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

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

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

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

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













After


















And here we can see the new guards:










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

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

And now...an update

So yeah, I guess a lot of things are suddenly going on now in our summer schedules. I personally just got my first car the other day, dark grey 2006 VW GTI YUSSS. Games... hmm game time.

I have recently split my time among numerous 360 titles savoring in their combined loveliness. Forza 2 is a sweet fix for a driving sim. The last driving simulator I got into in a big way was back when Playstation was king and I played the shit out of GT2. After clearing that up one summer I had no desire to really get into the third or fourth iteration all this time. Forza 2 coming packaged with the 360 was pretty rad since I wouldn't have gone out of my way to get it, but having it is definitely a good thing. I sunk most of my past saturday on driving in career-mode (I am curious how frequently I will hit the game up now that I have a car of my own to joy ride in....premium gas is expensive and Forza 2 is free o_O).

Other titles I've been sinking my teeth into are Ninja Gaiden 2 and Condemned: Criminal Origins. Starting with Ninja Gaiden 2 I have to say I finally know what all the buzz is about. I freakin love it. Being a huge fan of the DMC series already Ninja Gaiden is right up my alley. I picked Path of the Warrior to start out not having played a NG game before and I think it's just fine so far. Part of it is me knows that some of the deaths are because I am a retard so I don't fault the game yet for being overly difficult on the basic difficulty. Honestly it gives off the same vibe of a learning curve as DMC did, albeit definitely overall harder than previous DMC titles, and that is: You may die, you may die a lot... but you still have this feeling inside that you know you CAN do it. This is the absolutely addictive quality to these kinds of games that I find, not only is it satisfying to finally beat it but when you're in the zone dancing about cutting up enemies it is pure magic. When you take out a batch of spawned enemies without taking a hit then it feels so right and visually it looks so rad that you want more. I think I may still be in chapter 3 of NG2? maybe 4 but so far I'm totally down and loving it. FUCK YOU METAL-LIGHTNING-FISH-MAN that fight was so frustrating and the fact that the death animation shows Ryu walk away non-chalantly with mad-explosions behind him made me errupt in laughter.

Next we have Condemned: Criminal Origins... OMGZ WTF. This game is amazing, amazingly creepy and disturbing and demands you play it more. I have never felt more jumpy after playing a game and more eager to dive down pitch black hallways in slums to be jumped by junkies jacked up on crack-cocaine and other totally sweet narcotics. I mean, the game eases you into the thriller-fest quite nicely. The story starts out nicely with you, an FBI agent, investigating another crime-scene of a loose serial killer. Naturally to get the average player who is already thinking "enough with the forensics lets kill some bitches" into some action it just so happens the serial killer is still on the premises. You're introduced to mechanics as you slowly attempt to chase the suspect despite being told to sit tight. After downing a couple junkies you naturally have your gun taken from you by the serial killer and subsequently he uses it to kill your friendly locals and gets the ball rolling on the main plot of you being framed and needing to take your own steps to justify your innocence. Up till that point I was like ok, this game has got the sound mixing going on and has me on my toes, but it wasn't that bad yet. Enter chapter 2 and now I am scared shitless. So I found pictures someone took of me from across the street, obviously from the abandoned subway station across the way. That's easy, lets just go diving into the filth of the city and pop up with the evidence I need! Inside the stygian basement labyrinth that happens to connect the alley behind my house to aforementioned subway station I experience the "oh shit, things just got real" moment. Only now at this point in the game has the AI begun to really shine in showing off the "run away to grab a better weapon" or "break light sources so we fan fuck the detective" routines. What totally got me though was when I passed a window to a room and needed a health pack bad so I figured I should check out inside the room. Naturally the room held the sustenance I needed, but wielding a .45 I was hesitant to use a round on the damn glass to get to my tasty-delicious... so I investigate the rest of the room to find a 2x4 or pipe to bust up some glass. As I turn the corner and see the window that I had peered in from... WTFZOMGJESUSCHRIST. In the hallway I had just come from there is a crazy leaning casually on the window peering at me and I can hear hear him emit a laugh that shot needles of ice down my back. WHAT THE FUCK this game just turned the knob to 11, it just whispered into my ear "we gon' go for a ride...", I just shat my pants. Immediately he slinkers off and naturally awaited around the corner of the door to get into the room I was in, being the ammo-whore that I am I decide it's worth taking him out to get his weapon to break into the health box. I mentioned I was low on health and being the shaky-tard-ass that I am I got jumped and died. I loaded that shit back up, went to the room, heard his shit-eating-laugh and put a bullet in his head while he leaned on the glass... the motherfucker still slinkered off so I tazered him outside the door and beat his ass with his weapon. I will assume that my aim was not true and it grazed him compounded by the fact the glass probably slowed down the bullet...but there was blood on the outside. Or I could easily just assume these drugs make these hobos complete super sodliers capable of sustaining bullets to the head.

I really do enjoy the whole "oh you need a sledgehammer to get through this door, you better go get it from the room across the way you can only get to by going through a pitch black basement filled with crack-heads with .45s" because I end up laughing every time it takes me until I reach the tool to realize I was sent on this small detour. That doesn't really detract from it since you're too damned busy jumping at every noise you hear cause some damn crack-lunatic is hiding behind the next corner with a 2x4 littered with sharp nails ready to drive a good one in on your skull. So far I am loving this game, I will be honest and say this has never been my flavor of game and I used to be flat-out unable to handle this. But with all things my tastes change and now I am absolutely loving it, granted I can only do it in doses haha. The intensity is ridiculous for me, the demented sounds I heard at the bottom of those basements creeped me the fuck out and yet amounted to nothing. More likely than not it was the serial killer actually whacking it while he watched me with nightvision goggles. I also really enjoy the fact the serial killer that had a monologue at the beginning is absolutely normal and average looking save for the fact his speech showed he is not right in the head. Absolutely brilliant fucking characterization.

On a completely unrelated note I give you hotness...absolute hotness. I swear to god next time they come to the DC area for a concert I am going to the afterparty.


Also JohnFuKennedy I share 2 things that I love, Sneaker Pimps and Batman Begins:

MS(g)B at work

LBJ & JFU ARE IN GRINNELL, IA! SLEEPING IN THE SAME ROOM, LIVING IN THE SAME HOUSE FOR THE FIRST TIME EVER!

YE WILL BE AS PRODUCTIVE!

This tickles me

See more funny videos at CollegeHumor

I really wish this was a video some guy seriously put together. Does that make me a bad person?

~JFu

GTA: San Andreas

::Insert picture of da puta that I am too lazy too find::

Ya'll remember in San Andreas when you met the chick who fucks over the guy in GTA3, and you fell in love with her...

I'm still in love with her...Catalina, right? I wanna be your idioto.

On a quest to save the world...on another quest to, oh save the world

JRPGs, one of the most straightforward genres of games that many argue to be boring and mostly uninspired. Yes a lot of them involve saving the world, always some kind of evil bad-guy menace whom your main character more likely than not has a personal vendetta against. The games tend to be rife with cliches and such, so what is it that is so appealing about them? I can't speak for everyone but one big attraction for myself has always been the number crunching side of it. That doesn't sound too glorious on it's own right? When it comes down to it though, the levels, mix-matching of skills, finding comboes, or infinite possiblities offered in some games is an appeal to me. Also art direction/character design holds a huge sway as well, and finally the spin of a game is massive.

If a given game has a solid skill system or character growth system we find ourselves hooked on the game for the sake of advancing our characters and seeing just what the hell is possible. Will we really be able to make Jake some badass sword-saint? Can Jessie really pull off being that slutty-whore of a witch that we want in skimpy robes so bad? Maybe it's just me, but on some level our minds always want to sculpt a character into our idea of a great adventurer for a given story if we were in the specific situation. This point rather applies to all games though.

JRPGs always have presentation/art as a huge selling point. If you're down with anime generally then you're right at home. The vast majority of Shin Megami Tensei games won me over immediately due to Kaneko Kazuma's astounding artwork and absolutely grim storytelling. Whether it was me reshaping the world how I saw fit (I joined Lucifer to oppose The Almighty.... he had REALLY cool treasures...) or being a rebellious combat AI program that in turn sacrifices everything to save the world, the stories have been something that were slightly generic yet had it's own twist that makes it unique. Actually who am I kidding, Nocturne and DDS were for the most part pretty non-generic stories but they are special cases. The unique spin on those games and character dynamics were solid, but lets go examine something more obvious. What the hell made Dragon Quest VIII so goddamn awesome.

I loved Dragon Quest VIII, I will admit I never played the previous iterations on PS or whatever other forms they were in. First off, the cel-shading in the game was love at first sight. I love cel-shading, I personally think my Wii should utilize more cel-shading to have more of an artsy approach rather than trying really hard to prove itself. Artistic spin > LIFE LIKE DETAIL HIGH RESOOOOO. I am a fan of turn based combat, it takes all kinds, and I like the classic battle interface that is present in the game. Character customization was there, you build your character to have a weapon preference and then learn moves for the given weapon. Character personalities and stories are a little cookie-cutter but the voice acting was solid and it played out like a generic fairy tale with a lot of soul. It's that summer blockbuster that you see, you admit was cheesy as hell, yet you have to admit you loved every bit of it. My affection for JRPGs can be similar to my appreciation for the amazing genre that is Drum 'n' Bass. Example (fuckin right Dieselboy, this track is sick live):



Drum 'n' Bass to a lot of people all sounds the same, JRPGs for the most part from afar look all the same: "Cutesy anime characters (or ridiculously over-emasculated ones....or emo) running around on a quest to *insert noble cause*". Once one starts to dive beneath the surface of one though minute details are picked up, a real sense of individuality for the particular game can be found in it's setting, presentation, and characters. As a poor bastard that has played his fair share of overly generic JRPGs (Atelier Iris, Final Fantasy, Star Ocean, Tales, Chrono) to ones that have a lot more of an "artsy" or "unique angle " to them (SMT:Nocturne, SMT:DDS, Valkyrie Profile, Xenogears) and I have honestly enjoyed and found worthwhile things in each of the games. Even ones that I played and didn't enjoy I still found positive things about them. I find it interesting that my disinterest in some games of this genre can be totally irrational and not make sense yet it exists. While my dislike of FF X is quite obvious in the bad VAing and utter loathing of the art direction of the game and characters in it (everything in that game just seemed so gaudy to me) but my lack of appreciation for the Xenosaga line of games is harder to put my finger on.

I own two of the games, hell I preordered the third to get the artbook, I think one of the biggest faults I had with the series is that the creators tried to create a story that is far in the past of the story of Xenogears. In doing this they created characters that are direct copies from the previous project I guess intended to be a nod to fans but came off as corny to myself. I don't want to see Vanderkaum of Citan's practical clone "Jin", the throwing around of Citan's surname Uzuki as a "hey fans remember this". Then for good measure lets throw in some Nietzsche to make the story profound, I mean in Xenogears it fit rather well with the whole schizophrenic etc. but it felt so forced in Xenosaga. I feel like I would have actually really enjoyed the games if they had no attempted links to the original incarnation on PS. I mean the story they have is rather detailed and well thought out, the characters work well together but what kills it for me is some of the forced symbolism/terms. Maybe it wouldn't have been so bad if it had had no voice acting, because half of the voice acting in the games are really well done (the previously posted clip with KOS-MOS outside the spaceship is so great) but other parts just had me wanting to tear my hair out (FF X syndrome). Finally, I said I am a huge fan of the art direction of a game and a lot of the character designs in Xenosaga I can't dig at all. I liked the mecha designs, as well as the ship designs, Iggy was cool but then some of the outfits and fusion of realistic/anime threw me. So to sum it up I just buy into them, maybe some day in the future when I try to replay them it'll click but right now the associations they throw into them with the previous generation's title just kills it for me. I respect the games, I know plenty of people who like them and there is a lot to like, but aspects of the games just slay me. I can see this similar to seeing a movie that is based on a book and finding the movie lackluster, or too flawed for your taste while a friend of mine may have liked it having not read the book and taking the movie on it's own merits (not having expectations). To be fair, it is dangerous territory when working on spiritual successors to a game that shaped my early video game appreciation many years after the fact (so my nostalgic memories are skewed to be even better than they probably were).


Brazilian Girls at 930 Club in just over a week YUSSSS!!
Ladytron I want to see you again >_<

Goo, Sucka! Turning Point too!

I don't know if this ever came out, but it looked really fun. It's also loosely based on concepts of Liquid War , which was pretty damn fun.

Turning Point: Fall of Liberty...not a very good game...very glitchy and ugly, like going back to play Medal of Honor on the PS1 again. Also, you gotta wonder what the Germans think. Are they all like, "Man, I wish the damn Americans would stop bringing up old wounds. We aint never gonna live dot down."

Rawk band

I don't know if I should be excited or not that they have already announced Rock Band 2 is probably coming out this fall as I have only just gotten the first one. Finished playing through that this weekend on solo tour mode, I guess I've grown to like more of the initial set-list on the game out of the package from playing through it. Still the major reason for getting it was the DLC, so much win so far in what they have made available. The Pixies' Doolittle is amazing to play to, also Heir Kommt Alex and obviously I am a fan of the addition of Hysteria. Why Harmonix have you not released more Muse DLC =(. GH3 has Stockholm Syndrome, KoC, SMBH, and Exo-Politics, Rock band should ummm show em up and release MORE MUSE. I want more Muse...

uhhh things that I want to do with my free-time tend to jump all on me at once and don't seem to string out and be there for when I get bored. Now there is too much to do...catch up with Code Geass R2, read Watchmen that I'm borrowing from a coworker, play too many 360 games, watch other shows that have seemed to amass into a pile for consumption. grglgrgl...this summer is definitely more dynamic than previous ones.

Ladytron come back soon, oh please do!

I saw Ladytron this weekend at Merriweather, a few notes about the show. First off, Ladytron is absolutely amazing and great live performers. Immediately when their set was done I wanted to see more of them, I am greatly looking forward to their next tour through the area. Annoyingly though this show, which was supposed to take place at the 9:30 club and would've been 10x better there, had been changed to take place at Merriweather. Adding Ladytron to the line-up of a mini-festival whose lead act was Thievery Corporation. While I honestly don't know much about Thievery Corporation (I hear they're good) the other artists at the show were Seu Jorge (Awesome work in The Life Aquatic), TV on the Radio (I found them as a group a bit out of place at this festival, I only know one song by them but I like it), Turntables on the Hudson (it was pretty interesting ethnic dance music), and Federico Aubele whom I didn't know but their music was definitely pleasing to the ear. I am pissed that Ladytron was taken from the 9:30 club venue where they would've headlined, had even more performance time and better sound mixing and added to the lineup at Merriweather. I generally feel bad to rag on people but the guys doing the sound mixing at Merriweather were horrible, they had the drums and bass and low synth frequencies drowning out Mira and Helen's vocals, not to mention the other melodies from the guitars/synths. I mean come on, you would think they would understand not ALL shows need "ZOMG MORE AWESOME BASS" (when I was in the Drum 'n' Bass tent at Starscape for over 10 hours that is when I want the bass, not here). Despite being hot, humid, and aurally disatisfied by the mixing I still had a hell of a time purely from Ladytron's set. Also Mira is super cute/hot, props to the outfits they perform in. Here is a little live performance at KCRW they did, asklhgfhgfg



Ahhh I want to see them again live as soon as possible...

So my recent escapades with my newly acquired 360 have taken me through Clive Barker's Jericho. Despite the scathing reviews and utter beating that it received from critics and reviewers alike I went ahead and bought it after much enjoying the demo from Xbox Live. I have to honestly say I loved the game. I do agree that the ending was a bit of a let down, but it was not a complete game-killer and the overall experience was rather memorable. First off, despite this being a FPS it's not Halo or Resistance. If you think of it this way, if these were RPGs Halo would be Morrowind (fuck you Oblivion, you sucked...ok you weren't that bad, you just weren't as good as Morrowind) very open and explorable in terms of story(more open/explorable maps for Halo). Jericho on the other hand is a JRPG in that the levels are very limited and shuttle you in the direction you need to go, on top of that it's episodic (read clear a couple rooms and enter loading screen with story advancement update + save-checkpoint). I found this change of pace refreshing after having played various other FPS games where YES you can use strategy to hang back and take 10x longer but you never get hurt because you're being snipey, but there is never any actual danger. Jericho basically puts you in these claustrophobic corridors with enemies that can spawn from anywhere (think aliens how they can come in from any vent around you) and on top of the fact the enemies are in your face there are suicide exploding enemies as well which can wipe out your whole party. Basically every review I read called this cheap, I honestly saw it as the only way you can possibly die in this game. Oh right, I need to explain the mechanics...I'll get back to the enemies.

So in Jericho you're a 7 man squad, soon to be 6 man because one person dies (no spoiler there, it's practically on the back of the box). This dead teammate ends up being the explanation for why you can, at any time, jump between squad members and take control of their person. This is AWESOME and really well done. Seeing as how the 6 different characters all have unique abilities and weapons this adds amazing flexibility on how you can approach situations or how you wanna play depending on your style. Since the spirit of the 7th guy had the power to heal, this means whoever you currently have control of can revive a downed teammate. This leads you to realize the only way for you to get a game over really is to either all die very rapidly before you can revive (this did happen a couple times when we were caught in machine-gun cross-fire...my fault) or to be caught in a massive explosion, aka explosive cultists. Yes these exploding enemies are throughout the game, I mean can you fault the designers for wanting to put an actual danger to your safety throughout the game to actually add a challenge? Yes, that's right, I didn't see it as cheap because almost any time happened to die to them was because of my own fault from lack of accuracy (you have to take out these points on their body, think regenerators from RE4) or from advancing too quickly.

Another complaint people had was the scenery was bland and uninspired due to repetition, I didn't really think this was the case, plus since you are constantly in darkness it didn't really matter much to me anyways. I guess the flaws that reviews found in this game were things that didn't phase me and the unique experience that Jericho had to offer me won out. You can command either alpha or omega squads (3 people in each), the VAing I found to be great, the graphics were awesome and absolutely horrific. Some of the larger boss battles were awe-inspiring, the enemies are QUITE numerous at times, but this isn't a problem if you're smart and target their respective weaknesses. They have some of those crazy "PRESS THIS BUTTON TO NOT DIE, NOW THIS BUTTON" sequences in the game at various points, I found this fun despite many other people finding it out of place and frustrating. Also when creatures jump on your face and try to evicerate you and you have to do the button sequence then it's exhilarating (I think the voice acting really shines for some of the characters as they scream/breathe hard/yell during these struggles, ESPECIALLY if you fail at the buttons).

In closing regarding Jericho I would say it's definitely not for everyone. It seems that the critics have thought this, I enjoyed it as a change up in the FPS genre that gave me a real run for the money in terms of difficulty. Yes you die from exploding cultists who frequently spawn behind or very close to you, but it's not like sodliers in Iraq get fair warning of the various planted roadside explosives. I found the claustrophobic levels to keep me on edge rather than just get frustrated with the level design. A lot of people won't like the game, I can't really recommend it, but I can say I enjoyed it at least. I also went and read Clive Barker's The Hellbound Heart (inspiration for the Hellraiser movies) after I beat the game, pretty interesting book too. Plus Clive Barker gets two thumbs up in my book for saying games are definitely an art form.


.....Ladytron you are awesome come back SOOOOON.

Xenosaga 1- Another favorite scene

Yeah, apparently the combined FMVs of Xenosaga 1 take over 3 hours. I'm just asking that you watch from around 2:50 to 7:00 or so.

Planned sequels suck because I last saw this in High School. I last saw the other video from Xenosaga 2 three years ago. I had little to no idea what was going on story-wise with Xenosaga 2, just that I had Xenosaga 3, and Xenosaga 3 has the Xenobible or whatever to remind people of all the shit that happened in the other two games, so I was better off finishing off Xenosaga 2 and playing Xenosaga 3 rather than replaying the whole game. Then I found Youtube! :) :) :) :) :) :)

Another good Xenosaga moment is when the Gnosis (Did you see Final Fantasy: The Spirts Within? Remember the spirit creatures? Yeah, Gnosis is those things) touch Shion, partially turning her to stone, and then it's like, "Whoever touches the Gnosis is all cursed and shit!" And then this other touched-by-a-gnosis guy turns into a gnosis monster and you have to fight him! Shit! I forgot how Shion managed to not turn to stone...