The President of Portables

I hope you've got a little time, as this post is extremely, extremely long. :-)

Back in the day, I really, really, really LOVED my PS2. Compared to Xbox and (especially) Gamecube, there was just so much more to play over on Sony's sinister-looking but still lovable black box. When I say this, I'm not just talking about big ticket blockbusters like Final Fantasy X, but quirky, "lower budget" but still totally awesome games like Steambot Chronicles, Harvest Moon: Save The Homeland, Shadow Hearts: Covenant and Atelier Iris. The PS2's huge install base allowed it to get away with releasing games targeted to very specific niches of gamers - no matter how hardcore, weird or out there your game's concept was, you'd still have a good chance of finding an audience because the user base was so enormous.


Logically, it follows that this is the reason why I love my DS so much -- because of it's similarly gigantic install base, it's pretty much become the inheritor of the PS2's depth of game genres, and has mutated from its ultra-casual beginnings (with gimmicky touch games like Feel The Magic and Warioware Touched! highlighted at launch) to its significantly more hardcore present. While I love the PSP as well - I'm not a hater, I also own one, after all - a lot of the big releases seem to be scaled-down versions of existing console titles, with avantgarde stuff like School of Heroes, Holy Invasion of Privacy, Badman!, and Half-Minute Hero few and far between. I usually break the PSP out occasionally when big titles I've been looking forward to come out (Final Fantasy Dissidia, etc.) but mostly the DS wins out when it comes to my portable gaming needs.

Baguio City! Full of beautiful trees, fresh air, and PEOPLE WHO STEAL MOTHERFUCKING NINTENDO DS's FROM OTHER PEOPLE. No, I'm not bitter anymore.

In fact, I love my DS so much that when some sorry asshole stole my first DS Lite (glossy black) on a trip to Baguio, I immediately bought another DS (two-tone blue/black) without thinking. I haven't regretted it since. :-D And when you think about it, why wouldn't I? I mean, just look at that library! Yeah, I realize that there's a lot of shovelware out there (Dora the Explorer! WTF) but as I mentioned, the user base of the system is big enough to accomodate users of all stripes, which means a wide variety of games for everybody.

To prove my assertion that, contrary to popular belief, the DS is a hardcore gaming wonderland, I've written a breakdown of what the little console that could has got to show per genre. (Part of me is writing this feature to build on IGN's execrable 25 best DS games of all time list, which is just full of poor choices and exclusions.) Please note however that I only included my personal favorites on this list, excluding games that I don't like very much even though they may be popular (ahem *Final Fantasy Tactics A2* ahem *Blue Dragon*). And sometimes I just forget, so sue me! Don't take this as a comprehensive listing by any means.

So, without further ado...

TAKE THIS!

JRPG

Atelier Annie: Alchemists of Sera Island
Final Fantasy III
Final Fantasy IV
Dragon Quest V: Hand of the Heavenly Bride
Rune Factory 1 & 2
Nostalgia
Etrian Odyssey 1 & 2 (part 1 pictured)
Final Fantasy Crystal Chronicles 1 & 2

Do you like experience points and leveling up? Do you like grinding away in the name of self-improvement, interspersed with chunks of story exposition?

Then welcome to portable nirvana, as it seems that all the PS2 developers left out in the cold after PS3/360 development became too expensive decided to start DS projects of their own. Squeenix in particular is very active on DS - it's crazy how many games they've released on this thing, and how surprisingly good a lot of the games are. This is the main reason why I'm not as angry at Squeenix as a lot of core Sony gamers -- they haven't stopped producing good shit, they're just not producing it for the PS3 (yet), focusing more on DS and PSP development.

Jesus, just look at that lineup - that's a truly sterling collection of titles, a veritable murderer's row of quality RPG gaming. I don't have the patience to go over all of them, but I'll do my best to provide highlights. Atelier Annie is weird but supremely enjoyable (part management sim, part RPG). FFIV is an incredible remake of one of my favorite series entries (both graphically and script-wise), while FFIII, despite being a rather odd entry in the FF canon (a job system, while in place, is extremely simplified, and the difficulty spikes can be very arbitrary) is still worth your time. Being a big Harvest Moon fan, I got hopelessly addicted to the Rune Factory games (offering a strange but totally awesome mix of dungeon crawling and... farming), playing them for days on end. The Etrian Odyssey series is a welcome throwback to the Wizardry-like style of hardcore dungeon crawling, and includes one of my favorite job system implementations in any RPG ever - EO is, simply put, hardcore as hell, and the first game is in my personal top ten games on any console (handheld or otherwise). Jesus, this section is getting way too long. Next!


Adventure

Take this, MOTHERFUCKERS! *points finger accusingly*

Hotel Dusk: Room 103
Broken Sword: Shadow of the Templars
Phoenix Wright: Ace Attorney (three game series) - pictured: Ace Attorney 1
Apollo Justice: Ace Attorney
Professor Layton (two game series, at least in English)

Adventure gaming (in the old-school PC gamer sense, meaning text adventures or point-and-click King's Quest style games) has always been one of my favorite genres. I'm not a PC gamer anymore, but that shit is part of my childhood, and I'll always love that stuff. Which is why I'm ecstatic about the genre's renaissance on the DS - the point and click gameplay is a perfect fit for the touchscreen, and the slow paced, thoughtful gameplay is the perfect way to wind down after a long day at work. Professor Layton in particular is a revelation - the puzzles in the game were simply fantastic, and it's quickly become one of my favorite series developed by my beloved Level-5.

Plus, I'll always love the DS for giving us Phoenix Wright, one of the greatest inventions of the 20th century.

Strategy or SRPG

Advance Wars: Dual Strike
Advance Wars: Days of Ruin
Might and Magic: Clash of Heroes
Disgaea
Luminous Arc 1 & 2
Shin Megami Tensei: Devil Survivor (pictured) Age of Empires (This version is a turn-based game, not an RTS)
Fire Emblem

There's almost too much of this genre on the DS - apart from the sterling titles listed above, there's a huge amount of other titles available which may or not be to your taste: Knights in the Nightmare (a little too complicated for my liking), Rondo of Swords (the battle system isn't my type), Prince of Persia (I can't wrap my head around the idea of mixing card game concepts in a turn based strategy game), FFXII: Revenant Wings (I dislike real-time strategy) the list goes on and on. Without any hyperbole whatsoever, if you played through every Strategy/SRPG available on the DS (assuming, of course, that you have a job or that you attend school, and that you played these games exclusively) it'd probably take you considerably more than a year to finish everything.

Fighting


Bleach (series, pictured)

OK, there's really not much to see here. Considering the system's hardware limitations, it's not really the ideal platform for fighting games in general. The Bleach series (developed by Treasure) however, is an excellent representative. To any of you who played Yu Yu Hakusho on the Mega Drive, this is the spiritual successor to that game - filled with 2D fighting craziness up the wazoo, with graphics superior to Guardian Heroes on the Saturn, Bleach is the best portable fighting series I've ever played.

Puzzle/Casual

Planet Puzzle League! Picture is of the DS held in book mode.

Peggle DS
Bookworm
Puzzle Quest: Challenge of the Warlords
CrossworDS
Picross DS
Planet Puzzle League (pictured)

The NDS (together with PSN and the venerable Yahoo! Games) was truly instrumental in opening my eyes to casual gaming's possibilities. Although I remain hardcore, I'm no longer against games for a more mainstream audience like I used to be - I accepted the fact that for our industry to grow, we have to convert as many people as possible into gamers, even if that gamer is actually just your mom playing Text Twist again. Anyway, on to the games: CrossworDS and Picross DS are priceless when you just want to kill a few quick minutes (say, at the doctor's office or while on the way home). Puzzle Quest is another personal favorite of mine, and so is Planet Puzzle League, being the most complete (feature-wise) and easiest-to-control version of Tetris Attack in existence (my ex once borrowed my DS for damn near a month because she couldn't stop playing it. Tellingly, she eventually bought a DS of her own.).

Rhythm/Music

Elite Beat Agents (pictured)
Rhythm Heaven
Osu! Tatakae! Ouendan! 1 & 2 (the japanese versions of EBA, which are totally different games with different music/stages)

I'm sure there's some stuff I'm forgetting here, but fuck it, I wanna publish this post now.

And personally, even if Elite Beat Agents was the only rhythm game out on the NDS, it would still be one of the best portable music games ever.

Platformer


New Super Mario Bros. DS
Super Mario 64 DS
The Legend of Starfy
Super Princess Peach
CastleVania (the three part MetroidVania series - Dawn of Sorrow, Portrait of Ruin and Order of Ecclesia - Ecclesia pictured)
Rockman ZX
Kirby: Canvas Curse

It's a Nintendo system. Para namang magpapatalo yung mga yun pag dating sa platformer.
Yes, they delivered in spades, with scads of 2D run-and-jump action presented for our old-school enjoyment. Best in class here would have to be the CastleVania trilogy (the finest example of which was Order of Ecclesia, which combined MetroidVania exploration with a delightfully high level of difficulty) and the Mega Man ZX series (which successfully combined RPG elements with the classic Mega Man X hardcore gameplay). New Super Mario Bros. DS, despite being a bit overrated, is still a quality example of 2.5D gaming done right.

Sports


What sports games?

If this is what you're looking for, PSP is definitely the way to go.

Action/Adventure


Metroid Prime: Hunters (pictured)
Moon
Grand Theft Auto: Chinatown Wars

This is the second of two areas in which I feel the DS lags behind the PSP. Action games on the DS are plentiful, but very few of them are actually any good. Notable exceptions Metroid Prime Hunters and Moon are both very thoughtful, slower-paced adventures that require a bit more time to play than your usual actioner. GTA: Chinatown Wars is also simple, lightweight fun, and the drug-dealing minigame can be seriously addictive.

Anlupeeeet!

As Phoenix would say, the evidence speaks for itself. The future outlook is pretty good, with Okamiden (w00000t!), Shin Megami Tensei: Strange Journey, Pokemon SoulSilver/HeartGold and Dragon Quest IX: Defenders of the Starry Sky all on the horizon. For once, that mighty mass of muscle, Nintendo boss Reggie Fils-Aime, wasn't lying - on at least one of Nintendo's consoles. support for the hardcore gamer is still alive and well. I love that dinky little piece of plastic!

Now if you'll excuse me, I'm going to go play Clash of Heroes again.

Impressions: Star Ocean: The Last Hope International

As happens quite often with my game purchases, SO4 was a last minute thing. I didn't even plan on buying this game at all. Star Ocean 4 joined my collection as the last minute RPG substitution for White Knight Chronicles, which I decided to just borrow after the swath of middling reviews. (PinoyPS peeps seem to like WKC quite a bit though, and if I end up liking the game I'll purchase my own copy.) You might imagine my concern then, as when I began playing through SO4 my opinion of the game rollercoastered wildly, both for the better and for the worse. (To make things even more panicky for me, I bought the game at launch, for a launch price. *nervous*)

Here's a quick summary of how my first few hours went:

00 hrs, 15 mins

Boot the game up. I patiently wait through the long install, and watch the simultaneously intriguing and boring CG intro. Game starts, non-CG talking scene begins. Script looks pedestrian, and English voice acting is abysmal.

John is sad.


00 hrs, 25 mins

Note: Obviously not an image from the tutorial. Mahirap maghanap ng litrato!

I then get shooped directly into the combat tutorial. I play it, and many happy/nostalgic memories of playing through Star Ocean: Till The End of Time return (Fayt LINEGOD - manliest name EVAR!!1!!!). This combat system fucking kicks ass!

John is happy!

00 hrs, 40 mins

Not the best camera ever.

Then the walking around part begins. Why is this camera stuck behind my guy? What the hell happened to the old overhead view? This is where I begin to get worried again. I walk out of the ship and things get even worse - the blast doors open into a huge MMO style map that wasn't really my cup of tea.

Jesus Christ! What the fuck did I just buy? Did I just make a huuuuge mistake by giving up the game I wanted all along (WKC) to get THIS in return?

John is extremely worried...

02 hrs, 30 mins

Lymle lights up another poor fucker with an earth-shattering kabloom. Again, obviously a shot from much later in the game.

Thankfully, the Php 2,700.00 sized hole in my wallet encouraged me to soldier on. After a couple of hours, I fully understood the intricacies of the combat system (including the skills required to build the Bonus Board), and I've gotten used to the distinctly un-RPG-like camera positioning. Combat is fun, if a little simplistic so far. Battle Trophy system works the same as in Star Ocean 3, except now every character has a unique set. Speaking of Trophies, WTF is up with that Trophy list? Looks extremely hard to Platinum. I do some internet research on this topic and it seems that getting 100% Achievements/Trophies takes literally hundreds of hours. Fuck that, looks like I'm not getting the plat for this one eh?

John is hopeful.

14 hrs, 24 mins


Addiction has set in. The Skill Point and Invention systems opened up, bringing back yet ANOTHER flood of Star Ocean 3 memories. The Private Actions are also back, and are as interesting as ever - this has the unfortunate effect of turning SO4 into a FAQ game (i.e. a game in which you have to keep a FAQ up on a laptop or equivalent device while playing so you don't miss anything important) but I don't really mind. Yeah, the camera is still pretty crap, and the story has been pretty predictable so far, but then Star Ocean's never been about story. Like most Tri-Ace RPG's it's all about the gameplay with this one - I'm not ready to give any ratings or reviews for this as it's far too early, but I can definitely say that Star Ocean 4 is doing a very good job of scratching that niggling JRPG itch that I've had for months now.

And there's something oddly comforting about seeing the Square Enix logo again on a PlayStation console. Feels good.

John is contented.

22 hours 32 minutes

Shi jian bu zao le, wo gai gao ci le.
But I'll see you again.

John has no time to play Star Ocean thanks to his goddamn STRAMA paper. Any remaining free time for gaming is eaten whole by games which require less time investment. (Heavy Rain! Darksiders! Dante's Inferno! Bayonetta! Ratchet and Clank Future 2! Yes, I have the gaming equivalent of ADHD.) Meanwhile, Final Fantasy XIII lurks inside the neighborhood Datablitz, with Yakuza 3 coming over on the next plane from Europe. Their evil plan, of course, is to ensure that it's quite some time before I dig Star Ocean out of the game closet for another go-round. Natabunan na si loko.

But that time will come again, The Last Hope, mark my words.

One day, when these new-fangled hot releases get old, I'll dig out the keys to the rusty old starship, ask Reimi if she wants to roll out, and sail through these star oceans again. JRPG love!