Woot. Started and ended Genji: Dawn of the Samurai so soon. Well, it is a short game afterall. So here I am again, giving yet another review... Hahaha. Get used to it, peeps XP

1. Graphics:
   Very beautiful in-game graphics. Even though not everything is detailed, the look, feel, touch and atmosphere of especially background settings are very pretty. In-game cutscenes look all right and CGI cutscenes are very nice although lip and facial movements are not perfectly smooth like what you'll see in Final Fantasy games. Overall, great graphics. Oh yeah, there are as many CGI cutscenes as in-game ones.
2. Storyline:
   The storyline isn't the deepest or most complex or anything of the sort that requires some thought to figure some things out. This one's blatant, simple, straightforward and very self explanatory. The good thing is, people with bad understanding, like me, won't have problems with trying to understand the story at all. The bad thing is, the story is common, typical and rather cliched, so it's not like something you've never heard before.
3. Gameplay:
   The highlight of this game's gameplay lies in the Amahagane, a stone that gives your character the power to perform a unique ability. Using this ability takes out a section of your 'MP' gauge. What it does is that it slows down time for a bit and will then initiate the ability for you to perform moves that inflict a TON of damage by pressing the square button just right before the enemy hits you. Confused? Yet again, think speed skills from Prince of Persia: The Two Thrones if you have played it before. The only difference being if you fail to press the button in time, you WILL get hit, making it quite the risky trump card. This usually kills common enemies instantly while against bosses it deals massive damage. Plus, it gives you extra experience points. When you activate the Amahagane ability, enemies will always react to it in their own particular way by attacking you with a special move. Every type of enemy has their own reaction that stays the same throughout the game so memorizing it would be the key to successfully perform the 'speed kills'. If you have two or more sections of the MP gauge filled, it is possible to double-activate this skill by pressing L1 twice, and time will slow down even more to make it easier for you to successfully perform the 'speed kills' against tougher enemies. This would consume 2 sections of the MP gauge though.
   Video samples: Yoshitsune / Benkei
4. Difficulty:
   There is a Normal and Difficult mode. Normal mode is actually fairly easy and you should be able to pass most boss battles in a single try. There is leveling up in this game, and naturally, leveling up increases your stats. There are also weapons that you can buy/find throughout the game which you can equip to power up your character. That is Normal mode. Difficult mode, however, makes it so that you are very handicapped. You cannot buy items/weapons/armor in Difficult mode, and you will not be able to pick up items/weapons that you find in treasure boxes throughout the game as, AND, leveling up is disabled. What this means is that you cannot heal yourself in mid-battle and cannot power up yourself. You will remain at level 1 with level 1 stats and level 1 weapons. Fortunately and fairly enough, enemy AI remains the same and the damage both them and you inflict is the same as Normal mode.
5. Music:
   I would suppose Japanese/samurai music usually isn't the hardest thing to compose for Japanese game developers, so yes, the music is good =P Well, I won't say that they are so good I want to listen to it again and again, but the type of BGM they have for the game is highly fitting, so it's all good. The one and only piece that I actually remember and like very much is the main theme (d'oh!).
6. Other little things:
   • Uncancellable cutscenes:
     I don't understand why some game developers just don't get the importance of making cutscenes skippable. Even after beating the game once and replaying it on a new mode, they make it compulsory for you watch through all the cutscenes again. The only time you can skip it is when you lose in a battle and then continue from it.
   • Save system:
     The save system isn't always very friendly in here. There are times when they don't give you a safe point before fighting a boss and that is just stupid. However, since most bosses should be passable in one try this probably won't be too big of a problem for most gamers.
   • Length of game:
     This game is surprisingly really short. It took me only 9 hours to finish it for my first time, and that's considering how slow I commonly play games. It has very few towns/places/maps in the entire game. Although you revisit them later when different events happen, it is never big/long enough. I don't necessarily find this a bad thing, but for gamers who're out looking for longer games this will be very disappointingly short.
7. Voice acting:
   Even for the English version, this game only has Japanese voices, which is no problem to me at all! In fact, I like it this way better. It's a story based on Japanese history and Japanese people. Voicing them over in English just sounds so wrong. Now back to topic, the voice acting is great, as always.

All right, I'm really too into The Mercenaries now and I can't help it. I have to make a corner for it. And this entry's gonna be it. I took screencaps just for this, and even recorded the sounds (BGM). Mwahahhaa!! This is gonna be great.... So here goes the title screencap for the awesome Mercenaries mini-game:

So, what's The Mercenaries?? It's a mini-game in the Resident Evil 4 game, and as I've said before, it's a survival mode where you choose one out of 5 characters and kill as many enemies as you can while keeping yourself alive, your score and time (that counts down) up by picking up time-up items in the area you choose to play. Every character has different disadvantages and advantages, and they hold different weapons and items to begin with, thus some are better suited to certain areas than the others. Written below is their details:

Leon:
Weapons: Handgun, shotgun
Combat attacks:
Kick type 1 - roundhouse type of kick that can send a few flying away at once
Kick type 2 - a straight kick that hits only one enemy
Advantages: Nothing in particular, in my opinion, although he is the only one who has a shotgun among the 5 characters, so he's able to blow a couple of enemies away at once, and he starts out with a good number of ammo on the side.
Disadvantages: Leon has no grenades of any sort. It makes it really hard for him to take out the tougher enemies especially since he has only the handgun, and a shotgun that is effective only at close range. Leon cannot snipe at enemies far away and his combat attacks are often too weak to dispatch enemies. Shotgun ammos also don't come by easily, making it even harder since his shotgun is his only strong weapon.
Easiest area: Village. Even though I think it's the easiest for Leon he is still going to face a lot of problems when it comes to shotgun ammo shortage. The only reason why this would be easiest for him is cos' so long he has shotgun ammos to keep it going, the chainsaw ladies wouldn't be very hard to handle. Enemies often come together in one big group and blowing them away with the shotgun works effeciently.
Hardest area: Waterworld. This is really hard for Leon. The giant chainsaw guy chases after you really fast and is unstoppable unless you can hit him with something really hard like a rifle, hand grenade or explosive cans. Leon has no grenade to begin with and there are only 3 explosive cans in this area, and it'll take all 3 explosive cans to kill the chainsaw guy, meaning you can only take out 1 chainsaw guy using that method. Leon's strongest gun, the shotgun, is effective only at close range, meaning you will have to be very close to the chainsaw guy and manage to hit him in the head for him to be stunned and pause for a bit. However, the chainsaw guy swings his chainsaw all around and can get your head any time you're close enough, making it nearly impossible for Leon to get a good shot at his head at a close enough distance without losing his head first, or be interrupted by enemies before you lose your head.

Ada:
Weapons: Handgun, TMP, rifle, 3 flame grenades
Combat attacks:
Fan Kick - roundhouse type of kick that can send a few flying away at once
Kick - a straight kick that hits only one enemy
Advantages: Ada moves about faster considering she's holding a light weapon like the handgun/TMP. She also has a strong rifle that comes in handy when it comes to sniping at far away enemies, and which is also capable of taking out most enemies in 1 shot. Her TMP is handy when a larger group of enemies come at you and you just want to spray bullets all over them.
Disadvantages: Maybe because she's a lady, maybe because she wears like that, Ada takes slightly more damage than all the other characters, and has the least amount of max health. Her combat attacks are also weak in general, much like Leon.
Easiest area: Island Commando or Waterworld. With her rifle she can take down the gatling guy and giant chainsaw dude in those areas from a distance, considering she does not get interrupted by other enemies.
Hardest area: Castle. Fighting in close quarters with Ada proves to be hard, especially since she takes more damage than the rest. Even though her TMP can take out the lesser enemies well, and her rifle can be used to snipe at the Garador's parasite that's stuck to his back, the castle still remains the hardest area for Ada to stay alive. Very often you will get stuck in a corner where enemies come from two directions, then Ada will become history.

Krauser:
Weapons: Bow, 3 flash grenades
Combat attacks:
Knee - a very strong knee kick that hits only one enemy
Kick - a very strong 2 hit kick that can take out a few enemies at once
Advantages: Krauser's biggest advantage that saves him from all disasters in all areas is his arm. His left arm is capable of mutating into a deadly weapon which he can use to take out any enemy. The only catch is that once used, it'll take some time before you can use it again, but so long you use it at the right times and situations it will make a lot of the hardest things as easy as pie. Another advantage is that his combat attacks are very strong. Enemies are guarunteed to die when you perform it on them. Krauser's also the only one who has full max health.
Disadvantages: Krauser is the only character who does not have a gun! Instead he uses a bow, which has its own pros and cons. The pros is that you don't ever need to reload and 90% of the time Krauser's arrow will totally flip them back. It also makes no sound, so the Garadors won't charge at you immediately the moment you fire. The cons is that the firing speed is slow, it can hit only one enemy a time, hard to aim at enemies far away and the ammo (arrows) takes up a lot of space in your case.
Easiest area: Castle. Since it's mostly close quarters, you don't have to face the problem of trying to shoot your arrow at far away enemies as much, making it easier for you to accurately use his bow. His arm also makes it easy to take out anything in times of danger.
Hardest area: Waterworld. This area is wide and enemies tend to come from all over the place, making it harder for you to take them out without getting interrupted.

Hunk:
Weapons: TMP, 3 hand grenades
Combat attacks:
Kick - a moderately strong kick that sends an enemy flying away and hitting others
Neck Breaker - an instant kill for single smaller sized enemies
Advantages: Even with only one type of gun, Hunk proves to be very strong. With only the TMP, you're ensured to pick up only TMP ammos, hence never having to worry about not having enough right ammos for the gun you wish to use. Against stronger enemies, he has hand grenades to back him up.
Disadvantages: Hunk has only a bit more health than Ada. He also can't snipe and can't deal with far away enemies very well.
Easiest area: Village. With his Neck Breaker, the chainsaw ladies are no longer threatening. His TMP can spray bullets at everyone effeciently and the chainsaw ladies die instantly when you break their necks, hence making Hunk the King of the village.
Hardest area: Castle. The hardest thing for him to handle in here is the Garador. Since Hunk can't snipe and the TMP isn't the strongest gun, it will take much effort and luck to try take the Garador down by hopefully stunning him and unloading enough bullets accurately at the parasite on his back before he recovers and turns his back away. Also, all this would work only when you're not interrupted by the many enemies in this area.

Wesker:
Weapons: Handgun, magnum, rifle, 4 hand grenades, 3 flash grenades, 1 flame grenade
Combat attacks:
Thrust punch - a strong thrust that can send a few enemies flying away
Chikyo Chagi - an instant kill for lesser enemies with unprotected heads
Advantages: Wesker is the only character who's powered with so many weapons. His handgun is good for stunning enemies, his magnum great for instant kills and breaking enemy shields, his rifle is perfect for sniping and instant killing as well. To top it off he has 4 hand grenades you can make use of to its fullest, and 3 flash grenades that can help you stun enemies and perform his strong combat attacks.
Disadvantages: Although equipped with many weapons, Wesker does not have back up ammos, which means you will have to constantly pick them up to supply yourself. Even so, quite often you will end up in situations where you run out of ammos, especially with his magnum gun whose ammo is rarely ever dropped by enemies.
Easiest area: Castle or Waterworld. With the rifle, Wesker can snipe at the Garador's parasite but staying alive while trying to do so may be somewhat tricky. For the giant chainsaw dude, it's a surprise that 3 shots of his rifle is enough to take him down, making him much less of a threat. Sniping at far away enemies in Waterworld also makes things a lot easier.
Hardest area: Village. The large pack of enemies coming to you at once makes it hard for Wesker since all his guns are meant to shoot at single enemies. The chainsaw ladies also always come in twos and they each take 7-8 rifle ammos to kill, making it a lot harder since Wesker often has ammo shortage.

Wow, that took a while to write!! OMG... yes it took a while... I had to think and all O_o... but anyway, written below is details on the 4 different areas for The Mercenaries.

   The Village
Area characteristics: Wide area. Has a number of rooms/houses you can go into, but you can't hide from enemies anyway.
Enemy tendencies: Enemies tend to come from all over the place and end up coming after you in a large pack of 5-8 people, often accompanied by the chainsaw sisters.
Stronger enemies: Chainsaw sisters. They always come in twos, and if you don't finish off the first pair fast enough, a second pair will come, making you face 4 of them at once. The chainsaws are instant kills and the sisters have very high vitality.
Unlocks: Ada (30 000+ pts)

   The Castle
Area characteristics: Close quarters. Has very few corners where you can stick yourself in for safety, but has a lot of very narrow spaces.
Enemy tendencies: Enemies spawn alot and may come to you one by one and/or in a pack. Archers are lined up in many places and will always interrupt you if you don't kill them soon.
Stronger enemies: Garador. The Garador mostly appears singularly, although always accompanied by many lesser enemies. He is a pain in the ass since you can take him out effectively only by shooting at the parasite on his back and it is hard to get him to face his back at you, especially when you are hardly given any time/chances to do so without getting interrupted by enemies from all over the place. He also has very high vitality if you choose to kill him without shooting at the parasite.
Unlocks: Krauser (30 000+ pts)

   Island Commando
Area characteristics: Wide area. Has a number of narrow as well as tall places where you have to climb to get to. Time seems harder to keep up in here.
Enemy tendencies: Enemies come from all directions.
Stronger enemies: Gatling guy. These appear singularly, but often appear all of a sudden while you're busy fighting off other enemies. By using their gatling gun, they can get you from a far distance and at a very wide angle unless you manage to hide in where walls/corners get in his line of fire. Conveniently, their attacks can also kill other enemies and help gain you points. They have high vitality but can be easily stunned by sniping at their heads or throwing a grenade.
Unlocks: Hunk (30 000+ pts)

   Waterworld
Area characteristics: Wide area. Has alot of tall areas where you can get to by climbing.
Enemy tendencies: Enemies tend to come from all over the place. Many throw dynamites and some even shoot rocket launchers.
Stronger enemies: Giant chainsaw guy. These appear singularly but are very threatening. They move around very fast swinging their huge chainsaw around. They can even jump up onto places without using the ladder, and will take your head in one swing. They can be stopped only by taking tough shots and will not stop running after you, making it really hard to save yourself if you do not manage to take them out before they get too close. Fortunately, they have lower vitality.
Unlocks: Wesker (30 000+ pts)

Phewz, finally finished writing. Hahahah! That took 2 hours O_o my oh my... Need a break! XP Doubt anyone really reads all these but well, I enjoyed writing it =P Adios for now~!

It's Monday 12.54am and yes of course, I'm still up! I've actually been up for 27 hrs now and it's weird I'm not feeling very sleepy yet O_o. Well, I'm yawning but I'm not at the point where I MUST sleep or my head will fall against the keyboard. =P

Man, the past few days I've been playing TOO MUCH Resident Evil 4, again, all of a sudden. Well, it's actually because a friend finally got the game after so long, and hearing her talk about it makes me feel like playing it again. XP And so I did, and after a while I got a little bored of playing the main game, so I went on to the extras I've unlocked since long ago and played The Mercenaries, a survival mode in the RE4 game. I was highy chicken back then and wouldn't play it alone so I never touched it again until a few days ago. I guess I was plainly curious and wanted to, for once, try it on my own. And so I did, and it was fun!! =D Even though it was tough and I died so much in all sorts of horrible ways, it was still fun. Mwahahhaa!!

It all really started when I got obsessed with Wesker due to another friend's influence, and I felt like I just had to try him out since he's a playable character in The Mercenaries. So much I can say about Wesker, so much I can say about The Mercenaries, but I think now I'm starting to get sleepy already. O_o' OMG. Well that wasn't too long ago when I said I wasn't sleepy now was it? O_o' Oh well... Must shower.. then ZzZZzzzZzzzz.... Hopefully I can put up some pics and stuff soon =)

Now THIS is REALLY a MIRACLE for me to add another blog entry in TWO days!!! Hahahaha! Well well... it's only cos' I just finished Kingdom Hearts 2 yesterday... O_o... That's like... I don't remember exactly when I started. It's prolly 5-7 days ago and I rushed through it cos' it's SOOO GOOOD!!! OMG. Really sad to say this, but in the overall I love this game more than FF12 O_o... Ok, for those who disagree, er... I suppose there's nothing you can do? =P So here's my review, yet again, and this time with the storyline included since it's a much easier to understand story as compared to FF12 which has all that formal talk about war and stuff...

1. Storyline:
   A BIIIG difference in quality, depth and surprises as compared to its prequel. I am very surprised at the direction in which the story flowed into, and how it did. Even though I'm still confused about many things mostly due to the language barrier since I played the Japanese version (and the fact that I didn't play KH: Chain of Memories for the GBA), I still understand enough to know that the storyline has improved BY FAAAR. There are quite a number of surprises, both very interesting and shocking, that is, if you have not been given any spoilers, and I won't in this review =) And above all, at one point it was SO touching tears literally soaked my entire face instantly. I shocked myself.
2. Script:
   Now, who remembers how cheesy the script in ENGLISH for the prequel was? I do. The entire time I was laughing at the lines people were spilling. What about KH2? Well, I gotta declare. I am pretty sure this has to do with translation. I didn't play KH1 in Japanese so I wouldn't know, but KH2 in Japanese actually has a good script in my opinion. The words "heart" (kokoro), "light" (hikari) and "darkness" (yami) may be used often since they are the keywords in the story, but they are not OVERLY USED. I have barely started the English version of the game so much of the script is still unheard of, but I do have a bad feeling that it may still sound cheesy. I saw a cutscene on youtube that's in English and already in 1 minute it sounds pretty cheesy. Now, this may have to do with languages, seriously. In Japanese, it is pretty common that you repeat the same word again and again and it will sound normal, but in English, it is not. It is not easy to translate any script accurately, so I think we should always keep this in mind and close an eye whenever possible.
3. Characters:
   KH2 includes a lot of the characters from the previous game and adds a good number of new ones as well. Considering you haven't been given spoilers regarding this, you will be surprised at which new characters they threw in for all the fans, both from Square Enix and Disney, and original Kingdom Hearts ones (unless you have played KH: Chain of Memories). And, almost every character that appears has their own story with least a decent reason why they're there.
4. Graphics:
   Just like the previous game, KH2 has unfortunately only 3 CGI cutscenes - opening, ending and secret ending. Every other cutscene is in-game, BUT!!! The in-game cutscenes ROOOCCK!!!! This is all just my opinion but I think they have improved the in-game graphics a lot as compared to KH1. They may look much the same and it may be due to the character design (everyone looks older), but I find KH2's graphics better than KH1. You start out in Twilight Town and to be honest, I thought Twilight Town looks hella boring. There was so much space and the buildings seemed so bland I thought the graphics 'deproved', but that's only Twilight Town. When I got to the other worlds, I found them normal again, much like KH1. Since Kingdom Hearts is a more 'cartoony' type of game, I am sure it is intended that only certain colors and types of textures are chosen to be used, so you won't be seeing extreme textures like you would in FF12, but that doesn't necessarily mean that it hence has lower quality graphics. For a little comparison, I say KH2 graphics is better than Dirge of Cerberus.
5. Gameplay:
   • Longer combos. In KH1, it seems that you can't do a combo of more than about 5 hits, but in KH2, sometimes it almost seems too long =P Sora is now capable of doing a lot of crazy combos and some are damn sweet. Not to mention badass. As you should have known, I assume, the way to attack and perform such combos is to simply just repeatedly press one button... and this still is the way! Mwahaha! So what's the conclusion? If you think about it, Kingdom Hearts is really a hack and slasher, and it really is despite what official sites say about its genre as being an RPG. In my opinion, what it really is, is a hack and slashing action game. Except for some bosses, there really isn't too much thinking to do 'cept for mashing the attack button. However, you'll be surprised at how fun this still remains, considering I'm not even keen on hack and slashers. Also, it is possible to perform a chain of combos by pressing more than just one button. After certain abilities are learnt by leveling up, it is possible for you to equip that ability and perform extra moves by pressing a different button in the middle of a combo, making the button mashing a little more varied. =P
   • Reaction commands. Think speed kills (in boss battles) in Prince of Persia: The Two Thrones. For those who have no idea, lemme explain. Reaction commands are special 'moves' / 'commands' that you can perform only when you see a signal - a giant green triangle flashing on the screen. If you can press the triangle button in time, Sora will execute the move for that particular reaction command. There are many types of reaction commands and it all depends on which enemy you're fighting against, but one thing stays consistent. Reaction commands deal a ton more damage than your usual attacks. So, it is always wise to make use of this whenever possible by staying alert and not missing the signal when it appears. Reaction commands are not always just attacks. Some reaction commands allow you to dodge certain enemy attacks, sneak behind enemies etc. It really depends on what enemy/boss you are fighting, what attack they are performing on you, whether you're close enough to the enemy etc.
   • Changes in Magic. In general, magic works the same way as it does in KH1. You can cast a magic (or use items) through a short cut by holding down the L1 button and pressing the corresponding button for the particular magic, and only up to 4 magic can be cast using the shortcut. Now, the major difference in magic in KH2 is that any healing magic takes out ALL your MP. It doesn't matter how much MP you may have to begin with, but casting cure will take out all of your MP, which means you can't always heal yourself anytime and as much as you like. When fighting common enemies, this may not be a big problem since the enemies aren't THAT strong enough to actually put you in danger, but facing bosses may be a different story. What happens when your MP goes down to zero is that your MP gauge will turn from blue to purple, and the bar will keep going down until it reaches zero, then your MP will be replenished and the gauge will turn back into blue. In that time the gauge is purple, you cannot cast any magic and will have to rely on items for healing if you need to, hence making the battle a little harder than it used to be in KH1.
   • Drive attacks. Simply, think limit break, only with a time limit depending on how many drive gauges you filled up. This is absolutely one of the SWEETEST new things features in KH2. Sora's ridiculous when you go into Drive. His attacks are damn flashy and they consist of so many hits, dealing more damage than usual. Just wait till you see it in action... And depending on 'luck', sometimes, instead of changing into his Drive form, Sora may even change into something..... O_o
   • Co-op attacks & Summons. Summons remain the same as it is in KH1 while Co-op attacks are new. Basically, it is a combined attack with a party member. The attack varies with each different member, but at the end it takes out all your MP, so you will have to wait for your MP to replenish itself just like you do for magic. Personally, I haven't tried a lot of the co-op attacks so I cannot comment too much 'cept for the fact that it usually looks cool, but I would assume that it deals a decently good amount of damage.
6. Optional bosses/battles:
   As popular as it is in KH1, Square Enix can't afford NOT to bring the colliseum back in KH2. All the cups are optional, but they are fun, so you might as well do them since you get items in the end as well. All the different worlds in KH2 have about 2 quests to complete in each, but not all are required to be completed to clear the main quest. You can choose which of the last few to clear, so any that you don't do are considered optional. Also, the Great One is back to show how truly badass he is. His battle is a must-experience.
7. Music:
   Music in KH2 incorporates the same style as in KH1, and since there are a number of the same worlds, the music for those worlds remain much the same with perhaps a tiny bit of remixing. However, I think the boss/battle themes rock. I say they are the best tracks in the entire OST.
8. Other changes:
   • Puzzles - To my utter surprise AND relief, KH2 actually does not have any puzzle! Is that shocking or what?! If you're a puzzle lover, I have to say I'm sorry, but if you're an anti-puzzle person like T_T
   • me, then congratulations! You'll never have to tear your hair out of your head just attempting to solve it, which will take hours and hours of thinking, trying, trial & error, and who knows giving up in the end and looking for a walkthrough, reading a crap load of text just trying to figure out how it is to solve the puzzle. Although the game is not always linear in terms of progress, the things that you do in the quests that you choose to do are mostly laid out for you in a way that you'll never have to worry about getting lost and not knowing what to do next and where to go.
   • Skateboard - This is practically one of the best things they've decided to add for the sake of the gamer's convenience. In most environments that are huge with vast areas to cover/travel, they stick in a skateboard for you to be able to travel from one place to another at fast speed, highly reducing time consumption and frustration.
   • Cutscene cancels - Who isn't annoyed when you can't choose to skip cutscenes, especially when you've seen them again and again for reasons like "I kept losing so I kept having to retry but everytime I retry I have to rewatch that long cutscene again!" KH1 has that problem, but no more with KH2. This is yet another great relief.
   • Gummi ship - I have hoped that they'll take this out, but they didn't. It's not that bad, but I still think it's absolutely meaningless, its only motive being increasing my game time and tiring out my thumb. And so the gummi ship space battle is back, and way flashier. It looks cooler, but it's practically the same dodge-and-shoot-the-hell-out-of-enemy-ships mini game, and it's damn tiring. I don't hate it, but I don't love it either. I just hoped they'd take it out since it has absolutely no relevance to the story.
   • Save points - KH2 gives you a lot of save points, sometimes even just minutes away from one another. This way, you'll never have to worry about not being able to find a save point at times you really want/have to.
   • Continues/retries - As friendly as they are with the save points, they are even friendlier with the continue system! Suppose you just trained around for an hour and forgot to save and end up fighting a boss and lose. You would think that you have to reload from your last save and continue, thus losing the 1 hr of training, right? But no, KH2 is friendly enough to let you retry that boss fight as many times as you need without making you reload from your last save, saving you much time and risk.
9. Voice acting:
   I played and finished the Japanese version first even though I have the English version as well. I haven't heard much of the English voices just yet, but the Japanese, as ALWAYS, is AWESOME, 'cept for Seifer whose voice actor turns out to be YET AGAIN Koyasu Takehito whose voice I'm sick of cos' I hear him everywhere. And I totally can't ignore the fact that Axel (one of the new characters) shares the same voice actor as RENO!!! OMG!!!!!!! But anyway, the Japanese voices for the Disney characters aren't bad either, 'cept for Goofy who sounds really weird, and Hades who'd sound a ton better in English just cos'.

Well... I have nothing much to say at this moment except for the review of Final Fantasy 12, which I finished bout 5 days or so ago. So, those uninterested in my game review rambles can totally just skip this blog entry. For those who're interested, I suppose you can go on. Nothing storywise is going to be commented on since I can't understand much of it due to langauge barriers, so there won't be any plot spoilers. So, here goes:

1. Graphics:
   Both in-game and CGI graphics are great and pretty. Though most cutscenes are in-game, there is a good number of fully rendered CGI ones. Wide variety of colors and pretty textures are used in the environments and characters everywhere in the game, making all visuals pleasing. A lot of the environment/background designs are highly intricate and full of details, and the townspeople behave and move in a natural way, making the environment feel more 'real'.
2. Gameplay:
   • No more random battles. You see your enemies, your enemies see you. You can sneak past them, you can charge at them head on, you can escape when they run after you, you can run past more enemies while trying to escape and ending up with a group of them chasing behind you. You choose your own 'destiny'.
   • Seamless battle system. So long you're not in a town, you're in constant 'battle mode'. You fight/run away from enemies without having to wait for the battle to load like all the previous Final Fantasy games, hence saving more time and sparing you from seeing the same intermission again and again.
   • Allows for a highly convenient, 'automated' battle system using the Gambit system . This, in other words, can be considered as a system that helps solve the problems with gamers who are lazy/tired of battling continuously to level up. Basically, the Gambit system is something that allows you to 'program' your characters, telling them what they should do in battle automatically, and in what priority. Gambit can be turned on or off. If you can program your characters right with Gambit, you may not have to even select a single command during common battles. This makes it really convenient for battles that are repetitive, which is the case for most RPGs.
   • Flexibility of control. The Gambit system may be all it takes to beat common enemies, so you may not have to select any command manually to win, but when it comes to a time you have to do things on your own, let's say when going against tough bosses, you can at anytime select commands for anyone in your party.You will mostly be controlling the leader (the one you walk around as), but when you find the need to, you can always tell the others to do what you want. You can also switch party members, change equipment and even unlock abilities during battle, any battle, and at any point.
   • Easy level up and customization system. It is very easy to understand and adapt to FF12's system of customizing/upgrading your character skills and abilities. What you do is to buy the skill using money, let's say magic from a magic store, then unlock that skill for your character using what is called license points (LP). Think of it as AP as in most other Final Fantasy games. You receive LP for defeating enemies and gain experience from it as well. While EXP is what you'll need to level up, LP is what you'll need to unlock skills and extra abilities. Simple. =) Weapons, amor and accessories can be bought from stores, and sometimes even dropped by enemies or found in treasure chests. There is no synthesising in this game where you gather different items dropped by ememies and turning them into a new weapon etc. Items dropped by enemies are used for selling for money, which you'll use to buy skills and equipment.
3. Optional bosses:
   There are TONSSSS of optional bosses in this game, and the good thing is, not all of them are extreme leveled that you have to be at your highest level to beat. Even near the start of the game when you are at let's say level 10, you can already start going for optional bosses at that level so that you can still enjoy a good optional boss battle at any time in the game with your level at that point. All optional bosses/quests can be sought through what they call the Mob List. It's pretty much bounty hunting. People post posters on the bulletin boards in most towns, you look at it, pick which ones you want to try, agree to it, look for the client, accept the job, find the monster, beat it, come back to the client, then receive your prize. Simple and clear, isn't it? Other than the Mob List, there are also some other optional bosses that you can go for. They are the optional summons that you can acquire in the game. FF12 presents the gamers with a total of 12 summons, but you acquire only some of them eventually if you only follow the main quest. The others are optional and to get them you'll have to look for them, then defeat them. I happen to have only found one of the optional summons, but I suppose the summon battles would be challenging depending on your character levels.
4. Music:
   The music, in my opinion, isn't too bad, but it doesn't exactly rock that much either. There are some tracks/BGMs that I like, but most of them don't stay in my head so I don't actually remember how they sound like at this moment. Cutscene music, however, is good - It was what made me feel the game is gonna kick ass when I first saw the trailers. The ending theme 'Kiss Me Goodbye', which is the only piece of music in the game done by Nobuo Uematsu, is very pretty as well.
5. Maps/dungeons:
   For those who love exploring HUGE environments, searching every corner of it for anything that may be there and having to look at the map once every few steps or every time you enter a room, which in other words would be Castlevania style, this would be very pleasing to you. FF12 has a lot of dungeons and towns and each of those are HUGE. Getting anywhere will require for you to always refer to your map, much like the PS2 Castlevania games (I don't know about the non PS2 ones). Personally, I am not very keen on exploring giant maps the entire time the entire game, but I don't hate it that much either. For those who love it like someone I know, this may just be a good thing.
6. 'Limit breaks':
   Unfortunately, there is no 'limit break' in FF12. First things first, what IS a limit break? In my definition, it is a stronger/desperation move which you can perform after filling up some gauge by fighting or getting hit enough, whatever the condition may be. It should be free of MP cost, and of course, not something you can abuse and spam the entire time like in FF8. Based on my definition above, FF12 does not have any limit breaks. In place of it, what they have is called the Mist Knack. It can be considered as a desperation move, BUT, it takes out ALL your MP, depending on whether you decide to use them all. Problem is, Mist Knacks are strong ONLY when you use up all your MP for all your characters. What it does is a chain of desperation moves which can be performed only if you have enough MP, but this can be done not just by one particular character, but between any character who has enough MP and is able to perform a Mist Knack. So, if let's say you're using Vaan, Fran and Basch, and all of them have 3 full cartridges of MP and you perform a Mist Knack starting with Vaan, you can connect his Mist Knack right after with let's say Fran, then Basch, then Vaan...etc depending on who you managed to select during that time (the game makes it so that you have to select the next character's name by pressing the right button before the few seconds of time given runs out). Everytime you manage to select a character, that character will follow up with the previous Mist Knack and does his own Mist Knack attack, resulting in a Mist Knack combo. The higher the combo, the more the damage you inflict. However, there's a catch. Everytime you select somebody, since this costs MP, and the cost of MP depends on what level Mist Knack you happen to get (lv 1 would take out 1 cartridge etc), you may end up not having enough MP to continue the Mist Knack chains and lose the combo, thus ending the attack. However, what you can do is try your luck and press R2 to refresh the names shown on screen until you get a name that is not greyed out and has a button icon, meaning you are given a free cartridge and if you press that button represented in time, you can still continue with your Mist Knack combos. All right, it sounds very confusing isn't it? Pardon me for my poor explanation but it is a lot easier if you can see it instead of reading someone's explanation of how it works, cos' it IS quite confusing. But to give you a feel of how 'strong' the Mist Knack combos can be, well, my best try was a 13 hit combo (I think) and that inflicted 42000 damage. I was hoping it'd be more than that, but I suppose they won't make things easy for you eh? And again, always remember, Mist Knacks take out your entire MP if you want to deal REAL damage, so if you're fighting a really tough boss, I'd suggest you do this only when it's a situation where it's either you die or I die. Otherwise, you'll be left with 0 MP for all your characters and you'll probably have no chance of survival if the enemy still isn't dead, unless you're lucky enough and can use an Elixer or something before the enemy touches you. Phewz, now this is LONG!!
7. Voice acting:
   I played the Japanese version since the English one isn't out till October. Well, what can you say about Japanese voice actors? They ROCK!!! Seriously, have you ever actually come across a bad Japanese voice actor? Maybe? But no I haven't. They've ALWAYS done a superb job and I'm highly thankful for that.

Ain't it a surprising to me back in less than 3 weeks? =P Mwahahaha! Well, it's not gonna be anything much anyone would wanna know about tho'. Been nothing but FF12 non-stop the past few days, except for today (more like yesterday since it's morning 5:42am now) when I took a break from FF12 for a bit and went back to DMC3. =P 50 hours of FF12 really is quite crazy, and that's like within 5 days. So everyday I'd play like 10 hours worth. That's even longer than full time, jesus. Becos' of that, now I can't think of anything but it O_o It's a great game, really, I'm enjoying it a lot, except for the times I got lost, ventured on to a different part of the world where I'm not supposed to be, and die horribly under uber strong enemies as I continued to wonder why the hell the game's so hard when it really is not. =.= So before I go on and on, lemme show you the main 6 characters. And er, warning for those who don't like spoilers.

So, let's go from top left to bottom right. First off, we have Vaan, who's supposedly the main character, who somehow doesn't feel that main enough to me. He's an orphan whose parents, later brother (Rex), were lost to war. Originally from Dalmasca, the nation that fell to the invasion by the neighboring Arcadia empire, Vaan often steals from the empire, thinking what whatever they own rightfully belongs to Dalmasca. Losing his elder brother during the war 2 years ago was quite the trauma to him. In his attempt to escape from the truth of his death, Vaan started trying to fill his mind with other thoughts, like becoming a sky pirate and all. He joins the team in their journey to reclaim Dalmasca for the same reason.

Second, we have Penelo. She is Vaan's childhood friend and grew up together. Sweet and caring, like everyone else, she longs for peace. She cares for Vaan alot and I actually thought she is his girlfriend, but they may not officially be. Unfortunately, she plays the smallest role of the 6 and has not much to talk about as of this moment.

Third, there's Ashe, the princess of Dalmasca, also the main female character of the story. She was living a blessed life until her husband, Prince Rasura, whom she just got married to, was killed during the war. Not only did she lose her love, she also lost her father, the king, who was assasinated, and her country. Soon enough, there was news of her suicide and everyone thought she has gone. However, truth is, she's still well and alive, and very much planning to avenge for the deaths of her loved ones, and to reclaim the nation that is rightfully hers. A very strong woman who can sometimes be even somewhat intimidating.

Fourth, there's Basch. Basch plays a very important role in the story. He was a general under the king of Dalmasca, loyal and faithful to his country to the very end. However, during the war, he was branded as a traitor for murdering the king, then caught and locked up by the Arcadia empire since they took over Dalmasca. Believed to be the one responsible for the king's death, Ashe loathed him, so did Vaan who thought he was the reason his brother died in the war. Basch is not the type to aggressively defend for himself when accused, but truth found a way to reveal itself, and soon enough Vaan and Ashe understood and forgave him. To their surprise, truth is that Basch has a twin, who unlike him, sides with the baddies, and is responsible for all that was blamed on Basch.

Fifth, there's Balflear. There is more to this dude, but from what I know so far, he is quite the 'well known' sky pirate with a bounty enough to buy an airship, or so he claims =P The team really started with him when Vaan bumped into him during an attempt to steal a precious stone from the empire. Easy going yet secretive about himself, Balflear is one to always go with the flow. He works with his partner, Fran, and it has always been just the two of them until they had no choice but to add Vaan when they got stuck in some sewer area. But during the process of getting out from there, they encountered Ashe, then Basch, and the team just got bigger and bigger. What happens with them doesn't really concern him, but he went with it anyway and somehow ended up getting himself involved. Other than saying he's a sky pirate, Balflear doesn't really say much about himself. It's only later when he finally confessed his real identity to Ashe while trying to persuade her not to get too obsessed with the stone she's desperate to obtain power from.

Lastly, there's Fran. As you can obviously tell from the picture, she's not 'human'. Fran is of the Viera race as the rest is of the Hume race (human). The Viera race consists of only females (wow, how's that possible) and they all have rabbit ears. She has always been with Balflear working together since the very beginning. Always calm and cool, Fran is also one who doesn't talk a lot about herself. Vieras originally live in the woods closing themselves away from the other races to avoid getting involved with their mess, but there are also a number who have grown to live amongst the others in big cities where all races live in harmony. Fran was one who of the 'pure breds' from the woods, but she left in order to participate in helping to restore peace to the world that is in a mess outside the woods. Due to that, for a while she was shunned by her own kind.

Well... it's certainly been a long, LOONG time since I updated this blog, yet again. No longer surprising is it? ^^" It's not like there's really anything that happened that's worth telling people about anyway... but I guess I can say that I'm happy finals and stuff are over, altho' not entirely, cos' I still have my music final this Friday.

So what have I been doing? Nothing really O_o Were you seriously expecting anything at all? ^^" Been a little busy with my Devil's Lair site but even now I'm procrastinating updates I should be making for it. Hahaha. Oh well... other than that I haven't been doing anything much in particular. Perhaps playing DMC3 / DMC3SE... which is really pretty dumb since I've beat that game too long ago. It's just THAT great a game... plus, I'm obsessed with it. Just can't help but play it again and again just cos' I like it... and would love to kick more ass =P

And then there's Dan Southworth whom I'm in love with. He's Vergil's voice actor (from DMC3/DMC3SE) and first, I fell in love with his voice. It matches Vergil so well I can't imagine anyone else doing it. His voice is way hot, and the guy himself is hot too!! O_o!! WOOT!! These are the pictures I've found of him. They may be old, but er... it's still him =P

And becos' of him, I actually watched a few episodes of Power Rangers on youtube.com!! O_o!! Why? Cos' that's practically the only show/movie I can see him in!! O_o!! I know it's dumb, and it's Power Rangers. Cheese, more cheese, fakeness and more fakeness (well it's for kids... what can I say), but nontheless, he's in it!! How can I miss it?!? So I started watching... and even tho' it can be hilariously stupid and uncool. I just HAD to see him and hear his voice. He is Vergil all right.. O_o Anyone who's played the game enough can tell his voice without even seeing his face. Dan's way awesome... way cool.. way delicious... except for when he's in his Power Ranger outfit! Hahahaha!! It's so wrongly gay!! Hahaha!! Even so, I greatly enjoyed all the parts where he appears in the episodes. In fact, I won't watch it if he's not in it =P I'll check the credits to make sure he's in it before I watch =P Don't wanna waste my time watching Power Rangers if not for him. XD

One cool thing (not to most of you) also happened today, well er... more like 'yesterday' night, since it's morning 5am now =P My friend Jacky was so nice he actually got me a copy of Final Fantasy 12.....!!! Thank you Jacky!! O_O!! OMG!! I couldn't believe it!! It's interesting to know that he got it from a friend who got it by downloading it through the internet. O_o'... How the hell do people do that?? O_o''' I know some games are downloadable... but I never knew a game that's just been released in Japan could already be downloaded that way. Tsk tsk tsk... And yeah, since this is the Japanese version the entire game's in Japanese and... I'm having trouble understanding O_o' It's really freaking hard to understand. I doubt I'll understand a good portion even if it's in English =.= So I'm definitely going HUH? regarding the story and that's... not gonna help. The NA version's coming out in October... that almost seems too far away, TOO far away. I'm gonna get the NA original, but I guess for now I'll just have to deal with this, and hopefully be able to get far enough at the least... hopefully. Here are some CGI and in-game cutscene pictures of FF12.