Among the many, many great JRPGs for the Playstation 2 are three great ones that are very unique. Mix an RPG with horror elements, humor, a unique battle system and general wierdness, and you have the Shadow Heart series:the original Shadow Hearts, Shadow Hearts Covenant and Shadow Hearts From the New World.
Shadow Hearts could be called a "spiritual successor" to Koudelka, a PS1 JRPG that was part survival horror, part RPG. I own and like the game, but it has some problems, not the least of which is that the developers put save points after, not before, major boss battles, leading to a lot of frustration. Shadow Hearts is a definate improvement, adding one of the best ideas in the form of the Judgement Ring.
Imagine a stylized clock face, only having one hand that spins around very quickly. In order to fight, use an item, or use magic in battle, you have to hit one or several pie shaped highlighted sections on the ring. Miss one or more and you lose your turn (in attacking, if you do miss one of three sections, you still get to attack, you just don't get as many hits in.) In addtion, there are tiny slivers of red on the judgement ring that, when hit, cause more hit or magic damage, or in the case of healing spells or items, more hit points back.
It takes a short time to get used to, but it's an awesome addition to standard turn based battles. And it's not a matter of fast reflexes, just a matter of getting the timing right. Instead of just hitting attack and targeting an enemy, you also use your own skill with the judgement ring to cause damage, making battles more interactive. Do you try to hit the red section to cause more damage, or lose your chance to attack?
Shadow Hearts Covenant brings this idea even further, in that you can link judgement ring attacks of different party characters. As long as you keep hitting the right spots, you can get a chain going and beat the crap out of a monster (almost all the enemies and bosses you face are monsters, which get weirder and more groteque.)
Add to this a main character in the first and second games who is a harmonizer, or a person who can transform into 20+ demons once he defeats them, each with their own special attacks. (In the third game, there is a character who can also transform into demon forms, except it is a she this time.) Other party characters throughout the series are a vampire wrestler, an old man named Gepetto who attacks with female dolls, a cat who knows martial arts, and a ninja names Frank. Told ya this series was weird.
The games also hit all the other marks:great graphics wonderful sound and engaging stories. I really can't recommend these games enough. I managed to find SHC and SHFtNW at Gamestop for reasonable prices, and found Shadow Hearts at Blockbuster. Amazon or Ebay are probably the best bet to find these wonderful games. I would probably buy a PS3 if they ever came out with a fourth gamein the series, but with JRPGs being in the state they are in, that will probably never happen. One can dream...
Wednesday, January 25, 2012
Monday, November 14, 2011
The things we leave behind
I'll freely admit it, I am a video game collector as well as a video game player, as my huge piles of game cases in various parts of the house will attest to. But I enjoy looking at all the various games I have collected over the years, admiring the box art paging through the game manuals (even if I am not going to play that game at the time.) I love the physicality of it, to hold in my hands a work that someone (often many, many someones) has put a lot of time, imagination and work into. Something that, save for some factors (taking care of the disk or cartidge, having a working machine to run it on), will last for a long time. something I own and can show to others.
Having physical media is something that it is rapidly changing, and someday soon will cease to exist entirely. That will be a very sad day for me.
Progress can not be stopped, like an unrelenting tank. And like like a tank, it does not care who it grinds under it's treads. Digital media does have its good points...and its bad. Games are more and more becoming piecemeal affairs, as downloadable content allows companies to sell characters, quests and clothing(!) even after the game player has bought his/her 60 dollar game. Do you have buy the DLC? Of course not. More and more though, it seems important parts of the games has been stripped out to sell later to gamers, something companies wave over the grasping hands of the masses, just out of reach. Already payed 60 dollars for your game? Too bad, you have to pony up an addition 20 dollars to REALLY enjoy the game.
Aside from DLC, and which saddens old time gamers like me, is that soon there will only games on a consoles' hard drive. No case to admire, no manual to page through, nothing. Only....air, really. In the future, all gamers will own basically air. Or a series of ones and zeroes. Whatever the hell downloaded stuff is. Yes, it's a game that can be played on the console of your choice...but you don't really have it, do you?
This has a lot to do with my age, of course. For over twenty-five years I have bought and rented (and returned) video games. I enjoy looking through cases, putting disks or inserting cartidges in consoles or handhelds. Eventually going fully digital is a HUGE and difficult thing for me to do, which is patially the reason I am stuck at last generation games/consoles. Sure, many games are still made into physical format, but the whole DLC format is putting me off.
While I am still negative toward digital media, I think independent game studios who would have a snowballs chance in hell of ever getting their unique work published have enbraced the much cheaper digital route to great success. This in my mind is a very, very good thing. While the big studious rehash the same old thing because they cannot afford to take risks, independent studious take risks all the time to great success. Independent games are the reason video games should be labeled art:they are imaginitive, thoughful and emotional. Not just yet another first person game where you shoot the bad guys in the head.
So, while I still have my psychical games, I want to game for years to come, but the future of the media itself disheartens me. In order to continue my hobby I love so much I may have to embrace digital media; but I will yearn for what I have left behind.
Having physical media is something that it is rapidly changing, and someday soon will cease to exist entirely. That will be a very sad day for me.
Progress can not be stopped, like an unrelenting tank. And like like a tank, it does not care who it grinds under it's treads. Digital media does have its good points...and its bad. Games are more and more becoming piecemeal affairs, as downloadable content allows companies to sell characters, quests and clothing(!) even after the game player has bought his/her 60 dollar game. Do you have buy the DLC? Of course not. More and more though, it seems important parts of the games has been stripped out to sell later to gamers, something companies wave over the grasping hands of the masses, just out of reach. Already payed 60 dollars for your game? Too bad, you have to pony up an addition 20 dollars to REALLY enjoy the game.
Aside from DLC, and which saddens old time gamers like me, is that soon there will only games on a consoles' hard drive. No case to admire, no manual to page through, nothing. Only....air, really. In the future, all gamers will own basically air. Or a series of ones and zeroes. Whatever the hell downloaded stuff is. Yes, it's a game that can be played on the console of your choice...but you don't really have it, do you?
This has a lot to do with my age, of course. For over twenty-five years I have bought and rented (and returned) video games. I enjoy looking through cases, putting disks or inserting cartidges in consoles or handhelds. Eventually going fully digital is a HUGE and difficult thing for me to do, which is patially the reason I am stuck at last generation games/consoles. Sure, many games are still made into physical format, but the whole DLC format is putting me off.
While I am still negative toward digital media, I think independent game studios who would have a snowballs chance in hell of ever getting their unique work published have enbraced the much cheaper digital route to great success. This in my mind is a very, very good thing. While the big studious rehash the same old thing because they cannot afford to take risks, independent studious take risks all the time to great success. Independent games are the reason video games should be labeled art:they are imaginitive, thoughful and emotional. Not just yet another first person game where you shoot the bad guys in the head.
So, while I still have my psychical games, I want to game for years to come, but the future of the media itself disheartens me. In order to continue my hobby I love so much I may have to embrace digital media; but I will yearn for what I have left behind.
Tuesday, October 11, 2011
Keeping it simple
When did games get so complicated?
Honestly, I don't know, that's why I'm asking. It's not been a recent thing, that's for sure...but over the last several years it's gotten worse. It's not just playing the games themselves that has gotten complicated, though they certainly have. Even before one can start a new game, there is the matter of installation, of patches, of DLC, whether or not multiplayer is good or not. Once a game is installed to the hard drive, has been patched to fix numerous glitches, you make sure you have the latest DLC, and you have good connection with no lag in multiplayer, THEN you can enjoy your new game. Once you get used to the control scheme on the gamepad after re-reading the instruction manual twice (if the game even comes with one.)
This is why am very leery of jumping into the very deep waters of this current console generation and enjoy splashing around in the shallows of the last console generation, to take the beach metaphor a little too far. Plus there are sharks (teenagers very adept at head shots and swearing) in those deep multiplayer waters. (Ok, definately too far.)
Video games, in the beginning, were simple in nature and content. They had to be, of course, the tech was just not there. Yet since they were simple, pretty much anyone could play and enjoy them, as long as their reflexes were not shot to hell. I believe gaming in the beginning was pretty much all casual, pretty much pick and play:simple. Unfortunately this simplicity made video games seeming only for kids, a misconception that has dogged the industry to this day with the government trying to keep mature rated games out of the hands of the young and impressionable while also trying keep them out of hands of those old enough to play them! But that is a rant for another day.
Anyway, I was thinking about how video games have gotten complicated in that I often have to restart a game, and usually read the manual again, if I want to go back to a game I have not played in a while. Granted, I think my memory is already getting spotty in my early forties, and I often jump from one game to the next willy-nilly, so that when I come back to an older game, I wonder 'why am I standing here? What should I be doing? Who is that guy and how do I shoot him in the head'?(come to think of it, I often do that at home, minus the shooting part of course.)
Ever wonder why ipad, iphone and independent games are so popular now? Because they take simple, back-to-basic approaches to gameplay. Easy and fun. Granted, these games cost in the 5 to 10 dollar range, while a new console game is 60 dollars new. One would want a lot gaming for that much money...but does it have to be so complicated?
Maybe it does. Gaming has been around for about 30 years, and in those years, the technology that enables one to interact with the television (or computer, or phone, or handheld, or pad) screen has evolved incredibly. Maybe the technology has surpassed me, and I should just stop gaming.
Nahhh. I love my hobby too much.
I know I will jump into the deep waters one day. I will either sink, or I will swim.
It's as simple as that.
Honestly, I don't know, that's why I'm asking. It's not been a recent thing, that's for sure...but over the last several years it's gotten worse. It's not just playing the games themselves that has gotten complicated, though they certainly have. Even before one can start a new game, there is the matter of installation, of patches, of DLC, whether or not multiplayer is good or not. Once a game is installed to the hard drive, has been patched to fix numerous glitches, you make sure you have the latest DLC, and you have good connection with no lag in multiplayer, THEN you can enjoy your new game. Once you get used to the control scheme on the gamepad after re-reading the instruction manual twice (if the game even comes with one.)
This is why am very leery of jumping into the very deep waters of this current console generation and enjoy splashing around in the shallows of the last console generation, to take the beach metaphor a little too far. Plus there are sharks (teenagers very adept at head shots and swearing) in those deep multiplayer waters. (Ok, definately too far.)
Video games, in the beginning, were simple in nature and content. They had to be, of course, the tech was just not there. Yet since they were simple, pretty much anyone could play and enjoy them, as long as their reflexes were not shot to hell. I believe gaming in the beginning was pretty much all casual, pretty much pick and play:simple. Unfortunately this simplicity made video games seeming only for kids, a misconception that has dogged the industry to this day with the government trying to keep mature rated games out of the hands of the young and impressionable while also trying keep them out of hands of those old enough to play them! But that is a rant for another day.
Anyway, I was thinking about how video games have gotten complicated in that I often have to restart a game, and usually read the manual again, if I want to go back to a game I have not played in a while. Granted, I think my memory is already getting spotty in my early forties, and I often jump from one game to the next willy-nilly, so that when I come back to an older game, I wonder 'why am I standing here? What should I be doing? Who is that guy and how do I shoot him in the head'?(come to think of it, I often do that at home, minus the shooting part of course.)
Ever wonder why ipad, iphone and independent games are so popular now? Because they take simple, back-to-basic approaches to gameplay. Easy and fun. Granted, these games cost in the 5 to 10 dollar range, while a new console game is 60 dollars new. One would want a lot gaming for that much money...but does it have to be so complicated?
Maybe it does. Gaming has been around for about 30 years, and in those years, the technology that enables one to interact with the television (or computer, or phone, or handheld, or pad) screen has evolved incredibly. Maybe the technology has surpassed me, and I should just stop gaming.
Nahhh. I love my hobby too much.
I know I will jump into the deep waters one day. I will either sink, or I will swim.
It's as simple as that.
Tuesday, October 4, 2011
Knees and JRPGs
Sorry I have not blogged in while, my wife just had major knee replacement surgery, which she has been wanting to get for a while. We wanted to make sure insurance paid for it, which it seems it will. Two accidents severly damaged her right knee, and arthritus destroyed what was left. The knee has been caused her considerable pain for years; so the operation is a very good thing. The flip side is that it may take a while for her to walk on her own, and she will need some rehabilatation. The knees are the most important joints in the body after all!
After this I am going to get myself checked out, as I have pain in the left side of my back, shoulder, and hip. I think it may be crushed spinal nerves, kinda afraid to find out. Getting old sucks!!
In the meantime, I have been playing Atelier Iris:The Azoth of Destiny on the PS2. I love this game so much I want to give it a hug! Great sprite graphics, wonderful combat, good story...the kind of JRPGs they don't really make anymore. Plus it's fun finding recipes and making stuff using alchemy. This game is both fun AND funny, and better yet I also have the sequel, AI 3:Grand Phantasm. Now if I can just find the first game...
Anyone else enjoying a sweet JRPG?
After this I am going to get myself checked out, as I have pain in the left side of my back, shoulder, and hip. I think it may be crushed spinal nerves, kinda afraid to find out. Getting old sucks!!
In the meantime, I have been playing Atelier Iris:The Azoth of Destiny on the PS2. I love this game so much I want to give it a hug! Great sprite graphics, wonderful combat, good story...the kind of JRPGs they don't really make anymore. Plus it's fun finding recipes and making stuff using alchemy. This game is both fun AND funny, and better yet I also have the sequel, AI 3:Grand Phantasm. Now if I can just find the first game...
Anyone else enjoying a sweet JRPG?
Saturday, September 17, 2011
One Step Forward, Two Steps Back
Well, I'm trying not to get any more games for awhile...but while I was out and about with my wife we came by a Blockbuster Video that was closing, so everything had to go. Kinda sucks that,as that was the last Blockbuster within a 15 mile radius of where we live. Got a lot of cheap games and movies from that rental chain. Anyway, I did get two used PS2 games from this Blockbuster for only 3 bucks each:Rogue Trooper, a game based on a UK comic, and Tomb Raider Anniversity Edition, a PS2 remake of the first Tomb Raider.
I haven't played them yet, hope they work, although that is moot, since for obvious reasons they can't be returned.
Also got stategy guides for Kingdom Hearts II and Golden Sun Dark Dawn for 6 bucks each at a closing Borders bookstore. That's nice, but does make me sad as although there will still be Blockbuster Videos that will remain open across the counrty (except anywhere near me). All Borders are closing, victim of the Kindle, internet and the lousy ecomomy. Yeah, and the irony of the internet being a cause is not lost on me, this being a blog post and all.
I haven't played them yet, hope they work, although that is moot, since for obvious reasons they can't be returned.
Also got stategy guides for Kingdom Hearts II and Golden Sun Dark Dawn for 6 bucks each at a closing Borders bookstore. That's nice, but does make me sad as although there will still be Blockbuster Videos that will remain open across the counrty (except anywhere near me). All Borders are closing, victim of the Kindle, internet and the lousy ecomomy. Yeah, and the irony of the internet being a cause is not lost on me, this being a blog post and all.
Friday, September 16, 2011
Disgaea:The tiny version
Been playing Disgaea DS (aka Disgaea:Hour of Darkness) recently on the DS (duh!) I got this game for the Playstation 2 a while ago, but did not get that far as I was overwhelmed by how many things you can do in this strategy RPG. What I played was great though, and as I do with far too many games in my collection, promised myself I would play this game again. Still haven't gotten back to that version....
I liked the game enough that when I heard there was a DS version out that was a port of the PSP version with the new Etna mode, I wanted to get it. I somehow managed to get a copy sans booklet and case at Gamestop (I was lucky to find even that; I don't think I have seen that game used since.) I had the booklet from the PS2 version for reference if I needed it. I figured since I could play the game anywhere, I could get into it more readily.
I'm still ttrying to figure out a lot of Disgaeas' nuances, but damn if it isn't fun:quirky, imaginitive, and often hilarious. The only problem I have is that you can't save mid-battle, only at the castle.(At least as far as I can tell.) Not good for a portable version of the game.
At this point, I'm pretty much grinding a few maps to power up some of my characters, as I was soundly defeated by a mid boss (who is called, appopriatly, Mid Boss.) Plus I need to level up some created characters because as of right now, they fall over in stiff breeze.
Oh, and I do plan to go back to the PS2 version. There is so much to do in the game that I'm sure I would have a totally different experience from the DS version. Now, if I could just find that illusive Disgaea 2....or maybe I'm getting way ahead of myself there.
I liked the game enough that when I heard there was a DS version out that was a port of the PSP version with the new Etna mode, I wanted to get it. I somehow managed to get a copy sans booklet and case at Gamestop (I was lucky to find even that; I don't think I have seen that game used since.) I had the booklet from the PS2 version for reference if I needed it. I figured since I could play the game anywhere, I could get into it more readily.
I'm still ttrying to figure out a lot of Disgaeas' nuances, but damn if it isn't fun:quirky, imaginitive, and often hilarious. The only problem I have is that you can't save mid-battle, only at the castle.(At least as far as I can tell.) Not good for a portable version of the game.
At this point, I'm pretty much grinding a few maps to power up some of my characters, as I was soundly defeated by a mid boss (who is called, appopriatly, Mid Boss.) Plus I need to level up some created characters because as of right now, they fall over in stiff breeze.
Oh, and I do plan to go back to the PS2 version. There is so much to do in the game that I'm sure I would have a totally different experience from the DS version. Now, if I could just find that illusive Disgaea 2....or maybe I'm getting way ahead of myself there.
Thursday, September 15, 2011
Don't Let the Sun Go Down On Me
I have long been a fan of video games coming from the Land of the Rising Sun, Japan. Ever since I played the the original Final Fantasy, when it first came out well over 20 years ago, on my NES, I have been hooked on the crazy, quirky, and most of all fun games made by these crazy, quirky and most of all fun people. My favorite game genre is the RPG, and nobody, but nobody, can make great RPGs like the game companies in Japan can. The Japanese excelled at most every other genre, too.
But times change, as they must, although I certainly do not have to like it. Fewer and fewer Japanese games are making it across to America; for just one example, look at Project Rainfall, a well-meaning failure. The boon of Japanese games that came out for the PS and PS2, for which I shall be forever grateful, has slowed down to a trickle. There are many reasons for this, some of which have been discussed on 1UP, and I won't get into them here. I'll say it has to do with money and Japan still being a closed-off nation, and leave it at that.
I am not saying that the quality of Japanese video games has gone down, far from it from what I can tell. It's the quantity. American tastes have also changed, favoring home grown games, which have pushed back the amount of Japanese games coming here. But I'll be perfectly honest here:all I see is a vast wasteland of FPSs. Now I like FPSs, don't get the wrong idea. It's just that there is a glut of brown- and grey-colored shooters that all blend into one another. I miss the bright colors of Japanese games. And the polish, which still exists. When is the last time a Japanese game had to be patched? Has there EVER been a need? So many American made games, high profile and expensive, have been put out as if no one actually play tested the damn games. Does anyone do QC anymore?
It may sound like I am knocking American games, well, maybe I am. A little. With the domination of Western games and the seeming fall of Japanese games in America, it is the end of an era for me, and I may not be alone in this. And if I come off as bitter and sad, well, then that's because I am.
As for RPGs, I still vastly prefer JRPGs. Despite what detractors may say, to me JRPGs are fun, imaginitive and exciting experiences. Games like Dragon Age, Fallout, Mass Effect and Elder Scrolls just flat out bore me. Like American FPSs, they all seem like the same damn games. Have I played these games? Truthfully, no, so you could say that I am talking out of my ass, and you probably would have a valid point. Still, from what I have seen and heard of these games through the magic of the interwebs, I have zero interest in ever playing these games. They just don't look FUN to me. Except Bioshock, which seems like a FPS/RPG hybrid. THAT game I would like to play one day.
A lot of you younng uns' were not around before the Great Video Game Crash and the NES coming to the rescue, creating a Japanese video game dominance that has existed until a few years ago. There was great American innovation then; there had to be when you were making games for the Atari 2600. Where is that frontier spirit now? It seems that Japan has paved the way and America has simply followed along behind, until Japan was no longer needed. Now Call of Duty tops the charts, and the world is poorer for it.
I did mean for this blog to be a diatribe against Western video games (ok,perhaps a little.) I am saddened at the thought that there will be many less Japanese games coming here. Oh, we'll have our Mario and Final Fantasy games and the occasional wonderfully Japanese game that by some miracle came here, but that will be it. The sun is setting, and in the gathering darkness I wish I could see a bright light as the colors fade to grey and brown.
I'll miss the sun shining on my face. I'll miss it a lot.
But times change, as they must, although I certainly do not have to like it. Fewer and fewer Japanese games are making it across to America; for just one example, look at Project Rainfall, a well-meaning failure. The boon of Japanese games that came out for the PS and PS2, for which I shall be forever grateful, has slowed down to a trickle. There are many reasons for this, some of which have been discussed on 1UP, and I won't get into them here. I'll say it has to do with money and Japan still being a closed-off nation, and leave it at that.
I am not saying that the quality of Japanese video games has gone down, far from it from what I can tell. It's the quantity. American tastes have also changed, favoring home grown games, which have pushed back the amount of Japanese games coming here. But I'll be perfectly honest here:all I see is a vast wasteland of FPSs. Now I like FPSs, don't get the wrong idea. It's just that there is a glut of brown- and grey-colored shooters that all blend into one another. I miss the bright colors of Japanese games. And the polish, which still exists. When is the last time a Japanese game had to be patched? Has there EVER been a need? So many American made games, high profile and expensive, have been put out as if no one actually play tested the damn games. Does anyone do QC anymore?
It may sound like I am knocking American games, well, maybe I am. A little. With the domination of Western games and the seeming fall of Japanese games in America, it is the end of an era for me, and I may not be alone in this. And if I come off as bitter and sad, well, then that's because I am.
As for RPGs, I still vastly prefer JRPGs. Despite what detractors may say, to me JRPGs are fun, imaginitive and exciting experiences. Games like Dragon Age, Fallout, Mass Effect and Elder Scrolls just flat out bore me. Like American FPSs, they all seem like the same damn games. Have I played these games? Truthfully, no, so you could say that I am talking out of my ass, and you probably would have a valid point. Still, from what I have seen and heard of these games through the magic of the interwebs, I have zero interest in ever playing these games. They just don't look FUN to me. Except Bioshock, which seems like a FPS/RPG hybrid. THAT game I would like to play one day.
A lot of you younng uns' were not around before the Great Video Game Crash and the NES coming to the rescue, creating a Japanese video game dominance that has existed until a few years ago. There was great American innovation then; there had to be when you were making games for the Atari 2600. Where is that frontier spirit now? It seems that Japan has paved the way and America has simply followed along behind, until Japan was no longer needed. Now Call of Duty tops the charts, and the world is poorer for it.
I did mean for this blog to be a diatribe against Western video games (ok,perhaps a little.) I am saddened at the thought that there will be many less Japanese games coming here. Oh, we'll have our Mario and Final Fantasy games and the occasional wonderfully Japanese game that by some miracle came here, but that will be it. The sun is setting, and in the gathering darkness I wish I could see a bright light as the colors fade to grey and brown.
I'll miss the sun shining on my face. I'll miss it a lot.
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