My Game's Alpha

Hey guys. If some of you don't know, I'm a brony. I'm a fan that likes My Little Pony Friendship is magic. I'm a fan of this series so much that I write fanfiction and talk about the show a lot. For the past few months I've been working with other bronies to create a visual novel or dating sim to the brony community. Don't worry, it's clean and you play as a pony.

I happen to be the lead writer and lead designer in this group and so far we've made a lot of progress. I'm going to show you our alpha so please tell us what you think.

The video uses annotations so I can't post it here, but here it is on Youtube: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=7NdJG5XDCUA&feature=related

You can also visit our main site at: http://www.gentlecolts.org/index.html

Thanks and merry christmas

PLAY SKYRIM NOW!!

JUST PLAY THIS GAME NOW! Like right now! I can't even give a review for this because it's perfect! Best RPG ever! Forget Final Fantasy, forget Crono Trigger, forget Mass....okay maybe not Mass Effect, but close!

This is one of those games that is just... indescribably, but in a good way. Great story, great controls, great character, great gameplay, great work, great artwork, great everything.

Just buy this game, you don't even need to play the other Elder Scrolls games to play it. Chances are you've heard of this game and you hear how awesome it is. There is no need to review it, trust me with your life when I say this game is just perfect.

God this is awesome.

This is why we are gamers and this is why we are legion.

Review: Batman Arkham City

(The author doesn't own any pictures and beware of spoilers)

THIS IS THE BEST GODDAMN LICENSED GAME EVER!

If you thought Batman Arkham Asylum was beyond amazing then you’re going to have your jaw drop because this is like the The Dark Knight movie equivalent of awesomeness! This game was one of the most highly anticipated games this year and it didn’t even let anybody down when this game came out. Amazing visuals, amazing gameplay, amazing characters, amazing everything!  As a gamer and a Batman fanatic, this was one of the funniest games to play. I couldn’t stop playing until I made a 100 percent competition, something I normally don’t do!

Now I’m not going to go over what the Batman Universe is all about, because everyone knows who Batman is and what he stands for. What some people might get confused by are some of the comic references that are used everywhere in this game. Now personally, I’ve been interested in everything Batman since I was old enough to read comics, (He’s my second favorite comic super hero of all time, Spidey’s first) so all of this stuff isn’t’ a surprise to me. You don’t have to be a Batman fanatic to play this game, but it will help if you look up information about Batman and the amazing villains he faces such as Joker, Two-Face, Mr. Freeze, Riddler, and more.

Just how awesome is this game? Let’s find out.

            1. Graphics

My god is Gotham beautiful. It’s just the perfect representation of gothic looking crime ridding, hell hole that it is. Granted you don’t play in all of Gotham, instead you play in this area called Arkham City which is an experimental asylum that is city wide instead of just one big building like the first one. Now you have to go through various city districts such as an industrial zone, a still mill, an underground railroad, and more. Each area is well mapped and well detailed in its artwork giving in that perfect dark Batman style were all use to loving so much. 

The shadows and lighting, like the last game, play a key role in your gameplay because what’s a “Dark Knight” without being in the dark while you pick off the criminals one by one? The character art is gorgeous.  Everyone from the main characters to the mooks you’ll be fling batarangs at are drawn down to the last detail perfectly. I especially like how they made the villains such as Riddler, Hugo Strange, Ra's Al Ghul, and Mr. Freeze. Each one is unique and drawn to fit the exact image they characterized.

And the weather, my god the weather is awesome.

Graphics are just A class perfect.

2. Controls 

If you’ve played Arkham Asylum chances are you going to get these controls down on the dot. A lot of the controls play just like the ones back in the first game such as the batclaw, the gadget use, combat, gliding and such.

If you haven’t played the previous game or are a bit rusty, don’t worry. Arkham City is an open world game with plenty of areas to practice on. Want to test your gliding while testing the new dive feature? Zipline to a tower and practice it. Want to practice your combat skills as well as test your gadgets in battle? There are hundreds of gangs all over the streets so all you got to do if find one and kick ass. 

But here is the really cool thing; Batman isn’t the only character you can play in this game. There are three other characters: Catwoman, Robin, and Nightwing. Now Catwoman is the only one who can be played, out of the three, in the story mode and her style is a lot faster with her own gadgets. Catwoman also has the ability to climb and hang over ceilings or scale walls just like a real cat. As for Robin and Nightwing, they kind of are similar yet also different.  Robin fights with a bow staff and can do pretty well in crowds while Nightwing using Eskirma sticks that can create lightning and is the second fastest character in the game (First being Catwoman). The styles are both similar and different to both Batman and Catwoman so you can get use to them pretty quickly.

 3. Gameplay

Oh, where do I begin? First off, the game is more an open world experience with tons of things to do. Everywhere something is happening, criminals are talking to each other that you can listen in, prisoners are being beaten up, helicopters re always on the move looking for you and the tons of side-missions you can partake in.The side-missions are the best part of this game and there is a lot to do. You can help Bane find the remaining TITAN barrels from the first game, rescue innocents from getting beaten up, have a sick and twisted game with Zsasz, do VR training, and more.

But the best side mission is the Riddler one. Like in the last game, the Riddler has his trophies, riddles, and challenges all over Arkham City meaning you’re going to have to explore every part of Arkham to achieve them all, because there are 400 of them! Some can’t be reached until a certain part of the main story is complete as well as the need for certain gadgets that are not accessible until you get them in the main story. But this time there is a story to this side quest. Riddler has managed to capture a group of hostages that he places in various puzzle rooms that you have to solve in order to rescue them. He’ll only give you the locations when you get enough Riddler challenges and solve the riddle he gives you. Genius work by the team and this is, in my opinion, the best part of the game.

Speaking of Riddler, the other part of the game that you can do is the Riddler Revenge missions. Their missions that take place in various locations that test your stealth, gadget use, or your combat skills. Things like taking out all the guards in a certain time period or fighting endless enemies till you fall. This is where you can play both as Batman and Catwoman as well as Nightwing and Robin. They’re fun to play, but I kind of wish they had some sort of multiplayer with it. Maybe they will next game.

   4.  Story

This is one of those stories I’m not going to spoil much because it’s not only a good Batman story; it’s just too fun of a game to spoil much. The game takes place 6 months after the events of Arkham Asylum. The former warden, Quincy Sharp, became mayor and, along with Hugo Strange, created Arkham City which was supposed to be a prison camp designed to hold the worst of the criminals. Bruce Wayne, aka Batman, does like the idea and starts a political campaign against it. During one of his sessions, he’s captured by the TYGER forces, Strange’s private army, and they take him into Arkham City where it’s revealed that Strange knows Batman’s identity.

Bruce manages to escape and suit up thanks to a drop in from Alfred. Batman not only has to figure out what’s going on in Arkham City, but also figure out what Protocol Ten, an operation Strange has planned, is and how to stop it.  What follows is a thrilling storyline that leads Batman all over the city as well as conflict with his old enemies. The story is well written, well-paced, and well thought out.

  5. Characters

This game’s characters are enough to make a geek cry. Every, EVERY, major Batman character in the universe is in this game. Batman, Robin, Nightwing, Oracle (Former Batgirl), Alfred, Jim Gordon, Vicki Vale, even Jack Ryder! And those are just the good guys.

The real show is the bad guys. You got your guys that everybody knows like The Joker, Harley Quinn, Two-Face, Poison Ivy(Catwoman only), Clayface, Penguin, Zsasz, Riddler, Mr. Freeze, Ra's Al Ghul, Mad Hatter, and Hugo Strange.

And we even got guys who that aren’t well known to some people such as Deadshot, Solomon Grundy, and even Black Mask makes an appearance.

Each villain is perfectly written and voiced. I especially liked how they did The Riddler. I think this was one of the best versions of him of all time…not like that lame Jim Carry version. 

  6.  Sound

The sound quality in this game is epic. The music is dark and thrilling, the sound effects are perfect, but the best part is the voice acting. Kevin Conroy and Mark Hamill re-voice their respective positions as in the last game. Who are these guys? Kevin is the original voice of Batman and Mark Hamill was the voice of the Joker from Batman the Animated Series, one of the greatest cartoons ever. This game also is a must buy for Batman collectors everywhere as this is the last time Mark Hamill will ever voice the Joker. Mark you’ve been a great voice actor to us all and we wish you the best! 

OVERALL: 5.5/5

This game deserve to be a possible GAME OF THE YEAR! It's Batman to the core and it's done right! This is how licened game should be! This is what we as fans want to see! This is just awesome and you should be playing it right now.

We are Gamers and we are Legion

EA vs Zynga

EA vs Zynga

It looks things are finally heating up between EA, one of the most powerful console gaming companies, and Zygna one of the most powerful Facebook game companies. EA’s The Sim’s Social is a growing game that is becoming more and more popular as there are reports of people breaking away from Mafia Wars and Farmville just to play this game.

It’s no surprise that EA has decdied to take an approach into casual gaming as Zygna was reported to even have made more than EA at one time (Mentioned in an earlier blog entry) and so it looks like EA sees Zygna as competition. What does this all mean? A lot of things. It shows how casual games you find on places like Newsgrounds, Faceboook, and Bored.com have more weight in their gold. As I predicted, casual games are going to be a huge boost in popularity over time and now that companies who once focused only on AAA titles are suddenly developing teams for casual gaming, it shows just how far the casual gaming industry is going.

Personally, I think EA's decision to make The Sims of all games their first major Facebook game to be genius. Everybody knows The Sims and The Sims is perfect for social gaming. Why settle for making new crops and farming stuff when you can create your own home and live your own virtual life. It's a brilliant move and with a game series already popular, it's no surprise how so many are flocking to it right now. 

Now some of you might have recalled I wasn’t too big of a fan in casual gaming, granted I’m still not a big fan, but I do acknowledge the amazing success of the industry and I’m not ashamed to admit I play a few of those games myself. Am I still a much bigger AAA fan? Hell yeah.

So what does this sudden change in the wind mean for casual gaming? Will EA, the huge company that it is, take out its rival by luring more of its players with games like The Sims? Or will Zynga do it’s best to fight back against this wave and continue its dominance as the main company of social gaming. Either way, it’s going to be one hell of a fight. 

Learn more from this article: http://online.wsj.com/article/SB10001424052970204528204577012273802347922.html

Update on me

Hey guys! Okay, it’s time for some good news and some bad news time. The good news is that I have a lot more time now to be work on this blog. The bad news is that my Xbox live at the moment is going through some problems. This sucks because I was going to do a comparison between Call of Duty and Battlefield. So were going to have to wait on that until I get this issue fixed. But there are some things I can still do. After this weekend is over, I’m going to be working on the following:

-Batman Arkham City Review

-X-Men Destiny Review

-My next Deus Ex is great thing

-An article about EA vs. Zynga

Right now though, I’m just getting some last details on some homework assgiments. After that I’ll be back in action. 

Well for the next two weeks I'm going to be busy preparing myself for MIGS.

What is MIGS? The Montreal International Game Summit is the place to go when your an Game Designer so you can learn from various talkers and get connections from the people who go there.

As such, don't expect an update till at least next weekend.

That's all folks, wish me luck on making a good impression.

Game Reviews: Deus Ex: Human Revolution

Note: All images and videos are not mine

Finally! I got this through. Once again guys, really sorry that this is late, but college comes first and I also have a few good internship opportunities at the moment that I’m dealing with. Anyway, now it’s time to get back to what I do best and that is writing about crap I like or hate.

This time however it’s something that is good, Deus Ex: Human Revolution. Now I’m a big fan of the original Deus Ex, if you haven’t already guessed, and I consider it to be one of the biggest impacts of the gaming industry for its interactive story and narrative design. It takes place in the future where technology has developed into a way of life that makes it easier for some, but also makes it harder on others. Wars, terrorism, diversion between classes, and more are all centered around one theme: Is technology good or bad? That one theme elevated the game into a ground breaking level that to this day I still call the Game Designer’s Bible.

Eleven years later, Eidos Montreal has given us the prequel to the original known as Deus Ex: Human Revolution. Now I actually got a chance to visit Eidos Montreal a while ago while meeting the Head Producer, David Anfossi. Now I can’t really talk what happened there as I signed a non-discloser agreement, but I can say that it was really interesting to meet him and see the overall work place where Eidos Montreal makes their magic happen. I can tell they put a lot of effort into this game and it was something everyone enjoyed working on.

Now about Human Revolution, this is a prequel to the original game so if you’ve played the original you’ll see a lot of familiar things with Human Revolution, but also a few new ones. If you haven’t played the original, don’t worry you don’t need to. This game is a great way to start on the Deus Ex universe and I’ll tell you why.

1.       Graphics

The graphics in this game are just jaw dropping, especially the backgrounds. Each level is unique in its own way and style. Detroit feels like a city bursting with poverty, crime, and decay while Shanghai, my favorite area, is well divided into a popular bursting commercial area while its slums feel dirty and disgusting. Lighting and shadows play a really important part in telling the atmosphere and the overall story construct of the game.

Character graphics are nice too, with each character being uniquely made to look human and their facial expressions are top notice. The movements are a bit rusty looking and rigid, but it all pays out with the ragdoll physics. The one thing that I love most about this game’s graphics however is, like I said before, the backgrounds. Shanghai in particular is the best out of the entire game in terms of scenery. It’s got an entire upper level city that looks like it’s streaming with life and its so technology advance that you see the difference between the higher level class structures compared to the lower class structure you play through.

        But while this is a positive notion on one end it has a flaw to it. See, the more I looked at the backgrounds the more I wanted to explore them, but I can’t. The game doesn’t allow much free roaming and I’ll get on that when it comes to gameplay. It feels like you’re being called out to explore the world when you see these backgrounds of locations that you can’t go to and it sucks. It’s like an unintentional suckered move and it’s kind of disappointing.

Still, the graphics in this game are really top notice and the cinematic scenes almost feel like a real move at times. It’s really awesome.

2.       Controls

The original Deux Ex controls took some getting use too, even if you’re a keyboard expert.  For Human Revolution, it’s much easier and simpler. It follows like your typical average first person shooter controls with crouching, shooting, jumping and reloading. But what I like about the controls in this game is that they feel really human. Unlike in Duke Nukem where the controls system was off and the steps felt like giant leaps, this one is very well tightened and stabilized.

        You also can activate your augmentations thanks with the D-pad control allowing you to activate your cloak or typhoon abilities in the nick of time should an emergency situation come up and that’s useful in crossfire or stealth situations. Along with the D-pad controls you have your very own Power Wheel much like Mass Effect. Here you can quickly change weapons and grenades while stalling gameplay to help you choose how to plan your attack better. You can also access health items and Neuropozyne to refill your heath bar and battery meter.

       

        The only deal I have with the controls is the aiming. Now it’s not the worst aiming, but unless your aiming and shooting at the same time you’re going to be wasting a lot of ammo because it’s not that very accurate unless your close to an enemy. There is an augmentation that supposed to help you with aiming, but it’s not that effective making it useless. Still, I had no problem getting use to the controls and I doubt you will too.

3.       Gameplay

The gameplay on Deus Ex Human Revolutions is unique. On one hand it’s kind of your basic average first person shooter or stealth game. You got all the basic functions you normally see plus the interaction with the world you can do, but it all changes thanks to the augmentations.

Let’s first talk about non-combat gameplay aka the exploration. Now you don’t have as much exploration in this game as you do in Deus Ex which is disappointing, but it still keeps the same spirit of doing whatever you want in the game. Want to jump off a building? Go ahead. Hack a co-worker’s door and grab all his stuff? Sure. Beat up innocent civilians or druggies? You’re going to get shot at, but that’s fine as well. During your time in Detroit and Shanghai, as well as in the combat area levels, you'll want to explore as much as possible. Not only will it give you xp, but you can find some nice bonuses such as credits and ammo.

Speaking of xp, nearly everything you do will give you xp that will allow you to exchange your augmentations. Read journals, sneak around, perform head shots, take downs, explore, use hidden passages and more. Each action has a positive reaction for you and I that a lot. Xp is used to upgrade your augmentations which you’re going to have to use to survive this game; I doubt many of you will last without at least four upgrades. The augmentations are really cool, allowing you to be cloaked in stealth, increase your armor, increase battery power, and hacking skills. Unfortunately these augmentations require power which is symbolized on the GUI right below the health bar. Its measured as battery power and you start off with two bars, but you’ll quickly see that two bars won’t last long and you’ll have to upgrade the bar count and the drainage of your augmentations early on. To that point, I want to point something out: Not every augmentation is needed in the game. In fact, some are really useless. Sure some are helpful for a few levels, but they rarely appear. Such abilities are walking softly, the armor upgrade, and aiming upgrade. They really don’t help you that much in the game. Others like the cloaking, the Icarus system (Which makes you jump from any height and not get any damage), the heavy lifting augment (Which is always fun to use because you can throw vending machines at people), hacking, and a few others are better to be spending points on.

Now about hacking, this is one of the easiest hacking mechanics I’ve ever seen. It’s a lot like the Bioshock hacking system except with nodes. You start off as one node and you have to get to the main node to hack successful. There are nodes with numbers on them that tell you which ones are going to be more difficult to hack as well as nodes that will give you extra cash or files if you take over them. However, if you hack a node you run the risk of setting off the security system which will not only try to kick you out in a reasonable time limit, but also will be making the nodes harder to hack. You do have two programs that can help you though. One will stop the security for a short time while the other allows you take over a node immediately. This is helpful in extreme emergencies.  There is one flaw in the hacking system and this is more of a bug really. If you press B (I played on Xbox) then Y, you can leave the hacking mini-game without wasting a try. Kind of need to fix that Edios.

Now about combat gameplay which is both good and bad. What’s good is that the difficulty in this game is pure Deus Ex. The original game was hard and challenging and this one follows well. It requires you to think on your feet while also planning out your next move ahead of time. You can hack turrets to kill enemies; you can sneak past guards, go all guns blazing, or just take them out one by one silently. It allows you to choose the path you want to take in these levels to get to your objectives and I promote it a lot. However, there are a few problems. First off, I can handle hard difficult moments in games, but the difficulty is a little bit harder than it should be. Even on the easier setting it will take you only a few second till half your health is gone from getting shot and later on the enemies get so buffed that it takes TWO HEADSHOTS from a sniper rifle to kill them. You will be wasting tons of ammo taking out these punks in head to head combat so really the game is pretty much telling you to go for stealth since it’s the safest and easiest option. This is a bad thing because I like it when you can do both. It limits the players mobility and interaction in the game when the best change to survive is just stealth. The weapons don’t make much of a difference as you don’t get as many weapons as there should be and some are not really all that useful.  Ammo is going to be gone from your inventory like shrimp at a cocktail party and with an aiming system that could have used a few more tweaks you’re going to have to match your shots perfectly.

Finally, the last thing I want to address and this is the thing that bothers me most, is the boss fights. The thing that bothers me most is that A. They are too easy for boss fights, B. No build up to them at all, and C. You don’t have the ability to sneak past them like you did the original Deus EX. You have to kill all the bosses and it kind of bothers me a bit it’s like that. Maybe it’s just the original fan in my saying this, but I really was disappointed by the boss fights.

Still, the game is fun to play and I did overall enjoy it, but I kinda think people will only play it at most a few times.

4.       Story

Okay, now I’ve praised the Deus Ex’s story a lot and I’m working on separate blog posts discussing it so I’m not going to go too much into the original. What I can say about its prequel is that it follows the feeling really well. The game takes place during the starting stages of augmentation technology, when it was mechanical. During this time, corporations have taken more of their fair share of domination in the world with world governments having lesser power.  The most powerful ones are the augmentations companies like the one your main character, Adam Jensen, works for.

                Augmentation’s is pretty much cybernetics that can replace your body with upgrades that give you increase speed, super strength, stealth, seeing things from far away, hacking skills, and more. Unlike the original Deus Ex’s Nanotechnology which only few individuals can use, machine augmentation is a possibility for everyone. The problem is its very expensive to get and very painful. Plus, you're forced to take a drug called Neuropozyne which is to help prevent pain between your augmentations and the rejection of it. Thing is its expensive and addicting which is forcing many people to lose their income to it and end up in the streets. So while this technology is good for those who have lost limbs or for military purposes, there are back draws.

                But the main theme of the game is what does it mean to be human? There are two major movements in this game: Those who want augmentation and those who don’t. The people against it claim that augmentation is running our humanity and is a corporation conspiracy to gain control of the masses as well as give the military more dangerous weapons. The UN is trying to decide which fate humanity should follow and you play a key role in all of this as the game progresses.

                We talked about the world, now let’s talk about the actually story. You start off with your girlfriend, Megan, who’s about to give her presentation on a new discovery that would change the world and augmentation forever. However, the company they work for, Sarif Industries, is attacked by terrorists who happen to be augmented. You pretty much get  beaten to death while you’re girlfriend is apparently killed. Your boss, David, gets you augmented to become pretty much a mix between Neo and the Terminator. Six months later you're back on the job to deal with hostage situations and from there the game’s main story starts.

It all webs around this conspiracy and Megan’s research.  You first think it’s an anti-augmentation group, but then the game leads you on several leads such as Sarif himself, another rival company, The illuminati, and a politician named Bill Taggart who is against augmentation until you find out he’s working for the illuminati. But it’s actually Huge Darrell, the main who first invented augmentation that is behind the scenes. Reason being is that he sees his creation is diving mankind and he wants to end augmentation once and for all so that the Illuminati don’t use it to take over the world.

Yeah I like that joke.

So he makes a virus that makes all augmented people go insane resulting in mass chaos. You then have to shut down the virus, but afterwards you then have four choices otherwise known as “Press button to end game room”. Here you choose one of four buttons that will either A. Make Augmentation humanities best friend. B. Have it controlled by the government. C. Get rid of it all together. Or D. You and everyone else dies so nobody can single handily decided the fate of mankind because it must be chosen by all of them.

Yeah kind of weak endings, but I’ll get on those later.

Now for the good things about the story. It’s well paced and it feels like you’re in the Deus Ex universe. The mystery and build up is just like the original and feeling of war between technology and non-technology philosophes continues to fuel the story like it did in the first. Maybe not as much, but a pretty solid level. Now one thing about Deus Ex that stood apart was the fact that every action you took had a major consequence to the game. You could do anything, explore locations on your own free well, steal and break into other people’s homes, and even attack civilians and cops even though you were heavily punished for it.  In this game, it’s the same thing. Only the consequences story wise are not as heavy infected as they were in the original game. It kind of seems a lot weaker in that it doesn’t have major consequences, but they do come up.

But by far the most disappointing thing in this games story are the endings. It’s basically just four buttons that decided the fate of mankind and you don’t even get a satisfying epilogue. You just some shots of various moments in human history and a long monologue from Jensen. I wanted to see more impact on how my ending choice had instead of just guessing on the top of my head. It kind of bothers me when a story that starts out strong with great buildup then ends in such a lame way for an ending. Totally turns me out.

Still the story is good and I liked it over all.

5.       Characters

The thing with this game is that the characters really aren’t all special except for the main player character. Granted their history and the goals do play a major part in this game, but when I played this at least three times I didn’t get any sort of real connection with any of the characters.

Let’s talk about Jensen first, the only character who I really liked. Jensen is a bad ass in all the terms and ways. He’s got kick ass moves, kick ass voice, kick ass gear, kick as clothes, and most importantly kick ass shades. Best shades in a game ever. Now Jensen as an overall character is both good and bad. The good part is that you have to actually complete sidequests and dig up your own history to find out more about Jensen, who doesn’t know that he himself is a major role in the game for his ability to be more adapted to Augmentations than any other person out there. You learn that it’s his gene that is the key to making augmentations none painful for humans and a closer bond so that rejections don’t happen anymore which means no more Neuropozyne. Another great thing about Jensen is the conflict he has with being augmented as it wasn’t his choice. When you look around his apartment, the death of his girlfriend and the fact he’s not completely human anymore shows how much anger is in him. The smashed window and the large amounts of booze are just some of the hints of his personality.

Unfortunately, there is a flaw with him and that’s his voice. Like Cole from LA Noire, he runs on two voices: a Keanu Reeves voice and anger. I kind of feel bothered by this, but it’s not a big flaw.

Other than that, most of the other characters don’t really rub me as memorable. Sarif is a corporate boss, but he honestly has the desire to help humanity and believes augmentation is the way. Taggart is an anti-augmentation politician who you’ll hate the moment you meet cause…he’s a politician. Megan turns out to be alive and is a bitch that lied about being dead, causing Jensen grief, and used you for science. Other than that the only two other cool character are Malik, a pilot, and Prichard who has the best chemistry with Jensen. Their dialog is always a laugh.

So while these characters aren’t bad, they just don’t stand out except for Jensen.

6.       The sound is awesome. The music fits the mood and the voice acting, for the most part, is pretty well done. 

OVERALL: 4/5

I know I’m late with this, but I really wanted to get my opinion on it out.  Human Revolution is a great game and everyone should play it a few times at least. I hear it’s better on PC so try getting that instead of the consoles. Either way, you’ll have fun.

We are Gamers and We are Legion

Later

I know I'm late

 I know I'm late guys, schools just killing me. I promise this time I'll have the review up soon this week.

A look at the original Deus Ex Part 1

Hey everyone. Now I know I promised you all that I would make a long blog post about the awesomeness as that is the original Deus Ex and how it helped changed game narration forever. However, because of a lot of projects that I have planned for me thanks to college I’ve decided to split these into parts.

As such, if you haven’t played the original Deus Ex and are planning too you might not want to read any of these posts are they will contain spoilers.

The following topics will be discussed:

1.       Setting

2.       The Overall plot and it’s pacing

3.       The Themes

4.       The Interaction between storytelling and gameplay

5.       Interaction

So let’s start off with analyzing the original Deus Ex with the first and foremost, the setting.

This cyber-punk dystoian setting takes place in the future around the 2050’s. The world has gone through radical changes such as corporations having more power then most governments and technology adapting to higher standings then they are today with the most powerful and popular ones being Augmentation.

Unlike the Human Revolution’s machine augmentations, there is a new form of augmentation known as Nano-Augmentation which uses nanotechnology. However, while this is a painless process unlike machine augmentation there are only a select few that have the DNA code to survive it.

If you also thought that the conflicts between augmenters and non-augmenters were bad in Human Revolution, then don’t be surprised to see it’s not improved at all. Rich and poor are even further apart, morality is still an issue, and terrorist groups still exist for trying to keep humanity “Pure.”

So far it just sounds like Human Revolution with not many changes.

That is until a huge historical event happens that changes the face of the world known as “The Gray Death”. A lethal pandemic is spreading across the world killing millions and there is no cure. It’s like Darrow’s signal that causes all augmented people to become insane only this virus affects people with a predisposition for nanotechnology. The nanovirus enters the body’s cells and the body rejects them as well as the cells they latched on too, killing the person.

The only thing can help stop it is a vaccine known as Ambrosia, made by the company VersaLife, except that this vaccine must be taken frequently and is in short supply. As such it’s only distributed to government officials, military personnel, scientists, and the rich. Because of this, the lesser classes begin to revolt as riots and terrorist organizations fighting for the common people spread worldwide.

In other words, the world is really messed up.

It’s like Human Revolutions problems taken to the tenth power and beyond and as you play the game you’ll see just how much the impact of the Grey Death has had on humanity. There is no trust among people, lower social classes suffer, and radical beliefs have spread throughout the world with everyone pointing figures at everyone.

This is the world you are forced to play in as J.C. Jenson, the main protagonist and it’s your actions that will reflect in this world and the future it will take.

What’s great about this world is that I always see this as the world for another great dystopian setting, Blade Runner. In both movies, technology has pretty much destroyed all of original nature and the society that lives around it are in a struggle between social order and chaos.

Human population is increasing, crime has gotten worse, technology is being mishandled, and overall humanity struggles to find its path in a dark future. It makes you question and wonder if this is to be our future. Technology is one of the most important aspects to everyday life now in our present day and it’s increasing faster each year. We have communication that can travel at the speed of light, we have computers that are as small as our hand that we can carry, we got medicines that can cure sickness that used to plague humanity for ages, and more. Living is easier because technology has improved everything.

However, like anything humanity creates it also can backfire at it. Technology is also used to hurt people in such cases as hacking, war, and even terrorism. Technology has also helped make us greedy, lazy, and in some cases non-social with others.  It makes you wonder if technology is going too fast for humans to fully use without abusing it and if we’re all going to head into a technological hell hole where our standings on society are fully focused on what technology we have.

There are also those who can’t afford technology or don’t have the means to use it. This gap is becoming more and more divided each day as those with just a single IPhone may seem like a normal people in places such as the US, but if you have something like that your already richer than 75 percent of the world.

And while technology also helps us living longer it also affects the population, but not in the way you might think. A study showed that societies who have more technology accessible to them have shorter population growth then other nations who don’t . The reason why is that people who have children want them to live and grow, but in places like Africa or Indonesia which suffers from poverty, disease, and constant war the chances of your child living are going to go down. As such people in these countries have as much children as possible so that their bloodlines can continue because of the none safe environment. If they were to have more technology accessable to them, they could suvive better and the growth would go down.

But not everyone can get it, as in Deus Ex that not all of technology can just be spread out. It has to be given at a certain time. The problem is that it’s not fast enough for some people and they argue and rebel thinking that the ones in control of this technology are just using it for themselves.

When you think about the world of Deus Ex is a possible future for humanity and it’s not one that we want. However, the game shows it’s believe that technology is the only way to save ourselves from total destruction while there are others who say that technology must be stopped total.

Relate that to our world today. Should technology be slowed down or stopped together? Should technology continue going and we use it to find a solution to the problem? The questions related in the game are very well related to real life. If a game can make you question the world you live in, then it’s done something well made. It’s made you ponder and imagine.

Well, that’s a good start. Hopefully, I’ll have my full Deus Ex Human Revolution review up next week as long as the next part of this blog series.

We are Gamers and we are Legion.

Later

Online gamers solve AIDS enzyme puzzle

http://www.smh.com.au/digital-life/games/online-gamers-crack-aids-enzyme-puzzle-20110919-1kgq2.html

More proof that video games can help people and we don't even need to be doctors!

Hey. Sorry for nothing this week, I had a lot to do. This week I'll be talking about Deus Ex number one and how I believe it changed the industry. Next week will be all about Deus Ex Human Revolution.

Persona 3 vs Persona 4

(The author does not own any of the pictures also beware of spoilers)

The Persona series. 

Chances are you've already heard about it, but I was a fan of this series and it's company, Atlus, before it was cool. I played the first two Persona's for the PSOne and I played the original Shin Megami Tensei games as well. For a long time the Persona series wasn't a hit for American audiences, until the release of Persona 3.

It sparked a whole new fandom in both the west and the east while making Atlus finally have it's hit moment in America. Then came Persona 4 and sales went even higher. Both are great games and I highly recommend them to anybody who's interested. However, there comes a question to mind.....

Which of these two great games is better? Persona 3 or Persona 4? While both have similarities, there are lot of different styles to each game. I'm going to go over each major part of what I think is great for a Persona game and see which has the better qualities. And just a note, I'm only going to be counting Persona 3 as it's own, nothing will be judged from FES or the PSP one.

1. Setting: P3's Iwatodai vs P4's Inaba

Now normally I would talk about graphics first, but this is compering a game to it's squeal and that kind of feels unfair. While Persona 4's graphics look cleaner and more updated that's mostly true for any squeal game. So instead I'm going to talk about the places the stories are set in. 

In Persona 3 you live in Iwatodai a city build around an island as you see above. There is much to do around here such your school, a mall, a cool shrine, your dorm, and ,of course, various areas of the city to explore. What's great about this setting is that the main character is going to this prestigious school and a grand epic city to have a different experience. For an older audience member, such as myself who was soon graduating from high school, this was a great setting for that type of gamer.

The main character is studying outside of his home and comfort area as he starts his journey into life itself.  This is great for the target audience as the game treats you like a college student studying abroad. Not only that, but the city plays a vital role in the story of the game and you get to hear NPC's talk about the events that take place, making it feel that the actions you do in the game do effect the city as whole. 

It's a really well chosen setting and it's handled very well.

Persona 4's Inaba has similar likeness's, but doesn't exactly deliver them on par with Persona 3 for the most part. The setting for the squeal takes place in a small down in the middle of nowhere where the only good thing about the city is it's famous hot spring inn. For the most part, the town does feel like an old styled town with very few places that are of interest to go to. 

Compared to the big city of Iwatodai, Inaba kind of pales in comparison. It does have some good points however. The weather they get plays an interactive part of the story and gameplay as you must perform your missions before the end of the rainy weather or else you lose the game. It also plays an vital role for some character's back stories such, as Yukiko, and various Social Link characters. However, there isn't much to do in this place nor are there things to make the area look even interesting. 

Inaba plays the part of a quiet little town well....but almost too well.

Point for Setting goes too: Persona 3. 

2. Main Character: P3's Minato Arisato vs P4's Seta Souji

Hark, the fangirls screech! This is the main protagonist of Persona 3, while you can name him whatever name you want we shall call him by the semi-canon name that he is given in the manga, Minato Arisato. Now Minato of course stands out as he looks like some kind of lonely quiet anime boy, the fact that he has blue hair doesn't help his case.

Now, like most standard Atlus games, the protagonist is a silent one meaning everything about his personality is up to you. The only thing you know about him is that when he was ten he lost his parents to a car accident and has been on his own ever since. How is never made clear, but who cares. He's the first person in the entire Persona series to have what is known as the "Wild Card" ability. Meaning that he can use multiple Personas.

No other character before was able to do that, not even the first two protagonists of the Persona series had that power. Not only that, but he's also got the avatar of death, Thanatos, sealed inside him which is the Final Shadow that will summon Nyx who will end the world as we know it. Suck it Naruto! This guy is better, has a god of death inside of him, and doesn't wear orange!

Sure he looks like an emo and most of the characters say he's got a dark like attuide with him (Most fandom's view him as a complete pessimist, but still has the heroic heart of gold) but playing as this guy by summoning monsters and killing them with your sword is just great. Minato: a character who looks, and fights, like pure blue haired awesomeness.

 This is another boy who the fangirls love to rip apart. The protagonist of Persona 4 who we shall call by his manga name, Seta Souji. Now when you look at him you just feel that the guy is too...grey. Grey hair, grey eyes, and even his uniform looks bland. At least Minato could fight cool in his school outfit, but this guy doesn't even look close.

The background for this guy is that, unlike Minato, he has his parents. Problem is they are always working and he's forced to move from city to city all the time forced to live a life with no friends. What is it with protagonists always getting screwed one way or another with their folks? Anyway, every thing this guy does is just....bland. He's bland, the cut scenes he's in are bland, he fights bland, and even though he has the power like Minato has he was't born with it. This was just given to him by a goddess who wanted to cause some chaos. That's it.

Plus, this guy can only fight with one weapon while Minato was skilled enough to fight with six different kinds. I'm sorry, but this guy doesn't feel like a badass like Minato and is just as forgetful as his impact in the story because he doesn't have such a big impact compared to Mr. I got the keys to the Apocalypse sealed in me.

Better Protagonist: Persona 3


3. Companions: P3's SEES vs P4's Investigation Group 

Ah yes, our hip team of Shadow exterminators. What I like about these guys is that one way or another you can relate to most of them. Mostly because each character is part of a usual click that you typically see in any kind of school. The only problem is that three of the nine characters you cannot connect too because one is a dog, the other an android, and finally the last one is a kid.

Either way, let's discuss about these guys and how much of an impact they have.

Yukari: Let's start with Yukari, your popular all around tsundere girl who is skilled with a bow and loves pink...a lot. Yukari is my favorite secondary character in Persona 3 for a few reasons. One, her background is tied to the story as her fathers was once a scientist for the company that caused the dark hour to start. Two, her personality is really tsundere (look it up) and I want to hug her at the same time. Finally, her connection to Minato, specifically in romance terms. Now while you can romance various girls (Including Yukari, Mitsuru, and Fuuka) it's really obvious that Yukari has deep feelings for you early on and it's just cute. She also happens to be the only romance character to say "I love you" unlike the others. Plus, she's your main healer so you will have her often in your party.

Junpei: Here's our comedy character ladies and gentlemen. As you expect, Junpei is that guy who likes to be the funny and stand out while trying to be cool for attention. However, this is all an act to hide his insecurities at feeling useless and jealous of others. He's hot headed, brash, and loves to just charge in. I'll admit he's not all bad in his attempts at humor (You will get a good laugh or two), but he's nothing really special. However, he does have a really great moment in the game when Chidori, an enemy girl he falls in love with, dies to save him. He naturally starts to grow up at this point and I must admit he's a well developed character. In battle he's your pure offence guy, but as you and others start to grow in abilities he won't be used often.

Akihiko: He's your athletic guy who wants to get stronger everyday. We don't know much of his past however and he really doesn't get much character development. But I think it's because he doesn't need it because he has very insecurities except for his desire to get stronger. He does have an emotional moment when it comes to his best friend's death (will be explained later), but I felt it was too short and it didn't change him to much. Other then that, he's pretty decent in battle so you will you his him a fair amount. Also his voice actor, Liam O'Brian, is one of my favorite male voice actors.

Mitsuru: Only one word can describe Mitsuru: Damn. Not only is she the heir to the Kirijo group, but she's also a straight A student, head of the student council, rich, pretty much as been fighting Shadows her entire life, an expert fencer, and one of the hottest characters to be in a video game. She's a natural leader, ruthless when she has to be, and knows how to keep calm under pressure. Everything about Mitsuru is just....damn. Because her grandfather is the one who caused the whole dark hour and Shadow incident she feels it's her responsibility to fix it and it kind of becomes her obsession to do anything to restore her family's honor. Despite all the work load she manages to always stay calm. The only time she's not is when her father is killed by a man the group trusted. Battle wise, she's one of your better offence types and works really well.

Fuuka: This is Fuuka, a shy super genius who sucks at cooking. That's really it. She doesn't stand out that much compared to the other characters and she receives very little character development. Battle wise she's different as her abilities are to scan the Shadows and tell you their stats so that's always useful. But other then that she still doesn't have much going for her so I really just forget she's even there most of the time.

Aegis: Aegis is one of the more unique characters. First off, she's not human if you can't tell. She's an android that was made to hunt Shadows armed with a Persona along with heavy artillery. She also has this special ability called Orgia Mode which increases her attack power and goes berserk, but when it's over she's not able to fight for a few turns. Aegis is a key character both individuality and in the plot. She once tried to destroy Thanato's long ago, but couldn't and was forced to seal it inside the body of Minato. But her real shining moment is the conflict she has inside of her. Aegis knows she's a machine, but she has the emotions of a human and wants to be one. She shows concern  for Minato and her friends and there are times when she even cries. More of her character is explored in FES's The Answer, but were not focusing on that. Either way, Aegis was a great well developed character for the game.

Koromaru: Oh hell yeah! Koromaru is awesome because he's a dog that can summon personas! While this looks kick ass, he's most likely not going to be used by you a lot. Sure it's fun to see this guy run around and looking epic, but his skills are not as great as the other characters. Nor does he have any real significance in the plot, but he's still a cool dog!

Shinjiro: This guy is your anti-hero badass with a dark secret. Not only is he a punk, but he's an epic one at that. His battle abilities are awesome and he acts like a badass all the time. He's got a really interesting character back-story too. He's Akihiko's best friend and was part of SEES when it was he, Aki, and Mitsuru only. However, he lost control of her Persona and ended up killing Ken's mother. Horrified by this he shunned himself from everyone and spends his days as a loner downtown with only Akihiko still making efforts to help him. Eventually, he comes back but it's only for a short while as he's killed while saving Ken. But Shinji still plays a vital role as he becomes one of the main focal points for Ken and Akihiko to move on and get stronger.

Ken: And finally we have the kid. Ken is the youngest (Doesn't even go to High School), but he's still a more mature person for his age. Ken really doesn't have a special moment in the main story and you won't use him later in the game for battle. But he does play one big role and that's his relationship with Shinjiro. Ken saw him kill his mom with his Persona, even though it was an accident, and dreamed of having revenge against Shinji for it. Shinji of course figures it out and allows him to do so, but Ken learns form one of the bad guys that Shinij was dying anyway as he was taking a deathly drug in order to keep his Persona under control which ruins Ken's revenge. The bad guy, Takaya, shoots at Ken, but Shinij saves him only to die in the process. His sacrifice drives Ken to end the dark hour so that he didn't die in vain and would live. 

Well those are the Persona 3 characters. Let's see how the others stand up...

This is our Investigation Team. You'll see that their roster is smaller then SEES, which isn't a bad thing necessarily. Unlike SEES, which is supported by the Kirijo Company, these guys have nobody to support them and nobody to help them in their efforts to save lives. They're all on their own and they have to use the resources they got, which are little, to complete their goals. 

Now unlike the SEES team, these guys aren't so much stereotypical students in their personalities, but have unique personal ones that people can still relate too. When their together they sometimes rub each off the wrong way, but overtime they develop into a true bonding team and I think that bond is even closer then the SEES team in some ways. Plus, unlike some of the characters in P3, you can use all these guys well enough in battle.

Also, each one of them is connected in some way to the main story unlike some of the characters in Person 3. Another thing is that each character has is their own Social Link path. Every character in your party can be used as a Social Link path unlike in the previous game where only three were. This allows the player to see more into their comrades personalities and their character development.

 Let's check them all out.

Youske: This is P4's Junpei, but actually better. He's actually funny and sarcastic in a likable stand point. Not only that, but he's very clumsy and his comedy chemistry with Chie is much better worked out then the comedy chemistry Person 3 tries with Jumpei and Yukari. I also think he has a better "Best Friend" relationship with Seta then Junpei does with Minato so that's another plus. It's like they took everything good about Junpei and added a few more tweaks to this guy while ignoring the bad factors of him. In battle, Youske is an all around well made character with wind spells, some healing, and buff spells so use him well. 

His back story is also similar to Junpei's in the idea that he wants to stand out because he feels insecure. Because he's the son of the popular Wallmart like store, Junes, everyone in town resents him because the store has cheaper prices then their stores. Because of this Youske feels like an outcast and doesn't really trust people, even Seta. Youske is a really well made character and I think people can relate to him more then Junpei. 

Chie: Chie is the tomboy, hands down. She's headstrong, brave, and loves martial arts movies with a passion which is always a plus in my book. Even her Persona is muscular looking while named after a female samurai. Chie's best friend is Yukiko, another companion, and most of her character and story revolves around their relationship. When Yukiko is thrown into the Midnight Channel, Chie is the first person to leap into action to go save her. But not for the reasons you think. It turns out, according to her Shadow, that Chie has always been jealous of Yukiko's "Girly" talents and for getting the attention of most of the male students. 

It's kind of an interesting twist in my opinion. Chie stands out as herself, but deep inside she wants to be treated like a girl. Because of this, she feels the need to control Yukiko and always "protect" her so she can feel more dominant in their relationship which is also proven when the Shadow turns into a dominatrix like lady controlling Shadow puppets of Yukiko in chains. The two do reconcile and promise to be more honest with each other in the end. Other then that, there isn't much to say about Chie story wise other then she's one of the more motivated people to solve the case. Also, use her as much as you can in battle as her ice spells and physical attacks are awesome.

Yukiko: Speaking of Yukiko, she's next on the list. Yukiko is a quiet girl who happens to be famous around the town because her family owns the famous hot spring inn, the only prized location of the town. Yukiko is very shy as she lets others, like Chie talk, for her. She's totally depended on people at first, but eventually she starts to gain her own confidence and begins to stand out. The reason she depends on people, especially Chie, is because she wants somebody to save her from being the the heir of the inn. She hates the inn with a passion because it's all she's ever been groomed into and told her entire life that she has to take over. Her dream is to find somebody to help her escape the town and inn she hates in order to live her own life happily ever after.

During her Social Link however, she begins to see that she really does love the inn and that the only thing she hated was people choosing her decisions in life for her. She decides to stay in the town and take over the inn, not because she has too, but because she wants too. Main story wise, she's the first of the main characters to get kidnapped and some the events leading to the murders are involved with her inn so she does have an important part for the game. Battle wise she's not only a great healer, but her fire attacks kick ass as well.

Kanji: Persona 4's badboy and bully. Kanji looks like your typical bully who likes to beat people up and act tough, but the truth is he's a caring guy who happens to be very sensitive. He likes to do things most boys his age don't do, like make dolls. This bothers him because most guys don't do that and he starts to question himself as a man was well as his sexuality. Might as well get that out of the way. Yes, Kanji is bi-sexual. But he's unsure of himself of who he is and what he likes. This I find to be a really good conflict for a teenage character. Now I'm not a homosexual myself, but realizing that their is a possibly that you might like the same sex can be a mind blow for many and it leads to confusion about yourself. Kanji is the same case as he tries to show off that he is a "man" but doesn't know what a "man" is. 

If you play his Social Link (No you can't romance him) you learn that ever since he's father told him to "Be a man" before he died he's been trying to figure it that out. In the end he realizes that being a man is doing something 100 percent and never giving up. Kanji decided to stop being afraid of who he is and what he likes (Still unknown in the end which way he goes by the way). Kanji in battle is like Akihiko pure and through so you'll want him on your team a lot.

Rise: This is one character I'm pretty sure everyone could understand because her back story is done all the time. This is Rise, who is also known as Risette a famous Japanese teen pop idol. In Japan, pop idols are worships as gods and goddesses, but they leave very difficult and stressful lives which make American ones look like a blessing. Although she is famous and has everything every little girl wants, the truth is that Rise hates it. She hates being a pop idol and wants to be normal like everyone else. Typical huh? She's very cheerful, flirty, and likes to be the positive one in most situations, but deep inside she's just a girl who wants to be happy even though she has so much.

During her Social Link, she eventually quits being an idol, but realizes that, although she hated all the stress, she loved entertaining people and that Risette was really Rise all along. So she decides to go back to being an idol as a new Risette in order to both do her job and be happy at the same time so that others can be happy as well. Strangely enough, she's your Fuuka for this game as her Persona does the same scan and stat thing Fuuka did for you in Persona 3. It just seems weird for a character like Rise, but eh. 

Naoto: No, that's not Minato. No, they are not related. And yes she is one of the more popular characters for looks alone. I, like many others, was shocked to see Naoto and wondered if either this was Minato back from his prison or a relative. Turns out it was neither and Naoto was also a girl (Holy Samus Batman!) but this doesn't come into play until you fight her Shadow as everyone just thinks she is a he at first. Naoto comes from a long line of detectives and seeks to prove herself by solving cases. In fact she owns a gun and has been recommend by police stations around the country. Problem is nobody takes her seriously because she is a girl and thus she is forced to pretend to be a boy in order to solve cases. 

Naoto over time became so obsessed to prove herself that she soon forgot the reason why she wanted to be a detective in the first place: to bring justice to criminals like her parents did. She realizes this with Seta thanks to a very creative Social Link which happens to be my personal favorite one. Over time Naoto comes to accept who she is and vows to become a true detective as a woman. She's also one of the most useful people the team has for solving the murder cases due to her experience. In battle, she's average, but her Kamen Rider like Personas are cool though. 

Teddie: Ugh. I knew were had to come to him sooner or later. To be honest I don't hate Teddie....I don't mind him. He's very useful in the story when it comes to Shadows and locations of the Midnight Channel. His interaction in the real world (He's a Shadow by the way, but a special one) can be hilarious and he fights well in battle even though I think he should have Rise's job. It makes more sense.

But I hate...hate...his bear jokes. Ugh...you will want to punch him every time he says one of those jokes and he uses them a lot! Anyway, Teddie is a special Shadow who even has his own Shadow! Confusing, but okay I can dig it. He really is just a lonely person who wants friends which is what the cast provides for him. He's an okay guy, but....those bear jokes...

So who's better? I'm going with Persona 4's team. They have much deeper characters and their personal growth is something that you really can relate too. It's also an important part in the story as the only way to gain a Persona is to confront your own Shadow and accept your faults. That's just brilliant. 

Better Secondary Cast: Persona 4

4. Story: P3's End of the World vs P4's Murder Mystery

Now it's story time and let me say that both are done well in an epic scale, but let's look at P3's first. The story is that years ago the Kirijo group was studying an alternate dimension and the creatures that lived in them called Shadows. They sought to use the dimension's power for their own gain, but screwed up and caused both dimensions to mix together creating the Dark Hour, an hour between 12:00AM and 12:01AM. During this time most people are turned into coffins, protected by the Shadows. However, a few individuals do get caught in it and become food for the Shadows who eat their sanity and they become lifeless zombies in the real world known as The Lost. 

However, their is a group that seeks to stop the Dark Hour and they are SEES. As the group grows, they find out that their are 12 special Shadows that they have to destroy in order to end the Dark Hour while battling an evil group of Persona users known as Strega who seek to preserve the Dark Hour. The team manages to destroy the 12 Shadows only it turns out it doesn't work. Worse, the Shadows were what was preventing the coming of Nyx, a goddess who will end all life in the world. From then on the team struggles to prepare themselves against Nyx before the world ends.

The story is a very well written piece of epic work. It isn't rushed and all the characters play well in having great moments of teamwork as well as their own individual standing. Persona 3 also has some of the best twists in any Megaten game and the Nyx one isn't the only great twist you'll find. When the Nyx part comes up, it really is shown that Nyx seems to be this unbeatable being that is powered by all the sorrow, rage, and desire for death in the world and that it's going to be a pain in the ass to deal with. Strega, however, is the only weak point. I feel that they weren't used to a great extent as the bad guy group of Persona users which is a shame because a lot could have been done with them. 

Still, cool story brah!

Persona 4's story is good, but not as epic as 3's. It's more leveled down to that of murder mystery. Strange murders have been happening all over the town and you and your friends find out that it's because somebody has been trapping people into this alternate dimension called The Midnight Channel which is only accessible through a TV. Inside the alternate dimension, people are faced with their own personal Shadows which represent all the faults and real truths about themselves. By denying their faults the Shadow turns into a monster which then proceeds to try and kill it's opposite. Only by admitting your faults and realizing that the Shadow is yourself can you stop it and turn it into a Persona. 

The investigation team tries to not only find out who is behind the murders, but also tries to save the lives of it's victims (most of them being your party). It's a nice story, but compared to the epic like structure of a unbeatable goddess seeking to bring death to all it's kind of weaker in comparison.

Better story: Persona 3

5. Social Links: P3's Social Links vs P4's Social Links

Social Links are a key part in the gameplay. By hanging out and supporting other characters during your free time you can unlock these links that will make your Persona's stronger and gain special abilities they normally can use. Each Social Link is represented by an Major Arcana Tarot card that is used to symbolize the personality of that link. Along with each Link you also have a cool story that follows that character and by following the link, and your Personas, get strong. Not to mention some Social Links can only be unlocked by having a specific Social Link level. When you complete a Social Link you can then unlock that Arcana's final Persona which is the strongest of the strong.

Now all the Social Link stories are good and the characters are each memorable, but I like Persona 4's for two reasons. The first is that all your companions are Social Links unlike Persona 3 where only three are avaliable. It not only makes you feel more connected to the characters, but by compelting their Social Links you also unlock their Final Persona's, something P3 only did in the story line. I like it because if feels that the only way to unlock true power is to make yourself doubt free and feel completed. 

The second reason is romance. In Persona 3 you could have five girls as your girlfriend, (Yutaka: Lovers, Fuuka: Priestess, Mitsuru: Empress, Yuko: Strength, and Chihiro: Justice) however if you start a relationship with another one of these girls you then start cheating and this leads to all sorts of problems. I hated how I had to cheat in order to get these Social Links and it felt like I was a scumbag. In Persona 4, not you have the option of more romance characters (Rise: Lovers, Naoto: Fortune, Chie: Chariot, Yukiko: Priestess, Ai: Moon, Yumi/Ayane: Sun), but you can also just be friends with them meaning you don't have to cheat to get their Social Links. 

For that reason, I choose Persona 4 as this one.

Better Social Links: Persona 4.

6. Dungeons: P3's Tartarus vs P4's Midnight Channel

There isn't much to say about these two, mostly they are same and have the same purpose., level grinding. Still, both are important to the game so I  might as well cover them.

Tartarus is Persona 3's grinding zone. It's the Shadow nest that is designed to be like a tower with a strange horrific atmosphere. Each level is named after the Quabalah and the higher you go, the more dangerous it gets. The art work for each of these levels is well designed and the structure of each floor is designed to be random, so expect the unexpected. 

But I have to give it to the Midnight Channel for the win. Reason being is how each level is designed. Now the entrance is much like a TV studio with the player having access to various worlds that are based on the inner psyche of the victims. That is just....awesome. To have the level designed as the inner fears of the victims is a perfect way to show character personality for the victims and they are each filled with their own unique Shadows allowing you to chance your style by going back and forth to whatever one you want later. Unlike the tower where you have to find a special floor in order to activate a check point. 

Better Dungeon Levels: Persona 4

7. Gameplay: P3's gameplay vs P4's gameplay

And thus we come to the final judgement, gameplay. Now Persona 3 is to be credited for having a wicked gameplays system. You only control Minato, although you can give specific orders to others, and you have the option of either attacking with your weapon or using one of your many Persona's special abilities. Physical attacks will cost you health while magic attacks will cause you spirit points. Each Persona has it's own weaknesses and strengths and they apply to use as well. Meaning if you use a Persona that is resistant to lightning, your going to take nearly no damage from lightning attacks. However, the reversal happens as well.

But while this can happen to you, it can also happens to the enemy as well. If you manage to knock an enemy off it's feat you get a "One more", meaning one more extra turn. If you manage to knock down all the enemies, you then have the option of doing an All Out Attack. When this happens the entire team attacks all the Shadows for massive damage. The final game mechanic you must remember is that the longer you spend time in Tartaurs you'll start to get a status effect change. The game has gameplay system where you can get tired or sick which will effect your battle abilities. Once this happens, it's best to stop dungeon crawling and end the day, also be of note that your companions get this too.

But where Persona 3 started the new revolutionary gameplay, Persona 4 perfects it. The same system is still used, only there are a few new special add-ons. If you manage to knock down one enemy, one of your companions can follow up with a special combo attack on that same one. Granted this might lower your chances for an All Out Attack, but some times you can't always get one so it's best to eliminate a dangerous enemy quickly. The second thing that is cool is that your companions can take blows for you. If your in danger, they will come to your aid and take the blow, this can be really helpful if your just about to get healed or end the battle with one last spell. Not only that, but it shows how each character depends on one another as a team and that's a focal point for the story of any Persona game.

Better Gameplay: Persona 4

WINNER: PERSONA 4

So yeah, both of these games are great and I seriously recommend both, but if I had to choose one of the two I would have to say Persona 4 is better. While it has some weaker storyline aspects, it does a much better deal on the gameplay and the character growth. Sure Persona 3 has gotten FES and the PSP version, but Persona 4 is getting a "Golden Edition" in the future as well as it's own Anime show (No I don't count Trinity Soul for Persona 3 because it has almost nothing to do with Persona 3 and sucks).

Do you agree or disagree with my standing?

Please let me know.

We are Gamers and we are Legion.

Later