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Nippon Ichi Done Stole Mah Brains

Nippon Ichi Done Stole Mah Brains published on No Comments on Nippon Ichi Done Stole Mah Brains

I remembered why I never bothered to finish Disgaea 2 last night when I sat down for another round in my march to beat Soul Nomad and found the former already in my PS2. I think I was showing someone the differences between the two games (one is fast paced enough to be described fairly well as a ‘romp’, while the other I had left gathering dust for the better part of a year because it was starting to feel like ‘work.’) Out of laziness and nostalgia (more the former), I went ahead and played it anyway, and that brings me to my original point of why I never finished the game- I needed to get like 20 levels to get my hero alone to that of the weakest enemies on the second-to-last Shinra Tower level.

I spent an hour and a half last night gaining levels before it occured to me I could just trot off to the Dark Senate (using Rozalin, who either due to her pedigree or her cleavage I seem to have more luck passing bills with) and vote for Weaker Enemies (as well as More Expensive Items a few times when I realized the shops only carried the starting assortment.) With that kick in the chops, I finished off the Tower, and was treated with a duet of rigged battles (one you can’t win and one you can’t lose.) As a result, my attitude toward it’s softened a little, but I’m still going to back burnerize it so I can finish tearing through Soul Nomad. (Though I am probably about the same duration from the end in both of them…)

I’ve got a weird relationship with Disgaea 2, overall. It’s pretty fair to say it’s a polished version of its direct predecessor, but the fact it lacks some of the innovations and classes from N1’s more adventurous in-between titles. F’rinstance, the characters-from-items creation system could be paired nicely with Item World, letting you start a new character with some stat boosts and levels in the double digits rather than holding the newbies’ hand for upwards of six hours as they leech XP off your higher level men through combo attacks. The square tiles are pretty necessary for the whole Geo Panel gimmick and all, but after two ‘gridless’ games that let you move and aim freely, gunners needing to be in a perfectly straight line from their target is pretty damned annoying, especially when they don’t seem to do much more damage than archers who have the typical ‘diamond’ shaped range of targeting. And if that wasn’t enough, Adell just doesn’t work as a Makai-verse hero. After the likes of Laharl and Zetta (not so much Marona, then again I skipped Phantom Brave), a goody-two-shoes who NEVER GIVES UP! AND NEVER BREAKS A PROMISE! hot-blooded youth doesn’t seem to click quite as well in a game where you’re encouraged to break the system and oh yeah, rack up Felonies for bonuses. Even if he is on a mission of revenge to save his family. Actually, especially. Too noble and cliche. At least 3 is getting back on track with the story of a demon kid on a quest to kill his dad for erasing his Disgaea 1 save file. It’s easier to pretend Rozalin’s the heroine and bitching her way across the country to see/kill/whatever her dad.

SooOOOOOOUL NOMAD! (Revisited)

SooOOOOOOUL NOMAD! (Revisited) published on No Comments on SooOOOOOOUL NOMAD! (Revisited)

As I trudged through Wild Arms XF and slogged through Disgaea PSP’s Etna Mode, I couldn’t help but think of that good old N1 gem, Soul Nomad& The World Eaters, which incidentally would be a great death metal band name. (The Japanese title Soul Cradle, on the other hand, would be a great whatever-the-hell-genre Savage Garden is band title.) So, I started tearing through it again, going at a respectable pace because, get this, SOUL NOMAD HAS A RESPECTABLE PACE. I really haven’t any part where I was forced to level up for hours on end in order to pass an enemy formation that was only tough because they had about double my main character’s level. In fact, there are many times where I found myself grinding willingly because I like the game engine. I’d even go on to say that I like the bite-sized Inspection quests (SN’s equivalent to Item World) better than the protracted story battles that are usually plagued with waves of reinforcements, and the good old ‘Defeat All Enemies’ condition that forces you to hunt down every last archer and gypsy on the map even after killing the boss.

It’s a shame that Soul Nomad doesn’t have quite the following as certain other N1 games- the squad based fighting is much more strategic than simply leveling everyone to 9999 so that the actual meat of the game can be completed in about a half hour. Like Makai Kingdom and Phantom Brave, it’s pretty much doomed to being one of those games that was knocked out in between Disgaeas and had some vague surface similarites to said game. Though unlike those two, its divergences don’t cripple you or leave you utterly disconnected from the plotline (though I know not everyone is as bugged by the seeming laziness of Makai’s near-entire cast being player-made generics. Soul Nomad instead makes the story characters gussied up versions of the extras- Levin being a Bareknuckle with blonde hair, or Vitali as a Cleric wearing a hat instead of a headband. Woo.)

Crunchy.

Crunchy. published on 3 Comments on Crunchy.

First order of business: How did something like Chaos Wars slip under my radar? Hell, how did something NAMED Chaos Wars slip under my radar? It has chaos… AND war in the title! FFS. And if that wasn’t enough of a line to bait me, it’s a strategy rpg? A massive crossover strategy RPG? With the likes of Gungrave, Thousand Arms, and others in it?

Kee-ripes. My spy net is failing me.

It’s a shame we didn’t get Namco X Capcom here and will likely never have a ‘true’ installment of Super Robot Wars over here, but it’s always good to have officially-licensed ‘Who Would Win In A Fight’ arguments that tap into that schoolyard vibe that we never entirely grow out of.

(Er, it usually works better for video games than movies, before anybody brings up Aliens vs Predator.)

I generally approach my sites with a blindfold of sorts on, but no matter how I promise myself I won’t do it anymore, I keep looking at my hit/visitor counts, and while not entirely depressing (this site does good!) it’s a tad discouraging that my little pet project’s readership seems to be dwindling pretty steadily. I don’t see myself quitting it any time soon, don’t worry (if you were) but it does have me looking at taking a different tact on things ’round here. Maybe I should cave and do some more  disconnected comic and art work on here to accompany the-

(uh what the hell do I do, anyway? oh right it’s a glue factory)

-articles. At one point I considered reviewing games IN comic format- but that would 1) probably be more trouble than it’s worth, and 2) in a literal sense, mean that I had created a gaming webcomic, and as much as I love superfluousness and the fuzzy line between things I like and things I like ironically, I think I might start producing ammonia-like clouds of mediocrity.

Uh yeah, s’pose I ought to sum up: RK will be twice weekly, thrice if I feel especially froggy, Gatling Guard will probably come back soon, run for 2-3 strips then explode again, expect more sketchy junk to show up in future ‘nothing’ posts.

I think that covers about everything. I have to save something for later on.

It’s Version-Up 3/2!

It’s Version-Up 3/2! published on No Comments on It’s Version-Up 3/2!

The upgrade went through after a couple failed attempts last night, which honestly doesn’t mean all that much for you chumps, but gets rid of a ‘PLEASE UPGRADE NOW’ tag as well as making the backend all shiny and new. I still have to fix the stupid link section, though. Those weird floating zeroes have been appearing since v2.3.3.

I suppose I oughta do something game related sometime soon. At least I’m not busting out a tired old HAHA CLOSING FOR GOOD BUT NOT REALLY posting for April Fools’ Day. How about I review Wild Arms Tactics XF next? Deal?

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