Review: Shin Megami Tensei Devil Summoner 2 Raidou Kuzunoha Versus King Abbadon

Is this within the bounds of your conjecture?

Overview
Shin Megami Tensei Devil Summoner 2 Raidou Kuzunoha Versus King Abbadon
A PS2 Action RPG Game

Review

SMT: DS2RKVKA(who even thought of the name of this game? its too long, even in acronyms), is an action rpg under the SMT label made by Atlus to fill in the void of actioners in their rpg lineups. It is also the 1st PS2 RPG game I spent lots of hours just to finish. Is it any good?

Let us first discuss the gameplay. The gameplay is a huge pot of many established rpg mainstays, such as sword creation, devil summoning, action elements(from any action games of the past), and the collecting quests you've come to know and love(or not). What separates this game from the others is the "Luck System", where in your Luck plays a major part in the way the game will dictate what you will be facing. Now the Luck stat determines almost all the rules of the battle, for example,"Wind demons are effective", "Gain extra experience", or on the later part of the game, the dreadful "All your demons will die". Filling yourself with Luck is something you need to do to breeze through this game. Not that this game is hard.

Who is King Abbadon?

This is probably one of the easiest RPGs I played, I don't know if its because it incorporates action elements so its up to you if you want to be hit with that instant death spell or not, so if you are good in action games, this one is fairly easy. The "Weak" status here also makes the game so much easier, since when a demon is hit by a spell or skill which makes em weak, not only do they become stunned, you can then mine them again for magic power, then you can hit them again with your spell that makes em weak. I even have demons in this game which finished the game even after I can so much as hit the enemy with just one skill. The only hard part of this game is the annoying "Illusion" dungeons which will make you scratch your head as you run in circles and the 1st time you'll encounter the Pale Rider Fiend.

Other elements of this game is the talk to demons system, which came from the 1st two Personas, which is sometimes really amusing(Persona now uses a card shuffling system to determine what you'll get).Then this game also has a bunch of side quests, many of them are genuinely enjoyable(especially the funny ones).

Now, on with the story. The story is not that bad, its just that the lack of proper cutscenes and no voice acting at all minimizes the emotional impact of this game. Still, who cares when you have and addicting demon collection system?

Here is where the game shines. The Demon collection and fusion system is one of the most engrossing rpg element in any rpg games out there right now, since you won't notice that you are grinding at all because you really want to max the loyalty of the demon and their skills to get extra incentives(such as rare items and passives). The sword creation is also good(but not addicting) since all the swords have attributes such as void this and add power to that, but you will barely notice it since when you are maxing out your demons all the items needed for sword creation will be given to you so whats the challenge in that?

I finished the game in 65 hours, with my highest level demon being level 80(a Metatron which has the skill Megidolaonn, spam it). This is just a testament on how addicting this game is.

If you love rpgs, play this today.

Score: 8.5 out of 10.

Review: Norse By Norsewest

Vikings take on the puzzle genre. Guess who wins?

Overview
Norse By Norsewest
A PSX Puzzle Game

Review
Who would have thought playing as Vikings would be fun? I don't hate 'em, but they don't figure prominently on the gaming world.

Then I stumbled upon a little game called Norse By Norsewest, a puzzle game involving 3 Vikings plus a Wolf and a Dragon. It is a puzzle game in which you try to reach the end of the level with all of the 3 characters given on the beginning of each level, safe and intact. Sounds pretty easy huh?

At first it is. All of the characters have different abilities which are vital to solve each of the levels. Erik can ram through walls, Baleog can reach hard to reach places with his metal hand, Olaf can shrink, Wolf can climb walls, and Scorch can fly and spew flame. Each ability is used in many situations in each level, and I assure you that once you reach the end levels you will die. A lot.

Ah.. The Pirate World. Memories of being hit by a cannon floods back to me.

But you will still play this game. Why? The scripting and voice-overs are funny, like when you repeat a level too much, the music is catchy, especially one in the Pirate world and one in the last world, and the feeling of finally knowing the solution to a puzzle(all by yourself) compares to nothing. All in all, this game is a gem. You can play it on the PSX, or on the PSP(emulation!!!).

If there are some things I would complain it is that this game screams for a checkpoint system. It is very annoying to go over the same puzzles again and again just because you forgot Olaf can fart across the waters and you die over and over again.

All in all this game is very challenging, frustrating, and fun.

All you need in a game.

My score?

8 out of 10.

^_^

>Schizo Prenia

The Ghosts Of The Manor Of Sleep Part 1

I just finished Fatal Frame 3: The Tormented, clocking in at 18 hours and 27 minutes(hey, it even beat my Vandal Hearts playtime!) on normal mode.

Here is what I have to say with the residents of the manor I have come to love staying in(ha-ha).

Female Survivor
-Female Survivor is actually Yoshino, if I am not mistaken. She is also a prisoner of the manor early on. She doesn't really want to talk to you, and sits on the floor. Once the later chapters kick in though, she becomes a ghost herself. Yoshino is not tough to beat, it's the fact that she has 3(so that makes them, what, 4?) ghost thingies that guard her, apparently manifestations of her lover and family. How to defeat her? Don't bother with the Spirited Away rejects(the black ghosts), just pump her full of camera. She deserves it for not speaking with you. Freak.

Yoshino and Co. fail the audition for Spirited Away

Wandering Mother and Daughter

- Wandering mother and daughter can be found on the Hearth room, and this duo is actually the first enemies in this game. I actually feel sorry for them, especially when you defeat them, the daughter raises her hands towards you, like begging for help or something. In battle terms, just pump the mother full of film, and don't bother with the daughter. You must be awfully heartless to shoot her too(killing the mother ghost will get rid of the daughter too). Just save your murderous glee for children on those Priestesses(and I assure you you will love every moment of their pain).

Crawling Woman

- Crawling woman is actually closet woman! Wow! There are many dual personalities on this game. You'll hate this one harder than Yoshino though. First she shows up when you are playing as Miku on a cramped space where you have to crawl(doesn't reading this give you goosebumps yet?),then she'll show up in a more spacey room! It's hard to kill her, so when you see her in any place besides  cramped areas, blast her off.

Stroller Grandma
- A granny with a rusting stroller, Stroller Grandma is one of the hardest, if not, hardest ghost in this mansion. She has this evil laugh to let you know shes gonna show up any second now, and whats worse, you will fight her in a very cramped space! Fatal frames doesn't work on her(at least as I know) and when you walk through her stroller you get damage! Sheesh. Don't go easy on her. In fact, use all your blue film to end her, and quick.

My Theories about Silent Hill

Ever wondered where the streets in Silent Hill got their names? Wonder no more!
I played through the first Silent Hill on the Playstation, and being a book reader, I recognized some of the street names... Bachman and Koontz? I know those names!

For the uninitiated, Bachman came from Richard Bachman, the pseudonym of that famous horror novelist, Stephen King. Koontz came from another writer in the same vein as King, Dean Koontz. Now, so why is this special? You might say, "Maybe the developers are fans of those writers...", or something like that. But what is actually interesting is that Silent Hill borrows quite heavily from the works of those authors. Let me walk you through this.

First, Stephen King. The work in question here is none other than the novella entitled "The Mist". Now, if you still can't seem to figure out the relationship with Silent Hill and this literary work, you did not play Silent Hill at all.

Still confused? Okay. Its THE FOG! THE FOG!!!!!!!!!! Oh, you might say, fog is different from mist, but the main idea here is that the whole place is enveloped by something, and there are creatures out there that are of unexplained origin, and they all want the same thing. You. Dead. "The Mist" also has themes that are dark... such as *SPOILER* when the protagonist chose to not find his wife, why is this dark? He found a new girlfriend. Oh, and did I mention that they made out on their first night together? And he was with his kid that day!

Anyway, that wraps off the King part. Now lets go to the other K.

Dean Koontz, as far as I know, has so far written only one book of collections of his work, whats its title? "Strange Highways". Actually, the work that we are gonna discuss is of the same name. What can I say about this story? Oh, the resemblance with Silent Hill is like this, the town in Koontzs work is an abandoned coal mining town, there is a "strange highway"(Silent Hills have a tendency to open up in a highway, after that things go strange..), the storyline is Silent Hill-ish.

About the storyline, it tells the story of a middle-aged man(I can't exactly remember how old he is) then he returns to his old town, only to get himself inside a strange town via the strange highway, and whats more, he suddenly became young! He meets a young girl there, and they work together against time in what I can only say one of the most exciting stories Koontz has ever penned. Believe me, once you read it, you might actually think this one is a Silent Hill game, but it's not.

Now it's all up to you to agree or disagree with me, but please, just make sure that you meet these requirements... First, you must know and have played Silent Hill, and the last requirement is you should have read at least one of these works (or both, the better).

There are other authors out on Silent Hill (Crichton comes to mind) but I haven't figured out their part in the Silent Hill equation yet. Read the stories. Become more informed. Actually, the two works here are entertaining and fascinating at their own right, you are doing yourself a favor by reading them. And, they are short compared to novels.

That is all, thank you for reading through this whole thing.

^_^

Dragon Quest 8 Log 1 - Waterfall Cave

The first dungeon is the cave on that waterfall.

As promised! Finally! The chronicles of my playtime in Dragon Quest! Here is what I have right now.

First I started on the world and someone wants me to get the crystal ball on the waterfall cave for 'em! Of course I oblige. Yeah. I'm that kind.

Inside the waterfall cave. (With a torch! Ha.)

Inside the waterfall cave there are lots of waterfalls. That is why it's called waterfall cave(duh).
Inside there are lots of Mecha-mynahs(when they die their heads come off... not a pretty sight! why does this have to appear in the game? hahaha) and lots of loot(almost all of which are garbage).

Then I meet... the mighty Hammerhood!

Hammerhood. Poor fellow.

Hammerhood greets you with the knowledge that you know you have to fight him so that you can pass the gate... turns out that if you choose your words right, he will let you pass through. If you still wanna take a go at him(like I did) go ahead, you will feel sorry for this dude. Don't say I did'nt warn you.

And finally! The Waterfall of the waterfall cave!

You guess right. Better prepare for a boss battle.

Here is the last stop(actually there is another one where there is a treasure chest where you can get a Copper Sword, the slime will tell you about it) in your trip along the beautiful(if somewhat small) waterfall cave. You know there is a boss battle lurking around the corner(or in this case, in front of the waterfall) so heal up!

Ah.. so I bravely go to the waterfall...

The crystal ball, finally I can go home... but wait!
Who is that coming from the waterfall?

It's Geyzer! Hideous freak.

It's Geyzer! Fortunately he is not that hard. Don't go easy on him. After we beat this man of the waterfall(or fallwater, as Geyzer says), he gives us back the crystal ball kindly. He is not a bad dude after all. Just a funny one. Haha.



This concludes my first journey on Dragon Quest 8! Hope you enjoyed it. ^_^

"I accept dehands... Or is it defeat?"
Shame on you if you don't get it. Haha.

On the next episode! We head for Port Prospect!

Even if the picture is grainy anyone can see that
the road to Port Prospect is a beautiful one.

PS(I skipped the Alexandria part. Did'nt take any pictures there. Hahaha.)

I am or I am not a real gamer

I created this blog because of one game:

Dragon Quest 8: Journey of the Cursed King.

Why? It is so damn good. Yeah. I just used 'damn'. Hahaha.

I'll be chronicling my adventures through this wonderful game. And I'll be posting other stuff too, as long as it is about games. There. ^_^