any of the GBA or DS titles. I'm looking forward to picking this one up.

http://www.rpgfan.com/reviews/Castlevania_Order_of_Ecclesia/index.html

 Star Ocean Second Evolution (PSP) - I recently finished First Departure and I'm looking to pick this one up, its still around £20 though. For some reason I dont like the idea of psp games coming out at £30, I would buy DS games for that much, but unless its a really good psp game, I dont like paying the full price for psp games. Anyway, this one apparantely lacks the polish of the first one, but I still want to play this. I liked the crafting system in the first psp remake even though I didnt fully understand it. Plus its got more of the same anime cutscenes by Production IG, the awesome studio that brought us Ghost in the Shell, Blood: The Last Vampire and lots more. Other games they have worked on have been Children of Mana-I found it dissapointing, but it had nice cutscenes and character designs.

Hell yeah! My laptop is working again!

My laptop randomly stopped picking up my wireless network a few weeks ago and now I turned it back on after a while of using the other computer and now it works again somehow! Miraculous!

Much more convenient for me, so I can use the net anywhere in the house again, and I have all my favourites and bookmarks back! yay :D

Also, I finished getting all the necessary forms ready to post off to the Uni of Edinburgh. I already applied to them online, but their system is new and kinda unpredictable. It sent me emails back saying that they couldnt read most of the supporting documentation that I had to upload. So I've printed them off and just need to send em out the good foolproof old fashioned way-post! I just hope they dont get lost in the post, knowing me that could well happen....

UFO footage

Daylight footage: UFOs over Europe

Quite intriguing videos from ITN, http://video.msn.com/video.aspx?mkt=en-GB&vid=6f9fab46-ffbd-4177-aeb5-11cf1b0f8780&from=today&ocid=today

Muramasa: The Demon Blade

Another game I've had my eye on recently is this forthcoming Wii RPG~Muramasa: The Demon Blade. Its from Atlus and some of the people at Vanillaware, the developer that brought us Odin Sphere, which I started the other night. I love 2D games, especially rpgs such as the castlevania games and other games like the Metal Slug games. These kind of games just show that simple graphics with detailed, lush backgrounds are still viable today. It doesnt have a release date yet, but hopefully it comes out in the USA and in PAL regions



http://www.rpgamer.com/event/tgs2008/impressions/oboroimp.html





More screeens courtesy of RPGamer.com

http://www.rpgamer.com/games/other/wii/oboro/oboross.html

Pokemon Diamond

So I have been mostly busy with postgraduate applications at the moment. Apart from that I've been practicing for a wifi tournament on Pokemon Diamond/Pearl that I signed up for. lol, I had to, I had an urge to go back and play some pokemon. I was kinda rusty having been away from the game for a few months, but I'm starting to remember things after 4 battles now. So far I've got 2 losses(my first 2 games) and 2 wins. I've been using this team which I initially submitted to the person in charge of the tournament on the Anime League forums.



Garchomp @ Focus Sash, Hasty, 252 atk/252 speed/6 HP (I think)

Dragon Claw
Earthquake
Fire Blast
Swords Dance

[Turns out these Garchomp guys are banned on the Serebii forums, so I put in my elemence instead of him. I didnt know this until now-they werent banned back when I played...]


Starmie @ Leftovers, Timid, 252 Sp.Atk/252 speed/6 HP

Surf
Ice Beam
Thunderbolt
Recover



Milotic @ Leftovers, Bold

Surf
Ice Beam
Rest
Sleep Talk



Heracross @ Choice Scarf, Jolly, 252 Atk/252 Speed/6 HP

Megahorn
Brick Break
Rock Slide
Earthquake

[This guy is weak and could use some upgrading to D/P I know, but he has come in useful so far. I was thinking close combat/focus punch>bb and stone edge>rock slide as well as adamant>jolly.]



Tyranitar @ Leftovers, Adamant

Stone Edge
Earthquake
Focus Punch
Crunch

[When he gets a chance he can destroy. <3]



Blissey @ Leftovers, Bold

Seismic Toss
Ice Beam
Aromatherapy
Softboiled

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

Reserves

I have an Elemence, Physical Mence, old Skarmory with roar, spikes, rest, steel wing, sleeptalking, boltbeaming regice, another TTar moveset and a special lucario to choose from in my other pokemon. Just need to figure out the best team with what I've got. I would want some stuff like a stealth rock swampert, skarmory or something else but not sure if I've got time before the tourney starts.

Amazing pictures from Hubble

These are some awesome pics taken by the Hubble Telescope. I always found this kind of thing interesting. I dont know a lot about Astronomy/Astrology though.

http://news.uk.msn.com/in-pictures/gallery.aspx?cp-documentid=9773060

Update

I've not posted in a while, so here's a few things I've been doing, playing and laughing at...

Probably one of the best images ever. XD

I completed the main quest in Castlevania: Portrait of Ruin (DS) so I just need to beat Harmony of Dissonance before I get the newest one-Castlevania: Order of Ecclesia. Portrait of Ruin is for the most part quite easy and very short( I beat it with around 900% in less than 10 hrs I think.)

Its easy apart from the last 2 bosses(one of which is optional-I gave up on that one-Richter) which made me grind out a few more levels. Overall I liked the game except I didnt really like the system where you equip the souls of enemies and the mastery thing ( I grinded for ages and still couldnt master the ones I wanted to) I preferred some of the other Castlevania systems, like Dawn of Souls for example. Also the fact that they reused quite a lot of enemies from previous games..that seems to be a recurring flaw of Castlevania games. I'm looking forward to playing Castlevania: Harmony of Dissonance and Order of Ecclesia. I might review some of the games I've beaten at some point.

Anyway, I had a really good Valentine's weekend. Went with my girlfriend to the theatre to see Blood Brothers-the first musical I've seen in the theatre and I thought it was really good actually-I wasnt sure it would be my thing but I liked it-the acting and singing was very good and the whole thing was well written. Then we went to Starbucks for some coffee before going for dinner at Tang's Gohan-a japanese restaurant in Edinburgh that we have been to before and really liked so went back. I forgot my phone and since I never really wear a watch keeping track of time was slightly hard. Couldnt tell when we had to leave for the restaurant since for some reason they didnt have any clocks in Starbucks....wierd.

So now that I've beaten Castlevania, my attention turns to the other games I am playing at the moment- Disgaea: Afternoon of Darkness (PSP), Final Fantasy VII (PS1) and Lost Odyssey (X360). I am pretty far through Disgaea-around 60 hrs in and on Episode 11...but I'm gonna need to grind before I can continue with the storyline... and in Lost Odyssey I am on Disc 4 searching for sidequests and grinding.

As for anime and TV, I am watching Moon Phase and kinda want to start reading Chibi Vampire at some point, after seeing the anime Karin at our anime group's last screening (which was awesome because of the vampire theme)