Review of Persona 3 Portable

Now I will cover a title in the fourth of my four favorite game franchises. In this, Persona may be last, but is certainly not least.  Like Metal Gear, I was introduced to the Persona series with a game later in the series, Persona 4, and actually, it was that games updated Vita re-release titled Persona 4 Golden. Here I will review Persona 3 Portable, because it was released first.

 Cover design, minus clutter.. From left to right, Top Row - Thanatos (A persona.) and Aigis, Bottom (Starting lower left corner) Yukari Takeba, Akihiko Sanada, Mitsuru Kirijo, Male Protagonist, Female Protagonist, Junpei Iori



Disclaimer (Again. Sorry, but I play old games.) - This is a game that was released in 2010. The original game was released in 2007, and it's updated re-release FES was released in 2004.  I understand this, but this does not make the game any less purchasable or playable.

Story - 10
The Persona games have some of my favorite storylines. This one is made even better by the ability to go through as either the male or female protagonist (You choose one at the beginning, and do not get to use the other unless you play through the game again and select the other. One theory is that they were in a car crash when young, and whomever you play is the one that survived.) There is no major difference in the overarching storyline, but many, many, smaller changes. You have different social links, certain events happen slightly differently, and your initial persona looks different.

The base Idea is that you are the Protagonist (You choose your own name. The canonical name [As per the upcoming movie] is Makoto Yuki.) and you must fight the shadows of the hidden hour. There are also 22 social links (21 in the original, as they exluded Aigis.) which each have their own sub stories and tie ins. Together there is a large and moving story, that is beautifully written.

Graphics -5
The graphics in the PSP version are worse than those on the Playstation two, unfortunately. I do not have a comparison, but for reference purposes, below is a screenshot of the PSP version of the game.

The best picture I could find. It makes sense in context. Which I refuse to give you (Spoilers. I refuse to spoil Persona 3. In anyway. Except for the bare minimum of origin plot)

  Also, unlike the Playstation 2 versions, you do not get to walk around, but instead slide over using a pointer. Some people like this more, some, like me, like it less. However, conversations take place via character portraits with different emotions. They are nice, very similar to those on the top picture.

Features - 8
The fighting in the game is actually very similar to that in Pokemon. You choose a persona and use it's powers to fight shadows. Each persona has it's own special abilities. However, the most interesting feature of this game are its Social Links. The social links are relationships you form with people around the city, and the higher the social link, the more bonuses you receive when creating Persona's of a a specific arcana that is tied to the person you have the social link with. They are the bonds you create with people that you spend time with, and there is a story within each of the 22 social links that develops as you advance it.

Gameplay - 6
The actual playing of the game is enjoyable, but not as enjoyable as sitting back and just enjoying the story. I actually sadden whenever I have to go to Tartarus and advance the levels of my Persona's. I prefer to go through the daily high school life and develop my social links, which I enjoy because of their story more than their gameplay purpose. 

Content - 7
The original game, via the male protagonist storyline takes about 70 hours to complete (With an additional 30 hours in FES's epilogue. This epilogue was not included in the portable version, and is only available as part of FES) A second run-through would take substantially less, as you stay the same level, with the same equipment, as before. The secondary characters, however, have all been reduced to level one. This could be done to complete social links you weren't able to complete, or collect and fuse persona's you missed.  After doing all this you may want to do the female protagonist's run-through, which should be a little shorter if you do it afterwards, as you will probably skip some of the repeated dialogue. Still, skipping repeated dialogue, it would take about 65 hours starting from level one.

Difficulty -6
The normal difficulty is difficult, but not super hard. There is a useful tutorial that appears when necessary that explains nicely how everything works. These are usually short paragraph descriptions of features. There are several difficulties, with "maniac" being the most difficult, and beginner being least. The difficulty curve is not extreme, but can be annoying while training in Tartarus. The bosses are generally difficult, but, towards the endgame, you could easily be over-leveled making them rather easy. And then there is the optional "ultimate boss" who is nigh impossible, even on the easiest setting.

Soundtrack - 8
The soundtrack is pretty great. I really like the lyrical songs, although some of them are half or all Japanese.
Burn My Dread and Soul Phrase being my favorites of these. Some of the basic background songs are really pretty annoying though. One plays during some social link events that sound like it's saying "double-brown double-brown triple-brown meow triple-brown triple-brown triple-brown meow" over and over.

Voice Acting - 8
There is voice acting, and it is very well done. My largest complaint is that there is not enough of it. It is only used during storyline advancing conversations, and not in social links. It would have been better if it was in social links. I also would have liked to be able to toggle it to Japanese, but that's kind of a big stretch.

Rating - M
Deserved. Some of the Persona's have slightly suggestive designs, and there are mild amounts of offensive language. Plus there's the second picture up there, something slightly mature in theme.

Overall - 9
As with the other games I have reviewed so far, this is one of my all time favorites. The story alone makes it worth playing for anyone that's a fan of anime or fantasy or really just good stories. The gameplay is rather unique and interesting, and is easily grasped. My recommendation - if you don't have this or have never played it, buy it immediately. If you have a PSP or a Vita get the Portable version (It's available on PSN). If you have a Playstation 2 get FES and play that one. If you have both, go for portable. You may not get the epilogue, but you get the entirety of the female protagonists storyline.

Review of Metal Gear Solid 2: Sons of Liberty HD

Metal Gear. Two words together that give me chills and remind me of one of my favorite game series of all time. The first I played was, technically, a trial version of Metal Gear Solid: Peacewalker. I enjoyed this immensely, and, when I obtained my Vita, purchased Metal Gear Solid 3: Snake Eater almost immediately. I am reviewing this game before Snake Eater, because it came before Snake Eater.

From left to right, Solid Snake, Raiden, Vamp, and Rosemary. Note that, while the others are protaganists, Vamp is one of the antagonists. Also note that this is official art, not game renders.

Disclaimer - Again, the original game is twelve years old, having been released in 2001, with an updated release a year later. The version I played was the HD version, released in 2012.

Storyline - 8
The story is great, even if I have heard it described as very, very strange. I would uphold this description. It is often confusing and hard to follow, and the long cinematics may bother some people. There are two parts to the story line - The Tanker, and the Big Shell. The Tanker level takes place two years before the Big Shell Level, and sets up the story. This level you play as Solid Snake, the main protagonist of the franchise. The majority of the game is the Big Shell level, where you play as Raiden, a newly introduced character who is very different from Snake. Their fates intertwine, and there is some really mind bending stuff towards the end.

Raiden

Graphics -6

Of course the graphics aren't as great as that is. The actual game is more like this, throughout the game. The man behind Raiden is Solid Snake.  The HD makes it a little better than it used to be, but I personally don't mind lower quality graphics. These are plenty good enough for me.

Features - 7
There are some really cool features in Sons of Liberty. I particularly like hiding in boxes, although there are few practical applications for this. You can also do pull-ups to increase your grip strength, something I didn't even realize until after I played the game. There are some other nice stealth tactics as well. Throwing an empty magazine to distract the enemy, or even just knocking on the wall to divert them can be immensely satisfying. There is not a very clear tutorial, and you have to figure everything out on your own.

Gameplay - 8
Actually playing the game is very enjoyable. You have many choices for dealing with enemies, you can put them to sleep, or knock them out and hide them in lockers. You can also kill them, but that's usually not as fun. The sneaking around can be very satisfying, especially with the different techniques and abilities you can use.

Content - 7
Sons of Liberty a decently long game that took me longer to beat than it should have. I'd place play time at about eight to twenty hours, depending on difficulty and skill. There are also the VR missions and Alternative missions which would probably take someone really good about two hours. Some of the sniping parts could be really hard, and of course I wanted to use the pistol, not the sniper rifle.(Pro-tip - It's actually more accurate, if you have no Pentazemin.)  And some of the bosses were really difficult and annoying.

Difficulty - 7
I'm switching approachability to this. If there is more than one difficulty I will judge this based on the "normal" one. This will also cover tutorials and initial difficulty, and of course, the difficulty curve.

 The normal difficulty is pretty hard, and there is a very minimalistic tutorial. There is a very limited amount of healing supplies, and knowing whether to die and go back to the start of the area, or to use the precious healing items and keep going can be a difficult decision. You never gain more health or such, but do get stronger, or rather more useful and destructive, weapons.  The bosses are also pretty difficult, and have some interesting abilities. (Spoiler Ahead. Skip to next part to avoid.) Metal Gear RAY was very hard, Simply because I had to defeat like five. And they hurt. Olga shines a light at you to keep you from being able to shoot effectively. Fatman leaves bombs around the area that you have to diffuse or lose. Fortune just can't be killed, and you simply have to spend a couple minutes not dying.

Soundtrack -6
I really like some of the music in the soundtrack, but a lot of it isn't that great. My favorites are the main theme, "There can be only one Big Boss", "Who am I really?" and  "RAY Escapes." These are done especially well, and are excellent as video game music.

Voice Acting- 10
Another new rating, but it should  be fairly obvious.

The voice acting in this game is truly great. David Hayter, who voice acts for Solid Snake, does so incredibly well in all the games. Except for the upcoming five. Which is a point of much debate, but I digress. Raiden too, is well voiced, and is excellent at sounding distressed, and confused, but also steady and determined. In fact, the only voices I didn't like were those of the generic Russian soldiers, which were a little cliche.

Rating - M
This game is rated M, and deservedly so. Not only can you kill people in some pretty inventive ways, there are a number of "suggestive" lines, as well as the simulated taking of the made up drug "Pentazemin" to steady your hands, pretty much necessary while sniping. However, there are some seriously interesting plots and subplots through the game, and I recommend it despite this.

Overall - 9
I truly love this game, and recommend to all that can purchase and play it. If you are in it only for the story, the beginner difficulty is ridiculously easy (Which I see as a reasonable reason to play the game). And when it comes together, the ending is quite good. This is probably the most controversial of the Metal Gear games, but what made some hate it made me love it.

Review of Disgaea: Afternoon of Darkness

 I want to get a couple more reviews under my belt before I continue to go into other subjects. I'd like to review a game before I specifically talk about it, or related games, so I think I will do three reviews this week. The first is the PSP port of the original Disgaea game, Disgaea: Afternoon of Darkness.

"Or, do you want me to give human kids an addictive video game that will deprive them of their sleep?" -Laharl, Main Character

 I purchased Disgaea:Afternoon of Darkness after a friend recommended it to me. It is a great game, and one of my favorites. I've played through the story repeatedly, and am trying to get as many of the extras as possible. I will refer to this game simply as "Disgaea" through the rest of this review for convenience puposes.

Disclaimer: This game is six years old, and the original version (Hour of Darkness) is ten years old. I understand this, and acknowledge this. The game is still purchaseable and playable, however, so I shall review it. 

Story - 9

The core story of Disgaea is, in my opinion, excellent. There are several storylines, about one in each chapter, that converge towards the ending. The story on it's own is pretty good, but what makes it truly great is the comedy. Many times while playing I laughed out loud. There are the scenes where they told Count Vyers, he was now "Mid-Boss" and his class and in-game name changed to match, as well as the entire sequence with the Prism Rangers, were very cleverly and hilariously written. And then there is Kurtis, who is ridiculously cool, and has an awesome soundtrack. And there are heartwarming and beautiful moments, including the "Good" ending and the end of

 In addition, the game has multiple endings. Most of them are based solely on how many allies you inadvertently kill with area attacks, but the "Normal" and "Good/True" endings are very well written. The "Good/True" ending also paves the way for a sequel, Disgaea Dimension 2: A Brighter Darkness, which is currently available only in Japan. While there are other Disgaea games (Currently 2,3, and 4, as well as their ports.), they are not direct sequels to Afternoon of Darkness.

Graphics - 4

The actual game play graphics are not very good. They are very grainy and cartoony, but do have nice idle animations and special attack animations. However, the characters chat-heads and chat-bodies are well done, while still cartoon like. Some characters are a little on the skimpy side in dress (For example, Etna, the female demon on the left side of the cover) but most are pretty good. Flonne is one of the most modestly dressed, and is probably my favorite character. 

Hello. I'm an Assassin. 

Features - 8

Disgaea has some unique features that make the game great. One of these, the Geo Symbols, have become a symbol of the franchise. These are small pyramids that provided penalties or bonuses to colored spaces that are the same color as them. Sometimes, you can destroy them in a certain order, and create a large combo that gives you bonus rewards and damages all those on the colored squares. There is also the Dark Assembly, something loosely resembling a senate, that you can propose bills too. You can bribe them to make  them vote for you, or, if the vote fails, fight them to get the proposed bill passed. There is also the Item world, a world consisting of 30+ random levels in each item. Completing each level will give a bonus to the items power. Finally, the game has full voice acting in the levels, and has the option to turn on  the Japanese voice acting instead, which I very much liked.
 

Gameplay -  6
While the features are well implemented, and the game starts out with a good set of enemies for your level, after the point the game becomes nearly impossible without going back and doing a fair bit of level grinding. While I actually enjoyed this, many people don't, and it can be very frustrating doing the same map 400 times so you become a high enough level to defeat a level 2500. 

Content - 8 
There is a fair bit of content in this game, a few extra stages were added onto the port. Completing the game, with all of it's sublevels and item collections takes a very long time, probably significantly more than 100 hours. It took me about 50 hours to beat the main story of the game, but this may change based on the amount of grinding you do. 

Approachability - 6
This game is pretty good at lowering you into the action gently, then hitting you with a gigantic hammer later on. That said, the tutorial is simple and effective, but there are some things that it does not explain, and it can be hard to figure out how all of these things work, like the Dark Assembly, and bribing. Most things are explained once, and only once.
Additionally, to complete everything, many, many, many, many, many, many, many, many, many hours of repetitive grinding is required. With 100 hours I have two level 2500 characters (The level cap is 9999) and they are not nearly strong enough together to face the next post game objectives. (Ideally, you would have more than one or two people at this level as well, as you can normally use 10 people per level)

Soundtrack - 7
While there are some truly great songs and BGM's in the game, the majority of them are just okay. One nice thing though, is the ability to buy all of the songs in game, and set them as the background music in the item world. On the other hand, Kurtis' soundtrack, the best song in the game, costs a billion HL to buy. After about 100 hours in the game, I am about one tenth of the way there. 

Game Rating - T
I added this since the last one. This will have the games ESRB rating, and what I think of it. 

Disgaea is rated Teen, which I believe is appropriate. There is a little bit of swearing, and there are Etna and Jennifer, who have more of their skin showing than they have covered. 

Overall - 9
As I said earlier, this is one of my favorite games. I enjoy primarily the story above all else, and recommend that, if you cannot purchase and play the game, you at least read the manga. It's horrible, compared to the game, but at least you can get a sense of the great storyline. And listen to Kurtis' theme. It's incredible. 

Here's a link actually - Japanese and English Translation as well.


It's just that good. 

And, as necessary for a true defender of earth, here is a portrait of Kurtis. 

I really like Kurtis. 

Pleasurable Torture and Video Games

Their are certain activities some would find torture others would enjoy. Pleasurable torture may sound like an oxymoron, and in truth, it really is. "Pleasurable torture" is not a term generally used for my purpose, but I could think of nothing better to call it. In this post, I will define pleasurable torture as a negative emotional response or negative experience that the audience enjoys.

This is a lot less complicated than it sounds. Allow me to explain; Many people enjoy watching scary movies, especially when they creep the bejesus out of them. That would be pleasurable torture. In the realm of video games this can work in several different ways. I will look at a few types of pleasurable torture that are commonly used in games.

As mentioned before there is the "Horror" type. This applies to games that intend to scare you, such as Amnesia and Slender. However, both of these games are incredibly popular. People like to be scared, because they enjoy the relief that follows. Then there is the "Impossible" type, in which something is so difficult to do, it becomes almost painful to attempt it. However, there is than a great rush of euphoria, when you finally do succeed (IF you succeed). Finally, there is the "Failure" type, where you play hard and fail anyway, but don't care because you had a lot of fun. This is closely related to the second type, but you once you succeed it is no longer the final type.

If there is a technical term for this, and I am using the wrong one, please tell me. I know the one I am currently using has some negative connotations, but it is the only way I could think to describe it.

First Impressions of Monster Hunter 4

Now that I've reviewed a quite old monster hunter game, I'm going to switch gears a little.

Just this past Saturday, Monster Hunter 4 was released in Japan for the 3DS. I have spent more time watching livestreams of it than I am comfortable admitting, and think I have a good handle on it. I have however not played this game, as it is available only on 3DS and in Japan. In addition, Nintendo region locks their consoles, so even if I had a 3DS it would have to be a Japanese made one to play this game.

Supposedly, this game places more emphasis on story than the previous monster hunter games. Although I can not read much of the dialogue it does seem to be that way. Whether or not the story is any good is unknown, but it must be better than the existing one.

There are lots of interesting features added in, and they updated the combat system greatly, adding dynamic jumping, climbing, and two new weapons. The new weapons each are unique and added many new options for players. The Insect Rod allows an individual to gain special bonuses by sending a bug to take power from the monsters. The Charge Axe allows you to switch quickly between being able to block and attack swiftly, or to attack much more powerfully a little slower, without the ability to block.

They also decided to bring back many old monsters, as well as put in several new ones. Many of the monsters featured have not been in a game since  Freedom Unite, so there are actually three games they have skipped (Monster Hunter Tri, Portable 3rd, and 3 Ultimate). Many things were updated, and there is much new content that should please old and new players alike. The new monsters seem fun and challenging, and have good designs as a rule. Some of the old, returning ones, however, are less inspired. Hopefully they are well implemented.

The Flagship monster - Goa Magara (Shown in the image at the top of this post) is my favorite of the new ones. It appears to be a challenging fight, is very well designed, and he has many unique abilities. In addition the game has you encounter and fight him several times before you can slay him, which gave me the impression of him and the player as furious rivals. (Spoiler warning - Skip to next paragraph if you want to avoid said spoiler.) In fact, the one you fight earlier on, and defeat, actually matures into another form - Shagaru Magara. This is the final monster you fight offline, and the fight is very impressive and dramatic.

With any luck, this game will come to the states at some point, and we can figure out whatever they are talking about and what the story is. I can then also bother all my friends into getting it. All of this intrigues me greatly. Until then, well, there's always livestreams and Youtube.

Monster Hunter Freedom Unite Review

   The series that ultimately led me to get my PSP, was Monster Hunter. I actually started with Monster Hunter Tri, which no longer has online servers (I will likely not review Tri for this reason, even though it can still be played offline), which was an entertaining and well made game I could play with people across America. The experience of playing this game caused me to pick up its predecessor - Monster Hunter Freedom Unite.

It started out pretty boring, but I was able to get to the action pretty quickly, as there was no tutorial. It took me a while to get used to the controls, and I encountered many blocks on my way to the top. First it was the Khezu, which took me several days to beat the first time. The Tigrex,, also proved a  challenge. It's very fast and hits like a train. Probably the largest block was when I had to fight two of the Tigrex's at once.

Above - Khezu

Below  - Tigrex

Now to the actual review part of my review.

Disclaimer - This game is now six years old. That doesn't make it bad, but it is old. it is available on the Vita and PSP via download. I understand I am very late in reviewing it, but it is a game I am very familiar with, and it is still purchasable and playable.

Storyline - 3/10
There is a (very) minor storyline in Freedom Unite. It isn't really good, but it's there. It's also very easy to miss if you skip past all of the dialogue and just do the quests. The only reason I give it a 3 and not a 2 is that you encounter the Tigrex, which is a storyline important monster (kind of), in an early mission, and it is explained that this monster is the enemy of the village and stuff. It's done better in Tri, which also had a better, more concrete story. The story also kind of ends after you defeat the Tigrex, with miniature paragraph  writings about how a specific monster is off doing bad stuff afterwards to lead you to the urgent quests (Quests you need to complete to move on), instead of them being about the village.

Features - 7/10
For my purposes, "Features" will be what the game allows you to do, which in this case is a great deal. The premise of the game is, as revealed in the title, to hunt monsters. You go off, wielding a giant sword, and fight monsters. There are also literally millions of ways to do each fight, and no limit to the amount of times you can do (or try) them. You have many different weapons and weapon types to chose from, each with their own pros and cons, and an even greater  number of items. Defeating the monster rewards you with parts of that monster that you can use to make armor or weapons out of. These tend to look amazing, and are one of the greatest things in the game. The different weapons all have their own special abilities. The Lance can block almost anything, but the Hunting Horn plays songs that gives benefits to you and your allies. However, their is little outside of hunting and gathering to do (although I don't know what else you'd want to do).

Gameplay - 9/10
For my purposes, "Gameplay" will be how the features are implemented and how the game itself runs. Freedom Unite shines in this respect. Although the controls are clunky and take some getting used to (This has no effect on the Vita, as you can set the camera controls to the right directional stick), you do get a good amount of control over your character.  Fighting is tense, and you have a sense of nervousness, knowing that one hit could lead you to your doom. You choose a weapon, and go out, attempting to time your attacks in ways that don't leave you exposed, and hoping that you can defeat the monster before you run out of healing items. You have to manage them wisely, as a baattle could last for up to fifty minutes. Few monsters in other games take longer than five minutes to beat. In Monster Hunter five minutes is a good time on most large monsters. This leads to a major feeling of accomplishment when you defeat them.

Content - 9/10
Content will cover both quality and quantity. Again, Freedom Unite does well here. There are hundreds of hours of content. You go through low rank, and then high rank, which is basically low rank but harder. Then there is G rank. G rank is different, there are more new monsters and most have new abilities. In addition there are hundreds of weapons and armour pieces you can combine in various ways. And, as mentioned before, there are literally millions of ways to go at each of the many quests.

Approachability - 3/10
Approachability will be the intimidation factor on new players. 10 being easiest to pick up, 1 being hardest. Freedom Unite is not nice on new players. Not only does it start out very boring with some requests to just go out and gather items, when you do get into fighting there is a very steep difficulty curve. After you get past the first urgent, fighting a giant velociraptor thing, you have to face some stronger monsters. And they will tear the unprepared apart. Again, Tri was better in this regard, and was more newbie friendly.

Soundtrack - 7/10
I personally like the soundtrack, but I know there are others that feel differently. The main theme is very brass heavy, and has a kind of epic feel to it. The themes to many of the individual monsters are also really good and have nice instrumental themes. The reason I didn't rate it higher? The same track is reused too many times. Each individual monster should have had it's own theme.

Graphics - 5/10
The graphics in this game are about average for a PSP game. It's very grainy, but you can get over it. However, there are still some really cool things in it that look nice. This game is not nearly as nice looking as Tri though, and no where close to Tri Ultimate. However, this is not something that should be held against it.
Additionally, as I mentioned earlier, this game is six years old. The graphics then were not quite as advanced as they are now. In general, it is pretty grainy, and if not for the attention paid to the weapons, and the ecology cinematics, I would have given it a 4.

A female hunter attacks a Popo. Screenshot of game.

Overall - 9/10
Overall score is not an average of above score. Though this is one of my favorite all time games, and is quite good, I recognize it has it's faults, and could have been better.  Even so, I strongly recommend getting this game if you have a Vita or PSP. The cost is well worth it. And because it is an older game, it is only around twenty dollars in most places, sometimes cheaper. If you can get into it, and ignore the cruddy graphics and horrible storyline, it becomes a great and memorable game. 

Hello. This is a Blog about Games.

Hello reader. This blog, which you found your way to somehow, is focused on games. This will encompass primarily video games, as well as lesser degrees of pen and paper role playing games, and trading card games. At some point I may also address board games or more general card games as well. I will attempt to bring a degree of humor into my posts, but that will not be my main concern when writing on this blog.

I will review some games, those I can. Unfortunately, I can only review games available on the Vita, Wii, and computer, unless certain circumstances are met. At some point I may purchase the required materials to play GameCube games on the Wii, but this is not in the near future. I also have a small budget and am limited in purchases of new materials and games. In fact, I probably will only acquire new games once or twice a year.

I may also discuss themes and the development of a subject across a game series. These I can potentially discuss without having played the game, however in these cases I would have a very limited scope of vision. Additionally topics as a whole related to video games will be discussed, such as recurring themes in games, or the appeal of first person shooters.

Finally, I would like to post a series of guidelines in regards to responding and requesting topics.
I do moderate comments and offensive or obscene comments will be removed. This is a school blog after all.
I will accept requests made by readers, however there are certain limitations to this. If you have a request simply post.  I ask that you only request game reviews of games that I have, in the list at the bottom of the blog, or provide me with means of playing said game (Such as a link to the location of an online game)
When requested:
-Topics I was planning on writing about will be moved up in importance. (This includes reviews and other subjects)
-Topics I did not think of will be promptly researched and put high on the list of importance.
If there is a request made of something I specifically do not want to post about, I will tell you so and why.


My next, and first real post will be a review of one of my favorite games, Monster Hunter: Freedom Unite!