minna ni naisho dayo

New Game: Namco Museum (JP)

Title: Namco Museum
Platform: Sony PSP (JP)
Publisher: Namco

Where: Dreamland
When: February 23
How Much: 3,800 yen (3,990 yen w/tax)

I picked up Namco Museum today during my lunch break; I wrote up some brief impressions over on GAF based on about 30 minutes of play, so I figured I'd paste them in here as well. Work is too busy right now for me to be writing up anything substantial, so I apologize in advance if the following seems messy or disjointed. Anyway, here goes:

Unfortunately I'm WAY too busy with work today to provide detailed impressions, but here's a couple of quick notes to get you drooling:

- Load times seem pretty good so far (not too long)

- Arranged games have all-new music

- Arranged games have "Start" and "Continue" options; you can pick up where you left off if you want

- All games support d-pad and analog stick

- Pac-Man Arrangement: Basically a 3D version of Pac-Man, but with items (jump feather, dash boots, etc), stage gimmicks (warp tiles, tunnels, elevators, etc.) and bosses. There's a set stage progression, so presumably you can "beat" the game this time. Worlds are selected from a map screen. Seems fun so far.

- Dig-Dug Arrangement: Seems like Pac-Man in that there's a set number of worlds, new items, stage gimmicks and bosses. Love the visuals... they look kinda similar to the arcade arranged version, but I'm pretty sure this is not the same game.

- Galaga Arrangement: Not sure if this has an end or not, but it too has stage progression and bosses, so I'd imagine there might be a way to finish it as well. I played a few stages and beat the first boss; it seems very cool so far. I got taken in by a tractor beam once but rather than get a double ship, I just got a stronger laser. Not sure what happens the second time around as I didn't try.

- New Rally-X Arrangement: The world view is top-down 3D, it looks pretty cool. Some of the goals are different now. For example, in addition to your standard "get all the flags," now there's also "get all the flags and then proceed to the goal," and "get all the flags, including the ones being carried by enemy cars" and such. You can boost now too, in addition to dropping smoke.

The original old-school versions let you adjust the screen in a variety of ways; all of the games save for Rally-X and New Rally-X support tate (i.e. vertical) mode, and you can also choose to play each game in its original resolution (doesn't fill the entire PSP screen), border-to-border (takes advantage of the PSP screen by filling it vertically), full (stretches to fill the entire thing on all sides; very ugly), arranged (like the original, but sticks the scores on the side to make the dimensions more accurate), and so on. Some games have other options, too; Galaga and Galaxian have an option to shoot with the analog stick, for example.

All in all, it seems like a VERY nice package so far, and possibly the best edition of Namco Museum yet.

And now... back to work for me!

PS - I got Need for Speed today too, but that belongs to EGM, so I can't really talk about it here. I will say one thing, though: EA needs to do something about their music guy. That opening song practically made my ears bleed. :p

Stage 5: Cover Stories

The image above shows a small portion of one side of a poster packed in with all newsstand copies of the current issue of Electronic Gaming Monthly (EGM) magazine. The poster features alternate package covers for four of the hottest games in recent months: Halo 2, Metroid Prime 2: Echoes, Metal Gear Solid 3: Snake Eater and Resident Evil 4. As far as I know, this is the first time any US game magazine has tried something like this, and if the response from readers is positive, they'll probably continue to do it in the future.

I'm particularly fond of this concept for two reasons: 1) It's great to have a choice when it comes to box art, especially when so many of today's publishers tend to put their games in hideously ugly packages, devoid of any style or artistic sensibility whatsoever, and 2) ...This was my idea. (Hah! You knew there was a catch.) I suggested it to Shoe back in late November after stumbling across an alternate cover sleeve for Dragon Quest VIII in a Japanese magazine called V-Jump. In that case, I actually preferred the original to the alternate, but it got me thinking... Wouldn't it be cool if you could have US box art for, say, Halo 2, but with the Arbiter instead of Master Chief? Or if you could replace the travesty that was Ico's US cover with the beautiful DeChirico-inspired Japanese art?

Dragon Quest VIII's original cover sleeve:

And the alternate, found in the December issue of V-Jump magazine:

Fortunately, Shoe liked the idea, and with a couple of finger-snaps (or whatever it is those editors-in-chief do), he made it happen. They only included the cover and the spine, rather than the entire sleeve, which is a bit disappointing, but it's totally understandable; I mean, if it's a choice between two covers with a back or four covers without, who's going to go with two? More variety = more happy EGM readers.

In other box art news (how often is it you get to say something like that?), Ubisoft recently updated the packaging for the US version of Lumines, after their original attempt garnered tons of flames and complaints from fans on the internet. The new version is definitely a marked improvement over the original, though it could still use a few tweaks before I'd call it decent. I often wonder who it is who actually designs these things? Kids on the internet often conjure up much nicer packages than the stuff put together by these major publishers, which has to make you wonder about the credentials of the "artists" they're using.

In any case, here's a brief history of the Lumines box art thus far. Decide for yourself which one you prefer:

Original Japanese Version:

Old Proposed US Version:

New Proposed US Version:

Regardless of whether or not you approve of the new box art, one thing is for certain: it's VERY encouraging that Ubisoft responded so quickly to consumer demand like that. It's a shame not all US publishers are that attentive! I'm pretty certain I could've saved Sega tons of money if they'd only listened to my advice over the years... :)

New Game: Popolocrois Monogatari: Pietro Ouji no Bouken (JP)

Title: Popolocrois Monogatari: Pietro Ouji no Bouken
Platform: Sony PSP (JP)
Publisher: Sony Computer Entertainment

Where: Bic Camera
When: February 10
How Much: 4,315 yen (4,530 yen w/tax)

(The title translates to "Popolocrois Story: Prince Pietro's Adventure," for those of you who aren't familiar with the Japanese.)

The second wave (ripple?) of PSP software starts today with the release of Sony's Popolocrois Monogatari, a compilation/remake of the first two PS1 Popolocrois games that also includes a third, PSP-exclusive adventure. I've been interested in the series for a while now, but I haven't really played all that much. I bought the first game when it came out in PSone Books form, but I only spent about an hour or so with it before getting sidetracked. The PSP version seems to have a bit of an annoying blur effect when you walk around that I don't recall being in the originals, but otherwise it looks pretty sharp. And it's not an exact port, either; the first 10 minutes of the first chapter are quite different from the PS1 version, with updated writing, some new scenes and omissions, and an entirely different opening movie.

Next up on the PSP agenda: Namco Museum and Need for Speed Underground Rivals, both due out February 24. I need to win the lottery, bad...

New Game: Tales of Rebirth (JP)

Title: Tales of Rebirth
Platform: PlayStation 2 (JP)
Publisher: Namco

Where: Shibuya Tsutaya
When: January 20
How Much: 3,790 yen (3,980 yen w/tax)

The Tales series is quickly becoming one of my favorite RPG franchises, second only to Dragon Quest in terms of overall appeal. I own every game in the series, yet I've only actually finished one of them -- Tales of Destiny, on PS1. One of my goals for 2005 is to "catch up" with the series by finishing at least three Tales games before the next new entry arrives, which'll hopefully be in December, if recent history is anything to go by. I've recently started playing Destiny 2, Symphonia and Rebirth (all within a week of each other -- yikes), so hopefully at least one of them will stick and I'll be that much closer to my goal before summer arrives.

I managed to find a used copy of Rebirth, which was nice, and so far I'm liking it quite a bit. To paraphrase my comments on GAF, I would say it looks, sounds and plays a lot better than Destiny 2 (the most recent 2D Tales game before Rebirth), and the overall package is overflowing with polish and style. I've read some worrisome impressions about the story but the first two hours at least have been top-notch, so I'm hoping things will remain interesting throughout. The pacing for skits is very unbalanced (seven in a row? huh?), and the changes to the title system are a bit strange (you get permanent stat enhancements as soon as you get a title, and then it's pretty much useless), but otherwise I'm feeling very satisfied so far.

I'm enjoying Symphonia quite a bit as well, though I can't take as much interest in the story now since I already know it inside and out from working on the translation (my company translated the game for Namco back in 2003). The visual style is very nice and I love the fact that you can see enemies roaming around on the overworld and in dungeons before actually fighting them. I guess we'll see how the overall package holds up after I get some more playtime in with it. I'm curious to see what they changed in the PS2 version, too.

As an aside, I can't wait for the PSP port/remake of Tales of Eternia on March 3. I hope Namco Hometek decides to release it in America, though if they do I really hope they'll re-record the voiceovers, because the voices in the original PS version were...not very good, to say the least.

How do you guys feel about the Tales series? Like it? Dislike it? What do you think about Namco choosing to skip the 2D versions in the US? Are they unfairly pre-judging their potential audience or is it just a sound business decision? I've got some thoughts on this too, but I'll save them for later. For now I'm curious to hear what you guys think.

New Game: Phantasy Star Online Blue Burst: Episode IV (JP)

Title: Phantasy Star Online Blue Burst: Episode IV
Platform: PC (JP)
Publisher: Sega

Where: Bic Camera
When: February 3
How Much: 3,124 yen (3,280 yen w/tax)

Stop the presses, warn your neighbors, notify the authorities, etc. etc. -- yesterday, for the first time in who knows how many years, I actually bought a PC game.

I've never been much of a PC gamer, mostly because there's never been much on the PC I absolutely couldn't live without. I can't even remember the last PC game I paid money for, but it was most likely the original Diablo back in 1996 (I'd always intended to buy Diablo II as well but the timing never quite worked out). The only other PC game I've even touched in recent memory is Final Fantasy XI, and that's only because a friend of mine from Square Enix sent me a copy. I haven't installed it yet; I'm more interested in World of Warcraft, which will likely end up being my second PC game purchase this year when I finally get around to making time for it.

Anyway, yesterday marked the release of the new Episode IV expansion for PSO Blue Burst, the PC version of Phantasy Star Online. Blue Burst offers server-side characters and a lot of new content not found in the console versions, which pretty much makes it the definitive version of PSO. Episode IV adds to that by offering new maps, new enemies, over 150 new items and who knows what else. It was more than enough to get me to take the plunge, so that's just what I did. I've been itching to get back into PSO for a while now anyway. Now I just need to head out and nab one of those Dual Shock 2 USB adapters for the PC and I'll be all set. PSO, here I come!

Stage 4: Dragon Questing

I spent a good chunk of my free game-playing time these past few weeks storming my way through the PS2 remake of Dragon Quest V, despite having newer, more pressing games sitting here begging to be played. Metal Gear Solid 3 and Resident Evil 4 especially have been glaring at me from their perch next to my rig, most likely wondering why the hell I've been spending all this time playing a remake of a 12-year-old RPG that I already finished twice back in the day when I could be sneaking through Cold War-era Soviet jungles in an alligator hat or decapitating psychotic villagers with a shotgun somewhere in Europe.

Alas, it is because I have been once again bitten by the Dragon Quest bug. It's no secret I'm a huge fan of this series; I've purchased and played every DQ game since its inception, Japanese and English, and yet I've never gotten tired of it. Every now and then I get an urge to play, and with Dragon Quest VIII finally in stores, I felt it was a good time to make my way through the previous PS2 game (the remake of V) before heading on to the immensely beautiful world of DQVIII.

I finally finished the game last week, and I enjoyed it very much. Aside from having an entirely new 3D engine and a four-character battle party instead of three, it was a very faithful remake, with only a few slight story variations (one in particular near the end that was pleasantly surprising) and a couple of gameplay tweaks to make the game feel more modern. It took me around 50 hours to finish, and then I spent a few more hours leveling up and working my way through the bonus dungeon to get all the extra items and take on the additional boss. My party was pretty strong by this point; I could take on any enemy in the game without much trouble, and the final boss posed almost no threat whatsoever to my team. Then I challenged the extra boss and had my entire crew handily dismantled in a matter of seconds.

Needless to say, that about wrapped up my experience with DQV. I did enjoy the game immensely but I'm not about to spend another 10-15 hours building levels just to have a chance at beating this guy. Maybe I'll level up a short bit here and there and try again in like a year or so; if I do, I'll be sure to post the results.

Next on the agenda: I'll try to get started with either RE4 or MGS3 before moving on to Dragon Quest VIII. I'm kind of interested in the PC version of PSO Blue Burst, too, now that Episode IV is about to be released. I've also got books to read (Kafka on the Shore, more Vagabond and Sandman), DVDs to watch (Shane brought me the original Gundam trilogy from the US this week) and an awful lot of work to do. We just started a new project this week that's going to keep us busy for a couple of months, so free time is definitely going to be at a premium.

I'd also like to mention that I had an incredible evening last night, though I unfortunately won't be able to talk about why for a couple of months, as it's related to a world-exclusive cover story on a very highly-anticipated game that many of you will be looking forward to playing. Keep your eyes on EGM in the coming months for more on that one.

Well, it's about time for me to get back to work. One quick question before I go, though: What are your thoughts about Dragon Quest VIII and its inevitable release in America? Are you planning to buy it and play it? Have you played any of the previous games in the series? I'm just curious what the anticipation is like for this game and whether or not anyone is going to care when it finally makes its way across the shores. It'll be an interesting title to watch, that's for sure.