Professor Layton and the Curious Village

Quick Summary
Professor Layton and Luke are asked to visit a village and solve the mystery of The Golden Apple. The richest man in a village (Baron Reinhold)  died and in his will he said he would leave his entire fortune to the one that solved his last puzzle. The treasure seeking individual simply must find the Golden Apple hidden somewhere in the village and they’ll inherit his fortune. The wife of the recently deceased Baron Reinhold has invited Professor Layton to the village to help her solve it. However everyone in the village are just as obsessed with puzzles as the late Baron and in order to accomplish anything and gain their assistance you need to humor them and solve their puzzles throughout the game.

Rhapsody: A Musical Adventure – Review Blurb

PS1-2000

With the re-release of this game on the DS coming up this seemed like an appropriate review choice. Rhapsody was probably the 5th or 6th game I ever played to completion and was my first game by Nippon Ichi. It was a gift for my sister, who was 6 years my junior. I had finished my video games that I got for Christmas so I decided to permanently borrow this one to help pass the time. Forgive me if I’m rusty on the details because its been a while.

Thousand Arms – Review Blurb

Playstation – Atlus – 1999

Thousand Arms was one of my first video games…I had just played Final Fantasy 8 and 7 and I wanted to play another game on my Playstation. I bought it on impulse because the cover looked so much like anime…I’ve matured since then about how I choose video games but I’m still very glad I got Thousand Arms, it was the begining of a loving gaming experience between me and Atlus.

Summon Night: Twin Age – Review Blurb

Nintendo DS – 2008

Quick Summary
In the world of Clardona there are two races, the humans, and the Kascuza. The Kascuza have beastlike features and are more in tune with nature than the humans. The two races didn’t get along due to their differing views on how magic should be used and in the end the Kascuza were forced to live on a small island. There are also Summon Beasts which are summoned from a different dimension. Seven years ago at a human research summon facility an accident occurred due to a young girl whose summoning powers went out of control. The girl was assumed to have died along with her family. However she survived and lived hidden among the Kascuza, near her coming of age ceremony the spirits of nature suddenly began to go wild, and she and her summon Aldo leave to discover why the spirits are becoming dangerous.

Skies of Arcadia – Review Blurb

Skies of Arcadia

2003 – Gamecube

This is the first game in a long time where I want to complete every aspect of the game because I’m having fun, and not because I simply feel obligated to complete all side quests because I bought the game. Usually I go for the anti-hero type of main characters, I’m not usually too fond of main characters that are through and through good guys…but I like Vyse a lot, he makes the cut. He manages to be a good guy without being a cheese ball. Also the lack of romance in this plot is a welcome change of pace from most RPGs, they just want to be awesome pirates and explore the world. I like that simplicity, it manages to have a great story without involving romantic emotions (something I felt FF12 failed at).

Octomania – Review Blurb

Octomania

2008 – Wii

So why on earth did I buy this totally random game? The person who made this game also made Puyo Pop Fever which I had fun playing at a friend’s house a while back. Plus it was $20 new with free shipping.

ICO – Review Blurb

PS2 – 2001

Quick Summary
You [ICO] are a young boy with horns who seems about the age where he is on the brink of going into puberty. You are carried across multiple landscapes to a castle in the middle of a body of water where you are locked up in a sarcophagus. Children with horns are thought to be a bad omen and the villagers sacrifice those children in fear. Although naturally the tale doesn’t end here, the ground shakes as the villagers leave and ICO rocks the sarcophagus until it falls over and breaks.

As ICO is escaping he comes across an ethereal looking girl [named Yorda] locked in a cage. Do you leave her? Of course not! You free her, she seems to be a very nice but completely ignorant girl that acts more like a baby chick. As you attempt to escape it’s revealed that Yorda is the daughter of the Queen of the castle and that neither will be allowed to leave. After which point you spend the rest of the game solving puzzles in order to escape while being pursued by hordes of dark shadowey foes that attempt to grab Yorda and it’s your duty to rescue her each time. You lose the game if you don’t save Yorda from the shadow creatures in time.