The Moving Finger

GOTY 2016 pt 2

2017-01-19T21:50:00.001+00:00

Well it came down to Dark Souls 3, Fire Emblem Fates, and Final Fantasy 15. The first to go was FF15, and my game of the year for 2016 is Dark Souls 3.

It was a surprisingly difficult choice, but I think at the ends of things, if a Soulsborne game come out it's likely going to trump all.

Perhaps this wasn't a surprise too those who know me, but there it is.

GOTY 2016 pt 1

2017-01-16T05:53:00.001+00:00

A bit late, but here it goes. As always this list is based on the games that I personally played of the new games in 2016 in the UK. Remastered, and HD re releases are not included unless there are significant changes (not just graphical/audio).

Rise of the Tomb Raider (20 yr celebration ed.)
Fire Emblem Fates
Star Ocean: Integrity & Faithlessness
Dark Souls III
Final Fantasy XV

It's a tough list. They were all exceptional, and usually when a Souls game is in the list, that's no contest, but this time it comes down to three pushing through. Fire Emblem, Dark Souls, & FF15.

To be continued...

Almost a year

2016-09-08T11:36:00.001+01:00

Well, it's been almost a year since my last post. I haven't revisited SOMA due to the large amount of games left to play. My rental queue is constantly full.

I've been trying to stream more often, even though I'm not speaking, and it's fine. I enjoy streaming, even if I'm not talking. Twitch is my prefer. I've tried streaming with YouTube, but eh.

The first Dark Souls 3 dlc is coming out soon, so I'm looking forward to that. Loads of games coming, I'll mention in another post.

I'm playing Atelier Sophie, Project Diva X, Deus Ex Mankind Divided, and Tomb Raider Definitive. Since I last posted I've played, just in alpha order:

Star Ocean IaF: great game, beat it, but taking a break before next play.

Alien Isolation; pretty ok, though haven't best it yet.

Arslan, tWoL: great concept, but it was trying to hard to be Dynasty Warriors, and nothing really meshed.

AssCreed, Syndicate: really a great game, but not beat it yet as I played it right after AssCreed Chronicles, so I was a bit burnt out. Side note, Chronicles is awesome.

Borderlands HC: can't go wrong with these games... Love them.

Broken Age: not my kind of game at all.

Croixleur Sigma: a fun game, but a bit repetitive.

No Man's Sky: beautiful, but a let down. I'll probably make a post later.

Everybody's Gone to the Rapture: the end was a super disappointment, but the journey there was amazing.

Furi: fantastic, but I can't even beat the first boss on easy. I don't have the dexterity or response in my hands due to my nerve damage.

Layers of Fear: very good game, and story. I haven't done the dlc yet.

Salt and Sanctuary: one of the best indie games I've played. Gets almost everything right.

Tales of Zestiria: I'll make a post on this probably. Great game with a despairing flaw.

Now I must go deal with kittens. Will post more later.

2015 GotY - Part 2

2016-01-01T18:29:00.001+00:00

Well, let's start at the top.

Bloodborne
When announced as Project Beast, I was hyped right away, and I wasn't disappointed. The graphics, gameplay, story, and voice acting were amazing. As for the music itself? Well, it was above, and beyond, any previous Souls game, now coined Soulsborne to tie together the games. At first, I wasn't too excited about the frenetic combat, as I enjoy a Paladin type class in Souls games, which has a shield usually in front of me. Going in to Bloodborne, I instantly loved the combat. I adapted to it easily, and it made sense with the style of the world. The way the environment presented itself, and the actions of the enemies, gave a no shield, parry/dodge type combat a very natural feel. The expansion, the Old Hunters, just added to the story, and enhanced the game in every way.

The Witcher 3: Wild Hunt
I had been waiting for this game for ages! I'm a big fan of the first two, and the books as well, so when the third part was finally announced, I was very happy. It didn't let me down, either. The music was incredible, the graphics were great, but not amazing... Well, at least not the characters. The scenery is just breathtaking. The gameplay/combat was really well done, and the story was interesting. I'm very sad that they replaced dice poker with Gwent... The worst card game in history. I still hate that mini game so much. There is only one DLC out for it right now, and it was all right, but not fantastic.

Until Dawn
I had no idea what this game was when I clicked it on the Boomerang library, but it was a 'horror' game I hadn't played yet, so I was interested. Within the week I had acquired the plat. It's not a matter of it being hard or easy, but there are many paths to take. It's time consuming, and the story was interesting. The graphics weren't amazing, but they were great, especially the scenery, and the antagonists in the game. At times the character models looked weird, and a bit flimsy, but overall the game kept me interested in the lore, more so than the individual characters. The actual protagonists you play... Boring as hell, and entirely superficial. As for the music... I cannot remember any of the music from the game, so take that as you will.

Soma
I'm still not settled with this yet. For my thoughts on it, click here.

Assassin's Creed: Syndicate
I only got this game as a holiday gift, so I haven't had a lot of time to put into it, but the time has been well spent. I haven't felt this enthused about an AC game since AC2 came out. Even with Black Flag, which was superb, it still felt like another AC game. Syndicate felt like I was playing something fresh. The story intrigues me, the characters are enjoyable, the gameplay is pretty much perfected by this point, and the new mechanics are wonderful. The graphics are so well done, especially in the construction of the city. The music is phenomenal as usual. I'm still working on beating it, and there is a DLC I haven't played yet, but I've put so much time into it already that I feel I can put it on the list.

Fallout 4
Nearing on 300 hours now, and I only just beat it recently. Right off the bat, it's graphics aren't the best ever, and it wasn't really expected to be. The graphics are still good, especially with the landscapes. Characters have always looked a little weird in Fallout anyway. I was so happy that my character finally had a voice, so that was nice, though I know many people didn't like the voiced protagonist. So many side-quests, quests, companions, levels, perks, places... I still haven't found everywhere, and I'm still enjoying it. The music is all right, but the oldies are still the best part of the music. Unfortunately, there are a lot of songs from Fallout 3, so it didn't really feel so fresh, and I got bored of listening to the radio pretty quickly.

So where do we go on from here? It was a hard bet for me, and really the biggest choice was between Bloodborne, Fallout 4, and SOMA, surprisingly. After a lot of debate with myself, I would have to give my 2015 Game of the Year to... Bloodborne. Those who know me might say this isn't so much of a surprise, considering how fanatical I am about Souls games, and the lore therein, but it wasn't easy. It was pretty damn tough, but overall not only do I have the most time in Bloodborne, but I feel it was the best for checking off all my requirements in a game. The best graphics, the best music, the best gameplay, the best story, the best dlc (that I played), and the best cooperative interaction.

What about you guys though? What is your goty?

2015 GotY - Part 1

2015-12-24T16:01:00.000+00:00

This year there are quite a few GotY contenders. I didn't get to play all the ones I wanted, though, as game prices are so high. It's crazy. I know it takes a lot to make them, but geez. Well, right off the bat we'll give a list of those games which have a chance, to me, of being the GotY. As usual, I only list games I've played, and games I think have what it takes. If you feel a game isn't on here that should be, make your own blog post about it.

Bloodborne - PS4

The Witcher 3: Wild Hunt – PS4

Until Dawn - PS4

Soma - PS4

Assassin's Creed Syndicate - PS4

Fallout 4 - PS4

I suppose we can tell what machine I've been gaming on the most this year. This is because a) my PC died in several ways, and it would cost a lot to put back together, and b) I'm enjoying my PS4, and don't really see a need for repairing my PC. Well then, let these contenders sit for a bit, and I'll be back later this week for an in depth going over.

SOMA

2015-09-26T17:25:00.000+01:00

Spoilers abound below. I talk a lot about most aspects of the story, and game, so if you don't want to be spoiled, don't read this. If you haven't played the game, or watched a play through, you'll likely find yourself confused. It's also possible I got some things wrong on my first play through, or some of my theories are incorrect. I can't presume I found every note there was to find. This isn't so much a review as, maybe a therapy session lol.

So, I wasn't prepared for the emotional steamroller that SOMA turned out to be. I went into it knowing that it would likely be creepy, spooky, scary even, and intriguing. It is made by Frictional Games, after all, and I loved their other games (Penumbra series, Amnesia series) very much.

At first, SOMA was what was expected. A moderate beginning with suspense. This quickly turned into some kind of what the fuck situation. I immediately had theories about what had happened. Was humanity in a holographic world that I somehow got booted from with the scan? Was I kidnapped, and brought to this station? As I progressed, and eventually met Catherine, I was pretty firmly in the 'Just woke up from the Matrix' mindset, but it all kind of went bizarrely wrong. There were smaller jump scares, but for the most part, the suspense and creepiness came from thinking what COULD be out there. With all this talk about the WAU's monsters roaming around, every sound became suspicion that another guardian was stalking the halls. More often than not, this wasn't the case, but the paranoia became another permanent part of the game.

Thoroughly picking over every note, and detail I could find, I began to piece together the pretty horrifying reality that had occurred. Somehow, the brain scan I had at the beginning of the game, to solve my brain trauma from a car accident, was put into a sort of library of scans. The original Simon, my character, died shortly after the scan was taken, having been able to find no solution to his brain trauma. This occurred in 2015, and it's now 2105. After 100 years, my original brain scan was pulled out of a legacy system, and used by Ross, I'm pretty sure, to copy into a new body to try to stop the WAU from turning humanity into a mockery of what it was.

The actual realization that I was not the human I was before was a little disconcerting as it occurred at a sort of hectic moment of the game where I thought I'd fucked up, and was going to drown. That even causes Simon to 'snap out' of his human thinking, and see him for the cyborg robot thing that he is. Not even human, just a copy. Of course, this is hotly debated in the game... If a scan could be a human, even if they have no body. Indeed, the entire idea of consciousness being the soul of the human is a largely debated topic, and one I'm interested in. SOMA fights with different sides of this throughout the entire game, and Simon seems to go from one side to the other a few times.

Things are okay, for the most part, until Tau station. Not only has a large portion of this station, and all the crew, seem to have been assimilated completely by WAU, but we can't get any further without a different diving suit. To do this, we're told that we need to be transferred to another suit... like another brain scan. Only it's not what we think. After putting the suit together, and getting the scan, we hear our own voice speaking from our previous suit. It turns out that we weren't transferred to the other suit, we were just copied, and placed in to it. There are now, effectively, two Simon's; one 'asleep' in our previous suit, and the one we just copied in to this new suit.

I have to say, as our character Simon-c (Simon-a being the original, and Simon-b being the first scan) realises what's happened, it took me for quite an existential breakdown. The panic in his voice, the realisation, the fear... it weighed down on me pretty heavily. You can choose to kill your previous copy by draining the battery, or leave him alone to wake up in a few hours. In the dark. Without Catherine. Without anyone, even the WAU monsters. In the dark. Alone. Both of these options made me feel physically queasy. I got up from the game, and walked around. Made coffee, made some supper. This decision was one of the hardest in a game, and it wouldn't be the last hard decision in the game. In the end I choose to end Simon-b's life instead of leaving him to that void of fear, despair, and darkness. It didn't feel good at all, but I did it, and headed out of Tau, and down to the Abyss.

As I ventured further, I kept thinking about Simon-b, and what it means to be human. It really bothered me. Just the experiences, the thoughts? Do we require the flesh, and blood, and bone to be human. Would it be enough to scan the memories, and thoughts to a new host? Or even living in the digital world, as we would on the ARK. I felt very uneasy as we got to Phi, and Ross began jumping in, and out of reality, but it got worse when I found out where the ARK was... being guarded by the last human, Sarah. After a conversation with her, she begged me to kill her. Remove life support, and let her die. The last 'human.'

All this time I'd been faced with the question about what it is to be human. Sarah, like many others, had already scanned herself into the ARK. Was that enough? She would live on from the time that her scan had been made. Could I really kill the last flesh human? What does that even mean? Everyone is in the ARK, living on... and here is the last human slowly dying. Apparently, in huge amounts of pain. I just looked at her wheezing, begging me to kill her, and so... I did. I turned off the machine, and stood there as she died, listening to her reminisce about her life. Then she was dead, though she would have died eventually, it was still me who had turned off the machine.

Again, the uneasy feeling set in, and I continued to progress. Even finding Catherine's original body, dead of course, didn't really phase me as much as it probably should of. The next thing that really bothered me was when Ross guided me to destroy the WAU. It felt... shoe horned in. It seemed like an after thought. As though someone had suddenly thought, “Oh! We have that WAU.. I guess we should do something about it.” So this stupid afterthought like idea had me miraculously have the poison for it in the suit I had made. I went in there, poisoned it, Ross died, and I got out minus one arm, which didn't matter since I'd be whole in the ARK after Catherine scanned us in. With that very 'star trek ending' scenario done with, in the mysterious Alpha site no less, we continue to the launch gun.

It was at that time when the real nonsense happened. Catherine had explained previously, when Simon-b was copied to be Simon-c that the brain scan transfers were not solid transfers, but copies of the scan until that point, put in to a new environment. This meant that the previous copy was still active in the previous environment. Any time a scan is made, and placed in to a new environment, the previous remains active. I wanted to say that twice because it's something Simon, in all his iterations, didn't seem to grasp. It's a flip of the coin as to whether their present aware consciousness is copied over, as it was with Simon-c, or if it remains in it's previous environment, as it happened with Simon-b. There is a bit of suspense as the ARK is launched, and the copies are made to be transferred to the ARK, but when everything is done, and launched, we remain in the darkness of the Phi launch site.

Much like Simon-c, I was confused, even though I'd seen the transfer go through, but then it hit me. Our awareness hadn't copied over as it had from Simon-b to Simon-c. We were left here, mirroring what had happened back on Tau. As Simon-c screamed, and panicked, I just sat there with this feeling of dread creeping over me. I knew Simon-d was in the ARK, continuing, but it didn't matter any more. None of that mattered because I was still here, in the darkness, without Catherine (her system shut down due to the pressure of the station), without anyone... not even WAU. The darkness seeped in as systems began to shut down. As Simon-c was crying, and sinking into insanity, most likely, all I could think about was how long would it take to die? Could I kill myself? What happens to my scan when I die? Simon-c had asked these same questions, in regards to Simon-b as well, but now I was considering my own horrific future.

I felt like I just wanted to, in real life, lay down, and never get up again. I was drained as the credits rolled on by, and when they ended, I was greeted with, what I knew to be Simon'd's new life on the ARK. I felt no better. I felt sick, even. I stood up, hearing Simon'd's ecstatic joy at the copy working; after all, he had no idea that it hadn't as, to him, he was the primary conscious, and had won the coin toss. He gave no thought to Simon-c, like he did to Simon-b, and really, who could blame him. He was now on the ARK, with Catherine, and the future was theirs to live, while Simon-c was alone in the void with unanswered questions, and terror.

The 'happy' ending made me feel worse. It wasn't happy, and I was resentful to Simon-d. I earned my life, but I guess so did he. And Simon-b, but I killed him. I killed Sarah too, and the WAU. I guess it was fitting to die alone, while a fresh, new me lived on circling our Earth. Living.

Gaming for 17.06.15 - 21.07.15

2015-07-21T22:24:00.001+01:00

Gaming for 17.06.15 - 21.07.15

PS3:

Atelier Shallie: Alchemists of the Dusk Sea

Ar nosurge: Ode to an Unborn Star

Hatsune Miku: Project DIVA F 2^nd

^PC:

Final Fantasy 13

Final Fantasy 13-2

Dragon Age: Inquisition

Darksiders

The Witcher 3: Wild Hunt

Fallout: New Vegas

Terraria

PS Vita/TV:

Tales of Hearts R

Conception II: Children of the Seven Stars

Mind Zero

Not only is this over a month since last time, but I also have nothing to say. Brilliant.

The week of gaming for 10.06.15 – 17.06.15

2015-06-17T14:09:00.000+01:00

The week of gaming for 10.06.15 – 17.06.15

The Witcher 3: Wild Hunt

Dishonored

D4: Dark Dreams Don't Die

Dragon Age: Inquisition

The Incredible Adventures of Van Helsing III

The Evil Within

Thief

The Sims 4

Everything has been on Steam, except for Dragon Age: Inquisition, this week. I keep thinking that I want to switch on the PS3 or something, but then I never do. The games I want to play aren't on consoles right now, or they are, but I have them on Steam/Origin already. It will probably stay this way until I get a PS4. Also, in regards to the last post... Theatrhythm Final Fantasy: Curtain Call was the one removed.

Some Gaming Things

2015-06-04T15:33:00.001+01:00

The Witcher 3: Wild Hunt has completely taken me by surprise, and by storm. I've got 166 hours in it already, beaten Death March mode, and am working on a completionist play through, which is also my Do Everything Wrong play through. I knew it would be a good game, but I had no idea it'd be this good. It's easily made my top five favourite games of all time. Speaking of which, it currently looks like this:

Final Fantasy IV: The Complete Collection
Persona 3 Portable
Crisis Core: Final Fantasy VII
Dark Souls
The Witcher 3: Wild Hunt
Remember Me
Shin Megami Tensei III: Lucifer's Call
Resident Evil 4
Silent Hill: Downpour
The Elder Scrolls III: Morrowind

But could change at any time. That being said, it rarely changes. What was it that was ejected off the list? Can you guess? I'll let you know next time I blog. As for other things I've been playing... well not too much. The Incredible Adventures of Van Helsing III came out at some point, and I didn't notice, but installed it yesterday when I did notice. For some reason, though, my saves from the previous two games were there, so that was annoying, and I haven't played it since as I wanted to continue Aaron Van Helsing. I have to decide if I want to just start a new character, or start the series again.

I'm looking forward to two things coming up soon. Mostly, Devil May Cry 4 Special Edition comes out later this month. Pretty psyched about that. Also, Shadowrun: Hong Kong will come out soon, and that looks very good. It's even got a 'revamped' matrix so that should be great.

Yep, that's all for today.

This Month in Gaming / May 2015

2015-05-19T02:29:00.000+01:00

I haven't blogged in a while. Shit happened, people died, I had a birthday, some people will never have more birthdays, and I hate everything. So with that out of the way, what have I been playing?

My top game this month is Anarchy Online. I caught the bug again when they revamped the starting area. It's nice, and a lot more linear. They say the new models are on test server now, but it's too painful to hope for that. I remember back in 2011 when they said the same thing. Weeps

Borderlands: The Pre-Sequel is up next. Although I hate her stupid face, Hammerlock is my favourite character here because sniper. I love snipers. Jack is also great. I might like Pre-Sequel more than I liked Borderlands 2. Who knoooooows?

Because Final Fantasy 4: The After Years came out on Steam, I decided to play through Final Fantasy 4 again on Steam, which is the iOS port of the DS version. There are new things in it which are unique to the iOS version, which I never played as I don't have any iOS products. Almost done now, along with all the achievements for it.

I am getting in to Marvel Heroes on Steam. It's an F2P over the top like Diablo. In fact it's made by the guy who made Diablo I and II, so it's pretty great. It's like Diablo with Marvel. Playing as Phoenix now, and she's a monster. A friend gifted Nightcrawler to me as well so I'll try him out soon.

Over the past few days I've been trying to finish the achievements for DmC: Devil May Cry, and it's going very, very well. I've managed to get most of them, including some SSS rank ones. It's very hard due to the nerve damage in my hands, but by the nine is it worth it. I love Devil May Cry so much. All of them. They are all great.

Shadowrun: Dragonfall is being played as well. I didn't get to play it as the DLC, but when Director's Cut came out, well it fixed a lot of shit, so yay.

Finally, Dark Souls II: Scholar of the First Sin. You know my obsession with Dark Souls. I don't need to go in to this.

Fuckin fun times.

2014 Game of the Year

2014-12-31T15:20:00.000+00:00

Wow, it's been a while hasn't it. This year ended up being pretty awful, and I don't have the will to go in depth about my games of the year right now, but I want to put this up so I can expand on it later. I also added on a side thing to my Games of the Year. At this time of writing, I have to be able to pick up the game now, and still enjoy playing it. All these games, at least in my top ten, have me for over 100 hours easily (the one exception being The Wolf Among Us because of what kind of game it is), and I still enjoy them. There are still a lot of games I didn't get to play this year, and although they can't make the list next year, I hope to be able to play, and enjoy them, in the upcoming year.

Game of the Year:
Dragon Age: Inquisition

Runner's Up:
Dark Souls 2
The Evil Within
Theatrhythm Final Fantasy: Curtain Call
Shin Megami Tensi IV
Atelier Escha & Logy: Alchemists of the Dusk Sky
The Wolf Among Us
Murdered: Soul Suspect
Tales of Xillia 2
The Binding of Isaac: Rebirth

Honourable Mentions:
Lightning Returns: Final Fantasy XIII
Banished
Thief
Diablo III: Ultimate Evil Edition
Tomodachi Life
Dreamfall Chapters: The Longest Journey
World of Warcraft: Warlords of Draenor

I will get around to doing more in depth explainations as to why they are where they are, but right now this is all I can manage. Hope everyone has a great new year!

Remember Me

2013-10-30T17:55:00.003+00:00

I think it's a testament to the game that I beat it three times in a week and did a youtube recording within three days. I can't get enough of this game. Remember Me was under a lot of fire during its development because it's protagonist was female and a lot of companies decided it wouldn't sell well. Eventually Dontnod Entertainment got Capcom and I'm glad they did. Capcom is a favourite company of mine and Remember Me is one of my top ten favourite games now. It impressed me in a way that utterly shocked me. I've not been this taken up by a game in a long time. It came out in June and it had always been on my list, but money isn't in abundance, and other games took priority. It went on PS+ for free last week and I grabbed it up so fast, and I am thrilled. Had I know it would be this good I would have paid full price in a heartbeat. Well let's get on with it.

The graphics are quite beautiful in their surreal, cyberpunk, futuristic dystopia way. The models for characters and enemies are done very well, especially the enemies you fight. The twisted creatures that populate Neo Paris are done in a creepy and baneful manner, and the quality of the model really shines through. The world is grimy and dark in most places, but on occasion the blessed sun shines through and illuminates the smooth skyscrapers and bright white, and silver, bridges. The world is so beautiful and tragic, and the combination of splendid lighting and model quality is obvious from the beginning. It's not just the outside that is beautiful, however. Traversing the buildings, prisons, and hospitals, as well as tunnels, sewers, and construction sites, makes for a sometimes creepy and disconcerting journey. There are two things I always look for in a game, as well, and that is hair and drinking. The hair was amazing, but there were still little obviousness that we haven't managed to get right yet. As for drinking... yea we're still a long ways off.

Next I want to.. gush, I suppose, about the music and audio of the game. Holy hot damn guys, this soundtrack is probably one of the best I have heard in a decade at least. It's definitely the best game OST on this gen of consoles. As soon as it started playing I was hooked. It's so... I don't even know how to explain it. It gets in to me and just eats away at my mind so that it can have a place to live. During the course of the game, it's inserted very well into situations. Combat uses it for not only combat music, but also when you're chaining combos or when you get hit, the music reacts to it. I got the soundtrack before I was even done with the first play-through, and it's pretty securely stored on my ipod for all listening pleasure now. As with the audio comes the voice acting. It's really great. I played it through in English, French, and Italian, and all three voice actor sets were quite amazing, to be honest. I enjoyed their performances quite a lot, but my favourite had to be the English version of Edge. Wow... he really nailed it and god-damn if he didn't make me totally feel for his character in a pretty deep, and tragic, way.

The interface is great and there's not too much to say because it's so minimalistic. You have the objective that pops up towards the middle, but only briefly, and when you're not in combat, most of the HUD isn't seen. When you are in combat, it gives you the basics at the bottom left (health, focus, and cool-downs) and keeps track of which combo you're doing in the bottom middle. It's integrated brilliantly and doesn't detract from the game play. Since I mentioned combat and the HUD section is so small, I'll start on combat here too. I wasn't thrilled with it when I first started to use it. I didn't like the combat movement, and I didn't understand what they were trying to explain in regards to dodging and pressens. Pressens are your combo moves, basically. You have power pressens (they add damage), regen pressens (health obviously), and cool-down pressens (to speed up cool-downs). The explanation of these wasn't as clear as I'd've liked them to be, but just through experimentation, I was able to figure out what was working and what was not working. As this happened, I grew used to the combat, but I can't say I like it. It's not that I hate it any more, I just... am not really too enthused with it. It's just a thing that's there. The cool-downs, however, were pretty intuitive and nicely done, as well as dodging. Thankfully they indicate when the best time for a dodge would be with a red ! in the direction it's coming from.

All right so we have audio and graphics, but what about general game play? It is a wonderfully free moving, parkour type game with brilliant exploration and platforming. There is also another awesome thing you can do called Memory Remixing. These puzzles let you go into the memories of certain people and change their memories to your advantage. Memory stealing, syncing, and remixing are all part of what makes this game pretty unique and fun to play. Well I say fun, but it's pretty clear that I'm obsessed with this game and everything in it. The only real complaint I had was the combat and now that's just meh, and not really a complain. The story is very tricky and was a delight to go through. I got very involved in it and shed a tear or two during it's course, I don't mind saying, not to mention the veritable scream I let out at the end of the game when someone dies who I'd grown quite attached to. This isn't a spoiler as many people die in games, especially towards the end, and if you think this game is safe from it, you're mistaken.

Spoilers for a paragraph, it's in italics so just skip it if you don't want the story broken open.

There are a few ways you could take the story of this game in regards to the title of the game. The game deals a lot with memory, obviously, and loosing it, finding it, getting it messed around with, but Remember Me... in my opinion it's to remember Edge. For me, the game was about him as much, if not more, as it was for Nilin. He was created from all the abuse, fear, malign, and tragedy that no one wanted in their life. All he wanted was to end, to be gone, to not have to live in the cesspool of despair that humanity ran away from. This was him using the only thing he could, Nilin, to gain freedom... and for his sacrifice, and suffering, we must remember him. Man... I can't even think about the end without getting all teary. Goddammit.

The trophies aren't that difficult although at the beginning they looked as though they could be quite squirely to get done. Getting this platinum was amazing, and made Remember Me my sixth platinumed game. It's more that they take a little bit of time to get, not that they are too hard. The difficulty in getting them is moderate, depending on your skill in the game. All the combo mashing did ware on my hands a little bit, but it's nothing like a DMC or something, so it was all good. I really can't express how much I loved this game. It came out of nowhere and blind-sided me, and I recommend it to everyone. Even if you don't like these kinds of games, at least rent it and try it out. Please don't dismiss it. If there ever comes a time when I don't have PS+, for some reason, this will be the first game I buy.

Eeveeloutions

2013-10-20T12:48:00.000+01:00

If you don't like Pokémon then this will probably be a post of little to no interest to you. You have been warned.

As I've stated before, in previous posts, to me Pokémon is, mainly, about catching, and raising, the pokemans. Of course there will always be the Pokémon that I favour and try to raise first. Chief among them is Umbreon, my favourite Pokémon and, indeed, favourite eeveeloution. I love to have all the eeveeloutions and so like to gather them together and level them up. I finally was able to get all the eeveeloutions in Pokémon X and now I am tasked to level them up to max, stat train, and amie train them until they are perfect, in my eyes.

The process of catching the Eevee's, and evolving them, was a little more tricky this time around because happiness works weirdly. Or maybe it doesn't, but I found it harder to gain normal happiness, with some of them, even with the soothe bell on, and resorted to extra Amie training to get them happy. Well this applies with only three of the eeveeloutions. First of all I had to catch nine Eevee and that took a little while, let me tell you. Although there are only eight eeveeloutions at the moment, I wanted to have a normal Eevee as well, so that's nine. Of all nine Eevee, only one of them was female and only one of them came with a Fairy-type move, which is required for one of the eeveeloutions. Obviously this one had to be my Sylveon.

Well then, the eeveeloutions are as follows: Eevee... not really an eeveeloution, but the base Pokémon Vaporeon, a Water-type Pokémon, is next and is evolved by using a Water stone. You can find one of these in Luminose City at the Stone Emporium for 2,100 yen. Next up is Jolteon, an Electric-type Pokémon, is evolved with a Thunder stone. I found one in the field of standing stones north of Cyllage City, on Route 10. Flareon comes next and is a Fire-type Pokémon that is evolved using a Fire stone. I got one of these in Luminose City, from the Stone Emporium, for 2,100 yen as well, so that's another easy one.

After your three basic eeveeloutions we move on to the next set. That would be Umbreon and Espeon. For both of these eeveeloutions you will need your Eevee to be happy with you. If you want an Umbreon you will need it to be happy (something like 220 happiness stat, but you can't track it in game, numerically) and then have it level up at night time. For Espeon you will need to level it up during the day time. Use the Soothe bell (from Shalour city) and try to use it often without letting it die. You can also feed it puffs in the Amie and play with it to raise the stats. I'm not entirely sure if that has an effect on the happiness stat for evolution, but it can't hurt right?

With those two done you can now focus on Leafeon and Glaceon. Glaceon will be the one you'll be able to evolve first because you'll encounter the Icy Rock before the Moss Rock. To get a Glaceon just have your Eevee level up around the Icy Rock at the bottom on the Frost Cavern, north of Dendemille Town. For Leafeon you'll need to wait a while and circle the Moss Rock on Route 20, south of Snowbelle City.

Sylveon is the last in the eeveeloutionary chain and was a little annoying to get to evolve. First of all, your Eevee is required to know a Fairy-type move if it wants to be a Sylveon. Secondly, you need to have max hearts in the Pokémon Amie for it to trigger. Feed it Puffs, pet it, play the games with it, and don't let it die, and you'll be fine. It took me a stupid amount of time to get because I didn't know how to use the Amie very well at the time, but eventually I got it down and my Eevee became a Sylveon.

So now that this is all done, my next goal is to get them all to 50. This isn't trouble for my Umbreon, who's already well above that, but some of my others are tiny in level so it will take a bit of time. After that I want them all to have max hearts in the Amie. I will be stat training them as well as I level them up. Fun times!

Resident Evil 6

2013-01-11T09:08:00.002+00:00

Resident Evil 6 is a game which has collected a lot of shit leading up to and after its release. I can see why people don't like it and I can see why people are disappointed in it, but on the other hand it baffles me how a fan of Resident Evil can not like this game. I hear their reasoning, but it just sounds like excuses. Well, baffled Terr aside, I loved the hell out of this game. I have four platinums on the PS3 and Resident Evil 6 is one of them so bear in mind that this review is from a PS3 point of view.. Let's get stuck in then, shall we.

The graphics are wonderful and crisp as hell. Character models are done very well and their movements are believable and accurate. Scenery is beautiful as well, especially the background and distances, and heat shimmers were quite awesome to look at. Another thing I really enjoyed was the use of specular lighting on almost everything. It wasn't done over the top either... you could see how and where it came from. Additional specular lighting when it was raining was a really nice effect as well. Clothes were rendered really well, even wet clothes, but one thing that was a little weird was hair. I don't think they'll get hair right for a long time, but it was much better in RE6 that I've seen it in many other modern releases. Splashes, rain, thunder, sunlight, and explosions. Fantastic and as realistic as I've seen in many cases. The only real fault was with the hair and at very rare occasions the lip sync was a little weird, but it's something that I have never seen done 100% accurately. The weapons looks nice too. Now it's one thing for a weapon to look nice when it's not live, but it's another thing for a weapons graphics to keep their believability when they are firing or being used as a melee weapon. It's not something I pay much mind to, really, but I noticed it a lot in RE6, and it held up well.

Now, the interface is something that I struggled with constantly. Not to an atrocious degree, but I never felt quite right with it. The only one I did actually enjoy was Jake's pre-cube interface. It was concise and compact, and I felt that it was perfect. Everyone else’s was too big and bulky and looked weird or out of place. Still, they weren't a downfall, just a struggle. Almost everyone has a different variation on the interface and so switching from person to person sort of upsets your flow a bit... or it did for me. You can also switch it left or right preference and neither really felt good for me. I ended up keeping it to the left primarily, but still it didn't keep too right with me. The voice acting was fan-fucking-tastic. Although I didn't like all the characters, I think the voice acting for all of them was pretty amazing. Everyone delivered beautifully and did their character's a massive boon. My favourite characters ended up being Leon (of course), Jake, and Piers. No surprise that I hated Sherry and Helena, and Chris was never a star (see what I did there) in my books. Ada was all right... I don't trust myself to give an unbiased view on her character since she's Leon's girlfriend and I want Leon all to myself. She delivered her lines well though. Along with the voice acting, the other audio was great too. I don't really hold the soundtracks of Resident Evil games at a very higher tier and that's no real fault of theirs. The music isn't bad, but it's not really something I've focused on too much. With the exception of Resident Evil 4, I haven't felt compelled to listen to the soundtracks more than a few times and they haven't really gripped me. It's OK music, but I always turn it off in favour of my own music... excepting Resident Evil 4 as I said, which had a phenomenal soundtrack. The other audio was good though... interface sounds, ambient sound, weather sounds... kicking someone in the chest sounds. All good and not a bit of distortion anywhere.

On to where most people seemed to have all the shit to throw... game-play. I loved the game-play. Everyone says there were too many quick time events and too much button mashing in the game and that Resident Evil had flown from it's roots into some freaky FPS (if I can see my character, guys, it's not FPS) gore feast. I'm going to start by saying that I've had a serious loathing for quick time events since Fahrenheit decided it would be awesome to have me making out with my girlfriend as a quick time event. They are just shit now, so any game with even one quick time event makes me annoyed. That being said, I didn't think Resident Evil 6 had more quick time events than an average game which would have them. Sure looking for my keys as a quick time event was a bit wtf, but that was the only really stupid one I saw. It was a fine amount and I thought they were pretty well placed for the most part. As for the rest, action wise, it was brilliant. I loved combat and I loved being able to move around while aiming (thank you!) and firing. Melee combat was greatly improved and weapons were easy to use. I even liked the crossbow a lot and the quick combat fire for it is fucking awesome... but not as powerful as I would have hoped. Points for skills, combos, and weapons were all tallied pretty accurately, I thought, which made the grind to unlock different abilities to slot and skill sets to set up, not that terrible. A little tedious at times, but not the worst ever. Mercenaries mode was finally something I enjoyed as well. I played a little of it in Resident Evil 4 (just enough to unlock everything, nothing more) and in Resident Evil 5 (didn't even unlock everything, ugh), but resident Evil 6 is where it shone like a glittering butterfly brooch in the sparkling sun of a mid summers day. I think that people are just disappointed at the direction Resident Evil has come and everyone wants it to be like Resident Evil 1, 2, or 3 without even really remembering that control and combat in those games were balls. They were good games, great games even, but it was hard to do fuck all in them. This is the progression of the series and how games are made/played now and it has to be realised that things can't stay the same forever. This is much better than how games used to be and I enjoyed the game-play of Resident Evil 6.

Now, after the debacle that the story of Resident Evil 5 was, and some people liked it, that's fine, but I was sorely saddened when Wesker died at the end. I won't get in to the tragic writing that Resident Evil 5 did, because this is for Resident Evil 6. Needless to say, though, I was hesitant about what they were going to do. Surprise, surprise.... it was fabulous. I was genuinely amazed about the story and the writing. The dialogue was so well done and the time-lines were integrated at such a fantastic pace. I didn't fully get the entire story until I played through each campaign as each character... you really need to in order to find all the pieces of the puzzle and appreciate the entirety of the story for what it is. There were even a few surprising moments and oddly touching parts as well... and anyone who knows me knows I don't let the feels get to me very often at all. Piers was the most surprising of them all. I hated him almost right away, but as I played as him through his story I started to really identify with him. Piers is a true bro. He is a seriously well written character and his fate got me well verklempt there at the end. Aw man, here it comes again.

Well now that I'm back, there were a few more things I'll mention. Coming back to Mercenaries. I got seriously addicted to this for quite a while there and it's great fun to play, but I found that I enjoyed it a lot more with someone else. This is something that doesn't happen to me often, as I like to play solo, so when it does I take special note of when and where. I think it's the combo thing... it works a lot better, in Resident Evil 6, than it has in it's other iterations. I guess there are bigger maps now with more than two people allowed on it, but I don't know. I have a lot of other games to play and don't have the time to get addicted to the awesome that is Resident Evil 6 again. Bouncing combo points off each other is great and certain perks you can slot really shine when you have someone else there to benefit from them. I have got such high scores with a partner in Resident Evil 6's mercs mode than I have in any other and it was great every time... never a chore. I would really recommend this game to people who like action games and also role-play games. The story is amazing and the combat is well integrated. The characters are believable and the game, itself, is beautiful to behold. Movements are fluid and pacing is spot on. If you're a Resident Evil fan, this game is still great, as well. It stays with the Biohazard themes and brings in mentions from a few of the other games. There are some unsettling moments, some shock moments, some ew moments, and a smattering of humour and smart arse quips that I actually laughed at. I bought it fairly soon after it's release so I paid almost full price for it, which doesn't happen often, and I don't regret it at all. Well worth the cost! Grab it up guys. It's a keeper.

This Year in Gaming - 2012

2012-12-29T19:55:00.000+00:00

When asked what my Game of the Year is, it's never an easy decision. As someone who games for the majority of their day, I go through a lot of games, borrowed or owned. It's not often a game is played regularly through the year. One plays a game, plays the hell out of it if I like it, then moves on to different games. I guess the first thing to do is to take a look at the games which have come out this year.

I'll start with the Vita, for no real reason. It came out in December of 2011 in Japan, but 2012 everywhere else. I only recently got it as a gift from an old friend of mine and I was amazed and thrilled to get it. I have three actual games for the Vita, though I guess five if you count two free ones I got through the PSN+. The hard copy games I have are Lego Batman 2, Persona 4 Golden, and Zero Hour: Virtue's Last Reward. The two I got on PSN+ are Gravity Rush & Uncharted: Golden Abyss.

Uncharted I didn't really like too much... it seemed weird to move and take action, but I haven't played it a lot to really form anything other than a first impressions.

Gravity Rush is really amazing, but I just haven't had the time to dedicate to it. I really want to play more of it though.

Lego Batman 2 is all right at best. I used to be a huge Lego fan, but after a few games it just got really old. It came with the Vita though so for a bit it was the only Vita specific game I had.

Persona 4 Golden is fucking amazing. I want to do a review for it in a few weeks so I'll leave it at 'fucking amazing' for now.

Virtue's Last Reward is incredible as well... it's the sequel to 999 and just blows me away. I haven't beaten it completely yet, but will do a review for it as well when the time comes.

The second most recent game machine I got was a 3DS back in May for my birthday. On an amusing note, I decided to conduct a small experiment on how long it would take my nephew to realise I had a 3DS without me mentioning it at all. He's usually pretty observant so it amused me to conduct this. It wasn't NOVEMBER that he realised the DS sitting on my couch was actually a 3DS. Anyway, I actually don't have a lot of 3DS games despite the length of time I've had this hand-held. My 3DS games are Resident Evil: Revelations, Resident Evil: The Mercenaries 3D, Theatrhythm Final Fantasy, and Tales of the Abyss. There are some games on my DsiXL that I would have liked to put on my 3DS, but the DS's require you to use an internet connection setting that my router doesn't allow so... I can't really xfer them. I'll start by saying that I very rarely use the 3D function because it hurts my eyes a lot. I mean a lot. After maybe 10 minutes I get a headache and it's not long before migraine city starts sparkling around my room. That being said, all my thoughts are regarding a non 3D view of the game.

Tales of the Abyss is a great port. Everything looks awesome and the story is fine as ever. It's been ages since I last played this game and I really love playing it again. The additions they've made and controls they've added really shine.

Theatrhythm Final Fantasy is a terrible addiction to me. Mixing rhythm games and Final Fantasy is a drug on par with the most addictive. Also, the graphics are so cute!

The two Resident Evil games haven't got much play from me because the controls anger me greatly. It's very hard to play a RE game on a hand-held, but I love the series and am determined to get through them. The story for Revelations intrigues me and I want to find out how it ends!

Now that the handhelds have had their glory time, I'll mix up the rest of 2012's consoles and we'll start off at the top with Final Fantasy13-2. It came out, here, in Feb and I did a review for it. I did review Final Fantasy 13, albeit the 360 version, and didn't have the most positive things to say about it... it was a lot of small things that kind of brought it down. I have recently started it again on the PS3 and my view of it is a little better, but this is about Final Fantasy 13-2, though I will leave this short as my views on it can be read in my review.

Feb also brought us Kingdoms of Amalaur: Reckoning. I tried to like this game, I really did, but it is just awful. I can't stand it. I really, really hate this game. From the voice acting to the graphics to the HUD to the quests. It's like an MMO that failed to be an MMO (I know it was slated to be an MMO in fact) and failed again trying to be a single player game. It's empty, lifeless, and feels like a watered down Skyrim in every way. I know people who adore the game, but I really just fucking hate it.

Dear Esther I will include because it is a game in a technical sense. It's a story that takes you through a puzzle of mazes in an intriguing and sombre fashion. The story is sad and finds you feeling sorry for everyone in the end. I had to play it twice to get the whole story because I missed a few things. The graphics are lovely and the music is spectacular and haunting.

Mass Effect 3. Well this game sure had it's share of controversy, but fuck that, seriously. I really enjoyed the endings provided and the expanded ones were even better. The graphics were solid and fantastic, the music was extraordinary, and the story was just great. I enjoyed playing Mass Effect 3 so much and the DLC was even more awesome. I haven't got the Omega DLC yet as it's holiday time and money is tight, but I will definitely get it and play it for sure. There's no question. I loved Mass Effect 3 and it's definitely a contender for my game of the year.

Another contender for GOTY is Journey. A PSN game that came out with March and blew me away. Hands down is has the best and most beautiful graphics of any PSN game I've seen and maybe of any game, period, I've seen. Music as well.. I couldn't believe how spectacular this game was, but coming from the same guys who made flOw and Flower... it can only get better from there.

Silent Hill: Downpour was my first platinum trophy and well deserved. I did a review of this game, but a review can hardly relay what an amazing experience this was. I'll leave this short as all my views on it can be read in the review.

Tales of Graces F came out in August here, much behind it's US release which was March. Regardless, this game blew me away. The last Tales game we got was Tales of Vesperia, which was my first 1,000 gamer-score game on the 360 back in the day. Graces F did not fail to live up to amazement. I've not yet platinum'd the game yet, but I felt I had to take a break as I have save files adding up to 500+ hours in it and I was starting to perform artes in my sleep. The graphics are wonderful, the music is solid and addictive, and the story is really quite amazing. It caught me by surprise in more than one place.

Resident Evil: Operation Raccoon City came out earlier this year, but I only got it in Nov, I think. It's a great game, but a great game that I need t go through in small portions. I enjoy it, but I don't enjoy it for hours at a time and that's fine. A game doesn't have to entertain me for six hours at a time to be a good game. The graphics are quite good, the game-play it really nice, especially with friends, and the music is RE typical... not amazing omg, but not terrible. It's all right, but I will, more often than not, turn it off in favour of my own music.

The Silent Hill HD collection came out this year and a friend got it for me, and it's more than not, pretty great. There were a lot of issues when it first came out, but I didn't go through them as I didn't have the game at the time. The glitches and lag and bugs have been mostly fixed and it's not terrible. They changed a lot of the voices and such, but I don't really care. I have no special place for the original voice acting and I think the new voices are good. Not a ghastly port, but they could have give it some more time and did better.

Blacklight: Retribution is a game I was very much in to for about two weeks. After that I just... didn't want to play really. The graphics were nice, the progression and levelling up were all right and the matches weren't too bad, but it was just mediocre on all fronts and eventually just bored me.

Devil May Cry HD is amaaaaaaazing. As it's a compilation and HD re-release of the first three games (Special Edition version of the 3^rd) it can't have my game of the year slot, but if I included re-releases then it would get the award hands down. Graphics: improvements and amazement. Audio: Fabulous. Story: Awesome as ever. I really loved this HD collection.

I spent so much time waiting for Xenoblade Chronicles to come out that I was almost in tears when I received it in the post. It was so good for a little while, despite the horrible, horrible graphics and almost intolerable voice acting. The story was intriguing and the combat was almost perfect. The side quests and missions were fantastic and the weapons and upgrade system was addictive. I spent so much time in the game until I just couldn't do it any more. I hated looking at the game because the graphics were just trash. I hated listening to the voice acting because it was so put on. I stopped playing it and eventually traded it in for another game and I really don't find myself yearning for it at all. I am so sad it came out on such a shitty graphic system.

The Witcher 2 was released on the 360 earlier too and it was pretty great. I'd got it on the PC, previously, and didn't really like it. At the time my PC couldn't run it too well so I had issues, but on the 360 it was really great. I enjoyed the graphics, music, and the voice acting was great... really the best thing about it was the voice acting. I went though one of two story-lines and always meant to go through the other, but after I beat it, finishing all the side quests I could, I didn't really want to go through it again. Eventually, it took the trade in route.

Diablo III also came out this year and I really enjoyed that game for a while. After Hell mode, though, it just gets too hard and looses it's fun. Things that hard just aren't appealing to me... I like a challenge, but I don't like beating my head on an unbreakable wall. The graphics are really great, the audio was nicely done, and the story was pretty cool. I might just pop back in there to start up a new character some time soon

Ys Origin is a great game, but the controls are a little wonky. I might try to hook up my xbox controller and see how it goes. It's full of cute sprites, 16 bit musics, and a story of Ys that I haven't played yet.

Penny Arcade Adventures 3 also went a different route this time by giving us sprites and bitty music, but it was fantastic. It was a great direction they took and the writing was superb as usual.

I was more disappointed in The Secret World than I was happy about it. I loved playing it, but the graphics had all kinds of problems and it really just ruined the experience. The levelling system was great and the stories were really quite fantastic. I even recorded some Youtube videos for questing... I really enjoyed the game until the graphics just began crashing me so much. I heard its gone F2P now, but I also hear the graphics issues aren't sorted. How sad.

The Last Story is definitely my most disappointing game of the year. I waited so long and had such high hopes for this game and then I got it and it was just so terrible. Everything about it was terrible. There isn't one good thing I have to say about the game. I was just so crushed... all that waiting for such a good prospect of a game came crashing down. Such a let down.

Black Mesa was finally released this year and I love it! Technically it's a re-release so no GOTY for it, but omg it it so good! They did such an amazing job of this remake that it's almost like a new game and all the super achievements are just wonderful.

Borderlands 2 is also a contender for my GOTY. I'm going to do a review of it so I won't go into too much detail about it here, but oh man it's wonderful in every way.

When Torchlight II was in beta, I did a review of it, and I gotta say that it only got better. A review is in the works for this too so I won't say a lot regarding it, but I love this game and keep meaning to get back to it.

Resident Evil 6 grabbed a platinum for me and is also a contender for GOTY. This game is amazingly good in all ways. It caught so much flack, but fuck them. This game is amazing in every way. Music, graphics, story, game-play, combat, exploration... even the Mercenaries section was amazing and I don't usually play the Mercenaries. Will be doing a review soon for it.

Dishonored has yet to be finished by me, but I've made it a good distance through. It's such a bizarrely wonderful game. Graphics, audio, and story are all wonderful and some choices in the game make me really think that I am a terrible person lol. It's great when a game can make me question my own morals. Game-play is fabulous as well. I look forward to finishing this game.

Halo 4 came out towards the end of the year and though I haven't personally beaten it yet, but I have played a good deal of it and I've watched my nephew, niece, and sister play shit tonnes of it over here. It's a great game. The story is captivating and I love the graphical improvements. The combat is greatly improved as well, but I hate that they moved the melee again... I wouldn't say it's game of the year, especially since I've not felt compelled to beat it myself, but it's a beautiful and intriguing game with a story that is fantastic.

Man, I know I've missed something, but I can't think of it right now. So let's see what my categories are and what I've chosen:

Best Music: Journey

Runners Up: Dishonored, Silent Hill: Book of Memories/Silent Hill: Downpour

Note: Theatrhythm Final Fantasy would be the winner, but it had no original music, only music from other games, so there was no new and original tunes

Best Graphics: Final Fantasy 13-2

Runners Up: Borderlands 2, Journey

Note: There were so many good graphical games this year, it was hard to choose.

Best Combat: Borderlands 2

Runners Up: Silent Hill: Downpour, Resident Evil 6

Note: This was also hard to choose as I loved the combat in ME3 and H4 a lot as well.

Best Story: Silent Hill: Downpour

Runners Up: Mass Effect 3, Halo 4

Note: A lot of good stories this year, just because one isn't listed, doesn't mean it wasn't good. I just liked some others better.

Best Overall Gameplay: Tales of Graces F

Runners Up: Final Fantasy 13-2, Borderlands 2

Note: It's hard to find a game that has a great mesh of combat and movement for me as my hands are so twitchy from nerve damage.

Best Re-Release: Persona 4 Golden

Runner's Up: Devil May Cry HD Collection, Tales of the Abyss

Note: Although there was a lot of things added to Persona 4 Golden, it is still a re-release of the game, just with some additions.

Biggest Disappointment: The Last Story

Runners Up: Xenoblade Chronicles, The Secret World

Note: TSW was such a disappointment because of all the graphical issues which made it almost impossible for me to play or enjoy.

Worst Game: Kingdoms of Amalaur: Reckoning

Runner's Up: The Last Story, Uncharted: Golden Abyss

Note: Actually not a lot of truly bad games this year... not that I played at least.

Game of the Year: Borderlands 2

Runners Up: Resident Evil 6, Silent Hill: Downpour

And there you have it. Borderlands 2 was the best game, for me, this year. I enjoyed a lot of games and had a great time gaming this year and all my decisions are purely based on my own opinions. Silent Hill: Downpour became one of my all time favourite games this year, taking the place of Silent Hill: Homecoming at number 10, but it wasn't the very best of the year. It was a great year for gaming and there are still games from this year that I haven't yet played. I hope to play them and more in the upcoming year.

Third Platinum

2012-11-06T07:43:00.002+00:00

Today I got my platinum in Borderlands. This platinum is for the main game, not DLC, but it gave me the plat anyway, which is nice. Working on the DLC now. On the 360 version I played the Hunter and did everything on him, but on the ps3 version I tried out the Siren. I don't like her at all so when I beat the game, I started again as the Hunter and things went a lot better. Siren is fucking easy mode incarnate :( Not in a good way. I always have preferred the Hunter/Ranger/Sniper anyway. I'm happy about this plat... took some effort and time. Third platinum trophy for the ps3. Nice times.

This Week in Gaming 20 July 2012 - 26 July 2012

2012-07-26T13:57:00.000+01:00

No little blurb today. Not having a good day... will post something in a few days.

This Week in Gaming

Top Three:
The Secret World (PC)

Shin Megami Tensei: Persona 3 Portable (PSP)

Fallout: New Vegas (PC)

PC:

F.3.A.R.

Left 4 Dead 2

The Elder Scrolls V: Skyrim

This Week in Musica:

Shpongle

NieR Gestalt &RepliCant

Devin Townsend Project

Austin Wintory

This Week in Gaming 03 July 2012 - 09 July 2012

2012-07-09T17:13:00.000+01:00

I've said most of what I've been doing yesterday so no need for a mini update.

This Week in Gaming!

Top Three:

The Elder Scrolls V: Skyrim (PC)

Legend of Heroes: Trails in the Sky (PSP)

Diablo III (PC)

PC:

Portal 2

F.3.A.R.

Left 4 Dead 2

This Week in Musica!

Bruce Dickinson

Devin Townsend Project

This Week in Gaming 9 April 2012 - 16 April, 2012

2012-04-16T19:23:00.001+01:00

Top Three Games:

The Elder Scrolls 4: Oblivion (PC)

MGS HD Collection: Metal Gear Solid 2: Sons of Liberty (PS3)

Xenoblade Chronicles (Wii)

DS:

Final Fantasy XII: Revenant Wings

PS3:

Deus Ex: Human Revolution

MGS HD Collection: Metal Gear Solid 3: Snake Eater

PC:

Star Trek Online

Final Fantasy XIII-2

2012-04-13T02:30:00.001+01:00

So, I wanted to wait a little while to do my Final Fantasy XIII-2 review so that I could go through a little bit of the DLC that was promised to us. Now that that has occurred, I'll proceed. First of all, because I wanted to get XIII-2 on the PS3, I got XIII on the PS3 & traded in my 360 copy. This pained me a little as I only had two more achievements to get in the 360 version to get 1000/1000, but I knew I wouldn't be going back to that game. The PS3 version of the game is much nicer, more beautiful, and seems to run better, but it just might be that I hadn't played it in over a year when I got the PS3 version. As an added bonus, a save file from XIII got me some extra things in XIII-2.

Kupo!

The graphics have not failed to impress me and even though they aren't too incredibly different from XIII, they seem crisper and more fluid. Blu-ray also makes it even more lovely and I can appreciate the difference. The scenery, however, is where it really shines. Although the characters look mostly the same, the graphics of weather, flora, and fauna are so much nicer. I was very impressed at the weather in particular. There is one place that you can control four different types of weather and it's just amazing. It seems like a small thing, but I really enjoyed it when it rained, or when the thunder cracked. Oh man, it was great. Along with the crackling thunder were the other sounds of the game, obviously. Done well, as usual; I can't really see them screwing that up, but I am really torn with the music in XIII-2. Some of it is exceptional and some of it is just the worst ever. Whereas the majority of the voice acting was splendiferous, I really, really hated Chocolina's god damn voice. Every time I had to talk to her I just wanted to brick her. Serah's voice was all right... annoying, but well delivered. Noel, Hope, and Caius were my favourite voice work in

What is Serah looking at?

this one. Just so precise and wonderful to listen to. And footsteps? Nope! I'm going to diverge from my normal procession for a minute and mention the interface of the game. XIII had an OK interface, but it was hard to see at times. XIII-2 has corrected this and made it a lot easier to read and what's even better is they included an option to magnify whatever your selecting. Making the text bigger is so nice since I have a lot of issues see shit at a distance. It really helps. Well now, XIII was much criticised for its very linear game play. The linear story is still there, but it does a good job at masking that, which is fine. All games are eventually linear, but the story needs to hide that. It's done with a lot of time travelling to get to where you need to go, find the pieces that you need to open the next time gate, and new time lines to explore in order to see alternate realities. All these eventually come together in getting to the end, so whereas you might decide to do one area before the other or make some choices different, you get the same ending either way. It's not a bad thing; I did enjoy going through the worlds and seeing all the different realities the game had to offer.

Fascinating windmills...

Another part of the game play, which is also part of the combat, is the monster taming aspect. Some relate it to Pokémon in that you capture monsters, then level them up to use in battle. OK, this is true, but I didn't really find it much like Pokémon. At the end of a fight, you have a chance to get the crystal of the monster you fought and then you can level them up with monster food items you find/buy in the world. There are monsters for all classes in the game and they fill the slot of the third person in the party. It's not a bad system. I didn't revel in the glory of it, but it was actually nicer than having to manage another stupid character I didn't care about (the other being Serah as Noel was great). You can make up your own Paradigm packs to whatever combination you want if you have the monster crystals, but really I used Rav/Rav/Rav and Rav/Rav/Com the most with Med/Sen/Med on the side. You can only have three monsters equipped so unless you want to put a load of stupid time into levelling up one of each monsters and switching constantly with your packs, just stick to the three monsters you'll use. While I'm here, the combat system has been so very much improved upon and I was elated to see that. Switching Paradigms is instant and as soon as you click on your new set up, everything is instantly usable. And the best thing? When the main character you are controlling dies, it switching to your other. You don't die! I'm so very happy they changed this issue as it was the worst thing possible in XIII and made no sense at all. You can change your party leader between Noel and Serah to utilize their specific

Finally the Paradigm system works!

abilities or to just have a change up in battle. The classes were tweaked a little, though more so through the changes to the Crystarium. Instead of learning the classes and specific ability tiers, you just have one Crystarium per character which diverges onto the other class paths. At certain points in it you can choose one bonus out of a few (though you choose them all eventually). It's a more linear way to do it and I thought it was way better than the previous, bulky process. I had a really good time in the different time lines. The story was engaging and the characters were pretty awesome, except for a few retards, one of which was my female party member. Ugh. It was still better than having to listen to Vanille cackle all the time or Lightning whine like a five year old. I was sad that Hope couldn't be a team member, but thrilled at his part in the game. He was my favourite character in XIII and I was very happy to see him back. Noel's story was incredible and really made me feel for him and his plight. It was so well done, bravo. There is so much to do in the game, including mini games and all the awesome trophies/achievements you can get. The end times in the game is fantastic. The ending fights, the ending cinematic, and even the song was pretty cool. It was worth it for the time I put in.

Noel Auditore da Firenze?

The post game was good too. When you beat the game you are given an item which allows you to view paradox endings and those are really sweet. You can also unlock a few new battle additions like the choco stopper (I think that's the name, it's 2am and I don't have the game turned on) which speeds or slows your battle. I sped up my battles and they go by so quick its awesome. Grinding is a lot better, but the thing is that it also speeds up the cut scenes, which is annoying. I wish there was just a battle speed up and a leave the cut scenes the fuck alone setting. Ah, well, I know what went on in the cut scenes anyway, but still. I got a lot of the trophies done, though I can't remember how many at my first beating of it, but it was a great amount. And now the topic which I hardly ever write about: DLC. Usually I will write a review before any DLC comes out, but the DLC was so hyped for XIII-2 that I wanted to wait a bit. Promises of DLC had been around since XIII-2 was announced and boy have they laid it out. Colosseum battles, costumes, weapons... they have a lot to offer and even more on the way. I bought a few of the weapons, some of the outfits, and some of the Colosseum battles expecting joy and for the most part, that's what I got. I like the outfits I downloaded and the battles in the Colosseum are great. I still haven't been able to beat Ultros/Typhoon, but I am slowly getting them down every time. The Assassin's Creed costume for Noel is the absolute best and the N7 costume for Serah is my favourite for her. I don't see myself getting any other costumes, but the Colosseum battles are awesome and, except for Sazh and Jill, I

Commander Serah Shepard?

have got them all. Sazh and Jill I didn't get because I hated their characters in XIII and have no desire to acquire them. Because of the eventual linearity of the game, there is no replay value, but I guess they got around this with the post game and DLC. There is really a lot to do and I'm not even done with it all yet. I was sad to not see any Espers (Eidolons), but I guess they aren't needed due to all the other things in the game. Weapons and armour were a lot like XIII in that you upgraded what you got to make a more powerful weapon, though you did have to find materials to make most of the items. That was a pain sometimes, but in the end it wasn't too much of a trial. I was also happy to see that the weapons you made in game were more powerful than the DLC weapons, overall. Of course, it all depends on what you want to do with your character as to the weapons you used; different attributes and abilities.

Final Fantasy is a huge series and full of many games with their own spin off, but that being said, it's not for everyone. A lot of people are also sick of the series and that's their right, but I would still recommend playing this game, at least once through. It surprised me, I admit it. I wasn't going to play the game, but in the end, how could I not. It's Final Fantasy. Give it a go if you're interested in JRPG's. It's worth some time :)

At least someone got an awesome haircut

Silent Hill: Downpour

2012-04-03T10:36:00.000+01:00

At the time of this writing I've almost completed my second play through of Silent Hill: Downpour on the PS3. I'd heard that it got bad reviews & negative feedback, but that doesn't add up to feedback I've personally got from it. People I know who've played it really enjoyed it & I'm no different. Silent Hill: Downpour has now replaced Silent Hill: Homecoming as my favourite game in the series. A big claim, I'm sure, & it comes from having played all the Silent Hill games there are, excluding Arcade, which I can't find for the life in me. So what makes this game so incredible? Let's move on to the review with a warning that I'll be including some spoilers here & there, but I don't think anything massive. The game play of Silent Hill has always been one which manages to suck me into it & Downpour is no different. It took me a little while to realise that as you got hit, the amount of blood on your outfit showed how damaged you were. You can check on the Statistics screen about your health %, but I found that just paying attention to the state of my clothes was easier. I didn't realise it at first because I automatically assumed that my clothes would always be drenched in blood or tattered.. this is a Silent Hill game after all. Moving around Silent Hill is a chilling experience which is only heightened

Creepy fog & unnerving drizzle

by the dismal weather; rain & fog. If it's not foggy & wet, it's drizzling or even a full on thunder storm with bizarre lilac lightning, reminiscent of a screaming ladies scream, but we'll get to that in a few. One thing that usually annoys me in games is being able to hear your own footsteps, but I didn't mind it too much in Downpour. It sort of fit & the footsteps made sense. Like on grating, it would sound like walking/running on grating, & puddles splashed. It became natural & part of the background noise, which is nice. Doing tasks & moving through inventory was also done well as I never felt aggravated at a move I had to do or something I needed to get from my pockets. It was handled really well.

I'll move right into the combat now & say that it was miles better than Homecoming. Whereas Homecoming has good combat ideas, they came off a bit awkward at times; especially with jumping back up or dodging. Downpour doesn't let you dodge or jump back up, but it does let you block & something I found awesome about that is your block is dependant about what item you have as a weapon. Like if you block with just your hands/arms, you take damage, as you're blocking with your body, but it's less. If you block with a frying pan or something, then you can block a little damage, but it will probably break. Blocking with things like chairs or harpoons or fire extinguishers will prevent damage for several blocks. The monsters have patterns you can follow if you pay attention & that is a key factor in beating them. You need to keep your eyes open & sometimes it's better to just run. Seriously. You need to run from some battles or you will die. This is a great thing they pulled over from Shattered Memories. All the monsters have names you can find at the awesome Silent Hill Wiki, but since I don't check anything the first time I go through a

Beware the screams of the damned

game, I had to come up with names for them all & they sort of stuck lol. It will be easy to determine what I'm talking about though; the names are rather descriptive. You can use loads of things to attack with from guns as melee to rocks on the ground to rakes & shovels. One part which also belongs in the combat section is the Otherworld. In Downpour your trek through the watery Otherworld will, primarily, involve you fleeing from the Void, which I nicknamed Wtfisthatthingomgrunrunrunrun. It involves quick thinking, paying attention to your surrounding, & using every second in the best possible way as you run down halls & through obstacles without getting sucked into its disintegrating grasp. It's a little harrowing, actually.

Following the combat system is going to have to be the graphics. They are not the best graphics to have ever been & the monsters are the best graphics in the game. That isn't saying that the graphics are shit; they are quite good, but not the best of games out there. Silent Hill has never had the best graphics available to the gaming community, but it hasn't needed to. The only real issue I have in the game is the FPS issues that are hindering it as you progress through the game; I actually attribute it to all the save files you can have as the game auto saves & doesn't delete the auto saves, but makes new ones, creating huge caches of auto saves that it searches through constantly.

Puzzles have varying difficulty

We've seen this in other games & they will probably patch it, but for now, the graphics suffer a bit. That's more performance, than graphics, however. As I said, things look nice, not holy shit real, but nice. The water looks so real & the monsters are truly ghastly to look at sometimes. Especially the second to last boss you fight... wow, impressive in a very real way. The ambiance & dreary world permeates every move you make & it draws you in. This is also brought in by the sound & music. Together with the ambient tracks, & also the actual OST by Daniel Licht, Silent Hill eats your sanity away. The giggling, the echoing, the screams, the strange little noises here & there... together with imagery & sometimes lack of anything, unnerves you in a big way. Some of the buildings you head into are further creepified by the music that plays & it's not all original music... there are old songs, like Born Free by Andy Williams & Nobody Knows The Trouble I've Seen by Louis Armstrong, & some more modern sounding ones too that start playing & give the world a surreal aspect. I'll make a list at the end of all the licensed music, which I recognised, used in the game as I don't think there is a list out there that I can find. The music is amazing & I got the OST before I was even done with the first play of the game.

The story & side quests. I'll start off by saying that the side quests are a truly amazing addition to the world of Silent Hill. No more are we guided from start to finish, wondering about the town or wishing we could see more. These quests give you the chance to stray from the path & explore the town of Silent Hill. It takes you into the lives of people who lived there & lets you find out more about the inhabitants. It's often been said that the world of Silent Hill

Monsters?

that we see, is not the world that anyone else sees. Not only is it the world of our characters only, but it might be completely different than the inhabitants even. There is a part in Silent Hill 3 where Heather is speaking to Vincent Smith & she mentions the monsters she's facing & Vincent says 'Monsters? They look like... monsters to you? ' Even though he says he's just joking when Heather gets worried, he really isn't. The monsters being fought in the game are not monsters, they are people. Silent Hill bends reality, as Bobby says in Downpour, it does 'strange things' to reality. This is actually reinforced a little by the unseen scoring system in Downpour that determines your ending... if you kill monsters, your score gets worse, but if you just incapacitate them & go, then your score actually goes up; it gets better. I could talk forever about the theories around Silent Hill, but I'll stick to this game of course. This all comes into the side quest situation in that you can see how people are slowly going mad from Silent Hills invisible punishment system. As the people, who live in Silent Hill, become more obsessed with guilt or passion, or whatever, the town begins distorting their world & how they see life & it's amazing to go through the quests & take that journey into oblivion with them. The quests are done really well & give you a genuine creepy feeling. There are also quite a number of awesome Easter eggs pertaining to the other Silent Hill games; pictures of previous characters & locations, & also a room that looks exactly like Henry's from The Room. One quest in particular, The Gramophone, was so unnerving that even though I was in a well lit room with my nephew sitting next to me playing Halo multi-player loudly (this was my second run so I didn't mind the non Silent Hill noise), it was still so freaky that even he stopped his game, dying several times, his eyes glued to my screen as I controlled the slow, inevitable death that was occurring. It was all encompassing.

Henry's room from Silent Hill 4: The Room

The main storyline is not obvious at first. You're thrown into the game with blood on your hands almost immediately & you don't know why. You're told to do something that is much like skewering a pig, but to a person & the game wants you do to it for no known reason, brutally & without remorse. This sets a rather dark stage that ends up following you through the entire game. As you move through the story, you meet a few other characters, a few of them are not explained in the game, & their fate is unknown in every ending, with resolution only coming to two characters, & even then, it's left a little weird. I didn't figure out the entire canon story until close to the end & that's a good job on the game for keeping me guessing that long. It's a creepy story that opens you up to guilt & self delusion, & how that can become reality & the world you live in. You create your world by your actions & what you do effects how you see things. Living inside yourself is a big theme & the need to come to terms with that & accept truth instead of delusion is a driving point.

What is real?

In the end of all things, this game is not worth the disservice it was given. You can choose your difficulty for both gameplay & puzzles, each has its own setting. Silent Hill is a series that holds the award for being the only series that can seriously freak me the fuck out. It is entrancing, beautiful, creepy, & haunting, & if you're a fan of the genre of horror/survival horror, then you should pick it up. If it's not your style, then nothing I'm saying will really make you want to play it, & that's fine. I'll rank this game mighty high in my favourite games ever.

Edit: 05 April, 2012: Silent Hill: Downpour is now my first platinum trophy. I love this game & the amazing ambience, voice acting, & story therein. I hope that the voice actors will return in other games, especially Murphy's voice actor. Amazing work on this fantastic game.

Now I will place the licensed music that I heard so you can check it out. Also, be sure to listen to the OST from Daniel Licht (he also did the music for Dexter).

Andy Williams – Born Free

Louis Armstrong – Nobody Knows The Trouble

James Vincent McMorrow – If I Had A Boat

Doves – Willow’s Song (Bury Version)
Anna Ternheim – Words of Love

Ed Harcourt – Here Be Monsters

Jonathan Singleton & The Grove – I’m Afraid of Storms
Highwaymen – Silver Stallion
The Coals – I Wanted A Lover, I Needed A Friend
Kris Kristofferson – Why Me Lord
Ed Harcourt – From Every Sphere

Anna Ternheim – Off the Road

Welcome to Silent Hill

Deus Ex: Human Revolution

2011-09-04T09:14:00.000+01:00

I can't tell you how long I was glued to my television, playing Deus Ex: Human Revolution, because there's no timer or clock which records time and Raptr doesn't track PS3 playing time, automatically, for some retarded reason. If I had to estimate I'd say I've played it around 50ish hours at this point. Well then... graphics! Wow. Seeing some initial screens, I was a little disappointed, but coming into the game (which I got on the PS3 by the way) I was amazed. From the opening FMV to the actual game play, the graphics were beautiful. A lot of people complained about that bronze overtone, but I really loved it. It set a very desolate feel to the game and it got me into the setting a lot easier. Adam (lol at slew of Frankenstein references through out the game by the way) was very nicely done and all his actions and movements were fantastic. Some commented how cardboard or messy the graphics were, especially for people, but I found them to be great. Sure some of the people were a bit rigid, but we can't do magic; there's only so much we can do with graphics right now and I think this game did them damn well. Those city scape scenes and flying over different lands... oh man. When you first come to Singapore.. my mouth was hanging open. Gorgeous. The music was great as well. I sort of felt like it reminded me of the more ambient music to a Bioshock or Fallout in that it really sort of sat behind everything, worming its way into your thoughts. Sometimes it lulled me deep, taking me into the

Beautiful Cityscapes

story is a surreal way. In short; fantastic. I'll be getting the OST as soon as I can. I'd like to buy it, but if I can't find it, I'll download it from somewhere. It's so good and so well composed. Game mechanics and control. This is a two sided issue for me. First of all, why, oh, why do companies change the layout of well know controller configurations? It's annoying and aggravating and I hate it. Moving things like iron sights, sprint, and reload (to name a few) to buttons different than a slew of our established games is not innovative or challenging; IT'S ANNOYING. That being said, after the initial aggravation of a new controller lay out, I got into it pretty well. The interface is great, the weapons switching is smooth, hacking is awesome. I didn't run into any troubles dishing out my Praxis points how I desired and still having to deal with boss fights and hacking. In fact I ended up just putting points wherever because I had already got what I wanted. I didn't even put points in Typhoon until near the end because it just wasn't useful to my play style. I played it on normal difficulty by the way, but I want to play it on Tell Me A Story (Easy) because I have a feel I missed a lot of stuff because I was too involved in staying alive. I got 52% of the trophies on my first run, did a nice bunch of side quests (though I don't think I got them all and/or found their secret trophies). That being said, I still got a load of

Take-downs are a thing of beauty

story from the game. I mean geez it's involved. Little things there and there which give you insight into the characters or just the life of people around you or in buildings. I read all the e-mails I could, all the e-books, all the newspapers. Talked to everyone I saw. I even found two quests by randomly talking to people. That's when it feels awesome... my manic OCD's granting me quests and game play. It is sweet caramel in my mind. Even now I've this desire to play it again. I did start my next cycle and am going to try to not kill anyone this round. It's already been very tough, to be honest. Mission one is down though; everyone lives. Saved the hostages, saved dudes wife, knocked out Sanders for the police. I'm an hero. During my first cycle I was forced to make some choices which were gnawing at me through the rest of the play. This time we'll see how the other choices colour my play.

SPOILERS:

Here are some of the choices I made during my first cycle. I didn't get the new chip because I remembered Elizabeth from the first Deus Ex (a game I didn't like, to be honest, but recall the information from anyway) and anything she is promoting as a 'good thing' is obviously evil. Not only that, but it's so obvious that it's going to fuck up your Christmas if you do get it. I saved Malik, but this was more that I thought it was actually what you're supposed to do. I didn't

Exceptional FPS combat

realise, until after I had beat the game and was checking forums, that you can actually hurry into the building and Malik dies. Whereas I'm curious how this colours other parts of the game, I'm not too happy about leaving her to die, so I'll save her again. I do like her. Talked Taggart's aid out of killing himself for whatever bizarre reason I was thinking of at the time (was surprised by surprise trophy of surprise for saving him) though I did reload and see what happened if he died. Nothing interesting, so I re-reloaded back to saving him save and continued on. I didn't talk to Taggart in the base at the end as I decided I wanted him to die; unfortunately this meant I couldn't see his ending so I guess I will see it this time. I did reload my before ending save to see all the others, though I went with Sarif's ending first as I do believe in his cause (in RL too actually).

SPOILERS END.

Hmm, can't think of other critical plot points that I did, but I've been awake a while and my mind is a smoking ruin. I recommend this game wholly. It is an FPS RPG in the truest sense of the term. It flawlessly combines the FPG mode of play with the RPG interaction and story. I wasn't going to get the game at first, because I didn't like 1 or 2, but after I read some other friends' comments on G+, I decided to give it a try. I'm so god-damn happy I did because it's incredible. Totally get this game.

Join our family now

Dragon Age 2

2011-03-29T10:23:00.005+01:00

Well, Raptr says 82 hours and Steam says 22 hours... I think Steam needs to get it's internal clock sorted out! What am I talking about? Dragon Age II of course (the PC version). With 80+ hours in, I think it's time for me to give a review about the sequel to a game I love very much. I never did a Dragon Age: Origins review and I think it was because I loved the game so much (200+ hours) that I felt reviewing it would be doing some kind of injustice. I have felt the same about the Assassin's Creed games, as well as Star Ocean. However, the time has come to lay aside those silly thoughts and try to share my love of games a bit more. And so, here is a review of Dragon Age II. As I said, I have sunk over 80 hours into the game and I can honestly say that I'm still enjoying it. So much in fact, that I have done two other play-throughs in Dragon Age: Origins so I can import those saves into Dragon Age II and see the changes which take place because of them. I'll get into that aspect of the game near the end though. Where to start now? There's so much to say. After the amusing commentary by the dwarf and Orlesian at the beginning you are thrown into the game escaping from Lothering... a place you also visited in Dragon Age: Origins. It was nice to be playing someone who escaped the Blight, to be honest. It gave me a little more of a connection to what was going on. Plus, the mini tutorial was good to experience for the changes they made. I have to say, the best change was the Target and Attack nearest Target button (I bound mine to Q). This made combat A LOT better.. it also helps for looting as well! Something I hate in any game.

There have been loads of negative reviews about this game, some of which I agree, most of which I don't... even more where I think humanity has finally gone batshit crazy. I imported my save from my Dragon Age: Origins mage first off, even though I spent the least time on her, but because I knew the character I would play was related to the mage origin from the first game (Amell being the surname). It gave a little nod to it at a few areas, but nothing too
interesting. I'm going to talk about some more basic things first, namely your equipment and inventory. I absolutely LOVE what they did! I can't tell you how annoying it was in Dragon Age: Origins to rifle through all my shit trying to find other shit to sell. And now we have an area where things automatically go into as a junk tab? Holy thank you Bioware! In Dragon Age: Origins it was painful trying to sift through it all, so I'm well grateful that they streamlined it like they did. The weapons, armour, and jewellery sections are just mint. Another thing they did was for all your companions, you don't give them new armour, excluding jewellery and a weapon. This is because you find things from quests or vendors which are used to upgrade their current armours. There are a total of four upgrade slots for each character which provides better stats and rune-slots. This is so much better than having to find new shit for them to wear. Determining which weapon and accessories would be best for them was pretty easy, depending on how you've put their talent points. Yes, my friends, this is an improvement which I was ecstatic about. I mentioned talents just there and I'm a lot happier with how they've made them. Each companion has their own tree which is specific to them. Depending on if you're their Friend or Rival, they'll give you an extra bonus, but that isn't really very significant overall. Some of the companion talents are really quite awesome. Your characters specializations, as well, are pretty straight forward and easy to understand. I found myself liking the mage a lot more in Dragon Age II than in Dragon Age: Origins because of how much better it was using the talents in combat. And of course, now combat. Not always the happiest of topics for me. It was much, much better than Dragon Age: Origins, this I have to say. I've a lot more love for how they tweaked it in Dragon Age II. The tactics were easier to get through as well and setting up strategy just felt more natural. In Dragon Age: Origins the combat was clunky, but for the time it was good and they let you pull the camera overhead for a more RTS feel to it, which did help a lot. Whereas they removed that feature in Dragon Age II, I'm glad they made the decision to make it more immersible and easier to use (RE the Q targeting I mentioned earlier). Now, encounters don't really differ from each other in a huge way (I can think of only three or four where I had to do something different than normal to beat it), but to be honest, this is how I feel in most games. Combat isn't the number one thing for me in games though; it's just a necessity to get to more storyline and RPG.

Next I want to touch upon the story and companions. Dragon Age: Origins has my life for 200+ hours and I'll be the first to admit how incredible the story and character development was in that. Did Dragon Age II let me down? Hell no! Now, I can't say for the DLC because I haven't got that yet (though plan to in a few weeks), but the other characters I felt were quite fleshed out and I felt like I understood them quite a bit. I've done both sides of their stories (you can be Friend/Rival, but also there are different paths to take which can cause you to loose companions for good depending on those actions) and I feel that some of them were even better than Dragon Age: Origins's companion stories. Especially Wynne, Leliana (without her DLC), and Sten... they didn't really make me feel like I had a part in their lives, but in Dragon Age II I felt like I personally had a part in all my companions lives... especially Fenris and Merill. This is also partially because the entire thing is fully voiced, so my voice is being heard talking to my friends/rivals in certain tonalities (based upon how I talk previously the most IE sarcastic or kind or angry), while they respond to me in different tones depending on my relationship with them. Also, the dialogue in this game... oh man. I can't even begin to say how awesome it is. There were times I just couldn't stop laughing at some of the amusing comments and also gasping at some of the really atrocious things people get up to. Another topic people are up in huffs about is the bisexual characters thing.. yea I agree that it was a bit lame how they did that. Anyone can get with anyone which was a bit what...? Even in the Dragon Age: Origins there were characters (Morrigan/Alistair) who were gender locked, but in Dragon Age II that's not the case. It would have been awesome to have a straight, gay, or lesbian only case as well as one or two bisexual characters. That was a mistake on their part, but maybe they were constrained by money and time. Isabela as a lesbian only would have rocked! For the story, it was so great. I loved being 'limited' to Kirkwall and the surrounding area. It made me feel like I lived there; like it was my home. I didn't have to go to a million different places to do all these quests for 100 different people and races and places. I was a person who lived in the city and did things for my city. It felt more tight knit and secure. That the 'final' story wasn't clear during the acts was really brilliant! Each Act had it's own story and seeing how they eventually came together was genius. First off, trying to raise the money to go to the Deep Roads was great and as the Act continued and lead into others, I found myself questioning the decisions I'd made and seeing another story which I thought was bigger. Then another Act passed and the same happened again. I loved how they kept it close at hand. Whether it was money or whatever on their part, I think it was done in a fantastic way.

I was glad not knowing the overarching story though. Each Act being it's own story, as I said, was great! It was normal! Like a person's life... you were going through the years, doing things that didn't seem to connected, but then suddenly, when it all explodes at the end, you see how your actions through the years affected everything. Superbly done and I
thought it made perfect sense. Graphics and music! Wow. There were times when I just stood on a cliff or overlooked a gorge in total awe. Everything was beautiful... even the hideous things like dwarfs and dark-spawn were a joy to look at. The animations were so clean and together with crisp music and sound effects, I was pulled into the game in a very entire way. I don't know that there is a load to say about either the graphics and the music which could elaborate more... it was impressive and I enjoyed them both a lot. Overall, I would recommend this game. It was worth the money and worth the time. I am still doing some plays of it and enjoying every minute inside the world. Seeing other characters I knew from Dragon Age: Origins come back for cameos was wonderful. Living in Kirkwall was trying at times, but rewarding. After I beat the game the first time, I delved into some great mods to alter my appearance (mostly just eyes and hair) and change the textures on some of the armours, but other than that I didn't feel the need to extensively mod the game as I had so much fun doing in Dragon Age: Origins. Maybe I will further down the line though.

I'll say one last thing. If you've played Dragon Age: Origins, you can import a save file into the Dragon Age II game which will change the way some things play out. For example... Did you put Alistair on the throne or Anora? Or did you exile Alistair? Did you save Conner or kill him? Harrowmont or Bhelen? And not just from the first, you can import your DLC saves as well. You never know what decisions will affect your Dragon Age II game or how they will affect it. It's really great to see all the little changes or hear something mentioned. I recommend trying many different combinations!

30,000!

2011-02-08T23:27:00.001+00:00

Though it's not Friday, I don't care, this is what I've been playing... FINAL FANTASY 13 FOR FUCKS SAKE. What the hell. I know. Despite the scathing review I game this game a while back ( this nonsense ) I came back to it (almost a full year later) because my younger sister decided to play it over here for a bit. I watched the Optima shifting, the fights, the music, the graphics. The annoying as hell footsteps... and I became a little nostalgic for the grind. Yes the grind. The devious devil of disaster that is the Post Game of FF13. After a year though, it wasn't too terrible coming back.
A few battles here and there and I slid back into it. A little quick research on where I was going with my weapons and some good Optimas to set up and I was back in the game. Literally. I went from 62 hours to almost 100 in like a weekend. So what have I got to show for it? I have now finished every mission there is to finish and have five starred about 85% of them I think, but I don't know that I will five star them ALL... that achievement might be a bridge too far. Besides that one, the only other achievements I am missing are hold every item/weapon/accessory, kill a long gui whatever, and fully develop every character (which I'm close to).
After the pain of going through this game once already and now having to watch my sister go through it (though I don't really mind that), I can safely say that once I have finished these achievements, I will not play this game again. My nostalgia has begun to fester into a seething resentment for the lack of any kind of replayablity in this disaster of a game.
The big deal of this post however is that with FF13's rage inducing grindfest, I have toppled over the 30,000 gamerscore mark and at this time sit at 30,209 gamerscore. It was a nice time when it happened... I just sort of scooted from 29k to 30k and hardly noticed it until I checked how many achievements I had left to get. It's nice to have an even starting number again, though it will be over soon. Back to the grind.

This Week in Gaming: 23 Jan - 29 Jan 1011

2011-01-29T00:25:00.001+00:00

The week hasn't been the best for gaming as I've been on the doorstep of death for most of it. Story of my life, hm? I have had a good chunk of time playing, but not a wholly diverse amount of games in general.

00. Star Ocean: The Last Hope International

01. Ghost Trick: Phantom Detective

02. Persona 3 FES

03. Shin Megami Tensei III: Lucifer's Call

04. World of Warcraft

05. Dissidia: Final Fantasy