Tuesday, January 3, 2012
Sunday, January 1, 2012
The World Ends With You (NDS)
REASONS THE WORLD ENDS WITH YOU (WEWY) IS BETTER THAN EVERY OTHER RPG
1. It's got like 20 god damn battle themes. Probably one of the most flawed lines of thinking in RPGs is making a 30-100 hours game with about an hour and a half total of music. That's absolutely moronic. "The battle theme is sooo good." Sure maybe in hour 2, but never in hour 36. or in hour 13. This game has like 40 excellent pieces of music showcasing the merge and clash and variety in tastes available in Shibuya (this will be important later.)
2. It's like 15 hours long. Look I fucking love Persona 4. It was also the only thing I played for about 3 months. People just don't have that time. 15 hours? That's great!
3. The game is broken up into 20-30 minute chunks. So you can spread that game playing across your commute or before bed or just whenever you have some time. Again great for people with actual lives!
4. The game is like brain training. See your fighting the battles on both screens. On the bottom screen you're using your stylus to scratch or press or flick. You might also need to blow or scream (one of the only possible negatives I can leverage at the game (it also requires you blow and scream for about 2 minutes once.) On the top screen you are using either the face buttons or the dpad to pull off combo attacks with your partner. BUT!
5. The game is only as hard as you want it to be. See you can set it to easy mode and your AI partner to auto attack. You won't do as well or get as many trinkets/bonuses for controlling both characters. If you do want it ultra hard...
6. The game constantly rewards you. Setting it on hard and bouncing the light puck between your two characters gives you the immediate benefit of "I'm kicking ass and dodging shit and totally wrecking these freak monsters." It also gives you more money and more pins.
7. There's so much shit to collect in this game. There's over 300 pins that give passive and active abilities. You can also just stick with the pins that work and just moving to the upgraded model of that pin. There's also clothes to put on your characters that give benefits inside and outside of battle.
8. WEWY is constantly asking you to experiment. Sometimes it's forcing you, but that's okay. You gotta expand your horizons (holy shit does that mean the...
9. There is an absolute connection between the way the game plays and the narrative. The way the battle system works, how your equipment boosts your stats, why there are no random battles. It's like the whole game is as cohesive as the ending of Final Fantasy Crisis Core. Every part of the game feeds back into other parts.
10. FOR EXAMPLE use specific brands in one area and those brands get bonuses in future battles in that area. The game gracefully explains this to you.
11. It probably has the best tutorial system on EARTH. See this might be going over your head and I might not be explaining what I'm talking about but the game very slowly and smoothly introduces every concept. It never feels dumbed down and it just keeps getting more complex. You keep thinking "there can't possibly be more to this battl-OH SHIT I WAS WRONG."
12. You eventually gain the ability to restart any battle you've lost. Okay here's one fault. The first two hours of the game if you lose a battle you are stuck back at the title screen. I'm not sure why they decided this should be an eventual feature.
13. BUT YOU CAN SAVE AT ANY TIME. If you aren't in a cutscene or a battle you can save. This may sound like "duh" but there are plenty of games this generation with save points and that's BULLSHIT and we all deserve better.
14. Your pins gain experience when you aren't playing. and.
15. You gain pins merely by connecting to wireless hotspots and other DSes. Remember THE WORLD ENDS WITH YOU. You gotta expand your horizons. You have to break out of your bubble and enjoy the world. Play it in cafes.
16. There's this whole other pog like minigame you can play with other players.
17. Our protagonist is kind of a jackass. But he really does grow as a human being/character.
18. The post game content is plentiful. As I started getting towards the end of the game I was afraid to end it purely by how much fun I was having. Good thing there is an absolute ton of post game content in the form of challenges for each Day that unlock details of the meta-narrative.
19. There's even a gaiden side story. Alternate goofy universe adventure to play featuring all the characters from the main story!
20. There's more going on in the plot than bullshit just not going to tell you. YEESSSSSSS.
21. Scaling Sprites.
22. Shibukyu. Okay backstory. While I was walking around Tokyo one day I had a white dude approach me and go, "Do you know how to get to Shibuku?" That's not a real place. I instead told you. "Uh...ShibuYA is that way, and ShiNJUKU is that way. Good Luck." There's a play on a department store's name in this game call Shibukyu.
23. It's just like Shenmue! Taking any nerd that had a Dreamcast around Tokyo and they will at some point tell you this is just like Shenmue at some point. Granted I'm retarded and Shenmue is one of my favorite games precisely because it so well represents anywhere Japan. WEWY accurately represents Shibuya. You could probably use it as a semi-map of the area. I could identify just about every area and store presented within it.
24. It's localized just enough. Everyone still has Japanese names and the story doesn't take place in NYC or some shit. But you also don't get "san" and "kun." I think they even call "nikuman" "nikuman" and not something like "meat buns."
25. It's really fun. The battles are fast! The music is great! The atmosphere is fun! The story is on a small scale for 95% of the game. Not buying this game when it was released was a huge mistake. It didn't sell well. S-E has said they aren't going to let something like this happen again. That's a tragedy. I want Jupiter making whatever the fuck they want forever. They have some of the smartest game designers working for them. This game is a marvel on a design level. I love it and it was probably the best thing I played in 2011.
1. It's got like 20 god damn battle themes. Probably one of the most flawed lines of thinking in RPGs is making a 30-100 hours game with about an hour and a half total of music. That's absolutely moronic. "The battle theme is sooo good." Sure maybe in hour 2, but never in hour 36. or in hour 13. This game has like 40 excellent pieces of music showcasing the merge and clash and variety in tastes available in Shibuya (this will be important later.)
2. It's like 15 hours long. Look I fucking love Persona 4. It was also the only thing I played for about 3 months. People just don't have that time. 15 hours? That's great!
3. The game is broken up into 20-30 minute chunks. So you can spread that game playing across your commute or before bed or just whenever you have some time. Again great for people with actual lives!
4. The game is like brain training. See your fighting the battles on both screens. On the bottom screen you're using your stylus to scratch or press or flick. You might also need to blow or scream (one of the only possible negatives I can leverage at the game (it also requires you blow and scream for about 2 minutes once.) On the top screen you are using either the face buttons or the dpad to pull off combo attacks with your partner. BUT!
5. The game is only as hard as you want it to be. See you can set it to easy mode and your AI partner to auto attack. You won't do as well or get as many trinkets/bonuses for controlling both characters. If you do want it ultra hard...
6. The game constantly rewards you. Setting it on hard and bouncing the light puck between your two characters gives you the immediate benefit of "I'm kicking ass and dodging shit and totally wrecking these freak monsters." It also gives you more money and more pins.
7. There's so much shit to collect in this game. There's over 300 pins that give passive and active abilities. You can also just stick with the pins that work and just moving to the upgraded model of that pin. There's also clothes to put on your characters that give benefits inside and outside of battle.
8. WEWY is constantly asking you to experiment. Sometimes it's forcing you, but that's okay. You gotta expand your horizons (holy shit does that mean the...
9. There is an absolute connection between the way the game plays and the narrative. The way the battle system works, how your equipment boosts your stats, why there are no random battles. It's like the whole game is as cohesive as the ending of Final Fantasy Crisis Core. Every part of the game feeds back into other parts.
10. FOR EXAMPLE use specific brands in one area and those brands get bonuses in future battles in that area. The game gracefully explains this to you.
11. It probably has the best tutorial system on EARTH. See this might be going over your head and I might not be explaining what I'm talking about but the game very slowly and smoothly introduces every concept. It never feels dumbed down and it just keeps getting more complex. You keep thinking "there can't possibly be more to this battl-OH SHIT I WAS WRONG."
12. You eventually gain the ability to restart any battle you've lost. Okay here's one fault. The first two hours of the game if you lose a battle you are stuck back at the title screen. I'm not sure why they decided this should be an eventual feature.
13. BUT YOU CAN SAVE AT ANY TIME. If you aren't in a cutscene or a battle you can save. This may sound like "duh" but there are plenty of games this generation with save points and that's BULLSHIT and we all deserve better.
14. Your pins gain experience when you aren't playing. and.
15. You gain pins merely by connecting to wireless hotspots and other DSes. Remember THE WORLD ENDS WITH YOU. You gotta expand your horizons. You have to break out of your bubble and enjoy the world. Play it in cafes.
16. There's this whole other pog like minigame you can play with other players.
17. Our protagonist is kind of a jackass. But he really does grow as a human being/character.
18. The post game content is plentiful. As I started getting towards the end of the game I was afraid to end it purely by how much fun I was having. Good thing there is an absolute ton of post game content in the form of challenges for each Day that unlock details of the meta-narrative.
19. There's even a gaiden side story. Alternate goofy universe adventure to play featuring all the characters from the main story!
20. There's more going on in the plot than bullshit just not going to tell you. YEESSSSSSS.
21. Scaling Sprites.
22. Shibukyu. Okay backstory. While I was walking around Tokyo one day I had a white dude approach me and go, "Do you know how to get to Shibuku?" That's not a real place. I instead told you. "Uh...ShibuYA is that way, and ShiNJUKU is that way. Good Luck." There's a play on a department store's name in this game call Shibukyu.
23. It's just like Shenmue! Taking any nerd that had a Dreamcast around Tokyo and they will at some point tell you this is just like Shenmue at some point. Granted I'm retarded and Shenmue is one of my favorite games precisely because it so well represents anywhere Japan. WEWY accurately represents Shibuya. You could probably use it as a semi-map of the area. I could identify just about every area and store presented within it.
24. It's localized just enough. Everyone still has Japanese names and the story doesn't take place in NYC or some shit. But you also don't get "san" and "kun." I think they even call "nikuman" "nikuman" and not something like "meat buns."
25. It's really fun. The battles are fast! The music is great! The atmosphere is fun! The story is on a small scale for 95% of the game. Not buying this game when it was released was a huge mistake. It didn't sell well. S-E has said they aren't going to let something like this happen again. That's a tragedy. I want Jupiter making whatever the fuck they want forever. They have some of the smartest game designers working for them. This game is a marvel on a design level. I love it and it was probably the best thing I played in 2011.
Wednesday, December 14, 2011
Games Digest Nov-DEC 2011 Part Ichi
Let's try and talk about all the stuff I played between my last main post and now. Including the things I had forgotten to talk about. The first thing to come to mind is Bionic Commando (PS3) by GRIN. It's an absolutely gorgeous game with fantastic swinging that reminds me of Spiderman 2 (PS2,GC,Xbox). I set it down after the first boss and during the second sniper-sneaking section because the game never really seemed built for that. Taking down one sniper meant two others locked on and fired. I could get angry and finally beat it after thirty minutes or I could just move on with my life.
Making decisions! That's all Alpha Protocol (PS3) is about. It's developed by Obsidian. That link should clear up any questions about what the previous sentence means. The dialog is about as entertaining as drinking sand, but I have to appreciate that game's choices are just different ways to be an asshole. There's no good/evil binary so much as choosing where to place your faith and allegiances. Yes there is a part where you have to choose between saving the girl or saving the people. I stuck by my choices and ended up with everyone I cared about dead at the end. The sex scenes were almost silly and short which made them almost not embarrassing and quality viewing compared to the ones in Mass Effect. It's a fun and dumb 15 hours and you see something brilliant in how all your decisions actually matter while not changing the structure of the game. There's occasionally the dialog choice of "Fuck You" or "Execute".
Mortal Kombat (PS3) has the world's greatest fighting game story mode and is everything it should be. Similarly I can't wait to spend more time on The King of Fighters XIII. I just have all these FPSes I'm bro-ing with. Battlefield 3 is a refreshing change from Modern Warfare 3.
MW3 is more COD Multiplayer. I haven't touched the single player campaign in it or BF3. I can say Spec-Ops in MW3 is probably my GOTY. It touches the same part of my brain that Modern Warfare 2 touched in 2009 and Dog Days viciously tore at in 2010. It feature sparkling level design (that you wish had gone into the multiplayer) and tight lovely situations and circumstances. I'd compare it to the arena stage in any Ratchet and Clank game or Super Meat Boy. Just chunks of wonderful game design. If only I could convince my crew to stop playing BF3 long enough that I could play more of it. BF3 is definitely a better game when you are playing it. Infinite Ward is still the king of menu design.
In BF3 you can't quit, change your loadouts, invite a friend, or even go into options between matches. I'm really not sure what the purpose of that was. It does feature some amazing sights. While MW3 is definitely worth it if you have one friend to play it with you at least need 3 other friends to truly enjoy BF3. The most common question I've had in the 12 vs 12 matches on the PS3 has been, "Where the hell is our team?" And you won't know! You'll be trying to defend or attack an objective and just wondering where the other 8 players are. You need at least 3 people you can stand playing video games with in a squad with you.
On the plus you can change it so you never hear other people talk. That only lasts for that game though. It defaults to "Squad" and then you have to change it to "none" when you are missing a friend (because they were in your squad but when the game started they were suddenly on the other team) and someone's crappy rap starts blaring through your TV speakers.
The sound is god damn amazing.
Making decisions! That's all Alpha Protocol (PS3) is about. It's developed by Obsidian. That link should clear up any questions about what the previous sentence means. The dialog is about as entertaining as drinking sand, but I have to appreciate that game's choices are just different ways to be an asshole. There's no good/evil binary so much as choosing where to place your faith and allegiances. Yes there is a part where you have to choose between saving the girl or saving the people. I stuck by my choices and ended up with everyone I cared about dead at the end. The sex scenes were almost silly and short which made them almost not embarrassing and quality viewing compared to the ones in Mass Effect. It's a fun and dumb 15 hours and you see something brilliant in how all your decisions actually matter while not changing the structure of the game. There's occasionally the dialog choice of "Fuck You" or "Execute".
Mortal Kombat (PS3) has the world's greatest fighting game story mode and is everything it should be. Similarly I can't wait to spend more time on The King of Fighters XIII. I just have all these FPSes I'm bro-ing with. Battlefield 3 is a refreshing change from Modern Warfare 3.
MW3 is more COD Multiplayer. I haven't touched the single player campaign in it or BF3. I can say Spec-Ops in MW3 is probably my GOTY. It touches the same part of my brain that Modern Warfare 2 touched in 2009 and Dog Days viciously tore at in 2010. It feature sparkling level design (that you wish had gone into the multiplayer) and tight lovely situations and circumstances. I'd compare it to the arena stage in any Ratchet and Clank game or Super Meat Boy. Just chunks of wonderful game design. If only I could convince my crew to stop playing BF3 long enough that I could play more of it. BF3 is definitely a better game when you are playing it. Infinite Ward is still the king of menu design.
In BF3 you can't quit, change your loadouts, invite a friend, or even go into options between matches. I'm really not sure what the purpose of that was. It does feature some amazing sights. While MW3 is definitely worth it if you have one friend to play it with you at least need 3 other friends to truly enjoy BF3. The most common question I've had in the 12 vs 12 matches on the PS3 has been, "Where the hell is our team?" And you won't know! You'll be trying to defend or attack an objective and just wondering where the other 8 players are. You need at least 3 people you can stand playing video games with in a squad with you.
On the plus you can change it so you never hear other people talk. That only lasts for that game though. It defaults to "Squad" and then you have to change it to "none" when you are missing a friend (because they were in your squad but when the game started they were suddenly on the other team) and someone's crappy rap starts blaring through your TV speakers.
The sound is god damn amazing.
Monday, December 5, 2011
Fast and the Furious: Tokyo Drift (Justin Lin)
In my eternal quest to get angry about film depictions of Tokyo, I've now seen The Fast and The Furious:Tokyo Drift. It is...exactly what you think it is. Does the protagonist have a hilarious exchange about not understanding Japanese. Does he eventually learn the culture? Does he see something uniquely Japanese and stare in befundlment. Does he wreck a dozen yakuza ricers and not get killed immediately? Does he make out with an underage girl?
Yes he does! The film makes an insistent that the mid-20s something actor is 17 and in high school. This never gets believable despite how often they throw it in your face. "Woah ladies he's underage." He's got the stubble I dream of having as an age-peer. Also he looks almost identical to the "main" protagonist of the series that isn't Vin Diesel.
Positive point: He knows how to use chopsticks and the movie never makes this an issue.
Are there plot holes you could power drift an 18 wheeler through? Yes! It wouldn't be a Fast movie if you didn't have the immense dissapointment that they could have made the plot infinitely more believable with just a few changes.
But the love interest's actress actually was 17 and he totally got all up on that shit. Hey! the CG is amazingly well used and I'd rather watch this than Tokyo! .
Then again I'd probably want to sit in a Otolaryngology office for an hour in January with only an issue of People to read than watch Tokyo! . Sure I'd probably get sick from the experience but I wouldn't be inflamed with rage over how little that movie had to do with the city. Tokyo Drift had slightly more to do with it, or Shibuya rather.
Now I'm gonna go play the Shinjuku track in Project Gotham Racing and guffaw at all the licenses they could get but the Yakuza series couldn't.
Yes he does! The film makes an insistent that the mid-20s something actor is 17 and in high school. This never gets believable despite how often they throw it in your face. "Woah ladies he's underage." He's got the stubble I dream of having as an age-peer. Also he looks almost identical to the "main" protagonist of the series that isn't Vin Diesel.
Positive point: He knows how to use chopsticks and the movie never makes this an issue.
Are there plot holes you could power drift an 18 wheeler through? Yes! It wouldn't be a Fast movie if you didn't have the immense dissapointment that they could have made the plot infinitely more believable with just a few changes.
But the love interest's actress actually was 17 and he totally got all up on that shit. Hey! the CG is amazingly well used and I'd rather watch this than Tokyo! .
Then again I'd probably want to sit in a Otolaryngology office for an hour in January with only an issue of People to read than watch Tokyo! . Sure I'd probably get sick from the experience but I wouldn't be inflamed with rage over how little that movie had to do with the city. Tokyo Drift had slightly more to do with it, or Shibuya rather.
Now I'm gonna go play the Shinjuku track in Project Gotham Racing and guffaw at all the licenses they could get but the Yakuza series couldn't.
Sunday, November 20, 2011
Saturday, October 22, 2011
Drive (2011) by Nicolas Winding Refn
Despite my fear over an interview with Refn that stated, "If you're going to have a head explode in a movie, you need to call this guy..." Drive was absolutely fantastic and I can't wait to own it on Bluray. Hell I almost went to see it again. Maybe I will on monday if it's still at the same theater, which has to be the best in San Antonio and the only one I will go to in the future.
I'm tempted to call it a new classic. I don't want to write more because I feel like I need to watch it again and again.
I'm tempted to call it a new classic. I don't want to write more because I feel like I need to watch it again and again.
Chronicles of Riddick (Movies and Games)
After people kept bringing it up I picked up the BluRay set for the Chronicle of Riddick. Having now watched the 2 films and the 20 minute Peter Chung thing I'm gonna give a verdict. Pitch Black is pretty good! I love things that deal with logistics of doing something. So it's really great they deal with logistics until they stop dealing with logistics for character drama.
Riddick is kind of thin as a character. It's Vin Diesel talking in his deep voice and acting as the plot requires he acts. It doesn't feel like there's internal dialog/conflict going on him. He will do what the plot needs to move forward versus any internal motivation. For an anti-hero not a lot of surprises. Oh and the 2nd film has deus ex machima and I always hate that.
But watching these got me pumped to replay the video game. And I could replay it and then play the sequel all on the same disc.
I didn't play the sequel. With the presence of DARK SOULS, GOD HAND, The World Ends With You, etc. a video game has to be awesome to keep my interest. Riddick had pretty much never grab my interest because I never felt like a badass. If I'm going to fight people in first person I'd replay Breakdown again and throw my controller through a TV.
Instead the game ended up back in the envelope after I kept dying on a boring stealth section for an hour. Interestingly I remember this is the same place I set down the game years ago, then came back 3 months later and beat because it felt incomplete. But hey DARK SOULS.
Riddick is kind of thin as a character. It's Vin Diesel talking in his deep voice and acting as the plot requires he acts. It doesn't feel like there's internal dialog/conflict going on him. He will do what the plot needs to move forward versus any internal motivation. For an anti-hero not a lot of surprises. Oh and the 2nd film has deus ex machima and I always hate that.
But watching these got me pumped to replay the video game. And I could replay it and then play the sequel all on the same disc.
I didn't play the sequel. With the presence of DARK SOULS, GOD HAND, The World Ends With You, etc. a video game has to be awesome to keep my interest. Riddick had pretty much never grab my interest because I never felt like a badass. If I'm going to fight people in first person I'd replay Breakdown again and throw my controller through a TV.
Instead the game ended up back in the envelope after I kept dying on a boring stealth section for an hour. Interestingly I remember this is the same place I set down the game years ago, then came back 3 months later and beat because it felt incomplete. But hey DARK SOULS.
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