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To be honest I can’t believe I manage to survive up to this stage. Today marked my submission for my final assignment and now I just have to worry about the exams. Hell at least the hard part has finally ended for this term. Feels really great! Next term will be a slow term for me. That gives me plenty of time to keep this blog updated regularly and to finish off tons of games that I have put off for the past months. There’s still two Legend of Zelda games to complete along with some PSP games.

After playing Legend of Zelda Phantom Hourglass, my hands starting itching for Wind Waker. I asked Neko to help me search on Ebay and we manage to find a copy. It arrived at his place last week and I should be receiving it pretty soon. He manage to help me find a 3rd party Gamecube controller and the memory card as well. Pretty hard to find a Gamecube controller in stores nowadays (other than PlayAsia).

Last week I picked up Castlevania: Dracula X Chronicles for the PSP. It’s actually a remake of Castlevania: Rondo of Blood, which didn’t see the light outside Japan back in those days. To sweeten the deal, Konami added the original (PC-Engine) Rondo of Blood along with Symphony of the Night. You get 3 games for the price of one. I will have my review on the game up later.

Lady luck was on my side last Monday. I went to catch Resident Evil Extinction (which is actually kinda erm .. lame?) with my girlfriend and I manage to find a copy of Resident Evil (Remake) for the Gamecube. I have been searching this ages, was going to get from Ebay if everything else fails.

I think I have enough games to keep me company for a long while, a long while.

Thanks to Neko, I was able to give HellGate: London beta a tryout. Last night after a bit of problems here and there, we manage to go through a few simple quests before calling a night. Since the beta is actually a build that is 2-4 weeks old compared to what the developers are tweaking right now, we can expect some bugs that are still present (glitches, stuck etc). Nevertheless, playing the beta gave me some experience of what to expect from the full game, and I have to say its shaping up pretty well.

If you haven’t heard of this game before, it’s basically a Diablo-type game in full 3D. This game is created by Flagship Studios, a company that is formed by former high executives of Blizzard North (creators of the original Diablo series). It’s not a surprise to have a “Diablo” feeling when playing this game, cause that was what I felt. More information can be found at the official website

Character creation - Click for full size picture

HellGate: London Beta Hands-on

For the beta test, I chose a BladeMaster as my character. It’s typically a swordman where you can equip shields and blades. Neko chose Marksman, who uses guns as a primary weapon. There are a lot of other characters available but sadly I didn’t manage to go through all of them (It was pretty laggy during the character creation so I just skim through it).

After the character creation, I was brought to a city map where they will give you a brief tutorial on the basic controls. From here you can run around a bit, slash some demons and complete a very simple quest. Upon completion, a portal will open which brings me to a place called Holborn Station.

Holborn Station - Click for full size picture

Holborn Station is the place where everyone meets. I can see other characters running around and here you can get your quests from NPCs (Non Playing Characters). The first few were pretty easy, such as finding a “leg” for a poor kid called Joey or slay 10 specific demons. Completion of quests will gain you experience points, money and sometimes new equipments.

Overview of London - Click for full size picture

The interface of HellGate: London strongly resembles Diablo. You have your life meter on the left while on your right is your mana meter. The small blue-ish icons next to them shows what is equipped on your character hands. Items and skills are shown in the middle and you can activate them by pressing the number keys on the keyboard. Attack actions are triggered by the mouse buttons. For the BladeMaster, left and right click shows two types of slash animation, but I’m not sure if there is any difference between the two.

Equipment screen looks similar to Diablo too. You can switch equipments or weapons by dragging them onto the highlighted box. One thing I like about the equipment screen is that you are able to compare the items you highlighted with the items you equipped easily, as the information between the two items are shown side by side.

HellGate: London uses the skill tree system, where more powerful skills will be unlocked as you fulfill the pre-requisites. You character will gain a skill point each time they level up.

Dead Demons - Click for full size picture

In terms of game performance, HellGate: London runs pretty well on my laptop. In most areas the framerate is smooth and the only problem I had is the long load time and bad disk cache. Seeing that this is the beta I’m sure the game isn’t fully optimized yet. I ran the game at 1024 x 768 with high graphic settings and anti-aliasing on. Below are my comp specs;

• Intel Core Duo 1.66Ghz
• 1.5GB DDR2 ram
• ATI Mobility x1600

The beta only allow us to have a taste on how the multiplayer is like and I have to say I enjoyed it, especially if you have a friend to play along. The graphic looks pretty good on Directx9 and the sound does a good job giving London an eerie atmosphere.

My Upgraded Character - Click for full size picture

Base on the beta, HellGate: London is turning out to be a great game and like what Neko said, it’s a “spiritual” successor to Diablo. The full game will be shipping around end of this month and I have serious thoughts of picking it up. HellGate: London will feature both single-player and multi-player modes. The multi-player is free of charge and you have the option to pay USD$10 per month for additional stuff such as extra slots, special characters etc. No official list was given but that’s roughly about it.

That’s about it on my first hands-on experience on the beta. I’m going to London!

Speculating the upcoming games on the Kingdom Hearts series is something which a lot of fans do. Back in the days before the launch of Kingdom Hearts II, fans were making a lot of guesses on the true identify of the guy in cloak (Roxas), why was he looking for Sora, what is his relation with him and the worst thing is, why is he wielding the Oblivion and Oathkeeper keyblade? The secret movie was replayed hundreds of times to catch any possible clue presented, although the hints Square-Enix gave wasn’t 100% correct either.

Picture Source: Kingdom Hearts Insider

At Tokyo Game Show 07, we now know that Birth By Sleep (Sony PSP) is actually a prequel to the first Kingdom Hearts, setting in a time line before Sora make his debut. The key characters (up to this point of time) so far are Terra, Ven, Aqua, Master Xehanort and Mickey.

After Square-Enix announced the game, me and Neko started doing our own speculations and we came out with a few theories. Note: the speculations you are about to read below is NOT an official story from Square-Enix and merely theories on what we think. Some details might be outdated or off course so don’t go shooting at us for giving false information.

Ven:
- Nomura said the 3 armored characters were somehow related to Sora and gang. Ven also looks suspiciously like Sora/Roxas. Since Nomura also hinted that this scene happened in the past, it’s possible that this is Sora’s father(?).

Terra:
- In Kingdom Hearts: Birth by Sleep trailer for the PSP, Terra called the previously unknown old man in KH2:FM+ secret trailer, “Master Xehanort”. At the end of the secret trailer, when Xehanort made a giant blue heart appear in the sky, Terra’s eye shone like a Heartless/Nobody. Was he a servant? Were they all Xehanort’s followers? Or did he went to the dark side?

Aqua:
- related to anyone? Sora’s mom? Riku’s mom? Kairi’s mom?

1st Theory:
Birth by Sleep could really mean that Xehanort somehow released something from the heart in the sky for some ultimate purpose. Then he “went to sleep” and thus a new Xehanort was born. By “went to sleep”, it could also mean many different things, such as sealing of memory or powers temporarily in order to gain something else.

The new Xehanort landed in Radiant Garden with no memories and met up with Ansem the Wise. It is also possible that the old Xehanort did this on purpose to infiltrate Ansem the Wise, and without memories or powers, Ansem the Wise would not have found out the truth.

The old Xehanort might have planned for everything in KH1 and KH2 to happen, and once both Heartless and Nobody had been defeated, the true Xehanort would appear once again.

2nd Theory:
A bit of assumption is needed first: Ven is Sora’s father, Terra is Riku’s father. The battle happened in the past. The first theory can also fit into this theory.

After the battle, all 3 keyblade users survived and went to Destiny Island. Then Sora and Riku were born. In the first secret trailer found in KH2, it was shown that Terra pulled out what would be Sora’s Kingdom Key. And from the actions we can assume that Terra was the leader among the 3. That would make Riku the true successor of the Key of Light. In KH1, it was stated that Riku was the true Keyblade Master, but because he lost his heart to the darkness, Sora was chosen to replace him. But later on, Riku received Way to Dawn, which was picked up by Ven in the first trailer.

The 2nd trailer showed the words that says there are no coincidences in fate. Terra’s glowing eyes might be a sign that he was falling into the darkness (similar to Ansem and Roxas). Riku never mentioned that his father was around, and perhaps that contributed to why he believed there were other worlds outside of Destiny Island. He might have believed that his father was travelling the worlds, and he wanted to do the same instead of being stuck on an island. In his eagerness to do so, he succumbed to the darkness so easily even though he had a strong heart. This could suggest that he shared Terra’s trait.

Other than the theories, Neko came out with a time line speculation.

• Long ago, Keyblade War. Xehanort started a masterplan.
• Kingdom Hearts I (We fought Xehanort’s Heartless, the Fake Ansem)
• Chain of Memories (Sora went to sleep at the end of CoM)
• 358/2 Days (Roxas taking over the spotlight)
• Birth by Sleep. (Xehanort’s soul guided Sora’s dream to what really happened in the first point and asked for help)
• Kingdom Hearts II (Sora woke up, forgot everything, fought Xehanort’s nobody)
• Kingdom Hearts: Coded (Jimminy found weird entries in his journal from their time in Castle Oblivion, Mickey feels theres something missing that he doesn’t remember as well due to Castle Oblivion. So they re-traced Sora’s steps in Kingdom Hearts I. At the end, he found it… and…)
• Kingdom Hearts 2 (The King’s Letter arrived for Sora, Riku and Kairi)

Quick Theories (things that just came into our minds)
- Xehanort’s soul can also mean Memories, which is a key point in the first secret trailer of Kingdom Hearts II “Xehanort’s Memory”.

- Terra might be the Xehanort we see in Kingdom Hearts II (Xemnas looked like Terra). He could have sealed off or killed the real Master Xehanort and take his name (like how the fake Ansem used Ansem the Wise’s name back in the first Kingdom Hearts).

- It can be assumed that Xehanort walked the Path of Twilight which means he went from light into the darkness. Possibly a part of him still belongs in the light and wants someone to stop him.

- Going by the theory that Xehanort’s memory guided Sora’s dream, the part Xehanort asked that he is to be stopped might be an altered scene by his memory, the part of him that’s still in the light, to ask Sora and Mickey to stop his plans. This is very possible since Castle Oblivion has powers to alter a person’s memories.

It is known that Square-Enix isn’t perfect in leaving clues. In between Another Side Another Story and Deep Dive (the secret trailer in Kingdom Hearts I), everyone was convinced Roxas was two different person in there. So the clues that we picked up from the Final Mix+ could be incorrect. Regardless this is as far as we can conclude for now until more information is given out.

Those who have been playing Legend of Zelda games would probably expect this to happen, as it has always been the same since God knows when. Legend of Zelda games is always about Link saving Princess Zelda, using his trusty boomerang, bow & arrow, shovel and any other ‘utensils’ Link can dig up. Let’s not forget the pointy green hat, a shield, a sword and the tri-force symbol. Heck there’s a lot more recycled stuff but I’m just gonna stop here.

Before I go any further, I’m just going to say that Phantom Hourglass is the second Legend of Zelda games I ever touch in my life. First one is Twilight Princess and yes I never touched the previous games before. Most of the information and tricks I know is taken from my girlfriend. She has been playing Zelda games since the NES era.

I manage to picked up Phantom Hourglass last Saturday and have been playing it everyday (throwing aside my PSP and Jeanne D’Arc). One great thing about Zelda games is that, you don’t have to play the previous games in order to know the game. However knowing previous games might give you a bit of advantage since you will probably recognize some of the old tricks presented. Regardless whether you are old school or new comer, you can jump right into the game.

The story in Phantom Hourglass continues straight from where Wind Waker (Nintendo Gamecube) left off and this time we see Princess Zelda being captured by a Ghost Ship. It’s up to good for nothing and goofy Link to save her. I’m not really sure he’s this goofy in Wind Waker but he is in Phantom Hourglass. It’s not bad of course. It feels fresh to play Link in a comedy personality unlike the seriousness in Twilight Princess.

You control Link’s every movement by using the stylus and only the stylus. There’s no option available to switch to D-pad and the buttons (including the D-pad) are used as short-cut keys to call up the main menu and items menu. Using the stylus for so many actions might seem tedious for an action RPG but to be honest, I wouldn’t ask for any other controls. It feels really natural and Link’s attacks are easily performed by moving the stylus in a certain motion.

Graphically Phantom Hourglass looks good, pretty similar to Final Fantasy 3 DS. However it feels a lot better here because Nintendo knows how to fully utilize both screens (Square-Enix, you better not make the same mistake for Final Fantasy 4 DS). The top screen shows the map while the action is on the bottom screen. Any event triggered will be shown on the map, making it less tedious to search an item that has just dropped or a door that has been unlocked. Another great feature is the ability to jot down notes on your map at anytime (other than some restricted areas). Kudos to Nintendo for being environmental friendly. That’s a lot of trees saved folks.

Overall Phantom Hourglass is a great game and worthy of the name Legend of Zelda. Gameplay is great, storyline is both comical & entertaining, and a control system that works really well. There’s no reason why you shouldn’t pick up this game. You can get it now at your local game store or you can buy it from Play-Asia (Legend of Zelda Phantom Hourglass)

Picture Source: IGN.com

I haven’t been updating my blog lately, especially since the last post was dated 25th September 2005. That is like erm … 8 days ago? As usual assignments and datelines are taking away most of my time and to make things worse, I have a game assignment along with another two programs due very soon, all three using three different types of language. Yea I’m sure some of you out there wouldn’t have any problems juggling between multiple languages but not me. I can just go bonkers thinking bout it.

Let me put it in a better picture of how my daily life goes lately. I wake up in the morning, ‘assignment’ comes into mind. I bought a fresh new copy of EGM that i barely touch and the only time I can play my PSP is before I head off to bed. At least all isn’t that bad. I manage to cramp some time to play Twilight Princess with my girlfriend during the weekend.

I was suppose to post up the speculations on the upcoming Kingdom Hearts game last week but up to now, the draft is still on my hard disk waiting to be edited and posted.

I was hoping today would be better, as I was going to pick up Legend of Zelda Phantom Hourglass for the Nintendo DS. In the end I came back home empty handed. Sucks …

It’s back to the codes i guess.