100 Hours and Counting: A Journey Into Monster Hunter

For years the question "Why do people like Monster Hunter?" has burned in my mind. There's a certain stigma associated with the franchise in America. It's become well known for rough camera control, a steep learning curve, and ridiculous amounts of grinding. Yet, despite all that the series is somehow a system seller in Japan. I don't claim to know how Monster Hunter is truly received there, but the general consensus seems to be that people go crazy for the game over there. I'm inclined to agree, just because the PSP sold far too much in Japan for that not to be the case. In some cases it seems that people have a Monster Hunter addiction. Hell, I've read articles about Japanese pop culture icons having played hundreds of hours of the series.

But why do people go crazy for it? I tried to find out the answer a few years ago on the PSP, but I just couldn't do it. Camera control on the PSP was what killed it for me almost immediately. Hacking away at a monster for 30 minutes seemed more like a battle with the camera than it did with the monster. I ended up playing for a few hours before stopping in frustration. Realistically the camera wasn't the only thing that stopped me from playing. The fact is that I didn't understand anything that was going on and I wasn't having fun. The game took absolutely no steps to educate me on how to do anything. That's not exactly how I like my video games. It didn't click with me, so I dropped it.

I really don't like playing what should be dual-analog games on the PSP

Despite my distaste for the PSP entry I played years ago, something about Monster Hunter 3 Ultimate for the Wii-U and 3DS piqued my interest. The question of why people go crazy for this franchise reared up in my head again and I just had to know. I decided before even playing the demo that I was going to purchase the game for the Wii-U and give it a shot. Partially to answer my question, but mostly to have any new game to play on my dusty Wii-U. I ordered it on Amazon and then decided to play the demo. They let you choose one of the 16 different weapons to fight either an easy fight, or a hard fight. Going through the weapons I ended up choosing dual-blades and the easy monster called Lagombi. For the next 40 minutes I was locked in a struggle with a crazy ice throwing rabbit-koala. When the creature finally died the demo ended and I didn't know how to react for a minute or two. In fact, I was kind of scared. It's difficult to explain, but during the epic struggle I felt a rush that I don't feel often when playing games.

Over the course of the fight I learned the patterns of the Lagombi. I knew when it was going to slide on it's belly. I knew when it was going to throw chunks of ice at me and I knew when to dodge. Each dodge allowed me to sink the dual-blades into the monster and cause some damage. The struggle was legitimately exciting, so I needed to let all my emotions sink in during the aftermath. That's when it hit me. I had felt a little bit of why people like Monster Hunter, which made me immediately both excited and terrified. What if Monster Hunter sucked me in? Would I finally understand? I didn't know, but I desperately wanted to find out. Knowing that the game had a poor tutorial I began to look up beginner guides for the series to prepare.

This Lagombi gave me my first taste of why I like Monster Hunter. 

When the game released officially I started out by playing a few hours each night. It's weird, because for the first ten or so hours I was kind of just fumbling along. I wasn't having fun, but I didn't dislike what I was doing either. One thing that helped were the guides I had looked up in the weeks prior to playing the retail release. Specifically I watched the podcast called My Fair Hunter. It's a weekly video series created by a Monster Hunter "expert" Roy in which he teaches his trainee Sarah how to play Monster Hunter Tri for the Wii from the ground up. I learned a lot of the game's basics from them and I think that's the reason I ended up sticking with Monster Hunter 3 Ultimate. It's not the exact same game that they're playing on the podcast, but it's fairly close. The things I learned from them made it so that I didn't feel completely lost, which softened the learning curve. 

I can't pinpoint exactly when it was, but somewhere after the ten hour mark I truly started to enjoy playing the game. A few of my friends bought the game for 3DS and we began to play quite often. As of writing this post I have put around 180 hours into the game and I still play at least one mission on a daily basis.

What's the appeal?

Now that I know I'm into Monster Hunter I've been trying to think about why that is. In my mind there are many parallels between this series and Phantasy Star Online, which I played for a very long time. You get into groups of up to four people to go the same areas over and over to get items you want or need. That sounds super reductive, but it's true. To me they're both partially about the loot grind and character advancement. They also both have incredibly low drop rates on certain items, which can be infuriating. That's where the similarities end though.

Monster Hunter is much more about skill than most other games I've played in recent memory. Instead of leveling your character up and having them gain strength they're always going to stay the same. What's going to change are your weapons and armor. Killing or capturing monsters allows you to get parts from them in order to craft new and exciting gear. The gear will make it so you can survive a bit longer and hit a bit harder, but you're eventually going to have to get better at the game. What's great is that the game gives players a lot of options in terms of how they want to play. There are 16 weapon types all of which play very differently. Animation priority is a turn off for a lot of people, because committing to every single attack isn't always fun. There are a few weapons like the dual blades though that go super fast.

Don't like animation priority? You should try the dual blades.

Each monster can be likened to a boss encounter. They behave a certain way, which you'll eventually learn. This is cool, because every single mission is an epic battle. You're going to get hurt and knocked down, you might even die a few times. To me that's what makes it all so exciting. Most games are all about making you feel like a badass at all times, while Monster Hunter goes out of it's way to show you that you're not. It's very much about delayed gratification. There are no health bars on the monster's you just have to know when they're ready for capture or about to die. You have to learn a monster's patterns in order to do well against it. Then you'll most likely have to fight it a ton more in order to get the items you need from it.

I guess you could say it's the thrill of the hunt that draws me in. I like going into a fight with no idea what's going on and just observing to see what I'm up against. It's a great feeling when you realize a few fights after that initial observation that you're crushing the monster you found so difficult earlier. That feeling has kept me going for 180 hours now, which is far more than I play most games for before getting tired of them.

Hitting enemies with a great sword is very satisfying. 

What's upsetting is that the game is so obtuse. The beginning of the game doesn't explain nearly enough to get you prepared for the later hunts in the game. You'll be sent to gather a bunch of resources and shortly after fight your first big monster. The first monster is easy, but the difficulty spikes quite a bit after that. I'd recommend doing what I did and looking up beginners guide's or getting a posse of friends together to help you out.

I definitely know that this type of game isn't for everyone, but I wanted to share my experiences and insight into what the deal is with the series. It eluded me for so long but now it's sunken it's addictive claws into me. There aren't very many franchises like Monster Hunter out there and I'm glad I gave it a chance.

     -Manny

Game Time - April 2013

April was not nearly as insane as March, but I still played quite a few games. Unsurprisingly I played a bunch more Monster Hunter, but this is no longer the place to talk about that. Hey, I killed a whole bunch of monsters and loved every minute of it!

Last month I played some Pokemon Mystery Dungeon, but ended up completing it this month. It wasn't as good as I wanted it to be, but I still had a good time with it. Maybe next month I'll actually be able to dive into Luigi's Mansion.

As for new April releases I played both Guacamelee and Injustice: Gods Among Us. They were both games. I played them. Let's find out what I thought. It's Game Time!

Pokemon Mystery Dungeon : Gates to Infinity

Nintendo is known for their family friendly games. Most of the time they're very upbeat and filled with sunshine and rainbows. At first glance Pokemon Mystery Dungeon seems just like that, but then when you move on in the story a bit it's true nature shines through. Turns out it's incredibly dark and depressing. Don't believe me? "Trying just makes everything hurt worse," is a literal quote about saving the Pokemon world. There's a Pokemon who refuses to make friends, because she thinks no one can be trusted. Those are the only examples that come to mind right now, but there's a whole lot of stuff like that throughout the game. It surprised me multiple times with just how dark it gets.

I'd say it's not for kids, but that's not necessarily true. While there may be some dark themes the issues are almost always overcome in a positive way. At the beginning the game has you choose from a few Pokemon to determine who you want to play as. You are a human who was turned into a Pokemon so that they could save the human world. Along with a sidekick, which you also must pick, you try to create a Pokemon Paradise while simultaneously trying to save the world. Your partner is super upbeat and wants to believe that there is still kindness in the world. No matter what the situation they will be positive, which can be kind of annoying. However, if that role was not filled this may have been the most depressing game ever. There are a variety of characters that you'll meet over the course of the game and they're all incredibly well developed.

The Pokemon Mystery Dungeon games are well known for their characters.

A few years ago I played the DS entry in this series and liked it quite a bit. The story and characters were incredible, so I was hoping for the same thing from this game. What I got was something much different, but it was still pretty good. The story isn't the only thing that's not quite as good though, which is a shame. The overall gameplay has been taken down a notch in a way that makes it far less fun. Mystery Dungeon games are essentially rogue-likes. You control a group and take them through totally randomized dungeons. The goal is to get through the dungeon or complete specific objectives. You go through narrow corridors fighting enemies and looking for stairs to get to the next floor. In previous games there was a hunger element as well. In this entry hunger was removed, and the enemies were made to be much easier (As far as I could tell). There also seems to be much less to do post-game.

I did enjoy my time with Gates to Infinity, but I couldn't help but compare it to the previous DS entry in the series. This entry is easier and has far less Pokemon in it. The previous game had every single Pokemon available that existed at that time. Gates to Infinity has all of the fifth generation, which is arguably the worst selection with a few others added in for good measure. From what I saw fans of the series were not overly pleased with this, despite the fact that it was still enjoyable. It's worth playing for the story alone, but if you have the opportunity you should go back and play the previous games.

Guacamelee

The term Metroidvania has been thrown around a lot in the past few years, but I think it's safe to say that most people who play video games know what they are now. In case you don't know they're games that are remarkably similar to the early Castlevania and Metroid games. They're sidescrolling adventure games that have you freely exploring a grid based map. Guacamelee is the most recent of these types of games released on the Playstation Network.

Guacamelee takes place in a world inspired by Spanish culture. For starters you play as Juan Aguacate, a farmer who has been brought back to life by a mystical luchador mask. At the very beginning of the game Juan is killed by the evil skeleton man Carolos Calca who is trying to become all powerful. In order for him to do so he must sacrifice the president's daughter in a sacred ritual. Juan must travel the land to master his luchador powers in an attempt to stop Calca's insidious plot. Since Juan is a Luchador he beats his enemies down with savage melee attacks. Surprisingly the melee combo system is very deep, but it doesn't really reward you for doing well, so mashing the attack button can get you through everything just fine.

It's easy to get away with mashing in Guacamelee

Traversing the world isn't exactly how I expected it to be. Like most Metroidvannia games there are colored barriers that you must break through. By breaking statues, which are very similar to the Chozo statues in Metroid Juan will gain new powers. Each power corresponds to a different color barrier. For example if you uppercut you can break red blocks. One way I feel that Guacamelee is different from other games of this type is that it has a very strong emphasis on platforming. The main mechanic in the game allows Juan to switch between the land of the living and the dead with a single button press. Certain platforms are only solid in one world, which can make getting places very tricky. You'll often find yourself jumping to a non-corporeal platform and then switching the world mid-jump so that you can land. At first it's not very tough, but to find all of the secret treasures it takes a ridiculous amount of precision and skill.

The controls are very responsive, which makes the difficult platforming sections seem fair instead of frustrating. The motion is all very fluid in a way that reminds me of Super Meat Boy. The games both get challenging, but I knew that any mistakes were entirely my fault.

The visuals in Guacamelee are very striking.

In terms of visuals the game looks amazing, especially in motion. The colors are extremely vibrant, which fit with the Spanish theme that the game has going on. The way everything is drawn and colored makes me think about the candy skulls or calaveras, which are most often seen around the day of the dead. Furthering the atmosphere is the constant mariachi music playing in the background. It all comes together to make a very specific feel.

It took me about seven hours to finish Guacamelee, and that's with 98% completion. All of the secrets are fairly obvious, or hidden in plain sight. There isn't a whole lot of replay value unless you're shooting for every trophy, which requires the game to be beaten again on hard. It's an interesting experience to go through once, because Drink Box had a specific vision that they brought to life quite well.


Injustice: Gods Among Us

Have you ever wanted to see Batman use two tasers on Superman and then hit him with the Batmobile? Well then, Injustice is the game for you! All of your favorite heroes and villains, possibly your least favorites as well are available to duke it out in this NetherRealm Studios produced DC fighting game. When I first saw gameplay for it I was a bit disappointed by how much it looked like Mortal Kombat. After seeing it a whole lot more and playing it, I can now say that it is actually a whole lot different.

The most noticeable difference in gameplay videos is that it runs at 60 frames per second as opposed to the 30 that most modern games run at. This change makes everything look insanely fast. Youtube videos don't output at 60 fps, so if you want to see true Injustice play I recommend looking elsewhere. Upon playing fans of Mortal Kombat will notice almost immediately that you need to push back to block instead of holding a button. This change sounds minuscule, but it's actually a huge deal. Now cross-ups can actually be a thing, so it changes up the way you need to guard against jumping attacks and things of that sort. Mortal Kombat has always been a 4 button fighting game, while Injustice is technically 3. There are three attack buttons, light medium, and heavy. The 4th button isn't necessarily an attack for each character, it activates their trait. Solomon Grundy's does a chain grab, Superman's gives him an attack buff, and Aqua Man's makes him get wet so he can pop out of combos. It's fairly different for each character and adds a lot of variety to the cast outside of their basic move sets.

Watch as all your favorite DC characters pummel each other!

One of the cool things new to Injustice is that all of the stages can be interacted with. When your character nears an object they can interact with the R1 button appears near their health bar. Different characters interact with things in different ways. For example in the Atlantis stage there are valves on each end. If you interact with someone like Batman, then they will turn the valve and shoot out water at the opponent. If you use someone with super strength like Superman then they will smash open the glass to flood the opponent with water. Aside from these interactions most stages have multiple areas. Performing a strong attack at the correct end of a stage will send the opponent flying to a new area for a ton of damage. These things look cool and help out a lot in battle, but there are a lot of people in the fighting game community who are against them. Some of the stage interactions are unblockable and they do a ton of damage. You can turn all the interactions off from the options menu, which I can see a lot of tournaments doing. It's a shame though, because it's a really cool feature.

Oh yeah, the fighting feels good too, which is pretty important. Everything feels very fluid, which makes it easier for me to find combos on my own. Normally that's something I have a very hard time with in fighting games. That's not to say that I'm very good at the game, but I've only lost a handful of times online. I believe that's because I use Raven and she has a bunch of moves that magically pick up the opponent from half a screen away. People tend not to block when they're not near you, or they're trying to do ranged shots that leave them open. There is a large focus on ranged attacks, because almost everyone has them. However, if you want to rush your opponent down and pummel them into a bloody pulp that's always still an option as well. It's just that in this game it happens a whole lot faster and you're a DC character.

I like using Nightwing, but he has trouble dealing with ranged attacks.

Since the game revolves around comic books it would be woefully incomplete without a totally bonkers story mode. Much like Mortal Kombat 9, Injustice has a fully animated story mode. The cutscenes transition instantly into battles and then back out again, which still continues to be awesome. Hopefully other companies will start to take a cue from NetherRealm and make their fighting game story modes worth playing. Even if you're not huge into fighting games you will still be able to find enjoyment in the story of Injustice. Unless you really don't like DC comic book characters, in which case maybe you shouldn't play Injustice at all. However, I do recommend Injustice. It's fun to play and it's different enough from Mortal Kombat to stand on its own. NetherRealm has shown once again that they know what they're doing and I'm glad they were picked up by Warner Bros.

Release Dates Are Stupid

According to every possible outlet I've ever seen Deadly Premonition: The Director's Cut was supposed to be in stores today, but it isn't. Hopefully it will be there tomorrow so that I can lose myself in it's complete and utter madness.

There are no new releases I'm looking forward to in May, so I'm going to get a chance to save some money for once. I am however going to go to the fighting game tournament ECT (East Coast Throwdown). My brother and my friend are entering a few games. I'm super excited to go and watch. This will be the second major tournament I've attended

Perhaps I'll crack into my backlog, or maybe I'll just get stuck playing only Deadly Premonition. Find out on the next amazing installment of Game Time.

     -Manny

Game Time - March 2013

Get ready for a long one folks, because I played a ton of video games this past month. In fact, I played more games than I can talk about here. I chose three games to talk about here, because I needed to get my feelings about them down before my thoughts dissipated into the ether.

Those three games are Naruto Shippuden Ultimate Ninja Storm 3, HarmoKnight, and Bioshock Infinite. Trust me when I say I have a whole lot to say about these games, so prepare yourself for what's to come. If you only care about a certain one just do a fancy search and skip right to where you want.

We'd best get started, because there's a whole lot going on. It's game time!

Naruto Shippuden Ultimate Ninja Storm 3

I am a huge fan of the Ultimate Ninja Storm series. While I did not play through the story of the first game myself I saw a lot of it played and participated in my fair share of multiplayer matches. I bought the second game and loved almost everything about it. CyberConnect2 created a beautiful looking game with tons of characters and awesome boss fights. I'd be willing to guess that a lot of the boss fights from this series were what inspired the creation of Asura's Wrath, but I don't know that for sure. I played the second game for the ludicrous amount of time it took to complete everything and nab every single trophy. I'm not even a Naruto super fan. The only way I know the story and characters is through these few games and the PS2 games.

Then they released Ultimate Ninja Storm Generations. They had a slightly larger character roster, but a significantly cut down story mode. I played some multiplayer with my friends, but didn't end up purchasing it. This franchise is known for it's insane spectacle, which Generations was lacking. I was willing to cut CyberConnect2 a break, because it could have been considered an in between game. Obviously Ultimate Ninja Storm 3 would pick up where 2 left off and be just as awesome. Right?

Wrong. I was wrong to think that. Ultimate Ninja Storm 3 is one of the few times that I've been legitimately disappointed with a game in a long time. I don't think the game is bad, I just think that it could have been a lot more. I feel more like a parent that's disappointed in their child for making poor choices.

Much like Sasuke CyberConnect2 made some poor choices...

At the surface Ultimate Ninja Storm 3 is still a fairly shallow fighting game. Each game in the series has played almost exactly the same with minor tweaks. One thing this iteration gets right is that it tries to make the fights a little more balanced. Generations took a step forward in that department by making it so that you can't spam substitutions to get out of every single attack. Storm 3 takes it one step further by nerfing the insanely overpowered awakening modes. Previously when each character would lose so much health they could power up into a ridiculously strong form with borderline invincibility and no penalty at all. Now there are multiple ways to awaken. You can still do it from low enough health, but now you can get hit out of it with ultimate moves. Alternatively you can flick the right stick and awaken immediately  but your chakra bar used for special jutsu moves will be shortened for the duration of the transformation. They're honestly trying in that regard.

However, the story mode is nowhere near as good as it was in the second game. The ultimate adventure mode is the main attraction of this series. Previously in the series you could roam around the ninja world in between story fights and complete side missions. That is no longer the case. There are one or two side missions you can take on before the story is over, but for the most part the exploration seems like a hold over from the previous game, just because it was there. After each story fight you'll be thrown into an open field just so you can run through it to the next battle. Yes, it opens up after you beat the game, but at that point there's no point in completing them. To make it more annoying you can get every trophy and "complete" everything without buying or experiencing any of the extras.

Storytelling as a whole seems to have taken a hit in this iteration as well. Fans of Naruto have already seen these scenes in the anime, so they're reliving them for fun. In that case you'd think that they would spice them up, or cut out the fluff. Instead I got to watch Naruto's dying mom talk to him for a half hour about eating his vegetables and brushing his teeth. Even more upsetting is the fact that the amazing boss fights with beautifully animated quick time events are so few and far between. There are one or two long battles that I thought were awesome, but then all the other battles had one or two quick time events and were over in a minute. It's not like they were lacking for cool battles to animate, because they're in the middle of a ninja world war where literally everyone is fighting all the time!

Awesome animated fights like this one are few and far between.

I don't like to call developers lazy, because I don't know the full extent of everything that goes into developing video games. I do still feel like CyberConnect2 is really phoning it in for this series now. I know that they can use this engine to good effect with good storytelling, because they did it in the first two Ultimate Ninja Storms. I know they'll make another one, because the franchise is basically made of money so I hope that they can pull out the magic for me one last time.

HarmoKnight

I played the demo of Harmoknight and didn't really like it at all. I found it frustrating, because the timing seemed kind of off. Despite my initial reaction I paid $15 dollars to see what was up with the final version of Game Freak's 3DS rhythm game. Sometimes I feel like GameFreak stumbled into Pokemon's success, so now Nintendo locks them in a room and whips them until a new Pokemon game comes out. So I gave $15 of my hard earned dollars to buy a game I don't like very much.

Grab the notes and try not to get super frustrated like me!

So in case you didn't know HarmoKnight is a rhythm game where you play as a doofy looking kid with a musical note staff that he swings like a baseball bat. You push the a button to swing the staff and b to jump. As you run across the stage you hit enemies, and instruments in the background. Every action produces a sound that goes along with the background music. One of the reasons I don't like the game very much is because the music doesn't sound appealing to me. There are a whole bunch of weird beeps and boops that don't sound very good musically. Also, I feel like the timing is off, but it could just be that it's is super strict and I have bad rhythm.

So far I'm on the fourth world out of what seems to be five worlds. I've gotten a few other characters that switch up the gameplay a bit, but it's still nothing special. I was hoping that GameFreak would bring their A game to the first non-pokemon game they've made in a while, but instead I got a super generic rhythm game with a lame story. It says something when I enjoy the Pokemon music bonus stages more than the original tracks written for an entirely music based game.

Bioshock Infinite

I'm going to admit here that I never finished the original Bioshock. I bought it on clearance for the PS3 years after it's initial release. I played through about half of it and lost interest, because I had already been told about the plot twist multiple times. I enjoyed everything that I experienced, but for some reason I couldn't get absorbed by the world of rapture. For that very reason I've been super excited about Bioshock Infinite. These types of games are much better to experience during their initial Zeitgeist, so unlike the initial Bioshock I got to do that this time.

Unlike the previous two games I talked about this month, my excitement in Infinite was not even remotely misplaced. I don't like playing first person shooters at all, but I thought that Bioshock Infinite was incredible. Ken Levine and the writers at Irrational did not disappoint. It takes place in the sky city of Columbia where the citizens worship the founding father's of America like gods. You play as the unsavory character Booker Dewitt. He got himself into a bit of debt, but was given a way out. "Bring us the girl and wipe away the debt." is a quote that you'll be hearing quite a bit throughout the game. Booker was given a picture of Elizabeth and tasked with finding her and then bringing her back to New York. He's told to keep a low profile, but like any good story that doesn't happen and he's forced to mow down countless foes to reach his goal. It is a first person shooter after all!

As you may have guessed Elizabeth is special to say the least. She has the power to open what amount to portals to other dimensions called tears. It's not immediately  evident why she can do this, but it scares everyone who knows about the ability. For that reason she's been locked away in a tower her whole life where she's protected by the very creepy Songbird. Due to Elizabeth's power and the fact that she's never been out of her tower she is a very interesting character. As she witnesses things for the first time and tries to reconcile the things she's doing you'll get to know her very well. This also makes for an interesting dynamic between her and Booker. Just running around they talk quite a bit, so you'll want to search every nook and cranny to watch their relationship develop as much as possible.

Elizabeth is an excellent character who you'll get to know quite well.

One thing that's great about Infinite's plot is that it plays off of your expectations. It assumes that you're trying to figure out it's plot the entire way through, so it tries to mess with your head as much as possible. Every time I thought I knew what what going on the game threw something new at me to blow my mind wide open. When the huge plot reveal finally happened I couldn't even comprehend what was happening. For that very reason Bioshock Infinite is worth playing. I can't tell yet if it's a classic that will be talked about for years to come, but it certainly is something special. At the very least it shows that good storytelling in video games is possible. It also shows that a game's setting is just as important as every other facet of the game.

My trip through Columbia was amazing. Much like Rapture in the original Bioshock, Columbia is very much alive. It's a world that's been lived in. It's unique and it adds to the story in a way that you don't really get very often. It's just an interesting world and it works in conjunction with what's happening in the story. It's filled with beautiful vistas and horrible racism. It always keeps you guessing, while still wanting to see what's waiting around every corner. I feel like a game hasn't done atmosphere quite as well as Bioshock Infinite since Arkham Asylum. If Columbia hadn't been as fully realized and interesting as it was the game would have been nowhere near as engrossing.

Despite everything good I've said about Infinite it's still a first person shooter. While the story is great, the gameplay isn't really anything special. Sure you can fly around on the sky rails at super speeds, but outside of that you just shoot hundreds of people with guns and powers. Like the previous Bioshock titles you gain special powers. In Columbia they're known as vigors. They're all pretty cool, but they're just a way to make killing everyone a little less tedious. The way I played the game was to shock enemies with my crazy lightning hands to stun them and then pump them full of lead until they died. That's my main issue with a lot of shooters is that the combat scenarios just aren't very interesting. In this game you enter a room, or closed off area to fight enemies. Once they're all gone you either move on to another combat scenario, or you go on to the next story sequence. In a game like this where the story is so compelling it's hard to see that type of combat as anything but a chore. It's just something you need to put up with in order to get to the next thing you actually care about. I hope that some game in the future can fix this problem, or just at least reinvigorate first person shooters.

Bioshock Infinite has a lot more dumping on fools that I wanted.

The gameplay itself is actually fine. In fact it's worlds better than the original Bioshock in terms of gameplay mechanics. It's competent, but you'll probably get sick of it midway through the game. Even though I'd say the gameplay is middling at best this is still an incredible game. It's definitely something that video game fans should play. Even if you're like me and don't like FPS's Infinite is still worth checking out. Sometimes video games are called out as being a bad medium for telling stories and Infinite proves that that's not true. Maybe it just takes five years and someone like Ken Levine and the writers at Irrational to make a great video game story. This is a story that everyone is going to be talking about. In fact, everyone already is talking about it. Get out there and play it before you end up seeing spoilers.

But wait...It's not over yet!

I knew that I was going to have a hard time juggling Bioshock Infinite, Luigi's Mansion Dark Moon, and Pokemon Mystery Dungeon. They did all come out within the span of three days after all. What I didn't know was that I was going to become addicted to Monster Hunter 3 Ultimate, so I would play very little of my two new 3DS titles.

Due to my new found addiction I'm going to save Luigi's Mansion and Pokemon for next month. I didn't play enough of either to form any solid opinions about them. I did however play over 100 hours of Monster Hunter... I am going to write up something about Monster Hunter, because it really did take me by surprise. I can't promise that it will be any time soon, because I've been pretty busy lately. Which is also the reason that I still don't have the Game Time ID about Fire Emblem Awakening up. Maybe I should just stop saying I'm going to do ID's and just put them up when I actually have the time.

See you next month.

     -Manny

Game Time - February 2013

It's official everyone. We now live in a post PlayStation 4 announcement world. Sony caught the world of gaming on fire this past week when it showed off a whole bunch of next generation games and talked about what features the PS4 will have. I'm pretty excited about what they showed. The features sound great, but the games weren't exactly what I was looking for. If you're into video games you've probably heard about the PS4 announcement a fair bit by now, so I won't get too deep into my thoughts. Just know that I'm pretty pumped. The next gen is upon us!

Sadly the PS4 and the new Xbox are not with us quite yet, so I've had to spend my time playing games on the 3DS and the now seemingly super old PS3. On the 3DS front I played through the entirety of Fire Emblem: Awakening and am still continuing to play it. I'll post my thoughts on that when I'm finished with it.

On The PS3 front I played Sly 4: Thieves in Time. It's possible that I was one of very few people who knew about the game's release, because Sony did a terrible job marketing the game. It's almost as if they wanted the release to be a surprise. Sony seems to be doing this with most of their first party titles lately, which is a bit unsettling. Hopefully they're just focusing on PS4 development, because at this point they're almost sending games out to die at retail.

Metal Gear Rising: Revengence had a fair bit of marketing behind it though. Every trailer was filled with maximum insanity and the game itself is not any different. There's a fair bit to talk about, so let's get right into it. It's game time!

Sly 4

I must admit I never played through any of the Sly Cooper games when they were originally released. I remember my brother playing through most of the second game when he rented it, but I didn't end up playing it myself. So when the Sly Cooper HD collection I decided it was time to play through them all. To my surprise I actually ended up liking the first two quite a bit, while I actively hated the third for adding terribly controlled mini games at every turn. Suckerpunch managed to create a likable band of thieves in Sly, Murray, and Bentley that I became quite attached to.

The problem with the Sly Cooper franchise is that it's very much a product of it's time. They were PS2 action/adventure games made in the early to mid 2,000's. Games of the original Sly Trilogy's ilk have fallen out of style on modern consoles, so I didn't really know what to expect from Sly 4. All I knew was that I wanted some more Sly Cooper. That's what I ended up getting, but Sly 4 is a bit too similar to it's predecessors.

Sly and the gang are back again, but this time it's full blown HD!

Once again you'll play as the crafty Raccoon thief Sly Cooper, the brainy turtle Bentley, and the brawny hippo Murray. Pages from Sly's ancestral tome the Thievius Racoonus are disappearing, so the gang has to go back in time to figure out what's happening to Sly's ancestors. You'll travel to various iconic eras such as feudal Japan and the wild west where you'll actually meet up with Sly's ancestors.

While Sly 4 throws some new elements into the old Cooper brew it's still very much like a PS2 game. Like the previous two games in the series each "episode" is like a relatively large plot of land that you can freely explore. I'm going to refer to it as open world exploration, but it's not necessarily on the scale of an open world game. Each time period also has a base of operations. From your base you can select missions, buy upgrades, and change the time period if you need to. You'll need to traverse the open world in each time period in order to get to your missions. Although if you want you can mess around finding hidden treasure and pick-pocketing guards in order to buy upgrades.

Sly's ancestor's are fun to play as for the most part.

As for the new elements there aren't very many. It's got decent looking HD graphics, but the major hook of the game is that you can play as Sly's ancestors. They control relatively similar to sly, but each will have a special ability that allows them to access special areas and cater to certain mission objectives. The way they change up Sly himself is by giving him costumes. In each era Sly will gain a new costume that gives him special abilities. In the end it still controls exactly like the previous games in the series, or to be more precise a PS2 game. The overall controls are still very stiff and can be quite frustrating at times.

In the end it's just a 3D adventure with anthropomorphic characters. These types of games are few and far between now and that may be for good reason.  It feels like a holdover from a bygone era, but that's okay with me. I had a fun time playing it. That may have been because I have a connection with the series though. The continued plot definitely helped me through it, because it lost a bit of it's luster partway through. It's just not different enough to be a hit, but it's still fun to play. The game ended with a cliffhanger that made me simultaneous pumped and anxious. I really hope that Sanzaru gets another stab at the series, because it could turn into something much more. Next time they might be able to diverge from the established formula.

Metal Gear Rising: Revengence

You may have heard that Revengence is only four hours long. Well, the rumors were true. The story mode clocks in at around four, which doesn't count the cut scenes. Normally that kind of thing would be a deal breaker for me since it's a full priced retail release, but in this case I'm totally all right with it.

I hated almost everything about the story. It takes place after Metal Gear Solid 4, so the patriots have fallen. At first it's kind of interesting to see how the world turns out, but for me at least I stopped caring almost immediately. Raiden works for a PMC and gets sucked into a conflict with another group called Desperado. They're making children into cyborgs and Raiden isn't pleased about that. So obviously he has to kill them. I wasn't expecting a lot from the story of this game, but what I got was even worse than I thought. Naturally a whole lot of it is completely nonsensical, but near the end it gets preachy in a way that pissed me off. I've seen a lot of people saying that they thought the final boss was amazing, while that was the point where I couldn't stand what was happening anymore and wanted the game to be over. Overall it's just dumb. It's a dumb plot. So don't expect a whole lot from that aspect of the game.

As you may know I'm all about plot, so why do I like this game? In this case it's entirely about the gameplay. The last Platinum game I played was Anarchy Reigns, which I wasn't so hot on. As a developer Platinum is known for their stylish action and this game does that a whole lot better than Anarchy Reigns in that regard. In fact I'd be willing to say that Revengence is made up completely of stylish action. You play as Raiden, and at this point in the Metal Gear Solid universe he's an unstoppable badass cyborg. It's cool, because he actually feels unstoppable. The combat isn't necessarily as deep and combo heavy as other platinum games, but it doesn't have to be.

Who wants to accurately cut up some watermelons?

This game is all about viciously attacking other cyborgs with your sweet ninja blade. When you come to an enemy you can mash the attack button to put the hurt on them. If you take pauses and hold directions Raiden will do all kinds of craziness. If you want you can keep doing that until your enemy violently explodes, or you can check out what the game is all about. After a certain amount of ass beating the enemies will turn green if you're using the special optics Raiden has available to him. At that point you can activate blade mode. Time slows down and you can accurately cut the enemy before you into hundreds of pieces. Using the right stick you can choose the exact points where Raiden cuts. There's a bar that dictates how much you can use blade mode, but it's super easy to refill, which is where Zandatsu comes in.

At a certain point in the story Raiden gets an upgrade that allows him to perform what the game calls Zandatsu. When you go into blade mode there will almost always be a square that indicates a vital point on the enemy. Any point after cutting through the square Raiden can then rip out the enemies spine and CRUSH IT IN HIS HANDS to absorb their electrolytes. Each time Zandatsu is performed Raiden regains all of his health and his blade mode meter completely refills (Man, I really like saying Zandatsu). It makes the game kind of easy, but it's super cool to see.

Revengence is all about being a cool cyborg ninja. It plays well and makes you feel cool, which is what video games should do all the time. It's fun enough that I can get past the stupid story. I'm even kind of glad that the game is only around four hours long. Since the combat isn't very deep, blade mode and zandatsu can only be fun for so long. Eventually it'll get boring, but after finishing the game I still feel like I might want to play it some more. It's always good to leave the player wanting more instead of making them never want to play the game again by bashing them over the head with the same combat situations over and over again. To make it even better the game has a fair amount of replay value. There are hidden things to find and tons of upgrades to purchase. I'm not someone who normally does that kind of thing, but since the game isn't super long it's not entirely out of the question that I'd do it again.

Cutting up enemies and crushing their spine is commonplace in Revengence.

Metal Gear Rising: Revengence is a surprisingly good game. I honestly expected it to be terrible, but instead I had a lot of fun with it. As an action game it's great, but as a Metal Gear side story it's not exactly the best. Sure you can see some more of the universe, but it's not very meaningful. If you're looking for story perhaps you'd be better off waiting for Ground Zeroes. However, if you're looking to cut stuff up into hundreds of tiny pieces as you ninja run up walls then you should totally check out what Revengence has to offer.

March is coming...

I've really been struggling to push one of these out every month. That tends to stem from the fact that I wait until the very end of the month to start writing. It sucks, because I've noticed that my writing has started to suffer because of it. Sometimes I'm writing about things that I haven't played for weeks and that can be a bit frustrating when trying to recall my feelings or specific descriptions. That's why I've decided to start writing them ahead of time. As soon as I finish a game, or whenever I have important thoughts I'm going to pop them in a draft for the next months Game Time. Hopefully my writing and overall quality of the post each month will increase.

With that said March is going to be a big month in terms of game playing for me. Naruto Shippuden Ultimate Ninja Storm 3 is hitting at the start of the month. It will be followed by a couple week lull until Pokemon Mystery Dungeon, Luigi's Mansion, and Bioshock Infinite will all be released within a 4 day period at the end of the month. I don't know if I want to try and juggle all three of them at once, or stick with one at a time. We'll find out on the next exciting installment of Game Time!

     -Manny

A New Wild Pokemon has Appeared

After each new Pokemon generation is announced I wait around for any of the new designs to be shown off. There's something about seeing a brand new Pokemon that makes me get unreasonably excited. So today when scans from the newest CoroCoro were leaked online I freaked out a little bit.

Below you can see scans of the newest Evee evolution known in Japanese as Ninfia. I can only imagine it'll be renamed to something-eon in English. As of right now the type hasn't been announced. It's weird, because I can't tell what type it is right off the bat. If I had to guess I'd say normal. It certainly doesn't look like fighting, bug, poison, dragon, flying, ground, rock or steel (Yeah that's right I know all the Evee types). There's a chance it's ghost, but it looks far too pink and happy for that.

Update: It's English name is Sylveon, but the type still hasn't been revealed. 

Check it out! It's so pink and adorable! I want one! All joking aside I truly like the design of it. Hopefully this is a sign that the rest of the new Pokemon won't look as terrible as most of the 5th generation did. Let's all cross our fingers.

Since I get so excited every time a new Pokemon is shown off you can probably look forward to more posts like this as information about X and Y trickle out over the next few months.

     -Manny

Game Time - January 2013

2013 has started with a bang. January has been a big month for new releases and it seems as if they're going to keep on trucking. If this month is any indication of how this year is going to go, then we have a whole lot of awesome games coming. Yesterday I made a post about all the time I've spent with Ni No Kuni. It's a great JRPG and you should check it out.

On the completely opposite end of the spectrum I played both Anarchy Reigns and DmC. Sadly Anarchy Reigns didn't wow me as much as I'd hoped. Yet somehow DmC impressed me on a level that I didn't think it would be able to. I really like action games

Anarchy Reigns

After playing the Japanese Anarchy Reigns (Max Anarchy) demo I was very excited to get the full release. At first it puzzled me as to why Sega would hold off the game's U.S. release even though the localization was complete. It was even more surprising when it was announced for the reduced price of $30. Now that I've played it I know why it's $30 and I'm glad I didn't end up importing it.

I wrote up my impressions after playing the demo, so I'll try to elaborate on what I previously said to the best of my ability. My main issue with the demo was that the lag in multiplayer was unbearable. Just as I had guessed the issues I were having were due to the Japanese servers. Playing the game online works well with some occasional hiccups, but my issues with the multiplayer run a bit deeper.

Anarchy Reigns is a brawler at it's core. You have a heavy attack and a light attack. If you want to you can call out a weapon and do a light or a heavy attack with that. Mashing the button will create a combo, but if you delay inputs it will change up the combos. Overall the combos never vary a whole lot, but there is more technique involved than your standard brawler. I thought that the characters would differ, but in the end their combos are disappointingly similar. The combo system seems to be much deeper than I experienced, because there are some insane combo videos online. There's just nothing about the game that makes me want to try and learn the intricacies of the combat system.

Death is a constant in Anarchy Reigns.

The online experiences I had were more frustrating than fun. When I was in a battle royale match I kept getting triple teamed and getting my combos interrupted by enemies who I couldn't see because of the camera. It was super chaotic, but I did have a bit of fun. I played a bunch more matches and ended up getting the hang of it so that I didn't get beaten into the ground every match. One on one matches were what ended up making me not care about learning the combat system. I figured that those types of matches would be better for showing off the skill involved in the system. I played a few matches and won. My third or fourth match I was handily beating someone until they decided to spam the 360 degree attack. It's meant to get you out of tough situations, but if you continually spam it there was seemingly no way to get around it.

Yes, I realize that I'm probably an idiot and there actually was a way to get around it. That doesn't make it any better that the attacks are so freakishly strong and hit from so far away. It made me not want to play any more and I didn't very much after that. I've heard really good things about deathball, which is a violent form of football. I haven't gone back to play it, but I might have to at some point.

I had a feeling that Anarchy Reigns was going to be a multiplayer focused game, but I wanted to believe it would have more to offer. It really doesn't. I probably should have prefaced this entire section with the fact that I don't really like multiplayer games. I'm  more of a solitary gamer, which is probably why I was so disappointed with Anarchy Reigns overall. The single player is basically a way to have the player unlock characters while learning the combat mechanics for multiplayer. The basic enemies blow up after just a few hits though, so they're never really a challenge.

Deathball seems interesting. I may go back and check it out.

You basically beat the living hell out of enemies until the next story mission unlocks. At which point you're awarded with an insane cutscene. I really like the personalities of the characters and the ridiculous things they say. To be honest I was expecting everything to be completely nonsensical, but at some point an interesting plot showed up. There was actually some potential, but the ending of the game completely squanders that and goes with something that doesn't resolve anything. It could have been so much more, but I don't really like multiplayer in games like this. If you're craving some interesting online fun it's a decent buy for $30.

DmC Devil May Cry

The Devil May Cry fan base is very loud. As soon as Capcom announced the franchise reboot long time fans began lashing out. At one point I was among the angry fans. I couldn't believe the new Dante's hair. No, I wasn't like everyone else who wanted his hair to be white. I was much more concerned with the fact that it looked like he had taken a razor to his head without looking. It was a minor gripe, but a gripe none the less.

Devil May Cry fans have a very specific idea of what Devil May Cry should be. With every trailer it was clear that the new developer Ninja Theory was changing the world and characters that they had come to love. It makes sense for long time fans to be upset about that. It was a possibility that the combat system they had come to love would change completely. What blows my mind though is the fact that so many people actively wanted the game to fail. There were people who were willing to write the game off before every having played it, while actively hoping that it would do poorly. Why fans would want a game in a franchise they love to fail is beyond me. Devil May Cry 4 wasn't received very well. If this reboot didn't sell well it's not like they were going to go back and make a Devil May Cry 5.

At first I didn't like new Dante, but now I'm a big fan.

When I identified myself as a Devil May Cry fan before I don't know if that was entirely accurate. I've played the previous games in the series, but I never felt a huge connection with them. They were fun action games that had much more depth than I cared to delve into. I liked the stories and characters, but I'm not the Devil May Cry super fan who can't handle change. Close to the release of this reboot it became clear to me that I'm not a "true" Devil may Cry fan. If you are a true Devil May Cry fan, then what I'm going to say definitely won't apply to you so you should take it with a grain of salt.

I came into DmC hoping that it would be a good game and I wasn't let down. In fact now that I've had a bit of distance from the game I'd be willing to say that it's great. I'll start with the story, because that's not exactly the most important part. Humans live in the human world, and demons reside in a parallel dimension called limbo. Dante is half angel and half demon, which makes him a Nephilim. This allows him to enter limbo and combat demons. At the start of the game the demon lord Mundus is taking control of the world through the use of political media and a soft drink called virility. Dante ends up getting sucked into a battle against Mundus with his brother twin brother Vergil, and his human partner Kat. They combat the demons together in an attempt to free the world from Mundus' evil clutches.

Dante, Vergil, and Kat work together to take down Mundus.

The character development in the game is fantastic. The character interactions are enhanced a great deal by the motion capturing that Ninja Theory does in all of their games. Sometimes real actors can make expressions that 3D animations just aren't capable of yet. It makes everything seem so much more lifelike than it does in other games. I think that may be the reason I like the new Dante so much as a character. In all of the pre-release media he kind of seemed like an unlikable asshole. The reason he came off like that is because almost every scene where he acts like a tool is taken completely out of context. He's still super cocky just like Dante used to be, but he's a whole lot more in your face about the whole thing. I know I might catch a lot of flack for this, but I think he might be better than the old Dante. He feels much more like a complete character to me. You can see him changing as the game progresses and things actually seem to affect him on meaningful levels.

As a whole the plot is trying to be a bit too topical, but it's a lot more ambitious than any Devil May Cry story before it. When the game ends it seems like if Ninja Theory gets a chance at a sequel they're going to be moving closer to the plot of the original games. So long time fans should breathe a small sigh of relief.

DmC is still all about the combos, so don't freak out!

The gameplay is what truly matters in a character action game though and DmC does not disappoint. Long time fans of the series may be unhappy to hear that it's a whole lot more accessible than the previous games in the franchise. I can't tell if it's because the gameplay is just more accessible, or because it's easier overall. The later difficulties are still overly punishing, but I feel like I have more of a chance to survive. Dante starts off with his sword Rebellion and his pistols Ebony and Ivory. Square is used for weak attacks and triangle is used for strong attacks. Circle allows Dante to dodge, and X allows him to jump. It's all pretty standard Devil May Cry fare. Where this game changes it up is by introducing two demon and two angel weapons.

Demon weapons do massive damage while angel weapons don't pack quite as much of a punch, but they attack super fast. DmC makes it very easy to switch between weapons on the fly, which makes almost any combo look impressive. Holding the right trigger makes Dante use demon weapons and angel weapons are on the left trigger. The combo system is still about making things as flashy as possible so you'll want to switch up the weapons you're using very often. Using the same attacks repeatedly will make the combo meter build up much slower. This ended up making me rapidly switch between weapons whenever I could so that I could achieve a SSS rank. If you want to get into some insane comboing that's still an option. There are already quite a few DmC combo videos on YouTube that blew my mind. You can still hit an enemy up in the air and keep them up there for a ridiculous amount of time.

This game allows for newcomers to get into the series while still having the ability to appeal to old fans. It may be a bit easier and more accessible, but that doesn't mean that it doesn't have an insane amount of depth. It reminds me a lot of Ultimate Marvel vs. Capcom 3. Marvel 2 fans didn't want to accept it, but now it's the most popular game at most tournaments because it's filled with all kinds of insane infinites. I hope that Devil May Cry fans can find it in their hearts to play this game, because it totally deserves a sequel. Nina Theory did an excellent job re-imagining the Devil May Cry universe.

I've had enough action for now

It's a good thing Ni No Kuni came out, because after playing Anarchy Reigns and DmC back to back I have had my fill of action games for a while. Hopefully I'm ready for some more by the time Metal Gear Rising Revengence comes out in the middle of February.

Anarchy Reigns wasn't exactly what I was expecting, but both DmC and Ni No Kuni were incredible. This year has been awesome for video games so far and it seems like the hits will keep on coming. Fire Emblem Awakening comes out in a few days and I can't wait to get my hands on it. Sly Cooper is coming out the day after, but I don't know what to think about that. I want to like it, but we'll have to wait and see.

Well, I'm off to play some more Ni No Kuni. This has been another exciting installment of Game Time. See you next time!

     -Manny

Game Time ID - Ni No Kuni: Wrath of the White Witch

I absolutely love JRPG's and I've been waiting for one on the current generation of consoles to truly hook me in a way that they used to. Before anyone gets offended I'm not trying to say that none of the JRPG's that came out this generation are good, it's just that I haven't felt very strongly for any of them. I like games that try to create a deep world with so much to do that it almost becomes overwhelming. Ni No Kuni is exactly that. It's the game I've been waiting for this entire console generation and I'm so glad it came over to America.

When I first saw screenshots of Ni No Kuni I was blown away by how beautiful everything looked. Upon further research I found out that the game was developed by Level 5 in conjunction with the esteemed anime studio Ghibli. Level 5 has had a lot of cel-shading in their games like Dark Cloud 2, and Dragon Quest VII. They've gotten quite good at this particular art style, so now it looks almost as if everything is hand drawn while at the same time getting rid of all the weird shadow effects that tend to plague the style.

Level 5 has made some quality RPGs in the past, but by adding the Studio Ghibli name they are guaranteed to sell quite a few more copies of the game. Upon playing the game it's easy to see the influence Ghibli had on the game. Their art direction can clearly be seen on all of the characters and monsters. It also comes across in both the anime cut scenes and the in-engine scenes, because the animations are top notch. Everything about the game is beautiful. There were moments where I just took a break to look around. The locations are extremely vibrant and varied it's just...ugh...BEAUTIFUL!

However, if the game only looked pretty, had solid animation, and cut scenes I wouldn't like it as much as I do. It does an excellent job of creating an in depth world, which is entirely backed up by lore. It's easy to get lost in its grand scale. Honestly, it feels like a callback to the 16-bit JRPGs I love so much. There's something about it that fills me with a nostalgic feeling and I just can't help but smile.

The Another World

No I'm not going crazy. The another world is the literal translation of Ni No Kuni. That's because the main premise of Ni No Kuni is that you travel to a magical fantasy world that's separate from life was we know it. The story focuses on Oliver, who is a 13 year old boy that lives in a town called Motorville with his mom. As you might expect Motorville has a large focus on cars, so Oliver is no different. He and his friend sneak out at night to test drive a vehicle they've been working on for quite some time. Things don't go very well and Oliver almost drowns in a nearby river only to be saved by his mother at the last moment. Things seem to be okay for everyone except for Oliver's mom. The sudden shock of almost losing her son causes her to have a heart attack, which she dies from shortly after. This may sound like a major spoiler, but it happens within the first hour of the game and is foundation of the entire story.

With the passing of  his mom Oliver shuts himself away in his room where he spends most of his time crying. He decides to pick up the doll that his mom made for him when he was a child and a sudden flood of memories causes him to start blubbering all over the poor thing. Much to his surprise the thing comes to life before his very eyes and begins talking to him in an amazing Welsh accent. Turns out his name is Mr. Drippy and he's the lord of the faeries in another world. He was turned into a doll by an evil wizard named Shadar who threatens the peace of the other world. Drippy tells Oliver that he's the fabled pure hearted one who's destined to defeat Shadar. In an unexpected twist Oliver denies Drippy until he finds out that he might be able to save his mother. With that bit of info Oliver decides to help the lord high lord of the faeries and ends up traveling to a whole new magical world.

Mr. Drippy welcomes Oliver to his world.

The other world is quite literally magical. In order to get there Oliver has to acquire a wand and the Wizard's Companion, which he does with a little help from Drippy. The Wizard's Companion is one of the main reasons I am so enraptured by this game. What's crazy is that it's an actual book. There are hundreds of pages filled with detailed information about the world and it's inhabitants. You can access the companion from the menu at any time outside of battle. Each page is like a scanned PDF. You can move around the page and zoom in. You can see spells, alchemy recipes, a bestiary, maps, an ancient alphabet, and fairy tales. Some of the pages will be missing, but as the game progresses they will fill in. The description of an in game book may not be very appealing, but it's implemented surprisingly well. When you open the book it shows every section you can go to. In order to get where you want you can select it with a cursor, or you can zoom in until it appears. The transitions are smooth and everything feels natural.

In Japan there was also a DS version of the game that shipped with a physical copy of the companion. In that version of the game it was crucial to solving puzzles and advancing in the game. The PS3 version doesn't "need" it quite as much. There are occasions when you'll be asked to decipher ancient text, which can be found inside the companion. There aren't any instances where you have to do this, so if you don't feel like it you can skip it entirely. There isn't actually any reason that you'd have to look inside the companion, but I would highly recommend that you do. The localization of it is incredible. The fairy tales are oozing with personality and it can help you find hidden treasure on the world map.

I wish I had gotten a physical copy of the Wizard's Companion.

The Wizard's Companion isn't the only part of the game that has amazing localization. The same goes for the entire game. There are times when playing JRPGs that I question whether or not certain scenes and characters were changed for the US translation. Sometimes things just seem a little out of place or off, but that didn't happen once during my play through of Ni No Kuni. It all feels so natural, even the voice acting. The world is completely believable.

Pokemon Battle?

I've seen Ni No Kuni's battle system described by many as a cross between Pokemon and the Tales series. That might be the easiest way to explain it, but it's not necessarily correct. It does share quite a few similarities with both though.

Battles in Ni No Kuni are not random. Monsters physically manifest on the world map and in dungeons. They can be avoided, or run into for a bit of battling. Like most games with this type of encounter system if you attack from behind you'll be at an advantage, but if the enemy gets you from behind they have the advantage. When the game begins you can only control Oliver in battle and he's super weak. He can physically attack with his tiny wand, defend, use items, or cast spells. His physical attack isn't ideal, but he ends up being very good with magic as the game advances. These options are shown in a radial menu at the bottom corner of the screen. Using the left stick or d-pad you can switch between options. The similarity to the Tales series is that you can control Oliver's movement with the right stick. He can move 360 degrees, so you can dodge enemy moves and get into position for casting.

The human characters are not as durable as their familiars.

Shortly after his arrival in Mr. Drippy's world Oliver is given access to a familiar, which is a monster created from the power of his heart, which is when the battle system really opens up. Familiars are what make people liken the game to Pokemon. They're tiny little creatures who you can collect and evolve for more power. They can be one of the four signs of sun, moon, star, or planet. Each  type has strong and weak match ups against the others. On top of that there are six elemental types to be aware of.

Oliver (and other party members you acquire throughout the game) can fight themselves or call upon one of their three familiars in battle. Controlling familiars works the same as Oliver. You use the left stick to pick their actions and the right stick to control their movement. Every one will have the option to attack, but not all have the option to defend. Some have defend, some have the option to evade, and some can't do anything against incoming attacks. Familiars will learn new attacks and magic through leveling, which are called tricks. Much like Pokemon they can only have a few of these moves at a time and you'll have to manage what they have and what they need to forget.

Familiars are generally better than Oliver, but you can't use them forever. Each one has a stamina bar, which will decrease as long as you are controlling them. If the bar runs out they will become unusable for a short time, so you'll want to switch between the human character and their other familiars at all times. There will also be cases where you'll want to use spells or items and only human characters like Oliver can do that.

The battles can be a little overwhelming at first.

At around the ten hour mark you'll be given the ability to charm the critters you're fighting and make them your own. There are quite a few of them and the capture rates are generally pretty low, so if you want to capture them all it's going to take quite a bit of work. To add in even more fun  every familiar has three stages. The first form can be fed a drop to go to the second form. From the second form they must be fed a jumbo drop and you get to choose one of two third forms for it to turn in to. There quite a few options.

The system isn't super complex, but it can be a lot to take in at first. It's a lot to keep track of. I've seen people complaining that the game is too hard, but I've also seen people saying it's too easy. I personally completed the game only dying once. When I did die it was entirely my fault for not healing when I should have. I also tend to grind a whole lot, so take that for what you will.

Refreshing

Ni No Kuni is like a breath of fresh air. As I mentioned previously it's a callback to the 16-bit JRPGs of old, but that's not all that's refreshing about it. JRGs tend to be very melodramatic and the main characters are often as emo and brooding as you can get. Oliver is nothing like that, despite the fact that his mom recently died and he has no one to take care of him anymore. Throughout the whole game he's surprisingly upbeat. Normally kid characters in video games are supremely annoying, but Oliver manages to likable. The game as a whole has a very innocent feel to it. Oliver says jeepers all the time as he goes around mending broken hearts on his way to save a world in peril with his welsh accented pal Mr. Drippy. The overall plot of the game is filled with RPG cliches and anime tropes, but that's exactly what you'd expect from a Japanese RPG. Aside from all the brooding and spiky hair, which normally defines the genre.

It's obvious that Ni No Kuni is a labor of love. Level 5 and Studio Ghibli did their best to combine their talents into a single project. All of that hard work could have been lost if it wasn't for the amazing attention to detail by the localization team. The world is developed in a way that makes you want to explore every nook and cranny and talk to every character.

Look at this! How can you not want to meet all of these characters?

If you've completely written off JRPGs this game won't change your mind. However, if you still have it in your heart to give this type of game a try then you should. Ni No Kuni is the kind of game that used to eat entire summers when I was a kid. It'll take a lot of time to see it through to the end, but it's definitely worth it. I know that once I started playing I had a hard time stopping. The game was released on the 22nd, and since then I've racked up 70 hours of play time, but I completed the main story at around 50 hours of play time.

I could go on and on throwing up my love for the game all over you, but no one wants that. JRPGs of this caliber have been few and far between this console generation. Ni No Kuni took a long time to get here, but it was certainly worth the wait.

     -Manny