In Case You Missed It (Because I Sure Did!): Dragon Quest IX release date is official

...as per neoGAF, portable old-school role-playing heads stateside July 11.

Interesting to note that Nintendo, not Square-Enix, is the publisher this time around. The ESRB rating is E10+ (DQ VIII on the ps2 was rated "T for Teen," as have most other mainline entries in the Dragon Quest series). Hopefully Nintendo doesn't bungle the transliterations - I'm all for family-friendly games, but this is a game series where the dialogue contributes a great deal to the overall enjoyment of the game, and I'd hate to see a diluted translation of an excellent script just to maintain more accessibility amongst the younger gaming set.

Nintendo's got a pretty impressive teaser up on their official website, FWIW:

http://dragonquest.nintendo.com./

Revising for exams

I haven't been posting as I have been wrapped up in exams and revision for them. Still getting a bit of gaming in though. I'm working through the old Zelda II for the NES (unfinished business from when I was very young ;) ) and also FFX. I'm sure I'll have posts on both soon enough. I'm not sure why I had never got round to playing FFX in the past but am glad that I am now, I think I am pretty close to the end and am working out exactly where the game stands in terms of complementing or detracting from a Catholic worldview. Purely in terms of graphics/ gameplay/ sound/ battle it rates very highly- the battle system in particular, as with thought and tactics fights can be brushed aside quickly. Obviously, in terms of gameplay, things are too linear for my liking... that seems to be the way of a lot of RPGs. There has to be balance because too much freedom normally seems to devalue the story and characterisation.

Ridin' the Alan Wake Hype Train

Alan Wake is a self-described "psychological thriller" (read: survival horror) game first announced over five years ago. It is finally set for release on May 18.

Despite my general proclivity towards role-playing games and my aversion to "blood n'guts" (that I managed to play through Resident Evil 5 without vomiting is, to quote Ben Franklin's aphorism, "proof that God loves me and wants me to happy") that such "survival horror" games tend to possess in spades, Alan Wake's emphasis on narrative development and puzzle-solving gameplay is certainly palpable to a role-playing gamer like me, and the "T for teen" rating would seem to indicate that the carnage will be kept to a minimum.

Many in the gaming community are already extolling Alan Wake as a "game-of-the-year" contender. There's even an online webisode series prequel to promote the game before its release in the coming weeks.

The metacritic average is in the 80th percentile, which would seem to indicate its not quite the foretaste of heaven some gamers apparently think it is. Still, if I ever manage to finish FFXIII and Pokemon Heartgold, I'm convinced Alan Wake can give me a good jolt of summer fun.