HI. LONG TIME NO SEE. (Did you know that originally came from Cantonese? No? Well, now you do.)
Basically... Final Fantasy XIV has taken over my life. I have like 1,000 screenshots I want to write about and post. I will eventually get around to it, but I thought it would be better to do like a highlights entry. Like, the highs, the lows and everything else.
The game is amazing. It was released last week on Tuesday. A lot of people are still suffering from various errors such as error 1017, 9000... I've suffered from them too, and am right now, hence why I am writing this entry. However, once you get past the log in issues, the game is just... out of this world. Naoki Yoshida and the team have seriously out done themselves.
I am currently level 38. I am playing a Black Mage. I have been playing with friends so have been progressing through the game alright. Queues in the duty finder for DPS are absolutely ridiculous. 45+ minutes to run a dungeon. But luckily, my boyfriend has been playing a tank so I have been able to enjoy 5 minute duty finder queues and progress nicely.
I will go into more detail about the mechanics, things you can do, jobs, classes, professions as I work my way through these screenshots and write their respective blog entries.
This is just a post to say... hey guys! I'm still alive. Here are some awesome pictures from Final Fantasy XIV: A Realm Reborn.
WARNING: PICTURE HEAVY
So I tried out some Archery.
A pretty afternoon in Thanalan
FAAAATE
Meow
Eorzea is prettyyyyyy
Craaaaab!
Dem heals
And here is my favourite picture of them all...
There will be more in the future! This is just a teaser... I will write about it in future too. I just need time to organise all my pictures and screenshots! So many screenshots and stories to tell, and so little time.
This is where I put a link where you can buy the game but they've stopped sales because the game is so awesome and they have no room for more players! :'D
If you want to play with me... Hit me up on Odin EU! I'm Aylin Moon :') Black Mage Extraordinaireeeeee!
So, I've been pretty caught up in Tales of Graces f and waiting for Final Fantasy XIV: A Realm Reborn to start so I haven't really updated this much. However, whilst listening to a couple of OSTs today, I thought I would do a post like this.
One thing I love about Japanese video games is that they usually have some fantastic music. I may be a little biased, but growing up with Final Fantasy, I have had the pleasure of listening to some awesome tracks over the years. Of course, other Japanese games I've played have had awesome OSTs too. For example, Legend of Zelda, Lost Odyssey and Devil May Cry 4 come to mind.
Any way, so this blog post is just a bit of fun really. Here are a few of my favourite Japanese game music tracks in no particular order:
1. Kaette kuru, kitto (Lost Odyssey)
When this plays in the game... tears were shed, OK. I think my mum was cutting onions somewhere. There is an English version, but I think the Japanese version is way more touching.
2. J.E.N.O.V.A (Final Fantasy VII)
This terrified me when I was younger. I thought it was so creepy. But now I'm older... it's so awesome. The Final Fantasy VII Advent Children version is good as well, but nothing beats the original.
3. The Landing (Final Fantasy VIII)
This plays at such an awesome part in the game, which really contributes to how awesome it is. It made you feel so awesome. I would so play this on my commute to work (if I had a job and a car...). It'd get you so pumped up.
4. Wind Waker Main Theme (Legend of Zelda: Wind Waker)
Easily one of my favourite Legend of Zelda games. There was just something very appealing about sailing around the seas on a boat... all that freedom!
5. The Price of Freedom (Final Fantasy VII: Crisis Core)
Get the tissues ready. The price of freedom is so high it makes you want to cry...
...and that's all for now! There will be a part two, once I decide on a few more tracks. It's hard making sure they are not all Final Fantasy tracks.
Let me know your favourite tracks! I'll add them in the next post. Make sure to comment below!
It looks like the advertising for Final Fantasy XIV: A Realm Reborn is in full swing in Japan!
Quite an interesting commercial - a lot more interesting than the leaked one (which eventually turned out to be the actual one!
What I thought was pretty cool was this shot of some armor...
On a Final Fantasy XIV: A Realm Reborn group I follow, someone suggested it was the Paladin AF+1 gear. It's looking pretty snazzy.
The Japanese commercial is advertising the release/launch date which is the 27th August and the Open Beta/Phase 4 dates which is 17th August until the 19th August.
Exciting stuff. Personally... I can't wait! I genuinely feel sorry for this blog... It will either turn into an FFXIV blog or I'll never update it.
OK, so my boyfriend sent me this trailer of Drag-On Dragoon 3/Drakenguard 3 a while back.
I thought to myself, "This game looks awesome." So... I did some research! Then, I thought to myself, "I'll write about it on Game Otaku Desu". Then... forgot about it! But I remembered so it's OK.
I did a tiny bit more research today because there does not seem to be much around about this game. What I have managed to gather from mainly Japanese sites is that it is being released in Japan in October, it is not "Nier or Drakenguard 3 so if you were expecting that you will be disappointed" ... and that's it.
I don't know if it's just me (it's probably just me) but this game has so much mystery about it. It looks so awesome yet I cannot find anything on it that isn't in Japanese. I have searched around some Japanese sites like 4Gamer.net, Famitsu and this site (which has a more game footage. Check it out.) and cannot really find much on it which sucks. :(
But I thought I will share what I have found so far, because this game looks great, and it seems that it will be a while before we see it on Western shores... if we ever do.
From what I can find, the games story is a follow on from the manga "Drag-on Dragoon: Shi ni Itaru-aka". (They have the first chapter available on there - if you can read Japanese, give it a read!)
Zero - in all her glory
It seems it will follow the story of two "utautai" - two girls who are able to manipulate magic through songs. One of the girls is Zero, a girl with a flower sprouting of her eye and an artificial left hand. She is quite laid-back, almost being described as lazy. Whereas her sister, One, is described as being "serious and intellectual." Quite the difference.
It is an action RPG, which is always fun. From the gameplay footage, probably a lot of hack'n'slash. An interesting point about the combat is that when the characters are caked in blood, their "utautai" skills get really powerful. Awesome.
It seems they will also be releasing a 10th Anniversary Box Set when this game is released in October. The box set will include...
Drakengard World Inside book Drakengard Chips Music CD with tracks from Drakengard, Drakengard 2, Nier Gesalt and Nier Replicant. Drakengard Novel Prelude Drakengard Visual Book Drakengard 3 DLC code - which after some searching around seems to be Kaine's costume from Nier. Drakengard 3 for Playstation 3 with an illustration by Kimihiko Fujisaka, featuring all the characters from the Drakengard games.
Phew. You can get all that on October 31st for the sweet price of 19,800 yen which is roughly $202. Best get saving!
I am not even a Drakengard fan but I am stoked for this. It looks brilliant. Very interesting story, too. Well, from what I could find about it. It is a shame that there has been no word on an English release yet, however when I was doing some searching around, I came across a petitionto get Drakengard 3 localised and released in the West. May be worth signing if you do not fancy breaking the bank on importing the game over.
Or, if you are like me, you just want the game so you're gonna buy it regardless. Yeah, impulse buying rocks! ;)
Drakegard 3 is set to release on October 31st in Japan. You can pre-order a copy on the Square Enix store: Drakengard 3 Drakengard 3 10th Anniversary Box Set (If you need help navigating the site, let me know in the comments and I'll post up a tutorial!)
Tales of Xillia was originally released in Japan almost two years ago(!) and has only just been released in the US, with an EU released scheduled for August 9th.
It has been getting great reviews all around, when first announced in Japan, it got the most pre-orders out of all the Tales games, as well as getting a 39/40 from the popular Japanese gaming magazine Famitsu. IGN have just recently gave the game 8.0/10, saying that the combat is fun, has an interesting story and lots of replay value.
The game is set in a world that has been divided into two by a spirit called Maxwell. In one world, Rieze Maxia, they can all use mana and live in harmony with the spirits, whilst in the other world, Elympios, they all use advanced technology and use the lives of the spirits to supply power. (You can probably see where this is going.) In order to stop them from doing this, Maxwell created a barrier around Rieze Maxia, but somehow the folks in Elympios have managed to break in, form a group and start stealing spirits.
In Tales of Xillia, there are two protagonists and at the beginning of the game you can choose which one to play. One is Jude Mathis, who at the time of the game is a medical student investigating a research facility and treating patients with suspicious injuries. Whilst there, he meets Millia Maxwell, the other protagonist who just so happens to be Maxwell's successor. The two of them then set off an adventure to stop the folks from Elympios creating a weapon powered by Spyrix (which uses the lives of the spirits!).
Millia Maxwell
It seems that the story is a stand alone, so no knowledge of the previous games is needed. However, if you are a fan of the series, it seems there is a lot of things tucked away in the game for you too.
What really interests me about Tales of Xillia is the fact you can choose from two characters at the beginning of the game. It seems that one story isn't better than the other and it is really just down to preference and how you want to play but from reading around it seems Jude's story is a bit better, whereas Milla has better battle music. So it's your call!
The combat seems to be like any other Tales game, with a few added elements. I haven't really played any Tales of games so here is a video showing the combat! (It's better than me trying to explain it.)
As you can probably tell, it isn't a turn based system. It kind of reminds me of Star Ocean, which had some amazingly fun combat, so if you were hoping for a turn based system - don't be put off! Battles like this are usually fun and get really challenging so be open-minded! :)
Get your own copy of Tales of Xillia at PlayAsia! (US only m'afraid! EU will version will be up in a few days so I will update this!) Though it seems this has no region protection so if you are really desperate for it, you're in luck!
Practise your Japanese and get the JP version! And if you are a collector like me, get the game guide! Awesome if you can read Japanese then you have this awesome guide and really cool collectors item. I'm being serious. I think it's awesome.
Still working on that review. For now, enjoy some new exciting news about Angel Beats!...
Possible Angel Beats! game announcement?
Visual Arts' company director Baba Takahiro was recently asked by a fan on Twitter when they can expect the announcement about an Angel Beats! game, which was supposedly meant to be announced "before summer". The fan also mentioned that it had been 3 years since they first announced it.
Baba replied with "Before summer → after summer." Straight to the point.
A man of a few words - follow him at @vavasyatyou
So, it looks like we can expect some news about the Angel Beats! game "after summer" hopefully. Whenever that may be. I also think it's safe to assume that Key will be working on it as well.
Key, a company who are apart of Visual Arts, are mostly known for the their visual novel games, such as Kanon and Clannad. In the Japanese gamers community, their games are often described as "泣きゲー" (nakigee), games that make you cry.
I am currently working on a review for a PS vita game so until then I thought I would write about the latest in Japanese gaming...
Hatsune Miku Project Diva F is coming to the West!
credit to evoxiii at DeviantArt
OK, I have this game. It's a fun game. I am not much of a vocaloid fan but it's fun to play. I saw the news here and thought I would write about it.
Considering this blog is centered around Japanese games not being localised and brought to the west, I thought this would be a good place to start.
YAY! Finally! A Japanese vita game is being localised and released here! According to that article, you lucky Americans are getting both a Playstation 3 release as well as it being released on the Playstation store, whereas Europeans just get it on the PS store. Either way, it is fantastic news.
It seems from this trailer video SEGA America posted, they've went with roomaji. This makes the Japanese nerd in me very happy. I was thinking that they would just translate it into English, but it seems they have went with the lazy better option and translitered it into roomaji. Nice one SEGA.
I was about to go into how and why this might have happened, when reading the article, something caught my eye, "'Your voices helped make this happen', said Aaron Webber,". Again, as I say, I don't follow anything about this game, so I am judging from that a lot of people expressed to SEGA that they wanted it to be released in the West.
Interesting.
Any way, great news on the Japanese game front, hope all you vocaloid fans out there are pleased!
As I already have the Japanese version, I don't see myself getting this. If I do, it will be purely out of interest to see what they have done with it. Rhythm games are huge in Japan, but not so much over here. I think I will watch this closely, and see how it develops...
How many of you already own the original? If you already own the original, do you plan on buying this version as well? Let me know in the comments!
- Jade
Hatsune Miku -Project Diva F- is available on Playasia - get your own copy now!
