Helloween4545 Reviews Valkyria Chronicles

Earlier today, thanks to a little twitter conversation with Helloween4545, I was reminded of something that I meant to do up a little post about last week.  You see, Helloween did up a little review of Valkyria Chronicles and since I made a post about the review he made for Nier, it's only fair that I write a little something here about this one as well.  I make no secret of it, but I love Valkyria Chronicles and Nier both dearly, so whenever I can point out something for either of them, I will do just that and happily so.  Funnily enough, during the post I made for the Nier review, I mentioned that he was doing an A-Rank (because I am pretty sure it's A, not S) Run of Valkyria Chronicles and manage to absolutely forget that between then and now.  Presumably because I can be a bit thick at times which we've all seen at various times, but regardless, due props to the man since he actually pulled it off which is certainly something I did not do.  Maybe it will be a goal to strive for next time I play, in the off-chance that I ever, ever find a cache of free time somewhere, but personally, I think I'd just be happy to play the game all over again, no matter what.

I'm going to do my best here to not review the review, but I'm making no guarantees, as I do want to point out some things said in the review.  Nothing really to argue -against-, but maybe just expanding a bit on what's said or voicing how I agree instead of just nodding my head and going "yep, yep, this is also how I feel" like a twit.  I like to add substance to things that are substantial already, as you know, which is honestly not a rare thing either.  A few things of note did pop out that are things what I could comment on, including the burning question of "Why didn't this game sell well?" to which I might have an answer to!  Perhaps several answers!  Because it is a thing that I spent a lot of time thinking about while playing the game, playing the sequel and dealing with the heartbreak in knowing that the sales of both games were not enough to ensure Valkyria Chronicles 3 safe passage to the states.

I would not be surprised whatsoever if the art style, while beautiful, put some people off of the game, since they took a look at it and scoffed.  "Oh, just another anime thing", they likely said and it's an infuriating thought, certainly, but one I probably couldn't put past a lot of people.  If not the art, then probably the story on that front since, regardless of how good it was, and it really was, some people just don't pay attention, they grab on to pieces here and there and use those pieces to just toss the whole thing aside.  I honestly cannot see anyone really disliking the game for the actual gameplay of it unless they just don't really grasp it and don't make an effort to do so, because the itch it scratches is a broad one, and it scratches that itch in the best, best way.  Though maybe, just maybe, the system they had to play it on might've been a breaker as well since it came out when there was still (hell, there -is- still) massive distaste for the PS3, which means being exclusive to that meant losing a lot of sales from people who could not or chose not to buy it for that reason.

I was honestly a little surprised by the comment that the soundtrack was beautiful, but forgettable because I remember the soundtrack being, well, really nice to listen to, certainly.  I also realized that I could not recall a single song outside of maybe a few beats here and there.  It was a pretty strange revelation and I even took a dip into some of the OST tracks on youtube to sort of reconfirm or at least refamiliarize myself with them.  Even still, I could hear the tracks, I could feel 'familiar' with them and such, but I could not remember how they went, nor after I listened to them, could I keep the tune without a bit of difficulty at least.  It's still got me a little surprised and I feel like there are one or two tracks that I am overlooking that are ingrained in my memory for good reason, but whatever they are, I simply cannot recall them right now, even though I really want to, clearly.  So I can't help but agree completely on that front since there is absolutely no way I can refute it, despite feeling like I should be able to.

Really, the review is something that I do encourage you to listen to because it pretty much reaffirms what a lot of us feel about the game already.  Not that we exactly need the constant reassurance that the game that we liked, that I liked, was liked by others, but it's nice.  Especially since there apparently aren't -that- many of us who bought and loved the game, despite it seeming otherwise sometimes.  It's hard saying just what's going to come from Valkyria Chronicles as a series in the near future and if we'll even get to enjoy whatever that is, thanks to the sad truth about VC 3.  Currently, the 'thing' about the series is Duel which will burn bright and fast before it's passed over for the next bright candle, and after that any number of things could happen.  An attempt to revitalize the series with a bundle deal that might actually hit the West, a new installment for any given system across the board, hell, maybe just a steady mange/anime thing that will be missed out on by most of the fans regardless.  We just don't know.  And it's a real shame because VC1 really was as brilliant, as wonderful as people like Helloween, like Chance or even myself would have you believe, but the series has simply found itself caught in hands that aren't as steady as it requires.

Sick Post Because I'm Sick

Sometimes, Google.  Sometimes you do good.

So, as I have kind of alluded to in recent posts when I have actually posted, I have been fairly sick lately.  Thankfully not in the 'serious' sense, but enough so that I am in something of a haze for the better part of a day, or at least more of a haze than normal, what with it being Summer Spring (for a day yet) and all.  Which pretty much means I'm really in no condition to be writing even though I would love to.  I mean, I have tried the last couple nights, but I've had nothing really to work with and I feel like even if I had a giant two page -thing- about something really interesting, I wouldn't be able to do anything with it because I have just been 'derrrr' for the entirety of my down-time.  I also haven't been gaming all that much despite my recent acquisitions of Lollipop Chainsaw and Gravity Rush which burns me tremendously.  The brief bits of the former that I have played have been brilliant, but you'll hear about that soon enough in a format you might not expect.

I do have two bits of news here that I can talk about to try and get myself out of this little funk I'm in, since I feel like I am possibly on my way out of illness.  With any luck, I'll be back to throwing down posts that veer more verbose than a valiant victor verily vexing villains for a vendetta.  Said time is not tonight, however, so don't be surprised if I can only muster a couple paragraphs here for both bits of information.  Though, to be fair, there's not a whole lot to be said about either, one is pretty uniformly positive, and the other is Sega being Sega which means it is not positive whatsoever except maybe kind of a tiny little bit, but not really.  I should probably save that for the actual talking about it portion instead of here, but eh, I'm feeling all crazy wacky so who cares.

Why don't I just throw down the Goddamnit, Sega so we can have that done and move along, yeah?  Yeah, let's just go ahead and do that.  So, do you guys remember Valkyria Chronicles?  Well it's back!  In pog card form!  Kind of.  Valkyria Duel is a free-to-play, PC Browser-based card game that is, obviously, only available in Japan because shut up.  There's a planned Smartphone version of it as well, but that's not in the cards on the table just yet, though I imagine it will likely be fundamentally the same since it's likely not a very taxing game.  It will be, as some/most Free-to-play games are, supported by micro-transactions that I have no idea how they will play out.  I imagine you can either buy 'boosters' of people, or they'll have a special grouping of cards that are special enough to be paid-only.  I mean, it's a card game, there are not really all that many options here.

I.....well, I really don't know where to start here.  I'm sure you can imagine where I'm coming from before I even say it, but suffice it to be said that there is not enough "Goddamnit Sega" that I can say here.  I could say it til my already raw throat dries up and cracks and it'd still not be enough for everything that is wrong with this picture.  Now, do I personally care that this is a quick cash-grab for a franchise that I happen to enjoy despite every instance of Sega trying to prevent that?  Of course not.  In fact, I encourage it - who knows, if they rake in enough profit from this, maybe they'll feel confident enough in a PSN-only, no-dub version of Valkyria Chronicles 3 for us since, hey, they'd still be making money off of the whole thing from micro-transactions of the card game.  And maybe if they did that, they could release -this- game over here for smartphones/browsers in an attempt at the same, but expanded, cash-grab.  I imagine it kind of hinges on at least having the ability to play all three games, however, since all three games rosters are involved, as you might be able to tell.

The thing that bugs me is that this is Valkyria Chronicles, and it's a card game at the same time.  I kind of have a thing for card games as you have no doubt realized, and I would probably buy into one based on several franchises I love.  I bought into Metal Gear Ac!d -happily- and would buy it all over again if I could play it on my Vita, which I keep mentioning.  It bugs me because it's pretty much a non-zero chance at being able to play this despite what I said above making something resembling sense.  Sega doesn't do sense, apparently, and said lack of sense still gives me reason to wonder at what's going to happen with further instances of series that I enjoy from them, namely Yakuza.  I have said it before, but I will straight up cut a bitch if my only option for Yakuza 5 is downloading it.  Regardless, that's not Valkyria Chronicles, nor Valkyria Duel related (Note:  Would totally buy a Yakuza card game, totally serious), but there's not much else to say.  It's free, it's Japan-only, it's a friggin' Valkyria Card Game and it taunts me something fierce.

Less vexing is the existence of Okami HD as a real thing, which is something I'm sure will make you all happy.  Should make Chance happy at least, so there's something.  As for myself, I am also happy, but in a less-so, I-may-not-buy-this-game-right-off way because it's DD-only which, you know what, I'm not even going to say it again, you know why that takes it off my radar.  Still, I hope it's only my radar that it takes it off of, because I really, really want this game to sell.  If I could buy and play it, I totally would, and if it catches a good Playstation Plus sale, I might even go against common sense and buy it to download it at some unforeseen time in the future when I have non-shit internet and a PS3 that won't explode or at least convinces me that it will not, should I choose to download something more than, oh say, 300 MB in size for the sheer amount of time it will have to remain on in which to do so.

I don't have much of a story with Okami, but I do have -something- of one with it, so I may as well tell it.  Back in the days of GameCrazy, you see, when I was but a teenager, I walked into the store with a desire to buy and the dosh to back it up.  I didn't know what I was looking for, and honestly could've been sold just about anything because I just needed something to play, since the games at home obviously weren't enough.  Being a dumb kid and all.  So, with just me and the cashier girl in the store, I walked right up to her as she asked me "Hey, anything I can help you find today?" and said "Well, I dunno.  I'm just looking for a new game."  Giving me something of a weird look before going into contemplation, she asked me what system I preferred and as she moved out from behind the counter, I said "PS2", prompting her to head that way.  She obviously had something in mind when she grabbed a case as soon as she went to it.

Going back to the counter, she placed Okami down, a game that I had not heard of at that point, and proceeded to extol unto me the virtues of the wonderful art style and direction, as well as the quirky, brush-and-platforming based gameplay.  Sufficiently curious, I informed her I'd take it, she rang my up and the transaction was complete, just that simple.  I took it home, played it and had to admit that the game was absolutely wonderful, while also wondering just how I had not heard of it, or at least not remembered it had I read about it.  I did beat it and had quite a bit of fun with it, and suffice to say that the next time I saw her, I informed her about her good taste.  And it's kind of for that reason that I hope the game does well since it is very underknown, underrated, despite a good portion of the internet not likely giving you that impression, especially now with this news.  So I suppose that means that maybe you should believe the hype.  Or at least buy it to give yourself an excuse to look at some gorgeous visuals, maybe use that Move Wand you bought (though it's not mandatory) and/or just to get some trophies.  Because you can never have enough trophies.

Sigh.....Sega

After just finishing a rather good Screenshot Let's Play of Skies of Arcadia (The GameCube Port, since it simply had more things) I can't help but remember why Sega was always my favorite company, and why it's just so painful that they've collapsed in on themselves as they did.  Sega just had a -knack- for making these really fantastic games (or at least publishing them through developers that -got it-) and that's....well, that's a rarity nowadays.  It wasn't even that they're fantastic in all regards, as many of them simply weren't, but they were fantastic because they were so focused on one aspect and made sure that shone like....something really shiny.  My analogy machine is broken tonight, sue me.  My point is fairly obvious if you have even a cursory knowledge of a good amount of Sega games out there, but even if you haven't and are confused, you know I'll be able to straighten it out.

Taking Skies of Arcadia as an example, it's obvious that the game was meant to be a light-hearted tale about pirates.  It does this.  It does it well, and it does it reliably throughout the entire game that I can't help but see it as perfect for just that.  Of course, it does well with the other facets of the game that -involve- the pirate part, such as the Ships (and the battling thereof which was absolutely -wonderful-) and the Crew (it might not be the most involved method, but it's certainly not overly simple) which is what really makes it shine since, at the end of the day, you play a game for many reasons, but good gameplay is definitely a plus, if not mandatory.  (As I've said before, I will tolerate poor gameplay for a fantastic story.)  Reading through that LP made me yearn, as I haven't done so in a long while, for an HD version of Skies of Arcadia and/or a friggin' -sequel-.  The latter might be rather impossible now given Sega's poor state, but the former is not only incredibly possible, but is rumored to be a thing following at least Shenmue I HD's release on the normal rounds, which will hopefully include Vita.  Sega is getting my money for Jet Set Radio Vita, so that's hopefully going to send a message.

Speaking of Shenmue, there is certainly a -reason- why a third installment of the game is so heavily clamored for; the game, despite it's flaws which are more or less negligible depending on your perspective, manages to blend story and action in a rather compelling way.  In a sense, I think that's why Yakuza as a whole has always been considered a spiritual successor to Shenmue (I'm sure you know I love the Yakuza series, so I don't even feel the need to throw that one down), since it does that very well too, despite going a little more over-the-top than Shenmue at times.  Though....Shenmue did get a little crazy itself sometimes as well, but for the most part, it at least tried to steep itself in reality and/or present the facade of something rather low-key, so that when it ramped up, it ramped way up.  The same game that features forklift operation and purchasing little toys from gachapon machines also features a 100-man battle royale and a motorcycle chase.  And it manages to do this in a way that doesn't seem from one extreme to the other, but rather that it simply makes sense in the moment.

Of course, their fantastic series isn't all a thing of the past, as they've managed to keep the old thunder crashing and the lightning striking even in this current generation.  Not only with the continued success of the Yakuza series, but with a little cult classic known as Valkyria Chronicles.  It was anime as all get-out (the sequel even moreso), but it wasn't actually bad and was, in fact, compelling for the most part.  Of course, what the game focused on was the semi-turn-based warfare which worked in a way that it honestly probably shouldn't have.  It manages to be tactical despite being rather simplistic, since that simplicity is in itself a double-edged sword, since while it's simple for you, so is it simply to make the Computer follow.  Rushing in your best troops might just backfire because your troops have to stand there and use interception fire where the enemy could come up and, as you had last turn, unload rapid-fire head-on.  Of course, it goes deeper than that, but the point of these little descriptions is to make you go check out the games yourself and/or reminisce properly.  So, seriously, go buy everything Valkyria Chronicles please if you haven't done so because Sega really needs the money.

Of course, these are just a few of the old and new Sega classics that have made them a company worth liking, if not more, despite the constant, never-ending, ever-present, seemingly-endless amount of poor choices they make as a company that ends up getting them in places they don't rightly deserve to be in.  Crazy Taxi, Seaman, Phantasy Star (both numbers and Online), I guess Sonic the Hedgehog, Toejam and Earl (Remember those guys?  Those guys -ruled-), Streets of Rage, Shinobi, I'm sure you're already listing off series in your head as well, because it was just like that.  I always hope, as a 'Sega kid' I suppose, that they'll manage to get themselves out of this new fine mess they've made, and I'll be doing what I can do to help out, certainly.  With any luck, enough people will -also- do that so that they won't sink completely, though if they do, there is a chance that their delicious, wonderful IPs will go to homes that can treat them a little better under a more stable roof.  Regardless, it's always worth a minute to think of how it used to be, if nothing else.

Bonus Post - Random News Dump

This has just been one of those days where a lot of actual news and information comes out, but nothing about it is really substantial enough to go on and on about in the way that I do.  So it's one of those days where I contemplate just grabbing said news pieces and popping them together in one big news dump.  And this is also, obviously, one of those days when I actually just go through with it instead of finding something else to write about or taking one of the topics and really elaborating on it which generally leads to me saying things I've said before.  Regardless, there is a bounty of knowledge to share here.

The first and likely biggest news I have is that an International Version of Final Fantasy Type-0 is being made.  Not that I said 'biggest', not 'most positive' or 'most negative' or anything of that sort since, to me from what I've seen, there's nothing really to push it either way.  With any other company, you see International Version or Edition and think "Yessss, here it comes to North America" but, as is the case with Squeenix, there are several well-known examples of this thought being false.  These International versions are almost always stuck in Europe if they manage to get out of Japan at all, so hearing one is being made for Type-0 doesn't instill me with any confidence as, to my knowledge, there's no mention of an overseas release and obviously "International Edition" isn't enough on its own to carry that weight.

I would so very much love to have Final Fantasy Type-0 in my hands in the best way possible; freshly bought from a local retailer without any of the hassle.  While the fact that the PSP is region-free is a relief if this version of Type-0 stays exclusive to Europe (if it makes it there at all), it doesn't help put me at ease completely as I honestly hate the hassle involved with importing something (even if you can argue that there is little to no issue with it) and would rather not do it if I have any choice in the matter.  I'm just going to wait for something more of an official announcement that the game will hit US shores before I really start celebrating, because if it's announced, that is exactly what I'll do.

In other Japan/Europe-centric news, it was announced earlier today that the circle pad add-on for the 3DS is heading to Europe in a bundle with Resident Evil:  Revelations.  Being that the circle pad (Apparently called Circle Pad Pro) was born directly of Capcom's money, I would suggest this is an appropriate delivery and tells of a truth that people likely aren't willing to embrace just yet; the 3DS is going to need a second stick for a good few games and will likely be trapped in the nebulous pattern that was created with the Wii and Motion Plus of "is it or isn't it required" until a Nintendo property finally uses it and firmly instills it, where practice and execution will have taken quite a period of time that leaves you with games you can't play or a second stick you can't use. (or have little use for.)  Either that or you're going to have to look into a bulky add-on being required for your enjoyment lest you just buy a whole new handheld when it comes out with one built-in.

Of course, this bundle (and likely individual sale) is only announced for Europe for now and Capcom USA has said there's no plans for a release of it in America.  Which is either a lie, or the truth and you'll just have to buy both separately here, because an outside of Japan foray for the Circle Pad Pro accessory likely means it'll be all around the world before you know it or want it.  Still, the discomfort of the larger device (or at least the bulkiness of it, it might actually improve control by being larger) is a small price to pay for the precision that two sticks provide and the familiar feeling we've grown attached to, and it's just such a shame that nobody else had the foresight to put two sticks on their device from the sta-hahahahahaha.

The last bit of information I want to put out there is by no means one of the generally 'important' pieces of news and info out there, but it's something I'm personally excited for, so it's going up.  Yakuza:  Dead Souls, which as we know is a thing that is happening got a new trailer put out and while it's not the same as the -awesome- character trailers for Yakuza 4, it is very stylish all the same and likely the first of many as Sega has no problem making advertisements on the internet where you likely aren't going to find them unless you look for them, meaning you are not the target demographic.

Much of Yakuza:  Dead Souls is still a mystery to me and that's just the way I like it, though I will likely crumble and take a look at whatever other trailers come out for the game between now and March.  Let's just hope they're as great as I know they can be.  And that they don't spoil any major parts which I highly doubt they would but it's Sega and fucked if we know what's going through Sega's collective hivemind at any given point.  Speaking of which, I'm going to throw out one last bit of information that came from the Playstation Blog post showing off the trailer to begin with.

This is a classic "Goddamnit, Sega" moment right here because they just won't commit to anything.  One of the comments from "UltimaDestroyer" says "im so excited for this game! cant wait to fight zombies in kamurocho!! how soon will the cut content list be revealed?  ps – pass along word that we want valkyria chronicles 3 dammit!!" which is replied to by Kellie Parker who is apparently the Community Manager for Sega of America.  The reply?

"We’re excited that you’re excited! Also, Valkyria 3 request noted. Stay tuned for more info!"

I am scorn-facing so hard, Sega.  So very hard because I got tired of this song and dance with Yakuza 3 and I really don't want to go through it -again- with Valkyria Chronicles 3.  Hopefully they will be a little more forthcoming with information about it sooner rather than later, because I think a lot of us have tossed away our torch for now, meaning any news could potentially fall on deaf ears besides the ones of those most dedicated who aren't enough, sales-wise.

Final Fantasy Type-0 Stuff and Also Goddamnit Sega Pt. 2

So, hot off the last PSP-related story, I figured it would be a good idea to bring up something with a positive look for the system, rather than more of the bad.  Of course, this could be bad and I will explain why later, but I'm just going to go ahead and talk about the facts here first.  And the facts seem to state that Final Fantasy Type-0 (I always wonder if this is supposed to be an O or a Zero, and now I'm pretty positive it's a Zero) will not only have a New Game +, but said new game + will be a different story or at least contain a different story that follows a different class at this war school or whatever it is.  I'm going to be honest here and admit I don't know jack about Type-0 aside from the fact that it's Action-RPG and I want it.

There's apparently a thirteenth character as well, and I'm assuming purely on absolutely nothing here but coincidental relation that said thirteenth character -might- have something to do with "Class 0" which is what the new story bit will follow.  And if the comments are anything to be believed, said character is likely to be the "10" equivalent, since the characters are named based on numbers (cards, specifically, like playing cards) and the known characters go from nine to eleven, skipping ten (Early dibs on "Zehn") entirely.  This....doesn't mean a whole lot, but serves as a vessel for me to bring up Final Fantasy Type-0 again, express my want for it, and talk about the PSP and Vita.  I always look for that type of chance, you know.

Anyways, what I was saying about this possibly being bad news for the PSP earlier is just that, in that Type-0 has an entirely plausible chance of not being released on the PSP in the west.  With it not coming out until next year, after the Vita is launched in Japan at least, possibly the rest of the world as well, the PSP will truly be on its way out, even in regions where it hasn't been 'dead' for years.  Being Squeenix, to suggest that a game with "Final Fantasy" in the title wouldn't come out in the West at all is silly at the very least.  And Squeenix quite enjoys porting things and jumping on the latest thing in some form or other, so the thing I'm getting at here is that we might not see Type-0 in the west on the PSP at all.  On the Vita is a guarantee if it doesn't hit the PSP over here, and possible even if it does.

So, I'm not so much concerned about my ability to play Type-0 (I just noticed that if I were to abbreviate it, it comes up FFT0, which sets a very dangerous precedent to the game, as I love me some FFT and it -better- compare to have the same abbreviation mostly) but rather in what form I'll be able to manage it.  I'd be happy tomorrow if Squeenix just straight-up said "Yeah, Type-0 is Vita only in the west, PSP/Vita in Japan" because at least then I would know.  Still, I guess we'll see.  Having that type of assurance in being able to play a game on the Vita is nice, unlike some other companies Sega.

I already had a bit of a whinge about this (I'm still not British, by the way, but it doesn't matter) last post, but it still gets me really pissed that Sega is, essentially punishing the consumers for their poor business tactics yet again.  While I am eternally grateful that they're actually giving us a game that, by all accounts, they don't have to give us and probably won't profit much off of (Yakuza:  Dead Souls, of course) I still can't help but be annoyed that they took Valkyria Chronicles as a series and did basically everything they could to quash it from the collective fan mindset.  While the move from PS3 to PSP isn't much of a surprise, business-wise (since PSP will get you more money in Japan), their decision to make the story in VC2 absolute anime-bullshit (I admit, I didn't hate it until I started thinking about it in retrospect) was a poor one and basically doomed them from ever reaping the amount of profits they likely wanted.

So to then make VC3 have a story that isn't absolutely terrible and then say "Well, our bad game didn't sell well, so we're keeping the good one" is the basic "GodDAMNIT Sega" move and it's one that they've had in their cards for quite a while.  While I can't say any Yakuza story is bad or anything approaching bad, I am told that the story to Yakuza Kenzan is quite good, but we will never see it, so that kind of ties into this sort of statement here.  (Also, when I say we will never see it, I mean in English because I literally have a copy of the game within 20 feet of me.)  Still, we can always hope for a Vita version or possibly one of these PSP Remasters that contains both 2 and 3 or something, but anything will be far too far away for it to really matter here.

Still Sick, Sega Sucks

So, if you look above, you will see Valkyria Chronicles 3 in Japanese.  Apparently, we'd best get used to that visage, since VC3 is 'officially' not planned for NA or Europe, which means no localization, which means goddamnit Sega, what the hell.  Of course, there were 'no plans' for Yakuza 3 for...what, two years?  And look how that happened.  Anyways, blah blah, NA and PSP don't get along, yadda yadda, VC2 didn't sell well, let's all put on our best surprised faces, so VC3 localization is simply 'not profitable enough'.  Which, I've said it before, on some level I understand it, but that doesn't mean I have to like it, especially since it seemed to take its roots back to a more 'Western' approach, as the first game had (When compared to 2) rather than going full-on Anime-Bullshit like 2.  Again, our best surprised faces at how that possibly could've gone poorly.

Of course, being Sega, they can never give a firm "Nah", so when asked if there was any chance of VC3 being available for the Vita (I guess as an up-port?  The statement is a little vague in the Joystiq article: "Asked if VC3 would be available as a downloadable Vita title,"), the reply was simply "We'll discuss it with Sony", which means "We're too busy working on Daytona USA right now, don't bother us".  They'll ask Sony in due time with however much conviction they really want to show, and that'll determine if we ever get to see VC3 or not.  Let me just say I won't be surprised either way, but I'm sure it's obvious which side of the fence I'm on.

Anyways, I'm still not feeling all that well, so unfortunately this is going to be a bit short.  To any concerned, I just have a cold plus aches plus allergies/sinus problems plus family issues which sounds really bad when I say it like that, but really, I'm pretty okay.  I hope to get back to full capacity soon, and hopefully won't be skipping anymore posts unless I need to.  Of course, I make no guarantee as to quality for a bit.

Update!: Hey, right after they announce this about VC3, they give us a trailer for Daytona USA.  It's like I'm psychic or something.

Akinator is a Goddamn Wizard (Genie)

If you've ever played Twenty Questions with a friend or a relative to pass the time, or even because, in certain conditions, it's fun, then you can only consider that training versus the evil known as the Akinator.  This thing takes Twenty Questions and turns it not into a challenge, but a goddamn blood sport because it's so good at it.  Rest assured, that smug face of the genie will haunt your dreams should you dare challenge him because, in all likelihood, he will chew you up and spit you out the first few times you try and go up against him.

You go in and think, "Psh, this thing probably doesn't know all that much" and figure on a character from a video game that you're either playing currently or have played recently.  The first ten questions go by with no real incident, all fairly generic questions really.  No way in hell this genie could possibly be able to guess by question twenty that you're thinking of Cole MacGrath from inFamous, right?  I mean, it's a Playstation 3 exclusive game, albeit a popular one, and it hasn't even asked if your character is a super hero.  Question two was just, "Does your character wear shoes?" for crying out loud.  Maybe it'll get closer on, like, question 24 or something, but right now?  Psh.  Not even close.

And then, on question thirteen, Akinator stares into the depths of your soul with the smuggest grin you've ever seen and says, "Does your character produce electricity?"

WHAT.

You have no choice, of course, but to answer "Yes." and then question fourteen just cements it:  "Does your character climb walls?"  ".......yes."

"You were thinking of.....Cole MacGrath!"

Yes, Akinator, thank you.  I was thinking of Cole MacGrath and the fact that you figured that out in thirteen questions has me questioning just about everything I believe in, honestly.  In submitting to the fact that he is, indeed, correct, there is a moment of gloating before you see the "Play Again" button shining like a beacon.  CHALLENGE ACCEPTED, Akinator.

This time I bust out the, quote-unquote 'big guns' as I am wont to do, with Caim.  (Who, in general terms of sheer murder levels, could always be considered the big guns, of course.  Unfortunately, this is not a murder scenario.)  All the questions go fairly smoothly, and he even looks a bit frustrated to learn that my character is not blonde and not from the Final Fantasy series.  But as soon as he learns my character has a sister, that smugness is back, and after the twentieth question is done and answered, the image of Caim, sticking his tongue out to show his pact mark, slowly fades into focus on the screen.  Appropriate, really.

This happens again and again, I try Father from Nier, Trogdor (because honestly, that's been, what, six years ago now?  More?), Afro Samurai, over and over again, I try to stump this genie, a task that is not impossible as I've done it before in the past.  But this time....this time, victory eludes me.  But I have to try at least once more.  Unable to think of anything but Valkyria Chronicles for some reason, I make a decision for my next, and final, character.

Marion Seigbahn, possibly the best character from Valkyria Chronicles 2, is likely an easy pick, but she's my favorite, so let's try it anyway.  Defeated at this point, I slog through the questions, figuring he'll pick it up fairly easily and when his first guess at question twenty is Edy Nelson, I go, "well, this shouldn't be much longer".  But, in a strange twist, his line of questioning branches off in such a way that suggests, perhaps, the first twenty questions have been ignored or something.  When the second guess, at question thirty is some character from Trauma Center (the game), I have to wonder just what the hell happened.  Revitalized, I continue all the way to question forty, answering as honestly as possible when it finally comes to the last guess.

Once again, it was close, but no cigar.  Alicia Melchiott is not Marion Siegbahn, Akinantor!  IN YOUR FACE!  After a graceful loss, he bids you to inform him of your character, and as such I did.  No doubt some time in the future this will come back to haunt me and others, but for tonight, I taste victory once again.

And that's what I did tonight instead of anything important.

Lazy Saturday? Valkyria Chronicles Time.

While I don't intend to talk about Valkyria Chronicles so much, I've found that, well, it just happens.  It's hard not to talk about the games, as they're rather fantastic.  Even though I've written quite a few posts about it already, some of them more positive than others, I find that there's, honestly, always more and more to be talked about, be it gripes, funny stories, or just all-around "Yes!" moments.  I guess to start, I do have one of those gripes, though; but it's not necessarily with the game itself, but perhaps the people writing FAQs for them.

While I won't link to it, it's.....not that hard to find, but a general FAQ about the game is out there, and it's the very same one I mentioned was no help the other day, which should have been a tip-off right there.  But, hell, I kept going with it because I figured the dude put all that work into it, he couldn't be completely wrong about everything with it, right?  Well, possibly not everything, no, but I have learned that the guide is pretty much 0/2 on helpfulness with me and my playing the game.  Perhaps it's a matter of two very different playing styles not meshing well with one another, or perhaps he's just....dumb.

You see, in Valkyria Chronicles 2 at least, you honestly never have to grind (for experience), which is sometimes said about other RPGs, but it's actually true in VC2.  Because levels don't really matter; all they do is slightly increase stats over a very prolonged number of levels.  Obviously, you'll be able to tell the difference between a level 1 Scout and a level 30 scout, but the more important part is classes, since there's absolutely no way a level 1 Scout can be confused with a level 30 Scout Elite, or even a level 30 Scout and a level 30 Scout Elite, they're all just different beasts.

Of course, the reward for grinding is there; you get new characters for getting your classes to their max levels, and you'll end up getting the credits you need, as well as parts for crafting new weapons.  So, if you're so inclined to grind, you'll want to have a good map to do so; which is where the FAQ came in.  You see, I already have a spot - Deadly Assault, a free mission in August - which is good for 90K a run-through and takes a minimum of three actions to finish.  Which is quite efficient I must say, but a little unsatisfying, especially later on in Class levels.  My Scouts take 300k for -one- level up now, and they're only in the early 30s; I need a little more, you see.

So when I checked the recommended Grinding areas, this is what I was shown:

Anytime

• (January)[1P] Combat Exercise: Classmate Missions

Classmate

• [Morris][1P] In Search of Moonglow: ~43,000EXP / Mrch / MrchII / MrchX

Post Game

• (June)[Story] Retaking the Armory: ~47,200EXP / Mrch / MrchX / Certificate
• (Paid)[1P] Ghostly Conflagration: ~280,000EXP / ArmsX / ArmsIIX / Diploma

First off, let it be known that my grinding area isn't in there.  There's tip-off number two.  But let's ignore that for the moment and focus on the important part here; the mission at the very end that grants you around 280K per run.  That's quite tempting, isn't it?  And you'd think, since it's listed as a 'grind map' that it's rather simple to complete, yeah? Well.....it's not, really.  Not at all.

Without spoiling too much, the mission in question has you in the Doerfin Mines which is just an -awful- map to begin with.  And it tasks you with taking down a powered up version of one of the more annoying bosses, while dodging super tanks in the process, of course.  Now, the character here can be taken out rather easily, but it's one of those 'Perfect Storm' situations where it's not really worth the effort.

I watched a video run-through of it, which showed that the person took a whole turn, the enemy turn and then half of their second turn before the map was completed, which isn't that efficient in my mind.  While it probably does stack up to my preferred grinding in terms of overall time spent, it doesn't work well on my nerves, since this boss character is the type to know you're standing a mile behind him, turn around, and shoot you dead with a sub-machine gun just because he can.  And if you manage to stop his attack by readying your own, he's more likely than not going to drop to the ground just to stand up and finish you off.  Given that snipers, the character you'll want to take him on with, are frail and you likely won't have a lot on your team, it leaves the chance for spectacular failure.

Maybe I'm just being silly, but I'm not really ready to risk it.  I'll just have to find some other method of going about grinding in a better way, as I want some more level 50 classes!  My Shocktroopers are lonely in their epicness.

Valkyria Chronicles 2 - Haha HaHaHaHaHa!

Ohhhhhhhhhhhhhh!

This is a jovial little update here on Valkyria Chronicles 2, as today, at 1:57 P.M., my tank, Clover, shot (Big Bad's Name Here, keeping it spoiler-free up ins) in the goddamn face for the level, and game win.  It was a pretty great feeling.  I was then treated to the...er.....alright ending that I didn't really care about before thrust into Post Game.  And, uh....I know in the past, I said I wanted to do Post Game Stuff....but I dunno.  I'm not really sure, since 3-Star Missions just make me go cross-eyed as I remember some previous maps of lower difficulty that really sucked as it stood.

I might though.  Or I might at least get the post game only Grinding mission and get all of the XP to max my classes just for the hell of it.  Maybe not, that's a lot of effort.  But at least I'm thinking about it.  I'm eager to do something with the game before I move onto something else (I've been thinking about giving Jeanne D'Arc another shot, as the last time I tried playing it, I really wasn't in a Strategy RPG mood) but I'm just not sure what it is.

I really have to say, I'm supremely disappointed in the lack of more Valkyria Chronicles, specifically news on the localization of the 3rd (which honestly might not happen), given that while Valkyria Chronicles 2 is a good game, it's a game that doesn't want me to play it.  I can't describe what it is; Valkyria Chronicles 1, I could go over, pop it in and play it right damn now, so long as I skip the last handful of story missions.  It's -fun- to play, and it's challenging in a welcoming way, whereas Valkyria Chronicles 2 is challenging in a "Here's nigh-invincible assholes until you blow up a tank hiding on another map, have fun!" way.  I just really would have hoped for a similar challenge, and I can't help but wonder if Valkyria Chronicles 3's challenge level is more on par with the first's.  Maybe I'll never know.

I keep holding out hope that Sega will announce, perhaps, a PSN-only localization towards the end of the year to come out during the Holiday season when, y'know, everything else comes out, as their strategy is to be overshadowed whenever and however possible.  Or maybe even a Vita release, or something like a VC2/VC3 double-pack.  (I'm not sure if, given the Vita's graphics potential to assuredly run the CANVAS engine better than the PSP at least, hoping for a Vita port of VC1 will get me lynched.  But I mean, come on, Portable Valkyria Chronicles 1?  Who wouldn't buy that?)  Or that they'll do something with VC3.  I mean, they acknowledged that America did more with the first than they expected.  They know we can make numbers if they give us an unquestionably quality product, as was the first.

So, come on, Sega.  Act like it.

Just a Few Things to Touch On

So, I can't exactly call this a Bonus Post, as, were I one to hold myself to updating everyday, I'd actually be down one.  But as we know, I only officially hold myself to a post every other day, buuuuut, eh, I don't really hold myself to anything, as I genuinely like posting here.  So, call it a bonus, call it catch up, it's still a post I wanted to make, because I have a few things to rant and brag about.

First, I will state that, as my Twitter showed last night, it stormed.  A lot.  Waaaaaaaaaaaay more than the Meteorologists predicted it would, as they figured around 5 EST would be the latest anyone in my area would see a storm, with everyone in the south end of the state I occupy being the ones wanting to look out for angry static seekers from the sky.  So it's no surprise that when it stormed, uh, at 5, at 6, at 7, all the way to Midnight that I was a little goddamn pissed at these fuckmuppets.

I hate harping on this subject, because it's not even fun anymore.  I don't usually take the time to get angry anymore, more as I just see them fucking up, getting no repercussions and sigh a little, wondering why they have jobs.  But a storm going on for seven hours longer than predicted is a pretty egregious fuck up.  So, I just -had- to bring it up.  Not only because of that, but because it leads into my next topic, which is a quite positive note..

Anyone who's played Valkyria Chronicles 2 knows exactly who this is, but for the uninitiated, this is Dirk.  Dirk is one of the big bads of the game.  Sorry, very minor spoilers I know, but, fuck it, you see him pretty early on in the game, so don't worry about it.  Anyways, the important part of this whole thing is that, last night, stuck with nothing else to do, and not feeling like grinding out another level in Phantasy Star Portable 2, I picked Valkyria Chronicles 2 back up, fully intending to just....er, grind out some more experience.  Because why not?  And then I remembered I was stuck at a mission where you have to go up against Dirk and went, "You know what?  It's time to take this asshat -down-."

So....after looking up a FAQ, trying the method described and failing miserably (Seriously FAQ writer?  Upload that approach to youtube, because I don't fuckin' believe that.) I took to 'the youtubes' to see a strategy in action.  It was, obviously, very different than the one described and when I put it to the test (with my own variations) it worked like a charm.  Just like that, level's beaten and I'm that much closer to finally beating Valkyria Chronicles 2.  Victory will be mine, game.  And though I'll likely never play VC3 since I'm not up for importing and playing a game I can't understand in the slightest (and Sega's full of jerkbags), I'll still be prepared to tout the praises of the series as a whole to anyone who'll listen, even though there's likely a flaw for every plus.

Ding!

If you're like me, who never got a 360 even when they were new and instead waited for (or just went with) a PS3, there's a chance you entered into it in the beforetimes when the above things were not even thought of.  The above things being Trophies, of course.  But now, they're practically a meta-game all their own on the same level as all the equivalents out there (of which, of course, one came first):  Xbox 360 Achievements, Steam Achievements, etc.  And I, like many others, find myself endlessly fighting for more and more to put my mark, so to speak, on a particular game.

At least, that's why I go after them, honestly.  I believe I've covered that fact before....but if I have, I can't pick which article it was in.  That wasn't always my stance, though; I used to be more "I only get trophies in games I like, because it means I like/want to play the game more".  Now, it's more like I said, I just get them when I want to leave a mark, for better or worse.  I'm sure we all remember (or will be reminded when I link it) how I talked about getting a platinum in Dark Void out of spite because I had high hopes for the game that just.....just crashed and burned.  I just wanted to get all the trophies in the game so I would never -have- to play it again.  DLC trophies really don't count for anything, so I have a platinum, it's shelved, I didn't enjoy playing it, so I won't.

Which isn't to say games that I platinum get put up forever, of course.  Just the ones I don't like.  Uncharted 2, for example, has been played at least twice more fully through -after- I got the Platinum for it.  Just because it's an amazing game and fun to play.  Same with inFamous 1; I beat that game probably eight times, four of those after getting all the trophies, simply because I wanted to do different things.  "Good turns evil, Evil reforms, Neutral and 'what would you do'" approaches were all touched on in my plays.  They're a nice little addition, but trophies honestly don't determine how I play my games all the time.

Nor are they a necessity at all when playing games, of course.  There are several well-known, well-liked games out there that just never saw a trophy patch after trophies became mandatory in PS3 games, simply because they were released before the date and their developers are lazy were working on something else and never saw a reason for it.  The above-pictured Valkyria Chronicles, Metal Gear Solid 4 and Resistance:  Fall of Man were all included in this and absolutely nothing convinced their developers to implement it.  Not even a re-release can get trophies in these games.  (For some reason I couldn't find a single article about Resistance not getting trophies in the re-release that I wanted to use)  It's kind of an interesting climate, to say the least.

For me, it's honestly just like a meta side-quest for games as a whole; something I can do or not do at my leisure.  Which I think is the best way about it.  I really hate hearing stories about people starting to hate a game because they have to "grind x hours" to get trophies/achievements so that it really becomes no fun.  So sometimes you just have to know when to know the task at hand is something you don't want.  My former philosophy with trophies being a symbol of my liking of a game didn't mesh well with Yakuza 3, for example, because some of the trophies are just things I do not want to be party to.  The side-games, mostly.

Really, the whole revelation of my new ideal on trophies came about earlier when I was playing inFamous 2, grumbling because I thought the "Extreme Makeover" trophy was bugged, and how much it would annoy me if I'd never get a Platinum trophy in the game because of it.  I had to scour the internet for an idea on why it wasn't unlocking, which pointed to the theory that perhaps all the big objects needed destroyed in the same sitting, and also that different things needed to be taken out:  Not only the verandas in the first island, but the Oil Towers in the second island.  (Gas works.)  After a bit of trying, I eventually got it, and was sated, before I thought about it.  Why did I care?

Because I care about inFamous 2.  I care enough to leave my mark out there as a Platinum trophy.  I came, I saw, I conquered.  And I enjoyed every moment of it.  That's the message I want to pass along with my Platinum, which is wholly based on the game alone, and not some sort of pre-designated notion through a trophy system as a whole or anything.  And that's how my stance changed; because it was never the right one to begin with.  Now I'm very much more comfortable with where I stand on the matter.  And when I have that Platinum trophy (need to go through again on Hard -again-, and make sure to do the Ice side missions), I'll be comfortable with that too.

PSP Remaster Series Inbound

While Chance beat me to the punch on this one, and as much as I hate to do, essentially, the same article he has, I did bring it up first.  All due respect, of course.  Still, while this is pretty much all the proof one would need to expect to be playing the two side-stories of Kratos on the PS3, word hasn't officially been dropped for NA or anywhere that is Japan yet, even though it might not be all that necessary.  With E3 coming up, they just might wait til then to bring it up to the general public, though, since this is kind of a big thing that they can make a big to-do about, even though everyone knows about it already now.  Especially since there was a press release about it.  (When I say general public, I pretty much mean there hasn't been a playstation blog post about it yet.)

Of course, this begs the question, "Why should we care?", and the answers are numerous and simple.  Not only will there be cross-compatibility between both versions, insofar as Game Saves goes (Sort of like how PSOne games work currently.  You can freely transfer your save between PS3 and PSP and continue playing just where you left off on the go), but the PS3 versions will likely see graphical updates and possibly even extra content.  (And I would suspect trophies.(And I would be wrong. Ffffuuu-))  And it could possibly mean a release of certain games we'd never see otherwise because Sega is a company full of assholes and trolls.  Not only that, but if said games are released on PS3, their graphical update might include the lovely style the original had that the two portable titles just can't swing.

So far, the only title confirmed for this treatment is Monster Hunter Portable 3rd, which means it'll be the first game to be on the Wii, PSP and PS3 simultaneously which kind of blows my mind.  Hopefully the release of the PS3 version will mirror the Wii version moreso, as I've heard a few things were cut in transition to the PSP (namely underwater battles) that were new and neat to the series.  But even without those, I'm sure Japan will be happy.  I mean, I'll be happy with what we get, since it'll likely prove to everyone that, hey, the PSP did, in fact, have a ton of good games.  Now, as far as what I really want?  Aside from VC, give me a Metal Gear Ac!d bundle if you really want to impress me.

Weekly Wrap-up in Gaming - March 7 - 13

So, I wasn't exactly true to my word from last week.  I said I'd have Sly 2 and 3 done this week, and ultimately, I just wasn't able to do that, because Sly 2 was, well, rather lengthy in comparison to the original.  So lengthy that I didn't even get to finish it until the other day, wherein I immediately began Sly 3 and began to see why some people didn't like it/care for it.  But we'll get to that one in a bit, now is Sly 2 Talk time, since I've beaten it.

While I am a firm believer in saying that there is no such thing as "too much of a good thing", I liked Sly 2, but felt it went on a little too long.  Or, rather, that there was a little too much reusing going on.  The first time it happened, it really made sense, and it was actually a little interesting to end up going against the same set of foes a second time in a different location.  Unfortunately, Sucker Punch must have thought that as well, because that's what the rest of the game turned into.  Which, some places it worked; I liked the set of foes that came with Jean Bison and the settings they were in.  I couldn't stand Prague though.  Neither time.  Well, I don't think the second was still Prague, but saying the boss is a bit of a spoiler, even though the trophy list spoils, well, every game.

By the end of things, I came to loathe playing as Bentley as well, since hacking games were inevitable and, well, Sucker Punch doesn't make stick-shooters for a reason.  (The reason is that, if the Hacking Mini-games are any indication, they are not very good at it.)  Also, I guess they really wanted to push the idea that Bentley attracts danger (Which, well, plays a key point in the ending) since his jobs always seemed a little more perilous, or at least put you in situations where one hit was too much.  (Bad Juju Bomb, Crypt Battery) (I'm noticing that all my complaints are really in play during the two Prague sections.  Hrm.)  "The Murray" was always pretty cool, though.  Except for the Tank-sequences.  Screw the Tank-sequences.

There's not a lot I can say about the ending without being too spoilery, so.....I'm going to be a bit spoilery.  Sooo, ahem, SPOILERS BEYOND:

...

...

Well, Clockwerk is probably my least favorite boss sequence of anything that I can think of, and Clock-la isn't much better.  In fact, it's pretty much the same fight; stupid shooter section with horrible controls that goes on far too long, followed by a bullshit-platforming sequence.  At least, I think that's how the Clock-la sequence went.  I know both of those were there, and I'm pretty sure in that order, but I'm not 100% positive I remember it right.

The story kind of falls flat towards the end, as well.  Oh boy, Neyla's a double-agent, let's all act surprised!  In Prague, she only kept yelling, "NO THAT EYE IS MINE IT'S MINE IT'S MINE" and all, like she was interested in collecting it for more than evidence.  The surprise bitch-turn was a little unexpected; I certainly didn't imagine she'd just up and kill Arpeggio like she did, but, well, it happened, and was pretty much the high-point of the end-game aside from the Sly parts of the ending itself.  I really got to enjoy the relationship between Carmelita and Sly and liked how it worked out, even though I would have liked to see her introduced to the gang proper.  In fact, that's what I figured would happen in the third game, certainly not what ends up happening.

...

SPOILERS ABOVE

So, all-in-all, I really did like Sly 2, certainly more than the first game, but I wish they could have paced it out a little better or made it seem like it was a little more than a game-padding thing.  Maybe switch around two of the sections so you go up against one boss, then the next.  Or something.  And a slightly better ending wouldn't have been too much to ask for.

I've not made it too far into Sly 3, much like I hadn't gotten too far into Sly 2 last weekend, so there's not a lot I -can- say about it.  Something I would like to say is, Dear God, Sucker Punch do a better job of locking down Voice-Actors.  Everytime I listen to Carmelita I just want her to not exist anymore.  And "The Murray"s VA is clearly not the old one, yet is trying to voice him exactly like he was.  It does not work out.  I'm pretty sure Sly and Bentley are the only two returning VAs, which is really just a shame.  I grew to enjoy Sly 2's voicework on the whole, so to be put into basically the same game where it's all different is a little off-putting.

I would like to take a brief moment to talk about the Mini-games packed into the Collection.

They suck.

And now I would like to take a less-brief moment to talk about the Mini-games packed into the Collection.  The ones I'm talking about, of course, are the extra ones they made(?) specifically for the collection, that people thought would require Playstation Move to play.  They do not, but Move does make them much better.  And one of those things that I noticed that really made me happy was that, after calibration, it'd set you up with a color, and then when you picked a character, the Ball would change to that characters color.  Blue for Sly, Green for Bentley, Pink for "The Murray", and Yellow for Carmelita. Little touches like that just make things a little neat.  Much neater than the games themselves.  They take about a minute to complete each, and you'll likely get both trophies per game on your first try, or definitely your second.  There's eight; four for just playing the games, and four for getting scores specifically over a certain amount.

They really don't do anything and feel like something you could throw together in flash in an afternoon.  A shooting gallery, a different shooting gallery, an RC copter race and....I forget.  I think another shooting gallery.  It really really gives the impression of an afterthought which is genuinely unfortunate, as I was hoping for something neat to come from Sucker Punch in regards to Move.  Doesn't really give me a lot of extra hope for inFamous 2 in that regard at least.

Anyways, beyond that, my PSP has been neglected once again, as I only played a little bit of Valkyria Chronicles 2 this week, once again simply grinding.  Though I did attempt one of the two final missions, started driving my tank, had it killed by interception fire from the bullshit boss character and went, "NOPE".  I'm really hesitant to say whether I'll ever bother to truly finish the story, which bothers me a lot actually.  Because I know I don't want to deal with that and whatever abomination the final mission throws my way.  Oh well, it was a great game while it lasted.

And again, no flash games this week, so I suppose that's it for this edition!  I might do a different post next Sunday if my gaming week is as uneventful as just playing basically one game again.  Or I might try playing more games!

Weekly Wrap-Up in Gaming - Feb. 21-27

I meant to do this post yesterday, but Mother Nature stepped in and gave me some nice thunderstorms all night, so I didn't really get a chance.  For future reference, all "Weekly Wrap-Up" posts like these will be on Sundays since well, that's the end of the week.  And I might not do one every week, since my gaming tends to keep similar every couple weeks.

So, I've been finishing up Dynasty Warriors:  Strikeforce on PS3 this week.  I say finishing up because I've finished Wu's story and I'm not too sure there's a lot much else to do aside from finish the other two stories that I'm not too keen on doing, getting the last of the trophies, which will take forever, and some MP shenannigans, which I can do whenever.  So by being done, I'll likely take it out of my rotation for something else.

I'm not really sure how I feel about the game.  It does a lot of things well, like the battle system...when you get a handle on it.  There's absolutely no tutorial on it from what I can tell, but it's pretty intuitive.  In a lot of ways, it's like the Gundam games in that the dash attacks are vital to your success.  And fury mode is a genuinely interesting little feature even if it's practically ripped off of every action anime that ripped it off of every other action anime before it.  Also the sub-weapon mechanic (Which is clearly here to stay) is a few installments overdue, and I hope it continues to get refined.

But what the game does poorly, it does so in spades.  So much so that I don't quite know where to st-oh wait yes I do.  Those giant beast enemies you see in all the previews and the like?  Fuck those things.  At their best, they're annoying as hell and take forever to kill.  At their worst, like goddamn Death Tiger, they're deadly at the drop of a hat.  Level 50 (which is the max level) with fairly good Defense that I imagine I could only further increase with the in-game wheel of destiny thing, and that damn thing would take forever to whittle down while being an idiot the whole time.  And then, as soon as it was left with about a third of a health?  It would turn (By turn, I mean instantly be facing me.  There's actually no turning animation, so it just kind of changes direction) to me, charge attack and even with full health, instant death.  For the curious who pick up this game, the key to defeating Death Tiger is to stock up on Windstone +s, kill Diao Chan, and throw every Windstone into the tiger's face until it dies.  The face is key.

Speaking of things that take forever to kill, what the hell were you thinking, KOEI?  I mean, if it took forever to kill Lu Bu or Guan Yu or even Zhao Yun, I'd understand.  But the strategists?  What?!  That doesn't even make sense, since they're more likely to be fragile.  Yet fighting Sima Yi, Zhuge Liang, Da Ji (in her one crossover mission) and some generic strats with staves and bows was a chore beyond anything else the game had to offer.  In general, fighting officers is a crapshoot, since they all have the ability to enter a "No-Sell State" (wrestling fans will get that, but for the uninitiated) which means they'll take your attack, take the damage, but they won't be stagger'd at all until that barrier breaks, which does so with a set amount of damage.  Charge attacks are better for that.

And the grind.  Oh lord, the grind.  Everything takes so many materials and so many materials are things you can only get here from specific people and blah blah blah.  You've heard it before in just about every RPG or even most MMOs, usually as a time-padding mechanism and it's here with a vengeance.  Weapons, Orbs, Chi, they all require materials that you have to specifically get at one point or another if you're intending on getting everything, which, for the trophy/achievement whores means literally everything.  Every Weapon, every orb, every chi and every Officer Card (Which is not something that you have any control over getting in any way, shape or form) needs to be obtained for the 100%/Platinum, as well as knowing ten other people who play the game on your platform of choice.

Still for all its bad, there is good, as I said and even though I harped more on the bad than anything, the good is there, and it's something you mostly have to feel out than be told about.

Is there much else I can say about Valkyria Chronicles 2, really?  I've made at least half a dozen blog posts about the game, which is a clear testament to how much I like it, even if my overall criticisms of it come out more than anything else.  I've put over 100 hours into it, and honestly, I'm not even burnt out by playing the game.  What I am burnt out on is going up against the goddamn boss characters.  It's December, I know I'm going to have two boss fights, and I just don't want to do them.  So I haven't.  But I also haven't been able to progress through the game, either.  Which I want to do, since I want to sink my teeth into Post Game.  It's a pretty rough place to be in, so all of my playing has been grinding for some EXP (Which is better done in the Post game, of course) to get my Scouts and ATs up closer to my Godlike (but really not) Shocks.

Surprisingly enough, I decided to add a little more playtime to my Patchwork Heroes file, completely out of the blue.  And all of a sudden, I remembered why I liked the game in the first place when I completed a mission on my first try by starting out with cutting an airship right in half before chunking it down further from there.  Immediately after, I remembered why I fell out of love with the game when I had to retry a level five times since I kept getting one of my people killed by one of the myriad enemies the level held.  Also once because a guy was in the bottom part of a chunk and I didn't see it right away and cut the chunk right off.  =|

On the Flash Game front, I put some time into Boxhead: 2Play Rooms which, while being a fun concept and actually a fairly alright time-waster, I ended up leaving with a sour taste in my mouth from it because of rather shoddy (understatement) programming.  I admit that I am a pretty big Trophy whore which carries over into Kongregate with badges.  I don't know why, but I guess I just like having that to show off to....absolutely nobody.  Shut up.

Anyways, the problem with the game was that you got a badge from making it to level 42.  Which isn't a problem in itself, but the problem lied with the game not properly registering what level you were on in relation to earning the badge.  Looking over at the completion thing when I had made it to 42 made me double-take, as it informed me that, regardless of what the screen had just told me, I was on stage 24.  Uhh?  No, game.  No I was not.  Reading the comments, the advised course of action was to, of course, just wait for the game to catch up.

It took three hours.

So, yeah, if you're looking for badges, don't play that game. 

Also played this week was Thing Thing Arena 2, an off-shoot of the main series of Thing Thing games.  I have absolutely no clue how they got their names, but the premise is basically that you play the Thing of a main character who is apparently a former test subject as he kills pretty much everything in his path for some reason.  At first it was to escape, and I guess that's still the case, but in later Thing Thing games, it might have ended up being a vengeance mission.  Anyways, that's not the important part.

The important part is that the Thing Thing games are pretty fun!  For the simple art direction, they definitely did a lot of detail work, both on the scenery and the gore, which, essentially, is all the game has to offer.  It's a side-scrolling affair where you get a lot of guns and shoot other people who are less equipped than you.  And then eventually equipped just like you are.  I mean, it doesn't get much more simple than that, yet it still manages to scratch that gaming itch every now and again.

So that's been my week in gaming in a nutshell!  I swear the next time I do this, I will not be playing DW:  Strikeforce or VC2 again.  Or at least, I won't bring them up yet again.

Quick Note - Just a Few Things.

So, I really just want to complain about Valkyria Chronicles 2 right now regarding, of course, credits.  But I also want to do other stuff, so this will kind of be a grab-bag post.  Some of it might not be simply reiterating things I've said before, even!

You can't read it, but these are assuredly not the credits you want/need!

So, I've been grinding for EXP in VC2 because, well, I don't know why.  There's a slight increase to your troops for leveling them up, and I'm already rockin' level 38 Shocktroopers, so I went, "Eh, let's shoot for 50 so I can rock faces, possibly."  And a good mission to do that in is in August, "Killer Assault" or something along those lines.  Basically my strategy is stack my Tank area with Avan, Franca and my Scout who I will not name because it's slightly spoilery.  Scout runs to the base connecting to the area with the main camp, kills the Commando there, captures, goes on Standby.  Then in the next area, I deploy the tank (I named mine Clover~) build the ladder to the area with the main camp (The constructor arm is just so good), and move her down enough to get a shot off on the Ace Tank up top if she's there.  If not, goes on standby.

Then I deploy Alexis, who is currently a Fencer, have her go up the ladder and kill the Ace Tank/Whatever troop is there (if the Ace Tank is there) and/or go right for the camp and kill the Commandos with one swipe.  Take the main camp, and then bam, instant 90k experience.  So, I was fine with just doing this until I saw my Scout earn a Diploma.  Which was fine, even though she's already a Scout Elite and doesn't need one.  And I thought, "Well, hey this is cool, Alexis needs a Diploma, maybe she'll get one since she kills tanks with a sword, slaughters mans and doesn't afraid of anything."  So I do the mission a few more times, no more Diplomas, and I don't care.  Getting the EXP and that's what matters.

Until I beat it again one time and check the credits as per normal.  My Scout earned three diplomas.  What?  WHAT?  She shot a guy in the face seven times, which barely killed him and then left the field!  Alexis kills at least twice that -and- wins the mission!  What the Hell, Sega?!

So, I mean, that grinds on me a little, well, more than a little, but I just go, "Y'know, with my Scout getting all these Diplomas, Alexis will have to get one eventually."  And I played and played and played.  And she didn't.  Meanwhile, the Scout earned at least one more, I stopped paying attention to the number.  And of course, Alexis is the one that needs the Diploma.  -A- diploma.  One.  Raaaaaaaaaaaage.

Deng Ai has no reason to look this badass.

Switching topics fast enough to make your head spin, I just finally took a look at some Dynasty Warriors 7 stuff (since it comes out next month), and I gotta say, overall just from the cursory look I've taken, I'm impressed.  Still no Zhu Ran (The Baddest Dude in the Land) and Pang De is surprisingly absent again, despite being in a previous incarnation and seemingly the only one who wasn't reinstated in DW7 from the Cuts between DW5 and 6, and not to mention a great hook for a Musou (Story) Mode.

Okay, so, without going into full History Mode, Pang De's claim to fame (in the Novelization of the Three Kingdoms, at least, which is what the games are based off of) was that he was pretty able against Guan Yu (He who would be posthumously referred to as an Avatar of the God of War, and is still kind of worshiped today, or at least you can find statues of him really easily), often fighting him in duels to a draw.  Well, eventually, he had a coffin crafted to Guan Yu's specifications and was said to drag it with him into battle for the inevitable meeting with Guan Yu when he would take his life.  Which, well, didn't happen, but still, it was his intent and there are actually events dedicated to it in the Romance of the Three Kingdoms series of games that KOEI also releases.

So, basically, ranting about it earlier, I don't get why they don't take that angle and run with it.  Give Pang De a Coffin for a weapon!  Make him Half-Brawler, Half-Dude Who hits dudes with a goddamn Coffin.  There are a lot of ways to make it work out really nicely, I'm sure.  And his Musou Mode is basically written already; just throw him in a bunch of missions and have his goals skew towards fighting Guan Yu.  Eventually, when Pang De participates in the Attack on Fan Castle, (Which, I don't recall if he was historically there or not, but who cares) his Musou Mode would end with him defeating Guan Yu finally, throwing him in the coffin, and letting it drift away in the flooded Castle.

How Simple was that, KOEI?

It would really just be that easy.

Quick Note - Valkyria Chronicles 2

So I just got an Anthem Corp. today.

Jesus.

I made Vicky one even though I honestly despise her.  She's just one of the less frail Engineers and once I finish off her mission, she'll be fine.  Sofia and Raymond are up next for -something-, I know.  Raymond might go full Engineer Elite.  Still not sure about Sofia; I was thinking Anthem Elite originally, but Engineer Elite might work nicer.  And that's just my Engineers, who I barely use.

It's really hard trying to plan my team out and then actually -getting- there, since Credit-farming just blows absolutely.  The basic things, and the X things are easy enough to get, but when you get the lls and the ll Xs, it's just a pain in everybody's ass, since if you do too well, you get Certificates/Diplomas, which while nice, aren't what you need when you need lls and ll Xs.  And if you don't do well enough, you get the basic credits.  And sometimes, you'll need lls and get ll Xs and it's just like "Why do you do this to me, game?!"

If there's any downfall to the game (Other than the story, which, while it's not offensive, it's not interesting either) it's this damn credit system.  I wish they would have thought it out a little better so I wouldn't have to waste hours going through the same missions over and over again, trying to get one or two things and getting everything but.  Because if they had, Marion would be a Commando by now and life would be excellent.

Well, actually, if there's any downfall to the game, it's the goddamn Boss characters.  But now I'm just splitting hairs.  And it's not like the first game didn't have a few boss situations that everybody hated.

Anyways, the point of this post is to say that if you like VC and have a PSP, but not VC2 yet, What the hell is wrong with you.  Go buy it.  Now.  Don't be all indignant about the fact that it's on PSP, get over it, and buy it.

Valkyria Chronicles 2 - Squad G! Move Out!

So, given that I had a surplus of time on my hands between not having a computer and then not having electricity for a while (and having the ever-looming possibility of no electricity as well), I managed to get some much-needed PSP time.  After finishing one of my Gaming White Whales, Star Ocean 2 (Well, Second Evolution) for real (Minus bonus stuff since, well, no, no thanks) I went ahead and picked through my remaining PSP games that have not seen enough (if any) play yet and picked out VC2 finally.  The urge to scout rush some dudes and shock down some troops was overwhelming, and I'm glad I chose it.

Even though the changes are a little more pronounced than I anticipated.  The class system is a little more....stifling feeling(?) than I had figured it would; realizing that I need these credits and these credits to move on to a new class, or that realizing I have them, but maybe this other class will be better instills one of those "the only action I take is inaction" feelings in me.  Eyeballing the classes, seeing their stats, and realizing their varied uses just makes me think that if I pick one, I'll get to a situation and go, "Man, I wish I'd picked otherwise."  Some picks are easy; do I want a scout, or do I want a Sniper?  Well, most cases, I'll want a scout, and a better one at that, seeing as they've been a little nerfed (to say the least), but when it comes to Marina (Yes, she's back, provided you find the password for her), well....yeah, I think you know where I'll go there.  (Making her a Sniper is quite possibly one of the best decisions yet.  I never knew just how useful they could be to that point!)

The class list as it is now, and a familiar face.

Since I touched on it, the changes in classes, for the uninformed, are aplenty.  No longer is the line-up of Scouts, Shocktroopers, Lancers, Engineers, and Snipers.  And no longer is it a simple matter of the classes changing as you level them up; through a tiered system, you have slightly more control over what they will be.  The basic class starts it off, and from there is a branch; we'll use scouts as an example.  After Scout comes Scout Veteran and Sniper.  And from there is Scout Elite and Heavy Scout, and Sniper Elite and AT Sniper.  As your units participate in battles, they earn credits that you use to change their class; most of them being less than easy to gain.  Trading mobility for attack or vice-versa is a common theme among the differences; Snipers, while extremely limited to mobility when compared to Scouts, are infinitely more deadly, as a single shot to the head, which is usually an easy feat, will send most units down for the count.

The completely new class to the mix, the Armored Techs, are a mixed bag.  These are the units that you call on to disarm mines now, and they are....different, to say the least.  Armed with a Shield and "Wrench" (In most cases, it's more War Pick or Hammer than Wrench), their value is in their ability to rush in while taking little to no interception fire.  Unfortunately, they're a little less mobile than is necessary to really get them anywhere, so the most use they've seen for me is base guards; enemy units generally run up to just outside the confines of the base and stand there impotent at the sight.  Because if there's one thing ATs are good at, it's not getting shot.  The computer manages to make excellent use of them (since I expect their ATs have a little more AP, saying nothing of the Boss characters that are ATs of some sort) which means they're fearsome foes, but I can't really wrap my head around their virtues for the way I play, at the very least.

Lancers and Engineers remain largely unchanged, the biggest difference being in that Engineers now carry pistols instead of rifles.  While that might sound like they've been downgraded even more, they haven't, really.  In most instances, I've had more success with a pistol than a scout's rifle, perhaps because of the extra shot they have.  Of course, if you didn't see fit to use Engineers a lot last game, you'll likely find less reasons here as they still just repair your tank and resupply your troops if you manage to find them low on ammo somehow.  Lancers are, as far as I can tell, untouched completely.  The lances feel a little less powerful, perhaps, but they see more usage with the increase of tanks and new turrets that inexplicably have the large, glowing weak spot that is the ragnite blue radiator.

If only Scout's rifles were this good.  If only.

Shocktroopers were my favorite units last game and they remain that and more this game; the new, smaller maps make them feel more mobile than previously, even though they aren't really, which is only amplified by the hit that Scouts took to their own overall mobility.  On top of that, the characters of the Shocktrooper group are endlessly entertaining.  Marion, Annisete and Franca all have rather nice backstories (though Franca's is a bit weak, admittedly) and they're just a joy to use on the field as any negative potentials, when stacked against some of the others, are negligible at best.  (Slight accuracy hit versus suddenly being unable to complete your movement?  Yeah, I'll take the former.)

The mere vision of Audrey's tank is guaranteed to draw a cringe from anyone who has played the game.

Now, the gameplay is just as good as previously, but what about the story?  Well, it's certainly not as bad as I thought it would be.  Avan Hardins, our lovable idiot of a main character, decides to enlist in the Lanseal Military Academy after being informed that his brother, Leon who was a student there, had been killed.  When he asked how, he was informed that the answer was not one that could be released for security reasons.  Avan, understandably confused and wanting answers, decides that his only course of action is to enlist in the Academy and find out for himself just what happened.

As it turns out, Lanseal, being the most prominent military force in Southern Gallia, is actually the main defender there; which, given that there's a rebellion going on, means that they're rather important in the grand scheme of things.  While I won't go into detail of why there's rebellion afoot, since it's somewhat of a lukewarm spoiler from the first game, suffice to say that there is one, and the figureheads behind it are easy to hate, and boy, will you ever hate them.  On the field, they're absolute monsters and demand your full attention, even though they may seem unbeatable.  They're not, of course, as some missions give you the task of defeating them, which, well, just plain sucks.

Aside from all that, the main cast of characters is likeable enough and, honestly, that was half of the main draw of the first.  The characters are all fleshed out enough that they're not just a Shocktrooper, or just a Lancer, they're Marion with a deep, somewhat embarrassing secret, and Vario with a near insufferable nature that just ends up growing on you.  And even if you don't care for a character, who they are at least sticks with you, making sure that everyone is unique even though there's plenty of people to pick from.

Really, my only gripes are what I've already mentioned as far as the classes go, and the fact that some of the missions honestly seem just a little more meaty than I'd like, which, I'll admit is a little ironic.  No mission really comes easily the first time, especially past the mid-point of the game.  If you don't stop to think about what you're going to do, you'll find yourself buried in no time.  And even when you do consider things properly, sometimes mistakes just happen that you will have to learn from, or else you'll simply be doomed to suffer from them again and again.  But when everything works, it just works, and that's a feeling that other "Stategy" RPGs seem to lack, at least for me.