On the Verge of Lunacy

This compilation is composed of the three Books of the North; namely, The Black Company , Shadows Linger and The White Rose . The story is told from the point of view of Croaker, a member of a mercenary unit called the Black Company. The later books have other POV characters. The Black Company, at the beginning of the first book with the same title, is employed by the Syndic of Beryl. But the unit's survival becomes questionable as their employer seems to be on the losing battle against the rival factions of his city. That is when a Taken named Soulcatcher offers them a chance to serve the Lady. The Company acquires new members during its adventures with its new employers. One is a mysterious guy who calls himself Raven. This Raven later rescues a child named Darling. The books explain bit by bit the history of the world in which this series is set. The first few pages did seem confusing to me, but it was only because the author's style is something I haven...

Story Skyrim is the fifth installment of The Elder Scrolls and is an open world action role-playing game. It is set in Skyrim, a province in the continent Tamriel. At the start of the game, the player-controlled character is taken to an execution grounds in Helgen. With him are Imperial prisoners including the leader of the Stormcloaks, Ulfric. Skyrim is currently in a civil war between the Nord race of the Stormcloaks and the Empire's legion led by General Tullius. Jarl Ulfric Stormcloak wants to see a Skyrim free from the Imperials. Just before the player is executed however, a dragon appears and attacks Helgen. Most of the prisoners, including Ulfric and the player, escape during the chaos. The player is taken to Riverwood where he learns some practical skills. This also marks the start of another quest to learn more about that dragon attack in Helgen. Not long after, he is asked to seek an audience with Jarl Balgruuf the Greater of Whiterun. Underlying the pr...

The story of Prince of Persia: The Forgotten Sands is set between events in Prince of Persia: The Sands of Time and Prince of Persia: Warrior Within . The Prince is sent by his father (King Sharaman) to an unnamed kingdom at the edge of their family's territory so that he can learn leadership and battle skills from his brother Prince Malik. Apparently, the Prince's family do not remember his previous adventures in Azad and think he has no experience at all. When the Prince arrived at the kingdom, he learns that his brother's army is on the verge of defeat by invaders. When they finally meet up, Malik reveals that he intends to release King Solomon's Army. The Prince argued for caution but Malik insists that he has no choice. The sand army is uncontrollable however and among those released by Malik using a magical seal was Ratash, an Ifrit lord in Solomon's time. Ratash created the sand army and attacked humans in the past. Solomon and the other Djinns im...

*Note: I do not claim ownership of any of the images used in this review When Yukimura Chizuru's father stopped sending her letters, Chizuru feared something bad had happened to the old man. Yukimura Kōdō is a medical doctor who practices Western medicine. He went to Kyoto a while back and promised his daughter he'd write everyday. Chizuru decided to look for her father, but she does not know where to start and soon she got lost. Not soon after dark, she witnessed an attack by unusual men. These men seemed demonic in their intent to kill. Not satisfied with their victims, they turned to Chizuru. Hijikata Toshizou Before they got the chance to finish her, a group of men came to her rescue. But it seems that the rescuers are suspicious of her presence in the crime scene. What's more, they seem to be hiding something from her. She definitely witnessed something she was not supposed to. Chizuru found herself entangled in the schemes, secrets and battles of ...

*Note: Multiplayer mode is not included in my review *Photo below is a screenshot God of War Ascension is the prequel to the God of War series (see  God of War Trilogy  and  God of War Origins Collection ). The events in the game take place after Kratos vowed to make Ares pay for the god of war's schemes. Because Kratos had broken his oath to serve Ares, the Furies pursued and imprisoned him. If you're familiar with Greek mythology, you may recall that the Furies or Erinyes are female goddesses of vengeance who punish those who have broken their oaths, human or immortal. The Furies are the sisters Alecto, Megaera and Tisiphone.  The opening video at the start of the single player mode retells the fate of one Titan who had suffered at the hands of the sisters. Aegaeon the Hecatonchires broke his oath with Zeus and suffered greatly for it. It is this fate that Kratos must try to avoid. Imprisoned and tortured, Kratos somehow finds a way to free him...

*Note: Photos in this post are scanned or are screenshots *Online mode is not included in my review LittleBIGPlanet 2 is the direct sequel of  LittleBIGPlanet . In LBP 2, Sackboy faces a deadlier enemy called Negativitron whose goal is to suck up all the inhabitants and creations of Craftworld. Sackboy almost became one of these casualties but he was saved in time by Larry Da Vinci, a member of the Alliance. The Alliance is a group dedicated to fighting the Negativitron to save Craftworld. In order to fight him however, Sackboy and Larry Da Vinci will need the help of the other members. But Victoria Von Bathysphere, Clive Handforth, Avalon Centrifuge, Dr. Herbert Higginbotham, and Eve Silva Paragorica have problems of their own. Sackboy must help them first before they can gather up strength for a final assault against Negativitron and his Meanies and guard turkeys. Sackboy is trained in using machines and gathers the Sackbots for the Alliance along the way. Fro...

In Tokyo two worlds exist, separated by a need for secrecy to shield unknowing humans from a group of special humans called Contractors, people who possess supernatural abilities to control their surroundings. An event ten years ago started this phenomenon. The real stars disappeared and were replaced by fake stars that correspond to each contractor. Since then, various organizations around the world have been vying for power by secretly using the contractors as spies and assassins. One of these contractors is Hei who works for a group called only by the name Syndicate. He works with a team of four to try to crack down the mystery of the Hell's Gate, one of the two gates (the other, Heaven's Gate at South America, disappeared some time ago) that appeared ten years ago. Contractors are labeled as nothing more than violent murderers and objects to be used and controlled. Hei however seems to be a different sort of contractor. From left: Yin, with Mao on her la...

Sena Izumi is born into a family of entertainers. He is the second son of a female actress and a male singer, and his brother is the vocalist of a popular band. But Izumi does not want to go into show business and instead wants to become a manga artist even if he doesn't have the talent for it. He was traumatized in a commercial shoot ten years ago where he dressed as a little girl. In that shoot, his parents were the newly married couple while Izumi and a then-child star Ichijou Ryouma were the young pair who caught the bouquet. That same commercial will soon have a follow-up involving  grownups Izumi and Ryouma. The problem is, Izumi does not want to do it because he has to dress up as a girl. He was eventually lured by his brother Shougo to do the commercial and agreed that only the staff will know about his true identity. Little does Izumi know that Ryouma has been looking forward to this reunion. Ryouma is clearly in love with the little girl he met at the shoot ten...

Being the grandson of the famous onmyouji Abe no Seimei, Abe no Masahiro has to constantly deal with taunts and comparisons from people. Unlike his grandfather, he has lost his sixth sense and he does not have much talent where Seimei is most renowned.  He is contemplating picking a different career path when a mononoke suddenly talks to him. He becomes friends with the creature he named Mokkun who encourages him that he has what it takes to be even better than his grandfather. Years of training under Abe no Seimei suddenly made sense. Masahiro is now determined to become the best onmyouji. But the challenges he now faces might be beyond his ability after all. Strange forces are wreaking havoc. He also has to prove to Seimei's twelve shikigami, the Shinshou, that he can surpass their master. Mokkun turned out to be one of the Shinshou but he seems to have an uneasy relationship with the rest after an incident that involved Seimei, an event Masahiro does not know. ...

In this spin-off of the series Zettai Karen Children, the high level ESPer Hyoubu Kyousuke is introduced. He leads the organization P.A.N.D.R.A. which aims to make a world where espers can live freely. Their methods however has attracted a lot of enemies instead of sympathizers. Espers are already feared by those who do not have such power, but Hyoubu Kyousuke's unpredictability and smug confidence only made their image worse. He's not exactly a bad man either, as USEI investigator Andy Hinomiya learns. Hinomiya infiltrated the organization and was determined to see his mission through, but his task became harder as he becomes more attached to its members especially a gifted esper named Yugiri. He also starts to admire Kyousuke's mission. His indecision at the critical moment might be the key to saving Kyousuke and P.A.N.D.R.A. Some member of P.A.N.D.R.A. with Hyoubu Kyousuke at centers Andy Hinomiya and Kyousuke This 12-episode series came as a p...

When friends Kuze Hibiki and Shijima Daichi receive videos from a website called Nicaea showing how they will die in a train accident, they thought it was just a bad joke until they realized that the place looked familiar. Seconds after, the exact thing in the video happened. But both had survived, including schoolmate Nitta Io who was also at the station. More puzzling, monsters feasting on the dead began appearing. However, the trio were saved once again when the demon summoning app on their phones called a thing out of nowhere and helped them escape. They thought they were safe but even after they reached the surface, strange accidents have been happening and even stranger creatures started appearing. Hibiki was forced to rely again on the demon summoning app to stop the attacks. This attracted the attention of a secret organization known as Japan Meteorological Agency, Geomagnetism Research Department or JP's. It appears that JP's has known all along that these...

Shinohara Erika wants to make new friends at the start of the school year, but she's unsure how to do that. While looking around the classroom, she overhears two girls talking about their boyfriends. That was her cue. She tells them about her romantic exploits with a hot boyfriend---all lies just to impress them. Later her friends pressured her to show a photo of the said boyfriend. Erika then takes a photo of a good-looking guy she saw on the street and then ran away thinking her problem was solved. To her surprise, one of her friends recognized the guy as one of their schoolmates. Trapped, Erika begs the guy in the photo, Sata Kyouya, to play her boyfriend for a while. The kindly, prince charming Kyouya gladly accepted, but he soon showed his true face to Erika when he started blackmailing her. This 12-episode series follows Erika's misadventures with pretend-boyfriend Kyouya. Erika takes a photo of a random guy Erika and Kyouya pretending to be dating...

Twin brothers Thor and Rai were cast off in a planet called Chimaera after their parents were murdered. Helpless and confused, the two wander around the strange planet where plants attack humans and humans attack each other for territory and power. Later Thor was told by their rescuer that the only way to leave the planet is to become the Beast King by beating the top guys of the four Rings, the different gangs that comprise the human population. As much as Thor wants to leave and find the murderers of their parents, he also learns that escape comes at a great price. From left: Thor, Tiz, Third and Zagi This 11-episode sci-fi series started off good but it has failed to sustain the excitement. One factor is the character played by Tiz and her relationship with an inconsistent Thor. Thor is not easy to understand or appreciate. I think there was an attempt to make him a smart, resourceful lead character but sometime in the series he underwent changes that seemed inco...