I turned 24 yesterday, which makes me older but not old. As I have almost reached my mid 20s, it's important to take a bit of stock and think about what habits I should keep or shed, and...video games aren't going to be one of those for a while. I will be the adult playing the gun game at the arcade, greeted and pestered by his mallrat students. I will be the guy who pulls out a PSP in the back of a taxi or sitting on a train. That's me and if you're reading this, maybe it's you too. I've been playing games since Nintendo now and I've seen video games change. They're implemented more into other everyday devices like cellphones or social networks like Facebook. Video games are easier to play and more attractive either in their lifelike or surreal presentation. The biggest change for me is I want to be challenged.
When I was younger, I could never understand the idea of a hard mode. Why the hell would I want to repeat the same level over and over just to make sure I "got it right?" And the answer I've found is that it (A) makes the game last longer, (B) it brings a level of realism to the game to be seemingly disadvantaged against overwhelming odds, and (C) it is more in line with the developers' idea of how the game should be played because the player must learn to use any advantage given to his disposal. The best example of (C) I can think of is Baldur's Gate 2 where the toughest battles are won by the smallest margins.
Resistance: Retribution is another really good example. Unlike the ps3 iterations where you play a human/chimera hybrid in Resistance: Retribution you're human, a grunt. What makes your character special is his diehard determination to avenge his brother by killing every alien fucker to step in his sights. To win the game on its highest difficulty, you have to learn how to use each weapon and its secondary function, but also when to use said weapon and when ammo is short you better have a backup plan. In doing this, I found myself drawn further into the game. Running out into the middle of combat was suicide. Firing non-stop instead of carefully timing bursts from cover got me killed quite often. It felt more real. One of the bosses is a human/chimera hybrid who taunts you with his new power. Your character's response is "Do you know how many chimera I've killed? Today alone?" and I agreed, "Do you know, shitbitch? A fucking lot! And they weren't no pushovers neither." If you've read Preacher, think of that last fight between Cassidy and Preacher.
In many ways, starting and finishing a game is like finishing a school project so that at the end, you grade yourself on how well you've done. If you've beaten it on easy, you can say "I got to the end. I beat that," but it's a lot more satisfying if you can say, "That game had nothing I couldn't handle." I think that's a bit more rare. I definitely got lucky sometimes in Retribution, but I spent an hour and a half with the final boss, getting down the pattern of pushing the button to knock down the boss' shields without getting hit or fried to death by her bighead lightning bullshit then doing as much damage as I could before she raised her shields back up and I had to deal with a swarm of lesser enemies then knocking her shields down again, doing as much damage to her as possible, then dealing with the swarms, and taking off the last of her health. As a bonus handicap, I had to deal with my PSP's quirky joypad which likes to get stuck so that the character takes a dainty stroll instead of running for his life.
I've watched kids play games and cringed at their lack of timing and strategy, their lack of regard for how long an attack will take and how vulnerable they are while performing said attack, their willful refusal to use the block button, their mismanaged hand-eye coordination that pushes buttons out of fear and excitement instead of as a result of cool collected concentration. So, yeah, I still play games, but I don't play them like a child. The games I play are hard and I make them harder, so I'm fucking good unless you're talking about FIFA or something where I have no idea how to get the stupid ball in the goal and I still think slide-tackling the goalie is funny as fuck.
I'm also a pretty shit driver.
Money-making Shouldn't make you (g)ive up your hobbies from Before,
Lynny not Brawny Johnson
Monday, March 21, 2011
Tuesday, February 15, 2011
The other sister
Square released Kingdom Hearts: Birth By Sleep. It had some really poor writing, poor voice-acting, the characters were barely three dimensional, but otherwise it's a solid game. It's a Kingdom Hearts game. If you've played them before, you'll like this one. It's fun. It's colorful. Your attacks are damn cool. The enemies are kind of interesting. The ones I hate the most are the ones that throw shit at you continuously. The biggest difference from other Kingdom Hearts is that instead of only having basic magics and timed button presses to do special attacks, you choose, make, and utilize up to 8 out of over a hundred different attacks plus finish commands and if you use a set of certain commands your command style changes. You go from normal attacks to Diamond Dust, Wingblade, or Ghost Drive attacks. You can also d-link and use another character's attacks and finish commands. You can also Shotlock which is where you lock on to the enemies and shoot magic out of your keyblade or dash through them. If you don't play the game on its hardest difficulty, you are seriously overpowered compared to the enemies in the game. While playing through the story, you go to the same worlds as three different people. Each character has a different set of events in each world, but I did feel some bad deja vu at some points. Finishing all three parts unlocks a final episode and will make you badly want to play the next game.
In comparison, Crisis Core is Square's ugly, down syndrome baby. The story is bizarre and only really touching at those moments when Zack knows he's working for an evil company, but knows that the evil he's fighting is worse. Otherwise it's all pretty goddamn cliche. They keep making these FF7 games and movies, but they don't put in as much effort as they did into FF7 itself. The experience system is interesting as your character and materia level up at random according to a slot machine. Winning battles gives you points that will help you meld your materia, which become very important towards the end of the game. On top of the story, there are missions you can go to. There are about five different environments for this mission, and they aren't that unique. It's very similar to Mass Effect's side-mission system. Feels like laziness, poor craftmanship, deja vu, and all that when you compare it to other games with very unique side missions like...the original Final Fantasy 7, Ratchet & Clank, or Knights of the Old Republic. I still haven't finished the story yet. I'm at the point where I killed the main baddy, but now it looks like I actually didn't kill him.
Japan you need to relearn how to tell a good fucking story, and quit this cookie-cutter make really impressive visuals and good gameplay, but tie it together with a cheesy cliche story bullshit.
The same can be said for that new Alice movie, especially with that fucking Wizard of Oz ending.
Migrating to Southeast asia is hazardous to (g)aming Believers
In comparison, Crisis Core is Square's ugly, down syndrome baby. The story is bizarre and only really touching at those moments when Zack knows he's working for an evil company, but knows that the evil he's fighting is worse. Otherwise it's all pretty goddamn cliche. They keep making these FF7 games and movies, but they don't put in as much effort as they did into FF7 itself. The experience system is interesting as your character and materia level up at random according to a slot machine. Winning battles gives you points that will help you meld your materia, which become very important towards the end of the game. On top of the story, there are missions you can go to. There are about five different environments for this mission, and they aren't that unique. It's very similar to Mass Effect's side-mission system. Feels like laziness, poor craftmanship, deja vu, and all that when you compare it to other games with very unique side missions like...the original Final Fantasy 7, Ratchet & Clank, or Knights of the Old Republic. I still haven't finished the story yet. I'm at the point where I killed the main baddy, but now it looks like I actually didn't kill him.
Japan you need to relearn how to tell a good fucking story, and quit this cookie-cutter make really impressive visuals and good gameplay, but tie it together with a cheesy cliche story bullshit.
The same can be said for that new Alice movie, especially with that fucking Wizard of Oz ending.
Migrating to Southeast asia is hazardous to (g)aming Believers
Thursday, October 7, 2010
Coming back - Condemmend, Mass Effect & Such
I stole my friend's Playstation 2, and got a chance to replay Onimusha 3, and it was fun for a while, but it had that Haze phenomenom. Something about the game just started to make it less and less interesting. Max Payne 2 was really fun to play again, but I stopped that after a bit too. So, I gave my friend his PS2 back, and picked up a copy of Bard's Tale, which was also fun until I got tired of hitting spacebar, waiting for The Bard to draw his bow back and charge up Arrow Storm (fires three arrows), and over and over again. I got tired of walking into non-descript dungeons facing vague clones of previous enemies. I got tired of summoning the same creatures over and over to fight. I replayed FF8 until my mistreated PSP wiped my data, and I cringed at the thought of doing it all over again.
I thought I was done with videogames. I started reading books. I liked Malus Darkblade a lot, but found it hard to find something that grabbed me as wholly. Mervus Peake's Gormenghast trilogy has amazing imagery, but also has a tendency to spend a whole page describing menial social interactions. I got into Stephen King's Dark Tower. The Gunslinger was incredible in its minimalism. A simple story, not too complicated descriptions but detailed, a unique world, and a unique voice for its main character. Intermittent pitfalls into cliches of Christ imagery and a boyish take on sexuality (a lonely barmaid with a scar throws herself at him, a gun in a vagina "purifies" a woman's womb), but an engaging story. But the next book was written years later and doesn't have the same voice. Written in 1987, it reads like an episode of "Tales from the Crypt." It's funny how people's speech has changed in twenty years or so.
So, I thought I was done with video games, but it's been difficult to find something that eats free time and engages thought as well as a video game.
Found a copy of Condemned: Criminal Origins. Fucking satisfying, creepy thriller game. I really like that studio. FEAR was fun too. Melee combat that was difficult, asked the player to learn patterns and rhythmn to survive. Favorite weapon was the blade from a paper cutter. Nasty. Also nasty to hit big pig fuckers with shovels, but fuck you shitbags, I'm gonna survive.
Then after long fights with a non-genuine copy of Windows 7, torrented games, and shite pirated games (forgive me, children of game developers), I got Mass Effect working.
So, let's talk about it.
Mass Effect gives you experience by talking to folk, but sometimes the dialogue is fucking weak. Characters are rarely very deep and often talk very plainly about themselves, their race, or things you're interested in rather than things they would be interested in. Most times, you interrogate NPCs with questions rather than engaging them in what would be considered a normal conversation. Sure, you're in the military and when most civilians meet you, they're put off like if a cop randomly stopped you and asked you to chat. However, it would be much more engaging, challenging, and realistic if the charm and intimidate skills affected a NPC's first impression of you, and that, in turn, determined what information you were given. Like if conversation were more like Yakuza's bargirl mini-game.
Mass Effect also has a good/evil system where you can be a Galactic Vigilante (or M16, KGB, Gestapo, choose your favorite analogy for a council government's police force with little to no accountability to any civilian organization) that always upholds the law but gives people leeway to follow it (one time I got renegade points for insisting that a criminal go to prison instead of continuing to run a petty crimes ring) or an asshole more interested in achieving greater good objectives than saving lives. Sometimes you could have a strong argument against the game's definitions of good and evil.
Mass Effect also allows you to travel the galaxy, and, at first, I was excited and intimidated by the scope of the galaxies, but you slowly realize a sickening pattern. Go to a galaxy, run your mouse over each planet, survey planets for materials or land on the planets and...goddamnit.
Mass Effect is a shooting RPG with a vehicle. A Mako. An all-terrain buggy. A fucking...
There are cool segments where you race through huge facilities or fight your way into heavily-fortified forts, but you never get a chance to improve your vehicle. From the start of the game until the end, it has a machine gun and a cannon. You fire the cannon and wait for it to reload. You fire your machine gun until it overheats. You have jets that allow the mako to jump ten feet or so in the air that you are never able to improve, but...
Dear, God, but, most of your time in the Mako exploring exciting new frontiers is spent trying to drive over hills and mountains. Your Mako is dropped on to a planet (Read: a square map). There are two or three scattered objectives in your operational square. In between these two or three scattered objectives are mountains and hills and valleys and dear God, all you can really do to navigate over all of these mountains, valleys, hills, and blah blah blah is press forward and hope for the best. The jump jets often just throw you off the hill.
The planets all start to look the same after a while. This planet is red. This planet is green. They're all just sparsely-populated, rocky plains. You drive halfway across each map (an hour or more added to the journey because of the fucking hills and shit) to find probes filled with items, or artifacts that give little experience and money, or facilities, and after a while, you start to notice that the facilities are all the same too. They have the same twists and turns and the boxes used for cover are all in the same places. Half-Life 2 and Portal were awesome because each segment was noticeably different and interesting. The story segments (the maps and such) are noticeably different and interesting, but a lot of the game is this planet exploring thingy. I keep thinking, "Hey, what did you do when you played this game...?" and I usually think, "I drove the damn Mako up hills on different planets. All of which had Earth's gravity." Ooh, wouldn't it be cool if the gravity was different? At one point, in Mass Effect you go to Earth's moon, and gravity is still a bitch there as you try to drive up and down its beautiful craters.
But, all of this sidequesting gets you money and experience, which aint worth shit after a while. First of all, the game overloads you with items. Boxes and crates are everywhere and they give you enough items so that you could equip every single character you have with the best of each weapon, each upgrade, armor, and biotic or electrical amplifier, but why would you bother when you only use three of them at a time? At the beginning of the game, I drooled at the equipment in shops. Then I explored a shitload of planets, and half the items I got were twice as good as the ones in the shop, so I didn't buy anything or I didn't travel back to the shops to check out new supplies because of the load times required to travel back to the main shopping hub, which is an incidental realistic touch. If you were halfway across the galaxy, you probably wouldn't travel back to the main shopping hub every time you wanted to improve your equipment. Then there was an item cap. At 150 items, you either have to sell your inventory or turn it into gel that will decrpyt locks to get more items or repair your stupid fucking mako. Lame.
Sell or buy enough, and you unlock the Spectre gear, the best weapons in the game, and at that point, only armor, upgrades, and amps become worth your time to find.
And then experience starts to become more moot. Experience gets you talent points. Talent points go to improving your weapon skills or your powers. When you have the best weapons in the game, you don't really need to improve your weapons skills. The best weapons are accurate and have high damage which is what spending talent points improves. Then powers become less important because you don't really need to use them. Your weapons are killing folk fast and effectively. You have badass armor and good upgrades for it too. You rarely get hit because you kill most of what you come across quickly. When you do get hit, it barely hurts.
Some of the upgrades are interesting. Towards the end, you get high-explosive rounds that do more damage but increase weapon overheat and other rounds that decrease accuracy, but it's always easier to get a quicker kill than to disable then kill. If you were playing Baldur's Gate, where enemies are very evenly matched with you, then it becomes really important to disable and keep enemies from disabling you. Mass Effect only has about 10 or so powers, so the strategies for using powers are limited. Run into a room, use overload to disable shields, shoot to kill. Run into a room, lift an enemy, shoot the poor bastard as he falls down, move on to the next one. Run into a room with Asari commandos, damper them so they can't turn you into a crumpled mess on the floor, sabotage their weapons if you feel like it or just shoot them down.
At the beginning of the game, combat is super difficult, but it gets easier and easier. Your buddies are really good at taking enemies down, and enemies aren't quite matched to your abilities, but it isn't clear why. Either that or I played too many sidequests and now all the story missions are too easy.
Well, I've said what I wanted to say about this game, so I'll go beat it then add some comments.
It's ok. Planescape: Torment had a tighter story and dialogue. If every game had a good story like Planescape, I would still find something to complain about, or I would be too absorbed in games to socialize.
Maybe Some (g)ood shit will Be around soon
-Lucky Lindy
I thought I was done with videogames. I started reading books. I liked Malus Darkblade a lot, but found it hard to find something that grabbed me as wholly. Mervus Peake's Gormenghast trilogy has amazing imagery, but also has a tendency to spend a whole page describing menial social interactions. I got into Stephen King's Dark Tower. The Gunslinger was incredible in its minimalism. A simple story, not too complicated descriptions but detailed, a unique world, and a unique voice for its main character. Intermittent pitfalls into cliches of Christ imagery and a boyish take on sexuality (a lonely barmaid with a scar throws herself at him, a gun in a vagina "purifies" a woman's womb), but an engaging story. But the next book was written years later and doesn't have the same voice. Written in 1987, it reads like an episode of "Tales from the Crypt." It's funny how people's speech has changed in twenty years or so.
So, I thought I was done with video games, but it's been difficult to find something that eats free time and engages thought as well as a video game.
Found a copy of Condemned: Criminal Origins. Fucking satisfying, creepy thriller game. I really like that studio. FEAR was fun too. Melee combat that was difficult, asked the player to learn patterns and rhythmn to survive. Favorite weapon was the blade from a paper cutter. Nasty. Also nasty to hit big pig fuckers with shovels, but fuck you shitbags, I'm gonna survive.
Then after long fights with a non-genuine copy of Windows 7, torrented games, and shite pirated games (forgive me, children of game developers), I got Mass Effect working.
So, let's talk about it.
Mass Effect gives you experience by talking to folk, but sometimes the dialogue is fucking weak. Characters are rarely very deep and often talk very plainly about themselves, their race, or things you're interested in rather than things they would be interested in. Most times, you interrogate NPCs with questions rather than engaging them in what would be considered a normal conversation. Sure, you're in the military and when most civilians meet you, they're put off like if a cop randomly stopped you and asked you to chat. However, it would be much more engaging, challenging, and realistic if the charm and intimidate skills affected a NPC's first impression of you, and that, in turn, determined what information you were given. Like if conversation were more like Yakuza's bargirl mini-game.
Mass Effect also has a good/evil system where you can be a Galactic Vigilante (or M16, KGB, Gestapo, choose your favorite analogy for a council government's police force with little to no accountability to any civilian organization) that always upholds the law but gives people leeway to follow it (one time I got renegade points for insisting that a criminal go to prison instead of continuing to run a petty crimes ring) or an asshole more interested in achieving greater good objectives than saving lives. Sometimes you could have a strong argument against the game's definitions of good and evil.
Mass Effect also allows you to travel the galaxy, and, at first, I was excited and intimidated by the scope of the galaxies, but you slowly realize a sickening pattern. Go to a galaxy, run your mouse over each planet, survey planets for materials or land on the planets and...goddamnit.
Mass Effect is a shooting RPG with a vehicle. A Mako. An all-terrain buggy. A fucking...
There are cool segments where you race through huge facilities or fight your way into heavily-fortified forts, but you never get a chance to improve your vehicle. From the start of the game until the end, it has a machine gun and a cannon. You fire the cannon and wait for it to reload. You fire your machine gun until it overheats. You have jets that allow the mako to jump ten feet or so in the air that you are never able to improve, but...
Dear, God, but, most of your time in the Mako exploring exciting new frontiers is spent trying to drive over hills and mountains. Your Mako is dropped on to a planet (Read: a square map). There are two or three scattered objectives in your operational square. In between these two or three scattered objectives are mountains and hills and valleys and dear God, all you can really do to navigate over all of these mountains, valleys, hills, and blah blah blah is press forward and hope for the best. The jump jets often just throw you off the hill.
The planets all start to look the same after a while. This planet is red. This planet is green. They're all just sparsely-populated, rocky plains. You drive halfway across each map (an hour or more added to the journey because of the fucking hills and shit) to find probes filled with items, or artifacts that give little experience and money, or facilities, and after a while, you start to notice that the facilities are all the same too. They have the same twists and turns and the boxes used for cover are all in the same places. Half-Life 2 and Portal were awesome because each segment was noticeably different and interesting. The story segments (the maps and such) are noticeably different and interesting, but a lot of the game is this planet exploring thingy. I keep thinking, "Hey, what did you do when you played this game...?" and I usually think, "I drove the damn Mako up hills on different planets. All of which had Earth's gravity." Ooh, wouldn't it be cool if the gravity was different? At one point, in Mass Effect you go to Earth's moon, and gravity is still a bitch there as you try to drive up and down its beautiful craters.
But, all of this sidequesting gets you money and experience, which aint worth shit after a while. First of all, the game overloads you with items. Boxes and crates are everywhere and they give you enough items so that you could equip every single character you have with the best of each weapon, each upgrade, armor, and biotic or electrical amplifier, but why would you bother when you only use three of them at a time? At the beginning of the game, I drooled at the equipment in shops. Then I explored a shitload of planets, and half the items I got were twice as good as the ones in the shop, so I didn't buy anything or I didn't travel back to the shops to check out new supplies because of the load times required to travel back to the main shopping hub, which is an incidental realistic touch. If you were halfway across the galaxy, you probably wouldn't travel back to the main shopping hub every time you wanted to improve your equipment. Then there was an item cap. At 150 items, you either have to sell your inventory or turn it into gel that will decrpyt locks to get more items or repair your stupid fucking mako. Lame.
Sell or buy enough, and you unlock the Spectre gear, the best weapons in the game, and at that point, only armor, upgrades, and amps become worth your time to find.
And then experience starts to become more moot. Experience gets you talent points. Talent points go to improving your weapon skills or your powers. When you have the best weapons in the game, you don't really need to improve your weapons skills. The best weapons are accurate and have high damage which is what spending talent points improves. Then powers become less important because you don't really need to use them. Your weapons are killing folk fast and effectively. You have badass armor and good upgrades for it too. You rarely get hit because you kill most of what you come across quickly. When you do get hit, it barely hurts.
Some of the upgrades are interesting. Towards the end, you get high-explosive rounds that do more damage but increase weapon overheat and other rounds that decrease accuracy, but it's always easier to get a quicker kill than to disable then kill. If you were playing Baldur's Gate, where enemies are very evenly matched with you, then it becomes really important to disable and keep enemies from disabling you. Mass Effect only has about 10 or so powers, so the strategies for using powers are limited. Run into a room, use overload to disable shields, shoot to kill. Run into a room, lift an enemy, shoot the poor bastard as he falls down, move on to the next one. Run into a room with Asari commandos, damper them so they can't turn you into a crumpled mess on the floor, sabotage their weapons if you feel like it or just shoot them down.
At the beginning of the game, combat is super difficult, but it gets easier and easier. Your buddies are really good at taking enemies down, and enemies aren't quite matched to your abilities, but it isn't clear why. Either that or I played too many sidequests and now all the story missions are too easy.
Well, I've said what I wanted to say about this game, so I'll go beat it then add some comments.
It's ok. Planescape: Torment had a tighter story and dialogue. If every game had a good story like Planescape, I would still find something to complain about, or I would be too absorbed in games to socialize.
Maybe Some (g)ood shit will Be around soon
-Lucky Lindy
Tuesday, March 23, 2010
Final Fantasy XII
I spent most of last night talking about how great this game is.
It really sucks if you play it like an old-school RPG, but if you tune the fuck out of the gambits, it becomes this really cool challenge to balance attack and defense to pound monsters as fast and as hard as you can.
I hardly pay attention to the story though. It is kinda interesting, but The battle system took over that game. I'm hoping Final 13 will be a good mix of story and badass battle system.
I've been playing it with another teacher and we akined it to teaching English. You plan for a battle, give instructions, but then you have to keep careful watch to make sure those instructions are followed. Or you could say it was the same as a turn-based system, you just automatically program each turn like in American RPGs, the A lot of people talk about action games with RPG elements, and here we have an RPG that looks like an action game. It's like God of War with more commands.
I made a mistake in playing this game for the story. The characters are dead shallow. Two of the characters are just little kids and have little to do with the main story. One of them is Vaan.
I replayed (FF)7 and rocked it. I'm working on 8 now. 8 is super cool, but it's really easy to get super good magic at the beginning of the game. I think it gets harder, but right now it's fun 'cause I can test different battle styles out.
Disagea got super boring after a while, man. Mind-numbing dungeon crawlers are not for me. I can't defend FFXII as different, but with Disagea, doing really well seems more like a matter of patience not skill. Beating an RPG in less time is way more impressive than putting ridiculous amounts of hours in.
And that's this asshole's opinion.
-Lyndon's BigBig Porking Johnson
It really sucks if you play it like an old-school RPG, but if you tune the fuck out of the gambits, it becomes this really cool challenge to balance attack and defense to pound monsters as fast and as hard as you can.
I hardly pay attention to the story though. It is kinda interesting, but The battle system took over that game. I'm hoping Final 13 will be a good mix of story and badass battle system.
I've been playing it with another teacher and we akined it to teaching English. You plan for a battle, give instructions, but then you have to keep careful watch to make sure those instructions are followed. Or you could say it was the same as a turn-based system, you just automatically program each turn like in American RPGs, the A lot of people talk about action games with RPG elements, and here we have an RPG that looks like an action game. It's like God of War with more commands.
I made a mistake in playing this game for the story. The characters are dead shallow. Two of the characters are just little kids and have little to do with the main story. One of them is Vaan.
I replayed (FF)7 and rocked it. I'm working on 8 now. 8 is super cool, but it's really easy to get super good magic at the beginning of the game. I think it gets harder, but right now it's fun 'cause I can test different battle styles out.
Disagea got super boring after a while, man. Mind-numbing dungeon crawlers are not for me. I can't defend FFXII as different, but with Disagea, doing really well seems more like a matter of patience not skill. Beating an RPG in less time is way more impressive than putting ridiculous amounts of hours in.
And that's this asshole's opinion.
-Lyndon's BigBig Porking Johnson
Sunday, February 28, 2010
Manhunt
Been playing Manhunt and Manhunt 2 lately. They're actually pretty sweet. Was turned off by the gore for a bit, but I think the other parts of the game make it worth it. The enemies are hillarious and the stories are pretty interesting.
Check this out from Manhunt 2 (skip to the 7 minute count):
Check this out from Manhunt 2 (skip to the 7 minute count):
Monday, September 7, 2009
MS(g)B is your link for KittyWheelbarrowing
MS(g)B Productions has recently created two works for your entertainment pleasure.
The first is entitled Mr. 5-in-1.
The second is entitled FUK LBJ - Kitty Wheelbarrow
The second.5 is a behind the scenes look at Kitty Wheelbarrow
Don't know what FUK LBJ is? Check out this trailer for the upcoming movie!
Be the first to tell your friends about MS(g)B Productions!
Subscribe to our Youtube channel!
got ideas or need some actors? MS(g)B would love to help you film things!
e-mail us at lyndonbigjohnson@googlemail.com
Lil Big J will be in Thailand for the next year, but he'll pass the e-mail on to the JoFu
The first is entitled Mr. 5-in-1.
The second is entitled FUK LBJ - Kitty Wheelbarrow
The second.5 is a behind the scenes look at Kitty Wheelbarrow
Don't know what FUK LBJ is? Check out this trailer for the upcoming movie!
Be the first to tell your friends about MS(g)B Productions!
Subscribe to our Youtube channel!
got ideas or need some actors? MS(g)B would love to help you film things!
e-mail us at lyndonbigjohnson@googlemail.com
Lil Big J will be in Thailand for the next year, but he'll pass the e-mail on to the JoFu
Thursday, August 20, 2009
That ugly, dirty feeling in your chest- Prototype
Ugh...I just beat Prototype. Ugh..I will like this game the more I think about it, but as it stands the controls were really really frustrating. I spent an hour in a boss fight. It's cool that you get mauled by forces actually trying to kill you rather than pretending to try to kill you for your sport, but then you need the powers to actually fucking kill a thing. The powers you get sound really cool, but then you have to use them. I spent most of the game looking for a tank to steal or a missile launcher to use because I really couldn't go toe-to-toe with...anything. Ok, I could take out zombies and civies just fine.
The game's concepts are really cool. The web of intrigue is neat as shit. The NPC voice acting is sweet. They cracked me up all the time. The military uses all these cool code phrases like calling an airstrike a rain-dance and telling RC (Red Crown) to make it wet. Burrrrrrrrrrahh!
A lot of this game is really good, but it's also a "sandbox" game. That part sucks. Besides story missions, there are a bunch of side missions like racing or killing or warring or consuming folk. This is basically what you do in the story missions. It also has little to nothing to do with the story itself. You just do 'em to get exp, and after a while exp is really useless. It unlocks cool gimmicky attacks, but it's a bunch of shit you don't need. Stats bonuses are the most useful.
The story itself is also really weak. It's like playing GTA3. There's little character-to-character interaction or character development. Most video sequences are just mission briefings with one little bit of interaction.
The buildings are also fucking ugly.
This game looks like it's development was pushed, like they had so much content already that they just shirked here and there. Otherwise...I wouldn't rent this game. I bought this game. I'm gonna go sell it to buy a soccer game. Gamestop is going to rip me off. This game frustrated me. I loved parts of it. I don't know. Don't play this game. Watch it on youtube. It'll be better than playing it. Or wait for the movie to come out and hope it's good. It'll probably be weird.
I was soooooo damn excited about this game...I hope the sequel's better.
The game's concepts are really cool. The web of intrigue is neat as shit. The NPC voice acting is sweet. They cracked me up all the time. The military uses all these cool code phrases like calling an airstrike a rain-dance and telling RC (Red Crown) to make it wet. Burrrrrrrrrrahh!
A lot of this game is really good, but it's also a "sandbox" game. That part sucks. Besides story missions, there are a bunch of side missions like racing or killing or warring or consuming folk. This is basically what you do in the story missions. It also has little to nothing to do with the story itself. You just do 'em to get exp, and after a while exp is really useless. It unlocks cool gimmicky attacks, but it's a bunch of shit you don't need. Stats bonuses are the most useful.
The story itself is also really weak. It's like playing GTA3. There's little character-to-character interaction or character development. Most video sequences are just mission briefings with one little bit of interaction.
The buildings are also fucking ugly.
This game looks like it's development was pushed, like they had so much content already that they just shirked here and there. Otherwise...I wouldn't rent this game. I bought this game. I'm gonna go sell it to buy a soccer game. Gamestop is going to rip me off. This game frustrated me. I loved parts of it. I don't know. Don't play this game. Watch it on youtube. It'll be better than playing it. Or wait for the movie to come out and hope it's good. It'll probably be weird.
I was soooooo damn excited about this game...I hope the sequel's better.
Monday, August 17, 2009
Nostalgia you sonuvhabeech
Jean-Claude Van Damme is awesome, particularly in Street Fighter: The Movie. Speaking of movies a week ago or so I went to see Moon. Now, the thing is I love a good old fashioned Sci-Fi movie. 2001, 2010, The Abyss, The Fountain, & Solaris among other films are movies where some really cool idea/story is being told where it doesn't use action as an excuse to submerge you in geeky stuff. That isn't to say I love my Aliens & Matrix and other action heavy sci-fi flicks, it is just nice to see something that doesn't shoehorn in action for the sake of entertaining those who need it. So I was pretty pumped to see Moon cause it had plenty of 2001/Solaris vibes in terms of atmosphere and feel, the viewing was disappointing to say the least. This is one of those situations where the trailers make it seem a lot more interesting and cooler than what it was. I almost feel bad that for once I had expectations for a movie because I've grown up on sci-fi flicks. To summarize it in not as many words, it is an above average movie that I felt really let me down in the direction it goes. This is primarily because I didn't think it really did anything with what it had.
So yeah movies are good times. The nostalgia I am referring to is FF7. Last week my former roommate from VT came up to visit. Since he hadn't been in the D.C. area in quite some time we went to some of the museums during the day. After the long day out when we got back we plopped down to relax and he bust out his laptop and started some FF7. My memories of the game immediately hit me like a freight train and I had a huge urge to play the game. The immediate problem stopping me was that I wished I could just continue playing it on my PS3 instead of using my PS or PS2, the lack of memory card ports on the PS3 made me sad. Nostalgia screamed "find a way" and I immediately ordered a memory card adapter as well as an 8GB memory stick duo. Why is it that I ordered a large memory stick duo? Why to purchase the game yet again off the PSN in order to play it on the go on my PSP and I only had a 1GB duo stick currently (the game needing 1.4 GB or so). I had been told "but why not use the remote play feature of your PS3?" and while that is a great feature which I will use for other games, playing a multi-disc game that way would just not workout. Now I am about ready to get down with my blast from the past and finally beat Emerald and Ruby weapons (the last save I was working on had maxed the clock out at 99:59:59, I have 3 master magic materias from mastering them all 3 times around, and had all my summons maxed save for Knights of the Round which was level 4 aka too much time has been spent in that game).
Also due to the incredibly huge itch for FF7, despite the fact that I still maintain the plot is not that good, I picked up Crisis Core cause I wanna know more of the back-story. My zeal has been slightly derailed since while waiting for my memory card adapter I had started playing FFTactics PSP again (1 class away for Ramza and a few more for my other chars for all mastered classes before I continue on to Riovanes Castle). Games from the 90s/early 2000s were so rad, gotta love the great feeling of playing games you've grown up with.
Despite all the delays for some titles what kinda games are you all looking forward to in this fall lineup? I am extremely pumped for Demon's Souls, Disgaea 2 PSP port, and the Persona remake on PSP for my RPG fix. I can't wait for Muramasa, Brutal Legend (Tim Schafer is wonderful), & bayonetta (I think this got pushed back) and I am curious about Wet and Shadow Complex. I can't think of any others since I can never keep tabs on all the stuff that is coming out.
So yeah movies are good times. The nostalgia I am referring to is FF7. Last week my former roommate from VT came up to visit. Since he hadn't been in the D.C. area in quite some time we went to some of the museums during the day. After the long day out when we got back we plopped down to relax and he bust out his laptop and started some FF7. My memories of the game immediately hit me like a freight train and I had a huge urge to play the game. The immediate problem stopping me was that I wished I could just continue playing it on my PS3 instead of using my PS or PS2, the lack of memory card ports on the PS3 made me sad. Nostalgia screamed "find a way" and I immediately ordered a memory card adapter as well as an 8GB memory stick duo. Why is it that I ordered a large memory stick duo? Why to purchase the game yet again off the PSN in order to play it on the go on my PSP and I only had a 1GB duo stick currently (the game needing 1.4 GB or so). I had been told "but why not use the remote play feature of your PS3?" and while that is a great feature which I will use for other games, playing a multi-disc game that way would just not workout. Now I am about ready to get down with my blast from the past and finally beat Emerald and Ruby weapons (the last save I was working on had maxed the clock out at 99:59:59, I have 3 master magic materias from mastering them all 3 times around, and had all my summons maxed save for Knights of the Round which was level 4 aka too much time has been spent in that game).
Also due to the incredibly huge itch for FF7, despite the fact that I still maintain the plot is not that good, I picked up Crisis Core cause I wanna know more of the back-story. My zeal has been slightly derailed since while waiting for my memory card adapter I had started playing FFTactics PSP again (1 class away for Ramza and a few more for my other chars for all mastered classes before I continue on to Riovanes Castle). Games from the 90s/early 2000s were so rad, gotta love the great feeling of playing games you've grown up with.
Despite all the delays for some titles what kinda games are you all looking forward to in this fall lineup? I am extremely pumped for Demon's Souls, Disgaea 2 PSP port, and the Persona remake on PSP for my RPG fix. I can't wait for Muramasa, Brutal Legend (Tim Schafer is wonderful), & bayonetta (I think this got pushed back) and I am curious about Wet and Shadow Complex. I can't think of any others since I can never keep tabs on all the stuff that is coming out.
Monday, August 3, 2009
Remembering that dumb feeling - Jak & Daxter, Ratchet & Clank, Monkey Island, Sam & Max Hit the Road, grim Fandango, etc. etc.
Remember when you were a kid and played video games? Remember how you could get to one part of a game and then you got stuck, had to start the whole game over to actually play because you hit some speedbump that was impassible without your big brother's help.
One year, my neighbor got me a game genie for my birthday. Nice fucking kid! So much easier to beat games then.
So, you get what I'm talking about, right? Sometimes you just gotta reach for the goddamn strategy guide because whatever the game's trying to make you do 't aint natural.
I'm not good at older games. I guess a lot of people aren't because they were more difficult. I blame a lot of my weakness on the fact that controls used to suck. Suck out the fucking ass suck.
Example of an older game's controls-
A- Shoot
B- Jump
D-pad is d-pad
You can jump. You can shoot. Forget dodging like a human might dream of. It's like comparing old Resident Evil with new Resident Evil. Some sort of fear is lost in the fact that the old controls were shit and hard to use and now shit's a lot easier to control.
However, that isn't my problem (damn, when am I ever going to get to the point?). My problem is that older games tend to make me feel just downright stupid. Like in Jak & Daxter where I just don't seem able to do certain things. I kind of remember why I hated these zeldaesque games. Because when presented with some challenge it's hard to know whether you're even capable yet of completing said challenge. Maybe you have to come back later with the Big, Black Dildo of Comeuppance to slap that bitch so she'll drop the Platinum Filling of Herpes out of her mouth. Fuck if I know.
I play this game and I die so often I've started to expect to do it when I enter any room in the game. Every step is a recon mission for my next turn at life.
So, I feel dumb.
Ratchet & Clank's shoot-em-up and jump style was more to my liking. I'm proud to say that I beat three of those games in the course of a week, and I only stopped beating 'em because the other ones cost money. Three more plus some PSP titles and I'll have played them all. Ratchet & Clanks are best at humor and weapons and leveling up said weapons.
Jak & Daxter is best at making me feel dumb and telling myself, "This happens to a lot of gamers."
I felt the same kinda way about Monkey Island and a lot of the other old adventure games. I hit speed bumps and then I got out a strategy guide because I knew I wasn't smart enough. Or maybe I'm just holding myself back. Maybe I am smart enough, I just don't want to admit it or spend the time to find out.
Jak & Daxter frustrates me with its difficulty. I'm serious. I find it harder than Ninja gaiden! If you've beaten these games, laugh at me. Some 8-year-old could tell me off and all I could say in return is "I have sex with women."
LyBel Johnson
p.s.(My brother's band's name is Libel. He's on myspace!)
p.s.s. I still remember some HTML!
One year, my neighbor got me a game genie for my birthday. Nice fucking kid! So much easier to beat games then.
So, you get what I'm talking about, right? Sometimes you just gotta reach for the goddamn strategy guide because whatever the game's trying to make you do 't aint natural.
I'm not good at older games. I guess a lot of people aren't because they were more difficult. I blame a lot of my weakness on the fact that controls used to suck. Suck out the fucking ass suck.
Example of an older game's controls-
A- Shoot
B- Jump
D-pad is d-pad
You can jump. You can shoot. Forget dodging like a human might dream of. It's like comparing old Resident Evil with new Resident Evil. Some sort of fear is lost in the fact that the old controls were shit and hard to use and now shit's a lot easier to control.
However, that isn't my problem (damn, when am I ever going to get to the point?). My problem is that older games tend to make me feel just downright stupid. Like in Jak & Daxter where I just don't seem able to do certain things. I kind of remember why I hated these zeldaesque games. Because when presented with some challenge it's hard to know whether you're even capable yet of completing said challenge. Maybe you have to come back later with the Big, Black Dildo of Comeuppance to slap that bitch so she'll drop the Platinum Filling of Herpes out of her mouth. Fuck if I know.
I play this game and I die so often I've started to expect to do it when I enter any room in the game. Every step is a recon mission for my next turn at life.
So, I feel dumb.
Ratchet & Clank's shoot-em-up and jump style was more to my liking. I'm proud to say that I beat three of those games in the course of a week, and I only stopped beating 'em because the other ones cost money. Three more plus some PSP titles and I'll have played them all. Ratchet & Clanks are best at humor and weapons and leveling up said weapons.
Jak & Daxter is best at making me feel dumb and telling myself, "This happens to a lot of gamers."
I felt the same kinda way about Monkey Island and a lot of the other old adventure games. I hit speed bumps and then I got out a strategy guide because I knew I wasn't smart enough. Or maybe I'm just holding myself back. Maybe I am smart enough, I just don't want to admit it or spend the time to find out.
Jak & Daxter frustrates me with its difficulty. I'm serious. I find it harder than Ninja gaiden! If you've beaten these games, laugh at me. Some 8-year-old could tell me off and all I could say in return is "I have sex with women."
LyBel Johnson
p.s.(My brother's band's name is Libel. He's on myspace!)
p.s.s. I still remember some HTML!
Sunday, August 2, 2009
My appreciation of the PS3 continues
Lately I have been addicted, yet again, to some good old Diablo 2. Even though I am weaning myself off of the blast-from-the-past I still do my fair share of random countess/chaos/baal/andy/pit runs. I have been trading off attention to my handhelds, I imagine it would be similar to entertaining two children with equal attention (heh I wouldn't know). On the PSP has been a lovely classic JRPG experience with Crimson Gem Saga, lots of fun with this one so far. On the DS I have had a great time with SMT: Devil Survivor which is enjoyable but some magic from the console SMT titles is missing I feel. That shouldn't be a mark against SMT: Devil Survivor though since it is still a great game that has a complex and gratifying combat system (strat rpg/standard turn based rpg hybrid). That being said I have been giving my consoles a bit of the cold shoulder. Getting back into the groove this past weekend I started the PS3 up.
Yesterday I picked up Fat Princess which is loaded with fun. I felt a bit detached from the gameplay since I am lacking a headset to coordinate but that was minor. I enjoyed most of my time playing the game as a worker or archer class. Charging up arrows and letting loose was great while dancing about avoiding getting hit. Gathering resources and reinforcing the defenses was also rather entertaining. One problem I noticed was the great amount of time spent on trying to find/connect to games. At first I was curious if it was my problem but I have just recently been upgraded to a FiOS connection so that was unlikely. Destructoid says that Sony will be working on it. I look forward to that being a little more smooth.
I have also played a good amount of Savage Moon which is a terrific TD game that I got while it was on sale for $5 on PSN. It is very challenging, I am not used to my cattle fighting back while herding them in a TD.
Finally I have played a large amount of Wipeout HD this weekend. I grabbed the new Fury DLC which practically doubled the amount of content in the game. While I had dabbled in the title a little when I had gotten it during the previously mentioned PSN sale for a great price of $14.99 (the DLC was $9.99 which is great considering what you get) I finally sunk my teeth into it this weekend. All I can say is WOW, this is one of the best downloadable titles I have played on a console yet. That statement is taking into consideration Castle Crashers, Braid, Ikaruga port, Rez HD, Geometry Wars 2, Pixel Junk Eden, and what have you. I think it's the fact that I already enjoyed Wipeout Pulse as my entertainment for most of the flight to and from Japan, now that I can have the same experience at 1080p with 60fps and blasting music/sfx it floors me. As an additional icing on the cake they have a photo mode. I never figured I would enjoy this since it didn't seem like much on the PSP iteration, my god it is different on the PS3. The options you have and the kinds of pictures you can get out of the game just leave my jaw on the floor. I'll just let the pictures do the talking. Lighting... textures... I am just amazed.
Yesterday I picked up Fat Princess which is loaded with fun. I felt a bit detached from the gameplay since I am lacking a headset to coordinate but that was minor. I enjoyed most of my time playing the game as a worker or archer class. Charging up arrows and letting loose was great while dancing about avoiding getting hit. Gathering resources and reinforcing the defenses was also rather entertaining. One problem I noticed was the great amount of time spent on trying to find/connect to games. At first I was curious if it was my problem but I have just recently been upgraded to a FiOS connection so that was unlikely. Destructoid says that Sony will be working on it. I look forward to that being a little more smooth.
I have also played a good amount of Savage Moon which is a terrific TD game that I got while it was on sale for $5 on PSN. It is very challenging, I am not used to my cattle fighting back while herding them in a TD.
Finally I have played a large amount of Wipeout HD this weekend. I grabbed the new Fury DLC which practically doubled the amount of content in the game. While I had dabbled in the title a little when I had gotten it during the previously mentioned PSN sale for a great price of $14.99 (the DLC was $9.99 which is great considering what you get) I finally sunk my teeth into it this weekend. All I can say is WOW, this is one of the best downloadable titles I have played on a console yet. That statement is taking into consideration Castle Crashers, Braid, Ikaruga port, Rez HD, Geometry Wars 2, Pixel Junk Eden, and what have you. I think it's the fact that I already enjoyed Wipeout Pulse as my entertainment for most of the flight to and from Japan, now that I can have the same experience at 1080p with 60fps and blasting music/sfx it floors me. As an additional icing on the cake they have a photo mode. I never figured I would enjoy this since it didn't seem like much on the PSP iteration, my god it is different on the PS3. The options you have and the kinds of pictures you can get out of the game just leave my jaw on the floor. I'll just let the pictures do the talking. Lighting... textures... I am just amazed.
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