My history with JRPGs

After writing of my past history with visual novels, I felt like it would only be appropriate to devote some time to the other major genre I adore — the Japanese RPG. I have a far longer history with the genre compared to VNs, as I practically grew up playing JRPGs, and it’s no exaggeration to say that they greatly shaped my general taste in games over the years. And hey, maybe if you’re semi-new to the genre or feel like playing some old classics you might have missed, the list of games I’m about to talk about might come in handy. I mean, some of you reading this may be from a younger generation, maybe you grew up playing the PS2, or even the PS3, and have never really been exposed to the stuff I’ll talk about below. In any case, in order to start this story from the very beginning, we’ll have to jump all the way back to the late 90s. To the Nostalgia Mobile!

Be warned: this is going to be a very long read — I’m basically going to start from the SNES era and go all the way until the PS2 days, taking note of all the major JRPGs that affected me one way or another during my childhood.

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[Review] Gyakuten Kenji 2 (Ace Attorney Investigations 2)

JP title: 逆転検事2
http://vndb.org/v6639

Also known as Ace Attorney Investigations: Prosecutor’s Path, in case you’ve been following the fan translation.

Edgeworth is love, Edgeworth is life — and here we are, another game in one of my favorite series, starring my favorite character from said series. So as you can imagine, when I first heard that a spinoff title with him as the main lead was announced, I was ecstatic; and although AAI was overall a weaker entry that, in the end, didn’t quite compare to the sheer excellence of the original Phoenix Wright trilogy, I still more or less enjoyed it for what it was. And now we’re here to discuss the sequel, bringing pretty much more of the same, with a host of new and old characters thrown into the mix.

[Review] Liberation Maiden

JP title: 解放少女

Honestly, I originally wasn’t even going to review this one since it’s neither VN, nor JRPG, so I figured many of you really wouldn’t be interested in it. But then I suddenly had the urge to write something, so here I am, writing about an action/shooter game I beat recently. Totally exploring new horizons with the blog, yessir! Breaking all the rules! PLEASE BE EXCITED.

Also, I guess it can’t hurt to have one more review of a relatively lesser known 3DS title that may or may not get lost among all the bigger games. I mean, Crimson Shroud was also excellent and I barely ever see people talking about it! Which is a shame.

[English translation] Soushuu Senshinkan Gakuen Hachimyoujin — Prologue

JP title: 相州戦神館學園 八命陣

http://vndb.org/v12455

No, I’m not doing KKK after this so don’t even ask. :p My brain still needs to cool off after the Masada overload.

I believe the title says it all, but this is my attempt (emphasis on attempt) at translating the entire prologue to Soushuu Senshinkan Gakuen Hachimyoujin (or just Senshinkan for short), the latest visual novel from Light, written by Takashi Masada of Dies Irae / Kajiri Kamui Kagura / Paradise Lost fame. And me, coming from the medieval (read: 2007) conditions of the default 800×600 resolution found in Dies, shed tears of joy upon seeing Senshinkan come in full glorious widescreen, complete with a fancy interface and such. As it should be in 2014. I’ll also include notes of which particular BGM plays during a given scene, so if you have the soundtrack at hand, feel free to listen along for a better experience. This is something I strongly recommend because the music in this is insanely badass.