Rundown (6/02-6/08) PRE3 2019: Hustle and Bustle
Gather your things, ready your streams, call off of work assuming you can, make a bunch of snacks, and get foked my sweet little chickpeas! Because it is that marvelous time of the year where all the video games happen at once, meaning that nobody who likes video games is actually playing video games, and they are instead yucking it up on their internets, wallowing in the succulent juices of hype that encapsulate the industry many times in a given year, but never quite this intensely or fervorously! Or in other words, E3 is starting in a few hours, so I probably should go through the news that came in the past week or so. But not the many leaks, since that’d just be redundant, yo!
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Corpse Party: Blood Covered Review
“Moisten up your bum with mama’s butter to make the inevitable fear poops go down nice and smoothly!” – A dead person.
Xanadu Next Review
The original Xanadu was released for Japanese home computers back in 1985 as the second entry in the Dragon Slayer series. An incredibly long running franchise that was known for changing up its core concept and general gameplay almost completely with each installment, and went on to inspire a multitude of subseries, most notable the Legend of Heroes or Trails series. Xanadu itself was more of an offshoot title, one that was expanded with an additional scenario and even a Hudson developed spin-off for the NES by the name of Faxanadu. (more…)
Rundown (7/09-7/15) Natalie Will Need a New Box
I have brought this up in the past, but I eventually plan on retiring Nigmabox. It is a site I have called my own since I was 17, and there is a lot of baggage placed on here because of that, with plenty of bad writing and questionable content to be found in my earlier work. Instead of doing a massive purge, I would rather just reset things with a new site I intend to launch in early 2019, after I finish school once and for all, and intend on remastering or rewriting many of my prior reviews. However, the one part of this that is hindering me is a name for this new website. Nigmabox is a really stupid name, and I have been unable to think of a decent site name for about a year now. Maybe Natalie’s Game Box or something… (more…)
Rundown (5/28-6/03) Natalie Avoided Wasting a Bunch of Time!
So, I did not talk about this last week, but I played a bit of Fallout 4 recently thanks to a free to play weekend deal. I was very critical of the game leading up to launch, objecting to a number of additions of changes made to the title, and after spending 4 hours with it, I feel that I was completely right to think that. The protagonist is severely limited by the inclusion of voice acting and a baked in backstory, the dialogue options are very poor at conveying the protagonist’s actual response, and the story begins with such a rapid and dramatic set-up that it all rings hollow. Then there are the overburdened crafting and town building elements that I know I would have invested 100 hours into if I actually purchased this title. (more…)
Rundown (4/02-4/08) Nintendo is Memetic for Their Ineptitude
…I really hope Nintendo’s virtual console service for the Nintendo Switch is better than the dreck I’m dreading it to be. That is, what it has been in the past, with perhaps some nebulous and obnoxious downside that people expect from the company in the same way they expect a retarded child to make a scene whenever they are taken out anywhere. Just dump all the ROMs you have from prior systems on the service, make them cost very little, and make them all run well with modern emulator sensibilities. I mean, people can get all the SNES games on their phones in about an hour, and that needs to be considered when devising a service like this. Also, make Wii games available for sale, because the Joy-Cons can totally emulate the Wii Remote and nunchuk. (more…)
Rundown (1/29-2/04) Simple and Clean Is the Way
So, I was directed to a three hour unscripted lecture on the story of Kingdom Hearts. I watched it, and am almost amazed at how much the story resembles the slew of fan fiction that it inspired. It is the most contrived and convoluted thing I have ever seen go on for this long, and I am convinced that Square Enix lacks any sort of narrative editors and that Tetsuya Nomura should never, ever, be put in charge with the story for anything ever again. Now all of that incomprehensibility is inside me, and it will never leave. Anyways, there’s a bunch of news this week for some reason, and now I need to talk about it. (more…)
Little King’s Story Review
Little King’s Story is among my favorite Wii games, and while I technically reviewed this game way back when, I generally look upon my writing during that time in a very negative light, and with a PC version recently coming out, I figured it was as good a time as any to revisit this delightful game, and I’m not too surprised by how I feel about it. (more…)
Ys Seven Review
Note: I re-reviewed this title in 2020. Please disregard this review.
Before beginning, I feel I should clarify what I mean when I refer to prior Ys games, as I have played Ys Chronicles, Ark of Napishtim, Oath in Felghana, and Origin before delving into the creatively titled Ys Seven. Aside from Ys: Memories In Celestia, which was released after this title. I just want to clarify how I’m going into this game, as it does a few things I feel it makes some… notable changes. Also, I legally own the game via PSN, and played it using an emulator, because the Playstation TV displays PSP games at 480p, which looks terrible on a 1080p monitor. (more…)
Ys Origin Review
About two years ago, I gave my thoughts on Ys Origin, a game I thoroughly enjoyed well above all other Ys games, at least the ones I played, meaning the ones on PC. Although, I didn’t technically fully complete the game as I only cleared it with a single character, Yunica, and felt that I should try out the other two and see how the game stacked up, only to then realize that there was a true ending I was not aware of, which leads into Ys I. Plus, I just felt like playing it again. (more…)
Rundown (5/31-6/06) The Japanese Localization Building-School
In my dumb brain, companies like Idea Factory International, NIS America, Atlus, Aksys, XSEED, Sekai Project, MangaGamer, JAST USA, Carpe Fulgar, and anybody I’m forgetting all work in the same building located somewhere in California. The building is based off of the one blueprint that was used to build every high school in Japan circa 1950, and it is a complete mess. With random unlocalized games everywhere, old bootleg VHS tapes of “the hottest Japanimation”, a locker full of PSPs, this one incredibly disturbing classroom filled with full scale figures and body pillows, and dirty laundry that piles up every week until Jimmy clean up their blankets and graphic tees over the weekend. Then there’s Nana, who is just sad after spending three thousand hours a year playing everything this company produces, and is flat out disgusted by the tropes at this point. (more…)
Ys VI: The Ark of Napishtim Review
Note: I re-reviewed this title in 2020. Please disregard this review.
If I had to give a brief summary of how the Ys series works in regards to its final products, I would say that the first few titles were more experimental than anything, involving large changes to the gameplay and point of view with each installment before the series hit a sour note with part V, and went away for a generation, only to come back with this title, Ys VI: The Ark of Napishtim, and revitalized the franchise for a total of three games before changing up the gameplay once. I previously reviewed the spiritual follow-ups Oath in Felghana and Origin, both of which I liked quite a bit, but felt that many of the RPG elements of these games bogged it down, and its emphasis on story was a bit out of place in such a frantic high paced and cathartic action game. This being a prequel, not much has changed. (more…)
Rundown (3/08-3/14) Because… Shut Up!
Yes, I finally put up a new review earlier today, and will have another coming this week, and should be able to get to another for the week after. Hopefully the first week of April will get something too, or else it will just be an update I’m delaying until April 1st, because… shut up. Actually, I’ll try to get a JoJo Piece up, so in other words Freedom Wars review will be up on 18/3, South Park: The Stick of Truth review on 25/3, and JoJo on 03/4 specifically because… shut up. (more…)
Rundown (1/04-1/10) Dial Doctor Genocider ‘Cos I’m a Lazy Girl
Work is my reason for not doing a game review last week, and I will be sure that I have one ready this week, and probably two the week after, as I will dive into the visual novel bin upon completing Dark Souls. I have not been in the mood to write after waking up at 6:30, being put on a train, working for seven to eight hours, and then going on another train, arriving back home ten hours later, and only having about six hours before I gotta go to do my bedtime stuff. (more…)
Rundown (6/01-6/08) E3… and Butts… I’m Tired!
Well, it’s that time of year again, where the sun rises high and slowly creeps over to the other side of the country where magic truly does exist in the form of a corporate PR event that will be jam packed with ice cream pandas and lobster men who will undoubtedly be shot by a bunch of hired apathetic day workers… Sorry, I hit my head again and those words came out. Point it, it is Pre-E3, or Preeee! as one may call it if they started a blog post about video game news by insinuating the sun creates lobster men. And as expected, everybody’s gushing to get their big thing in every lady’s face before the oversaturated extravaganza hits when I’m at work… guess I better get the skeleton ready for me to pin flesh onto it! (more…)
Ys Origin Review
Note: I re-reviewed this game in 2015. Please disregard this original review.
So, let me get this straight, Ms. Nigma. After starting the year strong with a total of five Metal Gear Solid titles in your possession, you do three, stop with no plans to finish the quest, and instead review some Ys games. A franchise that you were pretty okay with when it came to Ys Chronicles, liked with the title you reviewed just a few days ago, Oath in Felghana. Fine, just be sure to get around to reviewing those titles when you get a PS Vita under your reservation price, ya cheapo… You are just buying Steam games instead, aren’t you?
Ys: Oath in Felghana Review
Note: I re-reviewed this game in 2020. Please disregard this original review.
Well, it’s been a good while since I touched the Ys series with my review of Ys Chronicles, but I ended up buying the other half of this franchise that I can buy on Steam. With Ys: Oath in Felghana being a remake of Ys III as much as Metroid Zero Mission is a remake of Metroid. In fact, arguably less similar as Ys III was a side scrolling RPG that looked completely alien to me when I looked up gameplay of one of its many versions. Where as Oath to Farharad is something far more distinct.
Rundown (9/01-9/07) I Really Needta Watch More Animes
Okay, I’m just gonna get the minor stuff out of the way in this intro. Bravely Default will indeed be the updated version when it comes overseas, as well as be a “demo” for the sequel coming in late 2014 if I had an inkling. Xbox One is coming out on November 22nd because it’s the Xbox 360’s anniversary. Dead Rising 3 continues to look more like a game worth playing, though it is here where I realize how much of a sexist asshole I am, as I would only want to play it as a female character. While Xseed is localizing the Legend of Heroes: Trails In The Sky sequel and PS3 redux. Which I’ll probably review sometime next year, as they will receive PC releases to boot. Also EA claimed they were being risky dogs because they’re making Star Wars video games. On with the show!
Ys Chronicles+ Review
It is customary to do a bit of research when doing a more underground game for a series that is fairly sizable. Yet, Ys is one of the odder ones I’ve seen. With the entire series only spanning about 10 games in reality, but 25 or so years. While the prospect of obtaining the entire collection would cost a couple thousand easily, due to how often the core group of these games have been remade and re released. Hell, the one I’ve got right here is the repackaging of two originally separate NEC PC-8801 games, which I’ve never even heard of. That was remade for the Turbografx, PC, PSP, and is now the compilation of two of the remakes because of reasons!
Little King’s Story Review
Note: I re-reviewed this game in 2016. Please disregard this original review.
There is nothing quite like digging up a title that you are certain will end up becoming a gem of sorts in the not too distant future, and getting into an awkward middle phase where your thoughts allow for neither full introspection or current awareness. Either way, I picked up Little King’s Story for $13 and feel like talking about an obscure Wii title by the now defunct developer Cing. Oh, and I’m not even going to talk about the remake/reimagining, because of how poorly it appeared to have been handled, and this would become a rant to the very idea of said remake.
The Last Story Review
I really do hate it when I am not able to get content out regularly. Sure, I think that taking 13 days to beat a 42 hour game is understandable for someone who goes to high school, and needs to save an hour most days to work on something else. Either way, seeing as how my Wii ended up corrupting all of my Xenoblade data, all 90 hours of it, I decided I should unwrap this title, 3.5 months after I bought it. Yeah, I’m going to be working on that. Regardless, and without paying any mention to Operation Rainfall, or the creator’s whose names people know, my review of The Last Story.
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Solatorobo: Red The Hunter Review
I really like games that people rarely ever hear of beyond a cool trailer or two. Games that are given a box release and clearly have a budget of a few million, but are neither indie or AAA. And I got bored and want to revisit a game because I thought it would be fun! So I’m just going to talk about a game I enjoyed and see how it holds up, read on if you feel like it… God I’m crap at intros!