First an update on the promised Mana Khemia review. I finally got the damn game, 11 days after Amazon promised me a copy. What the hell is the point of 'pre-ordering' a game if they don't have enough copies to send out to people. Amazon's a big company, I preordered my copy about two weeks before the release date when it looked like my EB wouldn't be getting the game at all. They got the stategy guides but not the game itself...anger rising.

I wanted to play through at least chapter 7 before making a full judgement call. I'd rather play through the entire thing once and then do the review but that may take a while longer and it looks like every option should be opened up by the end of chapter 5. I'm currently on chapter 4 but reset it once because I got a B on the first course. Apparently an A is tricky to get and you only need a B to get the full free time -- didn't know that at first.

Second update is on my NHL picks. Those took a while to write and outside of Gray Fox there was little interest and hell it didn't even make the c-blog recaps for that day or the next. I believe that's worse than fail, correct?

Third thing -- this wasn't my first choice for the second entry in these but I want to play through the game again seeing as its over a decade old and I was fuzzy on things. Mana Khemia is taking up all my at-home gaming and Crisis Core all my on the road and at work gaming so I haven't exactly had time for my refresher so I instead defaulted to this somewhat well known girl but one that's still never talked about all that much.

For those of you who missed my first entry in this series on the absolutely hot, but overlooked Captain Rose, it can be found by clicking this link -- now.

A small excert from that post to set the 'idea' --

Of course video games have their 'first ladies' in Lara Croft, Samus Aren, the DOA cast, and so forth. Mia Shinranui may have been the source of my first fapping actually. But everyone's already talked about those girls and for good reason. They're at the top for a reason. But there are some girls that just fall through the cracks and I'd like to highlight one of them every now and then. Maybe make it a bi-weekly thing, or what not.

This won't be a tirade on how badly women are protrayed in video games. Other people have done that article and the industry just doesn't get it anyway. Honestly, if the industry wants to be taken seriously and seen as a legit medium, they may want to actually protray women in a real way (though I guess that's really not that much fun and entertainment should always come first.)

I'm trying not to veer off into that tirade even though its bubbling up. But for now, it's just going to be a cutsy look at some pixelated babes I love that I don't hear get talked about much. I'm not saying these characters are deep or memorable -- hell most of them are about as shallow as can be, but it's not like the pickings for deep, original female characters is there in video games. You can count them on one hand -- even if you've been in a freak accident at some old tyme factory. Or some farm equipment. Or you didn't listen to your dad and blew most of your hand off with a firecracker. Or just insert your own gruesome way that fingers can be rend from the body. And please share.

The second girl to be enshrined is Quistis Trepe from Final Fantasy 8. I'm sick and tired of no one giving her a second thought. Hell she's even forgotten in the very game she stars in. Everyone was super excited when Kingdom Hearts was going to do the super-hyper-Nomura-Final-Fantasy-Disney-crossover and ....we get Selphie....and Waka....fuck off. And you change our little flower girl's name to Aerith and give her shitty voice acting? Grr.

Ok, before I get too far into why I hate Kingdom Hearts on just about every level, I probably should get back on the task at hand....

WHO IS SHE

Quistis Trepe is one of the instructors at Balamb Garden, a military school, despite being only 18, the same age as everyone of the other characters. She's also Final Fantasy 8's Blue Mage, and until FFX-2 came along had no competition for sexiest Blue Mage in history.

She intially joins the main character Squall (or Leon...fucking Kingdom Hearts) on his field exam to beat up Ifrit but is later demoted because she apparently lacks leadership qualities. Doesn't help her case that she's probably one of the most insecure characters ever and she opens up to Squall about her demotion. And then it's promptly forgotten about once Rinoa shows up. And then they just decide Quistis's feelings for Squall are merely sisterly in nature or some crap -- A misunderstood love. Which is good I guess -- could you imagine the serious brooding in that relationship?



WHY SHE'S NOT TALKED ABOUT

Well she's from Final Fantasy 8, prehaps the single most polarizing game in the history of games. Sure people argue and fight about FF7 more but you either love FF8 or you absolutely hate it. There's no in between. It took me all the way until 2005 to friggin beat FF8 and it sort of redeemed itself in the end and now I support it although I will still never understand what they were thinking with the junction system and the Orphanage story line, which was a little too convienent for my tastes.

But she also has two other female leads and she's pushed into the 'sisterly' role. You have Selphie with the short skirt and the 'tee-hee I'm cute but soooo clumsy (ie ditzy)' attitude and then you have the uber-hot Rinoa who Squall is 'destined' to be with.

I have nothing against Rinoa other than the fact that I barely used her in the game at all, but ugh Selphie -- and they let HER pilot the big friggin airship? Are you kidding me? She also looks like Nomura just put female hair on Squall and gave him overalls and a skirt. But I do admit -- skirts do divert most attention away from "problem areas" such as personality and face.




But yeah when you're bringing the 'teacher' look with glasses to a party that contains Rydia, the dancer in FF4, Faris (remember I love pirate wenches), Celes, Terra, Tifa, Aeris, Rinoa, Selphie, Princess Garnet, Beatrix, Yuna, Paine, Rikku, Lulu, Ashe, Penelo, Fran mmm Fran....it's kind of hard to get past the bouncer and through the door. Only Maria can challange Quitis for status as the least talked about girl in Final Fantasy history.

Oh and she's a damn Blue Mage. Who the hell ever used Blue Mages? Quite lying because filling out a blue magic list was a pain in the ass and stupid. You spend all the game trying NOT to be hit by these weird ass spells, and now all of a sudden you want to be hit? And hell, half of them didn't even work most of the time.

WHY SHE'S HOT

You're pretty much going to learn all of my fetishes throughout the course of these entries (and the simple answer is ALL OF THEM) but who didn't have a teacher they just wanted to show you were a graduate capable of teaching her a thing or two? My first was my seventh grade teacher, who's probably disgusting looking and old by now, and I'm sure if I could go back and watch how I acted around her -- I'd call myself a douchebag. And then duct tape myself to the flag pole...naked.

The only other one was my 'government' teacher senior year. I put government in quotations because we didn't learn about how 'government' worked. We learned how the US government was supposed to work and memorized a good chunk of the US Constitution. She was a complete bitch but man, the things I would eat out of her ass. Damn.

But cripes lets like bullet point this shit.

She's a teacher
She looks so amazing in her glasses
That blonde hair with the weird ponytail....is just killer
She looks damn seductive in her potrait
She has her own fanclub of students...in the game...not in real life.
She's been successful early in her life
She's adept with a whip
Did I mention the glasses already?
How about her being a teacher?
Or the whip?



And while she got the longer skirt compared to the brat, you combine it with the boots, the belt, the exposed naval, the seperated sleeve thing she's got going on, and the entire pink motif -- and the whip -- she blows Selphie out of the water. Its odd but true, sometimes more clothes adds to the imagination. Look at her blue SEED outfit. You can't tell me you don't want to be all over our little librarian wanna-be? There's a huge sex-kitten waiting to be let out there.

Also, as a Blue Mage -- she knows how to take a hit. Yeah, I went there.



But Quistis also happens to be one of the more 'real' Final Fantasy characters out there and incredibly easy to relate to as she feels all the pressure applied with her almost glorified position. Who doesn't fear failure? Or coming up short in the expectations others have in you? For most of us, fear of failure is what motivates us every day.

She's also rejected like you or I. Rejected from her position and rejected by Squall, who's cold demeanor and anti-social 'tude throws her even further into her depression and insecurities. A Misunderstood Love my ass. She's mature enough to step out of the way because she realizes what Rinoa means to Squall -- which is impressive for a girl that's still a teenager. Although I can't be the only one that deep down inside wishes she'd act a bit more like a vindictive teenage bitch and at least put up more of a fight. Grab Rinoa by the hair and bitch slap her a couple times. Save the Queen? No, she's going to Fuck the Queen Up.



She's expected to be an adult while still being a teenager, unblossomed. She tries to be mature because that's what is expected of her at this point. She gets to use Ellone's departure as an excuse and way out. Yet she still yearns to be acknowledged by one person more than any other -- Squall.

I honestly wish they did so much more with her. She's about a hundred times more interesting than the other two girls she competes with, and maybe the rest of the FF series as well. Square, how about you stop with the FF7 spin-offs, the mining of Ivalice and the planned whoring of FF13 and spin-off a couple of the other fablous worlds you have? And do something with Quisits.

Ok, yeah this isn't video game related unless I throw in a reference to NHL 08 or something but oh well, a lot of the blogs on here not only fail but fail on top of not being game related too so I figure this is ok.

I love hockey. I think it and video games are the only things that keep me sane with all the other shit out there. I have a TV set up right next to the TV that is attatched to all my systems and 9 times out of 10 in the winter months it has hockey playing on it.

I don't know how many other hockey fans are out there on these boards beyond NJSykora, he's the only one I can tell by the name that he's a hockey fan. So maybe this will all go for naught but its what is on my mind and this is my blog.

As some of you may know, the NHL regular season ended on Sunday and Wendesday the first round begins. Today I'll be looking at the four match ups in the West while Tuesday will bring the four Western Conference match-ups.

1. MONTREAL CANADIENS v 8. BOSTON BRUINS

This series should be prefaced by the fact that Montreal won all eight regular season meetings against the Bruins, but you'll hear it about thirty times in the first game that the regular season and the playoffs -- they're two different seasons. Still it's a hard stat to get out of your mind when you're picking the winner here.

Also the Bruins have only won 6 of the 18 all-time playoff series against the two going back to the 66-67 Expansion season.

At the season's start I picked the Bruins to finish 5th in the East, and a lot of people thought I was crazy. But when you look at the man games lost and the injuries they've fought through this season, it's amazing they made it into the playoffs with the last spot.

I think the main story in this series is Montreal goalie Carey Price, a rookie and the goalie Montreal believes will take them to the promised land once again much like Patrick Roy and Ken Dryden did their first seasons. They felt so strongly about Price's ability they dealt veteran Cristobal Huet away at the deadline. Of course the Capitals dangling a second round pick for a free agent-to-be also made the decision easier.

I'm sure everyone will point and say he's only 19 and he has no playoff experience and the Bruins should eat him apart. What most people forget is how he came into the AHL (the main feeder, development league for the NHL and considered the second best professional league in the world -- although yes, the Russian Super League and the Finnish SM-Liiga will make their own cases) and led Montreal's farm team, the Hamilton Bulldogs to the Calder Cup championship in a stellar preformance. He was money in Junior hockey and yes, the NHL playoffs are always a different story but its not like he's void of a track record. Remember, no one really looked at Cam Ward's track record either and look what happened there.

Let us not forget that his fellow goaltender on the other end of the ice, 2008 All-star Tim Thomas, has zero games of playoff experience as well. Thomas is the kind of guy you root for though. Completely unheralded and everytime he's been told he's not good enough, he's found a way to prove people wrong. His path to the NHL took a lot of twists and turns and he bloomed extremely late. I'd love to see him set the world on fire and prove people wrong again and I have a feeling he won't go down without a fight.

The other story that could come out of this is Patrice Bergeron, who's season was prematurely ended on a bad hit by Flyer's dman Randy Jones. At one point we thought maybe Bergeron's career would be over from the resulting major concussion but there's now rumblings that he may try to suit up at some point during the playoffs. Will it be in this first round? Probably not but his comeback would do wonders to inspire this team. Couple that with them upsetting the first seeded Canadiens and Boston would be dangerous.

Unfortunately the Bruins will also still be missing their top scorer in Marc Savard, listed day to day still despite breaking a bone in his back. Savard has become one of the very best centermen in the NHL and it was a shame that he went down so close to the playoffs. They'll also be without Chuck Kobasew, out with a fractured leg in what would have potentially been a surprising 25, maybe even 30 goal season. And just to note, goalie Manny Fernandez is out with knee surgery, but most Bruins fans would point out its addition by subtraction in this case. Although Fernandez is apparently cleared to go for round one. It'll be interesting to see if Thomas faulters if they'll make the switch or just shut Fernandez down for the entire year.

Also recall it was Montreal's Steve Begin's hit that injured Marc Savard. I expect that this one could start off ugly.

Offensively the Bruins will have to rely on Marco Sturm (their remaining top point getter) and Glen Murray, who was supposed to be traded by the Bruins in training camp. Neither are particularly hot of the moment, nor is second year Phil Kessel. They'll have to turn it on and look for someone else to step up if they want to have enough scoring. Rookies Milan Lucic, David Krejci, Vlad Sobotka and Petteri Nokelainen didn't score a lot during the regular season but the Bruins need one of the kids to not be afraid. Sobotka only produced one goal but was a huge spark plug for this line-up after being recalled. Look for him to be the one to step up.

Defenesively the Bruins are led by one of the best in captain Zdeno Chara, the league's tallest player at 6-9 and 251 pounds. I know a lot of Bruins fans are critical of Chara and the contract he received to lure him away from Ottawa but he's easily one of the top five dmen in the entire league and they'll need him to be playing close to 28 minutes to shut down Alexei Kovalev, who gave Chara fits during the regular season. My solution? Put Andrew Alberts on Kovalev and let Chara take out the secondary scoring. He may be one of the best but Kovalev has his number, let's see what Alberts can do.

The rest of the blue line corps aren't particularly amazing but they know their roles. Dennis Wideman may have cost Brad Boyes but his 13 goals and 36 points from the blueline wouldn't have come from anyone else in the system. Montreal shouldn't worry too much about him but it would be nice to at least pay attention to him. Andrew Ference is banged up but should be ready to go. Aaron Ward is on his last lengths but he has a wealth of playoff experience in the form of three Stanley Cups.

Montreal's powerplay will be where they get it done in this series so the Bruins PK unit needs to step up, clicking in at a dissapointing 78.6%on the year. Kovalev, Tomas Plekanec, Andrei Kostitsyn, Chris Higgins, and Andrei Markov all finished with over 10 goals on the powerplay. If the Bruins don't improve that number, it'll be over quickly no matter how much Thomas stands on his head.

Montreal's captain, Saku Koivu missed the last four games of the season with a fracture in his foot and he's questionable for the start of the series but I expect him back shortly but they have enough offense to get away with him missing some games. However, dman Mike Komisarek, who missed the last seven games, needs to be in the line-up and looks like he will.

Who could be a sleeper in Montreal? I don't think they need one but look for Mike Ryder to step it up again. His season was well below his usual mark and rumours of him being traded across the league started to get into his head. He's also sometimes not the most likeable of people.Those rumours are now gone and its a new season. Like him or not, Ryder's been one of the most dangerous men on the power play since he came into the league.

On the blue line Markov leads as always and may not be Chara but the next 6 guys down probably trump their counterparts in Boston. Roman Hamrlik might be slowing down a bit but I think he's still capable of keeping Sturm and Murray in line for most of the series. And there's always Komisarek too.

PREDICTION -- Montreal in 5. I'm giving the Bruins one because it's tough to beat a team 12 times in a year. The last two times the Habs met the Bruins in the playoffs, the underdog Habs upset the mighty Bruins. I just don't see it being versa this time around.

2. PITTSBURGH PENGUINS v 7. OTTAWA SENATORS

We've seen bigger collaspes but Ottawa was atop the East half way through and hit a free fall that saw a very good coach in John Paddock lose his job (oddly enough to the guy he had replaced, Bryan Murray, who had stepped aside to concentrate as the GM of the club) and the Senators almost not make the playoffs. It's hard to imagine they'll defend their Prince of Whales trophy as the Eastern Conference champion this year. Especially as this is a Penguins club no one wants to face.

Even more 'especially' is the fact that the Senators are like a wounded animal. Captain Daniel Alfredsson is out with a knee injury, thanks to Toronto's Brendan Bell. No one knows what exactly the injury is. Some say Alfie will be back for the first round, others say he's done -- stick the fork in him and the Senators. Don't be shocked if they go down 3 games to none or one quickly, if he's not suited up to get the club going, although I doubt he'll play serious minutes in this series unless he's truly healthy.

The Sens are also missing key penalty killer and shut-down checker Mike Fisher. The jobs of the Penguins forwards just got a whole lot easier.

The Senators' goaltending was so inconsistent down the stretch that Murray almost dealt both Martin Gerber and Ray Emery at the deadline. It would have been a contraversal and unprecedented move but he stuck with the date he brought to the dance. I don't know if it'll be a good move but this is definitely Gerber's last shot to stick in the playoffs. I've always been a huge Gerber fan since I saw him play for Switzerland in the World Championships. He's capable of being dominiant and stealing away games he has no business in winning but it just hasn't happened in the NHL playoffs as much as one would like.

It wouldn't be shocking to see Emery get another shot at redemption if Gerber faulters. After all Emery led them to the Stanley Cup finals last year while Gerber struggled. I think the situation with Emery has been blown out of proportion and it's time to just let him get back in the net and tell him to run with the job.

In the Penguins net is Marc-Andre Fleury, who's been criticized since about day one. Actually since about he gave up that bad goal in the World Junior Championships. He's still only 23 folks, he's learning and of course he was going to do stupid things in the net. He fought off a high ankle sprain most of the year but went 10-2-1 after getting his job back from former Green Bay Gambler Ty Conklin. He's looking good and now its his time to win a playoff series (he lost his only one to Ottawa last year.) If he struggles it's not like Conklin's been a slouch this year. He's not your best option for going far but I think Conklin can come in and win a game or two if Fleury needs a game off to get his head straight.

This might be the highest scoring of the playoff games. Of course the Penguins are well known for their young mega-stars. Second year man Yevgeni Malkin finished second in league scoring and Sidney Crosby is hands down the best player in the league even at 21. He missed 28 games this year and still isn't 100% but even an 80% Crosby can be dangerous if Alfie and Fisher are out of the line-up. Some people thought the Pens paid too much for Marian Hossa at the deadline but let's just say it wasn't -- they got to keep Kris Letang after all. Hossa had a down year with all the trade rumours and then the injury after he came to Pittsburgh but Hossa, the former Senator, isn't the easiest guy to check and stay on. He needs to assert himself in the playoffs though....which is the only thing that could make this deal be a bust.

Even after those guys Petr Skyora, Ryan Malone, Jordan Staal and even checkers Pascal Dupuis and Max Talbot can be dangerous. If ancient Gary Roberts is ready (he broke his leg just after Christmas) he could slot to the left of Staal and rookie Tim Kennedy. If you forget about any of these guys, they'll make you pay. So concentrate on Crosby, Malkin and Hossa but don't forget the secondary scoring.

On the blue line Sergei Gonchar, people seem to still forget about him despite being one of the most dangerous guys from the point in. 53 assists, 12 goals. And he has tons of options. Outside of Crosby he might be the most important player on this team to keep an eye on. Ryan Whitney will take whatever opportunities Gonchar can't, while Brooks Orpik and Hall Gill will try to make life miserable for the Ottawa forwards down low. Bruins and Maple Leaf fans will always rag on Gill but the truth of the matter is, he's really not THAT bad. I think they have Robert Scuderi playing a little over his head but he keeps his game simple and its been working for him. I'm a huge fan and believer in Kris Letang but this is his year to sit and watch and learn for the playoffs. At 20 he still makes too many mistakes to be left running around.

Ottawa's not without help up front. Dany Heatley may have lost a lot of time this season but he's healthy now and still one of the most dangerous scorers (and drivers) in the NHL. Jason Spezza is no slouch either with 58 assists but I wasn't expecting another 34 goal season out of him. He's definitely becoming a more dangerous player a lot quicker than I expected.

This is pontentially Cory Stillman's last season but he's always been vastly underrated. He was painful to watch at times coming back from his massively wrecked shoulder but was having one of his better offensive seasons before the trade to Ottawa. He was on pace for his first ever 30 goal season. With Fisher out of the line-up it's time for Antoine Vermette to step up. He developed along nicely this season with 24 goals and 29 helpers while staying strong defensively. He's going to be a key if Fisher misses significant time during the series.

Rookies Nic Foligno and Cody Bass will probably see action game one and better be ready to be thrown into the fire. Of course neither one of them are strangers to the atmosphere from their Junior hockey days.

You look at the Senators defense corp and you wonder how they ranked 24th in the league in goals given up. Of course a lot of it has to do with the troubles of both Emery and Gerber but in the end, the corps needed to be better. Chris Phillips was a bit of an odd first overall pick way back in 1996 and up until this year was criticized of not putting it all together for an entire season. This year he only missed one game and I thought did real well in silencing people.

Wade Redden has been slipping a bit but still is servicable and right now, isn't as bad as people make him out to be. Anton Volchenkov provides a problem for some of the Penguins forwards but both him and Phillips will have to play smart with their reach to shut down the shiftier Penguin forwards. Andrej Meszaros was in my top 4 for the 2004 draft and I thought they got a steal at 23rd. Three seasons in the majors and he hasn't dissapointed, nor missed a game. He has to rely on his positioning a lot more than Volchenkov and Phillips, but might be a better option to shadow some of the secondary scoring with his smarts, mobility and transition game.

Mike Commodore is/was probably one of the most improved players in the league this year. He turned himself into a bit and role player into a legit NHL dman that can eat up minutes. But he seemed to take a step back after being traded to the Senators. That worries me. Is Commodore a great player on a bad team (not that Carolina is THAT bad) but only a medicore one on a great team?

Rookie Brian Lee and the ancient Luke Richardson round out the Ottawa blue line and with the Penguins being rather speedy -- I'd expect Lee will get the nod over the experience of a Richardson. It'll be interesting to see if Lee adjusts to the playoff atmosphere quick enough.

PREDICTION -- Penguins in seven. I know a lot of people are looking at the Senators as sitting ducks and the Penguins will avenge their opening round defeat to the Sens from last year, but I think this is still going all the way. I just have this gut feeling that it won't be over too quick.

Part two will be later I guess. Probably will be shorter. Depends on how many hockey fans we've actually got on here.

Ouch. this weekend brought me my first blog to not score a single comment. I guess it can be attributed to a couple factors -- it being a weekend post and nothing coming out this week being the main contributors.

But I encourage you to look back at This Week's Releases post and check out Mana Khemia this week.

But there's more Mana Khemia for today, hopefully that's not what scared people off last time.

But Saturday I happened to wander into the godforesaken land named the mall. Weaving in and out of the congragation of punk teenagers outside the yet to be opened new American Eagle outfitter (hey, kiddos -- the thing isn't open yet. Won't be for another month. Move along, there's other places to spend your parent's money on preppy shit) I finally ducked into EB.

I usually don't go into that one seeing as its in the mall and it's one of five less than twenty minutes away from me. One of three within a square-mile of each other in fact. But I was there and can never pass up a chance to be parted from my money for a piece of software.

But the first thing I noticed was that they already had the strategy guide for Mana Khemia on the shelves, despite the fact that it doesn't ship until today, and for only $19.99 while Amazon retails it for about $5 more plus shipping. I snatched it up and rushed out of the mall almost forgetting to find my girlfriend first.

It's kind of small, although it's about the same dimensions most of Double Jump's guides are (sans the monster they put out for Rogue Galaxy.) And because of the structure of Mana Khemia's narrative the walkthru is easily the smallest part of the book.



Now I know the internet gaming community is almost entirely anti-stragety guides; the common agrument being that there's nothing you can find in those guides you can't get for free at a site like gamefaqs or whatnot.

Now I guess this is true, but I've always been a fan of guides and I somewhat collect them. Though I've yet to buy one outside of the RPG genre. It's definitely a silly thing to buy for a platformer or a fighting game. And don't get me started on the Madden guides. Why they make those I'll never know. EDIT -- Take that back I did have one for the original Jak and Daxter, albeit I don't recall ever buying it or using it. Yet its here in my collection.

But I've always been a "book guy" -- right now there's dozens of boxes in my parent's basement filled with books waiting for me to once again have room for them. I love the feel and the smell of books. I love being able to hold something in my hand that's tangible.

I don't know about most of your set ups but my computer is fairly far away from where my systems are set up and it's just easier to have everything you need in hand, a few thumb flicks away, instead of running between rooms or with a burning laptop sitting atop your legs or on the ottoman.

What about printing things out? When gamefaqs first started I remember printing out the entirity of someone's guide on Final Fantasy 6. It numbered in the 300 page range. I kept feeding the printer paper for hours and even changed the damn ink once in the middle of that. Had I been smarter I probably should have hit cancel but once you get 100 pages in you kind of get determined to just finish the damn thing.

And ugh plain text formats? There's just something about a computer screen where words start blurring together and I lose my place. Usually strategy guides tend to have pictures and more interesting backgrounds. There's a huge difference between looking at a list of Persona's in a certain tarot class in the Persona 3 guide and on gamefaqs.

Although its becoming less and less the case, strategy guides use to be chaulk full of great artwork. It's kind of dissapointing to flip through the Mana Khemia book and see artwork used over and over again that's probably in the manual itself. But I've definitely see worse in the artwork department. Artwork, at one point in time, was my main defense of RPG strategy guides and it is a great shame that a lot of guides are forgetting great artwork.

Of course the other big complaint with guides are those people that think they're so noble and don't like to 'cheat.' I usually flip through a guide I buy once or twice, play the game and never look at the book again until my interest in the game wanes or until I'm done and I need to find some of the subquests that aren't blatently obvious. Seriously, a lot of things they put into games you almost need the guide to figure out they're even in there. Maximizing your relationships (and thus Personas) in Persona 3 almost requires a damn guide on its own to do. And I don't know about you, but I don't quite have the same amount of time that I once did to blow on figuring out how to unlock some of the best Persona's in that game on my second go through.

I'm not saying its not cool that you don't use guides. I understand fully. I'm not saying I need them to beat RPGs, especially the ones that come out today. Just don't act so snooty or noble when you declare that you don't use guides. Good for you. In the long run, no one cares.

And maybe this one is just me but I'm fascinated by tables. Bestiaries make me sweat. The Frog Logs in the Rogue Galaxy probably excited me to the levels porn could only hope to acheive. And just the raw data of character growth? Don't even get me started on level charts.

I've never owned it (mainly because its in Japanese above my level and goes for over $200 now) but Xenogears has a 300 page guide book that goes into a lot more backstory of the world of Xenogears. Not the game but the world the game takes place it. The evolution of the society and its social structure. The geography of the world. Its science. And the characters are explored further. Chaulk full of artwork. Its definitely one of my Holy Grails and I wish more guide books would attempt to be that. I think if there were more of these 'companion' books or the Ultimania guides were released in English they'd be huge hits with fans.

They're just another collectible and for a guy who collects books, they're my thing. I can see the reasons why they are a waste but in the long run, what collectible isn't a waste? The reason to buy them is for your own personal reason. I'm probably not the only one on here that collects guides, so c'mon and speak up. Who else buys them just to have them?Who else buys video game art books?

PS -- Once I have my copy of Mana Khemia in hand I'll start writing a review. From the guide it sounds like I can't give the battle system a complete, fair shake until chapter 5 so it may be a week or two before I get to that point. I'd also like to complete it one time through before then but we'll see how it goes. The fact that it has a New Game+ is encouraging so I can rush through it once and then expand at my leisure later.

A day earlier than I usually do...or well did last week, but with Wrestlemania tomorrow and still having to do some work I figured I'd get this in while I still could.

These are the releases for March 30th through April 5th, for all consoles. Remember release dates are subject to change at the last minute so a game or two on this list could possibly (and probably will) be pushed back. If I'm missing anything just let me know.

Also, from last week Plushess (DS), Emergency Mayhem (Wii), MiniCopter: Adventure Flight) were all pushed back until later in April.

NINTENDO DS

Professor Brainium's Games
Toy Shop

Not an amazing haul. Ok, that's an understatement I guess. Professor Brainium serves little purprose unless you can't get enough of Brain Age and Big Brain Academy. I'm assuming not too many people here fall into that crowd.

Toy Shop could be interesting with a $20 price tag and Majestco's name on it. Apparently these two grandchild inherit their grandfather's toy store, but on one condition: they have to make it successful again within three years or they'll lose it. It's a sim-tycoon game so if that's up your alley, this might be worth checking out.

You got to build the toys, figure out how much to charge and how to advertise the toy. And when to restock. How to cater to your costumer's needs and wants. So there appears to be some depth to it but maybe not as much as some other sim games. Still it could be the perfect DS game for someone you're attempting to get into the genre.

NINTENDO WII

Nothing. Nada. Zilch. Enjoy Brawl and don't forget No More Heroes, Excite Trucks and Endless Ocean still love you so don't let them collect dust. Or if you haven't finished Twilight Princess or Galaxy *raises his hand* this is the week to do it.

PLAYSTATION 2

Mana Khemia: Alchemists of Al-Revis

Now here's what I can't wait for this week and I don't really know why. I wasn't a huge fan of the Alelier Iris series but the whole 'campus RPG' feel appeals to me. We need more Japanese Dating Sim elements in games over here. Not the whacky fetish elements but you know -- if you never played Thousand Arms on the Playstation, go find a copy now. Just do it. Well maybe not -- the combat left a lot to be desired.

Yeah, yeah a lot of people are sick of overly Japanese RPGs but as long as there's not a lot of brooding and zippers I'm all for them. But getting a game that actually does something different in terms of how the story plays out I'm all for. Persona's 'class room' setting was refreshing, I think we can all agree to that. In Mana Khemia you choose which classes to enroll in and its in these classes where you learn your specific skills. You have one assignment per week that you must complete and depending on how well you do with the assignment you'll be graded. If you don't make your credits to pass, you're going to have to do some make up -- these courses being much more difficult. Good grades thus allow you to have more free time to do whatever you like around campus.

Of course 'Alchemy' and synthesizing plays another huge role in the game so if item creation rows your boat, there will be a lot for you to do. And the system sounds to have some depth to it as well as a lot of time occupation outside of the main game.

Battles will be turn based, but not random so you can potentially skip any battles you don't want to participate in.

I'm fucking pysched for this one. Once it hits my doorstep I should be doing my first review for this place.

PLAYSTATION 3

The Eye of Judgement: Biolith Rebellion (Set 2)

More cards for your Eye of Judgement apparently. I'm steering clear of this game. Not just because I don't have a PS3 but because frankly, there was a point in my life where I was addicting to collectible card games and spent too much money collecting cards for games that I really never had anyone to play with. It took my girlfriend literally slapping me in the middle of the comic store to stop me from buying like 10 starters for the Bleach TCG.

PSP

Nothing. Nada. Zilch. Crisis Core better last you until at least June apparently.

X-BOX 360

Call of Duty 4: Modern Warfare Game of the Year Edition

Just in case you don't already have it -- here's the Game of the Year edition. Yippie?

So yeah. I might pick up Toy Store if I see it and am thinking about it. But Mana Khemia is coming straight to my door step and I can't friggin wait. Outside of that -- man this is a slow, shitty week. Better hope the DLC this week is good. Wouldn't want people to actually not spend any money.

So anyone else picking up Mana Khemia?

If not, what are you picking up this week that you missed in previous weeks?

Mana Khemia Videos

Ok, this write-up turned out quite differently from what I had originally intended but I'm shooting off the hip and don't mind where it went. Although maybe it does prove the point that the HP/MP mechanic is definitely difficult to get away from.

Like many of you here at Destructoid I spent the majority of my childhood absorbed by Role-Playing games, usually of the Japanese variety, but it all started with Rogue, moved on to Bard’s Tale and by Dragon Warrior and Final Fantasy I was hooked. I ate everything up from Phantasy Star to Chrono Trigger to Grandia. Anyone remember Secret of the Stars? Today I gleefully geek out at the slightest hint of a jRPG coming across the magical sea and await next week’s Mana Khemia perhaps more than the lot of gamers awaited Super Smash Bros. Brawl.

When it comes to the RPG genre I’ve played about all there is worth playing the past twenty-plus years. Looking at my pile of games still to finish, which features about a dozen RPGs ranging from Grandia 3 to the newly unleashed Crisis Core, it appears I’ll be playing RPGs for another two decades. But also looking at that pile you can tell that I’m not finishing them with the same fever and at the same pace as I once did.

Yes, as we’ve all grown up we’ve realized that other obligations come before aiding our plucky hero in his journey to save the world and get the girl. Saving the world is important but apparently not as important as the customer that berates you every single day. Lady – I don’t care what you think about the price – Alex can’t become a Dragonmaster and defeat the Emperor without me. And if that magic Emperor wins then it’s not going to matter much if you can get that Chinese piece of crap cheaper down the street or not.

As a convention I really don’t mind the whole “save the world” plot outline, even though you would assume that it got tired a long ago. As interesting as it is for an RPG to do something different in terms of story, only a handful have ever attempted it and I’m not sure Valkyrie Profile was that overly successful. So something’s got to be right with saving the world. Sorry, but I can’t find myself engaged in bringing grandma a cake by traveling throughout the land. Who the hell is going to stop you in delivering that cake? Maybe the Big Bad Wolf but how did it end for him?

Hey, you know – that doesn’t sound half bad. Why – because there’s conflict. Saving the world and bringing grandma that cake might be the furthest things on the scale of importance but either way limbs are going to be rend from their bodies by steel. Be it Big Bad Wolf, Big Bad Empire or Big Bad Mentor Turned Bad.



Combat. It’s the one thing we can’t escape in RPGs. Something always has to oppose us and we always have to smash it over the head with a mallet. Or stab it with a blade. Or kill it with fire. We have to have our bloodlust fulfilled in white numerical values. It really doesn’t matter the plot – I sat through Kingdom Hearts II after all. Save the world. Save grandma's cake. I just need a battle system to be happy.

Coming up sometime in the future I would like to explore non-combat possibilities in RPGs, but just for right now I want to look at combat in RPGs. Specifically I want to look at HP and MP.

THE SYSTEMS

Now all RPGs may require you to smash an orc-thing to death (or until it vaporizes,) but that bludgeoning can take on many different forms.

Dragon Quest dolled out the doom via a very basic menu system.

In the early Ys you rammed Adol into the enemy until either you or the monster died.

Final Fantasy introduced the active-time battle system to keep us on our toes.

Games like Shining Force, Tactics Ogre and Disaega put a slower ‘tactical’ spin on things.

Grandia showed us a nice twist on the formula with the IP guage and canceling out enemy attacks.

The Tales series took a page out of Street Fighter 2’s book and keeps tweaking the Motion system into one of my favorite real-time RPG systems.

Final Fantasy XII’s gambit system offered automated combat for better or for worse.

I essentially could go on for quite some time on the different systems out there but that’s not going to help the point. If you think about it all of these systems are what could be considered a ‘new coat of paint” over the old tired and true RPG convention – the HP and MP system.

How do you define an RPG? Well most people start with the words ‘Role-Play’ – a game where you play a role. Well you do that in every game which essentially means every game is an RPG if you look at it that way. But as I tell my girlfriend (who happens to not be the biggest RPG fan) if you see the letters HP next to any numerals or inside a life-bar there’s a good possibility it’s an RPG.

Alongside this measurement of health you usually have another that represents that number of times you can use certain special abilities, be they magical attacks or special attacks well above normal attacks in strength. Occasionally you’ll see magic and special attacks get their own separate battery, but there is always some numerical limit placed on attacks outside of the norm.

It is these numbers that everything in an RPG is based upon. It is these numbers that determine if you make it from point A to point B and how big of a baddie you can bludgeon to death. The entire goal is to reduce the enemy’s HP to zero while preserving your main stats. HP/MP – they’re practically inescapable when playing an RPG and any battle system built around them is just a new coat of paint on this basic system. You can throw in all the other stats you want to make the system seem more complex but in the end HP and MP are the only things that matter.

WHY IS IT BAD

Of course I’m not trashing that fact and I for one will seemingly never get tired of Tales games. I’ve played the original Final Fantasy from start to finish at least a dozen and a half times. I consider Grandia Xtreme, which threw away that silly thing we call plot and focused almost entirely on the Grandia combat system, to be the proverbial “bee’s knees.”

I’m fascinated in level grinding just to watch those numerical values grow and grow and grow. A new coat of paint doesn’t bother me so much, but can we think of something better and still have an RPG? Is the current HP/MP system just so damn good that there’s no way to truly do it better beyond minor tweaks on how HP/MP is used?



It's not 'bad' persee as the mantra of "if its not broke, don't fix it" rings clear. But that's just it -- do we need things to be broke before we try something new? Are we going to be playing the same type of RPG twenty years from now? I'm not sure I'd mind it as long as we get over this teenage angst, bishonen, Nomura-putting-zippers-everything hump we're in.

It’s certainly flexible as it can be used in so many different ways. It’s easy to understand – if your HP reaches zero you’re dead and if your MP reaches zero you can no longer use special attacks. It can be expanded on through things like Breath of Fire 3’s Master System or Persona’s well, Personas. Jobs, Materia, Guardian Forces, Sphere Grids and anything else you can think of have helped to keep the system from getting too stale.

ALTERNATIVES

What alternatives are there? Just about every game has some value to measure health, and those that don’t, like Animal Crossing, don’t feature combat usually.

Obviously with the level of combat featured in your typical RPG a one-hit system such as the one we use to see in old arcade games like Pac-Man and Asteroids wouldn’t fly. How many battles did you fight in the last RPG you played? How many battles do you think you fought your first time through Final Fantasy IV? Could you imagine what that would be like if your characters were KO’d every time they were touched or hit with a spell? You better stock up on Phoenix Down.

Even Super Mario Bros. power-up system wouldn’t be practical where you could survive a hit only if you had a certain item. That item would be lost after being hit. It works magically for platformers as we saw Sonic modify it slightly using rings and I always sort of felt a bit angry when they decided to give Mario a life meter (or life-pizza as I dubbed it) in Super Mario 64.

Life bars and life meters like you see in other platfomers and in fighting games are really just another way to represent the same data that the numerical values of HP does. And I remember people freaking out when Mystic Quest used a life bar instead of numbers to show your health. Yet what’s that there in Crisis Core? Sure there’s numbers but that appears to be a bar too.

You can't escape it if you have some sort of combat in your game, and that's 98% of games out there, you need some way to measure how much damage you can take.

SMASH RPG

But then we come to what I think could be a possibly interesting way to measure HP in an RPG. And honestly, I’d hate to bring it up as there’s already enough posts about Super Smash Bros. Brawl on the internet but what about the damage multiplier as a way to measure your damage in an RPG?

For those living under a rock lately I’ll explain. Smash Bros. uses a percentage meter to measure a character’s vitality. At the start of a regular match that meter reads zero and as he/she/it is hit by an attack that percentage goes up. And as that number increases the further attacks send your character flying off the stage. The percentage can go higher than 100 but as long as you can make it back onto the stage and aren’t smashed into the background, then you can continue fighting on.



How about this system for RPGs? The lower your number, the less likely it is for your character to be KO’d but hitting 100% doesn’t automatically result in a KO, making it possible to survive devastating hits. Maybe you survive to fight on. Maybe you do get "smashed" and require a Phoenix Down.

Remember in Earthbound where your HP was on a rolling counter? If you were hit the damage wasn’t automatically subtracted from your HP but the counter would roll down to that number. It was possible to have been hit for fatal damage but if you could finish the battle before the numbers rolled down to zero you could eek out a victory. It was exciting and some battles put you on the very edge of your seat. How much would this put you on the edge if you never knew exactly when you were going to bite it on a certain attack?

FLAWS

As you probably have already pointed out, there still are some flaws to this idea. The first being that it is still another coat of paint in a way, just slightly more random.

And the other flaw is in its randomness. Gamers love when random occurrences give them the edge. I can’t be the only one that gets pumped up any time one of my characters delivers critical damage to an enemy despite the fact that it was completely random. On the other hand we all curse the screen when critical damage is dealt to our characters or a random status aliment hits our entire party. We hate not being in control.

It’s fun for Smash Bros. because its wild and silly and fun…and you usually have another stock or are playing a coin match. You also didn't just trek all the way up the Slyx Tower to get creamed by five of the most pain-in-the-ass bosses in Final Fantasy history -- all with your last chance to save being the enterance to the Slyx Tower, forty-five minutes ago.

But RPGs are so steeped in cold mathematics where everything is controlled and displayed numerically. It’s ok when something positively affects a gamer's cause but watch out when something out of their control adversely affects them. How much of a fit would your typical RPG gamer (or gamer in general) throw if they were KO’d by a move while they were ‘only’ at 85%? It happens from time to time in Brawl.



MANA BURN

This same system from Brawl could also be used for MP (or even a third bar such as SP.) Safe, low level spells would raise your MP percentage only a tiny bit, while a giant spell rivaling Ultima or a summon like Shiva would shoot the percentage up considerably. The higher the percentage the more chance a spell has in failing or even backfiring. Stronger mages have their percentage go up less and thus can cast more spells before risking backfire or massive failure. Your typical ether or gummy would result in bringing down your percentage of backfire much like your potion or herb would bring down your percentage of being KO’d.

As I said the system is just another coat of paint but there is potentially more wiggle room that what we’ve explored in RPGs since their humble beginnings. And yes, that sort of magic system was explored in Mage: The Ascension but that’s one RPG in a sea of thousands that at least attempted something different.

And of course the biggest flaw to this system, and to any system that attempts to mess with the standard HP/MP formula -- people hate different. Look no further than SaGa or the leveling system used in Final Fantasy 2.

So I posit this to you fine people here at Dtoid – is the HP/MP model flawless without any room for improvement?

Is there another model we can use to breath some fresh air into the genre?

What RPGs do you feel at least attempted something different when it comes to the HP/MP mechanic? Maybe one of the SaGa fans could shed some light on what they may or may not do differently.

Would you be interested in a Smash-esque RPG or do you need to have everything calculated?

Well while all of you are playing THIS



Amazon has decided not to ship Crisis Core to me in a timely matter.

However, I did pick up this



Yes, that's Harvest Moon on the DS. Yes, that's the Cute edition. The one where you're a girl.

But I did manage to get this with the game



Kitty profile



Kitty and game tandem



Kitty and booklet tandem



Back of the booklet has chibi chickens, cows, pigs and ducks. Ducks are cool. And raising ducks I'm definitely all for. Sadly every pictture I took of the booklet's back turned out too blurry.



Still wanted Crisis Core so I told amazon to cancel the order and picked it up from EB....in case you couldn't recognize the desk in the first picture.



It's alright, so far through two missions. Zach's voice and attitude are grating and they couldn't just wait to throw Sephiroth in there couldn't they? Not a fan of the combat but again that's through two missions, I need more time to adjust and figure out this DMW reel better.

As for Harvest Moon Cute -- it's Harvest Moon. But you're a girl. I can't seem to get any real nice pictures of the booklet's inside to show you but the Bachelors all are stupid. Carter's too friggin old, Grifin looks like a folk singer, Gustafa is just a freaky looking leperchaun (who HATES sashimi), Marlin looks like Jethro, Rock is a pussy that would never know how to satisfy a woman, and Skye ....ugh don't get me started on Skye, the lamest of bishos.

If you insert Friends of Mineral Town into your GBA slot (or the butt slot as my gf refered to it as today) all is saved as you can court the manly men of Mineral Town. Well except Rick, who can just fall off a building. Cliff, Kai, Gray and mmmm Dr. Trent.

And a free fucking stuffed kitty. How can you not pick this game up and live out your farming fantasies as a girl being courted by the men of Mineral Town. And well the other douchebags. Sadly to save the Harvest Goddess you actually have to choose one of the losers and marry them. Score one for male dominance.

I should have another blog later in the day though...one that's not full of this suck and well, I fucking suck at taking pictures so that's why you won't see too many picture topics out of me.