I can't believe this ... i happen to read a review for Warriors Orochi for PSP and i'm quiet amazed by the tone of the Gamespot reviewer ...

http://www.gamespot.com/psp/action/musouorochi/review.html?sid=6188819&om_act=convert&om_clk=multimodule&tag=multimodule;picks;title;3

I'm honestly unimpressed by the way the review is written ... it was more of a bias non-fan trying to show his frusttation that he's assign to review this game than a review. I don't mind it given bad ratings but the review itself has to show more meat than just bashing it as "the biggest, most unapologetic fan service crossover since Kingdom Hearts" and then some more ....

The end feel of this review is something more of a frustration with your job than a proper game review. I've read other review of bad games that have more meat in it's explaination of bad controls, bad game system ... proper examples than just some generalize comments. Goodness me. If you can't write something meaningful, pass it on to someone who can ... even a bad rating deserves some proper justification and not a cheap bias.

I'm not saying this because i'm a big fan of Koei's hack and slash Dynasty / Samurai / Orochi series. I admit that the games have not changed much and we're still stuck in a big cycle of things but really, i'm far more able to pin point properly why the game deserve a bad rating when i have to. I love the series but i have more hate to certain things i experience why playing to give it a huge thumbsdown for the right reason ...

Gamers out there, do yourself some justice ... if you see some idiot of a reviewer writing a review that does nothing to properly explain itself for the rating ... do write your own in the player review column. Good game, bad game, they all deserve something meaningful than just rubbing it in the dirt for face value!

I've read reviews from both reviewers and game players to decide on who's really telling the truth and there are good and proper reviews out there that inform people well ... praise these people for the effort!

Folks, as of press time i know Dynasty Warrior 6 is not out yet in US and Europe ... but I've been playing the Japanese release of the game for a while already (i'm briefly done with most of the game already as we speak)

I was hoping to put in the review for the game earlier to help people decide if they should get it or not, and since I can't, i'll stick with blogging and tagging it here first. Then when i can provide a gamer's review, i will do it for the Xbox360 edition (which is what i have at the moment)

First off ... if you're not buying the Japanese edition of the game, you won't get the boxed set (artbook and very nice metal plates of all the characters) or even a simple official freebie ... mine is the cloth with the game logo imprinted on it ... still sealed up and not open. If you're not a collector, then you can stick with the normal edition of the game.

The game is much more beautiful in detail and much more interactive than the previous games. They have also managed to introduce a few gameplay mechanics from the previous Koei titles and put it into this game ... here's 2 that i like alot:

* Calling your horse from anywhere - taken from Orochi Musou (Warriors Orochi)
* Rolling - taken from Samurai Warrior series

The interactivity can also backfire on you sometimes ... expect to be thrown off hills, knocked off bridges, bumped around from object to object, long distance projectiles .... the list goes on.

Mission objectives are far more important in this game as it helps you get more experience points to develop your characters ... people who love the Legend Mode in Dynasty Warriors 4XL (EU/US version DW5 xtreme legends) would remember this objective-oriented system to gain experience points. Unlike the Legend mode, you are not restricted to complete one or two objectives ... but best that you get all done up to develop yourself more!

Characters have mostly changed their weapons ... no more fanciful stuff like claws and elephants ... now most weapons are quite fixed at swords, spears, bows and whips. The only fanciful one is Mr.Lu Bu's weapon ... which at first sight is almost a joke weapon but you'll live to regret laughing as he tosses it at you.

No more video cutscenes ... expect CG cutscenes all the way this round ... but it's not a loss as they can allow the character to be more expressive in their expression ... i hope you all will get the Japanese voice over option ... i've heard some of the English voice over and you'll be really disappointed (as always). Trust me, i'm always thankful that they kept the japanese voice over in Gundam Musou (Dynasty Warriors Gundam), it sure helped me feel more motivated to play the game!

On the other hand, why can't we get the Chinese voice overs? Let the warriors speak in their rightful native tongue for once!

Be prepared for one heck of nightmare in trying to earn the rare horses. At least in the Japanese problems, i'm having a nightmare figuring out which horse is able to develop into more powerful (and become the rare steed) horses ... i hope the english version would provide better clues ... if only i could read the japanese words to figure things out!

All in all ... it's a good buy ... better yet if you can get a 2nd hand copy (like me) ... i'll give a more detailed review when it's officially out, so stay tuned!

I'm a fan of FFVII ... apart from FFIV, FFV and FFVI (who doesn't like FFVI?), this stood out as a great story.

I'm pretty sure of one thing, years ago ... there are elements that I believed that couldn't be outdone ... FFVII seemed nearly perfect.

Opps ... FFVII CC seemed to change all that already.

I'm already at the final stage after hours of playing with it, despite not much understanding of Japanese ... I had more or less some prior knowledge of the game's cutscenes via the trailers available on youtube ... and it does help one string the story up quite abit ...

Playing as Zack is quite an experience actually. Think about what Cloud could do in FFVII ... and Zack will one up him with more zest in his moveset ... Zack's character is something that i could easily click with, he's human ... confident, expressive, determined ... I guess that sells more than having a character that's all cool with few words, it sure helps with the story telling at the end of the day.

I would say that the cinematics for the game is top notch ... on the tiny PSP screen, I actually witness the best swordfight I ever witnessed in any video games I've seen to date. I even created an alternate save file so that I can show it to others ... Of course, the magic lies with Sephiroth once again and the other too-cool-to-die rival, Genesis ... It's a cutscene video that has to be seen to believe their rivalry!

Overall, the game can be played several ways ... you can either hack and slash, you can use magic to get about or you could use all sorts of skills to get by. Many times later in the game, you'll be forced to mix it up ... but the game does open itself to accept that you could just blindly slash your way through, but you'll be warned here, it's not an easy to just get by like that!

There's a lot of old school characters that will make an appearance here ... some you will meet up front (e.g. Tseng, Rick, Rude, Sephiroth), some as a mention (e.g. Cid gets mentioned for his airship at the Shinra HQ), some will play an important role in the story (who else but Areith and Cloud!!) ... and there are the new faces to the game as well; there's a lot of focus on the relatioship of Angeal-Genesis-Sephiroth which will spell out things that you never got to know in FFVII ...

For me, the story is quite a huge draw. The visuals are great ... but how's the gameplay elements? I'm sure you will know about the DMW a.k.a jackpot system ... now that just makes your fights more random than usual ... you might get to end a fight early because of a powerful summon or a powerful limit break attack connecting ... but the random can be a 2 edge sword in many ways ... and I've had to reset my boss fights because I didn't get a good boost that could turn the tide ... challenging but nightmarish at times as well ...

Lovebirds playing the game for Aerith and Zack's love story ... endure past half the game ... it's worth the wait to see them alive.

All in all, a portable masterpiece ... can't wait for the english release!

Yes! FINALLY!

I'm actually playing it .... yes! FINAL FANTASY VII CRISIS CORE! I've dreamt of it for so long and it's here finally!

The game is really cool ... the opening FMV itself is already entertaining for me ... and when you get into the action, it might be a tad confusing at first but after a few mins, you'll know naturally what to do and how to get things done ...

The voice actors for the different roles are very well matched. Zack is very much happy-go-lucky, while the other characters mix from a range of serious tone to confident tones ... s

So far I've met up with Sephiroth and right up to Genesis (just met him at a village)so far ... too bad it's in japanese, but i roughly have an idea what's going on from the looks of things ... guess i have to wait for the US version to come and i will get it again ...

This game has not disappointed so far ... fans of the series HAVE to try this for real ... it's the only thing i've waited to come true since VII ended with a bang years ago on PS1 and PC ...

Will talk more on the game soon! Maybe even doA FAQ on it! :D

http://www.mp3.com/news/stories/10135.html

May he rest in peace, I'm sure this world will be much quieter without his mastery of Opera singing. :cry:

Taiko no Tatsujin DS Touch de Dokodon ~ I wrote a review for this newly found love of mine on NDS ... check it out!

Gotta have it! It's as addictive (sadly quite short lived) as Pokemon! Enjoy!

I've been itching to do this for awhile ... to get started to write a FAQ for some games I've been playing lately ... but it's been awhile since i last tried ... I think the last FAQ i posted on Gamefaqs.com was back in 1999 .... gosh, that was really long ago but I was quite satistified with the work I have done back then; my FFVII faq for PC and my RE2 faq for PC were the chart toppers ... used in several other sites ... benefiting gamers all over.

These days, everyone's rushing to write a FAQ once a new game comes out ... i'm only left to pick up the scraps for games but seems like even scraps are all well covered in other FAQs ... so mine would probably would not have any meaning already ...

So it's up to you gamers if you read this blog for any reason, please suggest to me what FAQs you would like to see ... I'll see if it fits and if I have the game, and if time permits (part of growing up is when you have to juggle work and your game consoles!) .. i'll write it ... here's what I have for my game consoles that you can help recommend some titles:

What I have: Playstation 2, Playstation Portable, Nintendo DS lite
What I may have access to if i borrow: Xbox360

Drop some comments and help me along ... I'll credit your suggestion for spurring me on (even a few people with the same demand of games will get credit!) to do something! 8)

Hey folks ... i posted another review ... this time for NDS .... DYNASTY WARRIORS DS .... check out the bashing-fest on one of the laziest piece of work from KOEI to date ...

THEY BETTER NOT SCREW UP FOR DYNASTY WARRIOR 6 AND SAMURAI WARRIOR 2 XTREME LEGENDS! ARGHHHHHHHHHHHH!!!!

It's in my hands finally ... Orochi Musou .... Dynasty Warriors meet Samurai Warriors in one game .... against the might of Orochi ...

I've so far completed the Samurai warriors storyline, still trying to fight and figure out how to get some of the characters ... can't wait for the cut scene where Nobunaga meets Cao Cao ... I've already watched the scene where Tonakatsu Honda meets and clashes with Lu Bu ... both proud men, ready to prove their might!

Very interesting game, trouble is, you'll need a lot of run-thru in order to unlock the characters ... I'm currently starting on Cao Pi's story ... training up my guys to be able to tackle the later battles ...

Gamespot has not released a place to drop a review for the game .... until they do, you heard it first (mostly likely not!) from me about the game!

Hi all, remember the last blog I said that PS3 is out in Singapore? Currently it's still too expensive for most people to own, so everyone goes around and hogs the demo machines they can find in shopping malls and other places ...

 I happen to be at a comic book shop that has a display set for demo purposes. Ridge Racer 7 was on demo and they actually used one of Sony's best flat-screen LCD TV to demo the system and game!

 The graphics were great .... but I can't imagine how it would be since I don't have such HD TV at home ... I bet my games are gonna suck real bad, but that's all I have to accept when I buy one someday ...

 Didn't have much luck with the game, I'm not good with racers so I ended up losing the game and had to pass the controller to someone else to play. But that few minutes with it was cool ... I can't wait for it land up at my home someday ... if only the 20GB version is sold locally, then I can make that a reality sooner!