If i were to pick an any Tales offshoot title radiant mythology 3 would be my pick too.... character creation in a tales game really excites me-LoL

Ahhhh VC.... one of my only backlogs I shall never complete, nor do I care to... I really loved the game but became extremely ill and ended up in the hospital for nearly 7 days while playing that and tactics ogre.... I was never able to play either again because it makes me feel "strange" now.... Good buy though! If it weren't for the circumstances I could imagine myself having poured quite a few hours into it. Most impressive thing sega has published on the PS3 period IMO :)

wow folks..... since my last post but a few days ago about entertaining a shonen title there has been absolute freakin' gold posted by your guys!!! seriously, informative stuff friends... waaaay too much for me to reply to individually....

but the long and the short of it is, whether a few aforementioned titles qualify as shonen or not is irrelevant.... I have ample direction on what to check out, which I can't thank you for enough! oddly enough i have never seen ANY of most of what was discussed despite how long I have been watching anime...

In response to a few things though....

Yes, I have watched soul eater.... that had a part in me entertaining the idea I could enjoy something in this direction...

Thank you for clearing up that shonen means "for boys"... I actually had no idea... I thought it meant "a lot more then 12 or 24 episodes"-LoL

@dice... I too have commitment issues when it comes to anime.... long series scare me... I want to conciously work to amend this...

Well the ridiculous perils of the femme fatale of prismatic hearts was no much for the wondrous strategies employed by commander Chroma! What the hell do I mean by that??? I BEAT HYPERDIMENSION MK2 and for the FIRST time in a compile hearts title I actually got the true end!! Ohhhhhh sweet victory....

The verdict?? Highly addicting freakin' title for no discernable or measurable reason... the game sucked... and I enjoyed every moment of it-LoL.... Vast improvement over the first as far as the gameplay goes, but I must side with the masses when I report the humor just wasn't nearly as "humorous" this time around...

My biggest gripe with MK2 lies within the last few chapters......... if you are at all concerned with doing side missions and colliseum battles, the challenge of the actual story is non-existent... Even in the final chapter, unlockable only if you pursue the true end route, I trumped most the bosses without even needing to heal any member of my party.... The problem is, as far as I can tell, this scenario is completely unavoidable due to the fact that a fair amount of leveling up occurs while pursuing the true end route! If you set up a game mechanic to require a certain performance/level from the player, would it not stand to reason to make that which follows require the same level of performance or greater?.... But what do I know... most jrpgs seem pretty broken by the end to me....

In other news, I re-examined the backlog I am determined to burn through and realized I erroneously omit a key title I have wanted to finish since I was like 10 years old.... Seiken Densetsu 3!! On three seperate occasions I tried to play through the title multiplayer.... multiplayer partner petered out on my each time and I never finished one playthrough.... So with passion and haste, post MK2's credits I resumed my quest to slay the God Beasts! Ironically every time I played this is where (for one reason or another) I lost my couch co-op compadre'... So I resumed my last save file I was playing with a lovely lass but a year or so ago...

I was into playing games.... she was into doing a little bit more then playing games.... things didn't work too swell.... Before the cookie crumbled however we did make it to the mana holyland! Only problem is she didn't take the amazon girl down the healer path, leaving me with a healer-less party.... Luckily there seems to be no shortage of Luc or healing item availability, so maybe this move on her part was unwittingly a good decision...

Lastly I started playing Zone of the Enders HD collection..... too early to report anything other then this soundtrack is absolutely stellar!!!

 

A telling update here as to what we can expect with the plot...

http://www.siliconera.com/2013/01/11/celestial-flowers-are-taking-over-the-netherworld-in-disgaea-dimension-2/

It doesn't sound as bad as I expected.... This is a tough call.... how entertaining this is (or conversely, how predictable and recycled it feels) really will all depend on the quality and execution of the narrative for me. But at least now I don't feel quite as discouraged as I did when I heard about that whole "sister" tidbit.

Growlanser syndrome...... I sufferred the same affliction friend..Growlanser 5/HoW- Saved right before the final dungeon in 2008 and didn't get back to completing it until 2012-LoL.... only game I can say I ever really did that with... most of the time I put em down midway for a stretch, but never at the end like that... odd

I wish they would prioritize the major console released Tales games first before anything else....

In a perfect world (for Klyde)...

Ps1 Tales of Phantasia Localized on the PSN
Ps2 Tales of Destiny 2 Localized on the PSN
Ps2 Tales of Redbirth Localized on the PSN
A Swift Release of Xilia this year followed by Xilia 2
And finally, after that, I'd take some hearts... I'm least concerned with hearts because I don't really like handheld stuff...

NOTE: I don't honestly think anything I listed aside from Xilia is even a remote possibility... I just think it would be cool it it were :)

I've been playing RPGs for over two decades now.... yet somehow in all that time I never picked up a pokemon or a kingdom hearts title... well ok, I purposely avoided kingdom hearts because disney makes me feel weird (blasphemous i know).... but pokemon just slipped by me...

sooooo now for the obligatory question.... if I were to entertain the idea of giving these games a shot where should i start..??? So many colors to choose from.... should I even bother playing any of the last installments or just wait for this?

I was quick to explain.... i should have gone into more detail... multiple lights and outlets don't work on unrelated circuits, yet others on the same dysfunctional circuits do work... I had 2 seperate handyman/electrician types come to the house yesterday.... both said it was baffling and beyond them and to call someone else.... the second also threw out a promising "..... it would take 10 grand to get this house wired correctly...." sort of unsettling.....

"Another" did have some disturbing moments.... but damn was it good. I really enjoyed it right from the door. The only other thing that really translate that "mood" to me was playing corpse party on the PSP. Such a rare delicacy that particular flavor of horror is....

Finished the first 24 eps of "A Certain Magical Index".... i'm interested to see where they go with this based on where they have already went.... I hope stiyl gets some more screen time-lol

In the interest of catching up on some "must see" stuff I'm finally going to watch steins gate after being rather dissapointed in chaos: head.... I say "must see" because I "must see" how freakin' convoluted and non-sensical this ends up being.... but hey, who knows... maybe I'll be presently surprised....

On a completely different note... I realized I have never indulged any shonen titles.... I have always more or less just researched specific stuff that it seemed like I would like... never watched any anime on TV or anything since dragon ball z was on fox when I was like 8 years old or something... As such I'm wondering what I've been missing out on and thinking of checking out a couple episodes of bleach, mostly because I just want some background to give the dynasty warrior-like game a try..... this could prove a fools errand... time will tell I suppose 

Made it to chapter 7 in hyperdimension mk2, locking in my route to the true end in one play-through!!! soooooooo stoked!

My adventures in hyrule are proving a bit lackluster.... I now remember why I haven't played a zelda game in so long.... the gameplay rocks and all, but damn... talk about lather rinse repeat.... I'm going to continue with it as I feel compelled to see twilight princess through to the end, but it certainly doesn't feel terribly pressing.....

I'm thinking I may turn TP into a "weekend only" title and get to another backlog throughout the week, either agarest 2 or wild arms alter code f..... or maybe I'll just say screw it for now, polish off Lego LOTR for the hell of it and wait for Ni No Kuni in 2 weeks... although I have been toying around with the idea of finally going back to xenosaga and getting through episode 2 (insanity, I know....)

wow.... what an unpleasant morning.... i went to vacuum and it tripped a circuit.... or so I thought.... checked the circuits, none were tripped yet the lights won't come back on... called electrician......electrician comes and says "this is beyond me, you gotta call someone more experienced".....

but I remain grateful... why you ask? well, oddly enough all my game systems, computer and refrigerator all have power (this is what confused the hell out of the electrician).... so I think I'm simply going to ignore the problem and play games and whatnot in the dark for a few days.... i have two major tattoos and hyperdimension neptunia mk2 to tend to this week.... the lights can wait-LoL

That is awesome info my friend!!! I can't thank you enough! I really had no clue what the sets were at all and I get scared to research anything elsewhere for fear of unintentionally learning about and spoiling other aspects of the game (always happens to me.... I look up something benign and randomly stumble across mega-spoilers every time..... that is why I stick around here.... a good, intelligent, spoiler-free community is tough to find these days)

I'm not saying motion control is necessarily a bad thing... it is simply waaaay to outside the realm of my "gaming comfort zone" for me to enjoy... I have given them a try multiple times... they just "feel" different to me... its tough for me to explain....

And as an aside, I chain smoke like a bastard while playing and every single time I try to play games with motion control I end up getting ashes all over myself!! LoL

Thanks for the lists/suggestions guys :)

I have wanted to play Vay again for years.... I can hardly remember it from when I was a kid, but I do remember NOT completing it and being pissed off that I didnt..... certainly not the most enticing thing available on IPads, but that will be my first go-to title when I finally indulge.