EXTRA ENTRY.- March 2016 Video Game Haul
In fact this is actually January + February + March 2016 Video Game Haul but since it’s pretty much too late to blame me for being a lazy ass piece of human let’s just compilate everything.
This blog has just been inactive at pretty much all times, it’s more like just a “whenever I’m actually feeling in the mood to post” blog, and I know I’m 100% at fault but yeah, between academic responsibilities and my mental health everything is just a chaotic mess.
But guess who is on spring break now! And two weeks no less (that’s just how things work in my country, so sorry for my fellow American people). As I mentioned in one entry before, while in school chances are I will stick mostly to handheld consoles like my 3DS or my PSP, and well, that has become pretty much a wholesome truth, however when I have the time I shall continue on some of my PS2, Wii or GameCube games like I promised to do. Also, I’m actually owing 2 reviews, which, as of today (March 20th, 2015) I promise to post in this week! Now that I have some more time, but even so, again, so sorry for not posting in the past weeks.
Anyways, although a few titles, I got some of the best ones I could get my hands on!
Brave Story: New Traveler
Fun fact: When I first was planning to buy my PSP, I was only planning to use it to play Persona titles, especially the first Persona and Persona 2: Innocent Sin, however I came to a conclusion. If I’m going to buy a console, even if it’s second hand, I better have to invest in some other titles you know? It would be a waste of money to just buy a console for 3 games and end it at that, so, while searching for some games to possibly buy, I came across this one. To be honest, I’m not quite sure about what the game is about… I mean, I know it’s a J-RPG! Also that it’s based from a manga/novel, however, not quite sure about the story, but again, it’s a J-RPG, and by the looks of it, about saving the world because it’s only in YOUR-and-nobody-else’s hands. What actually lured me in was the graphics and, I know this may sound pretty strange, the text font.The graphics look pretty darn amazing for the PSP! Like what a PlayStation 2 would have to offer, which is incredible because even now, not even most of the 3DS games try to pull these graphics off. And yeah, I know, how can a text font lure you into a game? Thing is, this text font is the same text font they use for most other RPGs and games of the PlayStation and Gamecube era (examples: Tales of Symphonia and Chulip), and the one it reminded me of the most was Dark Cloud, one of my favorite games of all time, so of course, if it reminds me of a game of my childhood, might as well give it a chance, no matter how weird the reason may be! Not exactly amazingly hyped about this one to be honest, but still looking forward to it. I bought this one in Amazon.com; at first I was planning to buy it at last, but when I decided to check the game out on Amazon, it had a single brand new copy at about 20 dollars so of course I couldn’t let the chance go, and indeed, it was all nicely wrapped and so! I believe complete copies of this game are quite scarce now, so I’d recommend looking on both Amazon and eBay if you want a C.I.B. copy. Not quite sure that this game is in the Playstation Network, so if you don’t have the resources to buy a physical copy, I recommend emulating it.
Shin Megami Tensei: Persona 3 Portable
First of all, the Female Protagonist path is not cannon and never will be. Now, proceeding to checking this one out: I’m actually hyped to play this one! I know it might seem like, ironic and kinda well… foolish (no in-game pun/reference intended) to play the Portable version just after playing FES, but thing is I’m pretty intrigued by the Female Protagonist path. I know the game has a lot of limitations and downgrades, especially the way of playing which reduced the game to a Visual Novel-esque kind of game (which I absolutely hate they decided to make this decision but oh well, I can cope with it) but it makes me interested to see how they pulled everything out you know? Especially since it’s even a more popular version than FES among fans, for some unknown reason. Also, well, I probably didn’t explained it, but yeah, although this version just cut out the 3D gameplay, they decided to rescue some of it by including the original Male Protagonist and a brand new Female Protagonist, which will now have the chance to do new Social Links with all of your male members in S.E.E.S. and some other new character ones, which of course wasn’t done in FES and the original because no one wants to see a sausage party (but damn right I want to see one).The story remains practically the same, except with a few new events and conversations. Also, the new Social Links between your team mates will provide new backgrounds to them, thing that the original and FES did not, and in my opinion was a very big mistake, because who wouldn’t want to see more insight into Junpei, Shinji, Ken, even freaking Koromaru and precious husband Aki? Also one big improvement about this game is that now you can take control of your team mates just like in Persona 4, and I’m pretty sure there are many more improvements but I’m not sure as to what those would be. I got my copy on Amazon.com at about…. 38 dollars I believe? Physical copies of P3P have risen in price like crazy, and I’m not sure why, but then again, the same is happening to Persona 2: Innocent Sin, so it might be connected due to their age. I honestly recommend, if you want a complete copy, to try eBay, chances are you might get it at a lower price than Amazon, but of course, you can always download it on the PSN at a lower price on your PS VITA and PS TV, that’s if you don’t mind digital downloads of course, unlike me.
Bayonetta 2
Including Xenoblade Chronicles X, this(these) game(s) right here is(are) the very one reason as to why I want to buy a Wii U. Bayonetta was one of those games that was showered with praise, calling it like a “life-changing” experience of some sorts (I legit heard some people call this game that, no joke). The game originally was released for the PS3 and Xbox 360 around 2009/2010 and it was loved by everyone, however, curiously enough, the sequel to the original Bayonetta, Bayonetta 2, was released for the Nintendo Wii U (I’m not sure about the reasons right now, something along the lines of development not occurring if Nintendo hadn’t intervened, but not sure, might as well investigate them when I make a review of the game, sorry!). The game story is about this witch called, well, Bayonetta, and her adventures, to keep it short. I’ll be completely honest, I have never played Bayonetta, and I’m not familiar with the story either, which is actually the best! Because I want to play this game blind, not knowing anything, so I don’t spoil myself, and also to build the hype up. What I can tell however, is that Bayonetta has grown to be loved by many fans, and to actually become a wide known icon, with some people even getting into fans of the Devil May Cry series about which protagonist (Dante or Bayonetta) is more powerful; she definitely has made an impact in the gaming world. She also has made her way up to games like Smash Bros (but that was, well, pretty much being called for). Now, the interesting thing is that, although this game is not particularly that old, this version that you see here, the one with both games (1 and 2) for the Wii U, has actually grown to be quite expensive as of March 2016. Starting in December 2015 copies of this version were getting hard to find, up until Nintendo announced the release of stand alone Bayonetta 2 (meaning no bonus disc of 1) that copies of this version skyrocketed in price, however I was lucky enough to get this version! This one copy I actually bought it in a store in my city, which I never tend to do because video games in Mexico are way expensive than they should be, but since this was the last copy they had and because it had already risen in price, I bought it at an amazingly decent price, which would be about… 62 dollars or so. Chances are copies of this version will be hard to find on stores, not even in GameStop, especially since the re-release of stand alone Bayonetta 2 which is at a price of about 30 dollars. If you want this version due to Bayonetta 1, I’d recommend places like eBay and Amazon.com but I wouldn’t really count on it, it has grown to be pretty expensive, so might as well recommend you to buy it on the Nintendo e-Shop.
Fragile Dreams: Farewell Dreams of the Moon
Possibly the only Wii title I’m really looking forward this year to actually play. Games like Fragile Dreams are the reason as to why I continue to look forward into obscure artsy video games. Fragile Dreams tells the story about Seto, a boy that was living with a scientist (I believe?) until his death, so Seto decides to embark on a journey to the outside world, a land deprived of humanity due to extinction, and is now looking forward to meet still-living people. Landscapes of abandoned cities, parks, subway stations, or any areas are my absolute weakness, I just love the feeling of loneliness and abandonment they evoke, and this game is full of them. I haven’t played any of it, and I’m unfamiliar with the stories, but by the screenshots and what people have to say about the game, I can tell I will love this one as much as I can; I just fall so easily in love with games with such atmospheres and ambiances, so so easily. This game, however, has been highly criticized for its gameplay, due to it being called too… inconvenient, to say the least; even so, I’m still really hyped. It might sound pretty strange to anyone, but I call Fragile Dreams the “Rule of Rose” for the Nintendo Wii. Both games game been criticized for its kinda “awful” gameplay but praised for their wonderful atmosphere and storyline, and not only that, but Rule of Rose has become a game of collection, with people paying insane amounts of money to get a copy, while Fragile Dreams has been currently rising in price, due to being discontinued by Xseed Games. Fragile Dreams was originally at the low price of 20 dollars, both on Amazon and the online store of Xseed Games, but since its discontinuation, the game has grown to be at the price of 60+ brand new and 35+ used, which is kinda ridiculous, especially since, just like Rule of Rose, this game is of very short length (about 15 or 20 hours of total gameplay). For this game I paid about 39 dollars, complete in box; I know I probably payed almost twice for what it’s worth, but I honestly believe I will absolutely love this one, I just cannot repeat myself enough. I don’t believe this copy is available anywhere digitally (on e-shops, I mean) so if you would like to get a physical copy, I would try in eBay mostly (wouldn’t really count on Amazon on this one) or if not, emulate it with any resource you have.
I know for three months this isn’t pretty much, but thing is, and I believe I said so in the Video Game Haul before this one, is that right now I’m not looking to buy any more games, unless I’m really interested or they are going up in price, because I just want to finish the ones I have in possession right now (seriously, I have 25+ games that I haven’t played or even touched since last year, I need to step the hell on). So yeah, maybe I will buy a few ones over the course of these months, but nothing big, to be honest. And chances are that I will get a console after the month of June, so, maybe stay tuned for that? (But for real, don’t count on it).
As I said before, I’m owing 2 gaming reviews: Persona 2 - Innocent Sin and Undertale. I’m about to finish Persona (for PSP) in its entirety, so I’ll be stacking up that one too and I’m going to start playing: Rule of Rose, Chulip, and Fragile Dreams, hopefully over the course of these two weeks (since they are pretty short games, in comparison to the average game length, I mean). So yeah, I’ll get to work on these two weeks so hoping to finish everything soon!
Probably nobody reads my reviews anymore but in case you do, thank you for sticking to the end (in case you made it to the end, haha), if these really helped you please, if you want of course, notice me by liking them or even sending messages to me, it really means the world to me to see that people enjoy my words on certain reviews. Anyway, here’s to more gaming and hope you have a great day~!














