Saturday, 31 May 2014

Persona, Forbidden Magna, Island Days, IA/VT Colorful - This Week's Trailer Round-Up!

It's hard to keep up with all the wonderful new trailers that come out in J-RPG and Japanese game land. To make this easier on you guys, I've put them all in one post for you. Enjoy!

Forbidden Magna (3DS)



There aren't a heap of solid details about this game, but it looks interesting! It involves spirits. (apologies for vague-ness, I couldn't find much else about the gameplay at this point)

Persona Q (3DS)








This is out in Japan in less than a week - I can't believe it! These trailers go over the gameplay in Persona Q, particularly concentrating on the new dungeon elements. I'm really excited for this and have no way of playing it until it's in English. Wah.



A new Vocaloid rhythm game that adds it's own unique twist to the Idol-Rhythm Game genre. This trailer is a big trailer about the gameplay, featuring the rhythm game mechanisms, an introduction to difficulty levels and daily play, plus costumes and other features. I'm enjoying the idea of this game - it seems to have a cooler, more indie/alternative feel when compared to Hatsune Miku: Project Diva f and has a lot of artistic and creative looking music videos and rhythm game elements. Definitely one to watch for rhythm game fans.



Freedom Wars is a game with a very interesting concept: you play as a criminal with a million year sentence and the only way to work it off is to fight off monsters that are kidnapping the population. This trailer shows off some new characters and weapons.


If you ever saw the School Days anime or played the game, Island Days has the same cast and is part visual novel and part tower defense game. But they're not at school this time - they're stuck on an island! (Side note: Makoto would be a scary person to be stuck on an island with if you're a female in my eyes. Just saying.)

This clip shows some of the shenanigans we can expect from Island Days.



Another character for the new Persona 4 Arena fighting game! This time we see Ken and Koromaru from Persona 3. They will feature as one combined playable character.

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Ps. I may do an experiment next week and see how I go posting these as individual posts and then doing a weekly round up on all posts. We shall see how this goes/if I go through with it! I'll keep posted about it on the @JRPGJungle Twitter. Would love to hear your thoughts!

Thursday, 29 May 2014

Sharing is Caring! Pokemon Emerald/Ruby/Sapphire Battle Music (Orchestra Cover by George King)

Need some epic nostalgia? Here's an awesome orchestrated version of the Champions theme from Pokemon Ruby, Sapphire and Emerald to celebrate the upcoming release of Pokemon Omega Ruby and Alpha Sapphire. The orchestration really makes the already great piece soar!



Now I REALLY want to play Pokemon.

The orchestration is done by George King (my boyfriend) who was so keen for the new Pokemon games that he made this. You can check out his other pieces at his website: http://www.mihosproductions.com/

Xbox One is getting some mega cool JRPGs!

Never ever did I think I would want an Xbox One so soon. A few days ago, a NicoNico stream was held by Mages and it announced some awesome new games, including a new Science Adventure series (which includes Steins;Gate, Chaos;Head and Robotic;Notes) game! Trailers below, all games look pretty darn cool, although I don't know nearly enough Japanese to tell you anything more about them. If anyone has anymore information or can translate, I welcome your comments!

Psycho Pass


Psycho Pass is a game based off the anime series, although this game is a new story presumably in the same universe. I watched a few episodes of Psycho Pass and it's something I've been meaning to come back to. The anime is full of a very interesting concept about technology having the ability to measure a person's mental state and whether or not they're about to commit a crime. I'm sure this will be reflected in the game, I can't wait!

Chaos;Child



Mystereet f



Update! Kotaku has posted English versions of these trailers that are highly helpful. You can view them at their article: http://www.kotaku.com.au/2014/05/japans-xbox-one-exclusives-translated-for-your-convenience/

This week's notable EU PSN releases...JRPG style! (29/5/14)

Every week a heap of games and DLC are released on PSN. In this post, I like to put all the JRPGs and Japanese games to make it easier for you to find them!

PS. You might have noticed I didn't put one of these posts up last week. It's because I didn't really see anything notable. But this week is somewhat better!

New Releases

Mugen Souls Z (PS3)


I always see the original Mugen Souls for cheap and have still never bought it. It does look interesting, even if it got a lot of mixed reviews.

In the first Mugen Souls, Chou-Chou wanted to conquer the whole world. Now she wants to conquer the universe. Also includes a battle technique called 'Fetish Pose' which is both amusing and worrying.

Mind Zero (PS Vita)


The first time I heard about this game, it was being called a Persona rip off so I now have a natural curiousity as to what this game is.

I couldn't find a heap of info about this game, other than the main character makes a contract with someone or something called 'Mind' and there are two worlds, the real world and the crazy world. It does sound a tad familiar, but I'd like to give this game a chance at some point.

DLC for these games:
  • Conception 2
  • Jojo's Bizarre Adventure
  • Ragnarok Odsessy Ace
And a pretty cool game demo:
  • Ragnarok Odsessy Ace (PS Vita and PS3)
    Note to self: Download this
Please let me know if you pick up Mind Zero and what you think. I guess Mugen Souls Z too. But I really want to know if Mind Zero is good or if I should just play Persona 4 Golden again.

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These new PSN things can be found in the European Playstation Network. Physical copies of these games and many more are available at Play-AsiaAmazon and various other retailers.

Tuesday, 27 May 2014

Review: Narcissu Side 1


Be prepared and bring tissues because Narcissu is up there in the 'saddest things I've ever read' department. I should have been prepared from the start - after all, a story about people with terminal medical illness will never be a happy story. Emotions aside, Narcissu is an artistic and thought provoking story that should not be missed by visual novel fans, especially since it is free-to-play on Steam.

Since this is a JRPG blog and not a visual novel blog, I'll briefly explain what a visual novel is. A visual novel is basically a novel that you would read in a book except with photos, voice acting, narration, music and usually choices you can make that influence the story. The last part is what interested me in visual novels as I always chase different endings in RPG and if I hear a game has multiple endings, I'm in. Narcissu is not a story with choices or any gameplay elements whatsoever but it does have art and voice acting. It is more 'novel' than visual novel, but still a visual novel nonetheless.



The story is told by a nameless male protagonist who is admitted into hospital due to terminal illness. He is admitted to 7F, where patients are looked after while they wait to die. Here he meets a girl called Setsumi, who doesn't say much other than 'Not particularly' initially. It is revealed by Setsumi that she is about to be allowed to go home for a little bit for the third time. But that's not a positive: the patients on 7F have a history of dying before either coming back to the hospital again or before their next trip home. In short, their is no fourth trip home. The story really sets off when the pair end up running away from the hospital in a stolen car, motivated by the fact that neither of them want to die at 7F or at home.

One of the things I found brilliant about this concept is even though it's a boy and girl running away together, Narcissu is by no means a love story. In fact, the protagonist and Setsumi are barely friends before they leave 7F. The story is about two people with a shared point of view and similar fates enjoying freedom in their lives for the first time. A lot of what is interesting in the story is wondering where they will end up and how long their trip will last rather than their relationship, at least until Setsumi starts to become more open.

While the characters are slowly displayed to be a little more complex, not much is explained about how and why both characters react the way they do. There were a few things I would have loved to know. What made the protagonist so impulsive - did he just crack after being oppressed for so long? Why is it suddenly okay for him to steal when he has never mentioned doing anything like that before? He only acknowledges once in the story his actions are selfish. This doesn't make him unlikable, but I had to assume a lot of things about him, such as his reasoning to steal the car was because his family never ever considered letting him use theirs and his other stealing actions are just out of pure desperation. I also had to assume that no one came after the pair who stole the expensive car because they felt sorry for them. Things were explained a little more about Setsumi, but I do wonder about the things that were left out - like why she became so quiet in the first place and why she had money saved up. Making assumptions again, I feel like maybe these were left out so that they could be addressed in Side 2.

The intriguing Setsumi
The emotional story is boosted by it's soundtrack and minimalistic visuals. A majority of the visual novel's music is filled with a subtle, sad and melodic piano that really help set the tone of each chapter. The visuals usually involve a small photo that relates to or shows something for the scene. I loved this art style as it gave enough of a visual to show you what was happening, but still allowed the reader to think of the rest.

Narcissu's menu provides you with two different translations. I tried bits of both English translations and both are well written and polished. What you like will be personal preference - I personally liked the flow of gp32's translation better, although Aiglis' translation is to be commended for being artistic and well written at the same time. Also provided is a voiced or unvoiced option for the story. This will be pure reader preference. The writing is certainly good enough without the voice acting but I rather enjoyed being able to hear Setsumi's tone while she spoke.

Lastly in the menu, I found that the save function didn't work at all. Definitely not a game breaker, but it's worth mentioning. Luckily the visual novel does remember what chapters you have unlocked, so I just chose to read chapter by chapter.

Even with it's imperfections, Narcissu's emotional story hooked me in and when the ending hit, the story gave me a one hit KO directly in the feels. Although it lacks in background story sometimes, the novel is powerful enough to still get it's story across and keep the reader intrigued for the whole three hour experience. If you're a fan of a good story, I recommend going on the minimalist, emotional trip that is Narcissu.


Score: 7.7/10

I read this over a few nights in a little under 3 hours and cried like a baby when it ended.

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Sunday, 25 May 2014

Tales of the World: Reve Unitia coming to 3DS in October!

Logo sourced from the Tales of the World teaser site
Shonen Jump magazine have revealed that the upcoming Tales of the World: Reve Unitia game will be released for 3DS on October 23rd. The game is in the same universe as the Tales of the World: Tactics Union mobile game and will feature characters from various Tales of games, including Milla Maxwell from Tales of Xillia and Sophie from Tales of Graces. Anime News Network has a full list of characters in this article)

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You can pre-order Tales of the World: Reve Unitia at Play-Asia.com. Note that the game is both in Japanese and region locked to Asian 3DS's only. If a localisation or Western release gets announced, I'll post it here. :)

Sunday Musings: Remember That Time When Narcissu Broke Me?

Hey everyone!

This week was ridiculous and not really in a good way. I wish I could say it was because I got trashed, won the lottery and accidentally shaved my head, but that wasn't really it. Instead I went to work, worked my butt off outside of work and weeped like a wounded animal when I finished reading Narcissu 1.

I also posted my review on Child of Light this week (I loved it!) and there wasn't a heap of news to cover. I feel E3 brewing something. I would love to think it's Persona 5. Please E3, give us a longer trailer!

You know you want it.
May next week be full of more JRPGs, kinder bosses, no late work hours, sleep and smiles. And winning the lottery so I can buy even more JRPGs.


Games I Played This Week!!



All Blazblue games have amazing posters. Fact.
I 100% completed Makoto's story, which was brilliant by the way. Everyone, please watch her family scene. It's totally ridiculous and that's exactly why you need to see it.

Getting 100% completion in Makoto's storyline put me on a very big sidetrack - I realised this game wasn't Persona 4 Arena and I didn't have to unlock more characters to get 100% on characters. So the completionist in me went on a crazy rampage through Ragna and Noel's stories before I realised that deep down I just wanted the true ending. I am sorry Blazblue true ending, I'm coming for you!



I feel really sorry for my boyfriend. There we were, lying in bed Tuesday night. He was reading his book and I had my laptop out to read Narcissu. This was probably a really nice peaceful moment. Then I got to the end of Narcissu. Then I became a ball of snot, tears and sniffles that only got louder the more I tried to suppress them.

The thing about the ending is the entire story sets you up for it. You know exactly what's going to happen really early on. I think the anticipation made it worse but it was still a good read. I'm reading the second one now. So far, no tears.



I'm in the last part of the game and I'm getting destroyed and punished for the JRPG sin (no pun intended) I have committed - no level grinding. I KNOW I KNOW - It's half the reason to play these kinds of games right?!

Honestly, I got excited to play X-2, so I didn't grind. It was a mistake. Now I'm stuck on the first of the last bosses, getting slowly destroyed. I am however making more strategical decisions in battle and I hope this is making me a better gamer.


This week I translated two sentences in one session. I felt like a Japanese god. (I'm not)

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Also, worth noting - this blog is now on Twitter as @JRPGJungle! Please follow for updates on posts and random posts about what I'm playing. Let me know what you played in the comments or on Twitter!

I'm looking to review more games as well - if any of you would like to tweet me or email me (jrpgjungle@gmail.com) games you would like reviewed, please do and I'll do my best to make it happen if I get enough requests. I'd love to have a big, healthy database of JRPG reviews to help you guys find games and I always happy to play a JRPG for the greater good of my readers.

Have a lovely week everyone!

-Tara

PSN: guittaraxx

Thursday, 22 May 2014

23/5/14 - J-RPG Jungle's weekly trailer round up! Akiba's Trip 2, Persona 4 Arena Ultimax and more!


Hello there!

Each week many awesome game trailers and videos are released. For the sake of simplicity, every Friday I put the ones I think you should know about in this weekly round up post.

This week was a little quiet on the JRPG news and videos front. That's okay - E3 2014 is fast approaching and well, E3 always has something magical up it's sleeve!

In no particular order, here are the JRPG videos from this week:



A look at some of the playable characters in Akiba's Trip 2. It also gives a good look at the explorable, open world of Akibahara. I'm super excited for that and the last girl's socks!

Note: The original game is coming out west on PS3 and Vita as Akiba's Trip: Undead & Undressed!




I knew nothing about this game when I saw this, but it involves solving cases and it looks kinda cool! You might recognise the name from Hamatora: the Animation but the game tells a different story, so you won't need to have seen the anime to understand the game. The trailer shows off the combat, including the throwing of a giant cake.

Drakengard 3 (PS3)
Interview with the Creative Director on the Philosophies of Violence in Video Games



This game hasn't had rave reviews, but this interview has made me intrigued about Drakengard 3. The Creative Director speaks about how today's 'violence in video games' helped inspire Drakengard 3's story. He also does this with a sock puppet.

Persona 4 Arena Ultimax (PS3/X360)
Sho Minazuki Trailer



A trailer for the mysterious new character in the Persona 4 Arena series, Sho Minazuki. I'm very intrigued to find out his role in the story, but for now I'll settle for watching him fight with dual swords.

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You can pre-order all of these games from Play-Asia.com :)

A Wild Persona 4 Arena......Disappeared From the European PSN?!


In surprising news, Persona 4 Arena has just up and disappeared from European PSN (and I can confirm Australian from a quick search). This was confirmed on the Playstation Blog by Jawad Ashraf who said Persona 4 Arena was removed at the request of the publisher. He also gave this comment:

"I haven’t been given any information as to why, just that we obliged with the request. Sorry I can’t be more transparent :(
Let’s hope Ultimate makes it’s way over, eh?"
Let's get a bit personal here: I don't like this. I've been checking JB Hi Fi and EB Games for a few months for pre-orders for Persona 4 Arena Ultimax and while it's not a triple A game, I haven't found any signs of it coming over. It's coming to North America (I've pre-ordered mine from Amazon) but I really hope it comes out here and in Europe too.

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If you're looking to get a copy of the original Persona 4 Arena, it is available from Play-Asia.com. MAKE SURE TO CHECK YOUR REGION BEFORE BUYING! Persona 4 Arena is the one PS3 game that is region locked so for once, you will need to check your region.

Awesome Blazblue T-Shirts!


If you've ever wanted a T-shirt with Rachel, Taokaka, Jin, Makoto or the NOL symbol to show off your Blazblue pride, you're now in luck!

Eighty Sixed Clothing has put up five different Blazblue T-Shirt designs at the extremely reasonable price of $19.95. Each come in many different colours and size small to 3XL.

Get them here! My personal favourite is the NOL symbal. So subtle, yet so cool.

Chaos;Head Dual coming to PS Vita!


From 5pb. (the creators of Steins;Gate), Chaos;Head Dual will be coming to PS Vita on one cartridge. This will feature the original visual novel Chaos;Head Noah and also Chaos;Head Love Chu Chu. The bundle is due out in Japan August 21st, with a standard and limited edition at HMV.

Chaos;Head is a story that revolves around an otaku who accidentally stumbles upon evidence for murders that are happening in his town - and that's barely touching the surface. Expect delusions and lots of mystery if the anime is anything to go by!

Note: No English released announced so far.
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Don't have a PS Vita or you're impatient? You can find Chaos;Head Noah and Chaos;Head Love Chu Chu at Play-Asia.com. Both games are in Japanese.

Wednesday, 21 May 2014

Child of Light - Coming to PS Vita in July!

Photo source: http://blog.ubi.com/child-light-coming-vita/
If you didn't have a chance to feel how fitting Child of Light was on PS Vita via Remote Play on PS4, never fear! Child of Light is scheduled for downloadable release on PS Vita! It's a great game for the Vita with it's explorable world and the chance to use the little ball of light Igniculus in touch screen mode (this was in the remote play - I hope they keep it in the Vita release!).

Also if you're interested in a physical Vita copy, the creative director of the game has given these details on his Twitter:



Of course, it is Twitter and not officially announced by Ubisoft, but that's pretty exciting! If you're in North America, PS Vita games are usually region free so I'm sure you could find it online once pre-orders are available.

The game is due out July 1st in North America and July 2nd in Europe. I gave Child of Light a 9.6/10 in my recent review which you can read here.

Tuesday, 20 May 2014

Review: Child of Light

If I was to describe Child of Light in one word, it would be stunning. The story, music, visuals - everything about it is stunning. Destined to stand out in a world full of popular first person shooters and multi-million dollar game budgets, it's beautiful and smart yet simplistic design was born to stand out. With its engaging story, enjoyable combat system and striking visuals, Child of Light simply shines.

Saturday, 17 May 2014

Sunday Musing's: I finished Child of Light!!! Back to Final Fantasy X HD

Welcome to my Sunday Musings!

This week was a good week - I only worked three days, I played more games and I feel more relaxed then I have for the last two weeks, even though there was a lot of JRPG news to cover on here. I actually have to be careful about feeling relaxed - I start to become lazy and find it hard to focus. I need to balance my work and play. But I love playing!

Since I don't really have anything 'social' to talk about this week, here are the games I played. And good news: it's a lot more than previous weeks!





Can you believe it took me over two weeks to finish a twelve hour game? I need to get my priorities straight.

I won't spoil too much of my review right now, but I feel very positive about this game and I felt a little sad to finish it. Child of Light is a stunning experience, I'm so thankful that it exists to give such a fulfilling story to the people who play it. Seriously, just go play it - It's $20 and if you're reading this blog and love a good story, I don't think you'll regret it.

Oh and I got 100% in trophies. #justsaying

(You can read my somewhat more structured feelings about Child of Light in my First Impressions post)



This week I finished Rachel and Jin's story modes and began Makoto's. And I still haven't unlocked the 'true' ending! I'm really enjoyed Jin's story, so far I feel his showed the opposite side of the story and even involved some battle handcapping which was challenging. Makoto will be interesting as she's one of the characters that were new to Blazblue in Continuum Shift Extend. But I really want to get to the end and see the rest of everyone's stories - Arc System Works' story modes are very good at creating suspense!



I was surprised at how much I enjoyed this game! Before downloading it, I truly thought the game's concept (no pun intended) of a dungeon crawling dating sim with classmating (Atlus definitely did intend for this pun) and giggly girls to be crazy. Too crazy, even for a JRPG! Conception II so far isn't a groundbreaking game, but it is fun and humourous and I want to buy the full version. Try the demo on PSN if you haven't already!

(You can read more about my feelings on Conception II at my Demo Review/First Impressions post...complete with screenshots!)



Barely worth mentioning this week, but I thought I would anyway. I got through one line of translating and finally got up to Okabe saying something. This will not be a short playthrough, that's for sure.



Alright, here's where things get slightly more interesting. I had a crazy urge to read a Visual Novel yesterday! I have no idea where it came from but it was there and it was powerful. This also resulted in my finding the Visual Novel Database this week.

Anyway, I began the free demo of Cherry Tree High Comedy Club and played for about 15 minutes. It reminds me a bit of Persona with it's activities - you have lunchtime, afternoon and the evening as the time periods of a day where you choose what you can do. The things you do during these times either raise stats or help get someone to join your club. Your stats are basically what you can converse with other people about (music, video games, fashion etc.), which will ultimately help you get more people to join the comedy club. So far it's a cute concept, but I'm only 15 minutes in so I probably can't give a professional opinion yet. :)



I daresay this is my first proper Visual Novel. I've played games with Visual Novel elements (Blazblue's story mode and a lot of the dialogue in JRPGs are good examples of this), but never just a pure visual novel. Narcissu is free on Steam and is a very moving story. The tale is through the perspective of a sick person who is admitted to hospital with not a lot of hope of living. However, instead of being constantly grim, the story is moving in another direction. I have no idea what's going to happen, but let's just say I'm hooked for now.

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What have you been playing this week? Did you play any of these games?

Next week I'll be back to Final Fantasy X HD. Maybe even tonight - I'm excited to get back to it. I love me some Final Fantasy! Have a good week everyone!

-Tara
PSN: guittaraxx

Friday, 16 May 2014

Don't have a Vita? The new PS Vita Slim is coming to stores in Australia and is available online in other regions!



If you don't have a Playstation Vita, this is the time to get one. With Australia now getting the new PS Vita Slim on June 4th, this less expensive version of the Vita is highly accessible worldwide. If you're in Australia like me, you can pre-order a PS Vita from EB Games and JB Hi-Fi. Notably, JB Hi-Fi so far seems to have the best deal at $259 and including Borderlands 2 for Vita. EB Games is offering the new PS Vita at $269. To put this price in perspective, my original-non-slim PS Vita was $299 from EB Games without any games or a memory card.

(Also interestingly, the new Hyperdimension Neptunia: Producing Perfection idol-simulation Vita game is due the day after....It's taking everything I have not to call it a 'launch game for the new Vita in Australia. (It's not.))

The new PS Vita includes a 20% thinner and 15% lighter console, 1GB of hard drive space (with memory cards still being sold separately) and a longer battery life due to this version of the Vita having an LED screen instead of the original PS Vita's O-LED screen.

If you don't have a Vita and you're a JRPG fan, you're missing out. Many times the Vita has been called the 'JRPG machine' and it has a wonderful range of games physical and in the Playstation Network. I personally love my O-LED screen's neon brightness dearly, so I won't be 'upgrading' to the new one but I would love to get one of the Japanese coloured PS Vita's eventually so I could have a second Vita to use the Japanese Playstation Network (you can only have on PSN account partnered with a Vita).

If you're not in Australia, you can purchase the PS Vita Slim from Amazon and from Play-Asia right now. The PS Vita is region free, so if you're thinking of importing a shiny pretty coloured one from Japan, this IGN guide covers the 'Importing A Vita' process very well (it's from when the vita first came out, but the same principles apply). Please remember before importing: even though the Vita is region free and physical games from multiple regions will work on any PS Vita, you can only use one PSN account/region per console and the DLC for the games ARE locked by region.

Thursday, 15 May 2014

16/5/2014 - J-RPG Jungle's weekly game annoucement round up!

I honestly don't understand why I didn't do this sooner. Heaps of new games and trailers get announced every week, but it's hard to do a post on every single one. Each week, I'll put what I considered to be the most important ones here.

Spanning from Saturday to Friday, here goes!

(Please note: some of the links for pre-ordering these games are for the Japanese versions of the game.)


(Click here to read the Original Post)

An extended version of the original teaser trailer. The trailer also provides this extremely beautiful slogan for the game:

In a world on the verge of destruction, singing might be their only hope.

...Shut up and take my money.


A small, but satisfying sneak peek of Pokemon Omega Ruby and Alpha Sapphire. You know, for if you weren't already wishing it was November.


I wasn't actually interested in this game until watching the trailer. It's not something I'll personally buy, but I love that they included the use of highlighting, shading etc and the range of simple and more complicated drawings. Could be a lot of fun for beginners in digital art or people who enjoy drawing.

Super Sonico in Production (3DS)


You may know Sonico from the Soni Ani anime. Now she's getting her own Idol game! I don't know a heap about this game other than it's due out in Japanese in July. But hey, I'll always take another Idol game!

Final Fantasy Agito (iOS Japan)


This is probably the best original Final Fantasy title I've seen in a while, yet there is no way I can get it right now....dammit! Such teases.

Anyway, this game has been talked about for awhile and is out now in Japan. It is set in the same universe as Final Fantasy Type-0 and begins with the player creating their own character and starting out in a magic academy. I really hope this gets localised.



Previously in Arcades and on consoles, the upgraded Arcana Heart 3 game boasts Arc System Works awesome fighting mechanisms and young girls, plus the awesome story mode we know and love. It's all been announced for localisation. Horray!



Without any spoilers for the original Persona 4 Arena, Labrys was by far my favourite story in the game and a fun character to fight with. Here's her trailer for Ultimax!

(Australia) JB Hi-Fi is Having a 20% off Games Sale!

According to the file name, this guy's name is Johnny.
A short little post to tell you that if you're in Australia, JB Hi-Fi is having a rare 20% off games sale until Sunday. This means just games - not pre-owns, pre-orders, consoles, cards, etc. Just the regular old games.

I can't actually remember JB ever having a percentage off games ever, so I say take advantage of this! Go pick up a new release or the JRPG that you've always wanted (as long as they stock it). Enjoy!

First Impressions/Demo Review: Conception II: Children of the Seven Stars


When you look at Atlus' and Spike Chunsoft's Conception II: Children of the Seven Stars as a story, I understand if it might inspire some raised eyebrows and a dash of cynicism. The story of Conception II follows the game's protagonist who receives a mark on his hand from the Star God. This mark means he has to go to special school and fight monsters that are plaguing the world. Standard J-RPG material thus far. But at this special school, he finds out he has a ridiculous amount of Ether flowing through his veins, allowing him fight inside the Dusk Circles where the monsters are coming from. Oh, this Ether also means he has a 100% chance of making Star Children during Classmating (which is exactly what it sounds like) with the top ranked females of the school. This crazy amount of ether also has an added bonus - it allows him to the fit the title of 'God's Gift'.

Oh, there's that too.
Sound crazy? I thought so. In fact, this crazy concept nearly scared me away. But the free demo got me in and I'm glad I didn't miss out on a taste of this fun and unique game.

Immediately noticeable from the second you open the demo is the slick style. Much like in Persona (another Atlus game), what Conception II games lack in ridiculously high def characters and cities is replaced by an overall consistent flare throughout cities, dungeons, music and menus and decent character models with their own unique touches (stars in the eyes, etc). I would much rather this approach and a huge, good running game than stellar graphics and a subpar experience. The game also boasts amazing anime cutscenes that are worth being excited for, complete with Sailor Moon-esque transformation scenes. It is also noticeable that the 3D character models are a step above previous Atlus games and we are treated with regular close-up face scenes as opposed to the usual 'text and anime drawing' presentation of modern JRPGs.

Insert 'God's Gift To Women' joke here.
Social interactions with the characters are required in order to play this game well - after all, you need bond points in order to classmate and without classmating, you won't have the maximum star children to battle with! I didn't personally find myself emotionally engaged with any of the characters, but I hope the characters further in the game have a little more depth. In the demo they seemed like your stereotypical characters - the smart one, the shy one etc. This isn't to say these conversations aren't fun: I did have fun employing the different choices given to me in these interactions to impress the girls, particularly with Chloe as she seemed to appreciate it the most while not being annoying about it. There is a certain type of fun to be had running around and knowing how to make all the girls love you and seeing the results. I hope this is just my inner kind person trying to make people happy and not my inner harem fiend. :)

My lady of choice in skimpy dungeon mode.
Speaking of harems, if you like harem anime or beautiful women, you'll enjoy the game's upskirt references, potential for 'touch' action, skimpy clothing, girls constantly falling in love with you and before, during and after classmating events. I found them rather humourous above all. Classmating is a funny concept in general and I couldn't take it seriously with the singing of 'Touch my heart' in the background. The classmating element gives the game a flirty flavour which is seen in the occasionally risque humour that I'm sure future cutscenes will push further.


The dungeon gameplay was very enjoyable and easy to learn. I found it somewhat similar to the dungeons in Persona due to certain dungeon elements like monsters that can chase you, sneaking up behind the for a preemptive strike, secret treasure etc.. But again, Conception II improves on this with little added bonuses such as healing fountains hidden in the dungeon and the improved maps. Due to the demo's dungeon being a low level dungeon, I wasn't blown away by the in-battle combat. You can position your characters in different spots to avoid attacks and hit weak points which was cool, but the dungeon was already easy, so using these techniques didn't make a huge different. I'm sure in higher level dungeons the positing will be more vital but for now I won't be gushing about it.

What I feel is most important to note is at the end of my playthrough of the Conception II demo, I was highly impressed by how long I had been playing for. If that was just chapter one, then this game must be huge which I LOVE in my portable games. During my 3-5 hours playing the demo, I was introduced to a lot of different gameplay functions and concepts so by the end of the demo, I had a good judgement on whether or not this would be a game I would purchase. Which is exactly what a demo should be!

I never realised how sad this screen would make me until I saw it.
While this was such a big demo filled with many gameplay elements, the story has a lot of room for growth and if I hadn't played this demo, I probably wouldn't have cared to find out. Conception II's fun social interactions, interesting concept and easy to learn battle system will satisfy dungeon crawler, dating sim and harem fans alike so I recommend trying the demo out and if you enjoy it, definitely try the full game (which I'm currently stashing my pennies for.)

Screenshots!




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Conception II: Children of the Seven Stars is available now on 3DS and PS Vita from Play-Asia, Amazon and the PSN Store. For this post, I played the PS Vita version.

Wednesday, 14 May 2014

Notable PSN EU releases this week! (15/05/14)

Every week, the Playstation Network gets updated with cool new games, discounts, DLC and more. Each week, I cross my fingers for new J-RPGs and Japanese games and write about what I find. This week, we got two new localised games!

You can check out and purchase these updates at the European PSN Store via the internet, Mobile app or your Playstation device.

New Games:

Conception II: Children of the Seven Stars


Children, class-mating and dungeons, oh my! I played the demo for Conception II: Children of the Seven Stars (first impressions soon, demo is in the Playstation store for free!) and it's an enjoyable dating-sim/dungeon crawler that fans of either genres will enjoy. Expect lots of in-game choices, multiple endings and a strange yet interesting story.

Soul Sacrifice 



I'm sure this is a big deal to some, however I won't be getting this because the first one wasn't really my favourite game ever. However, if you're looking to take a dark story and battle arch-fiends on the go, you may enjoy this!

Game Bundles
  • Tekken 6 + SoulCalibur: Broken Destiny
  • Tales of Graces f + Tales of Xillia
New DLC Available for:
  • Conception II: Children of the Seven Stars
  • Ragnarok Odyssey ACE
Discounts:
  • Dragon Ball Z: Battle of Z
  • Toukiden: the Age of Demons
  • Okami HD
  • Sonic Adventure 2
  • Muramasa Rebirth (if you didn't get it free with Playstation Plus!)
  • Yu-Gi-Oh! 5D's Tag Force 5
  • Tekken 2
Dynamic Themes from:
  • Final Fantasy XIV: A Realm Reborn
Avatars from:
  • Trigger Happy Havoc: Danganronpa

Sword Art Online: Hollow Fragment to be Released Digitally in Europe and Australia!


We already knew that Sword Art Online: Hollow Fragment was coming to the US digitally. This was and still is awesome, although it meant that if European or Australian gamers wanted to play the game, they would have to import the Chinese version with English subtitles from Play-Asia (which you still can do if you would like a physical copy). It was better than nothing, but kind of a bummer that Europe and Australia were left out...but not anymore!

Bandai Namco have decided to make much cooler for European and Australian SAO fans. They're releasing the localised game digitally on PSN EU!

I particularly enjoyed these quotes from Bandai Namco's European vice president of IP Stragegy, Herve Hoerdt:
“Adding such a strong license to our portfolio in Europe and Australia is an honour for us. Fans were looking forward to enjoy this game, we listened to them.“

“Our close collaboration with Sony allows us to release more and more niche games; Sword Art Online: Hollow Fragment is the result of this successful partnership!”
(Quote sourced from Gematsu)

I'm very pleased with this move from Bandai Namco and think it's a move in the right direction for games, particularly one based on an already globally popular anime. The audience for these games is only growing and will be encouraged to grow further if these games are easier to access. Good one, Bandai Namco!

The game will be available in the US, Europe and Australia in July on the Playstation Network. Impatient? If you want to get the Japanese version, it is available at Play-asia.com.

Tuesday, 13 May 2014

6 classic Japanese PSone games (untranslated!) coming to PSN US!

The PSN's US blog posted today that GungHo Online Entertainment America is releasing six Japanese PSOne classics on PSN. What I found interesting is that they are coming untranslated. Yes, the language barrier may alienate people who don't know Japanese. However, me and my amateur Japanese think this is AWESOME and anyone can enjoy these games with an open mind. Having a game in Japanese is better than not having it all in my eyes.

The games being released are:

Sarara's Little Shop (Danjyon Shoutengai: Densetsu no Ken Hajimemashita)



You get to run your own Item Shop and help prepare adventures for their journeys. The blog post reveal states that the game is text heavy, meaning a lot of dialogue in Japanese.

Dragon Beat Legend of Pinball



One of the more Westerner friendly titles, this game has two modes. The first is your regular good old fashioned pinball and the other involves the steel pinball trying to beat a dragon and save a princess. Sounds nifty.

Neo Planet



A simulation game that allows you to fly around space and turn a foreign planet into an inhabitable planet much like our own. Apparently this is very text heavy, so consider your Japanese knowledge before buying this one.

Heroine Dream 1 and 2


Multiple endings, Idols and various skill developments, Heroine Dream was one of the first Idol simulation games (and I'm sure since the announcement of Omega Quintet, I've been very clear about my love of Idol games). As with any game with multiple endings, a good amount of Japanese would be required to choose your desired direction in the story (however I don't think this will stop me).

Tokyo 23-Ku Seifuku Wars


This one sounds wonderfully kooky. In a post apocalyptic world, a ban on school uniforms naturally causes a civil war. Naturally. As with any Japanese RPG, if you want to completely understand the story you will need to know Japanese.

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While most of these titles require a good level of Japanese, I sometimes find that either finding the meaning or working it out becomes a game in itself. These will be available for $5.99 in the US on PSN.

Fingers crossed that they will also come to the European store as well!