That’s right, a new shiny copy of Lunar Silver Star Harmony is in my possession. It was only 2 days late here in Winnipeg too. Worth the wait!

This game is essentially just a remake of Lunar Silver Star Story, however it looks fantastic on the PSP. Lunar has been told a few different ways now, through the Saturn and PS1, now on the PSP. It follows the characters we all know and love, Alex, Luna, etc… They set out on a care-free adventure which eventually leads to them having to save the world from evil, as is most RPG’s.

The remake of this game follows the narrative of the original to a tee, adding a few new scenes to help fill in some of the blanks. One thing that caught me off guard was the opening scene where you control Dragonmaster Dyne and his companions against Eiphel and company to save Althena. This fades into a young Alex and Luna listening to a bedtime story. Then you’re right back where you normally start looking out over the cliff standing with Dynes monument.

The good old anime cutscenes are still just as they were from day one, but the rest of the graphics have gotten the luxury spa treatment. The isometric graphics of everything from the towns to the characters to the enemies has that old 16/32 bit RPG feel to it, but have that modern touch. The list of monsters in the game is just as weird as ever, making it one of the more unique encounters you’ll have fighting enemies.

Speaking of fighting enemies, some remakes seem to lose out on the old school mentality that grinding is just as much part of the game as the story, but not this one. The in battle menus (as well as out of battle menus) are greatly improved. This makes battles less tedious and more fun. There are many times where you are forced to grind your way through certain stages of the game, but this is made easy with the AI button. Just as in the past you are able to customize different aspects of your character so when you choose this button, they act fairly reasonably. I haven’t had a moment where they do the opposite of what you would do, causing you to nearly snap the PSP in half. This helps take the dull sting of repetitive battles out of the game, but I wouldn’t delve into this until you are completely used to the controls.

As for the extras you get when buying the premium edition, I think they are totally worth it. Especially when you consider that the premium edition is only $5-$10 more then the normal one.

You get a soundtrack to the game, which I haven’t opened, nor do I plan on it. There’s no song listing on the back so I can’t really touch to much on it.

The 13 Bromide cards that feature the girls of Lunar have a picture on the front as well as a brief bio on the back so for those of you who have always wondered what Luna’s height, weight and measurements are (really, her measurements) this is the pack for you. Keep in mind for those of you who might need to keep the kleenex near by that Luna is only 15. But for you who just can’t help but ask, here it is… (lol)

Height 5’5″
Weight 106 lbs
Measurements 31/21/31 in

Anyways, after that awkward moment…

All in all this is a great remake in my books, and if you need something that has a bit of nostalgia to it to satisfy that RPG sweet tooth of yours, go pick yourself up a copy.

So I have been lacking on my blogging lately. It’s been 8 days since I last posted on here and I felt I should put something up, even if it is lackluster.

My life lately has been consumed partially by the Winter Olympics, as it’s going on in my country. Not close enough for me to go see, but still fun to watch. It is fantastic for my other collecting love. See, I’m a video game collector only as a secondary hobby, it’s not quite the top of my list, but has been pushing lately. My other love is game used/autographed sports memorabilia. I have been glued to not only the games, but to the ebay store of the 2010 Olympics.. watching.. waiting.. hoping that I can score something. As we speak I am counting down an hour to the next lot of items up. I am also counting down the three hours to the game used hockey pucks that are on. Bored yet? lol

So to this point I ask all of you, is video game collecting you primary hobby, or do you have something else that catches your fancy?

1- The game used/autographed sports goods
2- Video games

That’s it for me in order. Once the games are over, I’ll be fully back into the video gaming blog, so for the three people who are wondering where I’ve gone, I’m still here, just distracted.

And I leave you with a few thoughts….

You know you’re a gamer when…

you play for hours, but the controls are so automatic for you that when someone asks what to push for jump, you actually have to think about it…

you consider playing MAG with someone a date

when something goes wrong, you try to remember when you last saved, but you realize that it’s real life

when you and your buddies try to figure out if guitar hero/rockband actually has a story line

There it is, my lackluster update of my life, and pathetic excuse for a blog topic. lol

See you after the games!

DISCLAIMER:

The following article is solely the opinion of the writer and is therefore going to be subjected to the scrutiny of the reader.  Further to this the writer welcomes any and all other opinions.  Discuss, debate, have fun!

My top 3 Final Fantasy games of all time

The reason I am writing this article today is due to the fact that XIII is due out soon.  Just today I pre ordered my LE hardcover copy of the players guide off amazon.ca.  There is a little disappointment with this release however.  I have seen LE’s coming out in PAL regions, as well as Japan.  In fact, Japan has gotten a special release of the PS3 itself featuring artwork from FFXIII.  If I had the cash to import the system, I would.  I would love to be the owner of one of these special edition systems.  I think it would look quite good next to my 80 GB PS3.

Well, this isn’t a rant about North America getting squat for LE’s of this game aside from the players guide; it is my top three list!  Here it is.

#3

Final Fantasy 7

Yes, you see it correctly; VII is listed at number three.  I know that many of you would have this game in the number one slot, but it doesn’t hold enough value to me to achieve this title.

Don’t take this as any discredit to the game.  I think it is phenomenal.  The story is top notch.  I love the idea of the rogue officer taking on the regime he once served.  I enjoy the futuristic approach of it; it is a nice break from the usual medieval times that most final fantasy games seem to have been set in.  The characters are great for the most part.  When I think of any battles in any Final Fantasy games that I have played, the most epic have always been Cloud vs Sephiroth.  Everything from Crisis Core to Dissidia…  Yes, even in Dissida while playing as Cloud I had a hell of a time beating Sephiroth in a convincing manner.  They always seemed to be the tough ones.  Some characters are forgettable to me though.

Graphics were great.  The cinematics were very good for the time.  One of the most iconic Final Fantasy images seems to be that of the scene where Sephiroth is walking away into a wall of flame.

Despite all the pluses in this game, the thing that takes away from it for me is that I cannot for the life of me get into any of the side quests.  They just don’t hold my interest, and with that it seems that by the end of the game when it is time to take on Sephiroth, I am nowhere near a high enough level to even be a match against him.  At this point I have usually gotten bored and turned it off.

One thing I have never done with this game though is put it into my PS1 and play it in its original form.  I have only played it on my PSP as a download.

#2

Final Fantasy 2

The oldie, but the goodie.  This one wouldn’t have even made my top ten list for the longest time.  I never got through the first little bit of it.  One day I picked up a copy of this in the remake form on UMD.  It was only $5.00 and I figured it would be a good add on to my PSP collection.  It happened to accompany me on a road trip last year and it found its way into my PSP.  After about an hour I was hooked.  Something about the old 16 bit RPGs have a certain charm to them.  They remind me of the days when I dabbled in RPG maker, trying desperately to think of a good story to hold together the hundreds of maps I made together.  It never happened obviously, as I’m still a slave to the government trying to make a living.  Haha

The problem I have had with numerous RPG’s is that at that midway to ¾ point in the game I get bored.  I lose my interest and think “oh I’ll just pop in (insert stop gap game here) and take a break from this.”  That break turns into me playing that stop gap and forgetting about the RPG.  This is where II takes a huge leap forward for me.  When you take Cecil becomes that paladin, he changing in such a way that it makes me feel like it’s a whole new game.  It refreshes the story for me and gives me the ambition to finish it off.  I only seem to have this issue with RPG’s though, most action games/shooter games/anything else games I tend to play straight through.  Guess RPG’s aren’t my forte.

Well, there’s 2 and 3, now for my personal favorite.  When I got my first PS1 this was the first game I got with it.  The graphics blew me away, the story captivated me, and the characters seemed almost real.  I’ve heard numerous people say that the first Final Fantasy you ever play always holds a special place is your gamer heart, and this one holds true to this day for me.

#1

Final Fantasy 8

Yep, VIII.  I still remember watching the opening cinematic and being blown away by how amazing the graphics looked.  It didn’t take much more to have me completely hooked.  The game started off a little slow, but once I got into the SeeD exam I was in.

The graphics were fantastic.  Not only with the opening cinematic, but all the rest.  They looked amazing.

The atmosphere really got me into the game as well.  Starting off as a mere student and progressing to lead your garden was a blast.  Everything from going to Trabia after the missile strike and walking through the devastation, to having a mobile garden taking on Galbadia garden, to shooting off into space in an attempt to save Rinoa, they all seemed just right for me.

The characters for the most part kept me going.  Normally it’s the story, and not the characters themselves that keep me interested in a game, but I really wanted to see what happened next to some of them.  Squall and Rinoa of course were the main focus of the good guys.  Squalls inner struggles, Rinoas calling to Adel, and all in between.  Yes, there were many bad guys, but they all worked for me.  Seifer as Squalls arch nemesis as the right hand man to whoever was in power at the time was not only annoying in the “not you again” way, but kept it familiar enough when fighting a new baddie.  I won’t go into all of them, but I even enjoyed playing through in the “alternate reality.”

The battle system, although took some getting used to at first, was quite deep.  It took some serious planning and fore thought.  The junctioning of magic to the various attributes of your characters was what involved planning.  You are about to run into a battle with a baddie that you know will have an immunity to fire, well, gotta get your 99 Firaga spells out of attack..  and replace with…

I will say though that the draw system isn’t my favorite way of obtaining spells, it does lend to the junctioning of the magic.  When you have 99 Meteor spells junctioned to attack and you are fighting someone who has a weakness to it, do you use said Meteor spells to help you or do you hold off and try other things?

The upgrading of weapons involved you having to obtain all necessary items to make it.  Having to find that damn adamantoise shell to get that one sword of Squalls was a pain in the ass, but worth the search.

This is the only game where I have played through the whole game, including all side quests.  This is the only game where I have completed it 100% aside from maybe having the odd item in my inventory.  Fighting whichever weapon was in the deep sea research center was a blast.  It took me 45 minutes and was one of the most memorable battles I have ever played through.  This brings me to my one complaint of this game.

Why in the world do you not get Exp for beating a boss???????????  45 Minutes against said weapon and you get nothing out of it except 99 death stones (granted those stones are extremely valuable)???  That sucks hard!

Aside from that, this game is still not only my favorite FF game, but my favorite PS1 game of all time.

There are my picks, my short list of reasons, and my opinions.  I truly hope to spark a bit of a debate with this and hear the rest of your opinions.

Happy gaming!

I picked up the Bioshock 2 Special Edition today, costing me a whopping $110.00 cdn(plus tax).  My first thought was “what am I thinking?” spending that much when I can just get the game itself for $69.99 plus tax.  Well, they handed me the huge cardboard box the game comes shipped in and I felt a little better, it looked like I would be getting something good out of it. The box, after all, was over 1 foot by 1 foot big!

I got home, unwrapped the game, and was pleasantly surprised by the fact that it came in a very nice sturdy box, with some nice artwork underneath the cardboard cover.  Upon opening the box I found a LP with the score from the original Bioshock.  Under that was some more pretty cool things, such as three rolled up posters with “advertisements” you would see on the walls of rapture.  I didn’t unroll them, but they looked good on the back of the box.  Next up was the hard cover book (164 pages) full of the artwork of bioshock 2.  I didn’t want to crease it to much, so I flipped through quickly.  If you want to know what a splicer looks like up close and not moving, you’ll find it in there!  Next up was the CD with the score from Bioshock 2.  Then, my game.  All in all I really like the bonus items you get with the special edition, and to anyone who is debating if it’s wroth the extra cash, I would say it’s worth it.

After popping in the game and waiting your standard 5-10 minutes for install, the game fired up.  I have read all the previews, all the people who are hesitant about this game as you’re playing as a big daddy, among other reasons.  I have only played about 2 hours into the game so far, but it seems to work very well.

Before I get into the game play, I have to say that returning to Rapture is awesome!  The atmosphere is just as good as the first one.  The beginning vid isn’t as impressive as burning wreckage and your first descent into Rapture as was the first one, but it sure leaves some questions.

After your character apparently shoots himself in the head, he wakes up ten years later.  Your nemesis in this game is Lamb, she seems to be the leader of the splicers.  Once again, it’s you vs the splicers.

Your weapons to start with are the drill, and rivet gun (shortly in).  Soon you get your first plasmid.  Seems kind of like the first so far.  Splicers attacking you, people locking you in rooms, blah blah blah.  Still cool, but seems similar.

Then you have your first encounter with a big daddy.  You are sent to get adam to buy a plasmid to further your progress through the game.  As you approach you hear that familiar moan of the big daddy.  Here’s a big difference, as you approach the big daddy, you appear as one of him, so he doesn’t attack you.  No hiding from him if you don’t want to take him on for some reason.  The other plus to this is that you can scout the room, watch where he goes, and plan your attack.  Once you attack though, it’s game on. Once you defeat him, you approach the little sister.  The difference this time is you “adopt” her.  You have to take her to corpses full of adam and have her harvest it from them.  While she is harvesting, you are attacked by splicers (kinda like the last level of the original).  Once you have harvested enough adam, you have the option of harvesting or freeing her, just like before.

All in all, without getting to far into it, the game itself is an awesome return to Rapture.  It has that familiar dark feel to it, however it has a few twists in game play to make it different.

As for the online play, I haven’t gotten into it yet.  It will be on my list once I beat the single player mode.

If you’re a fan of the original, check this out.  You don’t have to go right into the special edition with all the extras, but for a collector, and a fan of the game, it was worth it for me!

Look out for my full review of the game once I’m finished it.

As the industry of video games evolves, the question keeps coming up (at least in my mind).  Games are always changing in some way, shape or form.  Look at the current projects of Sony and Microsoft.  Sony has a new motion controller on the way, while Microsoft has Project Natal.  Now these are physical accessories to our beloved systems, they will have many games tagged onto them.  Will they come on a disc like I love so, or will they be download only?

The day I heard that Patapon 2 was coming out, I was extremely excited.  I loved Patapon 1, and still enjoy just popping in my UMD copy of the Patapon 1 demo.  Then the talk of Patapon 2 turned into it being the “guinea pig” for digital media.  Patapon 2 was set to become one of the first digital download only games on PSN.  This, as funny as it may sound, upset me quite a bit.  Here is a gamer, and a collector who is loyal to Sony being told that he won’t be able to have a physical copy of a game like this.  The debate raged for a while, when finally a “compromise” was met.  The game would be released digital only, however they did release the UMD case with box art, instructions, and a little scratch card with your number.  Ok, thanks guys, you gave me a little bit of what I wanted.  Great game by the way.

My point here is that not only as a collector do I enjoy having the game to play, but having it sitting on my shelf proudly displayed is great too… of course this rolls the girlfriends eyes every now and again… oh well, she’ll get used to it.

Let’s explore some pros of having physical media

Box Art

I don’t know about all of you, but some games impress me greatly just by how they look on the shelf.  One of my personal favorites is Bioshock.  The Big Daddy, the huge guy with the glowing face, being escorted by the Little sister, a creepy looking female child with glowing eyes and a needle, this appeals to me just looking at the cover.

Inserts

Yes, I know, some download only games do come with instructions (I’ll touch on that in the Pros of digital), but I enjoy having the book next to me in case I need a refresher when I first buy the game.  One of the other cool things about having the booklet is that you get to read up on some of the characters or the back story prior to putting the game in.  How about those great maps that we get with games like Grand Theft Auto?  Some of us like to use them while playing as a quick reference point to know where we are going.  I had the map of San Andreas up on the wall while I was playing. When buying a game to add to my collection, unless it’s uber rare, it must have case, box art, instructions, and of course, disc.

Collectability

The maps we just spoke of are one example.  How many of us have the cloth map that came with Lunar?  The hardbound instruction book?  The soundtrack?  All kinds of things like this come with collectors editions.  Check out the Lunar coming out for PSP.  The limited edition comes with a soundtrack, and “bromide” cards that illustrate the girls of Lunar.  I think those are pretty cool for a collector and have it on pre order already!  It’s out soon!  If this game was digital only I doubt that any company would release the game only to have to actually mail you your collectors material or your pre order “prize.”

Aside from the aspect of losing out on collectibles like the pre order bonuses you get, we would also lose the ability to show off our collection.  What looks more impressive, the list on your computer screen or the cases out in the open.  I guess that depends on who you’re talking to (see girlfriend reference up top lol).  If you haven’t seen the collection of PS1 games on the Sony PS1 Forum (http://boardsus.playstation.com/playstation/board?board.id=psxgeneral) then do it.  Go find photos of collections and look at Dangerboy’s.  It’s almost shocking at how much the guy has.  Claims to have every variant ever made.

Now I’m very bias here, so the only real cons I can see right now when it comes to having physical media are these

Care

Keeping those discs in good shape can be a challenge for some people.  I myself have put a scratch or 2 in some cherished games just by dropping them accidentally when pulling them out of the system.  The preservation of the cases can be tough with the old plastic jewel cases of the PS1 as well.  They seem to break just by opening them sometimes.

Space

Yes, our beloved collections take up quite a bit of shelf space, or room space depending on how much you have.  Storage can be a big deal for those of us stuck in 1 bedroom apartments.

All of that being said, the benefits of digital media are here as well

Cost

Put yourself in the shoes of a big wig at any of our developers.  You have a game such as flOw for the PSP.  It sells on the PSN for something like $7.99 US when it comes out.  You have 100 people download this you make yourself $799 in theory.  Now let’s say you release this for $20 as a UMD release.  Yes, you have 100 people buy it at that cost, you get $2000 in theory.  Big number, until you factor in the cost of packaging it, printing it, illustrating box art and instructions, etc…  Would that work out to benefit the company or not, I don’t know, but it’s just a point I thought of.

This can also benefit us as consumers making our games less money to purchase.  There are games, however, like Grand Theft Auto Chinatown wars which is $40 to download (ridiculous), but this one can be purchased as physical media.

How about those PSP Mini’s?  I’ll admit that I have a few of them.  Those little releases that cost us under $5 in some cases can be quite entertaining, and are nowhere near big enough to be placed on a UMD.

Storage

Pro, no boxes to keep.  Instructions at the click of a button in the start menu.  I’ll touch on this as a con as well.

Care

You somehow corrupt your downloaded game!  OH NO!  Oh, wait..  just redownload it.  Nothing to scratch, nothing to break.

Now for some cons

No collectors editions or extras

I doubt that a company will release limited editions of download only games.  If they did, it would probably be an extra level or 2.  Yay…

Storage

Memory cards.  Space.  Yep, some games are pretty big.  Buying multiple mem cards for your psp can be expensive!  Granted that in a few years we will probably have 10 Terabyte cards the size of your thumb nail, but not yet, and not affordable either even if we did.  And keeping track of those cards can suck too.

Used games

No more going to EB or Gamestop to buy your games used!  I would miss picking up a PS2 game I have been after for $5.00 at EB.

Keep in mind that this is all my opinion, or rant if you will.  Your opinion may be different, and if that’s the case, I’d love to hear it!

I’m all for physical media, how about you?

Happy Gaming!

…comes the blog of me, Jeff (aka jeff002400 if you want to go by username).  My blog will be coming to you weekly and will touch on various topics.  Today is just an introduction of myself.  I will be posting my first actual blog by Tuesday at the latest!  Look forward to an interesting piece.

I am a Sony collector through and through.  My collection spans the PS1, PS2, PS3 and PSP.  My collecting habits tend to be a little A.D.D. as I switch systems regularly.  Right now I’m on a PSP kick having just picked up Tales of the Earth; Radiant Mythology (so far it’s a pretty cool game by the way, maybe a review in the future when I finish it?)  I enjoy picking up almost anything, as long as I like it.  “The hunt” is always better when you come away with a steal of a deal (Xenogears for $5 anyone?)

My personal favorite game would have to be Final Fantasy 8.  It is also the very first game I got for the PS1.  Yes the debate rages on which Final Fantasy is the best, and most are amazing, but 8 takes the cake IMO.  As for favorites per system I would say FF8 for PS1, Marvel Nemesis for PS2, Uncharted 2 for PS3, and Mega Man Maverik Hunter X for PSP. As I said, I collect what I like, not necessarily what’s rare or sought after.

I look forward to blogging your way in the near future, and look for my first “official” blog in the coming days.

Happy gaming!