I didn't get a chance to play much this weekend, so this one will be short(er)!
Fire Emblem: Awakening (3DS)
I'm a negligent 3DS owner. I've only played maybe...2 games since I bought it? For some reason, I just never get around to picking up games, or doing enough research to find something that might interest me and is 3DS exclusive. With my recent interest in tactical games, I thought it was finally time to grab Fire Emblem. I decided to give Valkyria Chronicles a break, because, again, it has disheartened me.
But Fire Emblem! I love the speed of this game. The dialogue gets a little long winded, but battles fly by. This is a major contrast to Valkyria Chronicles, where each character animation/turn feels like it takes ages. Fire Emblem spends half a second showing the enemy's turn and then you're right back in it. So far, the game hasn't been too difficult. I've never played a Fire Emblem, but I knew of the permadeath aspect and I really wanted to play with the "classic" difficulty. Unfortunately, I still find myself quitting and restarting a battle if a character dies, instead of rolling with the punches. I can't help it. In some ways (and this is ridiculous) I almost wish the game saved immediately after a character died, and forced you to finish the battle, losing whoever you lost. It sounds extreme, (and it definitely is since that could be game breaking), but having the option to just start over is tough to avoid - an itch too easy to scratch.
The game is beautiful, the cutscenes look 2D but are actually 3D, which always looks impressive. Character portraits also look great during dialogue, and I was surprised by how good even the 3D modeled characters look. Except...why doesn't anyone have feet...?
Unreal Tournament: Pre Aplha (PC)
I only played one quick match of this after seeing the Unfinished here at Giantbomb, but had a blast. I didn't get to take part in the early arena shooters since my home PC was shit back in the day, so it will be fun to see how this evolves as the game moves forward. I'm decently excited about the community aspect. I spent too much time playing Doom 2 multiplayer years after it was relevant (2007-2012) and that was mostly due to user created content. Something as old as Doom, still had appeal for me based on that aspect alone, so I have high hopes for a current game with great visuals.
I also briefly checked out the Unreal Engine 4, since its now free to everyone! I have slight experience with modeling programs, so my initial look got me excited to possibly contribute to the community aspect - until I learned that models can't be created (unless I'm wrong) within UE4, but must be imported from other programs (that cost money!) If I was a little more confident, I'd maybe look into buying something, but I want to get more experience with coding, and brush up on my artwork before taking a plunge.
Misc.
- As usual, there's a new podcast (every Monday!)
- I'm continuing to draw, a lot, and am currently piecing together a small comic based on my time with Dishonored. Web comics have always been something I wanted to try, ever since I first read Penny Arcade 7 years ago! The general idea is to draw whatever comes to me, but we'll see if I come up with a consistent character. I even bought my first web domain in order to start curating my drawings. That is nowhere near ready to show, but regardless, I'm excited!
- I finished House of Cards season 3, it was...ok
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