Ahh, what can be said about the original Game Boy, that hasn't been said a million times before? This one handheld, released in 1989, completely revolutionized the handheld video game market. Before the Game Boy was released, there were literally hundreds of different kinds of handhelds, but they were the cheap, lcd screened systems that you would find in small discount stores.
At first glance, the Game Boy does not seem like much, but when you pop in that Game Pak and boot on the system, you know that it is more than you expected. The Game Boy is vastly more powerful than lcd handhelds, and will probably last longer (which is true, seeing as how there are some from '89 that are still working flawlessly). The system is instantly easy to use for any gamer who grew up playing the NES, as the controls are exactly the same as those on the NES controllers. Another thing, the system has a screen, but is green for some reason. This was also the first handheld that was able to link up to multiple Game Boys to play multiplayer games.
Nintendo made the perfect choice to secure the rights to Tetris as the system's pack in game. This meant that anyone that bought a Game Boy had a game that they could play right away. Tetris was obviously not the only game on the system, as Nintendo made sure that all of the NES favorites were available to be in your pocket (game such as Super Mario,
Donkey Kong, Metroid, Tetris, Mega Man, TMNT, and newcomers such as Kirby).
As you can see, this is only a brief overview/review of the game boy. It may seem very old and very outdated by today's standards, but will always live on in the hearts of classic gamers as one of their favorite systems of all time. This one gets a perfect 10/10
 What would happen if we put many of Disney's famous characters, some random evil guys, a couple of Final Fantasy's greatest heroes and some new spike-haired kids all in one game? That must've been the question Squaresoft and Disney were asking themselves when they were creating the concept of Kingdom Hearts. What made them came up with such a crazy question? I have no idea. Does it make for an enjoyable RPG? It sure does.
No matter which way you look at it, Kingdom Hearts (2002) is a pretty unique game. It shares some common points with the Final Fantasy series, but it's profoundly different otherwise.
At the start of the game we meet Sora, Riku and Kairi. These three friends are simply enjoying the little tropical world they live in and spend their days playing, talking or staring at the ocean. One day changes everything when the Heartless, a purple army of toy-like bad guys, attack the island. Both Kari and Riku disappear and Sora decides to go and look for his friends, with the help of his magical Keyblade.
Before the main story takes off, you're placed in a church-like darkness, with only glass windows displaying sleeping princesses to walk on. This area serves as a tutorial for basic combat action as well as facing you with a choice that'll decide your "destiny". Destiny may be a big word, but it comes down to you having to choose a strength and weakness with "attack", "defense" and "magic" as your options. This will later influence the way your character (Sora) levels up, what abilities he'll get first and even how fast he'll level.
Soon after embarking on his quest, Sora will meet up with Donald and Goofy, who will accompany you throughout the rest of the game. You stumbled upon the hilarious duo because they are on a quest of themselves: to find King Mickey, who has given them instructions to assist the Keyblade wearer, which just happens to be Sora.
Although the plot may seem quite heavy, it is treated pretty lightly during most of the game, mainly because you'll be working to get all the sub-plots in the different Disney worlds settled out. There's more to say about the main plot but revealing any more story feels like spoiling to me, so I won't. I'll just say that even though the story has its depth, it's clear to see that Square wanted to make this a lighter digestible plot than the average Final Fantasy; a decision that's also reflected in Kingdom Heart's gameplay - but more about that in a minute.
You'll meet many famous Disney characters on your quest to find Riku and Kairi, all living in their specific world based upon their movie counterparts. Funny is how these Disney characters (except Donald and Goofy) don't know anything about the major story, but are preoccupied with their own little problems. Along the way you'll find yourself playing alongside characters like Alladin and Jack Skellington in worlds such as Wonderland, Agrabah, the Hundred Acre Wood, Halloween Town, etc... Next to that there are some new worlds designed specifically for this game such as Traverse Town and Hollow Bastion.
Now for one of the most irritating aspects of the game: travelling between all these worlds. Rather than just having your party "teleport" to a world, you'll have to play a minigame each time you'll travel to a new world. Your ship, called a Gummi ship, travels along a determined path until you reach the next world. While flying around you'll have to shoot (often unidentifiable) enemies. This is clearly a Star Fox rip-off, and a bad one at that. By defeating enemies you'll receive "Gummi blocks" which you can use to upgrade your ship. Instead of making this easy, Square decided to put in an awkward ship editor in the game that allows you to make your ship stronger by adding parts or even create a new one. This sounds better than it actually is because there isn't any point in doing so. The Gummi levels are so easy, you'll just want to get them over with quickly to advance to the next world; so what's the point of upgrading the basic ship? The whole feature could have been left out of the game for me, but I guess Square found it necessary to let players "experience" how the party travels between worlds.
Luckily, the game is a whole lot better when inside one of the worlds. Unlike the (until then) Final Fantasy series, Kingdom hearts is an Action RPG. This means all combat happens directly in the main environments, without "going" into a turn-based combat area. Your main weapon is Sora's Keyblade, with which you can use to hit the enemies one time or in combo's (depending on the abilities you have). You can also cast traditional FF-style magic such as fire, blizzard, thunder, slow, etc... These can be selected in the "Command menu" in the lower left corner of the screen with either the D-pad or the right analog stick. You can also assign up to three magics to the cross, triangle and square buttons that allow for easy-casting in combination with L1. Lastly, you can summon Disney characters that'll temporarily help Sora out, giving Donald and Goofy a break. The camera can be moved only to the left and right by holding down either L2 or R2, which feels quite restricted. In fact, it's the main thing that bothered me while playing Kingdom Hearts; I find the camera much too close to Sora's back to give a overall perspective of your environment. Oftentimes you won't even see the enemies you're fighting, with the camera struggling to get them into view. If it wasn't for the lock-on function (activated with R1), Kingdom Hearts would be almost unplayable.
Combat happens frequently, with enemies spawning almost everywhere on the map. Sadly enough the limited tactical options will make fighting the hordes of Heartless a rather boring venture, and feels like "something you have to do" instead of being a source of fun. It isn't so irritating that it'll make you stop playing, but it could've been done a lot better. As I said earlier, Donald and Goofy will accompany you on your quest, so they're also with you during combat; helping out by attacking enemies, using magic or throwing a potion your way when your health is low. You can also opt to temporarily exchange one of the two by an optional character, depending on the world you're in. On a positive note I can say that the boss fights are much more fun than the random battles and can be quite challenging, too. (if you haven't leveled up your characters too much, that is)
Besides the fighting, there's the traditional RPG action to be done such as talking to characters, buying items and weapons in stores and saving your game at save points. There's also a bit of platforming included, which is a nice distraction from the combat but suffers from the same camera problems as well as the not-so-fluid jumping animation. Kingdom Hearts clearly is an RPG with some platform elements rather than a platform game with RPG elements.
In the main menu there are the traditional "item", "equipment", "status" and "abilities" menus as well as a "customize" and "journal" menu. In the customize menu you can set the quick-access magics for Sora and determine Donald and Goofy's combat behavior by selecting if they have to do certain things "constantly", "frequently" or "occasionally". The journal menu serves as a log in which a summary of the story is kept, next to character and world descriptions.
Graphically, Kingdom Hearts is a feast for the eyes, especially if you're a Disney fan. Both the worlds and characters accurately resemble their traditional animation counterparts, something Square can be proud of. You can also enjoy the colorful scenery in first-person view when pressing the select button. Once again, the restricted camera is the only thing that keeps this game from being a sightseers' dream.
Vocally, Square has done their best with much of the dialog being voiced over by an excellent cast of voice actors. Most of the actual Disney voice actors have lent their voices to their respective characters and Haley Joel "I see dead people" Osment gave his voice to Sora. Sound effects are average but just like in most of Square's RPG's, music is excellent. Each world is accompanied by its own theme (often a variation or adaptation of the famous Disney themes) that either sets a happy tone (in the Disney worlds) or a more serious tone (in the non-Disney worlds).
Despite its flaws, Kingdom Hearts is a unique game that successfully merges the worlds of Disney and Square into a unique experience. Whether you're an RPG fan, Square fan, Disney fan or action fan; there's a little for everybody in Kingdom Hearts. 8.4/10
 September 30, 1997 (11 years ago): Fallout is released.
September 30, 1998 (10 years ago): Fallout 2 is released.
Consoles: Windows PC
If you have not played either of these RPG titles, you should at least try. Set in a violent post-apocalyptic future, Fallout games stood out with their dark humor, art-deco designs (many items and technology the player encounters are from the 1950's), and themes meant for more "grown-up" audiences (plenty of 'casual' language and blood). The player explored the world in real-time, while combat was turn-based and used "action points" (like in the awesome X-COM: UFO Defense). Many balanced skills made it actually possible for the player to rely more on stealth, or diplomacy, instead of force. Furthermore, the quests often had multiple outcomes, granting varying experience and affecting the player's karma.
As for myself, I was glad to see an RPG that did not have any elves or magic, but instead lots and lots of guns, which I liked. The art direction was another thing I liked, as well as many pop-culture references (like a card game called "Tragic: The Garnering", or the Nuka-Cola drink).
As I am sure many of you know, after shutting down Project Van Buren, a Fallout sequel in development, Bethesda purchased the rights to the franchise from Black Isle and is about to release a sequel of their own, Fallout 3, on October 28th of this year. I know that I will buy it, play it, and hate it, but continue playing it. I could go on a rant about Bethesda and their "experience" in game-making, but there are other sites on the Internets for that.
To reminisce, here is the opening video from Fallout, along with the awesome music ("Maybe" by The Ink Spots) and narrated by Ron Perlman:
Continue reading Today in VG History: Fallout 1 & 2
So, I had this written earlier today and wanted to make a few corrections, but then I closed the web browser on accident. Looks like I'mma have to do the commentary section from memory. 
| Playstation 3 | Xbox 360 | Nintendo Wii | | •Silent Hill Homecoming | •Mobile Ops: The One Year War
•Silent Hill Homecoming | •Harvest Moon: Tree of Tranquility
•We Cheer | | PSP | Nintendo DS | Playstation 2 | •Cake Mania
•Pipe Mania
•Valhalla Knights 2
PC
•Baseball Mogul 2009
•Dark Horizon
•Hardy Boys: The Hidden Theft
•Mount & Blade
•Pipe Mania
•SAS: Secure Tomorrow
•Sniper: Art of Victory | •Animal Paradise
•Margot's Word Brain
•Pipe Mania
•Pop Cutie: Street Fashion Simulation
•Princess Debut
•Sonic Chronicles: Dark Brotherhood
•Unsolved Crimes | •Mortal Kombat Kollection
•Onimusha: The Essentials
•Pipe Mania |
 Looks like the game companies decided to give us a break before completely slaughtering our wallets in October.
First featured game this week is Silent Hill Homecoming for the PS360, the newest installment in the popular survival horror franchise. I must confess that I've never played a Silent Hill game in my life, but I do know that Pyramid Head is badass. Since I've never played Silent Hill, I pose this question to my readers. Is it worth getting into the series? If so, where should I start?
Next up is Sonic Chronicles for the DS. Expecting a fast platformer like Sonic Rush? You're definitely not getting that. Sega decided to take Sonic in a totally different direction with this new game, and hand off development to Bioware, creators of Mass Effect and Star Wars: Knights of the Old Republic. Yup, this is an RPG in the Sonic universe. Quite an interesting concept if I must say so. And get this: it's getting strong reviews. Let that sink in. A new game starring Sonic that's actually GOOD. For reals.
Also this week: 360 owners can MUST download Mega Man 9 for 800 Space Bucks (that's $10 for us Earthlings).
Check back next week for a return to game companies raping your wallet.
The garages sales were plentiful this weekend, but weren't all that great. Again, the flea market was great as I've now bought nearly everything from my new favorite vendor. He's still got a few more things I want, so I should have a couple more 'Chronicles' this season.
Saturday Garage Sales
The Monster Rancher 4 and Finding Nemo were from one sale for $3 for both. Both in excellent shape (and CIB) for being kid games. Big Game Hunter (CIB) was $0.50 and THPS (CIB) was $0.25 from another sale. They also had an N64 with hookups, 2 controllers, and 2 Football games for $10/make offer. But I didn't bother with it, probably should have picked it up, but I just didn't want to be bothered with re-selling it.
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Got this from a sale for $0.50. It was marked $1, but she just wanted to get rid of it. I probably could have gotten it for $0.25.
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I didn't get this from a garage sale, but I did pick it up during my saling time, so I'll count it here. I actually got these from FreeCycle. She said they go from 2000 to 2004, but I haven't had time to check them over. There are 40 of them though.
A little rant here: why do people at local sales, tear off the address label. I was at your house, I know where you live, what info could I possibly get from the address labels that you need to tear them off and rip the cover in the process?
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This was a strange sale. It appeared to be a guy selling off stuff people left in his storage building. My dad got another set of lawn darts for $1. I got the TRS-80 Color Computer 2 for $2. I almost didn't see it as I just assumed it was another typewriter, but something made me take another look under the translucent dust cover.
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Sunday Flea Market
Bought these for $2 each. He had about 30 more and said I could take them all for $30, but I didn't need any of the others, plus they weren't in very good shape.
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Traded Super Mario 64 (PC), Mario Kart 64 (PC), LOZ: Majora's Mask, SMB, SMB/DH and Super Mario World plus $5 for all them. The top two rows are CIB, the bottom two rows are missing the manual. All but one are in mint/excellent condition.
Oh yeah, this was in that lot too. Yeah, it's complete and mint. Anyone know what's it worth? I didn't realize what it was when I bought it, but once I got home I learned it's THE hardest to find SMS game.
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All in all, a very good weekend. Although I have no idea what I'm going to do with all these SMS games. Plus the guy has a SMS that I'll probably trade for or buy next week since I haven't found one yet.
This is my first blog post on RFGen, and I think I should start it off with a history of my favorite series, Mother or Earthbound. The first Mother game was released in Japan on July 27, 1989. It was an interesting RPG due to how the game was played. Insteasd of the redundant, over-used story of medieval times, it takes place in the present. I won't delve into much detail so I don't ruin the story though. In short it's about a boy named Ninten (CLEVER!) who has to recover the 8 Melodies in order to save the world from evil aliens and such. Then after recovering the 8 Melodies, Ninten fights Gyigig (or Giygas, whatever you want) and saves the world. The game was very succesful in Japan, but it failed to get released outside Japan because of the SNES being released and no one wanting to buy an NES game.
The series picks up with Mother 2 or Earthbound. This game was released in America and Japan, but strangely not in Europe. Once again, only a brief story description. You play as Ness, a boy living in Eagleland. A meteorite crashes on a hill in your town, Ness and his neighbor Pokey go check it out, and a fly named Buzz-Buzz comes out of it. It tells Ness he is one of the Chosen Four and has to save the world from Giygas (What a twist!). After Ness has a battle with a Starman, they return to Pokey's house. There Pokey's mom kills Buzz-Buzz and well, we seem to have been given another asshole. BUT! Hope is not lost for the story progresses. Once again, can't say much of the story lest spoilers are to be had. But what I can say is that Itoi did an accurate portrayl on American life and shows all the problems and quirks of it. This can be from the insane Ku Kulx Klan-esque cultists to the shady real estate agents. Can't say too much more about this game, so we'll skip to Mother 3 for now.
Ah, Mother 3, what I consider to be the best of the series. A fan translation for it has also recently been completed. Mother 3 takes place in the future in which the Pig Mask Army is pillaging the land and all that good stuff. What I particularly like about this game is that it is divided up into chapters for key parts of the story. But I will only talk about the 1st chapter and the 8th chapter. In the first chapter you play as Flint, a rancher I'm guessing and father of Lucas, and oh crap... SOMEONE SET THE FOREST ON FIRE! So now, Flint has to go out and find who caused the fire. Spoilers are coming up so...FAST FORWARD! Okay now chapter 8, in this chapter you are told by the bell ringer of your town that you're living in some kind of Orwellian utopia. But all is not well because you must defeat the evil Pig King who has caused all of the damage in the past. After along journey to New Pork City, the largest city in all the land, you must find the Pig King. So after climbing this huge tower in the center of the city you've reached the room which holds the Pig King. But alas! What's this? He seems to look just like Pokey from Mother 2? What kind of black magic is this?! But from what we have yet to find out is that Pokey was up to some dastardly shenanigans that involved time-traveling so now he's gotten old but is still a cheeky little bastard. So after kicking his ass your quest is finally over, good job, have a cookie. But now onto the useless trivia. This game was originally planned to be released on the Nintendo 64 Disk Drive system as Earthbound and Mother 64. But the project was scrapped until much later after the Disk Drive was a failure. Also, the Mother 3 fan translation I mentioned early on can be found at mother3.fobby.net .
Hoped you guys liked my first blog, and I hope to make many more!
 September 26, 1986 (22 years ago): Akumajo Dracula is released in Japan.
Alternative names: Castlevania, Demon Castle Dracula.
Consoles: Initially Famicom Disc System and MSX2 in Japan, later NES and others.
Heavily influencing the platformer genre in the late 80's, this vampire-themed game is one of Konami's most famous series. The original game is about some Simon Belmont, who disliked vampires for whatever reason, and particularly wanted to destroy Dracula (every vampire hunter's dream). Using his whip along with other awesome weapons (including a Bible and a flying cross), Simon battled through hordes of Dracula's minions in a demonic castle (hence the title), occasionally stumbling upon an angry horror movie cliche as a boss fight.
Throughout the sequels, gameplay underwent significant changes. RPG-type features were introduced in Castlevania II: Simon's Quest, and removed in Castlevania III: Dracula's Curse. The RPG elements were brought back about ten years later, although in a different form, for one of the most popular titles in the series, Castlevania: Symphony of the Night. A surprise PlayStation hit during the era of 3D games, two-dimensional Symphony featured a completely reworked art style (influenced by Gothic and Baroque styles) and complete exploration freedom.
The franchise went on to make at least 24 (!) video games, with a couple more to be released soon. A motion picture based on the games was also promised, but after 3 years of planning, multiple script revisions, and a writers' strike, this possibility is somewhat dim.
Hoping on the bandwagon here...
Anyway, my name is Ben and I am a proud staff member on one of the best video game sites on the Web. My job on the staff is as Hardware Contributor, although I spend as much time on the games database as I do the hardware database. My main specialties are pre-SNES systems and Japanese systems. I am specifically interested in the Atari 7800, NES/Famicom, Sega Master System and the TurboGrafx-16/PC Engine. I joined the site on August 20, 2004, and became a staff member on July 7, 2007. In between that time I was essentially inactive on the site, but then I noticed how incomplete the database was and I decided to something about it. Not long afterwards, I applied for a position on the staff and got my current position as Hardware Contributor.
I am currently a college student in my second year and I plan to major in history. I'm currently trying to wrap my GE (general education) courses before I begin working on my major, and afterwards I might transfer to SJSU to get my BS. I am currently unemployed, and I haven't had luck finding a job yet. Aside from playing video games and going to college, I am a huge music fan and I also enjoy the occasional anime.
I've been collecting for about as long as I can remember, starting back when I was about 7 years old. During that time, I discovered the wonders of Funcoland and started collecting for the NES and Game Boy. A few years later, I began collecting for the Sega Master System and Genesis, and by 2003 I was into the Atari 2600. Just recently I've been into collecting for import systems, mainly the Famicom, Sega Mark III and PC Engine.
Learn more about me, after the jump if you want...
Continue reading Get to Know a Staff Member: ApolloBoy
This is now my second online selling/buying/trading review, and I have a great site for y'all; gameTZ.com!
GameTZ is not your everyday game site, in that it isn't an actual store, much like the dreaded e(vil)bay. But that is where the likeness stops. Due to this 'non-storelike' nature, I will not be rating this site on a point system.
Simply put, the site is designed for the trader, with ease in mind. You can add games you want to the creatively named Want List, you can add games to your Trade List, and you can even compile a Collection List!
After signing up and adding games to their respective lists, you then can search for matches, or other people that have things you want, or you have things they want. You can then start a Trade Offer, in which you write out the exact terms of the trade. The other party then can accept, or deny the trade offer. The trades don't necesarily have to be 'trades' to be trades. Example: You want Super Mario Bros. They want $6 + Shipping. That is done all the time. It doesn't have to be a trade.
Another neat feature is their 'Star System'. Depending on certain criteria, you can earn a Bronze, Silver, Gold, Double Gold, Triple Gold, etc, etc. Also, If you do international trades, you can get a Normal Globe and a Gold Globe. Some of the criteria are such things as: How many trades you have, when the last time you logged on was, etc. This star system, again, is in great likeness to ebay's star system.
Now many may be reluctant to use any other site other than ones that they are familiar with, and ones that have a firm, rooted background. Gametz has been online since October 20, 1997, and to date, 177197 completed trades have gone through.
All in all, gametz.com is a great website. They also have a great forum community. I give them an all around 'THUMBS UP'! "The best part?", I bet you're wondering... It's all free. 
EDIT: I am logical123 on gametz.com, if you were wondering. My profile is here.
Well, Dave did the first one, so I guess I'll do one too.
My name is Mike, I believe I am the newest Staff Member on this wonderful slice of Internet heaven. I joined the site on August 19, 2006 after I stumbled onto it through a series of recommendations. I immediately started loving scanning images and eventually started to enjoy filling in missing info. I knew I wanted to become a permanent part of this site right away. Earlier this year, I started a little blog called the Treasure Hunt Chronicles, mainly as just a way to keep track of when I bought stuff and the circumstances I bought them. It turned out to be very successful and I was asked to join the staff on July 22, 2008 at 1:09 PM, by 6:30 that afternoon, one of my dreams had come true. I was to be a blog writer, something I had never, ever thought I would do.
Well, that's quite the history on me and RFG, but RFG isn't my entire life, just 90% of it.
I am going to school for Environmental Studies and am in my 3rd year. My dream job would be to get into Wildlife research or management, but really as long as I get to work outdoors, I will be content.
I also love to hunt, I shot my first deer within an hour of my very first time ever hunting. It was a smaller doe, but she went down quick and painless and that's what is important in my book. She was also damn tasty.
I guess you could call me a collector in general, as I don't just collect games. I think it must be genetic as my dad, his brother, his aunt, and my grandmother are all major pack rats. Some people think it is weird, but no one ever has a problem borrowing something from them. But, I try to only collect useful or potentially valuable items. I used to collect records, I've got a few hundred but I've quit buying them simply because I have no room for more. So, games have become my main focus.
Learn more about me, after the jump if you want...
Continue reading Get to Know a Staff Member: NES_Rules
Well, any classic Nintendo NES fan will know that, like other consoles, the NES has its own number of sports games, such as Slalom, and 10 - Yard Fight by Nintendo. There are even games from third parties such as Tecmo's Tecmo Bowl and Super Bowl. One in particular, Ice Hockey, is the one that I will be reviewing here. Starting off, you will notice the cartridge and box art are different than most Nintendo sports titles. Most come in the black boxes that we've all seen at one time or another. Strangely, Ice Hockey comes in a bright blue box with a picture of some random ice hockey player. This is the only Nintendo sports title that hasn't had the cartoony style characters on the box and cart.
Now, as you first boot up the game, you are treated to some quite cheerful music and some small hockey players on the screen. Like most NES games, Ice Hockey has the option of either 1 or 2 players. As you press start on the controller, you get a screen of several options. On this screen, you get to choose your team (USA, Canada, Russia, Czechoslovakia, Sweden, and Poland), your opponent's team, the speed of the game, and the length of the game, ranging from 7, 10, and 15 minutes. The last thing that you will set up before the game begins, is the setup of your team. You choose which type of players will be on your team. Once all of the options are selected, the match can begin.
As the game begins, you will start out at center ice to battle for the puck. The gameplay mostly relies on being able to pass the puck, shoot, and how you selected your team. From the get-go, none of the teams have a statistical advantage over the others. Before the game, each team has five players (a stocky player, 2 average players, and a skinny player). The stocky players are the best at shooting and bowling over other players (which is pretty entertaining), the average players are average all around, and finally, the skinny ones are the fastest but tend to be the ones that get bowled over the most often. Also, each team has a goaltender as well. The controller only controls the player that is selected, but it will also control the goaltender no matter which one is selected. Fights can also ensue, and will continue until the ref stops it and sends the starter to the penalty box. Goals can be kind of hard to achieve at times, but when you do score one, it is damn satisfying! One other thing to note is that, when the game is paused, the pause sound is the same pause sound from Super Mario Bros.!
As you can see, this is one of the greatest sports titles to be released on the NES, and is personally one of my favorite nes games of all time. I'll give this game a 9/10
While reading Nik the Communist's great blog post about Myst turning 15 today, I got an idea (see his post here); A weekly historical blog!
Every week, on Saturday evening, or Sunday morning, I will do some research on meaningful historical occurrences within gaming history. Sounds like fun, right? Well, that is what I thought. But then I ran into a snag... I am not to great at what is called 'html' coding.
So! This will give me an opporitunity to use my brain on the weekend, when I am not in school. This will be not only a learning experience for you, but for me as well. If all goes well, then "Official Post Numero Uno" will be this Saturday Night/Sunday Evening! Wish me luck! And if you have any games that you want to see make their way into the post, just shoot me a pm!
And, have you all know, this post was my first lesson. None of the code was copied and pasted. Yay me? I think SO! *Applause*
So, make sure to stay on RFgeneration and KEEP IT ON 3!!!!
I am very glad I stumbled upon this wonderful website - I found out about it while searching for a book called Video Game Bible. Not only the site features one of the biggest game databases on the web along with built-in collection tracking software, it doesn't even have any ads! How often do you see that on the web nowadays?
I thought that this website deserved a donation, and if you can spare even a dollar, you should too (the link is here).
I am sure every one of us has some pretty old games in the collection (this is why you are here, right?). Well, I thought we may as well acknowledge memorable games by celebrating their birthdays! And this is why I have this feature. To narrow the scope, I will only post about games that were released after the crash, but are at least 10 years old (I think ten years is enough to realize whether a game has left any influence in the world of video games). I will also explain why this game is important enough to mention.
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September 24, 1993 (15 years ago): Myst is released.
Console: Macintosh initially, many more soon after.
While hailed by some as a "fancy collection of really obscure puzzles" or "interactive slide-show" (they may be right!), the popularity of the game could not be questioned. Myst eventually sold over 6 million copies, a record it held for almost 9 years, until the arrival of The Sims. The release of Myst also largely helped adopt the CD-ROM format on personal computers, since the game fully took advantage of the format with tons of images and music. Myst spawned four well-selling sequels, as well a couple of remakes, some spin-offs, and many imitators.
In my personal opinion, I would attribute the popularity of Myst to first-person view combined with realistic graphics (something first-person games of the era could not yet pull off), making the game very immersive, while the puzzles and lack of violence made it appealing to people who would not normally play games (even "moms" played it in the early 90's).
See also: If you liked Myst, then I would recommend horror adventures AMBER: Journeys Beyond (1996), or the much later Scratches (2006), as well as many other mystery games spawned by this style.
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Yet another crowded week. It's especially bad for Wii and PS3 owners...
| Playstation 3 | Xbox 360 | Nintendo Wii | •Baja: Edge of Control
•Buzz Quiz TV
•Brothers in Arms: Hell's Highway (Also avaliable as a limited edition)
•Cabela's Dangerous Hunts 2009
•LEGO Batman | •Baja: Edge of Control
•Brothers in Arms: Hell's Highway (Also avaliable as a limited edition)
•Cabela's Dangerous Hunts 2009
•LEGO Batman
•Warriors Orochi 2 | •Brothers in Arms: Double Time
•Cabela's Dangerous Hunts 2009
•de Blob
•LEGO Batman
•Lost in Blue: Shipwrecked
•Pitfall: The Big Adventure
•Rebel Raiders
•Samba De Amigo
•Sim City Creator
•Twin Strike: Operation Thunder
•Wario Land: Shake It
| | PSP | Nintendo DS | Playstation 2 | •Buzz Master Quiz
•LEGO Batman
•Pipe Mania
PC
•Battlelord: King’s Bounty
•Command & Conquer 3 Deluxe Edition
•Everlight
•Flight Simulator X: Gold Edition
•Hired Guns: The Jagged Edge
•LEGO Batman
•Mount & Blade
•Nostradamus
•The Settlers VI Gold
•Sid Meier's Civilization IV: Colonization | •Barbie Fashion Show: •Eye for Style
•Brain Quest Grades 3 & 4
•Brain Quest Grades 5 & 6
•Di-Gata Defenders
•Dinosaur King
•Disgaea DS
•Drop Cast
•Hi! Hamtaro Ham-Ham Challenge
•Kirby: Super Star Ultra
•LEGO Batman
•Margot's Word Brain
•My Japanese Coach
•My SAT Coach: Princeton Review
•My Little Pony Pinkie Pie's Party
•Nancy Drew: Hidden Staircase
•Pipe Mania
•Rhapsody: A Musical Adventure
•Shaun the Sheep
•Sim City Creator
•Time Hollow | •Cabela's Dangerous Hunts 2009
•Dragon Ball Z Trilogy
•LEGO Batman (Also available in a bundle with a PS2 system for all 2 people that don't own one yet)
•Onimusha: The Essentials
•Pipe Mania
•SingStar Pop Vol 2
•Warrior's Orochi 2 |
 Because I'm kinda busy, I will keep my rundown fairly short.
So, this week you have a Wiimake of Samba De Amigo (which apparently isn't that great), a Wii adaptation of student project that gathered a lot of attention at the Independent Games Festival, yet another WW2 FPS (but a good looking one), a new Lego game (which usually turn out good), a new Buzz! game (pretty good trivia/party game), Wario Land: Shake It (Nintendo hasn't hyped this game at all. Why?), Kirby Super Star Ultra (Same. Why no love Nintendo?), Disgaea DS (ugly art, but supposedly good game if you like that kind of thing), and of course Mega Man 9! If you own a 360, PS3, or Wii, I expect you to buy MM9. If you don't I seriously doubt your classic gamer cred.
Also out this week on the PSN is Wipeout HD, a steal at just $20.
Sorry for the abridged look at this week's games. Hopefully school doesn't totally screw me over again next week.
 Dragon Quest: The Journey of the Cursed King (in the US: Dragon Quest VIII: Journey of the Cursed King) is Level-5's third RPG for the Playstation 2, and also the third game ever by the developer. After the good Dark Cloud (2000) and the great Dark Chronicle (2002), Level-5 decided to take on the massive task of making the next instalment of the long lasting Dragon Quest franchise. Not only that, Dragon Quest: The Journey of the Cursed King (from now on called Dragon Quest 8 ) would become the first game of the series for the Playstation 2, as well as being the first Dragon Quest game with 3D graphics. Not an easy task, but Level-5 fulfilled all expectations.
The game starts when the evil mage Dhoulmagus tries to steal a legendary sceptre, locked away in a local castle. To reach his goal, Dhoulmagus cursed the castle and petrified everyone inside into plant-like beings except for three individuals. The King, Throde, gets transformed into a Yoda-like toad, while his daughter, princess Medea, gets turned into a horse. The last survivor of the curse is you, the hero of this tale, and the only one not affected by the curse in any way.
Despite the shallowness and classic feel of the story, there are some interesting plot twists that'll keep you entertained until the end. Along the way you'll meet three more characters that'll join you on your adventure: Yangus, Jessica and Angelo. Yangus is rough fellow that got his life saved by the hero and calls him "guv" out of respect. Another recurring line of Yangus is "Cor' Blimey!" whenever King Throde appears out of nowhere. Jessica is a hard headed aristocratic girl that wants to avenge the death of her brother, Alister, who got killed by Dhoulmagus some time before his attack on the castle. Angelo is a Templar Knight, devoted to Abbot Francisco, but lacking the will to follow the Templars' strict moral code.
This lively bunch sets out to find Dhoulmagus, and while doing so encounter countless other characters that need assitance of some sort to advance the main plot. The game offers alot of content and a whole world to discover. Rushing through the story without doing any sidequests will almost take up 50 hours. You can almost double that number when playing at a normal pace and getting involved in most of the sidequests.
Gameplay-wise, Dragon Quest 8 is an as classic RPG as it gets. Combat is turn-based and gets triggered by random encouters. Because there are only 4 playable characters, switching characters isn't an option, meaning all characters will level up at the same speed. When faced against a number of monsters, you'll have to assign tasks to all 4 of your characters first and then watch them get executed together with enemy attacks. Besides melee and ranged attacks, characters can cast offensive or healing spells, aswell as use weapon-specific abilities. Lastly, players can opt to raise the tension of a character to build up energy that can be released in a single, devastating blow; especially useful when doing a boss fight.
Characters differ concerning the spells they can cast, aswell as the attributes they can raise. When a characters levels up, you can assign points to any of 5 attributes of that character. 4 of those attributes are to increase damage done with specific weapons, 1 attribute is different for each character. Some tactics lie in the fact that not all characters can use all types of weapons. For example, Angelo is the only one that can wield bows. The maximum amount of points that can be assigned to an attribute is 100, which can be obtained at around level 40. This gives players some time to experiment with different weapon types first before having to stick to one type to get it as strong as possible. The different weapon types are swords, boomerangs, axes, clubs, knives, scythes, whips, staves, bows and fisticuffs (no weapon equiped).
Besides weapons, characters can also equip a piece of body armor, a helmet, a shield and an accessory. These aren't as many categories as in some other RPGs, but you'll still spend a great deal of time finding, buying or making better weapons and armour. That last option is available once aquiring an Alchemy Pot. You can throw in multiple items and see what new item pops out. This mini-game is similar to the "invention" system in Dark Chronicle or the weapon system in Rogue Galaxy. It's quite important to try out as much combinations as you can, because it's the best way to get a hold of some strong weapons/armour/items before being able to purchase them. That's needed, because the game can be pretty challenging, especially early on when it doesn't take much hits to get your party wiped out. After the game's ending you can load your saved game again to just before defeating the final boss and enter a complete new dungeon after which some of the hardest boss battles can be found. Sometimes you'll have to go through large stretches of land without really knowing what to look for. Although this might set off the less experienced RPGer, old-school gamers will love the classic approach to this RPG.
If I could say only one thing about Dragon Quest 8, it would be that it's a very polished, rich and complete games. Alot of thought went into the menu, which looks particulary nice. All your items can easily be sorted with an auto-sort option in the menu, where they are displayed with beautiful icons. Also nice is that, when pressing select, you get a "battle records" menu in which you can watch a full list of of monsters, collected items and Alchemy Pot recepies.
Coupled to the great gameplay are stunning visuals and sound. Graphics are some of the best on the PS2 and the best ever in the Dragon Quest series. The cel-shading suits the game perfectly, with characters and monsters looking like they've just escaped from an anime, yet staying faithful to the Dragon Quest franchise. Akira Toriyama did the character design of this game and is the man responsible for the Dragon Ball Z series.
Sound is just as nice with convincing voice acting (despite the sometimes over-the-top voice of King Throde), great sound effects and fantastic music. The songs are all classic orchestral tracks that really set the mood for the many areas that the game is rich. From the regal intro tune to the upbeat battle song or the creepy dungeon track; they all maintain the same high level and are never out of place.
I'll wrap it up by saying that Dragon Quest 8 is one of the best games in the series aswell as one of the best RPGs on the PS2. If you're looking for a good RPG, a game that will last a long time or just a good game in general, this is a must-buy. 9.3/10
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