Yesterday after work I dug up my Breath of Fire IV strategy guide in anticipation of downloading the game on the PSN.  I don’t need the guide to beat the game.  In my adolescence this was one of the titles I played on repeat.  It is (pardon the pun) burned into my memory.

Still, there is something intimate when it comes to print guides.  Or perhaps the guide is simply an artifact I associate with the fond memories I have of the game.  Countless hours I consulted it on how to clear a certain puzzle, where I could find a master, how to execute a devastating combo, until it was all second nature.  Yet without fail, each time the game went into my Playstation, I reached for this very guide.

I am a creature of ritual when it comes to what I love, as the guide’s appearance no doubt suggests: the cover is worn around the edges, and my PSP Go is actually covering a big section of it which is missing entirely.  Despite the somewhat ragged appearance, I am proud it is looking this good after 10 years.  Or rather 10 years and one month to the day:

I wonder what “James” is up to today?

For whatever reason, myself at 15 years old decided to use the receipt for the guide as a bookmark.  I was probably just lazy.  But with each use after that, I kept the tradition going, using the guide as a hyperbolic chamber.  Now, I am left with a perfectly preserved receipt from that day on summer vacation in Maine.  I had completely forgotten of my odd tradition until yesterday, when I finally cracked the guide open.

Re-experiencing this part of my past with my current amount of free time is… sobering.  Back in my prime I could play until 4 or 5 AM — the hours quickly generating from a sheer lack of responsibilities.  After last night’s climax of nostalgia, I probably played the game for a half hour before resigning to bed for the 9-5.  Sad.

Still, I am grateful to my past self for (no doubt unintentionally) sowing the seeds for yesterday’s nostalgia rush.  There are those who would argue that time spent on video games is wasted, and on my darker days, I would agree with this statement.  But opening yesterday’s time capsule has shown me that fond memories, regardless of how they were obtained, is evidence of time well spent.

I was cruising through Parasite Eve at a decent pace when, on the final chapter, one of my strongest RPG compulsions hit me: I had to have a better weapon.  Up to that point I had been equipping any gun I found so I could stockpile all the items which could be used to make a weapon stronger, and then dump them all on one chosen weapon.

That is actually a second RPG compulsion of mine: hoarding items beyond the point of absurdity.  I can recall battling Ruby Weapon, the toughest boss in Final Fantasy VII, as a friend watched over my shoulder.  When I was in a pinch, he suggested using a mega-elixer, a rare item that would fully replenish my teams HP and MP.  I looked at him as if he were the physical manifestation of a terrible idea.

Right, back to Parasite Eve:

“No, I will wait until I find a better gun”, I thought.  “I must be close to one, right?”

A bit of research online quickly proved that I was in a position to not only attain a strong weapon, but arguably (oh, and believe me, it’s argued) the best weapon in the game.

How is said weapon acquired, you may ask?  Well, by doing some menial task over and over, of course.  In this case, said menial task is collecting 300 pieces of junk.  Now these items are called junk because they have no purpose other than to take up space in your limited inventory and be annoying.  Little do most players notice, that a certain NPC in the game gives you the option of “discarding junk”.  After discarding 300 pieces of junk in this method, the NPC rewards you with one of several very powerful weapons.

Leave it to Square Enix of the past to sneak such a clever feature under most people’s noses.  With the aid of the Internet, however, this secret was quickly discovered by yours truly.

I may only have a few hours left in Parasite Eve, but the promise of doing some grinding for the purpose of getting the absolute ceiling of weapons is too good to pass up.  I love grinding, and aside from Pokémon and Disgaea titles, it’s a luxury I am rarely afforded.  In modern games, most everything is dynamic and evolving to remove the feeling of scripting.  It’s also rare that a game actually requires you to take the time to level up for fear of breaking the pace of the story.

I assure you, after the first hundred or so junk, nothing is dynamic about Central Park Zoo (the best spot to gather junk).  I know the best places to encounter the enemies that drop it, and each battle is the same in its respective location.  I own Central Park Zoo.  In a way, I have become Central Park Zoo.  This feels good: this comfort that comes with familiarity and repetition.  Add a clear goal on the horizon, and this is exactly where I want to be.

So there you have it: I find security in routine and stockpiling in video games.  Now, to ponder what this says about me as a person.  Well, I appreciate routine in real life.  Having too many uncertain variables drastically reduces the likelihood that I will take part in an activity or event.  Once I do manage to dive in to a new situation, I tend to construct a “safehouse”; something or someone that is familiar to gravitate around.  This could be a familiar block, street or a person who I’ve known the longest.  I suppose in gaming, I do the same thing.  You could say I turned Central Park Zoo into my safehouse.  Hell, we could probably extend the scope even further — perhaps gaming in general is my safehouse?

The Western Scrub Jay is a notorious hoarder

Stockpiling, on the other hand, is something I am definitely better at in gaming.  In games, my philosophy is to keep everything, because you never know when it may be useful.  I suppose it’s planning for the worst, a scenario which generally never comes.  In real life, this is harder for me to practice, especially when it comes to money.  I suck at saving it, as though I refuse to believe anything bad is on the horizon.  Perhaps I am more used to bad things happening to me in games than in real life.  I admit my life has had its ups and downs, but apparently none jarring enough to kick me into stockpiling-squirrel-mode.  Perhaps it’s time that IRL Roy take a note from gaming-Roy.

Gazing into the void of worthless junk, I saw myself years ago, engrossed in grinding.  I saw the compulsions I exercise in games and began to understand why they make me feel safe. Now, thanks to junk, I have a better understanding of who I am.  I should get the weapon I want soon, but I think this lesson will be far more valuable.

Since the site’s creation I have felt obligated to keep up with the most recent titles or suffer from an inability to produce relevant content.  I think this practice has taken its toll, and lately I have felt a strong desire to take a step out of the swift moving stream of modern gaming and play an old classic.

The 3rd Birthday has, in a way, allowed me this opportunity.  Going into the game without having played its predecessors meant I had no clue who Aya Brea was, or frankly what was going on in tentacle-filled New York City.  Several people on Twitter encouraged me to take the time to play Parasite Eve so that I could appreciate The 3rd Birthday.  And so, at the risk of my eventual review of the game being less timely, I decided to opt for the optimal Parasite Eve experience and downloaded the original from the PSN.

It’s always a little scary taking a technological jump backwards for a game.  My main concern is generally whether or not the game’s outdated appearance will turn me off.  This wasn’t a problem with Parasite Eve, thankfully, and I was soon quite engrossed with the game.  More engrossed than I can recall being in a while in fact.

In retrospect, a few factors helped:

• No Voice Acting: I don’t know what it is, but when I have to actually read dialog, it slows me down.  It allows me to construct this imaginary world in my mind at my pace, rather than gawk at it all happening before me through a window.  Also, the voices I apply to a character in my head are always better than what a voice actor is capable of.
• Originality: I was instantly struck by how original nearly everything about Parasite Eve was.  First off, it isn’t a sequel — crazy, I know.  Also it’s a game by a Japanese company taking place in the US — and other than a complete lack of understanding traffic in Manhattan, it captures the city quite well.  Next, the game has a female protagonist who is believable, relatable, and best of all: they don’t pound it into your head.  In contrast, it wasn’t more than an hour into The 3rd Birthday before my immersion was broken by recognizing numerous parallels between the game and Kingdom Hearts.  I suppose we have Nomura to thank for that.
• Simplicity/Restraint: So help me Jeebus, you just don’t see these practiced anymore.  A good idea becomes so muddled under a million different “OK, I guess” ideas until all you have is a pile of crap with that good idea having suffocated long ago.  Allow me to back up: it’s been too long since I played a game with a simple battle and equipment system like in Parasite Eve.  I am all for a challenge, but if you cannot create challenge in the confines of simplicity, than the answer is not to throw on more gauges, meld genres, or show more cleavage, which seems to be the practice of late.

This got me thinking of an article Leigh Alexander wrote recently, which appeared on Kotaku, the best site in the whole world.  If you don’t feel like reading it all, her main argument is that “in the march toward realism, we’ve lost immersion.”  I agreed with her when the article was published, but with this experience fresh in my mind, it feels all the more relevant.  The article also does a great job further pondering why modern games fail to engage the same way as those of a generation or two ago.

Lately I have felt conflicted about what’s been happening in gaming, and maybe I am starting to see why. Or it could be that after three years I need a break from the hustle and bustle of release days, press announcements, fan speculation and all that.  I’m not sure.  For now, I am going to crawl into this time capsule I’ve stumbled upon and maybe things will look a little brighter when I come out.

Click here to view the embedded video.

If you’ve been following my site since the early days you may recall me closely following a fan translation of Persona 2: Innocent Sin. That was completed by a programmer named Gemini and some friends. Now he and the team at Devil Hackers’ Nest have turned their sights to the Devil Summoner series. He recently announced plans to translate Devil Summoner: Soul Hackers, a title which has never seen the light of day in the West for unknown reasons.

The game will be available to download with full translations in the form of a PSX rom and also as a functioning PSP rom.  This is especially exciting as Innocent Sin was not able to be ported to the PSP.  It is unknown In terms of when we can expect it but Gemini will usually provide updates with a completion percentage, so be sure to frequent his site if you interested.

Innocent Sin took close to a year, although as Gemini has stated, the game was “programmed by Satan himself”, meaning there were bumps along the way.  With any luck Soul Hackers will be easier on the team.  My fingers are crossed for a summer release!

Atlus announced yesterday via their Atlus Faithful newsletter that there will be a limited reprint of Shin Megami Tensei: Persona 2 Eternal Punishment.  The reprinted copies will be available exclusively at Amazon.com.  Atlus explains that the reprint is to celebrate the upcoming release of Persona 4, as well as to thank fans of the series for their continued support of the series.

Before I begin my rant, I just want to start by confirming that I love Atlus.  I truly do, if it weren’t for them I may have some semblance of a life.  But to me this is a bit of a slap in the face.  I feel like Atlus is capitalizing off of band-wagon-jumpers who are just recently getting into the series.

Atlus basically assumes that people who now like Persona started with number 3.  So their way of rewarding these individuals is by reprinting the previous game.  While on the surface this appears to be a kind gesture, it completely ignores the fact that the release of Persona 2 was originally flawed.

In Japan the game spanned two titles, the first being Persona 2: Innocent Sin, and the second being Persona 2: Eternal Punishment.  In the Western world, only the second of the two, Eternal Punishment, was localized.  The reason Innocent Sin didn’t make it is unclear, but some people speculate it’s due to some homosexual undertones and an appearance by zombie Hitler.

While the games were partially stand-alone, there was a good deal of confusion among Western players.  There were some story connections that could just not be established without the preceding title.  Imagine playing Final Fantasy X-2 without ever knowing FInal Fantasy X existed…  You would never know who Shuyin is supposed to look like, what the hell a Yevon is or why Rikku is afraid of lightning.

If Atlus truly appreciated the support of Persona fans they would remedy Persona 2’s release by bringing us Innocent Sin rather than pretending the title doesn’t exist.  It seems to me like Atlus is trying to profit off of the hype of Persona 3 and 4 by taking advantage of ignorant new-comers to the series.  Perhaps I am just reading too much into it…

Anyway, you can pick up your copy of the game for the Playstation console here.  Just don’t expect it to make a lot of sense until Gemini finishes his translation of Innocent Sin.  I am happy…honest.

Related Entries:
Persona 2: Innocent Sin Translation at 98%
Know Your Video Game History: Persona

I was shocked to check the Persona 2: Innocent Sin translation blog yesterday and find that the progress of the project jumped from 90.5% to 98%.

This is a happy day indeed for Western gamers. The end is in sight, and we owe it all to Gemini. If you plan on downloading the ROM and playing the game, now is your chance to show support for the last stretch of the process. You can go to the most recent entry in the blog and leave comments to show your support.

Just so you guys know, Gemini isn’t just doing a straight translation, he’s also improving on the game. Here is a quote to give you an idea:

First of all, the Persona status page used a stretched version of the tarot image (82×120 vs original 80×120). I have absolutely no clue why somebody would do that. Not only did it looked bad, but it was also hiding part of the panel on the right. Smile now: no more stretched images for tarots. I’ve also fixed some of the Persona cards which had a couple typos (Emperer and Jugdement).

Gemini believes the game is still about 3-4 weeks away from beta testing (which can be a lengthy process), so we have a bit more of a wait, but it’s good to know that playing Persona 2: Innocent Sin in English will be a reality.

Related Entries:
Shin Megami Tensei: Persona 2: Innocent Sin Translation on the Way

Nippon Ichi Software has announced to the gaming world that they will be releasing Rhapsody: A Musical Adventure (????????? ??????????) for the Nintendo DS in Japan on August 7th. The game was first released in 1998 for the Playstation game console, and then again (in Japan only) as a special edition a year later.

The top screen of the DS will be a Navi-Map as well as show the current status of the party when dungeon crawling or walking around towns. During battle, the top screen shows the characters who are duking it out, and the bottom screen shows the status of the enemies and friendly characters The battle systems has been given a renewal although there is little information about the new features. It has been reveled that Kururu will be able to participate in battles unlike the PS version. Rhapsody started to receive some popularity in America shortly after the huge success of Disgaea. While the two games are very different, they are both made by NIS. Copies of Rhapsody for the PS are really difficult to find these days, and will probably cost you a small fortune. If you are at all interested in playing this TRPG I would suggest waiting until the DS version makes it to America.

Considering the popularity that Nippon Ichi Software commands in the west, I am confident we will be getting this port. If you wish to learn more, here is the Wikipedia entry on the original Rhapsody, and here is the games official Japanese website.

P.S I am officially back in America and posting again, I hope you guys didn’t miss me too much!

As many die-hard Atlus fans know all to well, Persona 2: Innocent Sin will most likely never be making its way to the West. In Japan Persona 2: Innocent Sin was released prior to Persona 2: Eternal Punishment, and while the stories were different, they still had many cohesive elements which created one great gaming experience.

Only the later chapter; Eternal Punishment, was localized in America. The former; Innocent Sin, is considered by most fans of the series to be the better of the two, but still Atlus has refused to bring it over. There is hope on the horizon for us poor English speakers, however.

A fan of the series going by the psuedonym Gemini has begun the incredulous task of creating a translation patch of the entire game. All menus, all characters and spells, all story and dialogue… Did I mention incredulous?

Currently his translation is at 68%, and Gemini believes it is possible to have it completed around Christmas. The patch will allow fans to create burned versions of the game entirely in English as well as run the game on PSX emulators.

If you are as excited as I am (but not nearly as poor) you should check out his site and show your support!

*NOTE* Be weary of a flood of overpriced burned copies of the game appearing on e-Bay–it may be cheaper to make your own.

Related Entries:
Know Your Video Game History: Persona
All Kotowari entries on Shin Megami Tensei: Persona 4 can be found here.

click the image for the rest of the cover art

I guess the first Persona game is old news these days, but I was still excited to find the complete 7 volume manga set at Book Off for 500 yen (around 5 dollars). The art is quite good for being an afterthought spawned from the games popularity. The story so far is exactly the same as the game. It may be hard for me to say that with any certainty considering the butchering the American localization received.

The series starts out on a normal day at school. The main character and his friends are gathered in their home room discussing a rumor they heard about “Persona”. None of them seem to be taking it very seriously, and they are egging each other on a bit. Finally, after some friendly bets are placed on whether the rumors are true or not, the characters try to evoke the “Persona-sama” as they jokingly call it.

They form a square with 4 people, and the remaining 3 in the center. After calling the Persona, the characters enter a strange void-world with a young girl holding a teddy bear. She repeatedly asks for their help, but everyone is frozen with fear. Finally the main character enters a world akin to the Velvet room, where a masked man named Philemon bestows upon him his very own Persona. Here the story begins, and the team of teenagers attempt to uncover the mysteries of the increasingly dark world around them.

click the image for the rest of the page

Some sources out there are indicating that Revelations: Persona will be coming out for PSP. No clear date is given yet, or any details whatsoever, only word that Atlus is releasing a title for the PSP called “Persona”. I have already written an entry concerning the game’s localization for the Playstation. Hopefully, given the popularity of the series, the game will be released in its true, untampered form.

If this is the case, I would advise any Persona fans to avoid purchasing the Playstation version from sites like e-bay, since they are drastically overpriced. If the game comes out first in Japan, we can assume that there will be a direct translation made, rather than port of the old Playstation version to the PSP. I will continue to check until I find something in either Japanese or English, and report any findings as soon as I can.