Thursday, December 31, 2009

My picks of the year?

Really meant to do this earlier, but I'd been kept indisposed. Sometimes you just can't get away from the friend that doesn't know how keep his mouth closed long enough for you to tell him to do so...

Anyways.

Here are my picks of the year. They might be in line with other people's, they might not. And not everything will be from this past year. Mostly, but not entirely. If anyone reading this likes my picks, great. If not, remember this is my opinion, not yours. And if you try to pull that "Well your opinion is wrong." shit, well then you can go fuck yourself. And one last note, this is based on what I've seen and played, and I haven't seen or played everything.

Favorite Games (no particular order)
Borderlands
Batman: Arkham Asylum
Deadspace
Deadspace: Extraction
Halo ODST
Super Mario Brothers Wii
Muramasa: Demon Blade

Favorite Movies (no particular order)
Star Trek
District 9
Inglorious Basterds
Avatar
Corarline
Monsters Vs. Aliens
Zombieland

Favorite Books (no particular order)
Infoquake - David Louis Edelman
The Quiet War - Paul McAuley
Consider Phlebas - Iain M. Banks
Grass for His Pillow - Lian Hearn

Other Favorite Stuff (no particular order)
Warehouse 13
Venture Brothers season 4
Doctor Horrible's Sing-a-long Blog
Deadpool
Radical Comics

Worst Games (not necessarily bad, just disappointing) (no particular order)
Cross Edge (went over this one before)
Overlord II (average)
Call of Duty: Modern Warfare 2 (single-player gameplay is okay, but the writing was the biggest sack of shit outside of Transformers 2)
Star Ocean (combat good, but the characters look like dolls, the VA work and writing are pretty crap)

Worst Movies (no particular order)
Transformers 2: Revenge of the Fallen (only good thing about it is the Robot Chicken skit "Michael Bay presents 'EXPLOSIONS!!!'")

Worst Books (not necessarily bad, just disappointing) (no particular order)
Crossover - Joel Shepard (couldn't get into it)
Godspeaker trilogy - Karen Miller (found almost all of the characters unlikable on some level or another, and depictions of fanatical religious devotion is a loaded subject these days too)
The Difference Engine - Bruce Sterling and William Gibson (what was the point of the story?)

Looking Forward to Next Year (no particular order)
Geosynchron (book) - David Louis Edelmann
Gardens of the Sun (book) - Paul McAuley
Mass Effect 2 (game)
Final Fantasy XVI (game)
Iron Man 2 (movie)
Shutter Island (movie)

Those lists are a whole bunch of crap, aren't they? Whatever. That's what I've got for now. :P

Wednesday, December 16, 2009

Games I would have/have not...

...paid full price for.

Some games are good, some bad, most average. If you're sure they're good, you buy them day one (or shortly thereafter). If they're bad, they hit the local gamestop/used-game retailer just as fast. If you're just not sure, then you wait until it drops in price, or a cheap used copy. Regardless of how you play it, you find most are or aren't worth full price.

Things I paid less than full price for, but would have paid full price:

1) Deadspace: Okay, I'm not big on horror media in general, though I've watched enough to know how it all works. Space horror works on me. Of the horror movies that I've seen, Alien and Event Horizon are the only ones that actually scared me beyond the standard-issue "spring-loaded cat" moments, and I like those movies. Most other horror movies, ehhh... not so much. And even though it uses the Doom-style monster closet spawns, it still has the atmosphere those two movies had. Scared the crap out of me first playthrough, while going through with powered up weapons wasn't so bad. Then I played on the hardest difficulty. Yeah... I ended up listening to a podcast most of the way through, the enemies were so much harder that listening to the music and SFX would've freaked me out more. Either way, if I'd been interested in the game when it came out, I definitely would've paid full price for it.
2) Civilization 4: Got it during a sale on Steam, heard about it because the guys on the Rebel FM podcast (www.eat-sleep-game.com) went on about it for several episodes. Great turn-based strategy game, look up some reviews.
3) Assassin's Creed 2: Just came out (at time of writing), so just look it up. Admittedly, it was a used copy for only $5 cheaper, but, you know.

Games I paid full price for and wish I hadn't:

1) Cross Edge: I bitched about this one a couple months ago. Douchebag friend borrowed it, liked it more than I did, but has also failed to finish it. Haven't gotten it back yet, though I would since I plan on trading it in as soon as I do...
2) Prototype: Fun for what it is, but average game.
3) Overlord 2: Would've/should've gotten it used, but didn't. Kinda quirky and different, but still, a meh game (to me anyways).

Games I bought for partial price and glad I didn't:

1) Eat Lead: The Return of Matt Hazard: Okay, this game is a definite rental. Gameplay is kinda average, BUT the plotline is worth playing through once simply because of how sharp the writing is, with its large number of homages to games and nerd culture, all the way to its incredibly genre-savvy hero, Matt Hazard.
2) Star Wars: The Force Unleashed: Just finished this today (of this writing). Not a bad game, graphics are good, so is the story (to my suprise). But there are enough bugs and wonky controls, among other things, that I glad I didn't pay full price.
3) Mirror's Edge: Liked the demo, played the first couple levels. Haven't gotten around to finishing it, and need to.

Full Price, worth every penny:

1) Batman: Arkham Asylum: Well duh!
2) Borderlands: "You know there ain't no rest for the wicked..."
3) Halo ODST: Screw Master Chief, ODST for life!

I'm probably missing some, but I didn't want this to be too long, especially with this long list of tags.

Friday, November 13, 2009

Modern Warfare 2 and the action movies it wishes it was,

I'll try to not spoil anything, but...

*SPOILER WARNING*.

Anyways... It seems to me that the entire single-player campaign's story built on a combination of action-movie "rule of cool" moments and WTF style narrative missteps. The action-movies sections are pretty obvious with the, but not limited to, the snowmobile part of the Cliffhanger level.

The story problems are real problem, though. The terrorist level is just the first of several. The part where the terrorist leader fingers the "western nation" is logical, but the following "Crimson Sunrise" stage happening less than (narratively speaking) two days later just doesn't make sense. An event of that magnitude is a logistical nightmare that would have to be months in the planning to pull off in that short of a timespan, on top of the various political implications, which go unnoticed even during the between stage cinemas. And the writers did nothing to capitalize on this. Instead, the first of those "Crimson Sunrise" stage feels like a surreal attempt to shock people with the setting of the level. The way the narrative is written it doesn't support the events in any logical way, and because of it the seriousness of the, up to that point, potential plot is hampered.

The act 2 stages play everything in a direction that I'd expect though, and are, in my opinion, the best part of the game, but then act 2 closes with the biggest flaw in the entire plot, the betrayal. The bad-guy character is still the bad-guy, but character you're working for decides to off the players for absolutely no reason. I understand his action-movie character motivations, but the betrayal makes no sense on any level. And then the final act completely forgets that the bad-guy is the target and instead sends you after the betrayer, leaving it all open to use the bad-guy in a future MW as the new recurring villain.

So my point is this, IW writers seem to have jumped the shark with their writing. Admittedly MW1 had its action-movie moments, but they made sense within the story, and the story itself was played straight and serious, with most of the events being on a logical progression. MW2's story just didn't make sense to me, with most of the events taking leaps of logic usually seen in popcorn action-movies, but not in a game that is trying to be thematically serious like this.

Saturday, September 5, 2009

Thoughts on The Sky Crawlers

Hmmm... While I have kept up on Twitter, I haven't posted anything here in quite awhile, like a month or something. Well, that's because I haven't had anything that I considered significant enough that couldn't be posted on Twitter. I really should fix that.

Well, that brings me to the new reason here: The Sky Crawlers. This is an animated film (anime if you want to be a weaboo, I personally think this rises above the level of just being a simple anime) directed by Mamoru Oshii and animated at studio Production I.G. Released theatrically in Japan in 2008, recently released on DVD/Blu-Ray in the US about a month or two ago (as of this writing). I managed to finally snag a copy at Best Buy earlier this week because I was too fracking lazy to go to Amazon and order it (:P), and watched it before going to work today.

Now, admittedly, I didn't go into this movie without knowing anything about it. I had seen a review of it on Anime News Network after the original theatrical release (unsure if this was the Japanese release or a limited US run). After watching, I quickly read through another review on a site I don't remember (and don't feel like Googling to find again). Both reviewers could not have been more different in how they understood the film, and both are equally valid. But, seeing as I read the ANN review long before I ever saw the movie itself (and, in all truth, if not for the ANN review the only reason I would have given this a second pass was because I like the director), and the other review was only read after, I was able to see alot of what the ANN reviewer noted, but at the same time not sure if that's what I got out of the film.

I, personally, am of the opinion that some movies should be seen by yourself, some with others, and even some that should be seen by yourself AND THEN with others. Right now, as I've only just seen it, I can't confirm, but its definitely the first, not the second, and possibly the third. As I haven't seen The Wrestler, nor seen the press kit, I can't say I got the same thing out of the movie as JS from ANN, but I'm sure the one or two of my friends I could actually get to watch will get something other than what I got out of it entirely.

(forgive me, but I don't remember the name of one of the three character I'm going to mention, so I'm just not going to state their names)

So what is it? The (incredibly limited) info on Wikipedia states that its based off a novel of the same name in a series also of the same name. The basic setup is that, in an alternate, post WWII history, world-spanning corporations hire pilots and stage battles for a populace that lives in peace, but is accustomed to war. The pilots in these battles are beings called "Kildren", people engineered to be adolescent and immortal, only dieing when killed in battle.

The movie starts when the protagonist arrives at the small base where he's been stationed, and despite being new, he falls into a routine such as if he's always been there. He does day to day operations of being a pilot, being a "war hero" to tourists, smoking, drinking beer (most likely Heineken from the appearance of the bottles :P), and sex with a local adult prostitute (despite being in his early teens at best). And its just a day to day existence. No beginning, no end, no past, no future. The only out of ordinary thing is The Teacher, an enemy ace that is unbeatable (and, as it later turns out, the former superior or the protagonist's base commander, AND AN ADULT). As things go, some of his fellow pilots get killed, only to be replaced by new people that look and act almost exactly the same, but with new names and no memories. No one seems to question this, though.

Things come to a head when a failed joint operation in the second half of the film allows several pilots from another base to transfer in. His base commander discusses how they exist solely for a meaningless war, and that their existence as Kildren, people with no pasts or futures meant to fight a war without meaning, is equally meaningless. One of the transfers also understands more about the Kildren themselves, genetically created to be immortal and then fight in an endless, meaningless war so that real people can feel the effects of war without actually having to see it directly. It is an endless cycle, and no one seems to care, even though the only way out is for someone to do something, anything, to change the way it all works. But the protagonist decides that it might be worth it to challenge The Teacher alone the next time he appears (*spoiler warning*and he fails SPETACULARLY*spoiler warning*).

Now, that was just a basic rundown, there's more to the events of the film. Really, if there's anything that I noticed from the very beginning is how unreal the world felt. Now I don't mean unreal in the way that the world is unrealistic. Even animated things can (and rightly do) have worlds that are believable within the context of the story. No, this setting feels unreal in that it feels very "off". I understand that its supposed to be lightly populated Europe, and the buildings are shown to have a lived-in quality, but even when the characters go to a city for the big operation in the middle of the film, it doesn't feel real. Now I mean that in the sense that the places the characters go and see have almost no people in them. The settings exist to be lived in, yet there doesn't seem to be anyone there. This isn't a bad thing, though. I actually think that this was part of Oshii's vision.

The film is primarily contemplative. Alot of time is spent watching as the characters going about their daily lives, which really aren't lives at all once you realize that its all just playacting. The Protagonist is initially curious of the person he is replacing, and while it is eventually revealed, it generally takes a backseat to the daily life. Even when they're finally revealed, the answers of the existence of the Kildren, the reasons of the war, and especially The Teacher, are left largely ambiguous. The base commander is herself one of the Kildren, and has been driven almost of the point of depression/insanity because she has seen the cycle so many times before, while the mechanic, an adult, seems to see, but knows there's nothing she can do about it.

And its all so sad, being a viewer that knows more than the characters, but being unable to do anything about it. And yet, it speaks volumes to me, a guy who feels like he's squandered away much more of his life than he should've. Sure, I like videogames and (some) comics, but I play more than I should. It also sort of makes me think of the ending to the Wanted movie last year, Westley's whole "This is what I'm doing, what the fuck are you doing?" line. So I have been asking myself recently (before actually seeing The Sky Crawlers) what the fuck I've been doing. And if anyone out there (that might be reading this) is stuck in a crappy, dead-end job (or some similar day-to-day existence), then think about what the fuck you're doing too. Nothing can change unless you want it to. I want to change, what about you?

Sunday, August 2, 2009

Just some stuff

Gah, need to make a resolution to post more often, especially if I want to get better at writing. That's one of the two big things they say people need to do to become better writers. The other is to read, and in doing so learn from what other writers do, both good and bad. But, I typically don't have much to write that's actually blog worthy, as opposed to Twitter worthy. And while I know if I want to write something that could stand of chance of being published professionally I have to type it up on on PC, I much prefer doing anything creative with a pen and paper (rollerball pen, preferably a Pilot, but Uniballs are okay too). Actually, on the rare occasion I draw, I typically do it with a pen, instead of a pencil. Unless I really want something to be perfect, that is (I actually have a picture I want to do as a new avatar in mind right now).

Anyways, that's all neither here nor there. Like I alluded to before, I don't have a topic today, but I need to get something down. So this is pretty much a current events of sorts.

Currently playing Overlord 2. I'm around halfway through, I'm guessing, and I'm a little torn. Yeah, the idea of being a badass freakin' overlord is fun, but, so far I haven't felt like one. Not that its a bad game, its just basically Pikmen being controlled by a badass normal, except you're not all that badass, you just look badass. Kratos could bash through a phalanx without help... Also, the game has uneven framerate, especially when you've got alot of minions on screen, which is often. Anyways, I'm sure I'll finish it, but I'm pretty sure I'll be trading it in shortly thereafter. So I'ma just wring all the achievement points out of it while I can. Don't expect a full review from me.

Got a couple movies and some music too. Watchmen and Coraline on Blu-Ray, two movies that everyone should see, though for different reasons. Watchmen for the commentary and being one of the best comic book adaptations I've seen (anyone who says this isn't a good adaptation is too much of a blind fanboy to understand the realities of making adaptations of any written work). Coraline, well I don't want to be a name dropper, but the story its based on was written by Neil Gaiman, and that alone is worth the price of admission. But on top of that, the movie itself is stopmotion done by the same people that did Nightmare Before Christmas and Corpse Bride. And the story is enchanting, if dark, modern fantasy. On that note, I still need to get The Graveyard Book, but I already have 4 things currently on my reading list:

1) Multireal: David Louis Edelman (just started)
2) The Difference Engine: William Gibson and Bruce Sterling (been searching for this one for awhile)
3) Brilliance of the Moon: Lian Hearn
4) The Edge of the World: Kevin J. Anderson (I honestly didn't know he had a new book)

On the note of The Edge of the World, I only found out about it because of a story (on i09.com) about Kevin J. Anderson liking progressive rock, and how he got a new prog-rock group Roswell Six to do an album (their debut album, it appears) based on it. Music is a bit weird, but pretty good once you get used to the style. Album is called Terra Incognita: Beyond the Horizon, by the way.

And lastly, while the account has remained open, I haven't played FFXI for months, but with the announcement of FFIV, I'm considering installing and playing it again. I stopped playing LotRO, but I think the messed up work schedule has been a major factor in that. It may not be WoW, but its a good WoW clone, and it looks freakin' amazing if you can run it at full spec.

But whatever.

Sunday, July 19, 2009

Just an idea

I had an idea. Actually, this isn't a new idea, but rather one I had well over a year ago, I just never wrote it down. But then, considering its doubtful that I'll ever work in MMOs, let alone videogames in general, I don't think I really need to write this down. But I will anyways, because its late (locally), I'm bored, and my internet is acting up and kicked me off BF:Bad Company. So there.

So why did I mention MMOs, you ask (only in my mind, anyways... *shifty eyes*)? Well, the idea involves using things that already exist in them in a way that hasn't been really thought of yet.

Well, we already have instanced content. For the uninformed (and anyone reading this shouldn't be), instanced content is pretty much where the game servers create an additional "instance" of an existing area that is seperate from the rest of the game world and usable by only the players within it. The reason for this is so that more players can experience more content without having to compete against other players to do so. It is typically (but not always) used with storyline or chain-quest areas, and are almost always very large and involved (for various reasons).

Then, of course, we have PvP. IE, the videogame answer to people's need to kick the crap out of eachother, and it takes different forms depending on the type of game its used in. No real need to explain it beyond that.

So my new, supermegaultracrazy idea, is to take both of these elements and find a way to smush them together. But MMOs that have PvP already have instanced areas designed expressly for PvP. How does this differ from those? Well the difference is purpose. Instanced PvP areas are basically similar to control-point style maps in online FPS's, with the basic idea revolving around killing opponents in order to get to and takeover said control points. While the areas could easily be repurposed into standard PvE content, they are purpose built specifically for handling a specific kind of PvP battle, which is almost always the big-freaken'-melee (even if players are smart enough to avoid that).

Now, when someone says the word "instance" in MMO terms, they usually refer to the first definition (and use a different term for PvP instances), which takes the form of a semi-linear dungeon. This is where I think PvP can be added. Just about all MMOs that have any form of large-scale PvP involve dev-created opposing factions. As well, in those games the world and quest lines are designed to bring those players into conflict. So why can't the devs find ways to bring these two things together in more interesting ways?

That's the idea. Bring dungeon instances and PvP together. This is still hypothetical, but since both factions are opposed, create an instance that plays to that. Have players from the two factions have quests that require them to enter instance. When entering, faction A starts at one entrance, faction B at another. The players run along doing their quests on seperate paths, but the paths will intersect at several points, designed around forcing the players into conflict. But then, make a quest requiring the conflict, and if there are no players, spawn higher level enemies in the room instead, to fulfill the quest requirement.

So when players are killed, they should respawn within the instance. But then, this could potentially lead to players griefing players on the other side. Well, the only real solution to something like that isn't something that will be popular. Since a quest requires defeating enemies (bots or opposing players), then "shove" them out of the chokepoint as soon as the reqs are met. And then there's the problem of bringing along a high-level friend, or even a full group of them, well that's only really solvable by the infamous thing known as level-caps. To keep from inconveniencing said high-level players, have a simple equipment balancing system introduced alongside the level-capping.

Admittedly, this is just the basic idea. Hell, I spent more time building to it than stating the idea itself. Ohwell, take it for what you will.

Wednesday, July 8, 2009

While I've been around, I obviously haven't posted anything in about 2 weeks. Just really haven't had anything to talk about. So forgive me if this is rather rambling and uninteresting. That is, unless I end up finding a subject at some point during typing.

I'll start off saying that I haven't really been playing anything new recently. Just going through Dead Space again, playing the new Fallout 3 DLC (Point Lookout), with The Conduit (Wii) being the sole actual new game (besides wondering why I haven't picked up Punchout! yet...). I've actually had the hankering to pull out and play Project Sylpheed again, if only for the thought of being in a fighter that performs various forms of asset denial (IE, blowing shit up). For that matter, I should pull out Star Ocean 4 again, if only to finish up the main game, since I'm on the final dungeon anyways.

As some videogame podcasts have put it, I have a very large "pile-of-shame". The term refers to games that one has had for a considerable amount of time and either played but not finished, and/or games that haven't even been played. As much as I like RPGs, they, and the considerable amount of time they take to play, are the primary cause of my pile. I'm not going to even get into what's on the list.

As for pulling out Dead Space and Project Sylpheed after having already completed them, well, I guess I am an achievement whore on the level that I like getting achievements in the games I have. I AM NOT an achievement whore on the level that I do not buy games specifically for the achievement points (Avatar will never appear on my gamertag! XD). This is a problem when playing RPGs though, especially the handful of JRPGs, which are known for their excessive use of sidequests, hidden areas and bosses, and general miscellaneous crap that requires you to play considerably large amounts of time for things that aren't related to the main quest. Some side stuff is okay, but sometimes theres so much that it just gets assinine (I'm looking at you, Blue Dragon and Tales of Vesperia).

Anyways, Fallout 3 DLC. Called Point Lookout. Of all the Fallout DLC packs, this one is on level, potentially better, with the previous pack, Broken Steel. Broken Steel allowed you to reenter the world after the ending, with additional quests and raising the level cap. Point Lookout, though, simply adds new map with its own seperate plotline, but it does it much more skillfully than the two DLCs before Broken Steel. Instead of being (primarily) linear, pathed experiences, Point Lookout is completely open to exploration from the getgo. As well, the area contains quests that are not actually part of the primary plotline. As well, all the plotlines fit well into the overall mythology of the game world. Moonshining hillbillies, Chinese (in this case communist) spies, and drug using hippies being led by a brain in a jar. Not to mention being in a bayou. The only issue I found is that Point Lookout is supposed to be in southern Maryland, but it has a distinctly Louisiana/Alabama vibe to it. Ohwell, I still give this particular DLC 5/5.

Now, The Conduit, FPS for the Wii. YES, THE WII. As much as I hate using the caveat, I have to, but this game looks great for a Wii game. I need to play more, but I've seen enough to impress me (I've only played up to halfway before accidentally deleting my save file >.<). The customization of the controls makes it possible for anyone to tweak it enough to be comfortable (but can't turn crouch into toggle instead of button hold, grrr...). Like alot of the reviews out there, though, I have to agree with comments on lackluster area design. Also, while the game isn't supposed to be difficult, there are occasional spots where the difficult gets to wallbanger (IE, Wii-Mote chucking) levels. My current replay has me stuck at one of those spots, and its not nice. Not nice at all. And the area is the Jefferson Memorial of all places too.

Ohwell, I think that's all I got for now. o.O

Friday, June 26, 2009

Thoughts on Ghostbusters

(Note: This is about the XBox 360 version.)

Okay, finished up Ghostbusters: The Videogame recently (IE, last week). So where do I begin? I don't know, honestly. I think I'ma try talking about this a little differently.

- The Good -

The graphics are pretty good. Time was spent, especially, on building the various character and ghost models. The characters models, especially the main ones (the Ghostbusters). They have this abbreviated realism style that looks realistic, but still lets you know its not (intentionally) real. I know some reviewers have touched on the whole "uncanny valley" (look it up on wikipedia if you don't know about it >.>) bit with the XBox/PS3 versions, but while the characters look like their actor counterparts, I don't get that "almost human, but not quite" feeling with how they look in game. The ghosts, for the matter, retain the more overdone, cartoony style the generic ghosts used in the movies and the cartoons. And they continue to work in conjunction with the rest of the art style.
Sound is very good. Pulling in sound effects and music from the movies. Going along with that, the original actors both writing and providing the voices for the characters, pure gold because it is so true to the original. And of course, hearing the old Ghostbusters theme song, yay. Controls are pretty good, nothing really notable.

- The Bad -

There is some screen tearing, but its pretty inconsistent, I only experienced it in a handful of areas, and it only seems to happen with rapid camera turning. But then, that's where it normally occurs, when it does. The primary graphical hiccup is actually lip-flapping. In all the cutscenes, both in-engine and out, when you can actually see the characters talking, the lip flapping on the spoken words is so off its almost hilarious. I know other reviewers say that this actually works in favor of the PS2/Wii versions of the game, which use an entirely different grahical style to make up for those respective system's lack of graphical power. But on the XBox (the version I got), it just looks bad. What makes it worse is that this game was done by an American company, and American companies working with any kind of animation (including film and television) usually worry too much about making sure lip-flaps match the dialogue, almost to the point of OCD (sometimes).
Japanese companies don't worry about this that much. Neither do Japanese animators (I mean anime).
Just a note: all that stuff above is just a minor annoyance, despite how much I said about it.
My primary beef with the game, though, is the end of the final stage. Just to note, I played the game on "Experienced" (IE, normal) difficulty, so the game has a few tough spots, but isn't (and I'm guessing isn't meant to be) too hard. This completely flies out the window during the last couple encounters. While the idea of grabbing and throwing around enemies is shown early in the game (including an enemy type that can only be killed by doing it), one thing the game never used previously is enemies that can one-shot you at full health.
Yes, until almost the end of the game, there are no enemies that can do that, and then they put you in a situation where you have to grab enemies and smash them into an environmental object, but these enemies can one-shot you. To make matters worse, there are more of these enemies than (I think anyways) it is reasonable to deal with, coupled with the inclusion of other enemies that are there specifically pull your attention away from the ones you need to deal with. I found the entire section almost wallbangingly difficult, I died more times there than the rest of the game combined.
This led to noticing another problem that is very annoying. Checkpoint loading. I can understand a long load time from the main menu, but when you're reloading the last checkpoint from the stage your in? NO. The game should not be reloading the entire fucking level from scratch on a checkpoint reload.
Other random problem, the game has an inconsistent freeze bug. It typically happens when checking the subscreen (pause menu) during a scripted, in-engine, non-cutscene, event. The game doesn't, technically, freeze, but checking the subscreen during an event sometimes causes the event to glitch and freeze the event. If the event doesn't complete, then the game can't continue, thus necessitating a checkpoint reload. Also, text from scans do not always load completely the first time the entry is viewed, sometimes requiring leaving the subscreen and reentering it to view it entirely. Like the event freeze, its inconsistent. Unlike the event freeze, this one doesn't actually affect gameplay).

- The Ugly -

1) The final form of the final boss isn't terribly imaginative, but, considering his character is from the 1800's, I guess unimaginative works for the character...
2) Aside from the painting of Vigo in the firehouse, there is only ONE callback to the second Ghostbusters movie (in the form of the Slimeblaster weapon). All other callbacks are to the first movie.
3) The Ghostbusters DVD artifact. lol
4) No Rick Moranis or even his character is seen, though his desk and mountains of paperwork are.
5) StayPuft is still cute, but clown ghosts (multiplayer only) are creepy as all hell.
6) The character voiced by Alyssa Milano is named, get this, "Alyssa". WTF?
7) Winston Zeddmore has a doctorate?
8) Walter Peck is still a peck. XD

I hope this was coherent. Hell, I hope someone reads this, let alone comments... *poke poke*

Monday, June 22, 2009

New Playlist

Okay, I'm currently working on a new iPod playlist and I need suggestions. So if anyone actually reads this, suggestions here or on Twitter are welcome. Here's what I currently have, shown in Songname/Artist format. By the way, this is in no particular order.

Playlist Title: Weird Things At All

I Know What I Am / Band of Skulls
The Metal / Tenacious D
Volver a Comenzar / Cafe Tacuba
Atlas / Battles
Kingdom of Rust / Doves
Beautiful Is Gone / The Ruse
No One Knows / Queens of the Stone Age
My Patch / Jim Noir
Panic Attack / Dream Theater
Energy / The Apples In Stereo
Hey You / 311
This Ain't a Scene, Its an Arms Race / Fall Out Boy
Paralyzer / Finger Eleven
Unless It's Kicks / Okkervil River
Take Me Out / Franz Ferdinand
21st Century Breakdown / Green Day
Catch Without Arms / Dredg

My thoughts on it are so far these. I'm trying to go for songs that sound out of the ordinary, or at least different from the average mainstream rock/altrock, but that doesn't mean I'm keeping that kind of stuff out of the running. I already know Panic Attack needs to be taken off. I like 21st Century Breakdown, but it also doesn't fit with the rest of set either. I Know What I Am, My Patch, and Energy are staying on. I'd like to keep Kingdom of Rust, but its so hard making a playlist that it will fit in. But then, that's why I'm asking for suggestions.

Tuesday, June 16, 2009

So my friends and I were finally able to get around to playing my new board game recently. Now now, boardgames are not crappy. The people who only think of boardgames in the vein of Monopoly or any of the other ones most people hear about, now they are crappy. Those people need to do themselves a favor and head over to the Fantasy Flight site and see that boardgames have evolved. From what I've heard, Europe has alot more. BUT, we are stupid, low attention span Americans, after all...

Anyways! I mention Fantasy Flight because the game I got was Android, by Fantasy Flight. It appeared at the comic shop a couple months ago, thought the premise looked interesting (not to mention the overall art design).

The basic premise is that, in the future, the moon has been colonized, human like cyborgs exist, and the government is still recovering from a recent war. In this environment, a murder happens, and the investigators (IE, the players) have to find the culprit.

Now, the first thing that I noticed (after reading another review myself) is that, unlike Clue where there is a definite killer, in Android there isn't. Rather, the game considers that all the suspects were somehow involved in the murder. The investigators jobs, then, are primarily to finger one of them as the actual killer based on their own suspicions, which are represented by cards randomly handed out to players at the beginning of the game (called their "Guilty Hunch"). The players are also given a card representing the suspect their investigator believes to be innocent (called their "Innocent Hunch").

In basic play, every investigator has a certain amount of time each turn, which represents the number of actions each player can take. Everything costs time, from moving, to investigating, to playing cards to help themselves (or hinder the other players). After someone uses all their time, play passes to the next player until everyone has gone, then the turn ends. After 12 turns, all the evidence is tallied, and the winner is decided.

Too be sure, that's the simple version. The object of the game is to be the player with the most VP (Victory Points). The primary method of obtaining said VP is making sure your guilty and innocent hunches are the correct, but they're not the only way. Now each investigator that the players can choose to play as have their own "plots", things that happen in their private lives during the course of the investigation. Making sure they resolve well are worth VP, while bad resolutions cost it. And then there's the Conspiracy Puzzle...

The Conspiracy Puzzle represents, in the game world, the people/organizations that caused the murder. In gameplay terms, it represents another way to gain or lose VP. Instead of investigating the crime, the players can investigate the conspiracy behind the murder. In doing so the players gain a puzzle piece that they place on the Conspiracy Puzzle in order to connect one or more of the various entities in return for end-of-the-game benefits. These benefits are making Guilty/Innocent Hunches/Good Plots worth more, Bad Plots hurt more, and various tokens obtained during gameplay are now worth VP.

All in all, its a very compelling game. The mechanics are very complicated and take a little while to get used to, and even if you know the rules, it isn't a short playthrough either. A full game will take several hours, but that isn't really something that people that play boardgames even worry about. Like alot of other Fantasy Flight boardgames, it contains alot of cards and tokens made of very heavy weight, laminated cardboard/chipboard(?). They are all well illustrated, and the flavor text on the cards adds to the feeling of the game world itself.

If anything the game needs (and Fantasy Flight is good about making expansions for their games), it needs more investigators with their own perks and playstyles, and the cards to go with them off course. Also, more murder scenarios would be good, as each of the scenarios contains special rules that encompass the entire game. More suspects, while nice, probably don't need to be added, though.

Thursday, June 11, 2009

I just did something that I haven't done in a rather long time: start playing a game and literally losing track of time and playing longer than I intended. Now don't get me wrong, I like playing videogames as much as the next guy, but even at the worst, I almost never lose track of how long I end up playing games. So what happened this time, where I ended up going almost 7 hours straight?

Really, I haven't the slightest.

So what does it take? Even for the best of us, we all have something. A switch, a weakness, something that will make us stop and stare like some animals when they look at shiny objects. People can play GTA and get lost not even doing missions, but just driving around. Or in a game like Oblivion or Fallout where you can just pick a direction and walk until you find something. Driving games have the technical feel of real world cars, or just the fun of driving one faster than is actually possible (forgive me, I'm not a racing or sports game player). RPGs can be just as much about watching a story unfold as it can be about proving your dominance over the gameworld by leveling up (usually) pointlessly. MMO's, in general, trade on the basis of dropping players into a large persistant world and then telling them to "figure it out."

Maybe that's what it is. The ability to explore, but being able to do something on the way.

As much as I played them, I could never get into the GTA games. They always talk about all the things you can do when really, outside of missions, there actually ISN'T anything to do except drive around and purposely start shit. Yeah, you can explore, but you're limited to a car and/or a painfully slow running speed. There is very limited purpose to taking the time to explore the world, which is why the creators have to put in so much peripheral content. Without it, the majority of the open world they created is suddenly without purpose.

But then , Oblivion held my attention (until my friend created the 4th or 5th new character to play the first five Dark Brotherhood missions for the 4th or 5th time, on top of killing my first XBox in the process... *grumbles*), as does Fallout3. Like GTA, large open worlds, but the worlds have purposes, the peripheral content doesn't seem like it's there simply to pad out everything. That, and the worlds don't feel generic and lifeless, something I've felt despite how much Rockstar has tried to make the world more lifelike.

And then you get to games like Crackdown and Prototype (the game which caused said 7 hours of playing). Open worlds with very little actual content beyond the main story missions and a small amount of peripheral missions. Yet, they manage to hold the interest of people. Why? One word: locomotion. The world is a playground, and the developers made it fun to play in because they give you so many ways to get around, and so many reasons to explore. Like in many games, your character gets stronger, an in these game it's tied directly to exploring the world outside the confines of the mission structure. Now, simply going around looking for these upgrades is not terribly interesting, but it can get interesting when getting to them involves superspeed, flying leaps, running up buildings, and causing wanton destruction (on enemies at least) with high explosives.

And that, to me at least, is more fun than driving around in a car and running down a street where nothing happens unless you purposely go out of your way to cause shit. Sometimes shit should just happen, and then can you get involved. Or not.

Monday, June 8, 2009

Its rare when I, or anyone for that matter, plays a game that actually seems like its going out of its way to be obtuse. Now, there are actually many games that are obtuse, many of them are JRPG's (or the story for MGS, but that's something else entirely...). But in general, they don't TRY to be obtuse. So I consider it a bit of a treat (not really) to find a game that is so honest-to-god difficult to figure out that I have to go to gamefaqs about it before going to the game's own instructional manual.

The game in question is, infact, a JRPG. Its a new game, published in the US by NIS for the PS3, called Cross Edge. Its is a crossover RPG in the same way that the Capcom Vs. series of fighting games are crossovers, in that they pull together characters from several different games and publishers to produce something that can encompass all of them. With probably the notable exception of the Capcom Vs. series, most of them are crap. But something can be said for a company that actually manages to pull together a number of different licenses, let alone make a successful product.

Now, I have not actually played enough of the game to actually provide a review. This is about my first impressions of the game, primarily about my issues with how the game plays.

Now, as my first paragraph probably portrayed it, the premise is as simple as alot of JRPGs, but in practice its far from it. First things first, even with an optional HDD install, the game has slowdown. Now, if the game actually pushed the hardware, AND the gameplay didn't actually require the game to keep a truly fluid framerate, then I could (potentially) overlook it. But, aside for the game running in 720p resolution, this game could run on the PS1 without any trouble. THIS IS UNACCEPTABLE. There is no excuse for slowdown and framerate stuttering in a game that doesn't even push the hardware. And what is the installation for if not to help the game load faster?

And then the next big point, too many menus coupled with a heavily lacking set of tutorials and onscreen prompts. Now, I realize NIS's studio, as well as the handful of studios that are also published by NIS, are known for their titles be complex, but on the surface they are typically very approachable, and playable, without needing to delve to far into the game's complexities. Those complexities are usually meant/reserved for replays and munchkins (powergamers) who want more out of their games than just the normal playthrough.

This game is not, once you get into the first battle, user-friendly (a term that I had previously only applied to pre-NGE SWG). The battlefield is grided, but you're not given any indication of how this is applicable. How to perform attacks are given in a tutorial, but there are so much needless information onscreen that you have to search for it the information that is useful. Then, the system lets you end your turn whenever you want, but isn't smart enough to automatically end your turn when you're incapable of taking any more actions.

The status menus are not as difficult to figure out, but they suffer from having too much information being spread out over too many menus. Many of the menus you have to go through in search of the information you want could easily have been consolidated. I'm trying to change the position of a character on the battle-grid (both in and out of battle), so why do I have to confirm the choice that I'm moving the character after I already spent one or two more button presses than necessary to even move the character?

Now, the battle-system did become more intuitive as I learned how to use it, but it still hasn't reached the area easy usability. The submenus however, are still crap, and need to be consolidated. That's it for first impressions.

Thursday, June 4, 2009

Random Fiction (1)

He strained against gravity, fingers unable to support his weight.  Finally, he couldn't hold on anymore, and he fell.
And he stopped.
What the hell had he been holding onto anyways, and why did the ground feel like concrete?  He could've sworn he was hanging from a cliff.  Tattered clothes should have been hanging from his body, blowing in the biting, merciless wind.  Instead, he was standing here, in the city, with the same clothes he had been wearing before the game.  His arms were stretched out above him, straining to grab a ledge that was not there, mouth opened in a soundless scream.
People were staring.
He blinked serveral times, lowering his arms and coughing, pretending it was simply an overzealous yawn.  Everyone stopped looking and kept going about their own business as he tried to remember just exactly what happened.

It was a game.  Just a game.  She promised everything would work out okay.  This time anyways.
Crazy things always happened whenever she decided to pop in, he should have learned that already.  A friendly wager, a game of paintball, what could go wrong?  Well, when someone decides to put a bayonet on their gun, anyone would begin to wonder...

His chest stung.  He looked down to see blood seeping through his shirt.  That first cut must have been real, so what else was?

The game went on, paint coloring the rocks and trees in the fenced in wilderness.  He won a game, she won a game.  By the end of the third match, they were both covered in colors never found in nature.  The fourth round went longer than the first, days passing as the one-on-one game of cat-and-mouse drove him to the limits of his strength...

As he recalled the game, he suddenly felt tired, the muscles of his arms and legs tightening under the pain of exhaustion.  His stomach followed suit, hunger pangs causing him to clutch his gut.

And they were nearing the end, match point.  They had played for days.  Her energy was unending, while he slowly tired.  It was all he could do to hold off her increasingly brutal attacks, she preferring to use the bayonet instead of simply ending it.  She cut his clothes to tatters, each time forcing him back.  Further and further...

He panted for breath, cuts appearing all over his body.  His eyes burned, tearing up as he tried to wipe them.

Until he fell.  He caught himself on the ledge, but he had not the strength to pull himself up.  She walked up to him and looked down.  Looking up, he saw the feral grin on her face, the knowledge that she had won.
That is, until he screamed, and let go...

And he collapsed, his legs shattering under his weight, followed by his torso, arms, and head.  He lay there in pain, unsure of how he even survived a fall like that.  Even so, he was certain that he would not survive the next five minutes as the uncaring public traipsed by.
And then he saw her.  His eyes were wide, he could not blink.  His already ragged breathing coming even heavier that before.  She still wore the same paint-spattered clothes she had on before, carrying the same bayonet sporting gun she had before.
She looked down at his crumpled form again, the same feral smile crossing her face.  As the gun dropped, he no longer feared death, hoping for it to come faster.
It was better than losing to her.
But he was not so lucky.  She pointed the gun at his head, grinning as she pulled the trigger.
"Bang!  You lose."
And then she was gone, skipping off happily into the crowd.  He was left there to find his own way home.
"Anyone got a regeneration spell," he called weakly.
Why did he always agree to play her games?  And why the hell did he have to marry her too?

Sunday, May 31, 2009

I was going to a nice little rant about a difficult stage in Dawn of War II. Actually, I did, but then I deleted it.  It sounded way too whiney.  But now, I'm left with not very much to talk about.  I mean, DoW2 is a game I'd much rather give a proper treatment to in a a full post, instead of ranting about my inadequacies as a gamer.  I enjoy the Warhammer 40k universe too much for that.

And anyways,  the game is bringing back all those happy memories of conflict and bloodshed, the scourging of heretics and the purging of xenos (I hope I got those right) that the first game (and its expansions) captured about the universe. Nice to see that the story brings back Captain Gabriel Angelus, even if it is as a supporting character.  He's still a badass Force Commander.

Okay, maybe it isn't supposed to be happy.  WH40k is dark sci-fi on a level no other major writer has even touched, because no one else has the balls to make a universe so sadistic and pessimistic at the same time.  But then, when you have a universe when good guys have to be pretty damn evil and oppressive in order for the human race to survive against sci-fi versions of various creatures from modern literature and movies, something's got to break...

This stuff isn't happy.  But then, I guess the point is that when true heros do come along, their deeds are made all the more impressive and heroic because (as anyone who is familiar with the WH40k universe understands) of the sheer odds stacked against them.  Really, what does it mean to be a hero when one day you could be fighting against Lovecraft inspired space horrors to save a populated world, only to have to destroy that world the next because its a better alternative to allowing the space horrors to corrupt those people?  Neither option is truly palatable to the average person, but so are alot choices.

So in a position of being forced to choose between two bad options, you inevitably have to take the lesser of two evils.  In the real world, these questions usually boil down to things such as guys having to answer the question "Does this make me look fat?" and presidential elections.  In WH40k (not so much in WH Fantasy, which I should have mentioned as a counterpoint earlier) these questions many times involve whether to fight the enemy, or head the problem off by exterminating the very population the enemy is trying to either corrupt or destroy.  There's more to it than that, but that is the kind of question that faces many of the major characters at some point or another.

But then, Darth Vader said "The ability to destroy a planet is insignificant next to the power of the force."  Well, the power of the force, even the Dark side, is insignificant next to the power the enemies of mankind in the WH40k universe.

And I just got off on a major tangent that jumped around instead of focusing on a central point. But at the same time, this is a subject that could be easily extrapolated on much more than I've said here. Anyways, before I forget, I'll just recommend that anyone interested in WH40k lore should check out just about any of Dan Abnett's books. There are other authors, but he's one of the biggies, known for his running Gaunt's Ghosts series, as well the Eisenhorn and Ravenor series, "...for in the grim dark future, there is only war."

Thursday, May 28, 2009

Okay, so I got a new PC recently.  Nothing special, seeing as it was just some extra money I'd gotten.  One of the prebuilds from Best Buy to be exact.  Nowhere near the best they had, but still much better than what I was running before. Well, the following purchase of a video card gave me the opportunity to get a couple of the small number of PC games that I wanted, but was unable to play because of having a computer capable of running them.  Namely Warhammer 40k: Dawn of War II (big fan of the first one and its expansions) and Demigod, which I literally just installed not more than an hour before typing this (only had the chance to patch and play 1 game, which I lost... Yarg.).

I also have my copy of Sins of a Solar Empire, which I had before, but never had the opportunity to fully explore (its incredibly complex).  I'll eventually try playing online, but not until I'm sure I've sufficiently learned the ropes (IE, I'm too chicken to play against people that primarily play online).

Please note that my experience with RTS games is very limited.  Played WC, WC2, SC, SW:GB, and DoW1, and of those DoW1 was the only one that had ever captured my interest for any significant length of time.  In fact, as much of a sci-fi fan as I am, SC would probably be my least favorite of that, admittedly, short list.

Now Sins of a Solar Empire has been out for awhile, so I don't think I can say much that hasn't been said in full reviews elsewhere.  I'll just say that this is while the primary method of winning is to build a fleet of ships to level your opponents planets, getting to that point of attacking and winning can take awhile and can come about in several different ways.  You can build up your warchest through diplomatic means by controlling large numbers of colonies, or you can build up to your ship limit early and attempt a bumrush (or fight off the enemies' bumrush).  Either way, even against easier AI, the game will go for awhile.  This is a very methodical game, with a large number of variables to deal with, from upgrades, build-limits, to pirate raiders that all players pay to go against the other side.

In order to win, you will generally be dealing with leading a large number of single ships, including large capital ships that level-up as they fight (and survive), each with different capabilities, against enemies with their own ships that are analogous to them (in terms of base stats). It can get pretty hectic when large numbers of these ships start going at it.  While each of the three races have (as I said) ships that are roughly analogous to eachothers (and researched upgrades to go along with them), the devil is in the handful of special abilites that are unlocked by research (for the tier 1 and 2 ships) and leveling (for the tier 3; IE capital ships). Unfortunately, I haven't played enough to get into games where most of these abilities come into play, or even need to be researched for that matter.

I'll gave the game high marks, no doubt.  Its well crafted, well thought out.  But its definitely not a game you can just jump into, ESPECIALLY if you haven't played RTS games before, and it lacks easy pickup and play capability.  So far I'd have to give pickup and play ability to (of that list) to DoW1. BUT, I am biased, so bleh.

I'd attended to talk about DoW2 or Demigod originally, but I guess those will have to wait until later.  If you want to know more about Sins of a Solar Empire though, I strongly suggest Googling it and reading articles and reviews by people a little more knowledgable and concise than myself. :P

Tuesday, May 26, 2009

Tragedy strikes!  I started a blog.  Holysh-t on a brick!

Anyways, I'll keep this first post simple.  I am nadesico33, though I also go by RamsusSundel in places.  This blog will be primarily a place to post stuff that's too long for twitter, or just my at length rants about various things.  Most of things will, I hope, will be about videogames, anime, occasionally music, and occasionally parts of some of my various fictions that I hope to one day finish.  I will do my best to avoid talking about my personal life unless it's something major.

So, in keeping with trying to keep this first post simple, I'm just going to list off songs that I wish were in Rock Band 2 and/or Guitar Hero: World Tour, in no particular order. (formatted: song name / artist)

Bug Eyes / Dredg
Lights and Sounds / Yellowcard
M4 pt. II / The Faunts
Plowed / Sponge
Bat Country / Avenged Sevenfold
Renegades of Funk / Rage Against the Machine
Last Dinosaur / The Pillows
Cosmic Castaway / Electrasy
Move Along / All-American Rejects
D-technolife (album version) / Uverworld
Misfits and Mistakes / Superchunk
Jump Right In / The Urge

And pretty much just a whole bunch of Offspring, Green Day, and Smashing Pumpkins music. Kinda wish I could remember half of the 311 songs I'd want to see. @_@    I could probably list a whole lot more if not for a bit of mental spazzing.  Oh well. :P