Category: Video Games

Ongoing Investigations: Case #011

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It’s not like I thought it wasn’t going to be, but it should be said. Ghost in the Shell SAC is so freaking good. It is engaging, smart, and quite complex. It is not something that I can actually try to figure out along side the characters. I just sit back and enjoy the ride. I am totally fascinated by it all! The Laughing Man intrigues me so! You can be sure I’ll make a wallpaper by next week’s end. Though disc 4 had no “complex” episodes and then disc 5 had three more, eight in a row of no Laughing Man case was starting to drive me a little nuts. But we are back on track and with only 5 episodes to go I’m getting anxious!

I also read NISIOISIN’s Zaregoto in an attempt to see what had perplexed Narutaki so. My summation of the book is best left to “Weird Al” Yankovic, Everything you know is wrong! Because that is the total summation of the ending of this book. Ii-chan solves the case and the survivors leave the island. Then in the epilogue we learn that everything that was answered was absolutely incorrect. It’s not Ii-chan who figures it out though. Some psycho detective pops up and gives us all the true answers in a clearly deus ex machina manner. I’m not sure if I like this book or not. It was definitely odd plus the storytelling and the characters are very, very strange. I think it supposed to be vaguely unsettling and disorienting. I can’t quite but my finger on whether it made the story uniquely enjoyable or just strange for the sake of being strange.

Watched Saint Seiya episodes 7-18, finished the first arc and have gotten just a couple of episodes into the next one. Here is what I have learned so far: no one dies, for any reason, unless they really want them to; they are fond of saying “Hell” or “I’ll send you to Hell!”; they love to punch people in the heart, like through the skin and into the heart (though people still don’t always die of this); they are not unaware of their female fan-base as proven by the Shun in the shower scene; and finally huge bad guys can still be scared away the police. Oh and I love it. This isn’t my first viewing of Saint Seiya, but I have never really sat down and watched consistently.

After reading Black Lagoon volume one I have to say I enjoy the anime slightly more than the manga but that is of no disservice to the manga. The manga is quite excellent. But seeing the awesomeness that is the Black Lagoon manga in it’s full color kinetic glory when it is animated is way better. I don’t mind buying them both but if asked to choose I would pick the anime hands down.

Mixed Vegetables was exactly what I needed to get me back on a romantic shojo comedy kick. It was refreshing to see our heroine both funny and capable and not head-over-heels in love with anyone…yet. Within one volume Hanayu realizes how much Hayato likes her and starts dating him. Everyone in the class is cheering them on, no mean girl’s threatening our heroine here, in very Love*Com style. And we see her going through a bit of guilt over not liking him as much as he likes her. It is rare to get to the relationship part so quickly and I am really excited about it. Fun, fast-paced, funny, sweet, and endearing. Can’t wait to pick up the next book!

I just got Fate/Tiger Colosseum Upper and it’s nothing special but it’s gosh darn fun. The game play is essentially Power Stone with Fate/Stay Night skins with some Tsukihime characters thrown in for good measure. No more and no less. Even thought I don’t speak or read any Japanese I still think that the game is very funny. They seem to have a good grasp of the Fate/Stay Night characters and play with them appropriately. Even the opening is a playful parody of other Fate game openings and scenes. The story mode makes my few words of Japanese step up to the plate as I try, somewhat successfully, to discern what is going on. This game made me realize why I like Type Moon in general. They’re willingness to totally cater and show they care about the fans in side projects. I feel if I was a creator, I would do the same for my fans. Plus any game with BER-SER-CAR and Saber in a suit is always full of awesome.

Ongoing Investigations: Case #010

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I did not do much except play video games this week. Played through Professor Layton and the Curious Village. It was a distinctly enjoyable puzzle game. I had figured out most of the mystery about half way through the game so obviously it was not that difficult. The animated sequences were well done and Layton and Luke are fun characters if not particularly deep. You mostly come to professor Layton for the puzzles but you stay for the amusing characters. This game seems right up Narutaki’s alley with detectives and classic puzzles. I hope they continue to localize these games.

Watched the first four episodes of Toward the Terra. I loved the manga now I get to love the anime! It has this nice combination of old school and modern, the art is this nice meld of the two. The opening song is really great! It is done by UVERworld who I have been sort of neutral about, but this song made me have a little more hope for the upcoming Gundam 00 opening which I have heard only a snippet of. So far the show has been beautiful animated and the story spot on. Soldier Blue you’re the best! There is a nice bonus of an interview with Keiko Takemiya in which she speaks in depth. Makes me want her to be a guest at a convention.

Got around playing Final Fantasy A2. I think I am enjoying it more than Narutaki but mostly because I never played Final Fantasy Tactics Advanced so I don’t know what I’m missing story-wise. I’m mostly here for the real-time strategy which is extremely well done and I am blissfully ignoring the rather generic plot. I am totally playing just to level up jobs and see new missions. I am slightly annoyed that I sometime break the laws when my characters are charmed or confused. It’s a slight gripe but very annoying after following a pain in the butt rule for several rounds of combat just to have the rule broken at the end by a single status effect.

Picked up the first volume of Nightmare Inspector. Hiruko goes into your nightmares to help you dispel them, his payment is the eating of the nightmare. So far every story has had a little twist and isn’t as straight forward as it seems. It is a nice series of vignettes but that isn’t really my favorite thing without an over arching plot to jump at once and a while. However, the last story in the volume is continued in the next and in the preview they mention possibly learning about Hiruko’s past so I am atleast curious. Also had a funny litte extra at the end about the cane he carries.

I tried some Mugen no Frontier: Super Robot Wars OG Saga. It’s simple enough that I can play without knowing any Japanese. It’s a turn-based RPG with some action elements to break up the monotony. I was enjoying this game up until I got up to one boss in this playing card themed dungeon. I can’t get pass this little witch and I don’t feel like grinding enough to blast past her with sheer brute force. I wonder if I am missing something because I can’t read Japanese or if the game just kicked the difficulty level up quite a bit rather unexpectedly.

Started watching Ghost in the Shell S.A.C. I know everyone will be shocked, but I’ve never watched this show all the way through. I have seen an episode here and there but what can I say? I just take my own sweet time getting to shows. I liked what I’ve seen so far, the cop drama kind of feel it is great but with cooler weapons. The Laughing Man comes into the story right at the end of the first DVD and I sort of knew what that was. It certainly keeps the world elements of the original but we get a closer focus on character relationships and a fleshing out of personalities. Really don’t like the opening, but the song itself is really a wonderful, haunting melody. Motoko’s normal outfit cracks me up a bit, I know it is fan service but it just seems so out of place. I think they could have used her full body suit outfit which she wears in the second or third episode instead. Oh and I love the Tachicomas. Forever.

Having watched the Laughing Man arc quite a while ago it was fun to go back and see some of it again. I always liked the third episode with the Jeri androids that were malfunctioning. For some reason I feel that who ever wrote that episode totally wrote it for themselves and anyone else that happened to be a big film buff. Knowing enough about what a horrible pervert Masamune Shirow is I have to wonder if he insisted that Motoko’s outfit be horribly fan servicey outfit or is it just an accepted part of the franchise. Oh and I have always been tempted to buy on of those really nice Tachicoma statues but I have never been able to convince myself to splurge on one. Yet.

Was lucky enough to attend the New York Comic-Con ConFab. It was like a focus group type deal and they bought us lunch, plus we get a free weekend pass for the convention in 2009. They have some great ideas coming up, stuff that I feel no other con has done before. That makes it really exciting. They also had tons of questions for us, a lot about lines and tickets and then general what was bad. They were really enthusiastic about our ideas and it felt like someone was really listening. Looking forward to the coming convention.

I started playing some Touch Detective 2 ½ and it seems just a quirky as the last one. I really miss the point and click puzzle games back in their heyday on PC. I am glad to see someone picking up the torch again. I like the bizarrely dry humor and the unique character designs. It is clearly not a game that will win over new fans. It’s essentially more of the same without even an attempt to innovate or add new features. I don’t mind though because I just wanted more Mackenzie.

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Ongoing Investigations: Case #005

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So I have been on some 80’s OVA rampage and let me tell you, I see why they don’t make tons and tons of OVAs anymore. Most of them are rather unremarkable. I guess Del Power X was atleast mildly entertaining with its comedy and giant robots. And the robots use wrestling moves, haha. Dream Dimension Hunter Fandora, had no idea what it was trying to be. Was it space bounty hunting? Fantasy? Magical girl? Not really sure. Same goes for Campus Special Investigator Hikaruon. It started out fine but then our investigator changes into a sentai hero for no apparent reason. He was kicking ass as regular ole Hikaru, but the story was pretty lame anyway.

Blue Flames is certainly memorable because it was just that awful. It was insane! They must of thought about what kind of guy would be the biggest douche bag, now let’s make an OVA about him! The amount of stuff he does within 40 minutes is mind boggling. In the beginning, I thought he was a prostitute, but no. Anyway, he seduces this one girl which I really don’t know how since he is so cold. Oh, that’s right as the story goes on we find out he is totally amazing in bed (and allegedly good-looking), enough to make women attempt suicide, beg to be his slave, and buy him cars. At some point he also tells his family screw you and leaves for Tokyo for no apparent reason. One woman tries to kill him, but he disarms her and then has sex with her instead. Everything is then alright. At the end of this mess he is seducing another girl, he slept with about 6 or 7 in total, and you know he is planning to blackmail her rich parents. Not sure how that is an ending. We also come to find out that all of this is somehow going to take him to the top. The top of what exactly? Man with most STDs? ANN I demand you remove the words romance from the tags for this show.

Walkin’ Butterfly is a joesi title I picked up form Aurora Publishing. I am always interested in new josei titles because it’s one of the most unexplored genres in America. Michiko is an extremely tall girl that does not know what do to with her life. Because she is so tall she has never fit in and never really dated. She drifts from job to job and can’t find her place in the world. A mistake occurs when she delivers a pizza to a fashion shoot she winds up getting humiliated by Mihara the show’s designer. After some soul searching she decides to use her height to try to become a model and get revenge on Mihara. I’m not sold on the series yet but I am interested to read more. I was a little caught of guard by the drug use and full frontal nudity. It was not bad or exploitative but I was certainly not expecting it even if it was josei.

Natsume Yuujinchou may turn out to be my favorite new show from our summer list. I watched episodes two and three. It is simple, poignant, and has just enough of an emotional hook. Natsume is also starting to wield some power using the book of friends which adds another layer to the story. I honestly don’t know where this story will lead and that excites me.

I watched Garden of Sinners 3: Remaining Sense of Pain. It was as beautiful as the other two movies. Fujino Asagami, the main subject of their investigation in the movie is definitely an odd character. Her actions are somewhat understandable at points but they do let her off very lightly despite her actions. On a side note, I am also curious if we will ever learn why Mikiya Kokuto is so devoted to Shiki or do they just chalk it up to blind love. He has very good reason to want nothing to do with her but he seems to believe in her no matter what.

Takane no Jitensha was a short TV special. A boy wants his own bike so he and his mother make a deal. If he is in the top 100 at school after the next tests, she will get him the bike. As the story unfolds we find out about a mischievous spirit at the local temple. Takane somewhat jokingly says he will exchange his sister for a higher test score. Quite family friendly with a lesson being learned at the end. A cute story with stints of good animation. Though I wish the spirits were given a little more development.

The World Ends With You is why I watched so little else all this week. It’s a fun little game and an entirely new setting for a Square-Enix game. The main character Neku Sakuraba has found himself with the dreaded plot condition convenience of amnesia in the middle of Shibuya. It seems he has been entered in a deadly game for an unknown prize. Players must find a partner, defeat monsters called noise, and complete certain tasks every day within time limits or be erased from existence. The battle system is fun and fast but the learning curve is quite steep. You will be getting bad ranks on battles for quite awhile. The only other major problem is once you get used to one partner they take her way and add in another partner who plays slightly differently and has no equipment. So basically you have to readjust yourself to your new partner. It’s not insurmountable but it can be a pain. I also have a nasty feeling they are going to do it to me one more time. Hopefully the third partner will not have such a high learning curve.

That’s it for this week! Catch a new ongoing investigation every Friday!

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