Chaos Legion (PS2)

You know those times you feel its you against the world? That is exactly what this game plays as. This game is not for those who can not take a challenge.

Story:
You, as Seig Warheit, must face off against Delacroix, a former friend, who's soul is taken over and stained by the blood of the innocent.

Music:
Everywhere you go you notice a dark tune playing. While it does get boring after a while it fits into the game pretty well.

Gameplay:
The gameplay is pretty forward. you are sent into a area, and you must make your way to the end. Each level is split into areas, which is timed. To get to the next area, you must complete a special task. Man times its to defeat a special monster. The better you do in each area, the better bonus item and exp you shall gain.

There are 2 types of monsters in the game. Organic, and metal. Each attack, and each legion has its own strength and weakness. Its up to you to make use of everything your given.

Legions are the monsters you summon. They are sealed within crests. At first they are small in number, and pretty weak. As you work with them though, you shall summon more monsters with each spell. The crests of the legions also have an effect on your Seig. Each crest increases his stats, and allow for bonus moves. You can only use the bonuses of the crests you have equiped though.

When summoned you can put them in attack or defense mode. In attack, they seek out the closest monster and attacks them. In defense mode, they stay near you, protecting you from damage. When not summoned, you can preform a special attack with the legion with a single press of a button. Each attack changes from legion to legion.

Experience is pretty important. It will have you racing to complete the task, while taking out as many monsters as you can. You do not have to do this task alone though. You are able to bring forth 2 legions into each stage. Only the legions you bring with you shall gain experience.

Overall:
A great game, that was sadly overlooked. The game play is difficult, and tests your skills to the limit. The music adds to the atmosphere, and the game play is smooth, if not a little complicated to understand.

If you find it on the used game rack, I highly advise you to pick it up.
8/10

Mario Galaxy (Wii)

Hes back, and he has some new moves. You should all know the plumber in red, who go out of his way to save the Princess. This time his latest rescue mission leads him into the cold reaches of space.

Story:
The story is what many has came to expect from Mario. Princess Peach gets captured by bowser, and Mario goes off to save her. Mario is given a Luma which allows him to spin and breath in space. You will be taken from planet to planet in hopes of collecting the power stars.

Controls:
The controls for the game is pretty good. You use the Nunchuk/remote combo. The analog stick moves Mario, while the A button lets him jump. You also use the B button to shoot starbits (small crystals which you collect), Z to duck, and a quick side swipe of the remote to spin. I'm not going to lie, it takes some getting used to, but they are very easy to learn.

Music:
Do you remember Super Mario 3? If you do then prepare for a huge flood of memories in each level. The music in this game is pretty much redone SMB3 music. Everything from the Battle ship theme, to the Swimming music is here. It brings the levels together nicely.

Gameplay:
Your main goal is to retrieve the power stars, and the mighty grand stars from Koopa and several other creatures. The game is divided into galaxies. Don't let that word fool you, each level is pretty small. In each galaxy there are around 5-6 stars there. There are a total of 120 stars in the game for Mario to collect. During your travels in these galaxies, you will need to make great use of your jumping powers. Of course only jumping won't save you. You must learn to make use of your starbits, using them to stun, and to gain lives. Also on occasion you shall find a special suit, which allows Mario to do several different things.

Bee Mario - able to climb Honeycomb walls, and fly. Unable to do special jumps.
Boo Mario - able to float, and go through grates and other things.
Fire Mario -able to shoot fire balls for a limited time.
Ice Mario - Able to freeze water, allowing for easier travel.


Overall:
I liked the game, although I can't help but feel it is a bit overrated. The music is a nice touch, but there is a lot lacking from the levels. The levels feel linear and too small. They are not as open as the levels in both Sunshine and 64.

Overall I would rate this game 7/10. Fun, but the linear gameplay gets tiresome.

GrimGrimoire PS2

Here is an interesting game from the makers of Odin Sphere. This game is both unique and breathtakingly beautiful. On top of that the music, voice-overs, and plot are well done.

Story:
You are Lillet Blan. A new student at the Silver Star Tower. She works hard to learn new spells, so she can become a great magician for her brothers. Through out this adventure, you learn from teachers, fight teachers, make friends, and become enemies with all you meet. During the fifth day of studying, a most unfortunate event happens. Everyone dies, and you are next. Facing death, you are transported back in time, having to replay those same 5 days again.

You must learn from your mistakes and learn greater magic in order to solve this mystery.

Gameplay:

This is played like a RTS, or real time strategy. There are 4 types of magic in which you can use, each having advantage and disadvantage towards another type of magic.

Glamour :

"The magic calls upon the faintest powers which exist everywhere, but the
fierce powers of created lives cannot be stopped."

These creatures hate the undead, while fear those lives made artificially. In this class you summon elves, faries, and unicorns to aid you in your defence. Its holds great power, and the undead had better watch out.

Necromancy:

"The magic calls upon those who should not exist, and therefore fear the
embodiment of nature's laws."

Ghosts, Ghouls, and gastly things is what you get with this magic. They fear the creatures from the Glamour grimoire. Most of these fallen souls have the ability to pass through walls, allowing them to travel fast. They also have the added benifit of not being hit by physical attacks. They are strong against the devil's sorcery.

Sorcery:

"The magic works with the enemies of god, but no method can fight against the
pure wills which still look to god in the deepest darkness."

This is one of the more powerful spell sets out there. You can summon creatures from Imps, to massive dragons. They fear the undead, but they laugh at the Alchemy creatures.

Alchemy:

"The incomplete lives, born by the hands of men pretending to be god, are
perfect prey to those who stand against god."

This is one of the more difficult spell classes to use. As it deals with more indirect attacks. Each of the the creatures you call forth are strong. All of the direct attackers use phisical force to attack,
thus making them moving targets towards ghosts. You can remidy that by using your Homunculus to turn the ghostly people solid. These man made creatures are weak against the minions of Hell, but make short work of the Glamour folk.


Through out the story, you will learn new spells. You shall only start with the basic elves and work your way up from there.

Each map in itself ranges from medium to huge. Many of the later missions will take around 30-60 minutes to complete. So prepare to spend some time with this game. Each map will have you complete a certain objective. Its mostly defeat all of 's runes, but they mix it up sometimes with timed, or missions with more than one enemy. The missions start out easy enough, but by the half way point the Normal difficulty may be a big much.

Most of the main missions unlocks a bonus level to play upon beating the level.


Overall: Great music, great music, everything is great. The replay value may be low to some people, but being able to replay old story missions, and all those bonus missions with each difficulty adds a good amount of replay value to those that work for it.

5/5 Loved it.

Shin Megami Tensei: Digital Devil Saga (Rated M)

This is another game made by Atlus. A few other games you may have noticed that is labled with the Shin Megami Tensei title would be Persona 1 and Persona 2 (both versions) for the PS. Devil Summoner - Raidou Kuzunoha vs. the Soulless Army, Nocturn, and the newly released Persona 3 for the PS2.

The story:
In the world Junkyard (the name of the world), six tribes fight an endless war. They fight for supremacy and the right to ascend to Nirvana. All they know is to fight. After a blinding light interrupts a deadly skirmish between two tribes, new found powers are soon discovered. With those powers comes a new rule to this game of supremacy, eat or be eaten. Together with a mysterious black haired girl, can you lead your tribe to Nirvana, or will you simply become the food for other demons?

The gameplay:
This is your average RPG. You star off with three party members, and as you continue through the story you get more to use. Each of the party members can turn int demons. In their human form, they are weak, but can use guns. The guns changes powers and elements depending what bullets you equip them with. In demon form, you gain the ability to cast different abilities. To gain more abilities, you must master the Mantra your character has. Upon mastering the Mantra you can then buy another mantra, and switch back between the mantra's you already bought. Once you gained the abilities from the mantra, you have access to them when ever you want. The only purpose of switch back to a different mantra you mastered is to take its strengths and weaknesses.

During battle you must thing about your moves. You are given a set amount of moves, and the turn ends once they are used up. You can gain more actions by exploiting the enemies weaknesses, and causing critical attacks. Upon doing one of the aforementioned tasks, you gain an extra action. You will also lose two actions if you miss, or if they block your attack. The same shall go towards to your enemies.

Unlike many other SMT games, you don't befriend other lesser demons for you to use. Its just you and your party.

Overall, I'd give it a 6.5
Story - Its good, but a tad bit short, and linar, even with it spread out through 2 different games.
Music - I love it, wish I got the soundtrack with it.
Replay-ability - Lacking in this department. All you have to do is complete the story, and get all the montras.

The beggining of the Gaming Blog

This is the beginning of the KOK gaming blog. All of the information regarding games will go here. This is mostly to get an inside look at my gaming habits. This blog will attempt to keep the spoilers to a minimum, but some are bound to slip eventually.
Thats it for the first post (Which is really the second post).

Baten Kaitos: Eternal Wings and the lost Ocean (GC)

I've recently been captured into the beauty of Baten Kaitos: Eternal Wings and the Lost Ocean for the Gamecube. Sure its old, but its a wonderful game. Its a 2 disk RPG. This game provides a unique twist on the RPG genre.

For starters the battle system is different than what you might be used to. You use cards to determine what you do. Each member of the party has their own deck, as do the enemies. The type of cards determine the strength, element, and other effects. At first you can only have so many cards in the deck, but as you upgrade your class, you gain more Max cards, 1 more card to choose from your hand (when in battle, and of course a timer.

Speaking of cards, there is a good variety of cards. Some are offensive, some defensive, while some are just plain useless. Some cards even change after time. So that useless card that heals only 1 hp can turn into something wonderful. If thats not enough, you can preform some combos to get a special card. To collect every card in the game, you will need will power, a LOT of time on your hands, and the ability to take lots of pictures.

Another thing many may not be used to is not automatically leveling when you gain a certain amount of experience. Instead, you must go to the church, then if you gathered enough experience you can then level up.

The story revolves around Kalas, who is out for revenge. Throughout the quest to revenge your families death you will join many others.

+Great Graphics
+Wonderful soundtrack
+Great story
+Nice new take on turn based RPGs

-Lousy voice acting
-Long

Over all its a great game for the people that loves a well played out RPG. If you don't care to play a game for more than 10 hours, then its not for you. Currently I'm clocking in at around 50 hours, only on the first disk alone. . . and I've yet to put a good dent into the story line.

*****/***** stars

If you want this game, your pretty much out of luck if you look in a store. It will most likely cost you a pretty penny, but you can get lucky and score a great price online, like from Amazon. I was able to snag this wonderful title at around $20 on amazon. I'll keep you posted on the story, and other aspects of this game. Also as I start playing other games, I'll post about them.