Western fans of Namco’s long-running Tales RPG series have reason to celebrate. Tales of Xillia now has a firm release date. It will arrive in North America on August 6, 2013, and in Europe on August 9, 2013.

Tales of Xillia has been a huge success in Japan with over 740,000 copies sold since its release there on September 8, 2011. The game is a collaborative effort of both of the main Tales development teams, Team Destiny, with artwork by Mutsumi Inomata, and Team Symphonia, with artwork by Kosuke Fujishima. It allows the players to pick one of two main heroes from each development team, Milla Maxwell or Jude Mathis, respectively, at the start of the game. The game’s soundtrack  is composed by longtime Tales composer Motoi Sakuraba. The game will feature the series’ trademark action battle system.

Tales of Xillia will feature a premium collectors’ edition for the dedicated fans.

In addition, Namco is also preparing an elaborate limited premium edition of the game for both North America and Europe. The collectors’ edition includes the game, a 100-page art-book  a soundtrack CD, and a figure of the Team Destiny heroine, Milla Maxwell. The collectors’ edition will retail for USD $100. It will be available on the online store for European customers and at retail for the US and Canada.

Tales of Xillia will be available exclusively for the PlayStation 3.

“The mind of the subject will desperately struggle to create memories where none exist…” – Rosalind Lutece, Barriers to Trans-Dimensional Travel, 1889

Bring us the girl and wipe away the debt. As you soar into the floating city of Columbia for the first time you see exactly where Irrational Games’ ambitions lie; Amongst the clouds with this incredible city. The game manages to achieve all of it’s ambitions and more, with a story the likes of which we haven’t seen since the original Bioshock, varied and new first person gameplay and a stunning, truly realised world for the player to explore. This game does what it’s predecessor did in 2007; it changes and challenges the gameplay and story of this console generation and reinvents them to become a truly incredible experience.

The game world is in almost direct contrast to that of Irrational Games’ original Bioshock, we see a rich and colourful city in the prime of it’s existence  whilst also involving the player in Columbia’s breathtaking descent. Columbia has it’s own set of rules, it is a fully realised world with a vibrant cast of characters that really make the world feel real. People walk around, reacting both to the player and surrounding events, with clever and involving conversations that reflect the world around them. The game is set in alternate reality 1912 and shows off the views and values of an America steeped in religious rule, patriotism and severe xenophobia. The content in game is quite harsh in contrast to the vibrant city and challenges the player to look at society today with reference to the game. Every area of the game feels different and diverse, from the squalid Shantytown to the opulence of the streets above and then into the skies of Columbia aboard the many airships and floating platforms, never ceasing to pull the extraordinary narrative along with each detailed environment.

The streets of Columbia

As the player enters Columbia they are introduced to the basic gameplay elements of Vigors (akin to the original Bioshock’s Plasmids) and the variety of weapons through a carnival, set up as part of the celebrations for Comstock, the game’s antagonist. In your first hour you will experience combat with some basic guns, vigors and the transport method doubling as a melee weapon; the skyhook. The skyhook allows for some incredible firefights and a new mobility unseen in gaming. Just hop aboard a skyline and you can drop behind enemies, into cover or zip around the area quickly all the while returning fire from attackers. The game’s AI is also quite clever, with enemies and “Hard Hitters” (different, more tough enemies such as the handyman and motorized patriots) able to use the skylines and move around like the player. Then the game takes it up a notch, in story, gameplay and emotion with the introduction of Elizabeth.

Elizabeth. This one character serves as the core of the story and gameplay. From the moment you meet her she barely leaves your side, constantly adding to the game. In combat she will help you by finding health, salts and ammo and also cash outside of combat. She also has the ability to open ‘tears’ in the environment, pulling items from other worlds and reality into being in the locale. She also adds real emotion to the gameplay. You begin to rely on her and think about combat situations with her abilities in mind. In the few short absences she has from the player you genuinely miss the character. Her powers and dialogue always make the player feel more invested in the story, her presence never once takes anything away from the experience. Her AI is also incredibly well done, she will explore and interact with the environment, once again bringing areas of the game to life and you will want to sit in one spot and see all the animations and dialogue the developers have crammed into each of the game’s areas.

Elizabeth

I have talked about the story a lot so far, the narrative really pulls the whole experience together. The story crafted by Irrational Games masterfully weaves the setting, values and original story together into a story that will keep the player invested in the game’s fifteen plus hours of gameplay. Without revealing too much, the story centres around the protagonist, Booker Dewitt, tasked with travelling to Columbia to rescue Elizabeth to pay off his gambling debt. The city is ruled by “The Prophet” Comstock, who has kept Elizabeth locked away for years. Bring in the Vox Populi, a resistance movement of the lower classes and racial outcasts, fighting against Comstock’s extremely one sided rule.  The story has the occasional lull in sections, but they always followed by something amazing soon after, only increasing the effect of the succeeding event. Once you dive into the narrative the tale morphs and evolves at a cracking pace up to the jaw dropping finale, where players will be left thinking long after the credits roll.

Overall the game is an amazing experience. Irrational Games have done an amazing job of bringing the world of Columbia to life. The story, gameplay and above all the work that went into Elizabeth help this game to exceed all expectations and in turn reinvent the FPS genre amongst it’s many more stale counterparts. The game is incredible in scope and story, well worthy of any gamers time, earning it’s well deserved place amongst some of the finest games of the generation.

In my mind, this game deserves no other score than, Go and Buy it NOW!

The Sony Conference event, started off light, and on time, with an cavalcade of the history of PlayStation brand through the years; from the PlayStation to the current generation, PlayStation 3. Everything was intermingled with the Dual Shock controller, being focused at some point and other PlayStation item as well. But within the first few seconds after the MC or main presenter, Andrew House began, he announced that Sony is indeed bringing the PlayStation 4, with the release window of Fall of this year. As he continued to speak, he talked about how the developer as well as the consumer is the focal point of the PS4. He additionally wanted it to be known, that the PS4 would be an central hub for all entertainment purposes for next generation.

The specs of the PS4 have definitely come back down to earth, from the cell processors and its raw power to a more easily programmable, but still power X86 CPU and an Advanced GPU, which easily allows 1st & 3rd party developers to get the most out of it. Sony is additionally giving, what all developers wanted, 8GB of unified memory and a supercharged architecture, again, which is catering to the developers, since Sony learned from previous PS3 development, and the grips most developers, that weren’t 1st party had to deal with. And from the out of the gate, a larger internal storage, which will come in handy with what will be explained next.

Sony has completed an massive infrastructure of involving mobile devices and primarily the Vita as the on the go version of the PS4, with turning your PS4 into a server of sorts. With the mention of the Vita, the games from your PS4 with the of Gaikai Cloud computing, which was acquired by Sony last year, is allowing for your catalogue to be on the go with you, mainly with the Vita but with other devices as well. With the Vita on the go, being more integral than before, it was shown by transferring, a new game for the PS4, called Knack, to the Vita as it was played, without missing a beat or any downgrade of graphics to the Vita’s clearly smaller screen. Also, Knack, slightly reminds me of the 360 launch game called Kameo, but that may just be me.

Next, is the new PS4 controller, which is simply called Dual Shock 4, its almost the same design as before, but with a touchpad where the Sony logo and Start & Select buttons were on the Dual 3. This gives the controller, a look of being a bit heavier, but it’s one of those things, people were saying the Dual 3 was too small, and cumbersome. With the touchpad comes, the integrated share button, right on the controller. It looks to be out of the way from accidental sharing, but convenient. Also, the light on the front of the controller, is continuously sending information to an almost Kinect like device, which is a stereo camera, which will track the controller as your playing.

The Share button takes me into the complete social integration as well other steps Sony is taking to further advance the PS4, with 5 words, each explaining the functionality of the PS4. First was Simple. Allowing for developers, be it, big companies or Indies to develop more easily for the PS4, and for the consumer to simply share and gain games for their PS4, more easily than ever before. Second, was Immediate. This was explained in the way of, a second chip, specifically, for background downloads, updates while playing a game either online or offline. Also, allowing for almost immediate, see what I did there, pick up and play from a suspended state of the game, even when its turned off. Third was Social. This is the heavy integration of the Share button.

The PS4 will be partnered with Facebook and Ustream, to allow for a better PSN profile, almost Facebook like, but Sony tailored. Also, with the Ustream and Gaikai, you can stream gameplay or upload screenshots or bits of gameplay directly to Facebook and other social media, and allow for immediate access by your friends on the media site as well as, your PSN friends, all the while retaining your anonymity, if you want. With the ability to stream, you or your friends can sit in on one another, if the person allows it, to watch them play, or even “pass the controls onto them” for help if need be. Also you can leave comments while they’re playing, be it helpful or even trash talk. Fourth was Integrate, allowing for the consumer to continuously, regardless of location or device do almost anything with the PS4. Finally was Personalization. This feature, is like smart shopping where, over time collected data from your purchases, from the PlayStation Store, or actual disk, and give you games and content, already fully downloaded to your PS4, and you’ll have to do is hit the buy button.

Moving back to Gaikai, Dave Perry, mentioned that, over time, the PS4 will have the catalogues of the PS1, 2, and 3, able to play digitally on the PS4, with the use of its technology. Also, with the service, they are adding, the Free to Try ability, giving the consumer, the ability to play actual full games, not a shortened version or a downgraded version, and buy at any point and time during that trial, and all without hassle.

After the beginning, they began to show games, videos, and live demos, from both 1st party and 3rd party. First up was Guerilla Games, with live gameplay of Killzone: Shadow Fall. The game is brighter than previous versions, and looks amazing. Next was Evolution Games, game Drive Club, a team based driving game about challenging the World as a team or Club, with a heavy integration in mobile devices for the challenges. Next, was Sucker Punch, bringing us back to the world of Infamous, the game calling Infamous: Second Son, and I was giddy with joy over this announcement, and I can’t wait. After which, Braid developers, Jonathan Blow, with the next game for the PS4 at launch, with The Witness, this has 25hrs of unique puzzles, and the music amazing with a Celtic feel.

Quantic Dream, creators of amazing Heavy Rain, showcased its pushing of the PS4 with a live demo of rendering facial and eye design and emotions with amazing lighting and textures, and small nuances. Media Molecule, the creators of Little Big Planet, shows full use of the Move with an sculpting and allowing your dreams to be created. This gave way to a recorded live performance of a show featuring “puppeteers” of a musical performance. With that, House mentioned that it had full support from, almost, if not, every major 3rd party developer for the PS4.

Capcom, with Yoshinori Ono, showing a gaming engine code named Panta Rhel, built specifically for the PS4 and a game being developed in conjunction with Panta, called, Deep Down (Working Title), showing beautiful lighting, character models, and amazing action, that seemed to be what real time action will be. Square Enix, showed the tech demo running the Luminous Engine by Hashimoto Yoshihisa, and the other Hashimoto, Shinji saying a new Final Fantasy title is in opening stages of development and more information released at E3. Ubisoft Montreal, showing an live demo of Watch Dogs running on the PS4. And the game looks amazing, and can’t wait till I get my hands on it. Blizzard, with Chris Metzen, announced that Diablo 3 will be coming to both the PS3 & PS4. And finally, the last announcement was from Activision’s Eric Hershberg, bringing Bungie’s new IP Destiny, to the PS4 as well as, the PS3, with exclusive content to the Sony family. All gameplay trailers, demos and videos will be on our site as well.

Sony came out hard hitting in this press conference. Showcasing that they have learned from their previous mistakes in the current generation, and looking forward to showing why Sony’s PlayStation was always a bright star, and not a waning one, as they were saying Sony was. Sony, came out saying, contest us now Microsoft, we will see you on the field of battle come this console launch. And Sony certainly means business, this generation.

After much speculation and intrigue, Bungie has today revealed their latest game, Destiny.The game has no release date yet but will launch for PlayStation 3 and Xbox 360, as well as “future generation technology”. Bungie has revealed a large amount of information in regards to how this new game will play, and what we can expect to see from this ambitious new project. Destiny is a “shared world shooter”, a social and co-operative game drawing from aspects of an MMO (but is not one itself, as stressed by the developers), requiring no subscription, only a constant online connection. It will seamlessly search for players in the vicinity exploring, completing the same mission and incorporate them into the world, allowing chance meetings, partnerships and help in missions, battles and goals. The game will also support lobbies with friends and direct invites, but focuses more on a living and thriving online universe filled with happenstance and action. You can play the entire game solo however also. Non-combat based social hubs also exist, where players can relax and engage in competitive activities against one another.

One of the many vehicles that will be a feature of Destiny

As stated, Bungie developers have stressed that this game is not an MMO. Engineering lead Chris Butcher has said, “These are living, open worlds with evolving stories, changing time of day…and every one is full of players. Destiny is an always online experience, but it’s not an MMO.” The idea of using MMO elements in this game is clever, it will allow for a social experience without as much of an emphasis on guilds and organised raids, all the action will unfold differently depending on when you’re online and who you meet. The matchmaking is reminiscent of the 2012 game “Journey” where every time you come across another player you are intrigued and curious, and the newly forged ‘partnership’ can turn the tide of the game, lasting for many missions or simply vanishing into the world as quietly as they had appeared.

Now onto the storyline. The human race has been reduced to a single city after the ‘golden age’ in which humans took to the stars rapidly, with vast technological expertise. They were hit by a so far unidentified enemy, reducing them to almost nothing, saved only by the ‘Traveller”, a large sphere hovering just above the earth. The last of humanity live below the Traveller, in the last city. As they begin to rebuild and branch out they find that their old planets are now occupied by strange new creatures and forces, and now must defend the last hope of humanity, the city, from extinction. The player is a ‘guardian’, a powerful human able to wield some of the Traveller’s power. Rather than like in Bungie’s previous title Halo, the humans aren’t a dominant force in the universe. The universe is designed to be scary and imposing for the last of the humans, with imposing aliens fortresses and environments like the citadel. Bungie’s new graphics engine will also help to shape the atmosphere of the game, with increased lighting and graphical capabilities to change how worlds are perceived by the player.

The Citadel (concept art)

The player, as a guardian, can play as one of several different classes. The three confirmed so far are the Hunter, the Warlock and the Titan. Players will create and customize their own character, gaining new armor and weapons throughout the game. They will have their own personalized character in this huge galaxy. The tower, the players home, will serve as a hub for the character, where you can gear up your guardian and organize adventures and lobbies of friends. You will also be able to buy and customize vehicles and star-ships, and space combat has been hinted at but not confirmed. The developers have said they want the characters and universe, however dark and imposing to create a sense of hope for the players. ”At its core, Destiny is a hopeful world. It’s a place worth spending time in. It’s a place worth fighting for.” says the story lead, Joe Staten. The world and game design here is aimed at keeping players invested week after week, month after month with new goals, rewards and content to experience.

Three of the classes from Destiny, the Hunter, the Warlock and the Titan (left to right)

The mission and game structure featured in Destiny will be open and in contrast to the multiplayer co-operative play for the main storyline the game will also feature competitive multiplayer modes, with credits and rewards being universal across the story and competitive parts. Even with a strong and expansive storyline the game will feature a variety of side missions and activities, from exploration to bounty hunting, all awarding the player with rewards and credits. All these missions and sections are playable with friends via direct invite and you locale will be populated with other online players that may tag along on your quest with you.

Destiny represents an ambitious and brave new step into the future of gaming, and will incorporate Destiny not only on home consoles but on iOS and Android devices, laptops and handhelds such as the vita to keep the player connected into the universe of Destiny. It’s large scale universe, bold new steps to change the first person shooter genre, and the seamless incorporation of single player and multiplayer are incredibly exciting and hopefully we see some more of this game in action in the near future. Bungie’s reveal seems to have excited many fans of Halo and Sci-fi already, and only time will tell whether they are capable of realising the dream that is Destiny.

Bungie’s full ViDoc is below:

Mahjong is a game that most people by now have played or at least have heard of. The game involves of different tiles and the goal is to match them all up to clear the game. The game is widely available, in fact most people play this at work when they should be working, since it’s available in most computers. This game finally came to the PS3 back in 2009.

Mahjong has been around for quite sometime and is generally known as a time killer in China. As stated earlier, you start with a stack of mahjong tiles that have icons as well numbers that are in a certain shape or pattern. These tiles are to be matched up with each other and removed from gameplay. The concept is very easy just continue doing this until the board game is complete and cleared out.

The controls can be a little frustrating. The cursor is pretty much the same cursor you see on a computer, but the PS3 controller is nowhere near as precise as a mouse, obivously. As you can see from the video, when you move the pointer with your D-pad or your left joystick the selector doesn’t snap to the tiles. Instead you are having to navigate to each tile individually. It would have been a lot easier to have your arrow glide past the block and just scroll to each one. You need to micromanage and adjust for every…. single…  move.

The developers of the game where able to give it a nice little twist, they took something that was old and gave it a new fresh look and concept. It features five parables that are told through nine chapters and narrated storybook cutscenes. After getting a piece of the story, you play a game of mahjong to advance to the next scene, which is a static background with the characters and objects moving around on top of the image, but it fails a bit. Example, the quality of the narration is bad. It’s one guy narrating the stories, and sounds tinny and echoy or far away. Also, the art is pretty plain and simple.

I liked that game, burned time. Which is what I would need when I was bored. Although I really can’t recommend to download this one. This game has plenty of potential if the story line, graphics and sound were a bit better. Not to mention the controls. The music is relaxing and calming. Once again as I stated in my Super Stardust HD review, this was one of those games that I downloaded mainly for the trophies.

First off, I’ll start by saying I am not a fan of Hello Kitty. Yes it’s adorable and whatnot but I see really nothing in it so I don’t concern myself with their merchandise. However the project entitled in Japanese Hello Kitty to Issho! has gained my interest with the puzzle games coming out and the unique female characters in each, entitled “Kittylers.”

This figure is one of them, and her name is Kei. Kei had a previously made figure which sold very well and made Sanrio decide to make another one of her, hence the “Part 2″ in the title.

The front of the box is quite awkward with the splatter wall and chain link fence while bejeweled music notes float in thin air. There’s a large opening to display the figure with its name displayed on the right and the project name at the bottom.

However you must prepare yourselves for the other sides!

The rest of the box is much more beautiful, with pretty illustrations of Kei, including the one the figure is based off.

 Now to assure you bought an authentic product make sure  there’s a Sanrio sticker put on all the Kei figures. The real thing also comes with an instructional guide (in Japanese of course) on how to affix the guitar case on the handle and keep the figure standing.

And now for the actual product…….

Only she can make a Hello Kitty cap look that good.

…….Beautiful.

On the subject of putting the figure together it’s a bit odd. Making Kei stand requires some serious pushing, but once she’s broken in she’s easy to move and remove. Putting the guitar on the handle goes against every single  collector instinct I have. The  handle and guitar are made of hard unflexible plastic so I begin softly in fear I might break something only to hold my breath, recite a silent prayer to the figure Gods, and jam it in there. I’m just glad it popped in perfectly the first time I did that. I will never remove the guitar case as long as I have the figure. When it comes to positioning the guitar case you could have the case stand at an odd  angle and it won’t budge, also if you move it it smoothly glides. When it comes to the hand with the handle it’s pretty odd. When you look at it you can see it look square and the handle is just stuck in there. There’s also some of the skin’s paint on the handle, nothing really noticeable until you look. Despite it’s plainness the guitar case is quite beautiful, and looks very smooth and polished, I couldn’t think of a nicer one myself.

The most captivating part of this figure is all the detail that went into the simple clothes she’s wearing. Her beautiful red jacket is stunningly tinged perfectly with shades of dark red in all the right places, her blouse has folds that seem natural, and her layered skirt has dark shadows accentuating its texture. They also managed to do something I thought would never happen, put a bunch of tiny bows all over an outfit and made it look perfect.

The knee high socks have bows too perfectly placed and adorable to ignore. The five red stripe also fit in perfectly. They’re not painted perfectly, but impressively enough.

No comments on the “absolute zone.”

The shoes also match the outfit and, of course, have their own bow. The lace are red so the bow can be red, in Hello Kitty fashion. Sadly I had the misfortune to buy a figure with a manufacturing error that day and so I ended up having a shoe with a bow and another with a tiny empty square, didn’t let that ruin my appreciation for the figure though.

However, I can’t forget one of the key piece of the figure, the Hello Kitty hat. It is perfectly detailed, I find no fault with it. The color is rich and vibrant and really  makes the figure better.

Without her hat, she has a hair divide that is hidden with it on.

Her hair is amazing when viewed from the side, it looks as if a breeze is lightly lifting it, like in a calm anime scene. When viewed from the beack it can be seen the ends are not  more sharp, and the paint has accumulated and dried out unevenly on some part, but it still maintains a beauty to it.

The most amazing part of everything though, is her face.  It looks like she’s calmly pondering something with her lips in a slight pout and her eyes upward. Her eyes only compliment everything else with their deep solid red, glints of light in it. Her hair style is also unique. Her rather short braid stands out from her long straight hair and bangs, and her humble necklace is the only piece of jewelry she needs to compliment her.

Overall this figure is absolutely stunning. Any collector who has the chance to get her should, as she’s one of the best quality figures that doesn’t break the bank I’ve seen in a long time. To fans of Hello Kitty, get with the Hello Kitty to Issho game series, I think you’ll really like it and all the merchandise that comes out of it. I’ll leave you all with this.

When trophies were first introduced to Playstation I was intrigued and excited. This was Sony’s way of competing with Microsoft Xbox 360 Achievements. Super Star Dust HD was among one of the first games that started the trophy system. My goal? To obtain EVERY single trophy! This was also my first full 1080p game. So I decided to give this game another breath of fresh air and give it another go.

The game has many different play modes, such as arcade mode, planet mode, endless, survival, bomber and time attack and it also includes a 2 player co op mode. For the sake of this throwback we will go visit just plain and simple arcade mode. The player controls a space fighter craft that can move in any direction on a spherical shield surrounding a planet, while simultaneously firing in any direction independent of its movement. In arcade mode you are visiting planets and umm… destroying asteroids and alien enemies. Think of it as a very advanced Asteroids game. You get many different types of weapons for different types of asteroids. Rock Crusher for regular asteroids, Fire for gold asteroids and Ice for Ice asteroids. Along with those weapons you also get bombs which destroy everything with a certain radius. Weapons can also be upgrade by shooting the Kryptronite looking asteroid rocks that are found with in the bigger asteroids. Among the weapon power up you can also find points, shields and 1-ups.

After MANY frustrating attempts I was able to obtain every single trophy in the game. After doing so, I wondered… now what? I was able to get much play out of the game through the other modes in the game. The game was extremely easy to start and play for any novice player, but it does challenge even hardcore players. Very worth the $10.00 if you want to burn some time.

As I enter part 2, this focuses more on the characters and the short fall of the game as a whole. Even though I pick on one particular installment, Suikoden IV, doesn’t mean I still don’t love the series as a whole. But a story for a game of this nature, wouldn’t be good or even great, if it didn’t have the necessary characters being in from start to finish or just to move the story along.

Out of the five main games, with a roster of playable and non-playable characters, it totals out at 513 out of the 540 characters. I eliminated the returning characters throughout the lengthy series. Those numbers are just astounding, and that’s not even including the enemy factions and their peons and generals.

Having so many characters in a single game, 108, it tends to be a gift and a curse. Allowing the player, for those that are playable, a plethora of options, changing the battle lines with favorites and new characters you want to give a whirl. But, the downside is that as the game progresses, you get stuck with a couple characters you rely on heavily, unless the story dictates that you bring along certain people. But you never get to use all of them, due to the constraints of wanting to beat the game, and the story overall.

I get to drone on about my favorite characters from the series as a whole, except for Suikoden IV. Which I’ll explain why, it, to me was the worse of the series later in the article. Also, I’ll only mention those who appear on the Stone Tablet of Stars. Tir (S1), he’s the hero from tragedy and serious betrayal and potential death, that would cause a serious breakdown, he continued for those who believed in him. Cleo (S1), she may be the mother figure to Tir, but she’ll nail someone with her throwing knives with pinpoint accuracy. Riou (S2), as the successor to S1’s hero, and is a close expy of him, but still great. Shu (S2), cold, calculating, and knows what has to be done for victory. He’s a strategist that goes above the call each time. Flik (S2), as a young head strong member of the Liberation Army in the first, but being more mature and tempered in the second, as well as letting loose and also taking care of Viktor. Chris Lightfellow (S3), a very hard, duty driven, and father issued woman, but after she meets Nash on her mission to find him, and she gains her acceptance. Nash Latkje (S3), this is due to his pedigree from the Gaiden and amazing backstory. But he’s just a cool mutha *beep*.

But one of the few that gets an Honorable mention, Luca Blight villain from Suikoden II

Futch (S3), full grown from his time in S1 & 2, being older, mature, carrying a big sword, and taking care of Sharon, he’s just the “I’m cool, but I don’t know it.” Georg Prime (S5), he’s just simply a Badass on the level of Chuck Norris in the Suikoden World. Name feared and respected throughout the world, and always at the pinnacle of swordsmanship wherever he fights. Fredjadour Falenas (S5), the silent hero of the fifth game, and wields the Tri-nunchaku, and just a balanced character, and although thrust into the leadership role, he takes it seriously, to rescue the Queendom and his sister. Miakis (S5), the faithful bodyguard and Queen’s Knight for the princess, she is essentially Lymsleia sister, and the stereotypical bodyguard turned friend to the Princess.

Suikoden IV was just hogwash of a game in the series. I’ll quickly go over why. The story was flat, the characters not believable, in the sense of what had to be accomplished. And the main villain’s drive to be bearer of the Rune of Punishment again, after certain circumstances, and that was laughable. Seriously, you fight a Giant Tree as the final boss! The story did fit into the continuity for the whole, and giving more back story to various characters, but the game was badly done, and overall, just a letdown. I could go on for days, explaining every intricacy of why the game didn’t meet the standards for Suikoden. As for the other four entries, they all contribute to continuity as well, and explore the depths of the main silent hero with the actions that occurred during each of their stories.

Many ups and downs for them, and in some, you could choose to not take up arms against the corrupt, and the story would illustrate what could happen because you never stepped towards your Destiny. Each character, in Suikoden I, II, III, and V, had some kind of personal issue with the current situation at hand and wanting to change it. Admittedly, IV did have a few characters with an invested interest in the situation, but the total cast seemed to be just there. And this has been a negative for the games, each having so many characters, and showing they all have a vested interest for change brought on by Destiny and Time.

Some may consider Suikoden series as whole a relic, others, such as myself, and thousands others want Konami to stop making handheld version of the game and slapping the Suikoden name on it. And those never really being Suikoden games beyond name and 108 Stars of Destiny. But the game takes you on a ride, with political intrigue, war, double crosses, death, sacrifice, and so much more, and it delivers 4 out of 5 times. And that those bullet points are the reasons and many more, are why I love Suikoden. And I’ll leave you with the best opening for a Suikoden game.

A story written based off the Chinese classic, “Outlaws of the Water Marsh” by Shi Nai’an & Luo Guanzhong. The story revolves around a brotherhood and the circumstances that destine them to become heroes for the people in the most extraneous circumstances. When corrupt governments foul the land, and bandits rove the countryside terrorizing the people, and government officials skimming off the top while others starve. The Brotherhood of the Outlaws of the Marsh will respond with Justice. It’s a great book; read it however you can get your hands on it.

Suikoden is loosely based off the novel mentioned above, but it takes the best elements of the story and turned it into an amazing story, with colorful characters, back story of the more important ones, fleshed out history and simply, just amazing writing. The basis of the Suikoden series: The main hero, being thrust into circumstances out of his/her control and their destiny, pushing them towards the final confrontation with the overarching Big Bad of the story. The game has produced many installments in the series, albeit, in a weird chronological order, but they all have their place. And here is the timeline for the main 5: Suikoden IV (143 years before Suikoden V & 150 years before Suikoden) ? Suikoden V (6 years before Suikoden) ? Suikoden (3 years before Suikoden II) ? Suikoden II (15 years before Suikoden III) ? Suikoden III. I’ll be primarily focusing on the main Suikoden titles mentioned in the timeline.

The story does follow a pattern, which I realized as I was writing this. The unlikely hero, has a traumatic event sparked by the all encompassing, all-powerful True Rune. And the True Rune is the catalysis for the Big Bad’s organization or their anger, to allow the government to be toppled or supplanted with their own. And during that time of consolidation or advancement by the Big Bad, the hero and his crew are forced into exile, to regroup and to take the fight back to the Big Bad. But it’s never an easy road, riddled with the deaths of loved ones, betrayal, sacrifice, and more. Each of these events in the game’s story is never seen coming, and simply just well written and timing, pinpoint. But all the troubles of the World, come down to the True Runes, and them controlling inadvertently and sometimes, on purpose the World’s events. But in the end, the Hero emerges victories, changing the country for the better.

You know how there are hidden gems on each system, no matter the generation. And how everybody has their own hidden gems that they still own, even though they don’t have the system anymore. Mine is the Suikoden Series along with a slew of others. Which, hopefully I’ll get to talk about, eventually. But Suikoden II was the first one I played, but I played them out of order. But the story of Suikoden II, drew me in. It wasn’t the graphics even though, it was during the PlayStation era. Sadly, as I was approaching the conflict with the Matilda Knightdom, my game disc froze. Never to be played again, and couldn’t do anything. But then Christmas rolled around and I got Suikoden. And I’ve been a fan since that day and even though Konami has broken up the developing team, it’d be amazing if they did make another main series Suikoden title, instead of side stories.
As I mentioned before, the game isn’t built on amazing graphics and over the top visuals. The backbone of the game is its story and colorful cast of 108 characters and even the villains, depending on the game, you begin to feel for them, and slightly want them to survive, but then they do something that screws the hero over. But the graphics that it uses, for the first 2 games on the PS1 and the next 3 on the PS2, make sense and even with the dip in 3 and 4, and upping the ante in 5, it still made each game worth playing and permanently on my shelf. For instance, in Suikoden, they have almost cheesie, 8-bit graphics, but not exactly there. But it worked, and it made the game more about the story and the loss, than oooo shiny.

The graphics didn’t take away from the gameplay and it being your six party members with varying ranges they attack from. Like Flik, the Blue Lightning, is a short range attacker, while Tir, the Hero, is a medium range. This allows Flik to be in the front rank and Tir to occupy the front or back rank. Combinations come into with new, pre-existing or old relationships within the story. It gives it an added sense of strategy in the battles. Moving along with battles, you’re also fighting in a war, and as you have these major battles, and in each, they are unique, with a rock-paper-scissors feel. Within the first, Charge loses to Defend, Attack loses to Charge, and Defend loses to Attack. But it’s never a set pattern and no two times are alike, which gave the game a great randomness to the battles in the war, even though you can just save before the battle and redo it. But just as the story is the filling, the characters are the pie crust.

Just a taste of the number of Characters

Okami was a gorgeous game that came of for the PS2 in 2006. I still remember buying it at Gamestop: my best friend and I couldn’t afford the game, so we split it, 50/50 and shared the game until we both beat it. Then it just… ended up… at my house. Okami was known for its gorgeous design and beautiful blending of Japanese folklore with an original tale and it is one of my favorite games of all time.

Imagine my delight when I heard they would be making the HD version for PS3! I’m happy to report that after playing the HD version of Okami, I am still in love with this game!

Plot

The player is Ammy, the wolf avatar of Amaterasu, the sun goddess. Ammy and her pal Issun must journey to find all of Ammy’s lost brush techniques while destroying the evil darkness that threatens the land of Nippon (historical Japan). Along the way you will play puzzles, solve mysteries and meet hilarious characters with silly things on their heads. The game is an action/platformer puzzle game with RPG elements in the fact that you can customize your weapons and stats.

The story is fun and interesting, with some strange (but not in a bad way) twists. There are also numerous callbacks to Japanese folklore and culture, which I loved. There are even some easter eggs. Here’s a hint: go get some Cherry Cakes from Mrs. Orange for an awesome surprise.

Graphics

For those who played the game on the PlayStation 2, the question you most likely want answered is: how does it look? For some games, the HD upgrade makes a world of noticeable difference, but to me, I can’t really see a difference in the HD version. The originaly game was already polished and pretty. There were no dim colors or edgy polygons in the land of Nippon. I showed off a gameplay video of Okami HD in action, and what I mentioned there still holds true.

Is the game lovely, a feast for your eyes? Bottom line: yes, yes, yes.

Gameplay

The gameplay is pretty addicting. You have the main quests and sidequests which follow the standard format of running around and doing things, but there are also mini-games that are more like puzzles and some that are more like oldschool 2D games. There are also  secrets all over the place, prompting you to spend hours in certain areas just to be sure you found them all. The game isn’t actually open world, but the skills you gain and hidden pathways will make you feel like it is as you gain more and more abilities.

Much of the story hinges on your use of the celestial brush, a tool with which Ammy draws symbols that cause actual changes to game world. For example, drawing a slash mark on a tree will cut it down. That this game was developed before motion controls came into popularity is rather amazing.

This is an easy game to get into, although younger children may not have the attention span for all the text at the beginning of the game.

New for HD

Trophies! Yay! Now everyone will know that I beat Hayabusa at turnip pickin! I don’t know why you trophy lovers need them so much, but they are there and they are not all based on things you have to do to progress the story, which I appreciated.

You can also use the Move to play. Some of you may remember that a version of Okami was released for the Nintendo Wii a few years back. Quite a few folks complained that it was actually too hard to play the game with the Wii, although a game involving drawing should be right at home with our motion controllers. Unfortunately, I don’t have a Move, so I couldn’t test it out.

I asked my good friend how he felt about it, and he found one of the hardest parts to be making straight lines. Other than that he said it seems simple enough.

Bottom Line:

I heard one or two people grumble that this game is $20. Please do not grumble, this game is worth every penny. Gorgeous graphics, great characters and a beautiful story: what more do you need?