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Persona 4 (PS2)
by Zack131
It's 2009, the PlayStation 3 is in full swing and the PlayStation 2 systems are in the closets accumulating a period of dust as the games of the 'next-generation' take centre stage. With the likes of Metal Gear Solid 4, LittleBigPlanet and Killzone 2, the PS3 has finally been given the kick start it deserves. This makes the decision not ... develop Persona 4 for the PS3 surprising and perhaps a wasted opportunity to further perfect what is already in my eyes; a masterpiece.
What the game is about
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Once again the player takes the role of a silent high-school protagonist whose personality is shaped by the player themselves. The character has moved away from the city to live with his uncle and little cousin Nanako (whom he has never met) in the country town of Inaba for a year. Shortly after arriving, fog envelopes the town bringing with it unusual deaths of citizens. The rumour of the 'Midnight Channel' is passed around school, where staring into a blank TV on a rainy midnight conjures the image of ones soul mate. Curious, the main character tries it out and discovers he can in fact pass through the TV into a world that can only be described as the materialisation of other's desires. This new found power leads himself and his school mates Yosuke and Chie to take it upon themselves to investigate the murders of Inaba with the idea that the midnight channel may have something to do with the unexplainable deaths. They soon realise they are the only ones who can save the victims from an unpleasant demise by doing so before the fog returns to Inaba.
Alongside battling shadows in the TV world to become closer to solving the mystery, the player can partake in developing 'social links' which is a level based term for ones relationship with other characters in the game. Strengthening these links directly contributes to increased battle performance with the ability to summon a stronger 'Persona'. You can form links with team-mates and certain other characters such as school club colleagues and even a fox. The player also has the opportunity to take part-time jobs such as tutoring and making envelopes which each increase 1 of 5 of the character's personal characteristics: Knowledge, Expression, Understanding, Diligence and Courage. Certain levels of the these characteristics are requirements for progressing further with some social links and starting others in the first place.
The RPG combat system takes place in the TV world and takes up the whole day for the character. The battle system will be familiar to players of previous Persona or Shin Megami Tensei games using weakness and strengths as the most fundamental approach to any battle. By hitting an enemy shadow's weakness, the player gets 1 extra turn and likewise the enemy would get an extra turn if they hit your weakness. Even a standard battle can become a nightmare for your team if you don't protect your weaknesses. The player attacks by summoning personae to cast magical spells or physical attacks, the main character can switch between a variety of aquired persona whilst teammates are restricted to a single persona of their own.
Liked
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Developing your character I feel also develops yourself as a person. Persona 4 subjects yourself to many different scenarios that you may never have been in before. Given the choice of what to say is really thought provoking. There is a lot of depth to the characters which you interact with, different emotions and views. Maybe if its only just slightly, I feel its made myself a better person, I understand more about the people I speak with and Persona 4 has made me realise how treasured my friends really are.
The cast of Persona 4 really is great, topped off with fantastic voice actors it is a joy to have such a band of personalities as team-mates. Moments that make you smile, or even laugh out loud are simply abundant with some continued jokes that carry throughout the game. The team feels extremely close and as a result makes for some upsetting moments that you feel yourself.
The style of Persona 4 emphasised with its upbeat soundtrack by Shoji Meguro does not become tiresome. In fact, I'm listening to the soundtrack CD that accompanied the game as I write and I'm once again blown away. Its the first time I've heard each piece so clearly and distinct which is probably due to my TV's audio settings when playing the game. Persona 4 is colourful and battles are fought with a song being sung in the background, not something I'm particularly used to for RPG battle theme music, but its a good change.
Nearing the close of the game, the player actually gets the option to choose, from a list of almost every named character in Inaba and choose who committed murders which I took a long hard think about. I wish there was more of this as you feel slightly detached from the mystery itself, it unfolds before your eyes without much input. However, that is possibly too much to ask for and you do get the satisfaction of suggesting a possible reason for an occurrence during talks with the team.
Adding jobs to Persona is a great way to build up cash, better yet it helps develop a social link making evenings working also a joy and not just a way to earn money.
Developing links with allies allows them to learn new follow up attacks or assistance moves which actually makes it worthwhile to develop social links with your team-mates.
Battle difficulty is a very good balance, it provides challenge without utter frustration of dying and losing that time spent getting up floors of a dungeon.
Didn't like
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Items that are collected are stored in the same scrollable inventory with the only organisation being that similar items are adjacent items in the list. I found this pretty lazy, key items that are never used again are thrown in with frequently used items making the list scroll on forever. I feel the items should be categorised and tabbed.
Like Persona 3, dungeons are randomised which it might be nicer if they were a bit more personalised and had a strict design. Of course this could just be limitations of disc space, which makes it a little more annoying that it was no on the PS3.
Main character dies then that is that, game over.
There are 3 different endings for Persona 4, the bad, normal and true. The only way to avoid the bad ending is to answer a series of questions with certain answers at a particular point in the game with is perhaps a little unfair compared to a 2 answered question in Persona 3. I attained the normal ending myself but later found out about the 'true' ending which involves doing a particular thing at the very end of the game which was not really prompted. The true ending leads to an extra dungeon and boss which I missed out on my first play-through. I saved over the very last save I made with the new game+ data so I'd need to replay the whole game to get there. Putting in 80 hours, I'm not ready to go through it all again just yet and thus resulted in using youtube to satisfy me with a better ending, of course this was my own fault and it is kind of nice to discover for yourself, depriving a whole dungeon I feel is a little harsh.
Persona 3 comparison
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Persona 3 (FES) secured the hearts of myself and many others as the greatest JRPG of the PS2 and one of the best of all time. Its pretty difficult to grasp that Persona 4 excels its predecessor in almost every single way...
Battle system
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The battle system formula is essentially the same with all the familiar Personae and spells at your disposal. Its still an enjoyable system and a redesign really was not needed, why fix what was already pretty great? The difficulty has been toned down making Persona 4 an easier and more forgiving game on the standard difficulty setting. The most notable change is that you can now control all of your team-mates actions if you like, placing less reliance on the AI allowing for more strategic battles.
What I feel to be the best addition to the combat system is social link induced attacks. Developing social links with your team-mates allows them to eventually take hits that would ultimately kill you amongst other helpful functions making social links that bit more important.
You have no control over which weapon the main character uses unfortunately, you are restricted to a 2 handed sword instead of getting the choice of any.
Cast & story
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Persona 3 was pretty gloomy, dark and at times depressing. It was an incredibly serious game which I appreciate in its own rights and is great in those respects. Persona 4 takes a far lighter approach with a much more light-hearted journey which simply shines through its characters making for a more enjoyable experience. Living with relatives in Persona 4 adds family life into the mix and makes for a closer attachment to the characters. Using a murder mystery as the basis for the story adds a lot more depth than it was exploring a tower.
Interface
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I had a concern with the clunky interface of Persona 3, its great to see Persona 4 lightening the load a bit with a much more responsive menu when switching persona or healing characters. Unfortunately the Velvet Room remains largely unchanged with my major issue of being unable to dismiss personae inside of the room still existing.
Dungeons
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The mammoth dungeon that was known as Tartarus in Persona 3 was a real pain. There was the sense of achievement in scaling the mighty tower, but with difficult battles and only being able to teleport back to the bottom every 10 floors or so was simply hell. Having to ascend 10 floors in succession then conquer a boss without a save point in sight was unforgiving, tiring and left me not playing for days after losing an hour or so of battles. Persona 4 totally spawns relief by having smaller dungeons of 10 floors or so which allow you to return to the floor you exited the dungeon via an item or spell to save. Essentially this allows you to return and save for each floor you complete to beat at a much more manageable pace. Of course this is too good to be true and HP and SP are not restored. There is the fox that will cure SP at a fee which is determined by your social link with the fox.
Quests
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I missed a few quests in Persona 3 due to completion date restrictions. Persona 4 has done away with that and it is possible to complete the quests at your own pace.
Attributes & social links
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It is far easier to develop your character's individual parameters and social links this time around. I had no problem maxing out my knowledge for the exams well before the final exams which gives time for other social links and attributes. There is always some kind of beneficial action you can do with your time, even sleeping early can increase social link points through dreams.
Mood
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It is no longer possible to be fatigued from battle or fall ill. I didn't find it a big issue in P3, but its one less thing to worry about
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Summing it all up
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Persona 4 is simply amazing, it really is. I only finished the game yesterday and I'm already feeling a bit upset that it is over. Its a real shame it wasn't developed for the PS3, it could have gone that little bit further with extra dungeons, full voice acting and parts to tide fans over until the next excellent game by Atlus. It has a brilliant set of characters, plenty of things to do and a great battle system. Nearing perfection, Persona 4 is a game I'm certainly proud to have in my collection and will surely emit fond memories and nostalgia in years to come. Way to go Atlus!
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Suikoden V (PS2)
by simon020187
== Suikoden V ==
Those who have read my Suikoden IV review know that I am a huge fan of the Suikoden games and this one is no different. Suikoden V was published back in 2006 by Konami for the Playstation 2. Suikoden V just like the previous games has pretty much along the lines of the same storyline and also has another 108 ... characters that join you for the battle of the land. Suikoden V takes place on a different land compared to previous games, the land on this game is called Queendom of Falena. Now this may be slightly confusing but Suikoden V is set 8 years before the events what happen in the first Suikoden game and 142 years after the events of Suikoden IV (quite strange I know). In the game you play as a prince (named what ever you call him), he is the son of Queen Arshtat, he has a younger sister called princess Lymsleia and his father is A knight by the name of Ferid who did in fact win Queen Arshtat's hand in marriage.
The game starts with you choosing the name of the HERO of the game, but I will just call him Hero because its easier. As the game starts you meet serveral characters on a ship your on traveling back to the Queendom of Falena, there is Lady Sialeeds, Georg and Lyon (the princes bodyguard). As you arrive home Queen Arshtat doesn't seem her normal self as she bears one of the 27 true runes. Later that night you are told your going on a quests to go watch the sacred games, which are basically battles in an arena to find princess Lymsleia's new husband even tho she's only about 12 years old. As you progress through the game with your missions, you go through lots of emotions such as betrayal, sorrow and even joy. You also acquire the 108 stars of destiny throughout your story, can you find them all and put an end to the so called end of Falena. As you progress you will be pleasantly surprised to see finally Suikoden V is actually not to far off being as good as the first two games. Thanks to having a just as good storyline.
=== Gameplay ===
Now the gameplay has always been my favourite for the Suikoden games except for Suikoden IV as I feel it was hugely let down due to the fact you can only take four characters to fight with you at any one time but now back in Suikoden V they have reverted back to using six at any one time which is so much better. I have always loved the fact there are usually over 108 characters to find and recruit in all different ways which includes secret characters. The fights are still turn based. Suikoden IV used map ship battles instead of normal map battles like Suikoden II and in Suikoden V they have both types which is a bonus. Also there is one on one battles again which are my personal favourites. The castle on this Suikoden is very similar to Suikoden 1 because it is based on water. There are many more towns and villages on this one which contain shops for buying new equipment or for items to use in battle. Runes are used in the form of magic like they always have been. There are a whole range of places to explore including caves, mountains and lots of places within enemy territory. Also another thing thats new to the Suikoden series is the ability to use formation skills and change your formation to different styles which could result in raising your attack power or enhancing other abilities. The gameplay is special to me and the story of each game especially this one is special. Not many people seem to know about the Suikoden series and if your a role playing games fan I would suggest you check them out. Also the basic control system is fairly simple and shouldn't be to hard for any gamer because it is fairly simple to navigate. Also a thing that is quite dreadful at first is Hero's clothes when you first start the game and do a few hours of gaming in it, they look terrible but as you leave Falena your character changes his clothes and he looks far more better, so if your put of by the look of your character at first don't worry to much because his prince clothes are just temporary. Theres a whole range of mini games to tackle as well.
=== Graphics & Sound ===
The graphics have improved from the previous PS1 games going from a 2D style to 3D which is so much better but it loses the feeling a little bout the previous games. The graphics for the previous games have always been quite good and my first thoughts about the graphics for the fifth game was no different, I wasn't at all surprised at how good they are for a 2006 role playing game. The design of the characters have been somehwat improved, they were good before but now in this new game they are more detailed to every aspect of themselves. There are a few characters from previous games in this one that look far better designed especially the few characters that are from Suikoden II. The castles design and layout is pretty good, not the best I have seen because the second game still holds that award for best castle in my eyes. However it still looks awesome and you can design certain parts yourself. the layout is brilliant but the look of it is even more better. The design of the places you go to like dungeons, villages and other places is pretty good as well, there are none that look similar to each other and thats always a good thing. Another bit that impressed me was when traveling in boat the sea looks almost real and yet this is an older PS2 game. I was very impressed with the graphics overall.
As for the sound to the game, well its even better than the graphics. The sound to the Suikoden series has been the best to any game and will stay that way for a very long time. I love all the music to the games especially to Suikoden I,II and V they are very similar. Konami released soundtracks for all of the games the only problem is each one are way over £50. As for the sound effects, they are just as great. The characters are voiced activated most the time and they all do have very different voices because they come from different backgrounds. Also the sound of footsteps, fighting, when your sailing and other parts bring the game to life because they sound so good. I love both the sound and graphics to this game!
=== Difficulty & Longevity ===
The game like the other is actually pretty simple most of the time and the only way it can become difficulty is if you make it difficult. I would say the hardest part of the game are the one on one battles as they have been remade to make it slightly harder, however all you do is listen to what the enemy says as he gives hints in what hes saying on his next move. The bosses can be tricky it all depends if your used to elements, like fire and water. Obviously water is fire's weakness and so on with the other elements. Also the mini games you can play throughout the game can be difficult and rather annoying. Other than that the game is easy to follow and your quests are easy as well. The only other hard bit is getting all 108+ characters as some are really hard to find. As for the games longevity, it has improved on all the games. If you know basically where your going and what your doing it should take you over 40+ hours to complete and if you miss something you may need to do it again. Other Suikoden games have been a little bit of a let down in terms of longness. Suikoden IV being the biggest disappointment lasting not even half of this one. This was one aspect that needed to improve and it did thankfully.
=== Good bits ===
*108+ characters to find and recruit.
* A great compelling story that will keep you hooked.
*A castle that you can call home for all your characters, build it up in some aspects to how you would like, with paint colours and stuff.
*Some great graphics and some huge bosses.
*Finally back to six characters fighting at once for you!
*New and improved one on one battles, new skills and new items.
*Beautiful sounds to the game bring it to life!
=== Bad Bits ===
*Mini games can get annoying and so can the amount of fights.
*Very poor multiplayer options, not one single mode for multiplayer.
*The ship can be quite difficult to navigate.
*Also easy to get lost because of the huge world!
=== Final Bits ===
Suikoden is a great Japanese role playing game which is based on a Japanese novel and old folks tale. I have been looking for a book similar to this but the only one I have came across is way to pricey. However the game itself is fantastic and i would recommend it to anyone. Gamers that like a great storyline would love this because it has the best story to a game I have ever seen. I would say its value for money but the only thing is games like this tend to rise in price throughout the years. I bought mine just recently to be fair but it cost me quite a hefty price. I paid £22 for mine from Amazon which all gamers will know for a 2006 PS2 game is pretty steep but this is due to the fact it is becoming increasingly rare and hard to get hold of. My copy was used already but didn't have a mark on it. I was very pleased and to me its value for money because the game itself can last years as I would play it again and again. However for a brand new copy of the game from Amazon it would cost only £21 which has actually shocked me. I'd recommend it to fans of Final Fantasy games, this doesn't get much daylight because of the Final Fantasy games but to me there even better. The game has so much to offer. The game has a rating of 12+ which is perfect. All in all the game series is one of my favourites and the fifth installment doesn't harm the series at all, however because of the low sales Konami haven't made a new one for five years now and its looking increasingly likely that this one may of been the final. I hope not but only Konami knows. I would have to give this Suikoden a solid 8/10 its a lot better than the third and fourth but not as good as the first two games but all in all its a wonderful role playing game worthy of calling a classic!
Review also on Ciao under the username: MrBrightside1987!
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Call of Duty - Finest Hour (PS2)
by TheReviewGuy
This COD is the first ever one, well the first original one in the series. This COD is a classic and a great game and the campaign takes ages to complete, even on easy difficulty levels. It also has multiplayer on it too, online play for the PS2. The graphics and battles push the PS2's processor to the limit, but producing outstanding ... results. Epic battles are throughout the campaign. You charge towards a building with over a hundred soldiers taking down enemies from windows, and you can choose what way you go round. The game is great and features different locations including Germany, Africa and more. The control and feel is loose but good nevertheless. You get to ride tanks, man turrets on vehicles and more in this epic game with hundreds of missions packed in. One of the best PS2 games I have ever played, will keep you entertained for ages and has lot's of different types of missions to do.
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