Senseless Reviews

Etrian Odyssey IV has been very slowly kicking my a** (I have had characters go down more times in the early game than I care to count - it's somewhere around 10), so to take my mind off it, I'm going to whip up a quick review for a game I meant to do a while ago.

I'm doing this mostly from memory so it shouldn't take long.

Title: Pokémon Mystery Dungeon: Explorers of Sky
Platform: Nintendo DS
Release Date: October 2009
Developer: Nintendo
Genre: Mystery dungeon

Yes, PMD2.5. Yes, 'mystery dungeon' is its own genre. Yes, the other PMD games have been reviewed in this thread. Yes, Gates to Infinity still sucks.

Except with this, to make one's lives easier (mine included), I'm just going to do a comparison review, comparing this to Explorers of Time/Darkness.

Why? Well, they're basically the same game, just that EOS has more stuff.

What's the same?
The game's basic plot, and all scenes (and characters) therein, are the same as in EOT/D. EOS does have a few more scenes in than EOT/D, but no scenes (or any other features, actually) were really removed. The only exception to this is that the boss of Amp Plains was changed to a Manectric with 8 Electrike (instead of a Luxray with 8 Luxio).

The shops in Treasure Town, the Kecleon Marts in dungeons, the locations of most (though not all) special items and Pokemon, and the encounters in dungeons themselves are all the same. For example, there are no longer legendary Pokemon in Final Maze; all 4 Pokemon there (Raikou, Entei, Suicune, and Jirachi) were relocated to their own dungeons.
EOT/D did have version-exclusives, however; EOS removes that and has the exclusives for both versions together in the same game.

The way to rescue a friend is exactly the same - send a rescue request to a friend and wait for a response. Wonder Mail is different, though, replaced with Wonder Mail S - the algorithm is different, so codes are not compatible. Item trading may also be done between games, and between EOS games, you can send items en masse, instead of 1 at a time.
It should be noticed that items introduced in EOS can't be sent to an EOT/D game (obviously), and you cannot request rescues from dungeons that debuted in EOS (i.e. are not in EOT/D).

The way to level up your rescue team's rank, and thus increase your storage, is also the same - take missions, do stuff. (The rank points are a bit different, but the way to get there is still basically the same.) Your treasure bag also expands at the same rate, eventually capping at 48 items, and the storage will max out when you hit Master Rank, at 1000 items. (No, infinite storage from PMD1 has not returned, nor have Friend Areas. I'm sorry.)

I would like to say up front, before you go any further, if you aren't that much of a fan of PMD, and/or you already have EOT/D, do not get this game. Similarly, if you already have EOS, don't get EOT/D. There's little point. I own both, but that's just because I really like PMD. I'm weird like that.

What's different?
(This section will be longer since I go into specifics.)

There are 5 new Special Episodes you may play. Special Episodes are side stories told from the perspective of another character in the game. You will control that character(s), and go through a mini-adventure. After completion, all earned money and items will go to your main team's storage. They are unlocked over the course of the plot, and the 5th one is unlocked when you graduate from the guild. They increase in difficulty as you go along, and all of the dungeons there, with the exception of Star Cave, aren't found outside Special Episodes.

The point requirements to level-up each rank are different. While usually the differences are minor, Master Rank in this game is acquired much earlier, at 13500 points, instead of 77777 as it was in EOT/D. However, in exchange, there are 4 ranks higher than it now: Master * Rank, Master ** Rank, Master *** Rank, and Guildmaster Rank, the last of which requires a whopping 100,000 points to get (Master ***, by contrast, only requires 25000). This is mitigated somewhat by all rescue missions of rank A or higher having a slightly higher point payout than in EOT/D (usually roughly 25% more).

There are a few new dungeons in EOS that weren't in EOT/D. They are Star Cave (unlocked after a Special Episode), Zero Isle Center (I never figured out how to unlock this, but it's basically a harder ZI North), Destiny Tower (unlocked from the cafe, a much harder ZI South), Oblivion Forest (unlocked after getting Master * Rank), Treacherous Waters (unlocked at Master ** Rank), Southeastern Islands (unlocked at Master *** Rank), and Inferno Cave (unlocked at Guildmaster Rank). In all of these dungeons, the difficulty is noticeably higher than others, there are usually restrictions on your team and/or who may be brought, you cannot be rescued, and Pokemon here (except for legendaries under certain conditions) can't be recruited. These dungeons are also where Raikou/Entei/Suicune/Jirachi were moved.
(Star Cave is an exception; it doesn't have team restrictions, and is easy, unlocked relatively early. It's also different than the special episode's version, but only in that there are no waypoints to save the game.)

Actually, I forgot one. There is a new story mode event added to EOS, with an entirely new dungeon: Sky Peak. It takes place after you graduate from the guild, and before you are asked to go to Blizzard Island. It is a dungeon separated into 10 parts, with rest stops to climb the mountain in between each part, called Station Clearings. In all, there are about 35 floors to climb, and there are save points at each Station Clearing, except for the 5th one. (You can also access your storage at even-numbered station clearings, except for the 10th one, which is the peak itself. After you reach Station Clearings 2, 4, and 6, you may travel between there and the mountain base at any time.) Sky Peak has its own sub-plot; the first time, you are guided by a Shaymin who is basically a Sherpa, and steadily climb to the top. There are bosses at the 5th and 10th Statin Clearings, and after clearing the peak once, you unlock the Sky Jukebox (the Sound Room, basically) on the title screen. The Sky Jukebox contains all tracks in the main game by default (even the places you haven't gone to yet), and unlocks the Special Episode tracks after completing each one.
You can return to the peak again later to recruit Shaymin (who automatically joins if you tell it 'Yes'). Shaymin is 1 of 2 new Pokemon in this game. The other one is Giratina's Origin Form, but you get him by first recruiting Giratina. His form changes randomly between each floor. To change Shaymin's form to Sky Form, you use an item called Gracidea, available once per day at the mountain's base. Its effects wear off at the end of a day, if Shaymin is frozen, or if Shaymin is damaged by an Ice-type attack.
Arceus is NOT in this game; however, there is a statue of him visible upon clearing Destiny Tower.

As in EOT/D, you can accept the missions for the Seven Treasures after rescuing Scizor at Crevice Cave. However, these missions can be taken by people in Spinda's Cafe (see below), instead of having to import them via Wonder Mail. The missions are still otherwise the same.

All Pokemon evolutions lines now have Exclusive Items paired to them, rather than only about a quarter of the Pokemon as it was in EOT/D. Consequently, Croagunk's Swap Cauldron has improved services as well: in addition to his usual swaps (swap for a higher in the same category you have), he can also check Exclusive Item names usable by your party (all names that exist, including ones you don't have), and will offer you random 1-, 2-, or 3-star items for any other Exclusive Items you're holding (he requires 2, 3, and 5 respectively). Some lines only have 3-star items, and this is the only way to get them. In addition, the items aren't required to be in your treasure bag anymore; you may swap items directly from your storage.

There is a new location called Spinda's Cafe. Here, you can accept missions from random Pokemon here (essentially 1 more available request you can take each day), make drinks out of items you are carrying (including Gummis - making it a lot easier to eat them now), as well as recycle/trade away items you no longer need. In fact, drinking drinks and recycling items are ways you can unlock certain dungeons that were normally unlocked by taking missions in EOT/D. (Tiny Forest is an example, but there are much more besides.)
You can also sometimes find missions washed up on the beach, in the form of a message in a bottle. Messages found here have a higher chance of being treasure missions (see below).

There are more types of missions available than there were in EOT/D, and by that, I mean there are more objectives to be done. In addition, the escort missions are mitigated somewhat; in EOT/D they were always level 7, whereas in EOS they can be as high as level 15.
The new types of objectives include:
~Escort a Pokemon to a certain floor (which may or may not be listed in the mission posting)
~Escort a Pokemon to a Hidden Chamber (room) on a floor (Actually, I think EOT/D might have had these too)
~Accept a challenge request from another Pokemon, to meet him/her at a specific place. These essentially equate to mini-boss fights, and may or may not have Monster Houses. Some legendary Pokemon can only be recruited this way.
~Defeat an outlaw, who summons a monster house on you
~Defeat an outlaw to retrieve a stolen item (this is actually a sub-type of all existing outlaw missions)
~Defeat an outlaw, who isn't announced as such and spawns somewhere randomly on the floor (will always have a stolen item)
~Defeat an outlaw, who runs away from you and tries to make it to the stairs (will always have a stolen item - if they make it to the stairs, you cannot succeed and will have to retry)
~Defeat an outlaw, with Magnemite or Magnezone as an escort to assist (a sub-type of some types of outlaw missions)
~Yeah, they expanded outlaw mission types a lot, I know
~Find a treasure hidden somewhere in a dungeon. The memo does not say where, but lists a clue to its location in the description itself, as well as tells you the floor. When you make it there, you will be in a treasure room. Here, Wonder Orbs are disabled, and the treasure is usually hidden behind a wall, usually making Mobile Scarves/Ghost Pokemon mandatory for success.
(The success animation is probably the funniest for any mission. Chatot will be surprised that you found a treasure, and also very pleased! He will then ask to take the treasure in the name of the guild. Then he says 'Just kidding' and tells you to keep it. This happens regardless of whether you've graduated or not.)

The starters you can pick at the start of the game are also different. Unlike in EOT/D, there are gender-exclusive starters again, and Meowth and Munchlax may only be chosen as a partner this time. There are also 5 new starters that weren't in EOT/D: Eevee (technically a returning choice from PMD1), Phanpy, Riolu, Vulpix, and Shinx, and all other starters from EOT/D return. As before, your partner cannot be the same type as the player character (so, a Charmander plus a Vulpix) is forbidden. In addition, all of the starter Pokemon, whether player or partner, that are NOT normally starters in a main-series game (this is all of the Fire/Water/Grass trios, plus Pikachu) start with a set egg move (in addition to the usual moves):
~Vulpix starts with Faint Attack
~Meowth starts with Hypnosis
~Eevee starts with Flail
~Phanpy starts with Ancientpower
~Skitty and Munchlax start with Zen Headbutt
~Shinx starts with Quick Attack
~Riolu starts with Bite

The pictures shown on the title screen, before resuming your save file, are different than the ones shown in EOT/D. All the new images, except for one (which displays Grovyle alone by a Time Gear), feature at least 1 of the new starters that weren't in EOT/D (i.e. Eevee, Riolu, Phanpy, Shinx, or Vulpix), and display different scenes too. One image shows all 5 in front of the guild.

If you lose/faint in a dungeon, you only lose half your held money (instead of all of it). Item loss is still the same, though (at least half), and your entire inventory will become Plain Seeds if you lose to Kecleon.

There are items in this game called Lookalike Items. They look and appear like another kind of item, and even have similar names (e.g. Oren Berry), but the effects are markedly different, and usually negative (e.g. whoever eats the Oren Berry loses 10 HP, instead of gains 100). In storage, they will be sorted with the non-lookalike counterpart. In the item description, however, it will tell you exactly what it does. Not all lookalike items are negative; notable examples are the Gone Pebble (which gives you Endure status for a time) and the Dough Seed (which makes a lot of money appear on the next floor).

~~~

Those are the most pertinent differences between the two games. There are actually a few more besides that, and they're much smaller than the above; if you want to see them all, I wrote a topic a few years ago shortly after EOS came out, on a now-long-dead forum, explaining all the differences between EOS and EOT/D, which you may view here. (It has most of what is here, but there are a few things here I didn't write there. It also has the spoilers for the Special Episodes, so take heed.)

If I wanted to give this a numerical score? I'd say 8/10. It's obviously better than EOT/D, but if you already have one of those, there is little point to getting this, simply because everything is so similar. (Pokemon games tend to do this a lot, actually - the 'third version' is the same as the first two, just with a little bit more stuff.) And, even though Wifi is dead, this game doesn't actually require it at all, due to the mail password algorithm system. Granted, it can be annoying to input every character one at a time, but at least it works. And this game is old, true, but it's still a good title. Though, I will say, if you aren't a fan of PMD, and know that you're not, this game will not change your mind. If you are, then go for it.

Happy gaming!

One of these days I'm going to have to save all these reviews I write to an external Notepad file or something.

Title: Dragon Quest Heroes: Rocket Slime
Platform: Nintendo DS
Release Date: September 2006
Developer: Square Enix & TOSE
Genre: Action-adventure

First I want to start out by saying that this game was only released in Japan and North America, and that it's actually the 2nd of 3 in a series (Slime Mori Mori Dragon Quest) - it was the only one that made it out of Japan (kinda like the Mother series, hmm...). And, in all cases, the reason why is that the series wasn't particularly well-selling.

...which is a shame, because it's really fun, and it has quite a bit of replay value, despite what its short length would suggest. It's a little hard to find though, so there's that, but it shouldn't be too expensive. And emulators exist, but that's beside the point.

In terms of plot, it is relatively simple: you play the part of a generic Slime called Rocket (silent protagonist, you can name him whatever you want) who lives in the quiet town of Boingburg. You're goofing around with your friends, when suddenly this gang called the Plob invades your hometown and kidnaps everyone who lives there - except you, who managed to evade detection. Your goal, Rocket, is to go out and rescue your friends, take down the Plob, and fight off enemies with your new secret weapon...a giant tank. The catch? The Plob ALSO has giant tanks, which you have to fight against.

Yes. You heard me.
This entire game is a bunch of Slimes manning giant tanks to go out and fight other giant tanks.
And it's extremely fun.
Let that sink in for a bit.

Gameplay is divided into 2 categories: dungeon exploration and tank battles - the time you spend will be about 50-50 in each, but weighted a bit more towards the dungeon bit. Features are unlocked for you throughout the course of the game, depending on your progress.

In overworld exploration, you control Rocket going to various dungeons to explore. Rocket controls like so:
+ d-pad: Move Rocket around (8-directional)
A while moving: Jump
Hold down A while in the air: Float. You can float for 2 seconds max at a time.
Hold down A while on the ground, immobile, and hold down the d-pad in some direction: Rocket stretches out his body in that direction. Releasing A shoots him forward that way - this is called the Elasto Blast. Holding down A for more than 2 seconds charges up the speed, power, and range of the Elasto Blast for that use.
(*If Rocket hits any object with the Elasto Blast, it will get hit and fly into the air - whether it be a chest, an item, or even an enemy. If Rocket moves below something right as it's about to hit the ground, he will pick it up. He can carry up to 3 things at once.)
B: Lightly bap the guy in front of you. I don't think I ever use this, in favor of the Elasto Blast.
B, while holding something: Throw the bottom-most item you're carrying.
R: Shift the bottom-most item you're carrying to the top of the stack. (All items shift down 1 space.)
Start: Open the Pause menu.

For most of the dungeon exploration, you will control Rocket using his Elasto Blast to knock things into the air and catch them as they fall. That's the main way he does stuff. After all, slimes have no arms. In dungeons, there are special blue chests with slime icons on them (normal treasure chests are red and look average); knocking into these with the Elasto Blast forces them open, releasing the slime inside. (Actually, you open normal chests this way too.)

In every dungeon you go to, there are dispersed railroad tracks with empty carts on them. These carts move automatically, and their contents are sent back to Boingburg. Rocket can throw anything he finds exploring on these carts - items, rescued slimes, even enemies! It is in your best interest to send back as many items and such to Boingburg as you can; the more you collect, the more things you'll get to do later. You can defeat enemies using the Elasto Blast to get them to drop coins and maybe a mystery item, but more often than not you'll want to send them back to Boingburg. Each cart can hold 4 things on it total (but there are multiple carts that come by on a regular basis), so Rocket can hop on a cart holding 3 things and the weight limit won't be exceeded. If Rocket's on a cart, and reaches the end of the railroad tracks, you can return to town if you want (with any spoils), though to unlock the next area in the game, he'll need to reach the end of that dungeon and defeat its boss. Bosses are refightable, but (with 2 exceptions) don't really give any real reward, so there's little point.

Note, Rocket does have an HP gauge, and he can get hurt, but I've never gotten a Game Over in this game, or even come close to it, so you shouldn't be too threatened.

The more slimes you send back to Boingburg, the more features of the town you'll unlock - the town is actually a smoldering wreck at first, but when you send the slimes back, they'll start rebuilding it and clearing up all of the debris. Everything is eventually unlocked in Boingburg once you send back all 100 slimes, though most of it is unlocked with the first 50. The first few slimes you rescue will offer to join your crew automatically, and a few others later will offer as well.

The more items you send back to Boingburg, the more item choices you'll have available for your tank later. At a certain point in the game, you also gain the ability to utilise alchemy, combining your weaker items into stronger ones - this is the only way to get certain ammo. Alchemy requirements can sometimes be strenuous, but at the rate at which you send things back to Boingburg, the load is mitigated somewhat. You can't carry more than 100 of any given item at a time, though with alchemy you'll probably rarely, if ever, get that high.

The more enemies you send back to Boingburg...well, after you reach a certain point in the game, you'll unlock a museum. After you send back 1 monster of a kind, it'll be walking about the village, much friendlier to you than it was in the dungeon. After you send back 30 of a kind, there will be a bronze statue of that monster in the museum; if you go there and talk to the monster, it will offer to join your crew on the tank (which I'll get to later). Rescuing 50 changes it to a silver statue, and rescuing 100 (the max number it will show) changes it to a gold statue. There's no point to that other than it looking pretty though.

All right, that basically covers the overworld exploration. Now for the stuff you can do with your tank. Before the battle, let me cover the customization.
After you unlock the Schleimann Tank (pronounced SHLY-man), there are 3 things you can do:
~Increase its max HP. The Schleimann Tank starts with 100 HP, and as you progress through the game, you can pay the tank's mechanic (a cyber slime, funnily enough) to increase its HP further - to do so requires money (obtained from treasure chests or defeating monsters) and certain other items as payment. There are a total of 20 HP upgrades you can apply to the tank; earlier upgrades usually give it 20 extra HP, while later upgrades can give as much as 50 or more. Getting all the upgrades will result in the Schleimann Tank having 1500 HP, though the last 500 HP are from post-game upgrades.
~Rearrange its ammo lineup. The Schleimann Tank can hold up to 30 pieces of ammo, which you will use in your tank fights. You can review the name, damage, and properties of the weapon here while preparing, though usually it's best to see ammo in action. The ammo you can use is based on the items you find and/or alchemise during your adventures.
~Select your crew members. Including yourself, you can have 3 other crew members with you in tank fights. Each crew member has a certain HP (not shown), behavior pattern (usually shown), and AI options (definitely shown). Most crew members have 2 options, though some only have 1 (you can change which one they follow at any given time by hitting Start to pause the fight, and selecting). You'll only start with a small handful, but other slimes and even monsters can offer to join your team later.
(You might think that the ones you get at the start of the game are weak, and get better as time goes on. While that might be the case, that isn't always true - Baron Blubba, one of the first slimes you recruit for your crew, is solidly one of the best crew members in the entire game.)

All of the above is done in the mechanic's house in Boingburg, so make sure you're well outfitted before heading out!

Now, for the tank fights. You may be pleased to know that you will always know when a tank fight is coming up, and, iirc, you don't get forced into any - there's always a Yes/No screen before it starts.

How it works is this: The two tanks will be set up opposing each other. Each has its own HP gauge, ammo, and crew, and the first person to destroy the other person's tank wins. The tank is constructed as follows:
~Everyone starts on the upper level of his/her own tank. There are 2 cannons: upper and lower. There is also 1 ammo chute here, from which ammo may emerge.
~There is also a lower level, which is larger. In the middle there is a sanctuary, where anyone who is defeated (falls to 0 HP) will respawn after a set amount of time. There are also 4 more ammo chutes here: 2 closer to the entrance, 2 further in.
~At the very core of the tank is its heart. The room to the tank's heart is locked to everyone, until that tank is reduced to 0 HP. If the heart is attacked, the tank explodes completely, and victory goes to the opposing team. (It is possible to keep fighting even when you reach 0 HP, but as soon as the heart is reached, it's game over.)
~On the lower level, facing the outside, is the entrance. The entrance is normally always closed, but will open and close automatically for its crew members or anyone on the inside. If the door is attacked enough by enemies, it will become damaged, and open and close at random (more so if the machine next to the door, controlling it, is damaged). And, if the tank reaches 0 HP, it will stay open and will not close.
~Pretty much every machine on the lower level can be attacked and damaged. I'm not sure what effect it has, but I believe it makes ammo respawn from the chutes slower. The one next to the door will make the door alternate between open and closed, though.

All right, that's the tank layout. Now for the exciting bit: the ammo.
~Ammo can be thrown into either the upper or lower cannon. There are no restrictions for what can be thrown into the cannon and when, but each piece of ammo has different effects, damage, and even movement speed (for example, iron balls move very slowly, but missiles move much quicker). There are even some esoteric ammo types with other effects, such as boomerangs, shields, and chili peppers (one of my personal favorites). Experiment for yourself!
~Ammo fired from the lower cannon travels in a straight line and will reach the enemy tank the fastest. Ammo fired from the upper cannon travels in an arc through the air, and reaches the enemy tank later. You can always see, on the upper screen, the paths of ammo flying through the air. (Your POV is always shown on the bottom screen.)
~If a piece of ammo collides with another piece, both of them fall to the ground without effect. (All used ammo eventually respawns later, so it's not like there will be shortage. What spawn from the chutes, however, is random, but priority is usually given to things used up earlier.) There are a few exceptions, such as boomerangs and shields, which can take multiple hits (it'll usually say if it can). Experiment for yourself!
~Crew members can also be fired from the cannons - either accidentally or on purpose. They will travel through the air just like any other piece of ammo, but instead of dealing damage, they will instead infiltrate the enemy tank and land on the upper level. You can cause a lot of chaos here, such as attacking your opponents, making them drop their ammo, destroying bits of their tank - or even firing them into the cannons! (However, if you just want to enter the tank, you can travel along the ground and enter through the front door, but you may have to destroy it.)

Rocket controls exactly the same way as he does in the overworld - he can carry 3 items at once, attack things with the Elasto Blast, and so on. Crew members you select act on AI - you do not control them. And, of the ones that fire from the cannons, they will usually only hold 1 piece of ammo at a time. There are only a few exceptions to this - one of them is the aforementioned Baron Blubba, who - like Rocket - can hold 3 pieces (and those that can hold more than 1 will pick up as many items as they can carry before loading them into the cannons).

Here's some of the AIs your crew members will have:
~Use the upper cannon: Grabs a piece of ammo (usually the first one it finds) and always fires it from the upper cannon.
~Use the lower cannon: Same as above, but will always fire from the lower cannon.
~Fire like crazy: Same as above, but chooses randomly which cannon to fire from each time.
~Fire self at enemy: Will jump into the cannon itself, launching itself like ammo. These guys, instead of landing in the tank upon impact, will deal damage. They can still be nocked out of the air like any other piece of ammo, but they (usually) have an ability that mitigates that somewhat.
~Infiltrate and sabotage: Will exit your tank from the ground entrance, enter the enemy tank, and start attacking anyone or anything they can find. Some of them may have an ability that lets them bypass the door.
~Target their commander: Same as above, but will focus specifically on attacking the tank's commander.
~Steal enemy ammo: Same as above, but instead of attacking, they will grab a piece of ammo (usually the first one it finds), run back to your tank, and hand it off to you.
~Keep baddies out: If an enemy is in the tank, they will go after and attack it, until it is KO'd or otherwise forced out of the tank. All crew members will do this to an extent, but those with this AI option will intentionally patrol the area.
~Guard your commander: Will stay near you (Rocket) at all times, distracting and/or guarding you from enemies.

These aren't the only ones, but these are the most common. Some crew members do their jobs better than others, so it's worth trying out different combinations to see who works. If you want a few recommendations from me, try out some of these: Baron Blubba, Flabbot Francisco, Dancing Flame, Wyrtle, Killing Machine, and (in the postgame) Big Daddy and Mama Mia. It's very hard to go wrong with these guys.

I think that's basically it. To give this game a numerical score I'll give it an 8 out of 10. Rocket Slime is a spinoff game, true, but an incredibly fun one, and a way to just burn up some time going around exploring, collecting stuff, and - most importantly - tank fights. It's very satisfying getting chances to blow things up, and if you do ever get a chance to try this game, give it a whirl. It's not too long so if you're dissatisfied you won't have wasted much time, but if you love it as much as I do, you'll come back to it time and time again.

Happy gaming!

ELASTO BLAST!!!!! I like this game so much :')

Long-time fan, or just discovered it?
(I myself only managed to find this game...a year ago or so.)

Long time ago i discovered it