Make Way for Meteor Storm!

Finished Fourze 28 last night, which introduces Kamen Rider Meteor Storm, the upgrade to Kamen Rider Meteor, and I have to admit I was mostly impressed. Mostly. His finisher is straight out of Beyblade, and it seems rather OP for something so derivative. The suit is amazing, and I love the double meteor design for the helmet.

It seems to me, though, that even though Cancer is gone, Ryusei's secret is far from safe. Tomoko should (at least I would hope) have a pretty good feeling that Ryusei is Meteor. He does nothing to throw her off the trail when she notices him running off to retrieve the Meteor Storm Switch. Ryusei possibly fears this as well, explaining part of his action at the end of the episode. And if he is revealed again, do we have to go through another episode 27-28? Can he ever reveal his secret the the Kamen Rider Club?

Honestly, Meteor reminds me too much of Kamen Rider TheBee, another close-range Rider with a ridiculous rule set. Add in the fact that I hate almost all of Kabuto (Fuck you Souji Tendou), and I shouldn't really like Meteor at all. While the suit design is fantastic, Tendou ruins everything with is cocky-ass demeanor and constant talk about his destiny to rule over all. Yet somehow I can't get enough of Ryusei, his backstory or Meteor itself. He's got such a tremendously sad past and reason for fighting plus he's the rebirth of Bruce Lee in style and execution. I want him to be able to reveal himself as Meteor while still retaining the ability to transform. It seems like the rule is only there to protect the M-BUS and Tachibana, but between Fourze and Meteor, it should be well protected in the even of an attack.

Won't surprise me at all if we found out later that Kisaragi's parents worked with Utahoshi's parents and that one of them is actually Tachibana, but we'll cross that bridge when we get there.

MFW: Kisaragi's Parents

But the most heartbreaking loss of episode 28 has to be Cancer. I'm sorry, but I can't get enough of his puns. I think I've watched the Meteor v. Cancer fight from 27 at least 15 times at this point, just for the puns. Soran Tamoto was brilliant in his portrayal of Kijima, a great midseason boss, and his presence will be greatly missed. But hey, at least he gets to hang out with Sonoda in the Dark Nebula.

What is This Power? (SMT: Digital Devil Saga - PS2)

Going back to play games on previous consoles can be taxing at times. For years gamers have been saturated in lush graphics in fully-voice, robust worlds which cast a dark shadow on their predecessors. Some games, such as Chrono Trigger, Final Fantasy IV, Golden Ax, Space Harrier and others, become ageless classics, standing up to the waves of time with glory and defiance. The Digital Devil Saga, as I remember it, seemed to be just at epic, but before I place it on a pedestal, I needed to give it at least one more play-through.

Digital Devil Saga, like the Persona series, is an spin-off series to the Shin Megami Tensei. DDS is a two part, self-contained series that runs on the same engine at Nocturne, but instead of recruiting demons, the characters transform into demons and consume their prey for strength. You play as Serph, leader of the Embryon tribe, and his allies Heat, Argilla, Gale and Cielo. As one of six tribes locked in a stalemate in a world known only as The Junkyard, you must defeat the other tribes in order to use the Karma Temple to ascend the gigantic tower to Nirvana. Every person in the Junkyard is fitted with a tag ring which allows access to certain areas, equipment and shops.

The game opens with Serph leading the Embryons against Harley, with his tribe the Vanguards, over a strange black pod which has fallen to the Junkyard. While the groups fight for control of the relic, a light blasts the pod from the sky, exploding it into hundreds of beams of light. The light penetrates every combatant on the battlefield, causing them to go berserk and transforming them into demons. Nearly everyone is slaughtered by the Serph and the Embryons, but Harley manages to escape. After the battle, the group discover they have each been branded with a unique tattoo, and they uncover a young girl inside the crater caused by the pod explosion with no tag ring.

After returning to their base in Muladhara, they find she has amnesia, but she remembers her name is Sera and she can help everyone. . .somehow. Still in a state of shock and confusing, Serph, Heat and Argilla go off to the Vanguard base looking for answers. What they find is a hysterical man, unable to control his own power and emotions. After cutting him down in what is pretty much an extended tutorial dungeon, the trio confirm what they feared to be true: the rules of the Junkyard have changed. Eat or be eaten, and you must literally consume to survive. Argilla, unable to accept this, refuses to eat but becomes incredibly weak, and she must be rushed back to Muladhara.

Upon your return, you find Gale going berserk from the lack of nourishment, but before things topple out of control, Sera awakes her hidden gift of song, soothing Gale and Argilla in an instant. Before there is even enough time for the Embryons to digest what they have just witnessed, Serph is summoned to the Karma Temple along with all of the other tribe leaders. There, they encounter Angel who promises that whoever can defeat the other tribes and bring Sera back to Nirvana will be rewarded with paradise, and it activates the Mantra system.

This skill system allows you con customize your move sets by assigning Mantras to each character. You gain  Atma Points (AP) to charge each Mantra, allowing you to obtain the Mantra's skills upon completion. Mantras are divided into a flowchart, and as you work your way up each Mantra category (i.e. fire, healing, ice, hama, etc), you unlock better skills and abilities (agi > agilo, dia > media). I personally enjoyed this leveling system, as it was elegant enough to allow for easy access and customization of each character without really forcing you down any real path for a given ally. Like in most RPGs, you can customize your skill points whenever you level up, but party ally skill points are preset. So while characters have suggested paths, those molds are not absolute and can be changed and customized.

Right now, I've taken down the Maribels and their leader Jinana, even though my initial strategy of gaining them as a temporary ally pretty much failed the best possible way, much to the dismay of Argilla, and the Solids are next up on the block. I've taken my usual magic-focused approach to Serph skill set and points, with most of my focus on agility, magic and luck. His default element is water (ice), so that is now lvl. 2. I've also competed Demon Beast and Yaksa while currently training in Angel. I wish I had flopped the last two, as the Null Hama skill would have been incredibly useful during the Jinana battle. I stuck with Heat as my lancer, quickly getting his Demon Beast, Battle Demon and Fire Demon skills and currently training his Raksas skills. Argilla is my healer, with Fallen Hero, Earth Shrine and Demon Beast under her belt. Her current Mantra is Adamant.

Feeling pretty good so far. Every bit is just as good as I remember, and the dungeons and bosses do required the player to quickly analyze and adjust to a constantly evolving battlefield. Unlike in the other SMT titles, Analyze is not a free-action skill, and the data cannot be re-summoned unless the skill is preformed again. You must rely on your own working knowledge of defeated foes in order to survive. The hunting mechanic is neat and efficient, allowing you to harvest more Atma from weaker or frightened foes. The soundtrack is grim and perfect for the atmosphere, and characters are dynamic and evolving. There new power awakened more that just their demonic forms; it brought for an ego and emotions which they have never felt before. Each character struggle through this brand new world is just as integral and important to the game as the battle mechanic. Your decision not only effect certain elements in this game, but can change certain scenarios and encounters in part 2.

I'm just going to enjoy the ride right now, and should post more updates as time goes on.

Anger Problems Can Be a Good Thing - (Asura's Wrath [PS3])

Capcom has been serving up some pretty weak stuff for a while now. Ever since the whole Megaman Legends 3 deal and the all the BS surrounding Ult. Marvel vs. Capcom 3. I'd been eyeing this project from a while, however, and I wasn't going to let Capcom's shittiness ruin what looked like a great game. And trust me, Asura's Wrath is a great title. Well, mostly.

You play as the demigod Asura, who's wrath and anger know no bounds. Fueled withe will to protect his daughter and wife, he is Working as a member of the 8 Guardians to rid Gaea of demons called Gohma and their master Vlitra. During the openning scenes we learn that his power can also be augmented by his daughter Mithra. Her prayers become power called Mantra, which can transform a warrior and give them amazing new abilities. Asura, for instance, grows an extra four arms once unleashed with Mantra power, which you use to mercilessly beat the tar out of Vlitra in the opening segments.

Shortly after repelling Vlitra and returning home, Asura is set up by Deus, a scheming demigod who intends to use Mithra to harvest Mantra from the people of Gaea by force, thus allowing the remainin gods to obtain the power to defeat Vlitra. He crashes into Gaea, yet his rage refuses to let him die while his daughter is tortured to empower his betrayers. He resurrects 1200 years later to find the world in shambles, but still burning with the desire for revenge. You eventully cut down every one of your betrayers as you make your way to kill Dues, who's gone mad with power.

One of my favorite fights from this game is against Asura's rival, Yasha. Video by Hyagiz.

The combat system is pretty simple. Circle handles all of you normal melee attacks, which can be charged for more damage, while triangle handles heavy attack, most counters and special attacks. In the rail shooting modes, triangle instead performs a lock-on attack. Square is used for all ranged attacks, while X is the atypical jump button. While there is not block mechanic, you can dodge and counter many attacks, but damage is not all bad in this game.

You have three meters to watch: health, rage and unleashed. Damage you deal and take with charge both your rage and unleashed meters, and I found myself sometimes running headfirst into attacks to help boost one or both meters. The unleashed gauge, once filled, enables a superpowered mode wheere your attacks a quicker and you no longer loose stamina when you use heavy attacks or special attacks. The rage guage pretty much has to be filled to enable a QTA event to end each secton of the stage. Combat is quick to learn, hard to master and incredably satisfing. You really feel like you unleashing every bit of rage felt by Asura. However, this is where the game starts to run out of steam.

Yes, Asura get into a fight on the moon. Deal with it.

The story is intersing enough for an action title, but aside from the very end, I wasn't surprised. I might have to complete it on all game modes to unlock more endings, but the game is incomplete. There are 18 chapters broken up into 3 sections with a secret "true ending" chapter that becomes unlocked once you "S" rank a certain number of chapters. Each chapter feels like an episode of an anime, complete with opening credits, splashed durign loading screens and wrap-ups. While this can get annoying on multiple playthroughs, the presentation is a fresh approach to storytelling in a rather cookie-cutter genre and something only CyberConnect2 would do.

The style is double-edged sword, forcing to player to watch long yet amazing cutscene before putting them into brief QTA scenes or combat sequences which tend to last 1-2 minutes at best. Other than that, the game is pretty cool and enjoyable. While I wouldn't buy it now for $60 (the game is only 5 hours long for one play through), this one is on my radar as a bargan/price drop purchase. The animation is great, and all of the contributing artist created some great still images for the comic book styled interludes between chapters. If you can borrow it, do that. Otherwise, just rent it for now.