Still point is i do have it and have been playing it fairly often since then - generally the only reason I don’t play it is cos I’m knackered from work or don’t want my whole night to be swallowed up by Persona 3 goodness. I don’t think I’m even halfway in yet though as I’ve really only just started playing it but I’m so glad it came out over here cos I’ve been having a great time with this game.

Sadly we never got the other Persona games out here, I think they were on the ps1 in the US and Japan (originally on the NES I think?) I’ve just been glad to get hold of whatever Shin Megami Tensei games I could like Lucifer’s Call or the Digital Devil Saga’s. That’s a slight tangent though so I wont go into that now.

Persona 3 is basically set in a Japanese High School where you play as the new student there. First night some freaky shit happens and it turns out your a Persona user, which basically means you summon these powerful beings to fight with. You end up joining this group of already existing Persona users who are fighting ‘the shadows’ weird monsters that attack people. Obviously there’s more to it than that as it’s all somewhat shrouded in mystery. Unlike your comrades though, who can only summon one Persona (which are reflections of people’s personalities/psyche’s) your guy can summon different kinds. This is of course due to some *gasp* unknown reason.

This basically lets you collect a variety of ones to use and you can even merge different kinds of Personas with each other to create better or different ones - limited by what current level you’re at since you can’t create something stronger than you. The game is split generally between the social interaction phase at the high school - this is actually cooler and more relevant than it sounds! By building up and strengthening relationships with others you get benefits with different kinds (arcanas) of Personas - so say someone is aligned to the Magician arcana then by making friends and spending time with them you build up an affinity with Magician arcana Personas - so next time your creating a Persona you get a boost in experience points depending on how high you social interaction level is with that person.

The next part is basically exploring this place called Tartarus - which for some as yet unexplained reason (I’m still quite early on in the game remember) is located where the high school is during this hidden hour of the night called the dark hour. Normal people aren’t aware of this hidden hour so only persona users can function during this time. Things also have a tendency to transmogrify - hence the school changing into some big tower full of Shadows (monsters basically). So here you have a bit of level crawling which is made a lot nicer by the fact that every 5 or 10 etc levels you have warps back to the 1st floor which are 2 way - so the next night when you come back you can start where you left off pretty much.

It’s turn based which is great for the kind of game it is, you can switch persona’s in the middle of battle too which is great and means you DO use more than just one or two. Your party is not actually controlled directly by you like in a regular turn based rpg. I wasn’t sure about it at first but it seems to work pretty well and they’re actually really good about knowing when to attack and heal for the most part, though you can set different commands for each party member or even an overall strategy.

Overall I’m totally loving this game and can’t wait to play more of it. It’s pretty unique as far as these kinds of games go and the style and design of stuff is just great. The anime cut scenes also make it pretty cool in my book! Do I think this is probably one of the best games I’ve played? Oh, yes. Now if only they’d release the FES version of Persona 3 out here I’d be all set…

Imagine my surprise when I was on Live the other day and randomly saw the demo for Operation Darkness! After a stunned moment of glee and a quick prayer that I’d actually like it I downloaded the demo and got to have a quick go last night.

Hmmm. Yes.

Well the good news is I DID like it. It’s an old school turn-based strategy RPG, bizarrely set in WWII but with what looks to be odd monsters (werewolves etc) thrown into the mix. How that works I’m not sure yet but I haven’t exactly explored the demo in all it’s glory.

So yes, I did like it. Thank god. It wont be a bestseller by any means though as it is definitely old school and well, to be honest, it looks like a mid range ps2 game. The graphics are pretty poor with hand drawn sprites and text boxes for dialogue (3D in-game), though there are the usual spoken one-liners the characters spout when making an attack. It has the feel of an older game so I can’t see this selling loads at a premium price point. The camera was also pretty atrocious, panning around was slightly painful every time as it has a tendency to spring back to the default position which makes checking your enemies’ location a bit of a chore (not ideal in a turn based strategy to be frank). My flatmate who actually works in games had plenty to say about its bad points (though it was great fun to play) so I found myself in the odd position of having to defend it while pointing out issues.

If you don’t like turn based anything, let alone strategies then this game won’t change your mind, with its low-end graphics and clunky camera controls.

However, if it is actually released out here I’m 100% sure I’ll be buying it and that I’ll get many hours of satisfaction out of it.

Contradictory? I don’t think so. You see, despite its downsides I did enjoy the demo (as much as is possible with someone else haranguing it in the background anyway) and I’m pretty sure I’ll be firing up the demo again soon to get more out of it. While I expected the in-game graphics to be better and appreciate the finer things graphically it’s not a deal breaker for me. The camera is an annoyance I can see myself getting used to/putting up with and really those were the only down points for me.

I do have an oft unfulfilled love of most things turn-based especially if you combine the words ‘turn-based’ with ‘rpg’. One of my favourite games of all time is an old turn-based SRPG from the PS1 – Front Mission 3, which totally rocked in my opinion (hey it had mechs and everything!).

So it’s actually really nice to get my hands on a new turn-based SRPG on any console (I’d still get it if it was on the PS2 for instance). I love my DS but sometimes I just have more fun playing these games on the big screen and while I love hand drawn sprites I do prefer more updated 3D graphics (even if it is dated by comparison to many new games on the 360).

This game has many things I enjoy about games – it’s turn-based, has inventory management, skill management etc and various different kinds of weapons with their own ranges/properties. I was a bit unsure of the whole limited inventory for weapons and items (you get 5 slots for each) but the fact that half of these are consumable and you can loot the corpses of fallen enemies and friends add to the tactical element in my opinion.

So yeah it has its problems (show me a game that doesn’t huh?) but they’re very much minor to the enjoyment I think I’ll get out of this game. All I can do is keep an eye out for the game and hope the demo wasn’t some fluke mistake on Live and we’ll actually get the game out here! I’m a big fan of Atlus, so roll on with the next-gen games I say.

Maybe it’s because some games just don’t have an appreciable end and just go on and on, whereas the Phoenix Wright games have an obvious progression and end not suffering from the RPG endless sidequest/level grinding syndrome.

I’m really glad I did give the Phoenix Wright games a go as I really loved playing the 2^nd one and after many months of hunting I managed to get my hands on the 1^st part which is practically impossible to find these days, always sold out and I’ve only seen it twice in the shops myself. Imagine my glee when I picked it for £20 first hand in HMV of all places!

This is why I end up with so many unplayed games on my shelf as I tend to buy ones I really want whether I have time to play them or not as some of the more obscure ones (which I tend to like the most) disappear never to be seen again if you don’t get them while you can. Unless you want to pay loads on Ebay of course. I’m also really weak willed if I see ‘deals’ on games…

I’m sure I’m pretty near the end of the 1^st one now and like the 2^nd game I love this one too (though the 2^nd does throw in some extra new features at you which make it a bit more interesting). I love the anime style too.

Bizarrely however Capcom is apparently actually releasing the 4^th game in the series (changes from Phoenix Wright to Apollo Justice!) without there being any news of a confirmed release date for the THIRD Phoenix Wright game that I know of (though I heard mutterings about September)! Was not particularly impressed with this news but I guess I can’t be that phased at playing them out of order since I already have. But still…why Capcom, why?

Looks like I’m just gonna have to import it, or buy the 4^th game in the hopes they bother to release no. 3 over here! Cos you know I totally need another reason to spend all my money on this franchise…

I never thought I’d recommend a game about playing as a lawyer (though it’s doubtful anything in it is particularly true to life of a real lawyer – spirit mediums anyone?) but they’re definitely way up there on my favourites list!

I’m sure there’s more but I can’t really remember more off the top of my head! That isn’t ALL the anime I like obviously, there’s loads of others I liked alot but the ones above fall more into the Favourite catgegory.

I’m currently in the middle of watching Blood+ which is an anime (there’s also a manga - when isn’t there??) based off Blood the Last Vampire (which is great too) and sorta carries on with the concept. It IS a bit dissapointing actually…after the coolness of the film the series is a bit bland. It’s ok…not BAD or anything and I think a lot of the lack of enthusiasm on my part is due to the fact that its a dub (doesn’t quite fit) and even worse the dubs are out of sync so something happens, then 3 or 4 seconds later the audio catches up.

Hardly makes for inspiring action scenes! I think it’ll get better though and fully intend to keep watching. I’m hoping it’s just a slow burner (it does have 50 or more episodes afterall).

Which brings me round to remembering the last truly dissapointing anime I watched semi-recently, which was Elfen Lied. I really wanted to like this anime and was so looking forward to it. Sadly then I actually watched it and was not at all impressed. It had so much potential to be a really good, kick ass story but sadly it apparenly ignored all the cool points and focused on…nothing much instead. I heard great things about it and to be honest am at a loss why…did they actually WATCH it??

Ah well, at least I have the likes of Le Chevalier D’eon to make up for it which I’m steadily working my way through as the series is released (hurry up dammit!). It’s probably one of the best new anime’s to come out recently. And I STILL need to get around to watching Samurai Champloo and finishing Cowboy Bebop. Ah well I’d rather have too much anime to watch then not enough.

Indeed.

So I found this great article on the BBC news site - a young male seal trying to mate with a penguin - sex unknown.

Despite the odd subject matter the article is reported with seriousness (since it DID happen afterall) which just leads to some class lines such as “The 100kg seal first subdued the 15kg penguin by lying on it.”

And then: “The penguin flapped its flippers and attempted to stand and escape - but to no avail.”

*snickers*

Read it for yourself if you don’t believe me: http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/sci/tech/7379554.stm

That’s right the minty chocolate covered goodness that is Poppets. Used to be addicted to these as a child as since I managed to eat the whole box already this morning I think I may be prepping myself for a resurgence of said past addiction. They’re just too good!

And now with retro coolness on the packs. What can I say I had to go for the rubiks one!

Now I have to face the day sadly bereft of any

Actually that’s a lie. A damn lie, I told you so you’d go to bed with me-i mean, do those stats for me…

Don’t you expect any sense of me now, you hear? I’ve spent a silly amont of time with you already today going over those stupid search results. ctrl x…ctrl v, over and over. Click, click, CLICK!

Still it’s amazing (when you’re as bored as me) how many people think they can find zelda or porn games here… *wonders if there’s some sort of correlation between the two* Seriously do you really think we’d have a game just titled: “Porn” ? Though now I’ve said that god knows there probably is one somewhere with just that title.

But it isn’t HERE.