It’s interesting to see all the small differences between the three versions of Ys3 I played. In the SNES-version the weak point of the final enemy was only open for a short time, in the Genesis-version it’s open all the time, which makes killing him that much easier. Graphically I liked this Genesis-version the most, it really looks quite beautiful in places. But the character handling and the translation were weaker than in both the SNES- and the PCEngine-version. But the gameplay remains fun, even on my third play of the game.

The SNES-version of Ys 3 has, unlike the PCEngine version, no voice acting and no animated intro and ending sequence. Also some graphics are slightly different. The rest of the game is pretty much the same, although the re-spawn and attack speed of the enemies feels slightly lower. Since all enemies can only be attacked at a certain level – if you’re too low you won’t damage them at all – you have to grind levels a bit more actively than in the PCE-version. Overall it’s pretty much the same game, but somehow I think I prefer this version over the PCE-version, since I liked the graphics and the handling better, even if the differences between the two versions are not very big.

Last Exile is a show that’s initially quite dazzling: throwing interesting plot developments at the viewer at a frightening rate. Another point of interest is the setting: a world that mixes futuristic elements with elements from nineteenth century Europe. Two big countries are eternally at war, divided by something called the grand stream, which both nations cross with air ships. The war is fought using a code of chivalry, which is enforced by a third, technological superior faction: the guild.

Like I said, initially the show is quite cool, but midway I realized that the characters never came alive for me and I had completely lost interest in them. And while the initial pacing of the story was excellent, the second half of the show was big on stalling and delaying the inevitable conclusion. I still like the first batch of episodes, but the rest of the show never managed to captivate me as much. I was quite disappointed with the guild members, who turned out to be annoying instead of interesting. A static aristocracy whose defining characteristic was arrogance instead of smarts, blärgh. I prefer smart villains.

Also too much of the plot was designed around the mystery of what exactly the Last Exile was. The problem with that approach is that it fuels expectation and only a brilliant revelation to that mystery could have satisfied. Discovering that the Last Exile was the colonization ship with whom the first settlers came from Earth just didn’t cut it for me.

While I didn’t much like the first two games in the franchise, the third part on the PCEngine offered enough of a difference to make it look interesting. Instead of a top-down action-RPG with an unusual battle system (bump into enemies to attack), the third Ys game went into another direction. The game is a side-scrolling action-RPG with an active attack button system. Interestingly, there’s actually a side-scrolling action-RPG with utilizes an similar battle system as Ys 1+2, Popful Mail (although that’s only true for the PCEngine version, the MegaCD and the SNES version have both an active attack button system).

The game is unique in that it’s core concept seems to stem from an RPG with the side-scrolling elements grafted on. The game is designed with grinding in mind. Bosses and smaller enemies are supposed to hit you. Only by grinding levels and buying better equipment can the game be beaten, unlike platforming games that have RPG-elements grafted on, where skill still plays a major role in evading hits.

Is it a good game? Well, the gameplay is fun, even the grinding, due to being an action-RPG with a much faster pace. While the story is pretty typical for fantasy RPGs, it’s delivered in a way that doesn’t make you groan (although the voice acting is annoying in places). It’s also pretty small and can be beaten in a matter of hours. Overall, even if you don’t like the first two games much, you might enjoy this one. Alternatively, if you did enjoy the first two (hard to believe, but there are many fans), you might not like the third due the very different gameplay.

I really hated that one. Two kids fall in love, one of them gets turned into a human weapon. A war breaks out, with no explanations given why or what it’s about or who is actually fighting whom, apart from the fact that Japan gets attacked. Since we don’t know anything about the war, the narrative successfully forces the watcher to either accept that the end of the world is night or to stop watching this stupid exercise in gloom and doom. The point of the series is to show something dramatic and tragic, it’s not interested in a realistic approach to war. It’s all about emotion, about making you feel sad, not about facts or reality. The show ends with the two being the lone survivors on Earth, albeit the girl turned human weapon has lost most of her humanity.

I have no problem with depressive outcomes or end-of-the-world stories, but they have to be convincing (see Peter Watts output or some stuff written by William Barton) and offer a reasonable explanation how it came to past. Drivel like Saikano annoys me, because its main purpose is to manipulate the viewer on an emotional level, which is a cheap and effective but ultimately hollow tactic.

One of the best examples of the Western comedy genre, in which the famous duo Spencer/Hill play crooks who have to work against an even bigger crook who wants to steal the meadows of a group of Mormons. Hill plays the no-good brother who merely annoys his other brother, played by Spencer, who acts as the Sheriff of small town. Spencer only plays the Sheriff until his henchmen arrive, with whom he wants to steal the horses of the major (the bigger crook). But Hill convinces him to help the Mormons against the major.

It’s a fun movie, especially the interactions between Spencer and Hill. Objectively the movie isn’t that good: the plot is trite and the action quite boring, but due to Spencer and Hill you don’t really care (or you do if you don’t like the two). My only problem with the movie were the Mormons, who were extremely annoying and unrealistic in their attitude (nobody is that high and mighty when faced with that level of violence), which just didn’t fit the setting. If the movie had provided a more realistic group of settlers for the duo the save, I probably would have liked it more.

Villgust is a two-part OVA that follows the common high fantasy template: generic, harmonic medieval nation gets conquered by generic evil guy who wants to summon an even worse evil god. The good goddess Windina has chosen eight warriors who have to stand up to the evil guy. The first part starts with the bad guy fooling the good guys – there are two groups, one with four humans and one with a catgirl, an anthropomorphic dog (Murobo), an elf and a human girl – into fighting each others. They fall for the ruse and in their weakened state the bad guy easily captures them. The second part sees the good guys working together to kill the bad guy. The style of the OVA swings between humoristic fantasy that doesn’t take itself very seriously and high fantasy with a somewhat more serious tone (the drawings always look cute thought). Both styles don’t work well together, especially as the more serious scenes feel completely corny, which isn’t helped by the earlier attempts at humor and the overall lameness of the plot. Still, it’s never quite boring and for the running time it manages to be entertaining.

Aeon Genesis, one of the most productive ROM-translation efforts, has released another excellent translation of an old SNES-game. Holy Umbrella mixes sidescrolling platform-action with top-down adventure parts (mostly exploring cities, talking to others, buying equipment and saving). The story is slightly bizarre. A young man finds an umbrella and gets transported to a magical land, which is under threat from your typical evil guy. Okay, this evil guy is less typical, as he/she (hard to say, looks female, but the backstory reveals him to be a man) is completely wacky and silly. There’s even a part of the game where the evil guy is lost together with your characters in the stomach of a gigantic whale. He joins your party until he betrays you. The game tries to subvert typical fantasy elements, but is straight enough to tell its own story without completely going bonkers.

The gameplay is typical for platformers and nothing you haven’t seen before, with some attack and health upgrades thrown into the mix. The only less typical element of the game is the addition of two more people you can collect, who have different abilities (double-jump, wall-jump, small size) which you need to beat the game. Overall, the game manages to be fun, even if it’s not a must-play. If you have no problem with the odd eastern type of humor present, you might like it.

If you wonder how to beat the Sphinx, you have to jump on the mummies, pushing the down-key, which catapults you higher and lets you the hit boss.

When I started reading this monster of a book what I liked most was the world-building. While I felt that most characters were as believable as soap opera stars (soap operas being big in the future Commonwealth), the level of detail of Hamilton’s future is incredibly high and all of it is fascinating. The Commonwealth is a very conservative post-human culture that has beaten death and aging (they have both rejuvenation technology as well as Ndoli jewels (Learning to be Me, Greg Egan) aka mind stacks (Takeshi Kovacs, Richard Morgan) which record memories). There’s even the possibility to upload your memories into an artificial intelligence, but it’s not the same as existing as free uploads.

Still, embodied existence remains very much the norm. What concerns most people is the same as today: sex, money, power, fame and to an extend their social connections. But the rejuvenation technology has subtly changed humanity and Hamilton uses his big space opera as a canvas to explore how. Against that the threat of an alien power seems slightly mundane and less interesting. But while initially his character work and the alien threat seemed less interesting than the world-building, there came a point when I realized that the book had hooked me. Despite the enormous size it’s a speedy read. And the characterization, while initially too superficial for my taste, becomes more appealing with time. I especially liked how Hamilton managed to make inspector Paula Myo appear human after all at the end of the book.

My only gripe with the book is that due to the size and the number of plotlines it’s hard not to get bored when a less interesting plotline or character replaces the plotline/character you’re following momentarily. There’s also a certain amount of bloat, but it’s arguably a point in favor of the book if you like massive reads.

Now this volume was an interesting experience. A good explanation why this disaster ever happened can be found here. If you read it without knowing more, you see the Authority displaced by a government/big power brokers/big money players sponsored team. Both the evil power players and the replacement Authority and the evil Seth are as one-dimensional and evil-for-evils sake as possible (and completely boring). Compared to them the renegade doctor from the last issue seems like a complex character. If you know the background and read it as a meta-commentary on the fact that DC (and implicitly Marvel) provide streamlined and pussyfied superhero comics for the masses (ironic, considering how big the audience of superhero comics really is) and started censoring Millar’s run at every corner, then yes, it’s brilliant in its own way. But it’s not a very good story.

Some people manage to write something that is both highly critical of those in power (even those deciding whether it gets published or not) and that manages to tell a good story. I’ve read enough science fiction from the former Eastern Block to know. That’s something this story arc is lacking, the fusion of good storytelling with the satirical elements. If Millar had managed to give his villains at least some complexity, some depth, instead of what he provided, this might have worked much better.

Another thing that really annoyed me was that Arthur Adams’s brilliant art was wasted on fill-in issues.