RPG index

The advantages of playing a roleplaying game on hard difficulty. Challenge yourself.

2016-10-01T03:35:00.004-07:00

I've often stated that playing any game on hard is the best and only way to play. An RPG is no exception to this rule, these titles are often far more rewarding and satisfying on a harder difficulty.

I am absolutely ashamed at all the gamers I know for choosing normal or easy difficulty. Unless the game is something really Korean and therefore impossible to complete unless you are Asian, then you should always try setting the game on hard mode to see what it is like.

If you play games on lower difficulties, not only are you not challenging yourself to become a better gamer, but you're also never going to be any good at any games, period.

What do you mean by play games on hard difficulty?

It's simple. When you have the option to choose a difficulty on your RPG or any video game, opt for the higher level of challenge. There are countless benefits to playing on a challenging difficulty, which I shall try to cover throughout this article.

When you start a new video game you are often prompted to choose a difficulty. If not, you can usually find a difficulty selection in the menu options somewhere. The most common difficulties include:

Easy: Easy is the difficulty level that you choose the first time you ever touched a video game. Picking easymode after this point is pathetic, and a bad gaming practice.
Normal/Casual: Normal is probably the most common difficulty for gamers. Most RPGs are terribly easy on normal,
Hard: Hard is usually the difficulty I start with, this is definitely the best way to go.
Very Hard/Nightmare: Very hard is usually a crazy challenge bordering on masochistic. I will usually put it on this difficulty if hard is a cakewalk.

Bear in mind that sometimes games will use various different names for difficulty, like casual for normal mode or veteran for hard. Nightmare mode is definitely one you might of heard of or suffered through.

Why should I play on hard?

The purpose of playing games depends on the person. You could be playing for story, fun, or just out of boredom. However, if you are playing games, you are completely devaluing the price of your purchase and the quality of the game if you do not select a difficulty level that provides you with a decent challenge. If I'm not connected with the game over screen once in a while, I will get bored. So should you!

Boss battles are meant to be tough. How are you supposed to remember a boss if he didn't kill you and all of your characters 5 times over?

I have played many RPG titles such as Final Fantasy and completed the entire game with barely a single member in my party ever getting KO'd. The most prevalent thing I remember from these playthroughs was that they were easy and boring because of it. The best RPGs are the ones that you struggle against.

Baldur's Gate wouldn't be an epic iconic and classic RPG without the constant wiping and repeatedly getting killed by enemies. It wouldn't be a cult hit, because people loved it because it was brutally challenging and all about perfecting your characters and playstyle.

Playing on hard difficulty makes you exponentially more skilled at games

This is an incredibly accurate statement. When I start a new game with my friends, they all choose normal. Because I pick hard, when we do a multiplayer versus match I win every single time. Why? Because I am naturally used to playing at a higher level. Playing on normal not only sets a lower level precedent for your skill of play, but it also allows you to use redundant mechanics to win battles that you wouldn't be able to get away with on a higher difficulty.

Modern games are increasingly easy

As video games have trended towards mainstream culture, developers have continued to make easier and easier titles. This is for the filthy stinking casuals who rarely purchase and play games. I finished Dragon Age inquisition on hard without dying once, because EA think their games cater better to a wider audience.

I am disgusted with how easy games have become. I don't mind video game developers making a game accessible to noobs, but on a harder difficulty it should always be a challenge. Nowadays, whenever I want a good hearty game to play with lots of losing and increasingly difficult battles, I have to go shopping in the retro market. Even new games notorious for being challenging like Dark Souls just turn to putty in my hands.

Playing RPGs on hard difficulty

Because of my experience on JRPGs and other RPG games, even when I select a harder difficulty I usually make it through the game with minimal deaths. This is less due to skill and more down to pure experience. Check out my beating and breaking RPGs guide to see how I do it.

Don't be intimidated by the higher difficulty levels on games. They are there to encourage you to better your gaming skills. Once you get accustomed to playing games on hard you will benefit from it in several key ways:

You will learn much more about the RPG by playing it on hard.
Hard mode will increase your problem solving skills.
Normal mode is always too easy, it never really issues you a challenge in modern games.
You will become better at gaming in general.
Often on RPGs, there is additional content to be found by selecting challenging levels.

Ultimately advantages of playing video games on hard or extreme can be many or few. I personally do it because I do not want to get into bad habits by playing the RPG on easy in the first place.

Conclusion: Almost all RPG titles are better games on hard

If you want to be better at games, if you want to better yourself, play on hard. Relish the opportunity to be challenged, take every game over screen as a lesson. If you have that competitive spirit in you, remember to hold your skills to a higher standard!

If you want to literally decrease your gaming skills, go ahead and pick easy mode. Just remember, if you ever play against me or any other nightmare difficulty gamer online, we will always win. Are you okay with that? Or would you rather put up a fight?

How to break any RPG: Basic edition

2016-02-18T08:53:00.002-08:00

Every now and again during a playthrough of an RPG game, I'll die or get a game over. It's not often, in fact I regularly complete entire RPG's without seeing the game over screen. It's a combination of experience, talent, and knowing where the flaws are. If you read this guide, I'll show you some of the basic strategies and tactics to breaking any game with Role Playing elements. If this guide helps anyone or receives particular attention I will be happy to write an advanced edition on how to break any RPG.

While you won't be able to abuse these techniques in every RPG you play, a lot of them transition across most games and platforms. If you're stuck on a game and looking for a way to abuse mechanics and defeat a particularly challenging boss or level, there should be a hint or two in here to help you with your problem. Let's get started, shall we?

Grinding in an RPG
Ah, the weakness of almost every Role Playing Game in existence. If you don't know what grinding is; it's the procedure of continually farming levels for your characters and party. An example would be: you are stuck on a level 10 boss and your characters are all level 5. So you take your low level characters and kill other manageable enemies until your characters are all level 10. Then you can go back and beat the boss because your characters have received various bonuses and strengths from leveling up. You could also continue to farm your characters levels until they are considerably stronger, then the battle will be a cakewalk.

Grinding is one of my favorite ways to get an edge when I get stuck on a game. It usually takes a bit of your time, but the rewards are worth it. Not only do your characters get extra levels and experience, you can also gain gold and other advantages like items.

Indeed, grinding is the most common way to get ahead on any game. If you ever get stuck or die this should always be your first resort. But be warned, if you grind too often or too hard then completing the rest of the game may become trivially easy. Easy is boring, there's absolutely nothing to gain from playing a game that is too easy for you.

RPG Consumable stacking
Consumable stacking is great. This is what I always do in Final Fantasy, although more often than not it can be far too overpowered. The premise of stacking consumables or items revolves around purchasing or grinding lots of wealth in your game, and then going to a shop and buying as many consumables as you can.

The best example of this is when I start a new Final Fantasy playthrough. As early as possible I kill as many enemies as it takes to get the maximum amount of potions, which is 99. This makes the rest of the entire RPG laughably pleasant. Why? Because whenever anybody in my party loses any HP or is close to dying, I just throw 10 potions at them.

Plus, in a lot of RPG titles it's possible to use healing or restorative items when you are outside of combat.

Consumable stacking does not only apply to healing items but to other consumable type items too.

Being smart and skilled at games, win with knowledge.
Although it's easier said than done, being smart and intelligent when you play games is an unsurpassed advantage. When I play a new RPG for the first time, my initial prerogative is to find the strongest mechanics. Any professional gamer will immediately look for weaknesses in the video games engine to abuse.

This is a simple technique, and it should be obvious to any gamer. It's as easy as a fire element monster being weak against water. If you want to be smart in a game, you take advantage of its flaws.

Let me explain it properly: In most RPG titles you are given options to choose how to build you character. If you are smart and build your character properly then the game should be a cakewalk. These options could vary depending on the video game you are playing. Here are some incredibly overpowered characters you can build in the most popular single player role-playing-games with ease.

Mass effect one two and three: Adept class
If you create an adept build in Mass Effect it's not really considered overpowered. Why? Because the first 3-4 hours of any Mass Effect playthrough sucks if you play as the adept class. Adepts are essentially characters who use biotic abilities, such as telekinesis to win.

If you start any Mass Effect game on a hard difficulty as an adept you will suffer for the early part of the game. However, if you make it part way through the game you obtain access to many incredibly overpowered and game breaking abilities that make the rest of the game a cake walk.

If you really want to break any Mass Effect game pick the sentinel class. You have been warned, this makes the game boring.

Dragon Age
I really shouldn't have to explain why Dragon Age is an imbalanced game. If you pick the arcane warrior class you become essentially immortal. Full plate armor and magic spells, all the advantages of being a mage without any weaknesses.

Conclusion to being smart:
Ultimately any RPG is at your whim if you know what you are doing. Every single RPG ever made presents you with options on how to develop your character. You could be a Warrior, Mage, or Rogue. It doesn't matter.

Every RPG game ever made has a strongest class. It's usually mages.

Anyway, my point is: If you are smart and build your character properly; you can make any RPG your bitch. Just make sure you pick the right talents when you level up. Build your character properly.

How to break any RPG, final comments:
Although this article might have been all over the place and vague in some places, the goal is the same. If you are stuck on an RPG title take advantage of the many options you have available. You can opt to grind like a noob, or you can choose skill and die repeatedly until you outskill your opponent.

Ultimately if you get stuck on any role playing game then you haven't been taking advantage of the opportunities available to you.

Are you stuck on an RPG?
If you are struggling to complete a boss or area on an RPG then you are in the right place. Take some of these tips to heart and either grind or skill your way to victory.

Might and Magic Heroes VI

2013-07-22T06:59:00.001-07:00

I've had a copy of Might and Magic 6 for years. I've tried to get into it several times, but failed due to circumstances outside my control or because I just plain couldn't get into it. Recently I decided to rectify that issue, and force myself to sit down for a solid Might and Magic session and finish a couple of campaigns. I gotta admit I really don't like it. It's fun for a couple of hours, but the longer you play the less interesting it gets.

I just can't seem to enjoy the battles, they are too repetitive.

Genre: RPG, Strategy
Release Date: 13th October, 2011
Platforms: PC
Score: 3/10
Similar Titles: Sorry, I can't recommend other games this bad because I just don't remember any.

Might and Magic Heroes VI thrusts you into the role of a sovereign in the world of Ashan, a place plagued by many monsters and your usual fantasy creatures. Orcs, Gryphons and Undead: stuff like that. As ruler of the realm your role is to build a large army, capture resources around the map to fund that army, and kill everything that gets in your way. Depending on which campaign you dive into there's a different story, usually something about defending your lands from an invasion or something boring like that. Sadly, the story is one of the redeeming qualities of the game- despite being scarce and short. For example, the first campaign pits you in control of Duke Slava; a young noble allied with the Orcs. Unluckily, people don't like the Orcs so you have to send them a message by putting a sword in their gut. Eventually you kill a few people who are important and some angels get involved, and everything just gets a little bloody. But to be honest, you'd be better off just reading the story on Wikipedia, it's less time consuming and you don't have to actually suffer through the tedium of the game.

The CGI does look amazing, but there's barely any of it.

Both the campaign map and the battles are turn-based in Might and Magic. You have a set amount of movement points each turn on the map, which can be increased by equipment or talents when you level up. When you end your turn your opponents get to move, and every few turns everything on the map gets slightly harder to kill. If you squander enough turns, it becomes impossible to progress further because the armies you have to defeat become far too powerful. This is a nice idea on paper, it forces you to keep making progress. The goal of each mission is to capture and convert the enemies castles, or defeat a specific army. On the way you can collect nodes such as blacksmiths or stables to generate units or resources every turn. Once a month you can recruit new forces at your stronghold, so it's usually a good idea to try and get your hero and his army nearby to pick them up. There are small armies everywhere, most of the time you want to capture something you will have to fight something for it. The campaign map is the least offensive part of Might and Magic heroes, it's not exactly fun to wander around securing places for gold; but it's not awful either. If only you didn't have to spend 10 minutes battling a bunch of peasant Undead every time you want to take control of something.

The campaign map doesn't look that pretty, and the UI can get annoying to deal with.

As for the battles, they start out quite interesting. Your units are stacked together, so you can have 40 crossbow men occupying one tile, or you could split it into 2 individual sets of 20. Each unit can move once per turn, and some of them have special attributes that aid their combat ability. For example, Gryphons can attack from any distance by flying to the target and returning to their original position. However, they are all basically the same. You move your unit into position, and attack over and over again until everything is dead. The only layer to combat on top of that is your hero. While he does not take part in the actual battle, your hero can cast spells and attack every turn from the sidelines. When you level up a few times you can choose from a rather large pool of spells in the talent tree. It's nice to have a large repertoire of abilities to use in combat, but the downside here is most of them are boring. Who wants to increase defense by x for 3 turns?

Attacking strongholds is fun the first time. Can't really say the same after that.

Overall, the battlefield is exactly what turned me off Might and Magic. It's a slow paced affair, even with when you set the computer to do it automatically for you. The problem is that you usually end up fighting a couple of armies each turn, and after a few hours it just gets sickeningly frustrating. Combat in this game is the embodiment of 'I hit you, then you hit me.', this outdated mechanic is something Square Enix have been trying to evolve for years. This is the biggest problem with the game, because why would I waste my time on it when I could just play something else with a story that I'm invested in, or with better graphics and combat?

I just can't believe this is the sixth edition of a game in 2011. It's like a game from the 90's. A bad one.

Despite the incredibly basic warfare, the game has a fair variety of different units to find and recruit. Some of the endgame angels and dragons are really cool and powerful, it's awesome to have them in your army. However, there are only a couple of upgrades for each unit. It would have been far better to give players choices when they want to make their army more powerful, instead of giving us some none-optional power ups that are insignificant for the most part. It's a real shame, because the base combat starts out promising, but it doesn't give you enough to work with as you get further into the game. The Spearmen you have at the beginning are the same as the Spearmen at the end.

The cutscenes are dull. Can't really describe them any other way.

From the small amount of research I've done, Heroes of Might and Magic 6 has advanced in quality from the titles that came before it. It's made progress. But in my opinion, no way near enough. It looks like a cool game and when you first start playing it feels like it too. The Heroes can develop aggressively down the blood path or intelligently up the tears route. The units have been collaborated from a vast collection of fictional creatures. The graphics aren't half bad, and nor is the atmosphere. Unfortunately, after a few hours your opinion of the game deteriorates, and you start to think 'shouldn't there be more to this?'.

Maybe I'm not being fair to a game that's really old. Oh wait, it's only been 2 years since it came out! It feels like it's a game from 2006 or earlier, it's that outdated. Maybe they didn't have the budget to make it better? Well I'm pretty sure Ubisoft had plenty of cash to publish it. That's the problem with this title. It seems to have everything it needed to be a comprehensive modern video game; and yet it plays like something I'd be playing on windows 98 when I was in primary school. This is the most scathing review I have written for a game thus far, and I feel a little guilty about it. So I booted up Might and Magic to give it one another chance. An hour later, I'm back- and I refuse to change a word of it. Other critics have given this game a fairly high score, one that it doesn't deserve.

Don't buy this title unless you like games that are slow-paced, unnecessarily time-consuming and outdated. I'll give it one saving grace: it's playable. But I don't pay for games that are playable. I pay for games that are going to give me an existential life crisis when I run out of content to play.

Star Ocean Wallpapers

2013-07-21T16:09:00.000-07:00

After playing through several Star Ocean games recently, mainly the Last Hope and First Departure; I decided to collect several wallpapers for my desktop. Here they are, for your viewing and downloading pleasure. Star Ocean is really a fantastic franchise, and there's countless wallpapers out there. These are some of the best I could find.

If you're looking for a review on first departure, take a look here.

Desktop Wallpapers: Star Ocean

First departure isn't bad if you can get a copy of it, but the characters are a bit shallow.

The Last Hope didn't exceed my expectations, but it's a good game.

I could never find a copy of Second Evolution, still want to play it.

Til the End of Time is my undisputed favorite Star Ocean game.

If you like pink haired elves, well there you go.

I really didn't like Edge that much. I don't know why.

Infinite Undiscovery

2013-07-20T16:13:00.001-07:00

Infinite Undiscovery was a debatable purchase for me. On one hand it was cheap, on the other the box looked pretty awful. However, the blurb sold me on it; promising me a great title from the creators of Star Ocean. After finishing the first disc and making decent progress on the second; I'm impressed. Just not that impressed. Infinite Undiscovery is an above average JRPG with a nice blend of elements, and it's definitely worth a single playthrough.

The graphics are awesome, almost Square Enix quality.

Genre: JRPG, Fantasy
Release Date: 2nd September, 2008
Platforms: Xbox 360
Score: 7/10
Similar Titles: Star Ocean, The Last Story, Xenoblade Chronicles

From the beginning the inspiration from the Star Ocean franchise is immediately noticeable. While the majority of mechanics are different, the skills, UI, and characters will remind you of Star Ocean. Despite this, Infinite Undiscovery sets itself apart by approaching the story without Sci-Fi, giving the traditional medieval and fantasy genre a try.

Late game you still hit for terrible damage.

The plot begins with the moon being tethered to the planet by vast chains across the land. Said chains cause disaster across the land, creating tidal waves and causing monsters to appear destroying settlements with impunity. Sigmund, an 'unblessed' man leads a liberation force- striking apart chains throughout the land. Our main character of the game is Capell, a flute player unfortunate enough to bear an exact resemblance of Sigmund. Capell is mistaken for Sigmund and imprisoned, until he is rescued by a member of the liberation force named Aya. I thoroughly enjoyed the story, although predictable at times, it was intriguing and well delivered for the majority of the game.

Capell starts out as a disinterested and selfish protagonist, but quickly develops into a hero. Although I'm sure this natural character progression is admirable and what some people want, personally I'd rather he stayed an asshole all the way through. Why? Because throughout the game, most of your party are really horrible to him. Since they all look up to the heroic Sigmund, no matter what Capell does to prove himself, he still gets treated like shit. You save several party members lives, and they still prefer Sigmund. What inspiration does Capell have to be a hero when everyone treats him like a coward? Aside from the characters being ungrateful little shites, their personalities are unique and they each have an archetype to complement the plot, and enough depth to give them life. The characters and the story are good enough to push Infinite Undiscovery from good to better, it's a shame the great dialogue isn't reinforced with great voice acting.

Lord Sigmund is beloved by everyone except the dudes who put up the chains.

Instead of being an instance based affair like you'd expect from every RPG in existence, with loading between battles and areas, Infinite Undiscovery focuses on delivering everything in one field. You can transition from exploring to battle, and even fiddle around on the menus without a single pause in play. When engaging an enemy, all you have to do is draw your sword. It's an underestimated feature, and you won't miss it until you start playing other RPG games; at which point you'll realize it was actually pretty nifty.

Although the story is pretty captivating, the rest of the game isn't so flawless. The combat, while fun at first glance, quickly turned out to lack some much needed depth and difficulty. Capell has 3 basic combos he can perform, so it quickly gets repetitive, especially when it's frustrating to aim your attacks at times. This annoyance is offset by your useful party members, who can usually put out more damage and land every hit. In some sections you can even utilize multiple parties, who will wander through the battlefield killing enemies for you. The bosses are the best part of the game, they usually take a long time to beat, give you a few low health scares, and force you to use a fair amount of items to survive.

Capell is considered a pretender, nobody likes him.

While the combat is no way near the depth or fun required to make a solid video game, Infinite Undiscovery makes up for that by providing a variety of activities and minigames to partake in. For example, you can synchronize with your party members to access their abilities. Aya can shoot her bow at explosive barrels to deal damage or shoot apples from trees, and one of the kids can talk to animals and summon them into combat or receive items. Personally, I'd take addictive combat over poorly implemented side games any day, but it's there for anyone who enjoys that kind of content.

As you progress through the game some party members are capable of creating various items, crafting is always handy. Except in this case. It's useless, you can usually only craft items that you don't need, and most players will probably finish the game without even creating so much as a potion. Among other annoying mechanics is the flute playing skill. Throughout the game you obtain several songs to play, which are often vital to making progress through a dungeon or defeating particular enemies. Sadly, playing the flute begins with an annoyingly slow animation, followed by limiting you to walking slower than Superman sporting several Kryptonite bullets. Sometimes to advance to the next bit of the game you are required to play the flute to open a secret passage. To do this you have to walk around playing the flute and hoping to god you find it soon.

Accessing the menu can only be done in real time, so doing it near monsters is a bad idea.

The biggest flaw in the game is the lack of direction. When navigating through a lair infested with enemies and puzzles, you're often left scratching your head and wondering where to go next. I wouldn't of even made it to disc 2 without googleing a couple of time consuming puzzles. That's saying something, because I finished the first disc in less than 10 hours. The second does have the bulk of the content, but it's still scary to finish half of a JRPG in such a short time.

As I played Infinite Undiscovery I found it very easy to criticize. The save points are in bad places and spaced pretty far apart. Cutscenes can't be skipped, so if you die or want to do another playthrough the game will try very hard to stop you. The combat got boring quickly, and synchronizing with a party member to use their attacks was a waste of time when you could just beat away with a basic combination attack. However, I kept on playing. What's weird, is I also kept on enjoying myself. The bits of the game that were intolerable and annoying to deal with were rewarded with a nice chunk of story or a plot twist, further immersing me and keeping me going. I can't say I didn't like it, despite all my complaints.

You decide whether to shell out the change for Infinite Undiscovery, it won't cost you much; and you might like it. There are only so many JRPGs for the Xbox 360. So what is there to lose?

Grand Theft Auto V: New Gameplay Video

2013-07-15T09:13:00.001-07:00

I've been looking forward to the new Grand Theft Auto. The information about it released thus far is incredibly promising. This new video, which outlines gameplay and story reinforces that promise. It looks amazing. Instead of being dropped into a world so large you'll never really spend too much time in any one area, Rockstar have opted for a smaller game area with things crammed in. Grand Theft Auto 5 is going to be an epic game, without a doubt. Just how epic will it be?

Call of Juarez: Gunslinger

2013-07-08T00:16:00.003-07:00

Having never played a Call of Juarez title to date, I didn't know what to expect when jumping into Gunslinger; aside from a few very pretty looking screenshots. After diving into the playthrough and finishing it in less than 10 hours, I can attest that it's a short but enjoyable game that peaks at above average. It's not a bad game, but it lacks content and can't really stand up to FPS games of higher quality.

Trains seem to be a big focus on Gunslinger. Mostly because people like to rob them.

Genre: FPS, Adventure
Release Date: 21st May, 2013
Platforms: PC, Xbox 360, PS3
Score: 7/10
Similar Titles: Red Dead Redemption, Desperados, GUN
Worth Playing: Definitely, you can run through the whole game in a day and it's a fairly enjoyable arcade style shooter.

Call of Juarez: Gunslinger

The Good:

Pretty straightforward wild west shooter with a very arcade style feel.
Quick to pick up, and fun to play. Basic RPG elements.
Nice graphics, authentic story & brilliant atmosphere.

The Bad:

Almost too simplistic, there's nothing complex about this Call of Juarez game.
If you're looking for a Wild West game, you go for Red Dead Redemption first.
Very short, not long enough to really be considered a full game.

Someone told me to pay for my beer, the only valuables I could spare was lead.

Since playing Red Dead Redemption and loving it, I've been looking for a Wild West shooter to sink my teeth into. It also made me realize the raw potential for cowboy video games and how awesome they can be. Call of Juarez: Gunslinger definitely has an authentic feel to it, the graphics do justice to the old West, bringing hectic saloon shootouts and some of the biggest names from the history books. In fact, it was the graphics that made me buy the game in the first place (that and the temporary deal on steam). As you can see in some of the images, Gunslinger is very pretty and colorful. Especially if you have a weakness for cel-shading and awesome comic introductions like me.

I love it when they introduce characters through comics strips like this.

Silas Greaves is a famous bounty hunter, driven purely by revenge. Years after hunting countless targets and never missing his mark, Silas wanders into the Bull's Head saloon. The patrons of the bar ask him about his exploits over the years, quoting excerpts from a book about his past. For the low price of a few drinks, Silas agrees to tell his tale how it truly happened. Thus, the game begins. Silas narrates his story as you play it, slinging bullets alongside legends like Billy the Kid and Butch Cassidy.

The best part about Gunslinger is it's very atmospheric. Combining lush visuals with wonderful narration and historic characters from the Wild West will quickly garner your attention and push you to play the game until it's finished. As Silas depicts the story it unfolds, often he exaggerates the situation, which forces you to fight off more enemies than you can handle. With a quick reprimand from one of the people listening to his story, Silas changes the plot; which shifts the environment and enemies around you. Sometimes you'll be forced to play the same area over again with a different twist, which is a very intriguing and often amusing mechanic.

It's surprisingly easy to get hit and die, which is why cheat death is so useful.

Although the story is immersive and interesting to watch unfold, the action feels like it's missing something that I just can't quite figure out. It's a very arcadey FPS, which is good. You can run and gun very effectively, and most of the time cover isn't that important. Killing enemies fills up your bullet time bar, giving you a few seconds of slow motion when needed. You can even cheat death by dodging a bullet that is going to kill you once every 30 seconds. Cheating death is really useful, it saved my ass more than anything else. It's also nice to see an RPG element incorporated into play, you can gain extra experience by shooting people in the head or chaining together kills.

There are also 'nuggets of truth' scattered around each level, which net you a nice exp reward and some snippets about real historic events. Levelling up allows you to place points in one of three talent trees, all of which are pretty well designed and give you some cool perks. It's not very deep or comprehensive, but choosing how to upgrade your character is fun and useful. Especially the dual wield talent. Who the hell doesn't want to blast away bandits with two revolvers? Nobody, that's who.

You have to admit it looks pretty, especially for cel-shaded.

Each level is fairly unique, and you blast your way through caves, up mountains and even moving trains. There's a good variety. Most enemies you encounter are the same, simple chest or head shots bring them down immediately, but there's a few grenadiers and armored shotgunners that can put the hurt on you if you don't take them out first.

The AI is hella' stupid though, the only thing they have going for them is reasonable accuracy on hard. At least there's a lot of them, although they clump together in packs becoming easy dynamite targets.

Silas Greaves is quite a cool character, which is definitely a plus for this title. He narrates the story with charisma, and some amusing jokes. As you learn about his past, you can come to grips with his motives and justify his actions. The game makes a solid statement about how the history books might not always tell the true story.

You're not always on the side of good, sometimes you have to blast your way through simple folk who are on a witch hunt.

Undoubtedly my favorite part of the game is the dueling minigame. At the end of each level, you get to test your gun against one of the best in the West, in a duel to the death. It's a simple face off. Whilst Silas and his opponent stare each other down; acting like true cowboys, you have about 20 seconds to keep your hand prepared to draw the revolver whilst aiming your crosshair on your opponent. When the timing comes down to the crucial moments, you can either attempt to shoot them before they draw and kill them dishonorably, or wait for him to pull his weapon and then draw faster. It's a really cool side game, and really satisfying if you can draw and shoot your opponent in less than a second.

Silas Greaves is a pretty cool guy, young or old he's a boss.

I'd like to say Call of Juarez: Gunslinger is a fantastic game. It's fun, addictive, and it doesn't have any features that irritate or slow you down. But it's just mediocre. All the mechanics and features are recycled from other games, admirably but lacking innovation.

There are barely 3 different guns to use. It's way too short, it won't even take up a day of your time. If you want a casual FPS without any thinking just some bullets and wild wild West action, then buy Red Dead Redemption. If you finished Red Dead and want more, only then should you consider purchasing Gunslinger.

Mount & Blade: Warband

2013-07-05T14:45:00.003-07:00

If you're looking for Warband mods, try Floris or Pendor, they are the biggest and best available.

I have yet to play a better kingdom building game than Mount & Blade. No other title can really provide the same satisfaction of starting out a campaign alone and penniless, forming your own band of mercenaries, rising in power until you're ready to try for the throne. Sure, other games try to create this experience, but none of them do it as well as Warband. As far as single player titles go, this one's top quality bueno.

Things can get a little crazy when the melee starts.

Genre: Action, Third-person, RPG, Strategy
Release Date: 30th March, 2010
Platforms: PC
Score without mods: 7/10
Score with mods: 9/10
Similar Titles: Total War, Chivalry, War of the Roses

Mount and Blade: Warband is the sequel to the original Mount and Blade. It hasn't changed much, it's the same game with buffed up features and some polish. It's not nearly as polished or pretty as it should be, in fact it still feels like a game in beta. Which is why it's strange that Warband is still one of the best games I've ever played.

Taking a hill gives you a pretty overpowered advantage.

There are two sides to Warband. The campaign map and the battlefield. Most of your time will be spent on the map, traveling from city to city looking for quests and enemies to fight. However, once you make a little progress you'll be repelling armies left and right. There is zero story whatsoever, so don't expect any until you start piling on some mods. The battlefield is the fun part of Warband. When the fight begins, you can command your soldiers around the field at the same time as controlling your character. It's essentially third-person action, combined with real-time strategy. It's a great feeling, sending your infantry into the fray whilst charging alongside your cavalry into the flank. It's far more satisfying being in the combat instead of watching it from above.

The overworld map isn't particularly pretty, but then again neither is the rest of the game.

Warband's combat really is something special. You can make use of various weapon types, including swords, crossbows, lances and even stones. Each weapon has limited functionality, so it's quite a hard decision to decide whether to keep that two-handed claymore for sweeping past people on horseback, or trade it in for a bow so you can nail enemies from afar. Moreover, dealing damage is directly related to physics. For example, if you're running at full speed on a horse and land a blow on somebody, they are going to take twice as much damage as they would if you were stationary. You can swing in 4 different directions, and if you swing in the right direction with your momentum, it will do significantly more damage. This is a unique feature that brings a new element of strategy to battle.

Upon starting your new character, fresh with your own backstory, Warband drops you into the lands of Calradia. From the beginning of the game, you are free to do whatever you want. You can try to besiege a castle at level one, if being hit by 40 arrows in the face is something on your list of things to do. Typically it's a good idea to kick off your campaign by recruiting a few peasants and searching for bandits to get early weapons and cash. Completing quests for villages and lords lands you reputation points and money, both of which become important as you progress. Once you have trained your men into competent swordsmen and archers, you become a formidable band of mercenaries prepared to fight some of the larger forces on the map.

Castle sieges can be really difficult with limited ladders to attack from.

The reason Mount & Blade: Warband is so addictive is because you can choose your route to power. If you want to become a peaceful diplomatic, you can help villages prosper by helping them with bandits and buying them grain. Then you can invest that money into various enterprises to turn a profit every week. Eventually you can join a faction and fight for them, with enough reputation your king might even reward you with a castle or city. Or, you can take the quick route to power. Loot and burn villages, ambush lords and ransom them for money. Take a castle for yourself and establish your own rogue kingdom. This is a fast way to piss off all the factions, but if you're prepared to fight them off you can create your own utopia; recruit your own lords to patrol your lands and manage your finances.

Rolling around the map outmaneuvering armies twice your size and crushing them feels like an entire game in itself. However, when you start conquering provinces and owning lands- it becomes a whole different ballgame. Suddenly you're posed with questions of state, who to appoint as a leader, how many troops to leave in the garrison, and even building upgrades to improve your cities and villages. Instead of going from country to country, you're posed with defending your lands all while keeping your own army strong and formidable enough to counter any threats.

Training peasants consists of beating them unconscious until they get stronger.

Even though Warband is definitely better than most of the medieval war games I've had the misfortune of playing, it's still inherently flawed and feels unfinished. Sometimes attacks glitch and miss or hit when they shouldn't have, and walking up hills slows your units down far more than it should. There aren't many quests and they are a chore to complete, which often makes it difficult to farm reputation with a village or person that you want on your side. It's possible to romance lords and ladies of the opposite sex, but it's time consuming and lacks benefit. Although all these features seem hastily tacked on it's justifiable due to the massive branches of options and mechanics in Warband. Even more so considering it was created by a small indie company. With a higher budget and a bigger team, there's absolutely no limit to how high the Mount & Blade franchise could reach.

When I take a step back and look at the overall composition of Warband, it's nothing less than fantastic. There are dozens of cities and keeps owned by different factions, all with their own economy. With some memory and a little perseverance, you can make money by transporting the right goods from town to town. Lords recruit armies and trawl across the map, picking off bandits and fighting their enemies. Over the space of a couple of months in game time, factions go to war and try to conquer territory. If you're not careful, you can indirectly help a faction by defeating their enemies, and then they will spiral out of control and take half the map. Dozens of companions can be found in taverns, who level up just like your main character. You can even throw some epic gear their way, if you want them to be a monstrous killing machine. My point being, every individual feature of Mount & Blade: Warband needs work, polish or an overhaul. However, when all those single pieces come together as a whole; it forms a beautiful game worthy of every fanatic collection.

Tournaments are a good way to rack up some cash, if you win anyway.

What's funny is, this is all just the core Warband game. You still don't know about the best part. Mods. Mount & Blade has one of the finest modding communities in existence, rivaling that of the Elder Scrolls and Total War. From small to complete overhaul, if there's something you want- you can find it. You can change the size of battles, add in story elements and even monsters. You can download packs with dozens of new units, or even entirely new maps. Don't like playing games with sub-par graphics? Download some HD textures and voila! Pretty. There are overhaul packs that make Warband feel like an entirely new game.

It's gotten to the point where I physically cannot stand playing the core Mount & Blade. It's a brilliant game, but it reaches near perfect with some of the mods you can download. If you're looking for an overhaul to make Warband so much more; try Floris or Prophecy of Pendor.

Warband Mods: Floris

2013-07-03T08:38:00.000-07:00

Floris is the largest mod I've seen for Mount & Blade yet. It's a whopping 1.1 GB, and upon starting it up you will immediately notice changes everywhere you look. In essence, Floris is a patch that brings countless gameplay changes, fixes, and tweaks to Warband. Beware, once you get into this mod it's unlikely you will ever play the native Warband again. It's a massive improvement to the original.

Mounted archery is useful for whittling down hordes of opponents.

Mount & Blade Warband Mod Floris Review

I expect you own Mount & Blade Warband if you have made it into this review. Floris is one of the most popular overhaul modifications for Warband.

If you want to download Floris, you can find it here: http://www.nexusmods.com/mbwarband/mods/3489/

Floris: The Good

All encompassing overhaul module, changes all aspects of Warband in a good way.
Can upgrade the graphics of the game considerably.
Makes all existing mechanics from Warband work better, such as tournaments, empire management and AI.

Floris: The Bad

Still doesn't solve issues such as plot progression and objectives.
As an overhaul mod, Floris isn't as game changing as Pendor or other Warband modules.

The native edition of Mount and Blade: Warband is a fantastic game. I bought it on sale from steam and regretted not buying it earlier at full price. However, it never quite feels like a finished game. It lacks a lot of much needed polish. There's no real objective or task that drives you. The AI is as simple as the peasants it is portraying.

Floris fixes all those issues. With hundreds of new additions to improve the standard of play, it feels more like an expansion than the original.

When you first make a character on Floris, you can see how much better everything is. Instead of blindly picking a backstory for your protagonist, it shows you the perks and stat bonuses you will gain from your choices. The graphical upgrade is also immediately noticeable. However, the best thing about Floris are the subtle changes. Bandits spawn more frequently and commonly merge groups together to form scary armies. Countless new weapons and shield skins to bring a wider variety to the battlefield. When entering a battle that's already in progress, you can join any side. There are also a few new quests that make it that little bit easier to farm reputation with lords and factions. It's astounding how so many minor tweaks can make Warband such a satisfying game.

Leveling up your character gives you a lot of choices.

Aside from the subtle and aesthetic adjustments in Floris, there are many gameplay overhaul changes too. Tournaments are completely different. There is a sliding difficulty bar that adjusts the teams and participants. Winning is based on taking down opponents instead of surviving rounds. It's actually a real challenge to beat a tournament on the higher difficulties. Winning a tournament can yield some fantastic rewards if you risk it on hard.

Despite the drastic changes made in Floris, the combat remains much the same. On the battlefield you can use a few new formations and tactics, but nothing really affects the core gameplay. The action is a little slow and clunky which I assume is for realism and to make it harder. Other than that, it's the same swashbuckling battlefield with some new animations.

Taverns are good for recruiting new men and picking up rumors.

Although the original Warband has a fairly diverse selections of troops to build and choose from, Floris is on another level. I'm nearing 50 hours on my recent playthrough, and I still haven't created a fully fledged army. Put it this way, the troop upgrade trees are almost 5 times bigger than native. Moreover, you can put the new variety of warriors to use in battle with new formations like shield wall and wedge. Once you develop your tactics skill enough, you can even program in commands for your army before deployment.

No part of play has been left untouched in Floris. There are comprehensive reports to reveal everything about your campaign from finances to kingdom relations. Once you capture a province and begin building your own empire, there are a wealth of new possibilities. Diplomacy is actually useful for keeping enemies off your precious soil. You can recruit new advisers to manage your cities while you're conquering new territory.

I usually take the highest point I can find in every battle.

Out of the dozens of Mount & Blade overhaul mods that I have tried, Floris is tied for first place with Pendor. They both have strengths and weaknesses of their own, and are equally rewarding to play. There are two parts to any M&B campaign. Establishing your character, and then establishing your kingdom. Early on you are scrounging to get anything for your character, money, experience, renown. Sooner or later, you end up capturing a castle and reaching the second half of the game. Unfortunately, once you have your own faction and lands to defend, that's when Warband becomes dull. Once you have a couple of villages and cities to defend, it gets easy. There's no challenge. Luckily, Floris clears this issue up nicely. When you have your own kingdom, it's still playable. Can even be a little tough too, especially when an army of 900 bandits casually strolls into your territory.

Floris is what the original Warband should have been. I personally prefer Pendor for the extra challenge, but Floris is definitely the better mod overall. Especially for casual players. It's an overhaul where everything is better, so everyone should try it at least once. So if you have Warband, download Floris as soon as you can!

Rome 2 looks amazing

2013-06-25T20:26:00.000-07:00

Total War has always been a brilliant franchise. It combines the strategy elements of conquering provinces and continents with commanding your armies RTS style on the battlefield. Deceptively easy to get started, the Total War games are intricate and unbelievably challenging on higher difficulties. Less than 2% of players have beaten Shogun 2 on legendary.

Now I'm always one to get overly excited about new games that look promising. But Rome II looks phenomenal. The graphics are even better than Shogun, which is still one of the most intensive games out today. It looks like they are going fix all the crippling bugs that made Shogun 2 frustrating. I especially hope they sort out the multiplayer. Matchmaking online was buggy and it was horrendously difficult to even get into a game.

The Co-op campaign had better make a comeback, because conquering the world with a friend brings endless entertainment. I have a simple process to value the quality of a game and tell if I got my moneys worth. I consider one hour of fun worth $1-2. I have racked up an astonishing 311 hours online on Shogun 2, so I definitely got more than I paid out of it. If I get half as much time out of Rome 2, I am happy to pay the ridiculous price it's going to cost.

Sadly, it looks like Creative Assembly are going to pump out DLC packs to earn more money like they did with Shogun 2. It's a little shameful, but they don't cost too much.

Final Fantasy XII

2013-06-24T17:47:00.000-07:00

In recent years the respect and prestige the Final Fantasy franchise earned from providing a stellar storytelling experience, backed up by graphics beyond the confines of the other console games, has slowly deteriorated. This is due to the awfully poor Final Fantasy X-2 and the online rendition of the series which has only gained a small cult following (sorry ya losers the FF MMO sucks).

Most of the people I know just gave up on hoping the next game would break Square Enix out of their rut and bring Final Fantasy back up to speed with current games. Some people even fooled themselves into believing every game after X-2 was still amazing, ignoring the stink of mediocrity that currently plagues the series that used to set trends for the market.

The tutorial turns out to be a massacre. Poor Reks.

Genre: JRPG
Developer: Square Enix
Release Date: 16th March, 2006
Platforms: PS2, PS4
Score: 6/10
Similar Titles: Grandia, Dragon Quest, Star Ocean
Worth playing: If you are a fan of Final Fantasy or are running out of alternative RPGs to play.

Final Fantasy XII review

The good:

Classic Final Fantasy atmosphere, graphics, and story.
The game has persevered the years well, a replay today is quite bearable.
Battle system is fun to start with.
Gambit system allows you to automate your party.

The bad:

Boring cast, boring plot, or both (Awful main character).
No memorable cut scenes or cool moments.
License board is a sub par skill system, taking a step backwards from the Sphere Grid.
Gambit system allows you to automate your party.

Edit 2016: As of 2016, Final Fantasy XII has aged fairly well and will be enjoying a console port to the PS4 in 2017. You may also emulate this title easily on PC and arguably tablets if you are a masochist ~ FF12 Emulation information

The Square Enix game that tried

Final Fantasy 12 is a JRPG that had potential and nearly succeeded in delivering it. It has a fairly weak story, but all the other qualities that make the series fantastic are there. It has reasonably fun combat early on, the enticing graphics that coin a Square Enix game, and a reasonable amount of content to sift through.

The opening exposition sounds more interesting than the actual game.

As the last Final Fantasy on the PS2, Final Fantasy XII a fair goodbye to the epic console.

Unfortunately the development team made a few design choices that just didn't sit right with me & a lot of other critics.

Final Fantasy 12's bland plot is detrimental to Ivalice

Ivalice returns as the universe setting from several other titles, most notably FF:Tactics. This time around the small kingdom of Dalmasca is under the forced rule of the larger Archadian empire. With the king and his soldiers dead, and the capital of Rabanastre under imperial control; Dalmasca isn't particularly happy about the loss of their independence.

Vaan is a young street urchin, stealing anything he can get his hands on. When Vaan sneaks into the Rabanastran palace to find treasure and unwittingly gets dragged into a struggle between the resistance and the empire; he joins up with the famous sky pirate Balthier to escape. Lured by the promise of riches and justice, Vaan and friends join up with the rebels to tempt fate and change the future.

Vaan is really an awful main character. Do not want.

Where they went wrong

My short summary of the story might give you an idealistic impression of what it's like. Forget that, I'm telling you now that it flat out sucks. Vaan is a boring main character, he doesn't do or say anything cool for the entire game. The supporting cast isn't great either, but if Balthier the pirate was the main character as originally intended; I can guarantee that the plot would of been far better.

What's a real shame is the twelth edition of Final Fantasy used the world of Ivalice, a world rich with lore from Vagrant Story and Final Fantasy: Tactics. Why is the story bad you ask? Because the main character feels like he was tacked on at the last minute. Moreover, the main antagonist, Vayne is transparent and doesn't seem to have any real motive aside from manipulating people for power.

None of the cinematics are interesting in the slightest. To write this review I played FF12 again to remember, and I can honestly tell you I spent more time watching television than the actual game. The plot could have been solid, but ultimately ends up bland.

The combat is okay

Some of the scathing comments may have turned you off ever trying Final Fantasy XII. It isn't all bad. The combat is a strong redeeming quality, a step forward for Square Enix. Instead of entering and leaving random battles, monsters roam the terrain and you can attack them at will. No load screens or running in circles to activate combat.

The combat really does start out promising, it's easy to get to grips with and seems like it could get far more intriguing. It doesn't really.

Once you're out in the world, all you have to do is run up to whatever you want to kill; and slam it with whatever you have. Actions in battle are prepared by using the ATB gauge; once it fills up your spell or ability will active as long as you are in range. It's also possible to move while casting, which is a useful mechanic that you can take advantage of.

This is Zeromus, an Esper. Would of been cooler if it was Bahamut or another atypical summon.

There are two types of special attacks you can use once you make some progress into the game. Quickenings are your overdrive or limit break, and at the expense of your entire mana pool you can chain together several Quickenings and put out a huge amount of damage. Summons have been replaced by Espers, which just gives them a new name and face. Using a summon can be pretty potent in the right situation, but I'd prefer to see an appearance from Shiva or Ifrit. I mean, which idiot decided to replace our favorite summons? Why?

The FFXII license board is a remarkably boring skill system

Character development in FFXII is done through licenses. To gain a new spell or ability you must first purchase it from a shop, and then unlock the corresponding license on the board. It's the same with equipment. If you want to put on that shiny new spear you need to first unlock it on the board.

This system means your party members are all exactly the same. You can build each one however you want but they all start in the same place. I found it a little frustrating that there weren't any advantages to selecting a specific battle team. The license board was a good idea, but it failed because instead of designing a build for your character, you will find yourself purchasing the same licenses for everyone because it's practical.

Well clearly this is the drill to pierce the heavens.

Everyone hates the Gambit system, but me

The Gambit system is what I would consider my redeeming quality of the game. While most people dislike being able to automate your entire parties combat; I enjoyed the concept and executions of gambits in Final Fantasy 12.

In combat you take control of one party member, and the other two will act based on gambits. Gambits are a procedure you can set up to cast the right ability when certain criteria is met. For example, you can set someone to cast Cure when a party member is below 50% health, or to cast Fira on stronger enemies.

The Gambit system isn't too bad, but it means you can essentially set your party up to complete the game for you. If done correctly, every time you walk into range of an enemy, you and your party will immediately take up the mantle and slaughter every bad guy in sight. Highly cheesy, which is why most people have an aversion to it.

Although the story is deceptively short at the climax, there is a decent amount of content to play through. The final arc at the end is pretty premature and unsatisfying, but if you really want to keep playing there are dozens of bounty missions for side content. They can get pretty tough later on, but the whole game is a cakewalk for anyone who knows their way around a JRPG. There's nothing as tough as the Dark Aeons or the underwater weapon, so I really didn't find myself being challenged.

The menu.

The overall character customization is mediocre

Overall I'm really not happy with the customization system on FFXII. The combat is great, but all the characters develop the same. There's not much point in building one person into a tank and another into a healer when you can do both.

When it comes to building your party, it is truly linear and when combined with the overpowering effects of a nifty gambit setup, nothing is capable of evading your killing fury aside from the hardiest of bounty quests.

In conclusion: I guess I could play Final Fantasy XII again

The graphics are exceptional for a PS2 title, and the cinematics are even better. However, the story is lacking the flair and intricacy we're used to in Final Fantasy games. There aren't really any interesting characters or unexpected plot twists. It's very predictable.

Ultimately this can be considered an acceptable addition to Square Enix's empire. But some of the design choices that were made just aren't very good. If Balthier was the main character or the license board was swapped out for a more diverse and unique level up system; it would of been a much better game. But it stands in line with the more recent Final Fantasy games, falling below our expectations into the category of mediocre. Basically, Final Fantasy 12 is only worth playing in two situations. 1: You're a die hard fanboy like me. 2: You have absolutely nothing better to do.

Warband Mods: Prophecy of Pendor

2013-06-24T06:35:00.000-07:00

This is my favorite mod pack for Mount & Blade. Prophecy of Pendor is notoriously known as the most challenging overhaul for Warband. I doubt I'll ever meet anyone with the patience to complete it on hard, it's just too difficult and frustrating. Pendor has a new map, equipment, units, and lore. It's essentially another game using the same engine. Even on the lowest setting, it's a really hard to get a good campaign started.

Cavalry. Lots of Cavalry.

Pendor is mostly trial and error for the first dozen hours. There are new factions and units to deal with and most of them will annihilate you, even if you outnumber them 10 to 1. I've had an army of 100 men get massacred by 10 knights before. This may sound frustrating, but when you can barely kill anything on the map it gives you something to aim for. When you finally get a bunch of companions and higher level equipment it's incredibly satisfying to beat them.

Prophecy of Pendor has such a huge experience curve, that you can put in a solid 50 hours into your campaign and some of the hardest enemies will still be untouchable. Unique armies spawn on the map with up to 1000 troops, roaming and destroying anything stupid enough to get in their way. It's common to see an army of 800 Seers or Jatu with hundreds of prisoners. Which is cool because if you defeat them you can pick and recruit any soldier you want.

This rampaging Jatu army wasn't easy to take out.

When you get to the stage of fighting factions and conquering castles, you will quickly find a few new surprises. Most prominent of which is being able to recruit Pendor troops and create Knighthood chapters. Once you are rolling with some highly trained knights and as much cavalry as you can get your hands on, get Warband Battle Sizer. Battles with over a thousand soldiers are unbelievably epic.

The army commands in Pendor are essentially the same as native Warband. However, it's far more important to maneuver your ranks strategically. Enemy forces can have some dangerous units that you have to counter effectively. For example, if you come up against the rare Noldor bowmen, you have to wipe them out immediately or their arrows will drop a soldier every second. It's still possible to abuse the mechanics to win, taking a large hill or massing cavalry is still overpowered. However, not all opponents will fall to superior mechanics.

I don't quite know why I have the Punisher logo, but I'm okay with it.

Pretty much everything from the original Warband campaign is gone. I honestly would of preferred Pendor to be the original game, I believe it's far more rewarding and addictive. There are a few aesthetic changes to make the game less frustrating to navigate, and each area of the map is scary and unique in its own way. It's not as big as Floris or story based like Light and Darkness; but Pendor has bigger and more diverse battles with a challenging learning curve.

Prophecy of Pendor is a great alternative for those of you looking for something new in Warband. It's difficult, even on the easiest settings. Beginning a new campaign is a struggle. You'll have to save a lot and use trial and error to break past the first few levels. Some of you might not find it worth the time, but it's a very rewarding experience.

Single Player RPG recommendations- Action

2013-06-22T23:43:00.000-07:00

This list was quite difficult to come up with. I've played many action RPG franchises over the years, but barely any of them were noteworthy enough to place on this list. If you're looking for an RPG that focuses on action filled combat instead of the slow-paced affair that defines the role-playing genre, take a look at these recommendations. Bear in mind that these games are in the order that I prefer them, but not necessarily the best.

Single Player Action RPGs

1. The Elder Scrolls

When this guy jumped me I gave him a stern telling off. Then I sheathed my sword. In his head.

Between Morrowind, Oblivion and Skyrim; It would be a travesty to not put the Elder Scrolls franchise in this list. With a vast open world and first person combat, these games are a perfect blend of RPG and action. Use a sword, bow, or magic to take down your enemies in spectacular fashion. If you haven't played any of these games yet, be sure to get Skyrim or Oblivion at your earliest convenience. The RPG elements are extremely involving and the action is entertaining and addictive. If you get a copy on the PC there are countless mods to expand the games too.

2. The Witcher

The Witcher 2 is much better than the first game, but if you want to know the entire plot you'll have to start at the beginning.

I've always been a fan of the Witcher games. They are far from perfect, but one of the most rewarding series to play if you can get into it. I haven't found an RPG with more satisfying combat yet. Geralt is an awesome main character, and he wields a sword like a champion. You have several magical spells at your disposal, all with different uses. The story starts off slow but fills with tension the further you go. It's not all good, you have to deal with some inventory management issues and other problems. However, if you're looking for a game with brutal third-person action and a rich world with lots of lore to dive into, look no further.

3. Deus Ex: Human Revolution

Deus Ex is widely known for giving you lots of choices.

Deus Ex focuses more on shooting and stealth than RPG aspects, but it's a great blend of genre nonetheless. This title has a great story with some epic moments, and almost every problem has more than one solution. You can approach each goal in many different ways, and you can upgrade the main character to open up different routes and techniques. It even has multiple endings. I really like the customization on Human Revolution, it's possible to build yourself like a terminator or a sneaky ninja. The hacking mini-games are also pretty awesome. It's also worth giving the first two Deus Ex titles a try if you can handle the old graphics.

4. Fallout 3 and New Vegas

The landscape really brings a convincing post apocalypse story to Fallout.

Although I haven't completed either of these two titles yet I've played enough of them to know they are iconic games that probably deserve a place higher on the list. Although Fallout is an FPS you don't have to aim your gun once if you don't want to. Using the VATs system the game allows you to target specific body points and shoot at them automatically. The game has a solid RPG base to it, with dozens of perks and plot choices to make. Whether you're blasting at the giant scorpions or that guy in a bar who gave you a dirty look, Fallout is a post-apocalyptic wasteland that will bring you many hours of fun.

5. Borderlands 2

I thought Borderlands 2 would be more of the same, and I was right. But it's got flair and a good story this time.

I'm adding this game in the final place with a fair amount of skepticism. Borderlands 2 is meant to be enjoyed on co-op with a friend or two. However, unlike the first game it's actually reasonably fun if you play it alone. The plot is a key part of the game, it's intriguing and the villain is quite good. Aside from that, Borderlands 2 is essentially a first-person shooter with some simple RPG mechanics. There's no way you will have as much fun playing it alone when compared with playing it with your mates, but it's still a pretty good game with loads of content to sift through.

Why don't more people know about Mount and Blade?

2013-06-21T20:53:00.001-07:00

Mount and Blade: Warband is the kingdom building sandbox experience of a lifetime. I can put this franchise in the 'god-tier' category with confidence. Which is why it's genuinely surprising that it doesn't have more of an audience. In Mount&Blade you can grow from a peasant to a commander, and eventually even a king. What's more, it's got fantastic combat that pits you on the battlefield alongside your troops, allowing you to command your ranks while in the center of the fray. You can tell you're playing something truly amazing when a game has irritating bugs, a distinct lack of polish, and awfully optimized graphics; but you can't bring yourself to stop playing it.

You start out alone in the world. Eventually you can wield an army of hundreds.

There are currently 3 Mount & Blade titles on the market, with the 4th in development. Each game runs on the same engine, with the only changes being various adjustments to improve the quality of play. If you haven't heard of this franchise yet, either do a little digging or just buy Warband. The original Mount and Blade is a little outdated, and the newest edition Fire and Sword has a few unsightly design changes that make it less fun. Warband is the one to buy.

Although the original campaign can easily soak up a good 30+ hours of your time and still leave you with stuff to conquer and finish, what makes Mount and Blade a timeless game of outstanding quality is the gigantic modding community. The base game is a mod enthusiasts paradise. There are so many complete overhaul packs that you're essentially buying a dozen games in one. I've racked up over 200 hours on Warband so far, and I only spent a couple of hours playing it without mods.

The world map is gigantic, and you can conquer all of it.

If you're looking for one of those games that you will never regret buying, look into Mount and Blade: Warband. More specifically, do some research into the mods you can get for it. It's essentially free DLC. Take a look at Prophecy of Pendor and Floris, both are gameplay overhauls that introduce around a gigabyte of awesome changes. If you're interested in multiplayer, you can also try out CRPG. My point is, if you want it; there's a mod for it on Warband. The goal of this article is to raise awareness of an under appreciated franchise. If you haven't heard of Mount & Blade, then take a look and try it out. It's cheap!

Fallen Enchantress: Legendary Heroes

2013-06-21T08:24:00.000-07:00

Fallen Enchantress brings the city expansion mechanics from Civilization and influences it in another direction with hefty RPG elements. When a tried and tested game is taken and built upon in the correct way, it can either be worse or better than the original. In the case of Fallen Enchantress: Legendary Heroes, it's arguably a definitive improvement on Civ.

If you don't want to create your own hero, there's a pool to select from.

This is a title that makes you want to clear you schedule for several days; just so you can play campaign after campaign. In my opinion it's a strategy masterpiece, once again proving that the smaller and more driven gaming companies are more reliable at producing top tier video games. I must admit I have an affinity for strategy games with a strong RPG components. Being able to build your own kingdom or empire from scratch is a feature that everyone enjoys.

Early on it's good to try and field a couple of armies to search the map.

Turn based strategy games are uniquely qualified to perform admirably in tandem with roleplaying games. Fallen Enchantress allows you to create your own faction by selecting perks, colors, and banners for your armies and cities. After that, you can customize your main character with weapons, stat bonuses, magical talents among other choices. With a comprehensive and satisfying list of options when beginning your campaign, your army feels like it actually belongs to you. It's what makes this game special. Instead of starting as a predetermined country or race like most strategy games, it feels pretty damn glorious to see your handmade empire conquering cities and wiping out enemies.

Autobattle is really unreliable.

After restarting several campaigns I got to grips with the general rules of play. You begin the game with your commander and a small army. From turn one it's important to explore the map to grab valuable resources and upgrades. You can also take out some of the weaker neutral armies on the map, or complete quests to gather experience and a reward. Early on the map is a very inhospitable place. There are countless dangerous enemies that will get you wiped out. At the same time it's also important to establish your city and choose a strategic approach to how you want to build it. I found that on the higher difficulties it was vital to create pioneers and create several well placed cities early on. Although your biggest problem at the start is the gigantic lands filled with dangerous monsters, other factions will quickly get in your way and try to cut off your expansion.

There aren't that many important nodes to tap into on the map, but they are useful.

Legendary Heroes is an addictive game. Once you get rolling and attract a few heroes to your cause, it becomes a debate on whether you should play defensive and rush your research, or pump out armies to take control of the best resources to get ahead. Leveling up your basic soldiers is difficult when they die so quickly but very rewarding. It's a shame that the auto-battle feature is pretty awful, it doesn't try to keep your units alive. So even when you have a superior force, you usually have to resolve the conflicts personally to prevent losses. They don't take too long but they can get pretty boring.

Out of the many strategy games I've tried, I find Fallen Enchantress: Legendary Heroes one of the forerunners. Up there with titles like Shogun 2 and Warband. From the frantic early game to the empowering endgame it's addictive and enjoyable. It's a shame that it lags pretty harshly between turns and lacks much needed polish. Here's hoping that the sequel steps it up a notch and brings us something for the hall of fame.

Bleach: Versus Crusade

2013-06-18T13:41:00.001-07:00

Bleach is an anime that has made several forays into the video game arena, with a reasonable amount of success. However, some of the best Bleach titles never even make it out of Japan. After playing the disappointing Shattered Blade on the Wii, I wasn't very eager to play another game that might ruin the reputation of my favorite anime. However, after a bottle of vodka and some wine, I made the happy mistake of attempting to emulate Bleach: Versus Crusade. Surprisingly, it's actually a fun and entertaining game. With Dolphin emulator and a reasonable internet connection, it's a very quick and easy process to obtain and get it running too.

Byakuya is hard to play but rewarding.

The first thing you need to know about Versus Crusade is that it's all in Japanese. There's no English patch, so it takes a little research on Google or knowledge of the language to get started. If anything, I'm happy that I don't have to listen to Ichigo and Rukia's voice actors speaking in English. Don't let this barrier deter you; you can find menu translations all over the internet, created by avid fans.

Ichigo is pretty overpowered, but he can be beaten.

The second thing you need to know, is that instead of the 2D Tekken style battles are gone. Instead, Bleach: Versus Crusade adopts a combat style that can only be compared to the Dragonball Z: Budokai franchise. This is a very welcome change, bringing a more free-roaming approach to the action, which befits a franchise of Bleach's caliber. Being able to Shunpo around the battlefield dodging blasts of Reiatsu is deeper and more fitting than the 2D arcade style of beating eachother senseless on a single plane.

Melee attacks are the bread and butter, to build up your Bankai.

Although the story is very short, it takes place during the Hueco Mundo arc. Which means Ichigo can go Visored mode and put on his mask in battle. The plot follows canon and in between battles the dialogue is unveiled upon a simple backdrop. The lines are all voiced by the actors from the show. It's pretty basic really, and is in no way special. The only real redeeming quality of this game as a whole is that it's basically Dragonball Z Budokai's battle system with beloved Bleach characters. Albeit with a lot less content.

The dialogue is essentially quoting the Bleach manga.

As I have mentioned already, the combat is drastically better than the other Bleach titles on the market. Each arena you fight in is large enough for you to move around freely. You can chain together several flashsteps to cover distances quickly. Each character can strike in melee, landing a hit allows you to chain together several blows. There are also four special attacks that are unique to each character. For example, Ichigo can fire off small or big Getsuga Tenshou projectiles, and Ishida can use dangerous long range Quincy arrows. All characters can Bankai, which increases their damage considerably. It's not too badly balanced, no matter who you pick you have varying strengths and weaknesses.

Not unlike most of the games on the Wii, the graphics aren't spectacular. The maps are pretty awful too, but they do depict all the scenes from the anime and manga accurately. What I do like, is the fairly comprehensive roster of characters you can choose from. You can play survival or arcade mode when you've finished the campaign, which utilize tag team battles. Overall, I'm disappointed in the lack of content, but it's definitely a step in the right direction for future Bleach games.

Bleach: Versus Crusade isn't really a great game. It's fun, and will kill a few hours of your time. But it lacks depth and there's not much for you to do. If you do like Bleach, then it's worth playing. If not, you can probably find something better to do.

Final Fantasy XV may put Square Enix back at the top.

2013-06-16T20:56:00.000-07:00

This years E3 has been interesting. Aside from Microsoft being outclassed in presentation in every possible way by Sony and Nintendo, new footage for the exciting new Final Fantasy XV. In the past couple of years we've seen a couple of trailers, ones that lack any kind of substantial information about gameplay. That's all about to change. This video shows how Square Enix have finally accelerated themselves into the new era of action RPG.

I am not ashamed to admit that watching this video sent my body into goosebump overdrive. I am trembling with anticipation for this game. I have played every Final Fantasy title to date, and haven't thoroughly enjoyed or respected one after X. Every release after FF10 made at least one gamebreaking mistake, one that defined the entire title in a bad way. Final Fantasy X-2 had the abysmal dress sphere system and the distinct lack of any story aside from concluding the previous game. FF13 was terrible in the sense that the only break from the first 20 hours of following one linear path was to press auto-battle repeatedly until you won. It's no secret nor something people can argue about: they were all distinctly lacking that Final Fantasy feel that made you lock yourself in a room and quit your job until you had finished it.

Final Fantasy XV looks like it is going to bring us all back from the brink. Dare I say it for fear of jinxing the whole production? We're actually going to get a good Final Fantasy game again. One that us fanboys can actually defend on an intellectual level. We've got a main lead that seems to be cool for once, unbelievable graphics, intense third-person action, and some colossal enemies that look truly terrifying. Final Fantasy XV looks promising indeed.

This video just looks awesome. Square Enix could still fuck it up, but from what we've seen they are definitely on the right track to making a titanic game. Here's hoping I don't end up posting a review next year about how disappointing it is. My biggest fear is that the protagonist Noctis will turn out to be a douche. Ever since Tidus I've never liked the main character.

How games could be better.

2013-06-14T02:14:00.000-07:00

I have this discussion on a regular basis with numerous acquaintances. If you spend just a few minutes thinking about it, you can probably think of several ways you can make one of your favorite video games better.

Thinking about how to improve games is usually a fairly frustrating process for me, because most times you can think of many ideas that could be implemented into a game with a small amount of effort. If only some developers had decided to keep their game in production for another month or two, it could bump the enjoyment and quality immensely.

Now I'm not saying video game developers are lazy, because I know it's a challenging and long process to make a game you can sell. Sometimes the release date is behind schedule, the budget runs out, or the team who are working on the game just get entirely burnt out. There are hundreds of variables that can affect the production process. But it's downright upsetting to think of a feature that would probably take 30 minutes of coding and increase the quality of play exponentially.

Off the top of my head, the Crysis franchise. If you look at the 3 titles objectively, it's easy to say they are all fairly decent. But if you turn a critical eye over Crysis a quick summary will usually give anyone the same opinion. Every feature seems to have been sacrificed in lieu of advanced graphics. The upgrades, the mechanics, even the gameplay has inherent flaws that you can abuse to become immune to death. Using stealth properly allows you to become visible for less than a second to headshot an enemy and disappear back into thin air.

How much time do you think it would take to give the Crysis bad guys a couple of effective methods to root you out of stealth? Flash bang grenades that unveil you would surely take less than a day. What about the upgrade system? Would adding a dozen minor perks that gave you something to look forward to be a long and arduous process? I think not. It's minor projects like these that if combined together, would make Crysis one of those legendary video games that you wouldn't forget.

I don't like how so many new games are put on the market in an almost unfinished state. Most developers barely even try to patch their titles when they have issues. Moreover, the worst companies release an unpolished game and then pull out a chunk of it and demand you pay extra because it's DLC. This kind of shoddy practice will never stop because people will always buy it. I'll pay for it myself on occasion, on impulse.

Although this post seems to have turned towards a spiteful shunt at the gaming industry, don't forget my original point. If you think of your favorite game right now, you won't have much trouble imagining very easy ways to make it a better title for everyone. If you know what I mean, post a comment and give us an example!

Starseed Pilgrim, an intriguing puzzle?

2013-06-13T12:00:00.000-07:00

I've heard several very biased reviews from friends about a puzzle game. My initial response was to obviously to scoff with derision. Unfortunately, I got ganged up on by several people in a Skype call. So I got to work doing a little research, and I barely found anything at all.

What is going on here? You tell me.

After hearing word combinations such as indie masterpiece and incredibly satisfying, digging deeper was my only choice. What I found was a concept that sounds uniquely interesting and potentially boring at the same time. You are a farmer, planting various seeds that grow into different shapes. Each seed has different properties that interact with their surroundings in various ways. Your objective is to create a path using the right combinations. Now where this path is supposed to go, and what you're supposed to do with it isn't readily apparent to me and probably half of the playerbase. However, it sounds like a fantastic premise for a simple game that could end up killing several days or months of your time.

I'm not going to pretend to understand Starseed Pilgrim. The specifics seem particularly strange to come to terms with unless you actually purchase and play it yourself. Sadly, my game budget is shot for the next few weeks, and I don't quite feel comfortable torrenting an indie title created by a single person. So if you've actually experienced and played Starseed Pilgrim, get your beautiful behind up here and post a comment! Give us your opinion!

Dead Space 3

2013-06-12T05:37:00.002-07:00

I only managed to clock in about 5 hours on Dead Space 3, and the reason for that is that it really isn't my cup of tea. It's an alright game, but I can't get behind it. Why? Because Dead Space 3 is designed to shock you. Every corner you turn some terrifying creature tries to leap at you and give you a fit. But when you take those scary moments away, what does it have left? A weak shooter with bad mechanics followed by pretty cool weapon customization.

Hanging out of spaceships in precarious positions seems to be a popular theme on this franchise.

Isaac Clarke comes back as the protagonist from the previous two games, mentally crippled from the traumatic events he experienced from slaughtering his way through two games of scary zombie action. A marker has been activated on the moon, creating a plague of Necromorph. The markers alter the DNA of corpses which turns them into bloodthirsty death machines that shrug off shots to the head. As the only one to survive previous marker outbreaks, and convinced by his missing girlfriend, Isaac is dragged into the fray once again. Although I didn't like Dead Space as a game, the story captivated me. It's one of the better Sci-Fi tales I've experienced.

These cracker ass cultists brought on the apocalypse because that's what cults do.

So what are you getting if you buy the third main title in the Dead Space franchise? A survival horror third-person shooter. In space. Sadly, that's about it. Oh, aside from the creepy zombies that morph dead bodies into creepy masses of death. It's got an indie feel to it, but that's because the graphics aren't great and the mechanics aren't polished. If you are a survival horror enthusiast, Dead Space is a brilliant choice for you. If not, then you might find it questionable like me.

Necromorphs are actually pretty scary enemies, and there's plenty of them.

My main issue with the Dead Space franchise is that it was overwhelmingly disappointing. After all the reviews and excited friends I have dealt with, I really expected more. Sure, the zombies crawling out of every nook, crevice and cranny scared the hell out of me. I wasted countless bullets spraying at corpses. But the awful mechanics just irritated me to no end. The kick function was terrible, and barely served a purpose except in situations you were probably already dead. Many of the guns were completely useless, and only became a viable choice after upgrading them a lot. Picking up and moving objects with Kinesis could have been a fun and potentially amazing mechanic, instead it's just an annoying minigame. The graphics were sort of blotchy, I really expected them to be better. All in all, I found myself focusing on the bad parts of Dead Space 3 instead of enjoying the good.

I bet he's getting used to hanging out of spaceships in precarious positions by now.

There are a few good features to Dead Space 3. Unlike the first two games, the awkward horror situations have been replaced in favor of more action. Instead of being forced into a cramped vent just so something can make you jump out of your skin and suffer organ failure, it feels more like a run and gun. With the added function to roll and take cover, Dead Space 3 definitely feels more dynamic than the previous two games.

Being able to control your character out in space is pretty awesome. Up until the Necromorphs start to do the same thing. Then it's just scary.

Another cool aspect is the UI. Every part of the ingame interface is accessed through your spacesuit. Instead of pausing the game and bringing you to a menu, you can view your inventory while playing since it projects itself from your suit.

The best part of this title is the weapon creation system. Once you collect enough materials, it's possible to create all manner of death dealing guns. For example, crossing a cryogenic torch with a rocket launcher allows you to freeze and then shatter anything. You can combine a lethal shotgun with a diffractor to put everything everywhere on the ground; while you casually step up to each one and blast their brains out. Honestly, this is the only thing that kept me playing.

It's a shame that Dead Space 3 has a few really cool mechanics that get bogged down and held back by the rest of it. Visceral games have tried to innovate since the previous games in the Dead Space franchise, but it doesn't seem to be enough.

I really like the gun customization, you can craft some scary stuff.

You can slowly time when your enthusiasm for Dead Space is going to run out. Early on in the game when windows explode and cretinous devilspawn starts trying to claw your eyes out, you will empty every clip in your gun at it and then stomp on the corpse until every limb is splattered over your suit. Several hours later, you will be targeting limbs with precision shots; and things leaping out of every corner won't even phase you. That's when I became disinterested.

Most games are easily criticized, but the best of them keep you so intrigued, entertained, or just plain frustrated that you completely forget to complain about the awful things. If I look at Dead Space objectively, it's a good franchise that does exactly what it says on the tin. However, when I look at it personally- it's a lackluster title that loses value the longer you play it.

I can understand that Visceral Games have created a game that a lot of people will enjoy and appreciate. I am not one such person. As previously stated; it's not my cup of tea. So if you're interested in it, it's up to you to make a judgement call.

Dust: An Elysion Tail

2013-05-31T19:44:00.000-07:00

For a project that initially intended to span the space of several months, it's amazing that Dust actually took 3 and a half years to come out of development. It was clearly worth the wait though, because Dust: An Elysion Tail is a brilliant platforming game with some intriguing elements to it. This is one of those games that just has absolutely everything it needs to sit on that throne of the gods. It's all so well put together, that there's no particular feature in the game that bogs it down.

It's hard to call a game pretty when it's sporting 2D graphics, but Dust looks fantastic.

Dust is one of those indie games that I came across on steam whilst having a search around for a new title to play. So I bought it with the simple expectation of it being an acceptable way to kill some time. After playing it for 5 minutes, I could tell it was worth the purchase. The action is fluid and addictive, combined with glorious side-scrolling and some tacked on RPG aspects. It's fun, it's polished, and very memorable.

When you get used to the game, you will probably spend more time in the air than on the ground.

The game is about an amnesiac soldier who is struggling to come to grips with his controversial past. Upon waking up in a glade to meet the talking sword of Ahrah, our protagonist is quickly named Dust by the wise sword and it's impudent guardian Fidget. With no memory of anything and a legendary blade, what is one to do? Set out on an epic quest to save the world and defeat your former allies; certainly. Yes, the plot is undeniably cliched and it's been done a thousand times. However, the delivery is something remarkably unique. The voice actors are convincing, and the dialogue is just fantastic. From the subtle comments that break the fourth wall and the hilariously wacky characters will make you laugh. Reed and his precious box anyone?

This is one hell of a party trick. It's hella fun being able to summon a storm of bolts whenever you feel like it.

Dust plays like any old iconic platform game with a few twists. Think Mario, Sonic, Rayman. Typically you will be navigating levels from left to right, jumping across gaps and slinging together enemies with brutal sword and spell combinations. What separates Dust from the other games is the style of combat. Aside from being able to hack and slash your way through opponents with the sword of Ahrah, you can kick up a Dust Storm by spinning your weapon at incredible speeds. On top of that, your pet companion Fidget can shoot out various magical bolts that you can amplify by using it in tandem with Dust Storm. It's hard to describe, but you get a very satisfying feeling from performing a perfect barrage of sword and sorcery attacks.

Some parts of Dust require you to navigate troublesome terrain, but with your insane maneuverability it's quite easy.

The many other great features of Dust include an inventory and crafting system, which is basic at best, but gives you a nice degree of customization and the instinct to go out and find the materials you need. Killing enough baddies will level you up and grant you new abilities and attributes. It's possible to massively increase your experience intake by keeping your combo going for longer without taking any damage. There are also shops scattered throughout each zone but their only real use is to stock up health potions before going into a dangerous area. The RPG elements to Dust aren't very prevalent, but they are a nice touch that really adds flavor and addiction.

Since you can spin your sword fast enough to create a tornado, I don't really understand why he didn't put this out.

The art style is adorable, and it's nice to see such crisp 2D graphics in high resolution. The characters and the animations are lovingly designed, and the gameplay is a pleasure because of it. It's one thing when a platformer is well designed and smooth, but when the animations are awesome to watch it becomes something else entirely. Instead of just smashing all the bad guys and heading for the next area, every player gets the urge to look cool at the same time. Dust allows you to do just that, you can sail across the screen with a cascade of missiles to barrage you opponent, and with a little practice you can string together devastating combo attacks that make you feel like a champion.

Enemies attacking your caravan? Dust storm! People throwing trash on your lawn? Dust storm! Wife nagging you? Dust storm!

What impressed me was how this title is a solid performance all the way through. It reminded me of playing Crash Bandicoot and Rayman. But if I were to compare all of these games together, Dust would come out on top. Why? Because it brings back all the great features of platforming that generations grew up on, and blends them together with modern techniques and mechanics. For example, save points are plentiful so you don't have to spend an hour scourging the map just so you can take a break. Quests are managed in the log, so you don't have to sit there and think about what you're supposed to be doing. The story is surprisingly immersive, yet doesn't take itself seriously. At no point during my playthrough did Dust, Ahrah and Fidget get on my nerves. I had a lot of fun playing an Elysion Tail, and I value it above the majority of the money-grubbing trash I've bought in the last 5 years.

Moonbloods are a race that are being exterminated by the General Gaius, the antagonist.

Ultimately, Dust: An Elysion Tail is THE best game I have played designed by one brilliant individual. The only pitfall I can honestly complain about is the distinct lack of difficulty. Even the bosses don't provide a shred of a challenge. Once you have the finesse to perform some of the lethal combos, the only time you will die is if you refuse to use any food to restore your health. Other than that, the last thing I can complain about is that it's too short. By no means is it short, you can probably get a good 20 hours out of the game if you go for 100%. Unfortunately, a third of the game had to be cut short due to a lack of time. If that third is released as DLC, god help me I'll buy it. Even though I hate DLC. I will pay cash money to play it.

The Xbox One will kill the gaming industry

2013-05-28T22:12:00.001-07:00

I am so furious right now, I'll keep it very short. Fact of the matter is, if you buy an Xbox One- you will be doing harm to the gaming industry. If enough people buy an Xbox One, gaming as a whole will change into a monster that only 10 year old kids and their redneck fathers will enjoy.

I am sick of being treated like a wallet instead of a player, and if the Xbox One becomes a success I'll probably end up going to prison for trying to assassinate each and every member of the development team.

Seriously, don't buy an Xbox One for games. If you want it for the multimedia functionality, okay. If you want it for gaming, you deserve to be put to death. You sicken me. How can you read about such an abomination and still intend on purchasing it?

Just do some research on the console, and if you like it, you are wrong in the head. I don't like making posts like this because it might cut out and discriminate my audience. But in this case, I am happy to be extreme. If you think the Xbox One is a good idea, get off my site right now. Get out of here and don't come back.

The damage this console will likely do to the gaming industry will not be fixable. Expect games at a higher price, without being able to sell them second hand. Expect them to be lower quality and fueled by DLC to leech all of your money. Personally, I'm going to start pirating every Microsoft product I can get my hands on. Fuck you Microsoft.

So I just bought GTA IV

2013-05-09T03:54:00.001-07:00

I know it's a little late, but I've been wanting to play Grand Theft Auto 4 since I heard the 5th game is in production. After playing it for 10 minutes I can tell this game is going to be fun. It's probably going to consume a lot of my time too. I don't expect it to be as good as San Andreas, but we'll see.

The graphics are pretty and retain that GTA tone we all know and love.

Grand Theft Auto IV seems pretty badly optimized for the PC, of course it's always been a console game but surely they could of put a little more effort into the computer edition. The mouse sensitivity on the menus is awful, and the graphics are good but limited for no reason. Aside from that, the engine seems great.

Driving a car seems a little clumsy, but I'm already adapting to it. In fact, everything seems pretty clumsy. The reason I never bough GTA 4 before was because I hated the idea of a Russian protagonist. Niko seems kind of ugly. However, his dialogue is fantastic. The story looks like it could be amazing, I'm looking forward to it.

Roman is your typical scumbag.

Anyway, I'm going to play some more Grand Theft Auto now, I just thought I'd share my first look at the game. Maybe it will remind you folks to do a second playthrough, because I'm assuming I am one of the last people on the planet to ever play it. I just hope Niko kills Roman at some point. Peace out ladies and gentlefellows.

Star Ocean: First Departure

2013-05-08T02:20:00.001-07:00

Taking a franchise back to its roots is rarely a bad thing. The most recent Star Ocean games on the Playstation 2 and 3 were good, but they were more linear and lacked some of that charm gamers loved from the initial titles. You couldn't recruit a different party on your second playthrough. However, Star Ocean: First Departure brings back the love. It has adorable 2D graphics backed up by cutesy anime cutscenes; and all the other wonderful quirks that we've missed since Star Ocean made its debut on the Famicom.

The local defense force, Millie, Roddick, and Dorne.

Genre: Action, JRPG
Release Date: 27th December 2007
Platforms: PSP
Score: 7/10
Similar Titles: Grandia, Final Fantasy, Tales of Phantasia

Roddick, Millie, and Dorne are teenagers working as a local defense force for their small town, Kratus. They undertake tasks such as repelling bandits and rescuing cats from trees. When visiting the nearest village they discover a mysterious plague has begun spreading among the populace; turning everyone who comes into contact with it into stone. When no cure can be found to stop the illness, Roddick and company venture up the nearby mountain to find a rare herb as their last hope. What they don't realize, is that their journey will take them through time and space to reveal the truth because the virus and the history of their planet.

The combat is really fun.

If you weren't already aware, Star Ocean: First Departure is a replica of the original game on the Famicom. Many of the features have been enhanced to accommodate the modern era of gaming, the graphics and the engine have essentially been updated to Playstation quality. There are a few new characters and scenes, but it's mostly the same as the original. The lore from the Star Ocean universe is rich and filled with unique stories, and this game marks the beginning of it.

I really enjoyed playing First Departure, the combat is different from your typical JRPG. Instead of being turn based, you control your character on the field. Four team members can chosen for battle. You decide which party member to play as, and each character works a little differently. Symbology is the Star Ocean version of magic, which can be used for healing or damage. Not everybody can use magic, but every character learns a plethora of various skills as they level up. Skills can vary, such as a long range nuke, or an AoE knockback. 2 skills can be assigned at any one time, and the more frequently you use them the more powerful they become. I found fighting monsters and other enemies addictive, and intentionally sought out battles. However, the random battle mechanic doesn't kick in frequently; so if you want to progress through the game quickly it's entirely possible.

Roddick and company meet people from Earth.

As for the story, it covers many things. It starts out like your typical RPG, except the characters have tails. However, it quickly gets confusing and even a little overwhelming. Time and space travel, galactic wars, and even demon lords. For a very old game, it's actually original. My favorite part was being able to recruit different characters each time you play it through. On top of that, there's a relationship system in the game that changes the ending based on which allies you favor more. Another unique and very intriguing feature in Star Ocean: First Departure is the item system. Each shop has countless stuff to buy, and it can all be fused to create new weapons, or armor.

Roddick is the main character, and compared to everyone else he's a little boring. Personally, I thought the dialogue was a little lacking. But the plot itself is good. Every so often after you make a fair bit of progress you get to watch an anime cutscene, which looks good but feels like it's tacked on as an afterthought.

Out of all the games you can get on the PSP, First Departure is easily one of the best. You can easily sink 30+ hours into it, and enjoy every second. If you ever feel like revisiting the game, you can do it with a new party and experience a new ending. Star Ocean: The Second Story has also managed to port itself onto the portable as well. Certainly a title worth purchasing, especially since it's cheap.

Check out the top 5 PSP RPG titles here!

Single player JRPG recommendations- Wii titles

2013-05-07T00:04:00.000-07:00

I really like playing consoles a year or two after they are released, so there's plenty of cheap games out for them. Usually consoles don't get the best games until they have been out for a couple of years. Half a year ago I went out and bought a dozen cheap games for the Nintendo Wii.

To be honest with you folks, I've always hated the Wii. The nunchucks and aiming at the screen seem like cheap gimmick to me. Novelties aside, I love a good RPG. Especially a Japanese one. If you are looking for a JRPG to play on the Wii, check out this list.

1- The Last Story

Yeah, I don't know why there's so much yellow and pink. Magic, obviously.

It wasn't that hard for me to decide on my favorite game on the Wii. The Last Story has an innovative combat system, loads of character customization and a lovely JRPG story. Not only that, the music score was composed by Nobuo Uematsu, the same person who created the Final Fantasy scores. If you can find it, you should buy it. It should be quite cheap by now, so you have no excuses!

2- Xenoblade Chronicles

I was really excited to play Xenoblade when I bought it.

Xenoblade Chronicles is a strange one. It feels like an offline MMORPG. There isn't much story, but it's a solid game. The side quests are very simplistic and can get a little annoying, but they are optional. This game has a hell of a lot of content to get through, which is a huge plus. The graphics are a little less than expected, but Xenoblade is definitely a fun game that you can sink hours into.

3- Fire Emblem: Radiant Dawn

Radiant Dawn starts out pretty basic, but it gets complicated later on.

For those of you know about the Fire Emblem franchise, this one needs no explanation. It has a great blend of RPG and strategy mechanics, brought to you with a very addictive campaign. With lots of options between choosing weapons and magic, you can create your own unique army to complete the story. The graphics are horrible though, it's not very pretty. But the gameplay more than makes up for that.

4- Tales Of Symphonia: Dawn of the New World

Tales of Symphonia was amazing on the gamecube, it's still good on the Wii.

The Tales series has always been very hit or miss. In my personal opinion, Dawn of the New World is a miss. It's a good game, it has all the usual mechanics you would expect as a sequel to Tales of Symphonia. The story carries on from the predecessor, and the battle system combines ideas from both Abyss and Destiny. Despite that, I just can't get behind it because it's lacking something special that I just can't put my finger on. Despite this, it still deserves the number 4 spot.

5- Monster Hunter 3 Tri

Monster Hunter has surprisingly good graphics.

Monster Hunter on the Wii received phenomenal reviews and critical acclaim. Many people might even rate it at the top of list. With countless scary and gigantic monsters to hunt and so many weapons and builds to choose from, this game is really something. It's pretty difficult to get started, with the complicated controls and overwhelming mechanics. However, it's worth the money if you can make it past the first few hours.

I hope you find a game you enjoy from this list. If you have any suggestions or ideas for games I should add, leave a comment and let us know!