MS(g)B Centerstage

Electro-nic a.k.a. Fly to Korea and check into a WoW clinic

2011-05-20T23:44:00.002-04:00

I'm unemployed these days, or, to my credit, I'm waiting for the notification of a second interview. In the meantime I could be giving private lessons or searching for other work, but I've found laying around listening to music and playing Tactics Ogre is pulling me deeper and deeper into the shallow hole of Tactical RPGs. Why shallow? Because at some point the fact that you could have let the game play itself (there's an option to turn on the AI for your characters) for the last sixty or so hours hits you like a shovel to the back of your head and you wake up wondering where your time has gone taking meager satisfaction in the fact that the AI is often dumb as bricks frequently adding unnecessary time between your character's turns, attacking the strongest unit with the weakest weapons, wasting items, or having a mage charge blindly into a beserker's axe.
I recently wiped the floor with my mother at Scrabble (non-sequitor that eventually will have a point), and she noted that it was surprising that someone who often spoke another language was quite good at using English. I neglected to respond with "learning a foreign language generally improves the knowledge of your first language and, more importantly games are what I do. Scrabble is less about linguistic ability and more about short game (maximizing points per turn) and long game (keeping vowels and consonants balanced in your letter tray while waiting to use higher scoring letters on multiplier spaces). Valkyrie Profile is a dungeon crawler where you have limited time to train characters to send to Valhalla so playing the game becomes about maximizing the amount of experience you get per battle by organizing the combination of your party's attacks so that your characters either hit enemies up into or in the air almost every attack. The enemies drop experience crystals when they are hit into the air. These crystals multiply the total number of experience points you receive in each fight. Fighting battles like this becomes very tedious. My characters in that game are now several levels above the enemies and while I usually could finish an encounter in one turn, it pays more to farm crystals and this process takes about three times as much time.
Last night, all I could dream about was Tactics Ogre. Two months ago I was almost yelling at my girlfriend because she was keeping me from playing Valkyrie Profile. A month ago I was being really awkward with friends because I wanted to play Dead Space 2 every night all night. In high school, I had a similar addiction to the .Hack and KOTOR series where in a week I had finished a game that took developers years to make. Back then we said we were hooked on the electronic nicotine or the electro-nic.
Now, I have so many things I want to do like get buff; learn to play the guitar and drums; read books; and hang out with people, but I'm hooked on staying in and playing games. It's the thing I've done the most consistently in my life, and is consequently the easiest thing to do and, for some reason, still the most fun thing to do. I found seven or more other games on the internet that I've wanted to play for a long time, and thank god for the godless sin of pirating because I can play them affordably. The other thing I've been doing is going through a song collection of almost 30000 while playing said games, and that is something I've wanted to do for a long time. Before I was playing games and watching TV shows, and that was great too. I've seen some good stuff that I'm happy with and I'm glad to say that I don't need to watch TV anymore. It's better as a group activity like when watching Thai soaps with the girlfriend and family.

So, as much as I'm sad that I've used so much time to play games I think it's always worked for me. Every time I start a new game I feel somewhat intimidated (albeit wildly excited) by the game's system and the possibilities it represents, which is a similar feeling when first experiencing anything new. I feel less challenged by new things as given time I always seem to find some way to get a handle on it.

The other solution to the electro-nic problem is the Less-is-More approach that I found great in The 3rd Birthday (PE3). It's essentially a squad-based 3rd person RPG where you change the unit you control by "diving" into another unit's body. Unlike Ghost Recon or some of those other games that were really popular but I never appreciated when they were popular, when you are not controlling a unit that unit becomes as silly as a toddler and will frequently do tactically stupid shit that causes that unit to die quickly [Sidenote: I didn't like Ghost Recon so much 'cause the AI-controlled units kept stealing my kills. I should get over this.]. You can remedy this by diving into that unit or aiming your selected weapon at an enemy (The Twisted!) and waiting for a "Crossfire" gauge to charge. When the gauge is full, all units in the area who are behind cover will fire simultaneously and continuously on that particular enemy until the gauge runs down again. You are also given certain genetic abilities which are passive (like an energy shield that provides some defense from attacks) or have a chance to activate when you fulfill certain conditions (Crisis Core has a similar system). The chance these powers have to activate depends on their level and the game's difficulty. At higher levels, the powers are less likely to activate. You also have a Liberation gauge which activates after your character sustains or deals a certain amount of damage depending on the weapon (pistols raise the liberation gauge higher). You also have the ability to buy and customize weapons that you bring along with you into the body you've died (yeah, it's a little bit of a weird concept). There are five basic types of weapons (pistols, rifles, shotguns, sniper rifles, grenade launchers, and the special type like a machine gun or laser weapon). Some weapons are powerful than others. Other weapons have a higher impact on your enemy and allow you to perform an "overdive kill" where you dive into your enemy's body and attempt to implode it from the inside. Sniper rifles allow you to target weakpoints on an enemy's body. Hitting these weakpoints has a high impact on the enemy that also allows you to perform an "overdive kill."
Does it sound intense? I fucking thought it was. It's also damn hard to figure out when to use what and why and how and a bitch to level up your passive and activated special powers, but the game itself only has five levels. Rather than spend all the time to create a longer experience, the developing team focused on making a really-refined short experience. They tried their damndest to make an interesting if not somewhat confusing and bizarre story. The music in the game is great. The voice-acting is pretty damn good. The scenarios in the game are varied and well thought out. I was find with playing the same parts over and over again because I enjoyed the experience of it all. It also gave me an excuse to put the PSP down every once and a while before repeating a sequence. I feel like a better gamer after completing that game.
So, I don't get why people didn't like it. I really liked it. I still wanna beat it on "Genocide" difficulty where they give you an even smaller tactical advantage over The Twisted.

If you make a tighter game shorter, it will be more fulfilling. Parasite Eve 1 was short and still a great game. Fighting an evil floating mitochondria bitch in a New York City carriage with the horses pulling on carriage on fire and screaming like hell was an outstanding experience. Dead Space 2 was shorter than its predecessor but the battles were intense and it was fucking scary throughout. Portal 1 was short, but fucking on-point.

Less is more.

Moving' Swiftly (g)aming Badassly.

The Older Gamer - Resistance: Retribution

2011-03-21T01:41:00.005-04:00

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

The other sister

2011-02-15T02:25:00.003-05:00

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

Coming back - Condemmend, Mass Effect & Such

2010-10-07T23:17:00.006-04:00

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

Final Fantasy XII

2010-03-23T05:48:00.002-04:00

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

Manhunt

2010-02-28T05:19:00.001-05:00

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):

MS(g)B is your link for KittyWheelbarrowing

2009-09-07T17:06:00.003-04:00

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!

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Lil Big J will be in Thailand for the next year, but he'll pass the e-mail on to the JoFu

That ugly, dirty feeling in your chest- Prototype

2009-08-20T02:40:00.003-04:00

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.

Nostalgia you sonuvhabeech

2009-08-17T08:47:00.003-04:00

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.

Remembering that dumb feeling - Jak & Daxter, Ratchet & Clank, Monkey Island, Sam & Max Hit the Road, grim Fandango, etc. etc.

2009-08-03T23:28:00.004-04:00

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!

My appreciation of the PS3 continues

2009-08-02T20:25:00.005-04:00

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.

There's no crying in guerilla warfare- Red Faction Guerilla

2009-07-25T10:55:00.002-04:00

Man, oh, man! I just spent the last two and a half days in a dreamworld playing this game practically non-stop. I could have spent more, but I'm trying to get a job.

So, anyway! Let's talk about it.

The new Red Faction game is fun as hell. Why? Well, it's not horribly original. There are story missions and then side missions. Completing the side missions helps you complete the main missions, so there is some incentive. It also takes place on a massive map that you drive around to complete objectives. Sound familiar? Saint's Row, Just Cause, gta, Bad Company, etc, etc. What's original? Being able to blow up just about anything. In fact it's a main gameplay aspect. I love you, geomod!

What else? Chaos. You enter an enemy compound (probably alone, there's few options for teamwork with NPCs) and you get swarmed, so you gotta run around with your four weapons (others are available by collecting salvage or by stealing off dead enemies) and blow up every building before MORE enemies come and start fucking your shit up and causing more problems. Also, destroying buildings takes a lot of thought as to where the weak points and best ways to take it down are, and since enemies are usually swarming you, you gotta do it fast and faster than fast. It's really really challenging in an interesting way.

I've played this same game several times in different forms, but it doesn't really matter because it's fun. The story is kinda so-so, but they do take settling on Mars in an interesting direction. The environments are beautiful. The cars are really cool and so are the buildings. It's a very pretty game. The AI will kill you easily, and they have no regard for their own personal safety.

What else can I say?

I still wanna play this game even though I gave it back to Blockbuster and I got shit to do. I would ignore my children (if I had any) to play this game.

yea

-Lyndon Big Johnson

Enjoy the Silence

2009-06-17T13:05:00.000-04:00

Many moons have passed since last I posted, and lots of stuff happened. Some of that time was spent wrapping up school and graduation, I visited Japan during this time as well and had some good times there. Also in this time I was fortunate enough to receive a fair share of gifts from my graduation. Using some of this I recently procured a Playstation 3, I am now fortunate enough to have all three of the current consoles. Yeah, basically it is pretty sweet.

While visiting Japan I picked up some rather cool tidbits that were game related. I was tempted to pick up a game for my PSP or DS while there but figured the difficulty I would have for translating it outweighed my desire for any of the titles I saw. I picked up a full set plus extras of some SMT One Coin figures (a picture, the seventh character being a wolf) as well as a lovely Gwendolyn figure from Odin Sphere. I missed out on a gorgeous Valkyria Chronicles figure due to limited luggage space, I also just missed the last Etrian Odyssey gunner figure that was in a store. Finding well done figures from games that I've played is rather exciting...

Ok that's enough random talk about figures, now about games. Having gone on a long trip with plenty of time on an airplane as well as a new console to boot I dug into plenty of games since the last time I posted. The end of my semester was spent playing metric ass-tons of Rock Band and Resident Evil 5. My roommate and I SS ranked all of the mercenary levels save for maybe one? It's been a while but damn co-op mercenaries is hella fun. On my trip to Japan I played a huge amount of Wipeout Pulse for PSP as well as the Star Ocean Second Evolution port (stuck in the same part of the bonus dungeon as I was back in 2000/2001). I had gotten to the last disc of Lost Odyssey while at school, when I eventually get around to finishing it I need to do a summarizing post since the pacing really slowed and it has become slightly tedious to play. Finally, in my time since getting back from Japan I have been putting my PS3 to the test in terms of time in use. I started playing Folklore which I picked up from Bestbuy for $30 and LOVE the art direction/atmosphere but the actual gameplay is a little lacking. I have played some Little Big Planet, it is very unique but I am unsure if I will be able to personally use the customization elements to its full effect. Noby Noby Boy is something that, well it just needs to be experienced because you can't really describe it. I played lots of PS3 demos, in particular the demo for R&C: Tools of Destruction and it reminded me of all the reasons why I loved the first 3 Spyro games on Playstation (yay Insomniac) so lotsa fun there. To end it all before I ramble too much longer I played and beat MGS4 (stayed up this past night cause I couldn't put it down once I had gotten back to Shadow Moses MMMMM so good). That was a very satisfying and great first experience with the PS3 and I hope to make a more detailed post of my very late impressions of the PS3, particularly in comparison now with my other current consoles.

Cat Shit One Movie Trailer - The Animated Series

2009-03-31T12:45:00.001-04:00

AHAHAHAHAHAHAAHHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAAHAHAHAHAHAHAHA

From Hotdogday

"Studio Anima has announced its development of a 12 episode full CG anime adaptation of Motofumi Kobayashis 1998 manga series Cat Shit One. The anime series updates the setting of the original manga from the Vietnam War to modern military conflicts and updates the protagonist rabbits from US soldiers to employees of a private military company. The series is designed as a serious and realistic modern war drama that happens to star cute and fluffy animals."

HAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHA

gaming memories

2009-03-28T19:55:00.003-04:00

Well, this could be like a segment.

In Bloodrayne 2, your health and shit upgraded when you did the most nastiest of things to the baddies. I didn't know this until I had Rayne sliding down a pole, saying, "Oh, I could go all night."

It gave me a wide grin.

Ya hear me talkin to ya?

2009-03-25T22:29:00.001-04:00

Plugging our own uploaded videos. Shame. Shame. Shame. Shame.

I'M BACK... but for how long??? (AND A NEW SEGMENT)

2009-03-25T14:07:00.004-04:00

Yes, I DO still exist and I AM still a part of this blog. Every time I make a post, it seems like there is a promise that I will contribute much much more... and it never happens.

RANDOM SIDE NOTE: onlinebootycall.com is an absurd concept... makes sense I guess?

Anyways, I won't make any promises that there will be more posts by yours truly. Especially because I just can't take lying to you, the good people who read this, anymore. But I REALLY do want to post more. Maybe a little encouragement would help?... maybe?

As always, I digress. This post serves one purpose: the introduction of a new "segment" to the MS(g)B Centerstage Universe. I have a roommate who seems to have split personalities. Normally, he is a model citizen with an outstanding permanent record. But every so often, he becomes something else... something OFL (pronounced: awful). No one quite knows what causes the change, but what we can be sure of is OFL's honesty is brutal and his insight to the world of gaming is frighteningly accurate.

So without further adieu (I love colloquial language) let me present to you OFL's REVIEW OF... Flower:

"This is like way better than Wii right here."

I promise that I'll do my best to keep this thing running as long as possible. Potential next review from OFL? Little Big Planet of course. Stay tuned.

-JFuK wishes he was JCVD

Bullshit! - Not the Penn and Teller kind

2009-03-16T15:48:00.005-04:00

-Tired of RE5 racism debate. The tribal costume for Sheva is iffy. Chris saying, "There's no humanity here" in that trailer is also iffy. Africa is a sensitive place. Everybody's interested in it these days. The 24 season is also in Africa. Is RE5 racist? Well then, don't play it.

-Scored grim fandango. It's sweet. The dude was doing some sweet stuff when he made that game. When I play it, I keep thinking "That's the second-biggest monkey head I've ever seen" from Monkey Island. I go cackle cackle cackle. Thx JFu.

-Little Big Planet is sweet for being a game that anybody can pick up and enjoy and a game that people who play games a lot can enjoy too. Sweet soundtrack. Sweet level design. Sweet thinking that went into that shit (THE BOSS FIgHTS ARE SO COOL!). Sweet multiplayer. Sweet user-generated content.

-Old Street fighter is very ugly. HD Remix did more than I realized. New Street Fighter very not ugly, but I still find it clumsy.

-RE5 is very very good from what JFu and I played so far. Funny that 24's in Africa too and the offline co-op looks like 24 when they show different characters doing shit at the same time.

-I feel like I should go beat Dead Space on Impossible difficulty to prove how easy that game is. Also, I'm a dick.

-We like the Wire. I started watching Underbelly, which is supposed to be Australia's The Wire. In terms of camera-work, it's very UK. What does that mean? Watch a UK show. You'll see. Characters are deep, but they have a tendency to only focus on one character per episode. This means the pacing is kind of odd. There were a lot of quick cuts of the same person but at later times of the day. That always throws me off. I'm of the opinion that if you're only following one character, keep following that character. Don't cut to a radically different setting because I keep thinking you're going to show another character with another storyline. Still, it's an interesting story. There's a narrator and at one point she says, "And that's what started the gangland wars that were to last over 9 years and cause over 30 murders." I wanted to laugh because there's at least 30 murders in season 1 of the Wire alone. Season 4 has over 200. The difference is Underbelly is more closely tied to real events (as far as I know...). The other difference is that criminal characters in Underbelly tend to have wives and children and live in nice suburban homes. These areas are much more transparent than the streets of Baltimore, and the Australian government probably has much more adequate funds to deal with the nuisance.

-MS(g)B Productions released a short. I haven't told JFu about this yet, but I did want to do a FAQ on it, but wanted his help to write it. Please ignore the continuity error of penis size. You may notice the first time I showed my cheesy-Nectar-drenched penis I was a little shy and it appeared smaller than actual. The second time I bare my penis is...more accurate. Two people gave us 5 stars! THX, YO!

-Something else I wanted to say

Lyndon Blah-blah-blah-blah-blase Johnson

Yah- Here is your weekly post - Yah

2009-03-09T16:09:00.006-04:00

Weekly Post! Weekly Post!

LyBoJo has yet to finish Z.o.E. 2, but he got money so he wasted it on the first and second Ratchet & Clank games, and boy, are they fun! Well, the first one is. LBJ hasn't hit the second one quite yet because he's too busy playing Samurai Warriors 2, which he also bought. Isn't it great how cheap PS2 games are these days?

Samurai Warriors 2 is the best goddamn game in the series, and I've played just about every game (minus the expansion packs) in the series. It's the most intuitive. The character development is challenging, but not too hard. The stages in the game still require you to be in fifty places at once, but horses are a lot easier to get, which makes things much easier.

And the stories are sweet. The writing is weird at times (sometimes characters respond to each other by talking about a completely different topic), but the stories themselves are Hollywood-worthy. Each one could be a movie, but even better, you as the player get to play each story from every perspective. In one story, you kill your lord. By playing with a different character, you stop the guy who would kill the lord. Then you can play the lord and suffer the betrayal. Over time, I've started to feel really touched by what's going on even though I'm button-mashing while doing it. I was killing peasants out of duty to my lord, but thinking, "I really don't want to do this, but to unite Japan, I must!" Samurai Warriors 2 shows an era of warring states that was full of tragedy and pointless conflict and people with deep inner and outer conflicts. It's also fun to be a fucking badass.

I really really like the game.

I had a revelation where I may have finally admitted that I don't like fighting games or that my expectations for a fighting game are too high. I keep thinking of a fluid, almost choreographed scene of fighting and either that doesn't exist at my skill level or it doesn't exist. They're also repetitive as hell.

-LyBoJo

Rent Only

2009-03-02T13:54:00.002-05:00

This guy who recently bought a PS3 is asking me, "What are the good games to buy," so of course, I respond with...

Well...I said, "I think there are a lot of games worth renting, but not worth buying."

That comment deserves a few qualifications

1. I have enough shit in my house
A gamecase takes up space in a house that isn't mine. Oh, yeah, I guess I should mention where blogging has got me, a bedroom in my mom's basement.

2. I beat games fairly quickly
I marathon to the end and then tend not to feel any particular attachment to it. Dead Space is the exception, but I bought that game when I didn't have the money to buy that game and that always makes a thing more important that it should be.

3. I don't do multiplayer
I don't really have the friends or roommmates around to play split-screen, and I'm a shy online gamer, so I don't have a lot of PS Network friends. Also, there haven't been a lot of multiplayer modes or whatever in games I've played recently that were all that appealing. I like Warhawk. The SF4 multiplayer thing is cool, but the game itself is frustrating, so what's the point there?

So, there. Why own when you can rent? I feel this way about homes too. I make these statements in hope of consensus or controversy.

-LBJ paying the landlord in da white house

AHHHHHHHHHHHHHH!!!!!!!! - Street Fighter 4

2009-02-26T15:19:00.002-05:00

I hate being this pathetic at a game! Tekken made much more sense to me. This one feels clumsy and unresponsive and unintuitive. Sometimes you're actually supposed to zig-zag with the control stick. WTF? AHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHH!!!!!!!!!

It's so pretty!!!!!!! (minus the anime scenes. Anime in a game is lame)

What've you been playing?

2009-02-18T16:32:00.004-05:00

I think putting a weekly post just talking about what we've been playing would be a good idea. They do it on Destructoid's primary podcast and I think it's a great idea to throw some impressions of stuff around without exactly giving a full-blown review/final thoughts of a game.

I have started to play the new Prince of Persia (borrowed from a friend) and honestly don't like it so far. I saw my friend beat it as well and wasn't impressed, in fact was slightly irritated by it. I also feel the story of it near the end resonated a lot with Shadow of the Colossus for me, and SotC is by far a more superior game in my eyes on multiple fronts. I'm nearing the end of Crackdown (I think so at least) and have experienced co-op online with my friend and really enjoyed it. I have also been playing a huge amount of Geometry Wars 2 and N+. N+ is addictive as hell to me, the perfection demanded by some levels is frustratingly delicious. Geometry Wars 2, while a very different game from the first, introduces some amazing different gametypes. Pacifism is freaking awesome and I am addicted to it.

On an unrelated note I bought both Mastodon's Blood Mountain and Leviathan albums and they are freaking amazing. This is during my recent adventure into metal.

P.S. JFU do you have PixelJunk or Flower or Super Stardust HD? I want to try those so much since I have found a deep love for the gems I have been finding XBLA.

About this bullshit I'm doing...- Z.O.E. The Second Runner

2009-02-18T16:11:00.003-05:00

Personal Story

So, one day, me and the John Fu decide we're going to stop putting off playing Z.O.E. That it's high time that we play the sequel to a very fun game. Well, it's really fucking hard and we have a lot of trouble with it. We end up giving up at the second boss who is the first runner and the main character of the first game. He has two forms, a flying motherfucker and a mech form (a.k.a. Orbital Frame). You can only damage the mech form, but the flying form shot out a lot of shit at us. We couldn't survive long enough most times to fight the mech form.

The fact that you fight the first runner, I always thought that was kinda cool. Albeit this kid didn't have to fucking fight you like he did, but he sincerely thought you were an enemy so who blames him.

I always thought about that and so when I saw Z.O.E. 2 for 7 bucks, I picked it up.

Nothing's changed. The same two problems John Fu and I had back then I have now.

Real shit

Z.O.E. requires you to think fast. Not only think fast, but perceive fast. In less than a second, you have to attack, figure out what your attack did, and figure out what to do next. Not so uncommon, right? Z.O.E. 2's as fast as Ninja gaiden but with a lot more flashy lights, and the flashy lights are really really distracting. It's easy is Z.O.E. 2 to button-smash square twice and suddenly be slammed up against a wall with half-health barely understanding what just happened. As far as you know it sounded like you were hitting something, the controller was vibrating but that could have meant a hit too. I don't know if the fact that the stimulus you get in fighting is hard to discern represents a design flaw. It does make the game harder.

And speaking of design flaws, let me tell you about some ridiculous shit to exemplify a video game standard that I despise. That standard is condition-based damage-dealing. Ok, so you are Dingo Egret in your Orbital Frame. The orbital frame of the chick you're working for has been taken over by a battle A.I.. In order to remove the battle A.I. from the chick's orbital frame, you must grab the orbital frame. Unfortunately, you can only grab the orbital frame after crossing swords which takes a shitload of timing. Of course, she's not always ready to cross swords. You have a limited number of chances to cross swords with her and a certain amount of times you must cross swords with her in order for her to fall back stunned so you can grab and delete her. If you succeed or fail, she will then move on to her attacking stage where she either tries to hit you with a super energy beam or throws little exploding shits at you. Do this over and over again because it will take some fucking time on normal difficulty. Worse yet, be sure to not fuck up and actually hit the other orbital frame because that will eventually kill her and cause you to lose. Don't take hits yourself because you'll lose that way too. And don't leave that crazy bitch in the orbital frame alone because the a.i. will shock the pilot and that will do damage to the orbital frame and you will lose. Do you understand yet how difficult this is?

Condition-based damage-dealing is bullshit. It's that shit in Ocarina of Time where you waited for the spider thing to drop from the ceiling, turn it's back, so you could hit it once, and then it turned around again, so you had to wait again. It's really really boring to have to wait to hit, and especially in cases when motherfuckers can hit you all they want. It's most difficult because you never have to do it just once. You have to keep doing it until the other thing is dead, and I hate that. This part of Z.O.E. may be stretching me harder than anything I've played in a long while, but it's annoying and I lose patience with it very easily.

It's in every game. There are always good times and bad times to attack. Ninja gaiden had a softer version though. You could still attack bosses in the middle of their attacks, it just wasn't advisable. I prefer softer versions like this because it's quicker and there's less waiting around.

I think I can do this thing...

Ok, so I did that thing. Now I'm stuck on a similar battle where I very rarely have chances to do battle, and I'm just very very slowly wearing down the boss' health. Another part of gaming I hate is when difficulty increases solely by enemy health increases. It's not harder now, it just takes longer.

La-la-la-la-la-la-la-la-la-lyndon BJ

HOLY F@&K

2009-02-13T15:20:00.003-05:00

My posts never tend to include thoughtful analysis of a game... and this one will be no different. For your viewing pleasure, I present to you the crazy awesome, epic trailer for God of War III. Seriously, I don't think any game can even come close to matching the sheer brutality of this series. I am weak in the knees. Enough chat... watch the badass!

F.E.A.R - That's right - F.E.A.R.

2009-02-10T01:35:00.004-05:00

Boring personal story

Yeah, well, I mean the gamer makes the experience which makes the game. 3 years ago John Fu bought this game for me for graduation (I think it was graduation anyway). He and I and a few others played it. One of the guys was flat hilarious and for every cheap scare, he screamed and said, "Oh my god, F.E.A.R.!" For whatever reason, three years ago, I stopped playing this game at the second building. This time was different.

Actual talk on F.E.A.R.

The best parts of F.E.A.R. (god that's obnoxious to write) are when it makes you question what you're seeing and when the A.I. fucks you over with their super flanking skills.

The worst parts are the bland bland environments which are larger than life itself and impractical as shit. Also, the repetitive enter a room, get attacked by people random battle format gets overplayed like some shit. The puzzles are ok but, without a map, are some times unnecessarily difficult. The game is also slightly immature. The voice actors cuss at really inappropriate times and make inappropriate comments that make you wonder who you're really supposed to like in the game. Maybe that's just me, but I'm not a fan of an exec dismissing sexual harassment complaints as bullshit or your commanding officer calling a hostage an incessant bitch. There are also some technical issues like the Doppler effect and how you may be three floors underneath blood dripping from a ceiling but you can still hear it loud as day. Loading times. Volume control. No subtitles. Pauses in gameplay when something's about to happen. Off-kilter Scripted sequences.

The story goes both good and bad. First of all, I gotta make a comment about this "learn-as-you-go" thing that's come into fashion. It takes a lot of attention, and I wasn't always paying that hard of attention because it was late at night or the voice-mail thing was bothering me or I was looking at a poster or I just thought the concepts were lame. So, I looked up the Wikipedia article to see what I'd missed. John Fu and I ended up doing the same thing for Resistance 2. I would love to spend the time collecting all the intel in the game, but I really don't want to spend the time. Wikipedia's quicker.

So, a prominent defense contractor decides that creating a psychic commander to control its clone army is a good idea (WTF? A psychic commander?), and so they make a psychic commander, but...whoops...he goes nuts. That brings you (nameless, faceless character) in. The fact that you're nameless and faceless becomes important later and would have shocked me if Bioshock hadn't pulled the same trick years later and if I had played these games in chronological order. But, I feel like I'm giving too much away. The game is fucking scary. The villain is very well-characterized by the end. I'm excited for the latest one.

-early in the LBJ

Max Payne the Movie

2009-02-10T00:57:00.002-05:00

Well, I hope it helps bring in money and interest in a third game...

The movie has some great instances of character development, especially with BB who has a really twisted monologue. They even mention Max's father, which is sweet! The Valkyr has neat effects on Max. Visually, it's pretty beautiful. I think it takes a lot from Sin City, but it also resembles the source material.

In a lot of other ways it doesn't resemble the source material. Like the ongoing inner monologue has been removed. Mona Sax's sister is now Russian, played by Jackie from That 70s Show/Meg griffin. Bravura is Ludacris. Lupino is latin-american. And Max Payne is working a cold-case unit, not undercover That part especially is troublesome to me.

The old game cover reads "Stand Back, A Man with Nothing to Lose." In the game, that's true. Max is wanted for murder by the police and wanted by the underworld for being a cop. He hits a point of no return and never looks back.

Max Payne in the movie has a career and a chance to explain himself and work with Bravura to get justice. He chooses not to.

Ok, but I'm an asshole.

I would have started this movie out bullet-time gun-fight, heavy inner monologue and explain my way back in between the shooting. You can explain the bullet-time with Valkyr as a combat-enhancing drug. Then cast fucking Michael Madsen as Max! I would also have the guns in the movie have recoil or semi-automatics run out of bullets.

This movie wasn't horrible. I just wanted to direct it myself, you know.

I'm that asshole

-The Lo Bo Jo

When acknowledging a good game is not good enough

2009-02-08T14:12:00.002-05:00

In about 2 weeks Killzone 2 will be coming out for the PS3. Judging by the amazingly positive reception it is garnering from reviews it should be an awesome payoff for those who have waited patiently. I do not have a PS3 but I did play the first iteration on the Playstation 2 I thought it was pretty solid, multi-player FPS games are not really my thing anymore. One primary praise I have seen for Killzone 2 so far has been the amazingly stellar level design in it's multi-player levels. This would be a huge incentive for me personally when picking up something like this. So what is the point of this post? I love video games, evidently another really good game has been made and one would think the world would rejoice in it's impending release to the public. No, that isn't the case because inhabitants of the interwebs can't allow it to have a peaceful reception.

Jim Sterling from Destructoid wrote an awesome overview of this phenomena which is apparently happening. Overzealous fans always seem to want to ruin it for everyone. Not only has there been a volatile response to the lowest review for Killzone 2 on Gamerankings from Total Video Games but fans of the game in question have been quick to post on most anything related to the game. This is causing me to recall months ago on Gametrailers how multiple times a week people were making a thread on their forums about Killzone 2 and how they were looking forward to it. As opposed to listening to most of the comment responses and making a Killzone 2 permanent post in the PS3 section the fans had to keep starting threads in general discussion every week. That is either an unfortunate group of fans which the game is ashamed to be associated with or an incredibly genius marketing scheme. On top of it all these crazed fans (I sympathize with rational fans who are unfortunately tied to these people just because they appreciate a good game) are attacking reviews that give Killzone 2 a perfect score. Adam Sessler makes a great response to his critics that described G4's review with "Sure it's a 5/5 but it killed you guys a little on the inside, didn't it?".

If anything this news has put a smile on my face at how ridiculous it is. Honestly though it's rather depressing when the controversy caused by this game is made more by it's most loyal fans in being not satisfied enough with it's high review scores. Evidently if someone gives a game an 8/10, which is still a great score, because it is not perfect and differs from other ratings the person should lose their job? Fanboys disgust me and just need to get out. I personally like playing games. I don't care what console it is on, when a game is done well I am happy.

A Crossover for the Ages

2009-02-07T18:17:00.004-05:00

I like video games. I also like David Bowie. In fact, I like both a whole lot. God bless you Destructoid for taking the time to combine the two.

Starman will blow your mind

I'M BACK BITCHES

2009-02-06T19:53:00.005-05:00

YES... this means I have a new, WORKING laptop... which might mean I will post more but only time will tell. I've got a few things to say... maybe they will eventually make it on to this blog. Anyways, know that I haven't abandoned all of ye 3 readers. Huzzah for hp and backlit keyboards!!!

Bits and Bobs

2009-02-04T17:14:00.002-05:00

So first I wanna cite two awesome posts that were put up on Kotaku earlier today.

First some people over at SA produced a bunch of oldies/"classic" covers for games here. I love the retro look to them and the somewhat simplistic presentation, very cool. Also they featured an author's take on the Columbine shootings here. While the subject and issue has been beaten to death many times I found the excerpt a refreshing read and piqued my interest in one day checking the book out.

Also I found the title of this special unit rather humorous. This obviously means a zombie outbreak will be ensuing near VTech.

I am now heading out to pick up some stuff from Best Buy with a handy Reward Zone coupon. I aim to grab some more Microsoft Points and then pick up R-Type Dimensions which came out today on XBLA. I love shoot-em-ups so very very much. Although I don't think I am very good at them I am absolutely entranced whenever I play them. I am glad that I own quite a bit because the differing styles of gameplay amongst them offer such unique experiences. Oh god I have so many now that I think about it, they definitely end up working off however much you pay for them because you revisit them so much.

A Million Endings

2009-02-04T06:59:00.002-05:00

You know how Lord of the Rings had a million endings, and so did mgs4 and Yakuza 1 and Yakuza 2? You know how the millions of twists to make the millions of endings undercut the original motives of the characters?

I'm used to that now. I think I'm starting to be ok with it. I don't like it, you could have made a much tighter ending, but there are a lot of things that I'm glad didn't happen at the end of Yakuza 2....so whatever. It could have been worse.

The honeymoon with that game has been over for a long time. It ended about halfway through. When every thing but the main story is spectacular, watching boring cutscenes with the tear-jerking up to 11 makes the whole gaming experience feel...ughh

I Love Christian Bale

2009-02-04T01:19:00.003-05:00

I saw a link to this and just wow. This is awesome.

I honestly can't judge the situation since you hear about how strung out and stressful working on the set of a movie can get. Especially when they're under pressure to get stuff done on time while taking enough material to satisfy when putting the movie together. Either way it's intense and awesome as hell.

Saints Row 2 - Voiceover Trailer

2009-02-03T21:31:00.003-05:00

Eliza Dushku is fucking hot and Daniel Dae Kim is a badass!

This is that shit I was talkin about before. This sets the tone for the rest of the game. Your character is above law and order. Cops are just a nuisance.

How come no one else played a hot african-american female? Aren't video games for escapism? I mean, at first, I was kinda uncomfortable, but...it was so worth it.

OK OK OK OK OK OK OK NOKAY? OK? FUCK YOU, KAY!

-shit

RE5 Impressions

2009-02-03T13:47:00.004-05:00

Do I need to introduce this game or its demo? No, so now my goal is to make you, the reader, laugh or nod your head accordingly. So, let's do it.

Shit!
There is a lot of shit going on in this game! More enemies, pyramid heads, and another person's inventory and health to manage. Not that she's a burden, actually I feel like her AI's a better and quicker shot than me, but still suddenly she's too close to the pyramid head and he'll chop her down, suddenly she's knifing people and you think, "Oh, how cool that she's conserving ammo" when really she's out of bullets! Suddenly as you're about to uppercut some dude, she shoots him and he dies and you curse her for wasting her ammo! Do you even need to conserve ammo as much in this game? And where am I supposed to hide? Are there actually good cover positions? Shit, this shit stresses me out. I'm gonna throw a grenade to "help" Sheva...

MATTER OF FACT...

Sheva
Bitch, fuck your accent, and fucking help me! There's a vaj comin' out of that dude's head and it wants me! Why are you making me jiggle my left stick so hard? I don't know if that does damage to the controller long term! Oh, yeah, and stop calling me partner! It sends mixed messages, "tiger!"

Survival Horror?
Why the fuck can't you run away? I mean that's not really the point, but every once in a while when Sheva is too dumb to back away from encroaching zombies, I really just want the safety of running the fuck away or jumping fences or some shit. Survival horror = run away please!

Environments
Bigger, seem much bigger and somewhat intimidating to navigate. They're prettier, fun to explore. Thank god for red barrels.

Sound
Chris, why you make so much noise when you run? What is all your equipment here even for? And goddamn, why you gotta pant after every time you change weapons? It's like, "Sigh...I guess I'll pull out my rifle..." Xx_Chris_xX! Fucking do it! Zombies comin' up the hell right now!

Chris v. Leon
Leon's a little smarmy, you know? Chris seems a little nicer. And I wonder about Sheva and his relationship to her.

Africa
I remember thinking there was some imperialist/colonial undertones in having a game like this in Africa. I mean, if you want, you could see RE4 as a rural/urban class struggle, maybe even some feudal shit with that little spanish Napoleon dude. I don't know, so I thought I would feel uncomfortable. I mostly just feel scared. Sure, the game takes advantage of the unstable nature of African nations, but...I don't think it's to a negative effect. I don't know. Shit. I aint no anthropologist.

I think this'll be a fun game once I stop feeling so stressed out about basic combat. Shit!

-Wazzza mah nahme, huhh? Wazza?

An RPG that made me feel like I was in the 90s

2009-01-29T13:29:00.003-05:00

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.

Saints Row

2009-01-26T02:12:00.009-05:00

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.

Yakuza 3 - That shit looked weird

2009-01-24T14:00:00.003-05:00

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

Prince of Persia-The New One

2009-01-19T14:08:00.008-05:00

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

OhBAMMA!

2009-01-13T14:58:00.003-05:00

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

2008 In Gaming For Me (AKA realizing how few new games I played)

2009-01-12T00:30:00.004-05:00

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?

Persona 4 Impressions (Spoiler Free)

2009-01-11T23:08:00.003-05:00

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...

Back From Long Absence

2009-01-04T18:38:00.002-05:00

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.

Fallout Symposium

2008-12-15T03:15:00.005-05:00

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

So far...

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

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

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

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

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

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

Just Watch It Damnit

2008-12-02T17:07:00.001-05:00

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

Fallout 3 - Never-Ending Finale

2008-11-30T17:26:00.004-05:00

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

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

Shawty Lo - Dey Know (Million $ Mano Remix)

2008-11-27T14:51:00.003-05:00

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

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

2008-11-27T04:48:00.005-05:00

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

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

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

What are you playing?
Fallout 3

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

Really?
I don't know.

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

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

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

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

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

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

FALLOUT 3 - MORE TO COME!

2008-11-21T06:59:00.008-05:00

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

I'm late for an appointment.

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

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

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

Lil Jjjjjjjjj

Get the girls to come in and see us, yeah

2008-11-17T15:15:00.003-05:00

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

These people are fucking gifted.

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

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

2008-11-16T03:29:00.005-05:00

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

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

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

This has all sorts of implications for the game.

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

This has all sorts of implications too.

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

Vote Day, Rock On

2008-11-04T14:00:00.002-05:00

Random stuff.

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

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

Dead Space

2008-11-01T16:07:00.002-04:00

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

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

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

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

LBJ gets into Ratchet & Clank - Future Tools of Destruction

2008-10-26T14:59:00.002-04:00

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

Oh, whatever.

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

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

Play that game.

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

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

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

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

-Jelicious

What's the deal? - Eternal Sonata

2008-10-23T10:59:00.001-04:00

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

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

2008-10-22T10:11:00.004-04:00

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

w/e

I beat this game.

LBJelicious

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

2008-10-19T06:02:00.004-04:00

Update: 10/28/08

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

So much work

2008-10-16T11:49:00.003-04:00

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

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

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

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

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

ughhh I wanna play Dead Space!

Name Change

2008-10-09T21:12:00.003-04:00

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

From now on, call me LB Jelicious.

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

Why I game

2008-10-05T22:15:00.005-04:00

word.

Deep thoughts... with Fu Kennedy

2008-09-29T13:54:00.003-04:00

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

FUCKFUCKFUCKFUCKFUCKFUCKFUCKFUCKFUCKFUCKFUCKFUCKFUCKFUCK
FUCKFUCKFUCKFUCKFUCKFUCKFUCKFUCKFUCKFUCKFUCKFUCKFUCKFUCK
FUCKFUCKFUCKFUCKFUCKFUCKFUCKFUCKFUCKFUCKFUCKFUCKFUCKFUCK
FUCKFUCKFUCKFUCKFUCKFUCKFUCKFUCKFUCKFUCKFUCKFUCKFUCKFUCK
FUCKFUCKFUCKFUCKFUCKFUCKFUCKFUCKFUCKFUCKFUCKFUCKFUCKFUCK
FUCKFUCKFUCKFUCKFUCKFUCKFUCKFUCKFUCKFUCKFUCKFUCKFUCKFUCK
FUCKFUCKFUCKFUCKFUCKFUCKFUCKFUCKFUCKFUCKFUCKFUCKFUCKFUCK

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

Aes and Blockhead

2008-09-11T19:04:00.001-04:00

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

Intro Def Jux Production

2008-09-09T14:05:00.004-04:00

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

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

No Excuse, really

2008-09-08T16:07:00.004-04:00

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

Like so,

Unnnnnhhhhh
We got it now!

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

2008-09-05T14:45:00.003-04:00

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

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

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

Pity Party with Blockhead!

2008-09-01T16:36:00.003-04:00

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

This week's is like especially good .

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

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

Major piSsass Gorram wiBed out tired

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

lil bitch...

Camutao was the shit.

P(eni)S3 Envy

2008-09-01T10:12:00.002-04:00

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

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

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

Who the fuck is Rene Zellweger?!?

2008-08-31T12:24:00.002-04:00

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

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

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

Back to school busy busy

2008-08-27T01:45:00.002-04:00

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

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

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

We are not fucking around - The Wire

2008-08-16T11:27:00.006-04:00

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

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

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

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

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

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

Omar Part 1:

Omar Part 2:

Bonus: Bumpin' underground

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

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

Donation drive! We need 360s!

Freebirth scum

2008-08-07T15:01:00.013-04:00

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

Condemned: Criminal Origins

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

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

Devil May Cry 4

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

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

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

Marvel Ultimate Alliance

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

Ninja Gaiden 2

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

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

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

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

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

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

Slap that bitch!

2008-07-27T21:53:00.004-04:00

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

Slap that bitch!

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

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

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

Max Payne the Movie- More fanboyism!

2008-07-24T14:35:00.008-04:00

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

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

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

2008-07-19T19:34:00.005-04:00

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

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

_________End of review, this post is really long___________

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

________________3rd Review________________

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

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

Lynny Boj

P.S.

"Yeaaaaaaaaaaaaaa boiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiieeeeeee"

The Fuk LBJ: ROUGH DRAFT Triumphant

2008-07-17T12:21:00.010-04:00

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

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

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

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

NOW Subscribe!

Another for the sake of friendly exchange

2008-07-17T00:11:00.004-04:00

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

2008-07-14T20:57:00.008-04:00

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

2008-07-09T20:54:00.004-04:00

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

2008-07-07T18:57:00.001-04:00

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

2008-07-04T22:50:00.003-04:00

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

2008-07-04T01:49:00.001-04:00

::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

2008-07-02T23:05:00.003-04:00

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!

2008-07-01T13:06:00.001-04:00

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

2008-06-30T13:21:00.002-04:00

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!

2008-06-30T12:34:00.002-04:00

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

2008-06-28T16:19:00.001-04:00

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...

Xenosaga 2 - Favorite scene in like...anything

2008-06-28T16:00:00.002-04:00

Yeah, I'm mostly talking about that first scene, not really that psuedo philosophical babble afterwards. Dig me some hot complicated character motives and development though.

Background information (thxxx Wiki):

"Albedo was created by Dimitri Yuriev as U.R.T.V. Unit 667, originally a conjoined twin with Unit 666, Rubedo. U.R.T.V. stands for U-DO Retro Virus, and are bio-engineered weapons designed to fight against U-DO, a mysterious wave existence.

Albedo was high-strung and fearful as a child. He clung to Rubedo for protection, and lashed out violently against anyone who attacked Rubedo, once even going so far as to injure and nearly kill a fellow U.R.T.V., Number 623. He did not show any remorse afterwards, indicating his developing sociopathy that would manifest in his later life. He also treated the other "normal" U.R.T.V.s as inferiors, and did not see them as actual people like the way he saw Rubedo and Nigredo."

Masculinism - Wanted Movie

2008-06-28T14:05:00.005-04:00

Disclaimer: I wrote this on a hangover. It does not mean to strongly criticize anyone or society as a whole if contemporary masculinity is practiced in moderation. My thoughts are not concrete, I am just thinking out loud.

I sat in the theater thinking about this movie, Wanted, thinking that we had talked about it already and that we might as well write something about the next graphic novel to movie experience. I kinda felt like a loser thinking, "Ooh, I'm gonna write about this on my blog," but I think there's more to Wanted than a movie that follows all the acceptable formulas for action set by previous successes (Matrix, Equilibrium, Spiderman, etc.) while still adding some really exciting action sequences (how many car chases have the main character staring at panty most of the scene? How many gunfights have the main character jamming a gun in a man's eye, shooting said eye, and then holding the man on the gun as a human shield while still shooting other people?).
Wanted goes along with Fight Club's idea of a generation of men raised by their mothers, forgetting what it means to be a man for the sake of an emasculating society, "how much you know about yourself, you never been in a fight" type of thing. The main character has a shitty job, a fat boss who terrorizes him, and a whiny girlfriend routinely fucked by his fratboy best friend. The life we all dread. One day his father, a notable assassin, is killed, and he is targeted by a rogue assassin. So, Angelina Jolie (who only gets a handful of lines throughout the movie) saves him from his normal life to be an all-powerful assassin and say fuck you to whoever he wants.
This is the ideal, right? We all, presumably, wish that one day we can just say "fuck you" to every little piece of shit in our life we normally just deal with, but what a way to do it, huh? The first thing that sets him free is $3 million; the second thing is learning how to kill, and the third thing is Angelina Jolie.
In reality though, money probably does not set you free. It helps, but a windfall of $3 million doesn't change who you are, it just means you can pick a better lifestyle, go back to school, take a vacation. If money made men masculine then Bill Gates would be the most masculine man we know, and I think we can agree he's not, but he is powerful, so maybe money is a good way to symbolize and exert power. Power, I think we can agree is pretty damn masculine.
Arguably, women do not free you of shit you didn't want to deal with because women are people and people cause issues. Even you cause issues for yourself. Do women make men masculine? Well, wasn't that the problem back in the day? Men being men meant women couldn't be free. Masculinity requires power, and subjugation is a means, albeit a really poor one, to said feeling of power.
So, one of the ultimate feelings of power must come from power over the lifespan of another human being. Well, that's not socially acceptable and it's not a good message (Be a Man, Pick Up a Gun) that Wanted sends. Video games are more socially acceptable. We kill people all the time in video games. I've learned recently that entertainment, and video games especially, are gendered. According to my Poli Sci Prof and several other girls I've talked to, the fact that video games tend to face a good guy versus a bad guy who can only be quelled by violence is a male concept, and, the fact that most video games have an objective to achieve is also a male concept. While I would rather play MGS4 and save the world, my lady friend would rather design a bedroom in The Sims (admittedly, she wants to be an interior decorator) or try out new personalities with her character. I beat Xenosaga 2 and another lady friend watches How I Met Your Mother.

The writing was weak in Wanted, and that made the twists in the movie really unsatisfying and uninteresting for me because for the most part, the twists just added time. Like a video game (SPOILER! Assassin's Creed), taking out one enemy makes the character realize that the real enemy is someone else. The best twist to this story, and this flows naturally if you see the movie, I think, would be that the main character (a moral person) realizes that despite all his bitching, he was okay with the life he had. It wasn't perfect, but it was moral. It wasn't entirely destructive like his life as an assassin.
There has to be some way to be a man without hurting other people. We may agree, the American definition for men is flawed and needs to change but there's been no large masculine movement to change it in society, probably because, for most people, it's just fine as it is.
The feminist movement told women to get out and be successful, don't be no domestic, educate yourself! Break the glass ceiling! Masculinity tells us blue-collar work is manly or money gets you women and power and is therefore masculine, but doesn't tell us to go to school to get rich. It tells us to play sports, get lucky, or whatever but combined with the narrative that anyone can do anything, forgets to tell us that few people get windfall lucky. Books are ghey. Cars and babes are phat. Parties are sweet. Instead of maturing Masculinism, the main response to feminism seems to be fratboyism, rampant homophobia, and sexism (in sometimes extremely perverse ways, e.g. Bangbus) when the ladies aren't around or right in front of her face if she's desperate enough for attention, none of which are productive or respectful. Just wait until women have all the best high-paying jobs and are the most successful, and men have a disproportionately high rate of poverty, then hopefully society realizes it was wrong.

harold norse was a poet back in the day who wrote a poem called i am not a Man and it iS rather movin(g), i Believe.

Lynny Boy Jo will return with the regularly scheduled blogging in soon

El-P - Welcome to waterboarding

2008-06-25T11:10:00.001-04:00

Did you know what waterboarding is?
Wikipedia says, "Waterboarding is a form of torture that consists of immobilizing a person on their back with the head inclined downward—known as the Trendelenburg position—and pouring water over the face and into the breathing passages. Through forced suffocation and inhalation of water, the subject experiences the process of drowning and is made to believe that death is imminent. In contrast to merely submerging the head face-forward, waterboarding almost immediately elicits the gag reflex. Although waterboarding does not always cause lasting physical damage, it carries the risks of extreme pain, damage to the lungs, brain damage caused by oxygen deprivation, injuries (including broken bones) due to struggling against restraints, and even death. The psychological effects on victims of waterboarding can last for years after the procedure."

Goddamn.

Oh my... it is way too early

2008-06-25T08:04:00.002-04:00

Parkour is absolutely amazing. Awesome to watch, and I am sure it is just as incredible to be able to do. For such a great concept/activity to be put into a game and executed pretty damn well is the same level of awesome. Possibly even more awesome because then people who would not normally try scaling building faces can get to try it out. This is the main reason Assassin's Creed kicks so much ass... but oh there is so much more.

First off, this game was hyped. The hype machine is a dangerous thing that can utterly shatter and beat down an easily above average game. This just so happens to be what happened to Assassin's Creed. Around the game's release early reviews of it acted as though it was such a disappointment for the future/past "twist" to be revealed so early. I found this hardly a twist, more like a genius explanation to why you can "redo" some of your investigations or how dying is actually a "mistake" for once as well as a great stage for the story to take place on. The twists and turns Desmond's ancestor Altair takes as he continues to take out his targets while beginning to question the motives behind his killing whenever a primary victim expels information regarding their motives I found to be very well done. The final stages of the story and the end of the game left me completely ready and wanting a sequel, almost but not quite as ready for a sequel that Beyond Good & Evil left me feeling (god that experience was so unfair, and having to wait this long for confirmation that they are even continuing the BG&E franchise was so painful haha). Looking at the game for purely the story that it delivers, I was absolutely thrilled and loved what it had.

Now for the gameplay/mechanics part. This is definitely a love or hate situation. To go on top of that it is reliant on one big factor, how much a person actually finds themself enjoying and immersed in the world. When I first popped the game in, I spent over an hour just running around Masyaf at the very beginning. The visuals had me entranced, and the fluidity of Altair's movement and the subtle interactions you can have with people (running into them, making them confused at your actions, taking them out) impressed me. As a rather important note I can say I am a relative stranger to most free-roaming games so this may not amaze some people, I'm sure other games may have higher levels of involvement with the populace of a game. Because I already stated my love of parkour then I just happened to love every minute of dashing around on tops of buildings or blasting through marketplaces or being sneaky and taking out rooftop guards etc. I have heard complaints that the game is highly repetative. To me it was one of those guilty pleasure repetatives, I know they could have switched it up a bit probably but I really didn't mind. If you really think hard about it they could've had all sorts of other types of investigation quests, other mini-quest types, different formats for assassinations etc. The problem I have, despite these possibilities of improvement, I still had so much damned fun that I really didn't care.

Another issue people attacked it for is that the combat system was too dull. I personally loved it. I am sick of those games where you have to hack someone a million and one times to whittle down their hp bar because you've gotten to the hard part of the game where *more hp* = *zomg difficulty ^^^*, while some great games don't do this a good deal of them do. I liked the fact that combat is short and sweet, you can insta-kill people, if you're skilled enough with your timing you can counter everything they throw at you. Think about it this way, these are random city guards and militia. Most of them are not gonna be sword experts, you've been trained as an assassin all your life. Obviously for the most part you can dish out massive damage, counter, evade, tear it up on most of the guards. The last final couple fights had it's difficulty increased because the enemy starts to counter or break your guard more frequently. This helps force you to utilize your dodging or reverse grabs more since they aren't as necessary earlier on. The combat system is fluid, animations are hot and sexy sprays of blood whenever you counter-kill someone, and best of all it's not a focal point of the game. Yes you can brawl your way to the target, but as a player you actually feel compelled to be sneaky just because it's so much cooler and makes you feel more like a badass.

That is basically what this game boils down to, how much you as a player buy into the atmosphere. It was incredible to me. The game is what it is, the over-hype hurt it's credibility to be as amazing as it was advertised but it is still a great game. Definitely above average, very memorable and I can't wait for a sequel. Honestly this is a genius set up in having an above average game which is brought down by mechanics and quests that could have been more diversified. This allows their sequel to easily surpass the first game seeing as how they have an amazingly solid base to build off of, now they get to work out all the details of making it even better. Ubisoft, I can't wait to see what you do with the second part of the trilogy... on a related note you better get to making that BG&E cause I want it bad.

Why the hell did you have to change the art-style on BG&E though? =(
The cel-shading of the original was so amazing and beautiful, and going off of that I hope they stick to the cel-shaded theme of the concept art for the new Prince of Persia game cause those look amazing. I have to say though I have yet to play any PoP games.

Now I don't know what I should dive into next... DMC4, GTA4, Ninja Gaiden 2, or Jericho.

"Oh you think that's hard! I'M JUST THE TUTORIAL LEVEL!"

The best pre-E3 rumor so far...

2008-06-24T15:50:00.007-04:00

Rumor has it that the third installment of the most bad ass franchise in the history of video games will be shown at this year's E3. To be honest, this is the first I've been excited about E3 all year... nothing has really caught my attention. I did gloss over all the Microsoft rumors that were leaked... but I just didn't care.

~JFu

P.S. After reading a review for Wanted, it seems like it might be the fun, campy thrill ride that I didn't think it would be (I thought it would take itself seriously). If this turns out to be true... I'll probably end up seeing it.

Yeah... Where the hell IS Matt?

2008-06-23T22:58:00.002-04:00

This is quite possibly one of the coolest/happiest videos I've seen in a long time. I tried to post it earlier but the blog was shut down for updates. It would have completely changed my cynical views on life had I not just eaten the most horribly buttery noodles at the time (I almost had a heart attack).

Where the Hell is Matt? (2008) from Matthew Harding on Vimeo.

I realize it will probably take up half the page but it's worth it. To make up for that, you can enjoy the most fantastical intro to a show in the history of... human history

DO YOU LIKE RPG'S NOW?!?!?!

2008-06-23T01:26:00.003-04:00

God bless Adam Sessler. I used to not be able to stand him... but he's grown on me over the years. This is an oldie but a goodie... back right before G4 completely sold out (even though they had already started to).

~JFu

TAKE THAT XENOSAGA

El-P Deep Space 9mm

2008-06-22T17:50:00.001-04:00

Last one. Also poignant.
When I rap next to a naked woman, I always hope she doesn't pull a gun.
Youtube still thinks we're Gardening all the time. I'm still hoping my hip-hop tree buds soon.

El P - Stepfather Factory

2008-06-22T12:16:00.001-04:00

Wow! That last scene alone is worth this four minutes.

REALLY!?!?!?!

2008-06-21T03:22:00.002-04:00

This is quite possibly the stupidest shit ever. I am really excited about guitar hero for the DS but damn... does this shit ever happen? C'mon, suspension of disbelief is key to most movies... why can't it carry over to commercials?

Summer Time... and the living's easy?

2008-06-21T03:05:00.003-04:00

Damn, this has probably been the most prolific summer we've ever had... granted this is the only summer we've had. Regardless, we are posting like crazy... and you know, it's all damn good. So you, as the reader, have to take it on yourself to scroll down to keep up with all the updates. Yes, we have more than one update per day... possibly even three... maybe more. Like I said, it's all interesting and it's all good. You may not agree with our views, but damnit, read it. Chances are you might enjoy it. Welcome to MS(g)B... we got shit to write... and you got to read it. If you don't have time, make it. It'll be worth it... trust us.

~JFu

P.S. Kat Williams stand up... watch it.

Most games with stories worth being told have gameplay flaws

2008-06-21T00:17:00.002-04:00

Rule of Rose is most definitely one of them. To preface this let me say that the story present in Rule of Rose was by far one of the most touching and heartwarming stories that I have experienced in quite a while. While some blanks or explanations may be needed, seek the internet's help, it definitely pays off to clarify your queries. I will also admit that it was so painful to have to put up with the battle-system at a particular part of the game but oh was it worth it.

The story is about a girl, Jennifer, and her acid-trip-gone-wrong story accompanied by her faithful dog. Needless to say if you are not down for a story involving a girl's psychological problems, children cruelty to each other, and a dog then this game is not for you. There is a lot to frustrate here, but if you're willing to invest in chugging through it I found the story worth it. Graphics wise I found the game was presented very well. There is a great deal of darkness to add to the absolute surreal nature of the game and on top of that there is a constant grain filter on the screen (I believe the player has some input on the level of graininess if it bothers you). The sound is also pretty good, the musical score is absolutely disturbing. There are mostly strings arrangements throughout, during combat or just the many disturbing cut-scenes they play various pieces that give off the most nervous and unsettling feeling. The atmosphere and feel to the game through graphics, presentation, and music is top notch. The voice acting is also absolutely amazing.

Now to the game-play. I personally did not have a problem with Jennifer's awkward handling of weapons because I felt that it was reasonable that a completely terrified girl would not be a pro at hacking little imps with pairing knives or an ice pick. I also really enjoyed the level of detail in expressions she had (she looks away when she stabs, not wanting to see the actual drawing of blood, as well as taking deep breathes after running for a prolonged period of time once you stop). Major issues arise when collision detection for weapons end up not working in your favor quite often, and of course for the enemies they seem to randomly connect when they honestly should not. This would not have been that large of a problem if health items would have been more readily available but they are most definitely a luxury. What this does cause the player to do is play intelligently, avoid conflicts, and massive resource controlling. This lead me to beat the game relatively without a hitch save for one area near the end which had me pulling my hair out (I was so close, but getting past that part honestly made the end all the more sweet).

There is not much I can say about the game without increasing the risk of me accidentally spoiling the story. I know not that many people played it, probably some that tried gave up after being frustrated. This game honestly reminds me of Jericho, which I recently played the demo of on Xbox Live. While I heard the ending of Jericho is disappointing, Rule of Rose's ending is NOT, I got the sense it's reviewers expected the next Halo in it when it was more atmosphere/immersion based not "ZOMG GUYS LETS PLAY JERICHO AND KNOCK BACK SOME COLD ONES" on the weekend. That being said, Rule of Rose is similar to something like Resident Evil only in the sense that the control of the character is similar...that is about it. For the low price that it has surely obtained by now at your local gamestore it would be a worthwhile investment if you have a good deal of patience, about 8 hours of freetime, and a hunger for an absolutely great story. Looking back I don't see myself ever trying to obtain the various bonus unlockables, but I do potentially see myself giving it another playthrough. This is definitely finding beauty in an abandoned ugly duckling, and man do I love my ugly ducklings.

Bottomline if you didn't catch my drift I think the game is totally worth the frustration.

Also, I hope to try out Clive Barker's: Jericho at some point once it drops more in price. That game's demo was the first time I had truly had such a visceral experience from a first-person-view. Having a slimy-rotting-templar-zombie fall on top of you and while straddling you stabs and bludgeons you and while your character screams (and she sounds very believable) if you fail a pretty rapid series of button pressing in order to parry and block the blows left me in quite a shock. The voice acting was pretty good in the game to boot (I point this out since it is a squad based game and your teammates at least sounded intelligent and realistic). The reason for my sudden interest I think is due to my anger at reviews which hastily compare a game to the genre's standards as opposed to it's own merits especially if it wasn't trying to meet the conventions of the genre in the first place. Most complaints seem to be due to the questionable ally AI (I've only played the demo so far), useless squad commands (when playing it I mainly didn't notice, I just made my own advances and they helped cover my back), and ripping the switching characters mechanic which I found to be very successful. Whatever, now I am just rambling but I honestly am looking forward to trying out the game once it's price goes down some more since I am down with the occult and creepiness. Also I want to know if the story is complete rubbish or not.

Nitpciking Penny Arcade... and Spore

2008-06-20T16:54:00.005-04:00

I hate to keep ripping on Penny Arcade because I honestly like the two of them. I've been a fan of their strip for a long time and enjoy all that they've done to forward the gaming community (they have seemingly made it more acceptable... though that could just be the natural progression of things). I also really dig their Child's Play Charity and wouldn't mind going to PAX.

In light of recent events, however, I have become a little aggrivated with them. I will admit I'm a huge MGS fanboy and it pains me to see someone rip so hard on my most beloved franchise... but I can also accept that it's not everyones' cup of tea. The fact that they didn't like the game is fine. What really struck a nerve was how they seemed to be going so far past what was necessary to rip it a new one... even criticizing genuinely good aspects of the game. It was as though they were just trying to piss everyone of and reveling in the fact that they have the ability to do so.

Over the years, they have become more and more famous, and because of this, feel entitled to mouth off about anything... and be considered an authority. LilBeej made a good point saying how they should stick to humor (which they started with) and keep the commentary to a minimum (at least keep it in comic form). As their sucess has grown, so to has their egos. I was able to brush it off when it wasn't directly impacting something I cared about, but after the MGS fiasco, it's kind of hard not to go back and notice they've been doing this shit for a long time. The most recent example has to do the with Daily Show.

The Daily Show was commenting on recent Obama shortcomings/controversies and showed a very funny photoshopped image of Obama punching a baby. Jon Stewart followed by saying something along the lines of "you don't know what that baby said" and "maybe he was being a dick." There was an old strip where Penny Arcade made a very similar joke, granted there was no funny photoshop with it (the original comic). The rabid hordes of Penny Arcade Fanboys emailed the clip to Gabe and he felt the need to post about it. He prefaced the post with this message:

"**Just to clarify, I'm not saying they stole it. In fact I'm saying I understand how easy it is for two people to make the same joke. I just think it's funny.**"

The last part of that leads me to believe that he DOES think it was taken from them. Maybe I'm wrong. It then goes on to compare the two and provide links to both. The post is concluded with this message:

"I had a lot of people telling me we got ripped off. As someone who writes jokes for a living I understand how easy it is to unintentionally copy someone else. Either way there isn't much to do about it except feel flattered I guess."

This to me proves their ego has grown a little bit more than it should. By using the term "flattered" he's completely eliminated all possibility of him thinking this to be a coincidence. And yes, there is a good chance that one of the Daily Show writers is a fan of penny arcade (hell, they all could be) and wanted to pay homage to the strip. There is also the chance that it seems like a fairly simple (yet effective) joke to come up with. One that I'm sure many people used well before Gabe and Tycho. Maybe Penny Arcade even borrowed it from someone else. All I'm trying to get across is I think Penny Arcade needs to be a little more humble in their dealings with things. Having opinions is fine and dandy but they don't have to think the world revolves around them... even though their following is very large. And fucking with fanboys for the hell of it can be fun... but there's just no need (like there was no need to try and reason with that crazy swedish lady who spit on me on the subway).

After reading over this, I just realized that Gabe could be using "flattered" referring to all the people who took the time to email the clip. If this is true, then cool. But it does seem ironic that Penny Arcade will blast fanboys while not apologizing for the hordes that follow them (who knows, maybe they have).

I also downloaded the Spore Creature Creator. I'm not registered with EA so my version might be extremely limited (can't download any updates). It's a lot of fun and I find myself spending far too long with it (I SHOULD BE WORKING DAMNIT). It really is cool just creating things and made me remember why I enjoyed the Sims so much. Very similar feeling to this game (atmosphere-wise). And with everyone contributing some kind of phallic or perverse creation, I thought I'd give it a try. The first couple of times I set out to do this, I got so damn distracted with all you are able to do, that I completely forgot to make a phallic creature and made something completely different. I finally got around to it and found it to be not as fun as I had hoped (it had two penises on either end with boobs on top... teehee). Today I even tried to make a yoshi clone but it didn't come out so well. What strikes me the most (didn't I use that for the MGS review) is the sheer amount of customization you are allowed. It's almost limitless and proves both hugely appealing and very frustrating. I never can be quite satisfied with my creature since there is always something left I could add or take away. But really, the whole thing is very enjoyable... I might even pick up the game when it comes out.

~JFu

When Video Games and Physics Collide

2008-06-19T18:31:00.001-04:00

See more funny videos at CollegeHumor

Plus it was made by a computer... or our friend from back home

What it means to be 10/10 - 2/2 of MS(g)B on MGS4

2008-06-18T16:34:00.006-04:00

I am of the opinion that videogames, rather than predisposing people to violence and war, give the player the important experience of being a part of war-like conditions. Call of Duty 4 and other titles seem to make war cool, but as Army of Two (also made war cool ) dealt with the growing private military complex and its possible moral ramifications; Haze, like MGS4 also tells the story of soldiers watering down combat for better effectiveness, and even the movie Ironman dealt with the US lack of accountability for civilian casualties, Metal Gear Solid 4 is part of a re-emerging (historically, this shit be cyclical) social critique on those who wage war, war profiteers, war's effect on people, and, especially, the future of war.
Unlike the complicated plots of MGS2 and 3, more dealing with soldiers as the plaything of planners, MGS4's focus on war is a throwback to the original Metal Gear Solid. MSG2, in particular, seems to have thrown a lot of people off . I've talked to a few people who kind of lost interest because of 2, bought the third game but never really played it (the third game was hard as shit). Playing the previous MGS games is nigh essential for playing MGS4. You can get by, but you're gonna be confused.
What's been nice about the Metal Gear Solid series is that while most sequels show you the characters soon after the events of the previous title, MGS1,2, and 4 take place years later and don't waste time in the beginning on you catching up on what's happened. The passing of time has created many new problems for the characters involved in the story, most prevalent would be Snake's inexplicable, rapidly-progressed aging. MGS4 starts off in combat and takes frequent breaks for exposition to catch up on the past years, and when it comes it leaves you with even more questions to keep you going.
While a throwback to the original in story, what's weird about 4 is that in gameplay, it resembles a first-person shooter more than a stealth game despite the tools used for stealth being very user-friendly and fun. For stealth purposes, a circle appears around your octocamo (which unlike the constant adjustments you had to make in three, automatically adjusts to your surroundings) indicating enemy position, distance, and awareness of you. In addition, the Solid Eye provides data on troop movement by sight and sound data represented in a sonar-like manner. Instead of 2 and 3's stamina bar, there's a psyche gauge. Its level is affected heavily by the percentage of stress Snake's body experiences due to getting shot, getting shot at, or even crouching for too long. Lower levels of psych makes you run slower and aim shittier. High levels of stress and shooting can induce a combat high making you more effective and take less damage.
For combat, there are many, many weapons (Example: at least 5 different rocket launchers) with very many different appeals. New weapons can be picked up or bought through your start menu, accessing Drebin, a war profiteer, and his store. All extra guns you pick up are automatically sold to Drebin (presumably because Otacon's toy robot has taken them to Drebin), and upgrades and more weapons can be bought at any time (saved my ass in the middle of several boss fights when I ran out of ammo). Resource management is challenging because health and psych recovery items must be found (a.k.a. Procure On-Site); however, they are plentiful.
So, how does this change Metal Gear Solid's gameplay?
While taking down every enemy was my only stealth strategy in MGS2, in MGS4, collecting weapons for Drebin (the weapons pimp) creates an incentive to take down all enemy soldiers instead of sneaking by. In addition, several rail-shooter or team gameplay elements emphasize shooting over MGS' really fun and challenging stealth action.
PMC and Rebel NPCs are often infinite and their bodies disappear over time. This and the Drebin point system creates an incentive to farm enemy respawn spots for Drebin Points to get new weapons, and I think this system, besides discouraging stealthy play, took away from what could have been a powerful vision of the battlefield. See, Snake actually steps around bodies in this game, and him stepping around a battlefield riddled with corpses fighting for (and this too could have helped Kojima's themes but the detail on the Rebel's objectives are slight; however, the Private Military Company troops are motivated by economic profits which is, you know, sick) what seem to be lost or foolish causes as a consistent image everywhere Snake went would really bring home the way war devastates lives, maybe throw in some crying children and parents for emotional flavor.
Instead, like a shooter with RPG elements (RE4, for example), every time a soldier dies, a sound that a gun pickup is available goes off, and you, the player, internally jump with glee at the Drebin Points it's going to get you. So, despite killing being a disincentive in the previous games, the more you kill, the better weapons you get, the better damage you can do to your enemies. Killing more drops some of your end-of-chapter Drebin Points, but so what? You can make more from farming troops anyway. I tried to kill as little as possible which gave me about 5 weapons to choose from with little upgrades available, so Drebin Points stopped mattering to me after a while, which detracted severely from my enjoyment of this game.
It's also really distracting that all the rebels sound like Americans. What are Americans doing in the Middle East fighting for the previous regime? Aren't the Americans part of the PMC? Why does every dying person have the same death rattle (and since people die a lot, this noise gets frigging spammed)? I think this is because there's only two voice actors for the troops. There's also only 5 different types of enemies besides the boss, so really, to summarize, gameplay is hide, find enemy troop, line up shot to take down enemy troop, then progress. In the most fun parts of the game, environmental factors like a mortar or APC or ambient warfare force you to vary your strategy. Level design also helps mix up the line-up, shoot combination. Various mini-games like tracking footprints and tailing also vary gameplay.
Boss battles do not vary gameplay so much. They get repetitive too: (1)find hiding boss, (2)enable normal combat situation with boss (you know, do something so he or she will actually die), (3)line up shot, (4)take shot, repeat. I'm exaggerating a little bit, but I did spend a lot of in-game time lining up shots, which to me is repetitive as hell. It really pales in comparison to boss battles from previous games.
Don't get me wrong, I loved this game. In my every waking moment, the bleakness of various elements called out to me, pulled me in, and distracted me from everything else. One boss kept trying to hug me to death, and if you let her, she lays you down and her and snake both finally seem at peace. I had trouble wanting to retry the segment. The world is sad. The music is amazing. The graphics and motion-capture are so intensely beautiful and realistic that in everyday life I often still feel like I'm in the game, and I loved that while I played it, I felt linked to much bigger things than myself. I felt like I was saving the world, but I kept getting pulled out of that by the weaker points of this game.
Like the fact that the story really lacks consistency. Kojima's sense of humor is cute and doesn't distract as much as the fact that the characters are larger-than-life then human then larger-that life. They're badass, but to create tension and suspense they make mistakes and get hurt, but then they keep coming back. To me, MGS4's epic qualities don't qualify as good when Kojima keeps picking and choosing when to bring the game back down to reality. I mean, it's really hard to kill anyone in this game, much less stop these motherfuckers from talking because they talk a lot.
It's like first somebody has information, then after a level ends they miraculously have more information, and then after that they get some more. Much of the cinematics involve explaining events or phenomena instead of showing events or phenomena (although even that has too much detail at times), which is fine in smaller doses but MGS4 has a lot to explain, so the cinematics dragged on very long.
Even cinematics that show are problematic because this is a video game. Many action cinematics in MGS4 easily could have made for very fun gameplay elements. I think part of the reasoning for this is due to the fact that although the story mainly deals with the lives of people around Snake, he is the only playable character. I think Snake's biggest character development and sketching happened in MGS1. Now Snake's old, but at his core he's still Snake. At first, Snake gets the biggest focus, but in terms of story, he's not the main character. The cast of MGS4 is an ensemble with roughly equal parts to play in the main story, but still Snake is the only playable character.
I really did not mind playing as Raiden in the second game, and I really wanted to play as him this time around. Goddamn that boy's cool! If only the community had accepted him. Right, the community...Part of the gameplay experience, although we at MSGB (unlike Penny Arcade ) and other fine publications try our hardest to minimize it's effects, is expectations based on hearsay, personal preference, and past experiences. There is a lot of press on MGS4 saying it is the best game ever. You hear this and go, "Wow, ok! I'll check that out" or "Bullshit" or you say "Damn, of course! It's Metal Gear Solid!"
And, in response, I would say that MGS4 is a game everyone should suffer through. It's steps away from being perfect so when I say suffer through, I mean there are really good bits (bits that should go down in history as really good bits), and I'm really happy with the conclusion of the series, but that there are other bits that really bring the game down, and given the caliber of the game's good bits, they bring it down more for me because the good bits give me such high expectations. The level of storytelling in this game is so fucking high at times, but then some cheesy or questionable element comes up, and it frustrates the hell out of me.
But then again, I told a friend the way I felt about MGS4 (Really good with some really bad parts), and he said, "Sound like a Metal Gear Solid Game." How true. Throughout the series, the almost-trademark elements of these games that have bothered me have made others fall in love and rediscover that love over and over. So, I can sit here and be bitter about the cheesy bits and no one will care, because they love those cheesy bits for their cheesiness, and in the end, what makes a game a ten out of ten, to me, is if (like MGS fanpeople) on your first time playing you are hooked in mind, body, and controller to the game despite its shortcomings.
While I'm an avid MGS follower, I've always been on the fence about the series. I think I focus on the weaker points of the series because I see them as part of bigger trends that bother me, and that, in turn, makes me judge MGS4 unfairly. For instance, I see in MGS4 that the largest Japanese market likes or the entertainment industry of Japan thinks the market likes cheesy shit. I see translations that could have been better, awkward or unnecessary foreign language use (Raison d'etre, Guns of the Patriots, etc.), and a Japanese predilection to connect everyday situations to more abstract concepts or use analogies in a way that confuses rather than adds to meaning, and also, (shit...I'm sorry) Fanboy/girlism really bothers me. It's a stupid pet peeve. Becoming more attached to a label or set of characters or whatever is natural as time goes on and increases enjoyment of said franchises which is really what matters, right? Good entertainment.
I've just been burned so many times by companies that take advantage of these fanboy/girl-attached labels (Square, Troika, X-Men, etc.) to cater to a specific audience or make money with subpar products. MGS4 is not subpar. It's better than most everything out there, but I expect it to excel like it was the first time we'd ever heard of Metal Gear or Hideo Kojima, and it doesn't always do that.

and that MakeS me a (g)rand ol' Bitter coot about Metal Gear Solid 4: Guns of the Patriots

Lynny B cooked