The Negative Edge News Report 09.11.08

Posted by Tommy Coloma on 09.11.2008

This week we talk about two time sinks in the form of Phantasy Star Zero and Shin Megami Tensei: Imagine Online. We also find time to discuss this week's releases, plus much More!



I'm at a point in Lost Odyssey where grinding is necessary to get to the next area. Ignoring some of the characters that I didn't like is once again biting me in the ass. I want to see what happens next in the story, but I'm way too lazy to do the work that is necessary to progress through it. It doesn't help that I just picked up two more games that are just begging for my attention. The first one happens to be Disaea 3. I'm not going to bother talking about it too much since you can find info on it everywhere. Let's just say that it's a good game and I can see myself playing it for a long time, even after finishing the single-player portion. The other game that I picked up was From the Abyss for the DS. It's essentially a hack-n-slash dungeon crawler that appropriates a bunch of ideas from a lot of other types of games. There are, of course, the loot-gathering elements. In addition, you can steal the abilities of your enemies so you're constantly getting new ways to fight your way through the dungeons. You can also buy and sell items, weapons, and armor for better ones. Characters can be further customized by distributing stat points (atk, def, int, men, agi, luk) that you're given every time you level up. There's just something about the way the whole game is set up that makes it pretty enjoyable for a dungeon crawler. It isn't for everyone, but if you're a fan of the genre, you might want to give it a try... if you can actually find it.


Let's go -


The News As I See It

---

News has been sparce over the past few weeks. Everyone must be saving the good stuff for TGS next month. Despite the sheer lack of anything interesting happening, I was still able to scrounge up some news on a few of my favorite franchises.


OMFG! An online Phantasy Star on the DS!

Obviously, this the biggest news for me this week. PSO-World has the details:

"Entitled Phantasy Star ZERO, this will be the series' first outing on the Nintendo DS. ZERO is said to be a completely new game, though it will borrow heavily from the Phantasy Star Online series. This new title will feature a single-player story mode as well as multi-player online through Nintendo Wi-Fi Connection and local area networks (both up to four players). Multi modes will allow for communication through visual chat, which allows players to draw their own artwork or write their own text for their teammates to see.

"Keeping in touch with its apparent predecessor, Phantasy Star ZERO will have the return of many race/job combos from Phantasy Star Online. This includes ones such as RAcast, FOmarl, HUmar and HUcaseal, but a few newcomers have also been revealed like the HUnewm and HUmarl. Furthermore, this new title will feature many new areas and lobbies to explore. Three such areas include the Glacea Ravine, Riou Snowfields and the Ozett Swamp. Information is a bit scarce on this new title, but we can expect to see more details in the coming months, as ZERO is slated for a Japanese release this winter."

It's annoying that it took the Monster Hunter craze in Japan to make Sega realize what PSO fans knew years ago - that a portable version of an online Phantasy Star for either the DS or PSP would make them a lot of money. Phantasy Star Portable's sales figures in Japan are proof that we were right so many years ago. I can go on and on about Sega not listening to its fans, but lets give them a break since they had the balls to greenlight a game that supposedly borrows more from PSO than PSU. I fully expect Phantasy Star ZERO to do even better numbers than Phantasy Star Portable did, especially considering the fact that this version actually has online multi-player and is based on the (sadly) far superior Phantasy Star Online rather than the much maligned Phantasy Star Universe. We still don't know anything about the combat system, drop system, and lobby area, so Sega can still mess things up. But it doesn't matter. They already got me and all the gamers that are into the series. I'll give a full report on the game when I import it this Winter. Until then, hope and pray that the Sega of today does the series justice.

---

The MegaTen MMO. Coming to a PC near you!

Siliconera just received confirmation that Aeria will be publishing Shin Megami Tensei: Imagine Online in English, German, Spanish, and French in the near future. The MMORPG was originally developed by Cave (the Cave that is known for its shooters) and was released in Japan last year. Like other MegaTen games, this one allows you to negotiate with monsters in order to get them to assist you in battle and it also employs a demon fusion system.

I've been trying to distance myself from these types of games due to the fact that I lack a lot of free time, but honestly, unless the game is really bad, I can see myself wasting away quite a few hours/days/weeks/months on this. The Jack Frost-heavy video down below was all I needed to see.


So that is how Jack Frost walks...

---

King of Fighters '98: Ultimate Match is coming to XBLA earlier than expected

I was convinced that SNK and/or Microsoft were going to milk fans for all they had by releasing KOF 94-97 in order before releasing the one that everyone would rather get first. Could it be that they actually want to do what they can to please their customers? Anyway, Shacknews says that there is no firm release date right now, but the game will be playable at TGS. Hopefully, they'll use the newer 360 controllers for the demo, because as hard as it is to play Street Fighter games on the 360's pad, I'd imagine it' be even more difficult with KOF games considering the series' weird quarter-circle/half-circle moves.

---

Try to find a Street Fighter IV machine near you

This is old news, but I don't think that I ever gave a link to this in a previous column. In fact, I myself didn't even bother to try it until this weekend, after which I found out that there's a machine right next to my work. That's what I get for not believing. You can look here to see if you're one of the lucky ones to be able to experience this game in an actual arcade. A bit of warning - most of these places charge 75 cents to a dollar per play and some places have win limits. Even if you aren't that much of a fan, if there's a machine near you, check it out. It's worth it just to experience what may be the last big arcade release ever... in an arcade during the height of its popularity. Allow yourself to be taken back to the time when you actually looked forward to going to the arcades. You may never get a chance like this again.


The Release List

---

Ok. So I forgot about Super Mario RPG last week. Or maybe I was just pushing it out of my mind. Has that game aged well? Back on topic - this week's notables include Spore Creatures (DS), Viva Pinata: Pocket Paradise (DS), Zoids Assault (360), Sega Ages 2500 Series Vol. 33: Fantasy Zone Complete Collection (PS2 import), Mazes of Fate (DS), Air Traffic Chaos (DS), and Rain Drops (DS). Here are some others -


TNA Impact! Wrestling (PS3, PS2, 360)
I had a chance to play an Ultimate X match against Jacob Lopez and Ramon Aranda at E3, and I have to say that it was a pretty fun experience overall. In fact, as far as multi-player matches go, that was the most fun I've had with a wrestling game in a long time (even though I lost). Granted, I almost never play wresting games, so I do not have much to compare it to. FYI, the final roster includes, according to Crispy Gamer, Abyss, AJ Styles, Alex Shelley, Booker T, Chris Sabin, Christian Cage, Homicide, Rhino, Sting, Shark Boy, Sonjay Dutt, Brother Devon, Robert Roode, Eric Young, Hernandez, Jay Lethal, Kurt Angle, Christopher Daniels, Samoa Joe, Jeff Jarrett, Scott Steiner, Tomko, Kevin Nash, Brother Ray, and James Storm.

---

Shotest Shogi (XBLA)
Shogi is a Japanese variant of Chess. It's been said that the game in its present form was around as early as the 16th century, so you know that there's something about it that has kept it relevant, at least in some circles. I've been wanting to learn Shogi since I saw Hikaru no Go, and this might be the game that allows me to do just that.

---

Samurai Shodown 2 (XBLA)
Skip this and wait for the PS2 or Wii compilation. Samurai Shodown 2 is considered the best in the series, but you wouldn't know that if you had to fight using the 360's controller.

---

Yakuza 2 (PS2)
In the two years since it was released in Japan, Yakuza 2 has built up quite a reputation as being a pretty good follow-up to the original (the 38 it got in Famitsu might have helped). Since the original's English dub pissed a lot of people off, Sega decided to go with a Japanese audio track with English subtitles (or it might have been because they didn't have the funds to get Luke Skywalker to do some voice acting again). It isn't a problem for me, but I know that a lot of gamers don't really like that. Yakuza 2 is sold at a budget price of $30 so I'll pick it up. If I have time I'll talk about it some day.

---

Cho Aniki (Wii VC)
Ok. I'll admit it. I bought this game. Yes - I skipped over Super Mario RPG in favor of a Cho Aniki game. As a shooter, it's quite decent. It's fast-paced enough so that you'll pretty much gloss over the fact that there are practically nude muscle-bound men that jet through the screen from time to time. The music is also pretty good. Check it out if you like shooters and want something... different.

Side note - Nintendo didn't do an English translation, which lead me to the question - if they can release a game, which will most likely not sell at all, and not bother to translate it, WTF haven't they released Rondo of Blood? It's pretty much guaranteed to be one of the top selling 3rd-party VC title of all time (look how well Symphony of the Night did on XBLA) no matter what language it's in. I just wish that they'd grow the balls to release it some day.

---

Lock's Quest (DS)
From the makers of Drawn to Life, this is Desktop Tower Defense in portable form. I'm almost afraid to touch it. I don't need another time sink in my life...


To Be Continued...

---

That's all I have for this week.

Now, there's a red box in the middle of the room and I'm the only one in my group of four that's seen it. If I can get that box without anyone else noticing, I'll be back next week.