tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-65808351715259606482024-03-28T14:55:56.406-05:00Netto's Game RoomAre you a gamer? Check out Netto's Game Room! Coming to you since April 2011. Gaming is our forte!NettoSaitohttp://www.blogger.com/profile/06027189690668668215noreply@blogger.comBlogger1247125tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6580835171525960648.post-11367070582702618292024-03-28T14:55:00.001-05:002024-03-28T14:55:10.275-05:00MegaMan X6 & My 11th Birthday<p>MegaMan fans talking about their favorite entries in the series, there is one game that pretty much NEVER makes the list. MegaMan X6 is the black sheep of the X series, and (along with X7) is typically said to be a game you should avoid. It was created behind Inafune's back when X5 was meant to be the original end, parts of the game was rushed, the level design is filled with brutally cheap death traps, the English translation has awkward grammar errors, and it's just generally considered to not be a good game. But for me, I have a different story to share when I think of X6. One that I never tell people, and is a little bit horrifying. Let's just say, this is the one time my life actually flashed before my eyes -- something I didn't even know was actually a real. Heck as I'm typing this it's getting hard to breath, but I'll push through it! This is my story.<br /></p><p>When I was turning 11 years old, there was only one thing I wanted for my birthday. MegaMan X6. I remember talking to my friends at school about X5, when my friend Keith mentioned that X6 had actually came out! I somehow had no idea this was a thing, but when he told me how it continued the story of X5, and that X now had Zero's sword (something that gets passed to him at the end of X5), I knew I had to play it. I loved X5, and I couldn't wait to play more continuing from where it left off! So I told my parents about it, and began my long wait for the day I could finally play it for myself. I still remember the day we found it at Toys R Us for sale, so it's not like I didn't know I was going to get it, it's just that my birthday wasn't until Summer... So the wait was annoying. But eventually the day came, and I was beyond excited!</p><p>I still remember walking up early in the morning, and my mom giving me the game early. I ripped open the package, ran back to my room, and popped the disc into my PS1 that was in the corner of my room. Man, that opening stage is still burned into my memory as if it were yesterday! Seeing X in his Falcon armor, being at the crash site of the space colony, having the Z-Saber, it was all just so amazing to me! The Japanese opening threw me off, sure, but I ended up loving that opening, and found myself enjoying what little time I had to play the game. My mom actually let me take my PS1 to my grandma's house though, so I'd be able to play it some more (sooner) after my party.</p><p>That year we had a swim party, and a lot of my friends and family members were there. It was a little cloudy outside, but being June it was still warm enough. I honestly can't remember everything we did that day, but I do remember there being a lot of water guns, us playing volleyball in the pool, and just having a fun time! I showed X6 off to my cousin for a little bit at one point, but that whole day was spent outside -- until something secretly happened to me.</p><p>I still don't know what actually happened, or why... It's kinda a blank to me, and thinking about it makes my eyes start to water... All I really remember is being underwater, sucking in... a lot... and not being able to get back up because of the rafts above me... With people on them? It's funny -- I remember thinking about a lot of different things in that moment. I was only 11, but there was so much to think back on... It felt like I was under there for hours, but what brought me back was hearing my cousin say something about moving. Next thing I know I was at the side of the pool spitting up water and pulling myself out. I think I went and threw up in the grass behind the fence, but everything going forward was a blur to me. I didn't let anyone know what happened, and I refused to get back into the pool after. I got dressed, and was "rude" sitting inside during my own party. X6 is actually what helped calm me down, but the effects of the whole thing have never gone away.</p><p>I love swimming, and still go swimming in my grandma's pool. It's one of my favorite things to do in the summer, and that hasn't changed since that day nearly 22 years ago. Being grabbed or dunked underwater on the other hand? No... I have a really hard time letting people touch me in the water. I've gotten better about it, but a part of me still has that fight or flight response and I can't really control it. When I think back to that day, I always try to remember X6 and not what happened, but both events will always be a part of me -- the good and the bad. </p><p>As for X6, I did end up liking the game despite it's flaws. I enjoyed the armor sets, the story, characters like Dynamo, and in general just had fun with it. Sure there are parts I agree aren't that great, but it's still a game I do like to return to. Heck, there's a reason I'm at the top of the leader boards for Legacy Collection 2's Platinum Trophy -- I'm one of the few people who actually like the games in it enough to get the platinum! It's for sure a game that deserves criticism, but that doesn't change the fact that I like it, nor does it change the fact that it's special to me and something that helped me get past almost drowning. It means a lot to me actually, so I don't think I can ever get myself to jump on the hate train. Thank you MegaMan X6, thank you for helping me get through that day.<br /></p><div class="blogger-post-footer">| © Copyright 2020 - All Rights Reserved |</div>NettoSaitohttp://www.blogger.com/profile/06027189690668668215noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6580835171525960648.post-21074279301530417942024-01-31T08:30:00.003-06:002024-01-31T08:30:55.030-06:00Like a Dragon Gaiden: The Man Who Erased His Name - Review<p></p><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiRFkPO_YcC_XlyOoWVjl7RBHfqk3BYTUgK9S6XiS1wQm1KYahyphenhyphenMXwBEX8GLgTTkfxplpxgPlc5lwBDUJ_d6Gz-gxvdqIKdOdUb_Ik2Eh8VDiXXGU-iTJAqO3tSu7rNEdbUbCId8EtiMifpSHMBTb7uXCkSiDrSnSEtoFs3LREGZcZBgbgIpI2GgOWZyOA/s1345/GaidenLogo.png" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="679" data-original-width="1345" height="324" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiRFkPO_YcC_XlyOoWVjl7RBHfqk3BYTUgK9S6XiS1wQm1KYahyphenhyphenMXwBEX8GLgTTkfxplpxgPlc5lwBDUJ_d6Gz-gxvdqIKdOdUb_Ik2Eh8VDiXXGU-iTJAqO3tSu7rNEdbUbCId8EtiMifpSHMBTb7uXCkSiDrSnSEtoFs3LREGZcZBgbgIpI2GgOWZyOA/w640-h324/GaidenLogo.png" width="640" /></a></div><p></p><p>The Like a Dragon series has been going for quite some time now. Originally releasing back in 2005 as “Yakuza” in the West, the series was eventually rebranded “Like a Dragon” in the US to align with its original Japanese name. While this might cause confusion for some, long time fans know exactly what this is, and what to expect from it. Which is the thing — Like a Dragon Gaiden: The Man who Erased His Name is going to be familiar territory for long time fans, and honestly something new fans might want to stay away from… Or at least, I recommend new fans stay away from it!</p><p>The thing is, Gaiden is basically part 7.5 in this long running series. LAD is basically a full on TV crime drama in video game form, with every game being a single “season.” The series current beginning is “Yakuza 0” which introduces us to our original main character Kiryu in the 80s, Yakuza Kiwami is a remake of the original and takes place in 2005, with each game following taking place around the year it released. Each of these stories mark major turning points in Kiryu’s life, and skipping a single one will leave you with plenty of questions about who this character is, and who these people are in his life. For example, Kiwami 2 sees Kiryu returning to the life of the yakuza after attempting to live a quiet life with his step daughter, Yakuza 3 sees him opening up an orphanage, and Yakuza 5 has his life get completely turned upside down for the sake of his family. Now Yakuza 6? That’s an emotional ride on its own. It’s appropriately titled “The Song of Life.” </p><p>Yakuza 7 (dubbed Like a Dragon: Yakuza in the US — making it the first to change back to the Japanese title) sees a shift in the story and introduces us to the new lead Ichiban Kasuga. While 7 is a direct sequel to 6, it also follows a new story with a new cast of characters, with events that change the series as a whole. Judgment released before 7, and story wise takes place after 6, but also followed its own story set within this world. In Judgment’s case, it focuses on the Yagami Detective Agency as Yagami himself and his partner Kaito get pulled into a series of strange murders. While the story doesn’t have a direct impact on the main series, it introduces new characters into the franchise, and expands the world in general — with it’s sequel Lost Judgment being a follow up to 7. There’s also two side games that released on the PSP with yet another main character, but these games aren’t as connected at this point in time.</p><p>So to sum it up… Gaiden is the next in line after nearly everything that came before it. Timeline wise it takes place before and during 7, and because of that it spoils the dramatic conclusion of Yakuza 6, and a good chunk of 7 as well. It’s a game meant to be played ONLY after you’ve played everything that came before, and it’s even recommended to play Judgment to get the full experience as well (as characters from it do appear). That being said, if you are reading this review and you have not finished 6 or 7, I strongly recommend you skip the story section of this review, and focus on the gameplay. The gameplay is very similar to what came before, and chances are if this interests you at all — then you’ll want to check out the earlier games. Especially Kiwami 2, Yakuza 6, Judgment, and Lost Judgment as they all use the newer game engine. (But of course 0 through 5 are similar as well, just with some differences.)</p><p>Anyway, with all of that being said… Let’s get on with the review. Again, you’ve been warned concerning the story.</p><p><b>The Man who Erased His Name, and His Story:</b></p><p>The story of Gaiden picks up a few years after the ending of Yakuza 6, and sees our long time hero return in a new phase of his life. After discovering the “Secret of Onomichi” during the events of 6, Kiryu is marked for death and is nearly killed in the process. Instead of succumbing to his injuries, he manages to pull through once again (guy’s had a rough life), but this time things turn out a bit different. While sitting in his hospital room Kiryu is approached by the new leader of the Daidoji faction, the group who tried to have him killed for uncovering their secret, and is offered a new deal. Kiryu agrees, but makes a demand of his own — he wants the group to erase him. He wants the world to believe that he is dead. His way to escape from the yakuza life, and finally allow his family to live in peace… And so “Joryu” is born.</p><p>While working for the Daidoji group, Joryu takes on jobs and missions at their request. He’s kept under a tight leash, and must never contact his friends or family, but he’s allowed to complete missions as he sees fit as long as he doesn’t break the rules. As, let’s just say, betraying the group is the last thing you would want to do. Unfortunately, Joryu finds himself in a tough situation, and has no choice but to do whatever he can to avoid breaking his promise concerning his identity.</p><p>After a guard duty job goes wrong, Joryu gets recognized as Kiryu, and it’s up to him to find the people who know and put an end to them; however, things don’t go as planned and instead Kiryu’s handler gets kidnapped in the process. Now with no choice but to safe his watchman, Joryu sets out for his old stomping ground of Sotenbori to track down the Omi Alliance members who captured his colleague, and to ensure his identity isn’t blown. Needless to say, this isn’t going to be as easy as it might sound.</p><p>Although Gaiden does have it’s own story to tell, it’s events are still tied with Like a Dragon: Yakuza (Yakuza 7). This means the game itself expects you to know and understand what is happening in the world during this point in time, and the game makes it clear where this story is going to end. Slide shows are used to quickly recap some of the events from 7, but most of Ichiban’s story is left out of Gaiden. So without playing 7, it’s impossible to fully understand the overall plot of the game outside of Joryu’s current ordeal. Plus Gaiden also ruins one of the greatest scenes from 7, so again it’s strongly recommended to play 7 before this either way. Even so, the stand alone plot in Gaiden is nice, and is for sure well worth it. It’s more than just a prequel to 7, it’s the start of the Joryu chapter of Kiryu’s life.</p><p><b>The Gameplay and Agent Style:</b></p><p>Like previous entries in the series (minus 7), Gaiden is an action adventure game with RPG elements. During gameplay, Joryu explores the city of Sotenbori, where buildings containing shops and side activities line the streets, and enemies roam waiting to challenge Joryu to a fight. Obviously shops allow you to buy a wide verity of equipment as well as health items and food, while the other locations you can enter typically provide you with entirely different games to play. Restaurants can also be used to buy food to quickly heal yourself when Joryu is low on energy, and smoking stations can be used to recharge his special “heat” bar that allows him to pull off strong special attacks.</p><p>As for combat itself, the fighting is completely in real time, with Joryu being able to block, dodge, and counter enemy attacks. Combat is made up of using a mixture of normal attacks, heavy attacks, and grabs/throws, but special moves also play a role in taking out enemies faster. These moves are pulled off by having your heat bar charged, and meeting certain conditions while in battle. For example, picking up a traffic cone will allow you to bash an enemy over the head, while grabbing enemies will let you pull off a verity of attacks based on where Joryu is standing/what is around him at the time. Of course you can also pick up objects around you to use them as weapons without special attacks, but all items have a set durability and will break with use. Extreme Heat mode also returns in this game, which allows Joryu to use his heat bar to buff himself for a limited time, and pull off even stronger attacks. While in this state special heat action attacks can also be used, but it’s main use does come from its added power and new finishing attacks. Of course, while all of this is returning from previous games in the series, Gaiden does have new tricks up it’s sleeves.</p><p> <br /></p><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhg3enIINPkYjxpLWxBfaPplidFHQSVvJXngmNE4nbDUEEKBojm5bWi9-n4v5aNWtsaNHZXaeFdaNULShlL51Z89TTdskEvCPhQE84TQHLvUPS6C_v4Z08rn1Im1plLdjaLJdVfhsgnoVoZEZTwnun3pkGV_L9jROarspqZRFd1eMXcLyl7fdO9eFpno7g/s3840/Photo%20Jan%2022%202024,%2010%2041%2008%20AM%20(1).jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="2160" data-original-width="3840" height="360" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhg3enIINPkYjxpLWxBfaPplidFHQSVvJXngmNE4nbDUEEKBojm5bWi9-n4v5aNWtsaNHZXaeFdaNULShlL51Z89TTdskEvCPhQE84TQHLvUPS6C_v4Z08rn1Im1plLdjaLJdVfhsgnoVoZEZTwnun3pkGV_L9jROarspqZRFd1eMXcLyl7fdO9eFpno7g/w640-h360/Photo%20Jan%2022%202024,%2010%2041%2008%20AM%20(1).jpg" width="640" /></a></div><p></p><p>Previously Yakuza 0, Kiwami, Judgment, and Lost Judgment all featured the ability to change between multiple attack styles. Gaiden uses this system as well; however, this time around Joryu has a new style at his disposal — the “Agent Style.” This style is a fast moving, quick hitting offshoot of Joryu’s usual attacks, but with a completely new twist. Joryu has access to agent gadgets.</p><p>While Joryu usually fights with his fists, his new gadgets allow him to turn the tide of battle in all new ways. The first of which is a wire that allows Joryu to grab enemies, swing them across the arena, and pull them towards him to pull off some juggling combos, but it can also be used to pull items and weapons to him in a pinch. His new explosive cigarette lets him throw bombs and set traps for enemies, and drones can be called in to swarm enemies or even help protect Joryu when he needs to quickly defend himself or counter attacks. The last gadget is a pair of jet shoes that allows Joryu to fly across the battle arena, and even escape from battles if needed. Combine together, these gadgets can help you destroy your enemies in all new ways, and pull off crazy new combos. There’s also a new gadget version of the counter mechanic where you can dodge an enemy’s power hit and pull off a special, so Gaiden provides quite a few new systems to play around with while in combat.</p><p></p><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiC1cZ2XfcohgrJWvHEwbdqADh4yHm0iApsXXjuER2K6nCf8hLOPWol4FPrICxyjpmsMrz6BfYEOtQpe9UG_H4N6cUK02Rj1Iy9D_RtYxjbPZ9zTwf9XUTGZ_svgh13pvYbSJCRh_SLAtuSCIYsbDq4NerFnKqJTXjuKeAPLVsVNz8bYEXB9_Ep3iNJgOM/s3840/Photo%20Jan%2022%202024,%2010%2041%2008%20AM%20(3).jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="2160" data-original-width="3840" height="360" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiC1cZ2XfcohgrJWvHEwbdqADh4yHm0iApsXXjuER2K6nCf8hLOPWol4FPrICxyjpmsMrz6BfYEOtQpe9UG_H4N6cUK02Rj1Iy9D_RtYxjbPZ9zTwf9XUTGZ_svgh13pvYbSJCRh_SLAtuSCIYsbDq4NerFnKqJTXjuKeAPLVsVNz8bYEXB9_Ep3iNJgOM/w640-h360/Photo%20Jan%2022%202024,%2010%2041%2008%20AM%20(3).jpg" width="640" /></a></div><p></p><p>Although fighting battles in Gaiden does gain you money and items, the experience system has been taken out in favor of a new upgrade system. Like in Yakuza 0 you do need money to buy upgrades, but you also need the required points from the Akame Network. <br /></p><p><b>The Akame Network:</b></p><p>Akame is a character you'll meet early on in the story. She is a type of "fixer" in the area, who helps people out with odd jobs, and takes care of the homeless whenever possible. Joryu joins up with her and gains access to her "Akame Network" which lists jobs that can be taken to earn extra cash and network points. It also gives you a heads up on what "issues" are occurring in the city, which then appear as "!" icons on your map. These mini events are typically either civilians asking for help in a fight, people asking you to find their lost items, and sometimes it's even requests to take pictures of something specific for them. There's dozens of these "mini quests" throughout the city, and they are a great way to earn some extra points fast; however, it's the jobs that offer the true experience here.</p><p>Accepting jobs from the Akame network unlocks side stories like past entries in the series had. This time around most of the side stories revolve around the series' history as a whole, with some of them providing a bit more closure on Kiryu's journey so far. We have quite a few familiar faces appearing as well, so once again even this part of the game offers a lot of fan service that would go over new player's heads. These side stories offer a wide verity of scenarios, so it never feels like you're doing the same thing twice. That is, with the exception of the gang related side stories, which simply put mini bosses for you to fight throughout the city. Other than that, you never know what to expect out of these extra stories, and, due to their nature in general, they are all well worth doing. This is a shorter game compared to the numbered entries in the series, so the side stories really help add to the playtime and flesh some things out.</p><p>Once you have enough Akame points, you can then spend them on unlocking new skills and abilities for Joryu, but you do need the required cash to buy them as well. Of course this isn't as big of a problem as it might seem, as the Akame network is also tied to the next major feature added to the game, which is a major money maker, and is required for story progression.</p><p><b>The Castle:</b></p><p>The Castle is a place where everyone's dreams come true. Or rather, it's where people can break the law, and basically do whatever they want. This area has a casino, a hostess club, a shop to buy clothing for Joryu, and it also contains the battle arena. Here is where you'll get to fight your way through different battles to not only gain money, but also rank yourself up and gain access to more areas of The Castle. At first it seems like your typical battle arena like past games have had, but this time around it's actually a bit more. You see, not only do you get to fight one on one battles, but you also get to take part in group matches as well... And those group matches means you're going to have to recruit new fighters to your team.</p><p>With the team matches, Gaiden asks that you not only go out and recruit new members to your team, but also familiar faces as well. There's dozens of characters to recruit in the game, and not only can they be put on your team to clear the team battles, but they can be played as as well! While there is DLC to recruit and play as series veterans such as Majima, Saijima, and Daigo, other returning characters are met and recruited in the game itself. Along with the newcomers, each character has their own unique fighting move set and special abilities to use in the arena, and using them over and over again will level them up and make them stronger. There's also facilities you can use within The Castle to help give them boosts/train them faster, as well as ways to increase your friendship level by hanging out with them. It's not too crazy deep or anything, but with all the characters to recruit and train, and all of the matches you can fight — its' easy to sink countless hours into this mode alone. Especially if you're someone who just enjoys fighting as their favorite characters.</p><p></p><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgSJePInjBLJH9SODIri5OHcby1MyhPk7GmkeLz5bjN5vAQuhcvnXfzPXKJQBtONBIU6ddxOyPoyUORyo7fkWE712CgfJcOAZqEcCAwoqnvhV8RiXNsXBvDJ_E8lVIeBnSIR3BPIrqiL1O_L5JzUuK6ZB9DL7eefpYK4yZ1PpLvQoOlevrytf0U_JJv39w/s3840/Photo%20Jan%2022%202024,%2010%2041%2008%20AM%20(2)%20(1).jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="2160" data-original-width="3840" height="360" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgSJePInjBLJH9SODIri5OHcby1MyhPk7GmkeLz5bjN5vAQuhcvnXfzPXKJQBtONBIU6ddxOyPoyUORyo7fkWE712CgfJcOAZqEcCAwoqnvhV8RiXNsXBvDJ_E8lVIeBnSIR3BPIrqiL1O_L5JzUuK6ZB9DL7eefpYK4yZ1PpLvQoOlevrytf0U_JJv39w/w640-h360/Photo%20Jan%2022%202024,%2010%2041%2008%20AM%20(2)%20(1).jpg" width="640" /></a></div><br /><p></p><p>Joryu himself does not level up in the arena (as it uses his normal in game progression to determine his strength), but you can buy different outfits and customize how he looks when he's both in and outside of the battle arena. It's kinda like a return to the old costume system in Yakuza, but with more freedom to change the colors of things, add accessories, etc. It's not too in depth, but it's a nice little extra that lets you put your own personal touch on the character.</p><p>As mentioned before, The Castle is tied to the story also, so it's not something that can be fully skipped. While it is an extra game mode, some rankings are required to be reached to progress the game. Thankfully it takes little effort to do so however, so anyone not a fan of arena modes doesn't have to worry about grinding out something they don't enjoy just to progress. (But it's for sure worth doing, and a lot of fun!)</p><p><b>The Games Within The Game:</b></p><p>Outside of The Castle, Gaiden is packed full of side activities. These side games aren't just some little one off mini games however, as they are fully developed games on their own. Heck, some of them ARE full on games, that could have their own reviews written just for them! But to save time, I'll just go into some of what you can expect. </p><p>Club SEGA -</p><p>Club SEGA returns, and once again it has a verity of different FULL arcade games to be played. The games included this time around are as follows: Virtua Fighter 2.1, Fighting Vipers 2, Sonic the Fighters, Motor Raid, and Sega Racing Classic 2. All games are in their original arcade state, with an option to play them multiplayer on Gaiden's main menu.</p><p>Besides these games, Club SEGA also has the UFO Catcher game to be played, where you can win and collect little plush toys (some of which are SEGA game references).</p><p>SEGA Master System -</p><p>While Club SEGA is open from the get go, there's a key part in the story that gives Joryu access to a SEGA Master System. This game console isn't just for show however, as you can actually play full Master System games on it! These games will be found hidden throughout the world, with the list of games available being as follows: Alex Kidd in Miracle World, Alien Syndrome, Enduro Racer, Fantasy Zone, Fantasy Zone II, Flicky, Galaxy Force, Global Defense, Maze Hunter 3D, Penguin Land, Quartet, and Secret Command.</p><p>Again these games are in their original form, and are in fact FULL games (not demos). </p><p>Billiards -</p><p>Returning from past games, Billiards is once again a way you can spend your time while playing Gaiden. This realistically created pool table lets you play a verity of game modes, as well as play a trick shot challenge mode. You have multiple camera modes you can select from while playing (one of which being a top down view similar to the days of Yahoo Pool), and you can control exactly where you hit the ball to control your shot/to put spin on it. It's actually a pretty in depth mode, and the game is filled with NPCs for you to challenge as well.</p><p>Darts -</p><p>Along with Billiards, Darts is also an option. Again we have multiple game modes to be played, and different NPCs that can be challenged to a match. While it isn't as in depth as Billiards, it's still a fun distraction.</p><p>Golf -</p><p>Golf in Gaiden is actually a driving range, and not a full golf course. Even so, it's a fun mode which offers different challenges of it's own. Gameplay wise, it's very similar to other golf video games on the market, complete with using different clubs and controlling your strength to land the perfect shot. It hasn't changed much since games like Kiwami 2, but there's nothing wrong with that.</p><p>Karaoke -</p><p>A staple for the series, Karaoke returns! This music game allows you to select from a handful of songs (with both Japanese and English versions), where you must then hit the correct button to the beat of the song. It's an addicting little game mode, with some unexpected laughs as well!</p><p>Pocket Circuit -</p><p>Yet another staple and fan favorite, Pocket Circuit is back once again. In this mode you build mini cars to race in a Pocket Circuit, and do your best to beat your opponents. The trick here is that every car is made up of different parts that will change it's stats, and every single track will require something different out of you. Building a fast car will cause you to fly off the track if it can't handle turns or overshoots a jump, but using a slow car for a track built for speed will cause you to be in last. On the other hand, some races are more about endurance, so having a longer lasting battery is what you'll need to win! It's actually a pretty complex mode, with a lot of custom options, and a wide verity of things you need to consider to win. You can also give your car a boost during the race, but knowing when or not to use this is key as well. Overall this is yet another mini game a lot of time can be spent on, with plenty of content even after you obtain the trophy for unlocking Master Class.</p><p>Poker & Table Top Games -</p><p>Like a Dragon Gaiden also contains quite a few card and table top games to play. Of course Poker and Black Jack are here, with different levels of play, and we also have Japanese games such as: Shogi, Oichu-Kabu, Koi-Koi, and Mahjong. Shogi is very similar to chess, with different pieces that have different types of movements, while the others are basically card games. Thankfully the game will explain to you how to play them, so you won't be fully lost, but don't expect to master these games right off the bat if you're unfamiliar with them.</p><p>Cabaret Club -</p><p>Honestly the weakest part of Gaiden... Cabaret Clubs return once again, but instead of being a full on fun management simulation game... We get live action girls awkwardly trying to act like "you" are visiting their club. It's... Something... To say the least. You basically pick which girl you want to interact with, she'll ask you a question, you respond to the question, and then watch the prerecorded response based on whatever you said. You can pick which drink you would like to buy the girls also, and depending on what you choose, they might end up liking you more. Same goes with the questions — it's all about picking the right answer when you're given the option. Each girl kinda tells you more about their life as you go through this process, but the whole thing is just very strange and shallow. Finishing a girl's "story" will reward you with a weird ending video, but it's really not worth getting max friendship three times just to unlock these scenes. (Although it is an achievement within the game, so it is worth "something.") Really the entire mode is meant to be a joke, but it's a shame we lost our simulation game in favor of this.</p><p>Like a Dragon: Infinite Wealth Demo -</p><p>The final "additional" content in Gaiden is access to the Like a Dragon: Infinite Wealth Demo (LAD 8). This is unlocked after finishing the main story in Gaiden, and gives players a small taste of what the next mainline entry in the game is going to be like. Along with that comes additional Karaoke songs to sing, and access to the starting stages of the new mini games developed for that game. It also contains a glimpse into the new story, and allows for some exploration around the new city. (And yes, enemies to fight, and a new combat system to try out.) Of course this is a demo for another game, so while it's nice early access to those who bought the game before 8 released, it's not something that players will be returning to if they own the real thing. Even so, it's still technically one of Gaiden's extras. <br /></p><p>With all of that said, Gaiden offers a wide verity of activities outside of it's main game, and many of them can honestly add dozens (if not hundreds) of additional hours onto the game. Especially if you sit there and actually beat every single Master System game, or beat every challenge the other games have to offer. The Akame Network will reward you with points for completing different goals, so your efforts will be rewarded.</p><p><b>A Must Play for Fans:</b></p><p>Like a Dragon Gaiden: The Man Who Erased His Name might have one of the longest names in the series, but it's actually the shortest of them all. It's a side game (Gaiden means "side story") meant to fill in the gap between Yakuza 6 and the 7th main entry, and also serve as an intro for Infinite Wealth (8). That being said, it's a game that everyone who's a fan of the series should play, and it's a game that won't disappoint.</p><p>As expected, Gaiden is everything that makes a Yakuza game a Yakuza game (Like a Dragon). It's a crime drama filled with twists and turns, it has fun fast paced action combat, it's loaded up with side stories and side activities to take part in, and it brings us back to a familiar city. While the main story itself is only 8-10 hours long, the side stories are actually worth doing and easily bump the game up to the 20-40 hour range — depending on everything you actually do. It's sort and sweat, and never overstays it's welcome. It's fun from start to finish, and it's just really nice to see this chapter of Joryu's life come to an end. The ending scene alone is one of the most emotional I've personally seen in a game, but without the context of it, it will fall flat for new fans. And that's really the only down side to this game.</p><p>Like I've said many times in this review, Gaiden is not a starting point for anyone interested in this series. If this game sounds like something you would enjoy, and you've never played any entries in the series — then you can basically apply this review to nearly any of the others (except 7 and 8 which are turn based). Most of them are action, they all have side games and mini games to play, they all have a huge list of side stories to go through, and honestly, they all have a lot more content than Gaiden could ever offer. While this might sound like a bad thing for Gaiden — it's actually not. Again, Gaiden was released to lead into the next major entry in the series, and is just a small taste of what is to come. It's meant to be short, while also having enough content to keep players engaged. It's not 100 + hours like you might spend on other games in the series, but it didn't need to be. Gaiden doesn't lose focus and try to be something it isn't, and it's honestly one of the things that makes it great. So again, for anyone who has never played an entry in this series, you're best picking another game as your start. Yakuza 0 will begin the story, while Kiwami 2 is the earliest entry point that plays like Gaiden. On the flip side Judgment is also it's own story, so even that can serve as a gateway into this world.</p><p>Of course, Gaiden isn't perfect.</p><p>On the flip side, the game is more of the "same," but with new combat systems, mini games, story, etc, to let it stand out from the others. Even so, you'll be doing mostly the same things you had to go through in previous entries, and that might be a bad thing to some. Those experiencing burnout from the series won't magically feel different about Gaiden. Yes it's a shorter game, but at the very least it's going to be roughly another 8 hours of what you've come to expect. Gaiden doesn't reinvent the series like 7 and 8, so that's something everyone should be aware of. Other than that, the Cabaret Club is a let down, and there are less heat actions to pull off while in combat. While all the standard ones are here, many of the more flashy ones have been removed sadly. It's something we've come to expect since Yakuza 6's new engine, but it would've been nice if they brought back some of the attacks we've been missing since 5. It's not a deal breaker by any means, it's just one area where they could've improved but didn't. </p><p>Other than these minor gripes, Gaiden is pretty much everything you could want. It's fun, the story was easy to follow while also maintaining the series traditional plot twists, and it does a really good job setting up the future of the series. It's a game all fans should play — you won't be disappointed. And as for the newcomers? Do yourself a favor and jump into this series. It's well worth it.</p><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgM2rmiYNCTQjL6qrsDb_Xai61xFBrh_f89-TC39tPjYZktKhz5E7sHmK1wX0cn6A8jOkoVIXCY21WVccdLyXZ-Ba2pW16KXiUS7Lz-kPuqM8Nb7zuQjLnyCwyeNLDdW6pnF6RERLf96JjZbxCJhFMWTNMMKXJAe6NhNlMlgiIsQqlpt4s0T86PzVajHWo/s3840/Photo%20Jan%2022%202024,%2010%2041%2008%20AM%20(2).jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="2160" data-original-width="3840" height="360" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgM2rmiYNCTQjL6qrsDb_Xai61xFBrh_f89-TC39tPjYZktKhz5E7sHmK1wX0cn6A8jOkoVIXCY21WVccdLyXZ-Ba2pW16KXiUS7Lz-kPuqM8Nb7zuQjLnyCwyeNLDdW6pnF6RERLf96JjZbxCJhFMWTNMMKXJAe6NhNlMlgiIsQqlpt4s0T86PzVajHWo/w640-h360/Photo%20Jan%2022%202024,%2010%2041%2008%20AM%20(2).jpg" width="640" /></a></div><br /><p><br /></p><div class="blogger-post-footer">| © Copyright 2020 - All Rights Reserved |</div>NettoSaitohttp://www.blogger.com/profile/06027189690668668215noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6580835171525960648.post-90489555951404641552024-01-22T10:22:00.001-06:002024-01-22T10:22:47.176-06:00Finally gave Chrono Trigger a Chance<p></p><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgQ1W8u7XA0-en-m8c3TEPwDY73Vy0KhXurzm9cBbFQm6r5PxjMWL0Cj-Bg4YDfocnUEDKnX7ISLSdc4PslPaFxWqFVfESucTnlhyphenhyphenHC_Gk1znKIWweNpxq-lXOOKqtrTtBXQ1kmQX1NfvgBuCJxN314V9j8r99F2iiSnGIpEfbFU_Q27WXQneXmrFohaF0/s616/chronotrigger.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="353" data-original-width="616" height="366" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgQ1W8u7XA0-en-m8c3TEPwDY73Vy0KhXurzm9cBbFQm6r5PxjMWL0Cj-Bg4YDfocnUEDKnX7ISLSdc4PslPaFxWqFVfESucTnlhyphenhyphenHC_Gk1znKIWweNpxq-lXOOKqtrTtBXQ1kmQX1NfvgBuCJxN314V9j8r99F2iiSnGIpEfbFU_Q27WXQneXmrFohaF0/w640-h366/chronotrigger.jpg" width="640" /></a></div><p></p><p>Last year I finally sat down and did something I’ve put off since I was a teenager. I beat Chrono Trigger! Now as a kid I had no idea what CT was, so I missed out on its release. I didn’t play RPGs back then anyway, and it’s not something I would’ve ever asked for anyway. Kid me was all about Mario and MegaMan on the SNES, with games like Final Fantasy or Chrono Trigger being completely foreign concepts to me. Heck, I didn’t even realize Pokemon Red was one of these “RPG” things! So yeah, not something I would’ve played; however, when I was a teenager things changed.</p><p>Getting a PS2 was my gateway into RPGs, with Kingdom Hearts being my introduction to Final Fantasy. Of course I figured I wouldn’t be able to play the FF series (at the time), but my friend Keith helped me change that! He’s the one who let me barrow Kingdom Hearts 1, and he lead me to try out Final Fantasy IV and VI. But to go along with these games, he also introduced me to Chrono Trigger. I’m pretty sure I was 14 at the time, and with my limited RPG experience, I had no idea what I was doing. My friend said it was such a great game, but it didn’t really give me a reason to play it…</p><p>So I didn’t…</p><p>I remember I got to the point where I met Frog, and then quit shortly after! Not that the game was bad or anything, but I had no motivation at the time to keep going. Other friends kept telling me how good it was, but all I could think was “I want to play the game with Cloud” or “how am I going to get the money for Kingdom Hearts 2?” It just wasn’t my priority to beat Chrono Trigger. And then the years went by!</p><p>Jump ahead, and college me really got into JRPGs. I went through nearly every major release, as well as many (MANY) lesser known titles. I even bought Chrono Cross to play on my Vita, but again I dropped it because I got stuck and felt like I was missing out by not playing Trigger. So it got shelved, and time once again marched on. Until 2023!</p><p>Finally sitting down to play Chrono Trigger was a weird experience. I remembered the intro from when I was a teen, but I also remembered why I stopped playing. Today I still have the same issue from back then — there’s so many games I could be playing, and CT didn’t seem to offer me what I’m looking for from a JRPG… But that’s weird to say! This is considered one of the greatest games of all time, and should be EVERYTHING I want from one! So I did something I didn’t do way back when. I kept going.</p><p>Overall, I completely get why the game is considered one of the greatest! In 2023 it might not be as impressive as it was back in the day, but it’s clearly the beginning point of a lot of systems we’ve gotten used to today. It’s insane the amount of things the game tried to do, while also keeping a core focus. The cast of characters is simple and not that “deep” overall, but each character has their own side story that helps flesh out both the character and the world itself. The main story is a time traveling adventure with multiple versions of the world map, and sometimes this time traveling is actually used to change the story in your favor! Overall the world actually isn’t that big (only a handful of areas), but it’s these different versions of the world that help it feel larger overall. Then there’s the fact that the final boss can be fought at any time, with different endings based on when you fight it. It’s the first time a game like this ever tried something along these lines, and overall it does it pretty well!</p><p>Again, CT isn’t too ambitious, and it never feels overwhelming with what it does. It’s roughly 20 hours to do everything (minus all the endings), so it never overstays its welcome. There’s also so many side stories, that are full on stories, so the game rewards you for exploring and finding new things to see. It’s one of the thing that makes the game charming, and I did really enjoy going through each one. As a kid I’m sure I would’ve spent countless hours searching all the timelines, but as an adult I used a quest checklist to make sure I didn’t miss a thing! Some of them had unique gameplay or puzzles to go along with them, so each one was a surprise to play through. Again, I enjoyed each one! </p><p>My favorite part of the game though has to be its battle system. Enemies are on screen and walking close to them triggers the battle. I’ve always preferred this system over random encounters, so seeing CT kick it off was a nice surprise! Attacks and skills can combo together to create unique special moves, with different characters offering different ways to combo! Gives you a reason to constantly mix up your party, and keeps the gameplay from getting stale. Sometimes attacks will also trigger extra environmental damage, such as being knocked into a wall by a heavy hitting blow. Again, something you didn’t see in JRPGs at the time! Helped make the game even more unique, and added to my enjoyment of the battle system.</p><p>Overall, I did really enjoy my time with CT, but I feel as if I should’ve played it when I was younger. It was a short unique time traveling adventure, but it’s still not fully what I look for in a JRPG now days. I’m the type of person who loves thousands of lines of dialogue, talking to every NPC in town over and over again, and watching cutscene after cutscene. Yeah I enjoy tactical gameplay, dungeon crawling, and just RPG gameplay in general… But that’s just a part of the experience for me! There’s so many games out there now days that have "everything" I want, that it's hard to for me to spend my time on Chrono Trigger instead. Trails in the Sky made the Trails series one of my all time favorites. Tales is one of my all time favorite action RPG series now, and I really enjoy the tactical gameplay of the SMT series. Then you have the life sim aspect of Persona 3-5 -- which not only has a high focus on story, but dungeon crawling and gameplay. These are games I love and keep playing over and over again! But all of these games came long after Chrono Trigger, and it’s clear how influential the game was for said future titles. So it really isn’t fair for me to judge it for what it doesn’t do, especially when it did so much, and did it all right! <br /></p><p>So my feelings for Chrono Trigger are not easy to explain at all. </p><p>Am I happy that I finally finished it? Yes. Did I enjoy my time with it? Considering I spent every lunch break for a month playing it… Heck yeah! Do I wish I spent that time playing something else? I honestly don’t know. I feel like with other games I would’ve taken a break or got burned out playing every single day (especially considering it took up my whole lunch break). While I love sinking 80 hours into a world, sometimes it does start to drag when you find it taking up ALL of your free time. With CT on the other hand, I didn’t get bored and I kept coming back day after day! My lunch breaks didn't feel wasted, and a few nights I found myself staying up until 3AM just to push through a section. So yes, while it isn’t my favorite JRPG, I liked every second of it. It was missing a lot of things I enjoy out of JRPGs, but I really liked what the game did have! And I feel like that’s the reason why this game is so loved. Is it perfect? No. Was it unique for it's time? Absolutely! Did it give players a reason to explore and uncover it's secrets? Yep, and it was rewarding to do so. It's a short game, but nothing overstays it's welcome because of that. (And of course the constantly changing gameplay helps as well.) I just wish I would’ve been able to experience it back when it first released, or if I would’ve actually played it back when I was 14. While I'm able to see the game for what it is today, and see how much it influenced the world of JRPGs moving forward... I feel like it would've had a bigger impact on me if I hadn't played hundreds of JRPGs at this point. But that's my fault, and not the game's. <br /></p><p>Anyway, Chrono Trigger was a nice month long adventure for me, and I don’t regret a thing. It’s not the only classic JRPG I’ve missed out on though — so this is just the start of my long road ahead. One that I’m looking forward to!</p><div class="blogger-post-footer">| © Copyright 2020 - All Rights Reserved |</div>NettoSaitohttp://www.blogger.com/profile/06027189690668668215noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6580835171525960648.post-53500670265218182532024-01-18T14:33:00.001-06:002024-01-18T14:33:10.395-06:00How I joined the Rockband Family<p>With the announcement of Rockband 4's DLC support ending in favor of Fortnite Festival, I'm feeling pretty nostalgic of my time spent with the series. Rockband is easily one of my favorite games of all time, and I'm currently sitting here with mixed emotions over the whole thing... But that's besides the point! Today I wanted to share my story of how I was introduced into the series, and I'd also love to hear from you guys as well! This series is truly special, and I feel like many out there will have just as good (heck, most likely better) stories about it like me! So anyway, with that being said... Here's my story:</p><p>My journey with Rockband actually began way back in the mid 2000s with none other than Guitar Hero 2. This was the first time I had heard of the company Harmonix, and first time I had even heard of Guitar Hero! Obviously it was the second entry, but it was my friend Keith who even brought it to my attention. He got the game for Christmas, and I remember him inviting me over to play it. I was honestly pretty bad at it at the time, and could hardly even play easy mode, but I did think the game was pretty fun. I felt like he was the only person who knew it existed, but before long I realized just how wrong I was! Moving forward, GH2 was up for demo at every major store around me, and kids even began bringing it into school! It was something we'd play on free days, but again, I was really bad at it. Eventually GH3 would come out and the crazy continued on, and it wasn't long before EVERYONE in school was talking about it.</p><p>Of course, I never expected to own it myself. It was expensive, and I was pretty lacking on musical knowledge at the time. So it just didn't seem worth it to me to own it at the time... But I still really liked playing it. I still remember when my cousin got GH3 for his 360 on Christmas Eve and we spent the night playing it! It was a lot of fun! I remember my uncle had some issues with the songs for whatever reason, but who cares -- everyone else really enjoyed it. That next school semester was filled with kids talking about the game, and it was great being able to be a part of those discussions! But then something happened... Something "new" began making it's rounds.</p><p>When I first heard about Rockband, I'll admit that I thought it was a knock off. I didn't realize it was Harmonix, so I just thought someone was trying to cash in on GH's success! But then I had friends talking about it, and how it offered a full band experience, so eventually I became interested in it as well. I started playing it at a friend's house, and before I knew it, it had replaced GH at our school! We even had it at post prom! Of course I was still bad at it, but I found myself enjoying it even more than GH. This is when I knew I had to have it... Someday.</p><p>While I missed out on owning RB1 and 2, The Beatles Rockband was the perfect entry point for me! Me and another cousin of mine ran across it's demo at our local Best Buy, and I remember we spent something like an hour playing it. I was in college at this point, but I knew it would be a perfect Christmas gift if my parents were willing to buy it for me. So I asked them, and to my surprise they bought it! My dad also grabbed me the Country Track Pack, and that Christmas me and my parents spent most of the day just going through both the Beatles songs, as well as the country songs. I pushed myself to get better as I played, so I quickly found myself working my way up to hard mode that day, while my parents were content with sticking to easy. By the time New Years came around, I had also bought Lego Rockband as well (it had some great songs!), and me and my entire family who came to stay with us for the night spent all night playing it! It was amazing, and easily one of my favorite memories period!</p><p>Eventually I would get RB1, however the disc was busted, and RB3. Meanwhile my cousins had a copy of RB2, but I just bought DLC songs from it I liked. I was obsessed with the series up until the day my Xbox 360 broke, and I thought I would retire from it for good. But then in 2014 I got an Xbox One (already had a PS4), and by 2015 I was returning to RB4 -- which was once again a Christmas gift from my parents!</p><p>That Christmas Eve we spent all night playing the game together, just like we had many many years before. Again it's such a great memory, and it's something we would keep coming back to do together as a family as the years went on! Sadly I wasn't able to bring all of my songs forward (poor college kid me didn't buy the Lego RB export), but we still had plenty to play. I continued buying DLC songs pretty much every month, and before I knew it years went by and I had a massive library of songs to enjoy! It's something I was hoping to last forever.</p><p>Still to this day, RB is something I continue to come back to. Again, it's one of my all time favorite games, and I don't plan on stopping anytime soon. The end of DLC is sad news, but it's not like I own anywhere near every song. In fact my current wish list has well over 100 titles that I'd like to buy at some point! So the game has plenty let to offer me, but at the same time it's sad to see the end of an era. While Fortnite Festival is Rockband in all but name (and the characters), it's sad to see the RB brand fade away. It's been a fun ride though, and I do look forward to seeing what's to come. Who knows? Maybe that Rockband 5 will happen someday?</p><p>Well anyway that's my story of how I got into RB. What about you guys? <br /></p><p><br /></p><div class="blogger-post-footer">| © Copyright 2020 - All Rights Reserved |</div>NettoSaitohttp://www.blogger.com/profile/06027189690668668215noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6580835171525960648.post-48053234012589806472024-01-16T22:18:00.002-06:002024-01-16T22:18:27.960-06:00Happy New Year! 2024!<p>I know, I know. I’m very late with this! The last few weeks have been crazy busy, and I just haven’t really gotten the chance to make this post. Heck, this last year in general has been pretty busy. A lot happened throughout 2023, and looking back now it’s crazy to think that all of that happened within a single year. It was my first full year being married and living in my new house, we had family friends also get married this year, and we got to spend quite a bit of time swimming and just enjoying our new life. However, unfortunately, not everything was great either… I spent a good chunk of the year in pain with kidney stones (fun…), I lost my last remaining uncle, we received some bad news from other family members, and my grandma went blind as well… So not all of 2023 was great, but personally I’d rather focus on the good rather than the bad.</p><p>With all that being said — it’s not like I abandoned gaming. In fact, this year is the first one in a long time where I was able to get back into the swing of things! Final Fantasy XVI released last year, I finally went through some classics I’ve put off like Chrono Trigger, and me and my wife finally finished going through the rest of the Yakuza series! Of course there was a lot more on top of these games, but this post would go on forever if I were to cover everything… So I’ll just cut this short here.</p><p>With 2024 I’m making it my New Year’s resolution to finally get back to the games I’ve been missing out on, and beat my records from last year. Here we are on the 16th and I’ve already managed to platinum three PlayStation games, so I’m already well on my way to completing that resolution. However, I’d like to do a bit more than just play the games. I want to stop neglecting this blog, and get things back to how they used to be. Yeah, I doubt I can write something every day, but I’d like to get more review out, and just talk more about the games I’m playing. I’m not going to force myself to get things done, or force myself to finish a game just to review it, but I’d like to share more of my experiences with the world once again! So to kick things off with this new year, I’d like to start with a review of a game I just recently 100% completed… But that’s a post for another day.</p><p>Anyway I just wanted to give a quick update, and wish you guys all a happy new year! I hope you look forward to what’s to come. Who knows? Maybe we’ll even do some blog revamps this year. There’s quite a bit I’d like to change and fix up, but we’ll see where it goes. </p><p>Thanks for reading! See you next time! </p><div class="blogger-post-footer">| © Copyright 2020 - All Rights Reserved |</div>NettoSaitohttp://www.blogger.com/profile/06027189690668668215noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6580835171525960648.post-19131458987003416002023-10-13T10:49:00.005-05:002023-10-13T10:49:44.787-05:00How I was introduced to Assassin's Creed<p></p><p>When Assassin's Creed first came out, I didn't have an Xbox 360 or PS3. I saw the commercials for it at Walmart, and I'd see it on the shelf from time to time, but I never thought I'd actually play the series. It was on consoles I didn't own, and it honestly didn't look like something I would enjoy. Back then I was kinda picky on what I would or wouldn't play, and I really didn't branch out much because of that. Heck, I was also in high school, so I didn't really have too many choices anyway. I didn't have a part time job yet, and my parents controlled what I could actually get. So AC was simply just not in the cards for me... But of course, that all eventually changed.</p><p>After I turned 17, I started my first job and began saving up for an Xbox 360. The main reason I wanted it was actually Sonic 06 (yes, laugh at me), but once I actually bought the console I decided to make the most out of it. I began buying games I wouldn't normally even look twice at, and surprisingly many of them became all time favorites of mine! I'll admit that AC still wasn't on my radar at that time, but the next year was pretty great overall. Soon I would go on to graduate from high school and start college, but that didn't slow me down when it came to gaming. If anything, it actually gave me more time to do just that! So once again I went out looking for new games, but nothing was really catching my eye. But then "it" happened...<br /><br />We had a bad storm one Friday night, so I remember I went to bed early before the work the next day, and just kinda slept through it all. I didn't think about turning things off, but when I got a call from my mom the next day I was shocked to hear that my PC would no longer turn on... I was pretty upset to say the least... So being left with no choice (that PC was basically my life as I needed it for everything, especially with school), my parents helped me pack it up, and we took it to Best Buy (which was well over an hour away).</p><p>I was prepared to have to buy a new PC or something. Didn't know how we'd do it (I didn't have that kind of money, and my parents couldn't really afford to either), but we were going to have to do something. THANKFULLY Best Buy found that the PC itself was fine, and just the power supply unit was fired. They then sold us a new one, and told us it would take about half an hour to put it in. So in the mean time, I went "window shopping," and that's when I saw it. Assassin's Creed on sale for $20!</p><p></p><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhTAkzesgFrTbFiEBaPHcF_ZV27sC85APdUeeS458rrsWFVXkjUhi2aRLlcMplr0heN5MMwSc4yRPscFZtIlfCJP_68coO8pTFp7mI4RKjkNBNW1SQ_jCw-G9S9KAZJIcg6APlP6i6tJl9Ce3BKbc-M9drRB1juBgq_dGsaux_qrca_vLlsfYIeNaUa5eQ/s1268/1.png" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="710" data-original-width="1268" height="358" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhTAkzesgFrTbFiEBaPHcF_ZV27sC85APdUeeS458rrsWFVXkjUhi2aRLlcMplr0heN5MMwSc4yRPscFZtIlfCJP_68coO8pTFp7mI4RKjkNBNW1SQ_jCw-G9S9KAZJIcg6APlP6i6tJl9Ce3BKbc-M9drRB1juBgq_dGsaux_qrca_vLlsfYIeNaUa5eQ/w640-h358/1.png" width="640" /></a></div><br />I really knew nothing about the game besides what I remembered seeing years ago, but looking at the back of the box convinced me it was worth giving it a shot. Considering I didn't have to buy a whole new PC, and did have enough money leftover after the new PSU, I went ahead and bought it. That was basically 14 years ago to this day. I didn't know about AC2 coming out (although there was a spot on the shelf advertising it), but when I got home and started up AC1 for the first time -- I was hooked instantly. The massive cities, the climbing, the combat, the leap of faith, etc, it was all just amazing to me! Sure, it got repetitive at times, but I played the heck out of that game daily up until the release of AC2 (which I of course had to buy). <br /><br />I still remember playing it that Halloween also, and my mom's friend bringing her kids over. They got all excited and rushed into my room because they saw "VIDEO GAMES" and wanted to watch. Well, behind that Xbox 360 menu screen was AC paused with me stabbing a guy in the neck, so that wasn't easy to show them... Ended up just existing the game and losing progress, but it was worth it...<br /><br />But anyway, what I thought was going to be a horrible day of losing my PC turned into the day I got introduced to one of my all time favorite series. So in a way, I'm thankful for that storm!<p></p><div class="blogger-post-footer">| © Copyright 2020 - All Rights Reserved |</div>NettoSaitohttp://www.blogger.com/profile/06027189690668668215noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6580835171525960648.post-14277828620836101332023-10-09T10:58:00.003-05:002024-01-15T15:55:25.855-06:00The Game that Gave me Literal Nightmares<p>When it comes to horror games, there's not a lot that scares me. I refused to play them when I was a teenager (because horror movies scared me), but by the time I got into college I decided it was finally time to try them out. While I had played some games with "scary" parts in the past (I'm looking at you Half Life 2), Resident Evil was the first true horror series I jumped into -- and I actually put a lot of research in before I pulled the trigger! I spent countless hours reading wiki pages online, and eventually I decided that the story and gameplay sounded interesting enough to give it a shot! Managed to get a great deal on Resident Evil 0, REmake, and 4 on Amazon, and downloaded RE2 to my PSP. Of course I started with RE2 since I had it instantly (Amazon took 5+ days to ship back then), and I quickly fell in love with the game and series as a whole.</p><p>Moving on from RE, I would play many other horror games over the years. I'd return to Half Life, play Dino Crisis, Parasite Eve, Bioshock, Alan Wake, Dead Space, Left 4 Dead, Amnesia, Until Dawn, Alien Isolation, The Evil Within, some Silent Hill, etc. Basically a wide verity of "actual" horror games, horror "themed" games, and games that simply had their scary moments, but are not really horror games. Sure, I had a heck of a lot of fun with them, but none of them actually scared me! At least outside of a few jump scares from time to time. But that's not a bad thing at all -- I didn't jump into these games to actually be scared! I wanted fun games, and that's all that mattered to me. And then something changed... Resident Evil 7 came out.</p><p>The thing is -- I don't find RE7 to be scary on it's own. Yes it has some jump scares, and yes there's some disturbing content... But none of that bothered me! It's not much different from what we had before, except now the entire game was locked in first person. So it honestly wasn't that bad! Or rather, it wouldn't have been that bad if it weren't for the fact I played it in VR.</p><p>PlayStation VR changed everything for me. It let me experience games in a way I never imagined, and each game I played constantly left me wanting more. Years later VR is what helped me get through lock down in 2020, but even before then I began integrating VR every way I could! Watching 3D videos, watching TV shows on Hulu, etc. I loved, and still love, VR, but I never realized what this would mean for horror. Or rather, what horror in VR would do to me.</p><p>When I first jumped into RE7 VR, it was the demo. I didn't play it a lot because it did creep me out, but I had fun showing it to friends and family. When I got the full game however, I told myself that I'd only play it in VR and get the full experience. Well, I did, and I paid for it! You see, in VR you are actually "there." This isn't on the other side of a screen. You're not sitting on your couch as you look across the room through a window to another world -- instead what you see with your eyes IS that other world. It's not much different than looking around the room you're sitting in now as you read this post. The world is fake obviously, but when you move your head, you're moving your head within this other world. When you turn around, you've physically turned around in the game as well. What your eyes see, and what your brain believes to be true, does become true to you, and it's such a weird experience. Throw that into a horror setting, and it's something completely different.</p><p>In VR horror games, you go from being someone playing a game or watching a story unfold, to someone who must "become" the main character of a horror story. There's no "playing it safe." You HAVE to make those dumb decisions often seen in horror movies. You HAVE to go into that dark creepy basement, and you have to confront your fears if you ever want to finish the game. There's no finding a safe place to hide until someone saves you -- you have no choice but to move forward. And during this adventure, you'll notice more than you've ever even realized when simply playing a game on a TV. For example, walking through the house in RE7, you see the maggots crawling along, you notice every fallen or broken joist, you see the trash laying around, and even notice the specks of dust falling before your eyes. Things you don't realize when you're simply watching, but becomes painfully obvious when it's "you" in that character's shoes. Your brain screams at you that you're in danger, and often you find your body reacting before you can even think a situation through! One scene has you crashing a car into a fallen beam to take down the boss, but as the beam comes straight at your head, chances are you'll physically duck down or dodge it before you're hit! Of course you never feel the pain, but your natural instinct to survive kicks in none the less. Again, it's such a crazy feeling, and the effects of this can be felt afterwords. It's a game, yes, but try convincing your brain of this fact.</p><p>After getting through RE7 in VR, my nightmare didn't end. In fact, it followed me into my dreams. The layout of that house, the bugs, the dripping water... That "dinner table." Since I had "been there," my brain could recreate it all in perfect detail. It developed dreams that brought me back to that world as if it was something I had truly gone through in my life! The memories of this game crossed the line of fiction, and entered what my sleeping self considered reality, and it took a LONG time before I was able to reverse this. I had countless nightmares about that house, and still to this day "Go Tell Aunt Rhody"triggers something inside me. It's like a repressed memory trying to crawl it's way back, but I know it wasn't real. Never has a game done something like this to me, and I'm honestly not sure if it ever will again. </p><p>Since finishing RE7 and having the nightmares, I've played other VR horror games. Did they scare me? Yes. But did I have lasting effects from them? Shockingly no! I might've had a dream or two about Half Life Alyx, but nothing to the extent of RE7. Maybe it's because RE was my first VR experience, or maybe playing so much VR after has caused me to become desensitized to the whole thing. Either way, RE7 is an experience I'll never be able to forget... And that's one reason I still love it to this day. Does that make me sound crazy?<br /></p><div class="blogger-post-footer">| © Copyright 2020 - All Rights Reserved |</div>NettoSaitohttp://www.blogger.com/profile/06027189690668668215noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6580835171525960648.post-17317403942706263232023-07-24T11:41:00.003-05:002023-07-24T11:41:30.787-05:00Memories of Armored Core<p>After such a long (LONG) wait, Armored Core 6 is finally almost here, and I couldn't be happier. You see, Armored Core is a special series to me, but it's also one I haven't always been able to keep up with. I'm someone who kinda falls into a weird place with it, because although I love it and am a "long time fan," it's not a series I've been able to fully experience. Even so, what I have been there for will always be special to me, and I guess it's that nostalgia that really drives my excitement when it comes to this release. Now, in the past I slightly touched on my experience with the series, but today is a new day, and I feel like now is the perfect time to expand upon my story. </p><p>Growing up, I was a HUGE fan of both robots and mechs. Power Rangers was my go to, and of course I had nearly all of the toys (thanks Uncle Mark)! I didn't really know what "mecha" was per say, but I loved pretty much anything that was robot related, and the more robots there were, the better. </p><p>Jumping ahead to middle school, Toonami was a part of my new daily routine, and shows like Zoids and Gundam 08th MS Team were my go to after noon shows. Stupid middle school me still thought that Zoids was a knock off of Power Rangers, but I still liked it! I guess it was Gundam that made me realize there was more out there though, so I began watching it as well. They quickly became two of my favorite shows, and it made me wish that they would make video games about them also. (Yeah, that happened, but I had no idea it did...) Anyway -- I guess it's these two series that truly pushed me to become a mecha fan, but I had no idea how to continue from there. And then that's when my friend Ian started telling me about Armored Core.</p><p>Back then I was more of a Nintendo kid. Sure, I had a PlayStation 1, but even then I only played a few games on it. I was mainly into games like Mario, MegaMan, Kirby, etc, and I rarely branched out and tried something new. Only exceptions were when my uncle or cousins would get a new game or rent something, and I'd check it out, but most of the time it wasn't something that appealed to me. That being said, when Ian started talking about his PS2 games, they just flat out sounded amazing to me.</p><p>I never expected to get any of them though. This (dot) hack series he kept bringing up? Sounded really cool, but when was I ever going to play that? Armored Core 2 that he kept talking about was the same, but I was still interested in it. He'd tell me how you got to build different AC Units, and how you could customize each one to be unique. He talked about how he created speed builds, ones that focus on missiles, and sometimes he'd sit there and brain storm new plans with me. It's funny how I remember all of this after all these years, but sometimes it seems like it was just yesterday. Heck his speed type he told me was like "using the float shoes on ice in Zelda." I knew exactly what he meant, and how hard that would be to control! But either way, what he told me about AC convinced me to give it a shot whenever I got the chance, but I never expected that day to come. Besides playing it a little bit one of the few times I went to his house -- AC2 was a game that would just be lost to me. That is, until I graduated middle school.</p><p>It took a couple of years, but when I finished 8th grade I received enough graduation money to buy a PlayStation 2. I still remember the day my mom drove me to different Walmarts to find the thing, and when we finally did I also grabbed a copy of MegaMan X 8. Of course I was going to start with the games I really wanted/knew I'd love, so the MegaMan games were at the top of the list. However around this very same time is when we discovered a new movie rental place in town, and thanks to that discovery, I got to try out a lot of new and different things. I didn't have money to buy games myself (obviously as I was just going into high school), but for $4, my parents were more than willing to let me rent a game from time to time. You got to keep it for a week, and our shopping trips were every week -- so it worked out nicely! And considering this new place had a huge selection of PS2 games, I couldn't have got the console at a better time.</p><p>Of course I started out renting games like Transformers first, but when Armored Core 2 caught my eye sitting on the front shelf, there was no way I could pass it up. Finally after all these years, I could play the game for myself. And it was amazing.</p><p>I did suck at the game, I'm not going to lie. The experience of playing the game was great and all, but I just didn't know what I was doing. Sure I played the heck out of it that week, and I did go on to rent it multiple times after, but overall it wasn't a game I was planning on returning to just because it was so hard. If I actually owned the game I'm sure I would've given it more time, but I had other games to rent, and because of that the AC series just sorta faded away from me. At least for a couple of years. Ultimately what changed everything for me was the summer of my junior year when my uncle opened a bakery, and I got my first part time job. That's when I bought my first game console on my own -- the Xbox 360.</p><p>The Xbox 360 opened up a whole new world to me. Finally I could play the new popular games like Halo 3, Portal, etc, and I was finally also able to jump into completely new series as well. No longer was I tied down by the Wii and what Nintendo had to offer, and with my own income I was able to actually test out quite a bit more series. Heck, since I jumped in so late, most of the good games were already cheap! It was such a good feeling going into a store, dropping $15-20 on a game I'd never heard of, and then just spend the next week playing it. It was like renting a game, but I never had to return it! I found so many gems this way, and I don't regret a single purchase. But then one day I also discovered that Armored Core 4 was a thing.</p><p></p><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEixeqi7Bp5c5SBW6sDMZaRwlnCwkO9bT9mqTwdht1PjDH8h6Yo2f4iwJ0lV_v8diksxr_X7og9CiT54hJBmNGy16PHS_40oNAD9qhTzXk-BfaDSJuzCRQJdPm9qEmW5gZSwJiCKyTiZtP1gLfS2fCcElroeJsnDfhViXCs2qeLmI_jDgpQLosMZj3HtLvU/s1038/armoredcore1.png" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="582" data-original-width="1038" height="358" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEixeqi7Bp5c5SBW6sDMZaRwlnCwkO9bT9mqTwdht1PjDH8h6Yo2f4iwJ0lV_v8diksxr_X7og9CiT54hJBmNGy16PHS_40oNAD9qhTzXk-BfaDSJuzCRQJdPm9qEmW5gZSwJiCKyTiZtP1gLfS2fCcElroeJsnDfhViXCs2qeLmI_jDgpQLosMZj3HtLvU/w640-h358/armoredcore1.png" width="640" /></a></div><p></p><p>I remember looking up info about the game, and reading about it while in computer class at school. That night I then told my dad about it, and gave him the money to pick it up for me if he could find it at the local GameStop. At the time we didn't really have many video game stores around here, with the closest GameStop being an hour away near his work. At first he laughed and thought I meant "Armored Corp" when I wrote it down, but I was like "no it's actually Armored Core." He then took the money, and when he got home from work the next day he had the copy of my new game with him. I was beyond excited!</p><p>Even though I had a rough go with AC2, AC4 was a whole other story. Right off the bat I was blown away by the game's realistic graphics. Then I saw the fact that you could legit fly, AND do a high speed build far beyond whatever speeds the PS2 could handle. Afterwords I got pulled into it's mercenary based story, and got to work coming up with mech designs of my own. I wanted to be like my friend Ian, and create a wide verity of ACs to match my every need. This new game provided even more verity to it's customization, and even let you customize decals and colors of each part! By this point I had gotten into multiple mecha series like Code Geass, so of course I started recreating mechs from these shows as well. I basically went all out with the game, and each day I was excited to come home from school to play it. Taking on different missions each day, fighting other ACs in the arena -- it was all of my mecha dreams come true. </p><p>And then I hurt my back in school.</p><p>The bad thing is, throwing my back out at age 17, means you're still going to have issues (sometimes worse) when you're 32. Almost half your life later, and things like this will still bother you. On the flip side, I got to stay home from school for a bit! Armored Core 4 is one of the main ways I spent my time being stuck to a chair. I still remember the time I dropped my 360 controller and had to figure out how to get it (that was very painful), but other than that it was a great memory! Having time and an excuse to do nothing but play AC4 was great, and I feel like that's when I really dove into the customization side of things. Eventually my back did get "better," and I went back to school, but I think it was that weekend I actually finished the game's "main" story. And I wanted more.</p><p>Surprise! There was more! Armored Core 4A (For Answer) was a follow up to AC4, and was said to improve upon everything in AC4. New story, new missions, new parts to customize your AC with, and just... A bunch of new content in general! Of course I had to have it too, and once again my dad was willing to pick it up for me on his way home. This time it was a full priced release though, unlike my old copy of AC4.</p><p>I actually didn't like For Answer as much as 4. Maybe I burned myself out on 4 during the couple of months I had just spent playing it, but I think it was more of the issues I had with it's content. For example, while it did have more to do, and it had some crazy huge boss fights, the story itself didn't grab me quite as much, and the split story paths had some really challenging missions I just couldn't overcome. It didn't help that the game had really long loading screens as well, so it did start to get on my nerves. Eventually I got to a point where I went down the "bad guy's route" and had multiple of the game's enemy bosses attacking me at once -- I never did clear that mission.</p><p>After AC4A, I once again took a break from the series. I had other games to play, and my last year of high school kept me busy. A really fun time in my life overall, but none of that is Armored Core related. I actually didn't return to the series until early college when GameStop (which had now opened up closer to me) started selling PS2 games for cheap, and they had a buy 2 get 2 free deal. So of course I grabbed most of the Armored Core 3 series, as well as Resident Evil Code Veronica. </p><p>AC3 was of course a lot different from 4 (and on older hardware), but man it was still fun. It got hard, and I didn't actually finish it (or it's follow ups), but I had a blast playing it. Last Raven was pretty crazy too, but it's difficulty started so high that I for sure never came close to the end. Again I still enjoyed it though, and I couldn't complain considering how cheap I got it. Afterwords I once again took a break from the series, but eventually I did jump back in with Armored Core V.</p><p>I really liked ACV. I hate that I missed out on all the online features of it (or mostly missed out), but it was a lot of fun for what it was. Smaller mechs, the ability to jump off of walls, and some really cool mission and level design. It took me roughly a year to actually beat the game as I had a lot going on in my life at the time, but I really REALLY enjoyed it. So much that I bought the follow up VD (Verdict Day) the moment I saw the credits roll. </p><p>Sadly while the game did arrive a few days after placing the order, it came in a completely destroyed box. I guess I should've returned it, but I didn't. Instead I have a copy of VD that's box is pretty much shredded, with plastic pieces falling off non stop if you hold it the wrong way. I have no idea what happened to make it be in this state, but thankfully the disc was ok. And then once again, I would spend the next 2 years playing the game off and on in my free time. Unlike with 4A, I actually liked VD better than V. It was a full on improvement, and this time around I did get to experience some of the online content. Taking missions and doing things co-op to help your faction expand it's reach was such a cool feature, and I really liked the new customization options. Of course it was a lot more of the same, but that wasn't a bad thing. VD did what V did but better, and that's exactly what I hoped to get out of it.</p><p>And that's where my AC journey ended. I did go back and play some of the older games, but I've mostly been waiting for another entry. Little did I know that wouldn't be until 2023!</p><p>Now it's not like my mecha video game journey ended there. As a huge fan of Gundam, I've played pretty much all of the Gundam and Super Robot War releases. (Including Japanese exclusives.) I also played quite a bit of Daemon x Machina, which was created by the producer of older Armored Core games. It was a decent substitute to AC, but it's also very much a game of it's own. Heck last time I played it though has been a few years, and I remember some "Power Company" scammer just barged on in my house and was scouting the place out. That became a quick "uhhhh can I help you and what are you doing?" Before the guy scrambled out the door. Fun times.</p><p>Anyway, while I might not have been with the series the entire time, nor can I say I'm a super fan... I do love Armored Core, and I really can't wait for AC6. I'm looking forward to recapturing my time spent with AC4, and seeing what AC looks like on the next generation.<br /></p><div class="blogger-post-footer">| © Copyright 2020 - All Rights Reserved |</div>NettoSaitohttp://www.blogger.com/profile/06027189690668668215noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6580835171525960648.post-39243464893546703332023-07-07T14:15:00.000-05:002023-07-07T14:15:33.949-05:00The Platinum Log: Zone of the Enders<p>Zone of the Enders. I had heard about the series, but I didn't really know much about it. Back when I was in middle school, my friend Ryan REALLY got into the Metal Gear Solid games, and eventually he convinced me to look into them as well. At the time I didn't really know who Kojima was, but when I started doing more research into him, I started to realize I knew more about him than I thought. Or at least, I knew of his projects.</p><p>Thanks to MegaMan Battle Network, I knew what the Boktai series was, and thanks to the random GBA game I tried out, I technically knew about Zone of the Enders. But again, the only thing I knew about it was the fact it was a mecha series, and that it was a turn based strategy (which I sucked at). I didn't know that the mainline games were PS2 games, nor did I know what they played like. Heck, I didn't even realize the clip I saw in MGS Twin Snakes was Zone of the Enders. So when I finally finished the MGS series for myself, and wanted more, I turned my sights to other games Kojima had worked on. That's when I discovered what ZoE really was, but also quickly realized I most likely would never be able to play it... I was a college kid at the time, and the games were really hard to come by. So I put getting them on the back burner, and just focused on what I could play. But then something unexpected happened -- a collection was announced!</p><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEi3d1kkPLeupEhlPdBTkQTzO3WQc8uJWeQcs4sC2i8wsECx_aKgjpBhUvtgO5YUG_znVPvqVt7pspYM6GmjhEwy54SFKGwGz6q6r-0HvpGWnXDV5aA4vslo1waZBv4qUSjbYFG1yyLEg_e_QFzO9XYm58jwzBWAYVfhSsliduUiQxNlFKdEsf6gvgteIfQ/s637/ZOE1.png" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="637" data-original-width="614" height="320" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEi3d1kkPLeupEhlPdBTkQTzO3WQc8uJWeQcs4sC2i8wsECx_aKgjpBhUvtgO5YUG_znVPvqVt7pspYM6GmjhEwy54SFKGwGz6q6r-0HvpGWnXDV5aA4vslo1waZBv4qUSjbYFG1yyLEg_e_QFzO9XYm58jwzBWAYVfhSsliduUiQxNlFKdEsf6gvgteIfQ/s320/ZOE1.png" width="308" /></a></div><br /><p>I wont lie, one of the main draws to the collection for me was the included demo of Metal Gear Rising, but being a mecha fan I did want the games as well. So I watched the prequel anime to the series to get myself ready, I saved up some money, and bought the game on release. I don't regret it!</p><p>While the original ZoE isn't my favorite of the two -- I did really enjoy it. The gameplay was a lot of fun, and I liked that it borrowed elements from other popular mecha series. The main character was a little annoying, but it was clear that was the point. (Entire thing reminded me of NGE, which was clearly the inspiration behind the game.) The structure of the game caught me off guard as well, as it used a city map system with missions popping up in different areas. These missions acted as the "stages" in the game, but what made them unique is the fact that damage carried over between said missions. So if a building got destroyed during the fight during, say, mission #2, but you came back for mission # 10, that same building would be gone. Which is where the struggles come into play.</p><p>First time playing through the story I didn't care about being perfect. I destroyed everything in my way, and took out the bad guys anyway possible. I really liked the game though, and didn't want it to end -- so I checked the trophy list to see if it was something I could accomplish. It was! However one of the requirements was to get A ranks on all stages, and to do that you can't have any building damage. See the problem? If you mess up at all near the start, that makes it impossible to continue getting A ranks, so you had to be perfect. But of course, I was up to the challenge!</p><p>Although it didn't take me long to do, I really had a lot of fun with this platinum. It extended the length of the game for me as I was replaying it, and it made me actually learn how to play the game. It's pretty short overall, but that's also what helps give it such replayability. It's honestly a game I would've replayed multiple times even without a trophy goal, but the trophies gave me something to work for. Overall it's a solid mecha game, but it honestly does get blown away by it's sequel. But I feel like that's how sequels should work?</p><p>Zone of the Enders was Platinum #7.<br /></p><div class="blogger-post-footer">| © Copyright 2020 - All Rights Reserved |</div>NettoSaitohttp://www.blogger.com/profile/06027189690668668215noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6580835171525960648.post-36945637006952728142023-06-16T14:55:00.000-05:002023-06-16T14:55:06.967-05:00A Complete Run Down of the MegaMan Timelines (Classic and Battle Network)<p>With the release of MegaMan Battle Network, the series has seen quite the surge in popularity again. So I figured now would be the perfect time to write something I've wanted to cover for a long time -- the MegaMan Timeline.</p><p>Now a lot of people might think that MegaMan is just a kids platforming game with little to no story, but I'm here today to prove them all wrong. The "crazy" truth is, MegaMan is actually quite complicated, and there's more than one timeline at play here. That's why some confusion pops up when talking about MegaMan Battle Network, and then comparing it with the rest of the greater MegaMan series. So with today's post, I want to also clear up that confusion, and go down the complete timeline.</p><p>Before we get started however, let me explain a little bit about the timeline, and where my information comes from. First of all, the series has a whole has been handled by multiple teams, and because of that some things can get a bit confusing. Parts of the story has actually been retconned, while some pieces of information actually come from the "dev team's point of view" and may or may not line up with what other teams originally intended. This especially becomes true when looking at the Zero and ZX series, as these games were developed by Inti Create. As for the source of my information -- most of it comes directly from the games, as well as the Official Complete Works books that has been released for multiple games in the series. (More specifically the MegaMan Zero books when referring to the Zero and ZX parts of the timeline.) For the sake of this blog post, I will mainly only be covering what is considered canon, and I will discuss gray areas where things may/may not have changed over the years. If anyone is interested to go deeper into the series than I currently have, I strongly recommend checking out the MegaMan Fan site the <a href="http://www.mmhp.net" target="_blank">MegaMan Home Page</a> or the <a href="https://megaman.fandom.com/wiki/Mega_Man_Knowledge_Base" target="_blank">MegaMan Fandom (Wikia)</a>. There's a lot to this series as a whole, so I'm really only going to be covering the basics here. Also if you find that anything I've said is in correct or you don't agree with it, please feel free to leave a comment below.</p><p>Also here's a <span style="color: red;">general spoiler warning</span>, as I'll be going into what needs to be said, but without giving away too much of the plot or overall story.<br /></p><p>So with that being said... Let's get started.</p><p><b>The Beginning and the Split:</b></p><p>The beginning of the MegaMan timeline is also where our split occurs. In some ways this split can be seen as two different worlds, as it has never been made 100% clear if this branch ever really existed in the same timeline. Using the information we have from the games however, you can consider the two timelines two separate universes, that diverged in one major way. These universes share a similar background, but the characters differ slightly... Confused? Well don't worry, it's nothing too crazy (yet).</p><p><b>The Classic Timeline:</b><br /></p><p>Before the start of MegaMan 1 (Classic) we find two scientists named Dr. Light and Dr. Wily. These two scientists are best friends, and work together to bring the sci-fi world of robotics into reality. The two eventually go on to develop a robot known as ProtoMan, but the two scientists fail to see eye to eye. Eventually the two have a falling out, and they both split off to do their own thing.</p><p>After the split, Dr. Light goes on to create a "son" named Rock, and a "daughter" named Roll. The two robots are his pride and joy, but are of course they aren't Light's only creations. Wanting to help the world, he created a series of "Robot Masters" to help with different tasks -- such as for construction. These robots were released into the world, and were working out completely fine; however, a jealous Dr. Wily had other plans for them. Hijacking the robots, Dr. Wily turns them into an army under his control, and sets them loose on the world to cause mass destruction. In order to fight back against Dr. Wily and free his fellow robot friends, Rock asks Dr. Light to turn him into a fighting robot, and becomes MegaMan (RockMan in Japan).</p><p>Going forward, the classic story is pretty straight forward. MegaMan 1 follows MegaMan as he takes out each of the Robot Masters, eventually fights Dr. Wily, and in the end sends him to jail. The next few games follow the same pattern of Dr. Wily getting out of jail and attempting to take down MegaMan with his new robots, but things eventually do change. ProtoMan reenters the picture pretty early on in the series and acts as both a friend and rival to his brother MegaMan, but it's not really until MegaMan 7 that we see a true rival character. And that character is a robot known as Bass.</p><p>Bass first shows up in MegaMan 7, and is Dr. Wily's answer to Dr. Light's MegaMan. Of course Bass doesn't actually like Wily or really follow his orders, but he does want to beat MegaMan himself, so their interests sometimes align. However, it's not Bass himself who will go on to change the series forever, but rather Bass' successor.</p><p>In MegaMan 8, an alien machine crashes into the earth, and both Dr. Light and Dr. Wily race to the crash site to see what's going on. Of course Light sent MegaMan in his place, but Wily beats him there and recovers what he's looking for. A strange energy source known as the "Evil Energy." This Evil Energy doesn't really come into play for the rest of MegaMan 8, but it has a major role concerning the rest of the series. </p><p>Around this time, unknown to everyone else, Dr. Light also begins his new project. A new version of MegaMan he calls "MegaMan X." This new robot was created to have unlimited potential (hence the X in it's name), and also have the ability to think for itself and have feelings. While robots like MegaMan seem to have feelings, and can think for themselves -- ultimately, they can never go past their programming. MegaMan has a strong sense of justice, but that's just how he's made. Like the Robot Masters in MegaMan 1, he too could be reprogrammed to change his way of thinking. X on the other hand, is a new type or robot, and as close to human as possible. Only problem is, the world itself might not be ready for such a thing. Fearing what would happen if he was released, Dr. Light seals X away and runs tests on him to evaluate what type of robot he might become. Until the world itself is ready for him, X remains locked away.</p><p>On the flip side, Dr. Wily is also working on a robot similar to X, and to act as a follow up to Bass. Using the Evil Energy obtained in MegaMan 8, Wily completes his project, and shows a sneak peak to Bass during the events of the second MegaMan arcade game (which takes place after MegaMan 8). This robot dubbed "Zero" won't be released for some time, but once he is... It might've spelled the end for Dr. Light.</p><p>The only clue we have to what happened after the Classic series actually goes back to MegaMan X4 (don't worry we'll get to it). In X4 we see flash backs to Wily releasing Zero, and telling Zero about his rival Dr. Light. What did Zero do/what happened after this point? It's all fan speculation.</p><p><b>MegaMan X - 100 Years Later: </b><br /></p><p>The second main series in the MegaMan timeline is MegaMan X and opens up roughly 100 years after the events of Classic.</p><p>At some point in time Dr. Light has passed away, and the robots he brought to the world are long gone. His lab has fallen to ruin, and MegaMan X remains inside. It isn't until a scientist by the name of Dr. Cain comes along, that X is discovered, and studied for how different he is. It's Dr. Cain who then sees the benefit in having robots that could think for themselves, and so he decides to reproduce Dr. Light's work and creates the "Reploid" line of robots. Robots based on MegaMan X, with all of his capabilities. <br /></p><p>Needless to say... The world really wasn't ready.</p><p>Reploids that can think for themselves, is the same thing as humans thinking for themselves -- except much more dangerous. These things are massive machines, that can be turned into war machines as well. They have guns, swords, rockets, jets... You name it! If such a robot turns on humanity, then they will kill everything in their path. Such Reploids are officially dubbed as "Mavericks," and a group of Reploids are brought together to fight against such threats -- the "Maverick Hunters."</p><p>Leading the Maverick Hunters is an advanced Reploid by the name of Sigma. He's the best of the best, and has other elite Reploids under his command. Together with his team, Sigma protects humanity from the rogue Reploids, and peace is somewhat returned... That is, until one particular incident.</p><p>At some point in time, Zero gets released from Dr. Wily's lab, and goes completely crazy. Sigma is called in to deal with the threat, but things don't go exactly as planned. Although Sigma is able to stop the rampaging Zero, he shatters the crystal on Zero's helmet, and the "Evil Energy" seemingly transfers from Zero to Sigma himself. This marks the start of Sigma's decent into madness, and the events that will change the world forever.</p><p>Eventually X himself joins the Maverick Hunters (as he feels responsible for bringing Reploids into the world), and Zero is recruited as well. X and Zero become friends during this time, but X is nowhere near as strong as Zero. Sigma does betray the Maverick Hunters and sets out to destroy the world, and he also takes many of the Maverick Hunters with him. This leaves X and Zero as two of the remaining hunters that can deal with this new Maverick threat (now lead by Sigma), and that's where MegaMan X1 begins.<br /></p><p>Now X1 actually has three versions of it's events. You have the original game summaries that basically just describe Sigma turning Maverick, you have a manga adaptation of MegaMan X, and you have the Anime OVA Day of Sigma. The OVA was actually created for the remake of X1 titled "Maverick Hunter X" and shows the moment Sigma turns on everyone, and bombs the city. It serves as a pretty nice prequel to the first game, but it does have some story changes. In this version Dr. Cain himself is nearing the end of his life, and is killed in the explosions. Considering Dr. Cain appears in future MegaMan X games, you can consider this non-canon for the main timeline, but most likely would've been the new canon for Maverick Hunter X2 on up (if they would've happened).</p><p>Anyway...</p><p>MegaMan X1 follows X and Zero taking down the Mavericks as well as Sigma. Zero is ultimately killed during the final section of the game, and leaves X alone to take down Sigma. X receives power ups left behind by Dr. Light throughout the game, and this is ultimately what gives him the power to beat Sigma. (While X1 has holographic recordings of Dr. Light attached to each upgrade, it's also implied that this may be an AI or Dr. Light's consciousness uploaded. Thus this hologram is actually aware of what's happening in the world.) And while Zero dying might seem like a spoiler, it's actually a reoccurring theme during the rest of the series.</p><p>Moving forward, X2 follows X as he continues his life as a Maverick Hunter without Zero by his side. The game introduces new characters, and one in particular looks very similar to a robot version of Dr. Wily. It's actually this Reploid who restores Zero and brings him back into the main story to help X stop Sigma once again. X3 focuses on a new "Anti Virus" to prevent Reploids from turning into Mavericks, but of course the virus fails and infects more. As expected Sigma is behind it, and X and Zero work together again to take him down. Yes it's a very basic story for the first three games in general, but things continue to develop from here on out.</p><p>X4 is where things take a turn, and more story is put into the games as a whole. X4 not only focuses on X and how he wants to find a way to bring peace to the world, but it also dives into Zero's story and who he is. As mentioned before, this is where we get to see glimpses of Zero's past, as well as him with Dr. Wily, and the modern day story causes Zero to question who he is and "what he is fighting for." As for the overall plot, it focuses on an army of Reploids who try to form their own nation, but of course things don't go so smoothly. Again, this is the turning point for both X and Zero, and things don't get better for them from here.</p><p>X5 we see the full on impact of the Sigma virus (yes Sigma himself has become a virus). At this point Sigma has infected an entire space station, and has set it on a collision course with the Earth, and it is up to X and Zero to put an end to it. To do so, they need to build the "Enigma Cannon" to destroy it before it's too late, but to do so they need to gather the required parts to repair it. Unfortunately the Reploids holding the parts have been infected by the Sigma virus, and have gone Maverick themselves. At this point it is actually possible for the Enigma Cannon to shoot the space colony down, but most of the time it will fail and you'll have to move onto Plan B within the game. And that Plan B is to crash a space shuttle into the colony and destroy it once and for all -- a mission Zero himself takes on.</p><p>Canon wise, the space shuttle is what destroys the colony, but it still crashes into the Earth and causes massive damage. The Sigma virus is spread everywhere, and humans become unable to live on the surface. The world is in complete chaos, and both X and Zero head off for the final battle against Sigma in his newest body.</p><p>The last part of X5 once again focuses mainly on Zero and who he is. It's revealed that Sigma has met with Wily in the past somehow (the Reploid from X2?) and he goes into detail about how the Sigma virus wont infect Zero, but instead make him stronger. Again, this virus technically originated from Zero to begin with, so it really isn't too surprising to us players. Despite learning the truth about the virus, Zero still takes down Sigma, but once again at the cost of his own life. X is caught up in the battle as well and left almost completely destroyed, but is saved by Dr. Light. (Again, sometimes he acts like a prerecorded message left behind for X, and other times he does things like this.) This is the original end to the X series...<br /></p><p>A few years after Sigma's defeat and Zero's death, X continues to fight against Mavericks, but this time he hold's Zero's sword in his hand. <br /></p><p><b>The Split and Retcon of X and Zero Series:</b></p><p>Originally MegaMan Zero 1 was meant to follow X5. Inafune joined up with Inti Create and had an outline for the story to follow. The game was to begin with X returning Zero's sword to him, but the overall plot had to be adjusted moving on from there. Ultimately the X series was too successful to stop it at X5, so X6 went into development at Capcom along side Zero 1. So changes to the story had to be made.</p><p><b>The Last Half of the X Series:</b></p><p>MegaMan X6 focuses on a strange new event called the Nightmare, and it changed some of the story events around to make the new story work. The time skip at the end of X5 is changed to happening a few weeks later rather than years, and Zero is once again revived so that he continues to be a main character in the series. Due to these decisions, the story of MegaMan Zero 1 also had to be altered, and the ending of X6 had to be done in a way where it wouldn't conflict with MegaMan Zero 1. So the game ends with Zero being sealed away in order to fix an issue with his body (implied to have something to do with the maverick virus), and the story is left at that. However, once again the X series continued to be popular, so this scene was retconned to take place at an "unknown point of time" so that more games could exist. In other words, this scene is the end of the X series timeline wise, but there are more events that take place between X6's normal ending, and Zero's final scene.</p><p>Moving on from there, we have X7 where new generation reploids become a thing, and the new main character Axl is introduced, and X8 that seemingly sets up the future where these new generation of reploids will take over. This is also the game where Sigma is killed once and for all, as a new big bad takes over. Unfortunately, this is where the X series technically comes to an end, so the future is still unknown.</p><p>Timeline wise we also have MegaMan X Command Mission which focuses on stopping a reploid rebellion, but the game is considered to be it's own timeline/world at the time of this writing. As the game released before X8, but takes place "after," it's impossible to tell at this time if it's truly a part of the canon as the X series has yet to continue.</p><p><b>The Elf Wars:</b></p><p>Sometime after the events of the X series, a new threat emerged. Using a new AI being known as the "Mother Elf," X manages to delete the Sigma Virus and put an end to the whole Maverick issue that plagued the world. However one evil man by the name of Dr. Weil decides to use the Mother Elf for his own plans instead, and captures her and uses her to put reploids under his control. On top of this, Weil takes Zero's body and creates a new reploid, dubbed Omega, and sets his very own Elf Wars into action. Zero is eventually built a new body, and both he and X put an end to the wars, but at the cost of the lives of most of the population. Once the war was over, Zero was once again sealed away, and a safe haven for humans and reploids known as "Neo Arcadia" is created -- with X as it's leader.</p><p><b>The Zero Series:</b></p><p>The Zero series begins some time after the Elf Wars and features Zero as the main character (obviously). It follows Zero as he's recovered by a young scientist named Ceil who leads a resistance group against Neo Arcadia. Neo Arcadia's government has taken over the world, and began killing innocent reploids as they pleased. Zero is told this is because their leader, X, has become corrupt, but things ultimately aren't that simple.</p><p>While the Zero series is only four games long, they are much more story focused than the previous X series, and feature hub areas to explore, multiple characters to talk to, and follow a different mission style structure. The series has plenty of characters with a wide range of backgrounds and mini story arcs to discover, and also once again dives into who Zero is. Zero 4 especially relies on the events of MegaMan X5, while Zero 1 serves as an introduction to this new version of the world. Eventually it's revealed that the X running Neo Arcadia is a fake, and that the real X has been turned into a Cyber Elf himself as he attempted to watch over the world alone. With Zero's return however, he takes a step back, and leaves the fate of the world in the hands of his best friend.</p><p>By the end of the Zero series, Zero is once again forced to go up against Dr. Weil, and finally puts an end to his plan of using the Dark Elf.... It's just, this time Zero also doesn't survive.</p><p>The thing about the Zero series and it's placement in the timeline, is that the dev team over at Inti Creates had a plan from the get go. Previously the MegaMan series jumped into the 3D gaming space with a title called MegaMan Legends. Now this game did have multiple changes for the US release, but it's overall plot did remain the same. That being said, the game was set at the "end" of the MegaMan timeline, and the Zero dev team wanted to use the new Zero series to help lead the timeline to this point. This is one of the main reasons the reploids in Zero were given more human like appearances, and why Legends like designs could be seen throughout the games. With the events of Zero ending the way that they do, it left the series open to a new beginning, and would eventually lead the series to it's Legends conclusion... But things change...</p><p><b>The ZX Series:</b></p><p>The ZX series was the follow up to Zero, and took place hundreds of years after Zero. This time around humans and reploids have both advanced to the point where it's nearly impossible to tell them apart from each other (reploids now have biological parts, while humans are mechanically enhanced), except reploids are given a red triangle symbol on their heads. The story follows a corrupt government once again, with the main character being a human who joins the resistance. This time around the resistance is lead by a reploid who was a supporting character in the Zero series, and the main human character fights using a new device known as a "Bio Metal." Bio Metals are objects that contain the data of reploids from the past, and using them humans are able to transform into a version of said reploid. In ZX1's case, the main character (default character is a boy named Vent) gets Model X and transforms into a version of MegaMan X. He eventually gets Model Z as well (for Zero), as well as some other Bio Metals based off of other characters from the Zero series.</p><p>Sadly the ZX series only received two entries, with the second game (ZX Advent) focusing more on the mysterious new Model A that is very similar to the reploid Axl from the X series. Unfortunately, ZXA ends on a cliffhanger where a character reveals his plan to "reset" the world... Could this have been the event that leads to Legends? We may never know...</p><p><b>A World of Endless Water:</b></p><p>MegaMan Legends takes place far into the future, on an Earth that has been almost completely flooded. People live on small islands throughout the world, and many make a living as "Diggers" exploring old ruins from the world's past. The main character of this series is a 14 year old boy who was discovered sleeping in some old ruins, and is adopted by a famous Digger named Barrell Caskett. Barrell names the boy Rock (MegaMan in the US version... Which I'll touch on that soon...), and decides to raise him along side his granddaughter Roll. </p><p>MegaMan Legends 1 focuses on the family crash landing on an island and going up against the pirates who show up looking for the treasure said to be hidden there, while Legends 2 focuses more on Roll and her parents who vanished when she was little. At first glance the games don't seem to have too much of a connection to the rest of the series, but both the ending of Legends 1, and specific events in Legends 2 help shed some light on that.</p><p>The truth is... This is so far into the future, that humanity has completely died out, and the "humans" that have replaced them are basically the next step in reploid evolution.</p><p>Rock himself is actually a "RockMan Unit" as part of the old system created by the last human being. His job was as an "Irregular Hunter" (the Japanese name for Maverick Hunters), and his job was to keep the order. But one thing lead to another, Rock was seriously injured, and he was sealed away within some ruins -- where Barrell would eventually discover him. </p><p>As for the name changes in the English release... It kinda kills the plot twist. (Although me saying all of this does as well.) Rock was a seemingly "normal" teenager, with it being revealed that he's actually a RockMan Unit. Meanwhile in the US release, this "normal" kid is named MegaMan, and is actually a MegaMan Unit. Doesn't quite have the same impact when the so called normal kid is already named MegaMan...</p><p>And this is the current end to the series! No game has taken place after MegaMan Legends 2, with Legends 3 being canceled many years ago. It's a shame we haven't continued past this point, but maybe someday it'll happen... But, that's not the end of MegaMan.</p><p><b>Filling in the Gaps of the Classic Timeline:</b></p><p>Due to there being multiple time skips, there's plenty of room to fill in the gaps. MegaMan 9, 10, and 11 are all "newer" entries in the classic series, and all take place before X. X itself has ended on a cliffhanger with X8, and there's still quite a bit of time between X8 and X6's Zero ending. The Elf Wars themselves have never been shown in a game, only talked about, and the ZX series also ends on a cliffhanger. Not to mention there's a time skip between Zero and ZX that could be visited if they chose to, and there's a massive gap between ZX and Legends in general. So even if we get a sequel to ZX Advent, it doesn't mean that sequel would take us directly to Legends. Basically it's possible for entire new MegaMan Classic timeline series to be created thanks to these gaps, and games like MegaMan Classic, X, ZX, and Legends can always have direct sequels. So, this story is far from over... And this is still only one branch of the timeline.</p><p><b>Going Back to the Split:</b></p><p>So as I explained way back at the beginning, we have a point where the two main timelines diverged. In the Classic Timeline we have Dr. Light and Dr. Wily working together to create robots, but in the Battle Network timeline... Things went quite a bit different.</p><p>In Battle Network, this world's version of Dr. Wily is working along side a man named Dr. Hikari (which translates to Light). Wily focuses on robot research just as we see in the Classic series, but Dr. Hikari turns his focus towards creating a virtual cyber world. Needless to say, Dr. Wily becomes jealous of this world's version of Dr. Light, as Dr. Hikari's internet research is given more of a focus, and in return changes the world. Thanks to that research, the entire world becomes connected to the cyber world, and everyone begins carrying around handheld computers with their very own AI companions within them. This is what creates the world of Battle Network.</p><p><b>The Battle Network Series:</b></p><p>While the Battle Network timeline isn't as long or as complicated as the Classic timeline -- it is an RPG series and has much more story due to that. The first game in the series introduces us to our main character Lan (Netto in Japan... Yes, it's exactly what you might be thinking right now), and his AI Net Navi MegaMan.EXE. The two get caught up in cyber terrorist attacks being lead by Dr. Wily, and shows how the two eventually put an end to his plot. Of course, this is only scratching the surface, as Battle Network 2 introduces us to a new big bad, which in return connects to Battle Network 1's story, which is then expanded upon in Battle Network 3. Battle Network 4 begins a new story arc (which still builds off of what 1-3 set), and 5 and 6 serve as a conclusion to the story overall. A lot of things happen along the way however, and many of these events somewhat tie back into what we saw in the Classic series. Robots like Cutman from MegaMan 1 are seen in this series as Net Navis instead, and most are bad guys/play similar roles in this timeline as well. So again, while the series isn't as long as the main Classic timeline -- the games themselves are packed full of story and content.</p><p>Due to the nature of Battle Network, I prefer not to spoil the series. Timeline wise, it is pretty straight forward (as I explained above), but there's actually three versions of it.</p><p>The story canon to the games is as follows: Battle Network, Network Transmission, Battle Network 2, 3, Chip Challenge, 4, 5, and 6 -- with a non canon spin off "navi simulator" titled 4.5. This is the main timeline of Battle Network, with the other two timelines coming from other media.</p><p>On the anime side of things, we have a retelling of the Battle Network story, with tons of added content, and completely changed stories made just for the show. Season 1 is an adaptation of mainly Battle Network 1 and 2 (with great alterations), while Axess, Steam, Beast, and Beast + go their own routes completely. In other words, things seen in the show, don't relate back to the games, outside of borrowing characters.</p><p>The manga for Battle Network is more of an adaptation of the games compared to the anime, but even this timeline is different. It does however have a special (newly released) chapter that serves as an epilogue to both the games and manga, so that's a little bit of a gray area... And it's also the current "end" to the first series in this cyber world based timeline.</p><p><b>Star Force:</b></p><p>MegaMan Star Force is the second series in the alternate timeline, and takes place 200 years after Battle Network. It shows a world where the virtual world has turned into wi-fi networks, and humanity has finally broken away from relying on Net Navis... Or at least at first. The first game focuses on Geo, a young boy who lost his dad in a space accident, and an alien who fuses with him to transform him into the new super hero in town -- MegaMan. The two go up against other aliens and the humans they've fused with, and it mostly focuses on Geo trying to find a place in the world, and finally getting him to open up to others. Moving forward however, things do shift back towards the way things were in Battle Network. In SF3 a new version of navis finally return, and everyone in the world has them again, but unfortunately this is currently where things end. Star Force 3 is the last entry in the timeline, and we currently don't know where things will head from here. However, there was one small addition...</p><p>Operation Shooting Star was a remake of Battle Network 1, but actually begins with Geo (after the events of Star Force 3) traveling back in time to stop a new threat. This story arc takes place during a time skip that happened during Battle Network 1, and shows Lan and Geo meeting, and working together to stop this evil time traveler. The way it's handled makes it so nothing from Battle Network 1 (or the series in general) is retconned, and it also doesn't really advance the Star Force series. It's simply an extra story added into an enhanced remake of the original game. But it happened, and that's why I'm mentioning it here!</p><p>And then you have the anime.</p><p>Like Battle Network, Star Force also received an anime adaptation, which was a bit closer to what the games had to offer... But not really. While it didn't break away and do crazy things like the BN anime did, it still did it's own overall story. That being said, this anime series was a sequel to Battle Network's Beast +, so it falls into the very same anime timeline. It's just unlike BN, it only lasted for two series -- Star Force, and Tribe.</p><p><b>The End:</b></p><p>And that's basically it! My complicated long winded explanation of the MegaMan Timeline! If you actually read through all of that, and didn't get confused... Congrats and thank you for taking the time!! Yeah, this ended up being longer than I expected... But I also had fun going back through it. It reminded me how much I love this series as a whole, and how much I can't wait for new entries to be finally released. There's so much left open, so I hope one day we can finally fill in these gaps.</p><p>Well until next time guys!<br /></p><div class="blogger-post-footer">| © Copyright 2020 - All Rights Reserved |</div>NettoSaitohttp://www.blogger.com/profile/06027189690668668215noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6580835171525960648.post-32288291604647621002023-05-02T11:30:00.001-05:002023-05-02T11:30:00.136-05:00The Platinum Log: The Jak Series<p>Oh wow, it's been YEARS since I've last done one of these. The "Platinum Log" is a series I started to discuss games I actually took the time to do everything in -- or at least enough to get the game's Platinum Trophy. I was hoping to get through all of my games, and then start making new posts as I earned new ones; however, I slacked off... A lot... Life got busy, and I never got back to it. That is, until today!</p><p>For the first time in 6 years, I'm here today to talk about the next entries in my log book. This entry isn't just one game however; it's actually three. Platinums # 4, 5, and 6.</p><p>As previous posts mentioned, Gravity Rush for the Vita was my first platinum. I went on to buy Resistance Burning Skies for Vita because I wanted more games, and it too was an easy platinum to get. This lit a fire in me that urged me to finish off some of my other games, and actually start hunting for trophies -- which lead me to go back to Rune Factory Tides of Destiny to finish it off. Instead of jumping to my next backlogged game though, I changed directions and once again went for something new: The Jak series.</p><p>Jak is something I never got to play as a kid. I didn't have a PS2, and by the time I did I didn't feel like trying these games out. I thought they were "kids" games and I had better things to do/play. (I was a dumb teenager.) Well, one day as I sat there at college I discovered something. The Jak and Sly collection were on sale on Amazon, and I had the extra money to buy them! In reality, the only reason I even bothered buying them was simply because I had missed out on them. I now had a PS3 that was lacking on exclusive games, and these two PlayStation exclusive series just seemed perfect for it. Plus I liked Naughty Dog, so of course I decided I'd play Jak first once they came. <a href="https://www.nettosgameroom.com/2012/10/got-great-deal-on-sly-collection-and.html" target="_blank">(I found the cringy post I made back then also... Ouch me... And seriously? I didn't like DMC? What was wrong with me?)</a> <br /></p><p>I still remember sitting there on one of the final days of college, as I talked to my friend Ryan as I ordered them. We were sitting in one of our usual spots in the math building, while also talking to another friend through my laptop. Nothing crazy happened that day, but it's the memory I always think of when I go back to these games. The other memory that comes to mind relates to Pokemon Black 2, and our home getting new windows put in. During that time I was dealing with health issues related to my wisdom teeth, and games like Pokemon Black 2 were helping me keep my mind off of it. While I also didn't have access to my room (thanks to all the furniture being moved around) it gave me something to do anywhere. But once I was able to get back in there, it was all Jak and Daxter.</p><p></p><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEh6tJELZDJ3ewT9UTc82p6IFsWqroEx8yTqoyOzzQfsu5MUuXcg4j-zG-ZHholKDWMPxcsHgW1-eazYvKbQwRT5UEZc10GrD6qidWI1ME-rYIMSDH1rsz18FQcwcmZwzzePHe6-QcLPZG7tbQHjPxKH5eRSkwZFnzmOEQnhVJ7WxqVFBjJhLKNPuUVw/s632/2.png" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="388" data-original-width="632" height="196" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEh6tJELZDJ3ewT9UTc82p6IFsWqroEx8yTqoyOzzQfsu5MUuXcg4j-zG-ZHholKDWMPxcsHgW1-eazYvKbQwRT5UEZc10GrD6qidWI1ME-rYIMSDH1rsz18FQcwcmZwzzePHe6-QcLPZG7tbQHjPxKH5eRSkwZFnzmOEQnhVJ7WxqVFBjJhLKNPuUVw/s320/2.png" width="320" /></a></div><p></p><p>Although it was a simple game, the first Jak had me hooked right away. I actually enjoyed collecting every little thing, and exploring it's world. My dad was home from work so I remember him walking in and watching me play once in awhile, but I mostly went through it on my own. Then at night while I was getting close to the end, we suddenly heard a crash, and looked out the window to see my old picture window shattered into millions of pieces -- the wind had blown it over and it had fallen just right to bust it. Originally we were going to donate it to a family friend, but that didn't happen! I know it's random, but it's yet again another memory of mine from Jak 1. Of course the game isn't that long, so it was shortly after the thing broke that I finished off Jak 1, and got the platinum. The game was just flat out fun. It didn't do anything too crazy platforming wise, but it was one of those games I felt like I had to do everything to actually beat the game. Anything less felt like I was cheating. And if you're wondering what type of game Jak 1 exactly was? Well of course I had to <a href="https://www.nettosgameroom.com/2013/02/jak-and-daxter-precursor-legacy-hd.html" target="_blank">write a review over it once I finished it! </a></p><p>The moment I finished Jak 1, I went right for Jak 2. I had always heard this was the point in the series that it became aimed at teens, and apparently people weren't kidding. Jak started cussing, the world was a lot darker and more bleak, you could hijack cars and drive them around a hub city, and guns became the new way to fight. It was a clear evolution of the series, but it also felt like something new all at the same time. Those who liked the happy go lucky adventure in 1 may not enjoy what 2 became, but once again I actually loved it. In fact, I liked it more than 1, and enjoyed the story it had to tell! It wasn't anything too crazy either, but the way it played out kept me invested. (Also quite a few of the "adult" jokes made me laugh!) But anyway... It continued to keep me hooked just as the previous game did, but this time I wasn't able to do it all in one go. While Jak and Daxter took me roughly two days, Jak 2 took me two weeks. I had a bit more going on in my life at this moment, and I also mainly just played the game at night. Eventually I did finish it off though, and then went back to get everything I missed for the platinum. This time around the game had side quests/side stories you needed to complete also (as it had that open world hub area with NPCs), so it was quite a bit more work than the original. (And of course you still had to collect things to.) But ultimately, getting the platinum for 2 never felt like a chore either, and it left me wanting more. <a href="https://www.nettosgameroom.com/2013/06/jak-ii-hd-review.html" target="_blank">(Yes I reviewed this one also.)</a><br /></p><p>Jak 3... I'm actually mixed on this one. It was a continuation of what 2 had done, but with a much larger focus on the vehicles. It wasn't bad by any means, but at this point maybe I was starting to feel the burn of playing the games back to back. That didn't stop me from finishing it in a day though! Overall the game did feel smaller/shorter though, and it seemed to have an even bigger focus on the side content compared to the main game. Even this isn't exactly a bad thing, but it left me feeling like 2 was the main game in the series, while 3 felt like a post game after story/conclusion for it all. For the platinum I actually didn't even get one of the trophies the legit way however, because a glitch caused me to pick up and respawn a collectible -- so I unlocked it before I had actually done it myself. But while I didn't enjoy 3 as much as 2, I still felt it was worth a playthrough, and would like to go back to it again sometime. Heck, might even go back and play through all of the PS4 releases for 3 more platinums!</p><p>So overall, I do really like the series. It's been 10 years since I've actually gone through them, but sometimes it feels like it was just yesterday. They were great platforming games, and a part of the golden age of PS2 platformers -- one that I missed out on as a kid. So getting to experience it years later on PS3 was a pretty great feeling, and something I do want to return to whenever I get the time. All three were well worth the platinum.<br /></p><p><br /></p><div class="blogger-post-footer">| © Copyright 2020 - All Rights Reserved |</div>NettoSaitohttp://www.blogger.com/profile/06027189690668668215noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6580835171525960648.post-31714208525399764982023-05-01T12:50:00.003-05:002023-07-14T15:02:16.961-05:00MegaMan Battle Network - The Game That Made Me Who I Am<p>What makes a person? The answer? A lot of things. Who we are is determined by so many factors, that you can write entire books on the subject, yet never cover everything. Everything from genetics, to our environment influences who we become, and it is a never ending process. Sure, at some point people will become "stuck in their ways," but we are creatures that are able to adapt, and change as needed. So when asked "what makes you, you," many people will bring up things that were major influences on them. Not too long ago I made a post discussing how I grew up, but that's just one small part in the overall picture. As this is a gaming blog, I mainly discuss games and what not -- but there's so much more that has happened in my life, that it's shaped me into the person I am today. It's just sometimes games are at the center of such events, and sometimes these games lead me down a road I never expected to walk. When I look at everything that's happened to me because of games, then there's one series that truly made me who I am today. And that's MegaMan Battle Network.</p><p>Now, I'll be blunt. This isn't a short story. I'm sorry in advance if it feels like I'm rambling! But the simple fact is, this series means more to me than any other game series in existence. It's the game series that was the gateway to pretty much everything in my life, and because of that it really isn't going to be easy to explain it all. There's going to be a lot I miss, but I still wanted to take the time to go into what I can. I know I've mentioned some of these things in the past on this blog, but today I'd like to just get it all out there at once. I know it might sound stupid that a game had such an impact on me, but I hope you'll just hear me out, and maybe then you'll understand. This is my story.</p><p>The first time I saw Battle Network, I didn't really care. I loved MegaMan thanks to my uncle letting me play MegaMan X, but I was limited on what games I could get as a kid (obviously). I didn't expect to play it, but I had to admit that the box art did look cool. I'd see it sitting on the shelf and look at it, but that's all the farther it initially went. This went on for an entire year, and up until the release of Battle Network 2 -- which again, I didn't expect to get. I was 10 at the time, and in my mind, I had other things to do, and other games to play. But then, things suddenly change.</p><p>I don't know why this happened, but I still remember the day clearly. It was the middle of summer, and I woke up at my mom's work home (again, I explained the situation in my previous post). It was a normal day, but for whatever reason I got this weird feeling like "you need to play Battle Network." I wasn't thinking about it or planning on ever getting it -- I seriously woke up with this thought in my mind, and a weird feeling that wouldn't go away. I didn't even know what the game was about. I just knew it was MegaMan, and at this point it might've even been months since I last saw the game in stores. (In fact, I know it had been months -- but I'll get to that later.) Even so, I just had to have it for some reason. It was seriously like something inside me was telling me to get it, and it wouldn't take no for an answer. I've only had this feeling a handful of times in my life, and this is the earliest example I can remember.</p><p>So what did I do? I listened.</p><p>Being 10, I didn't have a lot of money saved, but I had to come up with a way to get more. I knew later that day my mom and grandma would take me to pick up their paychecks, and usually we would go to Walmart after. So I got together all the change I had saved, and asked my mom if I could make a deal with her to earn whatever I was missing. She agreed, and I got to work doing chores around the house. I didn't know at the game I'd only need a few dollars, but as a 10 year old that was HUGE. Man, I can still picture myself running around the house doing everything I could possibly do just to earn a little bit more change... And then we got in the car and headed over to my grandparent's house.</p><p>The rest of that day went as usual. We drove 20 minutes away to the bank to get their checks, we stopped by McDonalds and sat in our usual spot, and then we went over to Walmart to get our weekly shopping done. At the time it wasn't a Super Walmart, but it still had the basics which were needed. Once we got there my mom took me over to the game section, and... It wasn't there. We looked everywhere, and we couldn't find a single MegaMan game on the shelves. Of course I was disappointed, but as we were getting ready to leave we noticed something -- the discount shelf. Apparently they did have it! For half off! Back then new GBA games were $30, and Walmart had one copy of Battle Network for sale for $15 -- such a great deal. I'm not even sure if my mom had to give me extra cash to buy it, but I didn't care! I was more than happy to give up everything I had for it. So that's what I did.</p><p>Walking around Walmart, I kept looking at and reading the back of the box. At one point though, for some reason the whole "Cyber World" thing bothered me. To put it bluntly, I was weird as a kid, and I'd refuse to play any game that had too much sci-fi or fantasy. I especially dropped things that featured magic, so this "entering the Cyber World" thing bugged me. Heck I actually put the game down on a shelf to leave it, but something inside screamed "WHAT ARE YOU DOING IDIOT, PICK IT UP" and so I did. I ended up buying the game after all, and we went home.</p><p>Of course I played it on the way back. We had a 20 minute drive, and a few other stops to make. I remember sitting on the Town Square as my mom ran inside her work's main office for a second, and that's when I first heard the ACDC Town main theme. It's a song I would end up loving, and a song I still think about every time I drive through that square (especially when my iTunes would happen to play it on my drive home as I went around that square). Eventually we'd get back to my grandparent's house, and my grandpa wanted us to ride with him somewhere as well -- so once again we took off. "Look mom I'm on the Internet!" Exact words I said as I continued to play the game while riding in his van. By 3:00 PM we had to be back at my mom's work, but of course that didn't stop me from continuing playing. I basically spent the rest of the summer on that game, up until I got stuck in Elecman's stage.</p><p>When school started again, and I went to middle school, I made sure to tell my friends about Battle Network as much as possible. (I thought it was cool that both me and Lan were 10.) We would play freeze tag outside in the school yard, but we'd put our own twists on it. We would pretend to be our favorite characters, and everyone had a special "move" to protect themselves from being frozen. I chose to be MegaMan.EXE, and I wanted my special move to be the Elect Sword Battle Chip. I explained to my friends how the sword would come out of the gun on his hand, and would do 120 damage if you managed to hit someone with it. In freeze tag terms, this translated to "I can freeze you once for 12 seconds if I slash you in time." Of course my friends didn't really understand, but throughout the year that would slowly change. I'd keep explaining the game to them, and eventually by the end of the next year, (6th grade) the show had been announced for Kids WB -- and of course everyone decided to watch it. In fact, I remember at the end of the school year we got to have a free day at the local park, and I spent a lot of that free day explaining things that would eventually happen in the show to them. That's also when we all started "playing" MegaMan at recess.</p><p>I think the release of the anime is what eventually pushed me to finish Battle Network 1, and move onto Battle Network 2. Again by this point the game was up for sale dirt cheap, but me and my dad had to run allover the place to track a copy down. We eventually found it on the discount shelf at Target in a city roughly an hour away, but man... It was complete luck. Me and him ended up spending the entire day together because my mom had to work a weekend, and it took most of that day to finally find it. I had a lot of fun though, and it was one of the few times we did something like that. Just him and me I mean... I often wonder if he remembers that day?</p><p>That start of that summer was spent playing Battle Network 2, and swimming at my grandparent's house. I'd bring BN2 with me of course, but usually I was playing outside every chance I got back then. I have a lot of fond memories from the game however, and I remember it shocked me quite a few times. Seeing Lan cuss for example -- didn't expect that! Then you had the whole rap battle for whisky thing. (How did they get away with this?) It made me realize that Battle Network wasn't exactly a kids game, and now that I think about it, I think it was the first game I owned that actually had cussing in it. Er, except for Crazy Taxi on the DreamCast, but that's a little different... Anyway -- I loved BN2, and it is honestly still one of my favorite games. Going back to school the next year (7th grade) was me talking about Battle Network, and discussing the show with friends once again, but we also continued our new tradition of "playing" Battle Network during recess. Of course I wanted to be Lan, my friends Ryan chose Dex, Ian created his own character, and Keith was Chaud (little did he know he was the coolest character of them all)... But I'm getting ahead of myself here.<br /></p><p>Leading up to the anime's announcement the school year of 6th grade was kinda crazy.</p><p>A lot happened during 6th grade for me, but I guess I don't have much
more to say related to BN. Yeah, I kept playing both 1 and 2 non stop
throughout the year, but this wasn't the moment things changed for me.
It was actually that next summer that would start it all. Now at this
point I was getting interested in the internet as a whole (thanks
MegaMan), but my focus was actually more towards Sonic. I joined the
Sonic Team BBS, and people there would talk about their own fan
websites, so that's what lead me to create the "MegaMan BBS." It would
eventually become a MegaMan/Sonic discussion forum, but it wasn't much
more than us kids messing around at the time. I didn't get serious with
forums until I used Invision Power Boards to create The Chao Hideout,
which would become a focus for me and my friends during the rest of our
middle school years. But even this wouldn't explode until a little
later. <br /></p><p>The summer of 6th grade did change some things quite a bit as well. On top of getting Battle Network 2, the spinoff Network Transmission came out in the GameCube (which I ultimately ended up getting as well), but it wasn't my main focus. At around this same time MegaMan Battle Network 3 was also on its way, and my family decided to take us on a weekend get away around my birthday. The game would release around the same time, so she told me that she’d buy it for me once we found it. Our vacation wasn’t anywhere too far — it was actually to a city in Illinois called Bloomington, where we got to stay at a fancy hotel because of a deal my mom’s work had going on. So we took my grandparents with us, and spent the whole weekend just hitting all the stores and doing different things around the city. For me the highlight of the entire vacation was finding BN3 at the mall, but the trip was fun overall. I would play BN3 in the hotel at night, and on the way back home (of course), but even without the game it was still a nice trip. Once we got home however, I had to call Ryan and tell him right away that I was able to get it, and to my surprise so did he! This was a game changer.</p><p>Up until then it was always me talking about the games, and my friends watching the show. Now one of my best friends had the newest entry, AND to top it off, he bought Blue version while I had White. BN3 was the point in the series where multiple versions became a thing, and to 100% complete the games you needed to trade exclusive chips between the two versions. So since we both different versions, we were pretty much set. The rest of both of our summers (and the following school year) was spent playing the game, and it was amazing.</p><p>Both me and Ryan went to my church’s Bible School that year, and I remember we’d spend the car rides up (and back) Net Battling each other. Then every time we went to each other’s house, we made sure we always brought our copy of the game as well. We’d spend countless hours talking to each other on the phone, as we tried to complete everything and help each other, and of course we made sure to trade things to each other to help each other out. Eventually we did in fact 100% complete the game, but it was sooo much work, and took countless months and hours. I wouldn’t trade that time for anything. It was a good 7th grade year. Although, me being “funny” about specific games did delay me some. (I’ll admit, the whole “demon” costume thing in BN3 bothered me at first.)</p><p>After yet another year went by, it was finally the summer of 7th grade, and my 8th grade year was quickly approaching. At this point I became much more involved with the internet, web design, fan sites, etc, and my friends were there with me. Chip Challenge would come out before Easter that year <a href="https://www.nettosgameroom.com/2023/03/biggest-let-down-megaman-battle-chip.html" target="_blank">(which I've talked about in the past)</a>, but Battle Network 4 was the game me and Ryan would play off and on throughout that summer (again we got different versions), but the life changing stuff wouldn’t really happen for me until school started. Although we were getting older, all us friends kept role playing “MegaMan” during breaks, and that’s when I had the idea… “Let’s bring this ‘game’ to everyone.” And thus, Cyber Net was born.</p><p>Cyber Net was a MMBN rpg forum. We setup systems where you gained experience for every single post you made, and we used the profile signatures to give members their own personal navis. Originally we kept things basic, where stronger members would clearly beat weaker members, but we made sure everything was fair as well. If players had a creative way to win fights, then they win. It was all about using your imagination to come up with a way to win, while also staying within the limits of the Battle Network series. Shop areas were setup where you could gain different Battle Chips, some members opened their own "Custom Navi" shops for those who weren't experienced in graphic editing, and we kept up to date with what the series itself was currently doing. The Navi Customizer was there to add extra abilities and programs, and we allowed the form change and Double Soul systems as well. Basically we adapted everything that made BN into a forum RPG format, and it continued to evolve throughout the years. Eventually we borrowed from the anime, and introduced Net City as well -- a series of area based boards, each with their own functions and sub boards to explore. It became pretty in depth, and it attracted thousands of members. I never imagined it would become as big as it did, but... Yeah, it was a heck of a lot of fun. It's because of Cyber Net however, that I am where I am today.</p><p>CN (what I'll call it going forward) was what really taught me about the internet, and web design. It's what caused me to meet a lot of amazing people, and what got me more involved in the MegaMan community. I joined other fan sites and met great people (like Spikeman.EXE over at MMBN Online -- the guy who started the Rockman.EXE 4.5 Translation), and I learned more about the series in the process. One event that really changed things for me however, was when "Grave" attacked. Using the dubbed anime's version of "the bad guy's," we had a group consisting of unknown members attack CN. The group was lead by a member named Forte, and other members created alternate accounts to join under their ranks. These members were given extreme powers, and played out a story where I was kicked out of the site, and they took over. At the time I was using the username "Lan," but I rejoined my own site under the name "Netto" (Lan's Japanese name) to fight back against the Grave attack. As Netto, I united the members of the site, and went on an all out attack against Grave in CN's RPG. Grave made it clear that they would give up/return control of CN to "Lan" if they could be beaten, so it gave everyone a clear goal to fight towards. There were some members who were truly concerned about me/me losing the forum to a group of "hackers," but I ensured them that everything was okay. Eventually at the end of the story, Grave was "pushed away" and I revealed to everyone that I Netto, was in fact Lan, the creator of CN... But I didn't go back to being Lan. Instead, the name Netto stuck.</p><p>Of course to pull off a huge story like that, I had a lot of help. While many Grave members name's were unknown, some of my friends (who were also staff members) were a part of the group. This made sure Grave never gained too much power, and made sure they could not harm the site. Their attacks on specific staff members (such as banning their accounts/deleting their data from the RPG) was of course of their own doing (Staff Member B's Grave account, deleting Staff member B's Staff Member account.) Nothing was lost, but it made this evil group all the more convincing. I kept them under careful watch as well, and directed what they could or couldn't do. I wanted them to remain convincing, but ultimately it was all a game. What I didn't see coming however, is that eventually Grave inspired other members to form their own groups within the RPG as well. Without the same power of course, but these groups became new threats that members would fight against with a common goal. They were stories that I took part in, but had no control over -- and it was fun! This is how I actually met a lot of people, and made a lot of friends. These are people I would talk to for many years, and many of them would follow me to other projects as well -- including Netto's Game Room. Cyber Net as a whole shaped our lives at least in some way, but for me it was a huge impact... This site wouldn't even be here if it wasn't for CN.</p><p>During the height of CN's popularity, I didn't slow down. I still joined other fan sites as well, and went anywhere I could find to talk about Battle Network. That's when I got the crazy idea to check out the official Kid's WB forums. They had a MegaMan NT Warrior board to discuss the show, and I noticed a lot of people (most likely kids) wondering what happened next. The show got canceled after Axess in the west, but continued on for quite awhile in Japan. So I wanted to let them know that the series wasn't over, and that I had an answer to the question of "what's next." So I signed up for the site -- however, I ran into one issue. I couldn't use the name "Netto" and I wasn't sure what else to use. I didn't want to use "Super Shadow ?" like I was using on Sonic forums, so instead I went with the first thing that popped into my head. "NettoSaito." </p><p>Netto, again, was Lan's Japanese name, but as for Saito? It's a little bit of a spoiler. Let's just say, it's a name MegaMan goes by in Japan. (The reasons why? You'll have to play the game to understand.) Anyway, I used this username originally just to join Kids WB, but it's what ended up sticking. Since that day I've been "NettoSaito" pretty much everywhere, and it's what would go on to inspire, well, things like this. Netto's Game Room. The name Netto would continue on since that day, and Cyber Net would continue to serve as the basis for pretty much all of my online projects. It's the reason I would branch out into fan game development, and the main reason I created an actual MMORPG for me and my friends (and those who happened to stumble upon it). But it's because of Battle Network in general, that I even got interested in the online world, and future technology. I never thought something like the PET would exist, but I always wished it would. Now days that dream has become a reality thanks to smart phones. So, in short, even my interests were influenced by this series, and it doesn't stop there.</p><p>While CN continued on, of course more Battle Network games were released. I was a 13 year old running a popular online forum, but I still had to make time to play the actual games as well. So Battle Network 4 is what continued through 8th grade, and Battle Network 5 was released the summer between 8th and 9th grade. For 8th grade graduation I finally got a PS2 so I could finally play the newer MegaMan X games, but for my birthday I managed to get a copy of Battle Network 5 as well. Actually, I didn't even expect to find it honestly. My cousin bought me Kirby Canvas Curse for the DS, and I wanted to use my birthday money to buy Amazing Mirror so I could unlock extras in Canvas Curse. When we went to Target though, Battle Network 5 happened to be sitting there on the shelf! Thankfully I had enough to buy both it and Kirby. What I didn't realize however, was that when we stopped by to see my grandma (on my dad's side) on the way home, it would be one of the last times I actually saw her. She had Alzheimer's and usually didn't remember who we were, but we still stopped by every time we were in the area to see her (and my dad's brother). I remember sitting there playing BN5 during the visit, thinking nothing of it... And then we headed home. It wasn't anything special honestly, and I'm pretty sure she slept the entire time like usual. But after that day, we didn't really make it back up there. In fact, that side of the family came to our house for Christmas, and my grandma passed away a few weeks later on Friday the 13th.</p><p>That Christmas was interesting... I got MegaMan Zero 4 (from my mom's mom), and Battle Network 5 Double Team DS as a present, but also Animal Crossing Wild World and Mario Kart DS. It was my first real experience with an online games, and it's because of these games I was able to help keep my mind off of my grandma. MegaMan Zero 4 stayed in my DS and was always there to play when I needed it, and Animal Crossing WW became my "I have to take it everywhere, and play every day" type of game. I didn't care as much for BN5 DS, simply because it wasn't too much different... But it was found in a clearance bin at Walmart despite being new (so I knew I was getting it), and it was grabbed to be just something extra to give me. Personally I was more excited for the future of the series, and Animal Crossing took over anyway... So yeah... Overall the end of 2005 was great, and I was pretty hopeful going into 2006. But then my grandma passed away, and I learned what it was like to lose a family member.</p><p>Summer of 2006 was when I finished my freshman year of high school, and it's also when Battle Network 6 released. The game was set to be the end of the series, and I was pretty sad about that (obviously). By this point Cyber Net was really booming, and BN6 would be the last game to give us content to keep building our RPG off of. But I was still excited to play it, and so were most of the other members on CN. With BN5, many discussions were opened about the game, and the whole community worked together to get through everything and 100% complete the games. With BN6 it would go on to be the same way, but it was the last time this would happen. It was sad, but cool to see at the same time -- the ending to the story we all loved so much. I remember talking to Ryan about it in PE as we were packing our stuff up from the locker room (as school was ending for the summer), but by this point he had moved on from his GBA. So this time around it was just me and the members of CN going through it. We couldn't play against each other of course, but it was still fun. And so, that's what I'd spend my next summer doing. Playing BN6, and wishing the series wouldn't really end.</p><p>CN continued on after BN6. We introduced the Cyber Beasts to the RPG, and members continued to create their own stories. Memberships declined, but it was never about the popularity -- it was about the good people who were there making it a place you wanted to visit. I met so many great people, and many would continue to have an impact on my life for the years to come.</p><p>Eventually MegaMan Star Force was announced as a follow up series, and we all somewhat got our wish. The series continued in a new form, and of course we all jumped on board. Cyber Net began focusing on the changes made by the Star Force series, but we made sure to not stray too far from our BN roots. Star Force 1 released not too long after I got my driver's license, and it was the first time I took off on my own in a car to get something I really wanted. Tracking the game down wasn't easy, and it was my aunt who eventually found it for me (I just had to go pick it up). I hated driving, so it was a big deal to me -- but Star Force was worth it! Star Force 2 released the summer before my senior year, and it's one of the last games I got to play while I was at my mom's worth home/office. It would close later that year. And then you had Star Force 3 releasing that next summer, right before I started college -- which was terrifying. Although these three games didn't have as big of an impact on me, I did enjoy them, and they released at the end of my childhood. They were the games that sent me off into the real world, and the true end to the series I had just spent the last 8-9 years of my life playing. From the start of middle school, up to graduation and college -- they were there with me through it all.</p><p>As for Cyber Net, it continued on up until interest died. The thing about a fan site is, it only lasts as long as the series it's based on. Discussion about Star Force continued while the games were coming out (if it wasn't for GlacialLeaf helping everyone out with SF3, who knows when we would've finished "that" section), but with only 3 games being released -- there was only so much to talk about. Eventually things died down, and the new members joining didn't even know what Battle Network or Star Force was all about... Which was fine, but it caused stories to go in a completely different direction. Eventually their interest died out too, and the site faded into history -- sorta. My other fan projects continued on, and members of Cyber Net jumped over to those projects as well, and eventually the CN spirit would be rebooted over at Capcom's official Capcom-Unity where Netto's Game Room was born in 2011. Then eventually during the summer of 2013, we'd open Nettosgameroom.com, and break off on our own -- where we are to this day! Ultimately, this blog wouldn't even exist if it weren't for Battle Network, nor would I have met all the great people over at Capcom-Unity either. So much happened in my life because of this series, and it all started with me getting a funny feeling. </p><p>Crazy how things work out right?</p><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgeDKURRy-s_WmF_rAhKJAOxOM1lWbvt96bx4FYS5ZSBealoXffVywGO5bIt6raMy0V37mLbbMXOiF31XvcubfCh3xu2fFxaBhWnAdXVRL95bwRMoCPIeibQZz-1-wDbeJWVjn4LJQz_rcIakpRERXGEiv2g91ELjKOrhcM5kr8lVKGrTzpLlmzt9US/s4032/EADBD04A-6F94-4DF9-930A-0C0FF840BF40.jpeg" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="2268" data-original-width="4032" height="360" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgeDKURRy-s_WmF_rAhKJAOxOM1lWbvt96bx4FYS5ZSBealoXffVywGO5bIt6raMy0V37mLbbMXOiF31XvcubfCh3xu2fFxaBhWnAdXVRL95bwRMoCPIeibQZz-1-wDbeJWVjn4LJQz_rcIakpRERXGEiv2g91ELjKOrhcM5kr8lVKGrTzpLlmzt9US/w640-h360/EADBD04A-6F94-4DF9-930A-0C0FF840BF40.jpeg" width="640" /></a></div><br /><p><br /></p><p><br /></p><p><br /></p><div class="blogger-post-footer">| © Copyright 2020 - All Rights Reserved |</div>NettoSaitohttp://www.blogger.com/profile/06027189690668668215noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6580835171525960648.post-28654249049535884732023-04-10T12:28:00.002-05:002023-04-10T12:28:44.695-05:00Why Harvest Moon Still REALLY Annoys Me<p>There's not a lot in the world of gaming that I really let bother me. Hey, if I don't like a game, then I just stop playing it. If people obsess over something I don't care for? That's fine -- if they like it that's all that matters. Everyone has their own opinions, and I'll always respect that. Of course there are controversies that arise here and there as well, but most of the time such things blow over. Something usually happens to bring justice to those who were wronged, or it becomes a case where everyone boycotts the game or something. While some of the things that happen are truly horrible -- it's usually not long lasting, and as such, it doesn't continue to bother me as the years go on. Yeah, well, I can't say the same about the video game series "Harvest Moon." It's one of those things that just... Gets under my skin.</p><p>Why is that? If you're asking, then chances are you're about to learn something to day.</p><p></p><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEg6DiMURaxEaDSwCEUFEtvhNE8p_T5kUel6-h1XrxZ2H9d9TbzOTjP4DjbR0N7KTvdv0QzcmjM8VovZon9WdU5rey2bo9EbYbe_nrAdCHTkf1dBsNgRfm5VkVQCXw9ewnspWOh9crvA00g2rXoVQoqKXRTkGe2fVVWa1CYD0iIeKHiktiC_u2RkBmJj/s872/HMWindsofAnthos.png" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="562" data-original-width="872" height="258" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEg6DiMURaxEaDSwCEUFEtvhNE8p_T5kUel6-h1XrxZ2H9d9TbzOTjP4DjbR0N7KTvdv0QzcmjM8VovZon9WdU5rey2bo9EbYbe_nrAdCHTkf1dBsNgRfm5VkVQCXw9ewnspWOh9crvA00g2rXoVQoqKXRTkGe2fVVWa1CYD0iIeKHiktiC_u2RkBmJj/w400-h258/HMWindsofAnthos.png" width="400" /></a></div><p></p><p>Now let me be blunt about this. I love Harvest Moon. I got into the series after learning about it in Nintendo Power, and the first entry I played was none other than Harvest Moon 64. It was a fun game, and I loved the whole daily life/farm simulator gameplay. It was cool exploring the world, getting to know people, making friends, getting married, having kids, and of course building up your farm. It was a life sim where you were pretty much free to do as you wished, and you never knew what would happen each day. Sure, there was busy work involved with taking care of things, but this actually made it fun. I flat out enjoyed every minute I played of Harvest Moon 64, and it made me want to play as many of the others as possible.</p><p>Moving forward I would go back to the original, and basically try to get at least one Harvest Moon game for each console I owned. PS1, GBA, PSP, DS, etc. I didn't buy them all, but I did enjoy each one I played. Heck even Innocent Life (which was somewhat of a let down) became one of my most played PSP games. I just really liked the series! Heck, I'll never forget the day I tracked down Rune Factory, and Rune Factory Frontier was the first game I had ever ordered off of Amazon. It too had issues with it's gameplay systems and loading screens, but I still loved it. That's when I noticed something though... When I noticed the start of what was soon to change...</p><p>Up until this point, Harvest Moon was published by a company called Natsume. Games like Rune Factory had subtitles like "A Fantasy Harvest Moon" after it, but Frontier did not. Frontier was instead published by Xseed, which is owned by the developers of the Harvest Moon series (Marvelous Interactive). In Japan the game's name roughly translates to "Farm Story" however, and because of this, Xseed did not own the right's to the name "Harvest Moon" in the west. So when releasing newer Rune Factory games, they could not include "Harvest Moon" in the game's title. And that's where the issues began.</p><p>Although Natsume would continue publishing the "Farm Story" part of the series in the west, it was only a matter of time before they were pushed out. And that's exactly what happened.<br /></p><p>After the release of Harvest Moon 3D: A New Beginning (it was a new beginning in more ways than one), Xseed completely took over publishing the series. HM3D was the game that would set the groundwork for the series going forward, and the future was looking bright -- for Marvelous that is. Natsume on the other hand, they were understandably not happy about this. They've been publishing the games for years, and it was a huge source of income. Sure they didn't actually make the games (minus a few spin off titles), but their deal to release the series was huge. The thing is, despite all of this, they still "owned" the "Harvest Moon" series. It ultimately didn't matter WHAT was created, or by whom, Natsume could include whatever they wanted as a part of the series name they owned. So with the 3DS becoming more and more popular, what do they do? They release their own "Harvest Moon," that's what.</p><p>While the real Harvest Moon (Farm Story) series got renamed to "Story of Seasons," Natsume hired other developers to create new Harvest Moon games for them. These games were low budget titles that looked and felt like knock offs of the real thing, but most people just assumed the game's quality dropped. With each new release Natsume would try to make it seem like they were going back to their "roots," but in reality these roots don't exist. They would continue to release game after game, attempting to cash in on someone else's IP, simply because they owned the name that people associated with that IP. It became a way to keep the Harvest Moon income rolling in, while doing something all their "own" at the same time. And this still continues to this day.</p><p>Now, I get how Natsume must feel about all of this. Again, the company they worked with abandoned them so they could do things on their own. I'm sure they felt betrayed; however, the way they responded will never sit right with me. The games they make now are clear rip offs, and not just games inspired by (what is now) Story of Seasons. For example, if you look at something like Stardew Valley, you'll find a game that was carefully crafted with love, and was inspired by Harvest Moon. It's an amazing game, that also finds it's own identity, while keeping the same heart that classic entries in the Harvest Moon series had. I mean, I can go on and on about how great Stardew Valley is, and there are many fans out there who would agree with me. There's no denying how much time and effort went into it, and how much the creator cared about his project. The new "Harvest Moon" games? I can't say the same.</p><p>Instead of finding their own identity, or being inspired by the originals, the new Harvest Moon series tries to be Story of Seasons. It copies mechanics (with some exceptions, like the Minecraft rip off entry), stories, character designs, and even tries to bring the "original" Harvest Moon characters back into the game. It doesn't hide that it's trying to be the real series, but ultimately it's still just a knock off. Of course being as it's called Harvest Moon, each game is released as a part of the series, but in reality it's not. Many fans do not know this however, and the games continue to sell. Sure it's reputation has gone down hill over the years, but ultimately, anyone who has any nostalgia for the previous (real) entries in the series, will instantly know what Harvest Moon is when they see it. They won't know Harvest Moon is no longer Harvest Moon -- and there's a high chance they'll give the new games a chance for old time sake. That's how this series is surviving... And it's unfortunate. Without it's branding, it most likely wouldn't last.</p><p>On the flip side of things -- Story of Seasons is typically seen as the knock off because of this. The back of the box usually mentions it's a part of the Farm Story series, but it's spelled out as it's Japanese name "Bokujo Monogatari"), but who will even know what this means? Or who even reads the back of a box, when it's sitting behind glass in a store? The only ones who know the truth are those who follow the series, and that's just sad. Natsume continues to cash in using the name people know and love, while the developers are stuck under a new title, and seen as the knock off.</p><p>Of course, now that remakes of older titles are coming out, more and more people are learning the truth about the series, but we'll most likely never reach a point where everyone knows. Harvest Moon will continue, and Story of Seasons will follow along behind it in the eye's of the general public. Again, it's understandable how Natsume must've felt when Xseed took over -- but it just doesn't feel right. But that's also how our world works. People will do what people want to do, and money is behind it all. </p><p>The whole thing is just a raw deal for both sides, but I'll always hate the fact that knock off Harvest Moon games continue to enter the market. Pretty much yearly at this point. I know that there are those who truly enjoy the games, and I can respect that, but it'll always leave a bad taste in my mouth. So yeah, the new "Harvest Moon" series will always be the one thing in gaming that annoys me the most...<br /></p><div class="blogger-post-footer">| © Copyright 2020 - All Rights Reserved |</div>NettoSaitohttp://www.blogger.com/profile/06027189690668668215noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6580835171525960648.post-2908540150685699052023-04-06T11:34:00.001-05:002023-04-07T09:06:01.527-05:00My Life and How I Became a Gamer<p>I can't believe it. I've had this blog for 12 years now, and there's one story I have never told. The story behind pretty much everything this blog stands for! The reason I became a gamer, and how my life went down this long, long road. It's not a standard story either -- nor is it one I can easily explain without giving more background. You see, it relates directly back to who I am as a person. It's a life that only a handful of people in this world have experienced, and it's the reason I have such compassion and understanding for the way the world is. You see, me becoming a gamer all ties back to this one thing... Sure, I might've gotten into games anyway, but I don't think it would've been as impactful. Of course I've mentioned this "thing" multiple times in the past, but I've never actually explained how it worked, or how it really related to me playing games. So, today, I'm going to do just that. I'm going back to the beginning, and sharing as much of the story as I can. Confidentiality prevents me from going into too much detail, but I'll say what I can. There's also some details I do not remember myself, so I'll be relying on what others have told me. That being said, it's not like I don't have some memories of my own of these events, but I was so young that it's just really small things I can recall. (Small, yet impactful enough on me that I remembered it for some reason.)<br /></p><p>Anyway, this is the story of how I became a gamer.</p><p></p><p>So, growing up, my mom had a unique job. She managed a home for the developed mentally disabled. By the time I was born, she had two clients which I will simply call A and S. I cannot go into the details of what their disabilities were, but A was a younger lady at the time (although older than my mom), while S was the older of the two. My mom's job was to basically live with these two women, and make sure their needs were met. They were mentally not capable of living on their own, and were basically kids. It was my mom's job to teach them to be as independent as possible of course (and she did a great job), but ultimately it would never be possible. They would always need someone. During the day they went to their school/work program, and my mom would be back at the home after 3:00 PM to take care of them when they returned. Back then this house was located roughly an hour away from our real home, so my mom usually just lived there full time. My grandma worked for the same company, so she would take over for my mom on the weekends, but usually we would stay on the weekends as well. Yes, it was a demanding job for my mom with a lot of responsibilities, but it became a second home to us, and those two clients became family. Heck, they even spent a lot of the holidays with us throughout my entire life. Yeah it was a job, but it was also more than that.</p><p>Being born in 91, I only have so many memories of this "original" home. When I was getting close to turning 5, my mom's work home got moved to a house closer to our actual home. This way I could stay within the same school district of where I really lived. This original house is where everything started for me though, and I still have a lot of fond memories of it -- as well as some sad ones. For example, when I was really young, we had a dog named Ginger who got hit by a train... She got replaced by a dog named Daisy, who I then grew up with. I was really young when Ginger was around, but I still remember her, and I still remember the day she died. Then you have the house itself. I still remember it's layout nearly perfectly. It's been 28 years since I've seen inside, but those memories have never left me. Like when my dad would leave for work early in the morning, and he'd get toys out of the closet for me. I still remember sitting there playing with those TMNT figures. The memory was impactful enough, that it's never faded. Or that time I wanted to watch the Doug marathon on Nick, but he shut it off after possibly hours! Dumb little things like that are what I remember most honestly, but maybe that's why I remember this so clearly as well. The day I got my Nintendo.</p><p></p><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjLuT_D0lMQ9aOyGNO8YObElJqsb_pDLbMUVgVBwO1zSTAsZQTSJcl_l6kXYJsTfzYskYTf3pDSCYyMA13fXqxiRDY5C8vS885FgIQXmIaRyLQBaxca3IGPEhPrNwpAfKl10Jcs53meosnCO8tfWzdOAgQFhdJElydnDXiNVxC_Fm2R-V5XHpJ0rMja/s254/2.png" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="217" data-original-width="254" height="217" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjLuT_D0lMQ9aOyGNO8YObElJqsb_pDLbMUVgVBwO1zSTAsZQTSJcl_l6kXYJsTfzYskYTf3pDSCYyMA13fXqxiRDY5C8vS885FgIQXmIaRyLQBaxca3IGPEhPrNwpAfKl10Jcs53meosnCO8tfWzdOAgQFhdJElydnDXiNVxC_Fm2R-V5XHpJ0rMja/s1600/2.png" width="254" /></a></div><p></p><p>I was 2 years old, and apparently I was already showing interest in video games. I'd go to my cousin's house, and apparently they would hand me a not plugged in controller to play with, while they took control of the actual game. Little kid me was smart enough to realize I wasn't doing anything, and I'd get mad at them and REALLY want to play. But I was too little, and they figured I wouldn't be able to. But eventually they replaced their Nintendo with a Super Nintendo, and decided to pass on the original NES to me. Now I don't remember seeing the NES at their house, nor do I remember them giving me the controller to play, but I do remember the day the NES was brought home to my mom's work home.</p><p>What I didn't know until maybe 5-6 years ago, was that my cousin's NES actually didn't work anymore. I knew they replaced it with a SNES, but didn't know about the NES being broken. In fact, I didn't even know that my uncle (my mom's brother who passed away back in 2013 -- not the father to my cousin's) had one as well. And wouldn't you know it? His was broken too! So the NES I received from my cousins? It was actually a mismatch of working parts taken from the two broken NES consoles. But none of that would've mattered to me at the time -- I just wanted to play with my new toy. And that's what I did!</p><p>I still remember my dad hooking it up in the corner of that living room. It was right by the window. He sat down with me and got Super Mario Bros working (putting it in resulted in a blue screen, so you had to jam the game cart into the corner, and mess with it until it worked), and I got to work playing it! I only really remember dying non stop, and not getting very far. I remember thinking that it would take me awhile to get to the end, and didn't know how I ever would. I guess I really was too young for it, as my parents did have to help me get through some of the basics. (I couldn't read, I was only 2 going on 3!) I know shortly after we did disconnect the NES and take it to our actual house, but eventually we would bring it back to the work home as well. That's when my gaming addiction began.</p><p>When I was a little older, my mom sat down and taught me how to play Mario. She taught me how to swim in the underwater levels, and started showing me all the tricks and secrets. Of course my cousins would play with me as well, and my uncle would invite me over to my grandma's house (where he lived at the time) to play his new SNES also. The more I played/watched, the more I learned, and the better I became. Getting older helped also, but it's mainly because I got to spend so much time just learning. Of course I still loved being outside as a kid, but when I was stuck inside, the NES became my best friend. My mom's client A also really loved watching Mario, and she'd actually ask me to play it for her -- so I would. This is how I would pass the time while my mom was at work, but I really didn't get too much freedom with this until we moved to the new house. Again, by then I was 4 (going on 5), and things became a bit different. </p><p>Moving to the new house was a chore. The place was extremely dirty, and the old lady who used to live there had dropped pills allover the floor. I remember my mom telling me not to touch anything, and made sure I didn't get into anything that would hurt me, but she also hooked up my NES in the living room for me to play while we were there. We spent a lot of days (while the clients were in the work program) down there as she tried to get things ready to move in, and the entire time I just stood around playing my Nintendo on the little TV we had moved in ahead of time. I remember being excited that we got to go to a new house, but I honestly remember playing my games more than I remember what my mom was doing at the time. This new house had more rooms as well, so for the first time I was actually able to play my Nintendo without hogging the TV -- so I got more time with it. Of course A still wanted to watch me play Mario, so we did set it up in other rooms too, but overall I spent more time on my own with the TV than with others. Well, except for all the times my parents played them with me that is.</p><p>Over the next, many, years, my game consoles became my go to. This new work home didn't have a yard to play in, so I mainly would play inside with me toys while watching TV, or start up a game when I felt like it. It kept me entertained, that's for sure, and of course things wouldn't stop at the NES. I would later go on to get a SNES, N64, GameCube, Wii, etc, but those are all stories for another time. Some of which are stories I have shared before, but maybe I'll touch on them again sometime. </p><p>For me, games aren't just something to play though. They're memories from different moments in my life. Looking at games, or replaying them takes me back to those days, and I realize just how special those memories really were. Sometimes it's not even the game itself that I remember fondly, but the memories of what was happening at the time of getting/playing the game are what makes me feel so nostalgic for it. Growing up in that house is what made me who I am today. Video games gave me something to do, and got me hooked for life, but living in that environment was a unique experience. It's the reason I am who I am today. It taught me to be more understanding when it comes to people with disabilities, and it helped me understand a world that many people overlook or know absolutely nothing about. For me, growing up around such people was normal, and it wasn't until I went to school that I realized just how unusual my life really had been. But even so, those clients were family to me, and I never saw them as anything other than... Well, people. Seeing the world how it is today, it's unfortunate that many still don't understand such things, but I'm also happy to see we are taking steps forward. I mean, heck, mental health has become more of a focus in recent years, and things like ADHD and forms of autism are being brought to the light. Of course there is still so much more out there, and being who I am, my life is still tied to those with such disabilities. My mom continues to work in the field, my dad retired from the field, and my wife has worked in the field and is currently a paraprofessional for a high school. She has grown up around and been connected with the population her entire life as well, and they will always have a special place in her heart -- as with mine as well. Yes, video games were there for me during all the time that I lived in that work home, but it's really the home and the memories of the people that I treasure most. When it burned down awhile back, that was one of the saddest days for me... I still miss that place, and wish I could return sometime -- if even just for a visit. But sadly, it's impossible. Modeling it in VR is as close as I can get, but even that's not the same. It's unfortunate, but life moves on. At least the memories remain.</p><p>And, there you go. Now not only do you guys know how I got into gaming, but you got to learn a little more about what makes me tick. I hope you enjoyed reading! </p><p>Until next time guys.</p><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiH3yLexMGlozA9Hy5nGO-kMAwDnSPuIVEz7zq79YdVkkkyQdKJkdYM5C73xlLIV9_UNraQsqWU2E8lbWmB-SstX554fVzD2taWcyNx42ghxnXLJ1bOKkzyhP3o1-TGzzSjHx5DZOgvS0GoBk_jYUmDTsmeT99mR4ZpWylfKNE-Lc7SQz4DpMRMo6ev/s480/blogger-image--1883827878.jpg" style="clear: left; float: left; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="480" data-original-width="360" height="200" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiH3yLexMGlozA9Hy5nGO-kMAwDnSPuIVEz7zq79YdVkkkyQdKJkdYM5C73xlLIV9_UNraQsqWU2E8lbWmB-SstX554fVzD2taWcyNx42ghxnXLJ1bOKkzyhP3o1-TGzzSjHx5DZOgvS0GoBk_jYUmDTsmeT99mR4ZpWylfKNE-Lc7SQz4DpMRMo6ev/w150-h200/blogger-image--1883827878.jpg" width="150" /></a></div><p>Side Note: This picture still makes me sad. We moved out of the work home when I was 17, because S sadly passed away. This meant A had to be put in another home, and my mom lost her job as a result. She was already working at a second job at the time, so she switched over to full time, and continued working there. </p><p>Years later the house was sold to someone else, and the boyfriend of the lady living there actually tried to kill her. He set the house on fire, and it was damaged beyond repair. It was torn down a few weeks later -- the picture was taken before the demolition began. A tragic end to a place I cared about so much.<br /></p><p><br /></p><div class="blogger-post-footer">| © Copyright 2020 - All Rights Reserved |</div>NettoSaitohttp://www.blogger.com/profile/06027189690668668215noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6580835171525960648.post-68095745474062864132023-03-31T14:31:00.003-05:002023-03-31T14:35:18.149-05:00The Murder of Sonic The Hedgehog - Now Free on Steam<p>This year SEGA went pretty crazy with their April Fool's Day joke, and released an actual game! The Murder of Sonic The Hedgehog!</p><p>This game is a murder mystery visual novel game, similar in style to games like the Ace Attorney series. You investigate the crime scene, question witnesses/suspects, and figure out who it is who killed our favorite hedgehog Sonic. What more can I say? <a href="https://store.steampowered.com/app/2324650/The_Murder_of_Sonic_the_Hedgehog/" target="_blank">Check it out by clicking here! </a>It sounds pretty interesting if you ask me.</p><p>(And no, this is not a joke. It's a real link -- don't worry.)</p><p><a href="https://store.steampowered.com/app/2324650/The_Murder_of_Sonic_the_Hedgehog/">https://store.steampowered.com/app/2324650/The_Murder_of_Sonic_the_Hedgehog/</a></p><p>There, there's the proof!</p><p>And the trailer:</p><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><iframe allowfullscreen="" class="BLOG_video_class" height="374" src="https://www.youtube.com/embed/iC8sIhr-z5I" width="557" youtube-src-id="iC8sIhr-z5I"></iframe></div><br /><p><br /></p><div class="blogger-post-footer">| © Copyright 2020 - All Rights Reserved |</div>NettoSaitohttp://www.blogger.com/profile/06027189690668668215noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6580835171525960648.post-18454768595072453812023-03-31T08:32:00.001-05:002023-03-31T08:32:18.537-05:00Looking back at the 3DS eShop<p>The Nintendo 3DS (and Wii U) eShop has officially closed, and it's a weird feeling. We knew this day would come for roughly a year now, but now that it's happened -- the feeling of regret is just extra strong. There's so many games exclusive to the 3DS that may never be seen again, and now our only chance to get them is gone. Sure, many games received physical copies as well, but even those are in short supply and will now only become rarer since there is not an alternative to buying them anymore. Then you have the games that were in fact eShop exclusive, that will now just fade into history. Again, many of these games will never be seen again, and that's just sad to think about. Also let's not forget all of the DLC out there as well, that will now be inaccessible because of this shut down. Games like Fire Emblem Fates were unique, in that you basically had to have the DLC to experience the full title. It released in two versions which featured different story routes, but the third (and final) route had to be downloaded -- this is now gone forever. So again, it's just sad to think about. If you missed out on any of this, it's too late.</p><p>But all good things have to eventually come to an end. It's not surprising the shop closed. The 3DS (and Wii U -- let's not forget it's store closed as well) have been "gone" for some time now. The 3DS came out in early 2011, while the Wii U came out near the end of 2012, and were both replaced by the console/handheld hybrid the "Nintendo Switch" in 2017. The 3DS continued on after the release of the Switch, but it became obvious that it was slowly being faded out. The console held a huge part of the market, so obviously they couldn't kill it off the moment something new came out, but now we've reached the point where most people have long ago switched to the Switch. So why keep the store open? Well, us gamers have reasons for it to continue, but that's not good enough for Nintendo.</p><p>Anyway... The eShop has been a part of many people's lives for many years now, so I wanted to take the time today to talk a little bit about it, and my memories of it. You see, the part of the eShop I was most looking forward to is something long forgotten. It's sadly something that never came to be, and I'm still disappointed by it. Even so, I do have a lot of good memories from the eShop, and the exclusives I bought from it.</p><p>You see, when the 3DS first came out, I was one of those guys who bought it on day one. It was a Sunday, and my dad gave me a ride up to GameStop after he got back from Church, and before we were supposed to meet up with my cousin who had come down for a visit. Thing was insanely easy to buy too, didn't even have it preordered! Of course the 3DS had a rocky start, but I knew where it would eventually go. The DS was a success, and I couldn't wait to see where Nintendo took their new handheld. Eventually popularity of the system did go up of course, and the eShop was announced to be released in June of 2011. Along with the eShop, a tech demo was going to be released -- a tech demo of the then upcoming MegaMan Legends 3.</p><p>Now I've talked plenty of times about how Netto's Game Room was founded on Capcom-Unity. It was Capcom's "Dev Room" that drew me back to that site in the first place, and it's where I spent so much of my free time submitting and talking about ideas for MegaMan Legends 3. I was soooo excited for the game, and one of my boss designs even made it to Capcom's desk (it didn't win). With the release of the eShop, we were told that a tech demo of Legends 3 would go up for download, and it was going to be used as a way to let fans test the game, and gauge the interest in the Legends 3 project. It wasn't officially in full development at this point, but Capcom was trying something new with the whole Dev Room process, and allowing fans to help with the development. So there was always a chance the game would be canceled/never picked up, but with everything going on with the project it seemed unlikely. So again, a demo was being released (a paid one at that), and it would help fund the project/see how interested people really were. This demo was going to be there at the launch of the eShop, but... It didn't happen.</p><p>Legends 3 was canceled right before the eShop's launch.</p><p>It was sad. It's understandable the project was a risk, but I still feel like they should've followed through with the first phase of their plans. If the paid for demo was meant to see how interested people would be in the game, and if the demo was complete (which we knew it was, and had seen it being shown off previously), then why didn't it just launch with the eShop as planned? What was the harm in selling something, and letting it determine the fate of the project? Instead the higher ups pulled the plug before it even had a chance.</p><p>So needless to say, the launch of the eShop wasn't as exciting as I (and many others) had hoped. But that was just one small thing, in what would become the eShop. Many unique and interesting games would be released on it over the years, and for the first time Nintendo would dive into true DLC as well. Games like Fire Emblem Awakening got expanded, and other games received updates and patches to fix issues and add in new content. Until then this was unheard of for Nintendo (minus some updates for Wii titles for example), but the eShop made it common place. Not to mention, the eShop was filled with charm, and that made it more of a joy to use. The way the box filled when downloading items, and the whole unwrapping the present thing on the menu once it was done. The music, and the little bag boy mascot character. Sure, it wasn't the most organized shop, but it was packed full of character. And it was nice! </p><p>Seeing the eShop close is still sad, but again, we knew this day was coming. It wasn't going to last forever, as nothing does. It had a good run, but it's still a let down that so many games will now be (officially) lost to history. With the Nintendo Switch being more streamlined, hopefully the same wont happen to it, but it's impossible to know for sure what the future holds. Eventually the Switch will die as well obviously, but let's hope in the future we can carry our games and purchases forward into the next generations.</p><p>Anyway... Goodbye eShop. It was fun.</p><div class="blogger-post-footer">| © Copyright 2020 - All Rights Reserved |</div>NettoSaitohttp://www.blogger.com/profile/06027189690668668215noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6580835171525960648.post-43575313389984037042023-03-23T17:22:00.004-05:002023-03-29T08:08:30.995-05:00My Memories of Resident Evil 4<p>With Resident Evil 4 Remake releasing tomorrow, I wanted to take a look back and share some of my own memories of the game. Now years ago I did <a href="https://www.nettosgameroom.com/2017/10/nettos-beginnings-first-horror.html" target="_blank">make a post about my first horror game</a>, but in that article I mainly talked about Resident Evil 2. You see (as I previously explained), the Resident Evil series is something I dove right into the deep end on, and my "first horror" game was only my first, because that's what I chose to play first. In reality, I bought Resident Evil 2, REmake, 0, and 4 all at the same time. It's just 2 was a digital copy, so I had access to it while I waited for the others. Anyway... Out of all of those games, Resident Evil 4 is the one I looked forward to playing the most, but it was (of course) the last one I played. Despite this, it's the game I actually have the most history with as it's the game I knew the most about before diving in. It's actually one of my favorite horror games still to this day, and it was the first "review" I ever wrote for Netto's Game Room. (That review didn't survive the transfer from Capcom-Unity to this website.) Anyway, these are my memories of Resident Evil 4.</p><p></p><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEga4nxW8vDHiRjwzNixxHrvpAf3AQHSZRAPheGeErT4FEmzr06g7YMOsSoV9cCOwxMs4_uSAOLNOYH7Tf6Flbj62iSkqHnFbsvL_sSrcVtsoZpwQYV0FYzOOWD772PxAKXeFQTYsqF9Pf33TTR9mhFhwul8FS7cMvtt2J_kEoukK4ZHBNbpx-NVsU26/s623/RE4.png" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="283" data-original-width="623" height="181" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEga4nxW8vDHiRjwzNixxHrvpAf3AQHSZRAPheGeErT4FEmzr06g7YMOsSoV9cCOwxMs4_uSAOLNOYH7Tf6Flbj62iSkqHnFbsvL_sSrcVtsoZpwQYV0FYzOOWD772PxAKXeFQTYsqF9Pf33TTR9mhFhwul8FS7cMvtt2J_kEoukK4ZHBNbpx-NVsU26/w400-h181/RE4.png" width="400" /></a></div><p></p><p>The first time I heard about Resident Evil 4, was actually the Christmas of 2005. I remember talking on the phone to my friend Keith, as we both told each other what Christmas gifts we had gotten. One of the games either he (or his brother?) received was none other than RE4, and he was pretty excited about it. Now I knew that Resident Evil was about zombies (so I figured I'd never play it), but other than that I didn't know much about the game. So when he started talking about how it took place in a village, and how enemies came at you with chain saws, and how you could hide and block off doors to protect yourself -- I honestly didn't know what he was talking about. It didn't sound like zombies to me, but I had to admit that it did sound pretty cool. Being able to shoot out doors and such wasn't really hears of in games, so it sounded pretty crazy to me. Of course I never planed on playing it, but I could appreciate what it was (even though I was like 14 at the time). </p><p>Moving forward, Keith continued to talk about Resident Evil. It's a series he really liked, but again I was too afraid to play. (Plus no way my parents would get it for me.) So over the school years I would continue to learn about what it was, but never try it myself -- unless you count the one time Keith showed me the intro to 3. Of course when I got an Xbox 360 I considered checking out Resident Evil 5 thanks to the commercials on TV, but that didn't happen either. It wasn't until me trying to kill time at college that I finally decided to give it a shot.</p><p>As previously explained in my old post -- I used to have a lot of free time before and after classes at school. I would sit on my laptop and just look up random things. That's when I got the idea to check out Resident Evil, as it seemed like an interesting series, and was one of the few I never really tried. By this point I had already gotten into games like Metal Gear Solid, so not playing other "big name PlayStation titles" made me feel like I was missing out. So I started doing my research, read the wikia pages, and then bought what I could. Thankfully Amazon had a pretty good sale going on for the Wii versions of 0, REmake and 4, so those are what I went with.</p><p>Anyway...</p><p>Resident Evil 4 surprised me. I honestly was expecting something similar to Dead Rising (as I had DR on 360, while my friend Ryan bought the Wii version -- which was built in the RE4 Engine), except with a horror twist. (Dead Rising is in no way horror in my book.) Instead what I got was a crazy action adventure game, that kept pushing me to explore and uncover the truth of the village it was set in. While I don't consider RE4 to be scary either -- it did have moments I never expected.</p><p>First of all, despite playing 360 games at this point, RE4 had things even modern games tend to avoid. Breaking doors/objects to progress goes against standard "locked door video game logic," and being able to block off windows and such really isn't used much in games. The way enemies react to being shot/hit tends to be a lot more natural as well, and the dismemberment completely caught me off guard. At first it lead me to want to just shoot everyone's head off, but when the parasites got mixed in? Now that was unexpected! I'll never forget the first time I saw a giant bug erupt out of someone's neck -- it scared the crap out of me. It made me want to stop going for head shots, but I still knew you had to take them down either way. Then you had the insanely detailed death scenes. Game overs in RE4 weren't just game overs -- they were insane "look at how you died" videos that played first! Leon's head being cut off was the first one I saw, and the deaths continued to shock me up until the end of the game. (Those bugs spitting acid on his face was just.... Yeah...) These parts were what added horror to the game for me, but the rest was an action packed trip through a crazy new world.</p><p>Playing on the Wii was also a pretty great experience for me. I loved the motion controls, but it did make the game easier than normal. The original controls of RE4 used tank controls, and limited how you aimed and shot at enemies. In other words -- before you could only turn left/right, and walk forward and back (with a quick turn around option), and if you wanted to shoot at something you had to hold down a button. Holding the button down locked you in place, and changed the movement controls into aiming controls -- something that feels a bit more clunky especially by today's standards. This added to the challenge of the game, and made it so losing your cool would prove deadly as you missed your targets. With the Wii release however? Tank controls remained, but aiming was changed to motion controls. Simply point/click at what you wanted to shoot, and you'd be pulling off non stop headshots like a pro. Not much different than using a mouse. Personally I prefer playing the game this way, but the old controls were still included for those who wanted the original experience.</p><p>RE4 was the game I would continue playing until the end of the school year that year. Also bought Code Veronica X at a GameStop sale, so I had plenty to keep me busy. That's when I started up the original Netto's Game Room as well (back in 2011), and got to work writing whatever was currently on my mind. I knew I was very late to the Resident Evil party, but RE4 has become such a special game to me, that I couldn't not post about it. (Especially considering I started this on Capcom-Unity, and Capcom Mods had to approve everything I submitted.) Looking back, it's the game that made me a complete fan of RE, and that's why I can't wait to give it another go with the remake. While I too get tired of the constant rereleases, I feel this remake is what we truly needed. It's what the game deserves, and is a great way to introduce it to a whole new group of fans as well. As great and as ground breaking 4 was back in the day, there's no denying that it could use some modern quality of life improvements. That's what I look forward to seeing the most.</p><p>It'd hard to believe it's been 12 years, but I'm more than ready to return to that village again. It won't be in VR this time -- but maybe someday. <br /></p><div class="blogger-post-footer">| © Copyright 2020 - All Rights Reserved |</div>NettoSaitohttp://www.blogger.com/profile/06027189690668668215noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6580835171525960648.post-6038538548440805702023-03-23T09:31:00.002-05:002023-03-29T08:08:30.991-05:00What’s a Game I Don’t Like? Hmm… More like the Worst Game I've Ever Played<p> A few years ago I attempted to write a Top 10 list of “Games Everyone Else Likes But I Don’t,” and it ultimately ended in failure. It’s not that I couldn’t come up with 10 games that fell in that category for me, but as I was writing about them I realized some things about them and myself. It’s not that I hated those games, it’s more of I just wasn’t so enthused by them. They were games people passed off as some of the greatest of all time, but playing them myself left me with such an empty feeling. I wasn’t playing them to have fun — I was playing them because I felt like I needed to, and all I wanted to do was get to the end. That’s NOT the way a video game should be, as it completely ruins the experience. So looking at these games, and talking about them made me realize that maybe I didn’t not like them, and more of… It just wasn’t the right timing for me to play them… I was in the wrong mind set, and forcing myself to “like” these games just wasn’t the right thing to do.</p><p>So anyway, I didn’t publish that list. I stopped half way in, and just pushed it aside. Since then I did go back and play some of the games I added to the list, but I honestly only changed my mind on a few of them. (And it was other reasons that made me like them.) For example, Borderlands 2 comes to mind. Yes, I’m not a fan of these games in general, but Borderlands 2 in VR made it such a blast to play! I had so much fun running around physically using the guns, and I enjoyed driving the cars (which was originally one of the most annoying parts to me). So in general I don’t think it’s a bad game or anything, but I realize it’s still not a series for me, and it’s only because it was in VR that I came to like it. But I don’t hate it! That’s not what this post is about! (Heck I still plan on playing 3 at some point without VR.) Anyway, putting games like this aside… What game out there is it that I truly don’t like? Is there any? Well… Only a few come to mind honestly. Many of them I just didn’t like because they were “bad” NES or SNES games published by LJN — but I’m not going to count those. Nope, I want to look at something newer. A game called Valhalla Knight’s 3!</p><p></p><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhhBi-IE4d2hZmjsjLZdsd9e_AwuXaShJbc_ylhpDZcmtsuezWITCrfLsjPtkdP-Vkn2qb3lh8KBdEtBMZiHnO1yN9YbcK1z5bmyo8CNpSL7rAmhnH3jnxbeipYPJFcxp0g_a4P-FMZzeQH-RtkTja-54F8Tj5kgJoIKvqMd8ILnmveWc4jlacJzzLI/s960/ValhallaKnights3-2.jpeg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="544" data-original-width="960" height="226" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhhBi-IE4d2hZmjsjLZdsd9e_AwuXaShJbc_ylhpDZcmtsuezWITCrfLsjPtkdP-Vkn2qb3lh8KBdEtBMZiHnO1yN9YbcK1z5bmyo8CNpSL7rAmhnH3jnxbeipYPJFcxp0g_a4P-FMZzeQH-RtkTja-54F8Tj5kgJoIKvqMd8ILnmveWc4jlacJzzLI/w400-h226/ValhallaKnights3-2.jpeg" width="400" /></a></div><p></p><p>Oh man. To put it bluntly, this is the biggest piece of trash I have ever played in my life (that’s at least a complete game). Now, disclaimer: it did get an updated version that apparently fixed a lot of issues, but it never came out in the West. Even then I don’t think it could save it. It’s just…. No…</p><p>Valhalla Knights seems like a cool game at first. It’s an action JRPG that takes place within a prison, has a deep character builder and class system, and a large cast of characters to upgrade. This might sound like a good thing, but it makes the game even worse in the long run. While the game does have a cast of “main” characters, your party is actually going to be built up of user created characters instead. Characters that all start at level 1, and must be upgraded if you want to have any hope of getting anywhere — which means a lot of grinding. More than you can even imagine.</p><p>The first major issue with the game was its loading times. It being on the Vita meant it was limited on what it could do, and every single map is broken up into many, MANY, small areas. Each small area has its own loading screen, and these loading screens were LONG to say the least. Traveling around the hub, you spent more time in loading screens than you did walking. The massive 7 member party system is cool, but again, areas are small to make up for things like this being too demanding. </p><p>The second major problem is the biggest one of all. This is a grind game, and there’s nothing else to it. Right from the get go you quickly realize that you need to upgrade your skills to even get past the intro… Or any party of the game for that matter. To do so you need to kill enemies, and each kill you get only gives you 1-2 points. When skills require 100 points to level up, that means you have to go kill 50 enemies. When skills require 1000 points… Yeah, that’s 500 enemies. Keep in mind we have 7 party members to upgrade here, with a wide verity of stats and abilities that need to be increased to even survive.</p><p>That right there is all this game actually is. You accept missions, you grind, you complete the mission, you accept the next mission (usually just to kill things by the way), grind more, finally beat said mission, and repeat. Moment you die, you are either reloading your save or spending all your money to bring back your dead party members — which requires more grinding for money. It’s obvious the point of this game is a time waster, and for people who enjoy the mindless grind to advance. Eventually they did release DLC that gives you SP points with each step you take, but the fact they had to do this tells you that it wasn’t worth playing without it. Not to mention that the game also doesn’t tell you what you need to do with characters, so it’s completely possible to have the wrong class, on the wrong character due to their personality type, and you could spend countless hours upgrading abilities that’ll never go to use. It’s just poorly done, and the game’s difficulty is ultimately artificial. No skill is involved — it just depends how much time you put into it. (How many dozens of hours you spend grinding.) But this isn’t the only issue with the game. Half the game is also dedicated to perverts.</p><p>Being in a prison, the female characters are all pretty much “escorts.” You need to “hire” them to get items from a specific area of the city, and the game makes you “become close” to them to unlock things you need. This comes down to you “going on dates” with them, and using the Vita’s touch screen to kiss them, rub their faces, etc. It’s…. Just no. The end goal here is to flat out sleep with them, and it’s just not needed. It was completely pointless, and clearly aimed at perverted dudes. As someone who watches a heck of a lot of anime, and usually laughs at ecchi content, this… This was just going too far. It was pointless, and just another annoying thing you were forced to grind to advance through the game. Er… Yeah I just said that… Anyway! It slowed things down, and I ignored it completely when I had the option to. But you need those unlockables to keep going, or you just have to go grind enemies even more — it’s a never ending battle.</p><p><table align="center" cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><tbody><tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEi3DTCuRZKThpIk1SyHrsC_3Va3W09qDtNT4V9bpyfrrL55BImNRP0yK2OUBJSdhBAczuNNXNerMTg4Bxrml7H0DsKT1pp1aG9PQFLUHncLK415s6VG4AXAcCV1AJFst5P8ct4JNB0205QFbugb_siZmFzRi21u4vTkuJJ_NsxGpl6V-iMa1RZJgm9u/s960/ValhallaKnights3.jpeg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" data-original-height="544" data-original-width="960" height="226" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEi3DTCuRZKThpIk1SyHrsC_3Va3W09qDtNT4V9bpyfrrL55BImNRP0yK2OUBJSdhBAczuNNXNerMTg4Bxrml7H0DsKT1pp1aG9PQFLUHncLK415s6VG4AXAcCV1AJFst5P8ct4JNB0205QFbugb_siZmFzRi21u4vTkuJJ_NsxGpl6V-iMa1RZJgm9u/w400-h226/ValhallaKnights3.jpeg" width="400" /></a></td></tr><tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">WHY!?!? JUST WHY!?!?<br /></td></tr></tbody></table> </p><p>So why did I put myself through this? I have no idea! It was recommended to me, and I had just started working my real job, so I had the money. Figured $40 was worth it for an RPG I might enjoy, and I bought it without doing my research. Jumped in completely blind, and it came back to bite me. Just… Yeah… I still regret the whole thing. I still want those 40 dollars back! It’s still a stain on my PSN Profile! It’s a game I completely hate. It’s playable, and I didn’t see any glitches, but it’s mechanics, load times, and non stop grinding made it not worth it. Heck, it didn’t even have a good story. As someone who actually enjoys grinding in games and in MMOs you’d think I would’ve been okay with it, but no. It pushed everything way too far. Now I did grab the walking SP DLC, but I never even bothered to go back. Even with that it just wasn’t worth it. It’s a game I truly hate, and never plan on replaying. Nor would I ever recommend it to anyone.</p><p>So yeah, stay away. You’ll thank me.</p><div class="blogger-post-footer">| © Copyright 2020 - All Rights Reserved |</div>NettoSaitohttp://www.blogger.com/profile/06027189690668668215noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6580835171525960648.post-70499270779134732412023-03-20T10:02:00.008-05:002023-03-23T09:35:32.813-05:00Resident Evil 4 Anime Short<p></p><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"></div>I know everyone and their mom is sharing this video, but it's pretty great -- so I'm sharing it too. In honor of Resident Evil 4's remake coming out this week, Capcom has released a mini anime short. Of course it's going to be funnier to those who are familiar with Resident Evil 4, but I'd say anyone interested in the game can still watch. It doesn't spoil anything.<br /> <div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><iframe allowfullscreen="" class="BLOG_video_class" height="462" src="https://www.youtube.com/embed/3xdeB-Ht2bE" width="556" youtube-src-id="3xdeB-Ht2bE"></iframe></div><p></p>
<br /><br /><br /><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><iframe allowfullscreen="" class="BLOG_video_class" height="468" src="https://www.youtube.com/embed/q99mSnhXbtM" width="563" youtube-src-id="q99mSnhXbtM"></iframe></div><p></p><p><br /></p><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><iframe allowfullscreen="" class="BLOG_video_class" height="475" src="https://www.youtube.com/embed/yDE0_XV2v4o" width="571" youtube-src-id="yDE0_XV2v4o"></iframe></div><br /><p><br /></p><div class="blogger-post-footer">| © Copyright 2020 - All Rights Reserved |</div>NettoSaitohttp://www.blogger.com/profile/06027189690668668215noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6580835171525960648.post-44086468547697019542023-03-18T09:57:00.006-05:002023-03-29T08:08:30.995-05:00How I Became a Fan of Bomberman<p>Here's something I don't talk about a lot. I love the Bomberman series! Sure, I'm not some super fan or anything, but I do really enjoy the games. I've played the vast majority of them at this point, and it's something I'll play once in awhile when I feel like playing something different. It's a series that has been around for a long time now, but for me -- it's actually one that I had a unique introduction to. Instead of going to the store and buying a Bomberman game like many others did -- it was more of an adventure for me. And that's the story I wanted to share with you all today.</p><p>So, technically the first time I ever even heard about Bomberman was back on the PlayStation. My uncle was the first person I knew who got a PS1, and he'd often invite me over to try out different games on it. Along with his actual games, he also had multiple demo discs, and both me and my cousins (not his kids -- he didn't have any) would sit around the TV and try them out. One demo disc in particular had a demo for Bomberman World. I don't think any of us knew what it was, but when we realized it was a multiplayer "battle" type game, I remember we sat around for an hour or so just replaying the demo over and over. I thought it was fun, but I never did ask my parents for a Bomberman game -- that's all I played of it as a kid. In fact, I wouldn’t see anything of Bomberman again, until I was in high school.<br /></p><p>The reason I got into Bomberman technically all circles back to my friend “Vile.” Back when I ran my MegaMan and Sonic fan sites, he joined them and started using names like “Altair” with an avatar to go along with said names. One day I eventually asked him what it was, and he explained Bomberman 64 to me. He went into the story, who the characters were, and how the sequel continued to expand on things. It sounded really cool to me, and made me want to get into the series myself. I eventually managed to track down Bomberman 64 (and later played 64 Second Attack), but until then my go to became Bomberman Jetters — the anime. </p><p></p><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgGMvA-Lp2VpR3fDtQikLRxdmVoiB78T8RFkmpan1OIfDYHthhToZiFMZo-IG3K-4BkGzbEUFPMGpRUpCh-BhoJjpJf5aaeJr1Bb9-6oTYTChKlVPLfSNf9cQcBCm9rr0QBj0I88bQSfEVsx6UsgoirvdG0DxTBgV7jvjPHcboYm5sjOcNGAEz6KMK9/s816/bombermanmighty.png" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="572" data-original-width="816" height="448" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgGMvA-Lp2VpR3fDtQikLRxdmVoiB78T8RFkmpan1OIfDYHthhToZiFMZo-IG3K-4BkGzbEUFPMGpRUpCh-BhoJjpJf5aaeJr1Bb9-6oTYTChKlVPLfSNf9cQcBCm9rr0QBj0I88bQSfEVsx6UsgoirvdG0DxTBgV7jvjPHcboYm5sjOcNGAEz6KMK9/w640-h448/bombermanmighty.png" width="640" /></a></div><br /><p></p><p>Back then Crunchyroll was a well known anime streaming service, where pretty much anyone could upload anything anime related. This meant it was mostly fan subs (as anime was not popular as it is today), and you never really knew what would be on there day to day. As I used the site to watch Macross 7 (which is finally getting released in the West after all these years!), I figured it would be my best bet to get into Bomberman Jetters as well. And yeah, I wasn’t wrong! They had every episode, and I started binge watching it every change I got… I loved it! While the story/characters were different from what other Bomberman games were (it’s even different from the Bomberman Jetters video games — there are technically 3 if you count Generations), but it was really cool. It followed the story of young White Bomber wanting to join the Jetters, and follow in his brother’s footsteps. It was sorta monster of the weekish, but it was a really fun kids show. It made me want to play Bomberman even more, and motivated me to make it a reality.</p><p>Although Bomberman 64 didn’t exactly click with me, I still liked it. I managed to find a copy at Slackers (a store for used games/cds/movies/etc), but unfortunately my copy looked like it had been stuck in the dirt. It took hours to clean all of the mud off of the contacts, but thankfully the game still worked. Vile gave me advice on how to get through the game (it’s pretty challenging), and later on I moved on to Bomberman 64 Second Attack (which I liked more). I also grabbed the old GBC and GBA games once I got the chance, and downloaded what the virtual console had on the Wii. I never actually finished them, but they kept me wanting more. Bomberman Land Touch became one of my favorite DS games at the time (a mini game collection style game), and Bomberman Land Wii became one of my favorite Wii games as well. Later on I eventually talked my mom into getting me Bomberman Jetters on the GameCube, but we had to pay a pretty penny from it, and got it from a short lived local used game store. I feel like it was worth the price, but it made me sad to see the opening theme song had been removed from the US release (which was also common back in the day). Heck, I liked all of these games so much, I actually considered getting Bomberman Zero despite knowing how bad it was! But that never actually happened. (Most likely a good thing.) While I did skip over rereleases and Xbox Live arcade and PSN release, I made sure Bomberman R was one of the two launch games I bought when the Switch came out. And that brings us to today.</p><p>Even though Bomberman isn’t my go to game to play, it’s a series that is special to me, and I always look forward to seeing more from it. I’d love to see another RPG or action/adventure entry in the series, and I’d love for the Bomberman Jetters anime to get an official release sometime. I know it’s very unlikely, but it’s one of the few series that we still have no way to watch officially. As for the older games — I’m still waiting for the day a collection comes out for them as well. As often as the original titles get released, I still find it weird that we haven’t seen 64, Second Attack, Heroes, Generation, or Jetters get another release. Maybe they weren’t as popular as I’d like to think they were, but I still feel like they deserve to see the light of day again. It’s just a fun series, and I wish more people could experience more of its highlights. </p><div class="blogger-post-footer">| © Copyright 2020 - All Rights Reserved |</div>NettoSaitohttp://www.blogger.com/profile/06027189690668668215noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6580835171525960648.post-81995739156968260382023-03-13T12:18:00.013-05:002023-03-20T10:04:21.095-05:00Anime Monday - MegaMan NT Warrior (Rockman.EXE)<p>It's been 3 years since I last did an Anime Monday blog post, but with the announcement of MegaMan NT Warrior being streamed over Twitch later this month, I thought it was the perfect time to talk about the series! You see, I was beyond excited to hear a show for MegaMan Battle Network was coming out. I still remember when I was watching Kids WB (for Pokemon mainly) on Saturday morning, and when the commercial came across! It was something I never expected -- the game series I loved so much, was getting a show, and now I could finally show my friends what I had been talking about for years. It was going to be great! Of course, it wasn't all great...</p><p>When the show finally released, I was the kid waking up early Saturday morning each week to make sure I didn't miss the newest episode. To put it bluntly, it was pretty much everything I had hoped for! It did a great job introducing the characters, and episode 1 added a scene where Lan meets his Net Navi MegaMan, and included the stove fire arc that begins the first Battle Network game. It was perfect for those who knew nothing about the series, as well as long time fans. So that being said, what is it about? Well...</p><p></p><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiJz1QcPzurmGj-ChmbxFO84GpiMrc4OGrO887j_evX8CFOnlLvGnTpkg2NepZOAf9JpDlewOToAenudhJpFyN0QLbQRTLT_lfjIdJzV6peS2ikachTrjuNJ_5kE5m3g9zAqzOFxbaRKjFmYck7cQHRESTIj6ivT9Cm9Fe1Kk7faYkIVzmBAAtYEAlX/s936/rockmanexe2.png" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="700" data-original-width="936" height="239" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiJz1QcPzurmGj-ChmbxFO84GpiMrc4OGrO887j_evX8CFOnlLvGnTpkg2NepZOAf9JpDlewOToAenudhJpFyN0QLbQRTLT_lfjIdJzV6peS2ikachTrjuNJ_5kE5m3g9zAqzOFxbaRKjFmYck7cQHRESTIj6ivT9Cm9Fe1Kk7faYkIVzmBAAtYEAlX/s320/rockmanexe2.png" width="320" /></a></div><p></p><p><b>Original: </b><br /></p><p>NT Warrior is an anime adaptation of MegaMan Battle Network, which in return is a spin off/side series in the MegaMan series. It takes place in it's own world/timeline, and showcases a world where the vast majority of it is connected to the internet, and everyone has handheld computers with virtual AI (or Net Navis) in them. Net Navis are basically living beings (just made out of data), so they're much more advanced than the AI we see in our real world. They become life long friends to those who own them, and can be used in a verity of different ways. Lan himself is into Net Battling -- which is where Navis fight other Navis using special Battle Chips loaded into the handheld computers (a device known as a PET). This is also how he fights back against viruses that invade the Cyber World, and protects his friends and family. Again, the first episode focuses on how Lan got MegaMan, and shows the cyber terrorist Mr. Match set his house on fire using Lan's stove. Of course the stove is connected to the internet, which shows us right away why it might not be a good idea to be fully connected online. (Keep in mind, this series came out in 2001, so all of this was sci-fi at the time.) </p><p>Going forward, each episode of the anime focused on different big bads from the games, and did mini story arcs that revolved around them. Some of these stories are loosely based on events from the games, but for the most part NT Warrior goes off and does it's own thing. Once the characters were brought in, the creators of the show were free to do as they wish with said characters, and create all new stories revolving around them in the process. This actually worked out for the better, as it allowed them to tell more stories than the original games had -- and helped develop the characters even more. Once the major leads were introduced, the show took a major turn from the original games, and went off in it's own direction completely.</p><p>While Battle Network 3 featured a small tournament arc, the show took it to another level and had it play out during the events of Battle Network 1's story instead. This is where more major BN1 characters entered the mix, and the tournament itself became the main focus point of the overall story. It would eventually lead to some other crazy/unexpected events, which would be the turning point for the original part in the anime. Of course I'll avoid spoiling it, but let's just say I still consider it one of my favorite stories in the entire series. And it only got better from there.</p><p>Eventually the anime did get into events from Battle Network 2, but even this had multiple major changes. Net City was introduced to the show, and it became the main setting for the Cyber World scenes. It was something new and unique that the games didn't have, and it allowed them to dive into even more unique plot points. The evil group Gospel got introduced as well, but the dub renamed them "Grave" and changed their story greatly. This wasn't a bad thing necessarily, but it was a little bit of a let down to see how much of BN2 (and 3) got rushed to conclude the first series. Thankfully the anime original content continued to be unique and interesting, and it embraced the fact that it was it's own thing moving forward. This is when things got really crazy.</p><p><b>Axess:</b></p><p>"Lan turned into MegaMan!" </p><p>I still remember hearing the commercial on TV and being excited once again. This is when the series hit a much higher popularity, and they were ready to cash in on non stop toys and games! Walmart's toy section had countless action figures, cards, props, and other MegaMan NT Warrior related merch, and I loved it! As for the show itself, it returned with exactly what that quote said. In Axess the Cyber World comes to the real world, and virtual domes cover different parts of the city. These areas are where virtual viruses and Net Navis can walk around said real world, and cause mass destruction! To counter this, our heroes come up with a way to fuse people with their Net Navis, and of course our hero Lan is the first to do so. Using Cross Fusion, Lan gains MegaMan's armor and abilities (with MegaMan basically talking to him/helping guide him by being inside Lan's head), and fights off the new "Dark Loids" who are attacking humanity. While the Dark Loids themselves are adapted from Battle Network 4 -- again the show has nothing to do with BN4's original story (besides a few plot points at least). From here on out the series mostly focuses on the real world, and humans fighting against the new "monster of the week." It's a familiar concept, with shows like Power Rangers and all, and it works very VERY well for MegaMan.</p><p></p><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiL09F4gSTYn4RMwFTrw3GqwCKADvrEY3r4xOW9wiwN4D5kk_0ofz4cIfSDZb2m8WBJP6qTB_jjDsRX4XElD3mXRYjUaeklXST_TRtsBTrMysyWhNAIc_e9DeRnGWPnDyaxB5Z3QAWTirMADWeLeNlQ1-iGogvc_0jwSQcmjDG1SMKQMPHK5mnHcGsR/s948/rockmanexe3.png" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="696" data-original-width="948" height="235" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiL09F4gSTYn4RMwFTrw3GqwCKADvrEY3r4xOW9wiwN4D5kk_0ofz4cIfSDZb2m8WBJP6qTB_jjDsRX4XElD3mXRYjUaeklXST_TRtsBTrMysyWhNAIc_e9DeRnGWPnDyaxB5Z3QAWTirMADWeLeNlQ1-iGogvc_0jwSQcmjDG1SMKQMPHK5mnHcGsR/s320/rockmanexe3.png" width="320" /></a></div><p></p><p>At this point the show also got much more violent, and dove into darker topics. This is where our issues arise, but it's with the dub and not the original show. (More on this later.) Now we have real humans getting hurt/possibly dying, and there are even scenes of mass destruction that make it clear people were killed. Axess also has some pretty messed up scenes revolving around fan favorite character Chaud, but again this is something I wont spoil. Once again, that story arc is great, and easily one of the highlights of the show. Still, this had to be heavily censored for it to be released outside of Japan.</p><p>Axess ends on a cliffhanger that introduces the real threat to humanity, but unfortunately, this was the end in the US.</p><p><b>Stream:</b></p><p>Stream is the season we never got sadly, and it's also where things get pretty insane to say the least. Cross Fusion becomes even more of a bigger deal, with multiple characters being able to use it, and even bigger and badder villains to take down. This season even got a movie, and featured yet another pretty shocking character arc. It was such a good season, but even more violent than the last. Compared to the games, it basically covered Battle Network 4 and 5, but again, only characters and a few plot points were actually included. I can't stress this enough -- the anime is it's own thing.</p><p></p><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgQAWRQ6kMmGQiVG3ivO2DeKkozEtEIg1z_TbyGjQCBg4d3hTKRZynkLRJBR_3UC7_gHMnfWMAwUx4DX085N_r0xFARlx2Yfm2KlsvaOI4MJqf33qxXRbOXuV2cKgNSkIzkZx23vudQocBlY8qoUKd6ZP8XDykwh3WuRPSatZds8-o2cgUKhnR4PCRg/s956/rockmanexe1.png" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="715" data-original-width="956" height="239" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgQAWRQ6kMmGQiVG3ivO2DeKkozEtEIg1z_TbyGjQCBg4d3hTKRZynkLRJBR_3UC7_gHMnfWMAwUx4DX085N_r0xFARlx2Yfm2KlsvaOI4MJqf33qxXRbOXuV2cKgNSkIzkZx23vudQocBlY8qoUKd6ZP8XDykwh3WuRPSatZds8-o2cgUKhnR4PCRg/s320/rockmanexe1.png" width="320" /></a></div><p></p><p><b>Beast:</b></p><p>Beast was the follow up to Stream, and used Battle Network 6 as a base. This seasons focus on the Cyber Beasts, and actually has our heroes being pulled into another world. (Yes, this is an isekai.) In this world time flows differently, so alternate versions of those who have died are very much still alive, and Net Navis are able to walk around in the real world freely. It's a pretty unique season, but sadly it wasn't as long as the previous ones. It was also the beginning of the end.</p><p><b>Beast +:</b></p><p>The follow up to Beast was Beast +, and this is where a lot changed. The show was cut down to 10 minute episodes (including opening and ending), and it had a low episode count. It felt more like one continuous movie split into 10 minute blocks, rater than watching full anime episodes. Sure, a lot happened in them, but it wasn't as developed as the previous series. It's events were roughly based on MegaMan Network Transmission (which is a spin off platforming game that took place between Battle Network 1 and 2), but once again, it was mainly only characters that got pulled from Network Transmission. (One of which being the Zero Virus.) Sadly due to this format, the show only had a limited time to end the world and save it, and they ultimately had to throw in some characters last minute. It wasn't the best send off for the series, and it instantly lead into Ryuusei no Rockman (MegaMan Starforce).</p><p><b>The Issue with the Dub:</b></p><p>Remember when I said things weren't all good? Besides that final season, the main issue was with our version. The dub had to be censored. The thing is, while MegaMan NT Warrior was being aimed at kids and was airing on the Kids WB block (which is where shows like Pokemon, Static Shock, and other action yet kid friendly shows could be found), the original Rockman.EXE wasn't quite the same in Japan. Sure it was still technically a "kid's anime," but in Japan you can get away with a lot more than what you can in the west. With Rockman.EXE's increasing violence, more and more had to be removed as the show went on. Originally shots where MegaMan pointed his buster gun at the camera were removed, and swords were given a glow to make them look more like beam swords. These changes didn't really hurt too much, but many fight scenes would even remove the impact of hits, and remove the more "graphic" sword strikes. (Sometimes the limbs of the Net Navis would be cut off, or virus programs would be cut in half, etc.) This censorship wasn't actually consistent throughout the series, but it eventually got to the point where you had episodes that had to fill in for lost time. One episode in specific had a random prolonged shot of the Net Battle Tournament's stadium for no reason other than having to fill in for all the time that was lost to cut content. Of course this didn't "ruin" the show, but at the rate it was being censored, it's hard telling how far they could've possibly continued.</p><p>With Axess bringing the fighting to the real world, things were cut down even more. Of course any blood (even virtual blood) was taken out as well, and (as I mentioned before) scenes where people die were done in a way to make you think no one was in the area/harmed. Trucks and cars blowing up? Eh it's fine, those were the new self driving prototypes that they just happened to have in a single episode. No big deal. Then you have characters who are held hostage at gun point, yet no gun exists. Classic 4kids style censorship. Again, it's not like you couldn't follow what was happening with the show with changes like these, but unfortunately it mixed with other changes really hampered the experience. Full episodes were cut/skipped over, any reference to Lan and Mayl having feelings for each other was removed, and a lot of the music was changed as well! Gone are the amazing opening theme songs (which remixes of said songs were used during the episodes as well for heroic moments, sad moments, and touching moments -- so the impact of those scenes just weren't the same), and in their place was generic "MegaMan.... MegaMan.... MegaMan... The Net Battle is About to Begin!.... MegaMan!.... MegaMan NT Warrior!" sayings. It's nostalgic for those of us who grew up watching the dub, but it can't even compare to the real opening songs. </p><p>Then you have the whole issue of the show getting canceled after Axess. We stopped at basically the half way point, and at the moment where things get crazy. Sadly a lot of people didn't realize this is what happened, and that's actually what lead me to the creation of my username "NettoSaito." Back then Kids WB had a forum to discuss MegaMan NT Warrior, and I saw it was filled with kids wondering what would happen next. So I signed up for the site, and my username of "Netto" was too short to be accepted. So I stuck Saito onto the end of it (key character in the Battle Network games), and thus "NettoSaito" was born. (Again, Japanese names of Lan, and this other key character who is technically a spoiler... So I'll leave it at that.) Anyway, I made sure to inform them of what happened next, and let them know that Kids WB had dropped it at that point. I hated telling them that, but I figured they should at least know that it wasn't technically over -- but still, it was something they most likely would never be able to finish.</p><p>Eventually MegaMan did return to Toonami Jetstream (the online streaming website for Toonami back before it originally closed), but this was actually MegaMan Starforce -- and once again a modified version. Like Beast +, the Starforce anime was done in 10 minute blocks, so the English dub took this and spliced episodes together to make something a little more complete. In theory this sounds like a good thing, but again it too was censored. Scenes that contained "offensive" content was reserved for slide shows/episode narrations or intros to explain what was going on, but the scenes themselves weren't actually shown/weren't fully played out. This even included one of the intro scenes where our main character Geo meets his friends for the first time -- an important scene that was pretty much completely skipped and only slightly explained. The scene was most likely removed due to one of the characters getting hit in a bad spot, but whatever. No excuse to remove the entire scene just for a few seconds -- but that's how that dub worked. Other than that, it honestly wasn't too bad of a dub, but Toonami shut down, and they didn't keep going with it. Heck, even in Japan the show ended after it's second series "Tribes." By this point Battle Network/Star Force had seemingly ran it's course, and that was the end.</p><p><b>Is it Worth Watching Today:</b></p><p>So with everything being said and done.... Is it worth watching? Yes. I'd say so. The show does the whole monster of the week thing, but it's entertaining, and has a lot of great moments throughout the entire show. I'd say anyone who is interested in MegaMan Battle Network (or anyone who is a fan of the games) should check it out for sure. Of course it being a kid's show based on a game series means they play it a little "safe" with some things, but that doesn't mean it doesn't have it's share of drama as well. Typically you don't have to worry about your main cast dying or anything, but that doesn't mean they don't go through hard times, nor does it mean death isn't a part of the show -- it's just one of those series you know that at least the main character will make it out okay. But that's fine, not every anime needs to be like that. NT Warrior is a fun adventure, with fun fights, and many, many different stories to be told. It's a series you can easily watch off and on as the mood hits you, but specific story arcs are ones you'll want to finish watching back to back. Of course the show wont appeal to everyone, but in general I'd recommend most to check it out. The only down side is that at this time fan subs are the only way to truly experience it -- unless you understand Japanese. I honestly can't recommend NT Warrior's English dub after watching the entire thing in Japanese, but if you have no choice and you are fine with how much was removed... Then it is what it is. Still worth watching. (Just do yourself a favor and watch some of the better uncensored clips online -- especially the scenes with Protoman during Axess.)</p><p>Well, I guess that's it for today's Anime Monday! Thanks for reading! </p><p>Answer must be somewhere ~<br /></p><div class="blogger-post-footer">| © Copyright 2020 - All Rights Reserved |</div>NettoSaitohttp://www.blogger.com/profile/06027189690668668215noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6580835171525960648.post-18775335041383778972023-03-12T11:01:00.003-05:002023-03-12T11:01:12.342-05:00Thank you SEGA for creating Judgment<p></p><br />So, this is something different for me. You see, me and my wife recently wrote letters to SEGA, thanking them for creating the game Judgment. Judgment is something really special to both of us, and we both felt that we should thank them in at least some way. Even if no one ever reads it, it was something we wanted to say, and now I want to share my letter with everyone else out there as well. Normally I wouldn't post something like this, but Judgment is such a special case, and I feel like more of the world needs to know about it. Of course the following has been slightly modified to be published online -- but it's still 99% the same.<p></p><p>So yeah, I hope you guys like my letter, and if Judgment is something that is something to you as well -- why not do what we did and thank the developers too? I think a lot of people take for granted what these teams do for their fans, and in this case... It was something else.</p><p><b>Anyway, here we go. Here's my letter to SEGA:</b><br /></p><p>I usually don’t write things like this, but I feel like it’s something that needs to be said — or rather, it’s something I feel I needed to let everyone at SEGA and Ryu Ga Gotoku Studio to know. </p><p>You see, I’m a fan of the Like a Dragon (Yakuza) series. I originally got introduced to the series back around 2011 when I was looking for something to play on my new PS3. People were telling me how great Yakuza 3 was, and I decided to take their advice and try it out. Honestly my biggest let down at the time was not having access to Yakuza 1 and 2 to truly appreciate it. It was fun, but I felt like I was missing so much. I figured I would never get a chance to go back, and I kinda put the series on the back burner. I skipped Yakuza 4, and 5, but when Yakuza 0 was announced it changed everything for me. It’s a game I felt I had to have, and I went out and bought it on day one. From then on out, I made sure to pick up every release, and have been a fan since. However, things changed with Judgment…</p><p>When Judgment originally came out, I honestly didn’t spend too much time with it. Don’t get me wrong, I had fun, but I had a lot going on at the time in my life. I was working at a new job, and things kept pulling me away from playing it. Looking back now, I feel like that was a blessing in disguise. You see, I had no idea what Judgment was really going to be about, nor did I ever expect it to be something that would hit so close to home. Not just for me, but for someone I hadn’t even met yet. Someone who would go on to become my wife.</p><p>When 2020 happened, and covid had us locked inside. The unthinkable happened. I met the girl of my dreams! She had just started working with my mom, and my mom felt like we both had a lot in common and should meet. So she set us up (although she tried to make it appear like it wasn’t a setup!) and we pretty much clicked from the moment we started texting each other. Her name was Allison, and one of the first things I learned about her was she had just lost her best friend — her grandpa. Sadly he had been fighting Alzheimer’s for the last few years, and Allison had been by his side every step of the way. She became an advocate for the Alzheimer’s Association, and started fund raising to help find a cure for the horrible disease. One of the first things she told me about in our texts was how close she was to her grandpa, and how she would be once again taking part in the Walk to End Alzheimer’s event — which she then invited me to. </p><p>As for me, my grandma on my dad’s side had Alzheimer’s nearly my entire life, so this was something that effected me as well. I remember turning 6 years old and just seeing my grandma as my grandma at my birthday. I didn’t think anything of it at the time, but this would become one of my only memories of when she was herself. Sadly she would suffer a massive stroke not too long after, and it would eventually turn into full on Alzheimer’s. She didn’t remember who she was, she didn’t know who her family was, and almost daily she relived the realization that her own husband had died years before. It was horrible, and even as a little kid I realized just how sad it was that I would never really get to know my dad’s mom. It eventually got to the point where she even believed she was being held as a prisoner in her own house. She assumed her own son (who she no longer remembered) was her kidnapper, and she tried to escape almost daily. He didn’t let this stop him however. He still loved his mom, and did everything he could to make sure all her needs were met. He dedicated his life to taking care of her, and did so until the day she died. This is the grandma I knew until I was 14, and there was nothing that could be done. Alzheimer’s completely took her from us.</p><p>Anyway… Jumping back to 2020… It’s because of the walk that me and Allison finally met face to face. I invited her over to my house the day before so we could meet before the walk, but the walk itself was the first time we went out and did something together. It’s also when I got to meet her parents, and some of her other family members as well! Sure, it was a little awkward, but I had a great time, and it was for a good cause. Unfortunately, Alzheimer’s isn’t something you hear a lot about, and so many people take their own memories for granted. The sad truth is, many of us will grow old and develop some form of dementia, and many of the elderly population is currently living in this reality. So many people turn a blind eye to it however, but the problem continues to persist.</p><p>After dating for awhile, the PlayStation 5 version of Judgment released, and once again I bought it on day one. Again, I didn’t have as much time to play the original release, but I was hoping to change that with the updated version. So one day I asked Allison if she wanted to check it out, because I knew she had an interest in crime drama series. She said sure, and I put the game in. This was the first time we had really sat down and played through a game side by side. At first I feel like we were both just interested in the overall story and trying to solve the murder case, but once things took a turn… It shocked us both. </p><p>The fact that Judgment revolved around Alzheimer’s was completely unexpected! Again, this is something not many people talk about, nor is it something you see in media of any kind. And not only did Judgment touch on the subject, but it went full in with the subject! Getting to visit the hospital where Alzheimer’s patients were being treated was just the tip of the iceberg, and seeing the stories being told hit very close to home. So much research went into developing this game — it was just flat out impressive. And it was very clear that it wasn’t just for the “entertainment.”. The way Judgment took such a serious topic, brought awareness to that topic, and let the world know how it really is — it seriously blew us both away. It was such a heart breaking story grounded in harsh reality, and seeing it all play out just made the story even better. It was something we both could relate to, and it was a case we both wanted to see solved. For Allison, things hit even closer to home due to the story’s setting (as Judgment took place in 2018 — the same year her grandpa was diagnosed with the disease), but I too couldn’t help but think of my grandma when some of the stories were being told. No game has really ever hit this close to home for me, and I can’t help but wonder how many other people out there felt the same way when playing the game. Or how many people came the realization themself of just how horrible Alzheimer’s really is.</p><p>Judgment might be a work of fiction, but the game’s messages, and themes are all so very real. It’s a story that can reach people, and change their outlook on life. </p><p>Meanwhile, Allison continues to fight to find the REAL AD-9 — a cure to put an end to Alzheimer’s, and bring loved ones back to their families. It’s been a long battle, but every person can make a difference. The release of Judgment is also another step towards finding the cure, and bringing awareness to the world. I can’t thank everyone at SEGA and Ryu Ga Gotoku Studio enough. </p><p>Thank you for everything. </p><p><br /></p><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjoYRwRN7EYb72Q3STz9nfkK0WH4soTWcVk2OsGQ5ai_swGCssIxFE8mLMRLYeVc8L0uC6O9vRIRERalUjDd94NwHAOaOsVRIT9wSvbEqez3zrh3DGHijEaml5AWqT90ylRnOJ-qfm5wuqH68AMkaYrjzfkn5r2rwfqRM2AhWpXO-5Xi2pSf0Ca5V_6/s1920/27898AAB-87B0-479F-87C2-29DB8C0E665E.jpeg" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="1080" data-original-width="1920" height="360" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjoYRwRN7EYb72Q3STz9nfkK0WH4soTWcVk2OsGQ5ai_swGCssIxFE8mLMRLYeVc8L0uC6O9vRIRERalUjDd94NwHAOaOsVRIT9wSvbEqez3zrh3DGHijEaml5AWqT90ylRnOJ-qfm5wuqH68AMkaYrjzfkn5r2rwfqRM2AhWpXO-5Xi2pSf0Ca5V_6/w640-h360/27898AAB-87B0-479F-87C2-29DB8C0E665E.jpeg" width="640" /></a></div><p></p><div class="blogger-post-footer">| © Copyright 2020 - All Rights Reserved |</div>NettoSaitohttp://www.blogger.com/profile/06027189690668668215noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6580835171525960648.post-42027855671712203332023-03-09T11:30:00.001-06:002023-03-29T08:08:30.995-05:00How I got into the Battlefield Series<p>The Battlefield series is the first person shooter series that I have the most history with. Technically. It's not my first shooter, nor was it the first online FPS I played; however, it's the one I stuck with the longest, and have been with more than any other out there. It's also a series I never expected to be able to play, but look at me now! I'm sitting here writing a blog post about how I got into it. It wasn't a simple journey though, and a lot happened to me during those years... So instead of just making a "Ben's Beginnings" over Battlefield, I figured I'd dive on in and cover it all. My complete history with the series.</p><p>First time I ever even heard about Battlefield was at school. Battlefield 2 had just came out, and my friend Ian started talking about it. He mentioned how it was a team based game, how you could drive different vehicles and fly planes, and how it was this crazy online simulated "battlefield" experience! He made the game sound cool, and I remember he was passing on the idea of us friends forming a team -- but I knew that would never happen for me. I didn't have a good PC (I couldn't even run Starcraft 1 at the time), and I knew there was no way my parents would be okay with me playing an online game like that. Plus at the time I was happy enough with my GameCube and PS2, so that's pretty much what I stuck to. Battlefield 2 is something I would never really play for myself, except for the single time my friend Keith showed it to me at his house. I did basically nothing in it, and I feel as if we only played for 10 minutes at most -- that's where I assumed my Battlefield experience would end.<br /><br />Three years later (2008) things would change for me. After getting my first job, I went out and bought an Xbox 360 with my savings. I mainly wanted it for Sonic 2006 (yep), but after getting one I felt as if it would be a waste to not try other games as well. I would constantly walk by a game called "Bad Company" at Walmart, and it would always catch both my dad and I's eyes. It had a picture of a grenade on the cover with a smiley face pin attached to it. We both thought it looked funny, but I didn't think much more of it. That is until one day I did my research.</p><p>Apparently this "Bad Company" game was a part of the Battlefield series (I didn't notice Battlefield on the box), and it was a comedy! It was basically about a group of rejects in the army, who are sent to be their own squad, and sent out on missions. The entire game is a parody on war stories, with our group of idiots getting into non stop trouble, who get caught up in something much bigger than they can handle. The descriptions I read online was enough for me to buy it, and I quickly found that everything said was true. It's one of the few games that legit had me laughing from start to finish! <br /><br />I loved Bad Company. The gameplay was a lot of fun, the characters were great, and it's story really was funny. I feel in love with pretty much every part of the game, and I didn't want it to end! Being a part of the Battlefield series meant it also had it's online mode, but when I tried it out it didn't seem that great to me. (Mainly because I sucked, and it seemed not a lot of people were playing at the time.) So I mainly stuck to this one for it's single player, and put it on the shelf when I was done. But then Bad Company 2 was announced, and that changed everything.</p><p>To say I was excited for Bad Company 2 is an understatement. The game was going to get an M rating so they could push things a bit further than the first, and it was shown that the story would be even larger in scale than the previous entry. To top all of that off, the game would also be going back to it's full on Battlefield roots, and put a HUGE focus on the game's multiplayer as well. It would have hundreds of unlocks, ribbons/awards to achieve, the whole dog tag system/collection system, and pretty much every other feature that made games like Battlefield 2 so popular. They were going for the full blown Battlefield experience, and I wanted to be a part of it!</p><p>Of course I got the Xbox 360 version (which was more limited compared to the PC release), and I found myself dedicating a LOT of time to the game. Sadly as a poor college kid I couldn't always afford Xbox Live, but to make things even more complicated -- I didn't have a router. To play Xbox 360 games, I had to physically connect my 360 to my computer's modem, and unhook my PC from it. That made it so I couldn't use things like Windows Live to call/talk to friends easily, but I got around that by using the 360's built in Live Messenger (I even bought the text pad attachment to help). But even then it was annoying not having a PC when playing my 360, but it was what it was. Because of these constraints however, I had to play as much as BC2 when I could, and hopefully find a way to resubscribe to Xbox Live later on. Ultimately I had to give up Live for awhile after playing the heck out of BC2, but it was only a matter of time until I came back. I had a lot of good memories playing that game, but it wasn't one I would return to... Mainly because of what came next.</p><p>Around 2010 I finally got a new PC that was "okay" enough to play some games. It wasn't perfect, but it could handle less demanding things. I didn't play a whole lot with it, but during the summer of 2011 I came across a discovery -- a little game known as "Battlefield Play4Free." What was this game you might ask? To put it simply, it was a "free" version of Battlefield 2, updated with content from newer games, and "down graded" in a way that made it possible for weaker PCs to play. This was PERFECT for me! I remember I told as many friends as I could about it, and for the first time I jumped into the PC Battlefield experience.</p><p>I honestly loved Play4Free. The game did ask you to spend real cash on guns/better upgrades and what not, but you could also unlock the content simply by playing the game. You basically earned credits for how well you did, and could then use said credits to unlock different cosmetics, attachments for your weapons, etc. Most of my friends at the time were used to this sorta thing with the Free to Play MMORPGs out there, so it didn't really deter us. In fact, with how much I ended up playing the game, I actually dropped $10 to unlock some cosmetics, and a weapon I knew I'd enjoy using. I figured it was free and I had already spent countless hours on it, so the $10 was worth it in the end. Of course the game is shut down now, but I still have no regrets spending what I did.I especially loved the maps that the game chose to feature, so of course I kept coming back to it. That is, until Battlefield 3 was announced.</p><p><table align="center" cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><tbody><tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEi1eAEjObjc0SvRNlfKyAjCsGR1mhOLeZ0xsIy7xmXj6g9opQiJ2NQBt6VVHZjzL9p6Z_4KLqdbXMhzZ2wPFplBmXvduE9602lQ2S_N9M9kiCZ2INzLlGz-qwuXlGjVq4fB514VEeEQKJKQgC0-Ajhum8UEXoYp0AVA0cLwt6oZdFuLOxZjsTwtOGNc/s1024/screen030.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" data-original-height="768" data-original-width="1024" height="480" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEi1eAEjObjc0SvRNlfKyAjCsGR1mhOLeZ0xsIy7xmXj6g9opQiJ2NQBt6VVHZjzL9p6Z_4KLqdbXMhzZ2wPFplBmXvduE9602lQ2S_N9M9kiCZ2INzLlGz-qwuXlGjVq4fB514VEeEQKJKQgC0-Ajhum8UEXoYp0AVA0cLwt6oZdFuLOxZjsTwtOGNc/w640-h480/screen030.jpg" width="640" /></a></td></tr><tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">(I wasn't kidding when I said it worked well on low end PCs!)<br /></td></tr></tbody></table></p><p>With Battlefield 3 being announced as I was playing Play4Free, I was extra hyping it up to friends. My hope was that those I was playing Play4Free with would move onto BF3 as well, but sadly that didn't really happen. Of course that was still okay, as it wasn't going to stop me from getting it myself and playing it to death. Heck I still remember the day I downloaded the beta and spent countless hours on it! Had a lot of fun, and it only made me want the final game even more. So I placed a preorder, and the day it released I rushed up to GameStop first thing in the morning. Pretty sure I had to stand outside and wait for it to open because I got there so early, but whatever -- I didn't want to miss out on it! Man, that was a good day. Of course I got the 360 version again, and once again it was held back compared to the PC release. While the PC version could handle the full 64 player matches on larger maps, the console versions were limited to 24 players, and smaller sized maps to make up for it. It didn't make me have less fun with the game, but I'll admit it did kinda suck knowing I wasn't getting the same experience as with Play4Free. Although, the added destruction, more maps, vehicles, guns, unlock systems, etc, was for sure a huge upgrade over the free game... So really couldn't complain there. </p><p>To put it simply... I loved Battlefield 3, and still to this day I'd consider it my favorite release. Overall I'd say Bad Company 2 was the "best" I had played, but for the pure BF experience, 3 became my top choice. Man, I miss those maps... </p><p>Moving forward, Battlefield 4 was a weird one for me. I was trying to find the PlayStation 4 on launch day, but I wasn't having any luck. I grabbed Assassin's Creed 4 just so I had a game to play on my PS4, but I had no idea when that would be. My mom was actually the one who was able to walk into GameStop on the release day of the Xbox One and grab it, which was actually a pretty funny story. She basically walked past the long line of people waiting for the Xbox, walked up to the counter and asked if they had a PS4, and they handed her one -- most likely the long line of Xbox fans deterred people from even checking if they had them in stock. But anyway... When she called me and let me know she was able to find one, she also asked if there was anything game wise I'd like her to pick up as well -- so I said Battlefield 4. Assassin's Creed was the first game I actually booted up on my PS4, but BF4 would be the one I would spend the most time with yet again.</p><p>The thing about BF4 on "next gen" console was the fact that it could finally compete with the PC version of the game. It had the full sized maps, the full game modes, and pretty much everything had been upgraded from BF3. Sadly the game did have some glitches (like the campaign mode not saving), but overall it was a big improvement! While I didn't like it's maps as much as I liked BF3's, future DLC would correct that problem by introducing more older maps to the mix. Even so, there were a handful of BF4 exclusive maps that I did really enjoy as well, so it's not like it didn't have some original maps I enjoyed. The real issue I had with the game was actually it's timing. I remember talking to my uncle Mark about the PS4 and how Battlefield 4 was on Thanksgiving that year, unaware that he would pass away a month and a day later. He was only 42 at the time, and was someone I had spent a lot of time with talking to, playing games with, etc. At times he acted more like a brother to me, so this really wasn't an easy time in my life. Him passing killed my interest in gaming for quite awhile, and a lot of games that came out around that time only pulled me back into the reality of his death -- and sadly BF4 became one of them.</p><p>Eventually I would return to the game off and on (heck I even bought the PC version when I got a gaming PC), but I just didn't play it anywhere near as much as I thought I would. Battlefield Hardline would be the next game I played (as it was the next release), but even that didn't hold my interest quite as much. Again, that PC version of BF4 I just mentioned? I bought that after Hardline's release. It's not like I didn't like Hardline however; it's just it didn't quite click with me as much as the previous entries. The cop and robbers storyline and gameplay modes were cool, and I did enjoy the new maps -- but it just didn't fully hook me as previous entries had done. Maybe it was more burn out than anything else? Not really sure honestly.</p><p>When Battlefield 1 came out, again I found myself conflicted. I bought the premium edition of the game (as I usually do), but I quickly realized this was the first Battlefield that wasn't for me. I didn't care for the story missions, I didn't like the World War I setting, and I didn't like the WWI guns or vehicles that had to be used. Sure, it was cool from a historical standpoint (not that it was completely faithful or anything), but it just didn't do it for me. I remember sitting in a hospital room with my grandma's brother (don't worry he was okay) and looking at my BF1 stats/medals and what not I wanted to earn on the phone app, but then when I got home I realized I didn't care enough to actually go forward with it. So BF1 became the one and only BF game that I had just completely dropped. Sure, I never finished the story in Hardline either, but at least I put over 20 hours into it.</p><p>After Battlefield 1, I wasn't sure how to feel about Battlefield V's announcement. I liked the idea that 4, Hardline, 1, and V were all different/unique games and would operate side by side, but the backlash of V made me doubt how good the game would be. To my surprise however, I actually loved it. Yep, even before all the added content and updates, I had fun with the game. Of course one of my favorite Call of Duty games was World at War, so the WWII setting clicked with me from the get go. Again, it didn't follow WWII perfectly either (which caused controversy), but I did enjoy seeing what they had used from WWII, and I liked using the guns. Even with BFV being out I did go back and play BF4 still, but BFV became my main "go to" online first person shooter for quite awhile. And then it got canceled, and development shifted towards 2042.</p><p>So here we are today. Battlefield 1, V, and 2042 are the three games that are really pushed by EA, with BF4 still having a strong player base after all these years. 2042 launched to a very rocky start (removed most of the features that made Battlefield Battlefield), but today it is in a much better situation. The game has gone on sale multiple times to bring in new players, and it's even up for free on PlayStation Plus. The game features cross play between all consoles and PC, and it includes the "Battlefield Portal" which allows you to play maps and classes from previous entries in the series. It is also receiving the whole "season" treatment for unlocks and new content (as is common now days), with many years of support planned for the game. It's because of this continued support that the game is in a better state now, with new features constantly being added in. I'll admit that I bought the game on launch but didn't have time to play, so I actually missed out on most of the "dark days" of this release. Coming in at the end of season 3 and now playing through season 4 has been a lot of fun, but I'm still longing for the days when more maps from BF2, 3, and 4 get added back into the mix. I love the current Bad Company 2 and BF3 maps we have, but I'm still waiting for my favorites to enter the mix.</p><p>Anyway... Even with all it's rocky patches throughout it's history -- I still love this series, and I plan to continue playing these games for the rest of my life (as long as the games are still around that is)! While Battlefield may never reach the popularity of other "main stream" shooters, it'll always hold a special place in my heart, and I'll always see it as the original king of war based first person shooters. Who would've thought that hearing my friends discuss it in 2005, and then buying Bad Company in 2008 would lead me to all of this. A lot has time has passed, but I remember this all like it was just yesterday.<br /></p><p>And that's my story of how I got into Battlefield. <br /></p><div class="blogger-post-footer">| © Copyright 2020 - All Rights Reserved |</div>NettoSaitohttp://www.blogger.com/profile/06027189690668668215noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6580835171525960648.post-54652851543993537492023-03-02T11:30:00.001-06:002023-03-02T11:30:00.196-06:00Biggest Let Down - MegaMan Battle Chip Challenge<p>I'm a HUGE MegaMan fan -- we've already established this. The "Netto" in my username and this blog's name comes from "Netto Hikari," the main character of the MegaMan Battle Network series, (Known as Lan Hikari in the Western translations), and I've spent a large chunk of my life being influenced by that series. Not even kidding when I say that the series changed my life, and I wouldn't be who I am today if it weren't because of it... But anyway, it's because of my love of that series, that I was also met with my first (and biggest) gaming let down of my life. MegaMan Battle Chip Challenge...</p><p></p><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhXkvkUtJVPhV3jwZxiUhti-1bpWRrBVgf38LjHVEf0NhcTycsrgXaa8yDv63g6LKyloYQKnY42iHoIZ5aPq9-0dELx5nAlK5EXPO2lKSeAOyESv0PycqNUgq3jp476ipwsNbNAEDGMreH5gE2HewW7K7UQu-nwcg_rRTtOvQIqkj6FZZgSddLthLI7/s317/chipchallenge.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="313" data-original-width="317" height="313" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhXkvkUtJVPhV3jwZxiUhti-1bpWRrBVgf38LjHVEf0NhcTycsrgXaa8yDv63g6LKyloYQKnY42iHoIZ5aPq9-0dELx5nAlK5EXPO2lKSeAOyESv0PycqNUgq3jp476ipwsNbNAEDGMreH5gE2HewW7K7UQu-nwcg_rRTtOvQIqkj6FZZgSddLthLI7/s1600/chipchallenge.jpg" width="317" /></a></div><p></p><p>When I first heard about Chip Challenge, it was reading about it in Nintendo power. It sounded pretty awesome to say the least! It was a game where you could pick to play as different characters from the Battle Network series (other than our usual main character), and use their Net Navis to battle in tournaments. (For those of you unfamiliar with the series, Net Navis are virtual AI assistants that can also be used to fight.) Pretty much all of the main navis from the past three games could be obtained and used to fight, so it was pretty much a dream game for fans. (At least according to Nintendo Power.) So, needless to say, I wanted to get it as soon as possible, and Easter was my one shot at doing so.</p><p>You see, my family always bought Easter gifts to go along with the Easter candy baskets. Usually it was a movie, toy, or a smaller game, and because GBA games were only in the $30 range, it made it a game I would actually be able to ask for. So I did, and we actually managed to find a copy at EB Games along with MegaMan Legends 2! Even back then Legends 2 was rare, and I had been looking for it for over a year or so at that point -- so my parents actually let me get both. Legends 2 as a "now gift," and Chip Challenge to be saved for Easter. Little did I know, Legends 2 was the better deal, and Chip Challenge would be a huge disappointment.</p><p>I'll never forget how excited I was when I woke up that morning and got to open that game. I rushed to grab my GBA, put the game in, and tried to squeeze in some play time before I had to take a shower and go to church. So, I rushed through the start screen and intro dialogue, selected Chaud as my playable character (because he and Protoman are awesome), and then commenced reading... And then read some more... And then watched as Chaud automatically moved from screen to screen, and menus lead me into my first fight... Where I then watched as Protoman fought on his own by selecting Battle Chips (basically cards that have different attacks set to them) and then attempting to hit with them.</p><p>Assuming I was still in the intro/training (BN games always had a boring training part to teach you the battle system in each game), I paused it, took my shower, went to church, and went back to playing once I got home. This is when I realized that was the entire game. </p><p>Yep, you can't control your characters/explore the world as them (as I had hoped), and even in battle you just watch. You set some chips on a grid in the menu, and then in battle you can really only hit L/R to activate some other attack commands... But that's it. The game plays itself, and is pretty much completely random. The menus are used to select which area/tournament you want to fight in, but that's really it. Winning fights unlocked new chips you could possibly see your Navi use, and you could unlock the other Navis as well... But you don't actually play the game. It's on auto mode at all times, and that's basically it. </p><p>Looking back at it now, it was a lot like today's mobile games. Very little input, and is more focused on you collecting your favorite characters, more than anything else. But at least these games have stories attached to them (as many are visual novels), while Chip Challenge didn't even technically have that. It was tournament fighting, and that's about it... Nothing like I had hoped for, or how Nintendo Power had advertised it...</p><p>Of course, I don't actually hate this game. Again, collecting your favorite characters is cool. The game also allowed you to share codes with your friends, which puts you into each other's games as an enemy to fight. These ideas were pretty cool, especially during the GBA days, but it was a very limited system. Since you didn't really have control, who won really came down to luck and who had the better chips equip. As a BN fan however, I did play the heck out of the game, and I did usually take it with me when I was out of the house. It played itself, so I just kept winning auto battles while I was out doing something else. It was a way to make progress without wasting my time watching, and it's actually something I would find myself doing with actual mobile games years later. It's kinda funny thinking about it now, but that doesn't change the fact that it was still a let down.<br /></p><div class="blogger-post-footer">| © Copyright 2020 - All Rights Reserved |</div>NettoSaitohttp://www.blogger.com/profile/06027189690668668215noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6580835171525960648.post-50917494944418508212023-02-27T13:45:00.003-06:002023-03-29T08:08:30.996-05:00Tales of Phantasia - A Game I should've Given a Chance<p> You know, there's no denying that I'm a Tales series fan. When Symphonia came out on the GameCube and everyone was talking about it over at Nintendo's Nsider Forums, I'll admit I was interested too. I never expected to be able to play the game, but it did look cool to me. An action adventure across a fantasy world, with a main character who uses two swords? Why wouldn't I find that cool? Of course I didn't get it, and I didn't even know the game was a part of a series. I didn't know what Tales was, and when I saw "Tales of Phantasia" sitting on the shelf in EB Games (before GameStop took them over), I thought it was a rip off. "Ooooh, now EVERYONE wants to do this 'Tales of' thing. They even tried to copy the name! Way to go people!" Yeah... I wasn't the smartest. In fact, it was seeing Symphonia Dawn of the New World in Nintendo Power that made me realize that more of these games would even come out. And it wasn't until a few years AFTER that, that I even realized there were more entries on top of even that -- and that's when I learned of my mistake.<br /><br />Tales of Vesperia was my entry point into the series. I was a new 360 owner, and I wanted something different. I had just gotten more into JRPGs around this time (playing games like .hack and Final Fantasy), and I wanted more. The fact that the 360 had an "exclusive" JRPG sounded great to me, and I still regretted not getting Symphonia all those years ago -- so I traveled an hour away to find a copy, and bought it. I regret nothing. I LOVE Tales of Vesperia, and still to this day I consider it one of my all time favorite games.</p><p>After Vesperia, I still wanted more. This is when I started tracking down the games I missed, and started playing whatever new Tales of came out. Abyss and Legendia were two I went back to play, while Graces f and Xillia released as new games -- Graces being the first Tales of I ever bought on it's release day. I sadly wasn't able to get a copy of Symphonia until the PS3 release, but it's fine -- I had plenty to keep me busy until then. Jumping ahead to today, I've basically played every entry in the series I had access to, with only a few remaining Japanese exclusive without fan translations. However, despite all of this, there's still one game I've avoided. The game I thought was a stupid knock off. Phantasia.<br /><br />I'm not sure why I've continued to avoid this game. Maybe because it's older? But that doesn't seem right -- I love older JRPGs. So why? I guess I just ultimately discounted it as being nothing special. It was the start to the series I now love, but it didn't seem to have anything to pull me in. So for the past 13 + years, I've continued to ignore it... Until now. Now this I do regret...</p><p></p><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiQ_ITx6K-Z9_Vkov5B5fDTweE21B67f7-BcmuiJ6_vYbEIr3HLh9Lp0XhM-vbNgLhjEsSjkCuZlJ_JIPMbqUEt_7It7Mya_1AGo-iGZpNvNzyuPx97-IDm9dOZ0g1x9T2loxbzSzXKsTMs0AzIB6qIRmtiO9gZxBB7ZnSQQ0gAg82xtYFTYABStwbj/s427/PhantasiaBox.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="234" data-original-width="427" height="219" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiQ_ITx6K-Z9_Vkov5B5fDTweE21B67f7-BcmuiJ6_vYbEIr3HLh9Lp0XhM-vbNgLhjEsSjkCuZlJ_JIPMbqUEt_7It7Mya_1AGo-iGZpNvNzyuPx97-IDm9dOZ0g1x9T2loxbzSzXKsTMs0AzIB6qIRmtiO9gZxBB7ZnSQQ0gAg82xtYFTYABStwbj/w400-h219/PhantasiaBox.jpg" width="400" /></a></div><p></p><p>First of all, I was going to play the GBA version as it was portable. When asking about the game online, fans of the series made it clear that I should NOT play this release. So, what options did I have? Well, quite a few actually.</p><p>Phantasia originally released on the SNES in Japan (by the team that went on to make Star Ocean -- another favorite of mine), and received multiple rereleases. The GBA version is the worst of them all, and the only version we got in the West. The PS1 port however, it greatly improved the game, and is the version I was recommended to play. (There's also two PSP releases, which are even better yet, but there's no translation.) To play this however, it's not as simple as going out and buying it.</p><p>For those of you interested, the current only way to play it is by using a fan translation. If you want to play this on your actual PS1, you will need to go out and buy a copy of the Japanese release, extract the ISO file to your PC, apply one of the translation patches to said ISO file, and then burn the image to a blank CD. It's a pretty straight forward process actually, but it does require a PC and some knowledge of ripping/burning data. In my case, I wanted to play the GBA version mainly at work during lunch, so I instead transferred my PS1 copy to my <a href="https://www.nettosgameroom.com/2022/12/retroid-pocket-3-review.html" target="_blank">Retroid</a>. (It could also easily be transferred to a PSP, but my PSP is out of commission.)</p><p>As for the game itself... Again, I regret not playing it sooner...</p><p>Now I've only been playing this game for a little over a month now, and I haven't finished it -- so I won't be reviewing it. However; I'm already really impressed by it. It's so much more than I ever expected it to be. Right from the get go, we are introduced to the main character Cress and his friend, and the two leave their village and go about their daily life. It's standard JRPG intros, where you expect to get to know their daily life a little bit more, and then you'll eventually be introduced to the main plot. Yeah. This one doesn't do that... Instead you have Cress coming back to the village destroyed, and he watches everyone he loves and cares about get slaughtered! </p><p>Moving forward, things don't get any better for him. The game seriously dives into some dark subject matter right off the bat, and they don't even shy away from showing kids get killed. It was COMPLETELY unexpected. And of course this is what sends Cress out onto his adventure, but even that's not something I expected. Or maybe I should've? Again, this is by the team that went on to make Star Ocean, and both games are actually a bit similar in their plots. In Star Ocean the main cast has to travel back in time to find a cure for a bioweapon that was released but hasn't been seen for hundreds of years, and in Tales of Phantasia we find out the big bad needs to be defeated using means that were only possible in the past as well. So Cress gets sent back in time, and that's where the main adventure actually plays out. He's trying to survive in his own world's past, and while he's there he's also going up against the same big bad who currently threatens his present. It's pretty unique for a JRPG story (especially considering when this game came out), and the way the game is structured is something you don't really see much of anymore. </p><p>Tales of Phantasia is packed full of character to say the least. It's a 2D sprite based game that looks similar to most other JRPGs out at the time, but sooooo much of the world can be interacted with. It's not just simple, talk to this object and read a description either. Stepping into fire will burn you and get funny reactions. Animals such as crabs and birds roam the world and run away from you when you get close. There's some pretty nice water effects, and heat effects when in hot areas. Some objects can be pushed/pulled, and some puzzles require you to shoot and knock things over. NPCs have constantly changing unique dialogue, and often react to what you are doing on screen as well. It's a lot of little touches that help make this world feel alive, and pulls you into it's story in ways you wouldn't expect. It's something you don't even see with most modern JRPGs, so it's really shocking Phantasia has such things going on. Heck even future Tales of games aren't like this! </p><p>As for the gameplay, it's action based like the rest of the series, but it's battle system is a bit different. The PS1 version includes a full control item you can equip to take 100% control of your characters in battle, but other wise they do move on their own, and run/attack upon pressing buttons. It's dated by today's standards for sure, but it's still a fun system for what it is. Sadly the PS1 version still includes the time freezing for magic attacks, but it's something I can easily live with. </p><p>Like many classic JRPGs, the game does include a world map to explore as well, and the PS1 version introduced voiced skits that play anytime you hit the select button on said world map. If they don't have anything new to say they'll just repeat general advice messages, but other wise the characters will comment on the story, or bring up something you've done lately. Again, it helps make the world feel more alive, and gives you a reason to listen to everything your party has to say. The world map also has many different areas to explore, and the game rewards you for doing so. Heck, some areas can't even be finished until you have explored other places, but the game leaves it up to you to find these spots in order to advance. Of course NPCs will talk about things, so it's not like you're left completely in the dark on what you can/cannot do, but it's not like today's games where you're constantly directed from Point A to Point B. It's a game that wants you to take your time and dive into it's world, rather than just rush through it. Again, something that feels like it's been lost in a lot of modern games today. And then there's the fact that that Phantasia is a "sequel" to Symphonia -- or rather, Symphonia was a prequel.</p><p>Not going into spoilers, but I've been pretty surprised by Phantasia and recognizing things from Symphonia. A major plot point of Symphonia plays a huge role throughout Phantasia, but there's also other references as well. It makes me realize why long time fans enjoyed Symphonia as much, because they got to see this the other way around. Players of Phantasia got to see how the world became what it is, while those of us who play Symphonia first get to see what's next for the world. It's just really cool, and helps add even more to my enjoyment of the game. Again, not that the game would've been "worse" without my prior knowledge, it's just it's really cool to me to see these things. Not bad for a "knock off'" of Symphonia.</p><p>Overall, I've been simply loving the game. It's something I want to keep coming back to off and on for the next few months, up until I finish it. Even then I feel as if I'll keep checking back just for the side quests, as the PS1 version apparently added a bunch of new extras as well. So I have plenty to keep myself busy with, and currently I'm at the point where I wish the game would never end. It's rare for games to give me that feeling now days (especially with so many games in my backlog to play), but Phantasia is definitely one such game to do it for me. I can't believe I discounted this game for so many years. I'm a horrible Tales of fan. <br /></p><div class="blogger-post-footer">| © Copyright 2020 - All Rights Reserved |</div>NettoSaitohttp://www.blogger.com/profile/06027189690668668215noreply@blogger.com