Another year, another attempt at writing frequent blog posts, even if I have to literally slam my head on the desk to find an interesting subject.
Nope, I’ve got nothing.
Valentine’s Day was pretty relaxing this year, mainly because it landed slap bang in the middle of the end of semester tests, which means I had a ton of spare time at work to do all my errands and shopping without having to worry about going to school clubs or working overtime.
My girlfriend made this incredible Gears of War cake with a little chocolate Ticker as we’ve been trying to find all the collectables in the third instalment before Judgement comes out next month. Japanese releases will be slow so it looks like I’ll have to rely on importing if I want to play it spoiler-free!
So yea! How about them videogames, huh? It’s tough playing games with someone who can’t speak English. Recently we are working our way though both the Gears and Halo series, and most of the cutscenes involve me listening, translating, and then trying to add Japanese accents to each character to help enhance the experience. Even then, some words like heretic (異端者), ammo pack (弾薬/たま) or incendiary grenade (焼夷弾) always leave me drawing a blank, making it quite frustrating at times, especially since there is usually a lot of action going on.
“So why not just play Japanese games then?” is what you’re probably thinking. Well, we do! In addition to the hundreds of random Wii party games and my ever-expanding Vita collection, some of the latest and greatest games to hit the Japanese market aren’t on major consoles but are mere, free-to-play smartphone applications.
Unlike western smartphone games which are aimed at a younger and more casual audience, Japanese applications punish you for not logging in each day, and reward you for really grinding your ass off. Complete and utter time sinks, but gosh darn they are fun. If you want to get better without putting the effort in, you can buy your way to the top of the leaderboards with real money – but where’s the fun in that?
One of the bigger, mainstream releases, Puzzle & Dragons (パズドラ), has been released worldwide on both iPhone and Android. It’s free, so why not give it a go? Some gameplay footage from the English version since the Japanese commercial doesn’t show any actual gameplay:
Developed by Gungho, P&D combines puzzle solving with Columns in order to advance through turn based combat stages, peppered with RPG elements, collectible monsters, and even the ability to adventure with friends you make along the way. I was blown away with how much content and genres it takes on board, especially for being a free game, and it’s entirely possible to get really good at it without spending a single yen or cent. If you ever have a spare 10 minutes each day it’s a great little time waster. well, until you hit level 70 then you can play for up to 3 hours a day if you really want to!
I like talking about games. Maybe I’ll do this more often!
Sweet Jesus…
That app game looks so amazing and complicated…
Oh BTW,
I thought video game releases usually come out first in Japan.
Well yeah, if it’s a Japanese company making them.
Pretty sure Halo and Gears are as western as they come.
Do you play Team Fortress 2? If my experience playing with Russians is any indication as long as you understand what “medic!” means you’re solid language-wise.
I used to play it with my friend but then timezones kicked our asses and playing it solo kinda sucks. :I
I really want that new Linux Penguin freebie but have no Linux drive to play it on.
i think i read/heard somewhere you can run linux from a thumbdrive, not sure if that’s going to help you get the freebie though, maybe with an external drive it’ll let you get it
So I’m going on a long shot in the dark, and say that you have already beaten Persona 4 Golden Edition, right Jkun.
Allow me to make a optional suggestion for another Ridiculously Fun Western FPS Multiplayer Co-op game you can play with your Girlfriend that was dub in japanese. That game suggestion is call “Boarderland2″.
I loved BL2, she didn’t, also I have completed P4 buuuuut not P4G yet.
Well my suggestion was a dun, if I may suggested something else, this is usually backup plan if the situation has the right critique for it. Well to be exact this is a really way in the back of my many backup plans, like backup plans that are name after Latin Alphabet, ridiculously high numbers, polygonal shapes, and fancy colors. This is Backup Plan Δ1325678TetrahedronPerrywinkle: invite a couple of friends, and play a Board game for Adults, something like Jenga, yatzee, scramble, monopoly, Dominos, Uno, or the Japanese version of Apples to Apples(Which I sure exist.). If that doesn’t work well go with Backup plan Ω88667799CrimsonStar: Play Scott Pilgrim v.s. the world with your girlfriend.
Ohhhhh yeah, I completely forgot, you guys have two holidays of Romance,
Correct me if I’m wrong in Japan on Valentines day the Girls gives the guy something, then a month later on (March 3rd I think) the man returns the favor and gives something to the woman, is that correct Jkun.
March 14th and yes. :p
Only off by 11 days and, as a gentleman I wish you luck on March 14th, solider.
I dun need luck, I have a tux and a Scottish accent.
Well damn, as a gentleman I take back the the Luck I wish upon you then, as a gentlemanly gamer I dived the luck in two and, distribute the luck to your Tux stats and your Scottish accent stats, thus boosting them to a exaggerated ten fold.
Puzzle & Dragons is pretty fun! Thanks for the recommendation, Jkun.
Speaking of video games, are you at all excited for the supposed Playstation 4 announcement? I know I am.
Like the WiiU, unless it has any good games on launch, I won’t be getting it. At least not right away. The WiiU still has not impressed me at all.
If I recall correctly the PS3 also took ages to get any good exclusives too. :I
True, true. I guess we’ll have to wait and see!
I remember 10 years ago, when I lived in Tokyo, I player in arcades a ton, and one of my fav games was Key of Avalon. I also played a lot of Ragnarok in PC techs, gungho did that too. I still have some of my play time cards hahaha