Fallout Symposium

So, I just beat Fallout 3. I'm one dungeon away from beating Fallout 1 and more than halfway through Fallout 2. By the end of this week, I may be done with all three, and I can write about 'em.

So far...

Fallout 1-Mainly sets up the world of Fallout. FEV virus, super mutants, brotherhood of steel, raiders. It's really easy to increase stats quickly. I had a 95% hit on any enemy with energy weapons or small guns. Towns have few quests. There's not a lot of towns. Experience is hard to get.

Fallout 2-At this point, you know the basic idea of the world, but it gets kicked up a notch. Now there's a drug and prostitute culture, organized crime, friendly super mutants, friendly ghouls. The whole world of Fallout just gets more and more diverse, twisted, and funny. Fallout 2 is probably the most infamous of the series. It's really hard to manage stats since unlike Fallout 1, you can't really afford a gun until the second town, but later in the game the most useful combat skill is energy weapons. It's hard not to waste skill points. Fallout 2 is a much bigger version of Fallout 1 and probably my favorite game in the series.

Fallout 3-This game is a new direction. It has it's ups and downs. I prefer the gameplay of the other Fallouts because more strategy is involved in each fight, but Fallout 3 has a much bigger world than Fallout 2 and adds new dimensions to the world while building on past concepts. The story is very different from the other fallouts and by the end, it's much cheesier. I'm just gonna spoil it right here, so if you don't want it spoiled don't read any further. Your character fucking dies for no reason. You have to go into an irradiated area and activate a thingy but there were plenty of other non-bs-sacrificial ways to do it. It's a cheap ending where no definite end is needed. The thing you were doing is also kinda mysterious and I didn't understand quite why you needed the thingy to do the thingy. Fallout 3 is quite easy. I was playing it through on very hard with little problem (i had over 100 stimpacks). Because it calls on 1st person shooter skills more than strategy, your skills have very little to do with your performance, except when it comes to the V.A.T.S., which was incredibly useful.

Cool it out, cool it out, waiting for my lady got the special sauce that's why she's my baby my baby
My baby
And of course I'll do anything for her

Your Fallout's got sauce. Your Fallout aint sweet like mine.

People are putting Fallout and mgs4 as like the best ps3 games of the year...hmm...

Just Watch It Damnit

If you don't like it, there has to be something wrong with you... you cold hearted bastards. Seriously though, it'll bring a smile to your face.

Fallout 3 - Never-Ending Finale

I play Fallout 3 and I have trouble stopping. There often has to be a pain in my wrist or some emergency situation before I stop. If I'm not playing it, I'm always wondering why not. I didn't realize it only came out recently. I figured I was so out of the loop it had been out for months, but it wasn't. Everybody's been playing it, and here's the Stolen Pixel that helps make clear how polarizing this game is. Hate it or love it, I love it. You do what you want.


I like the dialogue...is there something wrong with me?

Shawty Lo - Dey Know (Million $ Mano Remix)

Warning: Bad rap can be dangerous to your health. These effects can easily be countered by little dancing Korean boys. better song

Videogames are like drugs because...-More Fallout coverage

You know when you're smoking with a dude and he won't fucking shut up about the weed? I smoke to get somewhere. I don't smoke because it's an art or some shit. Shut the fuck up about the weed. I would smoke skunk weed if that's what this was because I like to smoke. You're treating smoking like it's a magazine should be written about it.

Yeah, there is a magazine isn't there? Ugh. See that's why I like to smoke with junkies. They know what the weed's there for.

This is kind of awkward given that this is a videogame blog, but I just had a pretty lame conversation about video games. I've got a friend who asks questions whose answers he doesn't really care about, he just wants to have some conversation. I guess that's cool. He asked me a series of questions while I was playing Fallout. Some of the ways I've answered here, I didn't answer then because it would be dickish.

What are you playing?
Fallout 3

Can I watch?
Sure, I mean I'm not really doing anything interesting. I walk to locations in D.C., kill people, go to towns, talk to people, do quests. I basically just try to do good things in a hard world. It's like I live here.

What level are you on?
Umm...my character is level 15 out of 20.

No, like where are you in the story?
Well, I'm in the Capital Wasteland.

No, I mean like how far are you in?
Like ten hours in maybe. I haven't been counting.

Is there a story?
Yeah, but...I dunno...I'm more interested in what I'm doing now. If this game is anything like the last two games, they'll come a point where I have to finish the story to keep playing. I'm doing what I want until then.

Are there any cool bosses?
Umm...I fought a really huge super mutant, but I don't think that was a boss per se.

Can you show me a cool cutscene?
All the cutscenes seem to be in-game.

But I bet there's a good one at the end, right?
Maybe, but I don't know what the need would be for it.

What's the background?
China & the US fought some pointless war which ended up with the bomb being dropped. I don't like that though. It's putting present prejudices into the future. The first two games didn't really point a figure at anybody. Humanity caused the great war over some stupid shit. I don't really remember actually. I should replay them.

So, China is the bad guy?
Well, there are Chinese people who attack you, but there aren't really bad guys.

Why are those things red?
It means those belong to other people, and taking them counts as stealing.

So, why don't you take 'em anyway?
That would make me a bad person.

Like a bad-guy?
Sort of. You do bad things, people tend to react unfavorably to you. I like doing good things to make people nicer.

So, there are people who do bad things then?
Yeah, but it's not like they're one organization I'm fighting. I might not be a fan of the Commonwealth, but I don't know a lot about them.

You're good, so why did you just kill that guy?
One of the security guys said I could.

Isn't that a bad thing?
Well, the town doesn't think he's a good person, and kind of wishes he wasn't around. So it's bad that I killed him, sure, it's murder, but no one's really gonna miss the guy. It's kind of a great point of moral relativism.

Are you trying to get all the trophies?
Umm...no...I'm kind of just trying to enjoy myself

Are you at a good stopping point?
I just sold off the inventory I got from scavenging the capital building. The lady just gave me a new quest to check out the robot production company called RobCo. That looks really interesting. I was gonna head out there after I sell out all the special items I've been collecting for people.

Do you think this game is going to win for best graphics of the year?
No, I think Metal Gear Solid will win.

Really?
I don't know.

What do you think is going to get best game of the year?
According to who?

Just the best game of the year?
It was kind of a slow year.

What was your favorite?
I really liked Dead Space. I also like Fallout 3. I haven't played Resistance yet, but I'm interested in it too.

Which was the best?
What the fuck does it matter? They were good. I played them this year, but I could play them next year and still think they were good. What is this "of the year" bullshit?

What do you think of Animal Crossing?
I don't know what that is.

Do you think Killzone2 going to be a Halo-killer?
Do I think gritty realism and really tight game design is going to beat a well-established game? No. It's like saying will Killzone2 kill Goldeneye 007. If anything, Call of Duty 4 should have killed Halo.

FALLOUT 3 - MORE TO COME!

Edit 11/24/08
Did that play it 'till 630 in the morning thing again. Actually, I was going to keep going. I didn't see a reason to stop. RE: Dreamsower's comment. I generally do not like lame-ass LOTR knockoff fantasy settings (Ouch, that was harsh. Why did you say that when it's not always true. You liked Willow.) I loved Willow. I wasn't as on-dick as every one else was on LOTR, but I enjoyed it. It was beautiful. I think I hate the culture associated with that type of movie. Also, shit that's popular and every one thinks is good always upsets me because a lot of times there's stuff out there that's better.
Yeah, Fallout involves a lot of walking, but even that is fun for me, or at least poignant. I walked into a home where two skeletons were sleeping next to each other, holding each other. That upset me very much. I'm in Arlington Cemetery right now. My grandfather is buried there. The records of his burial are probably lost. His gravestone might even be knocked over. Fallout 3 is helping me realize how attached I am to the area around my home. There's history there, and that fucking means something.
Fallout 3 Falls Church looks nothing like real Falls Church, but that's cool.
The space in Fallout 3. The amount of area you can walk in is very intimidating. I don't like going into towns because I really don't have time to track down every inhabitant and talk to them about their life, but there is value in it unlike a lot of other RPGs. Less is fucking more.
Walking sucks, but Fallout 3 does a pretty good job of putting in warp points to cut down on the walking.
It's a very open-ended game. I got mad because I completed a story quest last night. I didn't actually complete it, I was just in the "next" part of the game. I've been doing what I find interesting, and that works for me. The father plot is weird. I like helping make the wasteland survival guide.

I'm late for an appointment.

Edit 11/23/08: I have played this game until 6 in the morning. I could not concentrate in class because I was trying to come up with the perfect character. I still am working at that.

I don't really like Bethesda. They made the Pirates of Carribean names. They made the Elder Scrolls. Everybody was on Elder Scrolls dick, and I never understood why. Then again, you may have figured out that I'm not as big on RPG culture as I was. I really like good RPGs (KOTOR, FF7, Arcanum, Fallout1&2, Baldur's Gate 2), but I judge all others fucking harshly for rehashing good RPGs over and over. I mean that's true of a lot of shit though. W/e.
From the start, you know Bethesda's not Black Isle or Interplay or Troika or any of the people who made the original games. This is a work of fan-fiction, and one of the big Retcons is that the Vaults are social experiments. I don't like this. I don't think it makes sense, but I guess if the game goes into the history of the Vault-Tec corporation it would become clear. It's also a really easy to fall back on cliche because it seems like your character was the experiment which was done very recently in another game that I kindly don't want to mention by name. They made a history for the war so that you could connect it to the present day, and it really wasn't necessary. In picking up a game like Fallout, you know you're going into another universe. The point isn't how we get there. The point is what to do when we're there.
I long for the days of the simple premise: your vault's water purification chip is broken, get a new one or your tribe is dying, get them a Garden of Eden Creation Kit.
I don't know.
The game has a lot of walking without a lot of clarity as to where you are walking to, and my biggest hiccup right now is I don't have the time to go walking around and learn another world. I got fucking homework. The combat system of the game is really good. The character-leveling system is pretty good. Nowhere near as hard as the one from the first two games. The motion-capture is great. The dialog options are great. The voices of the enemies are also great. I miss Black Isle's writing. I miss knowing where to go in each town. I wish I had an HDTV for it, because right now people have bright flashlights for eyes and it looks stupid.

Liam Neeson talks very fucking slowly. I haven't slept much. I'm stressed out. I'm going to go have a smoke. Why didn't I think of that before?

Lil Jjjjjjjjj

Get the girls to come in and see us, yeah

Slug's an asshole (I mean, just look at him!), but he pretends he isn't sometimes:



These people are fucking gifted.

Oh yeah, and the kid is Brother Ali 's son. Sometimes Ali even takes him to shows. Hilarious this shit.

Lyndon "Buck Tha Fuck" Johnson's Tips for Survival Horror (More Dead Space coverage)

Just beat Dead Space again on hard. Eventually I'm going back for another run on Impossible mode. There is only one plot-hole I can't explain, and I think EA knew about it, they just knew they needed it because without it, you can guess the twist.

So, I wanted to lay out some things to think about in playing the game. These tips might work on other games too.

1. Pickups are random
They are based on some sort of calculation of your current health (if your health is low, you're more likely to get health pickups), the position of the game, and what weapons you have in your inventory (there's a tendency to favor one type of ammo).

This has all sorts of implications for the game.

2. Your health is your only infinite resource
Continues are conveniently located to limit your frustration in playing the game, but they also mean that you dying isn't that big of a deal even though this fucks with the story and your personal feelings towards your character. Try to keep it on the back-burner: you are expendable.

This has all sorts of implications too.

3. Never buy health or ammo
You have continues. The game provides ammo off dead critters. Why would you waste credits that could be spent on power nodes to upgrade your weapons on ammo that you'll get later? If you have extra ammo, you shouldn't be hoarding that shit you should...

4. Sell your extra ammo and medpacks
The less you get hit, the less ammo you use, so you can sell it for credits you can spend upgrading your weapons so that you kill faster (and thus take less hits) with less ammo (thus conserving ammo).

5. Keep your health low.
Health items sell for the most. The lower your health, the more likely you get health items, so keep your health barely above yellow (yellow makes you move slower), and you'll get some nice shit. If you follow this strategy, sell all your Large Med Packs because they're full health re-fills (which you don't want) and they sell for high.

6. Upgrade weapons first
Health is an infinite resource because you can always continue. Upgrading weapons will keep enemies from hitting you because you fuck their shit. In the end, you work much more efficiently by killing faster.

7. DO NOT UPGRADE CAPACITY OR RELOAD TIME
Money is a really limited resource. Power nodes are even more limited. Only spend that shit when there is a damage upgrade in it for you. Damage is what is most important. Once you got that up to max and you upgrade your health to max (and the worth of that is even questionable) then you should definitely upgrade the capacity on the line gun, the speed on the force gun, and charge on the contact gun (but this gun is only really useful for fighting big slow things. It doesn't hold much ammo, so missing is heart-breaking).

Those are the most important tricks I think I picked up playing this game.

Top gun picks were Plasma Cutter, Force Gun, and Line Gun.

Plasma Cutter is probably the best weapon in the game, but really bad by the end when enemies get very very aggressive.
Line Gun is kind of slow. Capacity is also really low. Width is also necessary. Top width fills the screen with a line that goes straight through a line of enemies.
The force gun doesn't really dismember folk, so it's kinda questionable. Good at the end to make folk back the fuck off.
The ripper dismembers real well, but is hard to use in a pinch. You get scared. Your aim goes to shit.
The pulse rifle seemed to take too much ammo to dismember folk, and was hard to use when you're scared and your aim goes to shit.
I haven't really tried the flamethrower. It might be good. I'm curious.

I'm excited to pick up Fallout 3 even though reviews are mixed and I thought Oblivion was boring and assinine. Leveling in Oblivion was a cool idea, just...not fun...

Yes, there's an extra s in asinine the way I spell it. Assinine.

Vote Day, Rock On

Random stuff.

Awesome Little Big Planet, guy made the first stage of Gradius and brought Schmups to LBP.




After having completed Dead Space I've begun to cure my itch for some ridiculous RPG binging and I'm trudging through Nocturne once again but on Hard mode now. I have gotten to the notorious Matador fight and will undoubtedly be at this location for some time. That is about it for now, get out and vote! Also :http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=y_Tl8bur1QI is an awesome video.

Dead Space

LBJ covered most of what Dead Space is about for the most part previously. I completed my first run through last Sunday and absolutely loved it. I would like to say something which I am not sure if I had mentioned before with games in general for me. If I had said it previously then I'm just clarifying the point yet again. There are very few games that I genuinely dislike, I end up enjoying and loving most games for whatever unique or tried and true aspects they bring to the table as another memorable experience. So for the most part I end up liking most games and then these varying degrees of appreciation are set apart by how many details of a game bothered me or resonated with me negatively.

That being said, I personally found very little to be discontent with in Dead Space. It had a fair share of sections that were genuinely difficult due to the large quantity of necromorphs that come at you. Yes the bosses were not that difficult, but in terms of shock value and terror and relevance to story I found them delightful. One issue I felt they had a nice balance with in the game is the necessity to use various weapons. With the differing types of necromorph anatomies that you face as well as limited ammo you learn the many scenarios to best implement your tools. This forced me to actually acknowledge the lack of a "best" weapon so that I had to use particular tools for separate situations. In most games the need for a particular weapon in your arsenal often feels forced or constrained to a specific section and never used again. I didn't feel that was the case in Dead Space.

What appeared to almost be an atmospheric aura around any of the creatures helped raise tension before they sprung out. This let you know they were nearby in most cases but you never knew when they'd make their move, as the ball is almost always in their court. The art direction of the ship and outfits and most everything I found delectable too. I was inducted into the Aliens series when I was in kindergarten, it scared me half to death while at the same time beginning a slight obsession with the lovely bastards. While almost unable to handle the fright at the young age I was all for playing the awesome toys they had of all the aliens. What ultimately sells me on Dead Space being so fantastic is the oddly nostalgic value I felt while playing.

I saw a TV spot for the game where one of the development members highlighted the difficulty with Sci-Fi Horror in that Horror relies on a grounding in realism so that you are genuinely scared while Sci-Fi naturally relies on a jump into the impossible. My favorite type of Sci-Fi has always been one that has had deep roots in fact and scientific laws while making occasional stretches beyond fact. To me Dead Space managed to pull this off astronomically well. I think it payed homage to the greatest of the great in Sci-Fi and horror while being an original and unique incarnation in its own right. From my perspective I found it to be nearly flawless, so much so the lasting effect completely erases any problems I had with it, and I can't wait to play through it now on the hardest difficulty.

LBJ gets into Ratchet & Clank - Future Tools of Destruction

Well, so, anyway, in other news, now that you mention it,

Oh, whatever.

I beat Ratchet & Clank: Future Tools of Destruction. It was a great fucking game. The environments were various. The puzzles started off easy but got progressively more difficult in interesting ways. Although it is a basic platformer (you go to a planet, explore it, finish an objective, get a new target, and go there) the fact that you are constantly getting new weapons with more and more abilities to unlock varies gameplay in fun ways. My favorite gun ended up being the Mag-net launcher, which holds enemies IN AN ELECTRIC CAGE, shocking them 'till they explode into bolts and raratanium!

I had issue with the fact that there is little incentive to survive except for that fact that once you die, you have to repeat the segment. It made the game really easy and repeating the segment was only really a problem during the last boss fight where at one point, the only way to beat him is to kill him before he kills you. He kept killing me first.
Star Wars: The Force Unleashed had this difficulty problem too, but that was combined with excessive load times. I should have mentioned that in the other review. The Force Unleashed had loading times to open the fucking menu, and after playing Dead Space (which barely has a menu) I couldn't handle that shit. Ratchet & Clank was very stream-lined. It was much tighter in gameplay than Dead Space and the Force Unleashed, but didn't have their stories. It was funny. It had a great sense of satire with jokes that younger and older audiences would find funny even though the vocab might go over kids' heads sometimes (me too :( I'll never pass the GRE!)

Play that game.

I'm not getting tired of reviewing games, it's just, the more I learn Computer Science, the more I realize how difficult it is to program them to do what you want. Even simple things like "check whether this item is in this list" is a difficult function to program. I wanted to yell at Kotaku for their Dead Space review. One of their Cons was that bad guys couldn't walk through doors, which might be hard to program since, for the most part, the game loads from different places to get the doors and their entranceways. Still, yeah, it would have been much scarier to see one of those fuckers open a door.

So, it's much easier for me to grade a game on its story over its gameplay or it's easier to grade if it's really good but I want better, and so that's why I flipped out on Dead Space, but absolutely loved it, want to play it again but my friend took back his TV.

I really wanted to finish upgrading all the weapons and collecting all the holoplan parts and the gold bolts. I really want to play the PSP Ratchet & Clank, so I can find out what happens to Clank. I wanna go back through and play all the old games to figure out the story more. I have become a R&C fanboy due to this game. It was fucking great! But, in terms of story, it was mostly a fun joke.

Luhluhluhluhluhluhluhluhuhluhluh
Bababababababababababababababababa
Jajajajajajajajajajajajajaja
...
It's in the hole.

-Jelicious

What's the deal? - Eternal Sonata

Dreamsower TPT! I think I saw this game in your collection way back when. It's coming for the ps3 now, so, how is it?

I use the force like a motherfucker-Star Wars: The Force Unleashed

I do. Or I would. Star Wars: The Force Unleashed had a cool plot that's also in the graphic novel. I think there's talks about a movie too. So I wouldn't even rent it. Maybe that was the problem. The story is one of the game's strongest points (not the voice-acting though), and I knew it already. I had that problem with Dead Space for a while. The first act (like 5 or so chapters) of Dead Space has a lot to do with people turning into necromorphs or being attacked by necromorphs and the animated comic had all that. I wasn't as interested in that part.
I kind of forced my way through 20 or so hours of gameplay.
The controls were frustrating. The level-up system was boring. I don't know. I just didn't really like it that much. I liked KOTOR and Jedi Knight Outcast a lot better. They were a lot tighter.
This game was definitely pretty. You do cool things. I wouldn't recommend it. It's a frustrating experience. I think it's the controls or just me beating myself up for not being very good at a clumsy game. I think I remember other people saying similar things.

w/e

I beat this game.

LBJelicious

Well, We most all got it (PS3) - Dead Space

Update: 10/28/08

From the previews of Dead Space, I got the impression that the necromorphs weren't going to die, I mean why should they? They're already dead. I thought that's what the selective dismemberment system was about: cut that fucker's leg off so he can't hurt you, just gurgle at you menacingly. My way is scarier.

Update: 10/20/08
I have beaten Dead Space. I thought the middle was slow but the end was really really good. Me and my neighbor should have seen it coming but we didn't. The game tricked us that well. To a certain extent, the Doom3, Bioshock, all that style thing helped along the twists at the end, but I really wanted the supporting crew to banter more and show concern more for Isaac.

I'm also really really scared still. Gameplay, interaction with the environment (the map! OHMYGOD! the Map is amazing!), the world of Dead Space, all these things were tight, but some of the scenarios were kind of lame. Do this shit. This shitty thing is broken so you can't do that shit. Go over there and fix that shit so you can do that shit. Now that you've done some shit, we're gonna attack with some enemies. Almost every single time too. Completing an objective almost assuredly means getting attacked.

The game was really really good. I don't really want to sleep. The writing for the animated comics was really really good too, and they tell a tighter story than the game itself. I really wanted to have the world go crazy while I was there, not go find the wreckage afterwards though. Are they gonna make a sequel? It'd be interesting.

The limb thing was cool. I thought the engineer weapons would make a little more sense. There's no real explanation why you can use these tools to dismember zombie-aliens, or why you can buy these tools ready-made from a conveniently-placed store. It's just there. It's like the designers saying to the player, "You've played video games before, right? This is our weapon-upgrade system. Use it or don't whatever. You'll die if you don't."

It was really good about keeping the survival part of the horror going. At first they give you plenty ammo but no space to keep it in, but then you have plenty of space and no ammo, or it just takes a while to conserve and I blew it all in a bad bad fight. Oh, God, and can I just mention that solving a puzzle while an unkillable monster chases you is fucking difficult in this game and harrowing and my neighbor and I kept screaming at each other about how to fucking solve the goddamn puzzle while tricking the monster into thinking we weren't there.

Oh, yeah. There's some nice tricks you can pick up with doors if you want to avoid being seen by monsters even though you're in plain sight. It makes sense in terms of programming because the doors are the loading screens (and that was pretty fucking cool too), but not if the dudes are actually trying to kill you.

I had a moment on top of an asteroid where I just stared off into the endless vacuum of space in wonder. It was powerful. I really like but am scared of space.

Dead Space. Did she really just pop out of nowhere or is he just crazy? Goddamn. Those moments always get stuck in my head. I'm scared again. Unitology is scary.

10/19/08: I think I've been marathoning Dead Space for over seven hours on a 1080i tv after having played pinball, Guitar Hero, and saw The King of Kong all day.

I'm on break! A dude loaned me his TV. I bought a copy. The King of Kong was really good.

Right, so...I didn't like Doom 3. Any part of Dead Space that reminds me of Doom 3, I don't like. For instance: audioblogs don't make sense. Who just records tapes and leaves it hanging around? Yeah, they're following that "masterful" type of story-telling that Half-Life 2 used, but I would much rather have some real character development like Isaac is going through some rough shit. How come he's so calm?

You know who had better story-telling than Half-Life 2? Shadow of the Colossus. Give me a silent character like that and I'll buy it, or better yet, give me a real person, give me any main character from Silent Hill instead. Then maybe I'll give a shit about the stupid flunkies Isaac's left behind with who just order you around...lame...gaaaaahhh...WHY DON'T THEY ACT LIKE PEOPLE? They don't joke, they don't tell asinine stories...Why don't they have arguments with Isaac about what they should be doing? Why don't they fuck up from the stress? Why do they only talk to Isaac about their objectives? You know, I only played System Shock 2's beginning, but it had some of really nice elements that really grabbed the player.

Gameplay has been tight. Zero-g sequences have been amazing. At one point, I thought I had the game by the balls, and it would only get boring from then on, but then a rough fucking chapter has left me bruised in ego and supply. I had so many fucking medkits and ammo! Now I'm stuck with only one gun with decent ammo, limping around with barely minimum health. Also, some of the biggest scares haven't come from the game itself but playing it with my neighbor. See, I've got the gun. I know where those bitches are coming from 'cause I can hear them. I know how to kill them because I've been doing it all night, but he's watching so he's just got his wits, and sometimes they get taken out from under him. So then he starts screaming and it unnerves me. I mean, it's easy enough to steel yourself against scary shit, but to also steel someone else or deal with another frightened human being is unnerving. See how character interaction can make a game scarier? I can aim for specific body parts all night, but make me concerned for the survivors around me, and I'll get fucked up.

Every once and a while I have to repeat out loud myself I have respect for human life.

Dead Space has fucked with me. It has told me I like ripping apart the limbs of other living things, or I had fucking better if I want to survive, and I think I do want to survive although I have no clue how this story will end. I'd like to think the odds are too stacked against Isaac for there to be a happy ending, but that it should be a good ending that doesn't feel forced or too open.

I'm tired. I haven't beat this game yet. There's a scene where you shoot a cannon at incoming debris. It is very lame. The developers said that you were an engineer, not a soldier, and yet you act just like one. Gordon Freeman disease or some shit.

So much work

Behold a gift given from a friend returning from studying in Japan for a year. This is one roll of toilet paper I hope I may never be forced to use. I have been so swamped with work lately, odd thing is they are mostly papers. This is odd due to the fact I'm in engineering but I guess I had to suffer at some point along the road, figures it'd be in the last year.

Anyways, in the large span of time since my last post I have taken a bite into a couple games but haven't been able to beat any of them due to lack of free time. I started Condemned 2 and was enjoying the tweaks and refining of the first entry mechanics. This past weekend I finally got Lost Planet after having pined for it since it was first released on the 360. I said screw you to the updated release and bought a nice used complete collector's edition from eStarland when I was home (if you live in the Northern Virginia this store is awesome and pure quality). I have actually played 5 or 6 chapters into that game already, which as I hear is about halfway through and been loving it (I also enjoyed epic fights with the optional giant worm and giant moth kills for those achievements). Lastly, as I said I have been writing non-stop papers lately (I need to actually write something for a group meeting by 3pm so ugh) but I picked up Dead Space yesterday and it has been gut-wrenchingly painful to not throw that sucker into the system and give it a whirl.

Funny thing I noticed that really irritated me, if a game is supposed to be released on a Tuesday why is it not in the stores on a Tuesday. That was bullshit, although honestly I don't know if I would be able to play it any sooner, but that is besides the point. Also I tend to not follow games months before they come out beyond being aware that it is on it's way. If I did I feel like I would experience more anxiety than I really need to. The last week though leading up to the release of Dead Space has had me unable to sit still in anticipation. It's not that I have super high expectations for the game, it's more that I am pumped to play an awesomely atmospheric sci-fi horror game. I noticed it was getting fairly good reviews from some websites etc. etc. but honestly I just want to start spelunking around in some derelict ship. I mean, who didn't have this overwhelming feeling of "I WANT TO DO THAT" whenever they watch the Aliens series or other similar movie. The fact that the screens from Dead Space seem to capture the right essence of science fiction that I grew up with has me anticipating a delightfully nostalgic atmosphere.

So yeah, just wanted to say that hopefully I'll be posting some thorough thoughts on some games in the coming days as well as some issues I was thinking about. I read some article someone had written about before regarding overworld maps, and you see it often when reading reviews for more recent RPGs primarily about the lack of one. I for one really miss this feature, I mean come on. You're playing some epic game like FF7, Xenogears, Star Ocean 2nd Story, Legend of Legaia, etc. and you either load up some long lost save file of yours or just emerge from some dungeon and BAM! You're hit with some sweeping emotional score that makes you just swoon and wax nostalgic about all the great adventures you've had trouncing about on these vast open planes with your not-to-scale party indicator. So writing an entry about that would be cool, I mean I know they go for this whole "overworld that is seamless with the cities" shown in FF12, Star Ocean: TtEoT, insert other newer RPG but there's something cool about the overworld map.

Also as a random note I started watching/listening to Jaffe's video blogs on youtube and I am absolutely loving them. I have yet to play through any of the God of War games, and the only Twisted Metal I played was Black when the PS2 first came out (that game rocked) so I don't know him too well as a game developer. What I do know is that sure I agree with most of the things he says, but honestly he's just entertaining and interesting to listen to. I should start reading his blog, I know they've had it linked here since before I joined but I never went exploring those much O_O. Now to go write some more....

ughhh I wanna play Dead Space!

Name Change

Or well...not so dramatic. We do this shit all the time.

From now on, call me LB Jelicious.

Sound Good? Good? Good. OK. So no key? Okay okay no key okay no key okayy okayyy you got not no key? okay?/ OKAY FUCKYOU NO KEY OKAY FUCK YOU!

Why I game

word.

Deep thoughts... with Fu Kennedy

I know this is generally a video game specific blog (although we have been branching out quite a bit recently) but today, let's try something new. Let's turn it into a live journal... just for the day ofcourse. I will probably delete this very soon... but here we go:

FUCKFUCKFUCKFUCKFUCKFUCKFUCKFUCKFUCKFUCKFUCKFUCKFUCKFUCK
FUCKFUCKFUCKFUCKFUCKFUCKFUCKFUCKFUCKFUCKFUCKFUCKFUCKFUCK
FUCKFUCKFUCKFUCKFUCKFUCKFUCKFUCKFUCKFUCKFUCKFUCKFUCKFUCK
FUCKFUCKFUCKFUCKFUCKFUCKFUCKFUCKFUCKFUCKFUCKFUCKFUCKFUCK
FUCKFUCKFUCKFUCKFUCKFUCKFUCKFUCKFUCKFUCKFUCKFUCKFUCKFUCK
FUCKFUCKFUCKFUCKFUCKFUCKFUCKFUCKFUCKFUCKFUCKFUCKFUCKFUCK
FUCKFUCKFUCKFUCKFUCKFUCKFUCKFUCKFUCKFUCKFUCKFUCKFUCKFUCK

Thank you for your time and understanding. As you were.

Aes and Blockhead

The beginning to this is comedic gold and the part about peddle boats and relationships had me laughing out loud:

Intro Def Jux Production

El-P got sentimental today on his blog again about the deeply saddening loss of the amazing Camutao and posted a music file called, U R What U Eat .

Good song. Hit in Google and got this video, which I think might be the production on that song, and it's pretty cool to watch the song happen, especially because they did it in Camu's one bedroom kitchen.

No Excuse, really

John Fu and I were talking about rap. I was hatin' on the Boondocks soundtrack, Killer Priest, and GZA for being kinda boring and repetitive. Sometimes shit should just be fun!

Like so,



Unnnnnhhhhh
We got it now!

The best damn review you'll read... this hour

Peter Molyneux likes to hear himself talk... likes everything he does (although there might be some exceptions). He's always claiming he will revolutionize the game industry and while his endeavors usually fall short of that lofty goal... they are always enjoyable. Don't get me wrong, I like the guy and I always like what he has to say. But the other day he decided to review Fable 2. Didn't actually read it but guess what? HE LOVED IT. So, the creator of The Dishwasher: Dead Samurai (A game I probably won't get to play since it's on xbox live) decided to follow suit. I like his review a lot... probably more than I would Molyneaux's. Won't you enjoy it with me.

http://skasoftware.wordpress.com/2008/09/02/we-get-to-review-our-own-games/

Sometimes it pains me when we talk about "news" that 50,000 other gaming blogs have already covered.

Pity Party with Blockhead!

This is like the best shit on definitivejux.net: the sweeping generalizations with blockhead.

This week's is like especially good .

I hate when poli sci people talk about shit in the news like it's poli sci. That shit is politics as told by communications and english majors. Poli Sci is much more interesting and in depth.

I'm tired so I'm angry. It aint you.

Major piSsass Gorram wiBed out tired

P.S. YA'LL DON'T REALLY WANT IT! SHUT THE FUCK UP!



lil bitch...

Camutao was the shit.

P(eni)S3 Envy

Read a page of Kotaku, almost any page, and I think you may feel like me, that all the good-looking games seem to be going 360 , and that nothing's hitting the ps3. From Software made the Armored Core games, and now they're making a ninja one? Awesome. Left 4 Dead is gonna be an exclusive? Or take a shitload of time to reprogram for the ps3? It depresses me. I feel like XBOX Live has more interesting stuff too. I hate microsoft. I hate the design of the 360, and how it'll be obsolete in a year, but if people see no incentive to spend the effort on the ps3, I may have to punch myself in the balls and buy one.

i'M depreSsed (g)oddamn xBoxxx...

it's like a conspiracy of money. maybe microsoft is paying everybody not to program for PS3 and the excuse is the programming difficulty. the wii's getting some interesting stuff too. i mean, shit...

Who the fuck is Rene Zellweger?!?

You know those nights where you just make bad decision after bad decision and they all culminate with one horrible event? Yeah... that was last night. Bad decision #1: Pour myself a drink. Bad decision #2: pour myself a second, third, fourth, and so on. Bad decision #3: Decide to put other substances in my body that should not have been there and don't mix well with alcohol (I'll let you use your imagination). Bad decision #4: play Mario tennis. That's where everything went downhill fast and resulted in me getting reacquainted with the porcelain deities in my bathroom... for a good, I don't know, two hours. Luckily the greatest rapper of all time was there to look out for me and made sure I didn't go too overboard. You would have thought I learned my lesson already but it certainly doesn't look that way. So much for being productive today.

Anyways the point of telling all that was so I could tell you all this. Like Mr. Tippytoes mentioned, we are back at school. You would think that would cut down on posts since we are such diligent and hard working students... but no. You can now expect more regular posting from all of us to help you get through your tough year. We are a sincerely good group of people who care for your well being... what else can I say? So, here's hoping for another interesting school year in terms of the blog and all things MS(g)B. I'll get excited when the hangover wears off. Back to the bed for me.

On a side note: Who the fuck takes a dump ON a bush... especially a dump ON the bush right next to our apartment? Seriously?!?!?

Back to school busy busy

Classes have started, exciting fourth year of college and all (and it should be the last) has kept me from updates. In the time since my last post I trudged through Bioshock but that was about it. Doing a review of the game would be a bit of a moot point since it's been so widely reviewed and scrutinized. To sum it up I thoroughly enjoyed the game, loved the atmosphere and art direction but there were some things that irked me. First and foremost the benefits of fully exploring areas did not seem to actually be worth it, I would find my way into some random-obscurely-placed-rooms and it would reward me with random ammo that I already had too much of. Next, I played through the game on the normal difficulty and the only reasons I died was from being intent on killing a big daddy using some crappy ammo instead of my good electric element or armor piercing (aka I conserved ammo for some future use that never occurred). I have to be honest, this game was definitely up there in amazing factor and a great play, it deserves a good amount of the praise it has received. I just think that the level of immersion the game reached in terms of atmosphere and interaction with the inhabitants of rapture was really hurt in the fact that you as a player were as detached from it as possible. Because I never actually felt in danger, lost, or worried then I was more compelled to play stupidly and without caution. I look forward to playing through it on hard difficulty so that I have to be extra cautious to progress through it hopefully (increased difficulty in a game tends to bring out the most creative sides of people in order to progress past obstacles).

So the game DJ Max Fever is coming to the US. While this is old news I was reminded of it from Kotaku's recent post of art and screen captures from the game and while I am not the heaviest into rhythm games I tend to like particularly challenging ones with spectacular song selections (Amplitude will always be superior to Guitar Hero/Rock Band in my mind, Harmonix please make a current gen iteration of Amplitude).

On another random related note Ladytron has released (for free) a great remix of Ghosts, Ghosts (Blestenation Mix). I think it sounds great, then again I am biased in that I have been obsessed with them for the past year...

We are not fucking around - The Wire

To explain the gap in posts, I would say that I'm outta games to play.

BioCommando: Rearmed and Pixel Junk: Eden came out so I'm down for that and for buying a Wii,360, and PSP, but I'm low on cash, ladies and gentleman, and some of that cash has been spent enjoying the show, The Wire. Yeah, I know, like "Stuff White People Like" told me to.

What's so great about The Wire? Everyone on the show's an asshole. Everyone. What's bad about The Wire? It's long and sometimes plodding, and one time there was this ridiculous sex scene where two actors were moaning in cadence. Boring. Fake. The gay sex scene had more intensity. Did I mention that Omar's gay?

You're here for the good parts: Bunk and Omar

One Homocide detective fucks up the investigation, so Bunk and Mcnulty have to redo it:



Bunk's married, and has to hide the evidence from cheating. The audio sucks on this one...


Omar Part 1:


Omar Part 2:



Bonus: Bumpin' underground

I have dreams at night because of this video. DefJux makes 'em good.



A Lil Fu got this in my life
Get a Lil Fu in your life.
We should have one of those contests where you get to take the MS(g)B dude or VA.BBurg(if she agrees) of your choice out for whatever.

Donation drive! We need 360s!

Freebirth scum

It has been a while since an update happened I guess. Between the weekday trudge of work I've been cramming in a lot of movies/games/comics (damn you fukennedy). I'm going to do a couple things here which will make this post rather long. Starting with a couple quick reviews of games that I have recently beat or have poured a considerable amount of time into (aka about halfway). Following this there will be some pictures of most of my disc based games (cartridge games would be too troublesome since this was some rapid pictures) with the intention that upon request I can give a review of a given game if someone was curious (an unbiased opinion, and then my own totally-weird-skewed-one).

Condemned: Criminal Origins

To preface I'd like to say I generally don't play horror/scary games (then again until about 3 years ago I didn't play much anything aside from RPGs) but I've been branching out and this gave me a great taste of some more gritty and visceral game presentation which I found to really enjoy. By the time I got to halfway or so through the game I couldn't put it down and spent almost my whole day finishing it.

Graphically the game is pretty impressive, it was a launch title for the 360 even! The lighting is fantastic since it's honestly all about the light and dark, mostly dark and then your tiny pew-pew flashlight. Everything ran smoothly for me but then again I've never been an afficionado when considering graphic performance or textures etc. Gameplay in Condemned is pretty straightforward, I have seen some say the combat is rather simple because of the emphasis on melee but I found that a great reason to force the player to get up close and personal with so much of the environment. Also the addition of the taser and variety of melee weapons (each is wielded with a subtle difference) can really add variety to the occasional scuffle. Enemy AI also really factors into making each encounter it's own unique experience. The storyline was pretty damn compelling, the primary suspect being very well thought out. The hints at direction towards the paranormal towards the end dispelled the eerie ties realism but still made it interesting. The main protagonist and his friend in the FBI lab were voiced very well and made very likeable and relatable. Overall I found it a great play, there is definitely room for the more collective minded to go through and find all the optional birds and metal or just perform better with the kill/accuracy stats at the end of each chapter. The length of the game even makes it doable for multiple playthroughs but not too short. Definitely a solid starting point for a series that leaves great mechanics to be tinkered with and made even better, it's a great game that stays with you after playing it. There were a lot of memorable moments.

Devil May Cry 4

I played the first DMC when it first came out on PS2 (back in the day when I actually rented games) and I was stunned at how much I actually enjoyed the game (my primary diet was still RPGs...and MGS since playstation was my main console). After that though the series dropped off my radar until over a year ago while I was playing through SMT: Nocturne I realized how much of a badass Dante was and how much fun he was to have in my party. Thus begun my re-immergence into the DMC franchise. Last summer I picked up the collection of all 3 previous games (I wanted DMC3 SE without the red "greatest hits" logo hah) and powered through them with a renewed appreciation for the over-the-top franchise...then I got to DMC2. Ok that game blew, I got through it for the sake of knowing what happens when a game goes wrong. While it isn't actually a horrible game...well yes it is. When it comes down to it you have to compare a sequel to the original and this was just such a huge step back. After that though DMC3 was like "whoa buddy strap in", but that was after the ride already started and you're hangin on for dear life. A true return to form that was a great evolution of the game in a good direction. Now pumped for a possible sequel the coming of DMC4 made the fact I did not have a 360 or PS3 a heart-rending fact. I waited and bid my time, and finally I tasted the goods.

First off, it looks amazing and I don't recall ever having any slowdown in the hectic fight scenes. One thing I have to say though is that it feels slower than the previous titles. The controls have a bit more weight to them in the execution, granted this makes it easier to react to things but still the action seemed slower than before. This is slightly countered by the fact that Nero (new guy) has a grab move that allows you to immediately grab the next dude you wanna fondle from afar after you're done with your current toy. The fact you are able to so quickly move onto the next enemy even if he is a distance away was a great feeling, also combat can be truly taken to the air due to this mechanic. Returning to control Dante in his given part of the game is fantastic, the loss devil trigger forms from DMC left me a little sad, but keeping DMC3's system still works in it's own way. The difficulty overall seemed easier than previous titles (DMC2 doesn't count as being a part of the family) and that was on the harder of the two difficulty levels available out the gate. It doesn't disappoint though with many many more options available to be unlocked, I personally look forward to heaven or hell (one shot kill for everything including you).

One criticism I see all the time for DMC games is the "horrible voice acting", This always leaves me confused. The whole point of the game is to be absolutely ridiculous, the action is absolutely unbelievable in cutscenes and they say horribly cheesy and corny lines for a reason. It's fucking hilarious, the same kind of hilarious a well done B-movie has in that it isn't taking itself seriously. If you're looking for epic storyline with passion and heartache look elsewhere cause the story is cheese and the gameplay is fucking on point. While some fans of the more hardcore direction DMC3 took may be disappointed, I found DMC4 to still be an enjoyable new addition to the franchise. The extras and optional Bloody Palace mode as well as unlockable difficulty levels (there are like 6 or 7 difficulty options total) make it have great replay value and the skill customization give nice options based on your playstyle. Easier to get into than the third installment due to the easier curve on the standard difficulty but retains the franchise's trademark quirks and addictive combat for a fantastic experience.

Marvel Ultimate Alliance

I'll be short with this since multiplatform games that span every platform just kinda exist and you either dig it or you don't. I found it rather enjoyable, think Gauntlet Legends with comic book flair and a fair bit of character customization. Hero skills which you can choose based on how you wanna play, distribute points to powerup skills and spend money to adjust costume stats. As a good evolution of that mindless beat-em-up game with friends, I feel the game brought a bit more of the "mindless" part out of the genre since you get to plan how you want your character to grow. The story is the same old corny badguy threatens the world that most marvel super heroes contained in the game experience quite often. You do get a good shot of nostalgia from possibly watching any of the cartoons as a kid, overall a decent length game which surpassed my expectations (I thought it would be slightly better than rubbish). I think it'd be doubly as fun with a great set of friends to muck around with. Good fun, streamlined for easy pick up for those friends that haven't touched the title and despite derivative "super hero-bad guy" storyline still compelled me to play.

Ninja Gaiden 2

I am about halfway through the game, it just went from being '"hard but bearable" to that well known reputation of "utter destruction of my ass". I don't see why people say it visually looks dated, I mean it looks fine to me (pretty damn good actually) but maybe I just have no graphic quality standards (hah). I have to agree the camera is horrendous, especially since half the time you're in narrow corridors and going around corners in narrow corridors...but I kinda get used to it and suck it up. The combat takes place at such breakneck speeds you either are managing to get by or are slaughtered mercilessly. Until I get any good at the game there is no other way to describe the various encounters I partake in. Overall I am absolutely enjoying the game in the same way pain from erging can be a delight. I am a glutton for games that punish you and this is one of them. Story? who comes to a ninja gaiden game asking for deep story? the purpose is to prove how much you can master the combat system and try to perceive what you are doing at the speeds the game moves at. In a day and age where games are attempting to simplify things more and more to reach a broader and broader audience I always approve of a game that slaps the user in line until the adjust to the control scheme/difficulty level/interface within reason. This game presents a challenge to those that are so inclined and anyone that appreciates the challenging part of DMC, or GoW, or Godhand will appreciate the unyielding gameplay of Ninja Gaiden 2. I don't claim to be any good at this game or those mentioned games at all, I just enjoy having a game make me feel like shit and absolutely useless.

Also Itagaki is hilarious and I really don't care or necessarily agree with all the stuff he spouts, but he's entertaining and the games he made were definitely above decent. Also he said Okami was lame, I think Okami did something very noble and cool and was a great game but I would also agree that game is hella long bordering on too long/boring and some gameplay parts of it definitely came off as second thoughts. All great games have minor flaws, I'm just saying his criticism of that particular game I saw as warranted.

Back on track from that random tangent, great game for fans of the series or people who are down with tough as nails action games. It's not going to be ushering in a new wave of fans that are unfamiliar with the title and aren't ready to be smacked around and really have their hands dirtied.

Ok here we go, some shots of my collection of games for PS2, Gamecube, Wii, Playstation, Xbox, 360, DS, PSP, and a DC game (no I do not own a DC hah).





























I have a good assortment of GBA/SNES/64 titles as well but basically if you guys want a review or opinion of any games here then I'd be glad to give one. I don't know why I did the soundtracks as well at the end, I figured why not.

As a final random note I generally don't pay much attention to news about upcoming games since I am generally busy playing stuff I still have but I can't help but get excited about a new SMT game or this revival of schmups. XBLA already has Geometry wars 1 and 2, Ikaruga HD, and it has a new Galaga title coming as well as Raiden IV among others. Also a new entry into the Devil Summoner mini-series in the SMT franchise has me wetting my pants since they're re-introducing the demon conversation system (sorely lacking in Persona 3 *GLARE*) and refining the action elements of Raidou Kuzunoha ps2 entry in 2006.

Slap that bitch!

Kotaku had a really cool post on Free games that they got from some other blog, and now we're linking to their blog, and so the internet is a really insular bubble if you think about it.
Buttttttttttttttttttttt....



Slap that bitch!

Yea, slap her hard like she's the peasant!

5 Minutes to Kill (Yourself) is also an instant classic.

My brother just came out...
To me...
As a fellow blogger, well, Livejournaler, but yeah, he's also now part of the MS(g)B community with an old-school Quake 2 handle, Lt. Slothrop. Yep, back in the days when substitute teacher day was the only way we we're gonna see sweet ass, my brother gibbed men's asses in his Journalism class or extracurricular activity or whatever! He's hardcore! Back in the days when we pooped in our pants, he started to make guitars slowly weep , but weep torrents, and no, this was before torrents got you free movies, porn, and music. It's just so Raw ! Shit!

Max Payne the Movie- More fanboyism!

Loved this fucking game. Love it like I love FF7 'cause I replay both often if I think about either hard enough. Every once and a while I just wanna dive behind a corner and shoot some motherfuckers in a dark, gangster world. Then I want to run down dark alleys of guilt jumping from blood trail to blood trail, never really quieting my twisted soul, not to mention enjoy the fucking great level design! Max Payne took the wide environments of Halo or other shooters and shrunk it bite size: long hallways, enemies behind tables and chairs or up on the second floor, office buildings, docks, nightclubs, etc. It was a great game. The sequel was even more psychologically rattling. The fact that it's a movie now after the second game reminds me of Bloodrayne the movie, which 'cause I played the second game (when you leveled up your health in that game, she would coo, and say, "Ooh, I could go all night!" Ahem....It was also very challenging), I kind of wanted to see the movie, but never have...
Anyway, this should be different! I hope! Max Payne is so cool I can even ignore the fact that Michael Madsen would have been a supremely better casting choice.



THE FLESH OF FALLEN ANGELS!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

MS(g)B Played Games!- Haze, Bad Company, GTA4

Yeah, so it could be easily argued that the gaming industry has gone on an FPS kick and kept putting out ho-hum titles to appeal to an audience that thinks the FPS is the grown up platform game. Remember the days when platform games were hot? Like PSX days: Pandemonium, Skull Monkeys, One (that was a great game though), Armageddon, Crash Bandicoot. I guess it was Crash and Mario that really made gaming companies go, "That makes money. That's what we're making!"
And then that trend died out and there wasn't really only one main genre because people got tired of it, I guess, or just the fact that we got into a war and suddenly the military became more interesting and relevant made "kid's" games like Donkey Kong or Banjo Kazooie less appealing. Or FPSs just fucking look and feel much better nowadays and actually started putting in plots! I dunno. Millions of reasons could be drawn for the shift, but I think I can make the argument that the market is oriented towards First Person Shooters, and since I quit in the middle of No One Lives Forever and F.E.A.R., and, especially kill.switch (oh, by the way, there's a VR concept like Assassin's' Creed's within kill.switch) I've really been tired of them.
An FPS is kind of inherently limited. You find cover. You aim for the head. You shoot, hoping to isolate the amount of enemies that can hit you while you hit them. Kill.switch and what I saw of Gears of War ground this formula into every level. You could call it Shoot-Grinding.
Granted, all video games could kind of be reduced to three or so elements. Ex: In GTA you drive to a location and shoot a target or chase a target and then shoot them then evade the cops what have grown an interest in you due to your sociopathy (love that the love interest in GTA4 constantly makes fun of you for being a sociopath). What's really fucking fun about GTA is the atmosphere, your character's dialog, the strategic choice of weapons, the fact that there's usually much more than chasing and shooting, or whatever. GTA is a blockbuster action movie. GTA is Die Hard, Reservoir Dogs, all the really choice bits of cinema fall into your hands.

So, what is Haze? From the other reviews I've read, Haze, in terms of its plot and character development, is Last Action Hero. Just like Last Action Hero parodied all the top detective action movies but was panned for being a bad action film, Haze is a game so satirical of other FPSs that it ends up reinforcing their cliches.
It starts off really well. You, a directionless college student, have joined up with a Private military corporation that essentially acts as world police, and you juice up with your fellow comrades, who would fist-pound after they raped and shot your mother, to take down the rebel troops in the area. Gameplay relies on you juicing up because you're fighting in a jungle and working for a corporation that doesn't favor camouflage like the rebels you're fighting. The magical Nectar somehow makes you shoot better while fading out all the nasty bits like the blood on your hands.
Arguably, the best sequence in the game is when this system breaks down and you are forced to deal with Nectar withdrawal (similar to GTA4: DUI or the many alcoholic withdrawal sequences in Condemned 2) while rebels still try to kill your brainwashed ass, and in a moment of clarity, you realize that you are committing unjustified murder, and your superior officer has reduced all native human life to "animals" or "empty hands" (what is an empty hand? A hand that could hold a gun, but isn't at the moment) and deemed them all worthy of execution.
I mean, most of that was in the silly, live-action trailer . I should mention that small touches were made to the trailer's exposition and that the voice-actor completely changed, but it's all mostly there, so...what's left?
Well...like ten hours of pretty uninteresting gameplay. As a rebel, your accuracy is better, you're faster, and you no longer rely on Haze to extend your life a little longer so you can recover, your health just comes back at a quick and steady rate. You are an unstoppable killing machine. How boring.
Even if somehow you die, it's probably just 'cause you were fucking around for a little entertainment. As a Mantel trooper, there was plenty of entertainment shooting your squadmate's Nectar regulator and watching the dude flip out, shooting, sometimes blowing themselves up, and screaming things like, "I'm gonna kill them all! I'm gonna kill the world!" or "I LOVE YOU! I LOVE YOU! I LOVE YOU! I LOVE YOU! I LOVE YOU!" As a rebel, your teammates are morons and say the same four things over and over, "Remember your promise to Merino!" or "Mantel dies today!" or "As Merino says, today is the day Mantel dies!" As a rebel, you never talk with any of the rebels besides the leader, so you don't get the same sort of awkward bonding experience you got working for Mantel. Your only social contact is with Merino, and he mostly just preaches at you or yells at you for fucking up. At some point you realize that working for the rebels is just as morally questionable as working for the Mantel troops (see the Zero Punctuation review ), but your character is too much of a pussy (which I like, actually, because it makes sense and it's different from the usual FPS trooper) to tell Merino off, so the storyline just kind of stops until the end where it's abruptly halted by Merino using the same line your commander back at Mantel did: "[Mantel] were just animals!"
And, no, they weren't. Yeah, some of the boys who signed up for Mantel were jocks or whatever, but others, like your character, were just confused and looking to do some good for the world. It's Iraq. It's Vietnam. It's Korea. It's Bay of Pigs. It's Salavador Allende and Chile.
And so, Haze just kind of reiterates the lessons learned in those conflicts, and applies them in a way meant to satirize first person shooters, but the game is still just like them. You still kill people for questionable reasons, enemies still kind of disappear, and it isn't even fun to play after a while. John Fu and I kept trying to fall asleep.
I had a similar problem with Bioshock because the enemies in Bioshock are just people. Your average, everyday Joe who just wanted to make a buck but got dragged into a violent world of harvest adam or be harvested. They say depressing things. You can tell they're morally conflicted by their calls to you, ex: "Jesus loves me, this is so. For the bible tells me so." or "Why don't you think I'm pretty anymore?" It's haunting to kill people this emotionally damaged for your own survival and revenge. I was really upset.

_________End of review, this post is really long___________

In contrast, there's Bad Company, which is also kind of a satire in plot, but much tighter in terms of gameplay and kind of throws all morality out the window...in a fun way. Yes, you point and shoot, but fire too much and your aim goes to shit. Leave cover and get shot too much and you will fucking die. Get hurt, and stab yourself in the heart with adrenaline (or something) to regain health, but use it wisely because it takes a while to recharge, and get ready to fucking die because you deal with a lot of fucking tanks, and run your fucking ass whenever you see a helicopter. Oh, and also, navigate the huge terrain of Russia and surrounding lands, exploring to get collectibles and gold packages, but be on guard because enemies spawn randomly. All this reminds me of Assassin's Creed.
Bad Company also reminds me of .hack in the fact that it's structured like an MMO, but plays like an FPS. Add the fact that you have several choices of vehicles to navigate the whole of Russia, and Bad Company even looks like GTA. Whoa! Great! A military game that looks like you're actually part of a big war campaign like Market Garden or D-Day instead of being mission-based and all over the place like Call of Duty 4.
Now, on top of that, add the plot of Three Kings. Bad Company is the misfit outfit, the soldiers that no one else wants, and as the most expendable company, they get the shittiest, most dangerous orders, so...why put up with that shit? Why not steal the gold of an asshole, badguy mercenary whose sending troops against the US?
Why the fuck not, indeed?
Bad Company is fun in its gameplay, its story, and its characters' intermittently cavalier and incredulous attitude towards destruction and treason, and because it they seem like actual rational human beings instead of mouths for Uncle Sam's dick. These aren't the assholes in other military games who does his job for his country or to stop terrorism, no, these guys are Catch 22, they want to do good for their country sure, but their country better do good by them too.
The pacing's great. The scenarios are also great. The weapons are diverse and fun. In-game cinemas meld practically seamlessly with the gameplay. There are no continues, you just get moved back to the checkpoint like you got med-evac'd at the last moment, so everything you did just before you died stays, which is good or bad based on the situation (Ex: You killed a tank, but died while doing it or you tried to kill a tank and got your vehicle blown up in the process so now you have no vehicle to fight the tank with).
I really liked it. It was short, I guess. There's multiplayer, but I'm really picky about that shit , so I didn't try it. There was no co-op, but it was fucking fun, and, sorry, whoops, sorry. I forgot to mention that most everything is destructible...wait for it...EVEN TREES! Oh my god! Trees go down like a fat bitch on roller skates! You want to get at an enemy behind cover? Shoot that motherfucker's cover and it'll explode like diarrhea! Now you've got a shot, and your enemy's left holding his dick in the rubble that used to protect him.
What's bad about this? Well, apparently it's a trade-off. Cover blows up, but you can't shoot through it like you can in Call of Duty 4, and explosions look pretty ugly and you have to be pretty fucking precise to kill an enemy with explosives.
Finally, Bad Company also provides you with tools to use, which vary from power tools to repair your vehicles to C4 or an RPG to devices that call in air strikes! This adds another interesting element to the game as not only do the air striker caller thingies require you to take the time away from cover to target w/e thing you want to explode, but also, sometimes the air strike machines require you to guide the missile in to whatever you were trying to explode, which can be challenging as shit sometimes, so don't fuck up or that tank's got you dead.

________________3rd Review________________

JFU & LBJ also played GTA4, and I've mentioned it several times throughout, but I couldn't really do it justice to review it. The aiming system is much improved. The explosions are beautiful. The environments are beautiful. The character models are pretty ugly. The story has taken a Haze-esque approach in casting Niko as a sort-of reluctant anti-hero (WOW! What a cool concept!) in that he is a war-shocked human being, who would feel much better if people stopped asking him to kill others, but still wants to make it in the big city for himself and his family. Reviewers complained about the hanging-out system, but it's easy enough to turn it off, or enjoyable because the people are very likable, especially Little Jacob, or they're bitches like the Irish girl you date, and when they drink they break down into severely telling moments ("Just a stupid, self-indulgent, cunt!" or "I hate myself!"). Reviewers also complained about how easy it is to run from the cops, and fuck them 'cause it's not and I like the system better. Like Assassin's Creed, getting the cops' attention spans a perimeter search displayed on your radar. If you manage to escape that perimeter without being re-discovered by the cops or committing new crimes to get more attention, your warning level goes down, but the cops are everywhere. It is hard as shit to steal a car or fire a gun without them seeing you. Random crime really doesn't pay unless you're out for the cop rampage. Everything else is everything that the GTA series always delivers: hilarious radio, hilarious advertisements, billions of hair-raising scenarios (favorites were shooting cops or gangsters up in a public housing building or robbing banks), great characters, great dialog, great voice-acting, and a new take on the crime world.
And, finally, something new to GTA4: a conscience. Several missions let you choose whether to kill or leave a person alive, and anyone you've shot so they fall down to the ground can get back up begging for their lives, so even though you've just slaughtered a warehouse full of people, presumably they could still get medical attention and be OK. Your character has a conscience if you don't, and will often times express how numb he feels from his experiences in war and in Liberty City, and know that his actions are morally-reprehensible, but continue on despite...
It's a great game. One of the most moving games I've ever played, and, I would say, next to GTA3 is the best game in the series so far.

i'M Soon out of video(g)ames i wanted to Buy or play,

Lynny Boj

P.S.

"Yeaaaaaaaaaaaaaa boiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiieeeeeee"

The Fuk LBJ: ROUGH DRAFT Triumphant

So now, all scenes of Fuk LBJ (Yeah, if you followed the trailer, we're way behind schedule) have been completely edited (sort of)!
Check out our Soundtrack!

It was hard. The final stretch was harder, but we have completed a work to rival all other amateur Youtube films. Yes, this might be a video that everyone looks at once, enjoys, and then moves on with their lives, but I've been watching it like once a day. It's important to me. It's something we created from nothing.

Notes about editing:
1. Communication has to be kept up between cast members and director even during improv elements
2. It's bad to be stubborn
3. More footage is good footage, but it makes setting the sequence much harder
4. The human ear and eye can catch really really small movements and sounds
5. Premiere Pro 2 is much smarter than us.
6. Nothing has turned out the way we expected.
7. It's a good thing this took us so long.
8. Editing is ruining our ability to enjoy other forms of entertainment. Like we hear a song or video and think, "That could have been shorter" or "That didn't even establish the scene!"
9. Every song sounds like a different one slowed down, sped up, or cut into pieces.
10. Editing is a soul-sucking process. Good things happen but you still got so much shit to do, why are you even celebrating? Did that scene even look right? Will the audience see it the same way you do?
11. Tracy Morgan and Katt Williams is the shit right here.

today's wiMner will reSeive the (g)ift oB KOREAN Turkwise!

NOW Subscribe!

Another for the sake of friendly exchange

It's easier to do this since it would be a lengthy comment.

FF7 was the reason that I bought a console after having a SNES and took a long break after having played the Super Metroid, Super Mario RPG, Zelda, Donkey Kong goodness.

FF7 was one of the reasons why I got into gaming the way I have, and I will say that despite the allure it had, despite playing through the game multiple times (my last time I played through I got 3 master magic materias from literally mastering every single green magic shit through all 5 levels three times over) I can say that I have clocked in over 400 hours easily on that game. Despite everything of that sort I can easily say that it is an overrated game that whose rating is fueled by nostalgia and the timing of it's release. Aside from being a definite above average and solid game it is definitely eclipsed by many other games that deserve a lot more attention. Atlus does churn out a hell of a lot of stereotypical anime/japanese games, at the same time it brings over things that have mechanics or twists that are wholly unique to the given game.

Reasons why Atlus is by far higher in my eyes than Square (not Enix):
Rule of Rose: despite the rough around the edges combat the story and atmosphere of this game is like Silent Hill but with a more human spin.
Odin Sphere: greatly hyped but shows that high-res sprites definitely have a place in the next gen.
Sky Gunner: Think Star Fox all range mode but extremely hard and you have to manage funds.
Trauma Center: I think this game series speaks for itself in terms of what it's done for innovation in game-play interaction.
Ogre Battle: FFTactics, one of my favorite games of all time I will admit ripped off horribly from this franchise.
Persona 2: Up there with one of my favorite RPGs with ridiculous depth in gameplay mechanics.
R-Type Command: Re-envisioned R-type as a strategy RPG that is highly addictive and has the amount of options of weapons, 100s of ships, etc. as the normal R-type game.
Touch Detective: If Tim Burton were to make a Myst-esque game then this would be it, the offbeat humor and interesting art angle make it a diamond in the rough of point and click adventure on the DS.
Ontamarama: a Rhythm game totally unique that incorporates pressing buttons on the DS, drawing circles around objects while avoiding others and tapping things while in rhythm. Not only is it ridiculously difficult/fun but blows my mind in terms of what it took to come up with it.
Etrian Odyssey: Bust out that pen and paper cause you'll be spending as much time with this oldschool dungeon crawler as you did with D&D sans the huddle of friends in the basement late at night.
SMT III: Nocturne: My favorite game of all time. Challenge gods, decide your philosophy, the melting of religious mythos into a post apocalyptic world. My god I wish this was made into a movie (take away the exp grinding and it'd be a helluva ride).
SMT: Digital Devil Saga: Made me realize that voice acting can actually be good in a game, that an RPG can be legitly hard and not based on level or exp grinding.

Square on the otherhand has put the Mana series to shit, last good one being Legend of Mana on the Playstation (love it, stayed up all night training the damned pets in the game). Final Fantasy series lost my interest once 10 hit. 12 looks like it has some solid aspects and the fact it's penned by the guy who did the story for Tactics gives me hope, not to mention I own the 4 disc soundtrack etc. but the MMO interface that resonates so much with watching my friend play FF XI for hours makes me sick. That is a fusion that I can't get past. Dirge was a shoddy attempt, I abhor the Kingdom Hearts series. I played the first one all the way through and was never able to buy into it, I respect it for what it did but that was just not for me. Square has squandered the street cred it used to have. They have stopped being experimental with new apps and stuck to milking the hell out of existing franchises, at least KH had the Disney face to sell it. They even announced on Kotaku a month or two ago that Squareenix was going to cut back on original apps *cough* World Ends With You (unfortunate since it sounded like an interesting venture). They have become a large corporation who sadly merged with a company who makes very solid games that have not yet fallen prey to the lack of effort that Square has exhibited.

Enix, yeah Dragonquest (Dragon Warrior) has been the same for god knows how long, but would you really complain if Square popped one FF7 quality game after the other out? Enix does Star Ocean, that series is SERIOUS business. Star Ocean 2nd Story is one of the best RPGs on Playstation, Valkyrie Profile as well. Tri-Ace even released Radiata stories which was a totally new app in the age of the PS2 which was amazing as hell and totally overshadowed since it didn't have Final Fantasy in the name. Enix even released Robot Alchemic Drive, that game is so ridiculously awesome I'm not sure how else to put it aside from it's a surprise it exists.

I wish Square would realize they are capable of putting out new games that are edgy and experimental or just not Final Fantasy remakes(Threads of Fate? Vagrant Story? Ehrgeiz?) and not feel the cautious need to maintain some ridiculous profit margin by churning out remakes upon remakes of proven amazing games. I am not complaining about their remakes, hell the FF Tactics one is excellent since it's portable ( I could do without the slowdown and broken dark knight class though). Chrono Trigger, why not? Every single Final Fantasy title up to the PS2 era would be cool and all, but what about those of us that want something a little different? Plenty of people are still waiting to cream themselves over a FF7 remake, if it comes I'd probably even buy it to re-live the goodness in a new presentation.

So yes, Atlus does churn out a lot of generic JRPGs (Atelier Iris, Ar Tonelico, Growlanser, Stella Deus, Baroque, Magna Carta, SMT: Devil Summoner) and they are good taken as they are and nothing more. Formulaic distractions that can be entertaining and not always the most epic of stories to blow your load over waxing nostalgic. Between those releases though (not to say those can't be special to a random given person) they bring over some very amazing titles that most other publishers wouldn't risk bringing to the US. This is why I give them mad respect. Enix takes their time in putting out their titles, occasional throwaways but in my eyes they have kept up the integrity of the main franchises (DQ, Star Ocean, among others). What pains me is Square has obviously dropped the ball trying to throw out continuations of franchises that would most likely sell and I feel they counted too much on the name factor and didn't put as much effort into them as they may have used to. I just don't appreciate the copious remakes without a considerable enough catalogue of newer original titles.

This is just my opinion, it isn't set in stone as I am very eager to see Square turn things around a bit. The only reason why I still see Square and Enix as still separate is because of this particular opinion. My love for Atlus is more likely than not due to my cheering for the underdog that publishes the weird titles for the US that most other companies would not bring over otherwise(although more than 50% are only weird because it's standard japanese game fodder). That's ok with me.

I'd always preferred Baldur's Gate II to Kotor, but both were definitely amazing. Black Isle is an absolute dream in terms of game quality.

FF XIII IS COMING!!!!....

And I could honestly care less cause it looks like a complete bore. Ok here we go, the new E3 Trailer of FFXIII hot off the heals of the announcement it will be on 360. This makes it easy on me if I ever decide to pick it up and give it a whirl since I can hold off on getting the PS3 for a little longer to play MGS4, GT5, and some Nippon Ichi goodness. Lets take a look at this trailer piece by piece.

To start things out is some lines of Japanese which I am sure is saying something along the lines of "IN A WORLD TORN BY WAR" or "IN A LAND OPRESSED BY A CRAZY GOVERNMENT" because that tends to be the spin on most RPGs. The first glimpse we get, in true Final Fantasy fashion all they will end up showing us anyways are cinematics and nothing to show off how one may actually be playing this "game", is a dragon flying through a valley which looks like a current generation iteration of Panzer Dragoon (love the games). Next we get a shot of super serial future city and airships. What would Final Fantasy be without Airships? While they have become a standard in the series I wonder if the massive amount of inclusion in the story of EVERY single recent game is necessary. I mean at least in the earlier ones your party eventually got one to make traveling an overworld (WHY DO THESE NOT EXIST ANYMORE?? they were awesome) but now they just seem to be the easy way to get "oohs" and "ahhs" out of people while watching cinematics because it's the most fantastical thing to see in a fantasy world, that's right a fantastic foray into imagination. It's like glitter, lets sprinkle some more of those air ships in there to show how graphically awesome we can make these FMVs, those are after all the main hooks of FF games in the past couple years. I tire to think that Final Fantasy has become some kind of gauge for how technically advanced graphics can get in video games, they've been dropping the ball in terms of characters, likeability, originality, and gameplay because they are so focused on this stuff.

Take notes now, soft cream colors for up in the clouds. IT MUST BE FLUFFY. Blue glowing lights as well for technology, I love my blue glowing external or tablet but if everything in my house glowed blue LEDs it loses the uniqueness. Next we see the obvious large government/army/corporation troops donning bright clean uniforms (note: they have the blue to show the technological advancement) coming to assail our heroine. What RPG would be complete if the introduction of a character was not accompanied by them being surrounded by a large array of enemies. Then followed by them dispatching of the soldiers in a cool, flashy, and sometimes wholly unecessary manner which will be preceded by a slight look of doubt before dealing with them all effortlessly.

Quick, if you look closely at the soldier helmets they have saved time in the design/drafting process by clipping the judges from FFXII. I have performed a hasty process through the advanced program MS paint and this is the result:
Before













After


















And here we can see the new guards:










I mean, I would honestly love for there to be a new Final Fantasy title that just sweeps me up and gives me the same euphoria that some of the previous titles have given me but the Squeenix of late just does not even feel like they try anymore with the FF franchise. Next the game shows off some oldies of what may possibly be the incarnations of Shiva and Ifrit for the game. Then some explosions, gunfire, keep watching the graphics...WAIT THERE WAS A HUD! nope it's gone now. As a whole I can't help but wonder when when it was decided that the future was painted with a palette of primarily white, blues, purple and some other cool colors, interspersed with lots of bold primary colors. The architexture is a lot of smooth surfaces and ovals/circles. I am a little tired of every city and hallway being another take of the hallways from Xenosaga, the Balamb Garden, Star Ocean, Final Fantasy X.

I guess back when FF8 was on it's way those cutscenes of that epic battle between squall and Seifer was like whoa, and that spider robot on the beach had me jumping to play the game. That was then, back when I was actually wowed by graphics because we had honestly not seen anything like it before. This just seems no different from the previous stuff they've released, the video isn't wowing to me at all. It just leaves me with a sense of "yeah...and I don't care what video you've cooked up I wanna know how it plays and what kinda features there are". To be fair I guess you could say they haven't gotten that far in the game planning, to that I respond stop wasting fucking time making videos of the game cutscenes and get to work on the meat of the game. That is the primary problem that I think the Square part of Squeenix is having of late, they haven't caught on yet that gameplay is the heart of the game not graphics (I have no beef with enix, they have managed to do well in this new age). They were able to ride the wave of being on the edge of graphics for so long while we progressed from basic polygons to what we have today that they've changed their method of production to be centered around "awe inspired visuals" and gameplay secondary. In a time now where the graphical increases are becoming so small I feel they have lost a huge edge until the next leap or bound is made. While they may be reaching to be the one to make that bridging of a gap I feel they have sacrificed a great deal in terms of the gameplay and story content they used to have.