Castlevania - Fresh or Stale?

This past week I’ve been spending some time playing games that I just hadn’t had time to play over the years (and believe me, this is a fairly long list!), and recently it’s been “Castlevania: Curse of Darkness” for the PS2. I chose this game in particular because not too long ago I did a marathon of the NES Castlevania titles, of which Castlevania III: Dracula’s Curse is probably my favorite. As such, I wanted to play its direct sequel – a game that I was somewhat surprised they made at all.

“Curse of Darkness” is set three years after CV3, in 1479. Apparently when Dracula was defeated by Trevor Belmont in 1476, he issues a curse with his final breath that has essentially kept his evil spirit alive in Europe. Demons and other foul creatures still walk the land, and no one has yet to put a stop to this. The game revolves around Hector, a Devil Forgemaster who has since turned from his evil ways in order to lead a normal life. However, his normal life is taken away from him when Isaac, the other main forgemaster, frames his wife in a witch trial and she is burned at the stake. Hector sets out for revenge, not only to kill Isaac for what he had done, but to put an end to this curse that ravaged the lands.

The game is very well done in my opinion, and is very good for a 3D Castlevania title. I am one of the few who actually enjoyed the Nintendo 64 entries into the series, but I have to admit that those games suffered from terrible play control and bad camera angles. This game, on the other hand, seems to get all of that right. But, it’s not even just about that. I enjoy the fact that the game has many wonderful nods to Castlevania III, such as some of the locations that are revisited, and even Trevor’s very presence in the game. And, speaking on that note, the game is much like CV3 in that a good bit of the game takes place outside of Castlevania itself, forcing the player to explore the lands of Wallachia on their way to their final showdown (and in this game it is spelled Vallachia, and pronounced Vallashia). Since the game isn’t initially about Dracula himself, it doesn’t focus on the simple journey to the Castle, but it’s more of an adventure through the lands to find certain items, track down certain people, and the like. In fact, in many ways, I would compare its execution to that of the 3D Zelda games, right down to the maps you collect during your adventures (even to the point where dungeons are set up in multiple floors and basement levels).

Although I realize that some believe the whole “go kill Dracula” thing is wearing thin, I still have questions about the direction that “Lords of Shadow” will take the series. It’s set in a remarkably-far time in the future (sometime around 10,000 AD) and takes a post-apocalyptic approach. It’s almost more about the battle between Heaven and Hell being fought on Earth in an “end of days” setting. Sure, the game could be good, but I don’t want to see them completely move away from the Dracula mythos. I really hope that Lords of Shadow does not disappoint in this area.

I’d love to see what any of you might think about this notion…Will LoS be good, or will it take away from the franchise?

Star Trek Online - Moving Forward?

I've been playing Star Trek Online since the game went live in February of this year, mainly because of my enjoyment for MMORPGs and my love for the Star Trek universe. For a while, however, I found certain aspects of the game to be boring and perhaps disappointing, but there was one thing that salvaged the game for me - the awesome role-players I managed to meet within the first month of joining the game. The Star Trek universe is a very deep one, and perhaps it is this unique environment (which I suppose Star Wars shares, to an extent) that allows players to deepen themselves into the world in which the game takes place, essentially becoming a Star Fleet (or KDF) officer in the 25th century.

When the game first went live, there were many things lacking in it, or many bugs that really proved to be annoying. Over the last few months, various patches have occurred to fix these or to add 'new' features to the game. This is, of course, to be expected from any fledgling online game. However, what bothers me about this all is that many of the 'new' features that they have worked on adding may indeed add something new to this particular game, but they don't add anything new in the MMO world. In fact, many of these additions were things that, I think, should have existed in the game right from the start.

Take, for example, ship interiors. To me, that was a no-brainer. It really adds to the depth of the experience (especially if you RP), but I do still have a complaint: the interiors aren't really that customizable, beyond hanging a few trophies on the wall. I'd really like to be able to decorate the Captain's Quarters, and even arrange the furniture (or layout?) of the various rooms in the ship.

Even then, it is perhaps the simplest of things that bug me. In the game, you are unable to sit in any 'normal' way, and, in fact, have to jump on top of a couch or chair you wish to sit on and then hope that whatever sit command you use produces the desired effect. So, if you are trying to have an enjoyable RP session with someone, it does kind of break the mood for them to be doing acrobatics in an attempt to simply sit down...I mean, even the Phantasy Star Online games got that right - you could 'interact' with a chair to sit down on it. Would it have been THAT hard for Cryptic to include that feature in this game? Somehow, I doubt it.

Don't get me wrong - I do really enjoy STO, but I just wonder if we are actually "moving forward," or simply trying to rehash what other games actually did right?

Lufia: Curse of the Sinistrals

One of my favorite game series on the Super NES was “Lufia.” It’s a series that, I think, got largely overlooked over the years. The series only had two entries on the SNES, and a large sequel was planned for the PlayStation for quite a while (called “Lufia: The Ruins Chaser”) though nothing came of it. Later entries in the series were “Lufia: The Legend Returns” (GBC) and “Lufia: The Ruins of Lore” (GBA). Part of the issue, I think, is that the follow-up games were released on portable systems and really weren’t well advertised at the time. It’s not that either of them was a 'bad’ game, but moreso that they didn’t receive the attention they truly deserved. Besides, let’s face it, seeing Lufia 3 on the PlayStation would have been awesome!

The first chronological entry into the series is, in fact, “Lufia II: Rise of the Sinistrals,” which sets the stage for “Lufia and the Fortress of Doom.” Lufia 2 is perhaps one of my favorite all time games, because it is very involving, has a wonderful story, a great sound-track, and takes a good while to finish if you try to get all the major items, etc. With such a long pause in the franchise (“Ruins of Lore” was back in 2002-03), I really felt that the series had died and wasn’t ever going to come back. However, late last year I was very surprised to find out that Square-Enix was working with Natsume to create a remake of Lufia 2! In fact, I was beyond myself with excitement, as this was one of the greatest games out there, in my opinion!

The game itself was already released in Japan back in February, but it is slated for a release in North America sometime this coming fall under the title “Lufia: Curse of the Sinistrals.” It makes sense to remake this one, obviously, as it is the prequel game, and, I hope, if the game is successful they will remake “Lufia and the Fortress of Doom.” The game looks like most of the turn-based elements have been removed in favor of the action segments (like the dungeons are in the other Lufia games) that focus on Zelda-like combat. An interesting move, but hopefully one that will pay off in the end (either way, I know I will enjoy the game).

I know I am very excited to see this come out this coming fall…Are any of you?

Where is "Phantasy Star V?"

Back in the days of the Sega Master System, Phantasy Star was perhaps one of the best games available for the console. Sega went on to develop Phantasy Star II, Phantasy Star III, and Phantasy Star IV, the last of which was released for the Sega Genesis in 1994. The company originally had plans to release PS4 on the Sega CD, but after some developmental snags and the fact that the Sega CD was not nearly as popular as they had hoped, the game was ported over to the Genesis. So, what happened next?

Well, since then Sega seems to have focused on the online market in regards to the console. Phantasy Star Online made its way to the Dreamcast in 2000-01, and spawned a series of sequels for the Dreamcast, GameCube, and PC. In fact, even though the servers were finally pulled a few years back by Sega, a few groups host private servers where players (such as myself) can still enjoy the game. The natural successor to that series was Phantasy Star Universe (PC, PS2, XBox 360), but now even that game is slowly dying out. Phantasy Star Zero and the Phantasy Star Portable games are attempting to pick up the slack, but so far I am not quite impressed.

It is now sixteen years later, and Sega has yet to return to the roots of the series and produce a true Phantasy Star V. I think this could be done one day, and I would be in favor either of seeing it as a modern game or, due to the retro craze we seem to be in, watching it be produced in the style of its 16-bit counterparts. What do you all think?

Mega Man 9 vs. Mega Man 10

An interesting series of discussions in the past couple of days have led me to wonder – which game was superior, Mega Man 9 or Mega Man 10?

I have to admit that I was VERY excited back in 2008 when I heard that Capcom was finally going to release a true sequel to the Classic Series. I mean, before that point, the last major title in the numerical series was released back in 1998 on the Super Famicom (though technically that game did have a licensed follow-up in 1999 for the WonderSwan). In fact, I loved “Rockman & Forte” and had gone out of my way to import the game. I have always been of the opinion that the style of R&F is the style Capcom should have used for “Mega Man 8,” which was not a bad game, but was certainly not as good as its SFC sequel. So, to hear that they were finally bringing the series back was incredible news, but to find out that it would be in 8-bit was even better!

When I finally got my hands on “Mega Man 9,” I have to say that it was really a treasure to play – it was almost like stepping in time back to the late-1980s, at what I think was the peak of the series (odd, isn’t it, that the peak was just around the time of MM2 and MM3?). The game had whimsical bosses, a great soundtrack, clever enemies and stage layouts, and was very fun to play. Many have complained that the game was “too hard,” and almost cruel in a few places. It is here that I disagree with them, and I believe that it was made hard in order to line up with some of the other NES titles it was mirroring. Yet, I do concede one point – the game had some “unfair” sections and even some unfair enemies to it. The worst enemy in the game is the “grabber,” which randomly falls down on Mega Man and attempts to lead him to his doom. It is possible to kill them with some of your robot weapons, but in this case trial-and-error (and memorization) are perhaps your greatest friends. The game itself really did not offer anything new to the series story-wise, but this is perhaps a reflection of the “predictable” stories of the older games.

Earlier this year I was VERY surprised to see that Capcom was already about to release another game in the franchise, and rather than going to a 16 or 32-bit standard, they were keeping the 8-bit look and feel. “Mega Man 10” featured bosses that were even stranger than those in MM9, like Strike Man, Pump Man, and Sheep Man, but this just added to the game’s zany fun. The music was not as initially c

atching as some of the tunes in the earlier games, but it did have a lasting impact on me and, after hearing them a few times, have stuck in my mind. The story had a lot of potential in MM10 though – a robotic virus that was infecting machines across the world? If that didn’t speak “possible Mega Man X crossover,” I don’t know what does. However, the virus is a

verted in the end (of course!) and we are left to imagine whether it does have anything

to do with MMX or is just Capcom being mean to us! Still, while MM10 was challenging, it was not quite as “unfair” as MM9, and I have to say that it’s additional content makes it stand above MM9. I love the ability to play as Proto Man and Bass (both of which have their own storylines, such as they are), and I absolutely ADORE the fact that they brought back the Rockman Killer bosses from the Ga

me Boy titles, complete with stages that are remakes of the fortress stages from MMII, MMIII, and MMIV. Now…If we could just see the Star Droids again!

So, my final opinion on all of this is that “Mega Man 10” is the superior title to “Mega Man 9,” though both are very enjoyable games. Easy Mode does make MM10 clearable by even those who are terrible at platforming games, but the difficulty is not such that it makes you want to scream and destroy your console!

Demakes - What do they Mean?

As I have been talking to a couple people about how different "Rockman 8" was from the rest of the series, it has brought to mind a few things that are worth discussing. As many of you know, the first six games in the series were 8-bit NES titles, but when it came time for "Mega Man 7," Capcom went with the available technology at the time and made it an SNES game. The game itself was pretty good, though the graphics were a bit large and clunky at best. "Mega Man 8," which was released on the Saturn and PS1, was the reverse - again, it had good graphics and all, but the character sprites were WAY too small! MM8 also featured animated cutscenes throughout the game, but the American voices were awful (Dr. Light sounded like Elmer Fudd!). In an interesting turn of events, the next game in the series, "Rockman & Forte" was released once more on the Super Famicom in November of 1998, but the game did not see a release until it was ported onto the GBA a few years later because by that time the SNES was dead in most other regions. Of course, when it finally came time for a true "Mega Man 9," Capcom went back in time once more, making the game have the look and feel of a classic NES game. The same was done for "Mega Man 10."

So, I have begun to wonder if this is all part of some kind of "retro-craze" or, perhaps, if it simply means that people yearn for the time when games were simple and just fun to play? My point in case here is that a Japanese group of game designers went back a couple of years ago and demade "Rockman 7," turning it into an NES-styled game. That project was actually so successful that the same group has been working on "Rockman 8" as an 8-bit game. As odd as it may sound, I actually prefer these demakes to the original versions, although I find Rockman 8 to be a bit hard in comparison to the original. The "Rockman 8" title will not be available until later this year, but demos of the game can be found in the files section on this website: http://www31.atwiki.jp/rockman8/ As "Rockman 7" was completed a while back, the latest version of the game can be found here: http://www7.atwiki.jp/wakuwakusuru/pub/final2.zip So, what do you guys think?

A Little More about Me...

For my first post here, I thought that I might take the time to share a bit more information about myself, how I got into gaming, and what I currently do all these years later!

In all honesty, I first got into gaming back when my parents brought home the original Nintendo Entertainment System back when it was the cat's meow. I had many fun days when I was younger playing "Super Mario Bros. and Duck Hunt." As time went on, my parents continued to buy big titles for the console, such as "The Legend of Zelda" and "Mega Man 2." I remember really enjoying the game "Dragon Warrior," though I never beat it as a child. In fact, I didn't ever finish that game until just a few years ago! Perhaps this is just because it took patience that I just didn't have when I was younger ::shrugs::. But, of all the games on the system that I liked to play, oddly it turned out that the "Mega Man" series would become my favorite (and later, obviously, Mega Man X and the other iterations).

When I think back on it now, I have to say that the period between about 1990 and 2000 is perhaps my favorite era in the gaming world. I LOVED my Super Nintendo, and I still, to this day, feel like that console had some of the best RPGs of all-time, including "Chrono Trigger," "Final Fantasy IV," "Final Fantasy VI," "Terranigma," and the Lufia games. In fact, "Lufia II: Rise of the Sinistrals" is perhaps my favorite title on the SNES, just because it has an incredible story, a wonderful sound-track, and is perfectly executed. Of course, the original PlayStation really changed things up, and I really don't even need to bother going into the wonderful games that console had.

These days, as work and personal affairs begin to limit my free time, I have noticed that I am becoming more of a collector than anything else. Sure, I do love to fire up my NES from time to time and enjoy a game like "Castlevania," but lately I have spent a good deal of money purchasing games that I never had a chance to play, tracking down Chinese pirated games (or Hong Kong Originals), locating unreleased demos or prototypes (like Sonic Xtreme), and more. I'd say right now I have upwards of six-hundred physical games, twenty consoles, and a plethora of games in "digital download" form. I am the type of girl who will never sell any of her games, no matter how bad they are ("Hotel Mario?"), and I am very thankful for the fact that I kept all my older games in excellent shape, even keeping some of their boxes and manuals over the years.

Lately, with what time I do have, I enjoy playing my Wii, I like to play classic games (I'll have a classic game night every now and then), and I have been enjoying several MMORPGs, the latest of which is Star Trek Online.

So, that's a bit more about me...I hope it didn't bore you all too much! ;)