Conquest, I Choose You!

It's been a while since I've actually talked about Pokemon Conquest and that's mostly because of the fact that until recently, as in a couple days ago, the game was not in my possession.  That has been remedied, obviously, and in my latest little wealth of things to do where I still find things lacking, I have decided to throw it into my 3DS and have a go with it.  I will say that it is pretty much exactly what it offers on the tin - it is clearly a cross-over of Pokemon and KOEI's version of Feudal Japan, though not necessarily Nobunaga's Ambition; clearly the sprites of the Warriors are from Samurai Warriors 3, you know the game that was Wii-exclusive in America which was fucking annoying for someone who buys every goddamn retail Warriors game he can play at least in theory.  Though, regardless of the backdrop and the main characters being from Samurai Warriors, you can clearly tell that there are Game Freak or The Pokemon Company fingers in the writing pie, which I can't say in all honesty is a good move.  Either that or KOEI's writers played a Pokemon game and copied its basic concept....which is what Game Freak does anyway.  Either way.

There's not a whole lot of meat to the story, at least not at the start.  "There are pokemon, Warriors are people who can communicate 'wordlessly' with pokemon (except they verbally command them anyway) and some Warriors rule one of the seventeen kingdoms of the land.  You are the new ruler of Aurora.  So....have fun with that." is basically the entirety of the intro, and then you are handed off to Oichi the tutorial queen for a little while until the game starts progressively opening up.  It's light-hearted and lacking, as your first 'major' goal is to conquer the kingdom right next to you....which is not a challenge in the least.  Ignis (it's a Fire Kingdom) is ruled by Toyotomi Hideyoshi (this stops making sense...really fast) and is there to be steam-rolled by you with your Eevee and Oichi with her Jigglypuff.  After that, Fontaine and Greenleaf (Water and Grass respectively GEE CAN YOU SEE THE THEME IT'S ALMOST LIKE THE FIRST THREE KINGDOMS ARE FIRE, WATER AND GRASS LIKE THE STARTER POKEMON IN EVERY POKEMON GAME EVER) open up and once you conquer them with similarly lacking amounts of aplomb, you get the 'story' of the game as it were.

There is apparently a rumor/legend in Ransei (the area Conquest takes place in) that whoever unites the seventeen kingdoms under the same banner will awaken 'the legendary pokemon' and apparently be granted its power for ill or good.  And rumors state that Oda Nobunaga (see?  Hideyoshi having his own kingdom already makes no sense at all) is working towards that goal so he can...wait for it...wait for it.....destroy the Ransei region.

Ugh.

This right here is why I say that somebody who usually works on Pokemon games had their hand in the story.  Because this right here?  This is a carbon-copy of every Team ambition from Ruby/Sapphire on in so many words.  Sure, some of the teams aren't hoping for global destruction, but rather world dominance or something but close enough.  My question is why?  Why is this necessary?  Why does Nobunaga have to want to destroy the land?  Is it there to paint him as an obvious bad guy?  There are other ways, better ways to do this.  Ways that just involve him being kind of a dick which makes sense instead of being cartoonishly evil which -doesn't- make sense.  I honestly thought Pokemon Conquest would be refreshing since it's...not really conducive to having a Team "Something", but that right there makes Nobunaga him a one-man Team Nobunaga with a hair-brained scheme for a legendary pokemon who will ultimately be thwarted by a child.

Of course the story and setting is only half of the set-up with the actual gameplay being the other part of it.  Though it bills itself as a Nobunaga's Ambition game, I'm going to say that it's a very, very 'lite' version of the franchise which I'm not impressed with in the slightest.  You have Kingdoms (should be Fiefdoms) that you conquer to add to your own dominion and each Kingdom has their own buildings (none of which you place unless that comes later on, which is possible) and you have your officers that can do things, but none of it is simulation-related, as in one of the things that is kind of a draw to the Nobunaga's Ambition (and those types of games in general) but rather centered on your Pokemon.  You can train them with random battles (some of which give you other Warriors if you fulfill conditions) make their energy values go up and buy them items to equip on them for use in battle, things like that so far.  Which...leaves a lot to be desired, in all honesty.

Battles are obviously not the standard Pokemon fare, and are instead more of a tactical/strategy RPG system that you might see in the likes of Final Fantasy Tactics, Fire Emblem and similar.  So far into the game, though I suspect it's the case for the entirety of it, every Warrior only has one Pokemon to their name and that Pokemon only has one move of their own which flies in the face of Pokemon logic if nothing else.  In a sense, that sort of categorizes every pokemon that's included into a..."Class" ala normal SRPGs in terms of how they can attack, in that Charmanders and Tepigs appear to be akin to "Archers" since their Ember attack can only hit from two blocks away (meaning a block between you and the enemy), while a lot of others have strange attack ranges as well.  Anything with Vine whip hits the square in front of them and to the left and right of that square at once, making it really powerful if your enemies are all lined up.  While moves are common between a few pokemon, everyone also has a "Warrior" move which seems to be at least slightly unique.  Warrior moves can be activated once per battle and range from vastly increasing your move range (base Eevee skill), Healing nearby (all?) allies (base Jigglypuff skill) or just upping the chance of inflicting a status ailment (my warrior with Charmander has this), though there are other variations, of course.

Admittedly my exposure to the game isn't nearly full yet, and it still has quite a bit of time to impress me.  I know Pokemon can at least Evolve, which I assume changes their move if nothing else, and I eagerly await making my Eevee into a Glaceon because Glaceons are awesome.  Likewise, I'm going to try to nab me a Warrior with a Pikachu with the goal to make it a Raichu because it wouldn't be me playing a Pokemon game if I didn't grab up a Raichu.  That alone makes me want to at least continue into the game even though I feel it's a bit shallow at the moment, because that little hint of depth encourages me that there will be more.  Maybe I'm wrong, but that's something I'm going to find out, that's for sure.  And you know, maybe I'll just unify Japan in the meantime if I'm not too busy and all.

How to Not Mess Up a Remake

"What's old is new again."

It's a statement that comes up a lot and for obvious reasons - remakes are easy money.  Simply by the flow of time, you have people who just aren't exposed to certain things the first time around and it's just easy enough to repackage those things and sell them brand-new to the folks who just haven't experienced them as well as the people who have and want to see what the 'new' experience is like.  We've seen a lot of the remake and remaster situation this generation because we've reached a point where a -lot- of people haven't been around for as long as we have, or at least not been in it as some of us have, which just means it's easy to capitalize on.  Well, easier since, well, remaking/remastering a game is honestly a very simple process.  Yet...some companies just seem to completely miss the point.  So here's a nice little refresher course on how to properly make a remake.

If you change something big, try to make it optional - Yes, everyone knows the whole point of giving a game a remake is giving it another go while not making it a wholly different game, but that doesn't mean you should change -everything- about it.  Or if you do, then it's a good idea to leave the original there as well to give new and old alike an idea of just -what- you changed and be able to quantify just how much work you put into it.  Dragon Fantasy Book I (which I still need to review >_<) was absolutely wonderful about this, in that the guy remade the map assets and music from scratch to make it better looking and sounding, -but- they also included an option to turn it back to 'retro' to see how the game was in its original state.  (they also patched in the ability to pick between retro visuals and sounds if you were so inclined)  Compare this to, oh say, Chrono Trigger DS wherein Squeenix completely and totally changed the script without including the original.  Also the new script was terrible, thus making it all the more groan-worthy that there wasn't an option to not stomach it.

For the love of God, don't make it worse - This one should be the most goddamn obvious of them all, but it's hilariously sadly one of the ones that gets tripped over the most.  If a game ran like X on this platform, it's just....just a given that you can figure out -some- way to make it run like at LEAST X if not X+1 on more advanced platforms.  Since everything is more advanced now than what you're remaking at the moment.  If you can't, then don't fucking do it.  The more recent examples have been the Jak and Daxter HD Collection on Vita and the infamous Silent Hill HD Collection debacle, but those aren't the only ones.  Hell, it'd take a while to name all the worst ones.  But one of the particularly bad ones, I think, is Squeenix's handling of Final Fantasy Tactics:  The War of the Lions which was a remake of Final Fantasy Tactics.  While I personally didn't have too much of an issue with it, there were many, many folks who complained of some slow-down that happened during magic casting and the like.  It's a valid complaint.  Where it gets egregious is when that slowdown is still there in the next port of it (on the iPhone) and is also still there in the next next port (on the iPad) when that port came six months later.  Did fucking nobody QA this damn thing at any point?

Realize what it is you're doing and market it appropriately - Remakes and remasters can be really, really exciting since you're basically getting new fans while also allowing old fans to relive the fun of whatever it is you're remaking.  But a remake/remaster is never, ever, ever going to be, on the whole, more exciting than a new iteration of the particular game or series.  (Yes, even THAT remake that will never happen, shut up)  So never forget that.  Promoting the announcement of your remake for days, even weeks leading up to said announcement is just the height of cruelty and is completely unnecessary.  I doubt I need to remind everyone about the whole The World Ends With You debacle.  A week-long countdown site for an iOS remake that wasn't even a universal app.  Who in the actual fuck thought that was a good idea?

Give the most complete game you can - If your game released and then you did something else with it, tweaked it, added DLC (which obviously isn't a thing -yet- but will be in future remakes) or whatever, include that shit.  Different regions get different versions of a game meaning some regions don't get -everything- of a game.  So if you're remaking/remastering that game, make every version standard as the version that had the most content.  Never, ever, ever, ever, ever even consider the notion of selling these extra bits of content additionally, squash any rumor that's saying you're thinking about doing it, or at least let people know you're giving them the whole game when somebody fucking asks you about it since that also gives you a chance to explain your strategy.  Because, you know, we always assume you actually have one, being that a remaster/remake is still a release.

I hope this handy little guide helps anyone who is thinking about releasing a remake or remaster of a game in the future.  It's a complicated thing, I know, but it's rewarding and valuable if you put in the right effort.  But if you're repeatedly making big mistakes in your remakes or remasters, then perhaps you should consider either not making those mistakes or not constantly torturing your fans with shitty remakes and remasters.  Of course, it's not like there's any company that is fairly consistent in releasing bad remakes and remasters, right?

this post is very tongue-in-cheek and I am very proud of it

Describing 999's Best Ending - Part 1

999:  Nine Hours, Nine Persons, Nine Doors was a weird one for me, all told.  I played it.  I enjoyed it.  I got the True Ending and suddenly I didn't really care for it, despite liking it while I played it.  This has happened before and it's a weird feeling, a feeling that I do not understand the source, nor the reason for it.  If anything, I imagine I was left wanting a little more, perhaps, or I felt a little jilted with what's there.  Also the True Ending has....a bit to it that kind of wrecks the mood.  However, soured a little by that, I proceeded to talk to Haplo about it in a non-spoilery way for a while and then he told me, "Look, I'm probably not going to play the game, so go ahead and spoil it".  And I said, "Well, to understand the True Ending, you have to get another ending first."  It's a weird concept to be sure, but it's there for reasons I will not divulge right yet.  A strange thing happened when I started telling Haplo of this first ending.

I really got into it.  An excitement for the game I didn't know existed started welling up in me, burned at me as I explained subtle nuances of the game, things it made sure you knew at this point and that.  I fell in love with the game for the first time because I found an intense verve with which I began telling the story of this ending.  Rather, this playthrough the leads to the ending since the ending doesn't make sense, or an impact on its own merits.  The story took a good few hours at least to tell, which is rather astounding (even with a bit of audience participation, as it were) and before I knew it, it was a wee hour in the morning and I hadn't written a blog post here.  (Of course, the previous lack was because I was entranced with the game, steeped in finding the final ending)  So I was thinking about it today, a way to make it up, and I realized "Well, I really enjoyed telling that....so I'll tell it again!" except I'll tell it here and tell it better since I admittedly did a poor job at times with Haplo.  To save myself some trouble, I'm going to be doing it in a few parts.

I believe it goes without saying, but I'll say it anyway.  Beyond the Page Break (which is right after this blurb) are MASSIVE 999 Spoilers!  If only for this ending, I recommend that you play the game yourself rather than take my account as your exposure.  Because it is rather fantastic.  I will, however be explaining it rather thoroughly (hopefully) so if you must read this rather than play the game yourself, I do hope you'll be able to appreciate it.  Still, a spoiler warning is a spoiler warning and thus you have been warned.

A Christmas of Nines

If there's anything that I honestly didn't need this Christmas, it was even more games, but you know what?  I like games.  I wanted more games.  And thus, so it was that I got some pretty great games for Christmas - some surprising ones even.  I think one of the stand-outs (the other of which I'll probably speak on tomorrow) is that my parents managed to do what I haven't been able to in two years, in finding a copy of 999:  Nine Hours, Nine Persons, Nine Doors.  I mean, yes, I could have always gotten a copy online or something, but that's no fun - the hunt itself is a thrill and being able to taste the fruits of that effort, so to speak, is a wonderment all its own.  It's not enough that they managed to track this down for me, but when I unwrapped it and saw it - the first thing I noticed was that it was a copy that had the original box art and not the new art that re-brands the game retroactively as a part of the now-established "Zero Escape" series, of which 999 and Virtue's Last Reward (For 3DS and Vita) are now a part of.  I don't mind the new box art at all, and it wouldn't be a deal-breaker one way or another, but regardless, I thought that was pretty neat.

In actually playing the game, I have found it to be something of an actual treat, which surprised me a little.  I worry about the learning curve in games like these, but so far, it's been kind to me I believe.  At least, I haven't had to look up a guide yet, though I'm not sure at all how far into the game I am.  I expected something rather lengthy, but if the pace is anything to go by, then I'm actually drawing near to an ending, of which there are many.  I figure this can't be, and that something will reveal itself, but I'm not quite sure really.  It's still too early to tell, of course, and I'm really just more concerned about the -game- and the story than the ending(s) for now.  Since, I mean, it is a visual novel/old-style adventure game, so there's not a lot else -to- do but worry about the story of it.

I did mention that the puzzles haven't been especially hard, but I will say that they've been clever at points.  One such puzzle took me to peaks of frustration as I tried to figure it out, and when I was tempted to give up, I thought about it for just a few extra moments before that "Aha!" moment hit and it clicked.  It's honestly very, very difficult to actually make things so you'll have that moment since it requires a delicate balance that few are able to implement.  It's either too obscure so that you can't honestly be expected to figure it out, or too easy that there's no challenge to it.  Being just tricky enough that you force somebody to wrack their brain, looking at the details and realizing that there's a -reason- they don't add up, that's some sort of talent right there.  Because when you figure out which detail it is that doesn't fit, that's just wrong in the context of the situation, it pushes on that spot on your brain that feeds on the 'smugness' you get when you figure things out like that.

I do worry somewhat about just how fleshed out the characters will get before the end of it however.  Like I said, I don't quite know how far into the game I am, but I've played for a good clip and some of them are still a bit thin.  The logical part of my brain understand that there are reasons why the characters haven't been explored really, but at the same time, that doesn't preclude being able to develop them in ways that aren't subtle personality quirks and the like.  I want a little more from them as a cast, because if something were to happen to somebody, I feel like it would help if it actually meant something.  Since I mean, you put people into a gauntlet of traps and 'games' where losing means your death, you sort of -expect- for there to be some casualties.  Maybe I'm wrong, but I'm just guessing.  I might also be being intentionally vague and/or flippant or misleading so as to not spoil things for others.

Regardless, it's been a good trip so far and I'm quite happy that I did finally get my hands on a copy of the game.  I always figured I would, since there's not been much of a price hike ever since the reprinting, but the comfort in having the game, being able to hold it and watch it and play it is nice all the same.  With any luck, I'll like it enough that I'll want to pick up Virtue's Last Reward, which I totally can on my Vita and have that to hop into afterwards.  Of course, after I beat that, then there'll be a long, long wait for the next game in the series, but at least I'm set for the near future if nothing else.  And man, am I ever set for the near future in terms of games.  That, however, is a tale for another night.  In the meanwhile, I just hope everyone had a great Christmas, because hey, I actually did too!

So I Tried the Demo for Zero Escape: Virtue's Last Reward

Meet the antagonist to the demo of Zero Escape:  Virtue's Last Reward - A door.  A locked door, to be precise, being the thing standing between you and progress into the next room that presumably also offers a locked door to be opened with a lengthy series of searching every inch of scenery and combining the items you come across.  I mean, that is sort of the MO for Escape the Room games which is basically what Zero Escape seems to be which is fantastic.  I rather enjoy them for the ways they encourage you to think, though there is a line between being clever and requiring such a break from logic that it makes me question what the hell is going on.  Luckily enough, Zero Escape offers no such break, as the puzzles are either pretty blatantly easy or approaching rather clever, never really even broaching the line in which I throw my hands up in frustration and consult a FAQ.

Of course, this could be because of the rather large flaw in design that the demo offered in locking you into 'Easy' mode which basically takes 80% of the challenge of the game out of your hands by giving you the answer to a good portion of most of the puzzles themselves.  Not all of them, mind you, but the ones that really could have made or broken the difficulty of the demo, thus not really giving you a good approximation of the game itself which is kind of the entire point -of- a demo.  I really can't see the point of this except trying to 'trick' people into feeling smarter than they might be, thus convincing them that Zero Escape is a game that they could, theoretically, play and understand and such.  I'm really not sure why the deception is 'necessary' however, as I really don't think the things it spoils are -that- far-fetched.  The screenshots I offered are mostly out of context, but they don't really offer knowledge onto anything that couldn't be parsed out yourself.  And probably would've made for a more worthy demo -had- you been able to figure it out for yourself.

However, despite my grumblings, I did enjoy the demo quite a bit and have played it a couple times past my initial attempt which didn't go so hot because I had a headache at the time.  Something that's helpful is that the numbers seem to randomize, so you can't just memorize them and move on through the demo without a thought to what you're actually doing.  You might remember the method, sure, but the execution will be different each time meaning that anyone who finds themselves playing the game multiple times won't get too bored with things.  Seeing as I might be one of these people, this is good news enough for me.  And the demo does have one thing that I find myself reaching towards the skies and praising the gods of all that is good and makes sense in the Memo function which allows you to utilize the touchscreen to leave yourself notes on things that might be important rather than having to rely on actual pen and paper for your notes.  It's a godsend and a wonderful idea that needs to be in like everything of this ilk.  Because it is, as I suggested in my screencap so goddamn useful.

I will note that I have not played 999:  Nine Hours, Nine Persons, Nine Doors which does present a little bit of an issue here since I -like- Zero Escape, but I severely hate playing a sequel without playing the first.  In fact, as we all know, I hate playing a series over the span of multiple handhelds, but that's somewhat tempered in this case because it is also available on the original console as well (well, same line, that is) which is generally all I ask.  I planned on getting 999 anyways, so it's not a case where I -have- to get it to 'understand' the sequel, and in truth, I'm not even sure if Zero Escape will have much to do with 999 at all, story-wise.  Which I have also said is no excuse but look, just shut up and let me be a hypocrite for this series.  Escape-the-room/point-and-click is practically dead as a genre outside of PC (even there, it's mostly just flash games) and any release in it is generally one to treasure unless it's just balls-out dumb.  Which I am told 999 is certainly not.

Still, not having picked up 999, I'm not quite sure about just what I will do with Zero Escape.  I want to buy it, surely, but I won't play it right away if I bought it right away, and that just feels wasteful.  However, I don't want to be in a similar situation with the game as I am with 999 in that I simply cannot find it in stores, my preferred method of getting games.  Yes, yes, Amazon and all that, and I will get it that way -eventually-, as it seems like the price is stable for now.  I believe a stealth reprint happened at some point and that helped the game stay at the $25 pricepoint for months now, which is always nice.  But my issue is that if I get 999 right now I will similarly probably not be able to play it because, well, I have a lot of gaming to do between my PS3 and Vita, despite people claiming that I should have no trouble in that department.  Because....well, people are stupid.  Clearly.  I've held off buying like four Vita games because I'm saving the money for four -other- Vita games, but noooooo, it -has- no games and I'm clearly saving money for absolutely nothing at all.  Twats.  Anyways, I suggest you grab the demo for yourself to give it a whirl if you're so inclined.  It's not perfect, and I would suggest you only play the Escape portion as the Novel portion is literally just a cutscene, but what you do with it is your business and such.

Squeenix Hates You - TWEWY News is iOS Port

I don't think there's really any doubt that this -is- going to be a TWEWY project and with what's being thrown down here, I would highly doubt that it's something as banal as like an iOS port of the game, but I wouldn't quite put that past Squeenix.
                                                                                           -Mogs (August 19th, 2012)

I am wrong a lot.  We have established this several times over and we will continue to do so because I clearly exist on a different plane of existence when it comes to anything resembling sense or sanity.  I pride myself, however, on at least trying to own up to instances where I am completely wrong, as this case was.  I mean, yes, I suggested it was a possibility, and it was always a thought in the back of my head, but it was more one of those "Man, wouldn't it be hilarious if they were dumb enough to make a fuss about an iOS port?" thoughts that you get.  I don't think I really, honestly thought it would turn out this way, but in a way, I'm pretty happy it did.  Blasphemy, I know, but it's not for any reason as you would suspect.  I don't derive a bit of pleasure from seeing people excited and then let down for a game that I don't particularly care about, nor do I derive pleasure from seeing Squeenix squander potential like this, as they've done on several occasions before.

The reason I am okay with this bit is that the iOS version here (Well, versions, plural, since there's separate ones for iPhone and iPad) is clearly designed with only one screen in mind, rather than the DS' two.  Now, it's always nice to have a game specifically catering to the features of the system it's on, so as to clearly identify itself as a game -for- said system, TWEWY's handling is....not ideal.  Having combat on both the top and bottom screens, combat that seems to rely on both screens, requiring you to completely split your focus in a big way seems to really just obfuscate people, like me, who are interested in the game based on the high praise it carries.  And it just serves to make you wonder -how- it got the praise, since it seems the type of thing that one simply does not end up understanding.  Clearly, it is an understood concept to people and when and if I play TWEWY again, perhaps it will sink in, but I doubt it.

The strength of a single screen, however, in my mind at least is the obvious at first:  accessibility.  I don't see how that could be over-complicated any -more- than the two screen design and while it's not directly in-line with the original game, such is the price we pay I guess.  What really matters is just that, however - is it easier to play and enjoy on a single screen?  Because if so, then there might be good money in putting it elsewhere without stopping at iOS.  I'm not sure quite how accessible the game would be with a full-fledged controller in your hands, since the iPad/Phone release retains the touch-screen at least, so a PSN/XBLA version might not be in the cards, but if it were, I doubt very many people would balk at a $20 price-tag.  For me, I wouldn't balk at that price for a Vita version, with the best of both worlds, but that goes without saying and Squeenix aren't going to bother, I'm sure.  Since why would they; it's far easier to just doctor up a version and throw it at a giant pool of people who have, likely, zero interest, than doing up a version and offering it to people who are probably more inclined to purchase it.

Of course, a lot of people just aren't happy that the 'big' TWEWY news is a port of the game they have likely already played on a platform they may or may not have, but probably don't have a good reason to purchase on.  Most people are just never happy when it comes to video game news, but I daresay that these people might just have a point in this one for reasons that I might have stated in the previous sentence.  This move isn't really -for- the faithful, isn't really something that does anything for anybody except potentially draw in new fans for a fanbase that has sat by for four years, waiting with bated breath for something, anything new related to this.  I imagine the inclusion of Neku (TWEWY's protagonist) in Kingdom Hearts 3D wasn't really impressing anyone, so this is still a bit of a far cry from giving them -anything-.  And so, of course, the way it's been handled has been just as haphazard as everything else related to this whole project as a whole.

After a leak that spelled out directly that the site was for an iOS version to release in 2012, Brian Grey who was the lead translator on TWEWY, went on to say something basically to the effect of "There's more".  Specifically, he said: "Before everyone decides the #twewy countdown is over, they might want to wait for the countdown to be over. #moredripthanleak" which, understandably, gave everyone a lot of hope.  False hope, of course, as that was basically everything.  I suppose the soundtrack for the game might go on sale in the iTunes Store as well, but that's really not 'big' enough to sustain itself next to the iOS port job.  Seeing it all painted out in a line now isn't nearly as offensive as hearing about the leak, hearing the reassuring news the same day and then waiting a few days to learn that no, no the iOS thing is basically it.  Certainly not a 'drip' of the leak unless a dam only drips when it's allowing buckets of water to pass through its walls.  Perhaps something else will get announced in short order, or perhaps the other 'big' part of it was simply the fact that as soon as you were likely to hear about it (unless you stay up at all hours of the night like.....well, most of us), you were able to buy it, effectively announcing its launch than it's release date.

This is pretty much all in a day's work for Squeenix, however, so no real surprise in here to be found I think.  I don't mean to belittle them based on a series of hilarious misunderstandings that they clearly hold when it comes to their fanbase and the delusions and hopes they hold, but, well, I don't necessarily -have- to, since they do a nice job of that themselves.  Which is kind of the point I was making here.  As I said, this might be a good thing in the long run if it proves to be a gateway project; a means to get something new and/or original with the IP out on other platforms, just to have it out there, but it's just not there.  There's absolutely no reason anyone has to believe that this is anything more than throwing something else at the iOS market and hoping they buy in droves because it's easy money, what with it being $18-$20, depending on what you buy it on  (which seems arbitrary to me - just two dollars extra for the iPad?  I'm not sure how the costs factor into that at all).  Of course, maybe that's just a bit of conjecture drawn from a similar move to surface just recently.  Who am I to say, really?  In all senses of the word, when it comes to this stuff, I'm merely an observer, but it is a teensy-bit funny, the timing between these two things.

'The World Ends With You Too' is a Possibility

Okay, probably not with that title, but I really couldn't resist it after the latest piece of news I got off of Siliconera.  Apparently there is a new teaser site up with the URL of 'subaseka' and as of this writing, it seems to have a countdown of...uhh, really soon.  Like as soon as I post this, I'll have to edit it with news of just what the hell it ended up being.  If my internet is willing to cooperate, of course, since it's taking forever to load this damn page.  Nothing important or anything, of course.  Just kind of want to know what the hell I'm supposed to be seeing as opposed to what I am seeing.  It is....somewhat important, after all, being that this is something I want to write about.  Anyways, what you are -supposed- to see on the page is an image that looks quite suspiciously like things seen in The World Ends With You and is, after all, apparently the teaser page for a project that involves both Gen Kobayashi and Tetsuya Nomura, or at least characters created by them.  Which keeps the umbrella for TWEWY open, of course.

I don't think there's really any doubt that this -is- going to be a TWEWY project and with what's being thrown down here, I would highly doubt that it's something as banal as like an iOS port of the game, but I wouldn't quite put that past Squeenix.  Regardless, more TWEWY is something that I have heard the outer edges of the internet clamoring for for a few years, and I really....don't understand the why around it.  I've played The World Ends With You after proudly grabbing it up for my collection, as it is, apparently a really rare and great game, and I put it into my DS as soon as I was done with Ghost Trick: Phantom Detective (which I picked up at the same time) and...well, I tried playing.  That's as charitable as I can be with talking about the game since it is...unique in that aspect.  Not only is there a big amount of cutscenes and exposition at the start, none of it seems to really mean a whole lot, and the actual gameplay is really out there.

I assume that it is one of those games that is a slow-starter, but once you really get it, you get it and I was hoping for that, but there was just no way I could manage it.  With the fighting system for the game relying entirely too much on the stylus in ways that are entirely too similar to one another, it's hard to make the game specifically do this or that when you want it.  A swipe is taken as a poke so your flame strike translates as a lightning bolt and when you start getting into enemies with affinities and the like, well, it -kind of poses a problem-.  Beyond that, the story wasn't nearly as gripping enough from the start to make me want to dip more into it, coming off more as seeming urgent for the sake of it than meaning -anything-, but again, perhaps I was just frustrated with it.  Regardless, if this pans out to a sequel, it could be a good time to throw the game in again and try to run it once more.

Just to get this out of the way before the page updates, I would really suspect this to end up being the long-awaited sequel announcement.  There really isn't anything else I think it could be beyond a port announcement and that would cause a rather tepid reaction for an entire teaser thing and the like.  Of course it'll be a 3DS game, since the game admittedly was pretty tailor-made for the DS (which isn't exactly high-praise considering how it was done) and by those virtues, I pretty much won't care unless when I play TWEWY again, it amazes me.  I highly doubt that happens.  But we must be open to any possibility and such, I suppose, since everything has the chance to surprise you if you really don't expect it to.  Or....something like that.

I do wonder as to the name, however, as "The World Ends With You Too" seems a little too....expected, I guess?  It's a play on both the title and the expectation of a sequel carrying 2 since 2 is two is too, but I'm going to be surprised if that's what they go with.  Maybe they'll change 'World' with something else, something more personal or grander as a scale.  But beyond all that, I can't really give a rough estimate of anything about the game since my own experience with the first one was limited and not particularly enjoyed nor remembered.  Again, maybe I shouldn't bring it up in that case, but hey, not like there's much else to talk about here, news-wise or otherwise.  So, not much else to say then, as it simply becomes a waiting game for the site to update and show off whatever the game is.  And then..maybe wait for some other site to translate it unless it's pretty goddamn blatant.

Update!:  Oh sure, after I post this, the site friggin' fixes itself.  Look for the announcement next week, kiddos.  And enjoy that music, since it is pretty neat.  I do believe it is reminiscent of TWEWY, but I'm probably not the most reliable person on that.  I should note that the site seems to be Time Zone sensitive, so this is EST I'm working from.  Might be a couple hours yet for you West Coasters.

Storms and Fried Routers and Chrono Trigger DS Rants

So, as I warned might have happened on my Twitter the other night, the storm that we had was a rather nasty one.  It was pretty obvious that we were going to lose power and I unplugged things that I worried weren't safe, whereas things that I thought would be safe, I kept plugged in.  However, when the power went out and there was a rather loud 'Pop' noise, it was clear that when the power came back, something would reveal itself as a casualty.  The next day, when it came back, the problem ended up being the wireless router.  It was fried.  Like, plugging it in resulted in just the number "4" port lighting up as a light would come on during a horror movie - that practiced, tell-tale flickering that means something is either struggling to light, or simply struggling to -not- turn off.  On the cusp of life, you could say, but it was safe to also say that such a sign means the router is no longer going to work for its intended purpose; that of supplying internet.  So I have a new one set up (I won't be sharing what it is because I don't need the purchase criticized or praised; it's bought and set-up, not worrying about it anymore) and I presume it works, since before me is my Vita with a fully loaded up youtube video of Moto - BoA, but we shall see if it lasts, since it was almost -too- easy.

These outages are getting fairly taxing, as I'm sure you all realize, being as much affected by them as I am, but there's not a whole lot I can do against them.  The upside is that generally when they happen, either the downtime means that enough news is brought up in the meanwhile, or that I, without internet, am forced to do -something- that I can then talk about.  As you might infer from the above picture and the title, I am totally up for talking about Chrono Trigger DS which I picked up, much as I did the last time there was an outage and in my playings this time, I have made it to one of the two big things that was added to the DS port, and it is very clearly the single thing that pretty much everyone agrees shouldn't have been added in.  Or at least, I'm assuming everyone agrees because the Lost Sanctum, what I'm talking about, is unequivocally, universally terrible in design and execution and is a blight on gaming as a whole, not to mention the otherwise great game (and good, not great, port of it).  This is probably where you think I'm kidding.  The next few paragraphs is where I'm going to convince you otherwise.

As always, I'm going to blatantly talk about Chrono Trigger and Cross while throwing out plot points like candy in a parade, so if you're not into that, look away.  So, the Lost Sanctum is a place that exists not only in the Pre-Historic age (noted as 65,000,000 BC), but also in the Middle Ages (noted as 600 AD), denoting a 65,000,600 years worth of difference.  This is, unsurprisingly, important to remember since I specifically brought it up.  However, despite the two gates (they are gates, as in Time/Space gates on the map, so it's not like it's a finite, existing place in the world) being in those two eras (and no others, further denoting it as a non-finite place in the world of Chrono Trigger itself) it's only done so as a convenient excuse to have to time-traveling an excessive amount of times to accomplish goals, and Pre-History and the Middle Ages are pretty much the two places lacking the most reasons to visit.  (Antiquity, or 12,000 BC, should be on that list, but, well, the Kingdom of Zeal portion and the whole Lavos blowing errthang up kind of nixes any reason to consider the place for things.)

Regardless, as I have inferred, the time periods have little to do with it since I'm of a mind that the two Lost Sanctums aren't really 65,000,600 years apart.  There are various reasons for this, of which I will eventually cover, but the one prime among them is the fact that I am pretty sure that the Lost Sanctum is -supposed- to be Dinopolis in its early days (both times), which is pretty much based solely on the fact that Dinopolis is a place that existed where only Reptites lived (as they do in Lost Sanctum) and the port job just -loved- adding in superfluous things to tie it closer to Chrono Cross.  Having you do menial tasks for the folks who would end up getting transported into the proper timeline and trying to destroy the world with dragons sort of fits the bill.  And yes, that is a plot point from Chrono Cross:  'Time', in an attempt to bring balance to the world, brought in Dinopolis, a civilization of dinosaurs that never grew up technologically to counteract Humans using super-technology to accidentally time travel a super-advanced scientific facility that harbored FATE, a machine that controlled the world in Illuminatti-esque ways or something.  Because Dinopolis had Dragon Gods that stood absolutely no chance against FATE.  Try not to think of it too hard.

One of the strengths of Chrono Trigger is the fact that it uses on-screen monsters so that you can, in theory, skip most battles if that is your thing.  And when you're doing menial fetch quests, you generally like to just get from Point A to Point B with as little resistance as possible, since you just want to get it done.  Of course, one of the failings of the Lost Sanctum is that it takes this tenant and just kind of throws it out the window, in that the detection boxes or the forced battle boxes, cover entire paths.  In layman's terms, it simply means that the places surrounding the Lost Sanctum proper (as in, the cave where the Reptites live) all have at least a few forced battles per screen.  They're not even difficult battles, and some of them are simply insulting, like one of the Fetch Quest Mountain screens features a battle with an enemy called a Jadewing.  A single Jadewing.  You have to use magic to kill it.  It goes out with a single Dark Bomb if you're rockin' Magus, and likely goes out with a single magic attack from anyone else because it's a pissant enemy.  Those forced battles are both way, of course, since going up the mountain necessitates that you come back down it, obviously.

So honestly, if it were just a matter of getting requests from all the reptites, going out, doing them, suffering the forced battles and coming back to be done with them, it would be bad enough, right?  Some poor design decisions, assuredly, but nothing too dire.  That is why it doesn't end there.  Only one reptite thinks of a task for you at a time, meaning that you'll have to do them all pretty much in succession.  There is -some- overlap, as I have three requests, so to speak, open at the moment, but just to get to a place where I could technically do those three requests, I had to do another request that is an utter abomination in design and is pretty much what governs all of my anger at the port at this moment.  This, coincidentally, also reinforces my "This is not 65,000,600 years apart" theory, which kind of helps, but it also just makes everything another degree of stupid.  Simply because my position that it's not that far apart is -purely- conjecture, whereas one would assume that it is to be considered that otherwise.

One of the things that happens in the Pre-History Lost Sanctum is that one of the Reptites says "I need something from the top of the mountain, but a Nu is guarding the bottom of it".  So you go and beat the Nu and then go get the thing from the top of the mountain because the guardian was just -a- reason not to go, not -the- reason.  The Nu, after you beat it, says it's going to train for your next encounter, which I'm sure you can't guess where it happens.  So, for various reasons, you'll need to go to the 600 AD Lost Sanctum to go up the same mountain and when you do, the Nu is at the bottom because Nus live for several millions of years and challenges you to a fight if you make it to the top of the mountain.  You need to get to the top of the mountain anyway.  So he runs off and you head towards the top of the mountain.  There is a problem, however, as the first rope ladder you encounter has broken in the middle which is entirely a possible thing that has happened after sixty five million years.  Or, presumably, the Nu broke it because he is a dick.  You have to, of course, approach the ladder close enough so that your characters can stop and confirm that the ladder is indeed broken, instead of just turning around after seeing it is broken.

This is still sort of non-offensive at this point.  One of the reptites has gone on and on about ladders so you think he is an expert on them.  So you go to him and he's like "Well, there's some sturdy vines in the glade to the south."  The glade, in 600 AD, is what you have to pass through to get to Fetch Quest mountain.  In Pre-History, it's a swamp.  I'm sure this is how nature works.  So you get the sturdy vines which are in fact vines and not....you know...something else.  Something that could presumably be more sturdy than vines which are just vegetation which is known to rot away and such.  Especially over the course of sixty-five million years, if that's what they really expect us to believe.  (By the way, if that's what we really are to believe, then that Nu has been training for that sixty five million years and yet you are expected to beat him?)  So you think "Well, I have these vines, so I need to take them to the ladder guy" right?  Wrong.  If you take them to him, he will not acknowledge them whatsoever.  And you will probably be confused.

What you have to do is go back to the broken ladder to confirm that it is, indeed, still broken and to realize that there is no way you can hang the new ladder vines, since if you could hang them, you wouldn't need them.  You -need- to trigger this event.  It's literally like two lines of dialogue if that, but it's one of those event flags.  So you have to take these vines, once again going through all the forced battles all through this entire journey of going to this point on the mountain, through the glade and swamp, and go back to pre-history to go through the swamp again to the point where the ladder is broken....so you can move a foot to the left and drop the vines which make a carbon copy rope ladder.  Which is supposed to survive the apparent Sixty Five Million years between events.  And of course, it -does-, since once you go back to 600 AD -again- and go through the glade -again- to get to the mountain -again-, there is the vine ladder that looks like a rope ladder right next to the broken rope ladder that actually is a rope ladder.  And to top it all off, when you go up the vine ladder that looks like a rope ladder absolutely nobody remarks on it.

I'm not sure I've effectively quantified just how poorly this all is executed and, indeed, designed, but I like to believe that I have.  Ten Trips to a single area in a mountain for what is honestly just one request (beating a Nu's ass twice over the span of, again, apparently Sixty Five Million years) with at least two forced battles each way, I think, hammers the point in a little more effectively than I could hope to do otherwise, but it still doesn't really cover the soul-crushing tedium that is generated by the Lost Sanctum.  This is just -one portion- of the entire thing that was apparently so good that Squeenix thought it was just a fabulous idea to throw into this otherwise half-baked port of a great game.  "Oh, but Mogs, it's purely optional!"  Yeah, so is like everything else at endgame which is when this unlocks.  Getting ultimate weapons, going through the Black Omen, reviving the main character of the fucking game is all optional.  They're not entirely banal, superfluous and terrible though.  Still, if a selling point of an enhanced port is the 'enhanced' portions of it, as in the stuff that was not there originally, or the stuff that is changed, I would suggest that it's a little less optional than those things, even, since this is supposed to be the stuff that makes veterans of the game want to buy it.  So that poses the question:  Who the -hell- would want this?

Power Up!

There's no real reason for this picture aside from the whole power theme of the first couple paragraphs.

So!  As you may or may not know, people on the east side of the States have been getting hit pretty hard with some pretty rough storms lately causing massive power outages and the like.  That is what's been up with me since, uh, Friday.  It was not fun.  It continues to be not fun because it's still hot as hell despite the fact that we actually have power and thus Air Conditioning again, and it will remain not fun because it's still friggin storming like every day.  It will continue to do that for a while, so some disruptions in Kupowered is still possible and if at all possible, I will actually forewarn of them this time.  Of course, the only reason I didn't this last time was because the Meteorologists with their fantastic weather machines that cost more money than most small businesses earn yearly didn't really predict that the storms would unfold as they did.  And they're like "Oh, how could we have ever expected it to be this bad?", to which I just have to kind of scoff at.  Because I don't know, it's kind of your fucking job.

Anyways, no power and also no internet kind of puts a damper on maintaining a thing which requires both power and the internet to run, hence why there was another one of these unplanned hiatuses (which is apparently a word, according to spell-check) that sucks.  It has also left me with kind of a clusterfuck of issues considering there was a ton of news in my absence and I am also sort of rusty after the whole not writing for six days thing.  Since for some reason I am just not as good writing things physically as I am with typing them.  That is....kind of an issue that I have never really considered too much since I -have- been able to write things physically before, it's just a little easier to lose what I'm going for.  Also it's almost never an issue unless it's a -big- issue which, well, if it's a situation wherein it's a big issue, it's a bit too late anyways.  Oh well, something else to think of in the future.

Anyways, living without power aside from the assist of a generator simply there to power a little TV with local channels available is about as interesting as it sounds in that it's not interesting at all.  Passing the time in the extreme heat was something of a challenge since it seemed to crawl by and my hobbies didn't really facilitate an expedition of the flow of time whatsoever in feel.  Putting together jigsaw puzzles, doing sudoku puzzles or simply watching TV shows that I don't like (aside from a few that I -do- like now, like The Late Late Show with Craig Ferguson because it's awesome) made me feel like....well, that I wasn't actually myself, really.  Granted, I -like- doing all those things, but not because there simply isn't anything else to do.  The only Mogs-like thing I found myself doing was using the DS Lite's battery of the Gods to replay Chrono Trigger DS as my other DS games are all....well, a bit played out.  No less than Chrono Trigger, of which you all know my fondness for, but at least CT is one of those 'timeless' (no pun intended) things that I can play pretty much whenever thanks to my attachment to it.

Well, to the original, at least.  As you all may or may not know, my fondness for the Chrono Trigger DS port is well documented and playing it again basically cements that.  I cannot, for the life of me, figure out why anything that went into this port actually happened.  The new script, the new gameplay sections, such as they are in the loose sense of the word, none of it really makes sense in any shape or form.  The staple answer, of course, is simply "Money", but I have to question the validity of that when it was A.) simply an enhanced port of a well-liked SNES-era JRPG (making it more or less just a 'Cult hit' almost by definition) and B.) the same price (or more) as every Pokemon and Mario game on the shelves.  You know, the games that actually sell, thereby making it easy to have that price-point.  There is no reasoning, no actual logic (not even flawed logic) to have expected that Chrono Trigger DS, at the $40 pricepoint it was introduced at (and remained for....quite a while) would sell anywhere above moderately at best.

So if not money, then, what?  Brand loyalty?  One could assume that the intention of Chrono Trigger DS was an attempt to gauge the popularity of the franchise to see if it was further exploitable or something that was simply better left alone.  If that's your aim then, for the above mentioned reasons, it was a rather poor attempt, which suggests that that....might not have been the goal either.  It was certainly -a- goal, I should say, since Shinji Hashimoto, Senior Vice President of Squeenix or something was quoted as saying "If people want a sequel, they should buy more!" meaning that Chrono projects were certainly on a board somewhere, but only half-heartedly at best.  It almost seems as if it was an in-joke for the company; someone put down a bet that said a Chrono Trigger revisit would sell gang-busters and, if it did, they could build on that with even more unnecessary revisits and remakes and sequels that don't make any sense whatsoever.  Clearly he was wrong in that, as apparently everyone -but- him expected, and the end result is 2008 being the last time we've seen anything out of the franchise, both since then and likely indefinitely.

Which, for my part, all I can say to that is good.  If Chrono Cross and even the DS port of the game is any indication, Chrono Trigger is simply bigger than the sum of its parts.  It's lightning in a bottle and Squeenix has no idea what to do with it, if in fact, anything -can- be done with it at all.  I understand that I'm extremely biased in this, and it simply seems that the rose-tinted glasses of nostalgia are clouding my perceptions, but for my money, Chrono Trigger in its original form is simply a level of quality that Cross, the DS port and even Radical Dreamers simply cannot compare to.  And it's not for any one particular reason, but, as I said, because it is just greater than all of its components.  The story isn't spectacular, the characters aren't as wonderfully developed as we've seen can be done, and the gameplay of it is, well, archaic -now-, considering how things have simply grown.  But it has a quality to it that simply cannot be harnessed to be placed into other things bearing the same moniker.  So I would surmise that anything new to be entered into the Chrono franchise would simply not be able to carry that, even if it was made by the Square of old.  Simply because the Square of old tried already and failed on most levels.  But we'll never really know for sure, as all we have is the original, the port, and the sequels (is it plural if one is a really really big re-imaging of the other?) will likely be the only things we have as evidence to either side.

Pokemon Black and White 2 Official Trailer

So, I hate to do two Japanese Trailers in a row, especially when I had another post in mind, but, I mean, this is kind of important.  As you know, I was absolutely flabbergasted by the possibility that Pokemon Black and White 2 (Officially Pokemon Black 2 and Pokemon White 2, as in two separate games) were actually -sequels-, direct ones, to Pokemon Black and White, and eventually came to the position that, well, maybe they're not sequels.  Since the above trailer is in Japanese and thus I cannot glean anything from it, I'm going to rely on Siliconera here who has some good info which paints a pretty clear picture for the games being, yes, direct sequels.  Also breaking my heart.

If you've already watched the above video (you probably should if you haven't, that is the point), then you'll notice that there are two new protagonists; a boy who doesn't understand how hair works, and a girl who suffers similarly, but in a much less visually annoying way.  If they're not upstart trainers learning the ropes under the wing of the new professor researcher (Akuroma), I may just go out and buy a hat just so I can eat it.  Also as you might have suspected, the only other person featured in a clearly-not-a-gym-leader-way is the new rival who also suffers from "What the fuck is hair", a terrible terrible affliction.  I -know- it's a slippery slope to start pointing out a 'formula' for one game series and decrying it as a bad thing, but come on, this is blatant Checkbox-ing if I've ever seen it.  The only thing this is all missing is showing off the "Team" of the game which will probably be the clueless remnants of Team Plasma ala Team Rocket in Gold/Silver.  Because it's not going to be the first thing re-purposed from the older games.

From what I've read, the setting of the sequels seems to be that, two years after the events of Black and White, your protagonist, whomever you pick, starts their pokemon journey in a dumpy little town (called a city but apparently there's not a lot there) that has apparently magic'd into existence in those two years.  Also, half the region has gotten really cold and wintery for some reason.  Which isn't directly taken from Pokemon Platinum or anything, no sirree.  Regardless, that's about all we know, but if I were to make something up, add my own little conjecture, I think it would go something like this:  The professor researcher Akuroma (he will probably get a better name in English) tasks the player to go out and explore the world to register the 300 types of pokemon that are in the Unova region, citing that the sudden climate shifts and some other weirdness has caused more species to relocate to the region.  As it has been for a decade or better, thirteen to fifteen year old kids make better data collectors than adults because hell, the kids are gonna run around the nation anyways right?  Again, purely conjecture here.  Just...going out on a limb.

I know I'm being a bit overly critical here, but it's only because I have some real strong feelings about what's going on with this, as you might be able to tell.  While a 'direct sequel' is not exactly new for Pokemon, as in all reality, Gold and Silver (and Crystal) were direct sequels to Red and Blue, since they carried the same plot over and worked at it.  The Team Rocket angle, what with it being disbanded yet some members not knowing that, meeting up with Ash Red, hell, just going back to the region in Red and Blue after some years, it was definitely a sequel.  To my knowledge, Ruby/Sapphire/Emerald and Diamond/Pearl/Platinum didn't carry this on, but in a sense, that's kind of the point I'm making here.  At least Gold and Silver, being a sequel, was wrapped up in being a Pokemon game as well, in that there was a whole other region, and that it was just enough content to be its own game as well as having the sequel hook.  In some ways, the sequel aspect might have been understated and not explored fully enough.  Whereas Black and White 2 offer the same region (with new locales) and seems built around being a sequel that also happens to be a pokemon game, since it follows the formula checklist.  It's partly semantics that I'm playing at here, but I'm sure you get what I mean.

In most cases, this would be the point where I say, "Despite all that, I know I'm going to buy it because I'm a whore" but you know what?  I'm not sure.  There is a good chance that I won't really care about this enough to pick it up, especially with, as I keep mentioning, the wealth of games 2012 is already offering.  Thinking about it, I have never owned a copy of Pokemon Platinum and, considering it never went down in price, there's a good chance I never will unless it's far, far down the road as a digital title on the 3DSi XL or whatever will end the 3DS line (or start the line after it), provided Nintendo goes with an online venture like that which, as everyone has proven, isn't fool-proof and isn't always easy money.  So unless something really wows me between now and its release, I may just go ahead and skip Black and White 2, hoping that something else will come out that will actually innovate the franchise.  Only time will tell if that's going to happen, though!

Nobunaga's Ambition X Pokemon Now Pokemon Conquest

So, uh, this was officially made a thing whilst I was on hiatus and while I was a little skeptical when the Japanese version was announced, I more or less figured on it being a reality.  Of course, without proof, I can't really prove that, so you'll just have to believe that I became less of a skeptic and this is not me being full of hot air.  Regardless, it had a pretty good shot just being a Pokemon product of some form, so that it's coming out in America (and PAL Land as well) isn't too much of a surprise.  The only thing to wonder about is just how well it's going to sell since the Pokemon name will give it legs, but not for everybody of course.  I imagine it's different enough that people won't be buying it on blind faith alone, and the Strategy aspect might turn off some of the more casual players of the game (which I imagine is a good bit).  At the same time, maybe the twist will go over more smoothly than I think.

Being a title in June however is, well, a problem.  Hell, being a DS title is kind of a problem for it for me, since I honestly don't really use my DS that much anymore, but even if I loved playing my DS and was hungering for a new Pokemon game (which, obviously, neither is true), I wouldn't be buying the game at launch because there is just no time whatsoever.  Depending on how it reviews and word-of-mouth, I might pick it up for the latter portion of the year, provided I'm not full of -other- new games to play, but, really, no guarantees here.  Which is pretty wild to imagine; not being able to buy new games because I have too many new games already.  I mean, I have too many games that I haven't played at all or at least not enough, but I haven't had a situation where I've literally bought a few games and just went "Shit, what do I play first, screw you every other game".

I guess talking about purchasing the game might just be a little premature, however, since I really don't even know what Pokemon Conquest is, in a manner of speaking.  Yes, I know it's the Sengoku Era of Japan, except everyone has Pokemon and the wars are thusly fought with Pokemon battles that take place on a wide map as opposed to just one-on-one duels, but I don't know the rest of it.  I guess asking for a 'why' is a bit much, but I guess a 'how' would work.  As in, a better showing off of the mechanics, not only with the battles themselves, but overall.  How will you get more pokemon?  You should likely be able to get more than just the Eevee to participate in the battles, I mean, and even then I imagine you'll be able to evolve said Eevee at some point.  And I still don't really know how other people are going to be set up with their pokemon either, since some have 'favored' ones that aren't actually the ones they've been showed off with or something.

I guess what I'm saying is that there is still a lot about Pokemon Conquest that is a mystery.  At the same time, that's probably a good thing since such a weird thing as this cross-over would be a little disappointing, I think, if it could be explained with ease.  However, part of me is just so curious since it's no secret that I enjoy KOEI's take on History, despite them making it really fucking difficult for me to like it, and that's basically what this is:  KOEI's take on the Sengoku Era, ala Samurai Warriors, plus Pokemon for absolutely no reason.  Not that a reason is necessary of course, since it'll be pretty fun regardless; just where it falls on the 'wackiness vs. good' scale it lands is hard to tell.  Based on my exposure to the battle system in Nobunaga's Ambition, it should be fun enough if it follows along with it.  Though it might be a more stripped down version since the one I played was free-move where this is grid-based.

Even if I probably won't be buying it right off, I did at least want to bring it up since it's something that I -would- have written about had I not been on hiatus.  Just because it's a KOEI thing, it's a Pokemon thing and it's both of those at the same time as well.  We all know that's just a recipe for my genuine interest more than many things could hope for.  Well, unless it was Yakuza and Feudal Japan but Sega would never....oh right, but at least they would localiz....oh..right.  Now I've made myself sad.  I guess I'll just bide my time by drawing up a pool of the next crossover game to be announced from Japan since that seems to be a thing for now.  Strike while the iron is hot and all that.  I'm only partially kidding about the pool, though.

Pokemon Black and White 2 is a Thing, Possibly Dumb

I don't even friggin' know.  The other day, it was teased that there was going to be a 'very important announcement' on Pokemon Smash, a Japanese TV show that is, presumably, about Pokemon, and nobody really knew what to think.  Was it finally the announcement of the inevitable Pokemon Grey?  Was it just an announcement for a new Wi-Fi event?  Was it just showing off a new legendary because why not?  Nobody knew for sure, though it was pretty obvious where people were leaning.  So when Pokemon Smash came on, everyone watched to see just which of their favorite picks would be the one, not knowing that not a single one of them was going to be correct.

Pokemon Black and White 2 was announced for the DS, as in the normal one, not the one with a third dimension, to hit Japan this June.  This is not a working title, this is not a coy "We're making another one, are you guys surprised, but there's no name yet" this is a straight-up sequel or, rather, sequels to Pokemon Black and White and I am personally flabbergasted.  Yes, I went there.  I imagine plenty of other people are as well since this...well, this is just dumb.  I know that's an inflammatory statement and it's completely intentional because it is dumb on two levels.  Not only is a sequel completely missing the point, but there's not even an interesting story for Black and White 2 to pursue.  If you avoid spoilers like the plague, skip to the next paragraph now because I don't even care enough about the story to pretend like I do.  The whole storyline of Black/White is pushed by the resident Team of awful screw-ups who are being lead by an even bigger idiot.  The whole while, their message is "Pokemon aren't tools of War!" and they try to prove it by using their pokemon to fight the pokemon of trainers and if they by some miracle win, they steal the pokemon and try to set it free or something.  It is every shade of stupid.

I guess this does solve the issue of trying to think up 150 more pokemon that people will give absolutely zero shits about, but I just can't see this as anything other than dumb.  I won't say it's a stupid move because it's clearly not; It has pokemon in the title so it will make millions.  It might even be a good game on top of that.  But I just can't imagine where they're going to go with this, besides making some of the cities/towns important again for some reason.  Are you just going to be a new trainer and do the same thing, eventually facing the MC from B/W 1 at the Elite Five Four?  Are you going to be the same trainer from B/W pulling an Ash and throwing away every Pokemon but one and starting again fresh?  I just.....just now realized that the above article I linked says the US Site apparently calls the games "Version 2" which could mean it's just an updated version of the game or something.  But I'll leave the above in for the simple fact that it still could be a sequel.

Hrm.  I guess a Version 2 of that could just mean updated versions of the game, thus negating the need for a "Grey" version while also making twice the money.  Okay, not really that last part, but still.  It would have all the events and extra bits of a third game while also retaining the level of exclusivity for Pokemon and features that the original games had.  Or perhaps switch things off a little so that both versions are still 'necessary', but Black 1 and Black 2 are still different enough.  I don't know, but unless there was a lot of extra stuff, like beyond Pokemon Platinum-Level of things, I don't think it'd be worth it.  I honestly think they could've gotten away with doing it on 3DS and adding token things plus 3D, but we'll see.  I know if they ability to have your lead pokemon follow you, ala Heart Gold/Soul Silver is included, that alone will sell thousands of copies.  Possibly one to me, as well.

This will be worth watching out for, at the very least.  Whether it's just updated versions of the games we already have and (some other people) love, or a true, honest sequel that I don't know how it could possibly work, it'll be something different for Pokemon if just in name alone.  Baby steps at the very least, towards something that they really really need to do, which is shake up the foundations they've built for themselves.  I've gone on and on about it in the past, and while I'll likely always suck it up and buy most of the Pokemon games that come out, I think I'll really start enjoying them once they put more than the token effort into it.  Do something that we haven't seen since Gold and Silver when they had the brilliant idea to let you head off to a different area entirely.  Just something to try and win some of the people back who will say "I haven't played since (color)" rather than having every game be -somebody's- first Pokemon game.

Radiant Historia Gets the Atlus Reprint Treatment

It might be just me, but I've forever cemented the words "Atlus" and "reprint" into a portion of my mind that triggers awareness whenever I see them in close proximity to one another.  I'm not sure why of course, but I'm guessing it's for good reason, so it's not been a bother.  And while I was interested in Radiant Historia before, thanks to a little positive word of mouth, the recent question Atlus asked directly, "Assuming a reprint could happen, people would buy it, right?" to which a no-doubt large amount of people said "YES" to, myself included.  Because my interest in the game has been heightened for some time, though I guess not to the point where I actually remember to look for it.  Anywhere.  Possibly because I am, as they say, "a dumb".  (I say that, not 'they'.)

Well, just yesterday it was announced that Radiant Historia will be getting that reprint, though I'm doubtful that it surprises anyone.  It might annoy some people who have been holding on to their copy, planning to sell it for big bucks, but I think we can all agree that this is a good thing.  For one, it's an apparently great RPG which have sort of become rare lately, or so we're told, and second this is one of those rare DS games that I really, really, really want to have despite it not being on my handheld of choice.  I'm told it also deals with time travel which another great RPG is famous for, leaving me even more reason to be intrigued.  Beyond all that, however, I really don't know a lot about the game and most of that is intentional honestly.  This is apparently one of those gems that doesn't come around a lot and with this second chance for me to realistically find it, I'm more than willing to jump on that blindly, if just to satisfy the curiosity I've personally had with it and not even to see if it's worth the hype that's been put out for it.

The only issue here is that it's slated to come out in late March alongside everything else that's been crammed into these first few months of the new year as we (myself and fellow gamers everywhere) have been complaining about for a bit here.  In March alone, I am already overdrawn on my time and money between Binary Domain, Yakuza:  Dead Souls, Gravity Rush (if it hits in March rather than April which I'm not sure on) and no doubt other things that I'm forgetting.  Coming off several months where I didn't buy a single game because I have too many games already, this is pure and complete torture on scales that I can't even comprehend yet.  I'm not sure how I'm going to manage it, but I guess I'll have to grab up all these things somehow since I imagine in doing so, time will magically find me that I can then spend on these games.  Despite Lollipop Chainsaw and Metal Gear Rising:  Revengeance likely being on the horizon.  (The former more than the latter)  Last year, the year filled with all sorts of games I played and loved and wanted to play and this and that, it's already looking sparse by this year's offerings and that isn't right.

Hopefully there'll be some sort of downtime this year rather than the constant stream of content that it seems like it is currently so I can actually clear through some of these games.  However, on the subject of time, there is something I did want to say about this post.  In keeping with the theme of time travel that Radiant Historia carries, I have decided this is as good a time as any to give a shot to this whole scheduling thing as I will likely be unable to reach a computer tonight.  As in, if you're reading this on the night of Saturday, February 11th, I didn't just write it because I wrote it now at just before 4 AM.  For some reason, I just think this is really cool, but I don't really want to fall back on it.  This is merely a test, if you will, so if I come back Sunday night to find that it didn't work, then I'll just be disappointed and not bother with it again.  However, if it goes up as planned, I'll be happy to have yet another reliable tool just in case something goes awry or I know something is going to go awry.  Regardless, time travel wooooooo!

I've Kind of Ruined Animal Crossing for Myself

With a PSP that's on the fritz, a month til the Vita drops, and a lackluster DS library, my options for portable gaming have been limited.  It doesn't help that I keep forgetting to check out DS games at GameStop whenever I go there, but that's another matter entirely.  So since I've disallowed Harvest Moon DS to ever grace my system again, I'm burnt out on Rune Factory still, and my other DS games are more or less "Played it, Beat it, Don't Care" (Castlevanias, GTA:  Chinatown Wars, etc.), I decided "Welp, guess it's time to go back to Guardia."  Guardia being the name of my town in Animal Crossing:  Wild World for DS.  I'd always considered going back to it, but, well, the game kind of encourages continued play through something resembling penalties for staying away.

In Wild World's case at least (As well as City Folk since the games are fairly interchangeable, don't know about the first game) if you're not around then nobody else will pick the weeds that constantly grow within the walls of your town.  For some reason.  This is an issue, of course, because it causes your town to devalue or something, nobody likes living there, and eventually you're stuck with a bunch of people moving out because the place is such a crapsack.  So when you do hop back in, you have quite a bit of work to do before you can get back to the daily grind of life in an Animal Crossing game.  So the first few hours that I spent playing, it was doing nothing but going around and pulling up weeds because yes it took that long.  I did discover, however, during my weed pulling that only one inhabitant of Guardia had moved out.  Who this person was, I don't recall, of course, nor did I get a letter, I think, so it was of no concern.  Replacing whoever it was was a new person already, a cat with the skin of an orange (not kidding) calling herself "Tangy".  I have been avoiding Tangy.

Of course, once I finally got things set up, there was only about an hour of play to be had in Wild World.  Look about for fossils and dig them up, have them appraised by the Owl working the Museum and pocket them for selling to Nook.  (Because I have pretty much all the Dinosaur skeletons put together already)  Grab a cup of coffee from the cafe under the Museum (despite having the avatar of a ~13 year old kid).  Start digging behind rocks and then smacking them to try and get bags of money (the holes being the thing holding you in place to get the max of seven bags).  Check the recycling for free items.  Visit the Able Sisters and check out their stock.  Go to Nook's, sell things, check the catalog and see if I haven't already had something the Sisters are selling.  Repeat for Nook's furniture stock upstairs.  Talk to villagers if I feel like it.  And finally, go home and go to bed so I can turn the game off.

It's very routine, unfortunately, because I can't seem to make Animal Crossing, er....not be routine.  Wandering the limited slice of a world you're given just isn't too much fun, I've given up fishing, and I can't bother talking to the other residents beyond what's necessary since residents of a similar personality seem to, er, say the exact same things.  And there's not that many different types of Personalities unfortunately.  As was evidenced by Roald (a penguin) and Tank (a rhino) who lived directly next to each other and were obsessed with working out.  While it was cool for the theme, since it made -sense- for them to live next to each other, they would oftentimes say the exact same thing to me after talking to the both of them, so it got a little less fun.  It was about when I started figuring this all out that I came to a very unnerving conclusion.

Animal Crossing is basically a Facebook game you play on Nintendo products.  It's kind of an outlandish claim at first, but the parallels are there.  It's built from the ground-up to be played in short bursts everyday.  Facebook games do this by having things happen in semi-realtime (Plants in Farmville only grow every few hours and such, Cafe World food takes hours to cook, etc.) and Animal Crossing does this by only having a limited amount of things you can do in a single day.  They both tend to change in the day-to-day while largely remaining the same. (Sales in the in-game shops corresponding to certain days, celebrating holidays and the like)  They both tend to have exaggerated art styles to cater to a wider audience.  The only big difference is that Facebook games tend to be made by undesireables with the intention of siphoning money out of you for bonuses which, to be fair, some game companies do anyway.  (See Bamco's Hyperdimension Neptunia's DLC)

I don't say this to be extremist or anything of that nature, nor is it a condemnation of Animal Crossing, as a lot of people see "Facebook Games" and instantly go to a bad place.  Which is natural, of course, but having played a few Facebook games in my day, I can't help but see the similarities and be annoyed by them.  After playing Mafia Wars for so long, it was less something I was playing and more something that I did because it was in my schedule which I can sort of how I see Animal Crossing capable of falling into.  And try as I might, I can't really think of a way for it to get out of that rut beyond actually introducing more game to it, but at the same time, I'm not sure about that, either.  With Animal Crossing played in real-time, there's only so much you can really put into the game, since you don't want to have enough content that people trying to do all of it every day will burn themselves out.  But you -want- your players to play your game for more than a couple token hours as well, which is what I imagine a lot of Animal Crossing players do unfortunately.  Perhaps Animal Crossing 3DS will offer a solution, but we won't be able to see until it's out.

Oh, Come On Nintendo!

Keen-eyed readers might recognize the above shot from the upcoming Pokemon + Nobunaga's Ambition that still doesn't have a better title because of the clear-cut tactics game layout it shows with Pokemon and a Japanese fan above the X button.  But, apparently Nobunaga's Ambition wasn't the first series pitched to Nintendo for a collab project.  If you guessed the first attempt was KOEI's most successful franchise in Dynasty Warriors, you would be correct, but Nintendo shot down the idea because it was 'too violent' to have in conjunction with Pokemon.  A game all about pokemon beating each other up was too violent for pokemon, a game all about pokemon beating each other up (at their trainer's orders).  Now, come on Nintendo you're not even trying here.

While I see the fact that Pokemon Tactics (that's what I'm calling it now) is likely more marketable to the world as a whole than Dynasty Warriors:  Pokemon and that's likely why Nintendo passed on DWP (either to force KOEI to bring up the strategy franchise of Nobunaga's Ambition or just leave them alone)  I can't accept that logic because it doesn't make sense.  I mean, like I said before, the entirety of Pokemon is built on your character walking atop a pile of corpses unconscious foes that he has made that way on the way to the Pokemon League to challenge the top Trainers in the land who got there by excelling in using their pokemon to beat up everyone else's pokemon.  It is a game all about violence and using it to solve your problems and that isn't changed by the fact that it does so without shedding a drop of animated blood.  There's episodes of the Pokemon anime that are more 'disturbing' for 'violence' than anything in standard DW gameplay for the sheer fact that you just sometimes see Pokemon getting wailed on by humans or other 'Mons.

Regardless, you all know me so the fact that I would buy the shit out of Pokemon Warriors is no surprise, and now knowing of its possible existence leads me to wonder just how it could've played out.  Would it be like Pokemon Tactics with Three Kingdoms dudes having their own Pokemon that they send out into battle to decide the fate of China?  Or would the Three Kingdoms guys themselves be represented by Pokemon?  That might be a little difficult, I'm sure, as I'm not quite sure there's a Pokemon awesome enough to be a Lu Bu analog, nor could I even imagine trying to replace any member of the DW cast with an existing Pokemon.  I can't help but wonder if maybe they'd go with some sort of middle-ground where the Three Kingdoms guys actually used the Pokemon in different ways - the example that comes to mind being Lu Bu riding a Rapidash into battle to replace Red Hare.  Stuff like that, though I'm not quite sure how well it'd work out on that, either.

I mean, I can acknowledge that it's a tough sell, but like I said to my friend, "Scyther's moveset would be awesome.  Can you just imagine Scyther taking down like ten Pidgeys at once with a single swipe?  I CAN.  AND IT'S AWESOME."  It boggles the mind how much awesome there stands to be here if Nintendo had been willing to give it a shot and instead we're left with a Tactics game that doesn't really look like it has a whole lot to do with the Sengoku Era aside from being, well, set in it.  I guess there's not a lot wrong with that and maybe it's just something that's really told outside of battle rather than in it, but I'd like to see a little more.  Though I guess that's what trailers are for!

The trailer shows off a little more gameplay alongside Japanese audio that I have absolutely no idea where to even begin suggesting what it's saying and, as I said, it pretty much just looks like Pokemon Tactics set in the Sengoku Era.  I'm still seeing a bit of the idea that every member of the time has their 'own' pokemon (Newly shown off in 'pairing' was Chosokabe Motochika with Oshawott and some guy I don't recognize with Smugleaf Snivy) as if you notice during the bit that starts at around 0:32, Pokemon are plopped down on the board with different era-members showing up thereafter, notably Sanada Yukimura following the placement of a Tepig (Which could by all means be his 'pairing' as I have yet to really see one for him) after Toyatomi Hideyoshi following the placement of a Chimchar which is the first form of Infernape which has been shown off as Hideyoshi's partner.  (Which might be further evidence to the previous idea of Yukimura/Tepig or, perhaps the Tepig line.)

There's still a lot of questions that'll get answered eventually, I guess.  I'm interested in seeing how it all works out, as I wonder just what degree of control the player will be able to have for the battles; will he/she be able to control everyone on his/her side, or simply his/her Eevee or whatever it evolves into?  How does evolution play up into this whole partner situation they've sort of billed the game next to?  I'm sure, by it's own merits, the game will be a fairly fun game, but I still can't help but wonder what might have been now that I know Pokemon Warriors had been on the table.  Man.