Okay, so, Sony stereotypes aside, September was likely a good month if you’re both a PSP owner and RPG lover such as myself. For four weeks straight, a new PSP RPG released that was able to catch my attention for each of those weeks. (Though one came after a second opinion.) This, to me, is a rare occurence, and really had me stretching my wallet for all of them.

So… what were the games that had me investing so much in the PSP recently?

Kingdom Hearts: Birth By Sleep
For some, this would probably be “how typical.” For me, “how surprising.” I can humbly say that this is in fact the first time I had ever picked up a Kingdom Hearts game ever. (Except when I demoed Kingdom Hearts 2 very briefly at Disneyworld some four years ago now.) For a second, I have to forget about all of the rabid fanboys that this series produces and actually play a game. Since Birth By Sleep is a prequel to the entire series, I thought that it would be a good time to get into it. The game was already coming off of high player and editor reviews alike, and within an hour or so I could see why. The game, although not exactly like the other games in the series as I’ve been told, plays very well, has an interesting story, and looks pretty good for a PSP game. BBS has succeeded in making me want to try other games in the series… well… after hearing that 358/2 days was subpar, I will probably wait for the next Kingdom Hearts to hit on the 3DS

Phantasy Star Portable 2
Sharing the same abbreviation as the system is on, PSP2 could be overlooked if not just by the other games released before it, then also by the fact that Sega announced Phantasy Star Online 2 at TGS this year. That obviously didn’t stop me from picking it up. My friend had gotten me into the Phantasy Star series, starting with Online. Since then I had gone back and played the original turn-based games on the Master System and Genesis, but the Phantasy Star Universe games caught my eye, although it didn’t with some. Portable 2 expanded on a lot of the things that came out of Portable 1, all for the better. The game features online play, which seems like a rarity for PSP games nowadays, as well as bringing in some Universe traits as having a room you can customise and decorate. Also to the positive is the ability to block (if you have a shield) and having a single PP meter that regenerates, instead of having to manage PP for every weapon you’re using. It’s just fun all around.

Cladun: This is an RPG
What is Nippon Ichi without niche titles? Cladun is a 16-bit dungeon crawler-like game… with a twist. Aside from having your story character, you have the ability to create your own characters, right down to the pixel. Yes, you can create any character you like and even define the end boss. The game also features an very interesting powerup system, using the other characters you make to act as “shields” and power the main character up. This game can tend to be difficult at times, and can time some time getting used to, but all in all this game becomes an effective time waster.

Valkyria Chronicles II
How does the earliest game end up as my last game? I tried this out when the demo was first put up on PSN, hastily played it and couldn’t make any sense of anything. However, after reading about it quite a bit I decided to try it again, play it properly, and I ended up liking enough to buy it. Ever since then, I haven’t been able to put it down. Thing is, I’m not even that much into SRPGs, but Valkyria II just has so much going for it. It’s got warfare strategy. It’s got quirky characters that you’ll all get to know over time. It’s got… guns. (Okay, so guns doesn’t really mean much.) But really. It’s hard not to fall in love with the students that make up class G, and never have I played a game in where “grinding” (by repeating old missions) actually felt like I was doing something. You find ways to refine strategies, try different classes, see if you can try to beat each mission faster… It’s a rush. Although the story goes by month to month, you aren’t pressed for time, so it gives me all the reason to level up a bit, dive into each character’s story, and just keep me hooked. I think I might need help.

Probably the hardest thing out of all of these is balancing each of these titles. I don’t really put much time into my PSP at all, although Valkyria Chronicles II has changed that over the last couple of days, but a lot of the time I find myself wanting to play Birth By Sleep yet I know I’ve been neglecting Phantasy Star Portable 2. Always a problem when you’re a backlogger, I guess.

But who knows? Maybe I’ll end up getting through them all… some day.

It’s barely been around a month since EA first announced their “online initiative” that requires people to buy a pass to play a used game online and already other companies are looking to cash in: THQ has already done the same thing with UFC Undisputed 2010 and now it looks like Sony is looking to take advantage of this as well.

I hopped on the Playstation store to buy Modnation Racers PSP the other day and I clicked the first logo I could find, thinking that it would be the game. Oh boy was I wrong, because what I actually clicked was an add-on titled “Modnation Racers PSP Online Entitlement.” This is what it says:

The Online Entitlement is used to activate the Online and Infrastructure features of the ModNation Racers game for the PSP system. For those purchasing the game second-hand, the entitlement will also need to be purchased and entered into a PSN account prior to activating the Infrastructure

So, another publisher joins the fold.

Is this something that’s been going on behind the scenes now? I know that publishers were looking for a way to discourage used game sales; Have they found it? Should they really be getting all butthurt about used games?

This is still a neutral subject for me; I don’t mind publishers looking for a way to get some money off of used games. Really, it’s still their game, but at the same time I don’t agree they should be making money off a game that they’ve already sold. All in all it’s been mentioned many times on various gaming blogs that this pretty much makes buying used games pointless unless it’s a strictly offline affair. Destructoid’s latest Bit Transmission podcast put this nicely, if you’re buying a used game for 10 dollars less than the price of a new one, and you have to pay 10 bucks for a code to play it online, it doesn’t make it worth buying used unless you’re playing it strictly offline.

It might not have been long since EA announced their online initiative, but this is quickly becoming the norm.

The online entitlement seems to be only in place for the PSP version of the game; From what I’ve heard it’s not the same thing for the PS3 version. Of course, if you buy the game new or off of PSN then you don’t have to worry about buying the entitlement, as it will be tied to your PSN account.

But, without further ado, here are some of the games you can expect between now and the end of the year:

(Note: The following list is only for North America)

Xbox 360
Oct 13th: Brutal Legend
Oct 27th: DJ Hero
Oct 27th: Forza Motorsport 3
Oct 27th: Tekken 6
Oct 29th: GTA4: The Ballad of Gay Tony

Nov 3rd: Band Hero
Nov 10th: Call of Duty: Modern Warfare 2
Nov 17th: Assassin’s Creed II
Nov 17th: Left 4 Dead 2

Dec 22nd: Guitar Hero: Van Halen

Playstation 3
Sept 29th: Ninja Gaiden Sigma 2

Oct 13th: Brutal Legend
Oct 20th: Ratchet & Clank: A Crack In Time
Oct 27th: DJ Hero
Oct 27th: Tekken 6

Nov 3rd: Band Hero
Nov 3rd: Lego Rock Band
Nov 10th: Call of Duty: Modern Warfare 2
Nov 17th: Assassins Creed II

Dec 22nd: Guitar Hero: Van Halen

Wii
Sept 29th: Dead Space Extraction

Oct 4th: Wii Fit Plus
Oct 6th: Spore Hero
Oct 13th: Mario & Sonic at the Olympic Winter Games
Oct 27th: DJ Hero

Nov 3rd: Band Hero
Nov 3rd: Lego Rock Band
Nov 3rd: Rabbids Go Home
Nov 3rd: Silent Hill: Shattered Memories
Nov 10th: Call of Duty: Modern Warfare Reflex
Nov 15th: New Super Mario Bros. Wii
Nov 27th: Resident Evil: The Darkside Chronicles

Dec 22nd: Guitar Hero: Van Halen
Dec 26th: Final Fantasy Chrystal Chronicles: The Crystal Bearers

(I also believe that Tatsunoku vs. Capcom is supposed to fit in somewhere here, unless I missed something.)

Nintendo DS
Sept 29th: Kingdom Hearts 358/2 Days

Oct 6th: Spore Hero Arena
Oct 12th:  Pokemon Mystery Dungeon: Explorers of Sky
Oct 13th: Mario & Sonic at the Olympic Winter Games

Nov 3rd: Lego Rock Band
Nov 10th: Band Hero
Nov 10th: Call of Duty Modern Warfare: Mobilized

Dec 7th: The Legend of Zelda: Spirit Tracks

PSP
Oct 1st: PSPGo [Hardware]
Oct 1st: Gran Tourismo
Oct 1st: Shin Megami Tensei: Persona
Oct 13th: Half Minute Hero
Oct 20th: Grand Theft Auto: Chinatown Wars

Nov 17th: Little Big Planet

(And yes, that’s it for now.)

PC
Oct 13th: Lego Star Wars: The Complete Saga
Oct 22nd: Windows 7 [Operating System]

Nov 10th: Call of Duty: Modern Warfare 2
Nov 17th: Left 4 Dead 2

I don’t like saying things if I can’t back them up. However, something caught my eye today when I bought Patapon 2. Yes, Sony’s trial “PSN-only retail game” which has already caused quite a bit of speculation that Sony’s testing the waters for a possible digital distribution only handheld is even moreso backed by what the actual download ticket says on the back of it.  Upon turning the ticket over and reading what’s on the back, I came across this:

“Memory stick required for PSP 1000 – 3000 series. (610MB required)”

But why would it specifically say “1000-3000 series?”  The only PSPs that are out are the 1000, 2000, and 3000, right?  For now, at least…

You can’t really confirm anything for this, obviously.  As far as we know, this might have been something to tell DBZ fans that their PSP is not a PSP-9001 series for all I care. (Rim-shot) But really, I don’t really see the need to specifically state which PSP models require a memory card if all current models of the system require one, which could mean one thing…

…Sony’s E3 this year might be a bit interesting on the handheld front if this keeps up.

Sega’s been really busy with their long-running RPG franchise in the past while, first releasing this, Phantasy Star Portable, in Japan, and then Phantasy Star Zero on the DS, and then getting their localizations underway.  The demo for PSP, which takes you up to the first boss then leaves you to explore the multiplayer option as much as you choose, has been available for download on PSN for a good portion of the last week now.  With turn-based combat pushed aside a long time ago, being replaced with the real-time combat of MMO entries Phantasy Star Online and Universe, how does this fare on the handheld?

I do have to say that I’m impressed so far. To make me want to play a demo over and over again in anticipation of the release for the full game is quite a feat.  I’m definitely not all that experienced with the PSO-like systems since most of my experience has had to do with playing offline multiplayer at my friend’s house.  I do remember enough of PSO though to know that they’ve greatly improved things in the long run, but I’ll get to that in a bit.

Phantasy Star Portable is like a Sequel to MMO Phantasy Star Universe, with the story picking up not long after it.  In this game you’re playing a new recruit to GUARDIAN, and in your first mission your task is to eliminate the cause of a number of robot malfunctions in a certain area of the GUARDIAN base, along with your mentor and a new CAST. (Cast being the name they give humanoid robots in the PSO timeline.)  In the demo you can only play story mode up to the first boss, but you already get quite the story progression as you come across mysterious woman that could be behind the malfunctions.

Most of the gameplay improvements aren’t new to you if you’ve been playing Phantasy Star Universe, but if you’re an old PSO player that hasn’t touched Universe than you’re bound to love some of the things they’ve done.  First off, moving around is much faster than in the first game, and for you ranger enthusiasts, you can now move and shoot at the same time. (Meaning no more getting ganged up on because you’re stuck shooting in one spot as you get surrounded.)  Targeting is done a bit differently; Where in the original targeting was automatic, holding down the L button will target the closest enemy in front of you and also tell you, in the form of a red reticule, when you are in range.  You can also strafe while targeting, which if you’re a ranger type person like me allows you to spread and hit multiple targets as well.

Along with your usual repitoire of spells you also now have photon arts that can be linked to certain types of equipment.  This gives your weapons special attacks and elemental attributes that can also inflict status ailments on your enemies as well.  The use of technique points has also been abolished in exchange for photon points, which works the same as TP except that it’s linked to your weapon instead. (In other words, each weapon has their own set amount of PP that gets used up as you use photon arts that you’ve linked to said weapon.)  Also new is that photon arts and techniques level up as you continue to use them, unlike in PSO where you had to buy or find a higher level disc and have a high enough mind strength stat.

Along with your base EXP. level now, you also have a class level. You now gain class EXP. whenever you complete a mission in both story and multi mode, which in turn will level your class. This gives you not only an additional stat boost but also raises your proficiency with weapons associated to that class. You are able to switch between the basic classes: Hunter, Ranger, and Force, and also advance to higher classes such as Fighmaster, (I kid you not, it’s listed as “Fighmaster” and not “Fightmaster”) and Gunmaster.  This is a welcome addition as now you are no longer committed to staying to a single class, and can advance to higher ones.

The action pallete from the first game has been improved as well.  Instead of just having six slots for various attacks, techs, and items, which are all assigned to a certain button, you now have six slots for items and six slots for weapon configuration. (You can now hold two weapons at once, although some weapons take up both hands. You can use your “left hand” weapon by holding down the R button)  Each weapon usually has a basic attack which is executed by pressing the square button, and its linked photon art is used with the triangle button.  You can change your weapons or use items on the fly by holding down the circle button, selecting the weapon set you want to switch to/selecting the item you want to use, and releasing circle.  Although in the heat of battle, it takes a bit more time to heal yourself with an item than it did with the one button press in PSO, I find this a lot better.

I only have two beefs with the game so far right now, one being the “city” areas being replaced with menus, which is something I’ve never been used to before.  The other is the fact that things get screwed up when you change weapons on the action pallete slot that you’re currently using. You’d think that if you changed a weapon in the pallete that you currently had equipped that it would automatically update it, right? But it doesn’t; You have to reselect it in order to use the new configuration, else you’re going in weaponless.

And that’s all I have to say so far.  I’m absolutely digging this right now, and if you’re an old PSO vet, or maybe you haven’t played any of them past Phantasy Star IV, I would highly suggest giving this a try if you have a PSP.  Go ahead and download the demo, as it will definitely keep you busy up until its release.

Phantasy Star Portable is developed by Sonic Team (They did something right for a change!) and Alfa System, (The same company that also brought you Tales of the World: Radiant Mythology and Radiant Mythology 2) and published by Sega.  PSP has been out in Japan since last July and is currently slated for release in North America on March 3rd.