The tutorial for the game is one of the most creative I’ve ever seen. It slowly eases you into the game, removing from walls and freeing toads, gathering battle stickers and random pieces of the world to get Mario from the starting area, to the world map. After finding all the hidden toads in the area, you can move on, but to do that you have to explore every nook and cranny, learning about the hidden passages and areas. Throughout the rest of the game, you have to do that to get from place to place and beat the game.

Once you clear this area, you let out into the rest of the game. In a cross between a normal platformer and RPG, you take Mario around several different areas, defeating bad guys and discovering hidden areas while collecting special stickers and objects. These objects are used to create powerful stickers and effect Mario’s world in unique ways. Like finding a fan, turning it into a sticker, then using that sticker to turn a windmill’s fans to open a hidden door.

All these stickers are collected and stored in your sticker album and can be pulled out during the game, or during battle. Battle isn’t your standard turn based RPG system, but it’s similar. Each sticker has its own effect, each enemy their own weakness. You can use up to three battle stickers a turn to attack up to three enemies each battle. If you manage to bounce on an enemy or hit him with your hammer before combat starts, you get to deal bonus damage. Fans of the Mario franchise will recognize all these items from fire flowers and ice flowers, to POW blocks. Players can find all sorts of combinations and uses for the stickers that deal extra damage.

For the most part, I really enjoyed this game. Then I got bored. It’s a good game, but after unlocking the third area I just wasn’t interested any more. The boss battles are literally impossible to beat if you don’t prepare before hand. Thing is, there’s no way to know how to prepare without going into the battle. Then if you return and prepared incorrectly, you’re left coming back again and again until you get it right. And if you managed to beat the boss, but not the way the game wants, it actually criticizes you. I felt like Nintendo was telling me that I had to use a guide to get through their game to play it right.

All and all I have to give Paper Mario: Sticker Star 3 screaming Jan’s cats out of five. It was a good game and exceptionally creative so I don’t regret spending the money on it. It just wasn’t an amazing game. I hope that future Paper Mario games continue to be as creative and only get better.

Persona 4 Golden is their newest game in the setting on the PS Vita, taking place in a small town called Inaba in Japan. You play as a young, second year high school student (equivalent to an American Junior) just transferred in front the big city after your parents shot off to the U.S. for work. You’ll be staying with your uncle, a detective in the small town, until they come back next year. Things seem perfectly normal, scandal in the news, bad weather, nothing that special; at least until you learn about the Midnight Channel.

At your new school, Yasogami High, rumor has it that if you look into a turned off television at midnight on a rainy night, you’ll see the love of your life. Silly, right? Sure, but you’re dared into doing it so, when it rains, you do it. You look into the T.V.

And you see someone. It’s brief and there’s too much static, but there was definitely a person there. Without thinking, you place your hand on the television and it sinks inside. Something or someone grabs you, yanking you forward until your shoulders collide with the edges of your small set and you’re prevented from falling in.

The next day, you tell your friends, but they don’t believe you. Who would possibly believe that you’d gotten sucked inside your T.V. It’s hard enough to believe you saw someone when the television was off as it is. So they brush it off and you all head to the local department store, the biggest and most interesting place in little Inaba. Your friends lead you to the electronics department and you realize that with a big flat screen T.V., you could fit your whole body inside. Nothing could possibly go wrong with that idea, right? Of course not.

After you scare the crap out of your friends by climbing inside, the three of you fall into the T.V. and into a bizarre  fog shrouded world. There you find a creepy room, posters on the walls with the faces ripped out. A noose hangs above a single chair. Everything about the place is oppressive and wrong, but you can’t find your way back. At least not at first. Eventually, you meet a strange creature named Teddie who helps you back to your home and the three of you decide to act like that day never happened.

None of you get to do that, however. There’s a murderer on the lose, using the world inside the television to kill without leaving a trace. The police are stumped and it’s not like you can tell them about what you know, about a murderer who kills by throwing his victims inside a T.V. It’s up to you and your friends to figure out the mystery behind the killings and bring the culprit to justice. No one else can.

If you’re not dying to get your hands on this game for the story now, maybe the game play can convince you. Like all Persona games, players fight off enemies using their “Personas”. These are created from shadows that have been faced and overcome. But what’s a shadow? A shadow is the dark impulse that resides within the human heart, the dark thoughts and feelings that we all have and don’t want anyone to know about. Your persona is created when you face those hidden emotions and let accept even the worst parts of yourself.

What the hell does that have to do with combat? Each Persona is unique and different, with strengths and weaknesses, spells and abilities that can be used in a wide variety of situations. Your character can find and create over a hundred different Personas which he can then use in combat to defeat enemy shadows. The turn based combat is similar to all JRPGs, with rock-paper-scissors mechanics having you hunt for the perfect move while trying not to drain your health and mana. If that happens (well the former is pretty damn obvious), you can’t continue as far through the dungeon and will have to quit for the day.

Quitting before reaching the end of a dungeon is painful, not just because you didn’t do as well as you could in combat, but because you’re wasting a day that could have been spent in pursuit of a story line or social link upgrade. You only have a year to complete your mission and you only get to do one or two things each day. Thankfully, the new online S.O.S. system makes it a lot easy to travel through dungeons without using a million items or quitting and it was a brilliant edition to an already amazing game. I managed to use it well enough to get through each dungeon in one day, spending the rest of my time improving my social links to get as much story out of the game as possible.

If you’re still not convinced, them I’m going to assume you just don’t like JRPGs. Personally, I give it a whopping five out of five screaming Jan’s cats. Even if you don’t have a PS Vita, you can and should still get your hands on the original version of this game for the PS2. You won’t regret it. The game play is difficult and engaging, fun as hell, and the story will leave you guessing until the very end.

Persona!

S.P.A.Z. – Space Pirates and Zombies. The name really says it all and convinced me from the start that the game would be amazing. How could you go wrong with space pirates and zombies? I don’t think you can, but MinMax Games capitalized on this idea and made a brilliant game.

I picked up S.P.A.Z. with the Humble Indie Bundle 6. Thanks to the name, it was the first game I played and my initial play through can be found here. The game starts out with you and your crew on Earth, just after you’ve finished building a giant mother ship that you’re planning on taking to the core of the solar system. Why? Because money, duh. You’re SPACE PIRATES. There’s just one teensy problem, the pathway between you and the core is blocked by gates that are guarded by the UAD. The UAD are basically the government, if you consider a group that is based solely in the system it’s in and at war with civilians a government. In the end, it doesn’t really matter who they are, they stand between you and payday and you ARE a pirate. So, like any good pirate, you get your space ship and go out and take what you need.

Since S.P.A.Z. is a top down, space combat game based around skill, battles against anyone standing in your way are pretty intense. You against the UAD or the Civilians pits whatever ship you’ve cobbled together with your limited resources against wave after wave of enemies that, frankly, can aim a whole hell of a lot better than you. Thankfully, the full physics simulation makes every successful battle a glorious explosion. This, along with the new hulls that drop every time you destroy a certain number of ship types, convinced me to fight more and only make friends to get new blue prints. After all, who needs friends when you can fly every type of ship?

Fear not my less blood thirsty gamers (*cough* freaks), space battles aren’t the only way to get past the UAD. I chose the “blast every thing and every one to hell” approach, but if you want to make friends you can just bribe them with rez – the currency in S.P.A.Z. – to let you through the gate. Making friends isn’t a bad approach either, as each faction – Civilians, UAD, and the mysterious Bounty Hunters (because space pirates and zombies were just not cool enough) – has item upgrades to sell you or will offer you trades.

Using the three useful commodities, rez, goons and data, you can quickly gather what you want and get rid of what you don’t. Data is the information dropped by ships when they explode that helps with research, i.e. the experience behind the game’s leveling system. Goons are the people on ships who eject in escape pods when you blow them up (or get blown up yourself). During or after a battle, you can pick up these pods up and forceably recruit them to work for you. Yeah, civilization has devolved so much that the people actively participate in slavery and, to be very non-politically correct, it’s hilarious. Your pirates are constantly throwing the goons out of air locks when they refuse to work for you and you can run over/shoot their corpses after.

For me, there was plenty to do with rez so I tended to hoard that commodity. Rez is the special mineral that is used to build your ships (after they’re destroyed or upgraded) and purchase plans for better items from the different factions. So despite my hoarding, I was always feeling a little short. Thanks to the extra currencies, I didn’t have to trade my data for more rez, but used all my excess goons to do just that and to accelerate my leveling. Tack on being a slaver to being a pirate for me, but now that I had all the nifty upgrades I needed to blast my enemies to pieces while forcing the goons on my ships to repair any damage I was taking, I wasn’t fussed over such uncivilized ways. In other words, the leveling system is robust enough to satisfy any style of play, because combat is in no way completely unavoidable, and I was using it to the fullest extent I could.

While I haven’t finished the game (thanks MoP), I recommend S.P.A.Z. to anyone and everyone. MinMax has created a game that is amazingly fun and not “just for an indie game”. This is definitely one of my favorite games of the year, so strap on your lazer beams and cannons, ready your whips and collars, ’cause we’re out to make some rez! And don’t forget to listen to/read all the dialogue, you’ll be missing out on comedy genius.

Cannibalism is bad! Say no to zombies!

A few months ago I lost my World of Warcraft, 2v2 Arena partner to Tera Online. The game was amazing! he said. It’s so pretty and the game play is so much fun! he said. It’s another WoW clone I don’t care about! I thought. Well, guess who ate their words last weekend? I’ll give you a hint: It wasn’t him.

Friday night I purchased and downloaded Tera Online, a new MMORPG by En Masse Entertainment that strives to give “true action combat” to players as well as give an active and interactive community. Currently a level 22 Sorcerer, I think they’ve succeeded, though I am tempering my enthusiasm for this game after the last half-successes of Rift and SW:ToR. I cannot give my full backing to Tera Online until I’ve seen the end game content, because an MMORPG is all about the end game content.

Story

The world of Tera Online is torn by war and strife. The Argons attack for no known reason and the armies of all the races have come together to keep them from destroying their world. Unfortunately, this has left the home front vulnerable to old enemies and new threats. Recently, an island has suddenly appeared off the coasts of the two continents, never before seen and holding its own powerful secrets.

The introduction (and the demo) drop you onto this island amid the screams of the dying and the sound of crashing waves. A grim scene, but this is my biggest criticism of Tera Online so far. The intro quest (and the demo, which IS the intro quest) is confusing, convoluted and fails as a tutorial on how to play the game. Players are given every ability of their class and told to go kill and fight mobs without any explanation of how the game works. For MMO veterans, this is challenging, but nowhere near impossible to get through. For players new to the genre, good fucking luck.

So with little information on your class, the abilities or now the new combat system works, you’re sent out to find Elleon. Who the fuck is that you ask? I had no idea. I found out about an hour or so later that he’s some big hero dude who lead the expedition to the new island, but we’re not there yet. You’re out to find Elleon – some guy – and where is he? Who knows! Go that way, kill the things, figure out your abilities on your own, and don’t die! I was not having fun. Still, the game was pretty and I wanted to see what was up so I plowed ahead.

Eventually, I found Elleon and attempted to fight a Big Ass Monster with him (That’s what the elites are called in this game. Did I mention its rated Mature?). After we kill the first one, suddenly a second one appears and he ate my face off. My screen went black and now I’m frustrated and pissed off because I didn’t understand what I’d even done to die, let alone how I was going to kill this thing once I rezed again. Then I get a cut scene. What’s the shit is going on? Suddenly I’m flying on a pegasus, being informed that Elleon has gone missing on the island and his brother is searching high and low for him. Apparently, it’s X amount of time later and I’m being sent back because they can’t spare veteran soldiers from the front because the Argons would break our line if they left.

Wait. What? At this point I had no fucking clue who the Argons were either, or what “the front” was, so I have no God damned clue what is going on in this game. Point off for Tera Online’s story telling abilities. Eventually, players do learn what happened and who everyone is and I’ll pass this information on to you. The island force you were a part of was routed, Elleon disappeared and you and two other guys survived the attacks by the demons. The Argons are the enemies of the Federation (something they also didn’t explain) which is the combined government that came together to fend off the Argon attacks. Considering this debacle of an opening, I can’t even say for certainty I’m right about all this.

Remember, the above is my biggest criticism thus far of Tera Online. Once actually on the island, the game proceeds as it should with no strange curve balls thrown your way. It actually teaches you how to play, how your spells work, how enchanting and socketing works, and has an engaging story line. Honestly, everything that Tera Online has for players is too much to get into in one post, so we’ll discuss the most innovative and interesting aspects of Tera Online.

The Combat System

Unlike Rift, SW:ToR, and WoW, Tera Online really does have an active combat system. What’s that mean? Simply put, if you want to dodge an ability or attack, you better be on your toes and moving your character out of its way. There is no dodge or block stats, to survive without being a lancer (the tank class) you had better be learning your enemies patterns of attack and getting your toon the shit out of the way. Especially when it comes to BAMs.

I think this is exactly the kind of system MMOs are needing. It’s the same formula, with a new twist that means you cannot scrape by barely paying attention to a fight. If you do, you’ll just die over and over until you learn to backstep or run out-of-the-way. I had a blast and group combat is even more fun.

The Loot System

The only other criticism I have about Tera Online is the loot system. Instead of looting a corpse, mobs in scatter their drops across the ground for players to pick up, like in Diablo 1 and 2. I say those and not D3 because that game gives specific loot to each player, while in D1 and D2, the loot just fell on the ground and was first come, first click. Pugging just turned into a hell on a whole new level.

While Tera Online does have a roll system, Round robin, which distributes loot to party members equally, it’s only when “rare and superior items distributed via dice rolls” is selected as an option. This does not account for your uncommon and common items, though, which are still first come first served. Playing a ranged class, I literally ended up with six items at the end of a dungeon thanks to this system – keep in mind that each mob drops three to four items and we’d killed dozens. Heaven help you if you have lag.

Races and Classes

If you’ve read this far, I assume you’re interested in what Tera Online has to offer. The races in the game are from left to right in the above picture: Castanic, Human, Aman, Popori, High Elves, Baraka, and Elin (not shown above). Or as I call them: Horned devil people, humans, what the shit is that, furries, elves, draenei, and pedo wet dream. If you want to learn more about them, look here.

What’s really interesting is the classes. On the website, they are listed in order of challenge difficulty and if they’re right, you’ll see few warriors tanking because that is supposedly the hardest class and vocation in the game. The other classes are Archer, Sorcerer, Priest, Mystic, Lancer, Slayer and Beserker.

The Archer is a sustained, ranged DPS class, rated a difficulty 2/5 by En Masse. The Sorcerer (my class) is also a 2/5 difficulty ranged DPS class that focusses on burst DPS. The Slayer and the Beserker are both melee burst DPS with a difficulty of 3/5, though the Beserker is also able to block incoming damage to ranged players if necessary. The healers are the Priest and Mystic, the former with a difficulty 3/5 and the Mystic with a 4/5. This is because the Priest is solely a healer while the Mystic is a support class, debuffing, buffing, dpsing and healing. The last two classes are the Warrior and the Lancer with a 5/5 and 4/5 difficulty respectively. The Lancer is an absorption tank while the Warrior can be an evasive tank or sustained melee dps. If you choose to be a Warrior tank, you better not have any lag.

Wrap Up

Hopefully I’ve given you a good idea of Tera Online and how awesome it could be. I can only hope that the end game lives up to the experience I’ve had so far and I suggest everyone go out and buy it to give it a try. If not, check out their website because there’s so much more that I didn’t touch on.

Oh, and the picture below? That’s an in-game screen shot of a city you can walk around. It’s fucking huge, but without the emptiness most huge MMO cities have. Go see for yourself!

The second part of my E3 news coverage is solely about Nintendo. They came out quirky, as always, with a lot of news about their new console. Their second press conference (on the 6th) was completely about the 3DS. To read the news from Sony, EA, Ubisoft, and Microsoft’s press events, check out my other blog And Ubisoft Takes the Prize – E3 News.

Opening with a demo for the new Pikmen 3 for the Wii U, they did their best to push how innovative the new Wii U Gamepad would be. If the system was set up to just use the Gamepad, I wouldn’t be complaining, but after repeated references to not only the Nunchuk but the Pro Controller and the Balance Board, I’m wondering just how many peripherals Nintendo wants their customers to purchase. Is this everything you’ll have to buy to play all of the games on the Wii U?

And how many will you need? Since the system is being catered towards families, owners may need more than one of each and the only controller announced to be packaged with the Wii U is the Gamepad. The lower priced tag system could be concealing a lot of hidden costs.

The only good that’s come out of all these peripherals is the Pro Controller. Assuming the it will be compatible with all games on the Wii U, it removes the gimmick from the system and gives it the capability to be a normal gaming system. Since the Wii U is officially HD (720p with upscaleing like the Xbox 360), we will hopefully be seeing plenty of thrid party games released on the Wii U. At the release they will already be back dating their content with “new” versions of Batman: Arkham City and Mass Effect 3. There was also a promise to see a release of Assassin’s Creed 3 on the system. Finally, we’re already moving in the right direction.

This system also has Sony and Microsoft looking for ways to put their own touch screen into the mix on their systems. Microsoft wants to use SmartGlass to link up to your tablet while Sony has declared the PS Vita can be used as a peripheral for the PS3. And, as you can see from the picture on the left, Nintendo created a Gamepad that looks startlingly similar to the Vita. They both even have cameras in them. Their differences, unfortunately, only hurt Nintendo. The position of the buttons, the size, and lack of ergonomic conformity will make the Wii U Gamepad uncomfortable to hold for long periods of time.

Personally, I find the added game play from having this kind of extra controller  questionable, and I’m referring to the PS3′s use as well as the Wii U’s Gamepad. The new Rayman was demoed on the Wii U with a specific game play elements for the touch screen. A new character, Murphy, can be controlled by a separate player from whoever is jumping around as Rayman or Globox. This doesn’t mean co-op is dead in Rayman; the game supports five players total as well as Wii remotes. The player controlling Murphy can interact with the environment, assist on puzzles, and harass enemies. Besides that, the Gamepad’s touchscreen allows users to take out enemies, clear paths and use the gyroscope technology to manipulate and rotate platforms. The demo also showed off a subsequent level that featured Rayman and Globox on rails, being propelled through the level while the player who controlled Murphy tapped the GamePad screen in time to the song’s beats and rhythmic background. Rayman and Globox’s actions highlighted the melodic guitars and other sounds.

While this doesn’t detract from the game, it’s not adding anything either. Will the game play on the Xbox 360 or the PS3 be any less fun? Similar elements used in the DS and the Vita are the same; good, but removing them doesn’t make the game worse. Also, because the Gamepad doesn’t have a dual touch screen like the Vita, switching back and forth from tapping the screen to using the controller buttons in the middle of a platforming section is likely to slow your speed times down significantly.

Still, the game line up isn’t anything to sneeze out. The following will also be release for the Wii U:

• Super Mario Bros. U
• Scribblenauts Unlimited
• Tank! Tank! Tank!
• Tekken Tag Tournament 2
• Trine 2: Director’s Cut
• Ninja Gaiden 3: Razor’s Edge
• Aliens Colonial Marines
• Sing
• Luigi’s Mansion: Ghost Mansion
• Just Dance 4
• ZombiU
• Lego City
• Your Shape
• Sports Connection
• Marvel Avengers: Battle for Earth
• Nintendoland

There was so much to release for the Wii U, Nintendo hardly had any time to talk about their current handheld system, the Nintendo 3DS. Plenty of good games are going to be coming out for it, but what stood out for me was Paper Mario: Sticker Star.

The newest edition to the Paper Mario franchise, Paper Mario: Sticker Star will be released this holiday season exclusively for the 3DS. An RPG with turn based combat, timed button presses will be used to prevent incoming damage and increase offensive damage.The stickers come into play in several ways. One of two collectable items, they are also the basis of combat and how players will solve the problems for the inhabitants of Marioland. These quests and events are how you level up, so collecting all of the stickers will be essential to progress through the game.

This wasn’t the only good game announced, though. Also coming to handhelds everywhere are:

• Epic Mickey: Power of Illusion
• Castlevania: Mirror of Fate
• Kingdom Hearts: Dream Drop Distance
• Scribblenaunts Unlimited
• Lego Batman 2: DC Super Heros
• Transformers Prime, The Game
• Rabbids Rumble
• Heros of Ruin
• Rhythm Thief & the Emperor’s Treasure
• Luigi’s Mnasion: Dark Moon
• Super Mario Bros. 2
• Pokemon Black: Version 2
• Pokemon White: Version 2

Of note, the new Pokemon Black and White are squeals to the DS version, set two years after events in the first. It will also be released for the DS. Super Mario Bros. 2 looks amazing, while Epic Mickey: Power of Illusion is a tribute to the original Castle of Illusion game. I’m looking forward to most of these games, though my wallet is beginning to weep.

E3 over the last two days has been a flurry of news and information. While it’s not over yet, all of the big press conferences are over. Sony, Microsoft, Nintendo, EA, and Ubisoft held major press conferences and wowed, or bored, crowds with their presentations. Here’s what I thought stood out during each.

Microsoft came out with a presentation for the next Halo. My opinion is the game will be mediocre now that the old team is no longer developing it, but time will tell how good it really is. They also announced the release date, November 6, so we won’t even have to wait that long.

Next was the announcement of the new Splinter Cell which attempted to demo voice commands via Kinect. It didn’t come off so well. The developer playing the game knew the commands, but it’s going to take some heavy tutorials to get players using them as smoothly as a button press. The guys from Madden came in afterwards, though, and they showed how Kinect voice can really be utilized.

You ever really wanted to feel like a quarterback? Well now you get to call play commands like one instead of selecting the play to be used. I’d love to see more games use voice as a main command instead of a gimmicked addition – Like Splinter Cell does.

After that, a slew of new of titles were announced:

• Fable: The Journey
• Forza
• Resident Evil
• Wreketeer
• Call of Duty: Black Ops 2
• Matter
• Gears of War 4
• South Park: The Stick of Truth
• Dance Central 4

The biggest announcement, though, was SmartGlass. CNN claims that people think this is actual glass, but I know you guys  are smarter than that. It’s an app that links your Xbox 360 to your PC and any smart technology you own (smart phone, ipad, etc.). All you need is a PC running Windows 8, any mobile device running Windows 8 (or an iOS or Android device).

Supposedly, SmartGlass will let you start watching a show on your tablet or phone, then send it to your TV or vice versa. The app also will recognize TV shows or movies you were watching through an Xbox device and will remember that content so you don’t have to go looking for it. Supposedly, players will also be able to enhance their gameplay via their mobile devices as well. Microsoft showed off a tablet being used to edit a football play in Madden ’12.

While I’m not so sure about this technology, I am pleased to see this step towards gaming consoles being the core of the entertainment center.

Unfortunately for EA, there presentation was forgettable. I literally forgot they even presented, despite watching the presentation for two hours and taking extensive notes. All they did was announce new games and introduce their new plan to make social games via Facebook.

The Star Wars: The Old Republic news was disappointing. Adding another new story line and the HK 41 Assault Droid as a companion, they said nothing about fixing old bugs or improving their endgame offering. What they did say, was SW:ToR would be free to play up until level 15. Not that I was going to ever renew my subscription, but this just adds nails to the coffin.

Their list of new game announcements consisted of:

• Dead Space 3
• NFL 13
• SimCity Social
• SimCity for the PC
• Battlefield 3 Premium
• Medal of Honor Warfighter
• Madden NFL Social
• Need 4 Speed: Most Wanted
• Crysis 3

Of the announcements, Dead Space 3 and the new SimCity for the PC were the only real gems. Dead Space 3, scheduled for release February 2013, will have better voice acting and a more open world, though it looks more like Gears of Wars to me. SimCity will have a multiplayer component and allow you to construct your city they way you please for the first time. I’m really excited to get my hands on this, but I don’t know if my computer will be able to handle the graphics.

The best presentation of the lot was by Ubisoft. It opened with Flo Rider performing for Just Dance 4, his back up dancers actually dancing the steps while he performed. Then Aisha Taylor was hosting and promptly flubbed her lines, calling everyone gay. I loved every second of it, though the actual Just Dance 4 game bores me.

The unexpected title announced was Watchdog. Similar to Heavy Rain, it’s got actual shooting elements instead of just story lines. Headed for Xbox, PS3 and PC, a video says a thousand words so here is the trailer and gameplay video:

Also announced was Farcry 3 and a sexy trailer with boobs, tattooing , and blood – everything that makes up a really good game. This trailer and game play demo was so intriguing that I’m planning to pick up the first two Farcry games just so I can be caught up on the story for when this releases. The graphics, gameplay, and story all look like a winning package that could make this one of the best games announced at E3.

The other games announced and demoed (all amazing) were:

• Splinter Cell: Blacklist
• Marvel Avengers
• Rayman
• Assassin’s Creed 3

With a close second to Ubisoft, Sony had the next best presentation at E3. My favorite announcement was their decision to make the PS Vita a cross sharing platform with the PS3. What’s that mean? Like the Wii U has a controller with a screen, the Vita will work the same way with the PS3. Players will be able to do more than just access their trophies over the PlayStation Network, they’ll be able to play games on the Vita and multiplayer with people on the PS3. They’re also releasing games for both systems, the first of which is Sony Allstars.

Many other new titles were also announced for the PS Vita:

• Little Big Planet
• Call of Duty: Declassified
• AC3: Liberation
• PS1 classics Tomb Raider and Final Fantasy.

Another new addition to the PS3 is the Wonderbook. While I think it will confuse the hell out of most people, it allows you to read a book and interact with it via Move technology. J.K. Rowling has already written a book for it called the Book of Spells which is in conjunction with her Pottermore project.  I didn’t find this impressive, but I’m sure there will be plenty of kids out there who will love it.

The last big announcement was the PS Suite, now renamed PS Mobile. Similar to what Microsoft is doing with SmartGlass, the PS Mobile will be on open system OS smart phones and tablets and allow players to interact on a deeper level with their games. They’re also “PS Certifying” new technology, starting with HTC platforms. More information will be coming out, but I’m glad that Sony is keeping up with Microsoft on this.

Other than that, there were several new announcements for the PS3:

• Beyond
• Farcry 3
• God of War 4
• Uncharted

The Nintendo press conference already happened, but I’ll be waiting for the 3DS press conference before writing it up. So stay tuned and I’ll have more information soon.

Game of Thrones is an action RPG for the Xbox 360 and the PS3 published by Atlus and co-written by George R.R. Martin, the brains behind the books that have spawned all this craziness. My first criticism of this game is: Not as many boobs as advertised. Moving on from my tits fetish (Don’t judge me, you have one too), this game is phenomenal story wise, okay game play wise, but crashes and burns with animation.

See this?

Apparently people hate staring at that guy. The biggest criticism of this game is the animations during the multitude of cut scenes. This head (and the others belonging to people you talk to) doesn’t move much, has one expression (or has an intense expression that doesn’t match the dialogue), and his lips don’t match his words. In other words, it’s Elder Scrolls: Oblivion all over again. But people loved that game! So why do they hate this game?

My opinion is the criticism from this game come from people expecting more action from their action RPG. I can’t blame them for that, nor can I say that the animation isn’t shitty, because the animation is shitty. What I can do is call them immensely silly for expecting anything that has even the loosest ties to the Game of Thrones franchise to not have expansive dialogue, story, and cut scenes. Atlus would have been better off comparing this game to L.A. Noire or Heavy Rain as it’s closer to that style of game play than the Elder Scrolls or Dragon Age.

So far, this game is mostly what I expected: lots of people talking, less so me killing things. I actually cleaned my living room, set up my file cabinet and organized my files all while listening to the fully voice acted dialogue during cut scenes for the first three chapters. All this chatter is broken up by your own conversation selections and combat, but there’s still so much that it’s like listening to T.V. (I don’t watch T.V., I listen to it – stop judging me).

Besides having robust character dialogue, Game of Thrones has a complicated, in  depth character creation and leveling system. At the beginning of Chapter 1 and again at the beginning of Chapter 2, you create a character based on the main protagonist for those chapters. Not only do you choose his skill allotment, you choose his strengths and flaws, then begin work on the skill tree.

Skill allotment works as it does in most games and the skill tree isn’t anything innovative either. What I thought was a great addition to the game was  Character Traits. Players get to pick three at the beginning that are positive – Born Leader (bonus to allies), Gifted (extra loot), Bloodthirsty (bonus damage against enemies with the bleed debuff), etc. then have to balance those against weaknesses. Each strong trait had a point value based on its usefulness and a corresponding weak trait with its own point value. After players have balanced their values (equal point values on each side) this section of character creation appears to be over and done with.

Except it isn’t. As you go throughout the game, your conversation selections add Character Traits. My Red Priest got one called Devotion which makes him resistant to being caught on fire after I decided he would push his religion in every conversation (on a whim) and choose all of those options. The game recognized this and awarded me for that. My Night Watchman got sever Character Traits after surviving a vicious Wilder attack in Chapter 1.

Unfortunately, that was about the only really interesting thing about that Wilder attack because the combat system, while innovative, isn’t all that entertaining. With several abilities to choose from in the skill tree, it’s easy to discover combination attacks that deal massive damage and with three ability queue slots, it’s easier to execute those combinations. This ease also makes combat repetitive and boring, especially since the animations for the attacks are simple and uninspiring. They’re fluid, sure, but for the Unreal 3 engine, it’s truly lacking any razzle-dazzle.

For me, the story makes up for any failings in the rest of the game. Set before the beginning of the first book just as Jon Arryn dies, you take control of two characters – Alester Sarwyck and Mors Westford. The later is a veteran ranger of the Night’s Watch and the former is a red-robed priest of R’hllor who returns home after fleeing 15 years previously to attend his father’s funeral. I won’t spoil any of the story, but Alester is so far one of my favorite characters in an action RPG.

All in all, I name this game another niche buy. If you are in love with the Game of Thrones IP, get this game. It enhances the current story with its own, though it never overlaps the story in the books/T.V. series. If you enjoy games like Elder Scrolls or Dragon Age and can’t wait for the next game to come out, get this so long as you won’t sit there and nit-pick on how much better those two games are because those games are better game play wise, if equal to Game of Throne’s story. That being said, if you don’t give a damn about the IP and dislike action RPGs, this game is clearly not for you.

Enjoyable, but lacking in some areas, the Game of Thrones RPG will not disappoint fans of the ever growing IP, but the animations may make them cringe. If you can’t stand the animations either, try doing something else while listening to the dialogue. It’s working for me, but then again I listen to T.V. instead of watch it.

Inaba — a quiet town in rural Japan. A normal teenager arrives at the station to begin his year-long stay in the countryside, only to be welcomed by the news of a dead TV announcer. Shortly after, another body appears, mysteriously hung from the top of a telephone pole. The cause of death is unknown, with no leads on the suspect… As the peaceful community is thrown into turmoil, the urban youth and his classmates wander into a strange, surreal place covered by a thick fog…

AHH IT’S PERSONA 4 ON THE VITA!!!!!!!111!one!

Alright, now that that’s out of my system, let me tell you about the original game. Overall Metacritic score of 90, several “Editor’s Choice” and “Best Of” awards, Persona 4 was my favorite of the Persona series to date. I spent over 100 hours immersed in the story and combat, destroying demons in the various levels, and collecting/customizing my demons. As with all Atlus games I’ve played, the story is brilliant, engaging and twists about at the end. Updated from Persona 3, creating bonds with the memorable characters had bonuses outside of unlocking the highest tier of demon fusion.

Persona 4: Golden for PlayStation Vita is an enhanced port of Persona 4. If you read my First Impressions on Devil Survivor: Overclock, you know that an enhanced port from Atlus offers more than just updated visuals. This enhanced port does have remastered visuals that take advantage of the PS Vita’s 5″ OLED display, but it also has more voiced dialogue, additional dungeon features, new demons to collect, new story events, an all-new character and even new cutscenes. Even music has been added curtsey of Shoji Meguro plus more that has yet to be released.

This game is nutty with your characters entering the TV realm to defeat shadow selves and save victims who have been dragged into the TV. In the realm these people are confronted by their deepest fears manifested as their shadow selves. Using Personas – which are the demons I was speaking of before – you defeat the shadow selves and other demons to save those who were thrown into the TV realm to die.

The original game was amazing and I cannot wait to experience the enhanced options for Persona 4: Golden. Especially the voice acting and additional character as both were amazing the first time around. If you haven’t ever played a Persona game, don’t worry because the story lines are not tied together. This game is also a great introduction to the Shin Megami Tensei and Persona series in general, so go out and reserve your copy today! Atlus games aren’t ever released in bulk.

]]> http://specintomisdirect.wordpress.com/2012/05/29/in-before-its-out-persona-4-golden/feed/ 0 janaelle Persona_4_wallpaper_by_Jeff2psyco P4 Fangirls http://specintomisdirect.wordpress.com/2012/05/15/first-impressions-devil-survivor-overclock/ http://specintomisdirect.wordpress.com/2012/05/15/first-impressions-devil-survivor-overclock/#comments Tue, 15 May 2012 15:54:35 +0000 janaelle http://specintomisdirect.wordpress.com/?p=697 ]]>

Shin Megami Tensi: Devil Survivor Overclock is a tactical RPG for the Nintendo 3DS. Published by Atlus, it is an enhanced port of the DS game, Shin Megami Tensi: Devil Survivor. For those who aren’t familiar with Atlus, the company commonly re-release their games, but always gives players who enjoyed the original content a reason to spend their money again. To do this, they enhance the original game with slightly improved graphics,  new story lines, and new music. New features for Overclock are: an added 8th day, as opposed to 7 in the original release; improved, higher-resolution visuals; full voice acting; the ability to choose different difficulty settings; and an increased 20 demons to fight with.

Set in Tokyo, players take control of the Hero (left) as he meets his friends Yuzu and Atsuro. You’re supposed to meet up with your cousin Naoya, but he never shows. Instead, he’s given Yuzu “COMPs” (which look exactly like your DS system) for the three of you to have. Atsuro (being the lovable, too-smart for his own good sidekick) decides to hack the devices which triggers an email telling the future being sent to the three of you.

Yes, email that predicts the future. This is an Atlus game and it is set in the Shin Megami Tensi universe, so immerse yourself and don’t ask too many question or your head will explode.

Yuzu (right), being the stupid, large tittied girl that she is, is certain Naoya is playing a prank on you guys and wants to go see him right away. Of course, one of the things that email predicted was a murder that just happens to be at the same building Naoya lives in and you meet him just outside.

After being vague and warning of things to come, he runs off and leaves you guys holding the bag. Trapped by the government inside the Yamanote Circle, your trio learns (thanks to the protagonist’s ability to see a person’s “death clock”, representing how many days a person will have left to live) that everyone trapped with you is going to die within six days. That’s not the only thing you learn, you learn that the COMPs can summon demons after being attacked by three and defeating them and you’re all going to die tomorrow. That sets off your quest, save yourselves, escape and save everyone else. Along the way, you meet several other characters who will battle with you or share their story.

While the game play is amazing, the story of Devil Survivor (as with most Atlus games) is where this title really shines. Critics of Heavy Rain will probably dislike this immensely as there are many scenes where all you do is listen to the phenomenal voice acting. Because of this, I also recommend the 3DS version over the DS version which doesn’t have full voice acting.

Combat is a combination of tactical and standard J RPG formats. When in battle, the player takes turns with the other characters to defeat individual enemies and satisfy mission objects. Missions generally consist of defeating many demons in an area, completing other mission objectives like rescuing helpless characters, and mission failure results in death. Enemies and players control a squads composed of one leader and two supporting creatures. Each turn, a squad can move and attack an enemy like in any tactical RPG. During their turn, the members of a squad can also perform one additional action such as healing, buffing, disabling the enemy, or summoning a new demon to replace an unconscious one.

The player controls up to four squads. Each is led by a major character with summoned demons as their supporting units and the enemies faced in the game are similar, with squads of demons or a demon tamer with their owned summon demons. Each leader and squad member has up to seven abilities at their disposal: three active ones which are chosen as combat actions; three passive ones that boost the demon/human’s strengths and weaknesses; and a final slot for a buffing or RNG ability, such as being able to move a second time during a turn after combat.

There are many abilities and they are all learned in different ways. Demons learn them through leveling up, when the player trains the demon in a new ability after defeating a certain number of enemies, or by inheriting the ability from one of the two demons used to create it during fusion (the process of combining two demons to create a new demon). Human characters gain these by  using skill cracking on demons or other opponents they face. To crack a skill, the player targets a specific skill that a specific unit has on the field before battle. Each character is given their own skill to crack and they must defeat that unit to succeed in the crack. Other characters defeating the unit will cause the skill crack to fail. Once a skill is cracked, the player can assign these skills across to all other characters they control.

To attack an enemy, the leader has to be standing next to it. After moving and then choosing to attack an enemy, the game switches to a more traditional JRPG system. Players select one action for each squad member and AI does the same for its squad. Extra turns in this rotation can be earned by certain actions in combat, such as striking at an opponent’s weakness (fire, frost, darkness, etc.). While any member of the squad can be targeted, if the leader is taken down to zero health, the entire squad becomes falls unconscious even if the two supporting units remain healthy. The leader is also stronger while either of his squad members retain health.

Defeating individual foes in battle gains experience points for the player and their squad mates, as well as macca (the in game currency). Extra experience is gained if a player removes the enemies supporting squad members before attacking the leader. Obviously, this can also lengthen battles and can give time for enemies to heal themselves to full, so players have to be careful how they play. Completing a battle sometimes earns additional experience and macca for all of the leaders and squad members. It also completely revives any fallen units without the need to rest or heal with items so players can go right back into battle after completing one.

While engaging and complicated, like I said previously, this game is about the story. Players explore the Yamanote Circle as they like, but events are on a time line, like in Dead Rising. If you miss an even because you were talking to someone else, story lines change, characters can die. The ending you get can also be changed, though conversations are not the only factor in that. Oh, and did I mention your cousin is one of the bad guys? This story has more twists and turns than a roller coaster.

The graphics are low key, but clearer in the 3DS version, but actual cut scenes are rare. I haven’t had trouble with this because of how great the voice acting is (how many times have I said that so far?). The music is catchy and adds to the scenes, with the main theme stuck in my head now.

Maybe because I’m an Atlus fan girl (obligatory Atlus squee), but I find this game amazing. I doubt it that’s the reason, but I figure I’ll throw it out there anyways before I declare the game a Must Buy. Really, the only problem with Devil Survivor Overclock was trying to find find a copy of it at a local game store. So if you want it (and you know you want it), try to find it online.

Glitch is a web-based MMO created by Tiny Speck. Similar to Maple Story, it’s much more entertaining and has very few griefers and all around jerks hopping around. I have been playing it for five months now, even though it’s technically still in Beta, and have enjoyed my time in Ur immensely.

But really, what is Glitch? According to Tiny Speck:

My character in Glitch

Glitch is a web-based massively-multiplayer game which takes place inside the minds of eleven peculiarly imaginative Giants. You choose how to grow and shape the world: building and developing, learning new skills, collaborating or competing with everyone else in one enormous, ever-changing, persistent world.

For the most part, Glitch reminds me of the casual games from Facebook on a huge scale and without all the annoying crap. With more depth than any Facebook game, it is easy to get lost for an hour mining, farming, scraping, cooking, or selling goods on the auction house. The developers have programed their Flash based game so it’s easy to navigate, contains bright and cheerful graphics, and has complicated gameplay that is still easy to understand.

There’s a little something for everyone in this MMO: Skills allow leveling and progress; anyone who enjoys decorating or transmogging can make their mark with building an outfit for their avatar or (with the new patch out) decorating their home; hundreds of badges are out there to be collected; crafting skills range from cooking to building furniture, caring for animals or plants to alchemy; and quests break up the monotony by sending you on missions to far away lands to do whatever it is your pet rock told you to do. If you can think of it and it isn’t in the game, putting a suggestion on the forums has a good chance of your idea being implemented later on. Personally, I’m hoping for an “Activate All” button as the only tedious part of the game is activating each individual piece of broccoli to get the iMG bonus. Since if you’re reading this, you won’t know that iMG is the Glitch equivalent to XP so yes, you can grow XP by buying or making broccoli seeds, then growing the vegetable.

Confused yet? Understandable. There’s just so much to do in Glitch that it’s hard to understand in a few paragraphs. Let’s see if I can break it down for you.

When you first sign into Glitch, you’re tossed into the starting area with your pet rock (featured left). He tells you the basics, how to move, where to interact with the world, who the giants are and why they matter, not to mention just what Ur is.

Shrine to Cosma

What is Ur? Well Ur is the world that was imagined into being by the eleven Giants. These giants are important because they preside over different skills. By gaining favor with these Giants, skill learning can be accelerated. Favor is gained by completing quests, donating at shrines dedicated to particular giants, or acquiring badges (getting achievements).

The skills are my favorite part of Glitch. Using a system like that of EVE Online, you don’t have to be in game to learn skills, you just set them and wait for the timer to tick down (An app exists to do this via iPhone and one is being developed for Android). There are a plethora to choose from and picking which one to start with first can be challenging. I recommend picking the crafting and gathering skills you want to explore first and go from there!

Glitch Skill-tree pre-current patch

It’s possible you’re asking what the point of iMG is if the skills are learned on a timer. Currently, Imagination (iMG) is used to buy Upgrade cards. These cards give bonuses, like earning iMG from cooking; getting double harvests from trees, animals, or crops; “gifts” from mining or planting; or speeding up skill learning times. Each costs more or less depending on how useful the particular Upgrade is.

Glitchians start out with three cards and each time they purchase an upgrade, a new card is shown that can be purchased. You never get more than three, though, so if you run out of Upgrades you want to buy, you have to reshuffle your cards. This is done once per day for free, or if you’re lucky one of your Upgrades will be a 200 iMG Reshuffle Upgrade that you can use whenever you please.

The Giant Friendly

Now, days don’t work the same in Glitch like they do in real life, speeding by much faster on their own calender. They even have their own holidays with special events and items to be grown. This is fortunate, because of two stats, Mood and Energy. Interacting with anything in Ur requires energy. Mood determines how much iMG you get by interacting with stuff, but just hanging out will degrade your mood. If either falls to zero, you “die.”

“Dying” consists of being taken to “hell” where you squish grapes a whole bunch until you’re brought back to life with very, very low energy and mood. Mood can be regenerated by imbibing drinks (blending, cocktail crafting skills) and energy can be replenished by eating (there are at least five different cooking skills). Both stats can be replenished by collecting Quoins or through Giant Icons and Emblems. Quoins are funny shapes that hang in the air and when a player hits them with their avatar, they give whatever that shape represented (money, energy, mood, iMG, etc).

Emblem of Alph

As mentioned before, donating to a shrine gives a player favor with the Giant that shrine is dedicated to. When you reach a certain amount of favor with a Giant (starting at 1000), you receive an emblem. These can be spent on reducing Skill learning time, Considered to gain energy, Caressed to gain mood, Contemplated to gain iMG, or saved. Spending can only be done once, but all other options can be completed once per day.

Icon to Spriggan

If you choose to save your emblems, once you have 11 you can turn them into an Icon. When placed on the ground, each time you walk past an Icon it has a chance to bless you with mood, energy, or more favor with that Giant. They’re also able to replenish mood and energy, as well as increase iMG and in significantly higher amounts than Emblems can. Unfortunately, Icons require upkeep in the form of tithes which boils down to you spending a small amount of coin (called currants) every day to regain access to the icons functions.

But if I put it on the ground, won’t someone steal it? Yeah, they probably will, so don’t drop your icon out on the main map. Put it in your house! Every player is given their own house to store their crap, grow their own crops, decorate, and generally fuck around in. At the moment, they can be upgraded with materials to be three stories tall and have room for nearly anything out in the yard: trees, crops, firefly hubs, barnacle mounds, etc. There’s also shelves and cabinets so you don’t have to drop everything onto the floor if you don’t want to (which is good, because if you leave something edible outside and own a pig, it’s likely to get eaten).

Silvertongue herb

Now, not everything has to be inside your house. The maps contain community gardens, animal pens, and machine rooms for when you don’t have quite enough money to purchase/build your own. Glitch also has a great player base, with people communicating and working together without even knowing each other. Food piles for groups mining specific spots are created by generous players and free for everyone to use so long as they don’t take more than they need.

It’s easy to find other players in Glitch, even though the game is still technically in Beta. Chat channels are easy to access and teaming with chatter at all hours of the day, A group function lets you create easy access to people of like minds, or from similar areas IRL or in Ur. Before the current patch, I belonged to one for people who lived on the same block as I did.

Egg Tree

Besides not playing alone, what’s an MMO without an auction house? Want a particular piece of furniture? In need of supplies right now and don’t want to wait to harvest them? Or maybe you need some money to buy more cubimals (collectible racing toy)? Well, take your business to the Auction House. Standard fair for any MMO, the Auction house is easy to use and easy to find, plus makes it easy to get what you need. 

I give this game a full five out of five screaming Jan cats for two simple reasons: There’s always something to do and I’m in no rush to do it. It doesn’t matter if I log in daily, monthly or even once a year. Some things will die if you’re gone for a very long period of time (herbs, crops, animals), but they’re easy to replace. If you’re gone for three or four days at a time, skills and items can be used to keep these things alive (a feeder for animals). I am never obligated to log in or stay for very long, but each time I do go in I have a million things to occupy my time.

The fact that this game is playable in a browser certainly doesn’t hurt things and the bright, vibrant colors keep the different landscapes from becoming droll. An active community and developer interested in it’s player base also keep the game interesting. What I’m really looking forward to, though, is getting in after the down time today and decorating my house for the first time. Woo decorating! (I’m such a girl)

If you’re still not convinced, check out the trailer below then join in, send me a message and I might just give you a key to my house (If you steal my stuff, I’ll kill you ~_^).