DO NOT TOY WITH MY EMOTIONS, SEGA

When Sega bought Index, everyone had at the very least an uneasy feeling about the whole matter and weren't really all that afraid to voice it.  As someone -not- in Japan who enjoys RPGs, it's got all the potential of being the worst news you could stand to hear, since Atlus (one of Index's main companies) is one of the big last bastions of RPGs and Sega is one of the few big companies that clearly does not give a shit about everywhere that isn't Japan anymore.  Technically, this meant that Sega has the power to decide what came out of Atlus and how and where, but we all really, really hoped that they simply wouldn't exert that authority and would instead just allow Atlus to do what Atlus does which is making money.  Which is likely something Sega would like them to do.  It's what we all want, clearly.

Thankfully, that's what Sega says they're intending on doing.  They say they're going to let Index (which basically means Atlus) operate independently and continue just doing what they're doing.  Which would have meant a -lot- more if it had been stated before the massive Persona announcement event last weekend, but, well, Sega's thing has never really been good timing.  Regardless, it's comforting to know that, beyond Persona Q, Persona Ultimax Suplex Hold or whatever it's called, the strangely convenient Persona:  Dancing All Night that's being co-developed by one of Sega's studios that does rhythm/dancing games and Persona 5 that Atlus will be free and able to do whatever they please.  Which apparently goes on to have an even deeper meaning than it appears on the surface.

You see, in addition to claiming that Atlus has free reign over their own affairs, Sega has basically said that if Atlus wants to take a crack at some old, under-utilized Sega IPs, they're absolutely free to them.  This is the part where rational thought leaves your body and you consider an Atlus-developed Phantasy Star V and somebody has to call over somebody else with a mop.  And then you go "Oh, they actually wouldn't do that because Phantasy Star is just the online series now" and be a little sad.  But then you'll go "WAIT SHIT VALKYRIA CHRONICLES" and start thinking about a Valkyria Chronicles game with S. Links Officer Bonds and here comes the mop again but then you start to wonder if Atlus can nail the specifics of a third-person shooter/turn-based strategy game since that's a little outside of their realm.  So then you just think about Skies of Arcadia 2 and you're cautious now and sure enough, you wonder the same thing about Valkyria Chronicles, but with the Ship-to-Ship combat and such.

So basically what I'm getting at is that it would be pretty awesome, but I don't know how awesome.  I have the utmost faith in their ability to create a compelling story with compelling characters that have compelling motivations and actions with compelling direction, but, well, I've never played a Persona game for the dungeon-crawling.  That may be a sort of blasphemy and I understand that, but I'm well within my rights to be a little wary of the situation because the games in question - Valkyria Chronicles and Skies of Arcadia - are very particular games, and require a delicate touch by those familiar with it, -or- a company that's so damn good at mechanics that they can spoof them well enough while tightening and improving them.  Atlus is probably capable of that!  I just haven't seen it happen, and I can't say that I would enjoy a Valkyria Chronicles 4 if it was any less of a game mechanics-wise than 2 was since it was my last dip into the series.

Still, it's good that Sega is attempting to assuage fears, even if I'm just going to say "Pfft, whatever Sega, you goddamn liars" and reserve my judgment til such a time when Atlus has released their last four Persona games and are working on another one or SMT V or something that concludes 'business as usual' for them.  Or, you know, actually working on a Sega IP even if I'd be biting my nails the entire time it was being developed.  But I'm still mad at you, Sega.  I'm going to be mad for a while because you keep hurting me, and no amount of Persona is going to make up for the Yakuza-shaped holes in my heart and gaming collection.  Though since you have access to Atlus USA, you know you can fix that.  They know it.  They just don't care.

honestly, if Atlus could just remake Phantasy Star I-IV I would buy the ever-loving shit out of it

Persona Persona Persona

The other night, there was all sorts of Persona announcements and it was a pretty great time unless you were actually watching it as it was happening.  Because that was a nerve-wracking experience, I'm told, what with Atlus trolling the shit out of everyone.  On a molecular level.  Which is...admittedly fun to experience after-the-fact as a sort of educational bit of how to endlessly torture someone in the span of the hours the actual event covered during the announcement parts.  Regardless, the important part is the games that they revealed in the event and not so much the means with which they did so.  Even if it was just...just hilarious and fantastic on some schadenfreude-laced level.

Probably the second-most high-profile announcement of the night was that of Persona Q: Shadow of the Labyrinth which will release on the 3DS in June of 2014.  Details were scarce at the time of announcement, but we've since learned a few more bits about it.  First, there was a trailer (linked to the page, not the video itself) that showed off a good bit of the gameplay alongside some words in the actual page itself that seemed to suggest, yes, the SEES Team from Persona 3 and the Investigation Team from Persona 4 will be crossing over, but not in some sort of free-for-all.  Which...is kind of weird to say when the actual video shows Yu, Yosuke, Mitsurugi, Yukari and Aigis in the same All-Out Attack, but they basically mean for story purposes.  Which is precisely the wrong way to approach a cross-over game, but, hell, what do I know, I suppose.  Not like I wanted Brosuke and Junpei to brofist and thus uncreate the universe through a Bro-Singularity or anything awesome like that.

Of course, there were even more details meted out since then, but they're fairly sparse in what's actually being revealed.  The game takes place in Persona 4's school though there seems to be a Persona 3 Tartarus theme to it since there's a clock tower that just sort of appears out of nowhere and is rumored to usher in the death of all who hear it ring.  You know, normal stuff.  Of course, it also seems like there will be Day/Night sections to the game, as the page mentions school events as things that will happen that allow the P3 cast and P4 cast to have some limited interaction.  Honestly, that means that it really just sounds like Persona 3 at Persona 4's location with both teams....which is fine by me.  The same dudes on Persona Team seem to be handling the game as well, though perhaps not in their usual roles.  Still, Shoji Meguro will be producing the soundtrack which means it's going to be awesome.  Certainly something to look out for.

Probably the most....special announcement of the night was that of Persona 4: Dancing All Night for the Playstation Vita.  If you were wondering just what would come of the recent buyout of Index by Sega Sammy, well, here's the first proper product of it.  Dingo, the developers of the Hatsune Miku:  Project Diva games are the folks behind this, so if you bought either of the versions of the game that Sega decided to localize over, you know, any fucking other game at all, then you'll know exactly what you're looking into here.  From what I can tell, there's only Yu Narakami, Rise Kujikawa and a new character who has a Megidoloan Cute smile and a name I can't quite parse nor do I care to google for because ehhhhhhhhh.

I'm not really sure what I think about this game.  I see the 3DS getting what essentially looks like a proper Persona game that's a cross-over of P3 and 4, albeit with an unpleasant art style for me, and then I see the Vita getting...a rhythm game.  A rhythm game that only pulls from Persona 4 in music, and only has three announced characters that might not actually get more characters.  I'm hoping there's going to be more to the game than what we've seen, but I'm just not seeing -how-, and that coupled with the knowledge that it'll still release at full price (as in likely $40) just seems to drag my potential mirth for the game to below sea levels.  Especially since it's all but dashed my dreams of seeing Kanji do a righteous step to Mass Destruction.  That's right.  Tell me you don't want to fucking experience that now so I can call you a goddamn liar.

Persona 4:  The Ultimax Suplex Hold (I don't know either) is getting the highly-expected Playstation 3 port next year to match the Arcade release of it.  Uncle Dojima's partner Adachi was revealed as one of the new fighters in it, alongside Yukari and Junpei who were announced months back.  That's...uh...

Yeah, that's about that.

So really, there were some assorted announcements and they ranged from pretty interesting to "okay", but overall it wa-

Oh, right, there was one other thing announced.  Some little thing that you might not even really care about called Persona 5.

Persona 5 was announced for the Playstation 3 and will release sometime in "Winter" 2014 in Japan, which most likely means Winter Quarter which is...you know, the tail-end of the year.  Which means we probably won't see it on American shores until 2015 and what part of 2015 is very much up for debate.  After the other announcements, I'm sure you can guess, but there aren't very many details out there about the game except for a few tidbits released later.  Tidbits that are, apparently, the only ones we'll see during 2013 which is kind of disappointing, but it only further serves to feed the hype-machine which is...what they want, after all.

Like Persona 3 and 4, Persona 5 will take place in a high school setting, though the theme of the game is a bit different.  Instead of facing the miserable truths of the universe ala Persona 3 and facing the miserable truths of oneself ala Persona 4, Persona 5 will be about 'being restrained by modern society' and the breaking of those bonds.  They also claim that it's going to have a different 'mood', but it'll still be familiar and reassuring for the fans.  Which...I cannot even really fathom what it's going to mean.  Between Persona 3's sometimes-overly-depressive narrative and Persona 4's always-upbeat-even-though-we're-tracking-a-serial-killer tone, they've covered a rather wide swath of moods, but I suppose there's still ground to be broken, though just where it is, I'm not sure.

So basically there was just so much Persona announced which is good for us fans, since, well, more Persona is always a good thing.  Just what titles we'll end up seeing in the west and when are up for debate, but the big one is definitely coming over so that's what matters.  Still...the wait is going to be painful.

I can pretty much just list a bunch of Persona 3 songs that I want Persona 4 characters to dance to, goddamnit Sega

Sega Sammy Bought Index Corporation

Pretty much anyone who follows gaming news in the slightest has probably heard the news, but if not, then it's best to just say this fast and get it over with.  Sega Sammy has purchased Index Corporation for 14 Billion Yen, which, as we know, means that Sega Sammy now owns Atlus.  Since Atlus was one of the myriad of subsidiaries of Index Corporation, who went bankrupt when it was discovered that they were cooking the books because they felt like they just weren't making enough money.  Because Persona doesn't sell gangbusters or anything over there.  My point is that Atlus probably made Index a ton of fucking money and they're kind of idiots for....not just being happy with that, getting their entire corporation into insolvency to the point where they're bought by fucking Sega Sammy of all things.

Sega Sammy, as you might know, is the proper name for the entirety of the Sega enterprise and does not specifically refer to the entity that we know as Sega.  Also known as "Those assholes who won't localize any of their fucking games".  Sammy actually bought out Sega years ago, since they had the cash to do so, what with their crazy pachinko empire and such, hence the merger name Sega Sammy.  That explanation was made, of course, to reinforce the fact that it is Sega Sammy, the parent company, and not actually Sega proper, the subsidiary, that purchased Index Corporation   This is an important tidbit!  Because it allows you to think that Sega, the subsidiary, who is full of assholes that make amazing games and refuse to sell them to 95% of the world, does not have control over Index Corporation or, more importantly, Atlus.

So of course, this is where I crush all your hopes and dreams by stating that "Sega Dream Corporation" was created as a subsidiary of Sega to handle Index Corporation and all its holdings.  Because clearly, you want the company that you had to financially bail out, and has never really recovered to handle your newest asset that you purchased because they were also facing money troubles, albeit on sort of the other end of the spectrum.  Clearly, this is a brilliant business move that I just don't see the intelligence of.  What I -do- see, myself, is basically two ways that this scenario can play out.

Scenario the first: in which we exist in a just world filled with sugar landscapes and rainbow-farting unicorns.  Sega (either directly or through SDC which is basically just semantics) looks over Index's holdings and goes "You know, aside from the whole massive fraud, you guys were doing pretty great, so we're not going to change a whole lot.  Aside from the....massive fraud thing, clearly."  Then they take a look at Atlus and by extension Atlus USA and get a light bulb over their collective heads.  They decide to hand off any combination of Valkyria Chronicles 3, Yakuza Kenzan (this will never happen, btw), Yakuza 1&2 HD Collection and Yakuza 5 (if Sony's new Third Party group isn't taking this one as they might be taking over Restoration) to Atlus USA for North American localization and publishing.  They also announce and advertise these projects in an attempt to actually see them sell.  Everyone is surprised and delighted.  Everything is amazing, life is wonderful.

Scenario the second:  in which we exist in a world prone to abject shittiness filled with disappointment and bad decisions.  Sega decides to gut the bulk of Index Corporation as nicely as they can to maximize the profits they can pull in from it for the very, very short amount of time wherein such a thing is viable, leaving Atlus Japan more or less untouched because delicious Persona money.  Restructuring hits Atlus USA to make it a shell building that doesn't really get to do a whole lot because Sega just don't give a fuck about Localizations.  Not only are Sega's franchises still never coming to American shores, but now we have to legitimately worry about Atlus titles (aside from Persona 5 and Shin Megami Tensei X Fire Emblem) coming out in America for absolutely no fucking good reason.  Everyone is surprised and horrified.  Everything is terrible.

There is obviously a middle-ground between the two scenarios, which is -likely- what's going to happen at the end of this, but I am not optimistic for the chances of Scenario the first.  It probably wouldn't be so worrisome if it was something branched off of Sega Sammy proper overseeing Index's husk, since they'd be far more apt to let everything run as it was, again, minus the massive fraud.  It's very decidedly a thing to watch and see develop, however, which means it's going to be a tense while til it's apparent which way the pendulum is swinging.  Here's hoping for more Atlus USA love, however.

there is a specific reason why I have a tag for "Goddamnit Sega"

It Was a Good Day

Happy Chie is Happy.

I didn't do much today.  Well, really, I did, but in the sort of grand scheme of things, what I did wasn't really a lot, but it was pretty fulfilling nonetheless.  I went out and bought myself a few things including a copy of Taken 2 on Blu-Ray/DVD Combo, Persona 4 Arena (because it's $20 at GameStop currently...or at least, it was at my GameStop), Dark Souls and topped it all off with a nice $25 pre-order of Metal Gear Rising:  REVENGEANCE's Collector's Edition, since I made it before the cut-off, thankfully.  Then I came home and eschewed my purchases for the comfort (relatively speaking) of Sorcery, which I played for the majority of the day and did, indeed, end up beating.  I'll save some words for a potential review, but suffice to say that it was good.  Really good.  Like....surprisingly good.  A bit short, but I am very, very happy with the end-product and it's a shame that there will literally be nothing else from that unless the heavens open and the stars align in the proper way.

Speaking on Reviews, I was halfway through one for Assassin's Creed 3:  Liberation when my mind just sort of went blank and I had to put it aside for the night.  Hopefully I'll be able to bang through the other half of it tonight and get that up.  I don't mean to get all review-heavy all of a sudden, despite appearances (having just done one for FFXIII-2 recently, this one and talking of doing one for Sorcery as well), but you just go with what works, I suppose, and that is really working for now.  Don't expect it to be a thing that starts something, but enjoy it while it lasts since that is totally an indeterminate amount of time between now and a few months from now probably as I power through a few games in rapid succession.  Hopefully.  Or I'll spend like, two weeks straight playing Demon's Souls and then jump into Dark Souls.  Because I am apparently a masochist or something.

Speaking of Dark Souls, there was a little story to tell about it, I suppose.  I didn't think too much of it, but in retelling the tale to a few people, it seemed a bit more of a thing to them than I assumed it might've been.  So, at GameStop after perusing their selection for a good few minutes, I picked out my bounty - a new copy of Persona 4 Arena and a used copy of Dark Souls because, hey, it didn't come with a code or anything that I know of and I saved a couple bucks because of it.  The girl working the register, fairly cute, engaged me by being positive about my pick of P4A and asking me if I'd bought Golden on the Vita.  After assuring her that I have it and beat it last week, she nodded and mentioned that she wasn't too far into it, but her Personae were all up to level 30 which isn't bad to be sure.  We chatted a little bit more before she turned her attention to Dark Souls, hesitating for just a moment before looking over at me past the rim of her glasses.

"Just so you know, you can always bring Dark Souls back if it's not your type of game," she warned.  I chuckled and waved it off.  "Yeah, I know it's rough.  I've been playing Demon's Souls recently."  "Dark Souls is harder."  "I know, but I've got a friend who has been bothering me to pick it up and she is fairly relentless."  She nodded and shrugged a bit with a smile.  "Fair enough.  I just personally found myself ripping my hair out playing it and that's not why I play games at all."  I smirked; it's a common sentiment, one that I was well acquainted with.  "Yeah, when I played Demon's Souls the first time, I was of the same opinion, just sort of raging at the whole thing.  But when you keep at it, eventually it clicks and it becomes a finesse thing and when it works, it's amazing....it's just the getting it to work part that's a problem."  To that, she laughed.  And we chatted a bit more before I asked about REVENGEANCE's Limited Edition and got that pre-order taken care of.  Then I paid and I left with a few kind words because I'm just nice like that.

I didn't think anything of it and truly I still don't, but when I told that story to a couple people, they flipped.  "You made her laugh?"  "What, yeah.  I make people laugh sometimes.  It happens."  "Nah, not like that."  Apparently, I was flirting, according to these people.  You...would think that this is something I would realize/consider before anyone else.  In other news, I know some weird people, it seems.  Fairly weird.  Weird people with weird ideas.  Since I was just being nice and sharing enthusiasm.  Still, no matter the outcome and the intent, it was an amusing story to me and it helped elevate the day from pretty good to good overall.  And because of that, I just wanted to share tonight because it's not always about the games, but rather sometimes it's about getting the games and the amusing stories that come with that activity.  Overall, as I said, it was a good day, no real issues aside from my arms being sore from working out and moving things yesterday, but such is the way of things and flicking my wrist and such a billion times playing Sorcery probably didn't help with that.  Worth it, regardless.

An Intermission of Demon's Souls

Remember all those times when I said "I'm going to play Demon's Souls soon"?  No?  Because they were a long damn time ago?  Yeah, I hear you.  Under the weight of my new PS3 games that I got for Christmas, I felt something of an....well, not an obligation, but a want to clear off a few games from my backlog that have been sorely neglected before I leap into the new.  At the urging of a good friend (well, she was on my back about playing the game for a couple months....a couple months ago) I decided it was finally time to step back into the stone halls and stunning terrain of Boletaria to attempt to conquer the seemingly-insurmountable challenges the small kingdom has to offer me.  Even with something very much like hesitation, wariness, I trudged in to face the dangers head-on.

Compared to the last time I 'played' Demon's Souls, I can honestly say that I have been playing Demon's Souls this time.  Actually playing it.  Actually understanding the nuances, the methodology to it and the caution that one must take to actually enjoy the game.  I rolled a new character - rather a new attempt at Mikhail Metzin(g)er - as a wizard build, understanding that magic would be an invaluable tool and set upon the task of getting settled.  The tutorial section re-familiarized me with the controls of the game and dumped me unceremoniously into the lair of the Vanguard who killed me with a single swipe before I had a chance to do much else but let a flaming shot loose which did a respectable amount of damage nonetheless.  Dropped now into the Nexus, I did what I must - spoke with the folks there before I took the Archstone to the Castle for my real reinitiation.

The beginning section was familiar to me in a hazy sort of way and as the shambling undead rushed at me, I was able to take them out handily enough.  Their ambushes, slight as they might be, were still etched into my brain so not a one of them was successful in surprising me.  In fact, my first demise came after I had explored a goodly bit of the whole area - my only ways 'forward' ended in Dragons or a Red Eyed Knight with a Shield and Spear, both of which set off warning alarms in my head, thus giving me cause to search elsewhere.  I just so happened to fall off the side of a wall into a pit of no less than four rather nasty looking enemies - at least one of which was a Blue Eye Knight, and I discovered that being surrounded had a direct impact on my health and ability to survive, especially when I dodge-rolled directly into a wall.  That's a reasonable thing, I should think, so I made my way back there with great haste, retrieved my souls and added a little fire to the equation to even the odds.

The second time I met my death was when, frustrated by a lack of a clear path (believing that I was in no way able to outrun the Dragon on the bridge - you know which I'm I'm talking about), I decided the Red Eyed Knight was the foe I had to slay to advance.  How hard could he be?  After all, he just seemed like the other enemies I fought, just with red eyes.  So I advanced to his perch and rushed in, swinging the Scimitar I had acquired in my pit of death at him.  The damage was minimal and I rose my shield to block his incoming strike.  Not -only- did it eat the rest of my stamina, but it took off all but a sliver of my health.  Panic gripped me for the scant few moments I had left as I rushed back, switched to my wooden catalyst and threw a fire spell at him.  Surely, he just blocked the other attack, that's why the damage was so light.  But no, he shrugged off the fire as if it were nothing and completed a charge by skewering me through.  I had been bested and for that, I meekly returned to grab my souls and be on my way.

Getting across the bridge was dicey, but I learned that it was the necessary thing to do and I moved on, eventually finding myself at the entrance of the Phalanx's lair.  I put down my first message, the stand-by "I'm in trouble - please recommend this message!" for what it was worth and stepped through the fog to meet the blob of black and spears that was the Phalanx.  For being rather unimposing, it did have a sort of creeping doom feel to it, one that hit home as spears hit me from all directions, chipping away at my precious, precious HP.  When my MP reserves were well and truly depleted from the Fire Tossing I'd been doing, I steeled my resolve and rushed in, attacking the fleshy underside of what was once a black ooze of a behemoth, finding it a rather simple affair now that most of the Hoplites that had been adhered to it were defeated.  Applying a little turpentine to my blade, I slashed again and again, finally rending the foe for the last time, and just like that, I had won my first boss fight.

A tension that has not gripped me since I played Dead Space last had a firm grasp on my chest and after doing a little more advancement - finding the lone knight in the catacombs of the castle wall for a second time and dodging the Dragon's assaults until I found yet another fog wall - I was done.  Rather, I couldn't continue playing, for there was a weariness settling in after the pure adrenaline and focus that had been pumping through my veins had finally left me.  I returned to the Archstone, learned a little history from the last Guardian within the Nexus and buffed my stats a little thanks to the now-present Maiden in Black.  While I did go out and test them out, I eventually returned once more and ended my journey for the day.  If nothing else, Demon's Souls makes it feel like an accomplishment when you realize you've only died a few times playing it, and I look forward to challenging the next leg of the journey.  I suspect I might be shooting down a certain dragon if just to make my life a little easier.

Just So Much Persona

There's just so many screenshots that I've taken of P4G.  It's that good.

Lately, if I've been thinking about anything it's been...well, it hasn't been Persona 4, but if it's been the -second- anything, it's been Persona 4 Golden.  Which is to say that it is effectively second-place in what I've spent all my time thinking about, which is to say that I have been spending a lot of time thinking about Persona 4.  It is not unwarranted, of course - Persona 4 is every bit as amazing as I've been lead to believe it was, which is nice.  For once I go into a game with everyone telling me it's going to be great and then it is.  I don't have to wonder if there's something wrong with everybody, something wrong with -me- or just if there's just something that has gone awry with matters entirely as I have wondered in the past.  Since it is a valid concern to have, I imagine.

Come Game of the Year time, using the thing I go by, I won't be able to vote for Persona 4 Golden as a Game of the Year since it is a remake of a game from years past.  That restriction, not being able to include remakes or re-releases, has never been a problem for me until this year and specifically because of this.  P4G is every shade of wonderful, and if I'm being honest, it would have a very real shot of being in my top 5 list were it able to be.  It's honestly going to be a little painful to not be able to give it that recognition that it actually deserves, but I'll suffice for using this post that is gushing about it to do that.  It is close enough, at least, I should say.  Since there is honestly not a negative thing I could say about the game - even the parts of it I don't care for (the dungeon crawling, basically) are manageable at worst and I'm completely indifferent to their issues as a standard (the last dungeon I was in began to grate on me...then it was over.  So that was good.) so it's of no concern.

In fact, Persona 4 Golden is so good that it's in fact making me like Persona 3 (Portable, since that's all I played) even more than I liked P3P when I was playing it and beat it.  Admittedly, I took issues with some things in P3P, but it's a solid game overall, and like I said I'm being reminded of that by playing P4G.  I am retroactively liking P3P more and more as I play P4G.  You can ask me how that works, but my response will be "I have no idea" because I really don't; I just know that it is a thing that is happening.  As I'm playing P4G, I find myself thinking about P3, thinking about the characters and the story of it and it's all just fantastic.  Admittedly, part of it is me comparing the games to one another which is an unfair thing to do, but a lot of it is just good old fashioned reminiscing and it honestly is probably enhancing my playthrough a little bit because of it.

I think the thing about P3 that has stuck out the most as a result of all of this is probably what I like most about the game and is one of the only things I think it does better than P4, is the characters.  Now before you start, just hear me out, alright?  I haven't beaten P4G yet, nor do I think I'm that close - at the most I'm 3/4ths of the way through - but by this point in P3, the characters had all developed entire arcs, changed dramatically before the players eyes, and that was all done in the main story.  That is not to say that P4 doesn't do that, but if you take the likes of Junpei from P3 and Yosuke from P4 (the obvious equivalent) and put their character arcs (main story only) side-by-side it's no comparison.  That might be an unfair example, however, as I've considered that they sort of...well, not have the same arc, but really similar ones, but they're told in entirely separate ways over the course of the game.  Both have a loss aspect to their arcs and while Junpei's has a build to it, Yosuke's loss is almost immediate and the rest of the game is the after-effects of that, where Junpei's loss is his endgame.  So perhaps it's being able to see Junpei for so long before it, see what he's like before he deals with that, that makes it so different and so dramatic a change, but it's there nonetheless.

Of course, there's a trade-off to all of that too.  Persona 3's strength is in its characters, so much so that it overshadows the narrative, but Persona 4 does not have that problem.  Persona 4's main story is all about that and it's a compelling ride because of it.  It's a give and take thing as I sort of inferred because I don't think P4's characters are quite as developed as P3's, but they're entertaining all the same and their real development comes, unsurprisingly, from spending time with them one-on-one in the social links.  Because of that, I cannot say fully that they're not done well, nor would I suggest it, but I'm just saying that, well....I think you know what I'm saying, really.  Persona 3 was character-focused, Persona 4 is story-focused and they're both great.  It's all about build, about tension and drama and it's all about development in either case, so it's subjective to say the least, but to me, both games are just really good at what they attempt to do in their respective approaches.

In any event, playing P4G has been nothing short of a pleasure from start to where I am now, and I doubt that that is going to change in any facet.  I look forward to seeing the story continue to unwrap as I honestly still have no real idea of how it's going to end and that alone intrigues me.  I suspect it's either going to be a situation where I go, "Well, I couldn't have guessed that" or I'll say, "Oh well, -now- it makes sense!" instead of dreading that it will turn out one way and being frustrated that it did.  Because, usually, when I figure on where a thing is going and I'm right, I'm a little disappointed because as we all know, I am pretty bad at predicting things.  So if -I- can predict it, it's probably not all that strongly written.  Maybe I'll be able to develop theories closer to the end, but so far I've really got nothing and I like it that way.  No matter the case, I'm having a hard time imagining P4G leaving my Vita for the rest of the year (okay yeah, it's not that long but still) and that's saying something.

Okay, awesome, I made it the whole post without saying I miss Yukari

wait shit

Okay, I Really Like Persona 4: The Golden

There's no real qualifiers here, nothing I feel I need to clear up lest I say something wholly positive, and nothing that I feel is muddled in that statement.  I just really like this game.  I can't quite place the why per se, but there is something that is undeniable about Persona 4 that has drawn, kept and cultivated my enthusiasm for the game in a way that Persona 3 just didn't manage to.  I had expected it would, but certainly not to the degree that it has, considering the version of Persona 3 that I played, (Persona 3 Portable) incorporated a lot of improvements from 4 into it.  I had thought that, on a functional level, it would be roughly the same or a similar game at least, and that it would really be up to the story and the characters to sell it to me, but there's entire oceans of depths between the two games in some respects.  That alone is fairly impressive, but it's really just the game itself that has taken me aback.

There's so many damn little touches here and there that improve the overall experience that I can't actually imagine the game, any game like this, without them.  Especially the features in The Golden, as I find myself using Voice and SOS a lot.  For the former, it's good to kind of know a general idea of what might be a good thing to do if I'm not really too up on doing the same thing again and again, or I don't want to 'waste' an afternoon by idly hanging out with someone so that I may hang out with them -again- to actually get a boost.  Whenever possible, I like to make use of the times when I can't gain a rank, but can get some points regardless because there is something in me that desires to maximize my time with the game, even though there is a very real possibility that I will play it again in NG+ the full way through instead of like with P3P where I start one and ragequit because goddamnit Elizabeth, fuck your stupid time-sensitive quests.

The dungeon crawling, which was my most hated part of Persona 3, is much the same in 4, but it manages to not be that bad yet.  I'm not quite sure if it's because the actual dungeons aren't that big themselves, or simply because the design of the levels are a little more interesting uniformly and aren't things that you'll see for forty goddamn floors at the start.  Probably with the later dungeons, but with the first two being 8 and 12 floors respectively, that's certainly quite a short bit of crawling.  Beyond that, the Card Shuffle bit sometimes offers Cup Cards which restore HP/SP and if you're using SOS like I am, you stand to keep your vitals up to an acceptable level without doing too much actual work to do that.  Not that it's easy, of course, as there are still enemies who will wreck your shit if you're unprepared (Goddamn Dice with their Last Resort attack) and the amounts of HP/SP you gain through the mentions methods are drops in a bucket, in all reality.  They help - they don't scratch the itch completely.  Eventually you're going to have to suck it up and down an item or just head off for the night.  But, well, it feels like to me that I get a little bit more accomplished per dungeon trip than you would think, and it never feels really overlong, so I suppose they did something right here.

Beyond that, the characters are actually really enjoyable.  I'm not sure if I prefer anyone on this cast to Junpei and Yukari from 3 (both of whom I have discovered I hold a lot of enthusiasm over only after thinking about 3 because of 4) just yet, but there's nobody I actively dislike aside from the obvious character who I don't even have to name because you know who he is and he is meant to be hated.  Also King Moron.  (You see the joke is that I was obviously referencing him and then suggested it wasn't actually him.  It's bear-ly a jo-goddamnit Teddie)  The scenes so far have all been entertaining in their own right and I haven't really had a "hurrrrgh, just shut up" moment or anything like that.  Really, I'm just kind of waiting on when I'm going to find something in the game that I just hate.  I feel like there -has- to be something, but so far, I'm honestly just turning up nothing.  That's.....that's uncommon to say the least.  But Persona 4:  The Golden is an uncommon game.  Uncommonly good game.

Early Persona 4: The Golden Impressions

I haven't played a lot of Persona 4:  The Golden, but that's mostly because the start of the game, moreso than Persona 3, I believe, is a lot of talking and cutscenes and making sure you go this way and that way.  The actual 'game' part, where you can go around and do whatever you want to do unrestrained, is something that I've finally gotten to a handful of hours in (admittedly some of it is idle time) and it's fresh and new, but familiar all the same.  Familiar even though I have not once played Persona 4 prior to The Golden, despite having bought Persona 4....like when it came out.  I believe back then I told myself I would only play it after I beat Persona 3 which I was going to play after I played something else, and well, you all know how that kind of thing goes.  It was only with Persona 3 Portable and my Vita that I was able to fell the JRPG beast that is Persona 3, and it's only fitting that I similarly tackle the new behemoth on the very same platform - especially with the enhancements The Golden has to offer.

Of course, having never -played- Persona 4, said enhancements are often fairly hard to spot and it's only with very careful counsel skimmed from the internet that I have a rough idea of what is new.  Aside from what is very blatantly new, of course, such as the SOS system.  It is blatantly new because, well, even though the PS2 had internet capabilities of a sort, I'm sure Persona 4 didn't make use of them.  I find myself wondering about the SOS system as well - it's neat in concept and theory and I'm willing to say execution as well, but there's still something off about it.  Basically what it is, if you haven't already experienced it or read up on it yourself, is whenever you're in a dungeon, you can hit the SOS button in the upper left corner of the screen.  Doing so sends a broadcast over the network that will, in turn, bring up help requests on the screens of other dungeon dwellers.  Those people can choose to tap the "Send aid" button (which is just there, doesn't pause the game or anything like that) and if they do that before you enter your next battle, you will receive a nominal HP/SP refill before it gets underway.  And I mean nominal like 10 HP, 8 SP total for a few people aiding you.  So don't -rely- on it for your HP and SP needs, but hope that it'll be a nice little bonus to help you out.

Similarly, the function that I believe is just referred to as "Voice" is an ability to get a little tip about where others who are playing the game have gone when faced with the same situation as yourself outside of a dungeon.  So, on April 21st, if you want to have an idea of some things you can do in the evening, you hit the voice button (where the SOS button is in a dungeon) and it'll bring up a mess of bubbles stating different actions.  Some people read a book, some people studied, and others just went straight to bed.  This is particularly helpful for someone who hasn't played the game before since, well, at times I've been informed of things I can do already in the limited experience I've put in the game.  "Oh, someone talked to Marie?  Yeah, I suppose I -can- do that, hadn't even thought of it."  "Someone studied?  Hrm....why?" and then I walked to the library, talked to the girl outside of it who informed me that studying on rainy days meant you could receive a higher bonus from increased concentration.  Seeing as I'd already read the "increase Knowledge gain from studying" book, that was a no-brainer (huuuurrrrr) and three Knowledge bonuses later, that little edging in a direction proved to be a good one.

Newness aside, The Golden feels familiar because it takes a lot from Persona 3 and refines it, not drastically changing a lot of it.  As Persona 3, you spend quite a bit of time -outside- of dungeons and what you do there matters almost as much as what you do in dungeons, if not matters equally so.  Social links are the name of the game, and you'll want to do whatever you can to build them up unless you're more interested in bettering yourself so you can, in turn, get -more- Social Links.  There's no wrong answer here - just whatever works for you since you'll inevitably have to do your heavy lifting on a New Game + unless you want to meticulously follow a guide to a T.  That's never much fun, so it's really not recommended of course.  I do see how experience with Persona 3 has affected my experience with 4 already, however as, even though a lot of 4's improvements saw their way into Persona 3 Portable, there's many more that didn't and I can appreciate those for what they are.  Beyond that, I'm familiar with how the game works, so I don't need to stress out over Social Links and such as I did with 3 - I can simply relax and enjoy the game as it comes.

At the moment, I'm simply interested in actually getting into the meat of the game as I'm still entirely too early on in it.  I've started unlocking some Social Links and exploring them and I have a renewed reason to dungeon crawl again after the initial on, but it's still all introductory.  The time where I find myself overwhelmed with choice still hasn't dawned and that's the point where I'm looking forward to it most, since it'll ensure that I don't have to worry about figuring out something to do, more that I'll simply have to decide what I need to do of everything available.  I want to find out what my protagonist (named Masamune Noboru btw, Last/First) is like after answering enough of the (sometimes silly, as you see above) social link responses and otherwise, and after enough of day-to-day activities.  Not to mention the learning of the finer points of the rest of the cast along the way since I'm assuming that's going to be 4's strength as it was one of 3's.  To that end, I think it's time to hop back into the Castle and slay some more shadows, as money for weapons and armor is not just appearing in my pockets any faster by not doing that.

Review - Kenka Bancho: Badass Rumble

Sorry, no theme song for this game on Youtube.  Who'da thought that one, huh.

I honestly didn't figure I was going to be doing a review for this game, but when I sat down to write up the Impressions post for it, I realized "Well, I ran through it completely twice as well as just randomly playing around with it, so I pretty much know what it has to offer".  That is...pretty much the requirement I have on myself for a game that I review: ensuring that I know it pretty well so that I can sufficiently put it on display for what it is.  And saying that I believe I can do that with Kenka Bancho is pretty much a statement on the game itself, all things considered, especially when I start to lay it out as to what kind of game it is.  Not to be cryptic or anything, I just like to have something of a preface up front to work through for the rest of the post which includes something of a hook, ala the previous statement.  Maybe it loses something when I then go on to explain it but whatever, the absurdity matches the mood of the game for better or worse.

I'll say this upfront: Honestly, they could've called the game "Way of the Bancho" and it would have made so much more sense going into it.  The game basically revolves around a school trip to Kyouto which is certainly not Kyoto, get that out of your mind right now, okay?  The main character, Sakamoto Takashi (Or Takashi Sakamoto, I never know anymore) is the Bancho or head badass (delinquent) of his school and, upon arriving in Kyouto, learns that the school trip plays host to a big unwritten Bancho Tournament every year.  He quickly decides to participate in the festivities, which basically means finding the other Banchos and punching them until you win in a fight with them, whereupon they become your 'Peon', signifying that you have 'conquered' that territory.  Really, it's almost like a Conquering game, something you all know I want, only it involves punching people a lot, which again you all know I love.  So this should be the perfect game for me, right?  I should love this game to death by definition.

I don't.  I want to love it, so badly, but I just do not.  Don't get me wrong, I like the game, I really do, but I can't hold it aloft and claim it to be wonderful, I can't say it does everything I want is amazing for it.  Because it simply doesn't.  Clearly, I am going to pick the game apart and say what works and doesn't work and it will be glorious I assure you, but I also talk of games sometimes being more than their parts as well.  When that happens, it's wonderful and I would've liked that to happen with Kenka Bancho, but it simply didn't.  Which is probably the only disappointment I had with the game in that, once I learned of its intentions, I expected to be wowed and was not; which some could rightly argue is simply my own problem.  Indeed, if you keep your expectations down, you could walk away from Bancho with a pretty good overall opinion (like I did) without it being hampered by a nagging let-down.

I would like to highlight what makes the game pretty damn badass first, of course, before going in and picking my nits, since what Kenka Bancho does well is entertaining, which in most cases should be top priority.  First, let me simply point out that the game has fucking eye lasers.

I don't think anybody would think that I made that up.  I don't think I really have to prove the fact that the game does, indeed, include fucking eye lasers.  But that image is less 'proof' that the game has them and more simply touting that fact.  Because it is awesome despite the fact that they are not lasers in the common sense, despite how it may appear in the above screenshot.  You see, the Laser Eyes is actually your 'Menchi Beam" which is basically just a tangible representation of staring someone down which is what is used to initiate fights or, in some instances, cause potential foes to simply soil themselves and run in fear.  As only a true badass can make happen.  Indeed, if you see someone who appears to be a Shabazo (basically someone who you can fight who is -not- a Bancho, but simply a weaker delinquent) you can use your Menchi Beam to 'challenge' them to a fight.  Upon doing so and fighting them, they sometimes drop their Itineraries, which shows where they will be on certain days, thus allowing you to plan where you have to go to take down a Bancho.

Something else about the whole set-up to a fight that is amusing in small doses is that cutting a menchi beam (indeed, this is how the game refers to it) at someone and having that challenge accepted initiates a 'smash talk' sequence.  You are given a statement (one of the ones I remember is "It'll rain your blood!") which is then cut up into three pieces and you have to do something of a QTE to assemble it.  Going step-by-step, you'll get prompts that correspond to the four face buttons (for stronger encounters, L and R will be included as well) that have parts of your statement on them, as well as three other starting phrases that are sometimes intentionally put there to try and confuse you, given that you have a few seconds to hit each part.  So using the example "It'll Rain Your Blood!", the first batch of four could be "Square: It'll stain", "Triangle: It'll Rain", "Circle: I'll pay", "Cross: This Game's" or something to that effect.  To match the Smash talk, obviously you hit Triangle, then the next four pop up, etc. etc.  Using this method, you can assemble the correct Smash Talk statement which gets you the first shot, and should you mess it up, obviously they get the first shot.

Of course, in true fashion for these types of games, there is a -third- option for the outcome of this sort of thing.  Most, if not all, Smash Talk sequences have a 'Hidden Smash' statement that will constitute as a win for you despite not being the right statement.  The pieces of a Hidden Smash appears much as the regular and decoy ones, and you just have to go out on a limb and experiment to find them.  I don't know if they give you more of an edge than simply the correct smash, but I can imagine there's a title in it for you if you use them enough times.  One that I remember, having run into it already is "This Game's Really Awesome!" or something to that effect which is clearly just a wink from Atlus and/or Spike or whomever (wiki lists the developer as 'Bullets'...who don't have a page of course), but other Hidden Smashes have proven to be more along the lines of the general Smash Talk statements.  It's a neat layer of depth that may, in fact, be wholly unnecessary, but I have to acknowledge the fact that it's there, if just because it suggests that the game as a whole isn't wholly rigid in every element.

It may seem like I have talked about every element about the fighting except the fighting itself, since I devoted three paragraphs to -starting- a fight and this is indeed a correct statement.  That is because the fighting gameplay is....pretty simple.  This works for and against it in fairly obvious ways and while it allows you to completely customize every move (by switching it out with others that you learn by leveling up and defeating banchos) it's all held back by a combat system that's just a little bit too slow.  Speeding up the animations by like even a second probably would have made a world of difference, because it simply causes a disjoint with me while I'm playing with it.  I punch and it doesn't immediately slam a fist into someone's face, but rather takes an instant just -beyond- immediately to do so.  It may seem like I'm picking at something really small, but trust me, it shines through when you're actually playing the game.  It prevents the combat system from being great, but it is still fairly good for the mentioned reasons, as well as for being fairly simple to master in a way that will get you the best results.

As with most all combat systems out there, the combat is only as deep as you chose to make it which is something that I'm sure anyone would be more than happy to hold against the game.  True, you can win most fights by simply throwing charged attacks in between grapples involving two attacks and a throw (and then a pin three-hit combo on top of it), but that gets boring.  You can mix it up with dash attacks and jump attacks and generally just decide what the best approach is, depending on your moveset and play style.  The addition of Finishers under the guise of 'Local Specialties' that are just about optional is another layer of depth to the system as a whole as well.  They are, unsurprisingly, strong moves that can only use at the expense of a great amount of spirit (which is restored with items or simply squatting to focus) that do have a good chance of taking a chunk of health off your foes if not take them out completely.  They're best used in circumstances in which you are surrounded by foes, which happens fairly often, as you get the most bang for you buck, so to speak.  What with spreading that damage out as far as possible, since it really does do a good clip.  As they should.

Now, harking back to something I said towards the start of the review, I can finally really clarify just what I meant by calling the game "Way of the Bancho".  The reason is fairly obvious; the trip covers seven days which, upon completing, you can restart from the first day in classic New Game+ sense to redo events, try and fight new banchos, etc.  So much as in the Way of the Samurai games, the game is meant to be played several times to get the whole scope of the game which flows quite a bit beyond the basic "defeat all of the Banchos!" goal that the game sets as the 'over-arching' goal of the game.  Even with my two and so plays, I haven't seen even more than half of all the events that the game has to offer, which certainly inspires replaying as much as the seemingly impossible goal of defeating all the Banchos (47 in all) in a single run-through of the game proper.  It's a basic and fairly effective approach to designing a game, if the four Way of the Samurai games are any proof of that and when it's done well, it's quite a bit engaging.  To that end, I should say that Kenka Bancho does justify its cost, provided you take what it tasks you with as a challenge that you -want- to complete, and not merely one you feel compelled to do so.

As is probably quite a bit obvious by the above screenshot, a good bit of the events in the game revolve around the three ladies that Sakamoto comes into contact with during the trip.  The one on the left-most is Manami, a class-mate of Sakamoto who is a close friend and clearly has a thing for him and he doesn't realize it and blah, blah, you all know this one without me saying so.  She doesn't like Sakamoto devoting his life to fighting people and generally being a jerk which isn't entirely unreasonable, but she doesn't do a whole lot to stop you aside from asking.  Sometimes.  She's....about as compelling as you could assume from her by-the-book backstory and while I haven't quite won her heart over (haven't won any of them just yet, actually) I could imagine just how that would work out.  I'm not sure if it'll actually impact the ending or anything like that, but I imagine I'll find out sometime.

Kotone and Aya (middle and right respectively) are two girls that you meet via an unskippable event in which Kotone gets accosted for being a geisha-esque girl and Sakamoto runs to her rescue because it means getting to beat people up.  I'm not kidding.  After said dudes are beat up, Kotone starts thanking Sakamoto who promptly gets dropkicked out of fucking nowhere, no I am not kidding.  This is done by Aya, of course, who is basically the antithesis of Manami, as is required by japanese law or something.  (I poke fun, obviously, but come on.)  Where Manami is studious and polite, Aya is loud, obnoxious and skips school fairly regularly because why not.  (She attends Ikeda High, the school of Kyouto which is totally not a plot point or anything, no spoilers here.)  And Aya is clearly no delicate flower if the goddamn dropkick did not tip you off in some fashion.  She fills out the requisite trope list quite well enough and, in my experience, does just as you would expect romance-wise on said list as well.  I suppose what I am saying is that the story and such isn't anything new, nor is it something that you -have- to experience, but it's capable enough to carry a game about punching dudes.

The story is, of course, completely divorced from the actual writing itself, as the writing is pretty funny when it wants to be, and it wants to be funny often.  The more obvious examples in attempts come from the smash talk lines as indicated earlier (I say attempts because "Yo momma" and the like are sometimes interspersed in the attempts) whereas the real executions generally be in the Bancho introductions.  The banchos are quite a strange collection of characters, if you hadn't figured, and Sakamoto has no issue with pointing this fact out to them directly.  The exchange with the above chicken-esque bancho stands out as one of the particularly humorous ones, but it is by no means the only example, nor the one that really -needs- to be pointed out as the 'staple' example or anything like that.  Indeed, I could probably boot up the game and discover a couple other legitimately amusing exchanges, but that's a bit more effort than I need to put in at this moment considering I'm....well, writing this.

I will go ahead and say that between the Bancho events (which is basically the before fight and after fight chatter) and the girl events, there's not a whole lot of other story to the game.  At least none that I've found.  Usually in the Way of the Samurai type games, you find at least a few stray storylines to entangle yourself in and while you could simply say those are the girlfriend ones in this, it feels like there should be more to it.  Or just maybe a story about something else to do in the game besides bancho hunt, if that makes sense.  I suspect, however, that this is the part where I just start reaching and hoping for more than the game can sensibly offer, so I won't linger too much on it, simply saying that while novel, it would have been nice for a little -more-.  Maybe just a storyline where you constantly bait and escape the main cop going after you or something to that effect.  Maybe one where you -join forces- with the cop!  Something like that, to which I'm not quite sure (in fact, I would say I doubt) exists in it.

Really, I think I'm not saying anything that you couldn't really glean from a quick look at the game in motion or via review somewhere else.  While I may be a touch more in its corner for the mere fact that it allows me to punch things in a portable game, I can't say things about it that aren't true and that I don't really feel for it.  Despite how much I would like to, since it would fill a hole that could, but never will be filled by another series in a way that matters.  But the game is merely capable at best in most regards, with the highest marks going towards the writing of it.  Or at least the localized script, since who knows if it was originally that funny without relying on cheap jokes and the like as is suggested by the smash talk.  So all in all, that makes it a 'good' game that you will likely play and enjoy, but immediately forget.  I could imagine seeing people letting the whole "need to play it multiple times" slip right over their heads as well, since the game doesn't give you a whole lot of indication about that feature which is....well, a shame, considering it's like a bulk of the game.

The Good

• Allows a lot of replayability by following the "Way of the Samurai" gameplay approach
• The writing is pretty hilarious at times, honestly
• You get to punch dudes...
• ...while 'conquering' Japan, in terms of taking out the Banchos for every province
• Two words.  Eye.  Lasers.
• The screenshot system (using your camera in the map, and hitting select during cutscenes) is fantastic for this purpose exclusively.  I took all the screenshots used here.
• Some of the moves you get are quite rad
• Itineraries are one of the things that carry over between games, so you don't have to re-collect them 
• Seriously, Eye Lasers

The Bad

• The combat system is just short of great which is incredibly frustrating
• The OST is about a notch below "Forgettable"
• Story is pretty 'by-the-numbers' stuff
• Not enough branch-points that I could find
• The Smash Talk thing gets really old eventually, even if Hidden Smashes add a little life to it
• Getting around is a pain until you realize the world map is hidden in the Itinerary menu (Hit triangle)
• After finding the world map in the Itinerary menu, time still goes by too fast
• It honestly just needs a little more polish to be -great-

Mogs Says

Kenka Bancho: Badass Rumble is, as I said, not a -great- game, but it is a good one.  If you are just frothing at the mouth for a brawler on your portable, your choices are basically this and, uh.....but that doesn't mean it wins by default, of course.  It does almost everything at a level that will not offend, but won't get you really pumped either, while giving you a good laugh here and there.  For the sale price of $7.50, you get a lot of game if you want to put in multiple plays (which you probably will) and I can't see a reason for you to regret the purchase unless you pride yourself on only acquiring the best of the best.  Still, maybe take a look at videos elsewhere in case you're on the fence before pulling the trigger, since I can safely say this is a very "YMMV" game, even moreso than the usual fare that I enjoy.

Yggdra Union Impressions

The second game I want to talk about in my big Atlus Splurge is Yggdra Union which was sold to me the minute it mentioned "Cards" in any fashion in the description.  It took me a bit to actually get to the part where I bought it and downloaded it, yes, but I'm sure you understand what I mean.  Unsurprisingly, if you take a look above, the game is another GBA conversion that I had absolutely no idea about prior to actually buying the game, but I think it shows it a little less than Riviera (which doesn't show it all that much itself) does, and if anything, it's more Gameplay that shows it as such than the actual style of the game or anything else.  Still, I should say the biggest thing about Yggdra Union is that I completely didn't know what I was getting myself into by playing it, and I still don't, really.  On top of that, I haven't quite decided if that's inherently a bad thing or not just yet.

As you might have also gleaned from the above screenshot, Yggdra Union is a strategy RPG, of which I could best equivocate it to Advance Wars.  Which is...fitting, given the original platform for the game, for both games, rather, and Advance Wars, I'm told, is a fun game in its own right.  I...don't really remember it too much myself.  GBA was quite a long time ago, you realize, and I didn't play a lot on mine beyond Pokemon and Harvest Moon which was completely not a damn-near prediction of my trend with Nintendo devices or anything.  No sirree.  I mean it's not like I've spent the most time with any game on my DS on Pokemon or Harvest Moo....Well it's not like I'm planning on buying a 3DS exclusively for Pokemon and Harvest Mo....hrm.  (Yes, I'm being facetious, but only because it's uncanny and I didn't realize it until just now.)  Regardless, the staples you might expect here, grid-based movement, combat that you don't necessarily directly control which is influenced by percentages and Weapon affinities, they're all present and drive the game in a way that I honestly don't mind so much.

Just to get this out of the way, the way cards come into play is pretty much the entirety of the game, despite part of them not taking place in at least the first four or five battles of the game.  (the skills.  I say this because I haven't gotten to use a one just yet)  Cards control how many movements your units can take in your turn (move pool is shared, so 12 move means one unit moves twelve spaces, two units move any combination of moves equalling 12, etc.) and how damaging your attack will be when and if you use one.  Notice I said attack, as in singular, because only one unit may attack per turn.  This does little beyond force strategic usage and pad the game length as, if you could attack once per unit, then rounds would last a lot less time.  And of course, it's not so easy as 'only one attack' as you can use the units placement on the map to extend that out for prolonged battles.  Without getting too deep into the specifics, if you have three units and place them just so before attacking, all three of them will launch an attack in succession against that unit unless its own units are in a similar formation, meaning Units just sort of pair off.  If it's 3-on-3, then each one has one attack, 3-on-2 then the first two match and the third one attacks the first unit again, and 3-on-1 obviously means that one unit is in three battles, which likely means poor things for that unit.

Battles are a thing, since you really don't get to influence a whole lot of what happens in it, much like Advance War (I believe), which once again perhaps points at the influence.  You have your unit numbers (Generally I've seen units of 8 for swordsmen and axe-users, but only 4 for Knights which use spears, though I'm sure there's plenty more variation) and every battle starts with a charge and retaliation.  Depending on the weapon affinities, that first hit could just decide a battle.  I've seen units get -halved- on that first strike if the weapon is strong against that type, which essentially means that unit is then proper screwed.  The basic affinity chain, by the way, is like Rock, Paper, Scissors.  Spear beats Sword, Sword beats Axe, Axe beats Spear, no don't ask me how, I have no idea.  Following the first strike and retaliation, the units just sort of stick on their side of the screen and swing their weapons until the complex background math decides that somebody has died.  The battle ends, obviously, when everybody in a unit has died and after that, Morale is deducted from their overall total.  When Morale hits 0, that unit disappears from the map.  Some units obviously take more than one loss to get removed, but the upside is that your cards attack power goes up with every victory, be it a Morale-duster or not.

So what can you do while the little people are flailing about with their weapons and doing things that only vaguely make anything resembling sense?  You can hold Left or Right, of course!  There is a Passive/Aggressive bar that allows you to make your unit fight more....well, Aggressively or Passively.  Fighting Passively restores the bar (which will eventually be used in conjunction with skills) where Aggressive stance drains the bar.  The options merely increase or decrease your attacks effectiveness which means effective use could win you victory in a battle you should technically lose or absolutely spank foes who you hold superiority over.  Aside from that, there's not a whole lot you can do in battle aside from let it play out, which means that the battle is more fought in the way you approach it, rather than the way it plays out.  It's a good sentiment, of course, but doesn't make for the most involved gameplay one could hope for.  Still, it is a bit rewarding to get those victories and those times when it just works out for you when, again, you -should- lose pretty much legitimize it.

From what I've played so far, it's a pretty interesting game.  I can't say that it's wonderful quite yet, but it does have another rather unique set-up that I could see eventually elevating it to something beyond what I've seen.  Especially when skills come into play, whenever that is, since that will of course add an entire new layer, not only for the player, but against them as well.  The story is nothing if standard at the moment but that's how they're supposed to start, anyway, so I'm not really too fussed about it just yet.  Much as with Riviera, I don't immediately regret the decision to buy it, nor do I suspect I will ultimately do so, but I am far more forgiving on games than most, so take my recommendation with a little bit of salt.  Take it more like "If you like these games, this is what it kind of has to offer, so make your decision on that" than me simply saying "This is great, buy it".  Because trust me, if I tell you something is great and you should buy it, you'll know it.  (Still waiting on Second Chapter, XSEED.  You have my money when you make it happen.)

Riviera: The Promised Land Impressions

So as I previously lamented, there is an Atlus sale going on at the moment (Set to go til the end of the month, I believe, so there's still time to jump on it) and suggested that I was going to go on a buying spree.  And I did.  Oh lord, how I went on a buying spree for games that I don't need with money I don't have, but I don't really regret it at all since I have quite the respectable PSP library (digital-wise) in the makings.  Seeing as I don't anticipate PSP support, in digital form at least, is going to drop off the face of the Earth anytime soon, it's an investment into the future clearly, not not something that is incredibly irresponsible whatsoever.  I mean, come on, they're Atlus games.  Well, Atlus-published, at least, since I'm learning the difference between a game that comes -from- Atlus, as compared to a game that Atlus published rather quickly.  The lesson learned, of course, is in quality and while it's not so much that the games are bad, it's just that they're not really on the same level as what I've been exposed to, in terms of Persona and such, which was something I had not quite separated in my mind.

In today's post I'm going to talk about is the above-pictured Riviera:  The Promised Land.  Developed by Sting initially for the GameBoy Advance, Riviera is...quite a unique little RPG, to say the least.  Not quite to the point where it's, ahem, 'too' unique, I would say, but it does skirt that line a little bit.  I will say that the game was clearly designed to be a portable game, at the very least, since you cannot go too far before tripping over the next save point which helps, but also does sort of negate any sort of challenge the game might pose.  Not that it -does- pose much of a challenge, but I could certainly think of an instance where it -would- which...doesn't help matters.  Because it's less "challenge" in my head and more "you done fucked up" thanks to the way the actual game mechanics work.  Which is a crazy, zany story to tell to be sure, since there are some mechanics here that you might know already, but probably haven't encountered them like this.

I guess the place to start is the somewhat defining aspect of the game.  You see, in Riviera, you don't 'level up' per se, but rather 'Skill up' which confers onto you all the bonuses of leveling up (i.e. stat gains) as well as a skill.  You know systems in which you have to equip an item for a while before you learn a skill off of it?  Well, think of that, but more that it simply counts how many times you use the item.  Some just require two or three uses, some require as many as ten before giving you the skill.  Of course, the issue that crops up with that is that items only have a certain amount of uses before they shatter into nothingness, disappearing from your inventory.  And I haven't encountered a 'store' or anything of that sort where I can re-acquire any weapons or such that I might have lost in this manner, so it encourages you to use your items wisely which is a nice sentiment of course, but it doesn't really feel like there's any safety net, so to speak.  Well, there is -one- weapon you get that has infinite uses but it doesn't really -count-.  Because nobody learns a skill off of that except sometimes one of the characters does but I don't know, okay.

So how are you supposed to learn the skills without utterly breaking an object in the process of simply doing so?  Well, quite simply, actually.  To compensate for this style of stat-increasing, the game does offer you a mode in which you can use weapons and items without expending their charges.  It's simply called "Practice" in which you just train against monsters that apparently wander along (of which you can pick, taking the randomness out of it) and for some reason, nothing actually gets 'used', so infinite potions, infinite sword strikes, etc.  Using items and weapons in this mode does not preclude you from learning the skills and is, in fact, the suggested method of acquiring them, so you can actually use the weapon/item 'charges' to make good use of the skills they confer.  One per item, and not everybody gains a skill from every item.  Things are simply tailored to each character.  For instance, one of the characters, Lina, seems to get skills off of clothing items, ribbons, cape, etc. whereas nobody else really does.  Similarly, she doesn't really get skills off of swords (both broad and rapier), where the main character and another character, Fia, do.  I really can't explain it much better than that, so I hope it makes sense.

I find that it unfortunately causes you to either over-value an item or under-value it, however, since I have a weapon in my inventory currently that I literally cannot bring myself to use because it's only good for one hit.  Nor can I throw it away because maybe it'll be useful.  It -won't- of course, since it isn't as if I could sell it, and you only have a very limited inventory space, so it's not doing me any favors by keeping it.  Conversely, I pick up and keep items that I simply have no use for (Clothing mostly, since you don't equip things so much as just get to pick four items before battle to use) since I can learn skills off of them.  And you never know when you're going to get a new party member.  Personally, I would hate to have tossed that one-use weapon before I got the fourth member of my party because surprise she could learn a skill off of it.  Being that skill ups are the only way to raise stats, they are, by that measure, fairly important.  So as I might've implied, it sort of breeds a little distrust for the entire system, considering shit breaks and you never know when you'll get another.  (So far, I've only found basic weapons in chests.  And they're randomized.)

The rest of the gameplay is similarly mixed as a bag, since it incorporates quite a few different themes into one single game.  It's fairly Visual Novel-esque, despite the moving sprites and battles, since the 'world' is divided into cells that you move to and from with a mere command, rather than actually moving about and exploring.  In said areas, you can also make use of the "Look" function, in which certain things might be pointed out to you that you can investigate for the cost of a Trigger Point which are earned from battles.  (Non-practice ones)  Most actions in dungeons require a Trigger Point, making it essential for your prowess to be unmatched; God help you if you walk into a room with a chest and don't have a point to spend on opening it.  (Despite the very real possibility that it will be trapped.)  In the non-dungeon area, you can simply freely walk about and talk to people, which is nice, even if the bulk of them want something, most of which you can only give them if you succeeded a glorified QTE in the previous dungeon with only one try at it.

Something else decidedly visual novel-esque about the game is the fact that it's also partially a dating sim.  Yeah.  You read that.  That is a thing you read.  The game is partially a dating sim.  But not....really in the obvious sense of it, from the experience I've put into the game.  More like sometimes you pick something and one of the girls you're traveling with likes you a little more because of it.  Supposedly, the level of love a girl feels for you by the end of the game will influence the ending, as you might expect, and I suppose I'll see when I get there.  I just don't know exactly how I'm supposed to influence the stats very much aside from the obvious parts where you can agree with Lina or Fia.  Guess which one'll make which one happy!  Again, I'm supposing that I'm not entirely too far into the game, so I hope eventually it'll make it a little more apparent on how I can influence the game and, in essence, the ending.  Seems kind of a basic thing to have in this type of game, at least.

All in all, Riviera is a pretty decent game thus far.  It's definitely an RPG with its quirks and the voice-acting is....not....absolutely horrible.  The fairies, as they normally are, are definitely grating and terrible to listen to, but everyone else does a fairly decent job in their roles.  Not to mention, there's dual-audio for all of you 'dubs suck' folks.  I haven't jumped into it, because I generally leave dubs on when available, but I might switch them on for a session or two (the game asks you when it loads up, which you want, I assume it loads the game differently depending, since you can't switch mid-game) just to see how they compare.  Not that I can -tell- beyond "hey, that certainly sounds like japanese", but hey, it's all fun.  As for whether or not it's worth the $7.49 that's currently being asked for it?  I could certainly think of worse ways to spend the money.  But unless you're looking for an RPG that has a lot of quirks, perhaps too many even for most folks, then you might want to hold back.  I don't regret it, but then again, I rarely regret my purchasing decisions as is.

Music! Persona 3 Edition, Part 2

Even though I've put Persona 3 Portable down for now, despite really wanting to get along in both my NG+ and Girl Mode games (The former because I missed one thing which prevents me from getting a series of capstone personas, the latter because I hate getting 'strong' again), Persona 3 (and Portable) has been on my mind.  Especially in the soundtrack area as I'm not sure the soundtrack for Trails in the Sky is hitting me quite so profoundly.  It's a tall order of course, as I am fairly picky with Video Game Music, but it doesn't hurt to hope that any and every game will have some music that you can't help but find yourself listening to, humming or thinking about.  Unrealistic, of course, but when we think of those games that have managed the task, well, I'm sure you get where I'm coming from here.  But regardless, Persona 3 continues to impress, even if I stray off into songs that I don't have on disk.

Today, I'm featuring a few songs from the Persona 3 Portable soundtrack which is actually just geared towards the Female Protagonist, considering the Male Protagonist storyline is mostly a combination of Vanilla Persona 3 and FES.  Despite Girl Mode, as I call it, not specifically being geared towards female players, but rather veterans of P3 looking for a new spin on the same old scenarios they're familiar with, it -is- fairly girly and the soundtrack does reflect this in a way.  This isn't a bad thing and it's not very overt, nor does it overtake the mood of the music in the game which I'm happy to say is still fairly groovy, but it is noticeable and quite different.  What better place to start with this, then, than at the beginning.  The song below, "Soul Phrase" is the introduction song for Persona 3 Portable in particular.  (Oddly enough, if you wait long enough, you can see Persona 3's intro movie, possibly FES' as well, at the start of P3P.  This is how I got confused last time, thinking Burn My Dread was still the opening song for P3P.)

It's a little more subdued than Burn My Dread, but it's more fitting to the game as a whole, I'd say.  It has a somber nature around it, yet is striking throughout which is rather appropriate.  I can't really make sense of the lyrics just by sound, but I suppose that's neither a strike against the song or the game, as it's less what they say and more how it sounds that really matters.  On top of all that, it's just a fairly nice song - there's a nice blend of the vocals and the electric guitar that carries through the song, providing those hard-hitting moments that resonate with the game proper.  It simply does a very nice job of getting you prepared for it, I say, since it's not upbeat enough for you to expect something rather action-packed, but it's stimulating enough that you realize the game, in its portable form, is more than the 'visual novel' nature might lead you to think it is.

Mirroring the last post a little more, the next song I'm sharing is Persona 3 Portable's answer to Mass Destruction in the form of a little song called "Wiping All Out".  As I said, the songs, from what I've heard, seem to really try to capture the same spirit of Persona 3, albeit in a different way considering the different protagonist.  Admittedly, the song is, as I said earlier, a bit girlier in its composition and sound, but it's very much a very different version of Mass Destruction, which is all one could hope for, really.  Aside from the original song.  Or some of the real fun jazzy vocalizations that you can't help but mouth out or even sing to yourself despite having played the game for more than 100 hours.

It's still very much music to kill things to, especially Shadows, and the sentiment remains unspoiled.  "Wiping All Out" is very much Mass Destruction in theme, just on the naming of it.  It also has the same rapping that Mass Destruction has (admittedly with different lyrics) and plays during battle as Mass Destruction did.  While it's not as upbeat, I will say that Wiping All Out is enjoyable in its own right, as it manages to keep the jazzy feel, the general flow that goes through the rest of the songs (as did Persona 3's original soundtrack) and the fun in it.  It helps, I suppose, that the female vocalist is quite enjoyable to listen to as well, but that's clearly just my opinion.  Though it's one that I'm sure I'm not at all alone in having, as the soundtrack seems pretty liked from what I can tell.

The last song I want to feature sort of exemplifies just what I've been saying with the other two, in terms of keeping the general theme of the original game's soundtrack while adding a different spin on it for a very different scenario.  Again, while girly, the last song here, "A Way of Life" is the general overworld theme, s'far as I know, which means it's what will play as you're out and about at the station or Pawlonia Mall (I think, at least) and it's only after I've listened to it here that I really sort of get the song.  It's...just really a delightful song; not overly fantastic, not something that makes you want to get up and do something big, but it's something I'd definitely want to listen to while relaxing somewhere or, perhaps while walking around leisurely as I'm sure is the intention with the game.  (At least, I've always considered the soundtrack in the game to be what the main character listens to when appropriate since regardless of male or female, they love their headphones)

Like I said already, it's just a nice, enjoyable little song.  It's not anything more than it tries to be, nor is it anything more than it simply -is-, but it doesn't need to be.  Despite not having any real jazzy influences (mostly the rockin' sax from other songs on the soundtrack) it's still decidedly part of the soundtrack by sound because it very much carries the same mood as the rest of the songs.  And it really ties them together I think, by being just....well, 'funky', as I've said of the other songs.    It's fun which is something that, as the sole descriptor of a song, means a whole lot more than I could hope to cover, so it will have to suffice along with my assurance that you know what I mean when I say that.  It's clearly evident upon listening to it, especially if you're really intent on just listening to it and relaxing with it.

I'm sure that, depending on how my time with Trails in the Sky goes, I might just be ready to hop back into the world of P3P afterwards.  Unless I have Resistance:  Burning Skies at that point, in which, well, I'm playing that.  I can't wait to see just what the Vita's first real first person shooter has to offer, though perhaps not as a direct representation of 'the bar' as it were.  Since it is still early software and all.  Though, I'm sure all the while til then, I'll be enjoying the smooth sounds of the Persona 3 extended OST (through Portable, I mean) because it simply stands out more in my head lately.  And with good reason, I should suggest.

Persona 3 Portable - I Beat It

Studious readers of not only the blog, but the sidebar twitter might realize that I actually beat Persona 3 Portable a few days ago, but those same people will understand that I was trying to wait until I could talk to my buddy Haplo who is whom I turn to for Persona matters.  Unfortunately, I assume he's been busy with school or something and hasn't been on, and in the meanwhile, this has been eating at me and I just can't write anything until I write this one out.  As with my Thoughts So Far post a little while back (not a link in this portion because spoilers), I am going to be, well, spoiling things, so I don't want to catch people unawares.  Considering I've beaten the story (and taken a peek at the story for The Answer since I'm not hunting my copy of FES down to play it), I have a pretty good stock of what happened.  So, without much further ado, let's get this goin', yeah?

As warned, thar be spoilers after the break.

Persona 4: Golden, Officially Coming Out This Fall in NA

It's official, Persona 4: Golden (apparently formally dropping the "The") will be hitting western shores sometime this Fall which isn't as specific as we all might hope for, but it's at least a little better than "sometime in the future".  Yes, it's a port, an enhanced one at that, and as I've discussed before, we're apparently to hate any of these types of things, but hell, it's Persona 4.  Nobody's going to hate it based on being a port of itself for a handheld (especially given that it doesn't seem anything's being cut from the original), and if they're going to hate it for anything, it'd be over how they didn't like the original.  Though, I seem to see even more praise for 4 than I do 3, which I imagine is saying something.  I say this, that I see the praise, for the simple fact that, like Persona 3, I haven't fully experienced Persona 4 yet despite owning it on PS2 and this portable version will be my first exposure.

Excessive?  Yes.  Entirely too much so, considering I bought my copy of Persona 4 brand new at $40 years ago and barely even opened the case to read the manual.  Seriously, I didn't actually realize that my copy came with the Soundtrack CD until just now when I checked to see if my copy was still shrink-wrapped.  Because it honestly could have been.  Of course, the reason for not playing Persona 4 was because the battle system was apparently so improved that it made going back to Persona 3 difficult.  Is that true?  I don't know.  I honestly probably won't know because I don't intend on throwing Persona 3 regular or FES in my PS2 and playing it out, and Persona 3 Portable reportedly has a lot of influences from Persona 4 in it, system-wise, so I won't be able to properly judge.  So long as the story is as entertaining as Persona 3's, I'm sure I honestly won't care too much.

Speaking of P3P, I feel like I should share the amusing little coincidence I experienced - I beat Persona 3 Portable this morning at 6 something AM (because endgame means forget about time) and after the ending finished, I promptly conked out.  By the time I woke up and got around to checking my LiveTweet on the Vita, Persona 4: Golden had officially been announced for the US ala above.  As I stated elsewhere (at Penny Arcade) it's like they were waiting for me.  Which means that I have to apologize to you all for not finishing the game much much sooner, but, well, you've played it I'm sure, so you know how it is.  I just wasn't sure that I'd be able to swing it since I couldn't kill The Reaper and went on a little grind-a-thon after I worked the courage up to do so with Odin, Raphael, Loki, Gabriel and Horus.  And....other Personae that I can't remember at the moment.

But P3P is a topic for another post, so I don't want to steep too much of this one in it.  I mentioned how Persona 4: Golden will be an enhanced port and, from what I've seen, that's exactly what I mean.  While P3P had to make a lot of sacrifices for the PSP as the platform of choice (namely the ability to traverse the world in-model, instead seeing everything as a blip on a map), P4G seems as if it will have to make none of those sacrifices and will, in fact, have additional content on top of the original game in its entirety.  I'm....not quite sure what it all means, of course, having not played Persona 4, but I'm sure the list, which will follow here, will make sense to those who have played the game.

• A bike that lets you travel to another town
• Revised background graphics
• A winter event
• New Personas for the main cast
• Team Attacks
• Rotating TV shows (including a quiz with Teddie)
• A brand new character
• 1.5 times the amount of voiced dialogue

Again, about the only one of those that I can make sense of are the last two which are pretty self-explanatory.  I can't find information on whether this new character will be a party member, a social-link, both (perhaps) or just 'story-important', but she's new at least.  Also more voice acting which apparently makes people all groany because it's mostly likely, 99% probably going to be English-only.  Which is....uh, a bad thing, apparently.  I am not, nor will I ever actively participate in the "Sub vs. Dub" conversation beyond saying that there's a time and a place for both, and will instead say that the voice acting in P3P was pretty good, so I don't mind it whatsoever.  Of course, those are just the pieces of info that they're actively sharing with us, though it's also probably the only bits that really matter.  But, I mean, I hope we can hope for another in-game nod to a future title ala Vincent explaining his situation from Catherine in P3P.  (That was so neat to stumble across, mind, and I think it was P3P only?)

I kind of hate that "the Fall" (sorry, I had to do it) is so far away, but I'm sure I can keep myself entertained until then.  Resistance:  Burning Skies is coming up and at the very least, P4G is skipping June by a wide margin.  Regardless, in the meanwhile, I have New Game + and/or "Girl Mode" on P3P to keep me busy for those moments when I don't have anything else, as well as a whole other RPG that I haven't even touched.  (Legend of Heroes:  Trails in the Sky)  My point is, I have everything at my disposal to be patient for this which is fairly rare, and not something I'm going to take very lightly.  Still, it will be oh so sweet when I finally get my hands on that (presumably) gold and blue case.