10 | Pokemon Ruby/Sapphire

February 2014 is my personal month of Pokemon. Earlier this month we made a Pokemon Party. We played Pokemon Ruby/Sapphire. We did a blind playthrough to the game and called it explore racing. For some it was about who gets faster to the next gym. For others it was about who collects more pokemon. Others just had fun leveling up thier pokemon. We had no Linkcables so we missed out about that aspect of the game. 

It was really cool that we where able to see much more pokemon than only one runner would in that time. I liked the fact that we where discussion strategies how to beat the gym leaders in a effective kind of way. There where some heavy moments of level grind envolved as we tried to beat certain gym leaders with certain pokemon. Also the puzzle solveing elements of the game where managed collectivly. 

My favorite pokemon of Pokemon Ruby/Sapphire so far has to be Lotad. Even though i did not catch one (as i played the Ruby version of the game).

We managed to get to Slateport City with 3 to 4 gym badges in our bags. If we will continue the playthrough is uncertain at the moment.Nevertheless it was a very fun evening, and it really started my february Pokemon hype.

09 | Pokemon Soulsilver

After a month of looking for good monster taming games i ended up beating the main story of Pokemon Soulsilver for the Nintendo DS. Soulsilver is a remake of the Generation II Pokemon games for the Gameboy Color called Pokemon Gold/Silver.

In all of the Pokemon games you collect Pokemon (Pocket Monsters), fight battles vs. other Pokemon Trainers and collect Gym Badges from 8 different arena leaders. Beside that you fight various terrorist groups called Team Rocket, Team Aqua/Magma, Team what have you and so on. 

You explore the world of Pokemon and discover City after City, Cave after Cave and Pokemon after Pokemon. The longer you battle with a Pokemon the stronger it gets. You unlock new battle skills and some of the pokemon evole to even stronger beasts. 

The standard Pokemon Main story goes something like this: 

1. You get your starter Pokemon (Choose one out of three). 

2. You go from city to city and beat gym leader after gym leader to collect 8 gym badges. 

3. On the way you fight Team Rocket/what have you until they are beaten. 

4. After you collected all 8 gym badges you go to Victory road to deafet the Elit Four (very skilled Pokemon trainers). 

5. At last you get to fight the games End Boss in form of yet another Pokemon Trainer. The Pokemon League Champion. 

Endgame: After you beat the game you get the chance to complete the game (which is somewhat a insane thing to do). You could catch all the pokemon that are in the game. You can fight even stronger Pokemon Trainers somewhere hidden in the map. You can try to catch so called legendary Pokemon and so on. 

The thing with Pokemon Soulsilver or Pokemon Silver is that after you beat  the main story you are able to discover the hole region of Pokemon Red/Blue called Kanto. There you can beat yet another 8 gym leaders, that are even stronger than the the first 8 ones. With two hole regions to explore and about 495 pokemon to find, this titel could keep you playing 80 hours or more.

So here is what i managed to do in about a week. 

I beat the main story (20 hours). 

I beat all gym leaders (Jotho and Kanto - 16 badges). 

I caught both legendary Pokemon - Lugia and Ho-oh.

I collected 70 Pokemon.

My favorite Pokemon of this title has to be the legendary Pokemon Lugia.

To sum this up. Here are the things i really like about Pokemon as a monster taming game in general.

+

1. The way you capture monsters.
Even though the pokeball system is old and didnt change much, it is a really
good system. Specially when it comes to capture rare pokemons you really have
to have some strats or else you will fail. That makes the game challenging in a good way.

2. The Pokemon World and NPCs
The game does a great job giving you as a player the feeling to be in this world.
You can discover every corner and every NPC in the game has something to say.
The great thing with Soulsilver is that the NPCs and the World in Kanto (Pokemon Generation I)
changed over time. Many people tell you storys about the first Pokemon Heros Blue and Red.
For example can you discover the bike shop where Blue/Red got their first bike. In Soulsilver
the shop is empty. You meet the shopkeeper who teels you that after Blue/Red got their bike
his bussiness boomed and he moved to Jotho and left the old shop behind. It is a living and breathing world
with lots of funny things to explore and secrets to find.

3. The Monster managing system
Pokemon has the best mechanics when it comes to the question
how to manage the monsters you have collected so far. Another very great thing here
is the fact, that you can trade Pokemon via Generations. It is possible to trade
Pokemon from Soulsilver all the way up to the very new Pokemon X/Y.

-

1. Pokemon Trainers
The thing that bothers me still the most with Pokemon, that i can not decide myself if i want
to battle all those Pokemon trainers on the way or not. I could live with all those random encounters
in caves and stuff. But the fact that I am forced to battle all those trainers is a pain in the ass.
Choice as seen in the new Bravely Defaut would be a nice solution.  

____________________________________________________________

How to catch Ho-oh.

To round this post up i want to tell you how i caught Ho-oh. 

It took me about 1 hour to figure out a decent strat to catch it. 

1.
Here is what you need: 

You need a tank pokemon around level 63 to 70 witch is able to tank 

the damage Ho-oh will be doing to you in the first 10 rounds or something. 

I used my level 63 Lugia for it. 

You need a pokemon with a sleep skill. 

Around 20 Hyper potions and 40 Ultraballs. 

2.
The strat: 

Ho-oh got 3 or more attack skills. Each of those skills can only be used 5 times. 

His last skill is a guard skill witch guards him from skills like sleep, paralyze, posion and so on. 

I

In the first phase Ho-oh will attack you. 

The important thing here is: Whatever the cost you must not attack him. 

Just throw pokeballs at him and heal your tank pokemon. 

Very soon Ho-oh will used up his main attacks: Sacred Fire, Ancient Power and Punishment.

II

Then Ho-oh will start to use Safeguard over and over again. He will not attack. 

Thats the time you bring your Pokemon with the sleep skill into the battle. Ho-oh will use

Safeguard until he is out of skill points for it. Dont attack Ho-oh ever! 

III 

When he is out of Safeguard he will use its last skill: Struggle. 

Struggle does not do much damage to you. A level 52 pokemon will tank enough damage to stay

functional. But Struggle does decent damage to Ho-oh itself. When its life sank under 30% sleep Ho-oh and

throw Ultraballs at him until you eventually catch him. 

Thats the way that worked for me.

08 | Best of January Blog Gämes

Every month i will do a best of 5 recap of games i played. So here are my top 5 January gämes featured in this blog.

1. Dragon Warrior I
2. Ni no Kuni DS
3. Kirbys Dreamland 2
4. Attack of the Friday Monsters!
5. Jump Ultimate Allstars

Honorable mentions

Dragon Quest Monsters 2 - Taras Quest
Shin Megami Tensei: Devil Children - Red Book
Bravely Default (Demo)

07 | Dragon Warrior III - MH3U (Demo)

Here is a list of games i played too this month but not as long as the other games i wrote about. Its obvious that i had a mobile focus this month. I played almost only GB, GBC, NDS or 3DS games. Some of this games will get their own post, when i had time to play them a bit longer.

After I discovered Dragon Quest Monsters 2 - Taras Quest I started my journey through the Dragon Quest Series with Dragon Warrior III on the Gameboy Color. The reason behind it was that it is said to be the best titel in the series and one of the best RPGs ever made. I really was impressed by the game. You start with one hero but very soon get the chance to hire 3 more heros in a taverne. You can choose from 8 different classes and form your very own party. I played threw the first zone of the game but than stopped playing as i discovered even better dragon quest titles (f.e. Dragon Warrior I).

As me an Inko did a play through of the first Dragon Warrior game, we needed a break and switched over to  Dragon Warrior II  with is on the same cartridge as Dragon Warrior I. It had a really funny storyline and featured boss battles with more than one monster and a party of more than one hero (witch was very new compared to the first titel). Id like to play more of this game, but we have to finish the first game first. 

I had a favor for Monster Taming/Collection/Hunting games this month. As did i discover the Dragon Quest series the first time in my life to be one of the best RPG series ever made. I read a lot about the games. When i found out that Dragon Quest V  for the NDS had very good reviews and its own Monster Collecting/Hunting system i had to grab this one. I got dragged away by other games though, so this titel has to wait for february. 

Trip World for the Gameboy reminds me at the Kirby Games. Its much harder though. I didnt had the nerves for it and only was able to beat the first boss. Id like to beat the game some day. 

I loved Pokemon Trading Card Game for the Gameboy Color, when i was a kid. This is the best single player Trading Card Video game ever made and as I had a Monster Collecting focus i had to play this one again.

Speaking about Pokemon. Pokemon Pinball for the Gameboy Advanced is a damn good Pinball game. You can collect pokemon by playing pinball on two different tables. Awesome. As there are only two tables though it got boring after a while.

I tryed to play through The Legend of Zelda: Oracle of Ages (GBC) after i beat Kirbys Dreamland 2 early January. I played the game too the first dungeon and than stopped. Something about the game bothered me even though it is really well made. 

Me and Inko started our Coop RPG races with  The Legend of Zelda: Links Awakening (GBC). Here is what we did. First we did a explore race. We played the game until a certain point and stopped. (The first one who discovered the first dungeon won). Than we did a time race. After everyone of us knew the route we did a real race. Very exiting. We played until the end of the first dungeon. Than we discovered the awesome ness of Dragon Warrior I and the Zelda Project has to wait now. Next week we will do a Pokemon Saphire/Rubin explore race.

Coming back to my love for Monster Tamers i stumbeld over Shin Megami Tensei: Devil Children - Red Book (GBC). As this game is only aviable in japanese i didnt play it for long. I want to play it so bad though. I got really nice grafics (for a GBC game), great demons to collect, kewl characters and a interessting taming mechanic (you have to talk with demons and convince them to join you). Without a translation of this game its pretty hard to play through that thing. So i just stopped playing it and turned to titles who are playeable in english. 

Revelations - The Demon Slayer (GBC) is a fantasy spin of game of the Shin Megami Tensei series. Its pretty hard though. I tried to capture just one demon but couldnt manage to survive even one fight. Its a game who would be hilarious to explore race.

Ok the next one is special. In Solatorobo: The Red Hunter (NDS)  you play as a anime dog who looks like Terry from King of Fighters. This dog has a mech with whom he fight his enemies. The game is a Plattform/Aktion/RPG. You can leave your mech at any time to solve puzzles with and stuff. Its an interesting concept. I just didnt have to play it more.

Wendy: Every Witch Way is a Gameboy Color game with Controls like VVVVVV. Nough said. Sidenode: There is a VVVVVV version for the 3DS aviable in the 3DS eshop.

The thing that fascinated me the most with the Bravely Default (Demo) was that even though it is a tradional JRPG i had troubles beating the demo. I really needed to learn the new conecpts behind the battle system. At first it feels like every other JRPG battle system. But if you learn to understand the new mechanics behind it you discover its differences. Im really looking forward to this game. It has outstanding grafics, nice characters and a innovativ battle system that really caught my attention. The fact that i can transfer data from the demo to the original game also made me play the demo a little more.

I liked  the Kingdom Hearts Dream Drop Distance (Demo) for its fast gameplay. I only played one Kindgom Hearts game longer than 10 minutes. Its Kingdom Hearts: Chain of Memories for the GBA. Since than i didnt find a Hearts game i really liked. The gameplay of this demo though wanted me to play the game more. We will see.

Fire Emblem Awakening (Demo). This is a really good Fire Emblem titel. I really dont know what else to say about it.

Monster Hunter 3 Ultimate (Demo). A part of me wants to like this game so bad. I had to play it twice to understand the hype behind the game. The monsters really behave in cool way. I also like the fact that this is not a easy game and that you have to time your attacks and escapes. Maybe ill really i give this one a try. For the challenge. I dont want to wait until 2015 for Monster Hunter 4 Ultimate to come out.

06 | Attack of the Friday Monsters! A Tokyo Tale

Attack of the Friday Monsters! A Tokyo Tale is a game developed by Level 5 for the 3DS. In this game you play as a ten year old boy who just moved to Tokyo with his family. Instead of fighting monsters you walk around and explore the new aera you moved into. The boy is named Sotha and has not any super powers. Nor have any other people he meets on his journey. Quite fast he is able to get to know all the people who are living around him. He is making friends with some other kids too.

Within the game you collect GLIMs who you can transform into Monster Cards after you collected 7 glims of the same color. This Monster Cards are used for a mini game. Its the card game the kids are playing in the district Sotha moved into. Around this setting a story about Monsters is developed. I dont wont to spoil it too much, because the story is the man element in the game.

I just want to share a gameplay idea witch is found within the game. 

So the kids are playing this Monster Card game with the following rules. Every newcomer to the game is a servant. There are two types of players. Servants and Rules. You become a ruler if you win a game of Monster Card Battle. The loser of the game becomes the servant of the winner. Servants have only one duty to fullfill. Everytime the Ruler casts a spell on the servant the servant has to lie down on the floor until the Ruler says "Arise".

There are a few things i would change in this game if i could. 

1. There are only 15 different Monster cards. I would have liked to collect, like about 100 different cards or something. 

2. The card game itself is not strategic at all. The gameplay of the card game is more or less luck based. 

I would have been cool if they would have put more effort in this game. 

3. There is a map who tells you all the time where exactly to go. In a game witch consist almost purley of exploration and story this decision takes away even the last little gameplay element the game had. I would just remove this map or at least i would remove the hints where to go. 

Nonetheless, i think this is a great little game who is brave enough to do things different.

05 | Jump Ultimate Stars - One Piece: Gigant Battle

 Today i got my hands on a japanese version of Jump Ultimate Stars for the Nintendo DS. It is a very fun Shounen Jump Brawler witch features over 305 characters from 41 different mangas and animes. Dezember 2013 and january 2014 where really my anime months of the year. Don't know how much longer this anime/japanese culture hype of mine will last, but i dont see any light on the end of the road. 

In this game you discover 41 different manga/anime planets. Each planet has about 2 to 3 missions. You beat them and from time to time you unlock new ones to progress through the game. Instead of a classic character selection option you build a team of one or two fighters with 2 or more support characters. You build this team with KOMAs witch are basicly cards of the different heros you collect by finishing missions in the game. So here is what you do. You do missions (fighting other dudes). You collect KOMAs (cards) and build your battle decks with it (to create new team combos and fighting styles). This makes the game a collecting brawler, witch is a very unique way to do a brawler game i would say. (This reminds me that january was also the month of my collecting (in games) month. I should probaly write about that too in another post).

As this game is japanese only i needed some help to play it (again). I used Jew Warios - You should play this to get all the basics right. His video is really all you need to play the game.

This game is made by Ganbarion a developer team who also made a One Piece game similar to Jump Ultimate Stars. It is called One Piece: Gigant Battle and plays very similar to Jump Ultimate Stars. The big differences for me are: There are only One Piece characters and there isnt a card collection gameplay element. You unlock new fighters and support heros as you progress through the game though. This game came out in europe and north america too. So if you have trouble with the japanese only from Jump Ultimate Stars you maybe want to try out that one. 

Thx Jew Wario for pointing out these great games!

RIP

04 | Dragon Warrior I

After playing Dragon Quest Monsters 2 - Taras Quest for quite a bit, i decided to go back to the series roots. So i grabed a copy of Dragon Warrior I+II for the Gameboy Color. In this post i will only talk about the first game, as i didnt really play Dragon Warrior II yet. The Gameboy Color version is a remake of the original Nes games which where published 1986 and 1987. 

I have to say, i have avoided this series for far too long. I played this game the first time in my life and i really think this game is a better JRPG than many many modern games I know. You play as a silent hero who has to save the kingdom from a evil lord called "DracoLord". The difference to almost all other JRPGs I know is that you controll only this one hero. You dont get any other group members who join you on your quest. With that comes the fact, that you only battle one monster at a time as well. The battle system is pretty simple. All you get is a basic attack, a firespell a healing and a sleep spell and the option to flee. Thats pretty much it. But even though the system is simple, battles dont get boring or anoying. 

The strongest part of the game is the puzzle exploring though. The game doesnt tell you where to go exactly. You get hints from time to time from people you first have to find in different towns, caves or castles. You have to discover the story and the next goal for yourself. A mechanic which is not really known anymore in modern RPGs, who tend to be text heavy and directive.I was really blown away how fun a simple RPG can be. This game really showed me how players can be envolved in a game n a different and unique way. So far I can say, that every Dragon Warrior/Quest game i played was super fun to play and im really looking forward to play the other titles a bit more. But first i have to finish this game. 

On a side note. I actually didnt play that game alone, but got togehter with Inko. We where playing it together in the same room, which added a lot more to the game. Its super fun to explore and collect hints togehter.

03 | Nintendo 3DS Gämes List: January 2014

I will post some lists in this blog from time to time. This is my first list and its about (upcoming) 3DS games i allready played or i want play in the future.
_______
Games i've played

Legend of Zelda: A Link between two Worlds
Super Mario 3D Land
Pokemon X
________
Released games id like to play

Bravely Default
Fire Emblem Awakening
Mario Kart 7 
Animal Crossing: New Leaf
Luigis Mansion: Dark Moon
Kingdom Hearts 3D: Dream Drop Distance
_________
Games that will be released this year i will play

Kirby Triple Delux
Super Smash Bros. 4 3DS
Monster Hunter 4
 _________
Games id like to play, but are not sure to be release in europe
Dragon Quest Monsters 2 3DS
Dragon Quest 7 3DS
Persona Q
Shin Megami Tensei 4
____________
Games id like to play, but are not sure to be made

Ni no Kuni 3DS

02 | Ni no Kuni DS

So after Dragon Quest Monsters 2 - Taras Quest, i got myself a copy of Ni No Kuni DS. This game is only aviable in japanese and comes with a magic book you need to play the game. I didnt get a magic book, so i had to improvise some things.

First things first. This game is in my opinion the best Pokemon like game at the time. It has a really great story, stunning grafics for a Nintendo DS game, a lot of cute little monsters (380) and an awesome soundtrack. The battle system is one of the most innovative battle systems i have seen for a long time. It combines elements from Finanl Fantasy titels and ads a unique capturing system. I got amazing Boss Fights and challening puzzles. Add to it that the desgin is from Studio Ghibli itself and you got yourself the best Nintendo DS titel.

So as the game is in japanese and i didnt manage to get a offizial game book those links helped me to get through the game. I wont tell you how to use them. Go figure it out for yourself if you like. 

Game Walkthrough by Montas 1992

Lets try to play by Tracer Bullet

Magic Book sneak peak

The fact that i had to figure out how to play the game justed added another awesome element to the game. The fact that i couldnt read the story didnt matter, because the game tells most of its tell through pictures and leaves the rest of it to your imagination. 

For those of you who own a PS3: There is a english Version of the game. Even though it is a slightly different game and the experience will be very different from this one.The PS3 titel is called: Ni no Kuni: Wrath of the White Witc.

01 | Super Smash Bros. - Dragon Quest Monsters 2

In this Blog i want to talk about the Nintendo Games i play in 2014. My definition of a nintendo game is a game that can be played on Nintendo consoles. It dosent matter if the game was not developed by Nintendo itself or what have you.

It all started with Super Smash Bros. for the N64. I played that game during the holidays with my brother. It was so much fun, i couldnt believe it. I rememberd that game because a very good documentary about the competitive Super Smash Bros scene. It is called "Show Me Your Moves". Batteling with all my favorite Nintendo heros against each other reminded me how much i love all this characters i play with in other games in the past. Be it Link from the Legend of Zelda, Mario, Kriby oder Pikachu from the famos Pokemon games. 

After Super Smash Bros, i started digging and discovered that i have not played Kirby's Dreamland 2 yet. I got the game for my Gameboy Color and played it through in like two or three days. This has to be one of my favorite games for the Gameboy yet. That leveldesgin of this game is fantastic, the boss battles are great you can ride on three different mounts (a squirl, a owl and a fish). 

Next stop was the new Pokemon X for the Nintendo 3DS. Im not quite done with this game yet, but almost. Pokemon X is a pokemon titel. Many many things are still the same as they where with Pokemon Blue/Red. You go out to discover the world, by capturing Pokemon after Pokemon and batteling your way to top of the Pokemon League. What i really liked was the fact that you can now trade your Pokemon over the internet with other people. There are different trade options. For example there is Wondertrade. You choose a pokemon and give it away. The game connects you with random people who did the same with one of theirs. And so on. I really liked the fact to be able to trade all the time. My favorite pokemon of this Titel is Hawlucha. 

Even though Pokemon X is a good game and really made some great improvments to the Monster Taming Genre, i started to look out for other Monster Tamer Games. Welp i found some. 

I stumbeld over the Dragon Quest Series and instantly fell in love with Dragon Quest Monsters 2 - Taras Quest. Beeing a Gameboy Color game this game has a really good story and amazing gameplay. Monster are captured randomly after you defeated them in battle. No need to buy pokeballs or stuff. In comparison to Pokemon in this game Story really matters. Whats really awesome is, that the game encourges you to explore the world and work out things on your own. You have to collect hints and interview people to progress in the world. This game is awesome.