Yakuza 3 -- All-In-One.

It's been over two weeks since my last update. I didn't fall off the face of the Earth. I just put a hundred and seven hours into earning the platinum trophy in Yakuza 3. Yakuza 3 was developed and published by SEGA for the PlayStation 3. Why did I wait so long to play Yakuza 3? Truth be told, part of me held out hope that a patch would be released returning the infamous cut content to the game. That never materialized of course and with the release of Yakuza 4 rapidly approaching I had to get it in. As I previously stated it took me a hundred and seven hours to earn the trophies and this is with the twenty missing sub-missions and the missing cabaret content. Yakuza 3 is a massive game stuffed to the brim with extra content and you'll pretty much have to do it all if you want that platinum trophy. Even if you don't want it you'll find Yakuza 3 to be daunting in scope and scale. The story picks up a couple years after the end of Yakuza 2 with Kazuma and Haruka running an orphanage in Okinawa. Much like Michael Corleone, Kazuma finds himself pulled back in to the world of organized crime after seemingly leaving it behind. Pretty soon you find yourself involved in a crooked land development deal that spirals into a greater conspiracy. Yakuza 3's story is twofold. On one hand you have the main story and its focus on Japanese politics. On the other hand you have the day to day dealings with the orphanage and the more personal dealings with the characters in Okinawa. The two halves don't really mesh all that well. I enjoyed the more personal aspects to the story. The more main story focus side left a bit to be desired in my opinion. It took a step back from the quality found in the previous two titles. This is the series' first entry on the PlayStation 3 and as such it has never looked or played better. The static camera angles and pre-rendered backgrounds are gone. In their place is a free flowing camera and a fully rendered 3D world. Just being able to stop and look around in 3D is very cool especially for a city you know so well from the previous games. The game looks great on the PlayStation 3 and there is a wealth of detail everywhere you look. The game is not without its flaws though. From a design standpoint, they're stuck in last generation as far as menus and the overriding game system are concerned. If you fail at a minigame for example, you have to load all the way out to the game proper and go back in choosing your way through four or five menu levels instead just having the option to replay it. The game seems built on a structure from last generation and has the load times to go with it. If I'm knocking the score a point for the story and a point for the overriding antiquated structure that means I'm giving Yakuza 3 an 8. Everything else about the game is great and it features an amazing amount of gameplay value, especially considering the entry price these days. What's next for me? I'm probably going to play an old classic. Then I'm going to do something probably a bit stupid instead of knocking out a few more backlogged titles or jumping in on one of the new games I've got sitting here.

Two Worlds II -- Final Opinion.

I have fully completed Two Worlds II earning the full thousand achievement points. Two Worlds II is a decidedly fun but flawed experience. Two Worlds II is one of those games that's on the brink of being a quality title. The combat is just a tad off, yet remains fun. You can mix and match between the standard warrior, mage, and archer. You have skill trees with decent depth that allow you to pick and choose skills to suit your play style or if you've got the patience you can level enough to max out everything. I actually managed to stay away from my traditional playing style of an archer and played the game as a pure mage. I also ran through the game again as a pure warrior. The game's magic system is actually quite cool. You create spells by mixing and matching cards. Want to increase the power of your fireball spell? Add more fire cards. Want to increase the speed the fireballs travel? Add more missile cards. Add a ricochet card and your fireball will bounce off your target with the potential of hitting other targets. Add a time card to increase the duration of your spells. It's really cool just to sit there trying out different combinations of cards never knowing what you'll create. I stumbled upon spells that let me turn invisible and jump five times my normal jump this way. The same sort of system is in place for the items you can collect. Mix items you've collected to create potions that do everything from heal life and refill magic to allowing you to walk on water or increase defense against particular elements. The game's world is an interesting place to explore. You'll have the standards of a European fantasy forest, swamp, and wasteland to explore, but you'll also have an African savannah as well as a Southeast Asian jungle. The game's story is a direct continuation from the original game. I never played the original Two Worlds but the story is not the reason to play Two Worlds II. The dialog is stilted. The voice work is as stilted. The translation is less than stellar. But somehow the game manages to pull off a very cheesy charm. The game offers up a surprising amount of content with an rather good online campaign separate from the single player game. A village mode wherein you'll build and manage your own town. Some online duels and team deathmatch as well as an online race to collect more crystals than your opponents. These extra modes are decent. I'm giving Two Worlds 2 a 7.5. I'd recommend it to anyone interested in a large European PC style action RPG on a console, especially when you can find the game for $30 or less. It's the kind of game that doesn't need to be played, but it's one you might not want ignore. There is potential here. This team might actually be able to grow this series into something really good.