Writing my thought about this year 2014 is more the usual exercice i do each year, in my mind... Except that this year i had decided to write this, entirely in english because i used to write everything in french but move to an English Summary because i left a French Community last year that went full of retards and not motivate to read their idiocity any longer.
However this will prove also to be a tough exercice as my English is not perfect but i can still communicate around with people and friends i interact with. So let's be honest, it might be hard to read and follow but its better to be honest and say it now, so please excuse me already with this for those who'll accept to read this entirely long text, yes that what some of my French readers and friends are used to do since years now =).
Warning, if its the first time (English readers i presume except those from LJ Precure who get used to it) you are about to read of my entry, then have a cup of coffee, it'll greatly help you :p
2. Consoles thought
3. Games thought
4. Backlog
5. Best of 2014
6. Games in 2015
So... 2014, an year full of things on my side, whenever it was the same for everyone. An year in which i could finally work and earn money, which means more money to buy games but less time to play than i did in 2013. 2014 was also the year where i could finally afford new gen consoles after my birthday but especially after a change of circumstance
>Afford new TV
Thanks to the World Cup 2014, HD TV went cheaper with special price offer if i wouldnt take this chance later. Changing TV was important because i could finally play PS4 which dont accept RGB plug because i was playing an old TV Sony Triniton 82cm 100Hz which was nearly perfect for every game from the SNES to the PS3.
However due to not having any HDMI, it couldnt fit PS4 at all which force me to do the change, however i do not having regret anymore, the TV serves its role for nearly 8 years. which was a win bet for saving money up till now(however it doesnt save my both hands as the TV was TOO HEAVY), i use the old stuff until it get outdate or break itself.
To replace it, i bought from Luxembourg a good Samsung Samsung 101cm with 3D which was the good one to choose for what i need and it was the one who had the best offer price at that moment : 325¤ at May 2014. It was also my first time with HDMI and many consoles and things needed HDMI so 2 slots werent enough, i was also force later to buy a multi switch from KINIVO to solve this problem (temporary however, i took a 3 slots as it went 20¤ from a drop price offer and i will need a 5 slots which cost more for now), 1 port allocate for the laptop(and later my new PC, but that'll be in 2015) and every of my console(PS3-PS4-WiiU-Vita TV[when i need to plug all 3 PSconsole, i switch the HDMI of the wiiU for VitaTV)
>>Work
My new work is to build trucks at Renault. Cant say if the work is hard as i dont feel anything. The good thing about this job is that its a good combinaison of working with my body and actually doing my task without question. Sure its extremely repetitive but its just like when you play repetitive game, when you know what to do, you just do this task and that's all. It can feel very exhausting for anyone without patience and repeating things but because its not a job i have to rush hard nor questionning myself about : what task i have to do tomorrow? Its : Im done with my day and i go rest a bit, play my game, enjoy stuff and go to sleep then repeat the day. The pay is good for what i need for now, and when you have a job you can afford games or actually feed yourself with better food, its what we always hope for. Sure i feel like Computer Science miss me but since its hard to find a job there, i dont think of it atm and only focus at my job, the one i have in front of me. I have good collegue there, some like video games, others prefer music. We do talk a lot more about music because it help us to forget that we do repetitive work and entertain us.
>>Life
One more year and i feel old when im only 25 years old. Its been years i've broke with my girlfriend due to the distance that do separate us but also a clash on twitter we had :/. Its always hard to forget as i do only focus at one thing, and because i focus at this girl that's hard to forget. Also im not in an hurry to find a new girlfriend because these girls... they tend to eat more of your money you earn for themselves rather themselves. The opposite works too as we, humans, are greedy and only think of ourselves. I prefer to save some money for me, to both purchase things i want and save some so maybe i can live by myself later as for years im still living with my parents and dont want to abuse more of their generosity thought i promise to live with them so i can take care of them, i just want the family to be all good.
>>Additionnal Notes
This year, i have purchase things i want but i had to delay some too. My brother hasnt move from the house yet and another one borrow me 2000¤. Because of this, i couldnt make my Desk Computer i wanted to do and have to delay it next year until i can secure more money or when i'll get back my money. Also this year i meet plenty of new person on Twitter and also in my life thanks to the work. At Work, being part of a team that do appreciate you for the courage you bring to them as i was more the type to inspire them by not being tired at work and help them instead of slowing them by being egoist, they help me afterwards even paying coffee and food in exchange. On Twitter, i meet some new face thanks to the KTFamily and also thanks to my Activity Feed on Tweetdeck. I wanted to thanks those who have accepted to follow me and apologize for those who have unfollow me, however for the latter i just put some apology here but i wont change my way : Twitter may not have spoilers things but i dont like to not being able to post what i want : For example being said of not posting Sen No Kiseki pics even if i tag them, being force to say cool things to stuff i dont want to say: i wont say i love Nintendo while i hate their Region Lock method. Also and this is what i want to say with honesty : I dont also like those who pretend this has to be this way, its especially those who ask Physical release of games when sometimes they cant. Always they give an example of : this did, so other must do. For this I dont feel i want to listen. For example when people complain Rune Factory 4 in Europe dont have Physical Release and will boycott the game, i found it stupid and egoist as the game RUN FOR 11 MONTHS OF TROUBLE TO GET IN EUROPE DUE TO FUCKING REGION LOCK and people still ask a physical release while there's more important things aside? Like No Dragon Quest VII which is both Region Lock and not localized while game have hard time to get localized but succeded but get blame because of "digital only". Im actually glad to taste my product i can acquire than something i cant (region lock + Not localized / Game who get terminated services like WKC or almost every games on NDS who's part of the Wifi Connection like no more Online for Advance Wars Day of Ruin / Dark Conflict which was the last Advance Wars Game with Online(no more) as there's none on 3DS!). There's always problem everywhere but we cant solve, its always hard to see people gaving up or ignoring it, it remind me when people start to ignore Rune Factory 4 when his EU release was cancelled, focusing on other game rather than a lost.
Anyway a lot of things happen in 2014, good nor bad, i wanted to write this here and going to terminate this year so we can finally turn the page and get to 2015.
2. Consoles thought
This year, i could finally afford a Playstation 4 but also with the announcement of the Playstation Vita Slim and the Playstation TV, i could add more at home. Finally thanks to a random moment of my life, i could afford a very cheap WiiU.
*Playstation 4
My first most priority to acquire this year due to the new TV purchase in May. I knew which game i wanted to get as well, the first game was of course Dynasty Warriors 8 Xtreme Legends which i swear to myself to be the first game i would get on PS4 because it was impressive from footage i could seen last year via his announcement in China at September 2013(i even bet to inspchin from KTE on twitter that there'll be a DW game at launch for the PS4 which has proven to be true XD). Decided to not take it on PS3 (what's the point if i can now play it on PS4, especially thanks to Trasnfer Save and Cloud Save, seriously?), i was waiting. DW8XLCE was my very first game and i had enjoyed it till the end with a shiny platinum(the first acquire on PS4 on my side) with 285h. People said games are short on PS4, yeah sure.. DW are never short and this is why i choose wisely =). By the time i was doing DW8XLCE, i could acquire more games : MGS5GZ, Sengoku Musou4(SW which i rebought later in EU release too), WO3U, Sleeping Dogs DE, Tomb Raider DE(which i never play on PS3 and DE come with all DLC), The Last of us Remastered (Same than Tomb Raider, never play on PS3 so best chance to), Child of Light, Natural Doctrine and Japanese game (thanks god Free Region exist) with Dream C Club. So far i've only played 4 games on PS4 and half of the total games i have are still in my backlog due to not having time to play them yet. The amount let on my backlog is long enough to keep me entertaining a good year and it'll getting worse by the time i'll acquire more games in 2015. So to tell the truth, people around might say it has no game so as they reharshed the same stupid sentance with the Vita but as long my backlog contains games, it do never stop to have games.
Impression : Really satisfied
*Playstation Vita 2000 LCD
Also refered as the Playstation Vita Slim, this was my second priority to get after PS4 because i was really envying getting the new improvement of the system. Of course you may still telling OLED>LCD but its something i dont care at all. Reasons? I play "8" entire years with the same cathodic TV, ignoring HD experinece for a very long time during PS3/360/Wii so im being used long enough to small screen and shitty quality to not having problem at all with the Slim. LCD prove to make my eyes less tired playing and i gained more with it : Controls are now more confortable, especially to take snapshot with a bigger PS Home button and a Bigger Start button (i have big hands so the tiny from OLED werent good to snapshot like crazy i do). Rear Touch pad is better as being smaller does now avoid accident with some games (SFxTK i look at you). Finally the micro USB plug in which i can now refill the Vita battery anytime with ease and an additionnal hour of battery life for games which i can embrace anytime. This serve now to my main EU Account and the second Vita is not being resell, nope i wanted it to get the JP account so i do no longer needed to format Vita setting to switch account anymore. Also having 2 Vita does help me with stuff that require two vita to do (multiplayer trophies game) so its a win win in the end, i have two vita to compare the stuff i want, i have two to play everything i need but especially i have finally purchase a PSVita myself at the OLED was initially a birthday gift two years ago.
Impression : Its here and i love it. Now all i want is a MC of 128 or 256Gb
*Playstation TV
Also refered as the Playstation Vita TV. Revealed at September 2013, it was one product i wanted to acquire, but instead of import the original Japanese Product, i went to wait his release in my country, France. I didnt care if it took time. At least waiting to buy it at my own country is what i wanted. And it was the best thing to do on my side, because it was released last in Europe, it has also unlock free region as it was at first only compatible with Japanese Game. With this i could finally play almost every of the game i wanted in contrary of rumour and bad words i read about it can only read 10% of games which is wrong. Sure its not 100% but a few games unreadable on VitaTV is not what i care for what i play (not being able to play Uncharted GA seriously? Like i care of this game... For what i wanted, playing Toukiden on Big HDTV is just omigosh, stunning. I took my time to play 3 games fully on VitaTV instead of the Vita just for this : Senran Kagura Shinovi Versus, Neptune U and a good bite of Toukiden as much as i can BITE =D. (so hungry of Toukiden). The system will prove to be more useful for me in 2015 as i'll have more game to play there such as Toukiden Kiwami(<3), Phantasy Star Nova, Sengoku Musou 3 Chronicles etc... There's too much to number so better read my expectation of 2015. But overall im not dissapoint of the device, i even hope that Nintendo will also consider to do the same for 3DS as they did the same in the past with Gameboy and Gameboy Advance so you can remember they already did this in the past. I wont mind replaying Fire Emblem Kakusei on Big TV compatibility with the Gamepad serving as the lower touch screen and the TV screen as the Big Upper Screen.
Impression : Its just sad the USB slot cannot plug directly things like an External Hard Drive Disk or an Arcade Stick. However Happy to play Vita and PSP games on Big Screen.
*WiiU
WiiU was the last purchase i had in mind because of the long time that Xenoblade Chronicles X will take to get released. It has become an OK purchase at Hyrule Warriors release because i didnt care of Mario Kart 8, so it happen to be a purchase made on July during some Summer Sale. I went to study the price of the console from his release date to this month until i can spot a good price for it as Nintendo never drop price his device making the purchase a real long time to do as i didnt have much game to play there. So after long studies, CORA had a good pick of the Premium Pack ZombiU 32Gb. Its initial price was 390¤ but it has all accesories i needed and surprise... this was one pack that had an hellish discount : 30%. Make the calculation yourself, CORA give the console for 293¤. Mario Kart 8 Bundle was 299¤ but minus the Controller Pro U, minus Charging Base, minus Sensor bar and such... Anyway ZombiU pack had everything so it was the best pack i could paid... for actually 30¤. No joke i really paid 30¤ because the cashier guy who scan the WiiU box mistook the barcode of the console and scan the warranty barcode instead and paid the console for 30¤. As i could actually afford the system 13x less his initial price, i shut my mouth and paid it. And... actually its the best i did. For only 2 games i have really play, WiiU is taking a bit lot of dust and i would actually regret his full purchase if i had really put 300/400¤ in it full price, 30¤ is a good price for 8 games i own but 2 i had really play seriously and 6 which can only be play casually. Games i have really enjoyed are Hyrule Warriors because Musou+Zelda, how cant i say no? And Super Smash Bros because reasons. Others games are ZombiU(dont care), WO3H(i play a bit until i own WO3U which is million better), Sonic Transformed(because wiiU version is better than PS3/360), TTT2U for the Volley ball mode^^ , Zelda WWHD but play it a lot on GC and was better on GC because it had Ocarina Of Time+Master Quest, a game that WWHD miss (and WWGC was cheaper and have 3 games in one thanks to OoT) and being a lot more expensive than GC ver. Finally theres Resident Evil Revelations (but the horrible second stick make it unplayable to be honest... reason i had to afford a new third party controller with 360 setting who have the best placement for 2nd stick). Overall im mixed feeling with wiiU for now. I dont enjoy it as much as i had enjoyed the Gamecube and for myself who loves to play JRPG, there's still none there except Xenoblade X but not released yet... On WIi i could still play Rune Factory, Fire Emblem, Trauma Center, Last Story, Xenoblade but right now i have none. I do really thank Hyrule Warriors to make me play the wiiU seriously. But i think the best thing i have with WiiU is that i afford it for 30¤. 30¤ is good enough for not selling it (if i sell it, i still win a lot of money for what i paid for :p) and trying to enjoy the new games that will come in 2015 and more.
Impression : I really wish WiiU has more games because region lock means less games than you can think (Project Zero 5, Yakuza 1+2 HD for wiiU, Taiko games). But without region lock, its so good to play some of your classic with the Gamepad and being a remote control for TV is a plus.
XboxOne?
Oh and why i didnt buy a XboxOne? Because i do seriously not want one. With what games? America Microsoft hate Japan which was been proven true when they dropped Mistwalker... (Lost Odyssey) It get multiport that i can play on PS4 and their exclusive are shit for me as im not a fan of AAA American game, not a fan of FPS, not a fan of American Sports, and finally most of their exclusive gone PC (If i really want to play Dead Rising 3, now i can on PC). As much as i like racing game, i dont like Forza at all. With this, i have no interest on XboxOne and dont have plan to get any no matter how Microsoft will try to advertise it to me. And at a time when PS4 and Xbone(this name suit it well) get multiport, they almost all end up on PC so really no reason to get Xbox One for me as i dont like American game, im more a Japanese Game type so everything go for PS4. That's been said.
Impression : What's a Xbone?
PS3
Considering Wii and Xbox360 are pratically dead in term of play time (Wii only serve as Retro Gaming in time of time), only PS3 remains. And as usual its mostly the one i play the most all of this year because of the many games that come from Japan and some localized titles. This year, the biggest change i have with it was to purchase an Arcade Stick Madcatz TE for PS3 which is also compatible for PC so i can play my favourite Arcade game on Steam. That change is when i restart playing Dead Or Alive 5 Ultimate in a very different way i was playing it with a controller. The second biggest change is using the PS3 Sharpshooter for the PSMove and it has greatly improve my experience at The House the Dead 4, now i need to test it on both Resident Evil Umbrella Chronicles and Darkside Chronicles. My biggest fear with the console this year come from Gust and those atrocious bug/glitchs/freeze of Atelier Shallie which has almost destroy my PS3 if i had to play it in a very long period due to the many bip it causes... So now PS3 have 8 years and 2015 will start the 9th year of his existence in which Sony promise to deliver games up to 10 years which can be true with the amount of games being localized and a good bunch on developement there.
Impression : 8 greats years. I cant wait to enjoy the 9th!
3DS
This is the second year i spend with a 3DS. To be fair, for my second year having the consoles, its a little better than the first year i own it because i had more games to get. But frankly it still have less JRPG to play than PSVita. However, less or more, both consoles have the JRPG i need and im happy with it. I was happy enough until Iwata dares to announce New3DS making 3DS vanilla console, having outdate control or imcomplete (Circle Pad Pro is not even support for games that does support it with New3DS control such as Smash Bros) but same problem : region lock and Push button for On/Off is weird. New3DS is definitely an improvement to the 3DS, however the announcement of it and how 3DS became obsolete (Xenoblade wont run on 3DS but only on New3DS) makes me angry at the point i really wonder if i have regret not waiting 2 more years before acquiring a "definitive 3DS". Because of this problem, i dont like throwing money randomly for changing my console each year (ITS NOT A DAMN CELLPHONE DAMMIT! STOP BEING APPLE!) i dont want to purchase it but i prefer to wait too, seeing if Nintendo will not announce a New3DSMini or even so New3DSXXL (remember DSlite->DSi->DSiXL? A console is supposed to be loved, to be own until its death, not to change it every year...
Impression : Definitely an improvement for the Game Catalog but GODDAMN THE NEW3DS ANNOUNCEMENT MAKE ME ANGRY!
3. Games thought
Each year is a great year for me about video games, whenever they are games released this year, games that i've keep to play this year because the timing and retro gaming because im not tired to play some old games when i have some moment for
Bravely Default - 3DS (Not Finish)
This is one of the JRPG i had prefer to play in 2014 because of not rushing it (The game was release in late december, rushing JRPG is not something recommand, especially for the wait). Bravely Default is good, there's no doubt about it. However i really think if the game had stopped at Chapter 4, it would definitely be a Masterpiece. Passing CHapter 4, my interest drop drastically and make me wonder if the game was actually unfinished so it use a shortcut to actually make me think of another FF6-like (in FF6, the first half is great but once getting to the World of Ruin, its almost empty and was being excuse by just getting back all of the party or doing a fast run into Kefka) where the second half is so free it feel empty. By this the game doesnt have much place to visit but have fantastic visual and places to visit, sure the game have a lot of strategy to plan before engaging battle with good idea of using Brave Points to decide how to manage fights, sure the music are great. All of them do make Bravely Default good for me. Also the Dual Option thanks to the Internationnal release with the ability to get multi language and able to rewatch events and setting difficulty and battle encount rate make it just great. The translation has remain intact as it make me wonderwhy its rated PEGI12 while you have open subject for older audiance like the old sage at Yulyana who wants to sleep with both Agnes and Edna while Ringabel exchange a joke about understanding the old geez. Progressing throught the game is good until Chapter 4. Ending it and i thought it was the ending until i was force to replay the game event. I did for Chapter 5 until it repeat at the next one. Thought i was doing something wrong, i went to check progress with players who played it until i heard the event repeat itself until i do a trick or force me to play until the last Chapter. This is where my limit got and i stop to play.
The difference is that repeating events in Bravely Default is more something i dont accept as if the game was replayable with each new playthrough i would be ok with it like Sen No Kiseki II when the new Playthrough give me access to collect the dark tome to learn another more story of the game RATHER THAN FORCE ME TO ENDLESS IT IN THE SAME PLAYTHROUGH! HOWEVER you have the choice of either stop the cycle (but to know this you have to cheat and by cheat i mean to learn about how you do it. There's a difference between doing it ourselves and its not cheat if we never know about it and the difference with people telling you to break the crystal and end this mess) or continue to endure it. When the game stop and tell me : you can learn more secrets, doing other endings by replaying the game AFTER you end it, im ok. However being forced dragged to this adventure over and over is a difference that make me to accept of enduring it. Its making myself disgusted by the point of doing it all over again with the real problem of the team being dumb : Airy : im very sorry, Tiz : its ok we'll doing it again with smile! At this moment i wanted to kill Agnes and Tiz which i had never got any problem with... In all of the cast, only one save me for madness and its the good old Ringabel : Jokes with women win as for his character with so much good lines. He and Edna are hopefully the good pair to follow.
Impression : I really wish if the game had stopped at Chapter 4, even leaving a cliffhanger for Bravely Second, i wouldnt mind. But the Endless Eight part up to chapter 5 has make me gave up on the game as i dont want to be force-dragged to finish my game.
Dead Or Alive 5 Ultimate - PS3
Ah Dead Or Alive 5 Ultimate, 2nd purchase of the Home console version after the one from the Playstation Vita. I
had decided to purchase it at the beginning of 2014 because i could
find a cheap copy in Luxembourg during the Winter Sale. For what i've
played there was more improvement in term of Online and a more players
thanks to the Core Fighters of DOA5U. The game got more of my attention
when Team Ninja of Tecmo announce some new characters to come from the
Arcade version of DOA5U. It start with Marie Rose, add Phase 4 and end
with Nyotengu. When Marie Rose was here, i had a lot more attention at
playing the game and online with my friends and it got a lot more
attention with Nyotengu the queen of ryona(those who know ryona may know
what i mean). Overall, i spend more of my time playing Ultimate than
the Vanilla version. To say if i regret purchasing twice im not. Im one
of fan players who bought DOA2 at that time on his many version :
Vanilla Dreamcast, Hardcore PS2, Ultimate Xbox, as long DOA is good, it
worth it.
Impression : I enjoyed it a lot, i just regret Team Ninja still havent release the 2P costume from DOA4 of Ayane
Impression : Satisfy with DOA5Ultimate, the addition of Marie Rose and Nyotengu was a great addition to the cast and new costume are welcome although they cost money.
Brothers A Tale of Two Sons - PS3
I
bought the game before it comes PS+ but it worth it as it has given my
attention for some hours. Even if things were predictable (the big
brother who's strong and is also careless while the little one is smart
but sometimes a crybaby) and filled with some bugs (i had a moment when
the little brother was glitch on emptyness from
a bridge i lift, some enemy in the cave couldnt see me too when i was
escaping my prison), i found the ending just sad for a life you want to
save, a life will be taken afterwards(Shame for me its not the good one i
wanted to die, i dont like the little brat brother lol)
Impression : It was ok but there's always better elsewhere, like ICO.
Toukiden The Age of Demons (Not Finish)
A
lot of people compare it to a Koei Tecmo version of Monster Hunter for
which i dont know if i should agree or not. For sure, Toukiden just like
Monster Hunter rely more on getting gear rather than having a leveling
system to hunt bigger monster. Toukiden rely more on Mitama combinaison
with combinaison to fuse and improve them and crafting gear to build our
character ready to fight. The key victory is also to demembrate
monsters to give materials to create better gear in which Toukiden like
MH have a lot of replayability of facing stronger version with different
tactics., Toukiden like
many is based on PSO about being an lobby RPG type as you host a
mission, find partner and go hunt all together whenever online or
offline. What makes Toukiden really enjoyable for me are fight part,
they are really enjoyable and the exploration good. The difference
(until MH4U with New3DS) is that the game is build with 2nd stick
implement in so it takes full control of it and give good control to
play. What do also make me love Toukiden is the Japanese Art direction
and universe, this is what make me prefer Toukiden over Soul Sacrifice
for example. The other good thing i have enjoyed there is the Soundtrack
which have a good bunch of memorable music and the village theme is so
peaceful.
Impression : So good i want a sequel. Wait... Toukiden Kiwami. OOOHHH CAN'T WAIT =D
Valhalla Knights 3 - PSVita (Not Finish)
For
what Valhalla Knights 3 worth really, i was waiting for a huge discount
for this one before getting it, so i had the discount i need and took
it. And for what i have played there, it was just like playing White
Knight Chronicles.... but... in a very slow pace... Sure the game has
some stuffs to offer with the interaction at the prison, sure there's
place to visit and activity to do. But all of them doesnt solve Valhalla
Knights 3 problems from the boredom it deliver. Also there's actually
no real Online activity making the game blunt. A bad story, bad
interaction. It has a great place for the worst game i have ever played.
And that's good, i need some bad game for material comparaison.
Impression : WTF is that WKC low quality clone?
Soulcalibur Lost Swords - PS3
I
love the Soul series, i've never deny it. I was also waiting
Soulcalibur Lost Swords to see what sort of experience the F2P would
deliver after a good Tekken Revolution(but was ruined with lvl shit
system). So what about this one? Well the solo part is all good for me,
combat are enjoyable as same as Soulcalibur V solo was. However the
problem is that the game F2P has a real problem in comparaison of Tekken
Revolution who dont have them, SERIOUS LOADING ISSUE. The Loading issue
in this game is what make Soulcalibur Lost Swords more like Soulcalibur
Low Streaming... Everytime you have to choose a part of Story to engage
a battle, you need to suffer the long loading from the servers, which
will give random result. If the game succeded to grant your request and
you'll finally fight, you are all good. If not, you'll lose your
strength which serve to engage new battle because the game play like a
F2P who give you restriction for when you can really play. Tekken
Revolution was okay because it use a system similar to token to insert
in an Arcade Machine, it simulate it well. Soulcalibur LS however use
the typical system you find at most of the F2P games and waiting is long
sure, but its FRUSTRATING once you lose these pts BECAUSE the game
didnt grant your request thanks to the crappy server. Overall i didnt
have the patience enough because the game lose all of my pts while i was
trying to access some fights in the 4th Chapter and i stop there. You
know, sure Soulcalibur V was a lot criticize for his lack of Solo Mode
and no Story mode for the whole roster, but his gameplay is good and
hopefully Soulcalibur LS use it. Its just sad that for now, the Team
Project Soul dont know what to do with the franchise and it makes me sad
:/.
Impression : It was all good until Crappy Online does ruin this game
Final Fantasy XIII Lightning Returns - PS3
Lightning
Returns, the game was so critized, so underestimate but for me it was
one of the best game i have played in 2015. Just to be clear by now : Im
not a fan of Lightning, in term of main character i really like in the
FFXIII trilogy is only Snow and for the conclusion the game delivers, it
worth to do it so i could end FFXIII for good. But seriously what did i
really like in this game? Many things to be honest, the first thing is
giving me time management activity to do, something that a certain
Atelier Shallie lacks this year and make me move my motivation there.
Many criticize the time limit to be a burden of the game making the game
not enjoyable to play. I love when i heard it and heard the Atelier
Series has been criticize a lot for this while these same person "love
Zelda Majora Mask STRICT time limit" and "cant wait for 2015 to replay
it on 3DS". Sorry but time limit do not ruin anything, it change a game
concept sure it doesnt ruin the game at all as the game itself give you
chance to replay it from NG+ even from failure. This is one thing i hate
about people saying if they do what they want to do in first
playthrough, they can hate the game. Same thing that make me wonder how
they can love Zelda Majora Mask since this one doesnt give you NG+ and
you need to do EVERYTHING in the same playthrough, there's even a death
count like every Zelda so death and failure exist at every game, i just
dont understand people, really... Well second point i love about
Lightining Returns? The Battle system, maybe the best battle system i
have ever played this year. It require full attention, it use job system
so that means every battle is not meant to be play the same but
especially require strategy. So i love the battle because i change job
for Lightning sexy dress? like i said i dont like Lightning and i dont
really care of her body and her dress, i just love how fast and action
paced are battles in this game. I just love how i can customize my
action and finally i love when i can do bosses at any order i want from
each town of the game, their difficulty does even change if you take too
long to play but they are still easy if you beat them sooner. This
difficulty will also change as the game will give you better rewards,
better gear , more pts and money if you wait longer to do the game, the
game does actually play and reajust the difficulty with the time cycle
making the game experience in 3 different part of the game. Couple it
with difficulty Setting (Hard is unlocked after beating the game once)
and Time Management, LR has more replay value than i had with FFXIII-2
(in which it bored me a lot). Finally what i have appreciated in the
game is its music. The Ark music let me put the controller in a table
and listen to the music like an hour of two. Yusnaan different music
were also good, i was like in a festival, Luxerion when you solve all of
the mystery there or the common boss fight theme.Lightning Returns may
have not seduced everyone but it convinced me enough. For now im ready
to repurchase it on Steam for his PC release because of what the game
is, enjoyable, had tried new concept but especially deliver me the best
battle mechanics i want to see in a future in some of SE game, if only.
About the story? It end FFXIII trilogy and its better it end this way, i
just regret the Snow i know only returns at the end of the game as the
Snow of the whole FFXIII LR depressed me a lot (due to the lost of
Serah).
A
final note : CAN SOMEONE KILL HOPE FOR ME?! THIS BRAT HAS BECOME MORE
ANNOYING IN THIS EPISODE! I hate Hope since FFXIII, i ignore him at
FFXIII-2 but ultimately i wanted to kill this brat at Lightning
Returns...
Impression
: Damn god Lightning Returns battle are good ! Its much better than X
mash on FFXIII-2. its also good to have Dual Audio for the game as i
could enjoyed both Daisuke Ono and Troy Baker for Snow(l love both voice
actor)
Doodle Devil - PSVita
There's
not much to say about Doodle Devil, its the devilish version of Doodle
God i play last year, with still censored stuff and only adapted for the
Vita. The reason i took it is because it got a discount and because i
have actually enjoyed Doodle God. The concept is still the same, you are
given words you have to associate to give new words until you fill the
encyclopedia. Everything is alchemy related and have a purpose to reward
you with more knowledge of what you learn by trying and experiment
combinaison. Its not really a game meant to be enjoyable so its only
good to take for cheap but not for full price.
Impression : Censors? Really? Even at Doodle Devil? :/
Soulcalibur II HD Online - PS3
I
said earlier that i love Soul Series, it is. I bought Soulcalibur II HD
Online twice, both on Japanese and European version. I admit i bought
it for double platinum but especially because the European doesnt have
Japanese Audio and Bandai Namco Europe and America deny to offer them
while... the Japanese version has dual audio. Yup Dual Audio option and
the game do not even have a large size in comparaison of Eu/Na version,
less of 10Mb! (668vs678). So anyway, Soulcalibur II. Its the same
Soulcalibur II but this time Japan receive the contents that EU/NA
receive in their SC2 release back to the old gen. That means Japanese
players have a new rebalanced Quest Mode (the one from JP was easier and
different) and the alternative 2P Concept art (Xianghua 2P butt :3).
The only noticeable addition of this version is the Online Mode but god
they failed it. Ranked Match, Random Match? When you think SCV Online
Feature was the best thing there, SC2 fail to reproduce or to care about
it...
Impression
: Overall it's an ok purchase but considering how old the game is, its
only for fans to purchase it, i dont recommand it for newcomers except
for storywise and the quest mode, its better to focus on Soulcalibur III
in term of contents or Soulcalibur IV, but more on Soulcalibur V is
gameplay is all you may care about.
WRC 4 FIA - PSVita
I
took the PSVita version because i dont need any rally game on PS3 for
now, besides WRC4 on Vita this time was able to fit all of the PS3
contents , something that WRC3 on Vita didnt. The main change about this
episode is that the driving has been improved to make it more
simulation than Arcade than 3 was. Couple
it with the content from the home console version and the Vita release
is quite solid. The online is also more stable than the one at 3, its
also more strict to play but we can finally hold longer championship and
more rallye. Overall, quite an improvement.
Impression : Satisfied, a good racing game for the Vita.
Puyo Puyo Tetris - PSVita
What if Puyo and Tetris got a child? It'll be Puyo Puyo Tetris. The Japanese way to celebrate the
30th anniversary of Tetris. Thing said, I took it for PSVita because
Vita doesnt have a decent Tetris game(Tetraminos is a shit mini to be
honest) and unless you have a JPN account, you cannot play Puyo on a
Vita. So here's Puyo Puyo Tetris that you can also get on PS3(to play
with all of your friends in a big TV), 3DS the most popular one i could
get, if it wasnt region lock (means only JP players, no players from the
world) and WiiU(same problem than 3DS except that this version sell
less , but a bit more than PS4/Xbone version =) ). So a portable Tetris,
a portable Puyo Puyo game and a mix of both. The demo was amazing it
gives me vibes to get the game and here it is. I havent much progress at
the story mode, i have instead spend most of my time doing the
challenge and playing against the computer for a long time. I wish i
could play online with Exelen, BlueKatamari and the others but i didnt
have the chance to and i dont know if they still want to play it now.
But the more important is, its so good to have such good arcade vibe
game playable anywhere you want =).
Impression : Its a drug you want to abuse.
Jurrasic Park Telltale - PS3
Obtained
from a PSN discount, i went to play the game because of the new
Jurrasic World Movie announcement. The game is just like every Telltale,
short, episodic and only the scenario matter. Well Scenario and Game
Mechanics, those of JPT sucks with terrible QTE Timing and many lags
that cause things to mess up. About the Story i wasnt expecting much
considering the only good and best movie was the first one so following
Gerry story with her daughter was the same deal, a brat that is bored of
this trip, the Dad who's happy to see her daughter but dont have much
time to take care of her and the other story with Nima was boring at
first, until she reveals her origins and about the island and the fate
of her daughter. Story progress was so so until the end of Chapter 3
turns off to me as : holy shit, is it Alien Rip off? And when the story
end with the two endings, my final choice imply mostly Nima fate because
in either way, Gerry and Jess survive and in the end Nima's daughter
can live as she'll always have someone to rely, so its mostly about
greed of money or love and respect. Gerry and Jess relationship looks a
lot boring to me contrary to other example of Telltale game characters
like Lee and Clementine who work better because they start to knew each
others while JP character are more in a struggle to repair broken bonds
in years.
Impression
: In the end, not really a good Telltale game, but also not a good
Jurrasic Park Story either. None can surpass the first movie.
Ys Memories of Celceta - PSVita (Not Finish)
It'll
be hard to give an opinion about the game because i havent progress
that much(due to that immense backlog) but for what i've played, i
really like Y's
MoC battle and what people criticize of PSP graphism, i found them okay
and not terrible. Terrible would be definitely Valhalla Knights 3, Ys
MoC is pretty and playable. I may give my impression next year because i
cant right now.
Impression : I'll give my better opinion next year
LEGO Movie - PSVita
EVERYTHING
IS AWESOME! EVERYTHING IS COOL WHEN YOU'RE PART OF THE TEAM! EVERYTHING
IS AWESOME!!!... This is the music that get stucked in my head each
time i play the game. I havent watch the movie but i was curious to know
about the game. As usual, portable version of LEGO lacks of stages that
home console version have, however they have less bonus to take care of
and they are always either good or bad to play depending on what we
wait for them. LEGO Movie turns out to be a good LEGO game, Emmet is a
funny character to follow, the game do not have open world like Lord of
the Rings game but have plenty of good stage to play. It give me occupy
the whole day, like every LEGO game.
Impression : The second good LEGO game i have to play, the first one was Lord of the Rings
Wonderbook Walking With Dinosaurs - PS3
The
third Wonderbook i had to play(the last one will be the Potion one). As
usual with Wonderbook, the goal is to enjoy the world brought to live
from the AR book , the PSMove and the game. In comparaison of Jurrasic
Park, the Wonderbook one is a lot more interesting about playing a game
about dinosaur but sure you need to accept that its mostly oriented for
Children. The trial given after each lessons are quite fun, except the
breed one for dance, QTE fight were good and actually the only good mini
game part. Overall, only good for cheap price but not full price. The
best Wonderbook game remain Detective Nightcrawler and his dark polar
story oriented with humour and good dub.
Impression : Better than Book of Spells but not as good compared to Diggs Nightcrawler
Ar No Surge - PS3
Waiting
the new segment of the Surge Concerto with this part oriented RPG. A
lot of people has thought Gust has woke up and gave Ar Tonelico but
actually its giving the result of what we live with Ion for years with
Ciel No Surge and set the setting of the game for which we do finally
follow the grown up Casty , Tabou now Delta and now Ion with the player
of Ciel No Surge as Earthes. Because i mostly play with the EU account, i
had to play with no Links of Ion with the player but only rely of the
option of Gust Social (something that lacks the Localized version due to
not have it + battle events and true ending). Before enjoying the
story, the first thing i did at Ar No Surge was to enjoy the battle
system and holy shit its good, it keep me long playing it, testing
combos length and break occurence with many combinaison i was giving to
both Delta and Earthes, just to rank S with a pretty victory pose but
especially more rewards, the harder we play, better is the reward. And
because it help raising level, the game could be play like a breeze. In
comparaison, Ar No Surge is more RPG oriented than Shallie so Ar No
Surge was more enjoyable and the reward given has more sense than
Shallie who was supposed to be the good old Alchemy and time management
oriented but copy the difficulty and rewards setting to make the second
one less interesting and give more boredom.
Storywise,
those who didnt play Ciel No Surge would be completely lost with the
amount of text to read. With this, understanding some jokes, some
sentance but ultimately to explain the world of Ra Ciela . I really
wanted to help Nero to get her to return home but always i had to fight
her because i was too much in her way :( (hopefully we do help her
return at home in the end =) ), Prim always annoy me however and her
intention were too predictable and we can kill Zill already, that
bitch... From all of the returning character Sarly has reveal her soft
and weird self but i had a lack of Nay(sure she's also part of Ion
later) but still lack of Nay, maybe because im like Shirotaka :p.
Speaking of returning character, seeing the young and spoiled Shurelia
alongwith the grandfather of the Ayatane we know from Ar Tonelico was
sure to bring some Ar Tonelico nostalgia but especially to see how
Shurelia is so dependable (one of the ending resulting at being with
Shurelia).
I
havent booted Ar No Surge Plus yet as the reason i wanted it is at
first having Ar No Surge portable but ultimately getting Nero's event i
didnt have on PS3 version. (yeah Nero <3 fuck you haters)
Impression : The only game that impressed me from Gust this year. Ar No Surge does what the Tasogare Series didnt, trying to stay true to its initial concept and not trying to change everything in the very last moment.
MGS Ground Zeroes - PS4 / PS3
While
a lot of people speak of it as a demo who cost money, the amount of
things i paid 15¤ (yup 15¤, thanks EU PSN who had the offer 15¤ with
Peace Walker HD offer) worth enough to set the events of MGSV First
story before Phantom Pain. To be honest, if there wasnt these tapes and
some side missions to do, i would definitely think the content would be
exagerate to make me paying for it, but since they do have contents, im
satisfied. First thing first, i dont regret David Hayter as Keifer
Sutherland is convincing enough as an aging Big Boss. Second, the new
gameplay take times to understand as i was getting used to the very old
system till MGS4, MGS5GZ remind me the mechanics i had with Portable Ops
and Peace Walker inventory wise but it dont dissapoint me as it gives
more focus into management and planning carefully things. The Fox
Engline is quite impressive and visiting the base is good, it me think
of what if i was visiting an huge, bigger version of the Grosny Grad of
MGS3. Different gameplay mechanics are also welcome, getting some Bullet
time before being discovered giving a second chance to not mess up and
the convincing AI who take a lot of time to actually search Big Boss
rather than the usual alert caution statut, the different person view
mode to shoot are also welcome here as now the first person has also
greatly improved.
Contains-wise,
the numerous tape to listen give me occupy to learn more about the fate
of Paz after the event of Peace Walker but ultimately what change Big
Boss bit by bit (change are mostly noticeable on Japanese as American
voice acting tend to be more serious for this one(Peace Walker was more
humorous).
Impression : Honestly satisfied, cant wait for Phantom Pain =)
FFX Remaster HD - PSVita (Not Finish)
The
main reason i want it on PSvita is because its useless to get a PS3
version if i own a PS2 version already. Also having it on PSvita means
portable FFX which has more sense and also make the PS4 announcement
lol. Storywise,
not much to tell about replaying Final Fantasy X, following Tidus story
to find his way back home(which will never bur serve his role on Spira)
and guide Yuna in her journey. As usual, its so good to getting back
with the crew, but especially Auron and Rikku, Auron being the best, the
BEAST and Rikku and her usual joy and broken Alchemy mechanics.
Blitzball are more enjoyable in the hands rather on the bigger screen as
im finally feeling enjoying a sport game. Battle are usual good enough
to keep me entertaining except one thing that bother me in this whole
remaster. Music Remaster are... ATROCIOUS. God i hate most if not all
remastering OST of the game. To the man who composed a great OST of
FFXIII, what happened to FFX? Did Hamauzu suddently lost his ears? I was
really sad not being able to switch to original music also NA dub are
always atrocious as the infamous Tidus laugh is still here (while on
Japanese Tidus has never got any problem). Overall,
its definitely great to have FFX in my hands and FFX-2 is given with
the game as digital download only. Some would have the choice but i like
the choice as the game is actually cheaper than in Japan in which
separate box cost more money and Digital Download solve FFX-2 loading
issue like this (those who play the blitzball management part and Last
Mission on X-2 would understand it).
Impression : It would be perfect if the game didnt have the atrocious Music Remaster.
Deception IV - PSVita (Not Finish)
Kagero,
a series that most Westerner dont know and thought the game was bad
because of fanservice and grotesque gameplay mechanics. The Kagero
series was always different for me as it was what a Survival Horror with
Strategy RPG mechanics has to offer me here. For me, it was always a
sort of Survival Horror with some Management mechanics about setting
trap and improving the way to punish our pursuivers (Think of the very
first Clock Tower but instead of searching item to help you to survive,
you have them all with you). In this episode, Tecmo add more hilarious
way to humiliate our pursuiver before sending him to his death sentance,
with humiliation, bruatlity and magnificance. For this, it was all
thanks to a new mechanics about satisfying three of Servants who follows
Laegrinna. However i may agree that even if the gameplay is good and an
improvement, the story was less interesting as following Laegrinna
who's empty as fuck is not good at all. Man, i miss Millennia and her
involvement in the war and become Astarte. I also miss the Trapt heroine
Allura which was more like Clock Tower.
Impression
: Unless you dont know the series and dont actually enjoy the gameplay
mechanics, the game is not fitting for anyone who doesnt like to
wisefully set trap, wait and experiment more result. Also the
story of this episode wont help anyone to play it. For me, hopefully
the gameplay is here, has been renewed and help me to endure the painful
character that's Laegrinna...
Atelier Ayesha Plus - PSVita
Outside
of having costume and being a portable Atelier Ayesha, this episode add
a difficulty select to actually please those who found Ayesha too easy.
And sure Hard mode is Hard as enemy is more faster means they can
double turn and sure they hit hard. However, we dont fight as much in
Ayesha so the difficulty is especially if we aim more about fighting
immediatly with few ressources crafted beforehand rather than being
challengeable as the difficulty is manageable once we craft the powerful
item we need. So the difficulty is mostly artificial rather than giving
new mechanics like AI would change their behaviour, not just being
buffed in stats.
Ayesha
Plus however carry a bigger problem itself even if you own it in
physical release. Remember the Ayesha BGM Mix Pack? This one sure is
free here but it has a cost, its heavy as well, you can easily count
3.6Gb as the music is not compressed and couldnt fit the cartridge so
your choice to download it and eating a good bunch of your Memory Card
or not using it. Bare in mind the BGM Pack include this time Atelier
Escha&Logy OST. (This is the reason why Ayesha Digital download
release was huge when it came in Europe and America, the most part of
the it is from this single BGM pack).
Impression
: Unless you enjoy Dusk, Ayesha is a good first entry in this part of
the series even if it takes a different direction : you can never fail
Alchemy, you can grab as many ingredients as you want, battle lacks of
defense option in favour of move to give a sense of modern tactical
option of good old Salburg and revamping the whole bestiairy and
universe (no more Haggel, no more Pamela, no more legendary monsters but
especially no more Puni). The Western release might be more promising
as this time it'll have Dual Audio.
Dynasty Warriors 8 - PS3
After
getting a serious punch in my face with my first Musou game with DW7, 8
was a serious slap in my face. I took the opportunity to actually play
DW8 more seriously this year than when i was playing in Japanese more
because it was more easier to get DLC costume pack, especially for me
who was seeking the DW6 pack for XiaoQiao =). And god DW8 is so much an
improvement of DW7 as this time every character wield their own weapons
and have mostly their movelist revamp to not being clone of some anymore
(even if there's still some exception). The Story is also more a return
for DW4 system for choosing our general for each story of each faction
for each part. The major change in this episode at Story is the
inclusion of What IF arc. By filling the altenative objective given, we
can save a precious character from its fate and also saving a general
will give you his promise to be here to assist you in a future event.
Given these things, you can save Sun Jian and Sun Ce in the Wu segment
and have them assisting Sun Quan to destroy the Wei. In Wei
part, you can avoid the defeat of Chibi and let Cao Cao conquer his
objective as planned. With Shu, you can save Guan Yu and Zhang Fei from
their fate and avoid Liu Bei to become crazy against Wu and actually
continue this alliance and strike Wei. If not just story, its also the
only way to unlock character of the faction that arent supposed to be in
the story such as the Qiao's sister or Cai Wenji from the Wei.
Gameplay-wise,
this is a major improvement from DW8 as now each character have their
own weapon and their own attack. Before XtremeLegends addition, the game
has good game mechanics ideas such as element of weapon giving the
ability to break easily your opponent which work like the
paper/rock/scissors system. I can also ride an horse while running which
improve the evade part of battle or rushing through an objective given.
Finally each character have one type of musou depending the position : Standing Musou, Charge Musou and Aerial Musou.
The
game give me also the Commander Mode which is the mode i spent a lot of
time there to raise my bonds with every generals but especially getting
more powerful weapon via a Forge System (which is actually not that
good in Vanilla as there's some random part). But Commander mode is not
perfect. In a comparaison, Koei took the Legends part of
DW7XTremeLegends and had tried to implement some management part which
consists at collecting ressources to build the little town and greet the
Emperor, but the most part is really boring because there's no much
activity to do(Kill a specific general, save a NPC, make to the escape
point, collecting ressources by breaking item from the game.
Impression : Gameplay wise the game is great, the Story is definitely an
improvement from DW7 but the lack of involvement by giving a Commander
Mode with so few activity is a letdown.
Child of Light - PS4
So
Child of Light is a game i pick alongwith my new PS4 because it was
crossbuy with PS3 version (so i can share it with kathy) and because i
really wanted to see if Westerner were right about the game is better
than any JRPG in which it fail the comparaison as even Ni no Kuni which i
found boring, is actually better than him. Its mostly because Child of
Light is trapped of freedom that Ni No Kuni have. Child of Light rely on
side scrolling the world of Lemuria with puzzle to solve from left to
right in order to progress.
But
Child of LIght is not a platform game or anything, its a RPG and i play
for it and for the battle system its not that bad, it took his
inspiration from Grandia for the ATB and delay system. The music is also
quite good and melancolic but the problem i had with Child of Light is
how the story progress but it have some interesting character, Aurora is
not the typical heroine we can find at the JRPG of nowadays and some of
her companion are enjoyable like Rubella. The golem is exclusively a
DLC character included with early purchase of the collector edition
which make the game more easier but the Golem has less role in term of
dialogue and involement of Aurora's destiny. Problem about Child of
LIght is that everything is so predictable if you arent a child anymore
and you can easily predict the plot such as Norah real role (just
reading her name is a spoiler itself...) to the destiny of Aurora and
what'll happen to his father
Dynasty Warriors 8 XtremeLegends - PS4 / PSVita
A
major improvement of DW8 and adding a new character for each faction.
Also this version focus more at Lu Bu who wasnt given much at Vanilla.
The Commander mode receive an additionnal part which consist to find the
fake emperor and defeat him, but for this you'll choose only one
general and some will follow while everyone else, NPC included, will
leave your party. This will force you to get them all but this time,
they dont join as easy as they did during the main Commander Mode.
Gameplay-wise,
the game is the same but with some addition : Some traits for weapon
got some serious revision and in a result, broken weapon are nerfed and
things arent that easier anymore. Also the game add an Ultimate
difficulty which is the highest difficulty since Nightmare at DW7 making
some missions really hard with 1-2 hits can kill you even with very max
stats.
The
addition of Lu Bu Story is welcome as it add more epic music and of
course, introduce the Other to 2 new characters. Each faction do also
receive one new character (except Jin who receive instead the very end
event between Zhong Rui, Deng Ai and Wen Yang.) From all of these
addition, Wei Story give one more story for Cai Wenji, Wu add more event
about the Fire Attack against Shu while Shu get the one more event for
Liu Bei rescue and an extention of his revenge against Wu for Zhang Fei
and Guan Yu's death.
I
pick especially the PS4 version to see how the improvement it was from
DW8 on PS3 to DW8XLCE on PS4 and im not dissapoint, DW8XLCE is really a
good launch game that give me long occupy. Get this, DW8 took me 252h to
finish while DW8XLCE took me the same amount giving a 500h longplay of
DW8 (minus Empires). Its twice the time i spend at both DW7 and DW7XL.
The Vita version serves me to farm my general faster at the new
commander mode as it shown less enemy but help to beat these map faster
in exchange. The Cross Play and Cross Save were really useful and im
quite impressed by the system i wish more games will use this way with
multi release.
Impression
: My first PS4 experience and a good punch in my face as it welcome me
to the PS4 experience. Oh and so much PS4Share i abuse this year,
twitter remember it =)
Hyperdevotion Noire - PSVita (Not Finish)
In
the world of Neptune, i love 5 characters : Noire, IF, Gust-chan, Uni
and Chika. Since Gust's gone, she was replaced then by Rom. But anyway,
Noire. Noire is the first character i really like in the world of
Neptune with the very first episode, i was really sad she was only
playable at the end of the game only via True End so when Mk2 get
released, she was playable sure but at the middle of the game, its still
better than the end. I could finally play Noire seriously at the start
of Neptune God V (Victory) but her other Noire from the other
Gamindustri. Sure i like this Noire and this Noire is the one i can also
continue to play but this time as a full main Character at
Hyperdevotion Noire that we all short for Gekinowa.
So
Gekinowa is a Tactical RPG in collaboration with Sting. While many
critizice the graphism, i do actually like them because they give many
reference to the world of video games itself. Good example are when you
receive an aliment statut, if you character get inflict 8bits, it become
8bits style. If your character become mad to attack your allies, you'll
see their eyes glowing like Blanc when she get furious, same as
confuse, emptyness and such. So seriously, i dont think 3D models would
reproduce that well and we are mainly in a Tactical RPG with proper
mechanics rather than just spotting.
Gekinowa
is enjoyable, you can select the difficulty of the game as Easy is
Easy, Normal just need you to know how to play and its a pace to play
and Hard just need you concentration and being careful at any situation
as the difficulty is good enough compare to another one (I look at you
Neptune U :p)
Gekinowa
has also a lot of things to do outside of progressing at story and
quests. You have to take care of yourself the MC who assist Noire as
Noire can use pts given from purchasing stuff for Amagoo and managing
the room. Also each Chapter you receive fan letter in which you have to
answer them with a proper answer as Noire is popular.
Noire
will receive assistance of Neptune, Blanc and Verte (for a time until a
certain event) alongwith new companion that do represent different
mascots of popular video games from Playstation/Lastation universe. I
had enjoyed a lot more Gekinowa because i had time to actually doing
fight when i want, earn money to progress at my pace but actually having
more management of my team. It is something i can do at Gekinowa that i
cant really do at Neptune U but i'll explain it later.
Impression
: Overall, Gekinowa is actually one of the Neptune game you can
actually enjoy of trying something different and doing it right (If you
remember your painful experience at Neptune PP, Gekinowa hopefully is
the full opposite)
Atelier Shallie - PS3 (Not Finish)
(This
pic is actually what would happen if i had to continue with day 1 1.00
release of the game). Before you comment anything, let's be honest and
put this here. I have played Atelier Shallie, i own it twice (Digital
download JP and the Memorial Box on Physical). HOWEVER due to be
incredibly buggy and freezing the console to the point to almost kill
the PS3, i had to stop playing it after Chapter 2 and didnt continue
afterwards on my console. Instead i watch friends playing it and a
playthrough from my friend ryou who went to do the whole game despite
the problem. All i learn from Shallie after Chapter 2 come from Streaming Video. The
only comment i want to give about Shallie is that the game dont deserve
the delay allocated as if Gust need 3 weeks to actually remove all Time
Limit mechanics that was initially planned and left it as a buggy game
at day one release + the terrible ending, i really doubt 3 weeks was a
good thing, delay suppose to make a game being better, not worsering it.
After several weeks, Gust did release some patch to fix the game, but
at that time it was too late, i was already playing another game until
the problem was fixed but the game in question (Sen No Kiseki) was too
intense to the point i had completely forget to resume Shallie. When i
ended up Sen No Kiseki I, the second episode was about to be release in
less than 2 weeks so i didnt have time at all to resume Shallie so as
Sen No Kiseki II start, it took me 2 months and by the time i end Sen No
Kiseki II, there was less a month to end 2014 and i was catching up
with some of my Vita games from the backlog. So to be honest i know the
story and development but i havent played myself to actually enjoy the
new system so i cannot give an honest opinion about Shallie except Gust
screw up the story a lot with an unbereable ending. To said it, i wont
stop Shallie for good, i'll play it but in 2015 with the EU release so
i'll spare the time with a fix version to play it properly and actually
resume my progress. Its not about translation but time, there's no point
for me to resume the Japanese progress since nowadays main Atelier on
home console have their trophy list linked for every version of the game
(JP=NA=EU) with only the Vita as an expection to have double trophy
list. Waiting the EU release will also let me play the game at the same
time than European and American players, Shin will be happy to read that
this time i'll wait him to play an Atelier game at the same time.
Atelier is a series i love and even if Shallie remind me a lot the
atrocious Atelier Iris 3, i still need to beat it myself because as i
fan, i cannot let it off like this, even if i get dissapointed. So 2015
will be another chance i'll give for the game, to be played only for
this game mechanics.
Impression
: I prefer giving my real and honest opinion in the next year, in 2015.
For the moment, the game make me angry enough and i dont want to touch
it, pretty ironic when Atelier is a series i play just because i need to
think about something else, to calm myself and to have something fresh
and play my very best of time management (which they remove in this one
which make me more angry)
Sen No Kiseki - PS3
Because
i was waiting Atelier Shallie to be fix, Kuro suggest me to start Sen
No Kiseki as i may have enough time to start Sen No Kiseki II at the
moment i'll start this one. So after waiting an year to play it due to
report i read from friends on twitter saying the game end in a such
cliffhanger its hard to wait the sequel, i wanted to delay my purchase
of Sen No Kiseki I and get it at the moment Sen II would be about to be
release.
Things
said, it was time to play a new Kiseki, this one on 3D environnement.
With some full voice acting, graphism improvement of the works done at
Ys MoC (i assume) and setting my foot on the Erebonian Empire, this is
Sen No Kiseki.
Following
Rean story at the Thors Military Academy, getting the school vibe was
like having some Persona coupling with a certain Negima RPG on PS2.
System wise, getting the installation of the Master Quartz System
alongwith orbment to create combinaison of Arts, Support and Stats to
equip and i have more dynamic fights i spend quite some time doing them
just because i was also enjoying the soundtrack itself. Because 3D and
PSVita, i spend a lot of time snapshoting too, actually it might be the
first time i did about more of 3000 screencap for a single game (the
most i had before was 794 for Musou Orochi 2 Ultimate)
While
Lloyd remain the King, Rean is more like a magnet to attract the people
around him and gain their sympathy (and love for some, hum Alisa...).
With characters, there is also a world to discover. Because of the
school setting, the game take quite some time to introduce the situation
that we live at the Erebonian Empire and doing the assignment help sure
to know the situation but it build slowly the events as i had sometimes
forget i was actually following a story but just completing
assignement. Hopefully characters are good enough to not forget the game
(favourite are "TOWA", Fie, Laura, Jusis, Machias and Gaius).
I
spend 222h to complete the game in a whole(Platinum) but to do this, i
spend a lot of time doing all the quests given in the game, taking my
time to fish everywhere, to study the bestiary, to experiment and use
every quartz (however i didnt try every Master Quartz) of the game. I
did also 3 playthrough just to fill the NG+ bonus to carry over
everything including costumes so it was actually funny doing the last
playthrough with everyone wearing swimsuit.
My
regret at the game? 222h playing it and Towa wasnt playable. Sure
Falcom keep her for later... for Sen II. Instead i had to play Angelica
and Sara a bit. Ending, i receive in order Millium, Towa and Alisa.
Impression
: First Kiseki game on 3D and its well done. It was almost one of the
longest game i had to play on PSvita because i wanted it on Vita, not on
PS3. Of course thanks to PSN sales on September with Falcom promotion, i
was able to grab a discount copy of Sen No Kiseki I on PS3.
Sen No Kiseki II - PSVita / PS3
Following
Sen I events with Rean being force to retreat because Valimar decided
to, Rean statut was unknown for weeks. Rean will awake in a mountain of
Ymir in which he recognize the place around with Celine following him,
trying to persuade him about the event. Rean was determinated to find
his comrades and run alone and then save and Sen II start there.
Not
spoiling that much but Sen II keep me busy a lot more time than Sen I
did, 2 whole month for 367h not rushing the game, enjoying the whole
thing but especially the improved battle system with his music still
good for ears. The game keep me hype everytime, every moment from bosses
battles with Valimar part included, from mission that is more important
than just being sub at Sen I, further explanation of Emma's role as for
Vita and Crow, the game mostly want to give more answer for Ouroboros
but still not solving every questions but keep giving new mystery to
build a strong hype.
Hopefully
the game do not end in another big cliffhanger that make you want to
immediatly play a new Sen III but can built the time to wait for a new
game later.
I
dont need to copy paste what i feel of the overall game from graphism
to system as its quite the same than Sen I except some addition at the
battle mechanics (Orge Rean, Overrise return, new S Craft, improved
Craft, new Arts, more characters : TOWA!!!)
Let's just say that the game takes its time for the first Chapter but getting more interesting at the second one.
Impression : Second Kiseki game on 3D and it give me more of what i want to play and keeping me occupied a lot.
Ultra Street Fighter IV - PS3
The
definitive version of Street Fighter IV, finally... While this one is
not made with Dimps and get too buggy, it was still good to play on my
side because its the last Street Fighter 4. From the SFxTK that come
here + Cammy clone on steroids Decapre, i had only played with Elena as
im sticking on Juri. Not much to say about the solo contains as for the
story and endings, its still a shame that Super and Arcade cast still
dont have animate sequence while the new from Ultra got one (i dont get
enough of animated Juri from the SSF4 OAV). Online wise i didnt play
that much.
Impression : In hope its the last Street Fighter IV, hopefully it is as Ono is already working on Street Fighter V.
Warriors Orochi 3 Ultimate - PS4
So
what's the real difference between Orochi Warriors 3 Ultimate on PS3
and PS4? PS4 got more generals on screen and because of it, i could
easily reach 10000 kills at Orochi End without need to play the Gauntlet
Mode. In term of Graphic, its better looking than PS4 but not as pretty
as DW8XLCE on PS4 was, but the real work has been made on the animation
and action on screen as compare to the PS3 version, the PS4 one doesnt
have any lag. For those who may want the best Musou game for portable,
you can grab the one on PSVita as this one is really solid. And for
those who want to get an experience with both Dynasty and Samurai
Warriors, can grab this one as both sides are based on their previous
version : DW7XL and SW3E. Also the addition of more collaborative
characters like Sterk, Kasumi, Human Nehza etc , make the roster more
complete
Impression : A solid improvement of the PS3 version. With Share button, there's a lot to do in this one.
Samurai Warriors 4 - PS4
While
this one was released on PS3 and PSvita last year in Japan, Europe and
America have the chance to get both version alongwith PS4 version.
Because of it, i didnt take it last year and wait for the PS4 version to
play it. First on Japanese, i was able to play online with Ryuzaki57
and actually my very first experience on a Samurai Warriors core game.
Its fast, good action paced but especially its focusing on the story
rather than just delivering super
fictionnal action. Of course fighting with modern and fantasy weapon
make it weird but the core story make it enjoyable. Another thing that
Samurai Warriors did better than DW is the Chronicles Mode. Compared to
the one on 3DS, the Chronicles mode on Home console version focus a lot
more about knowing each characters, raising bonds with them and
following the story of your own create character who can follow any
faction and create his chronicles, his story. The game has more stuff
than DW Commander mode to make it different. Sure the game still have
some shorts mission but it has more involvement with the character
around and have more trials, more objectives to make it not short and
boring to complete. Also this mode serves as an easy way to acquire rare
weapons for each characters.
Impression
: Its the best Musou game to date as Samurai Warriors 4 improve its
formula of the previous episode by giving god speed more usability at
rushing through enemy giving both a dash and also an excellent
equivalent to charge attack. Also compare to the three other, this one
do mostly focus at Story Details which follow the story scheme that
Omega Force and Koei install since DW7. Another Musou fitting for PS4
but also for PSVita.
Shinovi Versus - PSVita
I
wasnt able to play it in 2013 because FedEx lost my game (or the
website where i order it) so until Xseed did announce the localization
of the game (Marvelous give for EU however), i was finally able to play
it. Playing it before Neptune U and after Sen No Kiseki II, i found
Senran Kagura spin off Shinovi Versus very enjoyable. At first i was
hearing about being a sort of Musou game with eechi elements but in the
end it was not really Musou but more Beat em all with 3D environnement
involving moving the camera on 360° and plenty of enemy to beat. In
comparaison of a Musou game, Shinovi Versus require more focus at what's
on screen rather than just hitting everything on my way, mainly because
each boss have a precise pattern and some resistance and every
character have different orientation from pure Strength to break to Fast
Dealing Attack but less power given, focusing more on combo than power.
My favourite character there are Yagyuu, Ikaruga, Murakumo, Shiki,
Ryoubi, Imu, Mirai and Homura.
Story
wise, as following Senran Kagura event but being a spin off to add new
Hebijo girls (the former being the one who form the Homura Squad since
the school has been burned due to the previous fight Homura lost), it
was my very first introduction at Senran Kagura and so, following Hanzo
school with Asuka was an okay story with an ending i found lame just for
the anticlimatic situation where Asuka ask to everyone to take a bath
and forget battle. Gessen part was interesting as being the complete
opposite of what i wanted to see of Hanzo as Yumi can be quite
interesting instead of just bitching at Hanzo part. The new Hebijo was
one i do actually enjoy as it make me learn a lot more about the Youma
part and the bond of the past of Ryoubi and Ryouna(mostly Ryoubi, im not
really attracted to Ryouna) while Homura end it all. The Final Fight i
had to choose for Asuka vs Homura was actually the best battle of the
game as it require skills to do. Well Asuka do not require that much
skill because of her constant spamming, resulting at playing as Homura
was more needed for concentration because of usual Asuka always digging
to back attack me and rapping my life.
Impression
: To conclude it, Shinovi Versus was really enjoyable and i just cant
wait to play Estival Versus mostly because i feel more attract to the
new introduce character from Gessen and new Hebijo rather than just
following only Hanzo and Homura Squad part.
Neptune U - PSVita
Back
in March, a mysterious Neptune U appear on video games issue. This U
title has given some discussion about if Compile Heart would love to
Nintendo for the first time and developping a Neptune game specifically
for the WiiU. It was then in April that the game has been revelaed to be
an Action game for PSvita making some Nintendo fans sad about the
franchise not moving but ultimately CH and IF trolling Nintendo for a
month. Back to my opinion.
After
playing Shinovi Versus, i found Neptune U different to enjoy. It was ok
but no that great. Sure this is the first time Neptune get an action
type game but when i just get out from Shinovi Versus, playing Neptune
was really slow... and in comparaison of a Musou game, its not just slow
but TOO EASY. Even with the patch applied that was suppose to rebalance
difficulty, the game was still too easy... It was mostly due of enemy
spamming in front of you and delaying the moment they attack, they give
you plenty of time to let themselves being attack and kill... Their
death serves to increase and fill the SP Gauge giving more Special
Attack to execute but even with this, there's no problem playing it.
Lets
pick some good example, just go play Uni and hold Square Button and
dont move, you'll not receiving any damage because Uni's normal attack
delay every enemy in front of her, let her increase the Combo Count and
the Damage Meter. Let's put another character, Noire. Just spam Triangle
and you'll do as much hit as you'll also have some short invincible
property during the move. With Blanc, spamming Tanzerin Trombe
make her completely broken to everything, Dengekiko is almost pratically
invincible as her attacks are fast and she got some deadly Special Move
to damage a large group of mobs. The list can go on, but almost one
move make the game a cake and sadly most of the full Branch Attack of
the cast lacks of being renew. A good example if that if the game was
rewarding you by leveling up with additionnal attack combinaison (a bit
like how Musou game does), it would make the game to progress with the
character and to play it differently each time.
Also
one of the complain is whatever you do, as long you score Ultimate
Goddess (very easy to acquire seriously...) your level raise a lot and
you dont feel you do either need to grind or actually feel any
difficulty once you progress. The game do also encourage you or force
you to actually beat every species you can since each count reward you
with either bonus stats , weapon and accessory. The game dont rely on
crafting item, purchasing item and experiment combinaison as all you
need to do is to equip the accessory you get and continue your rampage.
What i feel a let down is not being able to select my music or actually
giving good music to listen at each stage because it's what make Neptune
U hard to endure. Once you start listening to a Town music from Neptune
Series in a Stage you are currently fighting make battle unplesant...
Impression
: Overall, Neptune U is okay but that good compare to other action game
that get release this year. My problem is that because i dont have much
things to do there, i had enjoyed Gekinowa a lot more than Neptune U.
Resident Evil Remaster - PS3
After
being a Nintendo Exclusive since years, Capcom had decided to remaster
the game for other consoles for both the current gen and the new gen
(except WiiU). The Remaster give a full screen Resident Evil Rebirth
with enhanced control that remind me the good reajustment of Resident
Evil Deadly Silence (minus Knife who's still permanant).
Outside
of giving an HD experience, its the same game for everything as Capcom
didnt bother to replace the Gamecube MO Disk reader and the addition of
BSSA costume for both Chris and Jill make something cutscene strange to
experience, i meant imagine old Chris Redfield with Young Albert Wesker,
a Chris Redfield that got "Muscle" and a different Jill (hopefully not
the blonde one) for face who looks more older than younger.
Except
Trophy/Achievement/Leaderboard , replaying it is quite enjoyable
thought thanks to this i do know that some people are wrong about
Resident Evil should come back to its roots as replaying the very old
gameplay make it weird, even funny to see. Get this, when you turn your
character, they looked Natural at RE4-6 but at RE Rebirth/Classic RE,
they looks like robot. Camera Angle are also not scary anymore and
monsters arent scary at all too, because i get used to them long enough i
dont feel being scared, the game feels more action with ammunition that
arent unlimited and in which i need to take care of not speading all
bullets as character dont know how to aim to the head (even Barry need
to shot 3 Bullets of his goddamn powerful Magnum 44 to kill a Zombie
because he dont know how to shoot in the head :p)
But
graphic wise, 3D model has been redone well as facial expression are
more noticeable, skin and costume too (Jill RE3 is more sexier than ever
and boobs physics redone too), Reload Option without going to the menu
is life saver of time and finally some item text has been redone to read
them well (example of the Walker Battery for Jill Taser).
Impression
: I dont know how it looks really on PS4 and PC but on PS3 its good
enough for a 720p game. Also i want more Jill sandwich in her RE3
costume.
Shining Resonance - PS3
My
last JRPG of this year 2014. Shining is back on Home Console and i have
really enjoyed it. For what i've played there, many may compare it to
Tales of, but i was more having an impression to get some FFXII
exploration and loading/transition part with battle more like Star Ocean
but Free Camera Angle, Lock function. The game is actually quite simple
when you start to learn how to play each character and abuse of the
dash ability to avoid upcoming attack and magic. Dash is essentially
useful everytime from avoiding upcoming attack and reply with
counterattack afterwards. Each attack, charge and dash consume AP which
you need to use wisely and it refill once you dont do any action so its
wise to refill it while running around and spot any enemy action as
everything is real time on the battlefield. Using Force dont consume AP
but MP and during a Force animation, AP takes
time to refill which is quite useful for character who are more combo
based like Sonia who can attack and use all of the AP then use a Single
Million Thrust/Scorpio with the animation time let AP refill by 8 and
can be re-used again for her basic 6 hits, it can even become quite
abusive when your MP start to refill by 2 to 3 pts once you gain more
level. IF not only Sonia, others character do also have their speciality
making them also entertaining to play, Yuma is regular fighter with his
fierce sword attacking might remind you Ruca main swing attack from
Tales of Innoncence (yeah i know the game is not like but some attack
pattern remind me of), Marion is pretty much long range and quite
abusive for non damage battle if you know how to order Sonia being the
tank to aggro every bosses so Marion can overkill without being
targeted. Kirika is usual healing support but with her dash ability and
her usual long range combo, she can be also quite a good support
character when you equip her what to reduce MP, make Heal efficient and
start healing while controlling her and refill MP what its needed by
attacking long range which refill quite fast. I didnt main much Lesty
and Rinna so with Rinna i didnt use much her high MP cap to use maximum
spells range and steal ability(i use it with Yuma instead) and Lesty was
more my healer with a fight i had only him and Agnum. For character i
like, Marion, Sonia, Agnum and eventually Rinna. Kirika was okay but i
still prefer Altina from Shining Blade in comparaison while Lesty take
time to make him appreciable thanks to the late date. Speaking of Date, i
can date every character till a final event (4th one) in which i can
have a love relationship and end with a love pairing in ending. Each
date have their couple of events and reward me with Pesonality.
Personality mostly use to pair characters and or also create rivalty
that change the course of battle. Kizuna itself is more about creating
the resonance that occurs in battle such as being more attack focus
while rivalty occurs or being more support with characters and partners.
It create itself the battle formation you use and cannot be neglected.
All of this ideas are really good, unfortunately the game is quite short
to actually enjoy everything... And by enjoying, either you go
rush the story or actually do whatever you want before events and
actually visit the world. I choose the second option as the world is not
close door like many others (well except Story plot area) and doing
this can also make you playing in a different way. For me, when i defeat
the Green Dragon of the Underground Tunnel which had 30 more level than
I, i was like given access to the rest of the world, like The Dark
Cemetary, the Beach Coast and many others place. Doing this can also
reward you sooner with more better material and create early good skill
piece to help your character being either stronger or more focus in a
role
I
said earlier the game was short, its not just the thing i found it
short in term of story, the game is also short of explanation but also
in the system. For this i think it was all set by SEGA so they can
continue to milk the game that's already expensive, the game will
receive additionnal scenario part that takes place after the game via
DLC, but not only that, Excela and Jenius are also DLC but ultimately
part of game system are also DLC such as continues who cost real money.
Its quite a shame on my side that even if the core game is good, the
game still have DLC to give as extension but its the rule of DLC
nowadays. With this i have to hope that it will solve more of the
problem i have with Marion and Eto thought Eto really die for me, of
learning more about Agnum not just being scared of Ghosts as his final
event was getting interesting and actually have a better goodbye with
the dragon within Yuma (thought i dont think it will).
Impression
: If i forgive the DLC part, Shining Resonance make a good comeback to
Home Console, leaving the Valkyria S-RPG system behind for now and
trying new mechanics. For what i've played here, its quite solid and
promising if they continue that way as Strategy is still present in the
game even with real time battle and the difficulty is well balanced. I
hope more for next, let's see what SEGA will do next.
I Love Pasta - Android/iOS
While
browsing at random into the Play Store, i found this game on the Play
Store. I was first attract to the art type of the preview pics i had in
front of me and because it was free, i was suspecting its a F2P game. In
this one you dont collect card to collect and use(thought they are more
for accessory to customize your character and other waitress) but you
manage your own restaurant and help it to make it big and famous because
you have no choice, your father let you this restaurant while he's
leaving for travel (what an asshole). Selia will guide you for first
part and you have to manage it yourself. Because its a F2P game there's
some many things that may make you want to spend real money in it to
actually continue the game but for what i play so far, for 20 level, i
didnt need to spend any money but to rely only on managing skills and
earning golds bit by bit. With gold you can increase the size of the
restaurant, purchasing shop around the restaurants, remodeling rooms
with new furniture, buying clothes and stuff at the lottery, preparing
pasta, buying ingredients to make new recipe of pasta and adding more
tools to prepare your pasta. The game is not strict about what you do,
you dont have debts to cover, you dont have pression to do whatever you
want, you dont have to pay rents but only thing you do is to increase
level and build your restaurant to make it prosper and being recognize.
The game has many mini games to discover as you progress in the game.
Starting to lvl3-5 you can doing some Street Fair to earn rewards
depending on answer you can give. Later at lvl15 you can play Bingos, at
Lvl18 the Tournament booth is unlock and you have to serve customers in
a set time with a leaderboard with your friends to earn more puzzles
pieces. Puzzle piece are used as money to trigger Tournament Booth,
refilling your Bingo stickers when you are running out, refilling
stamina of your character to shop more at the Free Market and finally
using it at the lottery ticket. Finally the game use also free and real
money to beat some harder objective or buying extra furniture or best
clothes to equip. As many F2P, the game is more testing you about if you
are patient enough to wait to get what you want or drop your cash to
make it faster. Hopefully i dont need to paid anything for now and
management gameplay, the goal of the game and the theme of Italian
Restaurant make me interest about this one i usually play an hour per
day.
Impression : A change since i was displeased of Mobile game F2P system since Valkyrie Crusade
Soulcalibur - Android/iOS
The
Legend will never die. Soulcalibur was one my big favourite game back
on SEGA Dreamcast and hearing about a portable version make me wonder if
it'll be able to be enjoyable there. After trying it on iOS it was a
mess laggy game i lost interest until a discount on Android with my Sony
XPeria Z. This time the game was really running smoothly and i was
definitely enjoying it like on SEGA dreamcast. The Android version give
me one more shortcut button to fit the 6 button setting and it was
really enjoyable.Even without Mission Select, the combat are all solid
there with a full Story mode for every 19 characters. As expected the
training mode lack of Replay mode due the limitation on mobile
adaptation and another mode got drop too, the Team Battle mode.
Impression
: Overall its really good to enjoy a solid portable version of
Soulcalibur, its even prettier than Soulcalibur Broken Destiny on
PSP/VIta.
Real Racing III - Android/iOS
There's
not much Racing game on mobile that its like a niche genre. Real Racing
III is a F2P game that took a different direction than Real Racing II
who was a full game. Real Racing III ask player to use the patience to
repair cars, refill it and continue racing. Money is mostly use to
unlock car faster or getting premium one so there's still problem of
balance as if you may want the latest Ferrari it would really cost 3.50¤
instead of money earn from the game. The game receive quite new content
with the time with new multiplayers events, car unlocking events and
such. In term of racing and experience its take what RRII have and make
it better. It's still a shame the game has to rely on F2P model but
since the game is really heavy and consume plenty of battery and
ressource, its ok not to play it longer and race are always short enough
to not feeling heavy.
Impression : A good racing game that do also have classic control but for me it suffer a lot due to be F2P
Dragon Quest VIII - Android/iOS (Not Finish)
None
of Nintendo and Sony have Dragon Quest VIII either remake or port on
their respective portable and this is what matter to me as Nintendo have
almost every main episode on portable, some of them even get Remake
while Sony portable dont. Dragon Quest VIII is one of my favourite
Dragon Quest so far due to the amount of content and freedom experience,
but mostly because 3D is well manage and it was all thanks to Level 5
experience, mostly like you feel it was Dark CHronicles feeling. So
about portable, we have the portable port for Mobile which play with one
hand which make the experience quite questionnable but after some
setting and a good phone, the game is good although the way of playing
it is weird, like it was made for Japanese players on hand. My only
complain is that quick save dont really work well and Dragon Quest VIII
is really time consuming that you need a save option, sure there's way
to keep the game still with multi task but it uses quite a lot of
ressource so i blame the port being lazy in term of savedata.
Impression
: Its good to have Dragon Quest VIII but i still question choice made
for the game like not including proper gamesave option outside of
sticking the same system but ultimately the choice of playing it with
one hand, especially if your phone is big.
CSDelicious - Android/iOS/PC
I
heard about the game thanks to Siliconera news who support it. For me
CSDelicious is like "Order Up" game but being quite addictive and more
arcade oriented as anything must being done quickly and you dont have
time to think as every order is getting faster. For this the game lacks
of tutorial wise and training but since the game is not punishing that
much, its ok to play. At least its not slow like Order Up, its quite
better in term of an arcade game type and there's management part to do
for managing our menu to serve for customers.
Impression
: A good mobile game but also its avaiable on PC so i do also recommand
there. Who knows, you may have quite some fun doing some let's play on
PC =).
KOF A 2012 - Android
Based
on KOF XIII minus Dark Ash, Saiki and Mr Karate, KOF A 2012 is a solid
KOF XIII portable as i wanted one episode portable. The game run
smoothly on portable and it do also support tablet control with a pad so
its still a win to play either way as long you want it portable. If you
dont want portable you can avoid this one and grab KOF XIII Steam on PC
which is what you may want with an Arcade Stick. Unfortunately for me,
Arcade stick is not something i can put on my pocket so as a big monitor
so i want to play on my way outside, this mobile version is my call to
throw some Psycho Ball and Power Geyser the face of the large roster of
the game. If its not only what solo fight the game have, it do also have
collectible thanks for the Rose Shop in which spending pts acquire in
battle to buy card pack and also use them to unlock costume swap.
Impression
: Its a solid fighting game on mobile alongwith Soulcalibur for those
who want some portable experience. For the rest, Mastercard advise you
PC version, not console one.
Mafia - PC
My
lack of news about Mafia 3 make me impatient too much to learn more
about the series since i've finish Mafia 2 recently. I wanted to know
how Mafia 1 was if 2 was too good for me. What surprise me in the end
was Mafia 1 is so much better than 2. First the story is more
interesting as Tommy story about how he get involved in the crime has
more sense than Vito who just get introduced from his friend (Speaking
of which, it was my surprise to learn exactly how Tommy died and who he
was at Mafia 2 when i had no idea at that time, which reinforce more my
solid impression at this first episode). Tommy do also speak a lot about
the event of the game and what he do just like Vito, except that he
does it until the end (while Vito do it until the start of the last
day). For where the game takes place, i dont have speed car, modern
weapon nor system and ultimately not much help, it was all solid classic
gameplay, all classic era. Tommy has more badass moment than Vito had
while just being a regular taxi driver who transform him into a super
gangster (Vito was more trained than Tommy as he has cover war), and
more epic line like when he takes down all rival gang in the church but
give money to repaid back to the priest while telling him he dont need
to confess as this priest has serve the evil. I wasnt scare of graphism,
gameplay and such as the game aged well and it has less GTA mechanics
than modern Open World from nowadays, its more action driven like the
old Hitman game : doing the mission and just that.
Impression : Mafia 1 is better than Mafia 2. While being less GTA, the game is more story driven and more interesting than Mafia 2 who was more about making it like a movie.
Rune Factory 4 - 3DS
I
could have play this game in 2012, if Nintendo didnt go lets region
lock the 3DS as the game in Europe had HARD TIME to come due to the Team
development bankrupt and so had cancel the game release initially set
on January. Because of it, the region lock talk was a good subject for
the whole year that even Iwata finally consider the problem, will make
the new generation free region (like he forgot it was free region since
Gameboy). The game finally come on December in Europe but i was able to
play it in February due to import it very late because i wanted to
support EU release but couldnt (but i did in December thanks to Great
Xseed who save the game).
So
after a LONG WAIT, i could finally play it and holy shit its still so
good. I play with the princess character because fuck male :p (Troll).
Dating male character? Dont mind, as long the one i play is pretty.
Finally i was able to play and help my living town Selphia.
Rune
Factory was always a RPG where you play it slow or you can play it
fast, but playing slow make you enjoy the pace of the game with his many
activites from harvesting, fishing, crafting, working, date, living the
whole life with the villagers in a different pace than sim game type.
Battle are still enjoyable like previous episode on NDS with addition of
weapon arsenal.
Slow
pace as usual, took my time to play without rushing so i could slowly
create the life of my character who got her amnesia(good she does, so i
can discover the game just like her) and actually date with my partner
(i went to date Dylas because for what he lives, it was him or Doug) so i
can save the hospital bill, i think those who played RFO was more
expecting the Main character once running out of HP, to sleep on the bed
at home with some cold fever but nope =3.
The
formula does still work at Rune Factory and has always make me prefer
this one than Harvest Moon as RF has more battle phase than just full
farming. Also Rune Factory have much more activities that make you think
of modern middle age era activity as working hard to earn your living
as living your own type of adventure rather than farming. I was really
waiting RF4 for a very long time and enjoyed it. For support i rebought
it in December thanks to Xseed who save the game in Europe, i blame the
people in Europe who didnt purchase it because they were absolutely
waiting Physical release while the game had HARD TIME getting release
here such like SMTIV did. (but SMTIV is more because of Atlus fault
being lol hate Europe).
Impression : If there's one JRPG i would recommand at first on 3DS, that would be this one for sure.
Fate Kaleid Liner Prisma Illya - 3DS
The game a year to be release due to the change of rights given to Kadokawa which result of a game that could be fine it was released just after the first season but absolutely not once Zwei was already online. The game follows the aftermatch of the end of the first series which will also explain Miu's whereabout when Luvia was away. So the game wanted the player to retrieve back every Class Card once again, but this time you'll be all 4 (Rin and Luvia receive power too) and you have less of a week to retrieve them which include some tiny time limit mechanics to retrieve all 7 cards.
The game itself is quite easy or give some challenge on harder difficulty. The game let you customize the attack pattern that Illya and the others (only Illya at start, you have to beat the game to unlock Miu, Luvia and Rin as playable with their own stories too) with cards you can retrieve from gathering search around while you look for Class Card. Once you have to face either a Face Card or a Rival Duel with any of the 3 others girls, you'll be using them.
In term of Battle, it remind me of a Chibi SD version of Mai Otome/ZoE battle with the camera face behind the back of my character and targetting attack to my opponent. In short its like a Fighting game with fly mechanics and you can use the field around to hide or use it in your advantage (example you cannot swim, you'll dive and lose Life if you drown in the water). Thanks to the card mechanics, you can experience different type of battle and its quite entertaining, until you realize that once you collect every Class Card, the game end with a good ending and there's pretty much nothing else to do even if you beat the 3 other partner.
There's a Versus mode you can fight against the computer or at least a Local Vs mode but no online feature, which is a lack when you know the game has poor content but also excessive price. The game feels rushed at this point for not giving more but its mainly because Anime adaptation into Video Games are generally like this... If the game was released immediatly after the end of the first season, it would be ok, but during Zwei is like trying to milk some potential fan and purchase but fail to do as the game sell poorly in Charts.
Impression : The gameplay and idea are good, problem is how short is the game.
Hapiness Charge Precure Kawarun Collection - 3DS (Not Finish)
For
the official 10th anniversary of Precure, another game for the All
stars but mainly for HapCha Precure. The game was recommanded by
akuma2002fr as i was suspicious about the contents of the game. In fact,
because after YPC5GGZSGDF, every precure game become mainly mini games
related with Collection on it but barely an average mix of
battle/minigame/song but mostly mini game. However beause its also the
10th anniversary, i was expecting that each 5 years, a good precure game
would come
Well
not really... For sure the game is as usual mainly targeted for little
kids but assuming a more adult audiance follow Precure, they may deserve
a good Precure game too like YPC5GG. Mini games are this one are quite
an improvement of Fresh, Heartcatch and Suite Precure on NDS as thanks
the new 3D make them enjoyable and the dance part is somewhat better
than the one on Wii back to 2013.
Each
mini games i had to finish in a very repetitive and time consuming part
do unlock more clothes to equip exclusively for the HapCha cast. All
Stars to barely being involved in the game. Its hard to recommand for
fan, its mostly for the kid audiance rather than everyone. For sure,
expecting a good precure will take time or will never happen.
Impression : I lack of Cure Dream, help me.
Hyrule Warriors - WiiU
Hyrule
Warriors was my main reason to get a wiiU this year as there was still
no exact news for Xenoblade Chronicles X. What deliver Omega Force and
Nintendo was such a nice experience i've never think about. Zelda being
driven into a Musou for once was like giving Zelda more focus about
Battle rather than exploration, it might be a lack for Zelda fans as
Exploration , Puzzle solving and Battle are a whole thing in a Zelda
game but Battle part is good too as there's a lot there to get fun with.
Not playing only just as Link but also there's many more character to
expect like Zelda being finally playable in a game that she got her name
for (In Japan thought as its called Zelda Musou, West tend to name it
Hyrule Warriors for the whole Hyrule cast). Because i found it
unplayable with the normal Classic Controller PRo U (damn 2nd stick, im
not an alien dammit), i was force to purchase a third party controller
which had a 360 setting but as least the Second Stick is located in a
proper place and the game is more playable this way, all of this because
Hyrule Warriors lack of 4 important things : It doesnt support Classic
Pro Wii controller but only Wiimote+Nunchuk which make no sense if you
want to play it like a regular Zelda on Home Console. Second is that
there's also a lack of Online Coop as most Musou game got Online
nowadays and this is a huge letdown as i couldnt play with some of my
friends, its only local coop so i really feel like Aomura choice was
stupid to only rely on solo play rather than having Multiplayer, its
like Nintendo is still behind in term of multiplayer online experience.
The third thing is still being forced to turn on the Gamepad to continue
the game, if i turn it off just to "save battery of the Gamepad" the
game wont run, which is still stupid... I mean imagine if you have to
turn on "every controller" because the system force you to do so,
imagine the amount of energy you spend for nothing but waste... The last
thing is that Evil Force is lacking contents at story as Ganondorf do
not have much story and mission than Link and the crew, which is quite a
shame due to not cover every faction, maybe because they want to sell
more contents on DLC?
Impression
: Overall Zelda Musou is just so good, its the best Musou game for the
WiiU because between Zelda Musou and Orochi Warriors 3 Hyper, ZM is
definitely better and entertaining, its all thanks because his gameplay
is more focus on Samurai Warriors 4 than Dynasty Warriors like every
dumb Journalist and beginner players had compared it with. Because SW
and DW are not same Musou game
Smash Bros - WiiU (Not Finish in term of unlocking every character)
First
of all, i was waiting the 3DS version rather than the wiiU version. I
was exciting a lot... Until Nintendo crush all of my faith on the 3DS
version due to make it imcomplete in term of gameplay mechanics for very
stupid reasons. The first of them is the release of New3DS. The New3DS
can handle the game AND SUPPORT "2nd Stick" while the game do not
support the Circle Pad Pro Accessory which is stupid. The second thing
is of course the game run more smoothly on New3DS rather than 3DS itself
making me wonder with both reason why the game is called for 3DS if
everything is making it better on "New3DS". The last thing of course
because New3DS is still region lock and is not released in Europe yet
except Australia but importing is a pain rather than purchasing in your
own country, make me gave up on 3DS version and switch my interest on
wiiU version which doesnt have let down in term of control and have full
compatiblity. So the game on WiiU is just so good, battle dont lag, its
like Smash Bros. Character dont fall down randomly like Brawl and the
action is fast paced and its still simple and fun to play. All of this
looks so good but i fell a let down in term of Story content as the game
dont have story at all but a Classic Mode which serve as my regular
Arcade Mode. The game dont have Adventure Mode like Melee too making the
game mostly fun on local multiplayer and online. The online is good, as
long you play on ethernet as wifi is a pain with the wiiU, and
multiplayer i cant tell, i dont have anyone near of me to play Smash
Bros. Because of this, Odyssey Smash looks boring if you play it alone
as the mode is more entertaining with friends to play with rather than
the Computer. The game is not bad, its just so good but its definitely
better with multiplayer and this is the Smash Bros we have all wait for
long. One of the game i couldnt miss on wiiU in the end.
Impression
: Really enjoyable but on my side, only on Online Multiplayer as doing
Classic Mode Multiple time on Solo is not my cup of tea.
Metal Gear Solid 3D -3DS
This
year i could afford a Circle Pad Pro for 3DS and so i was finally able
to play MGS3 correctly there. In comparaison of the Vita version, the
new gameplay based on Peace Walker make it great to play as you feel it
different. In term of 3D, its completely useless in game but its
actually looking good during cutscenes. The game HUD is readable on the
lower screen in which item and equipement can be manage there too making
it more confortable to play than on Vita. However the 3DS version is
not as perfect than the Vita Port. The control might be better but the
contents lack a lot : it lacks a lot of Subsistance content : no boss
mode, no cinematic mode, no MG1+2. Also the game suffer of framerate
issue which was surprising while the game has no problem of it on Vita.
Another lmajor problem is the choice of gyroscopic gameplay as it make
it difficult to endure in part of the game such as the bridge to get
Sokolov... The game is also easier on 3DS due to lack of soldiers on
screen which has been reduced due to the power of the 3DS itself
(Samurai Warriors Chronicles do also have this problem and its highly
noticeable with the multi release of SM3C on both 3DS/Vita comparaison).
Its also sad that the game do not have the Nightmare mini game
part(Vita dont have it either so quite a shame for both)
Impression
: MGS3D is quite good but its a let down to only focus at the Story
rather than giving everything that Subsistance had. But more importantly
is now you can enjoy one of the best Metal Gear Solid on two different
handheld.
4. Backlog
Keeping an update to my Game Backlog. So much games, not much time to enjoy them all, they keep coming =D. This is only listing game i need to complete with years to come. Game that are written with Bold Letter are games i have purchase in 2014 but didnt have time to beat once.
>Physical Purchase :
PS4
Natural Doctrine
The Evil Within
Tomb Raider Definitive Edition
Sleeping Dogs Definitive Edition
The Last of Us Remastered
PS3
Drag On Dragoon 3
Ryu Ga Gotoku 5
Gran Turismo 6
Persona 4 Arena
Way of Samurai 4
Hatsune Miku Project DIva F
Kingdom Hearts 1.5 HD
Tales of Symphonia Chronicles
Tales of Xillia
Tales of Xillia 2
Tales of Vesperia Complete
Tears to Tiara 2
L.A Noire
The Guided Fate Paradox
Atelier Shallie
Bayond Two Souls
Killer is Dead
Final Fantasy XIV A Realm Reborn
PSVita
Hatsune Miku Project diva f
Hatsune Miku Project diva f2nd
Love Live School Paradise Vol 3 : Lily White Unit
Super Robot Taisen Z3
Super Heroine Chronicles
Chaos Rings III Prequel
Phantasy Star Nova
Eiyuu Densetsu Zero No Kiseki Evo
Eiyuu Densetsu Ao No Kiseki Evo
Ciel no Surge Offline
Ar No Surge Plus
Tales of Hearts R
Ys Memories of Celceta
Freedom Wars
Final Fantasy X Remaster
Disgaea 3
Disgaea 4
Akiba's Trip 2
Danganronpa 1
Danganronpa 2
Dream C Club 0 Portable
LEGO marvel
Sengoku Musou 3 Chronicles
God Eater 2
Dekamori Senran Kagura
Borderlands 2
Minecraft
Tearaway
Little Big Planet Marvel
3DS
Fantasy Life
Beyond the Labyrinth
Kingdom Hearts 3D
Persona Q
Project X Zone
Shin Megami Tensei IV
WiiU
ZombiU
Zelda Wind Waker HD
Super Smash Bros For WiiU
>Digital Purchase :
PS4
Vaillant Hearts
Blue Estate
Final Fantasy XIV A Real Reborn
Plants vs Zombies Garden Warfare
Trine 2 Complete
Dream C Club
Strider
PS3
Mass Effect 2
Mass Effect 3
Need for Speed Most Wanted
Okami HD
Grid 2
Catherine
Tokyo Jungle
Pupetter
Akiba's Trip 2
Hatsune Miku Project Diva F
Yu Gi Oh Millenium Duel
Idolm@ster All For One
Page Chronica
PSVita
Final Fantasy X-2 Remaster
Conception II
Neptunia Rebirth 1
Demon Gaze
Mind 0
Rainbow Moon
Neptunia PP
Phantom Breaker Battle Grounds
Muramasa Rebirth
Ultimate Marvel Vs Capcom 3
Sword Art Online Hollow Fragment
Dokuro
Earth Defense Force 2017 Portable
Hotline Miami
Lets Fish Hooked On
Lone Survivor Director Cut
Malicious Rebirth
Monster MonPiece
Ragnarok Odyssey ACE
Sorcery Saga
Terraria
The Walking Dead Season 2
Velocity 2X
3DS
Weapon De Omasse Shop
Resident Evil Mercenaries 3D
Devil Survivor Overclocked
WiiU
None
Mobile
Need for Speed Most Wanted
Dragon Quest VIII
Sims 3
Dr Driving
5. Best in 2014
I was inspired by Ryuzaki57 for this one as rewarding a game for a genre it do good in the current year. So i was thinking of doing my own.
>Best Role Playing Game :
Runner Up : Rune Factory IV - 3DS
>Best Music
Runner Up : Eiyuu Densetsu : Sen No Kiseki II - PSVita/PS3
>Best Battle
Runner Up : Bravely Default - 3DS
>Best Adventure Game
Runner Up : Metal Gear Solid 5 Ground Zeroes - PS4
>Best Arcade Game
Runner Up : Metal Slug 3 Steam Edition
>Best Racing Game
Runner Up : Real Racing III - Mobile
>Best Action Game
Runner Up : Neptune U - PSVita
> Best Tactical Game
Runner Up : Terra Battle - Mobile
>Best Beat em all Game
Runner Up : Dynasty Warriors 8 XtremeLegends - PS4
>Best Fighting Game
Runner Up : Soulcalibur II HD Online - PS3
>Best Company
Runner Up : SEGA(Puyo Puyo Tetris, Phantasy Star Nova, Valkyria Chronicles Steam, Shining Resonance, Hatsune Miku Project Diva f and F 2nd)
>Top3 PSVita Game
1. Eiyuu Densetsu : Sen No Kiseki II
2. Toukiden
3. Senran Kagura Shinovi Versus
>Top3 PS4 Game
2. Dynasty Warriors 8 XtremeLegends
3. Warriors Orochi 3 Ultimate
>Top3 PS3 Game
2. Ar No Surge
3. Shining Resonance
>Top3 3DS Game
2. Prisma Illya
3. Hapiness charge Precure Kawarun Collection
>Top3WiiU Game
2. Super Smash Bros For WiiU
3. Zelda Wind Waker HD
>Top3 Mobile Phone game
2. Soulcalibur
3. KOF A 2012
Top 10 Longest Game Play time in 2014
1. Eiyuu Densetsu Sen No Kiseki II - PSVita+PS3(Cloud Option) - 367h
2. Dynasty Warriors 8 XtremeLegends - PS4+PSVita(Cloud Save) - 253h
3. Dynasty Warriors 8 - PS3 - 251h
4. Eiyuu Densetsu Sen No Kiseki I - PSVita - 222h
5. Rune Factory 4 - 3DS - 129h
6. Shining Resonance - PS3 - 103h
7. Final Fantasy XIII Lightning Returns - PS3 - 91h
8. Samurai Warriors 4 - PS4 - 82h
9. Neptune U - PSVita - 79h
10 Hyperdevotion Noire - PSVita - 53h
Top 5 Best News :
2. Sony and the Third Party will help releasing promising game that were left for fate in years such as Yakuza 5 to the West and Suikoden is getting a return on Playstation Store.
3. Rune Factory 4 for Europe has been saved by XSeed after being throw out in a trash by Zen United, Marvelous and Nintendo Europe. This news however dont make anyone to forget how bad Region Lock is for games.
4. Nintendo is now aware of the many complain around the Region Lock of this Nintendo generation of console and promise to make the next generation Free Region so as Iwata said. A step forward for an open industry.
5. IFI strong approach to the Western Market by supporting it. Not much like the PC announcement but this and the fast localization of Vita Titles of the company make IFI a raising company that's trying its best to satisfy the fanbase.
Top 5 Bad News :
2. Gust merges completely with Koei Tecmo Games. Many might think its a good news but because Gust is no more independant, if KTG dies, Gust do also die. Merging company doesnt mean it can be save and also Gust do not have any freedom at all as seen with Shallie chaotic development. The little good news is that it gives Gust more opening to other platform development. Also as Gust promises new IP, all new we get is just another port of Rorona on 3DS means there's no new IP at all.
3. GamerGate. This thing annoy me a lot. It hurt the game i love and play, it hurt the industry but ultimately it hurt relationship with friends siding for a cause they defend for good nor bad. I dont actually care of who support GamerGate on my friendlist or not but im really getting pissed when these extreme result in harsh story such as trashing the Atelier Series or forcing Harada to Region Lock a Character Playable in Tekken 7 because Stupid Neogaf people insult the new Female Character being too Japanese. Seriously i really want that gamergate stupid things to end as it hurt a lot the passion of Video Game... What's next?
4. Nintendo going to DLC Policy is the last thing i wanted to heard. Even if its a good news as their DLC is well worked (im quite impressed with the contents of Hyrule Warriors). One of the last in the industry who was against it and working their game the best they can so there wont be any kit-game, they did fall in it and now no one is able to bring a complete game without DLC. Just hearing Nintendo going to DLC just surprises me but sadden me as it was the only one who resist long enough to this with the Nintendo Wii and Nintendo DS.
5. Enjoying 3DS? You bought a new 3DS recently? Well too bad for you at the moment Nintendo announce the "New3DS", a definitive and revised 3DS which make every 3DS in the world obsolete as this one add new additionnal control, more power but especially will receive Games exclusively readable on this one such as the future Xenoblade Chronicles for 3DS. This news might be good to enjoy new games with more better setting, however it's not being well by everyone as those who recently bought a 3DS would feel betray of purchasing early Vanilla console instead of waiting for this one, and another major problem is his name "New" which feel more like old 3DS is not just obsolete but useless and prototype. I would be ok if the console would be name Super 3DS just like NES to SNES, but New3DS is just not ok. I have no doubt the console will sell in the West as it do well in Japan, however im not pleased to heard it and i have strong suspicion about feeling betrayed again by Nintendo if i jump to soon at this new3DS and they might announce something like New3DSXXL or something... Definitely waiting 2017 because Nintendo said the new Handheld will be release and will not another 3DS. This will give me time to see if Nintendo will not release another variant of New3DS in 2015 and 2016.
Best Feature in Video Games
1. Screencap option (PSVita = PS+Start ; 3DS and Wii = Capture for Miiverse ; PS4 = SHARE + Twitter)
2. Playstation Plus and Microsoft Gold (discount, free game/rent, online)
3. Nintendo Season Pass : A lot of content for a very cheap price. (Hyrule Warriors)
4. LiveTwitt App and Miiverse
5. Steam Gift option to send games for Friends (until it become region lock)
6. Games in 2015
2015 will be another great year for me about video games because there's so much i wait and so much i expected for them
PS4 :
Dynasty Warriors 8 Empires
The game has been released in November 2014 but i prefer to wait the European release as the date is near soon enough, i can also get easily DLC for the game but ultimately have the money to buy it. The major change given from the playable demo i could play was a more improved character creation (but compare to SW4, you cannot upload your own picture due to not having icon for characters on screen) with an addition of separate EX to equip and 3 Musou. Also some character just like DW7E receive some new or old weapon back to fit their new style in this episode like XiaoQiao retrieving her Twin Fan, Sun Quan retrieving a new Flame Sword, YueYing is getting back her armbow, Lianshi drop the Crossbow etc. Also the game has more strategy card to use and promise more marriage and union part which was new at DW7E but needed improvement. Finally the last reason i want it is also because i want to complete my DW8 range just like i did for DW7.
Dragon Quest Heroes
Holy shit! A new Dragon Quest game that's not online focus only like DQ10 but ultimately a new Dragon Quest on a Free Region System(Dragon Quest VII is still not localized). Despite being build like a Musou, the game just like Hyrule Warriors receive a little spin off of a change, its not that new that Dragon Quest receive spin off as there's many. The casting is convincing enough to make me want to grab the game but also the battle pace of Musou is something i cannot refuse if its good. its JUST SO GOOD TO REPLAY AN HOME CONSOLE DRAGON QUEST, just like Shining Resonance was.
Bladestorm Nightmare
After testing the Demo, my interest grow a lot more for the game but to be honest, i dont think there's much to wait on PS4 as its not such good nor bad, i mean if i had to compare the work, it can be like WO3U in term of graphism and the demo suffers some lags when i went to command my troops to attack. The general setting is commanding our soldiers and let them rush their attack to the opposite army or bosses as the main character has little to do, its more a tactician role rather than a fighter which make wonder what purpose have all the weapon you can equip until you realize some classes opposes some others but the demo give you mostly to swing with Short Sword, Horse and Bow. It can be interesting but i need to see the full game to understand every mechanics.
Dead or Alive 5 Last Round
Sure i shouldnt encourage Tecmo's milking way to continue selling expensive costume and the same game but fuck it, i love Dead Or Alive so i dont have problem to repurchase the game for the 4th time with Last Round on PS4. With three main reason : Marie Rose and many others characters receive new costume i want. Second : PS4Share with now i will be able to share plenty of ryona pic without snapshooting with my crappy camera and last, i need a 3D Fighting game on PS4 and this one is a good pick for me until Tekken 7 and Street Fighter 5.
Senran Kagura Estival Versus
With a lot of time to think, i had decided to purchase it on PS4 because i have already play Shinovi Versus on PSVita and the game seems to be made for PS4 in the first place and the Vita version as a portable port. With PS4 version it'll allow 10 players in a multiplayer lobby which make me curious about how it'll be with more than 4 players. Ultimately im curious to see what story will drive me in this one as i'll finally see Ryoubi and Ryouna's sister.
Neptune V-II
Thought im not in an hurry to get on Japanese but willing to get a localized version instead, im also excited to play the New Neptune to see what stuff CH has been working for 2 years after giving some spin off to give some time until this one to be released. I guess i dont have to resume what i wait there : Noire, IF and some improvement in the battle system. Story wise im also curious about these universe and the new Neptune from the other dimension. I wonder how many returners character i'll see there.
Street Fighter V
For my surprise i thought Capcom would release an Hyper Street Fighter 4 the Anniversary Edition just like Street Fighter 2 did with Hyper but instead, Ono reveals Street Fighter 5 and oh good finally character doesnt look grotesque like Street Fighter 4 in which i was wondering what happened to Capcom's art direction. Finally Chun Li looks normal and asian, not american with cancer fingers and Ryu seems to be more serious. Gameplay wise, i heard they want to bring back Parry in this one which make me curious about how the game will really be : more competitive or more friendly? Being a PS4 exclusive has surprised me too as i really thought Microsoft wouldnt left Street Fighter since America play it mostly like Japanese and the game sell a lot in America than anywhere else. But ok, so be it.
Metal Gear Solid 5 Phantom Pain
After Ground Zeroes, of course im pretty excited to play Phantom Pain! Im excited to create a full environnement Mother Base from the customization to his own management. Im excited to see how i'll do in the game but also to understand what really happened to Big Boss and how he's becoming evil instead of being a figure of heroism. This episode will change things a lot, violence is also higher like it was shown at Ground Zeroes with Paz. Im also excited to heard more of Troy Baker as Revolver Ocelot to see how good he'll do with his character. Finally what i wait the most is to hear more cassette tape as there are the replacement of the codec since Peace Walker and it dont bother me as it let me enjoying discussion without being interrupt ingame.
Final Fantasy XV
The only reason i wait FFXV is not because its FF. In fact when i was a FF fanboy until FF12, i was waiting every Final Fantasy but now i switch this to something else. So reason i wait FFXV? Because of graphism? Because of Playtime it'll give me? Because of action pace battle? Because of the wait? My answer : Because it's a JRPG and this is what i apply generally to every RPG i wait and for i"'ve seen with this year trailers, the game looks promising and im expecting a lot about the playable demo too. We'll see.
Final Fantasy Type 0 HD
I was waiting for a long time for his eventual localization and i was about to purchase the PSP version when i had my 2nd vita until Square Announce an HD port on PS4 in which i dont have problem with as i'll finally play it, its been finally localized and its ok if its not on Vita as sometimes HD port are somewhat better than portable one such as Metal Gear Solid Peace Walker who's a million better on home console than PSP or Resident Evil Revelations which is more enjoyable on home console and PC rather than just only on 3DS. So in fact im waiting for it. And yeah i know, PSP emulator do it better but i dont care of it as i dont want to pirate the game and i prefer to support and thanks the localisation rather than stealing money.
Tekken 7
To be honest, i was really excited for it until the game come to local test in which i was wondering if i will be waiting for the game or not. In term of graphism, it doesnt look like its better or equal to Tekken Tag Tournament 2 but ultimately it looks close to Tekken Revolution which was a downgrade graphic version of TTT2 so my question was : Harada just port the TTT2 model and Tekken 6 gameplay adding the Ultra from Street Fighter 4? It was feeling weird. But it doesnt look that much Ultra but more the Critical Edge of Soulcalibur V. Anyway the other reason i want it is because of Tekken Story itself. IF the story can make laugh people, i found it interesting to see how the mishima bloodline to continue their fight and this episode is especially between Kazuya and Heihachi which surprise me as i dont have any whereabout of Jin since he's been captured by Raven's group. Anyway i cant wait for Tekken 7.
Project Cars
PS4 lacks of racing game sure as i was not interest on The Crew of Ubisoft and Driveclub from Sony. Instead i wanted to play Project Cars but this one was delayed for March and then i have to wait a little more until i can drive something. Its also because im also waiting for a Gran Turismo 7 but considering the wait and i dont know if PD will really release a good GT, i prefer to see what others have. Project Cars is also one of the racing car that wiiU players do wait too as a complement for the Arcade type Mario Kart 8 as racing game is also welcome on Nintendo console since the F1 games.
Omega Quintet
Already released in 2014 on Japanese, i want to wait his European localization as my first JRPG on PS4. Ironically its because Cross Edge was my first game on PS3 but also first JRPG. I dont know if CH games has become my first JRPG in home console from Sony but i know i can expect something from it.
Resident Evil Revelations 2
When Capcom announce RE Revelations 2 i was excited but for my surprise, having Claire Redfield playable was more than a surprise, it was a lot of joy for me as i miss Claire a lot. Actually i dont care of what people say about Claire's face as the game take place between RE5 and 6 but ultimately Claire has aged, she's not the young solitary student of 1998 and having 10 more years make her older but more mature than ever as she's still caring and deeply about her friends and relative like how she talks to Moira, Barry's older daughter. The game doesnt have zombies but running crazy people who wants to hunt both girl (and Barry later) and reference made of RE Code Veronica is Capcom playing with nostalgia. Im also excited to see how the Raid mode has improved since RE Revelations 1. Finally i will consider a second purchase on PSVita if the game does satisfy me. I dont have any problem of the game being episodic as initially RE Revelations 1 do also use this method with 4 Chapter = 1 episode in game. Re Revelations 2 continue in the direction of dramatic suspense horror adventure game with some TV series model just like one who inspired the whole world of Survival Horror : Alone In the Dark.
Devil May Cry 4 Special Edition
So Capcom has to decide if he has to release Devil May Cry 5 or DmC Devil May Cry 2. For this Capcom has planned to re-release both DmC Devil May Cry Definitive Edition and Devil May Cry 4 Special Edition. For me i'll choose the second one because real Dante, real Vergil WHO HAS HONORS and Nero because Nero's cool. I do also want to see the future of the original Devil May Cry series even if it was Kamiya who started it as since DMC3, i love the installament and background given to the game and characters, especially Dante. I want Reuben Langdon back as Dante as he's cool, he doesnt need to shout Fuck You to be cool and give Dante all of the charisma and stylish character he is. But ultimately i want DMC4 SE because i have not really play it that much on 360 and i wasnt interest to get it on PS3 because lack of Trophy. I'll give my money to the Dante i want to support the most, NT do better gameplay but their style and background is terrible.
PS3 :
Tales of Zestiria
Each time i see news of Tales of Zestiria and each time i wonder why this lack of information, of interest but especially of presence for Alisha who was initially stated to be main character alongwith Sorey. But not just because of Alisha, its been a while i didnt import a Tales of directly on Japanese because it took my interest. Those who did are Tales of Rebirth, Tales of Destiny R, Tales of Innocence and Tales of Graces because being mostly made from the Tales of Destiny developement Team. Others Tales were EU release (and sometimes JP like Vesperia PS3). What i wait for Tales of Zestiria is to enjoy these battle at first as Tales of Battle are always enjoyable, challengeable and i want to have my taste of maybe the last JRPG on PS3.
Yakuza 5
I do already own Ryu Ga Gotoku 5 on Japanese but to thanks SEGA and Sony who will release the game for the West, i want to repurchase it to thanks them (maybe double platinum too). I dont actually care if its digital download only as the game like many others have hard time to get localized and release and the digital release is maybe because SEGA do not want to take more risk as Yakuza 4 didnt sell well and they dont want to risk it again like it was back to yakuza 1 poor sales. As long the game is released overseas, translated and localized is all matter, its better than being trapped in his native country and REGION LOCK(which mean no way to play it, want an example? Dragon Quest VII(Enix), Beyond the Labyrinth(TriAce))
Kiryu has return for his few fan of the West and has a Story to end as we dont have any news of Yakuza 6 and we get Yakuza Zero for the time being.
PSVita :
Atelier Escha&Logy Plus
Atelier Escha&Logy was my best Atelier so far on PS3(althought only on PS3, on PS2/PSP i prefer more Atelier Judie and Atelier Viorate) and im waiting for his portable port Plus as i knew it'll come (Gust is too predictable anyway). What do surprise me is how Escha&Logy Plus will solve 2 big holes given at Atelier Shallie(Shallie Story is painful as its a giant cheese hole) for Escha relationship with Logy and how it'll turn(for those who took the time to listen to the Drama CD, CD5 of their premium box will understand what i mean) and Ayesha whereabouts with Nio playable but also with an extension story wise with Nio(Shallie make it bad, you'll see how). What i can also expect in this version might be an Hard Mode as well as how Ayesha Plus implement it which will be more interesting to enjoy as Escha&Logy is more battle focus alongwith tasks.
Toukiden Kiwami
So let's see why i really want to play Kiwami. First, horou. Second, Horou. Third, HOROU. DAMMIT HOROU! Seriously if not just Horou, its because i have enjoyed Toukiden a lot and to expect a sequel, i have instead an extension to the core game with new weapons attribute each from Horou, Reki, Souma(Midorikawa Voice <3) and Rinne. New weapon but also more Mitama, more gear, more mission, some reajustement (Tenko can now assist the player with a Mitama equipped). Also im really excited to enjoy Toukiden Kiwami on big screen too as the producer want to make an home console episode so im really curious about the future of this new franchise =).
Digimon Cyber Sleuth
Initially the reason im waiting of this one is not just because its JRPG but because SpottyRen told me about the game back to PSP and 3DS addition release. Im not really a fan of Digimon as i didnt like it that much on TV because French version is terrible but also because i was more into Pokemon Anime back then) So my sole reason is because its a JRPG and for what i've seen, it have my interest.
Luminous Arc Infinity
During Sony conference, my surprise was to heard about Luminous Arc returns, the thing i didnt predict and expect is this one has moved from Nintendo to Sony. I dont know why this sudden change as i have always enjoyed Luminous Arc on DS (except 3 which is my least favourite episode but 2 is my favourite). Imagine this, a good series of TRPG has switch for another support. The good news for me is that it moves for a Free Region one and that's fine with me, it gives more players to actually try it than just restrict it to the Japanese Audiance, thing is, niche series has started to take a stand up. Now all i wait is to heard about new Summon Night.
Neptunia Rebirth 2
This one is also released a long time on Japanese but as usual, im waiting the EU release as its soon, very soon. Outside of just being a portable Neptune Mk2 minus Gust and NISA being replaced by Red and having an additionnal rebirth mode and having every oracles playable (CHIKA!!!) Its just the very same Mk2 but its ok with me as Mk2 is actually this Neptune episode that made me a Neptune Fan because it was a million time better than the first game and it was enjoyable but ultimately it was because of Uni and CFW Brave dialogue in Chapter 5 that make me realize that Neptune is quite a different JRPG and is actually giving more morales than believing the Western people from the game industry who's all about AAA. So this episode has a special place in my mind and i want to enjoy it back but this time in the palm of my hand. Sure theres a PC release but i dont care of that one, i do already own MK2 on PS3 so why would i want it again on PC? Maybe when its be -75% on Steam.
God Eater 2 Rage Burst
I havent decided if i'll pick the game on PSVita or PS4 but ultimately i think i'll stick with the PSvita version as God Eater 2 is initially a PSVita game and even if Rage Burst get a PS4 version in which Ethernet beat Wifi, i'll stick with a PSVita version so my save transfer will be easier but also i dont feel to want playing GE2RB on big Screen except via Vita TV. I do also need to play and progress at my GE2 version first before starting GE2RB to have more benefic. God Eater 2 RB is also because just like Toukiden, i want to continue to play it as its different of Monster Hunter.
3DS :
Shin Atelier Rorona
Although i dont like Gust decision to decide that his new IP would be a port of Rorona on 3DS which some of my friends convinced me too look like a demake. I cant help but my heart of the fan who want the game even if its not what i was expecting. Well if its a 3DS episode, i was thinking of Project Atelier Potable 4 because it would resume the series which has been left behind with 3 episodes there and would make sense to create a new Ip as a new episode but not a port. Instead Gust want to give a reason for 3DS version by putting back a battle system familiar to Salburg player but also for Ateilier Lise, the first Project Atelier Portable on NDS as it use the Tactical system to move on the field instead of beign a turn based fix battle. Question is that will Gust innovate this formula or not. The other addition is Astrid Story which will explain why Astrid took Rorona but ultimately may solve some of her past who was mysterious like her affection with her deceased master but also Sterk and Astrid relationship. Thing is, Gust said that the game will retain every addition of Shin Rorona on Vita/PS3 BUT some costume will be removed due to the 3DS limitation but also Gust didnt promise the Overtime part which would make sense if it was removed because this part does make sense for only Atelier Totori and Meruru players and New Nintendo players might not understand Totori and Meruru's role if there's Overtime mode, although if it exist, it'll directly give too much hint and less discovery of knowing both Alchemist to Nintendo players who may have never touch the game on PS3 and Vita. Well its up to Koei Tecmo Gust to decide.
Kenka Banchou 6
Althought i wasnt expecting Kenka Banchou 6 to return from ashes, i wont be able to purchase it day one and instead wait for him to drop price because by the time he'll be released i'll be already busy with too much games on both PSVita and PS4 games and it'll be shame to add too much game for my backlog but especially this one as i may believe it'll going to the used-market and his price accessible. I dont know, i want it to succeded too as the series was my version of what a GTA game should be, its a different vision of what GTA players feel by playing Bully but instead its a sole Yankee who build his respect, remembering how much i love Japan in the 90's.
WiiU
Xenoblade Chronicles X
Im waiting Xenoblade Chronicles X not just because of Xenoblade, not just because its a JRPG but because its Takahashi. We all know that guy since Xenogears and enjoy Xenosaga. Xenoblade Chronicles X looks a good JRPG for WiiU as the WiiU have none for now but this one will finally raise the count. What i wait for Xenoblade Chronicles X is to be as much enjoyable as Xenoblade was, but i really hope this time it'll have a balance at both Story and Exploration as it was seriously unbalanced at Xenoblade at that time on Wii. (too vast but not much to do)
The Next Zelda
Of course like any fan, i do wait for the next Zelda. Thanks to the Spike Games Awards, seeing the new footage of the new Zelda just raise my hype even if i really hope the series to going back to its true control and a better art direction, (i really hate Skyward Sword gameplay and art direction but story was okay). Im curious to see what Aomura want to define his video of open world to Zelda as i found myself WInd Waker to be open world enough except that the Sea make it empty and boring.
Happy new year 2015 and thanks for reading it. Thanks for enduring my broken english but also trying to understand my point in this year 2014. Let's hope 2015 to be even more better in term of life and games. You know what they said : No Game No Life.
See you in 2015!
