#extra entry

This blog has just been inactive at pretty much all times, it’s more like just a “whenever I’m actually feeling in the mood to post” blog, and I know I’m 100% at fault but yeah, between academic responsibilities and my mental health everything is just a chaotic mess.

But guess who is on spring break now! And two weeks no less (that’s just how things work in my country, so sorry for my fellow American people). As I mentioned in one entry before, while in school chances are I will stick mostly to handheld consoles like my 3DS or my PSP, and well, that has become pretty much a wholesome truth, however when I have the time I shall continue on some of my PS2, Wii or GameCube games like I promised to do. Also, I’m actually owing 2 reviews, which, as of today (March 20th, 2015) I promise to post in this week! Now that I have some more time, but even so, again, so sorry for not posting in the past weeks. 

Anyways, although a few titles, I got some of the best ones I could get my hands on! 

Brave Story: New Traveler

Fun fact: When I first was planning to buy my PSP, I was only planning to use it to play Persona titles, especially the first Persona and Persona 2: Innocent Sin, however I came to a conclusion. If I’m going to buy a console, even if it’s second hand, I better have to invest in some other titles you know? It would be a waste of money to just buy a console for 3 games and end it at that, so, while searching for some games to possibly buy, I came across this one. To be honest, I’m not quite sure about what the game is about… I mean, I know it’s a J-RPG! Also that it’s based from a manga/novel, however, not quite sure about the story, but again, it’s a J-RPG, and by the looks of it, about saving the world because it’s only in YOUR-and-nobody-else’s hands. What actually lured me in was the graphics and, I know this may sound pretty strange, the text font.The graphics look pretty darn amazing for the PSP! Like what a PlayStation 2 would have to offer, which is incredible because even now, not even most of the 3DS games try to pull these graphics off. And yeah, I know, how can a text font lure you into a game? Thing is, this text font is the same text font they use for most other RPGs and games of the PlayStation and Gamecube era (examples: Tales of Symphonia and Chulip), and the one it reminded me of the most was Dark Cloud, one of my favorite games of all time, so of course, if it reminds me of a game of my childhood, might as well give it a chance, no matter how weird the reason may be! Not exactly amazingly hyped about this one to be honest, but still looking forward to it. I bought this one in Amazon.com; at first I was planning to buy it at last, but when I decided to check the game out on Amazon, it had a single brand new copy at about 20 dollars so of course I couldn’t let the chance go, and indeed, it was all nicely wrapped and so! I believe complete copies of this game are quite scarce now, so I’d recommend looking on both Amazon and eBay if you want a C.I.B. copy. Not quite sure that this game is in the Playstation Network, so if you don’t have the resources to buy a physical copy, I recommend emulating it. 

Shin Megami Tensei: Persona 3 Portable

First of all, the Female Protagonist path is not cannon and never will be. Now, proceeding to checking this one out: I’m actually hyped to play this one! I know it might seem like, ironic and kinda well… foolish (no in-game pun/reference intended) to play the Portable version just after playing FES, but thing is I’m pretty intrigued by the Female Protagonist path. I know the game has a lot of limitations and downgrades, especially the way of playing which reduced the game to a Visual Novel-esque kind of game (which I absolutely hate they decided to make this decision but oh well, I can cope with it) but it makes me interested to see how they pulled everything out you know? Especially since it’s even a more popular version than FES among fans, for some unknown reason. Also, well, I probably didn’t explained it, but yeah, although this version just cut out the 3D gameplay, they decided to rescue some of it by including the original Male Protagonist and a brand new Female Protagonist, which will now have the chance to do new Social Links with all of your male members in S.E.E.S. and some other new character ones, which of course wasn’t done in FES and the original because no one wants to see a sausage party (but damn right I want to see one).The story remains practically the same, except with a few new events and conversations. Also, the new Social Links between your team mates will provide new backgrounds to them, thing that the original and FES did not, and in my opinion was a very big mistake, because who wouldn’t want to see more insight into Junpei, Shinji, Ken, even freaking Koromaru and precious husband Aki? Also one big improvement about this game is that now you can take control of your team mates just like in Persona 4, and I’m pretty sure there are many more improvements but I’m not sure as to what those would be. I got my copy on Amazon.com at about…. 38 dollars I believe? Physical copies of P3P have risen in price like crazy, and I’m not sure why, but then again, the same is happening to Persona 2: Innocent Sin, so it might be connected due to their age. I honestly recommend, if you want a complete copy, to try eBay, chances are you might get it at a lower price than Amazon, but of course, you can always download it on the PSN at a lower price on your PS VITA and PS TV, that’s if you don’t mind digital downloads of course, unlike me. 

Bayonetta 2

Including Xenoblade Chronicles X, this(these) game(s) right here is(are) the very one reason as to why I want to buy a Wii U. Bayonetta was one of those games that was showered with praise, calling it like a “life-changing” experience of some sorts (I legit heard some people call this game that, no joke). The game originally was released for the PS3 and Xbox 360 around 2009/2010 and it was loved by everyone, however, curiously enough, the sequel to the original Bayonetta, Bayonetta 2, was released for the Nintendo Wii U (I’m not sure about the reasons right now, something along the lines of development not occurring if Nintendo hadn’t intervened, but not sure, might as well investigate them when I make a review of the game, sorry!). The game story is about this witch called, well, Bayonetta, and her adventures, to keep it short. I’ll be completely honest, I have never played Bayonetta, and I’m not familiar with the story either, which is actually the best! Because I want to play this game blind, not knowing anything, so I don’t spoil myself, and also to build the hype up. What I can tell however, is that Bayonetta has grown to be loved by many fans, and to actually become a wide known icon, with some people even getting into fans of the Devil May Cry series about which protagonist (Dante or Bayonetta) is more powerful; she definitely has made an impact in the gaming world. She also has made her way up to games like Smash Bros (but that was, well, pretty much being called for). Now, the interesting thing is that, although this game is not particularly that old, this version that you see here, the one with both games (1 and 2) for the Wii U, has actually grown to be quite expensive as of March 2016. Starting in December 2015 copies of this version were getting hard to find, up until Nintendo announced the release of stand alone Bayonetta 2 (meaning no bonus disc of 1) that copies of this version skyrocketed in price, however I was lucky enough to get this version! This one copy I actually bought it in a store in my city, which I never tend to do because video games in Mexico are way expensive than they should be, but since this was the last copy they had and because it had already risen in price, I bought it at an amazingly decent price, which would be about… 62 dollars or so. Chances are copies of this version will be hard to find on stores, not even in GameStop, especially since the re-release of stand alone Bayonetta 2 which is at a price of about 30 dollars. If you want this version due to Bayonetta 1, I’d recommend places like eBay and Amazon.com but I wouldn’t really count on it, it has grown to be pretty expensive, so might as well recommend you to buy it on the Nintendo e-Shop.

Fragile Dreams: Farewell Dreams of the Moon

Possibly the only Wii title I’m really looking forward this year to actually play. Games like Fragile Dreams are the reason as to why I continue to look forward into obscure artsy video games. Fragile Dreams tells the story about Seto, a boy that was living with a scientist (I believe?) until his death, so Seto decides to embark on a journey to the outside world, a land deprived of humanity due to extinction, and is now looking forward to meet still-living people. Landscapes of abandoned cities, parks, subway stations, or any areas are my absolute weakness, I just love the feeling of loneliness and abandonment they evoke, and this game is full of them. I haven’t played any of it, and I’m unfamiliar with the stories, but by the screenshots and what people have to say about the game, I can tell I will love this one as much as I can; I just fall so easily in love with games with such atmospheres and ambiances, so so easily. This game, however, has been highly criticized for its gameplay, due to it being called too… inconvenient, to say the least; even so, I’m still really hyped. It might sound pretty strange to anyone, but I call Fragile Dreams the “Rule of Rose” for the Nintendo Wii. Both games game been criticized for its kinda “awful” gameplay but praised for their wonderful atmosphere and storyline, and not only that, but Rule of Rose has become a game of collection, with people paying insane amounts of money to get a copy, while Fragile Dreams has been currently rising in price, due to being discontinued by Xseed Games. Fragile Dreams was originally at the low price of 20 dollars, both on Amazon and the online store of Xseed Games, but since its discontinuation, the game has grown to be at the price of 60+ brand new and 35+ used, which is kinda ridiculous, especially since, just like Rule of Rose, this game is of very short length (about 15 or 20 hours of total gameplay). For this game I paid about 39 dollars, complete in box; I know I probably payed almost twice for what it’s worth, but I honestly believe I will absolutely love this one, I just cannot repeat myself enough. I don’t believe this copy is available anywhere digitally (on e-shops, I mean) so if you would like to get a physical copy, I would try in eBay mostly (wouldn’t really count on Amazon on this one) or if not, emulate it with any resource you have. 

I know for three months this isn’t pretty much, but thing is, and I believe I said so in the Video Game Haul before this one, is that right now I’m not looking to buy any more games, unless I’m really interested or they are going up in price, because I just want to finish the ones I have in possession right now (seriously, I have 25+ games that I haven’t played or even touched since last year, I need to step the hell on). So yeah, maybe I will buy a few ones over the course of these months, but nothing big, to be honest. And chances are that I will get a console after the month of June, so, maybe stay tuned for that? (But for real, don’t count on it). 

As I said before, I’m owing 2 gaming reviews: Persona 2 - Innocent Sin and Undertale. I’m about to finish Persona (for PSP) in its entirety, so I’ll be stacking up that one too and I’m going to start playing: Rule of Rose, Chulip, and Fragile Dreams, hopefully over the course of these two weeks (since they are pretty short games, in comparison to the average game length, I mean). So yeah, I’ll get to work on these two weeks so hoping to finish everything soon! 

Before starting, Happy Holidays everyone! Hope you all had a great Christmas and New Year or at least that you celebrated the way you intended to. I haven’t been able to post to this blog in a long time, about since I started my holidays vacations; the reason? Because I have been playing of course! Or gaming, whatever people decide to call it. Thing is, I’m a big fan of Japanese RPGs, and the problem of that is that when your gaming list consists mostly of J-RPGs, you probably will only be able to complete about 1 or 2 in the holidays. As of right now, I have only been able to finish 2 games all throughout December and the first half of January, which is pretty ridiculous, but in my opinion, all these hours I have spent playing have been worth it, and chances are I’ll write my personal review around here. Unfortunately I’m going back to school in a few days, so odds of finishing another game in between these days is pretty slim, but hopefully I’ll get myself onto it! 

Anyways, I have gotten amazing things throughout December, which I’d really like to show everyone: 

PlayStation TV

This right here is probably the best investment I have ever done in the entire year.  Originally, the Playstation TV wasn’t in my list of “Consoles to get”, due to me thinking that it was only an “expansion” of the PS4, but that of course was my first mistake, but it’s completely justifiable. The original purpose of the Playstation TV isn’t to enhance the PS4 experience via a router (from what I got), but mainly to work as a home console version of the PS Vita, which is supported by the fact that the Playstation TV is actually called the PS Vita TV on several parts of Asia. Promoting the Playstation TV in both America and Europe as a “better Playstation 3 and 4 experience!” is honestly a huge bad mistake, actually resulting in complains from some buyers due to expecting nicer and better gaming modes, which were originally intended to be side aspects of this console. That aside, yes, I repeat myself, the main purpose of this console is to play PS Vita games, that’s basically it. Now, onto the console: pure bliss, the end. The PS TV has  the same operative system as the PS Vita, even the same interface and such. Just like the PS Vita, the PS TV has many similar aspects, among the most important ones: being able to play PS Vita games and being able to purchase PSP, PSOne and Digital videogames. In short, this is the inexpensive home console version of the PS Vita and it’s great. People may be thinking that it actually might be a bad idea to play PS Vita games on it since some of them make use of the touchscreen and touchpad function, well no worries! The PS TV works by using the Dualshock 3 and 4 controllers and here is the magic of this: pushing the left joystick lets you use a pointer that works just as the touchscreen in the Vita, and pushing the right joystick lets you use a pointer that works just as the touchpad. Basically the only downside to this is that unlike the PS Vita, the PS TV is not portable, which may not be entirely impossible due to this next aspect, the size: it’s so tiny! I seriously haven ever seen a console be so cute for some reason. There is a size comparison between the PS TV and the iPhone 4, just in case you wonder how tiny it is. To power it you need to connect it to an electric outlet and use a HDMI cable to connect it to your TV (and I suppose even computers too maybe?), so it might work as portable of some sort. Seriously this is an amazing investment if you desire to play PS Vita games but you just don’t have the enough economical resources to buy one. You can pretty much get the PS TV in bundles or just the console itself. The PS TV itself (only console + cables) has an official cost of about 80 dollars, but you can pretty much get it at about 40 or 50 dollars at most places (and I’m talking Walmart, Best Buy or Target places). The PS TV Bundle (which includes the console + Dualshock 3 controller + 8GB Memory Card + cables + The Lego Movie Videogame digital code, basically the best version) has a cost of about 100 dollars, but search it on stores, it’s way cheaper than that! I got the PS TV bundle on Amazon at the price of 67 dollars, it was an amazing steal, and I’ve seen it at about 70 dollars on stores like Walmart. If you’re the kind of person that goes digital on pretty much all your games, then I suggest, if you plan on getting this console, to buy this bundle; although the PS TV has an internal 1GB memory like the Vita, the 8GB is what you will need, AT LEAST. Seriously, this console is pure bliss, if you really want to experience PS Vita games (and even some PSP or PSOne games) and you’re pretty much short on cash, get this version, you won’t regret it at all. 

NOTICE!!! NOTICE!!! NOTICE!!!: I know this might seem kinda incoherent but well, I didn’t really had any use for the Lego Videogame. I have never been interested in these kinds of games, I find them pretty annoying and I’d rather waste my memory on games I actually like instead of, well, this one. So if anyone that actually reads my entries and such is interested in the game, hit me up here on tumblr, just send me a message or anything, and I’m willing to give you the Digital Code, and, no worries, for free! I would prefer to give it away than to actually just wait until the code expires so... The code, alongside with the PS TV, will also work with the PS Vita. It expires on March of 2016, so if you want it just tell me before the deadline. 

Mario Party 9

People might bash me on this one but the Mario Party games, including the latest additions, are probably one of my favorite series of all time. The first 3 games are pure classics, and the GameCube ones are amazingly fun as well. I will side with you though, from the Wii releases onward the games have been on a downfall, but they’re still pretty enjoyable in my opinion! It might sound a bit stupid, but one of my many dreams of all time has been to collect all of the Mario Party games (the main ones of course); I have the first 3 for the Nintendo 64, 4 and 6 for the Nintendo GameCube, and 8 on Nintendo Wii, basically I was missing 5, 7, 9, and 10. I was planning on getting 9 for some while, but thing is, for reasons unknown (seriously, I don’t know what the hell is going on with this one) but Mario Party 9, despite all the reviews and all the buyers opinions, is still as pricey as the day it came out. I don’t know if it’s because there are such low official copies available or something, but you can’t seem to get even a used version of this game unless it’s at the price of 50 dollars. That was my main reason to not buy this game yet due to it’s price, however, this copy you are observing right now, was actually a Christmas gift. My family has known since basically my childhood, that Mario games are my favorite ones, and to be honest, it’s still true! (They are really amusing, even if the games have been milked as much as possible). My brother just saw that I truly got into gaming these last months so he decided to buy me a game, of course he didn’t know what to get me (since I pretty much not talk about it) but he decided to get me this one, since he saw I didn’t had this one yet, and here it is! It was used, and from Gamestop (ugh, at the store I mean), so of course chances are it didn’t had a manual with it and it was right, but hey! It’s a gift, I can’t get picky about it, so I decided to be thankful and enjoy it just like it is. I have seen that this game is actually pretty fun, that it isn’t so bad, so I’m going in with a nice attitude in general, hoping it might be as fun as they say. 

Persona 4 Golden

So hey, you remember how I bought basically most of the Persona games but haven’t really played any of them? Well... I needed to complete the main entries so here it is! In my excuse, I actually bought this one while having been playing Persona, Persona 2: Innocent Sin and Persona 3 so I was able to say that I officially started with the Persona games. To be honest, of all the Persona games this one was the most anticipated for me (I know, basic af bitch, sue me). Although all of the Persona games concepts and stories had sparked an interest in me, who can resist a murder mystery RPG game? It just sounds pretty good. And yes, I know, I should have started with the original PS2 game instead (the one that still had the Shin Megami Tensei trademark), but to be honest I’m all up for enhanced versions, I mean, more story and more elements within the same game, it’s just better, the way I see it (doesn’t mean I won’t play the original version too though), and also I just needed an excuse to buy a PS Vita game for my Playstation TV. So yeah, this is the 4th entry in the Persona series, you play as the Main Character (who goes by the name of Yu Narukami, but it changes depending of what P4 media you are fan of) who just got transferred to a small countryside town, where just right at the moment he steps in, the town gets involved in a series of murder cases, while at the same time, a strange rumor about watching a turned off TV at midnight of a rainy night goes on by the school grounds and the town itself; slowly you get caught up in these events along with your new friends and that’s basically how the story starts. Along some of the new additions to the original game are new difficulties, a new dungeon, better interface, and a few more Social Links. This is a must for a PS Vita or PS TV, so if you’re planning to get one of those, consider this game from the get go. I actually bought this one from Gamestop (I know but I just can’t seem to find the game anywhere else! For some strange reason big stores are not carrying it) at about 20 dollars. Since Atlus has this recent policy of not including manuals along the game cases and actually putting them as digital, well, that’s the reason why it looks so blank. Also, as a side note, I didn’t knew PS Vita game cards are so tiny! If you have big hands like me you’d like to be careful to not lose it or something among the lines. 

So anyway, this is what I got from December. Again, I apologize for not posting but, well, I was, ironically, busy playing with video games! As of now, I have finished 2 (well, basically 3, but you’ll see my reasoning later) and am planning on writing some reviews on the blog. 

Also, on a side note, I probably won’t buy anymore games on the next months. I have bought two PSP titles recently and am waiting on their arrival (Persona 3 Portable and Brave Story: New Traveler), but since I have seen I have so many games that I haven’t played (like 25, no kidding) I decided to focus on finishing at least most of them, and then resume on buying some titles. Good news is, as of now, I have most of the titles I wanted to get, so I’m not really in an urgency of getting any more, but if anything chases my attention then I will proceed to buy it, like usual.