#and the dialogue in PSP is so funny

[andrevasims]

[jessjustplay]

First Impressions - Lunar Silver Star Harmony

October 12, 2024

I like to do these First Impressions post after four hours of gameplay since I think that’s a reasonable amount of time for a “first impression” of the game. I’m currently at 7.5 hours because I haven’t wanted to stop playing this game. 😊

Lunar Silver Star Harmony is a PSP game, a variation of the PS1 game. I never got to play the original PS1 game so I’m glad the PSP game is available on the PlayStation store! (Once again my PS Vita coming in handy!)

Immediately, I fell in love with the graphics. The pixel art reminds me a lot of Star Ocean First Departure R. The text is kind of blurry which is a bit annoying, but I’ll live. The anime cutscenes are also blurry but that’s understandable. It’s an old game! I don’t mind them, if anything it adds to the old-school charm.

The characters are great and the dialogue between them is so funny. I really like everyone and you can tell the like each other too, which pulls you closer to them.

Nall in particular is a meanie but funny, I like him! There is also a character named Jessica who we keep hearing about but haven’t met yet. 👀

Also, during the scene above when Luna was saying she was staying behind, I was freaking out. I didn’t want to lose her so I’m glad she decided to stay.

Some other little things I have been loving:

• You can save inside dungeons! Actually you can save anywhere which is amazing.

• Turn-based battle systems are always fun.

• Nall heals your characters in-battle whether it’s a status ailment or death. Handy!

• I like the anime cutscenes when you meet a new character.

• Alex’s parents are so supportive and encouraging… even though Alex IS a kid, so it’s also a bit concerning they give him so much freedom. 😂

• When you control an Adult in battle, they are waaaaaay stronger than Alex & friends which is a nice detail. (It’s realistic and makes sense.)

And here is where I currently am. I just got the Application to take the transporter thing up to Vane. They say Vane is a floating city that circles around the shrine of Althena and I like how you can visually see a rock circling around the shrine on the world map. Another small detail that makes this game so good!

[aero-sense]

I'm enamored by how games interpret stories (especially from other titles) and how I interpret those game mechanics, so I decided to start a series of my little observations/speculations on games I like. To start off is first game in the Atla trilogy series.

The first game in the series is a bit unique, taking place after Book 1 finale instead of adapting straight from the show. Its an original story, so I'm excited to play it.

I will be playing the PS2, DS, and PSP versions of the game. The PS2 version will be the main reference for my notes. The other versions will be denoted by brackets. The main posts will be divided by levels.

This is not meant to be a critical review or a detailed walkthrough. All I will do is point out little details I notice or like. I'm doing this for my own fun, not to be accurate.

Now to get into the game!

Waterbender Village:

The game starts off with some pretty backgrounds and snow. The particle system for this game is great. Love the character models and how expressive they are during cutscenes.

The title map says it's the Waterbender Village, but I think Waterbender Temple would have been a more interesting title. The people there refer it to be a peaceful training village.

The Northern Tribe does seem to exist, as the trader downtown references Zhao's invasion. It's suggested or assumed as the biggest city around. It's nice world building, changing the water tribes into several disperse settlements rather than just two large collectives.

Sokka in the cutscene and on lookout acts rather.... quiet and standoffish. It's suggested that he misses his father. If we're following the events of the Book 1 finale as well, you could assume he's mourning Yue too.

The most out of character detail is how player-controlled Aang starts off by fighting wolfs.... let's just assume he's playing with them.

So cute how Momo will cling to Aang while he walks around. If you shake him off or fight, he'll fly off and immediately come back again when you're done.

As Momo, you can shriek at the enemy and catch their attention? Funny if this is how he interacts with most living creatures.

You're given a lot of different items to wear to increase attributes. It would have been fun to see the gang accessorize this much in show.

Increasing certain attributes can increase the damage for certain characters in the following order: Agility for Aang, Strength for Sokka, Life (maximum health) for Katara, and Focus (chi) for Haru. It matches well for their respective traits.

This is the friendliest the Water Tribe has been portrayed. Aang befriended many of them. He sled with a fellow fisherman last week. Likewise, the people around the village know what Aang's up to for the day. Many of them give him space and ask how he's doing or how was his meditation. Overall, they're all comfortable with each other.

This portrayal of the Water Tribe really displays their strong community. A lot of the characters are named or titled, and have friendships with each other. Don't know someone? Form a search party anyway, with just as much concern you'd have for a family member. Half the town overhears a rumor about an old woman without supplies and ask if the avatar could check it out. It's sweet.

One of the reasons I chose the PS2 to focus my notes on is because of the voiced lines from the characters. It's a different atmosphere running around and overhearing small talk. Their voices give so much life to the world, between being happy, exhausted, distressed, and annoyed for implied reasons. The dialogue is great in this version, because it changes throughout quests and major plot progression.

Common dialogue of the village are people often lamenting about the cold, gory jokes about firebenders (hah), day to day life with hunting and friends, and how the war affected them for so long.

A plotline quest is we have to find a missing waterbender named Hiryu. What we know about Hiryu is he's well-liked around the village, one of their best hunters, and a bit of a storyteller. He's friends with quite a lot of people and a lot of them are concerned about him missing.

The marks leading to the tunnel looks like an animal crawling out, or sadly, a man dragged in.

Immediately when the Fire Nation attacks, the snow turns to soot.

It's sad seeing the destroyed village (especially with how much time I spent running around for quests ε=ε=┌(;￣▽￣)┘).

The soldiers, nonbenders with weapons, are stronger than the firebenders. It implies a lot, that having a well-trained nonbender is better than a couple of low-ranked benders and that bending doesn't throw the war in your favor...

The fire comets can hit the fire benders themselves... yeah I'm reiterating my previous comment.

[DS]

Very cute models, but so far the dialogue doesn't stand out much.

There's little animations for cut scenes and the like that are really cute (look at Sokka's face!).

Momo will eat your discarded items.

The icons are just the redrawn icons of the PSP character art.

[PSP]

Cute that both PSP and DS include the otter penguins. You can't attack them.

I really like the music outside of the village. It sounds like echos of the tundra with wind chimes mimicking the ice.

The character art is great by the way, it's very expressive and cute for the main characters.

In this version, Katara looks sad not to go penguin sledding and happily promises to go afterwards. If you talk to her again while doing other quests, she actually starts to get ready. I prefer this version the most. It's very fitting for her character.

Katara's waterbending master is referred as Pakku in this version.

HP is called honor points which is cute. The MP instead is called chi. Makes sense.

The dialogue for the PSP version is a little more pleasant and smooth compared to other versions. I wonder if the writers got more time to polish the writing.

[seventhheavenmod]

So firstly, you’ll need to have the original Final Fantasy VII installed on Steam lol Next thing you’ll need to do is download the “7th Heaven Mod Manager” in order to run these and any mods. You can find it here 7th Heaven - The Ultimate Mod Manager for Final Fantasy 7 PC

Once you install it, run the program and play the game through the manager before doing anything else. When you do this, it will ask you if you want to create a separate copy of your Final Fantasy VII for running your mods, click yes on this. This new copy can be found in this Games folder in your C drive.

You need to run the game once with 7th Heaven manager so it can configure some stuff, and then you’re able change different settings in Game Driver tab, like the resolution, anti-aliasing etc. You’ll also want to turn on Steam Combability under the Advanced tab in Game Driver settings so you can unlock achievements and log play time (Steam will need to be running for this work).

Now you’re going to need to download all the mods I’m using from the following links.

ModdersHaven Offical Release at Final Fantasy 7 Nexus - Mods and community (nexusmods.com) This mod contains two packs that update all of the character models to look on par with Crisis Core PSP and it also includes a texture pack that updates all of the battle environments. These three require the 60FPS mod in order to work, which can be found in the 7th Heaven manager browser (usually always at the top, like in the picture below). The 60FPS mod must be placed UNDER the character mods in priority on your mod list, other the characters don’t render properly which is kinda funny lol (Barret's gun is just floating and Tifa's fists don't connect to her arms).

OGFIELDS - COMPLETE FIELD REPLACEMENT at Final Fantasy 7 Nexus - Mods and community (nexusmods.com) This mods add brand new AI upscaled replacements for all of the pre-rendered backgrounds.

ESUI at Final Fantasy 7 Nexus - Mods and community (nexusmods.com) This mod allows you to clean up the text in the menus and dialogue boxes, as well as adding transparency effects on dialogue boxes>

ReMusic - REMAKE Music Replacement at Final Fantasy 7 Nexus - Mods and community (nexusmods.com) This mod replaces the original midi music with all of the new music from Final Fantasy VII Remake Intergrade.

Cosmos FMV - Cutscene character model replacement at Final Fantasy 7 Nexus - Mods and community (nexusmods.com) This mod adds updated versions of the FMV movies, I use the 30FPS version. The mod comes with two options, these detailed chibi models or more realistic proportioned characters, which is the one I use.

(Tsunamods) Cosmo Memory at Final Fantasy 7 Nexus - Mods and community (nexusmods.com) This mod adds a bunch of new sound effects, like footsteps, background ambience and battle grunts, as well the option to replace old UI/menu sounds with ones from Final Fantasy VII Remake Integrade.

Tsunamods Team mod collection at Final Fantasy 7 Nexus - Mods and community (nexusmods.com) I only use one of the mods listed here and that’s the Pheonix Tale avatars, that updates all the avatars to the ones from Final Fantasy VII Remake Integrade, with 3 different styles.

Next you will then want to extract and copy all of the mods into the 7th Heaven folder, under Mods in the new FF7 folder 7th Heaven Manager made. Refresh your Mod List in the manager to make them all appear (the refresh button is one far right of the manager). Then re-order the List Priority like how I’ve got it (at least for the top 3).

And that should be it! Have fun!

[bmpmp3]

and you know recently i was thinking about the otome isekai vs otome game conundrum (a lot of the tropes and genre staples the isekai stories have in their fictional otome games are not very reflective of real life otome game trends historically) again and like ive mentioned before now that i dont mind that too much (although i do personally prefer my isekais generally to be into a book or a comic or something linear (or of course the classic isekai into the past or an alternate universe is also great) unless the story really goes out of its way to take advantage of video-gamey weirdness. if u die in the game u die in real life!!!!!!! shit like that LOL) but i was also thinking about like. i wonder how an isekai into an otome game would actually look like....

there is the problem that the localized scene is only a fraction of whats out there (although recent years have been very kind to us! but if u ever want good motivation to practice ur japanese, go on vndb and look at the sheer amount of jpn only psp otome games there are on this earth 😔 someday.....................) so if u were going based off the english speaking perception, otome games are like painfully varied genre and setting wise and full of high stakes action LOL we have been getting quite a few lower stakes ones about actors though recently....

alas as implied before i dont speak japanese (YET.......) so my knowledge is only secondhand and you should take everything i say with a grain of salt BUT it does seem in the jpn only psp era we had a LOT of highschool otome games, and it seems like samurai never go out of style. vaguely medieval and vaguely victorian fantasy is also a classic, although unlike most of the isekai stories it seems nowadays most villains will be men (another guy to romance) and villainesses are still pretty rare after like 2005.... but its still difficult to find a common denominator here to play off of cliches

BUT i do think there could be something funny about an isekai main character trying to remember the exact dialogue options needed to not get a random bad end HJWHRJDSHJFs oh fuck if i go left i'll run off a cliff and die!!! or was it right.....

but thats more on the character route-structure visual novel side of things, on the more stat-raiser-y true dating simulator side of things (we dont have a whole lot outside of a few indie games and a couple fantranslations) those seem to be largely fantasy (Angelique and the like) or high school stuff (there were ten bajillion on the psp and some ds ones too!)

many isekais do take the angelique fantasy story route, but it could be fun specifically to play on the princess competition premise. also didnt one angelique game let u play as the rival character? thats a bit intriguing...... but on the later highschool dating sim end of things i guess it makes sense thats not used as a setting that often LOL i mean I was playing storm lover kai like one wrong turn could kill me BUT that is not. the intended experience of these games hkjfdhjrkgfeldjfs but actually maybe it could be interesting for a horror or thriller story.... i just wanted to have fun being isekaied into my favourite romcom dating sim but everyones dying somehow????? this isnt in the programming?????????

i dunno its kinda fun to think about! i think usually among the english speaking audience the general consensus is that if they were isekaied into their favourite otome game they'd probably get killed immediately. if that says anything about the medium as a whole in the localized sphere.

[runimanio]

2024 Game Clear #12 Shin Megami Tensei Persona

yea playing that persona remake all the kids are talking about!

This is an interesting game to playthrough considering what persona would morph into over time, I enjoyed it for the most part but I do have some gripes with it's story feeling a little disjointed at times, the battle system was also painfully slow and almost made me drop the game until I learned I could skip animations and use auto actions which then I did start to have fun with this game combat.

I also don't think binging it in a depressive funk is to it's benefit but that's not the game's fault.

I only did the SEBEC quest (with Reiji) because frankly I think I would go mad if I had to listen to Lone Prayer again and from what I saw the Snow Queen quest kinda look like a chore. I did watch a playthrough of it and yeah kind of glad I decided not to playthrough that, though I do find Naoya (player character) needing to deliberately fuck around and break the seal on the mask & then bring it to the one person he was told not to bring the mask up around to start the quest funny. We truly fucked around and found out.

but from what watched the other party members seemed a bit unlikable to me at least in this storyline. They're all so unempathetic and it doesn't really feel like they grow as characters. Granted I didn't play this properly and some of the moments that endeared me more to Nanjo is missable dialogue like Nanjo slowly giving into the catchy convenience store song so maybe I would think otherwise if I actually played through the quest myself.

PS: Have I ever mention how much I loved the PSP GO,very cool system to play these type of games on

[dragonballevolution]

i realized no one on earth has ripped the dragonball evolution psp game dialogue portraits so clearly i have to do everything myself around here. HOPEFULLY i got them all? maybe i’ll also rip the bgs at some point. also uploaded on spriter’s resource

if you use these to make funny images please for the love of god show me

[telvanni-nerevarine]

So I got to thinking about all the new people to the ffvii fandom that are probably brought in by the remake and thoughts I'd compile a list of content for y'all to get caught up. I recommend you play/watch in the order I list to avoid spoilers.

OG. It's almost always discounted on steam, and is ported to every iteration of PS, and still decent price. If you dont have the ability to buy it, then I'd personally recommend blacklightattack or eyesonfinalfantasy on youtube, both have very sound and thorough explanations of what's going on and are 100% type letsplays.

Crisis Core. Most of us dont have PSP I assume, I do not remember who I watched play it, but I know cryotic has a let's play. Cutscene movies exist but that's a lot of funny content cut out so I recommend a lp instead. You have plenty of time till episode 2 of remake is out and it's about to be summer break. Dont worry.

Optional:--You can watch last order now or wait till watching a let's play of before crisis. It's on both youtube and watchcartoononline, possibly kissanime as well.

Next is before crisis. There is a youtube lp with english translation that should show up with a search. I recommend it before the books and AC because it explains a lot of things without spoiling too much.

On the way to a smile. Thelifestream.net has both a translation of text and audio books of each chapter. You can also watch the animated Case of Denzel chapter, but that is optional. Most anime websites should have it. Also optional is The Kids are Alright, a book talking about Reno's childhood.

Advent Children. I recommend it after OTWTAS because it doesnt quite make sense otherwise. Please ensure you watch complete (extended) edition. Can also be found on most anime websites.

Maiden Who Traveled the Planet. Dubious canonicity, book during OG following Aerith. Only read after dealing with OG. Will spoil stuff. Is also on thelifestream webpage.

Dirge of Cerberus. 3rd person shooter where you play as Vincent. You probably dont know who he is at time of reading this if you're new, but will know by the time you've gotten here after doing the rest of the list. It's a but wonky but there are let's plays and cutscene movies galore. A+ on story, D- for controls. Last mandatory part of compilation of ffvii.

Recommended:

Maiden Who Traveled the Planet. Also on tls. Spoiler heavy, read after OG.

The ultimanias and reunion files. On tls. Essentially the books that explain stuff that you normally wouldn't otherwise catch.

Dissidia, and 012 and NT. Cutscene movie recommended. NT was a disappointment to fandom but is still canon.

FFX and FFX-2. Canonically same universe as seven. Humans in VII came from the world in X.

Theres a youtube animation series called The Death of Cloud. I dont recommend it personally, but it's got official square recognition. Not canon. Spoiler heavy.

FF Mobius Fatal Calling event. Cutscene movie is all over youtube. Event I believe is actually over. Spoilers but minor.

Brave Exvius, World of FF, and Record keeper have events and stuff. Also theres that music game.

Kingdom Hearts series has instances with FFVII characters. And notoriously hard Sephiroth hidden boss fights.

TLS has alternative translations of the games Japanese text archived, and revealed scenes that are still in the OG VII's code but not accessible by the player without mods. Like the speech Sephiroth was meant to give and more Honey Bee content, and removed character dialogue. Also has like, early concepts and art that are massively different than what came out. Just, explore thelifestream. It's a good site for all things ffvii. And has interesting forums and podcasts.

Also if you like sefikura, check me out on AO3 and FFN @ YanderePuppet. Best content recs I have for other authors and ffvii stuff would be asreoninfusion , RavenclawKohai, and waifujuju.

[belliesandburps]

Followup with MGS4 Peace Walker and 5?

History has a funny way of repeating itself. :P

This one's actually gonna be long, so I'll cap it here to spare those uninterested in non-kink posts the burden of having to scroll past this fanboy rant. 'XD

Metal Gear Solid 4: Guns of the Patriots

3. It's Okay

Soooooo...not a controversial opinion to say that I don't think MGS4 is GREAT. I adored it when it first game out, and I still enjoy replaying it from time to time. But good lord, so many of the interviews shed light on a LOT of this games problems.

Some backstory is required. Hideo Kojima was done with MGS by this point. He planned to move on and leave the series to the younger generation. But then, there was a lot of internal conflict and struggle to determine what MGS4 should be after Fukushima quit (AND was rumored to have been murdered by the Yakuza...how that rumor started...and became a SERIOUS rumor that millions believe, I do not know...). So Kojima came back, course corrected, and the end result was kind of a giant mess.

I'm not talking story because, there's just way too much to unpack. But as a game, MGS4 can't decide what sort of video game it wants to be. It had a brilliant idea that had never been done before with its Battlefield Stealth, which were the best parts of the game. And then they get dropped two acts in, and what gets replaced in their stead is not nearly as fun.

The game had substantially less boss fights than its predecessor, and a lot of them were mechanically simplistic or just didn't let you get creative with how you fought them. And we later learned there were a lot more bosses planned, more gameplay sequences planned, and an entire other PMC group that got canned in favor of the Scarabs so Shadow Moses could be guarded by machines instead.

There's a lot about MGS4 that I love. I think the first two acts are amazing, ESPECIALLY Act 2. I think the mechanics are great. REX vs RAY is criminally fun. The sheer buffet of insane weapons gives the game a good amount of replay value. And the graphics still hold up to this day!

But what I finally realized is that the game juggles way too many ideas and doesn't give any idea the time they deserve to flourish. Battlefield Stealth could've CARRIED MGS4. But it gets dumped before we can get our moneys worth. A disguise sequence could've been really creative, having to juggle different identities with OctoMask every time one identity is burned. But it's only used once and wasted because it's only used for a terrible tailing mission that doesn't let you actually explore the European City. And too many of the action set pieces are kind of bland except the bosses and piloting Metal Gear.

MGS4 should've been MGS4. Not MGS's "Best Hits."

Metal Gear Solid: Peace Walker

1. LOVED it!

I know this is unpopular to say, but I'll say it. Peace Walker is one of the best Metal Gear games ever made. I adored almost everything about it. The gameplay improves on MGS4 in most ways because it doesn't juggle a billion ideas all at once. It's MGS4 stripped down to stealth action from start to finish, and that's all I wanted. The level design is great. The insane volume of guns changes the entire feel of combat in later post-campaign gameplay. The mission select options mean you can jump into all the parts of the game you enjoy the most. There's TONS of bonus missions that are really inventive and fun to replay. And the story is one of the best in the series. It's straight forward, very tight, characterized well, and is the best iteration of Big Boss to date.

Peace Walker's also the FUNNIEST MGS game by Kojima as well. There's so much more personality and levity to everything, to the point where Big Boss often feels like an MCU character. That might sound bad, but it's really not. That corniness fits MGS PERFECTLY, and I'd argue is tonally spot on for this series. MGS doesn't need to be dark, gory or explicit. It's a silly series that's about giant robots, corny bad ass super agents with an anti-nuke message.

The only downsides to Peace Walker are the QTE's and the boss fights. This was a feature that only ever appeared in this game and for good reason...it was fucking terrible. So basically, you had cutscenes that forced you to do various QTE's or else get dinged on your ratings at the end, even if you played perfectly. Fairly minimal, but then, you get to Strangelove's torture. And this is the single most rage-inducing part of any MGS game ever made. It's an insanely physically painful button mashing sequence that will leave your fingers raw and your PS3 triangle buttons jamming. And the ONLY way you can replay one of the best missions in the game (the prison escape where you have no items) is by redoing that sequence over and over. And the boss fights? While inventive, they're all just grindy bullet sponges with no personality, no stealth tactics, and no room for creativity the way you can get creative with every other MGS game's bosses. This was the biggest disappointment for me because the stealth and combat mechanics of PW are great and would've been SO good against human enemies like what Portable Ops had. Instead, every boss is a mini-Metal Gear all voiced by the VOCALOID AI from the mid 2000's, and each one takes forever to destroy. It sucks because PW had a TON of bosses, but only a few of them are any fun, and that's only if you have weapons that are strong enough that they don't take ages to destroy.

But asides from the bosses, the REST of the game is so damn good that I don't even care because that's just one element to a much larger, grander game. Which is even more impressive when you consider PW was originally on the PSP before the PS3 port. And this game has more content and replay value to it than most games I've played since.

Metal Gear Solid V: The Phantom Pain

1. LOVED it!

Hooooooookay...so, I've rambled about my storybook romance with MGSV for YEARS now. (Just ask @twistedtummies2, he's been subjected to my fanboying of this game more than anyone in existence XD) But there's a reason I regard this game as one of my all time favorites and the best MGS game to date.

It's REALLY freakin' fun.

Kojima had been re-energized by the time he got to MGSV. He'd been working on the game around the time he finished Peace Walker in 2010. He KNEW it was his final MGS game and wanted to do something completely different...

...He wanted to make a game where the central focus was on...waaaaait for it...the gameplay...

MGSV was designed to be, what he described, as a toybox. You have these missions that all take place in structurally unique outposts like any level in MGS. And the missions are designed with the structure needed so that they all feel different, but all remain so open ended that you can play them countless different ways.

MGSV's game model is everything GTA SHOULD'VE been. It fully embraces the open world freedom and incorporates that into the missions flawlessly. And it plays in such a way that stealth and combat both feel like they were the primary point. In MGS, combat is usually a last resort. But with MGSV, you can fly into an outpost blasting away on your helicopters mini-gun, shoot up the bad guys, rescue your target, throw them back into the chopper and fly away while "The Final Countdown" blares on your choppers loud speakers.

Every method of gameplay is valid and the controls, the enemy AI responsiveness, it's all, bar none, the best I've experienced in ANY video game. Sneaking around feels tight and tense and combat makes you feel like Jack Bauer on adrenaline. (I mean, he IS the voice of Venom Snake)

And I really like the story for the most part too. Its weaknesses are really glaring. Namely, the "Fun" of MGS is completely devoid in the story (which is really odd since it's FRONT AND CENTER in-game). Venom Snake only has maybe six minutes of dialogue in the entirety of this 30+ hour long game. And the way Skull Face gets completely undercut right at the home stretch is something I have NOT stopped bitching about for almost six years, and my friends can personally attest to that.

That and the ending feels too abrupt.

We know that Kojima got fired by Konami's VP and said VP scorched the entire production company after that and made a series of dickheaded decisions that pissed off a LOT of fans, burning much of the good will Konami IP fans had towards the company. But that had nothing to do with MGSV's abruptness. That was the plan from the start because only Kojima would think to end the entire series on a plot twist like that.

And I think the issue isn't the twist at all. In fact, I LOVE the twist. The issue is that the game should've continued beyond it so Venom Snake could cope with the truth and realize how badly he'd been screwed. I think even people who hated the twist could've been won over if there was a little more to the games epilogue than Episode 46.

Also, the games boss fights were a tad underwhelming. Not the fights themselves, I LOVED all five of the games bosses.

Oh? There were twelve?

No. I meant what I said. Because so many of the games bosses are rematches against the same bosses. All MGSV has is the Skulls, Quiet, Eli, The Man on Fire, and Metal Gear. They're great bosses that do everything the best MGS bosses always did; give you tons of options, incorporate combat AND stealth, have varied attacks AND even have multiple methods to sneak around the boss and avoid the fight completely. But for a game as long as MGS, you need more variety. And frankly, the bosses NEED more personality. Skull Face should've had more XOF assassins acting as the bosses in the game along with the ones we have. Elite assassins like Quiet, with their own powers and specialized weaponry so the fights feel completely different from the ones we have. And oh yeah, SKULL FACE HIMSELF SHOULD'VE HAD A GOD-FUCKING-DAMN BOSS FIGHT!!!!

Buuuuuuut those issues don't even matter if for all the games issues, I still replay it frequently when it's almost six years old.

So yeah! There's the massive rant you totally didn't ask for! :D

[sweet-curried-powder]

Walking the Sleepwalk

A while ago, I got nightmares after listening to a horror podcast. This episode of Supernatural Shenanigans is based off of that event!

Summary: When Chris starts sleepwalking right out of the blue, he decides to seek help before something bad happens.

Characters: Chris Jackson, Charlie Jackson, Drew and Nevin Jovel, Edward Quinton

IBVS belongs to @onebizarrekai

Warnings: swearing, very brief mentions of gore

Word Count: 2,433

Tagging @titanone1337 because they’re awesome! Rock on, dude!

Enjoy the latest installment!

“Woah. This is getting kinda intense, isn’t it?” Chris said in a whisper, listening intently.

“Yeah, but it’s getting interesting!” Charlie grinned. “These stories feel so real! It’s like we’re actually witnessing these firsthand!”

The podcast was interrupted by the shrill ringing of Chris’s phone. The contact name read “Error Quinton” in all capital letters. The monochromatic teen sighed in annoyance and answered the call. “What do you want, Error?”

“Are you busy right now?” Edward demanded over the phone.

“No. But I can’t leave, if that’s what you’re asking,” Chris replied. “It’s past my curfew, my dad is home, and even if those two weren’t true, I promised Charlie that I’d spend some time with him. You interrupted an episode of Eyes Wide Open.”

“Huh?”

“It’s a podcast of people reading horror stories inspired by real events. I found it online while looking for something for Charlie to listen to while I sleep, and now he’s hooked.”

“You’re starting to get pretty Yuri-like, aren’t you?” Edward mumbled.

“What was that?”

“Just come to the stage room tomorrow, okay?” And before Chris could say anything else, the school king hung up.

“Jeez, what’s with that nerd?” Charlie groaned. “Can’t we listen to Eyes Wide Open in peace?”

“Apparently not,” Chris yawned. “I’m gonna go to sleep. It’s getting late anyways.”

“Keep it on for a little bit. I wanna hear what happens next.”

“Alright.” Chris left the podcast on, crawled into bed, listening to the story as he drifted off.

“The rope was tied tightly around my neck, as if it were a noose. I clawed at it desperately, trying to get it off, but with no success. They dragged me along, and even though I had never smelt it before, I knew that the scent that was getting more prominent was the smell of rotten flesh…”

********************

“Chris! Chris, wake up!”

“CHRISTOPHER JACKSON!” Charlie’s scream rang loudly in Chris’s ears.

“Augh!” Chris woke up with a start. He glanced around, noticing that he was now in the bathroom. “Huh? How’d I get in here?”

“You walked in here in your sleep, that’s how!” Charlie said.

“Charlie, I don’t sleepwalk! Don’t be stupid!”

“You literally just did!”

“You’re sure you didn’t do anything?”

“Oh sure! I possessed you and made you walk all the way to the toilet because I thought it would be funny!” Charlie snapped in the most sarcastic tone someone could have.

“This doesn’t make any sense,” Chris mused. “How could I just start sleepwalking right out of the blue like this?”

“Chris, it’s half past midnight,” Charlie pointed out. “You should go back to sleep. We can figure this out later.”

“Fine.”

Chris went back into his room and got back into bed, keeping Eyes Wide Open  on for Charlie as he fell asleep.

******************************

“CHRIS! Wake the heck up already!”

Chris’s eyes shot open, and then they widened when he saw he was standing in his backyard.

“Sleep!” he cried. “If I don’t sleep, I can’t sleepwalk!”

“Chris, that’s a bad idea and you know it,” Charlie pointed out.

“What’s the alternative? Tying myself to the bed?” Chris argued. Then his face lit up. “Actually, I think I know who can help!”

*****************************

Drew shuffled into the kitchen, still in the process of waking up. “Buenos dias, Nevin,” He yawned, heading over to the coffeemaker and pouring himself a cup of coffee.

“Buenos dias a usted tambien,” Nevin replied. “Grandma made some coffee before she left for work. Don’t go overboard, it isn’t decaf.”

“Good to know.”

There were two sharp knocks at the door. The two of them recognized the person at the door immediately as Chris, thanks to their emotion-sensing powers.

“Come on in, Chris!” Drew said. “Nevin’s making breakfast!”

The Jovel twins heard the front door open and close. Chris shuffled into the kitchen, looking completely exhausted. Without saying a word, he grabbed the coffeepot from Drew’s hand and started chugging coffee straight from it.

“Straight from the coffeepot, huh?” Nevin said. “Let me guess. You had trouble sleeping last night.”

“Sort of,” Chris sighed, setting the pot down onto the counter. “It’s more of a serious issue. I figured that you two could help.”

“A serious issue?” Nevin echoed.

“Yeah. Recently I’ve just started sleepwalking every time I fall asleep,” Chris explained. “You two are like, experts at decoding dreams and stuff, so I thought that you two might be able to help me out.”

“Sleepwalking, huh?” Nevin repeated. “Have you walked in your sleep before?”

“No, never! It just started last night!”

“Well, if this just started recently, it would be in our best interest to solve the problem now, so it doesn’t become a regular habit,” Drew advised.

“But how are we going to do that?” Chris asked. “This isn’t something you can fix with supernatural powers, after all.”

“Oh, that’s easy!” Nevin said. “Me and Drew will sleep over at your house tonight!”

“WHAT?!” Chris shouted.

“Yay! Slumber party!” Drew cheered briefly before sniffing the air. “Uh, do you guys smell that?”

“Oh shit! My French toast!”

*************************

“So, what are you guys going to do in the meantime?” Chris yawned, flopping onto his bed. He had been trying to keep himself awake all day, and he was completely exhausted. School was cancelled for the next day, so Mr. Jackson didn’t question anything when Chris asked if the Jovel twins could sleep over. “I feel kind of uncomfortable with you two just staring at me while I sleep.”

“I don’t know about Nevin, but I’m gonna play Kingdom Hearts: Birth by Sleep!” Drew grinned, holding up his PSP.

“Again?” Nevin raised an eyebrow. “Drew, you’ve played that game so many times, I’m pretty sure the dialogue is practically burned into your brain by now.”

“Kingdom Hearts is a good franchise!” Drew argued.

“If you insist,” Nevin shrugged. “I’m just going to get some reading done.”

“Alright. I’m gonna go to sleep.” Chris reached underneath his bed and pulled out a case. He set it on his bedside table and opened it, revealing a large assortment of knives.

“You sleep with your knife collection out in the open?” Drew looked nervous.

“Mostly so Charlie has something to look at while I sleep,” Chris explained. “I put on a podcast for him, too.” He fiddled with his phone for a minute before setting it on the nightstand next to the knives, then got underneath the covers. It didn’t take long for Chris to fall asleep.

“Okay, now that Chris is asleep, all we have to do now is wait,” Drew said. “Hope you brought a really interesting book, Nev, because we might be here for a while.”

***************************

Several hours passed. Chris remained asleep in his bed, but Drew and Nevin still stayed awake, looking up every few minutes to watch Chris. Finally, sometime around midnight, Chris turned in his bed and fell onto the floor with a thud.

Drew and Nevin looked up from their activities. Chris got up and left the room, mumbling incoherently.

“After him!” Nevin shouted. The Jovel twins scrambled to their feet and rushed out into the hallway just in time to hear the front door close. “Oh God, did Chris leave the house?!”

“We gotta stop him before he gets hurt!” Drew cried. “C’mon Nev, hurry up!” He grabbed his brother’s hand and led him downstairs and out of the house. It was rather chilly that night, and the two of them stood there shivering in their PJs as they scanned the area.

“Chris couldn’t have gone far, could he?” Nevin asked, looking around.

“Look! There he is!” Drew pointed to the end of the block. Sure enough, there was Chris, walking to the next street. “Follow him!”

The Jovel twins ran after Chris, but for someone who was still asleep, he was walking at a fast pace. Chris turned at a street corner, shuffling towards Edward’s house.

“Is Chris heading towards Edward’s house?” Drew raised an eyebrow.

“At least he isn’t breaking in,” Nevin said hopefully.

As if right on cue, Chris slammed his body against the door, forcing it open before walking inside.

“...God fucking damn it.”

“This is no time to use the Lord’s name in vain! We gotta get in there!”

“Do we have to? I don’t exactly want to enter Error’s house at twelve in the morning…”

“Yes, we fucking have to!”

***********************

Edward flipped through his notebook, trying to read his notes as fast as he could. He had just woken up from a really strange dream, and he was convinced that it was connected to him and Isaac, since he noticed some...similarities.

“The glitching skeleton...could that one be me?” Edward mused. “It looks like we share the same powers, but what’s up with all of this multiverse stuff? Is there some context that I’m missing, or…”

Edward’s train of thought was interrupted by a loud crash coming from the kitchen, followed by some shouting, then some more crashing.

What was going on down there?

Moving very carefully, Edward crept out of his room and towards his kitchen, preparing his hands in case he had to strangle a potential robber. 

He peered into the room. There were pots and pans scattered all over the floor. Chris, Nevin, and Drew were standing right in the middle of it. Chris was eating peanut butter right out of the jar with his fingers, and Nevin was in the process of trying to pry the jar out of his hands.

“Jesus, he’s got a tight grip,” Nevin groaned.

“What the hell?!” Edward screeched.

The Jovel twins turned to look at the school king. Chris, however, remained unfazed.

“Ah, great,” Nevin facepalmed.

“Sorry, Edward,” Drew apologized. “This isn’t what it looks like, we swear!”

“It is completely what it looks like!” Edward yelled. “Why are you in my house, how did you get in here, and why is Chris eating my peanut butter?!”

“...He screamed at the top of his lungs as the hooded figure sawed away at his delicate flesh…” Chris deadpanned subconsciously before eating some more peanut butter. Everyone stared at him.

“Uh, what in Kai’s name is up with him?” Edward asked, a little shaken.

“He’s sleepwalking,” Nevin explained. “He came to us this morning and told us that he started sleepwalking last night, and we agreed to help him.”

“That’s why we’re here!” Drew added. “We followed him here, and he burst through your door!”

“Sounds like you guys have had quite the night.” Edward shook his head. “Just...tell him to stop eating the peanut butter.”

“You hear him, Chris?!” Drew told Chris. “Drop the peanut butter! Drop it!”

Chris let go of the jar, causing it to clatter onto the floor.

“Sorry for the mess,” Nevin apologizes, taking Chris by the hand. “C’mon, Drew. Let’s get Chris home before he breaks into Isaac’s apartment or something.”

“Oh no you don’t!” Edward picked up the nearly-empty peanut butter jar and threw it away. “I’ll be damned if I let you and Drew drag Chris home alone in the dark! I’m driving you guys home.”

“But-”

“No buts! Let me get my shoes.”

*************************

“We’ve got to wake him up,” Nevin sighed.

“Wake him up?” Drew repeated. “But I thought that it was dangerous to wake up a sleepwalker.”

“Drew, Chris broke into my house and ate half a jar of peanut butter!” Edward groaned. “Who knows what kind of trouble he could get into if we don’t wake him up! He could even get hurt!”

“You’re right,” Drew agreed. “But how do we wake him up?”

Edward looked in the direction of Chris’s closet. “I wonder…” He marched over and opened the closet doors and started looking around.

“Why are you digging through Chris’s closet?” Nevin asked.

“Ah! He still has it!” Edward reached up to the shelf and grabbed an airhorn. The Jovel twins exchanged a look, knowing where their friend was going with this, and stuck their fingers in their ears.

“Rise and shine, you peanut butter eating son of a bitch!” Edward yelled, and pushed the button. Drew and Nevin could still hear the loud noise, despite their ears being plugged.

“AH! Nani?!” Chris woke up immediately, eyes darting all around the room until they settled on Edward, Drew, and Nevin. “Edward? What are you doing here?”

“I had to drive all of you home after you broke into my house, made a mess of my kitchen, and ate all of my peanut butter!” Edward sighed, tossing the airhorn aside. “That was for Geno’s lunch, man!”

“I broke into Edward’s house?!” Chris shrieked. “Oh dear Kai, this is getting out of hand! At this rate, I’ll never be able to get a good night’s rest again!”

“You started muttering something in your sleep, too. It sounded like something out of a horror novel or some shit.”

“Wait a minute...Chris, can I see your phone?” Drew asked. Chris nodded, and handed Drew his cell phone. The podcast was paused, so Drew pressed play and turned up the volume.

“Before he could say anything, Andy hit the nail with the hammer as hard as he could. I screamed at the top of my lungs as the dirty metal tore through the flesh of my hand and pierced the bone. This man seemed to be oblivious to the tears running down my face-”

“Oh my God!” Drew cried, pausing the podcast. Nevin looked horrified. “What the hell?”

“Hold on! Chris, was that the horror podcast you told me about?” Edward asked.

“Yeah, it is,” Chris nodded. “According to their website, the podcast is known for their graphic content.”

“No wonder you’ve been sleepwalking!” Nevin exclaimed. “You’ve been listening to this bullshit at night!”

“I dunno...I don’t get that squeamish when it comes to gore.”

“Maybe not for you, but it might’ve been a little too much for your subconscious,” Drew pointed out.

“Dang it. Now I won’t have anything to listen to while Chris sleeps,” Charlie muttered.

“Who said you wouldn’t have anything to listen to?” Chris said. “We just have to find something that isn’t as...graphic.”

“All right!” The ghost cheered.

“I should probably get home. Someone’s got to clean up the kitchen, after all. Don’t worry, Chris, I’m not mad,” Edward chuckles. “See you guys tomorrow.” The school king left the room and headed down the stairs.

“So...now what?” Chris asked.

“Well, we don’t have school tomorrow,” Nevin said slowly. “And we’re already at your house…”

“Slumber party?!” Drew gasped. His twin nodded.

“SLUMBER PARTY!” The three of them cheered.

[killscreencinema]

Valkyria Chronicles II (PSP)

Every time I think I’ve officially retired my PSP, I discover I game that is exclusive to the console that PULLS me back in.

Valkyria Chronicles II, developed by Sega for the PSP in 2010, certainly pulled me back in and then some.  The game takes place a couple years after the first, with the country of Gallia in the midst of a civil war which erupted after the revelation that the Gallian ruler, Arch-Duchess Cordelia, is a Darcsen.  The Darcsens are a race of people with dark-blue hair, which history wrongly vilifies for the destruction of the world thousands of years ago until the godlike Valkyrur defeated them.  While the civil war rages, a young man named Avon enrolls into Lanseal, Gallia’s most prestigious military school, to follow in the footsteps of his heroic brother Leon and hopefully uncover the secrets surrounding his death.  However, the curriculum barely begins before Avon and his class of cadets are drafted into real military engagements.

That’s where you come in! 

The game plays exactly like the first, with missions split between an overhead tactical map showing you the positions of your troops in relation to enemies and 3rd-person turned based action sequences where you move your troops into position before attacking the enemy.  You have a finite amount of Command Points to use up before it’s the enemies turn to retaliate, which you can use to move/attack or to issue “Orders” that can increase defense/offense, give you a more thorough area reconnaissance of the map, or even call-in an artillery strike against the enemy.

After each battle, you return to Lanseal to level up your troops, develop new weapons, or just interact with your squadmates in little character vignettes that eventually lead to special missions that can increase your relationship to that soldier as well as awaken new “Potentials” in them.  Potentials are battlefield statuses that are specific in each character and can be triggered while in action, with sometimes good effects, like automatic ammo or health refills, and sometimes bad effects, like one called “Stage Fright”, which causes your character to suddenly lose all Action Points while you’re in the middle of moving.  Sometimes your characters are racist pricks, and will refuse to assist a comrade because they’re a Darcsen.  However, if you spend the time to complete these character missions, they learn the error of their ways and a more helpful Potential replaces their racism. 

Speaking of characters, the story of Valkryia Chronicles II is actually very decent and I enjoyed it more than the first game’s more generic plot.  I’m a sucker for stories like this where a group of misfits in an academy setting are forced to overcome their differences to slowly bond in order to survive the war that is slowly encroaching on their doorstep.  I mean you’ve got the heightened drama of being in high school, plus the life and death stakes of war!  It’s why the Harry Potter books are so good!  It also helps that the characters are so well defined, all with interesting quirks and backgrounds that set them apart from each other.  If you take the time to watch the little skits in between missions, some of which are genuinely kind of funny, you begin to get attached to these characters.

Which makes it kind of a shame that the game “nerfs” the usual perma-death consequences typical in turned-based tactical games like this, and was in fact part of the first game.  In the original Valkyria Chronicles, when a teammate falls in battle, you have a certain amount of time to extract them from battle before they die for good.  These types of stakes really get you invested in the welfare of your squad, because you don’t want to lose your favorite sniper or that funny weird scout whose dialogue makes you laugh during every cut scene.  In this game, though, there is no perma-death - if your squad mate expires on the battlefield, they are simply hospitalized and are unplayable for a brief period of time until they are discharged.  I get that having characters drop dead during a tightly scripted narrative like this would have been a pain in the ass for the developers to factor in.  Not to mention it would suck for the player, since you can’t simply just pluck a new sniper from an infinite pool of rookies to replace your fallen one, which could eventually result in a soft game over if you get far into the game but don’t have enough classmates left to have a reasonable chance of winning a mission.  So I get why perma-death wasn’t brought over into this game, but I still missed the ominous cloud of it lingering over every battle, keeping me from being too reckless with my soldier’s lives. 

My only other complaint is the computer AI can be rather... capricious.  It vacillates between rock stupid to shrewdly opportunistic, which I can only assume levels out more if I played the game on a harder difficulty.  The computer also has the unfair disadvantage of playing with one arm tied behind its back, so to speak, in that it can only use an action point for one character per turn (with the exception of Valkyrurs and boss characters).  So for example, there have been many moments when an enemy scout made it within a few feet of my basecamp before its action points ran out, and would have won the battle had the computer been able to select that unit again to close the rest of the distance, but it couldn’t.  Don’t get me wrong, I was GREATLY relieved not to lose, but this feels a little like playing chess with a patronizing opponent who could have checkmated you several moves back but wanted to give you a chance.  Fuck that shit - I want to win because I’m good enough to win, not because my opponent was stymied in some way. 

This is a very minor complaint, though, as the game is plenty challenging, and I racked up enough game overs where I threw my PSP once or twice. 

With bright, crisp graphics and a excellent soundtrack to round out the experience, Valkyria Chronicles II was well worth dusting off the PSP for.  The game can be pretty pricey, but if you can snag it for its retail value or cheaper, it’s absolutely worth it, especially if you’re a fan of the first game or of this genre of games in general. 

[livvyplaysfinalfantasy]

Please remind me to never again go solo into a recorded alliance run on the last week before a new expansion, because this run was rough. Fortunately, we didn’t wipe! But that nearly total party KO at the very very very end pretty much summarized my feelings.

The Orbonne Monastery might be one of my favorite dungeons in this entire game so far. I say this with every hint of bias: not only does so much of Orbonne speak to everything I love, it also has so many great memories from running it with friends. My first time going through Orbonne in particular was great, because I did it with @barbariccia​ and I was screaming at the turn of every corner. Tears were shed. It was incredible.

So here’s a run-down:

0:50 - Harpies in the jungle! This enemy design was lifted straight from Vagrant Story, and I let every team I ran with know this for the next five weeks. Please play Vagrant Story.

2:20 - Ivalice confirmed for the gays.

2:55 - Inside the monastery, the first boss battle is Mustadio Bunansa. Mustadio, one of the first machinists of the Final Fantasy series, has been transformed into an automaton not unlike those he researches. His fight has a lot of tricky AOEs and quick-loading mechanics, not unlike the moveset of machinists in Tactics! He has a really cool ultimate at 5:00. (After weeks of trying to figure out how to explain this mechanic to newcomers while shot-calling, I eventually resorted to just saying “expose your hole.” 1. It works. 2. No one ever forgets it.)

When defeated at 12:18, Mustadio fades back into his Hyuran form - and even his voice goes from mechanical back to normal. It’s a subtle detail but really, really touching. There’s no indication for who the massive portrait on the wall leading into the monastery might depict... but with absolutely nothing to base this speculation on, my guess is that it’s Ajora Glabados.

At 12:40, you head into the wine cellars - another holdover from Vagrant Story. I didn’t catch it in this video, but the first people to follow Fran and Montblanc into the cellar will see three rats running across stagnant water in a way that can only be a throwback to Vaan’s intro in the Garamsythe Waterway. It was around this part during my first run of Orbonne that I told Molly, and the other Riskbreakers over voice chat, that I was going to lose it if the next boss was Agrias. Sure enough, the next boss was Agrias; sure enough, I lost it.

Agrias’ fight starts at 13:12. Her voice acting is so good; the lesbian paladin aesthetic in her boss design is to die for. (I mean, the Enhancing Sword and the Ritter Shield play a key role throughout this fight, and they’re the most WLW weapons in the game.) Some other great references find plugs in this fight, too: one of Agrias’ many moves, at 15:58, is Northswain’s Strike - Ashelia B’nargin Dalmasca’s ultimate Quickening! But what really hits me, every time, is her dialogue when you defeat her (see 22:30): “My Ovelia awaits...” Agrias was the princess Ovelia’s protector and best friend in Tactics; in the PSP remaster, she was also the one who gave Ovelia the dagger that later killed her.

The next area at 22:58 looks like it was taken out of the Palace of the Dead - which is funny, because when the Palace of the Dead’s final room was first revealed back at Fan Fest 2016, everyone I knew who was into Ivalice was like “VAGRANT STORY?!” And Palace of the Dead was based on Matsuno’s Ivalice predecessor Tactics Ogre. That said, a recurring concept in Ivalice games is that of the “necrohol” - a city lost to the dead. This necrohol is Mullonde, which got its origins in Tactics as a city which was destroyed when Ajora Glabados was hung for heresy. Like in XIV, Tactics’ Mullonde lay hidden deep beneath the Orbonne Monastery.

At 23:25, you fight four automatons. The last of them is Dark Crusader, a Vagrant Story boss. In Vagrant Story, the Dark Crusader was summoned by the knight Grissom, despite losing his life and his soul being trapped inside his decaying body. (Please play Vagrant Story.)

There’s only one remaining option for the third boss of Orbonne at 26:26, confirmed as soon as Montblanc makes a quip mistaking the man ahead for Cid: Count Cidolfus Orlandeau, the Thunder God. “T.G. Cid” is a game-breaker in Tactics; he’s so overpowered as to be capable of soloing certain late-game maps. Similarly, Orlandeau was (is) the raid-killer. A lot of the mechanics in his fight require consistent coordination throughout the entire alliance.

Somewhat strangely, the music that plays during Cid’s fight isn’t from Tactics at all: it’s the final boss music from Vagrant Story! It’s a bit of a strange choice thematically: although the circumstances of Cid’s (and Mustadio’s and Agrias’) transformation aren’t ever fully brought to light, it’s hard to think that he would have stooped to the same lengths of greed and power-hunger and detached cruelty as Vagrant Story’s final boss.

Though I did just realize that this fight, like Vagrant Story’s final boss fight, involves lots of running around the edges of a circular platform. And, you know, lots of praying.

Anyway, please play Vagrant Story.

At 38:00, you finally enter the High Seraph’s prison. She’s creating auracite stones one by one, casting them to the floor. She suggests that you have come seeking her power but says to take the auracite and leave - that “mortal agency in matters divine shall not be suffered.” That concept is the direct opposite of XII’s plot, in which the villains are seeking to overthrow a godlike power on the course of history!

Throughout this fight, Ultima summons three of the Espers you’ve fought before: Famfrit, Hashmal and Belias. Before she can obliterate you and your party, however, the three guardians of Orbonne - Mustadio, Agrias and Cid - appear to shield you. Ultima reveals her final form and readies to smash the barrier, only for Ramza Beoulve to emerge from the aether to lend his own soul to your defense. I yelled the first three times I saw that, I’m not even going to lie. The next phase of the fight gets even harder - though I should say that the brutal tankbusters make it one of my favorite fights to tank. Minions bearing Ultima’s Tactics appearance show up in this fight, too, usually to deliver powerful AOEs.

Ultima’s dying words: “I am your mother. I am your maker! I. Am. Ivalice!” Shivers.

[sydchan]

Syd’s Games of 2018

Since I did a little better at playing games this year, I thought I'd make a list of all the games I beat and rank them by how much I liked them.  Every one of these games I beat with my sister, since it was a bad year for me completing games on my own.

11. Tokyo Xanadu (PS4)

The worst game I played this year, mainly due to how much it dragged.  My sister and I played this game from April to October with various breaks in between, because it was just that much of a chore to get through.  There's nothing technically awful about the game (and the fighting itself was sort of fun), it just didn't have anything special about it to add that extra zest.  Honestly, I did enjoy parts and wouldn’t say I disliked it, it just dragged too much, thus the ranking. 

10. Yomawari (PS4)

A cute enough horror game, it just lacked substance.  I'm all for atmosphere and drawing your own conclusions about the horrors you see, but I'd like a little more explanation for what I'm experiencing than what this game provided.

9. OxenFree (PS4)

I got this game and Yomawari as a gift from a friend, and of the two, I felt this was the better game.  I didn't care for the explanation of what the supernatural stuff was at the end, to the point it lowered my opinion of the game, but at least it explained what was going on.  The characters and the way dialogue choices were handled were interesting, it just felt like it needed more at the end.  Objectively, this game should be about three spots higher on this list, since it is a solid game. I just don't care for indie games in general as they always feel lacking in content to me.  Short with too much left to imagination, a combination I don't care for (which likely sounds hypocritical, given my love for horror games).

8. Siren: Blood Curse (PS3)

I can't say just how badly my opinion of this game was impacted by the fact I not only adored the original Siren, but also played this game immediately after beating the original.  Regardless, this game is Siren without its heart and soul.  Not only is this game a terrible remake, it’s just not that good in general.  It's certainly easier than the original, but that’s its only pro.  I can't even say the better graphics are an improvement since between the darkness and the grain filter (the screenshot above is a lie, it’s much grainier than that while you’re playing), it's difficult to see in most stages.  The plot changes are for the worse, but the intolerable change for me was the characters.  I have a pretty high tolerance for poorly written characters, but almost the entire cast in this game is annoying as hell. 

Seigo was the only decent character while everyone else ranged from tolerable (Howard and Miyako) to please die so I don’t have to play as you anymore (Sam, Melissa, and Bella).  In fact, this game gets the special honor of being the first game where I honestly wanted the child character I was suppose to protect to die brutally so I didn’t have to deal with her anymore. Also, you can’t take the same major, impactful scenes from the original and just randomly give them to this new, much worse cast and expect me to feel anything.  It just drove home how much worse the plot and characters were.  I’m honestly baffled by how this game managed to mess up from the original as badly as it did.  The only reason this game beat the above was because it was much shorter than Xanadu and I truly don’t care for indie games.

7. Lunar Silver Star Story: Complete (PS1)

The first story based game we ever beat with our friend, Jeremiah, chosen on his recommendation.  It's about what you'd expect, an older RPG with a generic plot, but it was still charming enough to be a pleasant experience.  You can tell whoever “translated” the script took a lot of liberties, so while your mileage may vary on that, it did make the dialogue more amusing as a result.  It's mainly lower on the list due to clearly being a product of its time.

6. White Day (PS4)

This game gets a higher rating than it deserves due to being the amusing horror game we ended up playing with multiple friend groups.  By its own merits, it a mediocre (maybe average if I’m feeling generous) horror game. It gets points for attempting to mix in dating sim elements, but the ghost stories were all over the place and often had nothing to do with anything in the game itself.  While it has some good parts, It felt like the creators had too many ideas and decided to throw them all together, regardless of how little sense it would make.  I still had a lot of fun playing it though, so I can’t fault it too much for it’s nonsensical writing.  It's a “fun” horror game with scenes that are sometimes quirky and others that are terrifying (these’s a certain joy in tricking your friends into hiding in the last bathroom stall and then watching their reactions to what happens next).  

5. Outlast 1, Whistleblower, 2 (PS4)

Considering we bought the PS4 version that had all three games on it, I’m considering this one game (we played them back-to-back and I would have ranked the games next to each other regardless).   Whistleblower was definitely the best of the three, while I liked the other two about equally  The first was more coherent and had the better ending, but I appreciated how the second had more expanded characters.  Plus the more shocking content did get to me.  Honestly, if it wasn’t for how abrupt the ending was in 2, this would have beaten the next entry.

4. Persona (PSP)

We started this game in 2017, but since we beat it at the beginning of 2018, it still counts.  I was pleasantly surprised by how good this game ended up being.  The characters are charming, the plot is intriguing, and the battle system was better than I thought it would be (originally I was worried about every party member being able to change personas, but it worked out much better than expected).  A very solid RPG, even given when it was created. 

3: Resident Evil 7 (PS4)

This game had a much stronger start than an ending, but the start was strong enough to still place this game solidly at #3.  It's not often you get an intro where your protag gets their hand chopped off but it’s not actually a game over.  The scene in the garage stuck with me for a long time as well.  I actually appreciated the fact it tied back with the other Resident Evil games, since what's the point of using the name of a franchise if a game isn’t actually a part of it.  

2. Detroit: Become Human (PS4)

While this game certainly had its plot holes and narrative issues, I adored this game while playing it.  Like almost everyone, Connor’s portions of the game were by far my favorite, while Kara’s and Markus’ were more average.  But considering how tense and convinced I was constantly fucking up my choices and going to get everyone killed, I managed to somehow keep all three protags alive in the end (everyone else died in Kara’s route, but still, 2 out of 3 good endings for a blind first run isn’t bad).  I definitely recommend giving this game a shot, since not only is it gorgeous, but it is one of the few games I've played where I felt my choices made a big difference.  It was close between this game and the next for my fav game this year, but the next game just slightly pulled ahead (my bias for horror games is too strong).

1. Siren (PS2)

I was surprised by how much I ended up enjoying this game, but this ended up being my top game of 2018 and definitely one of my top games of all time.  It certainly has its flaws (mainly that it’s frustratingly difficult at times without a walkthrough. A couple of those mission objective requirements I truly don’t believe most people could figure out on their own) but the story and characters stole my heart.  An underrated gem of a horror game, and while it has the same issue every Japanese horror game has of leaving too much up to interpretation, it at least revealed enough for me to figure out what was happening behind the scenes.  The way the story isn't told in order is really interesting as well. And while this had the potential to be confusing, the link navigator was very helpful in keeping track of events.   

Siren also goes a lot further than other games of its time period do.  When it comes to plot, characters, and overall horror, it's a lot better than Silent Hill and Resident Evil, the only thing that holds me back from wholeheartedly recommending this game to everyone is just how hard it is.  It's also a fairly long survival horror game, since even using a walkthrough, it took us somewhere between 20-30 hours to beat (our playtime said 13 hours, but it counts funny and doesn't include all the time you spend dying before giving up). If you’re a fan of survival horror games, I highly recommend giving this game a shot (just remember, there’s no shame in using a walkthrough). 

[kaolinite91]

About Hakuoki: Kyoto Winds

((Thanks Kaze Hikaru and Gintama for making me picking up on this Shinsengumi related game again..lol))

I was tried to playing Hakuoki since a decade ago on my PSP..but it was on its original JP sub, so I gave up..😂 I think I played only until the first Hijikata cg?

But just now I found its been remastered(?) as 2 parts games on Steam. And coz it's on sale.. ofc I just bought it.

So..

What can I say?

First, I named the FMC, Sei Yukimura. Gotta be Sei coz she's very similar with Sei from Kaze Hikaru. Her father is a doctor too? Wow

The first part, Kyoto Wind was honestly pretty...boring (?) for me... coz it's heavily dwell in history (Minimum romance lol) 😂. And coz there's 12 bachelors.. it's difficult to get a good ending if you played it blindly. I think my first blind gameplay I manage to get 2 cgs for Saito, 1 for Iba, and 1 for Heisuke. But the romance meter shows 'budding' only for Saito, Sanan and Yamazaki lol.. of course I got 'bad' general (?) ending lol.. (normal ending?)

(Some of Hijikata dialogue during the blind gameplay made me a bit doki2 tho..haha)

Honestly I was trying to get Hijikata n Okita cgs..but since somehow many of my choices lead to Saito's CGs.. I tried to get his good ending in my second gameplay.

The second gameplay...

Saito is so pretty...hahaha but maybe.. I actually not really vibing with him. Coz even after I got all of his CGs, I don't really feel anything. I appreciate that most of options that I blindly chose leads to his CGs tho.. Oh, but I love one of his dialogues when he's talking a lot about Katanas..so cute.

My faves characters? I always love Okita in Hakuoki design..but when I actually played the game...his dialogues actually far too annoying for the older me..😂

I think I'm gonna try to get Iba (loves his hair) and Hijikata endings & cgs, oh also Sanan.. before I uninstalled this part of the game 😅😂 My PC is too weak and has low storage capacity ...

Not sure about Okita..maybe gonna try to get his CGs only for the 2nd part..lol?

UPDATE:

Read walkthrough and got Hijikata and Okita endings today...

Hmm Hijikata really start growing as my Bias, tho still not entirely too...hahaha 😂

Okita...I can't believe in your own route you're also still very bratty...ugh. and somehow he injured easily coz of his brattiness and impulsiveness.. still can forgive how he pushed Hijikata like that coz of what happened with Kondou...-_-

Btw what I dislike more about Okita's route was the fact that somehow the FMC feels much more.. annoying and useless... No wonder I didn't get any of Okita CGs in my first playthrough..all of the choices for his route not vibing well with me..haha

Playing his route made me appreciate Saito's route more.... Oh precious dutiful man..

The real MVPs in this part 1, for me were Gen and Yamazaki.. really made me got teary eyes...huhuhu especially Genzo dialogue in Hijikata's route... And in Saito's..

I think Imma gonna uninstalled this 1st part. Since I think I saw enough from Hijikata, Okita and Saito's routes...

From these Four routes (Hijikata, Okita, Saito, Normal routes) that I've played which one that I like the most?..hmm...hahaha funny coz I actually loves the normal route more... Maybe because the choices was really mine... I was devastated when knowing that Gen and Yamazaki died on the normal ending and I thought I was making some mistakes, but apparently there's nothing we can do about it, even on the others routes...

For the second part, maybe I am gonna play blindly again, but try to focused more on the story details. Honestly, on the first gameplay I skipped reading on some parts which made me not paying attention on whose characters possiblity in which options, and thus chose random option...

[sillyfudgemonkeys]

Hello After the release of the PQ2 trailers, I would like to know why you like Minako / Hamuko so much?I do not understand why a lot of people like it and I do not say that in a way that bothered me, I just do not understand.

Before I can get to her, I need to give a backstory on my relationship with P3. And really just a summary of how I got into Persona in general. But yeah, in this literal essay I will (attempt to muddily, and kinda all over the place) explain how I fell in love with a character I was 100% neutral on, on a game I had a rocky relationship to begin with, and how she actually made me appreciate both that said game AND the MaleMC (who I also had a rocky relationship on) more and more as the years went by. 

I should note I played the Persona games in this order: P4 (PS2, newly released), then P3FES, then Persona 1 PSP (didn’t finish tho), then P3P (and basically from the P1PSP on I roughly played them in order of release as we got them, so yeah....the thing to note is I played P4 first, then the original male P3 then years later I played the FeMC, so I did not experience her first).

Now I REALLY loved P4 when I played it, colorful cast, really loved their hijinx and chemistry, and the shadow Selves were just so much fun and dark. I thought the plot was fine, not god’s gift to this earth but it was fun. I found the characters and setting to be the biggest draw (I mean P4 is character focused not plot/story focused so that makes sense). I researched the series and found P3FES. People said it was a lot better than P4, I wanted to try and get P1/2 but.....yeah the only versions were PS1 and they were expensive, and I am but a freshman in high school with no job (too busy being an athlete and studying) and am lucky if I can beg my parents to let me get these games. And there was no way in hell I was getting P1/2EP which were both like $100 (I had to beg for P3/4 which were like $30 each).

Anyway I got my hands on P3 and......I....really didn’t like it. I liked the music, the setting, the style, and I was fine with the slightly harder combat cause of the AI (I accidentally played through all of Kanji’s dungeon with AI on not knowing I could change). But.....I didn’t like the characters. I got to Fuuka’s full moon before I had to put it down. I thought Junpei and Yukari were too mean, I hated I couldn’t SL with anyone on my team yet, Mitsuru/Akihiko were too distant, and the SLs i could SL were.....not really that great, and the MC was....really dull....like he was mostly neutral or silent (as opposed to Souji being funny, rude, neutral, silent, caring and a lot of interesting things with his dialogue options), sometimes he’d have a harsh but funny line but of course if I chose that I’d get a reverse link so that sucks. I decided to replay P4 again, trying to find what it was that really drew me to the series. By the end of that second playthrough I decided to pick up P3 again, give it a second chance (even tho Junpei and Yukari almost killed it for me). 

I powered through, got into a rhythm, opened up more interesting links (such as the bookstore people and Maiko). It still wasn’t as good as P4 imo, the feel was different, but it was more I felt the cast was too distant and ridged to the plot. It wasn’t that they were there own people with their own arcs, but that I ironically didn’t find them as fleshed out as P4′s (which was more character focused so maybe that explains it). But then I got to Aigis, and the plot really picked up (years later I find that’s where some people felt like P3 started getting good). And I ended up liking it! I didn’t love it as much as P4 (and I had a lot of issues with the way they handled how the P3 kids got closer, aka I feel like they it could’ve been better), but I did like it and appreciated it despite my rocky start. I should also note I did like Shinji, like “Oh neat design” and then when he died I was like “Oh welp that sucks” but I never blamed Ken, and I wasn’t a rabbid fan shipping girl for him (I did jump on the FeMCxShinji train for a ship tho, just cause I saw other people like it and I prefered it the most out of the other options at the time, but actually FeMCxTheo was my first ship for her XD)

Then P3P was announced. Me who had a PSP for P1 and KHBBS was like “Oh ok cool.” Then I saw there was a femaleMC and I saw the opening (cause iirc they announced it with an opening) and I was like “OH no this is horrible, I can’t believe they’re making Yukari an MC!” but then I looked at it again and realized it was some new character and was like “oh phew thank god, huh I wonder how you’re gonna be handled” (which is funny, because Soejima accidentally mistook the Concept!Heroine of P3 for Yukari, like he didn’t realize those were two separate characters in like the really early days of P3, so they have very similar concept designs. I think they even share one design XD). So yeah my first impression was a false negative turned into a “Ok cool I’ll try it out.” 

So months later it comes out, and I get it. And I start playing....and I don’t stop. Not like with FES. Like it had been awhile since I had played FES, and I knew if I “powered through it” to get to Aigis it get better but.....I...didn’t need to. Junpei and Yukari were a lot more tolerable, and I think that’s thanks to the SLs we got. And like WE GET TO START THEIR SLs EARLY! AND THE BOYS GET THEM TOO???? Like hot dang! Like Yukari, she’s available right at the beginning! You don’t have to wait! No like even if you are NG+ max charm, I had to wait till like Aigis joined before her SL would actually start (there’s a date restriction on top of it for the male, at least in FES I realized 2 years ago when I played it with some college friends). And Junpei, Ken, Ryoji, Koro, Shinji, and Aki (all characters that really needed a link to expand on them more) get more development! And Rio and Saori are great, Rio’s link is 1000% times better than Kazushi’s link (I hated how the only positive options is letting the guy just crumble, I felt like a horrible friend a lot of the times with the MaleMC, which is weird cause every non-main game iteration acts like he’s a great friend). Saori replacing Maya, well that and Akihiko replacing Minato’s Star guy was saddening, cause I liked them. But thankfully it was an even trade. The rest were a trade up from the MaleMC (Junpei was a lot better than Kenji, wasn’t a fan of P3!Chihiro, very creepy, and remember I saw her in P4 first and thought she was fine, I was sad about Yuko but I kinda like Koro more so...*shrugs* more or less a fair trade, Shinji was obvie a trade up, and I think Ryoji was a trade up from Mr. Fortune guy whom Yukiko would pretty much rip off his SL beat by beat but somehow do it a liiiiitle better). I also liked how Fuuka’s SL was changed....only cause I tend to remember a liiiiiiitle bit more of her FeMC link than I do the Male one (sadly I just....can never remember her whole link....). So I would say she had the “better links” because it helped expand more on the MC’s relationship with the guys and Ryoji (which I found was really lacking on the male side, esp when Junpei tries to claim us as even...normal friends). Not that the Male’s were (all) horrible, but the FeMC does replace a lot of the worst ones (namely, imo, Moon, Magician, and Chariot) with a lot better ones, and the good ones she also replaces are met with a pretty even/fair trade. Also again, Male SEES+Ryoji SLs. I mean Shinji/Ryoji’s links you need to “bust your balls” for those two, but...not really. XD I’m pretty sure (at least with Shinji, need to double check with Ryoji) as long as you say the right stuff, you get a rank up. The real ball buster was the Male’s side because you 100% need a guide to get every SL on his side, FeMC has a bit more freedom (not THAT much but a bit more).

She also had a larger range of personality options (aka it’s not her only personality, she could be a lot of different things) than the MaleMC (so she was similar to Souji in this regard). I could make her be a bitch, maker her peppy, nice, angry, conservative, a lot of things. I felt like there was a lot more to do with her (have her be emo? Sure! Have her be nice? Sure! and so on and so on). I felt like she was more than just being “there,” more than being along for the ride. I loved her anger issues and violent tendencies, the fact she was dark enough to be willing to kill someone, the fact she’s probably a stepford smiler and is actually really hurting underneath it all. I liked how she had personality you could trace and piece together and mess around with to make a different combo of FeMC, as opposed to MaleMC who is just....kinda there....his options are...there most of the time (sometimes some personality leaks out but not a whole lot)...and you have to come up with a personality all on your own instead of piecing together traces of one (they at least adapted this well into the movies by making him numb and depressed and then recovering as a means to explain this odd detachment in the game, but you probably don’t see it when you are first playing without that context). She could be more vocal at times (not all the time but times where the MC wouldn’t talk she would sometimes have an option to say something), she could also make a change as well (Shinji’s link). So yeah I liked how her side had some impact and could change some things. (I mean, in retrospect, I wouldn’t have minded if she had changed more, but I also gotta remember this is a PSP era game). But most importantly, I felt closer to the team. The SLs helped sooooooo much, I felt like the core of SEES, I connected everyone, we were all a unit. The extra events, even if they were the same as the male’s, felt deeper cause I felt like I was hanging out with an actual coworker turned friend rather than a ‘coworker who says I’m their friend but I don’t feel like we got there yet” type of feeling. When anyone was like “dang we friends” I was like “hell yeah we are.” 

I also like how, while she’s a bit more upbeat and friendly, it fits with the game. The game does start off light guys, it doesn’t really get dark-dark till Oct. If anything, her being friendly (if you player her that way) and getting along with people, and the just how it feels like genuine friends really feels more impactful when the dark stuff starts to come around....since she gets more shook and has to face the harshness and overcome it. It feels like it impacts her. MaleMC it....it can feel like it doesn’t as much (again the game, not the side content, the side content it does impact him). I feel like the MaleMC had a similar detachment as I did when I first played on FES. “Oh that sucks Shinji died, pretty sad, wonder what’s gonna happen next.” So like...THAT is just...there.....

So yeah, basically....I had issues with P3, and I felt like she fixed a lot, not all but a lot. Sure she has her own slew of problems (my issues are more that she might not change enough, like she changed enough to justify her, but I feel like they could do more. Also, connecting to that point, them repeating a lot of the same dialogue....I felt like some could/needed to be changed....Like Junpei’s jealousy works really well with the MaleMC but him suddenly being friends at the end doesn’t, while the FeMC they are friends....but he still has the same jealous out spurts and like......he can have that, but I feel like they should’ve changed it a bit and added more complexity to them since they are already friends).

Do I think FeMC is the better MC of the two? (Main) Game wise....yes. Her bonds are what I feel like is what Atlus wanted to do with the MC but messed up (evident with how they handle him with the manga, movie, dramacd, and PQ/P3D). Manga/Movie/DramaCD (and PQ/P3D) vs her? They are the same tbh, the FeMC is just the stronger game equivalent (bond execution wise, which was the male’s side’ issue and one that’s fixed in side stuff) to the other iterations of Minato than his actual equivalent imo. 

Anyway, as the years went on I got more attached, esp when I compared and contrast the two MCs (btw as the years went on I grew to like P3 even more as well as Minato, so all of the above is just my first impressions), wished there could be a version of P3 where they are together, later wishing for a spinoff where there together, or a spinoff where she meets P4 kids cause I feel like it’d be interesting how she’d interact with them (cause it’d be different to Minato’s). Her clashing ideals with Male cast and P4 cast, her working together, working off each other. Her dynamic was just interesting, I saw potential and what she could bring to the table and it sucked she basically wasn’t allowed (mostly cause, as it was recently revealed, they didn’t know how to do it). I saw potential, and still do see potential, in the other MCs in all of the games, it’s just as each new entry came about....the need to see the FeMC’s utilized grew more and more (cause again, they were already utilizing P3/4MC’s potentials, and P1/2 were locked behind some possible legal tape, and PTS was retconned out with the only hope of it ever coming back being for it to be retconned again to fit into the story, so she was literally the only one of this group that could be used and had yet to be used). I also really wanna see a duo of FeMC/Minato and Tatsuya/Maya, I just....I really wanna....cause P2 had a lot of duality themes, and then P3 kicked it up to 20 notches, and I’d love to see P2/3 meld together! ;w;

(oh I should note I do like P1 and P2 a lot, I really love P1′s manga tbh, just in case anyone was wondering where I stood on them. So yeah it’s not like I only love P3P and P4. I actually like P2 a lot. It’s tied with P4 as my fav, tho FemC might be my fav MC, tho possibly tied with Maya and Souji. I do think they should come back, but I’m also aware they have....a stickier situation than the FeMC or even PTS.....and we all know where I stand with P5 so ahuhuhu 8U)

So uhhhhh yeah, that’s my story....on how I kinda slowly fell in love with this character, one of which I had a neutral stance (I didn’t automatically think “Female MC? Ok I LOVE her!” or think she was gonna change the game for me, it all just kinda happened). And how she made me appreciate P3 (and the MaleMC) more. And then by the time I realized it I realized I was in drought hell with pretty much nothing. :’D

[kaiserdingus]

MegaMan PSP Games - Powered Up / Maverick Hunter X

The Mega Man series has always been tough for newcomers to dive into. Its a series based on challenge, skill, and memorizing stages and patterns. The original series was restrained by the technical limitations of the time, so they look more cartoony and kid friendly. The Super Nintendo’s Mega Man X series was a sequel intended to carry the torch and bring the Blue Bomber into the 16-bit era with a new look, new moves, and a new, more mature storyline.

In 2005 Capcom announced a pair of simultaneous releases for Sony’s PlayStation Portable handheld console. Mega Man Powered Up and Mega Man Maverick Hunter X were remakes of the first games in the Mega Man and Mega Man X series that utilized the 3D capabilities of the PlayStation Portable to render new ways to experience these gems of gaming. Both were remade with the idea to be accessible to newcomers, and plans were in the works for sequels to both games based on Mega Man 2 and Mega Man X2.

Unfortunately, sluggish sales would lead to both sequels being canceled. Today we have the Mega Man and Mega Man X Legacy Collections to give us our fill, but these titles were more than just ports. There were new features, new bosses, they were practically their own games worthy of their own discussion. That’s why today we’re going to be taking a look at Mega Man Powered Up and Mega Man Maverick Hunter X.

MegaMan Powered Up

It’s said that when designing Mega Man, Keiji Inafune wanted to use a “super deformed” style for the characters. Big heads on little bodies for a funny, cute look. The problem was that the technology of the time made it difficult to portray this style, so a compromise was made. The characters were still cute, but the proportions weren’t as exaggerated as originally intended. Inafune would get his chance to try his “chibi” designs when Capcom announced Mega Man Powered Up in 2005, a complete remake of the original Mega Man, updated for Sony’s new PSP handheld.

Gaming had changed a lot between the 1980’s and the mid-2000’s. Before, game design was influenced by arcade trends. Challenge and difficulty were added to games of the time to hide the fact that these games theoretically could be beaten within the span of a few hours. The original Mega Man games came from an era where rental services like Blockbuster made it easy for someone to spend $5 instead of $50 on a game for the week. If a game could be beat in an afternoon, then there was no reason for the gamer to buy the game. This was also helped by the lack of save features in these early games.

In the mid-2000’s, however, these tricks were irrelevant. Game development had reached a point where games had enough content. There was no longer a need to pad a game with challenge to keep them from beating it in a single sitting. With this in mind, Capcom sought to re-work the original Mega Man series for the next generation of kids who hadn’t grown up with the originals. Now there are multiple difficulties to cater to different kinds of players.

The premise, characters, levels, music, almost everything in the game are based on the original Mega Man, but now everything is expanded upon. Characters pop-out in 3D, and the levels follow the same designs, but now the world feels more alive. The story is played out through character dialogue and little cutscenes. This game would go on to influence the story and characters in the Archie tie-in comics.

Two new characters were created specifically for this game, each with their own unique level. Time Man and Oil Man bring the game’s original six Robot Masters up to eight, in line with the rest of the series. Oil Man’s design would cause controversy as it closely resembles the “Blackface” stereotype, with his black skin and big red lips.

For some background, Japanese artists are influenced by those who came before them, and a lot of the original manga artists learned from American cartoonists. Blackface portrayals were prominent in American cartoons and comics, which were imported to Japan after World War II. The average person in Japan doesn’t have any context for the history of Blackface in America, which doesn’t excuse the depictions. Because of this cultural misunderstanding, Oil Man’s skin was turned dark blue and his lips were colored yellow.

My favorite addition to this game is the ability to play as the boss characters you defeat. Each boss has their trusty weapon as their base weapon, and now the empty hole they left in their stage has been filled by a rogue Mega Man who’s looking for trouble. There are other playable characters, but I won’t spoil them for you.

I’m disappointed that we never got to see any sequels to Powered Up. It seemed like the perfect formula for Mega Man. Remake 1 through 6 in this style, maybe 7 and 8, then they could’ve done 9 and 10 too. Every time I see a new trailer for 11 I just think of it as a sequel to Powered Up, but with a more streamlined design. Don’t get me started on Mighty No. 9, the unfortunate “spiritual successor” to the Mega Man series.

Mega Man Powered Up is one of the best PSP games, and possibly one of the best Mega Man games. It’s unfortunate that it came out too early in the PSP’s lifespan to really take off, maybe if Capcom had ported the game to the PS2 or Gamecube it would have fared better.

MegaMan Maverick Hunter X

Maverick Hunter X, the companion title to Mega Man Powered Up, is a remake of the 1993 Super Nintendo classic Mega Man X. Unlike Powered Up, which completely redesigned the classic Mega Man, Maverick Hunter X stays relatively true to the original design and style of the Mega Man X franchise. It features anime cutscenes, similar to those used in Mega Man X3 and X4. One could argue that the animation and voice acting are noticeably better this time around.

While Powered Up was designed to be accessible for anyone, Maverick Hunter X is designed to be a more mature challenge. There’s no Easy Mode this time, only Normal and Hard. The first Mega Man X was never as challenging as later games in the series, but it wasn’t a walk in the park. Maverick Hunter X isn’t easier, but it does feel a little tighter to control.

The MegaMan series has never been strong on plot, but the Mega Man X sub-series does have a surprisingly strong lore. This has only ever been casually hinted at, with little exposition besides a few animated cutscenes or slideshows. Maverick Hunter X delivers a decent story in the form of an animated opening cutscene, as well as character dialogue between stages. Each boss battle opens with a back-and-forth between X and the boss in question where they explain their perspective before jumping into the action.

Once you beat the game you unlock what’s probably the coolest bonus a video game can have: a 25 minute animated film. The Day of Σ is a self-contained animated special that ties in with the game. The special is a prequel that ends where the game begins, and it tells the story of Sigma and the other reploids going Maverick.

This approach to video game storytelling works surprisingly well because it doesn’t interfere with the gameplay. Most story-driven games feel bloated with unending cutscenes, other games don’t feel fleshed out enough when they don’t include any cutscenes. Maverick Hunter X including an anime OVA is similar to 2003’s Dot Hack series from Bandai, which also came with a four part animated mini-series. 2010’s Dragon Ball Raging Blast, also from Namco Bandai, similarly featured a 20 minute special called The Plan to Eradicate The Super Saiyans.

Fans of the Mega Man X series have noted some inconsistencies with Maverick Hunter X and The Day of Sigma compared to the rest of the franchise. These story inconsistencies wouldn’t matter if Capcom had gone through with their plan to reboot the X series. Had they continued the groundwork started by Maverick Hunter X, future games would fill in the blanks, and re-tell the original stories in new and exciting ways.

As far as fan speculation goes, we can draw all of Mega Man’s problems in the late 2000’s/early 2010’s right here. Mega Man Powered Up and Maverick Hunter X were great games, but for one reason or another neither title was very successful at the time of release. What’s worse is, Maverick Hunter X was available digitally on the PlayStation Network Store when the PlayStation Vita debuted, but Mega Man Powered Up couldn’t get the same treatment due to technical issues.

Both games are great and it's a shame that they’re lost to time, trapped forever on a long forgotten handheld. I have nothing against the Mega Man Legacy Collections, but I miss the days when developers attempted to remake their classic games for later generations. While there’s no arguing against the value of preserving original games and making them available to be played as originally intended, I think the world would benefit from more modernized remakes that take advantage of today’s technology to do things they could never originally do.

I hope one day Capcom releases both Mega Man PSP games. Possibly alongside other mid-2000’s curiosities like Mega Man X Command Mission and Mega Man Network Transmission. There are enough oddball Mega Man spin-offs to fill a few more Legacy Collections, I think.

Where to Buy

Mega Man Powered Up (PSP)

Mega Man Maverick Hunter X  (PSP)

Mega Man Double Pack (PSP)

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