Big News for 2013!

It's been awhile since I last posted something since I've had way too much going on right now. Classes and homework need to get done, games need to be bought and played, a family to attend to, its pretty hard to balance it all yet we all manage. That's life for ya.

But that's not why I'm excited to be writing this post today: as you can tell from the title, the year of 2013 is a pretty big one for gamers. I'm excited for about a dozen titles hitting the shelves in just the first quarter of the year alone.

January, being known as a dead month since it comes right after the holidays, is seeing some releases despite this status. The very first week saw the release of Unchained Blades, an RPG on the 3DS eShop for about $30. It involves dungeon crawling and monster collecting akin to Pokemon and Shin Megami Tensei.

The next week finally saw the release of Anarchy Reigns, a multiplayer beat 'em up, for the Xbox 360 and Playstation 3. Sega, despite hardly advertising for the dang game when that was the whole reason for the delay between Japan and the rest of the world, decided to make the price a cool $30 since its focus is mainly on multiplayer. I heard the single player story is short, so I would only recommend getting this if you 1) have the cash to throw down 2) have the ability to play online.

A week later, we saw the release of the very divisive DmC: Devil May Cry, the infamous reboot helmed by Ninja Theory. Personally, I'm not a fan of what they did but the gameplay is decent enough for those looking to scratch that hack n' slash itch; its not as polished as the past games and has some easily exploitable glitches that make one think "how come nobody caught these?" but at the very least it looks rent worthy.

This week will finally see the release of Ni no Kuni: Wrath of the White Witch in North America for the PS3. However, there's been a slight delay in Europe so you guys won't be seeing it until early February due to a logistics error on Level-5's end. Don't be alarmed though as they are throwing in a free familiar as an apology. Now that's customer appreciation! If you're still iffy on the game, the demo is available on the PSN for you to try.

This week will also see the release of Double Fine's The Cave. Get ready to go exploring with seven unique characters on January 22 for the Nintendo eShop and Playstation Network and January 23 for Steam and Xbox Live Arcade.

  
And this week's goodies seem to keep getting better with the demo of Metal Gear Rising Revengeance being released to the public. If DmC: Devil May Cry didn't get you interested, then playing as the cyborg ninja Raiden with his cut-anything sword just might.

That's pretty much it for January's big releases, but not the end for things that happened in January. First off: Project X Zone was just announced today that it will be released in North America and Europe this summer. This strategy RPG for the 3DS brings in characters from Capcom, Namco/Bandai, and Sega to combo the crap out of each other all on one handheld.

In other localization news, publisher XSEED, who brought over titles like The Last Story, is also bringing over the last Operation Rainfall game Pandora's Tower to US shores. With this, OpRainfall is complete with all of the titles they campaigned for. The retail price is confirmed to be $40 and will be coming out sometime in the spring.

Finally, the last thing I think I'll be posting about involves one of the biggest fighting game tournaments: EVO 2013. The main lineup consists of Ultimate Marvel vs Capcom 3, Super Street Fighter 4 Arcade Edition, Tekken Tag Tournament 2, Mortal Kombat 9, a patched version of Street Fighter X Tekken, King of Fighters XIII, and Persona 4 Arena. That leaves open one more spot to take the main stage. That's where the Fighting Game Community comes in: we get to pick the last game by donating to breast cancer research under that game's name. So far the game in the lead is Super Smash Bros Melee with second place being the little indie fighter that could, Skullgirls.

While the choice is totally up to whoever reads this, I would love it if you voted for Skullgirls. The game, though it has the respect of the FGC for how good of a game it is, it could definitely use the exposure that EVO offers. The game was patched for PS3 players back in November - and is currently in testing again at Microsoft since the size of the original patch was massive (590 mb!) and had to be reduced to fit Microsoft's measly 4 mb size limit - and the exposure could get Skullgirls more noticed and help Lab Zero games, comprised of members that made the game, be able to finish work on the first DLC character and PC port. Plus if you support Skullgirls and forward your receipt to the email listed here, you can get your name into a raffle to win a sweet Valentine print. No matter what you pick, you're donating to a good cause. So far, the current total is supposedly past $30,000!

Save the tatas!

Now that's pretty much it when it comes to January. I don't know when I'll be able to post again, but I do want to try and get up reviews on Muramasa: The Demon Blade and Liberation Maiden. If I don't get around to those, then the next review will definitely be Fire Emblem: Awakening for the 3DS next month.

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Devil Survivor 2 Review

I've been pretty busy since the last review: got a Wii U, Pokemon Black 2, Liberation Maiden, preparing for the next quarter of college, the holidays are coming up, etc. The "end of the world" also came and went with nothing really worth mention happening. But on the topic of the world ending, why not review a game where the world is in danger once again? That game is a sequel to the last game I reviewed: Devil Survivor 2  for the Nintendo DS.

Devil Survivor 2 places you in the shoes average teenager from Tokyo alongside his best friend Daichi and the busty Io. After the trio meet up, they receive a message from a website they all signed up for that shows death clips of people; said video shows them dying horribly in a train accident... and they just happen to be waiting for a train home. Freaked out by this oddly prophetic video, they make to leave only for the events to happen. However, demons emerge from their phones and save them. Making their way out, the teenagers find that Tokyo and several areas of Tokyo are in ruin. Does this have anything to do with the strange video clips and demons that came out of their cellphones? Will they survive the oncoming days?


... Wait a second, that sounds almost exactly like what happened in Devil Survivor 1! True enough, the same basic plot is used, but like the cartoon show Phineas and Ferb, its pretty different despite using many of the same elements.

Gameplay
Like the basic premise of Devil Survivor, this game uses the same gameplay mechanics as its predecessor: grid based combat, quick skirmishes during each fight, gain extra turns if you exploit your opponent's weaknesses/lose extra turns if they abuse yours, control up to 4 demon tamers on the field, fuse demons to get better ones, etc. However, it does refine some elements and adds on more.

The one I like the most is the move away from the magnetite system from the first game to something a bit more useful, though it still uses the same basic principle: fight well enough in battles and you can add bonuses to your demons. Where the first game made it so you only changed your Command skills during battle, you earn Add-Ons that come into play when you fuse demons. Basically, you're given the option to give the new demon additional stat bonuses, access to certain branches of skills, or clear out the skills you don't like to put on the ones you get from fusing.

The next addition is evolving Racial skills. Once a demon reaches a certain level, their Racial skills changes to something more powerful. An example is Flight, which adds +1 to your movement range and ignores obstacles, evolves to Winged Flight, which adds +2 to your movement range.

The Demon Compendium appears in this game too at a certain point. Once obtained, you can register your demons and re-summon them for a price. The price will depend on what skills they have and their level.

Finally, as far as gameplay mechanics go, Devil Survivor 2 takes a note from the later Persona games and brings in the Fate system. As you spend time with your teammates outside of battle and get to know them better, you get added bonuses such as your units gaining resistances to certain elements, new demons to fuse, the ability to share Skill Cracks (either the protagonist and selected unit can kill a demon and get the Skill crack), and you can send demons to a team in need. The Fate system also comes into play in terms of keeping certain people alive, so always make sure to pay attention to your units.

EDIT: New Game +
I can't believe I completely forgot about this part! This is something that I really liked about DS2. For the most part, it does handle it the same way: you can carry over your demons, macca, Compendium, skills, grant you access to fighting bonus bosses, etc. However, instead of just giving you the ability to do all of them at the same time, you have to earn them by doing in-game achievements and gather enough points to unlock them. Then when you start up a new game, you can select which perks you want to use for the playthrough.

Story
The basic premise of the story is the same as the first Devil Survivor, but it really does differ in plenty of ways. First off, Devil Survivor 2 is definitely more lighthearted than the first game. It contains more wacky moments and characters, which makes you occasionally forget that the world is being assaulted by demons. However, these fun times are offset by the brutal happenings such as seeing death clips of your teammates - and if you fail to save them in time, they'll die for real. Even if you do manage to prevent the clips from happening, someone will always die by the end of the game. Certain deaths will also affect how some of the Fate events unfold as well, so if you're one of those players who has to see everything, some units will have to be sacrificed.

The Big Finish
Devil Survivor 2 is what a sequel should be: keep what worked, refine anything that fell flat, and introduce new elements that don't feel like they're tacked on. I'd like to see more variation in terms of the story like choosing between a male and female protagonist influencing choices presented to you or at the very least, make it so its not the same three character archetypes starting off the game. Overall, it's a great game and I would recommend either playing this one or Devil Survivor Overclocked. Considering that DeSu2 has gotten a couple of manga adaptions, has an upcoming anime adaption, and there's rumors of this game receiving the Overclocked treatment, its definitely a game that has garnered attention.

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Devil Survivor Review

Its now November 20th, the day Persona 4: The Golden releases in North America for the Playstation Vita! Yeah, tons of new content on an already great game. What's that? Today is also the day Playstation All Stars Battle Royale launches? Sweet, time for not-Smash Bros crossover madness. Wait, there's more? Skullgirls is finally patched after being screwed over for so long! Awesome! So is today's reviewing covering any of that? No. Sorry for getting any hopes up. Please don't hate me.

No, what today's review is covering is somewhat related to Persona though. If you don't know, the Shin Megami Tensei series has plenty of spinoffs, ranging from the aforementioned Persona to the Devil Summoner sub-series. This review is about one of those spinoffs: Devil Survivor, a Strategy RPG for the Nintendo DS.

Devil Survivor places you in the shoes of your average teenager from Tokyo alongside his best friend Atsuro and the busty Yuzu. After the trio meet up, Yuzu hands out COMPs - totally not a DS - saying that the player's cousin gave them to her. While hanging around town and reading oddly prophetic emails, strange monsters emerge from the COMPs and attack the group. They subdue them only to find out that Tokyo has undergone a lockdown, leaving them and hundreds of people trapped with little explanation. Does this have anything to do with the strange emails and demons that came out from the not-DS's? Will they survive the oncoming days?

Gameplay
Tokyo: The Center of All the World's Problems
Devil Survivor has you battling through hordes of demons while navigating through various parts of Tokyo as you try to figure out just what the heck is going on. When not fighting, you can select from one or more locations to travel to and hear gossip from chattering passerby and others will say "Free Battle" next to them, where you can battle enemies without having to worry about time moving forward. However, some locations have a clock next to them indicating that time will pass by if you go there (a half hour will pass after the event). Some events are there to move the story forward while others let you interact with the many characters around the city - talking to them and figuring out what to do impacts which ending you can choose. Due to the characters having to go to sleep at some point, there's only so many events you can see each day; some events you can only see on certain days at specific times.

Its impossible to see everything in your first playthrough because even though you can find enough time to see most of everything, you can only choose one ending path to take. If you screw up and don't spend enough time with any of the characters, there's always one ending you can get. I'd recommend it for a first playthrough since its the easiest ending - of course, being an SMT title, that's not saying it will be easy.

The COMP
The DS-like device you receive at the start of the game is the most important possession you currently own in this situation. With it, you can organize which demons go to which demon tamer and set skills, save your game, change your settings, try to win demons at the Devil Auction, view character bios, use the Cathedral of Shadows app to fuse demons in order to make stronger ones, and check notices/emails.

Fusing Demons
If you've played any Shin Megami Tensei game, you'll know that demon fusion is an integral to getting new and more powerful demons. Devil Survivor makes it much easier compared to the other games due to the fact that you can select which skills the new demon will inherit based on which ones the two you're fusing have. There's also a search function that allows you to separate the many demon categories to see what demons you need to make one of that category.

Devil Auction
Known as D-Bay by some, the Devil Auction allows you to try and win new demons for you to use. Like in a real auction, you need to place the highest bid in the five seconds given. Other users may give up if you place a high enough bid; if they don't give up and a price isn't decided in the five seconds, you get to place one final bid and whoever has the highest gets the demon. If you don't want to go through the trouble, you can just buy the demon but the price can be a lot higher than if you take the risk and bid. Every once in a while, special auctions happen where you can get demons with certain skills they wouldn't have normally.

Combat
The real meat of the game lies in all of the fights you get in. Your terrain will vary depending on the area, but if you're expecting the surrounding area to morph into something demonic looking there isn't any of that: you're still very much in modern day Tokyo. Before every battle, you can decide where to place your characters, switch around demons, and decide on Skill Cracks (more on that in a bit). Once you've set up everything, go to town on the demons; however, not every fight will be as simple as going against the demon hordes. Some encounters have you trying to get survivors to safety or reach certain objectives.

Skill Cracks, mentioned above, are the only way for your team to learn new moves, which you get by assigning certain characters to certain enemies. Once in combat, that character's team has to defeat that specific enemy in order to get the move. If a different team kills them, you don't get that move unless that group is also set against the demon. Once a skill has been cracked, the move can be assigned to anybody.

And on a side note, after leveling up characters and demons to a certain point it becomes harder to gain experience until you start fighting tougher enemies. Basically, you can only level grind so much at one time.

Setting up the Player
Finally, the protagonist and his friends are customizable in terms of abilities - and in the player's case, stats. Each person can have a total of three Command Skills (moves to use in battle), Three Passive Skills (skills that alter stats), and an Auto Skill that activate automatically at the start of each individual skirmish. Each skill can only be set to one person and require a stat minimum in order to equip the skill. Know what each character is good at and equip them with the appropriate skills; for example, a player built around strength is better off knowing physical moves.

New Game +
If you can manage to survive the demon horde for seven days and reach an ending, you can start over from the beginning to try and get another path. Except for the demon tamer levels, everything carries over: your demons, the devil auction ranking, macca, exp cap is removed, and all of your skills along with the ability to fuse demons that are a higher level than you. It makes tearing through the game a second time a lot easier; there's always the bonus boss to look out for, who is far from easy.

Story
Your adventure begins simply enough: figure out what's going on and try to find a way out. As the days pass, escaping the lockdown is the least of anyone's worries and you find yourself drawn into the conflict between angels and demons like in most other SMT games. Who you end up siding with determines which ending you get and who you fight. Its your basic Shin Megami Tensei game, what do you expect? However, its not like the others in that the world ending apocalypse hasn't happened yet and you can mold the world to how you want it. Overall, its a pretty grim tale: the trapped citizens start going crazy, riots break out, and all hope of returning to a simple teenage life seems pretty bleak.

Devil Survivor Overclocked
Because Devil Survivor was already such a great game but enjoyed a limited print run like most Atlus titles, an enhanced port to the 3DS came out last year to bring in new players and new goodies for old ones. New stuff includes more demons, changeable difficulty levels, improved visuals, voice acting, and an extra 8th day if you followed certain paths. If you have a 3DS and are interested in this game, this is definitely the version to get.

The Big Finish - Lets Survive
Devil Survivor is an SRPG for the Nintendo DS and 3DS and yet another spinoff from the Shin Megami Tensei main series. Despite being another spinoff, Devil Survivor is great at what it does and deserves a spot with the other SMT games. Its challenging but not to the point of being unfair; if you play strategically, battles become a lot easier. I would recommend getting Overclocked if you have a Nintendo 3DS. If you can't get your hands on that version or don't have a 3DS, the vanilla game is still just as good. If you're one for games like Fire Emblem, this game may appeal to you as well.

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