This weekend I took a trip to my local Game Stop and picked up the free-to-all Monster Hunter Tri demo.  It had been a while since my hunter days in Freedom Unite, so I was rusty getting back into things: my first few steaks were either burnt to a crisp or raw and dripping, but soon I remembered all the fundamentals.  One aspect that may have slowed my progress was getting used to the controls.

My brain had been wired for the PSP, and I needed to re-learn basically everything.  Since I do not yet own a classic controller I had to use the Wii remote which proved a bit challenging.  Below you can find a scan of the mini-instructional page included with the demo:

My mind, wired for a standard controller, screamed for some sense of stability.  After a few runs of the easy mission with my most comfortable weapon class (Long Sword) I would say I had the controls down and I played through just about all the weapon-types.    If I had to play the game with the Wii remote only, I would probably not buy Monster Hunter Tri.  Luckily my faith in the new classic controller bundled with the game is so great, that I have every intention of acquiring this game.

Graphically I am quite happy with Tri.  Character sprites look smooth and they fit in well with environments and monsters — this is easily the most aesthetically pleasing Mon-Hun game to date.  I was hoping the demo would also include a new trailer featuring some cut-scenes, but it was only two missions; one which is relatively easy and one which is a healthy challenge.

I did play around with the new weapon-class: Switch Axe for my first play through.  This weapon can transform between a long, clunky axe, and a smaller sword.  It will offer some variety in terms of executable attacks which will keep things interesting to players.  As I found the axe mode a bit awkward, I would rather devote my time to mastering a better sword variant.

Monster Hunter Tri is shaping up to be one of the most anticipated games on the Wii for me in a long time.  While the controls may have been less than elementary, I believe the game is definitely meant to be played on a classic controller.  The updated appearance and online functionality promises to bring the series into the current console generation in a big way.

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I kind of dig these posts that span a few aspects of gaming rather than just strictly one.  I hope people coming in from Google (i.e just about everyone) don’t mind working a bit harder for their free information.  So what’s new in gaming?

Well, Tokyo Game Show 2009 is bearing down on us.  I feel an intense sense of left-out-ed-ness for not being able to attend. E3 was a great experience, but I feel like it’s truly second to TGS.  Maybe I just miss being in Japan, who knows.  Anyway, as the grand event grows closer, more and more titles which will be highlighted there are being revealed.

One game which definitely has peaked my interest is titled Disgaea Infinite.  There have been a number of rumors speculating what system the game is for, ranging from PSP, PS3, and purely PSN download.  Considering NIS hasn’t really released anything too complex since Disgaea 3, I think it’s a safe bet that Disgaea Infinite will be a substantial title.

The main site for the game (linked above) opens on the 17th.  Hopefully by then we can begin to wrap our minds around whatever that Prinny is hiding behind.

Next, the official site for Persona 3 Portable continues its aggressive series of updates.  A new video was added showing the female protagonist summoning her persona in battle.  Note the pink action dial:

In addition to this video a bunch of blog banners were put on the site which normally wouldn’t interest me much since I never use them.  However, they do reveal a few different outfits for the female protagonist:

It’s fun to watch them dance.  I like how every outfit still features her red headphones — they are quite eye-catching.  In case you are not familiar with Persona 3, the outfits appear to be (from left to right) winter school uniform, winter leisure outfit, and summer leisure outfit.  I really like the winter outfit.  Any ladies out there have any thoughts on these outfits?

Those who have befriended me on the PSN may notice that I have pretty much given myself up to Demon’s Souls.  If I have  a free moment, odds are I am playing the game.  I have made a lot of progress on my character as I can now take on enemies that once struck intense fear in me.  I want to play as much as I can before my review comes out, since this is definitely one of my favorite games this year.  I guess quite a few people have beat me to the punch on their reviews, which may be why there is hardly anyone online for me to play with.  I just got the ability to invade people’s games and murder them to regain a physical form and to nom up their souls.  I definitely wanna experiment with multiplayer before I start the review.

When I am not playing Demon’s Souls or working, odds are I am watching Foxes play Muramasa:  The Demon Blade on my newly acquired Wii.  The game is absolutely beautiful and really has absorbed my friends.  I love seeing all the different yokai since I consider myself to be somewhat of a Japanese demon lore enthusiast.  I realize that most people in the West are probably completely clueless as to the background of many of the demons in the game.  I hope this isn’t detracting from people’s experiences or anything.  Personally, I find myself really enjoying recognizing the demons and the spin the game puts on them.  Also, many of the yokai play an important part in the story which I hope isn’t causing further confusion.  I think at this point the overwhelming success of the game is evidence that the lack of a native background is fairly unimportant.

I believe this game does an amazing job capturing the essence of Japanese culture.  Possibly the best example is the focus on food.  I am always shocked at how food-centered Japan is.  A love of food permeates everything from TV, seasonal changes, prefectures, etc.

The cooking system the player utilizes throughout the game really highlights the food and makes it seem special, like a spiritual experience.  The brief videos (above) which show your character eating make me absolutely ravenous for food you just cant find in the state of Connecticut, which is rather frustrating.

I believe Foxes will be writing a review on Muramasa for the site once she has cleared both Kisuke and Momohime’s stories. You can probably look forward to that sometime in October.  If you haven’t already bought a copy of the game you may be interested in a copy I put on eBay which includes some bonus items I got at E3.

Well that about sums up recent video game news and my personal gaming exploits.  Damn, I am starting this week off strong  

Roy atlus, disgaea, marvelous, nintendo wii, nis, persona, psp, videos 0 comments

If you are playing the newly released Phantom Brave: We Meet Again for the Wii but struggling a bit, you should be happy to learn that DoubleJump Books has released an eGuide for the game.  If you’ve already played the game for PS2, you may recall that a printed guide was already released by DoubleJump.  My understanding is that the eGuide for We Meet Again includes the full original guide, with contents concerning the new features of We Meet Again. This gives you access to a lot of glorious information.

If you’re a big spender you may want to consider a special package which includes the physical guide for the PS2 version of the game, but also gives you access to the full, updated eGuide.  This package is $19.99, whereas the standalone eGuide is $9.99.  I spent a lot of time with my copy of the PS2 guide and I definitely swear by it.  I strongly recommend this bundle as a lot of the info in it will still be relevant to you.  Since it’s printed though you can study it places where you don’t have access to a computer and the internet.  I fondly remember pouring over this guide at my first part-time job…  Those were simpler times.

Related Entries:
Phantom Brave Wii Port Gets New Scenarios

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So Natsume was the only booth with the balls to have stuffed animals at E3, and for that I applaud them.  Anyway, day 2 at E3 was a bit more laid back since I felt I accomplished a lot on the first day.  After taking a look around Little Tokyo only to discover nothing was open yet, I hopped on the shuttle back to the convention center, feet still raw from exploring the day before.  As the shuttle rounded the corner onto Figueroa street, I noticed some kind of commotion.

Once we got a little closer I could see that some protesters had gathered outside in front of the South Hall.  After reading their signs, I could tell pretty quickly that they were protesting EA’s upcoming action title Dante’s Inferno.  Once the shuttle dropped us off, I made a b-line for the protesters:

Their various signs, which I couldn’t help but laugh at, said the following:

• Hell is not a game!
• My high score is in heaven
• Play Dante’s Inferno – go to Hell
• Just say Infer-No!
• EA = Electronic Anti-Christ
• Trade in your Playstation for a PRAYstation

This was a great way to start my day and even though it should have made me angry, I just found it funny.

After going inside, I kind of gravitated towards Square Enix’s booth again.  I am not really sure why, it just had that effect on me.  While I was there, I noticed the display featuring some figures already in the works for Final Fantasy XIII.  Not sure how I missed this the first day:

There was every known main character as well as the summon Shiva appearing as Snow’s bike. If you are a fan of jewelry, it may also interest you do learn that Lightning’s necklace as well as a necklace featuring the glyph-tattoo on Snow’s arm will also be available.  The price for everything was TBD but the quality appeared pretty high.  I was really amazed with the detailed beading on both Shiva and Vanille’s skirt.  Also, I dig how the holsters for Sazh’s guns are functional, similar to those on the new Zidane figure.

After this, I made plans to meet with friends and some people in the biz who had previously only existed as e-mails/tweets to me so I basically took the rest of day two to meet up with them.  Hopefully some of my efforts will lead to employment somewhere down the road, but if not I had a great time just meeting everyone and getting to know Los Angeles.

Day Three

I really love this photo because there is a big fucking red thing walking around and every person in the photo is looking in a different direction.  It’s the simple pleasures in life, right?

Since this was the last day of E3, I tried to milk it for all it was worth and I could tell the various booths were throwing out their last efforts to attract people.  At this point, many games were marked as “Best of E3 Nominee” by popular magazines and what-not.  This helped decide what games to check out; popular opinion has been known to be right from time to time.  One game that initially caught my eye but I didn’t end up playing until day 3 was Silent Hill: Shattered Memories.

I played the demo for a while, which was pretty enjoyable.  In terms of exploring, I was reminded of the flashlight controls of Fragile: Farewell Ruins of the Moon, only this game featured a lot more running and no combat.

If you look carefully at the image, you’ll notice a disclaimer which reads: Psychology Warning.  Basically, the fine print says that the game learns how the player plays and actively reacts to it which is awesome.

I started by filling out a psychological exam which had a series of questions – including a few about my sex life.  I didn’t really feel awesome answering them in front of a gaping crowd but maybe they just assumed my lameness was actually a made up person testing the game’s programming… yeah.

As I was playing, a Konami rep asked if I wanted to take part in a round-table discussion on the game with some of the developers.  Oh yea, there was free food, too, so off I went.  A variety of decent questions were asked about the game’s different appearance and deviation from the series.  Basically all this was chocked up to “it’s Silent Hill.”

I asked about how the game reacts to the player and about the psychological exams.  I guess there are times when the player will arrive at a fork in a road or be forced to make a decision that affects certain unknown factors which in turn affect the story and events which follow.   The initial psychological exam was equated to rolling for stats in an RPG.  They got my attention there!

While I was at the Konami booth, I noticed that the trailers for the two new Metal Gear Solid titles were added to the huge screen they had.  The one for Metal Gear Solid Peace Walker is much more revealing than the one for Metal Gear Solid Rising, however it did confirm that Rising will not be exclusive to the Xbox 360.  Have fun trying to understand the story with one title, Microsoft fans.

Anyway, it looks like Peace Walker will have some multiplayer functions which will be loads of fun!  Leave it to Kojima to figure out a way where everyone can be Big Boss:

As expected, the story looks pretty awesome for Peace Walker.  The future is fun and all but I appreciate the fact that Kojima is taking us back into the past where things feel a little more concrete.  I really like the game’s setting of Costa Rica in 1974.  It almost seems like a play on the Bay of Pigs Invasion of the 60’s, only reversed… or better yet Kojima-ed.

This day ended with trying to load up on as much free stuff as possible.  Now that I am sitting on this mountain of swag, I am not really sure what to do with it all, but I guess I will start spreading it around.  A random person to comment on this post (that has their e-mail address included) will receive a free beta code for the Uncharted 2 multiplayer demo!  I will think of some other contests down the road as well.

E3 was a lot of fun and I am glad that because of Kotowari I was able to go.  I met a lot of great people and saw a lot of awesome new games.  Also, it was a nice vacation from my crap job.  I hope you guys enjoyed my coverage on the event, although I apologize it was a bit late.  I plan on having a few posts down the line that may go in-depth on some of the titles I didn’t mention in these posts (The Last Guardian FTW), so look forward to that!

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So I arrived in L.A. on Monday pretty damn late and got settled into my hotel.  It was definitely the calm before the storm of video game info, which due to a combination of jet lag and just plain fatigue is a bit overwhelming.  I enjoyed a heaping bowl of ramen at Daikokuya and went to bed unsure of what the next day’s events would contain.

Tuesday I arrived at the Los Angeles Convention Center around 11:30 and grabbed my media badge. Yeah, I missed Sony’s press conference which sucked, but sacrifices had to be made according to E3 shuttle services.  Inside I basically followed the masses waiting for the doors to open.  It was a long wait, but there was a lot to take in: advertisements, other journos, and just L.A. in general.

Once the doors opened, I started in the South Hall, since I wanted to take a look at Square Enix’s booth, which was sadly crippled by a fear of swine flu.  After cutting through several other booths, I reached the Square Enix booth only to find that taking photos was off limits – lame.  Luckily, I uh… “found” some photos:

Square Enix Employee: “I sure hope no one is taking a photo right now…”

After taking a walk around and playing Final Fantasy VII on the PSP for nostalgia’s sake, I decided to take some time out to watch the various trailers on display on Square’s big-ass screen.  The most exciting of the bunch was without a doubt the new trailer for Final Fantasy XIII, complete with English voice acting for every known character.  Part of me was hoping that the game would have optional Japanese dialog since I think a Blu-Ray disc could handle the extra contents.  However, after hearing the English voice acting for the game, I think I could live without it if I had to:

I don’t know where Square Enix finds these quality voice actors…  They should definitely share their source with a few other localizers who seem to only be able to find monotone hacks.

After that, I decided to check out the West Hall which boasted more of the big name companies like Sony and Nintendo.  On the way in, I couldn’t help but notice Bethesda’s relatively eye catching booth.  Please note that this photo doesn’t really do it justice:

They showed a few vague trailers for some titles they have in the works including Brink, Rogue Warrior, and Wet.  Most of these trailers I had seen before, which was kind of a let down.  I was hoping for something concerning Fallout: New Vegas, but sadly the only Fallout news was a trailer for the new DLC of Point Lookout:

This trailer was basically the highlight of Bethesda’s booth for me.  I found it pretty creepy – maybe it has something to do with my fear of people who live in the deep South.  Does anyone else think that the logo looks pretty lame?

Shortly after checking out Bethesda’s booth, I began getting demands via Twitter for some decent PSP Go images/comments.  Sony’s area was pretty impressive and the section displaying the Go had a good sized line which I braved to try out the only new hardware worth mentioning at E3.  Here are some images of me with the PSP Go:

I know some people out there are complaining that they couldn’t possibly wrap their minds around the button logistics of the PSP Go, but I honestly had no issues.  It felt pretty natural for me playing Gran Turismo, which is saying a lot since when it comes to racing games my skills are lacking.  It also felt light considering there was an enormous cable jutting out of the back.

I know there is the whole debacle over the $300 price tag and the fact that the actual UMD drive was removed.  Honestly, you aren’t gonna find 16 gigs of flash memory much cheaper than $200.  It’s basically an iPhone, minus the phone, with better graphics and controls.  It will be good for some, others probably won’t give a damn.  I think Sony was smart to do this since the whole UMD movement doesn’t seem to have taken off the way I am sure they had hoped.

After Sony, I had to hit up a near, dear friend of mine: Atlus.  Their booth was pretty popular as there was a lot to see and do.  A quick walk through revealed a sadly ignored demo version of the Japanese Shiren the Wanderer for the Nintendo Wii.  I guess the percentage of people who go to E3 that care about rogue-like games is pretty low.  When the Atlus rep assigned to the game heard I was familiar with the series, his eyes lit up at the prospect of someone not being like “OMG I DIED WTF!”:

I had a lot of fun playing this game.  It was nostalgia-inducing since it’s still a Shiren game, but according to the Atlus rep, there are loads of new features.  One of the biggest changes concerns Shiren’s allies who can be controlled if necessary, which is great when you’re in a pinch and they decide to do something absolutely idiotic.  It felt fun on the Wii, too, which I think really helps counter any frustrations that come with rogue-likes.  I am so glad Atlus is bringing this over – your loss, Sega.

Next I played a bit of Persona for PSP and Devil Survivor.  Both would definitely be fun if I could sit down and focus on them.  The environment of E3 makes focusing on text-heavy games a little tough.  It basically brought my concentration down to an ADD-like state.

After that, I noticed a spot had cleared at the Demon’s Souls booth.  Salivate.  I played first as a warrior class character who wielded a large polearm/spear.  I was a tad disappointed there was no jump command as I just really felt like I should be able to jump.  Still, there is more than enough to compensate.

I checked out a few blood spatters which revealed how others before me had met their end.  I then climbed pretty high up in some castle where I met my end to an archer I didn’t even see.  After that, I decided to try a thief who proved to be more fun since they are more agile and their weaponry isn’t as cumbersome.  I got pretty far before getting killed by some flaming arrows.  Still, I wanted more.

After walking around a bit, I was shocked to discover a tiny wall displaying some NIS America titles in the works. I really wanted to get my hands on A Witch’s Tale since I don’t really know what to expect from it in terms of story and controls. From what I played, it definitely looks like it will be another characteristically cute, witty NIS game.  The main character Lidelle is controlled on the bottom screen with the stylus and although I didn’t get to check out the battle system, I liked what I played.  I was kinda hoping to check out the upcoming Sakura Wars title or Phantom Brave port but neither was available.

The last title of the day really worth mentioning was Muramasa: The Demon Blade.   There was quite the gathering around Ignition’s booth just about all day, and for good reason. I think this game was the most fun I had at E3. The controls were great and the game is as gorgeous as all the scans and screens had led us to believe.

An in-depth tutorial brought you up to speed on everything from moving and jumping to deflecting shuriken.  There are also a bunch of special attacks that can be executed depending on a few respective gauges and sword management.  The demo ends with a boss battle that was tough but enjoyable:

As you may be able to tell, I played as Kisuke.  Sadly, I didn’t play through Momohime’s story, but there is still time.  The demo does offer both explaining that different areas of Japan are explored depending on the character you start with.

E3 has been a lot of fun and I wish I could have gotten this article up sooner.  The jet lag will just suckerpunch me at random times, so when my brain says enough, it’s enough.  Well, that about sums up the first day, but I will give a run down of day 2 soon.  What will it include, you ask?  Oh, a little something about giant cows and maybe even some hilarious images of protesters if I am feeling generous.

Roy atlus, bethesda, dlc, e3, nintendo ds, nintendo wii, nis, persona, preview, ps3, psp, sony, square enix, videos 5 comments