In many ways, the previous two Personagames exemplified what a good Japanese RPG should be. Even though some elements of the game play were standard, they were executed in such a way that it worked with the rest of the game, including its obviously non-standard story paths. To me, Persona 3 FES and Persona 4were infinitely better than any current generation RPG, both of the Japanese and Western variety. (All you shooter fanboys, don’t cry because I said a PS2 JRPG was better than Fallout 3, its embarrassing.)

I had always assumed that the next Persona game would be a PS3 game, it was the natural progression of things. Rumor has it, an announcement might be close. (Follow-up article here.)  Instead of talking about that in detail, let’s talk about the last two Persona games on a personal level for a moment. While I feel Persona 4 was the better of the two, Persona 3 FESwas what reignited my passion for playing and enjoying JRPGs. This generation of gaming was a bit of a disappointment, especially the PS3. I think part of the reason for that was because it came with such high expectations for niche RPG greatness, thanks to its predecessor. Since it didn’t deliver (and it really still hasn’t, but its getting better), I felt disappointed – disillusioned, even.

When Persona 3came out, I wasn’t really feeling in the mood for playing anything, but later on the FES version came out and I decided to give it a shot. That game single-handedly brought my attention back to the realm of RPGs and its only gotten stronger from there. Persona 3 FES was such a great game at the time – it did almost everything I would ever want a JRPG to do, even though it retained many traditional elements of the genre. The follow-up, Persona 4, did even more to refine that near-perfect formula. (As an aside, I get a kick out of all these critics and reviewers who usually complain that a JRPG has turn-based battles, but gave Persona 3/4rave reviews. Laff.)

Now, we have this formula that has worked very well in those two games, let’s hope Atlus can come into this generation of gaming by retaining that magic and, perhaps, making it even better, assuming these rumors are true, of course. If they are, Persona 5 will be my most anticipated game, with the exception of maybe Final Fantasy XIII. Here’s looking at you, Atlus.

I’ve always loved Atlus, their localization team has always been great. Nothing impresses that more into my mind than Crimson Gem Saga. At its heart, it’s a very traditional JRPG and the sequel to the game Astonishia Story. (Basically, its Astonishia Story 2, but with a new title both in Japan and North America.) Although it’s a sequel, you don’t need to have played the original title to figure out what’s going on – its laid out very clearly in the opening acts of the game.

You play as Killian von Rochoff, who, at the beginning of the story, graduates from Green Hill Academy in the hopes of becoming a chevalier. His dreams do end up becoming a reality, although not in the way he hoped. He’s swept into the secret search for the Wicked Stone, formerly known as the Crimson Gem. Along the way, of course, you pick up various party members with other skills to round out your band of warriors. I can’t say the story and characters aren’t cliché, but the dialog is so amazing you won’t even care. Atlus did an excellent job of localizing this title. That’s all I can really say. They did an awesome, awesome job. Many of the little quips the characters make made me laugh out loud.

The voice acting isn’t top notch, but its not horrible, either. The voices fit the characters pretty well, but still fall prey to being overly dramatic and sometimes tiresome when the same phrase is repeated over and over again in battle. The music fits the mood that the characters find themselves in, as well, but there’s nothing that really stands out. Overall, the audio is well done, but not amazing.

The visuals are stunning on that little PSP screen and the character sprites are well animated and enjoyable to watch. Keep an eye on Spinel on the battle screen right after a fight, as they’re doing their little victory dance – perhaps her sprite is a bit too animated, if you know what I mean.

For a battle system, you have typical turn-based fare, with a couple improvements to liven things up a bit. This isn’t a new mechanic, by any means, but requiring you to “tag” the enemies (which are seen on screen, no random encounters here) so you at least start on equal footing will keep you on your toes. If you manage to sneak up on an enemy, your party gains a fairly sizable advantage in battle. If the enemy sees you first, you have a few seconds to reach it, but if you wait too long, it will come after you with a vengeance and gain an advantage for itself.

Combos with the different characters during battle also spice things up, the only downside is that both the characters have to learn the combo skill before you can use this. This gets me in to a lukewarm part of the game mechanics – the skill system. As you battle, you gain skill points, and these are put into a pool that any of your party members can draw from. Each character has their own skill tree that is geared toward the type of attacks they’re designed to use – magic, physical assault, healing, a combination, etc. The problem isn’t that set up, but it’s the fact that to just uncover a skill and see what it is it costs you skill points. Then, you have to spend even more points to actually learn the skill. This strikes me as overly problematic because it will (at least for me) lead to mandatory grinding in mid- to late-game.

It would have alleviated the problem somewhat if each character had their own pool of skill points or, better yet, just have the entire skill tree exposed from the start of the game so you can at least plan in what order you wish to learn the abilities. This is really my only major gripe with the game. And, truth be told, if you enjoy a major grind-fest, it might not bother you so much.

One other small issue I have to comment on is the lack of being able to move my character at a 45 degree angle on the field screen. The movement always seems slightly off. Its hard to describe, really. Its also not that big of an issue, but probably the one thing that always got me saying, “What is up with these controls?!” every time I picked up the game to play.

Crimson Gem Saga is exquisite in so many ways that even the one major issue I have with the game pales in comparison to how great the title is overall. Its definitely one of the best RPGs for the PSP. It might be too old-school or grindy for some people, but if you enjoy those types of games, you can’t miss this title.

Score: 8.5 (out of 10)

Its coming, that day where all our games will be downloaded straight to our hardware without the hassle of going out to a brick and mortar store to buy the game and then finding a space to store it on a shelf somewhere. The PlayStation Network, Xbox Live and Wii Ware services are all in full swing with new download-only titles coming out every week. The PSP has its own PSN store and, soon, will have an iteration of its hardware that has no physical media drive – everything you play on it must be downloaded.

The day I spoke of is likely many years off yet – a day when all games will be downloaded. The reason for this is two-fold. First, these titles are, at their largest on BluRay discs, nearly 50 gigabytes of data. Imagine trying to download MGS4onto your PS3 through a typical residential high-speed Internet connection. Then, imagine poking your eyes out with a screwdriver. Case in point. Games are simply too large to make a service like this feasible. This is why game downloads are limited mostly to demos, games designed for digital distribution only or “classic” titles put up to make more money.

There is a second reason and, to be honest, this reason might well still be a roadblock long after the previous reason actually becomes a moot point. Certain brick and mortar retailers have a lot of clout in the gaming industry – GameStop and Best Buy in particular (in the U.S., at least). Since the PSP Go was announced, there’s already been rumblings from some retailers about disliking the direction this hardware is going, perhaps even threatening to not carry the hardware at all.

So, publishers and developers have a fine line to walk, especially now. Which games to they release as a physical product? Which ones to they distribute digitally? Do they sell the game in both formats? Which way is more profitable? Remember, it all comes down to the almighty dollar (or euro or yen or whatever).

When it comes to niche titles – most notably RPGs – it seems that a digital distribution method would be most effect and most profitable. This is what I see happening to a lot of titles from publishers like Atlus, NIS and XSEED- a game is released that next to no one knows about, it has a limited distribution or publication period. Retailers might stock a few copies over their pre-orders, but when all those are gone in a week or two, you never see another one on the shelf. Used copies end up selling for more than the original new copy because the game is so hard to find and a lot of people who might want to play it never get the chance.

Instead, imagine a digital distribution method for these games. They’re put up on the PSN or XBLA, displayed prominently on the front page for a few weeks and are there forever for anyone who wants to purchase and download it. No pouring through used games at GameStop, or paying through the nose on eBay for a copy. I see niche games released in this manner to gain more popularity and, ultimately, be more profitable than the way in which they’re released now – on physical media. Of course, you can still have your limited edition physical copies, and when they’re gone, they’re gone. But the game itself would still be available any time for download.

Why not all games, you ask?  Big-budget, triple-A titles usually have tons and tons of promotion and shelf space to make themselves known.  Niche titles do not.  They would be infinitely more exposed on the front page of a download service like PSN.  Also, niche titles tend to be smaller in file size, like PSP, DS or PS2 games…although we are seeing more PS3 and 360 titles that would match the criteria of being marketed toward a niche crowd.

Perhaps then great games like Crimson Gem Saga (which I had a hard time finding just a week after release), Jeanne d’Arc (which actually is available to download on the PSN), Ar Tonelico and Disgaea might end up in more gamers’ libraries. Whatever else the PSP Go is – overpriced, a rip-off, whatever you want to call it – it stands to be a good medium for these niche developers to give their games more visibility and open gamers who may not have gotten the chance to try some of these great games to a whole new world of gaming.

There will undoubtedly always be a need for brick and mortar stores to provide products of the gaming industry to consumers, but that doesn’t mean they can’t work together with a digital distribution method – even more so than they are now – to save these niche titles from being lost to gaming history.