I finished Beyond Good and Evil about two weeks ago. You'll be seeing my review pretty soon. Which by my time will be 30 years from now. Landed a part time job working at a computer repair shop, it's a really easy time especially since there's only one other dude that works there and the owner. They're pretty chill. Sometimes it gets a little slow but honestly I wouldn't mind spending the rest of my life like that. You know disregarding I can't pay for much with the income from that place. But still it's probably the first time I've felt relaxed and just easygoing for what feels like the better part of a year.
Anyways back to more interesting matters, I finally decided to open up my copy of Bravely Default and finally sink my teeth into it. And if I'm being honest I don't think I've had more fun with a JRPG since Chrono Trigger! The plot is overdone sure, but the characters have a surprising amount of depth and the game has some pretty dark moments. There's a few issues I'd like to point out once I get to reviewing it, but I think I like it better than Chrono Trigger. I'm only like 20ish hours in and just about to reawaken the second crystal.
As for the Sony and Nintendo Conferences. Meh. Sony didn't really deliver, more infamous DLC, another entry in the Dead Island series which I believe is an atrocity in of itself, TV, indies that try to be too artsy for my tastes. They showed No Man's Sky sure, but there's no doubt it won't be coming to PC. It really just didn't pique my interest like at all even less than Ubisoft I would argue. Though they're still quite a ways from even competing with EA's snoozefest of a conference.
Nintendo's on the other hand made me feel like a complete fanboy. They certainly delivered on their end and even took it a little further with a bit of humor thrown in for good measure. Now, I love Nintendo but as a cynic I'm really not allowed to cross a certain line when it comes to objectively looking at the Big 3 and their respective markets at least in my line of thinking. It's not to say I didn't enjoy their conference (or lack thereof) I was certainly chuckling when Reggie and Iwata were duking it out mano y mano. Less so at the Robot Chicken parts, but different strokes I suppose.
That's rather annoying to say. It's the fact that you could say that about anything. Nobody thinks objectively only from their own perspectives. The life of a cynic I guess.
Thursday, June 19, 2014
Tuesday, June 10, 2014
E3 2014 Ubisoft Conference
Again rather underwhelming though they were a bit better off than EA. They showed some Dance Central stuff. The Crew looks like a racing game. Ass Creed Unity has four player co-op. Aisha Taylor made up for her performance last year. They cussed a lot because the crowd apparently wasn't used to the idea of it all and gave them a few laughs. A few artsy indie type games more than likely using the UbiArt framework engine.
Two bigger announcements however which they actually showed gameplay for unlike EA who decided to show up with Sports games. The Division gets some more exposure and honestly as much as I'm hyped for that game I get the suspicion that something will change about it and then it's going to turn into generic third person shooter crap. Also, I'm fairly certain they were running that game on a super beefy PC. But when are they ever not?
The other game Rainbow Six Siege was actually a splendid surprise. Though I imagine if we have one more FPS game with a theme of criminal activity Glenn Beck will have an anyeurism. Anyways, the game looks fairly tactical as one squad is tasked with sorting out a hostage situation while the other team needs to barricade themselves safely to either capture the hostage and escape. Looks freash though not fresh enough to have my full attention.
Two bigger announcements however which they actually showed gameplay for unlike EA who decided to show up with Sports games. The Division gets some more exposure and honestly as much as I'm hyped for that game I get the suspicion that something will change about it and then it's going to turn into generic third person shooter crap. Also, I'm fairly certain they were running that game on a super beefy PC. But when are they ever not?
The other game Rainbow Six Siege was actually a splendid surprise. Though I imagine if we have one more FPS game with a theme of criminal activity Glenn Beck will have an anyeurism. Anyways, the game looks fairly tactical as one squad is tasked with sorting out a hostage situation while the other team needs to barricade themselves safely to either capture the hostage and escape. Looks freash though not fresh enough to have my full attention.
VIDYA GAEMS ARE DESTROYING OUR SOCIETY AND BREEDING CRIMINALS IN THE FORM OF OUR CHILDREN!!!
Monday, June 9, 2014
E3 2014 EA Conference
Really underwhelming actually. Mostly talked about sports games teased about Star Wars BattleFront and Mass Effect. They mentioned Burnout and we got nothing but some GoPro sponsored game. No Kotor 3 announcement 0/10. More details about Dragon Age Inquisition.
Battlefield Hardline looks fun and different from the usual Battlefield tripe and has a Beta that went live as soon as the trailer was over.
Mirror's Edge 2 was announced. Looks like more Mirror's Edge with more focus on non-linearity. Speed runner's wet dream? #Don'tBetOnEA
So business as usual for EA it seems.
Battlefield Hardline looks fun and different from the usual Battlefield tripe and has a Beta that went live as soon as the trailer was over.
Mirror's Edge 2 was announced. Looks like more Mirror's Edge with more focus on non-linearity. Speed runner's wet dream? #Don'tBetOnEA
So business as usual for EA it seems.
E3 2014 Microsoft's Conference
That was honestly a pretty good conference even considering the mess they went through last year! Lots of new IPs, some indie games, bringing Halo back for the nostalgia hounds (not judging, just saying), and Platinum really delivered with ScaleBound. I just HAD to grab my copy of W101 and give it a great big hug. (I'm such a fucking nerd. But screw it, Platinum is just fantastically fabulous.)
Honestly I remember early on in the conference I was just thinking that "Jeez there sure are a lot of Fantasy-esque RPGs this time around. Not my thing. Oh well." And then KAMIYA BURSTS ONTO THE SCENE and automatically I'm hyped. And get this it's actually what looks to be a Fantasy-esque setting but mixed in with the action of Bayonetta and DMC. Not to mention that guy looked a lot like Nero what with the Devil Arm and what I assume to be a Devil Trigger. Also the setting was Fantasy-esque but he had Beats by Dre on for some reason and that kind of threw me off cause it didn't make sense but that's basically Platinum being everything what I love about them.
People are complaining about it trying too hard to be DMC. Yeah? Well fuck you I want this game to happen. Every other Fantasy RPG tries too hard to be Dark Souls! *pouts*
Seriously Kamiya alone might have single handedly bought Microsoft one more Xbone console for his game alone (and a few others Sunset Overdrive, Killer Instinct, and if I do get one, might as well get the Halo Collection thing.)
Also my god, did you see the title for the Dead Rising 3 DLC that was so incredulous it was actually rad. I can't even remember it and there's no picture of it online yet as of this posting (#Had2BeThere).
Edit: Found it!
Can't wait to see what Sony has to offer!
Why I DISLIKE The Legend of Zelda
Okay, okay, okay. It's probably about time to explain why it is I don't agree with much of the TLoZ's game design elements. I don't hate TLoZ in terms of it's own concept especially Ocarina of Time. I mean an open world filled with side quests, hidden collectibles under every rock, and 10 separate fully fleshed out dungeons should make for a rather fun experience right? Wrong, the way Nintendo decided to go about having the player being lead around and forced onto a specific one way path is completely asinine. From the moment you step out of the tree house you're forced to find you're sword and shield before advancing the rest of the game because some asshole kid simply said you couldn't. Besides I should already feel the need to find said sword and shield because I dunno...maybe the player overhears that the forest is filled with dangerous monsters or something and will more than likely get themselves killed without them. Then I would think "Well the wise decision would be to get the sword and shield!" and maybe just maybe one time when I'm playing I could be like "You know what? Let's see what happens if I don't get them!" And then I get my ass kicked! Point is there isn't anything wrong with simply asking the player to get the sword and shield from the beginning but why do developers feel the need to force it down the player's throats? It's just plain unnecessary.
There's also a ton of padding in Ocarina of Time but even the first few Zelda games had it in some form, so I'm not really going to hold it to them. Especially since some people actually enjoy all the menial side quests and junk. Personally I'd rather just wander the Hyrule Field and just have shit going down. Like a trade caravan getting raided, finding caves with no real purpose to them and others that do have purpose. Things like that. I mean there's NOTHING happening ever in Hyrule Field in any Zelda game just some monsters waling around and that's mostly it. For a hub world between the dungeons it's really quite barren. Wind Waker really tried to give the ocean some purpose but even then it was just outposts and barrels with rupees on them. Twilight Princess had the exact same problem that Ocarina of Time did, who would've figured that just because you have more disc space that should automatically mean you had to put no effort into your world at all.
Also there's a ton of pointless NPCs in Zelda games, I don't mind having story told to you directly with tons of dialogue but having people there just as something to interact with is both irritating and completely disrespectful to the player's time. If you're not giving anything to the player in terms of useful information, story, or even an item that NPC has no business being there. Even the seven sages you are supposed to save are no more important than the Spiritual Stones you had to gather early on in the game. Seriously why should the player care about these characters? What reason do they have for being involved? Why couldn't it just be seven more pieces of treasure that the player had to collect? Saria is Link's best friend though. But never is it once explained why that is and thus the best friend point is moot. Sure she gave you the ocarina, but that quickly gets replaced by the Ocarina of Time. Almost as if Link doesn't really care about this so-called priceless gift given to him by someone he would consider his best friend. And really it didn't have to be an entire romantic comedy, Link could have just saved her from being bullied by the other kids or she fell out of a tree in a flashback or something! Anything would've been better than simply shoehorning in a worthless character.
My problem isn't with people that like this game despite it's flaws. You can enjoy a game despite it's flaws all you want. (Hell, I enjoyed 50 Cent Blood on the Sand for crying out loud!) All I'm asking is that you can come to terms with the idea that your game isn't this "Game to End All Games" deal anymore. Ocarina of Time was a monumental game in the 90s. It's place in history hasn't been forgotten, nor will it ever. But Ocarina of Time isn't the best game ever anymore. Many games since have surpassed OoT in both scale and quality. And to be honest. From replaying OoT again for this post. It really feels like the guys over at Nintendo weren't even trying with this game. I've seen Nintendo do much better in a lot of other games and especially other Zelda games. Perhaps there will be another Zelda like OoT that will create that feeling of shock and awe that OoT once gave off. And from what I could guess Zelda Wii U might very well be that game. We're just over 24 hours from finding out. And trust me when the Second Coming of OoT hits, I'll be right there with you feeling the hype come rushing back and hopefully breathe new life back into the Wii U.
There's also a ton of padding in Ocarina of Time but even the first few Zelda games had it in some form, so I'm not really going to hold it to them. Especially since some people actually enjoy all the menial side quests and junk. Personally I'd rather just wander the Hyrule Field and just have shit going down. Like a trade caravan getting raided, finding caves with no real purpose to them and others that do have purpose. Things like that. I mean there's NOTHING happening ever in Hyrule Field in any Zelda game just some monsters waling around and that's mostly it. For a hub world between the dungeons it's really quite barren. Wind Waker really tried to give the ocean some purpose but even then it was just outposts and barrels with rupees on them. Twilight Princess had the exact same problem that Ocarina of Time did, who would've figured that just because you have more disc space that should automatically mean you had to put no effort into your world at all.
Also there's a ton of pointless NPCs in Zelda games, I don't mind having story told to you directly with tons of dialogue but having people there just as something to interact with is both irritating and completely disrespectful to the player's time. If you're not giving anything to the player in terms of useful information, story, or even an item that NPC has no business being there. Even the seven sages you are supposed to save are no more important than the Spiritual Stones you had to gather early on in the game. Seriously why should the player care about these characters? What reason do they have for being involved? Why couldn't it just be seven more pieces of treasure that the player had to collect? Saria is Link's best friend though. But never is it once explained why that is and thus the best friend point is moot. Sure she gave you the ocarina, but that quickly gets replaced by the Ocarina of Time. Almost as if Link doesn't really care about this so-called priceless gift given to him by someone he would consider his best friend. And really it didn't have to be an entire romantic comedy, Link could have just saved her from being bullied by the other kids or she fell out of a tree in a flashback or something! Anything would've been better than simply shoehorning in a worthless character.
My problem isn't with people that like this game despite it's flaws. You can enjoy a game despite it's flaws all you want. (Hell, I enjoyed 50 Cent Blood on the Sand for crying out loud!) All I'm asking is that you can come to terms with the idea that your game isn't this "Game to End All Games" deal anymore. Ocarina of Time was a monumental game in the 90s. It's place in history hasn't been forgotten, nor will it ever. But Ocarina of Time isn't the best game ever anymore. Many games since have surpassed OoT in both scale and quality. And to be honest. From replaying OoT again for this post. It really feels like the guys over at Nintendo weren't even trying with this game. I've seen Nintendo do much better in a lot of other games and especially other Zelda games. Perhaps there will be another Zelda like OoT that will create that feeling of shock and awe that OoT once gave off. And from what I could guess Zelda Wii U might very well be that game. We're just over 24 hours from finding out. And trust me when the Second Coming of OoT hits, I'll be right there with you feeling the hype come rushing back and hopefully breathe new life back into the Wii U.
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