First Impression - [Witch's Wish]

Sorry that I haven't been posting much. There just isn't many good NDS games out there at the moment....I'd been just grinding SMT and finished Picross 3D. Otherwise, not much has been happening, unless you guys want me to do a quick first impression on some crappy NDS games.


Anyway, maybe I'll start with a stupid game called Witch's Wish..or something to that regard. It's a cheap 3D storybook adventure game that's broken up to chapters. Initially I thought it's made by a Japanese company due to the 1 screenshot. Boy was I wrong. Only the main group of the young girls are drawn in moe style, the rest are just fugly. Western cartoon fugly. If the art department persist with one style it probably wouldn't be so much of a sort thumb, but the clash just feels bad and annoying.
Anyway, moving on to the gameplay. It's the usual "go here and talk" gameplay, with the occasional "draw symbol on the bottom screen" once per chapter. Each chapter lasts around 10~15 mins. Short, but since the story is stupid all the time, I don't really enjoy it. I have a feeling that this game is targeted toward a lot more younger audience population. It's stupid of me to give it a try in the first place anyway.
It's using 3D model with 2D sprites, and it's the sprite that's clashing. 3D models all look cheap and ugly at the same, so it all look stupid.

Anyway, this game is not really for me, but if you got a 10 years old kid with a NDS, probably a decent game. Heck, at least it kept me playing 2hours, so it's not that bad production quality-wise.

Shin Megami Tensei : Strange Journey

What happenes when you cross Shin Megami Tensei with Etrian Odessey? You get one absolutely beautiful game called Strange Journey

The world is coming to an end. Dark rings called Schwarzwelt is formed and expanding from the south pole on the Earth's surface, and eat away every single thing it encountered during its expansion. The world set out a team of elites to find out the true nature behind this phenomenon.

Being a Shin Megami Tensei game, you would expect tonnes of demons that referenced from myths and legends from various parts of the world, and this game didn't disappoint in that regard. You can have up to 3 minions by your side during the battle, while having at least 8 in your party (the number increases after each stage). There's also a function to fuse demons into stronger ones. However since you are the only human in the team, you are the only one (at the early stages anyway) that can use items and summon backups. It can be quite a hassle when all of your team members suffers from status ailments.

Each demon has it's own basic attributes, but can have up to 6 bonus/skills. Some are offensive like the basic spells, while some are passive ones that ups the basic HP. You can't change those on a whim. You do get a chance for a change once in a while when that demon leveled up, but the new one is always random. It's up to you to decide whether to keep the one they are replacing or gamble on a new one because you don't use that skill much anyway. Fair to say I had more disappointments than joy.

Like the previous game I played, Devil Survivor. The required exp for leveling up the demon goes up quite in an exponential fashion. Each demon has its own basic level, and the curve goes up from that basic level. I can see it so that you would have to refresh your lineup in a new dungeon just because the previous team level up too slow, as in the newer, higher leveled ones, requires less exp to go up to the next level than the ones you convinced in the previous dungeons.

One interesting mechanism in this game is the ability to talk to demons. Akin to lots of so-called "dating sims", the demon will say a couple of sentences and you will have to please them by choosing the correct reply to their question. If you failed to do so they will either stay angry (refuse to talk to you again), leave the battle, or just suddenly jump on you. They usually requires you to do it at least twice before the demon is friendly with you, and you will then be able to negotiate and gain benefits from them, whether it be obtaining mecca, getting items, or even convincing them to join you. Some demon don't like to talk to you, and you can't have conversation with them when it's during the full moon(unless you install a sub-app). Convincing them to join you also requires you to give up some life, some mana, some mecca and a couple of items, base on their request. You can sometimes deny their request and they will change it to the ones that you think suits you. For several times I had a demon even requesting getting 50k+ mecca from me, which i reasonably refused to do so, and the demon just change to other ones. What can be annoying is that sometimes when you fulfilled their demands they just leave....

The first time you encounter demons they will be in complete fuzzy state, as in you can't tell their strength, their HP, their weaknesses. It's like stabbing in the dark and hoping that it won't 1-hit-kill your party by some bullshit skills. Most of the time you will be underleveled anyway, so each time you goes into a new area it's always quite frightening to encounter the unknowns.

Through the whole story you also get apps that can be customised into your suit to suit the course of the action. There are ones that regen health for a certain steps you walk, ones that allow you to make one mistake in the conversation with demons, and ones that avoids battles in general, and several other one with various abilities. You can't carry them all, so you would have to choose wisely before your departure what you want to do in this expedition. You can, however, change them whenever you are at a save point inside the dungeon though.

The upper screen is your main screen, while the bottom screen shows the map that auto completes once you walk on that grid of the dungeon. You control like one of the first 3D shooters out there, up being going forward, sides being turning, and down meaning turning 180 degrees. Sometimes can be confusing if you just walk while staring intensely at the map.

In term of gameplay you use the d-pad and the buttons. I don't remember the stylus being used at all.

The save points are quite spread out throughout the dungeon, so are healing points. The healing points do cost you mecca, but it's always better to be prepared than to die and had to start your exploration all over again from the last save. You can also jump back to the beginning of the dungeon from the save points as well, so most of the time it's always the top priority to look for save and heal points on the map. The layout also means that it won't take more than 20min each time between places that you can save.

At the moment I'm quite enjoying it, really enjoying the dungeon design, the demons(though quite a number of them looks to be reusage from the older SMT games), their personalties, the skills, and the exploration in general.

This world is a parody of man kind's sins. I also suspect that at the end of the day you would have to make a decision, like in Devil Survivor, to be either on the gods side or on the chaos' side, or just staying neutral like a rogue. Right now I just want to finish the game and know what exactly the game has in term of the ending.

Highly recommended, especially to people that like the traditional JRPG grind-fest. Like Etrian Odyssey, you do have to take each step carefully, and that's what makes the experience so rewarding near the end of the dungeon when you can just pawn the ones that scared you previously.

Miles Edgeworth: Perfect Prosecutor [First Impressions]

I have to say that I'm not totally impressed. Starting off with the shitty name "Ace Attorney Investagions". Godamnit he's a prosecutor, a bloody PROSECUTOR! It's totally different from an attorney!! Why can't they just kept the Perfect Prosecutor name anyway? It just feels like they want to tag on the series name so this can sell, which feels cheap, and annoying at the same time.

I'm currently just starting on my 3rd case right now, and these are my impressions

What happened to the great looking CGs? I totally miss them, and I'm yet to see them in stories. Even if there had been one it's just feel that not memorable... And where's the chapter-summarising picture that appears in the arc selection menu? Where have they gone?

I am seriously not a fan of the 3/4 angle portrait by any means. What feels good in the previous titles is that you are playing as Phoenix Wright (or Apollo Justice), and you take the usual VN-isk first person view when exploring and during dialogue and stuff. I love it, it's making me feel immersed as the main character, and I was able to fee attached to his own emotions. In this one, all the characters are not facing you, instead staring at the empty space in the middle of the screen. instead of feel like you are Phoenix Wright, you feel like a bystander in this game. Even up to this point, I still don't feel I care about the characters one bit.

Which brings me to the writing. I don't know why, but other than Edgeworth making inside jokes referencing to the past series, I don't find things that funny. Maybe it's due to Edgeworth's character of being so Edgy and has everything under control, I just don't feel the same chaotic hilarity that's so loved in the previous titles. Edgeworth is still badass, but the supporting characters just feels bland. I feel the comedy had been lost in this one, same goes to the witty writing that has been the hallmark of the previous titles.

The new characters, they are so boring. Entirely not helped by the bad design of the first villian, the new characters somehow just lack personality in their design. In the PW series even though some characters can be said to be stereotypical, but they always has an unconventional side to make them feel interesting, in this one, it's just boring and feels cliche, as if the designer had run out of idea. Again, I'll go back to the 3/4 portraits, they are just not that memorable at this point, some even look quite ugly.

I do like the change of direction in term of gameplay though.

The investigation is quite a nice twist to the usual point and click. Instead of pixel-hunting that some people loath, it had been cut down dramatically and mostly replaced by just avatar running on the screen to various locations. It saves up quite a lot of time during gameplay, and allows the player to focus more on the mystery ahead instead of spending endless hours just trying to click on that tiny pixel.

The introduction of the Logic tab is also awesome. It also allow the player to think, even though most of the links so far had been easy. However, the sense of "omg, I think I got it!" when the last piece of the puzzle falls is just great.

I will still finish this game, as I am still hope that the final case would still present the same amount of epicness that's in the previous games. However I do fear that, since they went too serious and hyped up the overarching story too much early in the game, I won't care less when the final case actually comes. Not to mention at the moment the main story feels transparent and contrive.

I just hope it will still be a good overall experience and not get disappointed by it.

Edit:

So now I'd finished the game, I'm still disappointed by the overall presentation.

Like I said before, spotting cameo is fun, however, not when they just forcefully put in one without any continuation and meaningful story development whatsoever. They had committed this cardinal sin.

I know I said before that the characters are all so uninspiring, well, that changed in case4, but only one though.

The final chapter would be good if not for the endless "ooo, but no, there's still not *conclusive* evidence yet" *smirk.....The one before the final boss battle is great, if only they finish at that point or use that as the climax instead of that drag-a-thon we got in the game.

Overall, not as good as I'd hoped before the game came out. I like some of the changes, but there's too many dumb downs, changes in the wrong directions, uninspiring characters for me to like this game.

Ace Attorney is a great series, I don't think this one does the name justice

First Impression - [Suikoden Tierkreis]

"yeah b*tch, I play SUIKODEN!" - Brad, 4pp

That's my first reaction when I saw the title of this game on the list. Since the suikoden series is one rpg franchise that I'd yet to get my hand on, I was kind of delighted when I found out the existence of this game.
You begin off with a [insert name here] character, which I just use the usual names, unlike my attempt with chrono trigger. You are a part of a village defence squad and take missions from other people (apparently). Though having said that, I am not sure if it's me playing too aggressively through the main storyline, I am yet to encounter a side quest.
DS function, you got the main screen on the bottom, which you can move your characters with either the d-pad or the stylus. I prefer d-pad since I got too annoyed with the stylus controls in the last few nds jrpg i'd played. on the top screen shows the status of the 4 combat characters (HP, SP, etc...)
Now on to visuals, the character design is quite good, though I am not comfortable with the 3D model you see on the screen. The monster design is quite sh^t actually, especially the boss, hope that they pick up in the latter stages of the game, coz they are awful.
sounds. When I play a rpg I love to turn the sounds on, since the background music is one of the features that creates immersion into the world, which is very important especially in rpg. The bgm is generally quite good. Though I would have to say that I totally hate the english voice overs. They are robotic, emotionless, and just purely embarrassing. And the worst thing is that you cannot turn them off......Which is a mark down in terms of personalising the playing environment. luckily that they don't talk often, and most of those times I only get to hear half of it as I would just speed read and skip them all. But still, they are just bad...
Dungeons, one major element of jrpg as usual. The maze in this game is quite short, just 4 maps per dungeon, which kind of surprised me. But on the bad side, the character moves like turtles........it's just so annoying when you go onto another route slowly just to find out that it's an useless dead end. Another mark down.
Combat, it's awesome, quick and crisp. There's even a option at the start if you just want all the characters to randomly normal attack the enemy, which is just awesome. There's even co-tech!!!Gosh I love the combat system, only if the dungeon can be better....
Side note, I am not sure if it's because of the slow movement in the dungeons, I find that leveling up is quite easy and quick, so I don't really have much trouble with the mines at the moment, which can be suck if I got stuck in a boss fight. Also you replenish all stats when you level up.
Save system, you can only save at certain locations. Can be a bit annoying when you tread like though miles in a dungeon with you slow speed and want to turn off the DS.
Shopping, gosh I hated this system. expensive weapons and armours, unable to see the effects directly on the characters, annoying selling system, slow interface. Godamnit can't I just have better weapons?!

so far, 6.5/10, 3 hours into it. However, since it's SUIKODEN, I'll try to finish it at least.

First Impression - [Big Bang Mini]

fireworks anyone?

Never had a sylus only game been this fun since trauma centre. David was right, this is a great game, unless i think it's a great game only because David suggested it.

Basically it's a vertical 2D shooter, you shoot "fireballs" at the opposition on the top screen by flicking the stylus at the direction, and drag your hitbox with your stylus. This combination of mechanism means that you cannot move and shoot at the same time. I like the idea, but sometimes I got a bit frustrated when I reacted too slow to some of the projectiles from the enemy.

Visual is one major part and so far i am liking it, with the obvious colourful fireballs flying around. not much can be said on the sound as always. so far, I say I am liking it. It's quite a good mini game, and quite cheap as well. Designed specifically for a handheld to be played on things like the tram or something. 

Up to stage 6 at the moment, so can't really say it's the "first impression", but i figure I might as well give it a shout out here.  

First Impression - [Moon]

Can I see red vs blue all over again?

ok, I'd played a bit of this game, and so far i am liking it. 

it's made by the same company that brought us Dementium Ward, a FPS horror survival game that controls just like Metroid, i.e. you just D-pad to move, and stylus to look, L/R to shoot.

medium graphics, nice sound quality, story a bit generic, love the little android pod, hate the repetition of levels that involves using the pod, love the cinematics before and after the boss fight, glad the infamous save system in DW had been improved immensely, hate the vehicle stage as the car drive like shit.

i like the level on the first glance, but fear it can get quite repetitive.

had encountered a major bug in one of the boss fight. The thing is, the boss required me to use the pod  on the first half of the battle, and usually if i want to leave an area without retrieving the pod I will be notified to do so. What happend was usually I would get teleported instantly to another aread after the boss fight, but since I didn't retrieve the pod mid battle all i get was the notification telling me to get it. So I get it but then nothing happened, which means I would have to restart the level all over again, go through the area, fight the boss while remembering to get the pod mid battle......which i forgot to do so once again on the 2nd time.

Right now I am kind of like on episode 8, rookie difficulties since i want to have a feel of the story without annoying myself with the combat.

if i have to give it a score right now, i would say 6/10, but it can potentially drop if the levels get too repetitive.

Game Review - [Chrono Trigger DS]

I am a RPG fan. I love the story, the characters, the settings, and the ability to think up an strategy during the battle with random monsters on the map. It's probably due to my exposure to games like FF earlier in my life that brought me into this. However, I do not regret it. I am not a big gamer back in the day, the first game I played being a good RPG game made by a Taiwanese company that does not get translated to other languages. It was a good game, and I really enjoyed it back in the day, even if I never get past like the 5th chapter or something due to academic commitment.

The first time I heard of the name Chrono Trigger was like 6 years ago by one of my friends during class. Now I do not know how did the conversation get to that point, but I distinctly remember he mentioned that one of a character is a frog, a efin frog out of all the animals. Then he mentioned that the mangaka behind the Dragonball series was the one responsible fo the charcter design....I will not get into how much I think Akira Toriyama's style is really ugly for anything here. Back to the topic, that conversation pretty got drown off to other things, and just sit on the base of my memory bank for a long time.

One day I was browsing through the NDS catalogue at the usual place, wondering if there's any good game that came out that is worth my time to play. At that time I pretty much finished Castlevania Order of Ecclesia, had a few fun with KORG DS-10 Synthesizer and still waiting for Moon to come out. That's when I saw Chrono Trigger sitting there.

On the first impression, I remember telling myself how great the pacing was. It just grabs you in with the mysterious disappearance of a teammate, and the typical standard JRPG medieval scenario with the twist of a time portal. The beginning of the plot really sucks you in. And then at one point in the story you come face to face with the ultimate boss, and the consequence of its act of destruction. Establish the final hurdle, witness the catastrophy, and train up your characters to change the future. It maintains the quirky humour that is common in the general JRPG, minus the emo part since it's lead by a silent hero. You will get a time traveller/machine later on in the story, so it makes more sense as to why the boss is waiting for you there. Also, it allows you to challenge it whenever you like, it's just that you will be screwed before the main quests/side quests are complete due to your pathetic low levels and sucky weapons.

The characters each have great personalities. First is you the silent hero, who I named dick by the way. Then it's the heroin that i mentioned before who mysteriously vanished, the childhood female friend who loves science, a robot, a prehistorical female who speaks in simple languages, and lastly, the frog swordsman. I also add the fact that you can name every characters in your team, which is great coz i had a lot of fun putting in random names for them. One thing I had to say is how ugly the cutscene looks due to the fact that it's his works. The 8bit/16 bit on general play looks alright though.

The battle system is a bit uncomfortable to being with, as it involves an invisible timebar which dictates who goes first and somewhat, and you can still get attacked if you idle for too long. Each character can weild magic with their own attribute, except for the savage girl, but she got the best attacks anyway. There's also a double tech and triple tech, which can be used if all party involved are ready (ie. time ball finish loading), they pretty much are my killer blows in every boss battle. One main problem being that if I choose to heal a teammate who is in critical situation, and after the command is selected he/she is dead by a blow, the healer pretty much wasted her/his chance and does not gain a free move because the last move is invalid. That was a bit annoying when you are in a pinch and had to wait for the bar to load up again, and pray that the boss will not give out another majoy group damage. It sometimes can get quite hectic due to the past pacing of the battle system, but it is possible to pause mid battle by pressing Start.

As to the dungeon itself, it draws the map as you explore. Since I am playing the DS version it's all done in the bottom screen. You see the monsters on the map, and usually at fixed places. You trigger into battle mode when you touch them, which pretty much stays the same scene but all the monsters shown at that time will get involved in the battle. Most of them moves about on the map, and sometimes you cannot avoid some monsters for some reason, which can be a bit annoying this way when you are doing some serious backtracking and do not want to fight on the way. Having said that, the design of it also allows you to skip past fights in most of the map without having to worry about FOE. One other thing that annoys me is that there's not a single item that allow you to jump out of the dungeon instantly, so you had to walk a long way to find the next savepoint if you are deep in the dungeon. However, you can save whenever you like if you are in  the world map, which is a major relief..

music.......I love the one in the world map in the medieval time, since I'd heard a lot of interpretation of it before. Not sure if it's the main or the most famous tune, but it's the one I am most familiar about, so I was a bit stoked when I first heard it. The music for the other time periods also describes that era perfectly, you can immediately associate to the world view and the characters just by listening to the music. I grind/backtracking a bit too much during the middle stage of the game, so I kind of got sick with the combat music. And I just realise that there are no victory music in this game, which is kind of sad.

Like the last game I'd reviewed, this game also provides the option of NewGame+, which allows you to keep all your items and levels when you start over, minus some plot-essential items. I'd said before that you can challenge the final boss anytime right? Turns out that if you defeat it at diffent stage of the game there will be different ending unlocked. By keeping the items and the levels you can challenge it anytime in the story, though like any other RPG, the story tend to get a bit old after you finish with it. Which is why this mechanism is one major positive in term of gameplay as it give out more challenges to the player.

I finished the game in like 35 hours in the first play through, with all the side quests done (thanks to some peekings at the walkthough). All my characters are in early level 60, so i think it would not pose a major problem if i decided to finish the game mid way through the main quest, even though I was having some troubles beating the final boss before.

Overall, it's a great game. Good story, good combat, good gameplay, good music, pity the art style is shitty. It was a good 35 hour during the holiday and I cherish that experience. I enjoyed the gameplay, and it had to be one of the best RPG I'd played so far. I highly recommend it to any NDS owner who is a JRPG fan, even just a RPG fan. You will not be dissappointed.

9.5/10