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 am in the dairy isle of the grocery store, checking the price and origin of different brands of sour cream for fish taco night.  Mmm, fish tacos. My stomach quakes.  I glance down at my PSP Go.  Final Fantasy IX’s Vivi is having an identity crisis upon uncovering Alexandria’s cache of black mage dolls.  Back to the sour cream: this price seems the most reasonable for the quality.  I put it in my basket and for the brief walk to the self-checkout lane, I continue to console Vivi.

This style of guerrilla gaming (as I have been calling it) was only recently afforded to me thanks to my PSP Go.  Working full time and having an increasing number of side projects means less time spent deliberately playing games in front of a TV.  Instead, it’s a short burst several times throughout the day, wherever I happen to be.  Something about it feels a little dirty — I remember how I first played Final Fantasy IX: it had my undivided attention.  Does it deserve better, or is this the best I can offer it?  Probably both.

In my last post concerning my PSP Go, I held back from praising it too much.  It had yet to change the way I play games.  It’s also possible that on some level its discontinuation and relative panning from the industry made me feel that owning it wasn’t something to shout from the mountaintops.  Now, after having spent over 80 hours with it I feel confident enough to give it further praise.

PSP Go Docking Station

This was recommended to me by someone on Twitter once I started getting into Monster Hunter Freedom Unite.  Usually docks serve mostly a cosmetic purpose, so until this point I had never bothered buying one.  The PSP Go dock, however, serves multiple purposes integral to how I use the device.  In addition to the guerrilla gaming method mentioned earlier, I also occasionally hook my PSP Go up to my television and sync a Dualshock 3controller to it via bluetooth.  Through this method, it hardly even feels like I am using a portable gaming device… right up until my battery implodes on itself with the weight of a dozen dwarf suns.

This setup is extremely taxing on the system’s battery. Ad-hoc? Forget about it!  This is because the video out port is the same one used to charge the PSP Go.  Meaning sending a signal to a TV while charging was impossible and limited how long I could play.  This is the main problem that the docking station solves: I can play on my TV and keep the device plugged in.  This does require a PSP-1000-3000 charger, but it’s a small price to pay for such a feature.  Did I mention all PSP Go accessories are cheap as hell, as stores are in a rush to dispose of them?  Well, they are.

Pause Game

A commenter (thanks, Jay) pointed out that I neglected to mention this in my first post.  This feature really should be called “suspend game”, or something to that effect.  Basically, at nearly any point during gameplay, you may press the PS Home button, and choose to “pause game”.  After a few seconds you’ll be taken to the PSP desktop and a suspended state of your game will appear.  As long as you don’t start the same game a second time you can keep that suspended state up, meaning you can play multiple games at once — great for those of us who become a tad ADD in the face of portable gaming.

Yes, my PSP Go and I are inseparable, leading to an entirely new and engaging way to play games.  I love the system for its relative portability and versatility, which I would contend is matched by no other system. With prices for the Go and its accessories so low, I am enjoying bottom-feeding the decaying bits of one of Sony’s biggest (albeit unfortunate) failures.

My PSP Go has been getting quite the workout lately, and I haven’t for a moment regretted my decision to pick one up.  On the contrary, each announcement of a classic being added to PSN is another excuse to take advantage of the versatility it affords me.  Recently, Christian Svensson (a name appearing on this blog quite frequently: 1,2) announced via the Capcom Unity forum that just such a classic is headed our way: Breath of Fire IV.

My memories of countless hours spent with video games are speckled with few but lucid moments of pure awe.  A handful of these unforgettable moments come from Breath of Fire IV.  It had an aesthetic all its own, a creative dual-storytelling device, and some of the most powerful moments I have ever experienced in any medium.  I don’t mean to sound melodramatic, and frankly I don’t care if I do: this was one hell of a game.

Click here to view the embedded video.

Give this song from the game a listen if you have the time

Now, I will have the opportunity to slap such a beloved title onto a device I carry with me almost everywhere.  At the end of the day I can stretch out on the couch and play it on my television for the full effect.  If I am lucky I can even use a Dualshock 3 controller as well.  This is the ultimate culmination of modern technology and beloved classics.  This is great news.  This is the best news.  August 16th can’t come soon enough.

Yesterday 4Gamer posted a slew of new Final Fantasy Type-0 information.  The most interesting bit to come out of it is easily Shiva’s new design, pictured above.  According to several screenshots (1,2,3,4) of the sultry eidolan in action, she figure-skates around enemies looking all shiny and presumably doing oodles of ice damage.

I am all for this redesign — it feels new and fresh.  Much more simple than the Shiva sisters of Final Fantasy XIII, possibly showing some restraint on Square’s part.  But what does my opinion matter? Let’s have a look at what the Internet has to say.  Share with us your wisdom, o Internet!

Looks like the fans approve.

In other Type-0 news, still more characters are being introduced, including a girl named Seven who looks oddly like someone else I know:

Oh, how I miss the days when RPG character names were only a suggestion and you could name them whatever you wanted.  I could just name her Lightning and everyone else Sephiroth — how awesome would that be?  But alas, those were the days before voice acting came knocking on our doors to leave flaming bags of cringe-inducing one liners.

If we can all get serious for a moment, Final Fantasy Type-0 is looking quite unique.  What started as the underdog of the Fabula Nova Crystallis series now has me the most excited.  I suppose my awesome new PSP Go setup has something to do with that…  Still, Square has tricked me into buying enough full priced games to give into the hype too much, so I remain cautious.

It takes an especially awesome game to jolt me from my ongoing Monster Hunter obsession.  7th Dragon 2020 did just that today.  You probably don’t remember its predecessor, which was simply entitled 7th Dragon.  I wrote about it, (1, 2, 3, 4) but as hard as I blogged Sega wouldn’t budge when it came to a localization.  Thus the game joined the ranks of titles destined to never see the West.  Sega has a lot of those… (I’m looking at you, Ryu ga Gotoku: Kenzan!)

For 7th Dragon 2020, the foundation of the story has changed dramatically, as you’ll see in the above trailer (which features some lulztastic subtitles).  Rather than having a classic old-school RPG setting of its predecessor, 7th Dragon 2020 takes place in Tokyo of the year 2020.  The city suddenly becomes overrun by dragons and the mysterious furowaro flowers bloom all over the city.  The Murakumo warrior appear to be humanity’s only hope…  I am impressed with the brave new direction the series is taking.  It not only shows more confidence from the developers, but also equates to a more unique game.

Each character class feels like a remixed version of a person you would see on the streets of Japan.  The best example is probably the samurai jobclass, which looks like a lightly armored schoolgirl:

This is one of the most creative and badass character designs I have seen in a very long time.  I love the way it combines modern aesthetics with classical looking armor — simply brilliant.  The rest are awesome as well, I highly recommend you check out the game’s website.  If you refresh the page, the banner at the top will display different character classes.  I believe there are about 5 to see and they all rock my world.

Sega decided to have the spirited successor to 7th Dragon be released on the PSP rather than the Nintendo DS.  I can’t help but wonder if they weren’t happy with how the game performed on a Nintendo platform…

So, yes, I am in love with 7th Dragon 2020.  But it was a love never meant to be, I’m sure.  Sega won’t jump at the chance of localizing the second chapter in a story unfamiliar to most gamers, even if they can compact costs with digital distribution.  I could be wrong — maybe Sega will shock us and take a chance.  Maybe we can avoid a tragedy like that of Juliet and her Romeo.

Last night I sat in a Wal-Mart parking lot for an hour waiting to meet someone.  You should try it some time. Sitting in a Wal-Mart parking lot, that is.  It’s like another world — one where humans regress into the sum of their animalistic needs, all to the heavy beat of some distant subwoofer.

I met up with someone I found through Craigslist who was selling a PSP Go for the reasonable price of $65. After checking the merchandise, I exchanged some folded bills and was off. The remainder of the night was spent working on the setup you see above, which was pleasantly easy to execute. I can finally play Monster Hunter Freedom Unite on my TV. And with a Dualshock 3, no less!

I found a surprising lack of tutorials on how to do this so I figured I would break it down for anyone interested:

How To Sync a Dualshock 3 Controller To Your PSP Go Using Bluetooth

1. Go to Settings from the PSP Go’s desktop
2. Scroll down and select “Bluetooth Device Settings”
3. Turn Bluetooth connection on (if it isn’t already)
4. There will be an option specifically for connecting a Playstation brand controller
5. The PSP Go will walk you through the remainder of the process.  In addition to a PS3, Dualshock 3, and the PSP Go, you will need a USB cable and the USB cable used to charge the PSP Go

This may not be compatible with all titles.  I tested it with both Monster Hunter Freedom Unite and Final Fantasy VII and it worked with both.  The analog however, is not compatible with PS Classic titles.

How To Use Your PSP (or PSP Go) On Your TV

1. Plug a PSP or PSP Go component cable into your TV and into your respective PSP device
   1. Here is the PSP Go component cable (also available in standard AV cable)
   2. Here is the standard PSP component cable (compatible with PSP-2000 & PSP-3000)
2. Go to Settings from the PSP desktop
3. Scroll down and select “Connected Display Settings”
4. From there choose to “Switch Video Output” and follow the basic directions

You may need to adjust your PSP and TV’s settings to try and get the screen to fit as best as possible.  You most likely will not be able to get a perfect 16:9 widescreen.

It’s also worth noting that the PSP Go is only compatible with Memory Stick Micro, as opposed to the Pro Duo used for the other PSP models.  To be on the safe side, I purchased a micro that also includes a pro duo adapter on Amazon.  This way I can essentially treat it like a memory card between both PSPs (as I still have a PSP-1000).

All in all the device isn’t bad considering what I paid and what it can do.  I love the fact that I can use the PSP Go as a TV hub: I can play on the go and then convert the system into a glorified home console at night to unwind in front of the big screen.  If a game is easier to play with my older PSP (still haven’t mastered “the claw” on the PSP Go…) then I can just switch my memory stick via the adapter and use whichever system allows for the best on-the-go play.  I would say I am pretty happy with my purchase and the new gaming options it affords me.  The moral of this story is: buy your tech when no one wants it and don’t be afraid of the Wal-Mart parking lot.

Yesterday, Konami live-streamed their pre-E3 press event on their official website.  I was late getting home to watch it and Twitter was already abuzz with some of the more exciting announcements.  Thankfully, Konami still has the whole event available to view on their site here.

The event was something of a Kojima sandwich, with the first and last announcements pertaining to his current projects.  First up was a rather impressive trailer for Metal Gear Solid: Snake Eater 3DS:

Click here to view the embedded video.

I have a hard time getting into all this 3D stuff, but this trailer had me interested at how the various features of the 3DS are utilized.  For instance, new cinematics take advantage of the 3D effects — yeah, that’s a given, but there is more.  Crossing bridges and climbing trees in the game will make use of the 3DS internal gyroscope, requiring the player to steady themselves just like Snake.  If you happen to frequent public transportation this could pertain to you…  Save before you get on the F train ’cause a sudden lurch could drop Snake right into the mouth of a hungry water-gator.  The player may also take photos using the 3DS and convert that photo into camo for Snake.  (In before testicle camouflage!  Come on, we all know it’s gonna happen.)

Then there was some stuff about a soccer game. Yawn.  Next was a trailer for a game called Never Dead.  BRB need a beverage. ZzZzz.

Next, the creator of the Silent Hill series appeared to announce an HD Silent Hill collection containing both Silent Hill 2 and 3.  This is great news for me, as I was planning on playing all the Silent Hills in the series this year.  No word at this time as to what systems the collection will support, but I would guess both PS3 and Xbox 360.

The release of Silent Hill: Downpour has been pushed back from from fall to winter.  To tide fans over until then, a new trailer was released:

Click here to view the embedded video.

Finally, an NPG exclusive Silent Hill title was revealed: Silent Hill: Book of Memories.  Nothing concrete has come out about this title, other than it will be released sometime after the HD collection.

Kojima was back to complete the sandwich with the announcement of a new way to game, called Transfarring:

Yup. We all knew it would happen: Kojima has become drunk with his own power and is now making up words. It’s only a matter of time until he’s naked, living in a movie theater and consuming nothing but candy bars and milk.

So what is Transfarring?  It’s a system Kojima has invented which allows players to manually sync their saves between the PS2 and PSP versions of certain titles.  Which titles, you ask?  The flagship of Kojima’s Transfarring feature is an HD collection of Metal Gear Soild titles, including Metal Gear Solid 2,3, and Peace Walker.  All of which will support Kojima’s Transfarring feature.  It was also announced that this collection will be released for both PS3 and Xbox 360.  Obviously Xbox 360 owners will not be able to take advantage of the benefits of Transfarring.

Unlike the Silent Hill collections, a good amount of info was detailed concerning the Metal Gear Solid collection:

Kojima also tweeted shortly after the event that these titles all have 60 FPS, in case that wasn’t already obvious.  Also, the same team who developed the God of War HD collection will be producing this collection as well.

If that wasn’t exciting enough, Kojima closed by giving us a look at his new Fox engine:

Click here to view the embedded video.

The backgrounds and lighting effects are nothing short of luscious.  I also couldn’t help but look at this brief clip and think of Metal Gear Solid, specifically Snake Eater which took place in a similarly forested environment.  As a huge fan of the series, it’s easy to let my imagination concoct a new Metal Gear title that this engine will support, but hopefully we can expect something at this year’s Tokyo Game Show.  At the very least, we can have high expectations for next year (July 7, 2012), which is the 25th anniversary of Metal Gear.  It looks like Kojima is already gearing up for something…

Konami’s pre-E3 event certainly was not a disappointment, unless you were expecting a new Metal Gear title.  Their lineup is rather heavy on ports and HD collections, but as all of these games are classics worth revisiting, I have no complaints in the matter.  Konami has already given a strong start to E3 — here’s hoping the coming weeks are just as exciting.

Click here to view the embedded video.

Today my suspicions concerning Atlus’s retro e-mail from last week have been confirmed: Persona 2: Innocent Sin is coming to the west this fall.  Anything I can say about this title has already been said in a post about the Japanese announcement of the port.  For that reason, I wish to draw your attention to this post.

Basically everything you need to know is mentioned there, with the exception of the toggle-able soundtrack which I was unaware of.  Basically, the player has the option of choosing if they prefer to play the game with its original score or with Meguro’s updated soundtrack.  That is a nifty feature and shows how seriously Atlus takes their jams.  Pre-orders are not yet up on Amazon (unless you live in Canada), but should be soon.

This is exciting news for Persona and Atlus fans: over a decade of waiting (and at least a little complaining) has finally yielded an enhanced version of Persona 2: Innocent Sin available outside of Japan.  I can’t wait to finally close the book on this chapter of the Persona universe.

Click here to view the embedded video.

Over the weekend a special Monster Hunter event was thrown by the Capcom staff.  There it was announced that the most recent entry into the series, Monster Hunter Portable 3rd, will receive an HD PS3 port this summer in Japan.  I may never forget how I first heard the news…  It was Saturday morning, and I was sleeping in (as I have a tendency to do) when my phone vibrated excitedly with an @reply via Twitter.  Normally I would ignore this, roll over and drift off to sleep.  But something… something told me to look — that I needed to look.  This is what I saw:

The link proved the news to be true.  I sat up in bed, momentarily stunned, before rolling over and going back to sleep.

The news is exciting for two reasons:

First, this port spearheads a project called the “PSP Remaster” series, in which popular PSP titles are ported for the PS3 with HD and, in some cases, 3D support.  It has been confirmed, however, that the remastered versions, while technically for the PS3, do not support trophies.  Hey, I can live with that.

Save files from current PSP versions of these titles will be able to sync with their HD PS3 counterpart.  This means you can play on the go with your PSP, and then when you get home, sync your save and pick up where you left off on the PS3.  This brings us one big step closer to the asynchronisity promised with the NGP.

Some MonHan Itasha at the Monster Hunter Event in Tokyo. Pigs are actually excellent drivers.

The second reason for excitement is probably more obvious: the first HD Monster Hunter ever.

Just look at this comparison:

If you are interested, you can look at the original, full size images here:

• Monster Hunter Portable 3rd PSP
• Monster Hunter Portable 3rd HD PS3
• More comparisons at Andiasang

There is no denying that this will be the best looking Monster Hunter to date.  Personally, coming from Monster Hunter Tri I am also excited by a greater depth of content in terms of weapon varieties (11 compared to Tri’s 7) and the sheer number of boss monsters players can do battle with (40 compared to Tri’s 18).  More content, improved graphics, and play-on-the-go asynchronisity means this promises to be one of the more rewarding Monster Hunter experiences to date.

Other highlights from the event include comedian Satoshi Inoue (of Jichō Kachō) showing off that he has spent 860 hours with Monster Hunter Portable 3rd:

I’ll be gunning for your record, Inoue-san, just as soon as Monster Hunter Portable 3rd makes its way to the West.

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.