James Mason's Blog -or- The Journal of Contemporary Lunacy

Given it wasn't a big player in Japan (or Asia in general), JRPGs that were only available on the Xbox 360 are quite a rare breed indeed. Even rarer, then, are those that are included in the list of backwards compatible titles for Xbox One. Exclusives The only 3 titles that I know tick both boxes (360 exclusive AND backwards compatible on the Xbox One) are: Blue Dragon Infinite Undiscovery Lost Odyssey Infinite Undiscovery Infinite Undiscovery Lost Odyssey and Blue Dragon enjoy reasonably high profiles, but I have a soft spot for Infinite Undiscovery . It seemed to mainly exist as a test game for the new Star Ocean engine but is an enjoyable fantasy JRPG with a solid cast and good battle system. It also features a New Game+ mode, which bumps up the difficulty. Multi-platform Titles Then there are a few more which are backwards compatible but are available on other platforms: Star Ocean: The Last Hope As an example, Star Ocean: The Last Hope (TLH) ...

Part two of my Lunar Eternal Blue play-through for #JRPGJuly After getting to the bottom of the Blue Spire and subsequently having Lucia weakened, it's time to make our escape. Unfortunately, the guardian statue at the entrance as come to life and isn't in an accomodating mood. (Part one is here) Best not to fight the Guardian until Gwen learns Rust Weapon! If Gwen has reached level 12, he will have access to Rust Weapon, which will negate the guardian's otherwise powerful physical attack (it buffs periodically but Rust Weapon cancels it out nicely). Gwen learns Rust Armor earlier, which also cancels out the guardian's armor buff. Poor Lucia's 1HP means she doesn't stand a chance if she's in the wrong place at the wrong time... After getting past one guardian, the ante is well a truly upped with 4 more appearing. This is what they call "fighting a losing battle" but Leo and his battleship come to the rescue. Leo to the res...

I decided to start off #JRPGJuly by continuing the replay of Lunar Eternal Blue that I'd recently started (I was only 45 or so minutes in, so I'm practically starting from scratch here). Apart from the opening, this is the first significant dungeon of the game. There is a healing statue near the mid-point and HP and MP potions are also available (in chests and as drops), so it's a good introduction to combat without being overwhelming. Hiiro's first AoE special attack - very useful early on "Hey, a shiny crystal. I wonder what's inside?" *gack* [un-impressed expression] Hiiro is immediately taken with Lucia but she has no time for idle chit-chat - she wants to be taken to the Goddess Althena right away. Hiiro doesn't really know how to accomplish this but offers to help anyone. Anything for a pretty face, huh? Ruby is suitably un-impressed with her lovestruck partner. Look at those stats! Shame they don't last...

It's #JRPGJuly - the time of year to really focus on those JRPGs in your playlist or backlog and share some screenshots, anecdotes and (quite possibly) rants. I've been nursing along several JRPG play-throughs recently but without any strict focus due to travel, other things on the go, and my crippling inability to focus ;) Here's a quick list of possibles and probables: I have my umpteenth play-through of Suikoden II [PSX] nearing the end - 30+ hours in and with all 108 characters recruited. I've also spent some time re-playing Grandia [PSX] with the (relatively) new and complete un-dub patch. Feeling nostalgic, I started a replay of Lunar: Eternal Blue [PSX] last week Lufia II [SNES]. I'm several hours in but stopped playing for a while due to how formulaic and "samey" things were feeling. Might be worth going back for another look. Phantasy Star [SMS]. Holds up incredibly well for a Master System game. Warrants some more hours of play....

I managed to experience a rare double today - there were issues with the airport trains both at my departure airport and at my destination! Hong Kong's Airport Express had an issue with overhead cabling between Tsing Yi and the airport, so that meant queuing up for replacement buses - about 30 minutes to get on a bus, then a slower than normal trip out to the airport. Fortunately, I'd allowed some padding but I still only managed to make it to the check-in desk 5 minutes before the cut-off. Arriving at Narita, I headed down towards the trains, only to hear an announcement that Narita Express services had been suspended due to an accident. I initially tried to get a bus straight to Shinjuku but the operator warned me that traffic was so bad that I was better off taking one of the other train options. In the end I took the Keisei Skyliner to Nippori then changed for the Yamanote Line to (slowly) finish my trip. With all the going back and forth and queuing, I wasn't eve...