Odin Sphere HD release for Playstation Family

Odin Sphere:Leifdrasir

Odin Sphere is getting a new HD remake called Odin Sphere: Leifdrasir, which is going to be amazing. The reason why it is going to be amazing is because it's a remake of a vastly beloved game from a small developer, but every game this company has pumped out has been amazing as a whole and when you look at each part. 

Vanillaware, founded by former Atlus employees and spearheaded by George Kamitani have created a very niche visual artscape and game design that isn't very much dealt with in Japanese games now a days. George Kamitani from the games he has produced takes a love of fantasy and a love of food; which only increases the visual punch the games have. Though eating in his games serve a purpose not many games will have you do the physical act of consuming or making food; which is odd since food is necessary to our survival.

But back to the remake at hand, an HD remake is going to be a good thing for this game as it lets more people play this game, or for people like me; have a physical copy with a modern console. Also Vanillaware is still including the standard PS2 version in the remake if you want to play the original game, which is a very stellar and stand up thing that they did regarding their own IP.

Main Characters and their voice actors

The game is being released in Japan and North America for sure. For Japan it's being released in January 14, 2016 and is going to be on the whole current Playstation family; PS3. PS4, and PS Vita. Japan also has an accessory pack for the game as well that includes a pouch. I'm not exactly sure what the images are going to be but it's a standard accessory pack that Japan releases.

I reserved the Japanese version for the PS Vita and the accessory pack as I really enjoy buying my games on the PS Vita and having physical copies. Once the English version gets released I will make sure to buy the English version for the PS3 and most likely the PS Vita again. My only hope is that Atlus doesn't force an English only dialogue on the game, as they have a nasty habit of not giving Japanese language dialogue on games.

Persona 4: Dancing All Night- Now with more information

In case you haven't noticed Atlus held their 36 hour Persona stream recently and we got more information about Persona 5, got to watch the Persona 3 movies, and we got more information about Persona 4: Dancing All Night. We get a very cute video mixing real people playing the game and having fun and we get  shots of the game. Here are some images first of the PV.

Teddie was so adorable in the PV especially when Best Friends came up because of what Teddie said, he was all "You're all my best friends" and my heart just melted. Though at the end of the PV he remarks that he wants to buy it and then yells for Yosuke oddly enough when the Junes theme is playing.

We also got the hint that we'll at least be seeing Yukiko, Naoto, and Nanako within the game as well. I have no idea if they're going to be playable or what not but within the PV itself we saw both Yu with Nanako and Naoto on stage with the actual rhythm game in the background.

 

With all the teens dancing I'm really excited to see Yosuke and Yu dance the most, just because of this small scene. We all know Yosuke likes music and everything. But together these two always taken me like a bunch of jokers, so I wanna see them dance together. At least they look competent, as opposed to Kanji and Chie

Chie is just doing Kung-Fu and Kanji is just stomping around like he's in Ouendan (cheer squad). It may seem like I'm being a bit mean, but I'm not. These are just my observations, but they fit in with the characters. Do you honestly see these two dancing in the way that we're expecting, being all in music videos and junk? I honestly wasn't I was expecting goofy dancing, and I hope I am not wrong in June.

I am wondering though about the story and how it is going to play out, and this screen right here is kind of the best we have at the moment showing what can possibly go on within the game. Though I do have one main major question when this comes over to the US.

What is going to happen with the Junes theme that's in this game. On the P4D site there is a track list, including the Junes theme. And the theme does include more than the "Everyday Young Life Junes" theme. So what is going to happen when this is translated, are all the songs going to stay the same, or will this one be localized to fit the slogan of "Everyday's Great at Your Junes"? These are the questions, along with who is going to be in the DLC?

There are three different versions of the game, though all get the Persona 5 special PV BD, if you just want the game you might as well just by the single game. But if you want the CD soundtrack and the DLC your best way is getting that Crazy Box with Rise on it. And if you're a sucker for limited edition peripherals, just get that Premium Crazy Box.  Myself I have ordered the Crazy Box, now all I have to do is wait.

                                                                

My Personal Persona 4 Experience

It's Persona 4 Time

 One of the first games I got for the PS Vita was Persona 4 Golden. I haven't played either Persona 3 or Persona 4 before, because I heard it was so different than the first two, and like a person stuck in the past refused to play either of them. But for $20 I did end up getting Persona 4 and played it.

Honestly I was surprised at the game and rather enjoyed it. I first started out by naming my character...Something I always name male characters if I can name them.

This is actually suppose to be a play on words, though it works out better if written in Kanji

Even though I know that this game has been out for forever this new version does add more to the game including a new dungeon but just in case you've never played this game or are new to the Shin Megami Tensei Series and you're thinking about playing Persona 4 first, this review is for you.

And just because it's nice to let people know... There may be spoilers.

So as it comes to reviews, I will be reviewing it based on these criteria in order:
-Story and setting
-Characters
-Voices/Music
-Gameplay
-Cohesiveness
  
 Story and Setting
This story sets you up as moving with your Uncle as your parents are going overseas to work for a year and leaving you there instead of taking you with them. So this leads you to go into the province of Inaba.

Through a string of odd circumstances you learn about a phenomenon called the Midnight Channel that shows you your soul mate, or at least that is how the rumor started. And then through another string of events you learn that you can go through the TV.

But the CRT TV in your room can't fit your whole body in so well... You go tell your aquantances at school and they quickly laugh at you and bring you to Junes to ironically enough show you that you're insane and take more jabs at you. Jokes on them, because you can actually stick your arm into the TV at Junes as well, and you'll eventually get curious again and just jump in.

 This small set of sequences start your quest to finding the murderer of Inaba and the purpose of the Midnight Channel. The TV world itself is set up into different locations that you can travel to, and explore the labyrinth area/dungeon.

When you are in the TV world or outside of it, the characters remind you of your duty in case you need to help people in the TV world, or keep the story and social links along in the real world as you progress in the game. While the story isn't that unique, the journey to get to the end of the game was rather fun.

Characters
 This is where Persona 4 shines bright; the characters, especially the main cast. It's not every game where I can honestly say I liked every character wanted to learn more about them.Though your character is pretty much non-voiced there are many choices that you can give to make your main character unique in your own way. I actually made my version of the main character act honest and humorous, while others may make him serious or whatnot. But what shines the most is the supporting cast of characters.

Honestly I thought that your friends were going to be one dimensional and just be bland and boring, but it was quite refreshing to know the opposite was true. They're teenagers but they react to things as normal people would, which is really great. And through social links with characters you get to see them develop in ways where you wouldn't. Some feel insecure, lying to themselves, stuck in a daily routine that they hate... A whole slew of emotions.

Personally I started to relate the most to both Kanji and Teddie throughout the game because of their crisis of finding yourself and being ok with who you really are. I know some people feel that they cannot relate to characters who do not look like them, but I feel as if the emotions of the characters are easy to understand; rather that is why they feel the way they do, and how it eventually turns them for the better in their search for the truth of themselves.

Voices/Music

My major gripe with this has to be the fact that I don't have the option to chose Japanese as the language setting. Mind you, this will always be a gripe of mine if it's not available if a game is translated from Japanese. If anything this is a peeve of mine as I would like to still hear the Japanese voices. That being said, the dubbing in the game is good. So Atlus does make up for the lack of Japanese dialogue with a good dubbing. Though to be honest, even though you just heard me clamor about the want for the Japanese version, I actually do prefer the English dub when it comes to the voices.

The music on the other hand, well for me it was interesting. I honestly wasn't expecting singing when the battle theme played; let alone a Japanese person singing in English. It was seriously a what the moment for me. Keep in mind at the time I hadn't played Persona 3 either (I'm in the middle of the PSP version of P3 so now I expect it) but the first thing that honestly popped in my mind was really just why. I honestly have no idea why there had to be lyrics and singing in the battle music, but it was there. And after about two fights I was enjoying hearing it. Honestly though with the music it may have been more interesting to hear a native speaker of English sing, but at the same time; you hear this music in the dungeons when you are in the TV, so if we take it as an insert song in an anime or a TV show it kind of makes sense. Either way, the lyrics itself do fit in with the Persona game and it grows on you.

Gameplay

The gameplay is broken down into two main parts in the town of Inaba and inside the TV world. 

When you're in Inaba, you can increase your social links, take side jobs for money, level up your stats and... Do some shopping. It's pretty much like everyday, except most of us don't live in Japan and can't eat delicious Japanese styled Chinese food from a place called Aiya (seriously though, Japanese styled Chinese food is amazing, eat ebi-chili if you get the chance). 

Along with those, you will be going to school Monday-Saturday learning things and usually not knowing the answer to some of the questions because they're so random, or you weren't paying attention like I was. Also when you take tests you will take them everyday over a couple of days and that's the only thing you'll do which feels like a giant waste to me, but that's how they decided to do things.

Overall the daily happenings in Inaba are just there to strengthen your bonds and keep the story moving forward. All the actual fighting takes place in the TV world.

Within the TV world you'll be brought to the entrance of the TV world which is used as a hub for your dealings within the TV. You can talk to your friends, go places, enter the Velvet Room for persona fusions, save your game, or be healed by the fox. 

When you do decide to go places you will have to talk to one of your friends to actually go to that place, which though it seems a bit weird, makes sense because the places are tied to people.

Combat is standard for turn based RPGs which means that depending on your character stats you may go first or later in the turn. I tend to like turn based games since you can think out your moves and there tends to be more impact on what you do, and you are rewarded for playing smart instead of just going all guns a blazing. What I did enjoy though was the perks for leveling up your social links allowed your characters to do more for you, including follow-up attacks, enduring hits and taking deadly hits for you.

When you exploit your enemies weaknesses, you do have a chance if you've knocked down enemies to do an all out attack. I really enjoy the images that pop up, because it gives you a small glimpse into their confidence in fighting or even their own confidence within themselves after getting their persona. Also your follow-ups can happen afterward if you have compatible characters on your team. Personally I really like Kanji and Naoto's "Beauty and Beast" combo, it's very pretty and yet very macabre.

Everything else is kind of self explanatory though, the turn based RPG is like everything you have played before and you just have to learn about the elements which the game teaches you so you don't need to worry about anything like that. You just get to enjoy and play.

Cohesiveness
This is kind definitely a JRPG that should be played if you haven't played it before. If you're a fan of the Megetan series, it's a really good game and story. It's not as challenging as other games within the Megaten series, but there is a reason why it's popular. The characters are endearing, while the overall feel and background ties well within the Japanese lore that Persona 4 builds upon. If you like JRGs it is always a good thing to pick up.

Afterthoughts
I did enjoy playing Persona 4, more than I thought I ever was going to. I'm glad that I did because I majorly enjoy how they established the Japanese lore within the game, and all of the monsters in Persona just give me a warm feeling of familiarity. Also I enjoy making Loki and the other max social link special monsters.

As it's own game I enjoyed it a lot, but I still miss the old Persona games feel and miss negotiation with monsters to join my side. But Persona is treated more like its own thing than a part of the main Megaten storyline. Either way though, it's a good game, but I wish I had played it years ago instead of just recently.

Year End Review-Visual Novels

Visual novels have always been a part of my life for a very long time,but oddly enough it seemed like this year was the year that I bought a ton of them, and oddly enough almost all of them were translated into English.

I initially just preordered Steins;Gate the limited edition because JAST USA made it sound like the only people who were going to get a physical copy of the game (at the time when this was in golden master) were the people who jumped in and bought limited editions. So of course I went ahead and preordered a copy of the limited edition, though now there is Steins;Gate coming out for almost everything and that a standard edition of the game exists as well. Though I don't regret getting the limited edition, it looks really nice and everything. I wish that they made more of them like this, I really like the way the box looks.

Honestly though, if you haven't picked up Steins;Gate for the PC yet, or if you don't want to play VNs on your PC, there is going to be a few releases next year of the game on IOS, PS Vita, and PS3. So in 2015 no one will have an excuse to not have played a piece of otaku history.

When I was at Sakuracon in the spring I ended up buying Kara no Shoujo for the PC as well. It only happened by chance because I was just walking through the dealers hall at the convention and ended up finding the Mangagamer booth. The only thing I was kind of interested in was Kara no Shoujo so I picked it up for $50 for the limited edition of it as well. Though it was a limited edition, it's not as good looking as the Steins;Gate one. And to be honest, it was much of an impulse buy than anything else because I want more VNs to come to the US and international, I knew enough about it that it's an eroge but nothing else.

Of course after that I bought another Hakuoki game, this time for the PS3 just for the fact that I love this game series even though we end up getting the same game over and over with just added content.

I'll buy it because not only do I like the story of it being taken a part in an alternate history in Japan. There's freaking Oni and pseudo-oni people in it. And if that wasn't enough fun, then I don't know what is. But to be honest it is an Otome game and there aren't many of those existing in general; even in Japan. So I feel like I got to buy this game to boost up the numbers. But it actually is a good story, so it's a win-win situation.

Though with how niche the PS Vita is, I don't see why AKSYS hasn't gotten the copyright to release an English version of the Sweet School Life version of Hakuoki. Because who doesn't like an alternate reality where everyone in the Shinsengumi is in high school, or teaches in high school. Are you kidding that would print instant money. Seriously, every fangirl would get to live out their dream of being surrounded with cute boys doing stuff.

The last thing I have bought this year in regards to VNs was another impulse buy it was Littlewitch Romanesque released by JAST USA released on the 23rd of December. The only reason why I think I bought it was because I was on JAST USA's page and saw it was getting released this month. And to my honest surprise it was. I have the game downloaded right now on my computer but I am still waiting for my physical copy, though I just looked it up on J-list itself and saw they have addressed the problem. I don't know when I will be getting the physical one but I hope it is soon, because I want to see how the case is and I hope it is akin to the one they did for Steins;Gate.

I did get past the intro to actually save the game and I came across this cute little thing.

I really have no idea what it is, but doesn't it kind of look like a Moomin? A Moomin that looks like he's made out of chocolate...

From what I've seen so far, I like how the story is shown, with it going more for a living manga style where speech bubbles appear than just a box with text. And the voices are great so far. I am especially glad that the main male lead has a voice, as that is the number one deal breaker for me. If I play a game and the main male has no voice... It just stops me in my tracks and then makes me want to mute all the characters. Because if I hear someone talking and the response to it is just a wall of text that I am suppose to read, and then goes back to voices. It just breaks immersion. There is an all-ages version though coming to Steam via their Greenlight system, so if you're interested in the story without the eroge contents there's that for you.

I am excited for 2015 since there will be a lot more VNs on their way, including Clannad from Sekai project, and not to mention (hopefully) the release of Hanachirasu from JAST USA. Also more Steins;Gate which is good too. But most of all I am excited to see what will get the potential go from either kickstarter or from independent small groups making their own VNs.  It seems as if VNs have found their way into the hearts of people outside of Japan. And I'd like for it to keep growing years down the line.

Steins;Gate coming to Playstation 3 and PS Vita in 2015

Stiens;Gate is coming, be prepared Sony

Well if you haven't heard the news yet, Steins;Gate is going to have a release in 2015 for PS3 and Vita. Now even though the game is already out in English on the PC thanks to JASTUSA there is going to be a release for Europe and North America.

I am really excited by this. Even though I have a copy of the PC game already, I hope what has had happened recently with the growing trend of visual novels coming out, that Japan does see that there is a market out here for it, and that yes, people do buy them. While I do have a few gripes of how visual novels are handled (I'll make a post about it eventually) in the USA with certain distributors. I've got to say overall that I am glad that people can enjoy these games.

Now I am just waiting to see if they'll actually start translating otome or yaoi games.

I know what I'll be doing on December 9th-Playing Suikoden 2

I was just reading the newest news and I saw something that made me smile Suikoden II on the PSN and it is going to be AMAZING! Also I will be able to finally play the original Suikoden as well. This makes me honestly so happy. Suikoden was one of those games you sank hours into to get all the stars, and made doing tons of sidequests not so boring, and you could play lots of various characters.

Also I am glad that I will be able to play this game on the Vita, I'm going to get super comfy every night and just play till I get sleepy. I can't wait.

If Sony ports games that I grew up playing and enjoy even now, I have no problem with buying them. I've forever have qualms about not having physical copies of games, but I am getting over that problem slowly since I started playing PC games more often.

I Love the PS Vita

So around the 24th of November I finally received my PS Vita and I have been messing around with it ever since.

For one thing the PS Vita is rather light since it's the newer version and not only that it feels a bit more natural in my hands than the 3DS does. Now that doesn't mean that I dislike my 3DS but the two are aimed at very different people and tastes.

As of right now I don't have many games for the Vita I have three which includes a cross platform game and two actual Vita games. But, as for the selection in titles in the USA, it does make it look more like if you enjoy playing import localized games (i.e. J-RPGs) you are going to have a lot more fun.

So the actual PS Vita games I got were Muramasa Rebirth from the wonderful company Vanillaware and published by Aksys games and Persona 4 Golden from Atlus. Right now I am playing Muramasa Rebirth because I do like side scrolling action a lot. And I do mean A LOT.

Though I do like the Shin Megami Tensei series, to be honest Persona is my least favorite; and I'll admit it's mainly because of what I saw of Persona 3 and Persona 4. I haven't played either, but you know I finally will suck up my cynicism and actually play it. And I will get to it eventually and give my personal views of both when I get to completing the games.

Hopefully I will get more games for the Vita soon, because I need more of it.

Dengeki Bunko Fighting Climax-Three Support Characters Added

Well it's not exactly new characters to play with, but we are getting three new support characters for the game. Though there's already twenty for the game and only twelve playable characters so far... It seems a little bit weird but I won't complain as I do like the characters that are coming.

I am glad that Toaru and DRRR are getting more supports as they are two very beloved franchises, especially the Toaru series since Railgun and Index are currently still going and DRRR just finished this year and will be having another series set a few years in the future.

Accelerator from Toaru Majutsu no Index

Gotta say I super love Accelerator, and I am more surprised that Sega and Dengeki Bunko chose this version of Accelerator but then I remember... Black angel wings and how badass Accelerator got even more so now that he's kind of mellowed out and has stopped being a jerk.

Dokuro-chan from Bludgeoning Angel Dokuro-chan

Dokuro-chan does look cute, and the fact that she's a bludgeoning angel just makes her perfect for a fighting game. If you've never heard of Bludgeoning Angel Dokuro-chan go ahead and read the wiki on it, the premise for the the light novel and series is quite ridiculous, but I don't want to talk about it. I just want you to go read it and shake your head about its absurdity.

Orihara Izaya from Durarara

And then the person everyone seems to want, Orihara Izaya. And Sega/Dengeki Bunko know that they are popular, especially together as they showed in the new added part in the trailer a little section of them talking and Izaya asking if "Shizu-chan would like some help" to the answer of getting kicked and quickly moving out of the way.

I hope though, that we'll actually get an announcement for some playable characters, but I do enjoy the new assists as I love Accelerator and will actually probably use him along with Boogiepop as my assists.

Game launches in November for both the PS Vita and the PS3. No announcement or plans for a US/international version, but there is a lot of extra content including parts of the novel. But there is a story mode that could be translated.

Sony Computer Entertainment of Japan new Josei Works

Well Sony of Japan has finally announced a new PS Vita color scheme and it was a highly anticipated combo. White x Pink.

After tax it's about 20,498 yen

Now for Japan this is recommended for "Girls" which seemed to have gotten a lot of people all up in a storm about all sorts of things (sexist marketing among others). But seems to be highly taken out of context not only in his words but in a social setting as well.

The first problem is if you actually sit through the entire conference (which I did for the whole thing) you'll notice what was first put up.

All those Josei titles coming out at the end of the year

Any person who is in to anime or games aired towards women would know that this whole genre that are up in the TVs right now are probably "Josei" titles. Josei as a word itself in Japanese can be used to describe various female things from the gender itself to femininity. Though in manga/anime titles Josei is aimed towards older women who have gotten past reading shojou comics and moved on to more adult themes.

Through the entire ladies interest they were talking about the sucess with the PSP and how much more women interest is out. And due to the overwhelming interest the PS Vita in white x pink was born. There was talk about the color being flowerlike and how you could even match it with your lifestyle. Lifestyle could mean to make it match your daily coordination or even go and deco it up in crystals or foods.

Do I think this announcement was made with ill intent? Of course not, it was Sony seeing a need in the market and trying to fill that. The fact that it was recommended to a certain demographic means that they were their market and want to get out to it.

I swear its because of backlash like this that Sony of Japan hardly if ever sends out their other colors of their machines.

Though I am starting to understand why they say the PS Vita is J-gamer paradise as all the games I want to play seem to be going in that way that they're only from Japan and either have been localized or a VN of some sort.

Dengeki Bunko Fighting Climax-PS3/PS Vita

It's time for the light novels characters to duke it out!

If you don't know who Dengeki Bunko is, they publish light novels primarily targeted for men. Though as most light novels aren't published in English (as of right now the only ones that Dengeki Bunko has published in English is Sword Art Online and Boogiepop; at least to my knowledge) we have have gotten most of the anime that the light novels are based off of.

While there is no English release, and probably won't be; we can be glad that the platforms that the game is going to be available on aren't region locked. The PS3 and the PS Vita. I have no idea if there is a storyline or not, but we all know that fighting games aren't well known for their plots, so even if there is some sort of semblance of a story it probably won't matter anyway.

Honestly what I am looking forward to the most is the assist character Boogiepop and Heiwajima Shizuo tossing crap at people.

Shizuo about to toss that vending machine

While the arcade version is out right now in Japan; the rest of us have to wait till Nov.13.