Tales of Vesperia (360)

I've been M.I.A. but now I'm back and I bring with me Tales of Vesperia! I've always like the Tales series and this is no exception.

Story: The game throws you into the role of several characters, A vagabond and researcher with a short temper even a dog. You'll start as Yuri and as you go recruit the rest of your crew. THe characters all grow on you fairly quickly with a large number of voiced cutscenes even ones that don't totally pretain to the story that might just be intereactions with the characters. All designed to help move the story along and keep the player engaged. 5/5

Gameplay: An awesome feature of the game is the multiplayer co-op battle system. You and your friends can take control of your favorite characters an fight together. Previously the battle system with co-op had been clunky and near impossible but now its been polished and functions particularily well. Though the rest of the game plays like your standard RPG run walk poke talk its has no real glaring flaws. 5/5

Audio: The soundtrack is great especially the opening theme. Characters are voiced amazingly well and you can tell the actors were really enjoying what they were doing. Battles dungeons scenes are all well done. 5/5

Graphics: The game is bright and flush. No its not HD and realistic but its not meant to be. The game has a feeling of and heavy atmosphere of fantasy and immersion in it. Characters are very normal looking in feature but with outrageous clothes and costumes. this adds such a feeling of being in a dream. Nothing about the game isn't pretty and without making the game feel fluffy and kiddy. 5/5

Replay: Alright the game is long really long, there are plenty of missables and extras but due to the games length and being particularily story heavy you may not want to play through a second time. Though there are reasons to such as getting 100% clear if you're a crazy person or collecting all the costumes and such. 3/5

Overal: Alrighty, this game is pretty much gold if you like fun rpgs, The lack of slow turn based combat and the fluid and well done script keep the game moving so well. Adding friends only makes it better, you'll find yourself so drawn in by the characters and story you won't want to put it down. There are a few sharp curves on the boss fights but nothing that ever leaves you grinding for hours. a pretty much perfect game. 4/5

Harvest Moon: Tree of Tranquility (Wii)

Welcome back for another installment of reviews. Well only one review. And that's Harvest Moon for the Wii. So let's get started.


Story: You've decided to move to this island as a farmer because supposedly the island is highly developed and a dream to live in. once you get there, you discovered the mayor lied because while the town was once popular, now most people have left. Then you dream of the Harvest Goddess and decide to revive the island, you need to revive her. A lot of the story revolves around trying to find the harvest sprites and help them to revive the Goddess. For a HM game, that's a lot of plot, and while it's not amazing storytelling, it is nice to have some sort of goals to aim for. 3/5


Audio: The music in most HM games is repetitive, and this isn't different. There are more than just 4 tracks though, and they fit their surroundings well. 3/5


Graphics: The game is a wii game. And it looks like a wii game. Characters have that sort of mii look to them. The game in general looks nice and smooth, few if any jagged edges. It might not be a realistic 3D experience, but it's pretty whil retaining the HM feel, so I like. 4/5


Gameplay: You can play the game using the wiimote and nunchuck or you can use a classic controller. I use the classic controller myself. It seems to work out best. Harvest Moon games are all about farmer and building relations with your neighbors, and this one is no different. As you earn more money and ship more items you can expand your farm and well as the shops around you. By helping the harvest sprites you can unlock the ferry which will start bringing in more people each month. You also have the option to marry (and by option I mean you should do it) one of the bachelors or bachelorettes in the town. There are other stuff to do too, mining, fishing, festivals, all of which seem to be handled in easy to understand fashion. Tools increase power as you use them, and they cost less stamina to use as you upgrade them. It's easy to understand gameplay. 4/5


Replay: Once you "beat" the game, you can send your kid onto a new island for a plus game. It basically starts everything over, but you get all your money and certain items to come with you. It makes it interesting to try the game again from the opposite gender. 3/5


Overall: This is one of the better HM games, and worth picking up if you like HM and have a wii. 4/5

Multiple Reviews

I've been very bad about updating. On one hand I've been telling yuuki to post a number of reviews for a while, but that shouldn't excuse my own failures. So here are brief, but not too short reviews on the last few games i've been playing.


Infinite Undiscovery


Story: You look like some great revolutionary, so when you're thrown in jail, the revolutionary's little sidekick rescues you. From there you are thrown into constant battles. You continue on this journy mostly because people wont let you do anything else. The story is more than just generic, it feels forced. It's unrealistic on a human level. 3/5


Audio: The characters have voice overs, most of which don't work that well. The music isn't bad, but it's not impressive either. 2/5


Graphics: The graphics on the game are well done. I've seen better, but I think the game made good use of the 360's capabilities. 4/5


Gameplay: The gameplay at first seems unique and entertaining, but as time goes on you realize it's not. you can only control the main character, so to makethe other characters do particular moves you have to go through a sequence of buttons to pull it off. This is nearly impossible in the heat of battle, so you rely on the AI to do what is necessary. Your menu occurs during real time, so if you go into it during battle, you can still be attacked. There is a crafting system, that is not bad, but not amazing either. 3/5


Replay: I don't see a point. 2/5


Overall: The story was meh, the gameplay meh, and the dialogue had some serious issues. not that it was bad, it just felt forced. I seriously wouldn't recommend this game, but if you're desperate for an RPG on the 360, go ahead and rent it. 2/5




Lock's Quest


Story: You play Lock, a young, well essentially he builds things, who lives in an isolated seaside town. One day an army of evil machines comes and attacks your town. The story isn't that great. 2/5


Audio: The sound is ok, nothing amazing. 3/5


Graphics: The graphics are very low key. It's teh DS so I don't expect a lot, but I know it can do more than that. 2/5


Gameplay: The premise of the game is that you build defenses to keep the enemy machines from reaching X goal. It's rather unique and kinda of fun. One problem is you only have a certain amount of time each round to build and repair defenses. Another issue I had was that sometimes when i just wanted to repair a wall, I'd end up moving it or rotating. 3/5


Replay: I don't see much need. 2/5


Overall: It's a cute game with some interesting ideas. I don't think there are that many flaws that break it, but i'd probably recommend renting first. 3/5




So that's all I have right now. it's possible there was another game I'm forgetting. Either way, expect a HM: Tree of Tranquility review soon.