Nostalgia (DS) Review

One day I decided to go through a bunch of old Nintendo Power magazines lying around the library in search of a new and exciting DS game to cure my boredom. I came upon a Game entitled “Nostalgia” that had received a decent score from Nintendo Power and I decided I'd give it a run the next time I was in my local EBGames (Thats “GamesStop” for all you Americans out there). I found It, I played it, I really tried to like it.

Anyways Nostalgia came out in 2009 and was published by Ignition Entertainment and its a turned based RPG which means your little characters just stand idle glaring at the enemies until you issue a command for them allowing them to shank the nearest sinisterly coloured knave. I have found in my small life that only a few video games can get away with turned based combat and make it fun too, Nostalgia is not one of those games. Lets get this over with.

Story:

Okay so your in the 19^th century but its been (poorly) steampunked. If you don't know what that means than Google it because its too hard for me to explain. Moving on you play as Eddie an adventurer’s son and due to a twist of events he gets to go on an adventure himself and go search for his father while he's at it. So you get to fly your airship around visiting places around the world like China, America, ect collecting party members and discovering the real secret to Eddie's fathers disappearance. Yawn.

Points: 4 Good for a little kid I guess.

Characters:

Oh dear where to start? We have 4 main characters here. Eddie who's the typical gung-ho adventurer who trusts everyone and loves everyone. Then we have Pad a thief who has a soft spot for everyone but won't admit it. Melody is the next one up, she's a witch with an attitude problem. Finally we have Fiona the stereotypical healer of the group who gets kidnapped far to often. Good grief Japan I've seen these done so many times before and far better than this. Boring boring BORING.

Points: 3 If your going to copy something do it right

Graphics:

I'm torn on this. I really don't like the kiddy chibi (again Google it) character graphics but all the environments; the sky, the towns, the sewers.... look amazing on the DS. The Airship battles also look very nice despite the bright pastel colours the enemies decide to paint their ships.

Points: 6 Am I being to generous?

Sound:

This also has me torn. Some of the music is really well done in this game while others are so repetitive their beyond annoying. To be honest though all the tracks are forgettable except the battle music. Want to know why? Because you'll be in more battles than anything else. Oh that reminds me In the Japanese version of this game there was voice acting in the storyline cut scenes but in the English version they didn't bother to dub over them but instead took them out completely. So when you get to a riveting cliffhanger of a scene the character’s mouths are moving but theres only the sound of the back ground music. It looks a little odd to honest.

Points: 5 one little extra point because the Airship battle music was pretty cool

Mechanics:

Let me get this out of my system right now. I HATE random battles with a BURING passion. Granted most of my favourite games in involve random battles but I put up with them because I'm enjoying the game as a whole and willing to let go of its flaws. I prefer a game where I can physically see the enemy and decide whether or not I want to engage it in a life changing battle. I don't like walking around and getting mauled by invisible enemies that literally come out of thin air every 5 steps I take in a dungeon. Nostalgia is a random battle game, and if you’ve read above you can see I’m not enjoying this game very much so far. The random battles made it even worse for me. That is all.

Points: 2 Been here. Done that. Hate it.

Lasting appeal:

I didn't finish this game, does that answer your question?

Points: 3 Good for like, 2 hours maybe.

Overall:

Nostalgia had HUGE potential to one of the best DS JRPGs out there but instead they decided to rip off every game before it and do a horrible job while they were at it. I mean maybe i'm too hard on this game but I’m telling this from my mind thats telling you that this game was a complete snorefest. Maybe I would have enjoyed this game more if I had played the game it was “ripping off” the most 'Skies of Arcadia' because it seems everyone who played Skies of Arcadia loves this game to pieces but I have neither seen nor played it.

Points: 5 for its graphics and Airship Battle music

TOTAL: 28/70

Let it be know I was writing this review to the Airship Battle theme. Here give it a listen yourself and maybe you'll see why I liked it:

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=HaeSv-vEr58

Other than that, I’ll see you tomorrow.

-Anna

Kingdom Hearts: Birth by Sleep(PSP) review

I'm sure most people are familiar with the Kingdom hearts series by now, but for those who are not its a freaky hybrid of Disney, Final Fantasy, and Japan. The main point of the game series is to play as the main character and travel to Disney worlds and meet its respective characters. Various Final Fantasy characters make cameos too. I myself have never wanted to play one of these games but for my birthday this year a good friend of mine gave me a copy of Kingdom Hearts: Birth by Sleep the PSP exclusive title. So I decided to finally give this series a try.

Kingdom Hearts: Birth by Sleep is an action RPG or how I like to call it a run-up-and-hit-and-then-run-away game. It has 3 playable characters thus having 3 separate storylines which all expand on each other. This game was actually just released last year in September and despite it being the 6^th game in the series, timeline wise its the first game in the series. So what better way for me to jump into a series.....right?

Story:

Okay so it doesn't matter which character you pick at the beginning of the game the storyline is the same with some minor changes. You play as one of the 3 keyblade wielding teens Aqua Terra or Ven and your job is to find out why a strange monster species called the Unversed are plaguing the Disney lands. Of course it evolves into a much more complex storyline but I don't think that spoiling the game would be a great idea.

Points: 7 pretty good considering what happens later in game

Characters:

There are far to many characters in this game so I'll sum it up in two categories Main and Side. The Main characters (Aqua, Ven, Terra) I found were as interesting as a piece of cardboard. I couldn't relate to them, I found them all to be perfect cutouts of each other the only difference being one was short one was tall and one had boobs. The game was a chore to play because of the painful way the game tries to make to like the characters but they end up incredibly flat by the final chapter. Now the Side characters were at least able to keep my attention. The villains had personality(although sometimes too much personality and too many gestures for my liking) and the Disney characters stayed true to their original form and I enjoyed trying to figure out which area from the game was mirroring the original movies. Even the one tiny Final Fantasy cameo (Zack from Final Fantasy 7) had more personality than our Main heroes. Needless to say I was pretty disappointed after hearing about how amazingly deep the characters are from my friend and then they give me this.

Points: 4 Too much angst and only a few minor characters that were interesting

Graphics:

A-maz-ing. The game's graphics are the best I have seen on the PSP to date. Brilliantly vibrant worlds and characters that stand out from each other yet fit each other perfectly. My only beef being that Aqua's hair looked a little pixely up close in the voiced cut scenes and that on occasions Aqua's leg would poke through her half-skirt thing and it looked pretty uncomfortable.

Points: 9 If only all PSP games were this pretty

Sound:

Very nice. The music was well composed and fit all the moods very well. The only Sound track that bothered by was the one that played in Cinderella's world. After you hear the famous “Bibbidi-Bobbidi-Boo” theme for the MILLIONTH time you may want to turn the volume off for fear of you throwing your PSP out the nearest window in annoyance. Just saying. The voice acting was well done too, particularly Leonard Nimoy's job as Xehanort. All the voices were done by experienced voice actors which = good voice acting.

Points: 8 Maybe Leonard Nimoy was a little to raspy at times but hey he's and old man playing an old man.

Mechanics:

This is also very nice. I have heard that these are the best Kingdom Hearts controls to date but seeing this is my first I'll just rate them how I see em'. You have a deck of the left side of the screen that determines what will happen when you press the action buttons. You have to build your deck to your liking whether it be magic based or brawling based. Just scroll through your deck and choose and BOOM hit your target. The camera was pretty good but I was a little bit ticked at the auto target system. I want to go after the little enemy that throwing wind discs at me not the GIANT one thats standing idle looking pretty. It just takes a little R button press to switch the targets but often I was just button mashing and when the little enemy died it would auto target the big guy again instead of the little guys friends slaughtering me who happen to be inches away from my feet, so it was a little annoying.

Points: 8 This was the fun part of the game by far

Lasting appeal:

Did this keep my attention? Yes. Did it annoy the crap out of me in the process? Yes. I'm going to make this very clear, don't pick up this game unless your a rabid Square Enix / Kingdom Hearts fan because if you jump into it without know squat like me this game might seem like more of a chore than a gaming experience. Granted I finished all 3 character storylines just to see if it got any better, but it didn't.....it just didn't. Also the loading times were longer than father time's beard.

Points: 5 Booooo a game need more than mechanics you know

Overall:

Like I said before, If you have liked Kingdom Hearts before then by all means go for it and play this game. Its in no way broken but the Characters ruined it and then barely kept its charm alive. I know for sure I'm staying far away from the Kingdom Hearts series from now on.

Points: 5 Better luck next time

TOTAL: 46/70

It seems my higher scores from the graphics and sound section made up for the poor character and overall section. Now I you'll excuse me I think I hear a mob of rabid Kingdom Hearts fans who would like to rip me limb from limb

-Anna

Princess Debut (DS) Review

Ballroom dancing, Bunny butlers, Handsome boys, oh my!

Princess Debut was released by Natsume back in 2008. I found it in a Toys R Us store and picked it up because of the Natsume label on it. I have a big weakness for the Harvest Moon franchise so I picked up this game with high expectations hoping Natsume published another fun little game.

However Princess Debut is not a farm simulation game, its an Otome game. In games of this genre your main objective is to woo your favourite Bachelor (or Bachelorette depending on the game) and ultimately get their ending in the game which usually includes marriage and happily ever afters- you know, the fluffy junk. Princess Debut is also a rhythm game where one must tap the proper icons along with music. Quite an interesting match up if I do say so myself. Lets see how well it held up:

Story:

Imagine yourself one day coming home from school and HOLY CRAP A CHICK WHO LOOKS JUST LIKE YOU AND SOME FLOATING HAMSTER BUST INTO YOUR ROOM THROUGH YOUR CLOSET. Apparently she's you from another world and she want you and her to trade places for 30 days because she's a spoiled brat and doesn't want to dance(actually she can't dance). So you agree and WOOOOSH you become a (fake) princess who now has a choice of 7 men she can woo and dance with. Hooray.

Points: 4 Weak

Characters:

I'm not going to go into all the princes and their pros and cons but this game did a good job or making each one an individual with an OK back story. In the end though their all stereotypes I’ve seen before.

Points: 6 Try Again

Graphics:

Very nice. The overly saturated sparkle colours can be a bit blinding at times but you either get used to them or get a headache. When your in dance mode there are full 3D models of you and your partner as you glide around. For the most part they look good....until your wearing a super duper puffy dress and the pixels from your dress and your partner's pants mingle together and it looks a little....awkward. When your not grooving on the dance floor you and all the other characters are represented by 2D anime sprite busts that change emotions depending on the mood and such. To move from place to place on the world map is done my simply selecting a building while a little sprite of yourself jumps around like a monkey in a speech bubble.

Points: 7 Pretty Graphics are Pretty

Sound:

The music is kiddy and very forgettable. However none of the tracks are annoying so I'm okay with it. The sound effects in this game made me want to punch a wall in hope of a better sound. Every single time you get a step right in dance mode your character shouts “WOO” “YEAH” “WOO-HOO” and so forth and there is no way to turn them off. A-nnoy-ing. Also when your talking with someone the text makes a “blipblipblip” sound which is common in games but it began to grate on me very quickly. I think the only piece of sound I enjoyed in this game was the midi of Swan Lake which was the only dance I ever preformed.

Points: 4 Guhhhhh

Mechanics:

Gosh, finally. This is the good part of the game. I'll admit the whole concept of basing a game (almost) completely on having a relationship is a refreshing change. It was fun hunting down my man and having him shower me in love and praise. The rhythm part of the game was good too. Using the stylus and having to get everything exactly right or you basically fail the entire thing, no crutches for you. There were some dance numbers I had trouble getting 100% because of my shaky hand. Also the fact that you only have 30 days to complete your love route and memorize the groove puts you on a bit of pressure.

Points: 8 Good

Lasting appeal:

I'll admit it, I played this game twice through because I had a goal of getting all the endings but then it got repetitive and boring. I know there are those over achievers out there who don't stop playing a game until they've unlocked every crumb of content but i'm not one of those people. Once it gets boring I stop playing.

Points: 4 Not for me

Overall:

I should have looked at the pink cover and knew this was a kids game but I can imagine some little girl crying over this game because she couldn't get the dance move right. For what this game is it provides a nice couple of hours of entertainment but the re-playability is low once you’ve unlocked everything. I wouldn't recommend it to anyone though unless they were specifically looking for an Otome game that was released in English (they are very scarce). Other than that, this review is (mostly)over.

Points: 6 good for little girls who want to be princess

TOTAL 39/70

Wow higher than I thought.

Hope you enjoyed my first review. I'll have a new one up as soon as I can

-Anna

Let get this thing going

Hello and welcome to The JRPG reviewer blog.

My name Anna and I have no idea why I'm doing this. On whim ive decided to go through my libary of games and it kind of shocked me to find that every single game that I have played in my life time either came from kawai-desu land (AKA Japan for all you people who have never set foot on 4chan or Deviant art) or were forced upon me by my brother and his violent tastes. So I thought "Hey wouldn't it be fun If I reviewed these and told the whole world how horrible some of these overly cutesy colorful games are?". And then it hit me, a blog sounds like a good fun idea that I can use to waste my time on his summer before I have to go back to my internet blocked college. So here I am finally getting of my lazy butt and reviewing games.

EVERY SINGLE GAME I will review will be a Japanese Role Playing Game. They will range from Nintendo DS, Sony PSP, and on occasions I will bring up a retro game from the good ol  PS1.

No Wii/PS3/PS2 games though, sorry I don't really have access to them. But trust me, theres enough titles on the systems above to fill this blog up.

Most of the review will be from my perspective(as all game reviews are) and I will base them on the following category:

Graphics
-Japan is all about making the newest and best thing so good graphics are a MUST in this franchise.

Characters
-Do they want to make you rip your hair out or do they have relevance?

Story
-Since most JRPGs are based around story it must have a good strong one to pull in a gamer.
Mechanics:
-The battle system, the camera, how the games plays pretty much

Sound:
-The voice acting and the music mostly

Lasting appeal
-Does it keep the gamers attention

Overall
-You get the picture     

Each category will be out of 10 points and the final score will be out of 50. Seems fair right?

I'm pretty much a beginner at this so I'd appreciate any tips but nothing yet! I still have to write my first review.

I'll see you all soon.

-Anna