Bittersweet Symphony

Being an avid castlevania, Symphony of the night was a game that i have yet to play despite its huge accolades. Acquiring the PSOne really late when the system was on its way out, all i was left with were huge system sellers re-released on budget labels and some other late releases like Dino Crisis 2. Symphony of the Night was such an obscure little hit that it was very difficult to acquire it from game stores.

Having finished Jeanne D'arc recently , i thought of playing Symphony of the Night on the Dracula X Chronicles so as to drum up some hype for the upcoming Order of the Ecclesia released on the DS next month. I missed the sound of UMD spinning in the disc drive and it's always a good time to give it a good spin after running on the memory stick for so long. I always thought that the Dracula X Chronicles was a really good value for money as you are essentially getting three games for the price of one. I would probably have spent more time on it had it not been for the language barrier on the japan import, it's certain not impossible to play given Rondo of Blood distinctly old school lack of menu and text.

But Symphony was a slightly newer game with a little more emphasis on RPG so there was always that worry there. I'm going to try to play it on the import version and if it really does prove too difficult, there always the US version recently discounted on Play-asia. When i initially boot up Symphony, the graphics took a little getting used to as it was from an era of Castlevania that i was not entirely familiar with. Widely regarded as the pinnacle of the series, this should keep me busy for some time to come.

October Rain

October has always been a big month for me when it comes to games where i usually reward myself with a big purchase and by the definition of big, i don't just mean a new game. It's a trend i started about three years ago with the japanese version of Dante May Cry 3 which i bought at a local game store. Seeing that it was a local game store, you can probably guess it wasn't by any means cheap but i really wanted that cool handphone strap that came with it. Since Play-asia never discounted the japanese version anyways before it was eventually replaced with the special edition, i don't think it was that bad of a purchase.

Next was the PAL version of Metal Gear Solid 3 Subsistence, the standard edition for the PAL market comes with all three discs included while the US version only had two disc as the standard edition. While i won't mind the standard two-disc US version at that time, it too became scarce when i was about to purchase it so i have to settle for the PAL three-disc version. Most recently was the konamistyle edition of Castlevania Dracula X Chronicles, probably my biggest purchase so far. i thought about it for some time and even hesitated a while primarily because it wasn't cheap but since it happens to be close to October, i thought what the hell.


This year, the only release in the month of October which i'm interested in is Suda51's Flower, sun and rain but sadly, no US release date has been announced yet. The only other option is the PAL version scheduled for release this October, however shipping it from HMV is not going to be cheap, what with the postage rates they charge.

Sound of the Inevitable

How much is a soundtrack disc worth? Quite a lot in this case, apparently local asian forumers are tearing up a storm over the fact that the region 3 Metal Gear Solid 4 Limited Edition will not include the bonus soundtrack disc like the US Gamestop exclusive. While i myself am sore over it too, it's not like i didn't see it coming. I have never really been a fan of region3/asian release of games, i find them cheap and practically worthless in my eyes nor do i care about supporting the local gaming community like some others. I think it's a mere illusion that purchasing an asian release will help drive up the sales of games in this region and encourage publishers to do more regionally release, after all most of these asian releases are meant for the Hong Kong market anyway. Nor do i have much of a choice in this case, seeing that I don't have access to ordering the exclusive limited edition from Gamestop and i'm not planning to go out of my way to acquire it.

I remember a similar scenario occurring when i pre-ordered the konamistyle edition of Castlevania Dracula X Chornicles only to later discover that the "complete" version should contain the soundtrack disc as well. Major bumper as i have always been a fan of Castlevania music but ultimately i bought the soundtrack separately and ended up with the complete collection anyway. Now that this has happened with the Metal Gear Limited Edition, i have to make some changes and formulate a plan to make the most out of it. I intend to sell the R3 version of the game included in the Limited Edition package as i'm not much of an online gamer anyway and keep the R1 version of the game that comes with the console bundle.

And of course, the bonus blu-ray from the Limited Edition.....hehe

Now i can put the R1 game together with the R3 bonus blu-ray disc and have my ideal collection. I just need to get hold of the soundtrack disc somehow...

Bullet In The Head

Here are some of the bargains i managed to pick up from Play-Asia during the last Easter clearance sale, some unexpected buys if you consider the fact that i don't usually do budget reprints. Of particular interest is the PSOne Books release of Castlevania: Symphony of the Night, which if you have been following this blog for some time now may know that I already own the Dracula X Chronicles for the PSP so this may seem like an unnecessary purchase. In reality it kinda is and i was contemplating for the longest time whether or not to get this especially when it already available for download on the Playstation Store (PSN) for the Playstation3 but ultimately i caved in as it was been discounted to USD$14.90 (from USD$24.90!). Guess I'm just not ready for the digital era and will still take a tangible copy which i can cherish and keep any day.The Dino Crisis japanese import was also too good to miss as it was only going for a meager USD$7.90 and was in pretty damn good shape for a pre-owned copy, i will definitely keep that in mind when i'm browsing through Play-asia's pre-owned section again next time.There are a couple of other things i would like to point out about both these games but i guess i will save it for later and get to the real meat of this post, the Biohazard Umbrella Chronicles Artbook.

Capcom are known for having some of the best artistic guys in the business, with their character design and art direction but the guy who did the character design for Umbrella Chronicles (Shinkiro) is just plain sadistic. Don't get me wrong, his characters are very much in line with the Resident Evil universe but if i could show you the contents of the artbook you will know what i mean. In fact, if you have played the game you will know what i mean, the proportions of some of these monsters are just plain ridicuious. Of course, artists usually have their own style of proportions which actually makes their work more fascinating, namely some of my idols like Todd Mcfarlane and Ayame Kojima (Castlevania). Ever notice most of the major bosses in Umbrella Chronicles all have insanely small heads?!?! Sure it's intentional to create a more challenging game but to the point where the characters start to look ridicuious is unacceptable. Ivan, the Tyrant bodyguard to Sergei is guilty of this but since he is of a similar series of Tyrant to Mr.X from RE2 who also happens to spot a tiny head i will let this one slide. Has anyone noticed how small Talos' head is? If he even have a head in the first place....

CERO to zero

I have a, some might say rather odd preference for japanese imports when it comes to games, given the fact that i hardly know any japanese at all despite attempting to learn the language twice. I guess it started way back when i got my Gameboy while i was with my dad on assignment in Japan and the japanese games came in cute little boxes (with better cover art too) compared with the rather clumsy US boxes. Even during the 32-bit era, one of my early favourite games Biohazard had the full uncut intro on the japanese release which sadly never made it to western shores after so many iterations including the most recent Deadly Silence on the Nintendo DS. Onimusha also lost a crucial scene and frankly, some of its' atmosphere when it was localised for the Western market. That was then this is now, things has certainly changed since CERO (Computer Entertainment Rating Organization) took charge of the age rating for the video games distributed in Japan. Biohazard 4 was one of the first games to suffer some cuts under CERO as the decapitation scenes were deemed too violent and had to be censored from the japanese version. In a reverse of fortunes, Resident Evil 4 was passed through without any of these cuts in the US, making the japanese version slighty inferior. I also recently had a unpleasant surprise when i played the US version of Dracula X Chronicles on my PSP upon finishing the japanese version earlier and discovered that some footage off the openning CG intro was cut! No doubt the work of CERO again, the shot of blood trickling off the coffin of Dracula onto his forehead was missing from the japanese version.

Play-Asia just had another Easter clearance sale where everything in-stock was going for 20% less and here i was facing the dilemma of whether to order the US, Asian or japanese version of Devil May Cry 4. All three were discounted and only a few dollars set them apart, after much thought i ended up ordering the japanese import as i heard you get a slighty different intro music on the openning cutscene of the japanese version. Some things never change i suppose....

Circle of Life

Ever checked out Gamespot's highest rated games of all time? If you scroll to the all-time list for Gameboy Advance you will notice the highest score they ever awarded to a game on the GBA is actually a third-party game, in fact it's a launch game! It's none other than Konami's Castlevania: Circle of the Moon, the first of three Castlevania games to be eventually released on the GBA. Now either Jeff Gerstmann has been deprived too long of his vampire-staking fix or was feeling generous on launch day, i never really found out as Circle of the Moon was the only Castlevania title from the GBA that i have yet to play. In fact, once i got my Nintendo DS, it was one of the first title i sought to hunt down but during that time, most of the Castlevania GBA titles were already long out-of-print. I ended playing both Harmony of Dissonance and Aria of Sorrow first when Konami re-printed both games as a Castlevania Double Pack. Yesterday when i happened to stumble onto Circle of the Moon lying in the bargain bins of a video game store. Though it was the Japanese edition, it was too good of an opportunity for me to pass up, especially after coming off the rather import-friendly Dracula X Chronicles.

Coming at a not-so bargain bin price, the cart and box looks to be in pretty decent condition save perhaps for a slight tear on the cover from the old original price tag.Though i was like to point out that i'm very impressed with the cover art for the Japanese edition, it's easily the best non-Ayame Kojima Castlevania cover art I have seen in a long time. Can't wait to get cracking on this game, as soon as i achieved 100% completion on Rondo of Blood....

The Good Ole' Times

They just don't make them like they used....the same goes with games. Many long time gamers who grew up during the 8/16-bit era will tell you that despite the improvements in visual and audio storytelling of games, the games of today just doesn't match up to the games of yester-years. Playing Dracula X the last two days has certainly rekindled a lot of fond memories of the 8/16-bit era, and while i can't attest to the fact that games back there weren't better than the ones now, I certainly remember them being a lot tougher. Then it got me thinking some more, were games back then intentionally made harder because they weren't half as long as games these days? Sure players moaned nowadays if a game can be completed in less than 10 hours but back in the 8/16 bit era, save for the Zelda games, most of them could be completed in one day if you really sit through it on a Sunday afternoon. Well if that myth is true, it certainly worked because i could remember some of these games better than the games of today which i completed over the last few years. Load up the ole Castlevania and i could still remember some of the more tricker level layouts and where exactly Simon Belmont should stand when the ole' Count is about to strike during the grand boss fight. The levels were much shorter and many times, player had to replay the level if they died at a boss fight...so we would play it again and again and again...

You will die a lot in this game.......

I'm afraid i can't say the same about recent games, I can hardly remember any of the boss fights from the last three Onimusha games and probably not even some of the level layouts too. Kinda sad don't you think? They just don't make them like they used to...or are we gamers getting too soft?

Are games today getting too soft?

Guilty Pleasure

They say with constant technology advancements, games are becoming more like movies...or rather movies are becoming more like games, judging the lack of creativityfrom Hollywood these days. Games and consoles have become popular holiday gifts that parents buy for their children so it's little surprise that many major games are released during this time of the year. Myself, i plan to occupy my time with my much-neglected PSP playing Konami's one-two punch of Dracula X Chronicles and Silent Hill Origins (released back-to-back over the last two months).

Traverse around galaxy with Mario this season?

Then it got me thinking, if games are becoming more like movies and with the holiday seasons around, why don't we see an influx of feel good games like the type of Christmas movies of Hollywood? Could it be because, playing games itself is just a pleasure that whether you are playing the Grand Thefts or Loco-Rocos of the season, you are likely to have a smile on your face. I guess games have this timeless appeal that makes them suitable to play anytime of the year, because let's face it shooting down undeads never gets old. So maybe in light of the festive season, we should all put down our guns and pick up something happy, like the Loco-Roco of this year....Crush. I certainly plan to....

Or take a gamble with a 'small' game like Crush?