These past two weeks I have been back at school I have started my venture into the game Lost Odyssey. It was made by the studio Mistwalker which is headed by Hironobu Sakaguchi. This amazing man birthed the first Final Fantasy game in 1987 and the rest is history from there. Mistwalker even has Nobuo Uematsu on board to score the games. Not only does this line-up have the father of Final Fantasy games but the creator of all the memorable tunes as well working on this game Lost Odyssey. Despite all these ties to groundbreaking, in my opinion, titles I had mostly missed their progress these past few years. Part of it was most likely due to my not having a 360 until last summer so I tended to not pay attention to news regarding consoles I don't own.
Over winter break I noted that I had listened to a lot of Destructoid's podcasts, mainly RetroForceGo! They had constantly referenced Lost Odyssey as a recent RPG that really echoed the feelings that they experienced when playing some of the older RPGs from the 90s such as FF4 or FF6. This peaked my interest since up until purchasing Lost Odyssey I didn't own any JRPGs for my 360, and that is one of the primary food groups in my gaming diet. After refreshing my memory about Mistwalker studio, big news years ago but I didn't own a 360 at the time, I decided it was time to try the JRPG offerings on my Microsoft console. Going into this I have relatively high expectations, something I try to not do but honestly how can you not if you're a huge fan of the FF series.
The game comes on 4 dual layered DVDs. Noticing this reminded me of the ridiculous arguments I would see on blogs regarding PS3 or Xbox superiority. It also made me realize that multiple disc games, while cumbersome, is an aspect that I really fucking love about games. It's like having multiple books in a series that are later released in a complete collection that's about the same size as a single book due to something new and awesome. In my mind either one is cool, but having multiple books each with differing cover art and that sense of progression when you finish one and get ready to dive into another is something that I dig. So when I was about 18 hours into Lost Odyssey and it was disc swap time, I had flashbacks to good old FF7 (that new sense of purpose after losing a team member and it's time to pop in that next disc and hunt this ass-clown down). So yeah, obviously if it was on one disc I'd be cool with that too. Something about that "inconvenience" of swapping discs filled me with some great nostalgia.
Ok now the characters, story, and graphics. Looking at the cover I don't really dig the character design. Yes it IS very cliche, but honestly you're playing a JRPG so I have lenience for them in that department. The story is shaping up to be similar to classic FF tales from the SNES era. One thing that I do enjoy though is that FOR ONCE there is a reason for the main character to be so "emo" or bored with life. Kaim is an immortal, he has lived for thousands of years and has witnessed most everything. If having loved ones and losing them through the ages numerous times wouldn't desensitize you to the world, I wouldn't know what would. Also the almighty power of amnesia strikes again on the hero, but what I think is the reason not a cop-out at all and works well. Also the Thousand Years of Dreams sequences are freaking AMAZING. Granted this will probably only appeal to some, basically as you play the game certain areas or events will trigger a lost memory (from the amnesia) from the recesses of Kaim's memory and fills you in more on what he's been through and are just good stories. While the overarching story is shaping up to be pretty derivative, I feel that the Thousand Years of Dream sequences along with the backgrounds of some of the characters is making it such a fleshed out experience that I am loving it.
The characters are interesting, Jansen is shaping up to be one of my favorite videogame characters EVER. There are Cooke and Mack who are kinda clones of Palom and Parom from FF4 but much more developed. One thing that helps a lot with the game is the amazing voice acting. Initially I thought Kaim's voice was sort of boring and not that great. Over time though I have grown to be quite fond of it, especially since you start out just after an exhausting and depressing battle which obviously would leave him sounding deflated and tired. I laughed a good amount at dialogue and the voice actors from games such as Persona 3 & 4 as well as Digital Devil Saga or Shadow Hearts. This being said, Jansen's voice actor had me collapsing on the ground dying of laughter with some of the stuff he says. The graphics are beautiful, there are a lot of cut-scenes at the beginning as you are hammered with story setup but once you get into the rhythms then it isn't really an overload. One thing to note, upon starting up a new game when that opening cut scene began I honestly felt the same blown away experience of seeing that cut-scene of the mechanical spider chasing Squall from 8. That whole "being floored" magic of the video I honestly hadn't felt in a while. This isn't to say the opening cinematic is the best thing I've seen to it, for some reason it struck a chord with me. Definitely more so than the unexciting (in my opinion) trailer of FF XIII that was released yesterday or so.
Now we have the mechanics. The combat returns to good old turn based with a twist. It has a system I would say is similar to the rings from Shadow Hearts for attacking. This and a front/back row system which reduces damage to the back row as long as the guard meter has something in it. The guard meter starts at a value the same as the total hp of the members in the front row and is not refreshed when you heal your members. You do eventually learn skills which assist in refilling the guard meter. This and the immortal/mortal skill system allows a method of character customization for equipping skills which I find enjoyable.
So yeah, I am currently on Disc 2 and loving Lost Odyssey. I understand completely what the RetroForceGo! crew meant by saying the game is an older RPG with current-gen-trappings. There is some sense of purity in the feeling that I get when playing it, the same as when I played Dragon Quest 8. It has gone back to the barebones of what an RPG is for me. I think whatever this "feeling" happens to be is what is missing from my experiences with Final Fantasy games (the last one I felt amazed with was 9 but I hope to give FF10 a second chance this semester at some point, and maybe finally get around to playing 12 since I never did and have no opinion of it yet... except that I think Vaan is a stupid character). So yeah this game rocks, I can't wait to see it unravel and I also can't wait to try my hand at Blue Dragon as well. The lukewarm reception of both of Mistwalker's RPG titles on the 360 has caused them to cancel their third RPG project that was slated for the 360. This fact has me in tears, oh well.
I have also began playing Crackdown recently. I had never understood the appeal of GTA games despite acknowledging them being solid games, I wonder if Crackdown will be a good way to ease me into this weird sandbox genre that I am so foreign to. I just never got the desire to want to just walk around in a game and goof off I guess? Not to say that is what you do in them but that is one of the appeals. I am enjoying in Crackdown my crazy jumping and scaling buildings and picking up cars and being a complete bio-engineered badass while cleaning up the city. Partially why Prototype is looking interesting to me. Also I would like to say that I own GTA4 and hope to finish playing through it at some point so I can have a solid opinion on the game & it's series, but I get bored so quickly.
Thursday, January 29, 2009
Monday, January 26, 2009
Saints Row
Update, blah blah blah
I watch a lot of Bruce Campbell and Bruce doesn't really like to kill people in his shows. Otherwise I watch Battlestar galactica, and that makes me uncomfortable a lot because people kill Cylons or they're dicks to each other for no reason (this is kinda unrelated there, dude). Ooh, and Burn Notice (it's a Bruce Campbell show but he's not the main character), I watch that a lot too. A new episode just went up tonight! How grand! But, yeah, since the main character can't leave Miami, it's a bad idea to get the cops on him by dropping bodies.
Oh, and Yakuza. Not a lot of people die in that even though most moves you use in-game would kill a normal person.
Saint's Row had great music. It had a lot of nice touches too on the old gta framwork. It also surprisingly has character development. In an extra sequence of the game, an old friend of the main character asks, "What the fuck is wrong with you? The Saints were supposed to clean up the streets. Now you peddle drugs, prostitutes, murder police at will. Why did you become a sociopath?"
Your character's answer is along the lines of, "This is my city. I run it my way," and you shoot your old friend.
I had to spoil that for ya'll because I thought it was neat. Your character is an asshole and kinda-Kratosish is his/her murderous rise to the top. So, Saint's Row 2 is the sociopath's gta? It's Postal 2 if Postal 2 were gta? Something like that. It reminds me of Max Payne and Max Payne's clone...game whose name I don't remember. Both those games were similar but had their own stylistic differences.
Both gta and Saint's Row are really good games. The writing and voice-acting in Saint's Row 2 is pretty good, and some of the cutscene direction is out-of-control epic, really fun to watch! The camera was a little funky. The controls are too. The worse part is the memory and this may be a ps3 issue. The game forgets cars in the time it takes you to turn around. It's a goldfish swimming in a tank. The game gets progressively difficult but not too much so. A lot of the missions are go to a place, shoot some gang lieutenants, repeat, repeat. Some of the biggest difficulty comes from the memory and control issues.
That's what I got.
1/29/08
Earlier business-
I feel like gta4 was part of a movement in the entertainment media questioning our love of violence and general shoot-em-up thingies. Since gta4, I've had some moral dilemnas killing folk in a video game. In Fallout 2, you could kill whole drug families, and I kept feeling, "These people don't deserve this. Why don't I use my guns to establish common law?"
Saints Row 2 throws that all out the window. Lemme give you an example.
One of your buddies is accused of murdering 300+ people, so you shoot your way into the courthouse (the comic included is a dramatization of the cutscene), and as you fight your way back out of the courthouse, the judge of your buddy's trial has a shotgun. This shit is bananas.
There's no cover system like gta4. In fact, your health magically comes back and is only really threatened when you're charging at least five dudes with assault rifles.
Am I complaining?
Shit, no! Saints Row 2 is some surreal ass fun and the character customization system is amazing. I got me a hot female main character, and I love to play dress up. I know. It sounds creepy. I'm...I'm kinda ashamed, yeah...
I just...I dunno...if I uploaded my character on to eHarmony as my ideal woman, maybe...you know, maybe she would be up there? I'd like to think she would.
Oh, man. Umm, I need to cry. I'll finish this up later.
-LBJ
Update
I'm not as upset anymore. I got my character to turn towards the screen and kept hitting the compliment command. She really really likes me, you know. Our connection is special.
I watch a lot of Bruce Campbell and Bruce doesn't really like to kill people in his shows. Otherwise I watch Battlestar galactica, and that makes me uncomfortable a lot because people kill Cylons or they're dicks to each other for no reason (this is kinda unrelated there, dude). Ooh, and Burn Notice (it's a Bruce Campbell show but he's not the main character), I watch that a lot too. A new episode just went up tonight! How grand! But, yeah, since the main character can't leave Miami, it's a bad idea to get the cops on him by dropping bodies.
Oh, and Yakuza. Not a lot of people die in that even though most moves you use in-game would kill a normal person.
Saint's Row had great music. It had a lot of nice touches too on the old gta framwork. It also surprisingly has character development. In an extra sequence of the game, an old friend of the main character asks, "What the fuck is wrong with you? The Saints were supposed to clean up the streets. Now you peddle drugs, prostitutes, murder police at will. Why did you become a sociopath?"
Your character's answer is along the lines of, "This is my city. I run it my way," and you shoot your old friend.
I had to spoil that for ya'll because I thought it was neat. Your character is an asshole and kinda-Kratosish is his/her murderous rise to the top. So, Saint's Row 2 is the sociopath's gta? It's Postal 2 if Postal 2 were gta? Something like that. It reminds me of Max Payne and Max Payne's clone...game whose name I don't remember. Both those games were similar but had their own stylistic differences.
Both gta and Saint's Row are really good games. The writing and voice-acting in Saint's Row 2 is pretty good, and some of the cutscene direction is out-of-control epic, really fun to watch! The camera was a little funky. The controls are too. The worse part is the memory and this may be a ps3 issue. The game forgets cars in the time it takes you to turn around. It's a goldfish swimming in a tank. The game gets progressively difficult but not too much so. A lot of the missions are go to a place, shoot some gang lieutenants, repeat, repeat. Some of the biggest difficulty comes from the memory and control issues.
That's what I got.
1/29/08
Earlier business-
I feel like gta4 was part of a movement in the entertainment media questioning our love of violence and general shoot-em-up thingies. Since gta4, I've had some moral dilemnas killing folk in a video game. In Fallout 2, you could kill whole drug families, and I kept feeling, "These people don't deserve this. Why don't I use my guns to establish common law?"
Saints Row 2 throws that all out the window. Lemme give you an example.
One of your buddies is accused of murdering 300+ people, so you shoot your way into the courthouse (the comic included is a dramatization of the cutscene), and as you fight your way back out of the courthouse, the judge of your buddy's trial has a shotgun. This shit is bananas.
There's no cover system like gta4. In fact, your health magically comes back and is only really threatened when you're charging at least five dudes with assault rifles.
Am I complaining?
Shit, no! Saints Row 2 is some surreal ass fun and the character customization system is amazing. I got me a hot female main character, and I love to play dress up. I know. It sounds creepy. I'm...I'm kinda ashamed, yeah...
I just...I dunno...if I uploaded my character on to eHarmony as my ideal woman, maybe...you know, maybe she would be up there? I'd like to think she would.
Oh, man. Umm, I need to cry. I'll finish this up later.
-LBJ
Update
I'm not as upset anymore. I got my character to turn towards the screen and kept hitting the compliment command. She really really likes me, you know. Our connection is special.
Saturday, January 24, 2009
Yakuza 3 - That shit looked weird
Did you see this? I thought it looked weird...
Until I saw this video!
NOW I BELIEVE! KAZUMA KIRYU! DRAGON AMONG MEN! I LIKE YOUR NEW HAWAIIAN SHIRT!
-fanboy
Until I saw this video!
NOW I BELIEVE! KAZUMA KIRYU! DRAGON AMONG MEN! I LIKE YOUR NEW HAWAIIAN SHIRT!
-fanboy
Monday, January 19, 2009
Prince of Persia-The New One
Whooo...
There were a couple of things I liked about Prince of Persia. I liked the fact that you play in a world and you can progress how you'd like to. You can just kinda keep swinging and jumping and roof-running and you're playing the game, fertilizing the fertile grounds, collecting the light seeds, fighting the corrupted. This in combination with the talking system was neat. So you talk with Elika about wherever you are at the moment if you so desire or you talk to her about silly shit. It's neat because the game doesn't force cutscenes on you or progress slower than you wanted. You control how much information Elika tells you. It's a really cool idea, especially because the game is so sandboxish. The sense of time is also interesting. You wake up the demon god and then I felt a sense of urgency to stop this resurrection thing before it happened, you know? There's a really good sense that events are occurring in real time. The game takes about an afternoon (I assume), and that's about the length of the story too. The physical relationship between Elika and the Prince is very tight. They really work together like Ico and his crazy spirit girl, which makes the banter confusing to me because I would have problems touching someone who kept putting me down like an asshole or flip-side I would have problems wanting to help some tight-ass bitch.
Alright, so I was positive there for a little bit.
I liked the idea of the talking system...but...goddamn...the main character is a sarcastic, pretentious prick, and the female counterpart is the spiritual, sensical one. This means they get stuck on some abstract concept over and over and have arguments about it that are deep, yo. Oh, yeah...that was sarcasm...see? Now just imagine everything I said was dipped in sarcastic or some pseudo-playful tone.
It's pretty cliche. The writing of this "banter" they have is also pretty bad. There are good moments sometimes like when the Prince keeps pestering Elika to play "I Spy" with him, but it would be much more powerful to me if the characters showed a lot more depth earlier on or actual real emotion. Example- unwillingly awakening a dark god you didn't even believe in would cause me to be irrationally angry at the girl who led me into that situation. The whole mission to me would be primarily driven by guilt, and that would make things all "dark." Who likes dark shit, anyway? (grumble grumble, I FUCKINg DO!) My point is Ico and Shadow of the Colossus are famous for their relationships because in both cases the characters are very drawn to each other in act and word...well, I mean Wanda can't really talk with the horse, but the frightened neighing gets the idea across. The Prince and Elika are almost constantly bickering. It would have even been cool if the Prince and Elika started off awkwardly working with each other and then gradually began to trust one another, but it just didn't seem to be happening.
I should have mentioned this earlier, but the premise for the game itself is very flimsy and also cliche. Prince wondering around with donkey finds chick running away (not very clear why she was running away) from dark figure. Prince fights dark figure. Dark figure turns out to be father of Elika and leader (maybe?) of some tribe protecting a god of light, but for some reason he thinks he should stop doing that and chop the tree sealing the god of darkness. Boom! Apocalypse coming! SHIT! well, I guess we better stop that...
Talking with Elika reveals more about the Corrupted you're fighting, but their backstories are very simplistic. This guy was looking for power, he got it, then it corrupted him. Repeat. Repeat. Repeat. This is why I stopped. The story feels like an afterthought to the whole game.
I don't know. Maybe you will like the type of dialogue between the prince and Elika. I know people who talk like that and they have smarmy smiles, patting themselves on the back for the clever things they're saying, but I keep thinking they're just bad actors and wish they would open up more. Yes, this is a personal judgment on some people, but if I don't know you, reader, then don't take it personally.
I didn't beat Prince of Persia. I actually had to stop myself from playing it because like the other Prince of Persia games since the first one, I kept playing it to see if it would get better until the moment I was assured it didn't. I stopped because I knew it would let me down at some point and I would feel very odd about it afterwards.
And finally, goddamnit, MeCool and JohnFU...Shinobi was a great fucking game. It was quick and hard. It demanded a lot from the player so it was really engaging, and I have fond memories of miraculous Tate attacks in Bibbles' basement.
I'm as pretentious an asshole as the people who wrote Prince of Persia.
I love Peanut sauce. Put that with some dutch mayo and ketchup on a falafel or with Frites...DELICIOUS!
L0Y0N0nY B DC
Tuesday, January 13, 2009
OhBAMMA!
Bamma jamma bamma lamma!
OHBAHMAH!
In four days, that inauguration stuff goes down and I may just have an in.
WHAT IS THIS POST ABOUT?
Why the top game of 2008 or something (I'm really bad with time periods since I play a lot of older games)
It is (In my humble opinion)...
gta4
or
Dead Space
If Yakuza 2 came out in America this year, then that's the fucking best game of the year. I like Yakuza 2 so much that I have no complaints. Well, except that sometimes the story gets really cheesy. But it's like when I played Fallout 2, no complaints even though the team NPCs were shite and it was hard as fuck. You work around that shit and you become stronger because of it.
"I'm a piece of work just ask anyone"
-Constantine
OHBAHMAH!
In four days, that inauguration stuff goes down and I may just have an in.
WHAT IS THIS POST ABOUT?
Why the top game of 2008 or something (I'm really bad with time periods since I play a lot of older games)
It is (In my humble opinion)...
gta4
or
Dead Space
If Yakuza 2 came out in America this year, then that's the fucking best game of the year. I like Yakuza 2 so much that I have no complaints. Well, except that sometimes the story gets really cheesy. But it's like when I played Fallout 2, no complaints even though the team NPCs were shite and it was hard as fuck. You work around that shit and you become stronger because of it.
"I'm a piece of work just ask anyone"
-Constantine
Monday, January 12, 2009
2008 In Gaming For Me (AKA realizing how few new games I played)
I was going to do my top 10 of the year and after browsing over releases from this year I realized I have spent most of the year catching up on 360 games. Having purchased the console this summer and getting my hands on things like Bioshock, Assassin's Creed, Rock Band, Lost Planet, Forza 2, etc. then I have not actually played through a large number of releases this year. Because of this I barely played over 10 games that were released this year. Because of that I will put together my top 5 favorite releases of this year.
1. Braid
2. Persona 4
3. Rock Band 2
4. Dead Space
5. Devil May Cry 4
Ummm, well I honestly only just downloaded Braid last week and played through and completed it. I just found out there is more that I could have gotten, but at this point I am proud of my completion of the game with a friend and putting together all the puzzle pieces without aid from hints. That being said I had no expectations and was pleased and blown away by the elegance and grace that the game has. It just exists, and I found it a refreshing change of pace from the norm. Persona 4 was rad and satisfied my JRPG hunger for the year (I started it right after completing Nocturne for a second time through, I got the neutral ending this time whoooo). Next Rock Band 2 improved on the first iteration in so many ways, I also live by the amazing DLC. Dead Space was a game that, in my opinion, was executed well and drew on source material that I grew up with so I ate it up. While some critics have sighted it as unoriginal or a sign of stagnation in the survival horror genre (I have heard some people insist that the genre has died all together and Dead Space and RE4 are just action games, which I partially agree with) I found it cured my itch for a scary gaming experience. While it may not be as psychologically streamlined as the Silent Hill series or as creepy as other franchises I liked it. Off the top of my head I can't think of how many sci-fi horror games there have been in recent years, and Dead Space filled that hole in my life. Finally I really liked DMC 4. While I feel that it wasn't as good as the first or third iteration of the series, it is a solid game and I have accumulated a good amount of playtime with my copy.
Honorable Mentions:
Ninja Gaiden 2
Castle Crashers
Ninja Gaiden 2 is a breakneck action game, much faster combat than DMC 4 (I feel like DMC 4 had slower combat compared to DMC and DMC 3). This sometimes leads to ridiculously unlucky deaths to enemies and it does suffer from a wonky camera at times, but overall the game is way above average. Like the DMC series, the ultimate pleasure in these games comes from those completely mesmerizing moments where you're just in-the-zone and perform something amazing. Or that moment that you get past that frustrating section and it was beautiful.
Castle Crashers is such a great homage to beat 'em ups that I was filled with such joy while playing it. The art style is fantastic, humor that had me laughing constantly, and accessibility of classics like Gauntlet and Streets of Rage. A wonderful multiplayer experience that shouldn't be missed (the game was even fun playing solo as well which was a surprise).
Games that I sorely missed and need to try from this year are Lost Odyssey, Bangai-O Spirits, Bionic Commando: Rearmed, Sonic Unleashed (I dun care, I need to experience it), Tomb Raider: Underworld, and possibly more.
Currently Playing: Lara Croft Tomb Raider: Legend, Final Fantasy 4 (from FF Chronicles on Playstation)
What about you guys LBJ and J FU K? I know it's been a while since you've posted... but what has been up?
1. Braid
2. Persona 4
3. Rock Band 2
4. Dead Space
5. Devil May Cry 4
Ummm, well I honestly only just downloaded Braid last week and played through and completed it. I just found out there is more that I could have gotten, but at this point I am proud of my completion of the game with a friend and putting together all the puzzle pieces without aid from hints. That being said I had no expectations and was pleased and blown away by the elegance and grace that the game has. It just exists, and I found it a refreshing change of pace from the norm. Persona 4 was rad and satisfied my JRPG hunger for the year (I started it right after completing Nocturne for a second time through, I got the neutral ending this time whoooo). Next Rock Band 2 improved on the first iteration in so many ways, I also live by the amazing DLC. Dead Space was a game that, in my opinion, was executed well and drew on source material that I grew up with so I ate it up. While some critics have sighted it as unoriginal or a sign of stagnation in the survival horror genre (I have heard some people insist that the genre has died all together and Dead Space and RE4 are just action games, which I partially agree with) I found it cured my itch for a scary gaming experience. While it may not be as psychologically streamlined as the Silent Hill series or as creepy as other franchises I liked it. Off the top of my head I can't think of how many sci-fi horror games there have been in recent years, and Dead Space filled that hole in my life. Finally I really liked DMC 4. While I feel that it wasn't as good as the first or third iteration of the series, it is a solid game and I have accumulated a good amount of playtime with my copy.
Honorable Mentions:
Ninja Gaiden 2
Castle Crashers
Ninja Gaiden 2 is a breakneck action game, much faster combat than DMC 4 (I feel like DMC 4 had slower combat compared to DMC and DMC 3). This sometimes leads to ridiculously unlucky deaths to enemies and it does suffer from a wonky camera at times, but overall the game is way above average. Like the DMC series, the ultimate pleasure in these games comes from those completely mesmerizing moments where you're just in-the-zone and perform something amazing. Or that moment that you get past that frustrating section and it was beautiful.
Castle Crashers is such a great homage to beat 'em ups that I was filled with such joy while playing it. The art style is fantastic, humor that had me laughing constantly, and accessibility of classics like Gauntlet and Streets of Rage. A wonderful multiplayer experience that shouldn't be missed (the game was even fun playing solo as well which was a surprise).
Games that I sorely missed and need to try from this year are Lost Odyssey, Bangai-O Spirits, Bionic Commando: Rearmed, Sonic Unleashed (I dun care, I need to experience it), Tomb Raider: Underworld, and possibly more.
Currently Playing: Lara Croft Tomb Raider: Legend, Final Fantasy 4 (from FF Chronicles on Playstation)
What about you guys LBJ and J FU K? I know it's been a while since you've posted... but what has been up?
Sunday, January 11, 2009
Persona 4 Impressions (Spoiler Free)
I Finished playing the game yesterday afternoon. My final save had a little over 120 hours clocked in for a first play through on expert difficulty. I actually think I may have had a tougher time playing through Persona 3 on normal difficulty than this game. I know that play time count is a little ridiculous but I think I tend to take abnormal amounts of time to complete games. One thing to consider is that I do not leave my console/game on and walk away, in fact most of the time if I do need to step away then I save and put it on the title screen and load it when I resume. I am not sure why I acquired this quirk (for RPGs mostly) but I like knowing the total time required to complete a game for some odd reason (I don't even consider playtime when considering the value of a game). I enjoyed the game a great deal, but am unsure where it ranks when compared to Persona 2 or 3 yet for me. I think I'll come to this conclusion a little further down the road when I have thought about it some more.
The story this time around is that you, the protagonist, are going to live with your relatives in a small town while your parents are out of the country or something. Right as you begin high school a series of gruesome murders begin, one thing leads to another and you become embroiled in a very unique and intriguing murder mystery which grabs hold and doesn't let go. The game is filled with plenty of social themes such as big store chains moving in on smaller family owned businesses, the pressure of inheriting family businesses, the normal lives of pop idols... you know typical RPG issues? Hah, the story does a good job of weaving these things, and obviously many other arcs, into a normal high school life drama that happens to have a killer on the loose in this small town. If I had to relate it to something it would actually be an anime, Higurashi. Granted it isn't similar to it in many aspects at all, but I felt it was close to it in mood (unfortunately P4 did not have it's own Rena). The story hooked me and it has some great twists and turns that keep you going.
In terms of gameplay they have adjusted it so that party-members can be set to AI or manual control. The ability to do things both after school and in the evening I think opens up more possibilities on how to allocate your time to events. The social link system remains similar to P3 and the fusion system remained the same from the previous iteration. I am sad that they didn't bring back the demon conversation system from Persona 2 but oh well, we can't have it all. I am still coming out of the trance of playing the game for such a long period so I haven't been able to "zoom out" and fully compare it to my other RPG experiences yet but I can say that it was fantastic and a solid entry into the Persona series. I recommend the game to anyone who is willing to pour a good amount of time into an RPG (I think on normal mode and going through it quickly you could probably do it in 60-80 hours? Just a guess). The only thing about this fantastic gem is that it isn't for everyone. I tend to play and enjoy most ANY type of video game. Whether it be Western RPG, JRPG, FPS, Platformer, Shoot 'em Up, Action, Racing, what have you I tend to enjoy them. I say this because I feel that even if people are down with RPGs they may not like the new iterations of Persona (see Persona 3 and on). The emphasis on dungeon crawling and introduction of the schedule mechanic and social link/interaction/dating sim mechanic makes for a very different and unique experience. Those that would find this interesting I think is someone who already plays dating/social life sims, already played the previous and liked it, or is just looking for a really different take from the average console RPG. While I loved Persona 2 the new direction the series is taking is enjoyable to me as it is something totally different than what I am used to.
Now to savor my last days of break...
The story this time around is that you, the protagonist, are going to live with your relatives in a small town while your parents are out of the country or something. Right as you begin high school a series of gruesome murders begin, one thing leads to another and you become embroiled in a very unique and intriguing murder mystery which grabs hold and doesn't let go. The game is filled with plenty of social themes such as big store chains moving in on smaller family owned businesses, the pressure of inheriting family businesses, the normal lives of pop idols... you know typical RPG issues? Hah, the story does a good job of weaving these things, and obviously many other arcs, into a normal high school life drama that happens to have a killer on the loose in this small town. If I had to relate it to something it would actually be an anime, Higurashi. Granted it isn't similar to it in many aspects at all, but I felt it was close to it in mood (unfortunately P4 did not have it's own Rena). The story hooked me and it has some great twists and turns that keep you going.
In terms of gameplay they have adjusted it so that party-members can be set to AI or manual control. The ability to do things both after school and in the evening I think opens up more possibilities on how to allocate your time to events. The social link system remains similar to P3 and the fusion system remained the same from the previous iteration. I am sad that they didn't bring back the demon conversation system from Persona 2 but oh well, we can't have it all. I am still coming out of the trance of playing the game for such a long period so I haven't been able to "zoom out" and fully compare it to my other RPG experiences yet but I can say that it was fantastic and a solid entry into the Persona series. I recommend the game to anyone who is willing to pour a good amount of time into an RPG (I think on normal mode and going through it quickly you could probably do it in 60-80 hours? Just a guess). The only thing about this fantastic gem is that it isn't for everyone. I tend to play and enjoy most ANY type of video game. Whether it be Western RPG, JRPG, FPS, Platformer, Shoot 'em Up, Action, Racing, what have you I tend to enjoy them. I say this because I feel that even if people are down with RPGs they may not like the new iterations of Persona (see Persona 3 and on). The emphasis on dungeon crawling and introduction of the schedule mechanic and social link/interaction/dating sim mechanic makes for a very different and unique experience. Those that would find this interesting I think is someone who already plays dating/social life sims, already played the previous and liked it, or is just looking for a really different take from the average console RPG. While I loved Persona 2 the new direction the series is taking is enjoyable to me as it is something totally different than what I am used to.
Now to savor my last days of break...
Sunday, January 4, 2009
Back From Long Absence
I guess once the semester was coming to an end and winter break started I adjusted primarily to getting work done, sleep, and playing the occasional game. You know, the basic life necessities. This did not prove very beneficial for my contributions to this blog so for that I apologize, if it really mattered or anyone was disappointed (probably not).
In the last weeks of school I borrowed Mirror's Edge from a friend who had it checked out from GameFly. I forget the exact amount of time needed, but it was somewhere between 6-9 hours of play time. I did not spend a good deal of time in the time trial mode of the game, it was a feature that I found interesting but it didn't tickle my fancy. The first point to lay down is that I don't really consider the length of a game a major factor BUT I feel that the price of a game should possibly factor in game length or amount of time one can spend with a game. My first criticism of the game would be that $60 for a game that is so short and the time trial mode is composed of the campaign levels (if there were additional levels not featured in the campaign I may have missed them). The online/multi-player angle the game features are leaderboards which feature the fastest player times and the ability to race against these player's ghosts. I personally felt that these features were not enough to warrant a $60 price tag and am very thankful that my friend had it rented so I wasn't duped into immediately buying it.
The major points to get out of the way which has been highlighted by any other reviews has been that the cut-scenes in the game are absolutely ridiculous. The in game graphics are so fantastic you wonder why they decided on e-surance commercial style interludes to convey a story. I found the story to be pretty 'meh' and boring. I have heard some found the game to be very unforgiving due to bad level design. I did not find the occasional death due to a jump in the wrong direction due to being chased to be a big hang-up for me. To sum up Mirror's Edge it is a great concept and worth a rent. While it is an incredibly cool concept (especially since parkour is super rad) the game itself feels overpriced for what it provides, a half-baked and rushed attempt (e-surance cut scenes and story).
I have been playing a large amount of Rock Band 2. DLC for that game is my best friend. The standout DLC songs that I have gotten have been the Metallica 3 pack, both NIN packs (I passed on Capital G though), All that Remains track pack, Pixies Doolittle album, Peace Sells... but Who's Buying album (and Megadeth's newer single), and finally The Colour and the Shape (My favorite Foo album). In my time playing Rock Band I have found I end up having the most joy when playing these ridiculous metal songs, the speed and intensity is awesome. While I have dabbled in metal before, it has made me have a new appreciation for it. I am unfortunately not a ridiculous shredder of the guitar controller or drums for that matter (I can manage to get by on hard guitar for most things, expert bass on most things, and only medium drums) but I love me some singing and can manage expert singing on most songs. Being at college the absolute joy of easily being able to play with 4+ people on short notice adds to the addictive nature of the game and the incorporation of the game as a mainstay in weekly entertainment activities.
Coming home after finals I was greeted with Persona 4 and the other Persona 4 swag that I had pre-ordered. I have been playing it religiously while at home, I am about 80 hours in and at the end of October in the game. Social Links seem easier to manage than Persona 3 and overall they have improved and tweaked so much of the previous iteration. They got rid of Evokers (I thought they were stupid in the first place) and have gone back to the previous Persona style of summoning animation. Now that I am probably about halfway, maybe a little more, I personally feel like there is less of an emphasis on the fighting/dungeon crawling than the third one and more events and dialogue. I am digging it and will have a more complete impression of it once I finish it.
Lastly I have been trying out Every Extend Extra Extreme and Castle Crashers on XBLA. They are both addictive and fantastic, I look forward to playing Castle Crashers more when I get back to campus after break as it really is best when played multiplayer.
While playing these games this break I have discovered podcasts! While being a little late to the party I am absolutely loving listening to Destructoid's various podcasts. RetroforceGO! is shaping up to be my new favorite addiction, and I was enthused when I saw Topher and Colette's names in the credits for Castle Crashers. Also listening to them with Chad (I love Chad so much haha) and Dyson discuss game related topics is AMAAAAAAZING and I would highly recommend it to anyone interested in listening to pure awesome. That's all for now... I feel like I should put forth more effort into making some updates more frequently. It will probably happen.
In the last weeks of school I borrowed Mirror's Edge from a friend who had it checked out from GameFly. I forget the exact amount of time needed, but it was somewhere between 6-9 hours of play time. I did not spend a good deal of time in the time trial mode of the game, it was a feature that I found interesting but it didn't tickle my fancy. The first point to lay down is that I don't really consider the length of a game a major factor BUT I feel that the price of a game should possibly factor in game length or amount of time one can spend with a game. My first criticism of the game would be that $60 for a game that is so short and the time trial mode is composed of the campaign levels (if there were additional levels not featured in the campaign I may have missed them). The online/multi-player angle the game features are leaderboards which feature the fastest player times and the ability to race against these player's ghosts. I personally felt that these features were not enough to warrant a $60 price tag and am very thankful that my friend had it rented so I wasn't duped into immediately buying it.
The major points to get out of the way which has been highlighted by any other reviews has been that the cut-scenes in the game are absolutely ridiculous. The in game graphics are so fantastic you wonder why they decided on e-surance commercial style interludes to convey a story. I found the story to be pretty 'meh' and boring. I have heard some found the game to be very unforgiving due to bad level design. I did not find the occasional death due to a jump in the wrong direction due to being chased to be a big hang-up for me. To sum up Mirror's Edge it is a great concept and worth a rent. While it is an incredibly cool concept (especially since parkour is super rad) the game itself feels overpriced for what it provides, a half-baked and rushed attempt (e-surance cut scenes and story).
I have been playing a large amount of Rock Band 2. DLC for that game is my best friend. The standout DLC songs that I have gotten have been the Metallica 3 pack, both NIN packs (I passed on Capital G though), All that Remains track pack, Pixies Doolittle album, Peace Sells... but Who's Buying album (and Megadeth's newer single), and finally The Colour and the Shape (My favorite Foo album). In my time playing Rock Band I have found I end up having the most joy when playing these ridiculous metal songs, the speed and intensity is awesome. While I have dabbled in metal before, it has made me have a new appreciation for it. I am unfortunately not a ridiculous shredder of the guitar controller or drums for that matter (I can manage to get by on hard guitar for most things, expert bass on most things, and only medium drums) but I love me some singing and can manage expert singing on most songs. Being at college the absolute joy of easily being able to play with 4+ people on short notice adds to the addictive nature of the game and the incorporation of the game as a mainstay in weekly entertainment activities.
Coming home after finals I was greeted with Persona 4 and the other Persona 4 swag that I had pre-ordered. I have been playing it religiously while at home, I am about 80 hours in and at the end of October in the game. Social Links seem easier to manage than Persona 3 and overall they have improved and tweaked so much of the previous iteration. They got rid of Evokers (I thought they were stupid in the first place) and have gone back to the previous Persona style of summoning animation. Now that I am probably about halfway, maybe a little more, I personally feel like there is less of an emphasis on the fighting/dungeon crawling than the third one and more events and dialogue. I am digging it and will have a more complete impression of it once I finish it.
Lastly I have been trying out Every Extend Extra Extreme and Castle Crashers on XBLA. They are both addictive and fantastic, I look forward to playing Castle Crashers more when I get back to campus after break as it really is best when played multiplayer.
While playing these games this break I have discovered podcasts! While being a little late to the party I am absolutely loving listening to Destructoid's various podcasts. RetroforceGO! is shaping up to be my new favorite addiction, and I was enthused when I saw Topher and Colette's names in the credits for Castle Crashers. Also listening to them with Chad (I love Chad so much haha) and Dyson discuss game related topics is AMAAAAAAZING and I would highly recommend it to anyone interested in listening to pure awesome. That's all for now... I feel like I should put forth more effort into making some updates more frequently. It will probably happen.
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