Delays...

So, I have the next three entries or so in my countdown as well as a half written blog about anime on my computer, But as of a week or so ago, it's broken. I'm not sure when it will be fixed, or if it can be fixed at all.
 So, untill then I won't be updating this much. I plan to start a diary blog soon, after school stuff dies down,  so at least there will be something.

Until further notice,

Peace out and geek out,

Mikeke352

My top 10 Favorite J-RPG's #7

7) Lunar: the Silver Star (Sega CD, PS1, PSP)

            Ah, Lunar the Silver Star. This is one of those games that I look upon quite fondly. It’s a great game in every incarnation available. But, before I go any further, I think I should mention that the nostalgia factor doesn’t really apply here, as I only started playing this game a few years ago. I had long since been aware of the Lunar games, but hadn’t had the chance to play them until 2009-2010ish. When I bought a Sega CD add on for the Genesis in mid '09, the first game I got to go along with it was Lunar the Silver Star. It had a lot of heart for a little 16-bit RPG, and a good story with good characters. Unfortunately I never got to finish the game on the Sega CD as it broke about five months later.

            The version of Lunar that I really came to love was Lunar: Silver Star Story Complete. I have the PSP version as well and the only real difference is that the graphics are a bit nicer. Lunar Silver Star Story Complete has longer, higher quality cut scenes, a full voice acting cast, and more streamlined gameplay. The battle system is very similar to the one used in the Sega CD version and that’s ok, because it works. Your party has a wide area to move around in, and wherever you move to make your attack, that’s where you stop at the end of your turn. In battle you don’t just attack and retreat to your side of the screen, you always have to take movement into account. Different characters have different ranges of movement, so if you select the heroine Luna for example, to use a close range attack on an enemy on the far side of the screen she probably won’t make it that far and just stop along the way, ending her turn. This causes the player to choose moves wisely and it adds a fun strategic element to the game.

            The story for Lunar: Silver Star Story Complete is excellent. It takes the story from the Sega CD version and fleshes it out completely. It’s a true hero & heroine story about a boy who seeks adventure and to be like his hero. In this case the young protagonist Alex, sets off on a journey to be the next dragonmaster just like the one before him, the legendary dragon master Dyne who helped rescue the Goddess Althena. He sets off with his friend he has known forever, Luna, and an annoying flying cat-monster thing named Nall. Together the three encounter people and situations that enrich their lives forever. Sound corny? Well, it’s not. The characters are so good and the scenario writing so rich, that even if the base story is a little cliché’ the game is still completely engaging. If you play more than 30 minutes into the game I can almost guarantee that you will be caring about the characters and wanting to know what happens next. And that my friends, is why Lunar: The Silver Star makes the list.

My top 10 Favorite J-RPG's #8

8) Shin Megami Tensei: Persona 3 (PS2, PSP)

            Up until five or six months ago, I had only been peripherally aware of the Shin Megami Tensei (SMT,)series. Then one day on a random trip to Gamestop I spotted the remake of the Persona 1 for the PSP really cheap used and picked it up. Now, while the random encounter rate was annoyingly high and the maze like qualities of several of the buildings sort of pissed me off, I really enjoyed the game world, mythology, and persona system. It’s uniqueness is what kept me playing.

Fast Forward a month or two and I’m totally addicted to Persona 3 portable for the PSP. Seriously, I carried that thing around everywhere to play it in my spare time. It keeps what I like about the first game, improves it and adds on a whole bunch of new elements that just work great. This time around you see enemies in the map screen and the battle go by faster and more enjoyably.

The way you gather and develop personas have changed from the previous games: first you can win persona tarot(ish) cards at the end of battles and fuse them to make complex, powerful personas. Determining what persona you make and how powerful it is depends on the levels of Social Links. This time relying on developing social links between  the hero and the other characters in this game. This means you need to spend time talking to certain characters, and build up personal attributes like charm or academics. It really pulls you in and makes the daily life of the protagonist genuinely interesting.

The graphics are stylish and fun and the story is engaging, albeit dark. You play as a transfer student who has the rare ability to be conscious during a hidden 13^th hour in the day called the dark hour, a time where monsters called shadows wreak havoc. At the school is a team of students who are aware of the “dark hour” and have figured out how to awaken “Personas” to fight for them using a gun-like object they fire at their heads. You join them on investigating the dark hour and trying stop the shadows. That’s about as much as I can saw without spoilers, so you’ll have to take my word for it, it’s really good and really fun.

My Top Ten Favorite J-RPG's #10 & 9

10) Phantasy Star 4 (Sega Genesis)

I’ve always liked the Phantasy star games. They tend to have cool, well developed characters and stories, fun battles, and good pacing. All the games in the original Phantasy Star, series are good, so it was tough to only choose one. In the end however, I have to choose Phantasy Star 4. The first game set up a fun game world and atmosphere, and those traits get built upon and become better with each game. (Except #3. Three is...different.) Phantasy Star 4 takes the best elements from the previous four games and puts them together in one great package.  

            It has great, detailed backgrounds and graphics and sprite animations in and out of battles like Phantasy star 1 did with Master System. The Story and characters are complex, mature, and captivating like in Phantasy Star 2, and… I guess… it goes in unique directions like Phantasy Star 3 does. (But without a near total departure from the established world., like #3 does.) Also, like all the games in the franchise, Phantasy Star 4 has a good soundtrack that makes the most out of the Genesis’s limited sound capabilities.

            The only reason this game isn’t ranked Higher on my list is because the gameplay isn’t very unique. It’s pretty run of the mill turn based combat and standard exploration. Don’t get me wrong, it truly is a fun, engaging game, but by the fourth installment the core game mechanics haven’t changed much. Nevertheless, it’s an enjoyable experience.

 Screenshots:

 

9) Princess Crown (Sega Saturn)

Ah, Princess Crown. One the absolute, most beautiful looking games on the Sega Saturn. What’s that you say? You’ve never heard of Princess Crown? Well, that’s not surprise. Princess Crown was only released in Japan. I got an import copy a few years back, and it’s surprisingly easy to play if you don’t know Japanese. All od the map text is in English ass well as some other text like signs and such. There’s also a pretty good translation guide on gamefaqs so I didn’t have too much trouble. You may of heard of it’s spiritual sequel, Odin Sphere. Odin Sphere is extremely similar to Princess Crown and was developed by the same team, the main difference is Odin Sphere has faster battles.

Like I said before, Princess Crown is a beautiful game. I might even go as far as to say it’s the prettiest 2D game of the 32 bit generation. It’s made by a joint effort of Sega and Atlus (who has made other games on my list,) ant the development team took full advantage of the Sega Saturn as the 2D powerhouse it was. The sprites move smoothly and the fighting is fun.

The game is technically an Action/RPG, but since the RPG elements are so prominent, I put it on the list anyway. You play as princess Gradiel, a young Princess who is soon to be queen that sets out alone to explore the land she will rule and it’s troubles. Don’t let this fool you though, this isn’t an easy, fluffy, game. You need to have good RPG skills and Action gaming skills to get far. But it’s here that lies my one complaint with the game. The controls in battle are a little bit sluggish, which makes battling a sprinting quick baddie a pain sometimes. But, for the most part, this game is WICKED fun. If you like Odin Sphere you’ll like princess crown, if you can find a copy.

Sample Videos:

My Top Ten Favorite J-RPG Games: Intro

Hello everyone! It’s been a while since I’ve written a new entry, so I figured I should get one started. I was planning on writing two blog entries revolving around anime, (one being on anime that has had an impact on me personally, and the difference between casual anime and anime for serious fans,) but seeing as mid-terms are coming up soon and my two big classes are very writing intensive, I’ve decided to take the easier route and do another top ten list. But don’t worry anime fans out there, both articles will be posted when I have more time. So this brings us to this new top ten list, My top ten favorite RPG’s.

           Anyone who knows me in real life knows that I am a huge J-RPG fan. A large percentage of my game collection is made up of RPG’s, and I’m always on the look out for more. I could seriously play them all day, something that no doubt irks my roommate a bit. ^^;;

Seriously, I have a damn lot of RPG’s and it’s going to be hard to make a final top ten. Here is the list of all my RPG games(including action RPGs and strategy/RPGs:

 Demon Souls

Valkyria Chronices

Resonance of Fate

Eternal Sonata

Final Fantasy XIII

Final Fantasy Origins (FF I & II)

Final Fantasy III

Final Fantasy VII

Final Fantasy IX

Kingdom Hearts

Kingdom Hearts II

Kingdom Hearts Birth by Sleep

Dragon Quest VIII

Odin Sphere

Persona 1 PSP

Persona 3 FES

Persona 4

Lunar Silver Star Story Complete

Lunar 2: Eternal Blue Complete

Alundra

Shenmue

Shenmue II

Grandia 2

Evolution: World of the Sacred Device

Evolution 2: Far Off Promise

Skies of Arcadia

Phantasy Star Online

E.G.G.

Albert Odyssey

Magic Knight Rayearth

Dragon Force

Shining Force 3

Panzer Dragoon Saga

Princess Crown

Tengai Makyou IV: The Apocalypse

Earthbound Zero

Dragon Warrior

Secret of Mana

Earthbound

Mother 3

Pokemon Diamond

Pokemon White

The World Ends with You

SMT Devil Survivor

Chrono Trigger

FF VII: Crisis Core

Persona 3 Portable

Next Time: Games 10 through 8.

Peace out and geek out,

Mikeke352

Fear Knows No Sense: The Spiral Staircase

This is an EXCELLENT old black and white suspense thriller. It tells the story of young psycho-somatically mute woman named Helen who lives in a small New England town around 1915. There have been several Murders in the town, each victim a young woman with some sort of disability ( a bad leg, "mentally impaired, blind, etc.)people fear for Helen’s safety after yet another “afflicted” woman is found dead, but Helen is determined to not be afraid. She works at a huge, old, Victorian house helping take care of the doddering, bedridden widow, Mrs. Warren. (Ethel Barrymore) Helen is very devoted to keeping Mrs. Warren Company and helping her through out the day. She is also one of the few people Mrs. Warren is truly fond of. Mrs. Warren was a very strong independent woman in her youth, enjoying hunting and camping, and feels embarrassed of her bedridden state, making her irritable and grumpy(er than usual) (Again, Helen is the only person she trusts enough to talk about this with.)

Mrs. Warren tends to ramble in and out of coherency, and during these rambling moments she warns Helen to go far away, to stay somewhere safe away from the murders.  However, Helen being the strong character she is, decides to stay and help. That night, there is a bad storm, and it seems that someone starts toying with the people in the house. This includes Mrs. Warren’s two sons, one a studious professor and the other a free floating playboy, A housekeeper and her husband the handyman, and the professor’s secretary. One of these people is diabolically sneaking around the house, hiding medicines, playing with the lights, and spying on Helen from a distance. After someone disappears, it becomes clear to Helen that someone is after her, and she must defend herself in silence.

During all of this the big question is how do you call for help when you can't speak, and who do you call to when no one can be trusted? Helen is constantly cautious and during the big climax, uses the killer’s view of her as a helpless criminal to get dangerously close to the killer to end it all. The whole plot builds up with a suspenseful confrontation that completely surprised me when I first saw it.
            This is one of my favorite old thriller movies. The acting is excellent. Dorothy McGuire and Ethel Barrymore really steal the show in their performances. The rest of the cast is just as good, but something about those two really drives the movie. The whole mute plot heightens the suspense tastefully, and is far from a gimmick. The cinematography and directing is excellent and sets the mood for every scene and environment perfectly. A few scenes that really stand out are the scenes when Helen first gets to the mansion in the pouring rain and the killer is watching her about to try and make a move in the shadows. For the most part, the movie has aged well over the years, (it being first released in 1946,) but the soundtrack stick out like a sore thumb. There’s a definite overuse of the Theremin, but you basically tune it out after a while. If you like old movies, especially ones like Laura,(1944) (which I already reviewed in my “rough week’ post, if you haven’t read it, go do it now, it’s a great movie.) give this one a shot. You’ll probably love it.

Peace out and geek out,

Mikeke352

Fear Knows no Sense

Recently, I was digging through some DVD’s at this awesome store that sells used and new DVD’s, CD’s, and video games, when I came across two old thriller movies that I absolutely adore, Wait Until Dark, and The Spiral Staircase. After stumbling upon these less-then-widely-known gems, I thought, why not talk about go over each of them a bit for my next blog entry.

Both movies are not only notable for their masterful uses of suspense, but because both films have handicapped protagonists that have an inner power and determination that transcends their perceived helplessness. Both struggle with and ultimately use their disabilities to their advantage at least for a portion of the movie. in Wait Until Dark, the protagonist uses her heightened senses due to blindness to help figure out the truth behind a dangerous conman. In The Spiral Staircase, a period piece set in the early 1900’s a Psycho-somatically mute woman, (meaning the cause for her muteness is mental,) uses the acknowledgment that she can’t call for help to get close enough to trouble to stop it.

The first movie, the 1967 classic, Wait until Dark is new to me. It stars Audrey Hepburn as Susy, a recently blinded woman who is still learning to live without sight. Her husband, a photographer, comes into possession of a doll (unknowingly,) stuffed with heroin during a trip, and it it’s not long before the psychotic Mr. Roat (who was expecting to be delivered the doll in the first place,) tracks it down and hires two con men to help him with an elaborate plan to get it back. What they don’t know is that Susy misplaced the doll and it was stolen by the little girl that lives upstairs complicating things further.

After luring her husband away for an overnight photo shoot, the three crooks begin an elaborate hoax to try and make Susy hand over the doll. The three men come and go into her apartment, trying to trick the poor blind woman into thinking her husband had an affair, then murdered his mistress, and that the doll is evidence. The two con men each play consistent roles in the plot, one pretends to be an old war buddy of the husband to get on Susy’s good side and the other pretends to be a cop to intimidate her. Mr. Roat pretends to be two different people, (at different times,) and this is when things get interesting.

Susy can tell by the sounds of the shoes and the way Roat walks that both his “characters” are the same person. She starts using her other senses more clearly to uncover the plot, which leads to an incredibly tense, climactic showdown: Susy, realizing that Roat killed off the other two men and was tired of playing games with her, smashes all of the lights outside of and inside of her apartment so she has the advantage of using her other senses to the fullest while Roat struggles. For this part of the movie, there is very low lighting and the more traumatic, violent scenes are left to the imagination of the audience.  In fact when this movie was shown in theaters, the lights were dimmed bit by bit until the theater went completely dark to drive home the experience.

Now, I had heard a lot about this movie from some friends who are film buffs, but I had my doubts about how scary this would be, and honestly it’s not too creepy for the first half of the movie. The suspense slowly builds and really takes off for the last 45 minutes. The TV channel Bravo listed this movie’s climax in its top 10 (out of 100) scary movie moments, and I can wholeheartedly say that I agree with them. The ending makes this movie folks. It had me tense, on the edge of my seat and I swear I jumped 3 feet at least 3-4 times through the big showdown. As a whole, this movie is excellent. If you find yourself not too thrilled with the first 20-30 minutes, I urge you to keep watching it all the way through, you won’t be disappointed.

Next Time: A look at The Spiral Staircase

Peace out and geek out,
Mikeke352

Top Ten Video Game Soundtracks: NUMBAH ONE!

1)      Enemy Zero (Saturn)

Now about 95-98% of you are reading this thinking, what the F@#K is Enemy Zero? And before I answer why this VG soundtrack deserves the number one spot, I’m going to tell you a little background info on this game.

Enemy Zero is a survival horror game for the Sega Saturn in 1996 by the brilliant, yet quirky Japanese Game developer, WARP. (I’ll discuss them more another time.) The game is a combination of pre-rendered adventure-exploration game and first person shooter. The story follows the protagonist, Laura Lewis, who was awakened from hyper-sleep on a space research ship to find it in emergency wake up mode. Laura must fight her way through the enemies with her laser gun, (that has a very limited charge,) and explore the ship for survivors and clues on what really caused this alien infestation. Sound mediocre? Well to tell you the truth, I think it might have been if it weren’t for a few things: gameplay, storytelling, and especially the music. Every single Enemy in Enemy Zero is invisible, and the only way Laura can detect them is through sound. A high pitched ping means an enemy is in front of her, a mid-pitched ping means it’s beside, or in a hallway adjacent to her, and a low pitch ping means it’s behind her. The faster the pings come the closer it gets. This really gets your heart pounding as you have to charge your gun at the perfect amount, (not enough charge and you don't hurt it, too much charge and the gun overheats,) before you shoot it, making it quite the thrill.

The other thing that helps Enemy Zero bridge the gap between “Meh” to “masterful” is how the story is told. Kenji Eno directs the cinematics beautifully and the story is paced well, but it's not quite enough to make it exceptional. What really gives you the sense of attachment that's needed for a challenging game like this is the music. What gives you, the player, the drive to finish this quest, to feel for the characters, making you feel sadness or grief over their death, or the joy and energy of their reunion, is the Soundtrack.

The Soundtrack is written and composed by the infinitely talented Michael Nyman. He has done several masterful soundtracks in the past; including the soundtrack for the academy award winning 1993 film, The Piano. Well, Mr. Nyman spared no bit of his talent for Enemy Zero even though it was a video game. This soundtrack is beyond beautiful; it’s gorgeous. I sincerely doubt that the level of emotion and connection Kenji Eno set out for when making this game would have been achieved with out this soundtrack. It’s chilling, triumphant, heartrending, whatever it needs to be over the course of the game. And, as far as overall lisntenability goes, this factor alone blew it's way to the top of my list. This is one of my go-to soundtracks whenever I need to be swayed into a specific mood for a writing project. I can just sit back and listen to it and be content with everything around me. It’s even made me cry once when a song came on when I was feeling down. This, ladies and gentlemen, is my favorite Video game soundtrack of all time, and I don’t think that will change.

As a side note: how this soundtrack came to be is actually a funny story. here is a clip from a 1up.com interview w/ Kenji Eno, Enemy Zero's director"
"...I like Michael Nyman a lot, and I like his soundtracks, so I was thinking that it would be awesome if I could get him to do the music. I thought, "That would be impossible, but it'd be great if that happened." ...then, there was a big earthquake in Kobe, Japan in 1995, and Michael Nyman was donating pianos to schools in the city. When this earthquake happened, he said that he wanted to check out how the pianos that he donated were doing, so he came to Japan. When I found out that he was in Japan, I invited him back to my hotel room and tried to convince him, for six hours, to come work with me. So, at the end, Michael was like, "OK, I'll do it, I'll do it. Just let me go back to my room." So he went back exhausted after being convinced for six hours. We didn't work out terms or conditions; he just said that he would do it."-Kenji Eno, 1up interview   Kenji Eno interview with 1-up .com

Samples: Digital Complex, The last Movement/ flashback , Gameplay sample

Top Ten Video Game Soundtracks 4-2

4) Silent Hill 2 (PS2, Xbox, PC)

Silent Hill 2 is probably my favorite horror game of all time. It’s a terrifying, psychologically intoxicating, addicting, experience. What makes this game such a well rounded psychological horror game is not only solid game play and a great, complex story, but also a sophisticated, moody soundtrack. During the cut scenes, the music does a perfect job setting the mood for the developing story and also setting a feel for each character. Whether it’s a sensual yet creepy vibe for Maria, or the “this guy isn’t all there in the stability department” for Eddie. During the standard gameplay segments, the music takes a more ambient tone with repetitive, industrial sounds that gives the player a feeling of total unease. The fact is, this soundtrack works well with the various moods of the game and adapts its sound to both the cutscenes and gameplay. Adding in the fact that it’s great to listen to in a contemplative of broody mood, I have no doubt this deserves the number 4 spot.

Sample: Theme of Laura & Promise (reprise)

3) Earthbound a.k.a Mother 2  (SNES/ GBA(jp only))

This is not only one of my favorite SNES games, it’s probably one of my top 5 RPG’s of all time. With a contemporary setting, quirky story, and even quirky characters, it’s no surprise that Earthbound has a fairly eclectic soundtrack that is beautifully produced through the Super Nintendo’s exceptional sound chip. The songs on the soundtrack range from, tacky, cheerful, and spooky to just plain weird. A couple of the songs, (Smiles and Tears + Because I love you,) are just so romantic and just plain beautiful that they can get me a little misty eyed when they are used in their proper context of the game. Listening to Because I Love You play in the background while Ness slowly walks Paula back to her house, and the little moment they have at her doorstep…priceless. Getting me this worked up over a 16-bit soundtrack is a task that is rarely (or not at all) accomplished with any other 16-bit game. It truly is a wonderful soundtrack to carry along a wonderful experience. Personally, I love to listen to this soundtrack when I’m doing a lot of tough schoolwork, as it keeps me in a great mood. I could seriously talk about this game and its music all day, so I’m going to stop here. If you haven’t already, PLAY EARTHBOUND. Are you doing it? Go. Now!

Samples: Because I Love You & Hi! Hi! Hi! (Mr. Saturn Valley) & smiles and tears (yes a third sample. It’s my blog, I can what I want dammit :B

2) Earthbound Zero, a.k.a Mother 1   (NES-Famicom)

Ok, now I know some of you Mother/Earthbound fan somewhere on the interwebs are totally having seizures over the fact I rank the simpler/less known NES game, Mother 1's OST, higher than Earthbound, (Mother 2 in Japan.) Yes, the graphics are a little sub-par, especially for how late it was released in the NES/Famicom’s lifespan, and yes the gameplay is not nearly as good as Earthound or Mother 3. Hell, even the music isn’t put together as eloquently as Earthbound’s. But, it portrays and gives the player the feeling of serious emotion all throughout the game, forcing the player to empathize with the characters. This is very impressive when you take into effect that the NES can only play 3 notes at a time and the graphical and spatial limitations for Text and sound on an NES Cartridge. To give out powerful emotion so well despite all these problems and limitations makes me think it is deserving of the #2 spot on my list. Mother 1 has a good 8-bit soundtrack, but it has a WONDERFUL orchestral/vocal soundtrack that was composed entirely in English.  The easiest VG soundtrack closest to the NES one to find is the Mother 1+2 OST, and on this soundtrack the music has been updated a 16 bit style remake. But really, you can’t go wrong with either one.

Samples: Wisdom of the World (vocal) & Opening song & Eight melodies (vocal) (my fav)

Peace out and geek out,
Mikeke352

Top Ten Video Game Soundtracks: 7-5

Hello my fellow Geeks and Nerds, 

for tonight's post, I will reveal entries 7 through 5 of my top ten favorite video game soundtracks. As a reminder this is a list of favorites for me not the ten best sounding, or most elegantly recorded, just my favorites. that's all

7) The World Ends With You (DS)

The World Ends with You has the special distinction of being the only hand-held game soundtrack on my list. Half the reason of why this is so high up on my list is because it’s Nintendo DS game. For a game on a hand-held system it has a pretty large soundtrack. It encompasses a fairly large range of genres, (hip-hop- rock, electronica and pop,) and produces good songs for each one. The soundtrack fits the mood of the game at all times, and is diverse enough to listen to the whole thing on its own. Very cool.

Samples: It's So Wonderful + Twister

6) Katamari Damacy

NANA-NANANANANA-NA-N- … o_O;; Ummm yeah. I pretty much can’t discuss this game without humming, singing, or whistling the part of the theme song. It’s just too damn catchy for its own good. Katamari Damacy is one of those quirky games with a strange premise and quirky sense of humor, so it makes sense that Katamari has an eclectic, bouncy, sort of soundtrack. The soundtrack is easy going, and at time relaxing, working extremely well with the simple, (yet addicting,) laidback game play. A lot of the music takes a lounge-music style and is performed wonderfully. I can’t say much on the lyrics or vocals since I don’t speak Japanese, but they have a dreamy, sing-song quality. I like to listen to this soundtrack when I’m going on long walks, or in the background  when I’m doing class work. It’s just great to put you in a relaxed, pleasant mood.

Samples: Katamari on the Rocks + Katamaritaino

5) REZ (Dreamcast, PS2)

Through its very nature, Music is an essential part of what Rez is. Rez is a musical rail shooter from Sega’s UGA division, designed by the same team that did both Space Channel 5 games. So, before I even played it, I knew the music was good. Every little action you do in Rez is set to or effected by the music, and the different paths you take determine what layers of music are added to the track as you go. Literally every shot and button tap is released to the beats of the music. The whole game is a Trance-shooting experience that sounds great, and is a little different every time you play. As a stand alone soundtrack, Rez is pretty decent, but it can be a bit odd to listen to the songs without the personal touches of your gameplay.

Samples: Rez Area 1,  Rez Area 5

Peace out and geek out,
Mikeke352

Top Ten Video Game Soundtracks: 10-8 EDIT

In Honor of the (graphically superior) Dreamcast version of Space Channel 5 part 2 getting an upcoming release on the PSN and Xbox live arcade, I decided to start a top ten list of my favorite VG soundtracks.

EDIT: I decided that Space Channel 5 & SC5 part 2 should count as one entry, so here is the revised 10-8 list.

10) Castlevania (Rondo of blood/ Symphony of the Night) [Turbo CD, PS1]

The Castlevania Games have always had great music and awesome identifiable themes, even from their starting days on the NES. But, it was when The series hit the CD format that the soundtracks moved from “eh, pretty good,” to “great.” These first 2 CD based Castlevania games definitely prove my point. The songs range from, energetic, to eerie, to just plain epic. It fit’s the game well and also is fun on it’s own.

Sample(s):  Vampire Killer & Requiem 

9) Space Channel 5/ Space Channel 5 part 2(Dreamcast, PS2)

Part of me really, really, wants these games higher up on the list, but my more critical side is restricting them to the number 9 spot. Space Channel 5 for the Sega Dreamcast has an awesome soundtrack that could have come straight out of the 60’s if it didn’t have that one techno song stuck right in the middle. Each song has a killer beat and goes great with the game-play's sleek, sexy retro-futuristic style. Every one of the songs on the soundtrack blends well with the next, but that’s part of the reason this game is stuck in the 9 spot and not 4 or 5; the songs start to sound sort of similar after a while, and although fun, the soundtrack isn't too varied. This is not a huge surprise, because the majority of the soundtrack as well as the game itself were inspired by the 1960’s Ken Woodman song, Mexican Flyer. Don’t let it get you down on the game or soundtrack though, both are super fun. The sequel’s music is just as good, in fact it has a wider range of musical styles, but it isn’t different enough for a seperate entry in this countdown

(Remember, don’t forget to pick Part 2 up on the PSN or Xbox live arcade when they come out! :3)

Sample: End bosses + support chant & Guitar battle

8) Jet Grind Radio (Dreamcast)

Jet Grind radio is a totally over the top skating/action-platformer, one of my top 5 dreamcast games, and probably one of my favorite games of all time. It’s one of those games that once you figure out the basics, you can basically jump right in and have a blast with Now, the game would have been great on its own, but it’s Hip-Hop, Techno, Ska/Punk-Rock soundtrack puts you in the moment, not to mention a great mood. As far as just listening to the soundtrack on it’s own goes, this one is a terrific mood lifter. Seriously, this kept me in a good mood while I was cleaning the kitchen! I friggin had to unclogged the sink too! True fact.

Samples:  Jet Set Medley + Funky Radio

 

Peace out and Geek out,
Mikeke352

Retro Gaming, Collections- Part 2: Game Consoles and their libraries

For part 2 I will be giving brief discussions of what types of games are on each systems, and where to start your reseach on all these games.

Here is a guide of what game genres you should expect to run into for different systems

NES- There is seriously something for everyone on the NES because it has a little bit of everything. Shooters, (a lot of) platformers, action/ adventure games, puzzle, racing, even RPG’s. There is a reason why some people hold the NES high on a pedestal, and that’s because so many of the games were great, even the 3rd party ones. But keep in mind that nothing is perfect. Although there are certainly a lot of gems on the NES, theres a lot of crap too. This is more noticeable for NES games later in it’s lifespan.

Sega Master System- The Master System, Sega’s first Console, was technically superior to the NES with a wider color palette and a better sound chip. Although it has these advantages, it never was the success Sega expected. It has a similar range of genres to the NES, but a more limited library, at least in the US. This in part is due to Nintendo’s tyrannical dealings with third party developers in the 1980’s. (They basically told developers either you make games just for the NES, or not at all.) Despite all this, it didn’t stop Sega from releasing some great games on their own. ( It even had the first J-RPG released in America, (Phantasy Star.)

Sega Genesis- The genesis is a great Gamers game system and has a lot of action games, platformers, sports games, adventure games, and shooters. The Genesis has a very large game library, (around 500 games,) and many classic Sega franchises first got their debut on this system. There aren’t a ton of RPG’s for the genesis, and most of them are directly from sega, but the ones that the Genesis got are pretty good. You really can’t go wrong with any Phantasy Star, or Shining Force

Turbografx-16- The turbografx is a neat little oddity. The games are stored on credit card sized chips and even though it is a few years older than the Genesis, it has a MUCH larger color palette Having only recently acquired a Turbografx, I’m not nearly as familiar with its library, but I’ll give it a shot. -_-;;  The Turbografx has many excellent scrolling shooters and arcade ports, as well as some cool platformers and action games. Neither the game cards or the Turbografx itself can store save data, (without an add-on,) so don’t expect many RPG’s, or strategy games. . If you are lucky enough to have the pricey (region & copy protection free) CD add-on, you can find more high(er) quality, longer games, including many excellent RPG’s, strategy games, and anime style games complete with cinimatics and voice acting.

Part 2 Continued will include Game console/game library info for the Super Nintendo, Sega Saturn, Playstation 1, N64, and Dreamcast.

Next Time: either a journal entry or Retro Gaming Part 2 (cont.)

Peace out and geek out,

Mikeke352

Rough Week?

Honestly? It’s been sort of crazy week. Classes have been dropped, added, rescheduled, dropped again, incorrectly added and then as a result been automatically dropped. Again. Add on top multiple runs to the Campus book store for returns and new purchases, and scheduling errors. (It turns out my “Development of Modern Poetry” class starts at 5PM instead of 6:15PM, which explains why I could never find it.) Things have been hectic, but (lately) when the crazy dies down for the day, I actually have tried some cool movies and stuff that I would say qualify for geeky, So instead of a typical review, This is going to be more of a journal-ish blog.

1)      Laura (1944)

A couple nights ago I was going through my streaming netflix account and was surprised to come across the classic detective/Film Noir movie: Laura. This is an excellent movie, apparently some critics tout it as the beginning of the Film Noir genre.

It tells the story of a detective investigating the brutal (but never seen,) murder of the beautiful, young ,advertising executive, Laura Hunt. As he questions her relatives, friends neighbors, etc, he falls in love with the idea of who she was from what is described to him. Things get complicated when one of her friends calls him out on it, and even more so when Laura walks through the front door of her apartment, alive. The acting, cinematography, story, all great.  If you like old movies or classic detective stories and happen to have netflix, give it a shot. I don’t think you’ll be disappointed.

2)      Labyrinth (1986)

Honestly? This movie has not aged well. At all. Even though the acting seems stale and roughly 1/3 of the effects seem totally hokey by today’s standards, this still is a very fun movie to watch. I love Jim Henson. He takes puppetry and optical illusions to impressive heights, and for the most part Labyrinth is no exception. Most of the effects that up the “meh” factor of this movie are the CG/computer aided effects, most of the ones that rely on optics and the puppets/animatrons are the ones that work.

Plot and soundtrack –wise, this film is a mess, but that’s part of the fun. You watch it going, “yeah that dancing scene is cool but where the hell did it come from? Why is it there?” or just baffled in general by David Bowie decided to act in and write most of the big songs. Just put it on, shut off the logic and plot critic parts of your brain, and enjoy the ride; It’s completely bad and ridiculous, but the fun kind. Sort of like Rocky Horror is insane and plot hole-ish, but at least Rocky Horry was meant to be that way.

More on my stress relieving geekary tomorrow. I need sleep.

Peace out and geek out,

Mikeke352

Lost at Sea: Graphic Novel Review

“Raleigh is eighteen years old, and she has no idea what she’s doing.If you’ve ever been eighteen, or confused or both, maybe you should read this book.”

This is a comment from the back cover of Bryan Lee O’Malley’s marvelous first graphic novel, Lost at Sea, and it is the perfect blurb for this wonderful story.

I first became aware of Lost at Sea’s existence after seeing it’s picture in the back cover of each Scott Pilgrim book. After asking around and looking it up on the web, I decided to give it a try, and let me tell you. It was COMPLETELY worth it.

Lost at Sea tells the story of Raleigh, an eighteen year old girl who is stuck in the awkward and frightening transition period between high school and college. She’s unsure of herself, uncomfortable in her skin, and a little socially paranoid. From the start of the book she’s emotionally hanging on by a thread, and to top everything off, she’s stuck in a car on road trip from California back to Canada with three other kids she barely knows form her high school . This whole situation combined with some motives that are not fully explained until later in the book, (and you won’t find theme here, sorry,) leads to a reluctant coming of age journey that helps Raleigh grow and learn important nuances in life. Things like stumbling through words expressing yourself, and knowing that no one is completely OK and that it is this baggage that unites us.

Lost at Sea is told in a first person omniscient narrative, and does a great job doing so. O’malley writes the story so while Raleigh does explain to us her feelings and some of her thoughts directly, it is done so without blatantly telling the reader what going on or what will happen. O’Malley also does a good job of putting us in her shoes, making the reader feel her awkwardness and feelings of isolation and confusion. You are never lost in a maze of Raleigh’s thoughts, even though there is a large amount of narrative text. To put it simply the story is told beautifully, causing empathy for the reader towards the characters.

The art in Lost at Sea is fairly simple, but at the same time it’s expressive and fun to look at. There's not a lot to say about the artwork really, it’s pretty standard stuff, but nothing to write home about; and yet, that’s part of it’s charm. The art progresses the story and portrays emotion well enough without it being a distraction or detrimental to the experience. It does it’s job, and that’s enough.

Overall, I LOVED this graphic Novel. It’s emotional without being emo, and it’s dramatic but at the same time still fun to read. I totally recommend it,

10/10

Next Time: Part 2 of the retro gaming series.

Peace out and geek out,

Mikeke352

Starting Retro-Gaming Collections-Part One: Intro

Hello fellow Geeks,

In case you haven’t noticed from the pictures posted, I am a retro-gamer. Don’t get me wrong, I love my PS3 and the games for it, But retro-games hold a very special place in my heart. Collecting and playing these old games is a major hobby, one that should take some serious thought when starting out.

“Why do I want to collect these systems and titles? What systems should I start out with and why? What games should I buy? Where are some good places to buy them?”

These are some important questions you should consider. For example, I personally decided to get into retro gaming because I feel it’s important to play and respect the games that have revolutionized the industry and various genres. It’s really cool to be able to look at a modern game and think, this common gaming mechanic originated from this overlooked title, and I started out with the Sega Dreamcast and Saturn. Anyway, before I ramble on forever, I’m going to go into ways to approach these questions and help you make the right choices for you.

Deciding on the retro systems you start out with is important. One thing to do that is IMMENSELY helpful is research, research, research. Google is your friend. Another good place to learn about systems you are interested in is Racketboy’s beginner’s guides. (Link below.)Then, start examining your budget. It’s expensive to start out this hobby at first, systems range in various prices, and then you have to think about controllers, hook ups, and memory cards; it can be intimidating. I suggest starting out with no more than two systems at the same time. I suggest looking into the more common, older systems, (as they tend to be cheaper,) and researching what systems have an abundance of games in your favorite genres.

A good game console to start out with, in my opinion, is the NES. It’s old enough that you don’t have to worry about memory cards or expensive peripherals, and many of the most popular and fun titles were produced in large quantities meaning they’re cheap. There is something for everyone on the NES, and it’s held up a good recommendation for a reason.

The Genesis isn’t too much worse price-wise for starting up a collection either, if you like some more challenging games for a somewhat older audience, (I’m not saying you can’t get this on the NES, I’m just pointing out the Genesis/Mega Drive was aimed at the teenage/ older gamer crowd, so there are more games for those ages.) The Genesis might be a better choice for you.

For Part 2: What types of games are on what systems, where to find good places to buy these games and info on them, and price guides to keep in mind.

Next Time: either a review of the graphic Novel "Lost At Sea," or Part 2 of the retro game series.

Peace out and geek out,

Mikeke352

Racketboy Link:

http://www.racketboy.com/guide/retro-gaming-101

A Hint

Here's a hint on the next blog topic:


It'll be uploaded as soon as it's done.

Peace out and geek out,
Mikeke352

Weird is the New Polite

Hello again geeks and nerds,

Convention season is approaching. Whether you’re a N00b or a regular, it is important to keep these guidelines in mind:

Respect cosplay. (costume-play) cosplay, is a huge part of conventions. It’s fine to compliment and look at others costumes; some people spend several months working on them, BUT do not touch, or hug, without permission. The same goes for photos. If you ask, the answer is usually yes. Taking pictures or hugging without permission at these things is considered creepy and rude. Remember, some costumes are delicate. Trust me, you don’t want a guy in a semi-broken eight foot tall robot costume chasing you down.

Be prepared for some strange sites while you’re looking around as well. It is not uncommon to see costumes bordering underwear and/or men in drag: Sailor Manly-Moon. Remember, conventions are a once a year occurrence to most, where geeks can go all out and not be ridiculed. Don’t be the one to ruin that fun. If something bothers you, walk away.

Be open to anything. Spontaneous weirdness WILL occur. If people on the far end of a line shout out, “MARCO,” yell back “POLO.” It’s all part of the experience. Try something new, like I mentioned earlier, this is a once a year event, so you might as well let loose. If you are normally afraid of showing your geeky side, or tend to be on the shy side, an Anime Con might be just what you need. You won’t be judged here, so absorb all the weirdness you can, dance in the hallways, try a costumed fighting event, karaoke as loud as you can! No true musical talent is required.

Lastly, be social and have fun! You may meet new friends you will never forget.

Next time: A blog on something video game related...I think.

Peace out and geek out,

Mikeke352

Welcome!

Hello my dear geeks and nerds, Welcome to The Geek Commentaries, a blog that will cover geeky topics such as video games, tech stuff, anime/manga, movies, etc. I have a fairly busy schedule at the moment, with my college classes starting up and a crazy-active job hunt, so at the moment there is no set update schedule for the blog. I do have a few guest authors in mind to help out when things get a little slow.

Next Time: expect a blog on either anime convention etiquette or starting a retro game collection.

Peace out and geek out,

Mikeke352