Figboy

thanks!

Jeanne D'Arc is indeed awesome. i have yet to beat it though, because i've been playing so many games.

i'm a big fan of Level 5's RPGs since Dark Cloud 1 on the PS2 (and that was one of their "worst" games, honestly but i still enjoyed it). i think they have this earnestness about them when it comes to the RPGs they produce, and it reminds me of what Square-Enix used to be when it was Squaresoft and had a genuine love of crafting creative, unique RPGs.

i've been saying it for years, but i think Level 5 is the "new" Squaresoft. i've yet to be disappointed in any of the games i've played from them on any platform. i was bummed when i heard their 360 RPG was cancelled. i'm a big Playstation fan, but i'm a fan of games more than anything.

i haven't played Crimson Gem Saga, but i love Valkyria Chronicles too, even though i'm not terribly far into it. i think it's also an excellent breath of fresh air on an established genre, just like i feel WKC is for "turn based" RPGs.

i'm not sure about Magna Carta 2, since i didn't care much for the first one. if this one is an improvement, though, i'll most certainly give it a shot. good RPGs take a while to produce, but they're always worth the wait.

thanks guys!

to sk8monroe81: i've played Blue Dragon, Mass Effect, Eternal Sonata, Fallout 3, and pretty much every major RPG that has come out this generation.

i loved Mass Effect, Eternal Sonata, and Fallout 3. i still think Demon's Souls and WKC are the best i've played.

no WKC doesn't have the level of detail that, say, Mass Effect has in it's world, but it's battle system and character creation are second to none. the bright, colorful world is also beautifully realized. it is rather unique in how it blends almost MMO type gameplay elements, with a combo-based battle system. the story seems fairly good, and about what i expect from a JRPG. yes, it is the best of the bunch i've played so far.

as for Demon's Souls. it is wholly unique in it's execution in gameplay and game design, and i can say without pause that it is the most original RPG i've ever played (doesn't mean it's the most original, just the most original out of the plethora of RPGs i've played since i started gaming back in '85 with the NES).

all of the RPGs you mentioned are quality, but having played so many during the PS1 and PS2 era, games like Lost Odyssey, Infinite Undiscovery, and Star Ocean 4 barely register on the "above average" meter with me. i've been there and done that. very few JRPGs tread new ground, and even Western RPGs follow the mold set by games like Diablo, KOTOR, and Neverwinter Nights.

i like WKC because it's unlike any other RPG i've played this generation in how it works with old ideas and meshes them with new. Demon's Souls is a new beast altogether, and i'd love to see more risky RPGs like this (even if they didn't have the difficulty level of Demon's Souls).

it's hard to explain, and you'd have to play Demon's Souls for yourself, but the way it's gameplay, world, story, and features are intertwined is superb. there really is no separation between gameplay, the narrative, and the online features. it's all impressively seamless. it's not a game for everybody, to be sure, but i sure as hell love it to death.

i find Ninja Gaiden (any iteration), infinitely more frustrating than Demon's Souls.

"Cheap" is the word i'd use to describe the Gaiden series.

Demon's Souls is NOT cheap. i've been playing it for a good month now, and i never had the difficulties with the game that the internet has made the game out to be.

oh, it's most certainly challenging, but i've yet to find a situation that i couldn't win when approached with CAUTION and some consideration for your enemy.

Demon's Souls requires you to not underestimate your foe, EVER. even when you are leveled up and stronger than that enemy, being sloppy and careless can result in your death.

usually, if you die in Demon's Souls, it's because it was YOUR fault, not cheap gameplay or poor design.

the game is NOT a hack n' slash. running in, mashing on the attack button will result in a quick death.

even traversing the various dungeons should be done with care. if you go into an enemy encounter preparing for it to be your last, you will prevail. each enemy has different timing, so getting ripostes down takes some time and skill.

initially, i could barely pull of ripostes, so i never bothered with them. after putting points in my Dexterity and Luck skills, i noticed that riposting became easier when i decided to try it again. mastering the riposte is a KEY to defeating most of the normal enemies.

each battle feels like a mini-boss battle, because all enemies are deadly.

this was a poor review, not because he seemingly hated the game (he didn't), but because it wasn't very informative. it didn't tell the reader what kind of features the game possesses; ie, the unique "Bloodstain" feature, that allows players to leave messages of warning/trickery for other players to read and take heed of. he didn't inform the reader about being able to team up with other live players if an area or boss is too much for you. He didn't even mention that dying is woven into the fabric of the game, and even the narrative, or how your actions can bring about either a "good" ending, or a "bad" ending.

he didn't mention that the player can choose from 10 classes, and craft a character to his/her liking. he didn't mention that the player levels up individual stats (like Dexterity, Luck, Strength, Faith, Magic, etc), and that leveling up those skills are also vital to success.

it just wasn't a useful or helpful review.

we GET IT. the game is hard. he repeated it enough times. he was more interested in attempting to be poetic with his words than being an informative reviewer.

Demon's Souls is NOT for everybody. but my wife (seen here: http://www.facebook.com/photo.php?pid=30673300&id=1031981083 -playing Demon's Souls, actually), yes, my petite, mousy wife, is playing Demon's Souls, and enjoying it. granted, she has me defeat the bosses, but she's taken on countless regular enemies and defeated the dragon flying across the bridge.

most gamers this generation are so used to walk in the park games that a genuinely challenging game like this will shock them. Demon's Souls is hard, but not due to poor design; since when is a real time menu mapped to the D-Pad poor design choices? the controls are responsive, and vary depending on your armor and class (Knights have heavy, bulky armor, so they move slower and have heavier weapons, while the Thief is nimble and quick due to less armor, and faster weapons).

the trick is finding a class that suits your play style. i'm a Wanderer, which feels balanced in speed, strength, and defense, but is rather low in magic (i only got two magic spells, just in case). my wife chose a Thief, which fits her play style of sneaking around and taking out foes more methodically or escaping quickly. PROTIP: The Thief will instantly riposte/stealth attack/kill an enemy when you get behind them.

the game has been the best RPG i've played this generation next to White Knight Chronicles (JP import).

anyway, i didn't mean to go on so long, but i just didn't find this review helpful in any way from a consumer perspective. it just wasn't informative enough, regardless of what the reviewer's wording of the difficulty was. he didn't even explain WHY he thought there were bad design choices in the game. WHY do you think the riposte system is difficult? was it the controls? timing? what? WHY was the inventory system "clumsy?" because you can't pause the game and have to access it on the fly? (you can still move around while accessing some parts of the menu, by the way).

it was a very broad, vague review with very little specifics outside of how miserable he was playing it, despite his overall enjoyment of the game. it's not as masochistic of a game as he, and others, have made it out to be. games like Ninja Gaiden and Devil May Cry are more frustrating and difficult than Demon's Souls.

god you guys are whiny bitches.

so you base your entire opinion of the moral choice system based off of two 2 minute videos? kudos.

leave it to joystiq to half ass the coverage as well.

as much as i'm not a fan of ign, their preview of the Karma system was more thorough.

from what i read over at their site, there are certain story based moral choices that will pop up, and present you with the inner monologue cutscenes you saw their. for the REST OF THE GAME, your actions are your own, and the game will shape itself based off of those actions.

you know how in Fable 2, your choices when you are a kid affect how Bowerstone looks when you are an adult. those were dictated by your choices, albeit not quite as overt as here.

the majority of inFamous will be more subtle, and up to you.

stop being so damn kneejerk reactionary, especially after only seeing a total of 5 minutes of a game that will, at the least, be 15 hours long, depending on if you tackle any of the 100 or so side missions that will be available in the game, each with a good/evil alternate route to take.

oh, joystiq left that part out too? hmmph. figures...

i only commented to say that Little Dead Space rocks!

the amount of time and work you put into it is evident throughout the entire level.

your level makes mine ("Labyrinth") look like an Atari 2600 game. lol

i can't wait to see more from you in the future!

i was a die hard City of Heroes/Villains fan because i love superheros, and i think the character creation in CoH/V is still the best and most detailed in the industry.

two things killed the game for me:

experience debt, and bland mission structures.

an extra irritant is how long it took you to get skills like flight and super speed.

i'm not a big fan of the DC Universe itself (i prefer the Marvel Universe), but i still love the concept of creating a super hero and doing heroic deeds. since i don't have to play as any DC heroes or villains (although Batman, Green Latern, The Flash, and Wonder Woman are bad ass), i don't mind this DCU Online game.

the fact that the game doesn't have experience debt, and the combat looks more active than in CoH/V, and the mission structure looks solid, i'm already halfway there.

from what i've read, SOE haven't decided on a pricing structure, and they said that they understand that console gamers don't want to play subscription fees, and are thinking of doing it like they are going to do the Agency; free to play, but micro-transactions for certain items.

i'd prefer this model. i stopped play CoH/V and WoW because the subscription fees for me and my fiance got to be too much (we played BOTH CoH and WoW, since we liked to jump between them both, and that totaled $60 a month for both of us to play both games a month, and we still had to split our play time between the two games; one day we'd play WoW for a bit, the next we'd play CoH/V). ultimately we dropped them both.

even if DCU is free to play, i'd still have to buy another PS3 and DCU Online so the two of us could play together. i planned on buying her her own PS3 anyway, but i hate the thought of having to buy two copies of the same game just to play with, you know, my fiance. who lives in the same house with me.

*sigh* i miss the days of same screen co-op. all this online shit is costly...

i imported the game, and it's surprisingly good.

i had my doubts about whether or not it would be worth my time, but i've already sunk a good 20 hours into the title, and i'm having a ball.

the combat system is rather interesting, and the game is simply Square's version of Smash Bros, but with WAAAAY more depth to the combat.

there's lots of items and unlockables, but it's a shame that i don't speak Japanese, as the finer subtleties of the game are lost on me.

this title went from a "maybe i'll rent," when it comes out in the States, to a "must buy" when it hits our shores.

i don't know why joystiq is implying that the game is terrible in their write up.

while yes, you can slap Final Fantasy on a title and it will sell (ie, Crystal Chronicles), sometimes it DOES go right (ie, Crisis Core, Dissidia). this rampant pessimism plaguing the gaming industry needs to stop. i swear, if every game doesn't revolutionize the genre/industry, then people think it's not worth anything.

there IS such a thing as simply having a good time with a game. Dissidia is a good time, with the only negative being that the enemies can be dirty bastards and kill you within moments of a match sometimes. of course, you can do the same, so i suppose it IS still fair...

Merry Christmas to everybody!

And a Happy Holidays as well! (to those that may not celebrate Christmas!)

yes, because all countries have the EXACT same marketing standards as here in America!

in fact, there are NO CULTURAL differences in the world at all that would therefore require different marketing tactics than in the United States!

/sarcasm.

if anything, Resistance 2 wouldn't sell in Japan because it's an FPS, and most Japanese are highly averse to FPS titles (not all, but a large number get motion sickness from them), not this oddly hilarious marketing campaign.

chances are, since Sony IS Japanese, they understand more about how Japanese marketing should work than armchair analysts on PS3 Fanboy

it comes out in fall 2009.

an October release seems appropriate, but more likely a November release.