[insert title] 8-3-13

Well, I've certainly been pretty shitty with keeping my schedule with this blog thing, huh?

GAMES!!!!

No fancy headers for any of them this time, just straight up text. This may or may not be a long one.

Drakengard

It's been about 2 weeks since I finished Drakengard, and it almost feels like a blur at this point. Still, I gotta say...what the fuck?

While the game does hit you with the fact that its world is dark and Caim is a complete opposite to a typical Japanese fantasy protagonist, the really weird and fucked up shit people talk about doesn't really happen until after Ending A. After that, things get progressively weirder, and not only do the endings get worse, but the conditions for earning them and the gameplay gets worse as well. Even the soundtrack, which at the beginning is designed to sound like an obvious loop of a section of an orchestral piece, gets progressively weirder and messed up by the end as it starts to sound like a CD getting skipped. I'll admit, I thought it was something on my end with the PS2 disc, but no, the audio is designed that way.

I normally don't make these kind of comparisons between works in different mediums (none of this Citizen Kane of video games bullshit), but I'd make an exception and say that Drakengard is the video game equivalent of Evangelion. It's a deconstruction of its genre, the characters are unlikable (or likable because of their unlikableness), and the quality of the product degrades further and further before ending with one giant WTF. One thing I'd say is different is that there was probably more intention on Cavia and Yoko Taro's part to make the game feel shitty than Gainax did, since they had sponsors pulling out near the end and had to cut corners on the animation.

Regardless, for how dull and depressing it was having to play through all 5 endings, getting all 65 weapons and all that, I don't regret going through it. It doesn't excuse the fact it's got tons of bad game design, but the way it meshes together with everything makes it something that needs to be experienced. Don't just get the info from a Let's Play or something, play Drakengard and see for yourself.

Shin Megami Tensei IV

While I have not played any in the last week because of other stuff, I have played just under 30 hours of SMT IV and is now another candidate for favorite game I've played so far this year. The game feels incredibly polished, especially for a handheld title. The writing & voice acting, the slick interface, the gameplay, it's very well done. It's pretty clear that Atlus had taken everything they learned from their other MegaTen games and applied it to IV, making it feel like a big step forward for the series.

The parts that impress me the most with the game are A) how streamlined everything is interface wise, and B) Tokyo itself. With the interface, you can save anywhere, access fusion at anytime, you can take side quests automatically from taverns or bars and even complete said quests repeatedly (which is similar to Neptunia Victory's quest system, though you had to manually select each quest at the guild). Burroughs is both a great character and an excellent helper, as she does all the stuff that would've been tedious to do otherwise. As for Tokyo, I was especially happy to see it was a world map that you navigated around with a cursor instead of a menu. Pretty much from Digital Devil Saga onward it seemed world navigation in MegaTen games was primarily done through a menu, and in Mikado at the start of IV, it's very much like that. Going to Tokyo and moving a cursor through the streets gave me good SMT I vibes.

Heck, the game has several nods and throwbacks to the first SMT game. IV starts out with you in a dream like state where you meet your party members before seeing them in the real world, the monastary members' outfits resemble that of the Law Hero in the first game, you're introduced to Steven very early on, and where I'm at in the game I came across another character that wasn't taken exactly from SMT 1, but the names and personality are straight from there (When Yuriko transforms into Lilith, which was her true identity in SMT 1, though her goal was to seduce the protagonist and not represent one of the alignments). Needless to say, there's ton of good stuff for both new players and people who are familiar with past SMT games. I should probably get back to the game soon, as I'm very close to going down one of the alignments.

Devil May Cry 4

I beat the game on Human mode, got through most of Devil Hunter mode, and then decided to download a 100% save so I could go straight to Bloody Palace with all upgrades for Nero and Dante. To sum up, the regular missions are kinda ass, but the combat system is sublime and Bloody Palace is where the game's true value is.

I really like Nero's combat style, and feel very comfortable using him, more so than Dante surprisingly, even though his arsenal is ridiculously deep and incredible. Even with one sword, one gun, and the devil bringer, there is a lot of things you can do with Nero's moves, more so in comparison to Dante's arsenal in DMC 1 I feel. The Ex-ACT and MAX-ACT system is brilliant, and having your sword revved at all times is key to doing tons of damage and raising your style meter more effectively. It took me a while to find a proper use for the Blue Rose as it doesn't work the same way as Ebony & Ivory so I largely ignored it. Charge shots are key to using Blue Rose effectively, especially level 3 charges. They can be handy in taking down the electric shield that surrounds the Blitz enemies. And while it's the only boss you fight once and as Nero (or Dante in BP), Credo Angelo is my favorite boss in the whole game. Using the debug patch settings to fight him indefinitely has been a good way for me to kill time, practicing on how to react to his patterns and try maintaining a high style ranking for a long period of time. That's one boss I would not have minded fighting 3 times.

DMC 4 Dante's combat, in theory, should be my favorite because of the options he has and DMC 3 was a kick as game, so having all styles accessible on the D-Pad should be fantastic. It is, the problem is more on my end and that I still can't wrap my head around using all his tools effectively. I have to consciously think and plan beforehand which styles to use and switch between rather than doing them instantly as the situation arises. And the Devil Arm and firearm switching is something I'm not fond of, as I'd rather not have to cycle twice to get to a particular weapon, not to mention there's no Cerberus or Agni & Rudra equivalent, which were my weapons of choice in DMC 3. Regardless, in the levels he's playable he is mad overpowered because the enemies were designed and balanced with Nero in mind, and given how Dante just laughs at everything like it's easy, sorta makes sense he'd wreck enemies faster and more crazy than Nero could.

I'm still playing the game on occasion, but it's only for Bloody Palace mode, or for Mission 8 just so I can fight Credo Angelo. As a game in general it's underwhelming in comparison to the greatness that is DMC 3, but man is the combat so good. And when the real meat of these kind of games is the combat system, any other issues are just minor.

And the Rest

Rise of the Triad

It's fun, though a bit rough performance wise. It is an old school shooter with single player and multiplayer designed from that era.

The Witcher

Out of the blue I decided to finish where I last left off in November (midway through Chapter IV). And I did. Took me all the way into the early morning between 2 and 3 AM.

Fallout

After finishing the Witcher, felt like doing the same with Fallout. Except that I felt I was better off starting over since it only takes a couple hours to get the water chip if you know what you're doing, and then a few more hours to beat the rest of the game. Game's kind of short for an RPG, when you think about it.

Other Things

SGDQ 2013 happened last weekend, which is the reason why I did not post a blog entry then because I was so busy watching it. The event was a whole lot of fun from most of what I saw. I still have a few runs I need to watch that I missed out on (the Twilight Princess one is amazing from everything I've heard). And since that stream was occupying my computer and TV, that's when I figured I'd make more progress in SMT IV, and progress I did make. I certainly wish it had not ended, but I was fortunate enough to not have work on Friday and Monday so I could watch as much as I wanted. Already can't wait for AGDQ 2014.

Besides that, it's about 20 days away until I leave Alaska and fly down to Redmond for DigiPen. School doesn't start until after Labor Day, but the weekend I fly down will be when I move into student housing. Been coordinating with roommates on what to bring and just recently go the address of where we're staying. Looking forward to it in a few weeks.

In Conclusion

Yep, only a few weeks I'll be leaving Alaska and will be when I retire this [insert title] series. I think the fact I'm being very lazy with keeping a schedule is because I know the end is coming and kind of want to stop now. But I've still got other games to talk about. I'll have more in depth things to say about ROTT in the future and Pikmin 3 comes out tomorrow. I'll still see what I'll do in regards to blogging while I'm at DigiPen, but as far as schedule, if I can just do a blog a month on my progress there, that's good enough for me.

Peace.

Good luck! Giant Bomb will be missing one of its best blog series when this one ends, but have fun moving forward. Now, onto some games, huh?

SMTIV is pretty accessible for someone new to that particular series, right? I mean, I've played Persona 3 & 4 and Devil Survivor, which I know share only certain similarities.

Couldn't stand DMCIV, though I'm hard pressed to tell you why, exactly. I got about an hour and a half to two hours into it, and never touched it again. I remember liking the combat system but having a lot of problems with the exploration and story side of things. That's been a few years.

Drakengard is remarkable for its spectacle at the very least. I didn't have the stamina to unlock Endings D and E, but they are definitely something that need to be seen to be believed. Pity you have to invest so much time and energy in finding/leveling all those weapons to get there. Nier had a similar dysfunction, and it's a shame people will miss out on its incredible final ending due to all the undesirable grinding that needs to be done. I suppose that is what YouTube is for, besides cat videos.

Is this the audio you're talking about? It's one of my favorites from that soundtrack. Makes me wonder what this new one will be like, given that Drakengard is best remembered for its insanity.

SMTIV is in general more accessible mechanically for newcomers than previous core SMT games, but it's still going to punch newbies in the face with its front-loaded difficulty.

What?

I'd comment on something in the blog, but our DMC experiences don't line up (I only played the story mode), SMT1 probably doesn't apply here, and I only played the first ten minutes of Drakengard back when Blockbuster was still relevant.

@video_game_king: I have no idea what you're trying to say.

@hailinel: I've got no problem with difficult RPGs so long as the mechanics are reasonably understandable. Thanks for the input.

@hailinel:

That the terminology is really weird and reminded me of Lara Croft breast cancer.

That makes absolutely no sense. How did you derive that from this?

Since when have I made sense?

@sparky_buzzsaw: Yeah, it'll be a shame to end it, even though I keep missing my schedule for it constantly. But since I'll be learning game design down in Redmond, that'll be something fun to blog about.

@mento: Yes, that specific track comes to mind. Man, Chapter 12. Pretty much the point in the game when it goes into End of Evangelion levels of craziness. And after Drakengard I am way more interested in Nier than I was before and hope Drakengard 3 gets localized.

Which is exactly what I linked after bolding the phrase "front-loaded difficulty".

He must obviously have porn open in another tab, so dirty thoughts were on his mind.

@believer258:

Are you suggesting I masturbate to double mastectomies?

I never finished DMC 4, though maybe I will after I finish Bayonetta just to make fun of it more. You're right that the combat is perfectly solid, maybe not as much as DMC3, but once I reached the part where I realized I had to play the game again backwards with Dante I sort of lost interest.

Isn't Drakengard the one with weird incest?

Sort of. In Drakengard, Caim's sister has incestuous feelings for him, which she keeps secret right up until she's possessed and forced to spill her guts to her brother's face, who reacts with disgust. She ends up killing herself out of shame. But they took the direct references to incest out of the western release, which makes the whole sequence that much weirder.

But then again, this is also a game in which the protagonist rolls with a pedophile, a serial killer of children, and a boy that is incapable of aging. Not exactly the standard RPG party.

@hailinel: Ah, close enough. I support games that do weird, effed up things.