Game Review: Phantasy Star Portable 2

System: PSP
Genre: Multi-player RPG
Submitter: Eric (President)

Phantasy Star Portable 2 is a multiplayer RPG that runs on the PSP. Players will be able to link up with other players via ad-hoc to take on missions together. Unlike Monster Hunter, PSP2 contains a storyline of its own, including storyline characters that the player teams up with throughout the story. Rather than explanation in words, this video will provide a better picture of the game.



Basically, you had to choose a race for your character from the start. The four races available are Human, Newman (something like Elfs), Cast (Androids) or Beastman. Beastman excels in melee weapons, Casts have an advantage in using ranged weapons such as rifles, Newman can fully utilise the potential of magic and as for Human, they're more of an average character to use.


After customising your characters from a wide variety of faces, hairstyle, clothings etc, you'll then get the choice of choosing the class for your character. You'll be able to choose from:


Hunter - Strong in melee-based techniques
Ranger - Strong in gun-based techniques
Force - Strong in magic
Braver - Average in all 3 types of attacking


Besides customisation of your character's look, you will be able to customise your own room in the game as well, with room designs to choose from, furnitures, posters and decorations. You can also customise your class with extend points to use better weapons or weapons of other types.

The game itself also features collaboration with several companies. These includes:

Asuka's, Rei's and Shinji's plugsuits from Evangelion

Archer's weapon and outfit from Fate/Stay Night
(There's supposedly Saber's outfit and Excalibur but I haven't got those yet)









Hatsune Miku!






Collaborations with the following are also included (but I've yet to attain these):

• MxO
• Bobobo-bo Bo-bobo
• Hoshin Engi
• Pyu to Fuku! Jaguar
• Shaman King
• To-Love Ru
• Pizza Hut (the uniform and pizza as weapons?!)
• Dokodemo Issho
• Valkyria Chronicles

Last but not least, these are some of the main characters in the storyline, some of which had popular voice actors such as Jun Fukuyama, Paku Romi, Seki Tomokazu, Rei Tanaka etc. (The following description are taken from Wiki)

Emilia Percival
Emilia Percival is a 16 year old human girl belonging to Little Wing. She's a little naive and known to be somewhat lazy. Despite bungling her first job with Little Wing, she became fully involved with the group before she knew it. She doesn't talk about her past, and there seem to be no records of it, either. Her voice actress is Chiwa Saitou.

Yuto Jun Junkers
Yuto is a 15 year old newman boy living on Moatoob. He belongs to the Kashu family, and possesses an excellent 'photon sense'. Due to his secluded upbringing, he's a bit lacking in common sense. He meets Emilia and her group while they are on duty, and from then on joins them. His favorite food is pudding. He is voiced by Miyuki Sawashiro.

Crouch Muller
Crouch is a 34 year old beast male. He's the man in charge of Little Wing and is responsible for keeping an eye on Emilia, something he doesn't appear to take very seriously. He used to be part of the police force in the past, but he already quit due to the loss of his family. His voice actor is Keiji Fujiwara.

Ursula Rolan
Ursula is a 32-year old newman woman who possesses both beauty and brains, being talented in several fields. She's a workaholic with little time for her private life. She knew Crouch and Chelsea before Little Wing was created. Her signature weapon is a whip. Her voice actress is Atsuko Tanaka.

Chelsea
Chelsea is a female CAST whose age is given only as 'SE-CR-ET♪'. She is the receptionist for Little Wing and handles the management of the organization. She works hard, but her odd speech pattern sometimes makes it hard to understand her. She's like a big sister to Emilia. Her voice actress is Haruka Tomatsu.

Lumia Weber
Ethan's sister from the earlier Phantasy Star series. She finally became a Guardian. Her voice actress is Ayako Kawasumi.

Mika
A human from the "Ancint Civilisation" that is wiped out ages ago. She's currently living within Emilia. Her voice actress is Sayaka Oohara.

Shizuru
The character that is voice acted by Jun Fukuyama! He's the main antagonist of the game. Because he's possessed by the king from the "Ancient Civilisation", he displays two personality in the game. Jun Fukuyama uses both the Lelouch voice and the Zero voice to act out both personalities perfectly...there're even scenes whereby the two personalities are communicating with each other and it's pretty hard to tell that the two voices are actually from the same person.

Winter anime season 2009-2010

As you all know, year 2009 has just ended and 2010 has just started...

means many animes ended and many are going to start airing soon.





this chart includes airing date and short synopsis
(click for full image)

chart courtesy of chartfag.wordpress.com

have you all picked what animes to watch this season?


my personal picks are :


1. Durarara!!




everyone's putting high hope on this
The art gives me the vibe of Shin Megami Tensei : Devil Summoner
this anime is based on a light novel by Ryohgo Narita, creator of Baccano!
has an awesome seiyuu list : Mamoru Miyano, Hiroshi Kamiya, Daisuke Ono, Yuuki Kaji, Fukuyama Jun (oops those are all my favourite seiyuus), Kana Hanazawa, Ayahi Takagaki etc etc...

from Wikipedia :
Ryūgamine Mikado is a young man who longs for the exciting life of the big city. At the invitation of his childhood friend Masaomi, he transfers to a school in Ikebukuro. Masaomi warns him about people he doesn't want to cross in the city: a violent man dressed like a bartender, an information merchant, and a mysterious gang called "Dollars". And to top it off, Mikado witnesses an urban legend on his first day in the city: the Headless Rider astride a black motorcycle.

Opening Theme: Uragiri no Yūyake (裏切りの夕焼け; Betrayal of the Sunset) by Theatre Brook
Ending Theme: Trust Me by Yuya Matsushita

Yuya Matsushita acted and sang as Sebastian Michaelis in Kuroshitsuji Musical, never heard anything about Theatre Brook.

Light novel translation is available on Baka-tsuki.

2. Ookamikakushi



Based on PSP game with the same title, by Ryukishi07 of 7th Expansion (creator of Higurashi and Umineko series)
character design by Peach-Pit (Rozen maiden, Shugo Chara)

Opening song : Toki no mukou maboroshi no sora - FictionJunction (woot Yuki Kajiura-sama!!)
Ending song : Tsukishirube - Nanri Yuuka

Opening PV is released!



3. Sora no wo to

original artwork :







yet the anime looks like K-ON



Opening song : Hikari no Senritsu - Kalafina (Yuki Kajiura-sama again)
opening song sure will be good

-edit- Episode 1 subbed is out, CoalGG is always good despite the drama.
Some say that this anime gives the vibe of ARIA (and K-ON) (haven't watched it myself)


those are the top 3 animes I will surely watch, the next in list are :
4. Baka to test to shoukanjuu (light novel also available on Baka-Tsuki)

5. Katanagatari
opening theme leaked, Meiya Kadenrou by Minami Kuribayashi (she sang Kampfer OP and also one of the vocalist in Sound Horizon's album "Moira")


the song is quite nice, and the art is something I've never seen before, seems awesome~

6. Dance in the vampire bund


will watch this because many people says it's awesome.


what animes are you planning to watch this season? =D


cheers,
Yuliana (the new treasurer of the club)

Anime Review: Kurogane Communication

Anime Review: Kurogane Communication

Submitted by: Bryan Khoo (VP)

Cast:

Yui Horie as Haruka
Rica Fukami as Angela
Hiromi Ishikawa as Spike
Houchu Ohtsuka as Cleric
Junko Shimakata as Trigger
Kenyuu Horiuchi as Reeves

Runtime: 24 eps at 15 min
Genres: Adventure, Comedy, Science Fiction, Mecha
Age Rating: Teenagers

Summary (courtesy of animenewsnetwork.com): The Earth is deserted. The human race has been wiped out. Robots now inhabit the world. However, only one human remains. A young girl named Haruka is the last human left on Earth. With the help of 5 robot friends, she will find out how the Earth became a place for robots, and her own past. The five consist of Spike, Reeves, Trigger, Cleric and Angela.

Main Character Haruka

Animation: Well, this series is about 10 years old so the animation is pretty dated. However, the robot designs are very varied which makes each individual on the show unique and easily identifiable. The backgrounds might seem a little bland but once the more mechanical backdrops are shown, the details look very good. Overall I think the series has some good animation.

Reeves: the strongest male robot ever with an apron

Spike, Trigger and Haruka

Sound: I liked both the opening and ending themes, and some of the BGMs like the suspense one really fit into the scene. However, many of them weren’t as inspired and kinda lacked any ‘ommph’. Maybe 3/5 for sound.

The whole gang

Storyline: The beginning episodes till about 10 are mostly for developing the characters and at times can be very slow and dull for those who want action or a good story. After those episodes though, the series does pick up. Issues such as the loneliness of Haruka can really be felt and the development of the robot Angela is very interesting. This series also has a very happy ending so those who hate sad endings will love this show.

Angela (or Major Motoko?)

Cleric: The smart one

My take: The series is quite short if you watch it and probably can take just 1-2 days to complete thanks to the roughly 10mins runtime of the show. The show is more interested in developing the characters and exploring certain themes so those looking for an all out action anime will be disappointed. The robots are quite ok in terms of characters with maybe only Angela really being interesting. But, she really looks like a mechanized version of Major Motoko from Ghost in the Shell. Spike becomes very irritating and I kept wishing he would die because he gets on my nerves. Reeves is excellent as the only gay robot I’ve seen to date. There is some nudity later on which is a little warning to those who are turned off by it. However, it is a great series that you can watch with a friend or if you’ve got some spare time.

3.5/5 stars

Game Review: Battleforge

System:PC

Submitted by: Brandon (VG. Dept Head)

Genre: MMORTSCCG (Massively Multiplayer Online Real Time Strategy Collectable Card Game)

Battleforge is a free to play game that attempts to blend the genres of Real Time Strategy (RTS), Collectable Card Games (CCG) with a little Massive Multiplayer Online (MMO) thrown in. This combination of the strategic aspects found in RTS games with the flexibility and high-levels of customization allowed in CCGs blend together quite well, resulting in a game that is greater than the sum of its parts.

Overview

In Battleforge, you have the ability to summon and control an army of powerful creatures to do battle with. The twist is that these creatures are summoned not from buildings, like in most other RTS games, but from cards in your deck. As a result, you do not have a base to operate out of. Instead you can spawn your units anywhere on the field; this means that Battleforge is more about strategy and tactics rather than memorizing a particular sequence to build your base.

There are two forms of resources in Battleforge, Power and Monuments. These Power wells and Monuments are scattered at fixed positions on the map, and the main focus of the player should be capturing these locations to build up their armies quicker.

Power is needed to summon your creatures, cast spells and create defensive structures. To ensure a healthy supply of power, you need to journey around the map capturing and building Power Wells to keep your army up and crushing.

Monuments on the other hand, give you more Elemental Orbs, allowing you to build stronger units. You start the game with 1 Orb (meaning you can only build Level 1 creatures) and capturing your first Monument gives you another orb, allowing you to build level 2 creatures and so on up till a maximum of 4 Orbs.

Cards

There are a total of 200 cards you can choose from to fill out your 20 card deck. You can pick from 4 element types; Fire, Nature, Frost and Shadow. You are not limited to having only 1 element in your deck, you have the freedom to mix up and customize your deck with all 4 elements if you wish.

[Above] An example of a card with special abilities

Much like you’d expect from a real life CCG, each card in Battleforge has its own stats, special abilities and quirks to be considered, meaning that there is no one best card, but rather there are cards that are better suited for different play styles. For example, most Shadow creatures have the ability to do large amounts of damage at the cost of their health. A person with a focus on attacking power would be well suited to using a Shadow deck, where as Frost would be better suited for a more defensive play style.

[Above] Spell cards from each of the elements.

Aside from creature cards, there are also spell and building cards. Spells function much like you’d expect them to; they either deal direct damage to enemies or have healing/ power enhancing properties to your units. Building cards are also quite straight forward; Buildings are either defensive or supportive in nature. Buildings are especially useful to defend your captured Power wells and Monuments as well as providing your army a place to fall-back to when under heavy attack.

Economics

Like in real life, cards in Battleforge are obtained by buying booster packs. Unfortunately, just like in Real life, you need real money to buy these booster packs. Booster packs are bought using BattleForge Points (BFP). A single booster pack costs 250BFP and a Tome of 6 packs is 1250BFP. Currently, the rate for BFP is $20 for 1000BFP and $40 for 2250BFP (prices in Singapore Dollars… ouch).

[Above] A Screenshot of the Auction House. You can buy/ sell specific cards here.

Fear not! There is also an in-game Auction house where players can buy and sell cards for BFP, allowing for some flexibility in obtaining cards rather than buying pack after pack in hopes of getting a specific card. Furthermore, you can auction off your unwanted cards for more BFP to buy more booster packs :).

Aside from BFP, Gold is also used as a currency in-game. Gold can be obtained from doing missions and by finding chests in-game. Gold is used to pay for card upgrades, sending mail and for putting cards up for auction. The cost to put a card up for auction depends on the rarity of the card and the duration that you want to put it up for sale.

PVE and PVP

Games in Battleforge are divided into 2 categories, PVE (Player Vs Environment) and PVP (Player Vs Player). PVE games are held against computer opponents, where as PVP games are against other human opponents.

PVE games can be played against computer generated scenarios with anywhere from 1 -12 players, depending on which map is being played. The unique thing in Battleforge is that at the end of the game, aside from Gold and Experience points, players receive “Loot” in the form of card upgrades as well. These upgrades can then be used to boost the power of your existing cards and granting them new abilities. As the loot received is randomly distributed amongst all players, there is no guarantee that you’ll be getting the upgrade you’re after; this leads players to do repeated “runs” or plays of the same maps for these upgrades. The difficulty level of the map also affects the gold, Experience and upgrades players receive.

[Above] The Card Upgrade screen. The top row shows the effect the upgrade will have on the card and the bottom row increases the number of times the card can be used before recharging.

There are 2 types of PVP games, Collection deck and Tome deck games. As the name implies, a Collection deck game allows players to use any cards that they have in their collection. This allows them access to their most powerful cards and upgrades. While this sounds like fun, players who haven’t invested the time and money to get the best cards and upgrade them fully are at a disadvantage against players that have, making the games more about the cards rather than skill of the players.

In contrast to a Collection deck, a Tome deck is a sealed deck made up of 56 random cards which are kept separate from your main collection. While there is still an element of luck involved in what cards you get, the cards in tome decks are un-upgraded, meaning that matches are centered more on skill and tactics rather than card power. As playing with Tome decks requires more skill, the rewards received are correspondingly higher as well.

Complaints

Battleforge is a purely online experience, gamers with spotty internet connections beware. All missions, whether single player or otherwise, are played online. The obvious drawback to this system is that even though you are playing against AI (computer) opponents, you still can experience lag! There have also been times when I was disconnected from the game due to the server timing out. Additionally, as all missions take place online, you cannot pause the game!

[Above] A Screenshot of the website where you pay real money for BFP :(

Also, having to pay real money for virtual cards is a real kick in the pants. While I understand that the game is Free to play and these micro-transactions are the only way the developers make money, $20 for 1000BFP is too much! 1000BFP translates to 4 booster packs. At 8 cards a pack, that means you are paying 62.5 Cents per virtual card! Yes, Virtual. Virtual meaning that you can’t keep the cards in a nice album to show your kids 20 years down the road how stupid you were to spend so much money on cards. Heck, you can’t even enjoy the nice new card smell either. You know why? Because the cards aren’t real!

Closing Comments

Despite the complaints I have about the game, I feel that Battleforge is really quite a good game. It is innovative, well balanced and allows for a deep level of strategy and customization.

Overall, I’d recommend BattleForge to anyone with an interest in RTS games like Warcraft 3 or CCGs like Magic: The Gathering.

It is free to play and you do not have to buy additional cards to enjoy most of what the game has to offer. If you have tried the game and are considering buying some Battleforge points (BFP), I recommend picking up a physical copy from a game shop. The game retails for around $45 and comes with 3000BFP, which is a bargain considering that they charge $40 for 2250BFP online.

To Download the game head to the Official Battleforge Website here.

To read up more on the game, head over to the Battleforge Wiki here.

Anime Review: Afro Samurai

Cast: Samuel L. Jackson, Kelly Hu, Ron Pearlman
Runtime: 5 episodes at 25 min each
Genres: Action, Adventure, Fantasy, Science Fiction
Rating: Mature
Submitted by: Bryan (AMCC, VP)

Summary: The tale of Afro Samurai is one of bloody hardship and pain. Along his solitary path of revenge for his murdered father, he sheds no tears and knows no love. Forever chased by powerful enemies in a lawless technology-speckled dystopia, he evades bullets and blade to reach his final prey: a man who will not die. But Afro will reach his quarry - even if it means painting a road of blood and brains from here to the bitter inevitable end.

(courtesy of aniDB.com)

Animation: The studio doing the animation, Gonzo has done many great anime and the scenes in the show are very high quality. The fight scenes are sometimes fast and might be hard to catch but are very impressive. And this being a collaboration between the US and Japan, the style used in the series to mix aspects of both cultures does not seem so weird which is a great job by the design team.

Sound: Now for many who do not like English dubs in their anime, this may put them off from watching this series. However, with the famous names voicing the characters, they do a very good job and for me at least, it helped me get over my irritation of English voiced anime. As for the music, since it was made in collaboration with the US, the music is done by hip hop groups such as RZA which complements the style very well.

Storyline: The story is very straightforward and for some, leads to a very predictable plot. The infusion of hip-hop and feudal Japan ideas however, help keep the story interesting. The plot also calls for a few flashbacks which help flesh out the characters and even then, the violence is in full motion. The ending to me has a very nice twist but seems a tad out of place.

My take: Overall, the action is very fluid, gory and violent which is fine by me. The fights however at times can be very short by almost ‘Ghost Rider: The Movie’ standards. The ending was satisfying but somewhat puzzling yet helps set up the potential for more sequels. There are some bits of nudity so I wouldn’t recommend watching it with your siblings (although the violence should be the main reason they shouldn’t watch it). Still, it is a much watch anime with its positives far outweighing its negatives.

Overall: 4/5 stars

Anime Dept. Head's Comments: No Comments! Why? Cos We Don't have a Anime Dept Head! We'll get to filling that spot eventually... In the mean time, please offer your comments on this review in the "comments" section below.