2010 at a glance: seraph's top 10 video games

Another year passed in my gaming calendar, and for some reason the titles I've played this year has increased significantly compared to 2009, partly because of the increase release of PS3 titles that were relevant to my interest. To sum up the year, I listed out my top 10 favorite games among those I've played this year:

10. Bayonetta

Wiki/Official
Platform: Playstation 3, Xbox 360
Developer: Platinum Games
Genre: Action
Release Date: January 2010

Comments: A game that can be finished within a day. If you think Devil May Cry 4 is cool, then give Bayonetta a thought, because you'd probably find the same enjoyment in Bayonetta. I personally prefer DMC4 for the coolness factor and "more logical" approach (kinda hard to explain here), but Bayonetta is definitely not far off behind, with addition of stuff like Witch Time, and the torture moves which made the game more enjoyable. Kinda nice music too.

9. Final Fantasy XIII

Wiki/Official
Platform: Playstation 3, Xbox 360
Developer: Square Enix
Genre: JRPG
Release Date: March 2010

Comments: I love the battle system - the paradigm shift, fast-paced combat, the crystarium upgrade...but there's one thing that I despise about the game - linear, totally plot-driven with no freedom to explore whatsoever until chapter 10. The quests that opens on chapter 11 onward kinda make up for these, but I really think the Square-Enix was trying too hard with the overcomplicated terms and linearity in the early-mid game.

8. Sengoku Basara 3

Wiki/Official
Platform: Playstation 3, Wii
Developer: Capcom
Genre: hack-and-slash, action adventure
Release Date: October 2010

Comments: Sengoku Basara, now in 7th-Gen console. Some returning familiar characters, some new characters, but there's no one with similar skillsets. The combat mechanisms looks smoother than its predecessor, with combo and basara attacks improved. There are also multiple story routes available to each characters, as well as unlockable costumes. It's kinda disappointing that the same stage has little to no difference between one character to another, hence repeating the same mission/stage can be a bit...dull.

7. Fifa 11

Wiki/Official
Platform: Playstation 3, Xbox 360, PC
Developer: Electronic Art
Genre: Sports
Release Date: September 2010

Comments: In term of gameplay, there's not much difference between FIFA11 and FIFA10, and they're friggin awesome. But FIFA11 comes with much improvement in other areas: more realistic Career mode, better options and settings, and recently, the addition of interesting feature, The Ultimate Team. Though, the improved Career Mode can be a pain in the butt because just like in real world, it's REALLY hard to improve a league 2 club of English League into a 5-star team.

6. Vanquish

Wiki/Official
Platform: Playstation 3, Xbox 360
Developer: Platinum Games
Genre: Third person shooter
Release Date: October 2010

Comments: Fast games, and quick to finish too (8 hours average playtime). I'm not really a fan of third-person shooter games, I do like Gears of Wars series. Hence when I sawVanquish's trailer, which resembles a bit with GoW , I decided to give the game a try, and after finishing it, I was pretty satisfied with the game. The speed-skating features adds much pace to thegameplay , yet the graphic still remained smooth no matter how fast you charge forward. The story was left with a big hole, but that pretty much suggest that a sequel is coming.

5. Trinity Universe

Wiki/Official
Platform: Playstation 3
Developer: GUST, Nippon Ichi, Idea Factory
Genre: JRPG
Release Date: June 2010

Comments: A game that probably appeal to certain group of fans. What I like about the game is the total comedies and parodies used throughout the game, sometimes mocking the stereotype jrpg games. The addition of GUST (Prinny, Etna and Flonne) and Nippon Ichi (Pamela and Violet) characters made the game even more eventful. The game's weakness: rigged and overpowered meteorites system/convert shop that can break the game's balance, much like how a bonus point shop can break a Tale's game.

4. Persona 3 Portable

Wiki/Official
Platform: Playstation Portable (PSP)
Developer: Atlus
Genre: JRPG
Release Date: July 2010

Comments: Persona 3 remade for PSP. Same story and mechanics, but the addition of new female route really give the game a new perspective (or so the game claims), as well as some new challenge in the Tartarus . I've only played the female route (since the male route is pretty much similar to the PS2 release), and I got to say it was indeed interesting - the Social Link interaction, some which changed compared to the male route. It feel a bit awkward though, when Aegis was too affectionate towards the female main character that it looks like both of them were les...

3. Atelier Rorona: the Alchemist of Arland

Wiki/Official
Platform: Playstation 3
Developer: GUST
Genre: JRPG
Release Date: September/October 2010

Comments: To be honest I'm not really a fan of Atelier series, but when Rorona was made into a full 3D, I decided to give the game a full try. And my impression: amusing, entertaining and amazing! To the point that I even Platinum the game. Cute, lovely andlikeable characters, no typical jrpg plot, really nice folk musics, very funny and humorous moments. Even though I've completed the game, sometimes I still have the urge to replay the game, simply to watch the amusing scenes featuring no one else but Rorona :3
p/s: Rorona ignites my love for Mai Kadowaki :3

2. Valkyria Chronicles 2

Wiki/Official
Platform: Playstation Portable (PSP)
Developer: Sega
Genre: strategy-JRPG
Release Date: August/September 2010

Comments: The sequel to the unique Valkyria Chronicles, previously released on PS3. I thought that when the sequel is released on a portable console, the quality might be reduced. But I thought wrong -VC2, IMO was some of the best portable games I've played in recent years. Definitely much improved gameplay with more convenient features implemented to make the battle less of a hassle to plan, unlike VC1. Nice strings of characters too. The story was a bit cliche to a generic jrpg though.

1. Resonance of Fate

Wiki/Official
Platform: Playstation 3, Xbox 360
Developer: Tri-Ace

Genre: JRPG
Release Date: March 2010
Comments: And my number 1 games of 2010 goes to RESONANCE OF FATE. This game is unique and enjoyable in so many ways. For one, the story was so stupid that it does not make sense, but at the same time if you look at it at different way, you might see why the story was conveyed that way. Plus you are free to make your own interpretation of what's happeningthroughout the game, nobody has the exact right or wrong answer. Moving to the graphic - omfg freaking beautiful. You think the scenery in Valkyrie Profile 2 was awsm ? Then try Resonance of Fate and be amazed. The mix of jazz, techno and hard rock music fitting with the scenes and battles were splendidly done. The battle system was a bit complicated, but once you know how it works, you'll find yourself enjoying every bit of it (much like VP2). This game really hits me on all cylinder.

That's it for my top 10 video games of 2010, aka games that I enjoyed the most this year. There's some other 2010 titles I've played that didn't made it into the list, for various reasons:

• Last Rebellion (PS3) - interesting story and character, but the game was very short and I thought various part of the game could be improved to fit PS3's capability. I did get Platinum for this game, but the game was as easy as tetris.
• Nier Replicant (PS3/Xbox 360) - no doubt, this game has one of the best soundtracks I've ever listened to, but I was turned off by the lack of efforts/details put into the characters and graphic in general. The combat system wasn't really amazing either.
• Kenka banchou: Badass Rumble (PSP) - I would probably put this game in my top 10 games had I managed to finished the game. Unfortunately my copy crashed halfway through : (
• Ys Seven (PSP) - Same case with Kenka Banchou, although I've only started the game about last month and hence couldn't find the time to explore the game enough.
• Front Mission Evolved - My hope of seeing the repeat of epicness of Front Mission 4 was crushed when I started playing Front Mission Evolved. As an action third-person shooter games, it was great. But as a game in Front Mission franchise, this is far from emulating the great experience I had with FM4. EPIC FAIL.
  

Hoping to see even more awsm games in 2011. Wishlist: Catherine, Tales of Grace F, Tales of Xillis, Final Fantasy Versus/Agito XIII, Gears of Wars 3, Lord of Arcana, To Aru Index, Tales of the World: Radiant Mythology 3, Valkyria Chronicles 3...

Yousei Teikoku - Gothic Lolita Agitator

Title: Gothic Lolita Agitator
Artist: Yousei Teikoku
Release Date: December 22, 2010

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Tracklist:

1. Asgard
2. still alive
3. one
4. Baptize
5. keep existing
6. Gekkou no Chigiri (月光の契り)
7. Call my name
8. Sacrifice
9. Gekkakou (月下香)
10. rebellion anthem
11. Viscum album
12. gothic lolita agitator

Download Link: [MF]/[HF]

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Actually the only reason to get this album is probably just to listen to the 2 new songs, 11) viscum album and 12) gothic lolita agitator, as all other 10 songs has previously been released as single/mini album. Nevertheless, without a doubt I ranked this Gothic Lolita series as the best among the three (Propaganda/Doctrine/Agitator). Most of the songs compiled into this album was simply superb. Those from fortissimo//Akkord:Bsusvier, Baptize, Rebellion Anthem and One especially.

2010 at a glance: seraph's top 10 anime

Time for another top 10 list. Despite the tight schedules I had throughout the year, somehow still filled with lots of series in my 2010anime calendar. So as the tradition continued, this is my personal top 10 anime aired in 2010. Do note that the list was solely based on my interest toward the series, regardless of how good or bad the anime was perceived by the mass.

10. Sengoku Basara 2

MAL/Official site
Genre: Action, Historical
Number of episodes: 12

Studio Production: Production I.G.
comments: I've long been a fan of Samurai Warriors/Sengoku Basara series, I mean the games. I was a bit skeptical when I heard that Sengoku Basara is getting anime adaptation, but in the end I was just worrying over nothing. The first season was superbly done, and come 2nd season, it was even better. Better because I find the struggle of the warlords against Hideyoshi Toyotomi was better developed than against Nobunaga Oda in season 1. The humors and ridiculous acts were toned down a bit compared to the first season, but overall Sengoku Basara 2 still kept me entertained with the epic fights.

9. Hakuouki Shinsengumi Kitan

MAL/Official Site
Genre: Action, drama, historical
Number of episodes: 12
Studio production: DEEN

comments: This series received a really mixed impression, both on good and bad extremes. I personally resides on the former. Nevermind the bishie characters, slow development and vague story, and although I'm not a huge fan of samurai-themed anime, Hakuouki somehow managed to captivate me. Sometimes the animation looked poor, but other times it was excellent with good lighting and color choice to match the atmosphere. Maybe the fact that it was produced by DEEN has "something" to do with the mixed reception.

8. Kaichou wa Maid-sama

MAL/Official Site
Genre: Comedy, romance, school life
Number of episodes: 26
Studio production: JC Staff

comments: Not really a fan of shoujo series, but this show was an exception, just like Kimi ni Todoke. The animation was subpar typical to the generic shoujo anime, but what I like the most about the series is the interaction between Misaki and Usui - always a joy watching Misaki getting blushed over Usui's teasing. I actually started knowing about Ayumi Fujimura since watching Seiken no Blacksmith, but it was Kaichou wa Maid Sama that I started to have a liking to her strong and versatile voice (can't believe she voiced Niche in Tegami Bachi).

7. Shinryaku! Ika Musume

MAL/Official Site
Genre: comedy, slice of life
Number of episodes: 13
Studio Production: Diomedea
Comments: It was another simple comedy slice of life series, and it was also among those that I enjoy the most this year. Example of manga adaptation done right.


6. Mitsudomoe

MAL/Official Site
Genre: Comedy, slice of life
Number of episodes: 13
Studio Production: Bridge

Comments: it's funny, it's perverted, it's stupid, yet it's freaking hilarious. There's really not much for me to say because the art is rough fitting the gag theme, while the story is simple - it's all about the daily life of the tripletFutaba, Hitoha and Mitsuba at school and home, and each episodes promised ROFL moments that never failed to amuse me.

5. Angel Beats

MAL/Official Site
Genre: action, comedy, supernatural
Number of episodes: 13
Studio production: PA Works
comments: When I watched the first few episodes, my initial impression was the show looked generic with interesting afterlife theme. But it was until the background of the major characters were revealed that I finally see the beauty of the series - humorous, yet it was sad and touching at the right place. There are lots of stage performance in the series by the Girls Dead Monsters, although the songs didn't exactly the type that I would thoroughly listen to. The only gripe I had with the series is that it was too short that I feel the final few episodes were rushed


4. To Aru Majutsu no Index II

MAL/Official Site
Genre: action, comedy, drama, sci-fi
Number of episodes: 13
Studio Production: J.C. Staff

Comments: When science and magic cross, the story begins. The first season, which goes without saying went into my 2008 top 10 anime, prompted me to read the novels a bit. The second season was much anticipated, and I'm quite satisfied with the adaptation as far as the first 11 episodes went. Good mix of amusing+serious scenes, introduction of more characters revolving aroundTouma , while pretty much maintaining the high standard of quality as seen in season 1. There are some inconsistencies in the animation (hello Oriana), but overall it's not something I'd worry over.

3. Amagami SS

MAL/Official Site
Genre: romance, school life
Number of episodes: 26
Studio Production: AIC

Comments: An example of a romance school life anime done right. There really is nothing particularly amazing about Junichi and his interaction with the girls in each arc - ordinary high school student and generic fairy tale romance ended with happy ending with each girl; but I guess that kind of normality, plus the unique and diverse personality of each girl were the factors that made the anime interesting in my eyes. The only minus point for me was the noticeable decrease in animation quality in certain episodes.

2. Bakuman

MAL/Official Site
Genre: Comedy, Romance, Shounen
Number of episodes: 25
Studio Production: J.C. Staff

Comments: When I first read the manga around 2009, i never expected it to be animated so fast. And it was animated splendidly by JC.Staff. I like the show because it's unique in its own way. It's shonen, it's slice of life, it's romance, it's school life, but it also has the deep passion and enthusiasm that made it...special. And one of the best ED song in 2010. Usually I don't really bother reading the ED song translation, but it was different forBakuman, the meaning was so deep, reflecting all the effort that Saiko and Syuujin put to be a mangaka.
p/s: the first season is far from over, yet the 2nd season has already been announced o.0

1. Durarara!!

MAL/Official site
Genre: Action, Shounen, Supernatural
Number of episodes: 24
Studio Production: Brains Base

comments: Before started, let me say that I totally love Baccano, and when the first episode of Durarara was aired, it instantly reminded me of that. Completely different story, but the way it was conveyed- the animation, music, character introduction etc was so similar that I instantly fell in love withDurarara. Even if the series doesn't share any resemblance with Baccano, I'd still like Durarara because the story and characters are unique, interesting, intriguing, humorous... what else. Simply put, everything about this series fits my taste.

Honorable mention: Shinrei Tantei Yakumo

MAL/Official Site

Genre: Mystery, supernatural
Number of episodes: 13
Studio Production: Bee train
Comments: Good premise, but the anime was disrupted by lots of plotholes and weak character development. I really like both of the manga, they are far more detailed in explaining the mysterious cases, something that the anime severely lacked. Still can't find the novel though..

The Platinum Series: [3] Trinity Universe

Previously I have completed Demon God King Kanata's route in my first playthrough of Trinity Universe, and prior to returning to Malaysia, I managed to finish the other route, the Valkyrie route, Rizelea, along with the True Route Ending. At that point, I've left with about 5 Trophies remaining, and the not-so-good thing is that all of them are time-consuming. Since I came back from Aussie, I find it hard to find a decent, stable Internet connection so rather than playing around with my 5 years old laptop (while waiting for my PC which probably still has not been cargo-shipped from Aussie), I decided to continue playing Trinity Universe and try to platinum it. With Comic Fiesta on Saturday, then going around visiting relatives till Monday, I was finally able to get some free time to resume the game the next day, and to my surprise, it didn't take that long to reach Platinum. The third PS3 games I've Platinumed so far, after Last Rebellion and Atelier Rorona.

Platinum difficulty: 5/10

Overall I would say that Platinum difficulty of Trinity Universe is at the range of easy-medium. Most of the trophies are relatively easy to accomplish, as they either require you to battle xxx times, kill xxx enemies, spend xxxx money in shop, and find xxx items. Other trophies like Be a Meteor Shower [do 1000 Fury Combo] do require a bit of skills and planning, but it was not something you'd pull your hair for frustration. The "harder" part of achieving Platinum is arguably - Drift 100 dungeons, Let Yourself Drifted 50 Times, and Get 1,000,000 Evaluation Points. To be exact, they're not hard, but boring and tedious. Because getting a dungeon to appear (which occurred super randomly) is one thing, then when drifted, sometimes you'd get unlucky that it took awhile before a UFO finally appear to save you. Good thing is that all these trophies can be attempted at the same time, and "super coincidentally", I get these three trophies, along with the Platinum, all at the same time : D

all 4 trophies received at the same time at the dungeon I drifted, coincidence much : D

Enjoyment Value - 8.5/10

Now that I can finally put this game on the shelf, my final say on Trinity Universe - A solid, enjoyable JRPG showing how a crossover game done the right way. The theme was light and easy to understand, the story was conveyed with much humors and parodies, making the game entertaining to play - at least for me. The battle system was a bit complex than the average turn-based games, but it was relatively easy to master. Beware of the convert and meteorite features in this game though, as they can break the game and totally make the game much easier, hence taking out part of the fun.


ps: looking forward to more GUST-Nippon Ichi crossover : 3

2010 at a glance: seraph's top 10 dota games

2010 has been pretty eventful in competitive dota calendar, with the Chinese showing total domination in all offline events, from the ESWC 2010 to the end-of-the-year tournament, SGNDT 2010. Throughout the year, many epic games were played, some which will forever be remembered for various reasons. Here, I listed my top 10 memorable dota games played in the past one year. Most of these games had been featured in my monthly top replay or tournament entries.

10. AlienwareDigi vs SOS [Storm the Front]
game info and download: Gosugamers
comments: 10 minutes game, epic push strat by the sentinel, even more EPIC fail pick by the scourge. I've never seen a "competitive" team retarded enough to still last pick Naix+Ursa after the opponent picks obvious pusher heroes.

09. Tofu vs Ice [AEDL]
game info and download: Gosugamers
comments: This game wasn't RR'ed on gosugamers, but I think it was a very entertaining and action-packed games. Watched -n|cXh-|'s Sven MVP performance, aided by excellent viper usage by PemakanDunia to totally shut down Tofu's Storm.

08. Nirvana.my vs LGD.sgty [ADC]
game info and download: Gosugamers
comments: Sick Shadow Fiend by Yamateh, and Lion by Mushi. Nirvana.my was heavily pressed all game, and almost made a terrific comeback if not because of a single mistake by VS late in the game that arguably seal their defeat.

07. Days vs CH [U9 Cup]
game info and download: Gosugamers
comments: Perfection. Balanced, action-packed, great team coordination and positioning, perfect execution of aura strategy, amazing Layana and CM lessons. The first time I saw a Dagger Nerubian Assassin in competitive games.

06. DTS vs EHOME [WDC]
game info and download: Gosugamers
comments: DTS revenged their loss in ESWC to EHOME with an unorthodox jungling+fast push strategy that totally caught EHOME by surprise. Too bad that EHOME went out of the group stage thanks to the sudden change of tie-breaker rule.

05. Nirvana.my vs Starsboba [WCG 2010]
game info and download: Gosugamers
comments: Unorthodox picks by SB to utilize mass heal combined with armor reduction strategy, yet they execute the strategy very successfully. Nirvana did play their part in the defeat with some sloppy play especially the teamfight near Roshan, but overall it was a well played game by SB.

04. Nirvana.my vs Starsboba [SMM 2010]
game info and download: Gosugamers
comments: One line to describe the game - THAT FURION! THere's not much at stake in this game considering they're only playing for 5th-6th placing, but both teams give their all and provides a tense and action-packed games. Hyhy's Lion performed admirably but Yamateh's Medusa was unable to fend SB and Soso.on's Furion who come ganking from every angle.

03. LGD vs EHOME [SMM 2010]
game info and download: Gosugamers
comments: EHOME devised the perfect picks to counter LGD's reliance on LGD's only carry, ZSMJ's Alchemist by clever usage of Tinker. ZSMJ and AAA's Morphling was equally farmed to the point of unkillable, but there's another thing in EHOME that cause LGD all sort of trouble - Dai's Tinker. With lots of mana and Guinsoo, he totally perma-hexed ZSMJ's Alchemist while the rest of EHOME aimed for other LGD heroes, leaving ZSMJ all alone in the end of the team battle to be raped by EHOME.

02. LGD vs EHOME [WDC Chinese Qualifier]

game info and download: Gosugamers
comments: I'm speechless by YYF's Storm, truly epic storm storm spirit. He singlehandedly hold EHOME from claiming early victory with superb buybacks and ultra kills.

01. LGD vs EHOME [WCG Asian Championship]
game info and download: Gosugamers
comments: CHINESE DOTA!!!!! The game was long, but it was very intense, marked by ZSMJ doing the unthinkable - 720 creep kills and Divine Rapier on Medusa. Then died, buyout and instantly buy ANOTHER Divine to end the game.

honorable mention: CHN vs Nirvana.cn [G-League]

comments: epic end to an epic games, I seriously thought "that" team that went pushing into the enemy's base in the end will win the game, but then suddenly...!!!

There's actually several more games which I think worthy to be included into the list, especially a few games in WDC and SMM which were definitely tense and epic.EHOME and LGD really produce some of the best games whenever these two teams met, shown by the top 3 games in my list which was dominated by the encounter of these teams. Overall 2010 showed that Asia, or to be specific, Chinese dota is still superior than the rest of the world. The rest of Asian team, in particular Nirvana.my and Starsboba, as well as European powerhouse DTS had the potential to break the Chinese's domination, however until competitive games were taken seriously in their country, as China did, we will probably not going to see this happening any time soon.

So Long, Australia

Tomorrow is the final day of me being here in Australia. I've only been informed of my actual flight ticket last Monday, making the days I've left pretty hectic, dealing with various things like bills, home cleaning, shipping...

4 years flew really quick, it feel like I've only registered in Adelaide Uni yesterday, yet now I've already completed my Degree w/ Honours. By completing my Honours year, I am entitled to continue with PhD, but for some reason I really don't feel like doing so. Partly because I've lost the motivation to study here [I personally find Adelaide, I mean the Waite Campus environment really stale and boring], another reason is because I want to take a short break from study or any form of research. So yeah, someday I'd still want to continue with PhD, but maybe not next year, and certainly somewhere else other than Australia.

Living in Australia is costly, definitely much costly than Malaysia, but the most of the services here are very convenient. The online payment for virtually everything thanks to the visa debit card, the Eftpost when shopping, the all-purpose bus ticket, hospitality and treatment to the elderly, it's no wonder why Aussie ranked 2nd on Human Development Index. Anyway, I haven't travelled much in Aussie, partly because I mostly used my available fund for games : < Good thing I still manage to visit, albeit briefly, the main cities [Canberra/Melbourne/Sydney], as well as playing with snow during my early years here. It was fun, yet tiring. After this, I'm not sure if I'll ever return to Australia. Maybe I will, but certainly not for studying purpose.

Sad? yes, but there's also this feeling that I just don't know how to describe...Until then, goodbye, Australia.


p/s: sorry can't think of any good picture to put :/

My Rorona Can't be this Cute-

Pardon the title : >

After roughly 3 weeks of playing, I finally managed to Platinum [ie, 100% trophy completion] Atelier Rorona: the Alchemist of Arland. Well, not exactly 3 weeks considering I did take about a week off from gaming due to SMM and other stuff. This made it the secondPS3 games I've Platinumed so far, after Last Rebellion. Speaking of 100% completion, I'm not exactly a Completionist, but for some reason I really had the urge to get all the trophies in Atelier Rorona because of...well, let's just say, various reasons :) And the irony is, often I managed to 100% complete a game which I initially weren't impressed with. Like when I first play The Last Remnant, I was slightly turned off by the random gameplay, but month later I decided to give the game a serious try, and eventually ended up getting 100% completion... The same thing happened with Atelier Rorona, as I initially wasn't really favor the gameplay, but various other thing made up for this and in the end, I still manage to Platinum the game.

Anyway, my overall thoughts of Atelier Rorona: the Alchemist of Arland-

Appealing and interesting characters.

Each characters in Atelier Rorona had unique personality that I just can't stop smiling and laughing at their act and humor. Rorona especially, with her cute, clumsy behaviour and tendency to get teased by everyone, really made the game much more enjoyable. Then there's her childhood friend Cordelia, who is concerned about her height, DFC, and total tsundere. Nothing more to add. Rorona's lazy, genius, humorous, yet caring master, Astrid added even more depth to the character list. Other character includes Sterk the hardworking knight, Iksel the chef maniac, Gio the...[secret], Tantris the wandering bard, and Lionela the "bouncy" dancer, each with interesting personality that endears you to them. Then there's also NPC to add more variety - Tiffani the widow shopkeeper, Hagel the baldy weapon dealer, Pamela Ibis [she's sure popular huh] the smexy ghost, and Rorona's assistant Hom [I kinda regret not choosing the female Hom lol]. I could easily say that the character depth is one of the biggest positive point of Atelier Rorona, one that could easily made you feel attached to the game.

Great voice acting, relaxing light-hearted music

As I've previously mentioned in my first impression post, Atelier Rorona's voice actor/actress were superb, simply one of the best I've listened to in recent years. Mai Kadowaki truly brought the clumsy, moe personality into Rorona, I totally love her voice whenever she complained for being teased. How I wish she was given more role in anime, one that similar to Rorona :3 Eri Kitamura also voiced Cordelia [aka Cory] perfectly, I guess because her voice fits a stereotype tsundere anime character. Anyway, I've once tried switching over to English voice, unfortunately I feel that they weren't good enough. Not as bad as the Star Ocean 4's, but definitely not that great. Speaking of the music, I love the folk music used throughout the game which fits well with most of the settings. Sometimes repetitive, but I don't really mind listening to them over and over again :3

Time Management, Time Management...

When I first play the game, I mentioned in my first impression post about how crucial time management is. Well after playing to the end, getting all FOUREEN endings and Platinum in ONE PLAYTHROUGH, I'd personally say that the game wasn't really time-constraining as I feared it would be. Official roadmap thread in PS3trophy stated it would take 3-4 playthrough to get all endings, which is totally untrue. The game can really be platinumed in 1 playthrough if you know what you are doing from the start. The game wasn't really time-constraining because keeping up with friend/front request, while maintaining sufficient alchemy/adventure level weren't that difficult if you know the crucial date in each passing month [eg 15th for Cole, the date to get Pamela etc]. And then the ending trophies, it's all about maintaining good star rating for each assignment so that we can save and reload in the final month, or reload in the final year to go for the rich ending. So the keys to perfection - be modest with the Kingdom Assignment, and use every passing time efficiently. Oh, and SAVE OFTEN, and make a lot of different save file, especially in the final year. Loading from different save file in my final year gave me much freedom to control which character flag I want to trigger, and eventually the ending that I desired.


Tera Bomb breaks the game
What really matter in the game is item synthesis and completing the kingdom assignment to keep the Atelier alive, but to achieve that aim, Rorona still need to gather the necessary ingredients. And that's where dungeon exploration, aka turn-based combat system was added to the game. Generally most of the battles were easy. Well it's a bit challenging early in the game, when you lack proper healer or healing items while going to tougher dungeon [hello Ster Highland], but proper preparation and item synthesis can make the game much easier. Early in the 2nd year, a new shop feature called"Wholesale" were introduced where we can register our own synthesised item to their respective shop, and the shop will then mass-produced the exact item. This way, we can abuse this system to create many high quality items for completing quest, or to create goodies for battle. And one thing that come to mind - the ultimate destructive nuke in the game, Tera Bomb. Simply put, this bomb is so much destructive that it can kill even the strongest boss in the game in 1 hit, and if you don't put proper trait in the bomb, you'll end up not only killing the monster, but also yourself. Not to mention, the animation scene when Rorona use the bomb is...totally exaggerating : 3

some funny cutscenes in Atelier Rorona, which also include the destructive [yet funny] power of Meteor [at 5:00], and Tera Bomb [at 9:40], although this is a less modified, self destructive Tera Bomb lol

Glitch and bugs plagued the game..
Atelier Rorona really is one of the most entertaining game I've ever played in recent years. But one thing that keep me frustrated is the high frequency of glitch/bug in this game, in particular game freezing which happened at least once in a few hours of playing. I'm not that familiar with previous Gust's games, but apparently this is a common occurrence in their games. Other glitch include item in basket not showing up when we try to sell them, but it's not a big deal I guess. I wonder if the game developer ever made any serious QC before they release this game...Anyway, this drawbacks are in no way drag the fun factor of the game.

Overall, I thoroughly enjoyed playing Atelier Rorona. Those who aren't familiar with jrpg might not find much interest in this title, but for jrpg fans, and especially Atelier fans, this game is worth a try, especially considering this is the first Atelier that made it into 3D.

p/s: I want Atelier Totori English Version ;____;

SGNDT 2010 Grand Final - The Same Old Conclusion

Tournament info:

Sendi Mutiara Multimedia [SMM] Grand National Dota Tournament [SGNDT]
Venue: e@curve, Damansara
Date: 3rd-5th December 2010
Time: 10am - 10pm (GMT+8) daily

More info:

• Gosugamers - tournament info
• Gosugamers - tournament grid and bracket
• SMM live stream courtesy of TobiWanKenobi
• Gosugamers - Replay list
• Gosugamers - event photos

Following the end of the 2nd day of SMM Grand National Dota Tournament 2010, only 6 teams remained in the tournament to battle for money and pride: 4 Chinese teams LGD, EHOME, Nirvana.cn and Deity; 1 Malaysian team Nirvana.my and 1 Vietnamese team StarBoba. The day started with winner bracket final being played between EHOME and Nirvana.cn. Having previously beaten Starsboba in the WB semi final, Nirvana.cn seek their second grand final appearance, however they failed to emulate their victory against EHOME, as EHOME put off their best performance to beat the WDC champion in the WB final, in what best described as one of the best game of the tournament, and effectively send Nirvana.cn to the lower bracket final.

Winner Bracket - click to enlarge

Full Bracket can be viewed on Gosugamers coverage

In the Lower Bracket, meanwhile 4 teams were battling out in order to gain the privilege of fighting against previously beaten Nirvana.cn. Deity won quite comfortably against Vietnamese powerhouse StarsBoba, and on the other bracket, Nirvana.my met LGD in the same manner as they did in the last SMM. To refresh things up, last year SMM saw LGD knocked out to the loser bracket after losing to cD [the current Nirvana.cn] by picking Techies. In the loser bracket, they met Kingsurf [the current Nirvana.my] in one the most epic game in 2009 - ZSMJ as Phantom Lancer losing his sacred relic after the bird carrying it were killed, only to re-farm the same item within the next 8 minutes. This year both team met again in the same manner, and again produced the same result, although the game itself wasn't that eye-catching compared to the last SMM. With that, it's confirmed that the top 4 of SMM 2010 will be dominated by Chinese teams...

To make things short, LGD beat Deity quite comfortably in the loser bracket final to set up the encounter against Nirvana.cn, where winner will advance to the SMM 2010 grand Final. Unfortunately the game wasn't played on the live stream, and no shoutcast was made either so I have no idea how the game went, but LGD came out on top to meet EHOME once again in the Grand Final. The Grand Final match were played in best-of-3 format with EHOME having 1 game advantage due to winning the Winner Bracket. We expect another epic encounter between these 2 teams as they did in Day 2, unfortunately it didn't really happen. Both teams went for a safe defensive strategy with EHOME went for Alchemist+Sniper as DPS, while LGD relying on Morphling to counter EHOME's tanking ability [basically almost the reverse of their previous meeting]. After much farming, finally EHOME decided to push mid and a big teamfight ensues with EHOME coming out on top while also getting mid and top rax. Having only Morphling as the real DPS hero, LGD were unable to stop EHOME's imminent final push and lost the game, and with that, EHOME won the grand final and become the SMM Champion for the 2nd time in 3 years.

That's not the end though, as there's still a showmatch between the champion EHOME vs Malaysian favorite Nirvana.my. As it was a showmatch, it promised entertaining action throughout, which eventually won by Nirvana.my. Oh how I wish it was actually the real tournament game lol.

That's it for this year's SMM. Although there's quite ups and downs, I do find myself thoroughly enjoying the tournament, though a bit sad because I wasn't able to return to Malaysia on time to watch the event live. Tobi's shoutcasting throughout the tournament was awesome, really really awesome that he made a farming game never looked boring. Too bad the co-commentator, Kelly Milkies kinda ruined the shoutcast because of her excessive usage of Singlish, lack of in-game insight, unnecessarily spoiling team items and location, and always interfering Tobi's speech with repetitive and uninteresting questions/information. I hope the SMM committee would pick a more suitable shoutcaster next year, and hopefully, a Tobi+Synderen combo. These 2, along with the retired MadMordigan were the best DotA shoutcaster I've ever listened to.

Again, congratulation to EHOME for winning the SMM and proved themselves to be arguably THE best DotA team in the world. Hopefully we will see a team that can break the Chinese domination next year...

P/S Interesting fact: No Chinese team had ever lost to a non-Chinese team in this tournament, except Nirvana.my's showmatch game.


Oh, Match of the Tournament: Definitely those that were marked as "RR" in Gosugamers replay page. My personal top 3 favorite games in this tournament:

1. EHOME vs LGD, WB last 8. THAT MORPHLING!!!
2. StarBoba vs Nirvana.my, 5th-6th place placing decider. THAT FURION!!!
3. EHOME vs Nirvana.cn, WB Final. THAT MEDUSA!!!

SGNDT 2010 - Day 1 and 2 Summary

After a year, Sendi Mutiara Multimedia [SMM] Grand National Dota Tournament [SGNDT] is back with its 2010 edition, offering even much more cash prize than the previous year. As arguably one of the biggest DotA tournament in the world, along with the final big LAN event in DotA calendar, SMM become the benchmark to determine which team stands on top during that particular year. To recap, since the inclusion of international team starting from SMM 2008, EHOME won it in that year, and a year later in SMM 2009, another Chinese team For the Dream [aka the current TYJ.LGD] take the crown in what's best described as the rise of the tri-carry strat.

Coming into this year's SMM, much anticipation and expectation were held for the top teams, especially after so many things happening throughout this year. In July, EHOME march flawlessly to win ESWC 2010 Paris, effectively marked then as "the" best DotA team in the world. Just 3 weeks ago, another big DotA LAN tournament were held in Wuhan, China - the World DotA Cup [WDC], a very happening event which was eventually won by Nirvana.cn. These 2 teams come to SMM as among the favorites to lift the gold medal, along with the improving LGD who recently replaced their support player, Gx with versatile ganker/carry player 830. At first, several European teams like MYM, DTS and NWO were expected to come, however due to the high traveling and accommodation cost involved [largely because SMM organiser was late to announce the exact date of this year's tournament], none of them managed to attend the event, and hence this year's SMM become high-level tournament among the Asians only.

19 international teams, and 50 local teams participated the tournament. Prior to Group Stage, 48 of the qualified local teams [the other 2 are the seeded teams Nirvana.my and Aeon.mufc] went through qualifier in which eventually only 19 teams went through the main group stage. After 2 days of playing, the Group Stage has finished and almost half of the playoff were played, which will be continued on the third and final day, tomorrow.

Tournament info:

Sendi Mutiara Multimedia [SMM] Grand National Dota Tournament [SGNDT]
Venue: e@curve, Damansara
Date: 3rd-5th December 2010
Time: 10am - 10pm (GMT+8) daily

More info:

• Gosugamers - tournament info
• Gosugamers - tournament grid and bracket
• SMM live stream courtesy of TobiWanKenobi
• Gosugamers - Replay list
• Gosugamers - event photos

The final group stage standing:

click to enlarge

The updated Playoff bracket can be viewed on Gosugamers SMM coverage page: HERE

The coverage this year was excellent, and made even more awesome by the fact that everyone's favorite shoutcaster TobiWanKenobi is present in this tournament to add the mood into the games being played on stage. Despite that, there's still some weaknesses that the organiser might need to consider to improve, such as the lack of streamed games on all matches [only a few were streamed on Waaaaaghtv]. But overall it was a fantastic tournament so far, boosted by many high quality games being played.

The first thing that come to my mind upon seeing the group bracket was how stacked Group A and G were, having 3 strong Chinese teams sandwiching the unfortunate local malaysian team. Apparently the group drawing were done randomly without any seeding involved, which by chance grouped Deity, LGD and Dream together in Group A, while Ehome, Nirvana.cn and CCM [Mushi's new team] in Group G. Quite unfortunate, but then you gotta beat what's in front of you if you want to win. In the end of the day, LGD/Deity and Nirvana.cn/Ehome qualified, as much expected.

Not much surprised were thrown out in the tournament so far. Most big and known teams qualified through to the playoff. The exception is Aeon.mufc, the 4th place winner of WDC which failed to qualify from their group which consist of Sigaporean and Indonesian powerhouse, XtC and AlienwareDG. But then their performance in this SMM was overall a disappointment, winning only 1 game in the group stage. Other disappointment come to the Australian team LGD.au who also failed to qualify from their group which consist of Thai and Philippine's champion, Roccat.trust and Mineski. In term of the Clashes of the titans, there's also little to no surprise result produced. LGD, Nirvana.my and Nirvana.cn all won their respective group comfortably, even though they did face tough opponents like Deity/Scythe.sg and of course, EHOME.

The quality and strategy execution of the games so far were also top class. So far I've watched all Nirvana.my and most games streamed by Tobi, and some of them were quite entertaining to watch, especially when it comes to LGD. Their group stage games showcased some of the highest level of dota you've ever seen, and their quarter final game against Ehome was probably "the" game of the tournament, let alone the game of the month. Some surprise yet expected picks were thrown, where the likes of Alchemist, VS, WD, Lion, Doom, Enigma and Windrunner remained the top bans/picks, but the most notable change from WDC is the frequency in which Syllabear was banned and picked. I was quite happy that Syllabear finally got the chance to show himself in the competitive scene, although his winning rate at SMM so far seems to be 50/50. Morphling was also regularly picked, although he was no longer played the same way as he used to be - now often with Ethereal Blade rather than Manta. Fast push strat with 3-1-1 laning remained pretty much the winning formula. Unfortunately, so far I haven't see any game in which a very fast pushing strat or unorthodox picks were used.


Game of the tournament so far: Quarter Final 1, EHOME vs LGD.

No word can describe the astonishment I had while watching the game. Even Tobi who shoutcasted the game almost lost his breath, implying how tense and breathtaking the game was. 60 minutes game, ZSMJ's Alchemist got full inventory and he is facing Burning's fat, fat and FAT Morphling, as well as Dai's epic Tinker. The game was so close that you can't really tell who's going to win even after 50 minutes, although Ehome's victory was imminent considering how well they handle the teamfight - totally ignoring Alchemist while focusing on all other LGD's supporters. And this proves to be super effective as Alchemist can't handle a farmed Tinker+Morphling all by himself. Mind you at one point Burning's Morphling has 11k gold. Amazing game and the crowd at the venue was in total madness while watching this epic encounter. On a side note, this game also broke the live stream view with more than 18,000+ viewers watching the game. Showed how big this Clash of the Titan is. Oh, and Tobi's shoutcast made the game even more AWESOME than it already was.

Overall I'm pretty satisfied with the tournament in these first 2 days. He quality of games being played remained high, and the live stream and replay weren't disappointing either. Hopefully te last day tomorrow will serve us with another epic games with some unorthodox strategies being used.

Impression: Atelier Rorona - The Alchemist of Arland

Title: Atelier Rorona: Alchemist of Arland
Developer: Gust
Platform: PlayStation 3 (PS3), XBOX 360
Genre: Japanese role playing game [jrpg]
Release date: June 2009 [Japanese], September/October 2010 [NA/EU]

In a small kingdom build upon ancient ruins, Arland, lies an alchemy workshop run by a genius but lazy alchemy master named Astrid, and her apprentice Rorolina Frixell [aka Rorona]. The carefree and lazy nature of Astrid brought trouble to the workshop as the Imperial Castle eventually decided to close the workshop down, unless the workshop fulfill specific assignment given over the course of three years. Knowing this, Astrid decided to hand over the workshop to her apprentice Rorona, which also meant Rorona had to complete all these assignments to keep the workshop alive. And so begin Atelier Rorona - The Alchemist of Arland - the quest of Rorona to prevent the shop from closing down by completing assignments given by the authorities.

To be honest, I'm not really a fan of Gust's Atelier or Mana Khemia series because of the generic turn-based gameplay used in most of their title [except Grand Phantasm, which I like a lot :3]. Seeing Atelier series finally made into 3D with Rorona, I decided to give this game a try. Currently I've just finished Assignment 2 [year 1, July] and although I'm not really fancy the combat system, I would say that the game wasn't as bad as I initially thought, since the focus of the game isn't really the battle, but rather, item synthesis.

The game runs over the course of three years, in which Rorona will be given a specific assignment which runs for three months [making a total of 12 assignments in 3 years]. These task mostly required Rorona to synthesize specific items listed in the assignment through alchemy. As she submit the items, she will be given rating on how well she performed, based on type, quality and quantity of synthesised items, although generally we can increase the rating by simply focusing on quantity.

Being the first Atelier series in full 3D, the graphic doesn't disappoint me. Easy to the eyes, much as how I love Eternal Sonata and Tales of Vesperia's graphic. All character was neatly designed too. In term of story, I like the fact that it doesn't deal with "adventure together and save the world by beating the ultimate boss" theme found in so bloody many jrpgs these days. I also thoroughly enjoyed the humor added to the story, especially when it comes to Rorona's clumsiness and getting teased by everyone, and Cordelia's tsun :3 On a side note, the game also comes with English and Japanese voice option. I really love Mai Kadowaki's voice as Rorona, as well as Kitamura Eri's tsun Cordelia. Not to mention, Rina "misaka" Satou, Kei Shindou, and Ui Miyazaki also in :3 Truth be told, the English voice was terrible, nuff said.

The game was very time-sensitive. Synthesizing and exploring dungeons to collect materials both cost time, and given Rorona only has 3 month to fulfill specific time, each day is as important as others. Not to mention there are some events that were triggered within specific time limit, so if you want to get specific ending while balancing synthesize/exploring dungeon, it's recommended to do some planning ahead of the coming month. Oh, did I mention that this game has has FOURTEEN different endings?

As mentioned, the combat system really isn't the focal point of Rorona. The battle basically use simple [and I mean really simple] turn-based system where characters can attack, use skills or defend. Elemental attacks can affects some attacks, and in certain situation, allow greater skills to be used. Only Rorona can use items because she carry around basket to fill items she collected for synthesizing purpose. There are limited number of space available to store item in the basket, and this kinda limit the freedom of exploration.

Gameplay of Atelier Rorona. Who want some grilled meat? by the way, the English voice sucks. big time.

Item synthesis. Unlike previous Atelier series, Atelier Rorona is very item-synthesize extensive. Everything you do is for the purpose of keeping the workshop alive, and that's by synthesizing, and more synth. The good thing is, the synthesize/alchemy feature in Atelier Rorona was great. Each items/material has specific quality/trait that affect the outcome of synthesis. Sometimes better quality item has bad trait, and vice versa. These can be fixed by combining materials with various traits to give better trait, high quality items. Though personally, I thought quality doesn't mean much except increase selling price, or if the quest specifically asked for high quality items.

Overall, based on the first 2 assignments I've complete, I would say that Atelier Rorona can be enjoyable even for non-Atelier fan like myself. The story offer something different than the generic jrpgs, and while the combat system was average at best, this was kinda compensated by the detailed synthesis mechanics. Though, having lots of different endings and time-sensitive synth/dungeon exploration can make the game a bit tedious. Some sort of guide is definitely needed if you want to go for specific direction rather than enjoying the game at leisure.