Considering I’ve got my own background of time traveling from Chrono Trigger and Chrono Cross, Steins;Gate never failed to amaze me on how it constructs and deconstructs each and every building block it presented. But, there is this one thing that makes me feel iffy about Steins;Gate, and it’s the existence of predetermined events ie, Mayuri’s death, regardless of the means, not unless Okarin returns to the beta timeline. This is rather shitty in my opinion because it’s as if all the D-mails were tightly tied in order to invoke Mayuri’s death even though the original cause used to be a gunshot. Also, the dialogue of Okarin to Moeka regarding her fate to die on 8/15 was a blatant statement about predetermination. I’m not quite convinced as to why this is the case even if the show makes references to the Butterfly effect. Isn’t it quite surprising that a mere text could change and cause divergence in the timeline and yet actual change in the decision of the character outside the influence of D-mail won’t change his/her fate?

What now? D-mails have surpassed entropy? No matter how I look at it D-mails are like spam text messages. Since it’s quite obvious that the D-mails were the conditions that triggered Mayuri’s death, I don’t know why the series set it as if it’s the absolute initial conditions, that Mayuri’s death is irreversible not unless it’s those conditions that are changed. Supposedly, there are no absolute initial conditions if we are talking about predetermination so I wonder why they came up with the solution through cancellation of the D-mails instead.

Cancelling the D-mails is also a complicated thing on its own. Just for an easier analogy:

Open MS Paint. Have a blank picture, save it. This is timeline A. Now, draw a spot on it. That’s timeline B. Now erase that spot. While it looks exactly like the first one (timeline A), it’s still timeline C. As proof, exit MS Paint. It will ask if you want to save the changes (even though it looks exactly the same). (from Chrono Compendium)

As easy as it may sound, the timeline where D-mails have been cancelled is still different from the timeline before the mails were sent. Recall that D-mail has its own flaw when it was tried by Daru and more recently by Okarin in an attempt to cancel Moeka’s D-mail. The actual thing which triggered all of the events up until now is the act of believing in what was written in the mail as well the significance of the information relative to the situation it will be applied to. That means, to cancel the mail, the second D-mail must hold greater significance than the earlier.

I may have interpreted things differently (please do object if it’s wrong) but I see D-mails as a “horizontal” travel in the timelines while Kurisu’s can do “vertical” travel. I think it’s quite understandable to assume that predetermination might exist if one chooses to undergo vertical travel since one might simply choose to observe, like what Okarin is doing lately. The thing is, Okarin never simply observed during the first few travels. I still remember that scene where Okarin and Mayuri almost escaped only for Nae to push Mayuri to the rail track. I don’t know what’s the deal about this. Yes, there’s the Butterfly effect that triggers the death flag for Mayuri but why won’t changes right on that timeline cause any divergence? It’s as if all of the possible scenarios were already written down only to end with Mayuri dying. Just to clarify, I’d like to believe that Okarin is carrying out his free will in trying to save Mayuri many times(which is obvious, see: Bad end with Feyris).  It’s just that the predetermination of Mayuri’s death through various means despite avoiding the Rounders undermines Okarin’s exercise of free will. Did he really had a choice? Or was his decision to save Mayuri already written down in the future history book?

Although the series suggests that the equilibrium of the timeline can only be achieved through Mayuri’s death, and that it can only be thwarted by cancelling the D-mails, I’m not buying it. I think Mayuri’s death could have been easily thwarted simply by knowing all available information and possible escape routes before the Rounders approach the lab. This is why I find it unbelievable that despite escaping the Rounders, she still dies. I’d say that cancelling the D-mails should only have been to related to SERN’s discovery of their time machine, and not Mayuri’s death. It could have been believable up until now if cancelling the D-mails was primarily to shut up SERN but since it is also related to Mayuri’s death, it appears to me that it was forced so it’ll have that despair feeling needed to dramatize Okarin’s situation as well as the dilemma of who to sacrifice between Mayuri and Kurisu.

But then again,

Everything is purely a problem of possibilities, and the world is only stabilized by the viewpoint of the one who observes it.

– which is undoubtedly Okarin… But of course, I’m still quite skeptic up until now about the Reading Steiner since it’s the reason why only Okarin is immune to timeline changes and yet the means as to how he acquired it didn’t have any back story as of yet.

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image credits: pixiv users nineo, ぎうにう, huke

Unlike other people who probably watched this film with prior expectations due to their very own gameplay and experience (since I assume that the main target audience of the film are the fans), I (un)fortunately do not own the console necessary to play this one so I’d say I pretty much liked the movie as a solid, stand-alone film, assuming you have never played the game itself before, or if you want it already as is, as well as if you didn’t touch the game after. But, I made a blunder… since I decided to follow the game too.

Since I’m quite familiar to the Tales of series, as I have played both Phantasia and Abyss (not Symphonia) maybe you can’t really say that I’m empty handed in terms of what to expect. Either way, I think it pretty much didn’t work out because Vesperia easily outdid my expectations based on my benchmark, which is Abyss.

I actually preferred a chronological experience of the series so I watched it based on which happened first, which is why I watched the film first since it is said to be the prequel of the game. If I followed the order of the release, playing the game should have come first.

I did say I don’t own a Xbox360 so to make it possible for me to continue exploring Terca Lumireis, I watched instead KaddyGamer’s playthroughs in YouTube which, I say, really ate up a lot of my precious time since I approximately watched 300 of his videos. I absolutely think this is a wiser move than to buy the game and the console since it is known that the game has been published as well for PS3 along with additional extras. (Yes, I’m one of those who are hoping that the PS3 version be localized. Note: I also don’t have PS3 but I’ll be very willing to buy one if this game gets localized in the future)

Before watching Kaddy’s playthrough, you won’t really figure out that much whether Flynn and Yuri really are friends based from the film since the two like to put salt on each other’s wounds and most of the time, you can only hear them arguing and throwing snarky remarks at each other. They even emphasized how the two of them merely grew up from the same place – no more, no less. Although I guess this kind of bickering is just common between friends, you would clearly see the connection between the two whenever they are fighting using their swords.

The idea of the backstory for Flynn’s behavior in relation to his father was just so-so since it irritated me so much whenever I see Flynn reasoning out why his father died, blah blah. After watching Kaddy’s playthrough, I don’t really get it though why they had to add that backstory to Flynn since his character is already fine as it is. I don’t think he needs that kind of background to explain his decision to join the knights.

Speaking of joining the knights, when the reason for Yuri and Flynn’s act of joining the knights was asked by the twins, I was quite confused why the two didn’t had a consensus in their answer since I really thought, based from the game that the two decided to join the knights together in their hopes to change the system. Meanwhile, in the film Flynn was even surprised to see Yuri enlisting himself.

The thing which really caught my attention at almost an instant was the scene with Rita, although this is during watching the gameplay already. Compared to when I watched the playthrough, Rita doesn’t know that much yet about aer krenes before Duke explained it to the party. I was puzzled when I watched the playthrough since I expected Rita to already possess the vast knowledge about aer krenes, in support to all that she said and advised the Nylen Corps from the film. Why is it that she’s only starting to investigate them in the game. What I also found odd was that how come there was a very light start for Vesperia? Considering the tragedy that befell near Shizontania, I don’t really think it was appropriate that Yuri himself, who experienced it on first hand, didn’t really bother that much after such phenomenon. He was just bothered once again when there’s already the issue of the Adephagos. Also, there’s just this me who was expecting Yuri to have some sort of  reaction to aer krenes, such as remembering the events in First Strike during the gameplay. But there’s no such thing – which pretty much made me think that the film wasn’t really a planned prelude but an accessory to the story, except for, which was the only grounded fact from the movie, the backstory of Yuri’s bodhi blastia.

PS. Mint, sorry for trolling you if you expected a gameplay review XD. (That will wait until we hear the news for PS3 localization *crosses fingers*)

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image credits: pixiv user あゆみ

My gameplay has been interrupted last summer and since I was busy from school work from there on, I was only able to finish P4 this Christmas break. Now, I was able to finish one among the games in my backlog.

I’ve finished Persona 3 (The Journey) just last year, also this time of year, so I can still clearly remember it to compare it to its successor, Persona 4. I think I already made a comment about this on The Fool regarding the depth of the story and the artistic choices of the production. Persona 3 is much more engaging in my opinion because I think Persona 3 has this ominous and eerier atmosphere compared to Persona 4 which only involves serial murders through the use of the Midnight Channel. Well, if if you think of it, Midnight Channel is creative, but I also think it has it’s own down side compared to Dark Hour.

Spoilers Alert!

Dark Hour limits the connection of outsiders to those of the group while Midnight Channel is somewhat open for all. Somehow, the idea of the Dark Hour is more potent because it was caused by an experiment that went wrong while Midnight Channel was cause by an external force. Dark Hour also supports the fact that only you and your party is capable of saving the world while in Persona 4, it will be revealed that the Boss has chosen several candidates other than the protagonist.

Then again, even though I can say that Persona 3′s story is much more substantial and in-depth, it still doesn’t mean I enjoyed it that much compared to Persona 4. Persona 4 is much more enjoyable because of its well-crafted system. It has a much lighter and mellow story. One of the story’s catch is the friendship among the party members, facing the your other self, and seeking the truth behind the serial murders. It is peculiar to that of Persona 3 where the party is somewhat forced to fight and defeat the shadows in order to survive. Yep, Persona 3, I think is more of fighting for survival and duty(in the case of Mitsuru).

The system is very flexible, since you can now control your allies in battles. The modifications of the “weakness” system also helped a lot. And of course, the thing which was a neat addition is the ability of your allies to take a mortal blow for you! That’s the sweetest addition in my opinion because you won’t be shouting now at the height of frustration to your idiot party members (at P3) doing nothing when your health is already critical. Of course, the  sure critical hits from allies are also sweet, but what’s sweeter is that, they could also now withstand a mortal attack on their own. You’ll never be in a tight spot in Persona 4, not unless your enemy is fond of all-hit attacks, such as the Almighty ones. Your allies are cheapskates though, they never use items.

I didn’t really understood the exact details regarding the weather system used in the game. I have always depended on walkthroughs regarding the final date to rescue someone, because the weather system is rather confusing, compared to the simple moon phase, after all, full moon only happens one in a month. I am confused whether the days when the fog clears in the world inside the TV is rainy or foggy days…

Relatively large fraction of the story focuses as well in facing the facade of the characters, in order to gain that power to control one’s persona. Shadow is the suppressed feelings, and once the ego was able to control it, the power is called Persona. Basically, that’s what it is for some, while it was the opposite that worked for Teddie. Albeit he was a shadow first, he was able to manifest his own ego, his human form, enabling him to obtain a Persona. And by the way, bear puns are not funny. really.

One thing I also liked from the characters in the game, albeit the characters are cliche, are their different concerns, which I think relevant to everyone. I guess this is one of the great improvements from Persona 3. I see some characters from Persona 3 as superficial characters— because they really didn’t formed social link with the protagonist. Yep, it’s the male characters. It’s as if they were made just to be there in Persona 3. In Persona 4, all social links are associated with all your party mates. So there, I think it was a good choice that Persona 4 now has social links to all the party members.

I don’t know but I see the investigation part poorly played and explained through out the game… It’s as if, the crime scene was already laid out open, and you simply have to follow it, which is lame. I think, they should have played this more effectively if they really did some sort of true investigation of the scene. Most of the investigation just seemed to be mere speculations which somehow ended up to be the truth. Of course, they do not belong to a professional group for crime investigations so that’s rather demanding and too much already but I think this should have been played much more effectively if Naoto became a member of the party way earlier than she did in the game. After all, she was the detective, having her do the deductions was kind of weak, since she joined the party last, even if you say she’s been around for a long time already, she really wasn’t aware of the world inside the TV before she became the victim herself.

Nevermore just fits the ending… Leaving Inaba after all those events, and having such great friends during the stay… I don’t know but I can’t help but also feel sad even though I’m also happy that the serial case has already been resolved. Of course, who will ever forget spending such days with  Yosuke and the others after one year? That scene with all your party members were chasing for you in the train was such a tear jerker… Aw, time to move on I guess. The ending was satisfactory, and at the same time, poignant.

Persona 4, is probably the last notable RPG that was released in PS2. Those who already own PS3 who haven’t played this yet, have missed something really great.

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image credits: pixiv users ott, 雨

I was actually motivated to finally finish XF and do this post because my Wild Arms post here in the site is making quite a traffic. And just so people who view my posts would be updated, as of November 24, 2009, Wild Arms 6 is just a rumor.

And so, let’s continue with this review of Wild Arms XF.

Wild Arms XF is not really appealing to a gamer like me because I’ve had enough already of turn-based strategy games, but since, this was the first try of the merchandise to delve in such genre of game, I might as well, try it out to see if they succeeded in doing so.

System

The beginning part of the game is very challenging. Yep, it was very hectic managing your party because learning the skills just to master your current job will really take you up until the 2nd Act of the game. Well, it’s not that I didn’t enjoyed it but, it was hassle battling every now and then just to accumulate about 250 points when every battle just gives you 3 to 4 points. Yep, You will still be on your basic job up until the 2nd Act of the game and that is very boring, if only I wasn’t determined to finish it. Some battles, especially the story-bound ones give about 10 points though. The job system is not that dynamic and it’s easy to understand since you’ll just have to master the abilities of your current job and you’ll be able to equip it alongside another job.

Some fights are damn difficult! Why? Because some battles do have countdowns of how many turns your are just allowed to take, while taking on account the turns of your opponent as well. These battles requires you to temporarily shift your job to the fastest one to defeat all opponents, and at the same time, reach a certain part of the field.

If you have already experienced the intricate puzzles and conundrums from Wild Arms 5, just to open that door that leads to a boss, expect nothing less from Wild Arms XF because some dungeons here will keep you entertained for hours, doing trial and error just to make the correct sequence of shooting some switches, and such. Some switches even require a certain job just to activate. Well, this is just about 10% of the game so don’t be so stingy about it. I’ve seen numerous forum posts of having certain battles from the game being impossible to clear but, it really just depends on your party, especially the jobs you had assigned to each of them. Even though it was tough, all in all it was challenging at the same time.

[Spoiler Alert!]

Plot/Story

The story is actually divided into 4 primary chapters, and another one, which is the final act.

Hmm. Well, the start of the game wasn’t really exciting because it just shows Clarissa chasing someone after and it doesn’t really reveal anything about the latter development in the story. The story actually goes along the line of some sort of insurgence towards the current government because it was actually just the council of the king, who is bedridden, are the ones managing the country. Yep, it’s about social decay and political conspiracy. Coincidentally, Clarissa, happens to look a lot like the princess, who is supposedly dead already for several years. After being involved to some incident, she decided that she’ll help out the citizens of the country by shouldering the responsibilities of saving the country through disguising as the princess. Under these circumstances, she founded a resistance group named Chevalet Blanc, which has the objective to defeat the council that usurped the throne of the king. Well, it was not that long though before it was disclosed that she is just an impostor by the enemies.

Well, that was just the gist of the summary, and not the complete one because a lot more happens after that. You won’t really think that some aliens are behind it right? But I’m already telling you this, Wild Arms XF has still something to do with aliens from other planets,  similar to Wild Arms 5 — which is rather irrelevant to me already and I think the story has been better off without it because they should have focused instead on creating twist on the main focus of the story, which is restoring the peace and political stability of the country. Because of the alien thing, the ending somehow became “saving the world”- themed when it’s not in the very first place. The plot really diverged after introducing this certain antagonist that has something to do with the alien stuff. Thus, it somehow ended up as a hodgepodge of allies of justice kind of story with sprinkles of aliens and planet restoration, which has been the problem of Filgaia ever since.

Characters

Well, because of such wide-scope array of plot and happening within the story, the characters are somehow confusing to take a look as well.

Clarissa Arwin, the main protagonist of the story, is rather irritating during the first part of the game. I mean, why the hell should you do that disguising thing when you’re not really involved with this country?! That was some kind of whimsical idea that sprung all of a sudden just because she was involved in some kind of incident. Well, because of this weak grasp of her responsibility of decisively taking that crucial role, it backfired to her when she was forced to pull the trigger towards someone in the story just to save the country. Sometimes you see, you need that resolve first before doing something or you’ll fail in doing so. Just to make it clear though, before the true campaign of the resistance happened, her true objective alongside Felius is to find an artifact that would restore Filgaia’s land, as well as retrieving Iskender Bey, the sword of her mother which was stolen by someone.

Felius is your meek and mysterious type of male protagonist. He comes along Clarissa at the beginning of the story and the two of them are supposedly “family” but Felius actually belongs to some past that will eventually be disclosed in the story. I just can’t say anymore about him because it might just a heavy spoiler. Anyway, you’ll just know it near end that he has some big connection to the plot.

Labyrinthia is the court magician of the kingdom but she decided to rebel against the present corrupt officials, which is why she ended up as a fugitive. She was actually the root cause why Clarissa and Felius was involved in the first place. She comes along with a dog named Tony. Labyrinthia is indebted to the king which is why, she tries her best to retrieve the old kingdom the king originally founded. She has always been viewed as the most educated of all the characters, and thus making her the strategist of the party oftentimes.

Levin is the son of the captain of the Royal Knights, situated at the palace. His father still believes that the Royal Knights still has the duty to defend the palace until the end , even if those who lead are corrupt. Levin didn’t stand this view of his father, which is why he left the kingdom, tossing aside his “royalty”, something his father couldn’t do.

Alexia is the royal princess and the true heir to the throne of the kingdom. She was falsely announced as dead by the council years ago because of her mysterious disappearance on an incident. It was a surprise for Chevalet Blanc that the actual princess is still alive so they rescued her from the hands of the council. She feels that she bears the responsibility of restoring the country, which is why she is the most resolved one in defeating the council. She dreams of a peaceful kingdom and believes in the notion of active participation of the citizens.

Ragnar is one of the casualties of the prevalent war in Filgaia. He was resolved to end the conflict of the country and stumbled upon Chevalet Blanc. He tried to stopped Chevalet Blanc at first but realized the main goal they pursue so he decided to join in order to finally stop the wars in country.

I actually see a weak connection here of some characters towards the story. The latter four are really involved, which is why they do have the reason to fight against the council who tries to monopolize the power and wreak havoc in the country, but I just can’t see anything that would strongly glue both Clarissa and Felius’ purpose in being involved.

Technicalities

03_So_Warm_and_Soft.mp3

The music of the game is definitely the most commendable one even though the game’s platform is PSP. Anyway, I was just able to appreciate it through the help of some tracks listed in the Music Library of the game. I wasn’t really able to appreciate it in-game because I often play with mute sounds. I especially liked the track above, which is the background music in towns. It’s so pleasing in the ear.

Oh, the voice acting is not that commendable, it is so-so but nothing’s so great about it as well XD.

In terms of graphics, I think they also did a great job. The animators were resourceful enough and creative on how to show the animation without producing an animated cutscene, and I liked how it turned out.

Review

The game is very enjoyable in terms of the battles but not really in terms of the story. Sadly, I really didn’t enjoy the story and plot of the game because I really didn’t know what the game wanted to focus. It’s as if Wild Arms XF tried to explore a vast realm of Filgiaia this time, that they wasn’t able to contain it appropriately. The first part of the game has a very slow paced manner while the latter part has a very fast one, which makes me wonder if the producers just wanted to cut it short. They did connect the relevance of the events, but they did all at a skimmed manner — so the focus of the story just disappeared near the end. Instead of fixing the country, in relation to the corrupt council members, the ending became saving the world from an alien, while defeating a boss not really related to aliens but to some magical entity. The plot is just confusing, since there are many subplots branching from one another. The plot is simply not coherent.

Each of the character has a “nemesis” (simply someone with conflict with) in the story, and has their own “argument” against each other. This should have been the broadest one in order to make the development of the characters more solid but it was just given focus in the second to the last chapter of the game. Events during the middle chapters of the story is the most whimsical because all sort of things happened in such inappropriate manner. Some were even uncalled for, and some were really vague especially the part where the party was able to time travel at one point in the past.

Well, I think Media Vision did a great job in creating a new job system but I just can’t appreciate the story used to tell it. That’s it — then what the hell does it serves for? Well, for me, I enjoyed the game solely because of the battles. The story was just a supplementary because I really didn’t caught anything from it aside from few melodrama amongst Katrina, Alexia and Clarissa at the end. Well the ending was not clear as well because some of the antagonists were just killed off at that brink moment without some clear reason what they really are fighting for or any reason. There would have been any contradicting cliche beliefs or principles by the characters, but there were really none which made the antagonists of the game, really lame.

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Side Note: Okay a very generous tip for leveling up. “The Flatwoods” is the place where this monster called “Unwanted Visitor” spawns. All you really need to do is don’t move before you have set up Labyrinthia’s Replica. Once, it has become the target of the monster (Note: The monster ability is to half the HP of your party. It will continuously repeat doing the skill that halves the life of Replica, but it is useless since the Replica’s HP is 1. But, once the MP of the monster is depleted, it will onslaught the party so kill it while it is still dumb!) While the monster is still busy doing his useless skill of dividing the 1 HP of the Replica, begin surrounding it and spam it with Combination Arts, yep NOT Formation Arts. The higher the points you will receive if you defeated it with all the party taking part on the last Combination Arts and having the character with the highest MAG to do the thing, which is undoubtedly Laby herself as well.

This is my second playthrough so I already know the knack of the game and how to do things faster. The game’s idea and plot is rather childish compared to the main FF instalments since it involves being “spirited away” to a game which is ironically also called “Final Fantasy.” Alta oron sondus kameela. *snap* and Ivalice turned into a big country. Meanwhile, Marche started to find his way back home while encountering at the same his friends whom doesn’t want to forsake the given chance to live in their “dream world.”

Of course since this is made for a Gameboy Advance, there is nothing much to expect about the graphics and other stuffs but I guess they still made a good game even though there are restrictions.

And so, I finished FF TA once again because of boredom. Out of all the Final Fantasy instalments, I can say that the Tactics titles are the only ones I can appreciate even though I repeat playing it endlessly. Hmm, why did I say so? Well, story-wise it is very shallow compared to the main FF instalments (FF TA — that is, but not FF T) but it is not boring when it comes to strategy since it is always different and unpredictable every game play. Actually, I can tell that this game play is my best play since I’ve got all the rare stuffs from turfs and missions. I think this is the first time I actually mastered a job with a star manually without cheating and that is my Vierra character (Fencer and Elementalist). Secret character-wise, I’ve got Eldena only which is boring. What I ENJOYED THE MOST is my Blue Mage although I wasn’t able to master all of his skills. Completing Blue Mage’s skill set has always been fun. The very boring part of course is the stealing part which I didn’t do since it will take a lot of freaking hours.

I’m glad I was able to acquire good mythril items since it made my final boss fight a ‘lil fast by just shutting in the enemy and do my instant death mighty combo . My longest battle would be during the confrontation with Ritz because I stripped all their rare equipments XD.

For those who are reading the FAQs for stealing in GameFaqs, I’ve read there that in order to gain Steal:Weapon earlier, you’ll do a very stress-FULL of missions just to achieve something then something follows. Anyway, I don’t believe that one must do this just to have decent equipments since you can have those maces(Mandragora and Lotus) through rewards in other missions. Cinqueda can wait till the end since I think it is the strongest dagger in the game.

I don’t wish to have a 3rd playthrough any more. I’ve done lots of job variations already and I don’t know what to have else any more. (I think it would be fun to make a party of magicians and casters).

Okay, let’s go back to the characters. Mewt is such a selfish spoiled brat. Although you can point your finger as well to Marche, Mewt has the upper hand here which makes it unfair if he’ll be the one to stay forever in HIS dream world. Ritz, who has a kind of idiotic reason as well(which has something to do with her hair colour) is also interfering. Doned’s situation is understandable because it would really be a shame if you finally been able to walk but you’ll probably go back to being lethargic once again… Mewt on the other hand got his selfish wish to have his mother back to life at the cost of rendering other people’s lives. Luckily at the end, he finally realized his own selfishness and finally closed the chapters of the dream world.

Regarding to what happened to Montblanc, Nono, Ezel, Babus, Shara and others, I presume they really have disappeared when Mewt closed the book. Since the game could be continued even after the final fight in the Ivalice dream world, it could also be assumed that the two worlds began to coexist but Marche and the others haven’t really decided to go back yet and thus, the dream world still continued to exist.

Anyway, here is my play time record:

Lv 90 ; 97hrs and 18 mins.

Persona Equipped: Melchiezedek (Max Justice Arcana)

Weapon: Evil Gloves.

So far, this is the longest RPG I have ever played. Tales of Abyss only took me 65+ hours while Wild Arms Vth Vanguard took me 70+ hours. Considering the “average” game play of that RPG is 100hrs, I still think that I must have played longer than that if and only if I’ve decided to level up all my allies around my level. My “final” party against Nyx was Aigis, Yukari and Mitsuru. Well, they are all girls and I should have included Junpei if only I did not took into consideration Yukari’s adeptness in healing and other recovery stuffs.

Mastered Social Links:

Justice, Chariot, Lovers, Devil, Emperor, Hanged Man, Sun, Fool, Judgement, Death

Broken:

Strength — this girl is idiot! She got jealous with Yukari lolz

Reverse:

Magician — lolz, I always say I’m busy when he calls.

Haven’t even started:

Star XD

I haven’t use Orgia Mode yet and I don’t think it’s that useful. I’m quite amused with Aigis whenever I set her in Support since she does all the buffs and healing. During the whole game play, I’ve only used 1 Soma. I’ve unlocked Monad but I didn’t strayed that far because  almost died with some of the enemies XD. I’ve never dreamed of fighting Elizabeth in the first place XD.

—— Thoughts About Shin Megami Tensei:Persona 3:FES ; The Journey——

I was kind of grasped already by the game during the introduction because I think it was cool. Bluntly though, I don’t understand anything yet except Mitsuru is cool! Prior to playing this game, I think I’ve already read some spoilers when I did my research about Persona 3 and what the hell is it all about. Why the heck does it also includes date simulation?!?

I haven’t thought of any plan to master all of my social links during the first semester. It was too late already when kanzeon told me I’ve got to master all social links to fuse Orpheus Telos… which is rather impractical if I just want to finish the RPG. In the end, I still thank I’ve decided to master Justice since I like fist weapons.

Really, I thought 1 year is very quick just for finishing the RPG. I haven’t thought that it will still be your decision to keep on going to Tartarus every night and stay there until you’re worn out(which is what I usually do). I normally spend 6 hours of playing for just 4 days. 2 days being restday and 2 days just to level up my characters.

In March, I’ll start playing The Answer since February will be a heck busy with my midterms currently approaching.

427 A Song ~song by Tear~.mp3

Singer: Yukana (Tear’s Seiyuu)

Okay, Guess what! I managed to find the full version of Tear’s Hymn. This hymn is composed of her seven individual hymns in accordance with each fonons XD. Grand Fonic Hymn is what it is called once it is sang continuously.

It was sang by Tear during the final boss fight. I just want to share the song since it is good piece as well. Also, the one who sang this is Yukana (Tear’s seiyuu ; C.C’s).

This song kinda reminds me of Aimo since you can’t understand it but you can still feel the cool melody of the song on your ears. It is just soothing to hear so I decided to find it and I finally found it from the OST of the game. I’m not very sure what language or is this even a language but it sounds like Latin or French.

I got this transcribed lyrics of the song but I’m not if this is quite the correct lyrics of the song.

Lyrics:
First Song – (Nightmare – First Fonon; Dark)
Toue Lei Zue Kuroa Ryuo Toue Zue
Pronounced: “Tway Lay Zway Kro Ryo Tway Zway”

Second Song (Force Field – Second Fonon; Earth)
Kuroa Ryuo Zue Toue Ryuo Lei Neu Ryuo Zue
Pronounced: “Kro Ryo Zway Tway Lay N’way Ryo Zway”

Third Song (Holy Song – Third Fonon; Wind)
Va Lei Zue Toue Neu Toue Ryuo Toue Kuroa
Pronounced: “Vah Lay Zway Tway N’way Tway Ryo Tway Kro”

Fourth Song (Revitalize – Fourth Fonon; Water)
Ryuo Lei Kuroa Ryuo Zue Lei Va Zue Lei
Pronounced: “Ryo Lay Kro Ryo Zway Lay Vah Zway Lay”

Fifth Song (Resurrection- Fifth Fonon; Fire)*
Va Neu Va Lei Va Neu Va Zue Lei
Pronounced: “Vah N’way Va Lay Vah N’way Vah Zway Lay”

Sixth Song (Grand Cross – Sixth Fonon; Light)
Kuroa Ryuo Kuroa Neu Toue Lei Kuroa Ryuo Zue Lei Va
Pronounced: Kro Ryo Kro N’way Tway Lay Kro Ryo Zway Lay Vah”

Seventh Song (Judgment – Seventh Fonon; Sound)**
Lei Va Neu Kuroa Toue Lei Lei
Pronounced: “Lay Vah N’way Kro Tway Lay Lay”

The lyrics’ credit goes to SesshomarusMoonlite from http://www.fanart-central.net/

*Resurrection’s description from the game didn’t mention anything about the usage of Fifth Fonon but it is suggested that this is the Fifth Hymn.

**I’m not really sure if Judgment really make use of Seventh Fonon since I didn’t chose to learn it or maybe I should say I didn’t know it existed.

Okay guys, that’s it. This would be the last post for the week since my hosting stuff would be having an “upgrade” and massive transfer of files from Wed-Sat. I don’t even know as well if this post would be posted XD since it might not be included in the transfer. Anyway, partly because I’m going to study as well for my finals.

Okay, let me write something about this game. Okay, I’ll admit that I played this game out of excitement because I found out that it would later be adapted into an anime. I actually never paid any attention to any of the Tales Collection since I had a hard time playing the first(Tales of Phantasia) so I quit the idea but then I was persuaded to do so . After watching three episodes of Tales of the Abyss anime, I decided to play and I got puzzled when the dialogues and the subtitle that the gg uses is quite same in the choice of words! I was convinced that they must have been playing the game as well as fansubbing the anime at the same time.

The opening of both the anime and the rpg both depicts Luke and Asch fighting which made me get the wrong idea that Asch was the antagonist in the story when he is not. I had a hard time playing this game because of the battle system. The direction of the attacks is always linear and it got me killed twice during my whole game play XD. Even so, I like the system because it allows the player to evade and guard the attacks of the enemy in your own will. Sadly, I can only control one character manually and the rest are like programmed bots (like “Gambits” in FF12). I personally chose Guy as my main control since he is faster and his back step(or should I call it backwards somersault) is cool. His fonic artes are also easy to control and easy to activate. I also preferred to control Natalia during the early stage of the game because I was so lazy to move so I went to the one who has the bow and arrow(although she sucks when you are trying to kill small and flying monsters). I was only able to realize Luke’s strength and decided to finally control him during lvl 50* mildly because of poetic purposes and partly because I got bored with Guy. My favorite moves are Luke’s Raging Blast & Guardian Field, Guy’s Tiger Blade and Tear’s Severed Fate.

Out of the Six-God Generals, I really really like Legretta! She has similar fonic artes with Tear since she is Tear’s personal instructor which taught her the proper combat and also gave that stoic personality. I have to say that all the characters have nice character development in the story. I’m only disappointed with the rivalry and pairing between Sync and Guy -__-, I bet it’s because they both have the speed. All the Six-God Generals have deeper relationship to the six main characters except the two I mentioned above since they hardly know each other before the journey started.

One of the reasons I enjoyed the game was because of the concept of the Score. I find the concept of escaping the destiny and the future amusing. Luke’s very evident change throughout the game exhibited the amazing character development of the story. Of all the characters, I really didn’t use Jade at all even though he could cause several “Field of Fonons”, I just can’t appreciate his ability because he is extremely slow at attacking which is very ironic since the Six-God Generals keep on saying that he is hard to kill. Even so, I believe that JADE CURTISS is the very root of the story! (Viewers would soon find out why. He is extremely genius and partly insane) Just like Luke, I was also annoyed when I got to hear all the fon-fon stuffs the first time I played the game without even knowing what are they. They also included this several stuffs like Qlipoth, the miasma, the Planet Storm, Lorelei, Passage Rings and all other stuffs. When I first arrived in the Yulia City, I remembered the Cora Headquarters from RF Online since the portals and the designs are quite the same.

I was disturbed when I saw a resembling DAMOCLES from Code Geass which is called Eldrant in the game. It served as the final dungeon for the game. The ending is quite hard to beat without few Miracle Jellies and Life Bottles at hand. Natalia’s bot is so idiotic for she doesn’t automatically use Revive once an ally dies. The last moments of the game is very sad because someone had to sacrifice his life just to beat Van. At last, after appearing before Van, the fight began and I managed to knock him out. The Grand Fonic Hymn part is very weird, I though it was weird that my HP gauge disappeared out of nowhere and I didn’t know that it already marked the defeat of Van. Oh, by the way, Grand Fonic Hymn is the continuous version of Tear’s seven songs sang simultaneously.

The Epilogue of the game is romantic in a sense that the scenery was similar to the Tataroo Valley where the journey began. The world is finally independent to the Score and Malkuth and Kimlasca is finally at peace. LukexTear pairing is heavily implied in the ending of the story.

The funny part here is, I wasn’t able to learn Tear’s Seventh Hymn yet she was still able to sing the whole hymn lol.

I’ll still watch the anime so I’ll be able to compare it to the RPG once it ends.

I didn’t mentioned any spoilers did I? Except the very revealed fact that Van would be the final boss.

Anyway, I’ve got something new here . Okay, I know everyone knows the new anime for the RPG Tales of the Abyss right? Since I’m planning to watch it regularly, I also tried to play the RPG at the same time (I guess I’m 2 episodes far now if the anime would follow the RPG’s plot) Anyway, I think it is very cool hahaha. I guess I can compare now between the anime and the RPG which piques me more. Also, I’m very very ashamed of what I have posted about the first 2 episodes of Tales of the Abyss and all the talk about the introduction I’ve seen. The introduction I’ve seen with the boat was actually Suikoden 4/5 and I got it mixed with Tales of the Abyss. Tales of the Abyss game also have intrumental opening theme unlike the anime’s which has the lyrics.

The only difference between the anime during the first episode was Princess Natalia visiting Luke which actually did not happen based from my game-play. Luke also didn’t jumped from the window of his room in the castle, it was actually Guy who did enter from the window to visit Luke. I don’t know the relation between Pere and Guy but they share the same room in the game, I guess their servants after all. Guy’s gynophobia was also implied very early on the series during his encounter with a maid. In the game, the first implication was during the first handshake with Tear. Anise and Jade really did appear in the anime really early at the same time Ion appeared.

With the episode 2, the liger’s forest is actually underneath the Cheagle Forest and not just across the Cheagle’s nest. Tear and Luke wasn’t actually that weak against the Queen Liger but it just has a lot of HP. I bet they could still defeat it without Jade’s help prior to the anime and the RPG. Jade was originally level 45 during his first attempt to join the party while defeating the Queen Liger but he was level downed when Largo cast a fon slot curse upon him enabling him to be at the same level with the characters (about level 6-8). What I said about Ion fainting was also not true. He did collapsed but he still managed to keep on walking. Mieu is still maltreated and I guess it is really extreme XD.

During the episode 3, Ion and Legretta were shown unlocking the “Sephiroth” near the place Tartarus stood by. It was actually not shown in the RPG but it was implied that it really was the thing Ion did. The scene during the attack and their rampage during the escapade is also similar except Luke’s nervous breakdown during his “first blood” when he killed the Oracle soldier. The soldiers where actually slept because of Tear’s fonic hymn but Luke accidentally woke up the soldier thus attacking him. About the quality, I appreciate the anime scenes much better because of the poor quality on the PS2 XD. Before reaching the events at the episode four, It was already revealed in the RPG that Tear is somewhat the heir for the fonic hymns Yulia also possess. That means Van also have the blood of the prophet. By the way guys, Largo is still not dead!

For the episode 4, Asch was seen ordering Dist and Arietta but it wasn’t shown in the RPG. It was late during the attack at the Kaitzur Naval Port that Arietta told them it was Asch who told him to do the ambush. Agreeing to Arietta’s demand to go to the Chorale Castle (which was said to be the place where Luke was found right after he was kidnapped), they chased Arietta at the rooftop until she played her tricks to capture Luke unlike the one shown in the anime where she did the ambush at the stairs.  Arietta actually claimed that the Queen Liger is actually her mom during the encounter at the river they crossed in order to get to the boundary not during this battle. Guy also didn’t had a memory flashback from the RPG but what he said about the death of his family is true.

So far, the anime hasn’t stepped too much far from the RPG that could cause a whole different plot.

Tear uses the sprite of the weapon named “Cane” from the game in the anime. I was also surprised to find out that Anise also uses staff to do her puppet thing.

Guys and gals I don’t know if you notice the resemblance between Sync and &^$#$. It was him the he was referring he should not meet.

Spoiler Alert! : Sync can use Daathic Fonic Artes. If you would play the game, you’ll notice it very early anyway. I just don’t know the reason why they are very semblance with each other. I also bet that Natalia would be joining the party at episode 6/7 depending on the pace after they reach Chesedonia. I also find this funny but Natalia could do more than Double Strafe but Triple… Only Tear and Natalia are the Seventh Fonon users. They could actually be identified very easily because they are the only ones who can do the healing.

I’m too sad that Ion is unplayable…

I also hope that people who watch this anime don’t end up hating Luke because I’m already hating him. lol.

ALSO, pi’s value(which is 3.14159265…..) has something to do with this anime/RPG and it’s very annoying. I don’t remember what it was again but I immediately recognized it…

I also NOTICE this very very very NOTICEABLE thing about the series and the fansub I watched. I don’t really know the reason but they are strikingly similar in the dialogues and the subtitles I read. I really presume that gg is also playing the game, at the same time getting the subs from it. I surmise that the subbers are also fans XD.

I guess this would be the very first anime I’ll be doing a episodic blogging!!! That is, starting episode five.

Yeah, I have already blogged it once before because I wrote here that my bro will bring the PS2 with him when he’ll go overseas. That is the reason why I was rushing to finish it. Thank goodness I made it. He plans to go this August he said… huhuhu… Goodbye PS2… Well enough of that.

Spoiler Alert!

Wild ARMs 5 is really depressing . Avril’s ending was indeed very depressing of all heroine I’ve seen. Her fate was to repeat and repeat the process of her entering the cold sleep, waking up, entering the cold sleep and so on. The present Avril said that Avril had already accepted her fate right after she remembered her memories and that’s just too sad… Her fate was to suffer in cycle…

This “tear” when Avril and Dean first met is also bugging me when it always come across the topic…  The name “DEAN” was also the name you should type at the Baskar’s Temple to enter and I don’t think that it is just a mere coincidence. The part where Ice Queen was also confronted gives me the puzzle in mind what the hell is happening. The cut scenes at that part are very vague and I didn’t understand until I saw the ending o_O . The one that sacrificed to return the time convergence was Avril herself which cause her to travel back 12,000 years ago right before she enters the cold sleep. Since history is repeating itself, I bet she already made several round trips. That was the reason why she shed a tear when she said that she saw Dean “again”. That word always keep popping around when Avril is speaking and it gives me the creeps what really happened in the past. I’m having hunches about Avril when she tried to put her medium on one of the temples that project one’s memoirs. It’s as if she had experienced being with the party for a long time. At first, I though Dean and the others were the reincarnation of Avril’s past friends. But then, the clues that Rebecca’s diary gave helped me a lot to predict such sad ending… Her narration is very reflective and I can immediately sense that something is wrong.

The picture above depicts Avril entering the cold slumber once again--

The ending was good and very dramatic. The plot was also great and the game was not that difficult to beat. The character development is clearly portrayed on every  cheezy cut scenes. It would be more enjoyable though if these cut scenes were voice acted. I also liked the background musics played along with the final part of the game. I was only sad that they were lazy to voice act the ending part. If only they voice act the ending part, I think more people would appreciate the ending.

I’m also curious what happened to the other companions of Dean (Greg, Carol and Chuck). Their endings were not shown but I think theirs are pretty happy I guess, except Greg’s because he won’t be able to turn back the lives of his wife and son.

Too bad this is the first time I ever played a Wild ARMs so I won’t be able to compare it to the other installments. Overall, I liked the game because of the ending. The producers are also creative to create difficult puzzles(yeah, I used a walkthrough so I will make it on time.) Sadly, I only unlocked the New Game+ . I wasn’t able to buy any equipment at the black market. I wasn’t able to get their ultimate bullets. The game is already easy to beat without it. I’d like to see the unique outfits though. I also didn’t do any side quests but I ended up at lvl 95 when I fought the final boss which I think overkill since the boss is just lvl 70. Happy playing maties. I’m sorry too if I spoiled your game play~ . But believe me, this game is worth it.

I’m also planning to play the previous installments if I’ll be given the time.