My Mother Bought a 3DS - Welcome to the Game System Revolution

A tinier me on the 3DS

My mother bought a 3DS this past weekend. She headed down to Shoppers Drug Mart handed over her chalked filled points card and got a virtually free gaming system. Yes, my fifty year old mother owns a 3DS before her technological and game system savvy twenty-three year old daughter.

Luckily for me, I have a kind mother who has let me fool around with her shiny aqua 3DS. (Okay, I ran away with it and she is at the moment hunting me down. So if I don't return any calls or if you don't see me in the next week -- I'm six feet under.)

Old vs New

The 3DS is approximately the same size of a DS Lite, but it weights a bit more than its game device ancestor. When I first opened the 3DS, I was surprised at how capable the 3D graphics were. It is like having a small 3D movie theater in the palm of your hand. I like not having to wear the horrible 3D glasses over my own prescription pair (which has to be one of the most uncomfortable things ever). The downside is that you really have to stare straight-on to get the full 3D effect (or it looks all awkward with lines all funny and shapes blurred).

The system comes with some AR Cards that let you play a few simple 3D games like fishing and archery. They're not much, but they do show off the power of the game system. But after a few playthroughs, they become monotonous and don't add much to the gaming repertoire.

These are the cards that hold a window into your 3DS' soul

Unfortunately, I don't own any 3DS games yet. Yeah, so not much is going on in that department. I did try a few DS games on the handheld however, and they play fine. I really like being able to use the slide pad as it makes playing games feel more natural after playing on the bigger consoles (I played Okamiden and it felt right at home having played its bigger mama game before). The downside to playing DS games on the 3DS is that games are stretched and get a washed-out effect, colours muted and drab looking. There is a cheat to get a better resolution if you hold down the Select and Start button when you press the game icon however. It makes the game screen really tiny though, four big black bars surrounding game image on the top and bottom screen.

Another downside is that the Nintendo eStore will not be available until May. That means no downloads (DS or 3DS wise). No internet connection as it is either. For a $250 machine, you think they would at least have the internet working for their launch. And let 3DS users access the DSiWare shop.

Me and my mother's 3DS

As of now, the 3DS is only a beautiful piece of equipment that sits in its personal cradle imploring me to buy a game that will show off its full potential. I stand my my previous post that Nintendo hasn't released any game that I need to play right now (I have a real cat and Super Street Fighting IV is on every system). I'll be waiting not so patiently for the summer and fall releases instead. Bur for now I'll stick to playing PC games like Wandering Willows and Gemini Rue (a Pokemon/Animal Crossing/FarmVille/Rune Factory hybrid strategy game and a noir-thriller adventure game), until Nintendo really wants to wow me.

Ghost Trick: Phantom Detective - First Impressions

Image taken from GameSpot

Ghost Trick: Phantom Detective arrived faithfully at my door a day ago, and since then my fingers have been feeling rather wane and cramped, from the hurt of extended button poking and stylus holding. Or maybe it’s ‘cause outside it’s -30°C and I need to wear a parka in my house to stay warm.

I have to say right off the bat, that there may be a bit of bias in my love of Ghost Trick, as the Ace Attorney series is one of my favourites (both games created by Shu Takumi). But having gone through preliminaries, I can see how someone can like Ace Attorney and not Ghost Trick or vice versa. Game play is very different between the two games, Ghost Trick relying on physics, object manipulation, and mapping out a series of events in a short amount of time – while Ace Attorney is all about detective work, interrogations, and courtroom drama. But the fundamentals that made Ace Attorney so well liked such as hilarious dialogue, off-beat characters, and winding plot twists, haven’t missed a mark in Ghost Trick.

Suit-dude, Lynne, Sissel, and Kamila. You wish you had their hair.

Ghost Trick follows a man named Sissel, who recently died, and his journey to unravel the mystery behind his death. On his quest for truth, Sissel learns that he can interact with the dead and go back four minutes in time to try and stop their usually humorous and tragic deaths. He does this by going between the Land of the Living and the Ghost World, where time stands still and he can manipulate inanimate objects, and prevent unfortunate demises.

I haven’t finished the game yet, but from what I’ve played, the game has been excellent. The puzzles that you have to solve go from easy hard, but never brain-exploding hard. There is also a wonderful rewind feature in the game that lets Sissel replay a puzzle as many times as he has to until he solves the puzzle – with no penalties (that I know of so far).

As of right now, I’d totally recommend people checking this game out, especially adventure and puzzle game fans. So go forth and buy people! And while you’re at it, can you buy me a heater?

Rune Factory 3 Review

After my last blog post where I ranted about the UPS guy being slow, the guy turned up at 7 p.m. and handed Rune Factory 3 to me. (This magical event even happened during a blizzard. You are an inspiration UPS guy. Your dedication is outstanding.)

After playing RF3 for a few days, I can summarize this farming RPG hybrid in two words: brilliant gaming.

  
Story: A boy named Micah (or whatever you want to name your hero) wakes up in a foreign land suffering from everyone’s' favourite plot device: amnesia. Stranded in nowheresville, Micah gets found by a maiden named Shara and is given a tree house home to live in, because this is obviously not our government run Earth. (I wish I would wake up in a foreign land and they would give me a house to live in. No The Twelve Kingdoms for me.) After being given his sweet pad, Micah is forced to fight off monsters in his garden so he can be given a weapon that will be vital in discovering the world of RF3. From there on he is tasked to meet the townspeople and go on adventures that will amaze and unfurl shocking secrets.

The Game: Having played Rune Factory 1, Rune Factory 2, and Rune Factory Frontier, I can honestly say that this game trumps them all. (Although I loved RFF as it is a console game, RF3 has much more to do in it and doesn't have the annoying load times). There is so much going on in RF3 all the time and everything flows together, always pushing the plot further.

Festivals in RF3 are very interactive and in this game, people don't stop going on with their daily lives. In festivals, life continues normally except for the few hours (in game time) it takes to do the festival. The festivals are new and interesting; in one you can even beat up a giant wooly with a lollipop.

A key thing to remember is to talk to townspeople before and after the event. They have new dialogue after each visit.

Battle in RF3 is very similar to its other siblings. But with a small switch: you can play as human Micah or his not so secret identity as a wooly (a monster that resembles a sheep. See cover). I still like playing as human!Micah more than wooly!Micah as nothing beats the thrust of a sword or the unleashing of a magical spell. But both forms have their needs, and you can't unlock major plotlines without switching between both.

Don't you wish you never carved that pumpkin on Halloween now?

Farming is like every other time you've farmed in RF. If you have played a Harvest Moon or a Rune Factory game, then you know how to farm (if you have played one and still don't know how to farm, put down your DS and go cry in shame). Basically you take your hoe, dig up some dirt with the "B" button, sow some seeds, and water your plants or let the rain take care of the dirty business for you. As in previous RFs, monsters that you capture/befriend still give you items like wool or milk as long as you buy the right equipment from town.

RF3 also includes cooking, forging, pharmacy, and other side businesses that you can slowly build into a franchise inside your tree house. Characters will also give you tasks to complete for money or items that can be found in your mailbox or on the bulletin board by the shop Fantastic Flowers.

Characters: Character interaction has been vastly improved in RF3, characters having been given more personality and dialogue options as they interact with your character Micah (they even come into your house and talk to you). Townspeople even interact interpersonally with each other. Micah can listen to conversations they are having through little bubbles that appear over their heads or join in their conversations. The only downside to characters running around all the time is that the game will start to lag if too many people have clustered onto the screen. However, the lag is manageable and Micah can still get from point A to B and speak to characters without much hassle.

Can you guess which one is Micah within the lovely ladies?

In RF3 you have 11 bachelorettes to woo and take as your wife, all the girls given lots of interesting dialogue and events to participate in; later when you reach a certain heart level, Micah can even take the girls on dates. The dating system has been substantially improved since the previous RF incarnations - and even Harvest Moon.

Final Thoughts: The only real downsides to RF3 is that the storyline is a bit shorter than its predecessors (Rune Factory 1 & 2 both have longer plots), and that you can't play as a female protagonist. But thankfully, Rune Factory Oceans for the PS3/Wii is coming out soon (in Japan anyway) and players will be able to play as a girl and boy.

Ones of these things are not like the other...

If you liked Rune Factory 1 & 2 or Rune Factory Frontier, you will like Rune Factory 3. If you didn't like either, you still might like RF3 as everything has been substantially improved. It is a great dating sim/RPG/farming game that gracefully balances all these facets to create a stimulating and enriching gaming experience (translation: it kicks ass).

Ace Attorney Investigations 2: Miles Edgeworth

I loved the first Ace Attorney Investigations 2: Miles Edgeworth. I played out my thumbs and only got shut-eye between two second DS load screens. Edgeworth brought logic to the table and real time cross examinations, which were a brilliant innovation. Ace Attorney Investigations 2: Miles Edgeworth is once again re-innovating its cross examination with a strange looking chess setup. I'm not the best chess player in the world, so I'm interested to see how chess is integrated into this out of court, courtroom drama.

Harvest Moon Grand Bazaar - First Impressions

Finally, I received my copy of Harvest Moon Grand Bazaar after waiting for months, Natsume pushing back its release date more than once. After ripping off the plastic covering and sitting down for a few hours with the game, I thought I’d give my first impressions.
The Good:

• Grand Bazaar deviates from the characters in Sunshine Islands and Island of Happiness
• Crops easier to grow
• You own a bazaar
• Nice farm and town layout
• You can use the one tap L button to run
• The newly introduced jump button (A), you can even get two jumps in by pressing A twice
• The control pad and buttons are used for all actions
• Washroom and sauna in own house
• Cat and Dog choices
• Cute love interests and towns people
• The town mayor Felix has a picture of himself in his own house (he looks rather handsome with his mountain backdrop. Very Ricola.)

The Bad:

• Time only stops when you speak to towns people (there is no pause button)
• On the map screen, you are the only disembodied head (unlike in SI/IH)
• The main girl sprite looks like the boy sprite but with blonde hair
• The B button is used to talk and use your tools (fortunately you can remove your tool with a press of the Y button)
• Colour palate and textures are rather dull looking

Harvest Moon Grand Bazaar might not be a perfect game, but so far, the improved HM formula is keeping me entertained and (after this post) coming back for more.

Okamiden

A new video has been released of Okamiden DS, the sequel to Okami (on the PS2 and ported onto the Wii).

Okamiden follows Chibiterasu, Amaerasu's (the lead from Okami) son. You travel with the son of Susano (the main human character in Okami) , both young boys (wolf-god in Chibiterasu's case) taking up were their parents left off to travel the world. It also seems likely that Chibiterasu has other companions, a mermaid and some type of spring goddess.

The gameplay and video looks lush and beautiful, Okamiden seemingly not hampered by the DS's tinier memory and graphics card.

I for one can't wait to get my hands on this game once it comes out.