Horror Drag

Alien Isolation is a game that will interest fans of the horror genre or the Alien franchise. I happened to be fan of both so this was another game I wanted to play on my PC. The only thing I wasn't keen on was the first person view but upon finishing it, the first person view felt like the right choice. 

I feel like having no weapons in a horror game like just an easy and obvious design choice in a horror game. It doesn't work most of the time like how Shattered Memories have proven. Alien Isolation thankfully didn't adopt this approach but for most of the time, you didn't have an effective weapon against the Alien. The problem is once you get the flamethrower late in the game, you feel invincible as you can stop the Alien from attacking you. 

There are obvious pacing issues with this game, it drags far too long and ruined some of its goodwill and credibility earned with a bad ending. Some of its climactic moments occurred in the middle of the game making the end parts of the game a bit boring by comparisons. While RE4 was also a bit too long for its own good, the end parts were never boring thanks to Mikami's sense of pacing. In Alien Isolation, I thought the game was ending in several different instances before the actual end of the game. 

Aside from the bad ending, there are no bonus content upon finishing the game. Well there are survivor mode and maps but those are not related to the story mode. Thankfully the pre-order bonus included 2 DLC episodes based on iconic moments from the original Alien movie. I recommend playing the movie DLC after finishing the game but I can imagine there are fans only played these episode without bothering with the main game. 

Extremely Expected

Kiwami was the one of my fastest purchase for the RGG series. While not exactly day one, I got it early enough that the DLC was still coming out for the game.

Why the rush to get this game? I wasn't that eager to play it and yet somehow I ended buying the game faster than most of the rest.  I guess it was the sentimental value, being a faithful remake of the game that kickstarted the series that is now 10 years old.

I find the decision to remake this game faithfully very odd but it also enforces the notion that there was nothing wrong with the original game anyway. The original game aged better than most so this was just a quick cash-in by Sega to fill the gap before Yakuza 6. There wasn't a fan demand to remake this game though I understand that many got into the series when it made the leap to PS3 generation. This remake lacks the wow factor as we have seen the graphics from the same engine used in RGG0.

The new story elements revolves around Nishiki's transformation during the time Kiryu was in prison. This started out pretty well showing the importance of the ring Kiryu gifted to Yumi. However, it ended pretty badly and I'm not fully convinced  how abruptly wimpy Nishiki turned into a stone cold gangster. Anyway seeing how Nishiki transformation played out made me glad RGG0 never actually tackle Kiryu or Majima's origins. The new cutscenes are inserted at the start of each chapter which can be very confusing for newcomers that never played the original. It's actually a clever gimmick to keep long time fans interested playing what is essentially the same game again.

After the success of RGG0, it was difficult to imagine how SEGA would top that. They didn't actually tried to and in a sense, mailed it in by churning out Kiwami. It's not a major disappointment as I make it out to be but in retrospect you learn to appreciate how special RGG0 truly was.

Portable Warfare

Valkyria Chronicles is one of the best IP to come out from last generation. It has everything I loved in a video game : cel-shaded graphics, strategy RPG gameplay and women with big guns. While I have yet to finish the first game on the PS3, it's only because I have too many PS3 games to clear. The recent HDD woes on my PS3 system certainly didn't helped matters.

VC3 was a great experience and to be honest, I enjoyed this type of game more on a portable than a console. Since my PSP has been sitting idle for a while, I decided to play VC2 in the mean time. Now I'm really playing the series in reverse order and hopefully that won't be an issue as the 3 games are loosely connected. It does mess up the timeline quite a bit though.

Valkyria Chronicles on the PS3 is like the big-budget brother to the PSP siblings. In VC1, every dialogue was voiced and the character models were used even in the non-animated cutscenes. VC3 made some small compromises but the strong character design and artwork made up for the loss.

VC2 seems to be using a different art director compared with VC1 and VC3. The new style of character design is hard to get into after being so used to the original artist. The new characters pale in comparisons to the cast of VC1 and VC3. To top it off, their personality isn't great either. The lead character is supposed to be some underdog slacker but it's pretty hard to root for him.

As for the gameplay, in VC1 and VC3 you get to view your enemy's action as it unfolds during their turn. It may be boring for some players but I tend to use the time to put down the controller and take a quick break. It's always a nice surprise if you come back to find half your squad wiped off because of some poor decisions (lol). In VC2, you don't get to see your opponent turn at all as everything is simulated on the battle map (it doesn't zoom in on the characters). This speeds things up considerably but it's hard to improve and learn from mistakes when you don't get to see how the AI plays.

It's clear even from this point that VC2 isn't the best in the series. In fact it could have very well torpedo the series potential if it wasn't for VC3 righting the ship.

Good Will Funding

Publishers seems to recognise the importance of good will among the consumer these days.

Take Yakuza 5 for example, when Sega announced the localisation of this 3-year old game, fans lamented that they were basically sending the game out to fail without a retail release. It was only months later when the game is about to release that the full picture is revealed. Sega never had high hopes for Yakuza 5 given the circumstances of the timing, it's Yakuza 0 that they are pinning their hopes on.

But in order to ensure that they don't alienate fans and leave a bad impression before 0, Sega knew they had to give Yakuza 5 a localization even if it means losing money. Now Yakuza 0 takes centre stage and will get a proper retail release on Sony's thriving PS4 console. It's in a good position to succeed unlike Yakuza 5. The announcement of Zero on the eve of Yakuza 5 release hopefully created more good will for fans to believe again.

Another prime example would be Zelda Wii U. With the NX announcement looming this year, many believe Nintendo will jump ship and release the new Zelda on the NX instead. They might very well do so but probably not at the cost of forsaking the original Wii U version. Sure, Nintendo has no legal obligation to do so and would only be breaking their word if they do. But Nintendo can't afford to lose anymore good will at this point especially when they are hoping this very same customer base will buy their new NX.

Releasing the Zelda Wii U is probably a losing business for Nintendo just like releasing Yakuza 5 is for Sega/Sony. It's only the big picture that is making these losses worthwhile as any clever businessman will recognise. Sometime you need to lose a little first in order to win later. Or sometimes, it's not about losing but maintaining the relationship that matters here.

Zero Expectations

We are who we are because of the events and people that come across in our lives. It's never one singular event or person that shapes someone, more like the snowball effect.

That's why it's hard to make a good prequel story. We all want to know how our favourite character came to be so prequel stories are always popular. The problem is prequel stories only have a window of a small time frame so everything gets distilled into one dramatic event. Often time, it's disappointing to fans as it cannot live up to their expectations.

Snake eater was a great prequel but did Snake truly learnt everything from one lady called the Boss? Let's not even begin with the Darth Vader origins.

Yakuza 0 is a great prequel because it isn't hamstring by the burden of telling how Kiryu and Majima became who they are. Kiryu isn't the dragon of Dojima yet and Majima isn't the mad dog we come to love. No one died in dramatic fashion that caused Majima to go bananas (which frankly would be pretty bad taste). It's just a story set in a time where Kiryu and Majima were young and totally unlike their current self.

The modern day Kiryu simply won't bust out moves at the dance floor or get date raped in old fashion telephone hook-ups. He also didn't have a pal like Nishiki at his side anymore, someone he considers his brother and equal.

The ending where they revert to their trademark outfit was the only bad point of the story. It felt forced and out of the blue. It didn't skipped ahead in time and I was just getting used to how charming Majima looks in a suit and ponytail. Prequel story like this are rare where the creators simply ignore the obvious route and focus on creating a good compelling a story.

Last Hurrah for Chivalry

Yakuza Zero is really impressive, I can't remember any recent prequel game that is this good. I think Studio RGG is simply incapable of making a bad Yakuza game.

Each time a major female character is introduced in these games, something magical happens for the series.
These stories usually revolves around honour and loyalty but having a female character brings some good old chivalry and romance plot into the mixture. It's no coincidence that Yakuza 2 and 4 are the best games in the series.

I was very happy that Kiryu is back as the main lead character when studio RGG decided to cut back on the number of playable characters.I was a little skeptic about having Majima drive the story of the game because his character is used quite sparingly in the older games. Overexposing him in this game could potentially diminishes the greatness of the Majima character. Thankfully I was wrong and I could definitely see Majima heading future Yakuza games all by himself.

There is a real sense of threat and urgency in this game, the story is a lot darker than the recent games. Studio RGG has a habit of saving lame characters from dying so they could use them again in future games. Maybe because of the prequel nature, a lot of characters die in this game and these are very good characters.

Finally we get to switch the fighting styles of the characters which I have been longing for since the PSP spin-off games. Changing the fighting styles on the fly makes the whole gameplay feels fresh again. Some say the series is suffering from fatigue but I feel it's been re-invigorated by this game.

Thanks to Salty Yen for his video translations. It's nice to play the games alongside with him and I don't think I could enjoy the game this much without him.

Digitally Yours

I would like to talk about a gaming trend that has became more and more prevalent over the years, digital distribution of games. Some say it will spell the end for brick and mortar game shops eventually though maybe not in Japan where they still love their game box arts and so fore.

The reason I'm bringing this up is because it's starting to affect me, several of my favorite series have recently announced digital-only distribution of their new releases. Unlike some other fanboys, I don't feel less ownership of the game if it's digital, it's just I would like to have some tangible to add in my proud collection. I do enjoy the convenience of not having to get up and swap discs when it's digital but to me, it's just a minor annoyance I would gladly put up with to own the physical copy.

Now developing games are becoming more costly and putting out a physical copy isn't as cheap as one may think, there are logistics involved and not just the mere cost of writing the actual disc. I get all that but I really wonder for the case of Yakuza 5, is Sega allowing the fate of the series to continue down this road? It's really a chicken and egg dilemma, are you going to able to foster new fanbase if you don't spend the money to put physical copies in stores and promote the game? Rebirth HD and Revelations 2 will sell on their own even if it's digital only as the Resident Evil franchise is huge so in Capcom's case, it's just a matter of Capcom trying to save some bucks by going this route (to be fair, Capcom did distribute Rebirth on disc in Asia region and also give a significant discount for the digital version of Revelations 2).

Yakuza is a series on its last legs in the West, each sequel has seen diminishing sales so it's almost like Sega is doing this just for the fans and not hoping to reach out to new fans. While I applaud Sega (and Sony) for doing this, I'm also sad that Sega is no longer interested in investing in this franchise overseas though it's probably been that way for some time now. Well I guess I will always have my Asian copies and now not have to worry about ugly box art on the western version anymore.

Blackout in Kamurocho

I managed to track down a used copy of the first Ryu Ga Gotoku to add to my collection, having never played the first game in Japanese voice-overs since Sega wisely decided to dub the game for Western audience. Even then I didn't have much complaints about the English voice-overs, as a matter of fact I remember most of the main characters were really well done but Sega did used one too many celebrities for this one.

Before she was WET, she was Kiryu's first love interest

I missed having Kiryu at the center of the story, these days in the newer games he tends to just show up at the end of the story to beat the main bad guy because he's after all, the face of the series. I also missed gritty feel of the yakuza society, these guys are not nice people and the original writer set the tone in these first 2 games which team RGG have since failed to keep up and do justice to his characters. 

The loading time is not as bad as I remember and the graphics still look pretty good for PS2 games, I like how every cutscene looked consistent because there is only one engine to render all cutscenes (save for the FMV videos which SEGA used very sparingly). In the PS3 games, the story sometimes unfolds using the video cutscene and game engine cutscene but there is always an awkward fade-out black screen when switching over and it can get annoying when there are numerous switch overs. SEGA needs to create a more seamless transition between these or just stick with one form of cut-scene because it looks very outdated for a modern game like Yakuza. 

Yakuza 5 Final Impressions

When Team RGG made Dead Souls, they clearly pushed the game engine as far as they could. In fact, I would say they over-exert the system resulting in frequent frame-rate drops and long loading time. Dead Souls is a low point in SEGA stellar series especially after reaching great heights with Kenzan (the first spin-off), it would be a shame if the game ends the series run outside Japan.

Yakuza 5 is a turning point for the franchise with a new game engine which will be basis for the next few installments in the series (Ishin appears to be running on the same engine). When you first play Yakuza 5, the difference is not immediately noticeable as there isn't a great graphic leap from previous installments. The improvements comes from a gameplay perspective which I will share from my observations having finished the game. Obviously there won't be any spoilers as I will probably cover the story some time later, now onto the improvements found in Yakuza 5.

1. The Gang Fights

Kiryu is a beast when it comes to fighting even with hoards of yakuzas, it doesn't matter how many they are Kiryu will always be the last man standing. The last few RGG games have big epic brawls but you can fight up to about 6 to 8 yakuzas the most at one time, the game will usually show a screen of more yakuzas stepping in before 'loading' a new wave of enemies. This time you get to fight them all, no screen to hide the loading if you can see them, you can fight them. This is a major step, big epic brawls are what RGG games are all about - just imagine how many more yakuzas the game will have on PS4 system. 

2. The Chase Sequence

I can't remember when the chase sequence in RGG games started but it was really clumsy at the beginning and team RGG knew this as they kept improving it with each installments. It always felt ridiculous when you begin running around in the same 'laps' over and over again if you can't catch up to the guy fast enough. Now you can do more that just tackle the guy, you can execute a whole set of moves including a cool drop kick if you get close enough. No more laps too, the chase sequence actually covers a wide area of the city crossing through busy traffic and crowd (Did I mention the cars are no longer just part of the background?). Team RGG finally nails it right in Yakuza 5 but I wish they would focus more on tailing missions instead, which was introduced in the Kurohyou PSP game and seen briefly here in the taxi missions.

3. Seamless Transition 

This was the big selling point before Yakuza 5 was released but I'm not convinced if it's a fully seamless transition to 'combat mode' when it comes to random encounters. It feels more or less similar to Yakuza 3 which was a big leap from Yakuza 2, there is still a loading time only this time - more enemies can join in or escape from the fight depending on how well you are doing. You are never quite sure how many you are fighting unlike in the past games' random encounters, it's always a fixed number of enemies you have to clear them all to win the fight. In Yakuza 5 if the remaining enemy gets scared and run off - you automatically win the fight, I can't really appreciate this feature so I'm writing it down last. 

There you have it, Yakuza 5 improvements if you can't be bothered with the game or was not impressed by the demo. The last game engine was use for up to 4 installments so it remains to see how long team RGG will keep with this.

Yakuza 4 Hard Mode

Ok it doesn't look like I will be able to revive my old system long enough to retrieve the save data onto the  new system. At the very least, I managed to get the disc struck inside back - Yakuza 4 which I have yet to complete at that time. I have been grinding the game to about 80 hours plus when my old system failed leaving the story unresolved just before the conclusion.

Once I realised I have to start all over again from scratch, I decided to jump straight to Hard mode and skip the side mission, focus on finishing the story. This is sort of uncharted territory for myself because when I finish the Hard mode for part 3, I had the luxury of using the leveled up characters from my Normal mode save.  I guess I wanted the extra challenge when playing the game again since I already played the entire game up till the last boss encounter.

So one weekend of nothing about Yakuza 4 later, I have finish the story mode on Hard mode in a new save file. I remember having a harder time on part 3 even with a leveled up Kiryu perhaps part 4 has a lower difficulty curve as Sega was incorporating three new characters into the fray.

Eye Opening Revelation

If you haven't notice by now, I have been playing a lot of SEGA's Yakuza lately. Upon starting slowly but surely on Kenzan, I went back to finish my second run of Yakuza 3. Playing Kenzan in Japanese made me realised I haven't got around to viewing the cut content from the english localization of Yakuza 3 which should be a breeze now that I'm taking the hard way with Kenzan. If only Yakuza 3 was a better game I would have felt more compelled to play the import but as it's, part 3 is pretty inferior when compared with the rest of the series.

Kenzan is a fun diversion even if only because of the novelty factor, like ThePatrick said it best "It's almost as if the cast of Ryu Ga Gotoku were suddenly hired to be actors in a play about Musashi". It makes you appreciate the characters even more, there's a scene in Kenzan where Majima Gorohachi loses his eye and although they aren't the same character, you can't help but glee in fanboy delight. Then there is Yakuza 4 I just started last week but haven't play enough to really get into it here, I did notice there were scenes of Majima before the eye patch in the opening video. Not sure if it’s revealed how he lost his eye in this timeline or if it’s as dramatic as Kenzan but I’m sure it will be a nice revelation for fans.

Damned Weekly Offers

My friend in Singapore was a little surprised when I didn't pick up any games during my recent trip there last month. I suppose this is because he has seen me at my worst, splurging on video games to the point he had to treat me to dinner afterwards as I simply couldn't afford such a lavish meal on my last day there. Yeah I know, I'm embarrassed by that so I made it a point not to let that happen again (the splurging of course, not the lavish meals...)

This time there were a couple of close calls like Shadow of the Damned and No More Heroes Paradise but ultimately it just wasn't as cheap as it looks after converting the dollars. I ended up having enough for a lavish meal this time even though we just had some rather affordable greasy burgers instead.

Today's Play-asia weekly special is pretty enticing, in fact they have been on quite a row recently offering Binary Domain and Never Dead just weeks after release. This week is the big kahuna, Yakuza: Dead Souls as well as Shadows of the Damned on the daily special. The only concern is Shadows happens to be the Japanese version and I didn't have time to see if it was import-friendly or not. The time was 3 hours away from the daily special expiring and there were only a few copies left. Ultimately I just had to take the chance, it's about as cheap as you can find the game selling here and just a tad cheaper than it was in Singapore. Of course, this wouldn't be a story if I failed to mention the hero's trashy looking girlfriend appearing on the cover of the box art as she was curiously absent from the others. Never underestimate the power of the string, my friend. Now it's time to make some room on my hard disk and game cupboard for my bulging collection.

The Mystery of Kenzan

I forgot to mention that my copy of Yakuza Kenzan happened to be a brand new copy still in its shrinkwrap when purchased. I didn't really give it much thought as to why a black label version was still available when the budget edition was released quite some time ago. I did see a lot of japanese games in the game store so it could have been old stock waiting to be cleared. Then I got home and realised something was amiss with my copy as you will soon see here with these pictures.

Now if you look at the earlier post you will notice I stacked my copy of Kenzan next to my japanese import of Yakuza 3. If you are aware of the chronology Kenzan was released before Yakuza 3, in fact it's the first Yakuza game on the ps3 platform from team SEGA. Still with me so far? Good now take a look here at the top of the Yakuza 3 case, it has the old playstation 3 logo embossed onto the case like most old games back when the black label used to be on the side of the cover art.

Now since Kenzan came before 3, the case should also be embossed with the old playstation 3 logo on the top right? That's the weird thing, the case for my copy of Yakuza Kenzan happened to be the new type without the playstation 3 logo on the top despite being shrinkwrapped. This is the official Sony shrinkwrap mind you, where you see the playstation logo on the tape as you peel the plastic off. Now before you jump into any conclusions as to why an old game could end up in a new casing, I must say I also notice a similar copy of Kenzan appearing in another game store so I doubt there's anything fishy going on here. My only plausible explanation for all this is that the game are still being published in their original cover art in Taiwan.

Let's Play Kenzan!

In case you see me on PSN and was wondering what I was playing, here's the latest addition to my game collection, Yakuza Kenzan. I have been meaning to play this game for a long time and like most gave up waiting for a western release. Of course I wasn't going to settle for a budget label release at this stage so I kept looking for a black label version of the original release until I found this in Taiwan.

Not a bad find at the price of 750NT plus I love getting games on my trip overseas as it makes great momentos.... well for me at least.

Tough Guy Talk

The general complaint is that Vanquish is too short of a game but I found the length to be just nice. The game could really use some neat bonus to enhance the replay value but unfortunately there is little offered here. I didn't unlock the skill challenge yet perhaps it requires a higher difficulty level as I decided to start the game on casual auto. I wanted to be a bit more creative about adding replay value to the game so that's why I intend to work my way up from the easiest difficulty all the way to God Hard mode. Hopefully that will gently ease me into the game enough to earn all the trophies and just give me the general satisfaction of mastering a notoriously hard game. On the bright side there are six voice-over track included on the game so you can always have a little fun with listening to the tough guys talk in German or French. All in all I had a lot of fun with this game, I wasn't itching to play it everyday like Dead Rising 2 but I end up liking it a lot more than when I first tried the demo. In fact the second demo featuring on the skill challenge had me in real doubts about getting the game at all but fortunately I decided to take the risk and give the game another chance.

Eyes to Behold

I have gone and done it again. This time I was so desperate that I didn't even bother with a standard Play asia coupon code. Speaking of codes, it's funny how those things are so readily available when you don't need them and when you do need one, you just can't seem to get hold of one. Story of my life I suppose.

Dragon's Quest

There's a dragon on a mission right now and that mission is to earn as many missing trophies as possible in Yakuza 3. Free from the constraints of the story mode, I'm able to focus my attention to areas which reward you with trophies for your hard work and so far, the trophy hunt has been the ultimate thrill. Some are getting exceedingly difficult to achieve like finding the remaining locker keys but having Kiryu adequately level up does help and certainly make you feel up beating the hell out of anyone who gets in your way.

I actually dislike trophies that require you to go out on a limb beyond the context of the actual game and the trophy that best describes this is the 'careless dragon' trophy. I'm just glad to have gotten that out of the way but there's still a ways to go as I'm only about 50% done with the game. Hopefully I should be able to get most of these done and also put some time into the japanese import before the localised Yakuza 4 ships early next year.

A Witch's Job is Never Finished

It's been a while since I last played Bayonetta and while I long to play that game again there are always issues preventing me from doing so. For one thing there are other games waiting to be played (though the reality is I'm also replaying some other games at the moment) and then there is also the 'fragility' of dualshock3 controller i have to be concerned with.

During this time Platinum Games has released a 5-disc soundtrack album and artbook to complement the game release with the Best of reprint of the original game for Japanese market scheduled for release later in September. Looks like a witch's job is never finished surely this won't be the last we see of her as Platinum Games is set to unveil some Bayonetta-related news really soon according to the game's producer. While I would love to add both the 5-disc soundtrack and artbook to my collection it stills burns that I wasn't given the pre-order soundtrack sampler when i purchased the japanese copy of the game from a local dealer. Having the 5-disc soundtrack might just be a painful reminder of that so the artbook is certainly much more tempting to me right now. Now if only I was done going through the last artbook I got I won't feel so guilty about getting this now.

Black Humour

I'm not very demanding when it comes to action movie or action game plots, usually even the cliche works for me so when i heard that Platinum Games had roped in Final Fantasy XII's Yasumi Matsumi to pen Madworld scenario, i wasn't sure what to expect. Sure enough Madworld made little sense at the end but the cutscenes are slick and exciting enough to keep things interesting. The final boss is a bit of a joke but fitting considering the game's dark humour, in the end i'm not even sure who the real villain is. The game is just long enough so things don't become too repetitive but Madworld still works best when played in short bursts rather than one long sitting.

Hopefully Platinum Games will come up with a sequel without the Final Fantasy plot and introduce more new creative kills.

March Madness II

Right about this time last year I was experiencing my march madness where my spending just went up the roof for Resident Evil 5 and all other things RE-lated. This year things are not much different and i'm sure you will agree if you are an avid ps3 user with the slew of great ps3 games out this month. While i'm feeling the pinch myself, it's less apparent here seeing that i never developed much of any liking for RPG games and also i have always been much more of a devil may cry guy.

Most of the damage would have to be attributed to my trip to Singapore later this month and also my sister trip to US where i hope to score a couple of good bargains back. These aren't exactly new games which you will learn about over the coming few weeks but it should keep me busy until summer when Capcom's big sequels are out. With no sign of Yakuza 3 region 1 in sight yet, I still haven't figure out if i should continue to wait it out and add it onto my already long shopping list.