Buy Yakuza 3 Campaign

I'm going to start a little campaign all by myself to get people in the know about Yakuza 3, and have people actually buy it.

Sega can't be trusted to do this alone. I'll give them credit for actually releasing it here after insisting so many times they wouldn't, but in many ways it seems like they are sending it over here to die.

The reason I say this is it is being released against two heavy hitters: God of War 3 and Final Fantasy XIII. I have no idea what they are thinking releasing a niche game against what will be two of the biggest selling games of the year.

Not surprisingly, Sega is doing nothing to help rise people's interest in the game. I was always curious about it, but wasn't sold on the game until I played a demo of it.

Where did I play this demo? On PSN of course. But don't go to the US PSN store and try downloading it, because it won't be there. No, you must create a Japanese account and go get it from the Japanese PSN store.

Here is a link to show you how to do it. Trust me it is simple:

Create a Japanese Account on PSN

Now that you've done that click on one of the tabs that says PS3 and cycle through the games until you see the Yakuza 3 logo and then just download that sucker.

This whole ordeal makes me really think Sega America is run by a bunch of monkeys in a board room pushing a red button. I remember back in the day getting demos for games on discs in magazines where the whole game is in Japanese, but just before you play the game it gave a disclaimer saying the final product would be in English. They could AT LEAST do that here, if they don't plan on releasing a demo. Sure, sure they might release a demo when the game gets closer to launch, but this game needs advertising NOW if even hopes to aspire to a snowballs chance in hell.

So this will be the first post in this campaign. Expect many more, including hands on impressions of the demo and a review of Yakuza 2.

Tsukihime: Melty Blood

Long time no see! Honestly, I've been putting off this review because I'm at a loss as to what to say about it. Overall I have mixed emotions.

First of all, I finally found the weak link in the Tsukihime storyline, and that link is Melty Blood.

Don't get me wrong however. The story is excellent, and the new main character, Sion, is a really interesting and fascinating character and she is probably in my top three of the Tsukihime women (The first being Arcueid and the second being Akiha).

My problem stems from the multitude of endings in the game and how none of them are really different from each other. If you look back at Tsukihime, every story path is radically different, with one path usually ending in a characters death and the other not so much. In Melty Blood there are eight different endings, and all but two of them follow pretty much the exact same path and they all end the exact same way. So about the sixth or seventh go around I had pretty much had it with the whole Melty Blood storyline. I mean, I get it the bad guy is a rumor that turns into reality (Persona 2 says hi), you don't have to tell me seven times in seven different ways.

Part of my bitterness to this entire thing is because the True Ending to the game can't be viewed until you finish all the OTHER endings. Which I did, and for some reason the game didn't register one of the endings and it won't let me see the TRUE ENDING. So after all that I still have no idea how this thing was really supposed to end. And at this point I really, really don't feel like going back and replaying it seven more times.

In any case the main crux of the game is a fighting game, which is quite excellent. It isn't a simple fighting game though, so when playing Arcade Mode, expect a challenge.

I did find it frustrating that the game only allows for analog controls and not d-pad support. In a 2D fighting game d-pad support is a necessity if you don't have an arcade stick. I know the other iterations of Melty Blood fixed this, but the first game and Re-ACT do not support digital controls.

I fully intended to continue on to the other games in the series, but I think I must admit defeat and take a break. Perhaps I'll read the manga version first before I tackle ACT Cadenza.

Tsukihime: Kagetsu Tohya part 2

It seems I was slightly premature in posting my impressions of the Twilight Grass Moon as there were at least two endings that I hadn't seen until I finished the Ten Nights of Dream section. There isn't really a need to cover them, other then to say they add much needed closure on the whole story. If it hadn't been for the Internet I would have missed them entirely, so I'll just give you a clue about how to see them. Once the main game is finished and the day says "repeat again..." go back into "Twilight Grass Moon" and see if something has changed color. I will leave it at that.

The other major section of Kagetsu Tohya are ten short stories that are unlocked as you play the other half of the game. Seven of these stories are written by Nasu, the author of Tsukihime, and the other three are from "contributors". More on how I feel about that later.

I won't go into depth for these stories but just say how I feel about each of them briefly.

Good Luck, Ciel-sensei

This story isn't canon, or I guess you can say it happens on the fringe world of Tsukihime where all characters are self aware. It is much in the same vein as most of the Plus+Disc stories where the characters make fun of the world in which they all inhabit and talk about plot inconsistencies. Most of which readers wouldn't have been aware of if Nasu hadn't brought it up, but still it makes for a fun story. I liked the ones on Plus+Disc a lot more though.

A Story for the Evening

This was probably my favorite story of all ten. It is a direct sequel to Akiha's "True Ending" in Tsukihime. In Tsukihime her story was the most tragic of all the female heroine's but this story makes her "True Ending" the only one of the "True Endings" that actually ends happily.

Akiha returns to boarding school after Shiki's "death" and there is a weird mystery involving her, another student, and a sinister mailbox. I hate to make this comparison, but it sort of does the same thing that Final Fantasy X2 did, in that you think it is going down some route to bring back the hero from the original, and then it turns out to be something completely different. However, in this story it is handled much, much better than in FFX2.

Normally I'd be upset that such a good dramatic story got changed to have a non tragic ending in a sequel, but I will admit it always bugged me that Akiha, who I thought was a great character, was the only girl who got shafted on the endings, but her endings were tragedies, so this story rectifies that.


Crimson Moon

Being an Arcueid fan, I thought I would really like this story, but really I didn't. It is told from Roa's perspective when he met Arcueid and the Crimson Moon, but it is told in such a muddled and confusing way I'm still not really sure what happened in the story.

I have a feeling that I should have read the Plus Period Art book to get a better understanding, but as that is not translated this story is kind of lost on me.


Red Demon God

This story was about Shiki's birth father. I'm not much on prequels where I know the protagonist is doomed, but as a short story it works really really well. Plus since Shiki is viewing the whole thing from some fragmented memory of his father, he gets to see that his father really loved and cared for him, and gave up his bloodthirsty ways to settle down. I'm glad the character of Shiki gets to see this because it gives him some much needed parental love since his adopted father was such a douche.

This was my second favorite story of the ten.


Nanako-chan SOS

This was a fun little divergent story with Shiki's pal Arihiko. This was the funniest story on the entire disc, and actually the funniest moments in the main story involved Nanako as well.

I feel like this whole thing could have been expanded into it's own visual novel, or a parody of one because the set up is very similar to a dating sim, except Arihiko and Nanako don't fit into the respective roles of a likable protagonist and a normal cute naive girl who just happens to drop in on the main character. You have to feel kind of bad for Arihiko as his best bud has dozens of beautiful women after him, and Arihiko gets stuck with the spirit of a gun that has hooves for hands.

Sadly the story doesn't really go anywhere, and just kind of ends without any closure. But I think that is part of the point.


Imogirisou

This is a parody of some old Visual Novel and subsequent movie. Having never read or seen either the parody went completely over my head. Still it has some funny moments. They break the forth wall a lot which as I've mentioned before, I can't stand.


Flower of Thanatos

Not really much to say here except it was an excuse to include a hentai scene in these short stories. I like both Kohaku and Hisui, but if I only get one H scene with the girls from Tsukihime with Takashi Takeuchi much improved art style, I would have picked someone else.




Now on to the last three stories. Like I mentioned before, these were all written by people other then Nasu. I tried to give them a chance, knowing that, as Takeuchi did do art for them so may be considered canon. But really, you can tell they are written by people other then Nasu, and as such aren't any different from any random fanfic you can get through a Google search. It's really great he let other people play with his characters, but I just can't take them seriously.

The only one of the three I want to say anything about is Dawn, and if I had to pick one to be considered canon, this would be it.

The reason is, unlike the other two stories, the author picked up from a loose end from Tsukihime, created new characters, and made a story within the Tsukihime universe that doesn't impact the main characters at all. Because of this it does much of what " Genshi Doumei" did in Plus+Disc. It helps to expand the world past the main characters and makes it feel like a living breathing universe. It also helped to win me over because the loose end it tied up was the same exact thing I bitched about myself in Ciel's Ending review.


And that pretty much does it for Tsukihime's visual novels. It was a long road, but in the end I think I might just be more partial to Tsukihime more then Fate/Stay Night. Or at least I can say they are equal in my eyes, which I didn't think would ever happen. I can say I would be more willing to see more adventures with Tsukihime characters then with Fate/ characters.

Of course I still have all of Melty Blood to get through, and that is my next endeavor, but until the promised Tsukihime 2 is released (I won't hold my breath) the visual novels end here.

Tsukihime: Kagetsu Tohya Part 1

Kagetsu Tohya is broken into two distinct parts: Twilight Grass Moon and Ten Nights of Dream.

The crux of the experience rests with Twilight Grass Moon as it is a direct sequel to Tsukihime (specifically Arcueid's Good End). As progression is made through the story, Shiki encounters memories or books that open up the ten short stories that make up Ten Nights of Dream. Seven of these stories are written by Nasu and vary in degree from canon to parody. Some of them are sequels to certain story paths in Tsukihime, some are question and answer segments like those found in Plus+Disc, there is one hard core sex scene and one parody of some game or novel.

But I will cover those at another time. For now I'll just reflect on the Twilight Grass Moon section.

As I hinted at in my previous post, Kagetsu Tohya might just be my favorite Visual Novel just because of how it is structured. It doesn't read like any Visual Novel I have played (well Fate/hollow atraxia for obvious reasons plays nearly the exact same way but this came first so we will give it credit for being original), and as a result it creates something new and different for the genre.

The send up is pretty straight forward, though I'll try to avoid spoilers. Something happened to Shiki and now his days repeat over and over again, Groundhog Day/Endless Eight style. In fact, if the TV show Haruhi Suzamiya had handled the Endless Eight saga as a Visual Novel instead of eight episodes of a TV show I think the experiment would have had much more success. But I digress.

Even though there is something sinister lurking in the shadows, and a constant threat is apparent (just from the fact Shiki repeats the same day over and over), Kagetsu Tohya is a much more laid back and carefree take on the Tsukihime Universe and as such, the characters get a lot more chance to grow and develop. This is mostly apparent with Shiki whom has been separated from his Nanaya personality and the result is a much more whimsical Shiki.

Perhaps it is because he somewhat realizes the world is repeating and there are no consequences for his actions, or it is because his dark side is separated and roaming around town freely, but the Tohno Shiki in Kagetsu Tohya is quite the prankster. Or perhaps, pervert is a more applicable word as most of his pranks involve him sneaking into girls rooms and looking around, and then doing some shameless thing to surprise the hell out of them.

He has also turned into quite the flirt due to the multitude of beautiful women he deals with day in and day out (much to the chagrin of his pal Arihiko who seems more like a ladies man then Shiki). It is never directly stated that Twilight Grass Moon is a sequel to Arcueid's Good Ending but it becomes relatively clear. Shiki and Arcueid don't do any heavy making out but he talks about spending time with her constantly and the biggest tell tell sign, he has a key to her place and goes in whenever he feels like it, whereas he has to knock on Ciel's door to go in. Also Arcueid refers to Akiha as "little sister", to imply that Arcueid and Shiki will marry some day. There are other indicators but I won't spoil them as they are usually used for comic effect.

Regardless of their dating situation, Arcueid and Shiki seem to have a pretty open relationship as Shiki hits on all the girls, even his sister. And the ending especially, though I suppose Arcueid indirectly gave Shiki permission to do the deed with a certain other female character (it's to save her life after all!).

There are hints into characters backstory but these scenes don't go on very long as they are usually just flags to tell you that a side story has been unlocked in Ten Nights of Dream.

Although I loved it I had a few minor gripes.

The repeating day is fun to do and start the day over and over, changing your experience. It almost creates an "open world" visual novel, if that makes any sense. However, as you dig deeper and deeper into the story it becomes very muddled trying to remember and recall which routes you've already traversed and it becomes difficult to find those key scenes you haven't seen yet. In this way it makes Kagetsu Tohya much more of a game then other Visual Novels almost on par with classic text-adventures (though not nearly that complex and confusing).

The other issue is with part of the story itself, so some SPOILERS ahead. About halfway through Shiki realizes the whole repeating world is a dream. Once this happens I started to not feel as enthused with his interactions with other characters as I felt they weren't really happening, they were just a dream. Shortly after that it is revealed that while it is a dream world, all the people in it are the actual consciousness of the people Shiki knows. So in fact, the interactions and conversations are real, it's just that everyone is dreaming the events together and they aren't happening in person. I'm fine with that, but when I thought they were all fake and in Shiki's head only some of the comedy was lost for me.

In any case the story is very good and it only helps to expand the ever growing Tsukihime Universe. This is even more true with the Ten Nights of Dream, as I only have three more to go on those before I include impressions for each of those segments.

Tsukihime: Plus+Disc

The Tsukihime Plus+Disc is classified as a "Fun Disc" or a "Fan Disc" depending on who you are talking to. Essentially Fan Discs are supplemental features to further extend the story and characters of a beloved visual novel/dating sim.

The only other "Fan Disc" I've played is Fate/hollow ataraxia, which after playing Plus+Disc I realize that Fate/hollow ataraxia is defiantly more of a full on sequel then it is a Fan Disc.

That isn't really a slam against Plus+Disc, just be aware that there really isn't much here other then four really short stories.

And of those four stories, only one of them is a legitimate canon storyline. Genshi Doumei is the first story on the disc and it takes place shortly after Arcueid's Good Ending. The only reason I know which girl's ending it takes place after is thanks to the Internet and Kagetsu Tohya(the sequel), because there is no indication of that in the story itself. Arcueid isn't mentioned at all, Akiha has a small cameo over the phone, and Ciel is hinted at being present.

Despite the lack of familiar characters, Genshi Doumei is a great little story as it really helps flesh out the Tsukihime universe. We get to see Shiki from another persons perspective which is interesting and we get to see other people with special abilities interacting with the world.

However, despite the other stories not being canon, I probably enjoyed them more.

Although I say they aren't canon, that is only partially true becuase the information presented in the stories IS canon, just the scene itself is not. What it boils down to is instead of Nasu doing a FAQ or a Q and A where he answered questions dealing with plot inconsistencies, he had the leading ladies from Tsukihime do that for him. All the girls sit around in a cafe drinking tea, talking about all the unexplained mysteries in Tsukihime. The whole scenario is very entertaining as the girls take jabs at one and other and then gang up on the absent Shiki for causing a lot of trouble for each of them. The second half of this "Coffee Chat" sequence has the forgotten heroine of Tsukihime, Yumizuka Satsuki talking about her storyline and what it should have been if it had been finished. Her and a strange version of Arcueid called Neko-Arc discuss Melty Blood and some concept art for Satsuki where she looks beautiful, but I've never seen that artwork used anywhere except here, so maybe they are saving it for the Tsukihime remake, or she is some hidden character in Melty Blood that I've never seen.

The final story didn't really do anything for me. It is a dream sequence in Shiki's head, but he breaks the forth wall a lot, which I can't stand in stories so I just ignored the whole thing.

All in all, Plus+Disc was shorter then I expected, but I still laughed a lot and had a good time. though I'm already halfway into Kagetsu Tohya and it blows Plus+Disc out of the water in terms of content. In fact Kagetsu Tohya is shaping up to being my favorite of all of Type Moon works, but that is a discussion for another day.

Tsukihime: The Final Three

I'm going to break each of these final three endings into mini sections as they each deserve one. Massive Spoilers ahead!

Kohaku

This is technically the last story path if you follow the game as it is meant to be played, and I can say it ends with a bang. I have a certain fondness for mentally damaged women (don't tell my wife), so I ended up really liking Kohaku's story, because of all of the Tsukihime women she is by far the most messed up.

It also becomes increasingly clear that the real villain in this entire story is Tohno Makihisa, Akiha and Shiki's dearly departed dad. Unfortunately since he died before the story begins, and he never shows up an any facet, these characters can never get revenge against the one guy who royally screwed up all their lives, and they have to find other ways to get closure and move on.

Let me just list some of the horrible things this jerkwad has done:
1) raped Kohaku when she was 8, everyday for years.
2) killed an entire race of people called the Nanaya
3) adopted the last of the Nanaya's and willingly let his other son drain his life
4) abandoned the adopted kid
5) abused his daughter and maids
6) killed multiple family pets just for kicks
7) killed his son and then let him transform into a vampire

I'm sure there is more then that, but I think it is safe to say the guy was a royal prick.

Kohaku I think got the worst of it, because all the other characters had to deal with his evil deeds indirectly, while Kohaku had to deal with it day in and day out, turning her into a mindless doll. Her outward cheerful appearance she shows the world is 100% an act.

I realize now this is where Nasu shines. A first glance at his works, it appears he provides us with a bunch of stereotypical characters you might find in any anime or game. But he uses our preconceived notions of what these characters are to trick us. Kohaku is a prime example of this in action. Never once throughout the entire story did I think there was anything sinister about Kohaku, because I had seen her type of character so many times; the cheerful maid, who isn't afraid to tell you what is on her mind. That is far, far from what Kohaku is, and as Shiki starts to unravel her story we see how many layers she has.

There are some genuine sweet moments in this story, and the love between Shiki and Kohaku seems as genuine as his relationship between Arcueid and himself in the other story.

Kohaku's tale was a beautiful way to wrap up the storyline.

Arcueid's Good Ending

I saved this one for last, mostly because the sequels are based off this ending, and to be honest, I wanted to end it with Arcueid fresh in my mind and not any of the other girls. I'm glad I saved it for last because after the emotional rollercoster of Akiha, Hisui, and Kohaku I needed a perfectly happy ending where Shiki doesn't have to deal with any Tohno drama.

I liked this ending because, hey, I'm a sucker for a happy ending. However, at the same time, the ending kind of pisses me off because it makes the "True Ending" completely pointless.

In all the other story paths, Shiki's final decision in that path determines which ending you get. Therefore you either choose wisely or not. The decision in Arcueid's path doesn't really change anything except for some unknown reason in one ending Arcueid decides to sleep it off and then go to Shiki and be happy for the rest of their lives (Good Ending) or just goes to him and says she loves him but will crave his blood from now on and they can't be together (True Ending).

But if she could just sleep it off and then be happy with Shiki, how in the hell would the "True Ending" ever happen, unless she was just finding a convenient way to dump him. It's a shame because I actually liked the "True Ending" as well, but after seeing the "Good Ending" I just don't see it as feasibly happening.

I read somewhere that Nasu (writer) was told by Takeuchi (artist) that Nasu is great at writing parting scenes so that is why he chose the True Ending as the first ending. I will admit Nasu is great at parting scenes but this one was just unnecessary.

Besides the entire game ends with one huge parting scene:

Eclipse

Once all of the girls endings are acquired a new menu item opens up called "Eclipse". This little scene could happen after any of the story paths in the main game (except Akiha's True Ending).

The scene reunites Shiki with his Sensei that gave him his glasses. It's a nice little scene that bookends the tale of Shiki Tohno pretty well. Nothing really earth shattering happens. It is implied that Shiki won't live very long with his body the way it is, but I think that is even up for debate because most of the girls find way to prolong his life in their respective paths.

But it is a cute little scene and I can't find a reason for complaining about it being in there.

And that does it for Tsukihime!

Next on the list is the Plus+Disc and then the actual true sequel to Tsukihime, Kagetsu Tohya, and finally I'll cap it all off with some sweet tasty Melty Blood.

Tsukihime: Hisui's True and Good Ending

WHAT A TWIST!

In this modern age of the Internet, where it seems like every great secret is spoiled, I find it amazing there are any secrets left that aren't blown by Wikipedia. And so I don't become what I just criticized I'll leave it there and not give away anything other then saying I really didn't expect much out of the Maids of the Tohno manor but so far Hisui's story delivered.

It was shorter then the others so far, and I have to say it is really interesting to see how the entire story has morphed over the different girl's stories. It starts off a pretty action packed Vampire hunting story and has now evolved into a psychological drama, with hardly any "battles". Every incarnation of the story has been fascinating and wholly different from the last version.

Though after saying that I will say of all the paths so far Hisui's felt a lot more like a dating sim then a visual novel. Not that there is anything wrong with that, it's a very good dating sim, but the story takes a back seat to Shiki trying to put the moves on the shy maid.

Part of this is due to the nature of Hisui herself. She is shy, and introverted, even robot like, and freaks out of a man even touches her. So Shiki has his work cut out for him, and really has to give her a lot of attention to make her open up.

I like how Hisui's personality remained consistent throughout. So far all the girls have had pretty dynamic personalities so it is nice to have one stable girl in the group. She always remains quiet and reserved even when she finally opens up. Having her change into someone more outgoing, like her sister Kohaku would feel pretty jarring.

The True Ending was my favorite of the two because it is a total mind rape. The Good Ending is a much happier version of the True Ending.

Though in the end she is probably the least interesting of all the girls, I still liked her a lot and she still rates above Ciel in my book. Again, no Arcueid in this route, which is good for Hisui.

Also I have a theory that Nasu really, really hates Akiha.

Last on the list is the "other" sister Kohaku, Arcueid's good ending, and the final "secret" Eclipse ending.