Northeastmonk's Reviews (Oblivion Cont.)

[Mistatee]

From the reviews I have read, the story sucks, the character sucks. But the memories you unlock are awesome, and tell an amazing backstory breathing life into the characters. Also according to 1-Up, Jansen is the only character who doesn't suck.

[memory to zack]

Story and characters suck?! This is story-driven RPG, if its story and characters suck then it´s worth throwing it at a garbage bin, because from the old-school (nowadays really lame, for me as well) turn-based gameplay you won´t get much. I don´t know about the characters, but the general impression I got from various reviews was rather positive, with Jansen being the best as a comic-relief. Though these reviews I read said the story, although a typical one, was very good and, like you said, the memories unlocked by Kaim and the emotions that are created are awesome.

I´m going to try Lost Odyssey one way or another, I had it settled for quite a while, just as I had decided not to buy Blue Dragon. My gaming choices are matter of feeling really, totally not based on reviews and impressions of others, only selective ones.

[Northeastmonk]

Jeanne D'Arc was pretty good. The same guys who made Rouge Galaxy and the upcoming White Knight Chronicles Level 5 studios made this above average RPG-tactics game for the PSP.

Story - Jeanne, a french women, hears a godly voice from above that calls her to defend France and claim back the land from a evil power. The story has a linear spoiler plot, so I wont ruin anything here. It just gets good once you progress.
Graphics- Amazing. Good if you liked Rouge Galaxy and the colorful animated characters it featured.
Sound - Jeanne D'Arc is mainly a text based game, but the cutscenes are featured as an anime, so expect a more of an entertaining tactics game with this one.
Difficulty - I finished the story in about 35 hours. My second run wont be for a while, but it wasn't hard at all. There are some points where leveling your characters is important.
Exta Features- Just an extra ending, which I wont bother with until Lost Odyssey is complete.
Rent or Buy - I rented this one, then bought it. Buy!

Conclusion - I put down LO for this title. It must have had something good about it. I may not be a hardcore FFT fan, so if this game seems easy for you, then just enjoy the great graphics.

(8 out of 10)

----------------------------
One minus to LO, the memories are boring. Its like a poem with lights and music. I read the first 2 then skipped every single one after that. -1 point so far. I'll try and finish it up very soon. I believe I'm almost done with the 3rd disc.

[Northeastmonk]

Lost Odyssey - XBOX360

Story - Kaim, an immortal, sent from another realm to finish a quest.
Along with 4 other immortals. The 4 good immortals, Kaim included.
Must fight off an evil that wants to take over the world.

Gameplay - This RPG from the creator of Final Fantasy (Sakaguchi)
is another leap for the genre. The Ring Key Battle system allows
players to circle a ring with the R trigger to deliver a FF8
Ragnorak (Squall's R1 charge) to every physical attack. The ring centers in on another ring for extra
damage. Each character can also learn skills from one another. This
however is limited to some party members. If you were a PSOne RPG fan
and wanted to experience the genre before it reaches its turning point,
then check it out. The dreams people are speaking of. They are
poems/short stories with music and colors. When Kaim sees something
he remembers about his past. He will unlock these. They aren't playable and some are around 20 to 30 screens long. I did not care for them.

Graphics - Great detail on the world map. The exploration is easy and
you wont get confused traveling on a huge world map as a low level
character.

Sound - Uamatsu (Final Fantasy composer/current) does an outstanding job. The best in Mistwalker's musical scores. The characters are amazingly outgoing and fun to learn about.

Difficulty - If your not a huge RPG fan, then all you need to know is. Is that leveling up during and before each mission/ojective/free time/and before a boss is the KEY to winning. Plus knowing and understanding the elements is key with using magic. And because Lost Odyssey applies
the rules of elements to EVERY SINGLE enemy. Plus, allowing characters the ability to learn higher grade magic by leveling and items is very very important


(8 out of 10)

Time it took me to complete (just the main storyline) - 39 hours; Rounded up

Spoiler hints-
Make sure to have every spell resistence learned for every character,
expecially the immortals. There are hard elemental fights with
characters you may think are unusable. Say Cooke, because you have
3 other powerful mages with Spirit and Black Magic. (IE: She has to be
in your party when you fight an Ice beast on disc 3).
Plus, there are fights on disc 4 that use the high black magic spells
Firus, Aquerus, Groundus, etc. Which hit mages for 2000+ without resistence.
Having skills like Duel Items for Level 8 Black Magic items will help if your mages have low HP.
- Make sure your immune to alliments like Petrify, Poison, and
against Shadowus magic.
-Watch the order of the battle and your GC guage. These two can either
make or break your fight. GC will lower DMG taken on the attackers and
you can knock an enemy caster by watching the turn bar. If a character
is charging for a second round, hit him. This is also why leveling up
is crucial. Half your party consist of MAGES. Mages have a history,
expecially in AD&D/FF to have low HP.
-Items can do better then Zyphyra. Using the Double Items skill you can
heal an entire character before the mage cast an healing spell.
Healing is a major point in the game.
-Some characters, besides Sed can auto-raise after a couple rounds.
Just remember you only get 600-800HP when they rise. Plus, It happens
after you've selected your attacks.

[Northeastmonk]

God of War: Chains of Olympus - Sony PSP

Story: Kratos is a spartan under the curse of his past. The Ghost of Sparda has a past, and its short. Around 5 and a half hours short. The game releases today, and I finished it that night. It is a great game, and probably one of the best looking PSP games around. Anyway, the story is about how Kratos fought for the Gods, and leads straight into God of War 1. The story is also weird, and doesn't make any sense. Almost like if it was a fan fiction GOW story.

Graphics: Hopefully this isn't the PSP graphics maxed out. Great cutscenes!

Sound: Just like the previous God of War(s).

Gameplay: The same insane combo system as the other titles. The bad part, if you've played the demo. You're a quarter done with the entire game.

Rent or buy: Rent it or borrow it from a friend. The game is very short.

(8 out of 10)

I maxed out/found everything within the 5.5 hours on Normal.

[Northeastmonk]

Dark Sector - PS3 Version. And a five to ten minute installation.

Story - A man (lol forgot his name) is sent in to take care of a terrorist whose motive is to mass produce toxic gasses all over the world. These gasses have horrible mind controlling and manipulating effects on people. The protagonist just happens to get infected with the gas and becomes a some what, bio-soldier.
Note - these gasses also allow the human body to control special weaponry.
Like his ghypher blade.

Gameplay - You control the ghypher with the R2 trigger. And you're allowed the ability to control it with your six-axis controller. Say to hit special elemtns (aka lightning, fire, ice) and use them to complete various task. The combat is real nice. Decapitations and finishing moves are performed by holding down the R2 trigger (charges the ghypher) or a simple throw to knock the enemy off guard.

Graphics - Really nice textures. Buildings aren't as nearly as boring as say "The Darkness". You get to travel around the area, but not as tourist. Meaning, you get to explore limited areas of combat. Boss battles are also enjoyable and make you think outside the box. The use of guns is important as well. Neglecting your fire arm can result in an early death.

Sound - Voice acting is pleasable. Character models look really nice. Nice rendering. Models don't look half-asses 3ds Max hacks. Assassin's Creed has y far the best looking character models.

Replay - I dont play online and the Brutal mode afterwords wasn't my cup of tea. Considering it took me from release date to 2 days ago to finish the title. Meaning that is around 10 hours of solid gameplay.

Score: 7 out of 10 (my reviews are heavily biased do to fact that games aren't worth a 10 w/o a reasonable excuse)

Check it out. If you trusted me on "The Darkness", then I'm sure that Dark Sector is what you need.

Next Review: Rainbow Six: Vegas 2

[eastx]

Originally Posted by Northeastmonk

Sound - Voice acting is pleasable.

So we can please the voice acting, eh? I'm sure it will appreciate it. ;)

Since you're on the PS3 with the free online and whatnot, you *should* play online and check it out. Deciding in advance that you won't like something isn't the best way to do things.
Otherwise a good review though.

[Northeastmonk]

The truth is that Dark Sector had pretty good voice acting. I didn't read the Dark Horse comic, so I'm not too sure how the protagonist acted outside this game. But the character was angry enough to be convincable, shared no emotion outside his own gain (perfect for a soldier). Considering the fact that Steve Blum in Jericho was awesome. The ratings for voice acting is very important now.
(Just like how Blue Gender wouldn't of been a good anime if the majority of the cast wasn't the American DBZ cast).

I also consider anime voice actors in America a key to sucess in next gen games. I wouldn't of played through Jericho if it wasn't for Steve Blum's talent.

I don't play online due to the lack of internet connection and I don't find multiplayer games to be entertaining anymore.

***Finished Castlevania: Portrait of Ruin. I'm going to finish Dawn of Sorrow before I write reviews. So if one Castlevania is better then the other one. I can point out the cons and pros of each.

[eastx]

Good to hear about the voice acting.

And yeah, lack of an internet connection is a decent reason not to try out online modes.

I beat Castlevania DS but don't have Portrait of Ruin, so I'll be looking forward to your comparisons.

[Northeastmonk]

First, I’m sorry it’s taken so long for more reviews, so I am going to double up on reviews.

FROM Software’s Demon’s Souls – PS3
Story – The story is very simple. The monumental/warriors of Nexus need your help in taking care in stopping a demon from being unleashed. This is what I took out of the entire story because the game focuses on game play over story. I played through my first time as the knight class. So this review is based on my experience as a Knight. The majority of this game is getting through 5 different sections of realms, each realm consist of 3-4 epic boss battles.
Gameplay – Gameplay is basically a mix of moves(slash, thrust, and a shield push), blocking and an action gauge. The action gauge goes away after attacking and blocking. There really isn’t a problem with enjoying this system outside the difficulty. The soul system is basically the key element to Demon’s Souls. Not in dying, but leveling up your character will take time.
Sound: Great, every character carries a personality. Its a very quiet game to be honest.
Graphics: The graphics are very “knights of the round”. The epic scale of monsters and feeling you have going up against a mob of slime are very relaxing. If you are comparing this to Oblivion, DS is very dark, and some what straight forward.
Overall: I give this an 8 out of 10. I think some people who are looking for an eye candy knight game will either be frustrated because the game makes you think and there is a down side to thinking. And every time you die it restarts from the beginning of where you teleported from. The challenge bar went up when I got this title.

The online mode looked entertaining to say the least, but I still lack the ability to play online. So there aren’t any impressions for online play. I understand that there aren’t any quest or bosses outside the main game.
*The trophies are worth picking this game up for.


White Knight Chronicles – PS3

I am not finished with this title, but my location tells (translations) me that I’m about to complete this game. I am pretty upset at how this game presents itself that I am going to write its review.
Edit: I just went back and completed it. Not many changes. Except the main story can be beaten at level 30 and the fact that being in "Knight mode" is the ticket to winning every battle. The level of difficulty is "easy" compared to other next gen rpgs on the market.

Story: Leonardo, a towns boy who attends a royal festival ends up fighting for the Princess and her dead father after a group of evil men interrupt the festival and take the princess away. The entire story follows this path. You ARE always going after the princess. The knight seems added for name sake, but it feels like a fantasy “Bodyguard” plot.

Gameplay: The game has a circle sphere that fills up after time. And at the bottom of the screen there are 3 rows to place a selected amount of attacks (which are filled by placing new moves learned by a sphere grid) and another row for items, equipment, defense, and knight. The game feels like FFXI to be honest. The grid allows points to be dispersed in upgrading certain weapon skills and learning magic. Note: some HP upgrades are found in weapon skills.

Graphics: The dungeons are large. You can run around an MMO type of environment and kill mobs after mobs. Ranging from small to large but the lack of having fun with this is because there isn’t much to do after leveling up in single player. The towns are only there for upgrading equipment and buying items. What I've learned from Online FAQS wasn't about the main quest (star maps your next location), but it was with online play and synthesizing.
Online mode consist of 12 Ranked Guild quest that are timed. And require a much higher level character and parties to complete.

Some points I'd love to get out of the way.
1.The main story feels short.
2.The knight transformation gets old after a while because you can’t skip the cinematic, but you can skip the main movies.
3. The monsters felt repetative (as in “didn’t I just go through a dungeon with these creeps?”) after a while and the bosses were too easy to kill outside some “implied” difficulty. I got so bored in crossing some dungeons that I had to backtravel, save, and then turn off the game. I can almost see why it scored so poorly in Japan.
4.I don’t feel the satisfaction as with Jeanne D’Arc. The characters don’t feel like they were placed in the game out of fate, but by luck. But you do feel Level 5’s overall appeal to WKC.
5.It received the same Famitsu score as Demon’s Souls.
6. Rouge Galaxy kills this game in story, but not with graphics.

Overall: 6 out of 10. The graphical appeal should of scored it higher and the appeal of each conversation, but the lack of enemies and total focus on advancing in the story without any stops made it lack so much.



My quick finished and unfinished reviews would go like this:
Gears of War 2 – 9.8 out of 10
Resident Evil 5 – 7 out of 10
KillZone 2 – 8 out of 10
Ryu Ga Gatoku: KENZAN! So far 8 out of 10
Metal Gear Solid 4: Guns of the Patriots – 10 out of 10, the bonus bluray upped my score.
Resistance 2: 6 out of 10, big minus was Chicago not being as fun as I thought it would be.
Fable 2 - 9 out of 10
Fallout 3 - 9 out of 10


Here is my Castlevania: Portrait of Ruin review. Its been a while so bare with me.


Portrait of Ruin – DS
Story – A young man and women (see I told you it’s been a while) enter into Dracula’s castle and seek the dark fellow. This follows a series of paintings which take you on a wild goose chase to get to the count.
Gameplay: I enjoyed this title, it felts like a mix of everything I enjoyed in say a Mario game inside a Castlevania game. I was able to figure out some boss battles by just enjoying myself. Upgrading characters have stayed the same, but the mix of a 2nd player might added a small amount of upscale to the series.
Sound: Great, but does not equal to SOTN. Which is my favorite Castlevania by far.
Graphics: Very good, the 3D feel to some DS titles almost makes me sick, but Castlevania 2D games never make me upset.
Overall: Very good, the entire deal with Death “deleting your save if you died against him” scared me a bit, but I know from experience that saved games are a big deal.
8 out of 10

AOS was actually pretty good. I couldn’t find myself as involved in AOS as with POR, which is probably the reason I didn’t finish it.

[Alucard]

Portrait is a super awesome game. Especially when you play the alternate modes and characters too for the extra story and different take on gameplay. Super game.

[Paper exe]

Fable 2

I wanna see some one love and compliment Fable 2. I try but it is really hard for me. Probably for not being Japanese. My mind cannot seem to work with me, it wouldn't open.

[Northeastmonk]

Did you see Xplay give it GOTY. I'd be stupid not to give it a good review. lol

[CongoJack]

Originally Posted by Alucard

Portrait is a super awesome game. Especially when you play the alternate modes and characters too for the extra story and different take on gameplay. Super game.

This was the only reason I'd rate it higher than DS, the extra characters ruled. Both still years better than the suck that is OOC.

Northeast - On DemonSoul, about how long did the game take you to finish? Did you get a chance to try the other classes and if so, how were they gameplay wise compared to the Knight? Been looking forward to this one for a bit, glad for the info

[Paper exe]

What the heck is OOC!? This code conversations is frustrating!