Thanks to Final Fantasy XIII, I am still at the early stages of White Knight Chronicles. Although I did try very hard to get as far as I could, the story just isn’t interesting enough yet for me. However, I’m still going to finish it and anticipating the sequel, known as Shirokishi Monogatari: Hikari to Yami no Kakusei (I will call it WKC2 from now on) in Japan. There are some new information of the game in a recent issue of Weekly Famitsu showing off some of the improvements Level-5 is working on for its summer release in the country.

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The Hyper team just got our copy of Final Fantasy XIII two days ago, and boy have we been busy. Thus far, FFXIII is living up to its promises. And with only hours of gameplay, here are some of our impressions of the game:

• The way the story started, through we’ve yet to comprehend fully what is going on, seems to be have some kind of sci-fi and conspiracy influences a.k.a FFVII. It’s awesome and we’re loving it so far.
• Cut-scenes and character CGI are unbelievable, and in our opinion, maybe on par or even surpasses that of Metal Gear Solid 4: Guns of The Patriots. The lovely, hip-swinging Vanille looks absolutely gorgeous.
• However, background graphic seem to be slightly choppyin certain areas, though we’ve yet to make out whether it’s our TV, the age of our PS3 console, the game itself, or (most possibly) the result of our high expectations for the game.
• Controls are ATB and turn-based’ish, not as complicated as we originally thought. Based on what we read, there are more evolution in gameplay later, so we’re keeping our fingers crossed that it won’t become another FFXII down the road.
• Voices are exceptionally done to reflect their characters. Lightning sounds every bit as we expected a soldier-gal to sound like, and likewise, Vanille the happy-go-lucky and disgustingly-teenage gal that some may find irritating.
• The Chocobo living in the hair-nest is hilarious. It kept us glued to the TV, guessing when the little dude is gonna fly out and dive back into those wacky 70s hairstyle.

Stay tuned for more articles as we proceed through this title, which is looking more and more like it’s worth the 3-year wait. If you haven’t ordered this yet, our advice: Get One NOW!

With the return of old favorites and some new ones, there are staggering amount of mini-games in Ryu ga Gotoku 4: Densetsu o Tsugumono.

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Developed by Platinum Games Inc, Bayonetta is an action title that comes greatly anticipated since its very first screenshot was shown. Hideki Kamiya, creator of “Devil May Cry” fame aside, this is a game that is self-styled the never-before-seen “Climax Action” genre (a great marketing gimmick if you ask me). And if you have been living on the moon since 2009, this is also that game that has a female protagonist whose leather-clad costume gradually loses material as she dishes out attacks. It’s every boy’s and man’s wet-dream, so what could possibly go wrong? The answer is… plenty.

The Good… Climax Action

Let’s start off with some positives. If you’ve played any of the “Devil May Cry” title and loved it, and you’re in this for the action alone; Bayonetta delivers. Period. Basically, you control the female protagonist, who comes with ultra-responsive gun, punch, kick and jump moves assigned to one button each. By pressing these buttons in different variations, you can execute some pretty amazing combos… hundreds of them, actually.

The exhaustive list of different combo moves is complemented by special “Torture Moves” which can used when you’ve built up a magic meter (by not getting hit… easier said than done). There’s a good variety of special moves, including grinding enemies with giant spiked wheels, or sawing them in halves using a chainsaw sword, or even imprisoning them with torture devices. It’s not first-of-its-kind by any means but seamless control and execution means you’re gonna have good fun if you’re an action gamer at heart.

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Originally set for release in Japan next month, Trinity Zill O’ll Zero is Dynasty Warriors‘ developers Omega Force’s upcoming ARPG based on the series known for its Free Scenario System. The game is now TBA in Japan (a US version titled Trinity: Souls of Zill O’ll has not been dated) but it can only means good things for title as it can avoid the Q1 RPG madness that we’re in now and also give the developers more time for polishing. I have great interest in the game’s world and it’s character design, so let’s take a look at the latest info based on the two latest Famitsu reports.

Character: Selene

The only girl character in your party has weaker attack but is extremely good at making use of her quick body movements and setting up traps to make things difficult for her enemies. Two such traps are Ivy Magic Stone (above left) which restrict enemy’s movement while Poison Magic Stone (second from left) lets you ermm… poison them. Although her melee attacks are much weaker than other characters, they can sometimes activate special effects like “Sureibu” (third from left) that turn opponents into “Break” condition. Her ranged attack is using the flying blades (above right).

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Street Fighting IV is still sitting on the shelf for me (borrowed from our reviewer Victor) but always keep an eye on BlazBlue: Calamity Trigger thanks to its superb 2D graphics. However, and as rumored weeks before, ArcSystemWorks is indeed working on the consoles port for BlazBlue Continuum Shift with μ-12- making her home consoles debut along with Tsubaki and Hazama. Beginner Mode is being added for people like me who have hard times activating finishing moves and there will more than 11 new beautiful stages for the game. BlazBlue Continuum Shift will be released in Japan first this summer.

I have been playing the Japanese version of Yakuza 3 at really slow pace, thanks to the amount of side missions which I can’t help but keep working on. Game is pretty fun so far, enough to convince me to get the next title in the series, Ryu ga Gotoku 4: Densetsu o Tsugumono, when it’s released next month in Japan. As you probably now by now (my previous report here), Kazuma Kiryu, the series’ main character so far, will get some new friends this time. The game will play from the perspective of four different main characters with players controlling one character at a time in the earlier chapters.

Kazuma Kiryu

Each of them will have their own unique fighting styles and moves. Kiryu is an all-rounder who are great at kicking, wrestling, Nunchaku and he can wield just about any weapons he picks up. However, frequent fighting may not be so good for Kiryu as certain gangs may come back in group later. There are several of these groups in the game and some of them even come with their bosses. Tenkei, a system where Kiryu learns new moves after being inspired by things he see on the street, is back in Ryu ga Gotoku 4 with the three other characters also have their own way of Tenkei. For Kiryu, he will take photo of Tenkei he discovered with his mobile phone and posts it to his personal blog. Besides Tenkei, Kiryu will also meet his new master in the game, who is a legendary fighter and can be found in Kamurocho.

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PS3 owners in Japan brace for another wave of RPG attack as Final Fantasy XIII slowly fading out with less than 10,000 copies sold last week. Gust’s Ar tonelico III: Sekai Shuuen no Hikigane wa Shoujo no Uta ga Hajiku was out yesterday while End of Eternity and Star Ocean: The Last Hope International will be released next week.

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Final Fantasy XIII is just outside the Top 10 for the first time since its release four weeks ago, selling a respectable 16,000 copies according to ASCii.

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Ten days to go before it’s Japanese release, Bandai Namco shares more info on Gust’s grand looking RPG Ar tonelico III: Sekai Shuuen no Hikigane wa Shoujo no Uta ga Hajiku. Cocona-Vatel (above, view character art here), who apparently have a big following in Japan after her appearance in the previous game, will “travel” to the world of Ar tonelico III to hand over a crystal to a character named Harvester.

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