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bonbolapti

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Video games? 2010? GOTY? get out! GET OUT NOW! :O

By bonbolapti 6 Comments

 
Square Enix hasn't exactly been the company they used to be lately. If anything they're the one Japanese company that has probably wanted to 'appeal' to the Western market 'the most'. Since then, they've made weird decisions with franchises like Final Fantasy and Front Mission. FFXIII being a BAD (see: terrible horrible) GAME and Front Mission being a poor man's arcadey Armoured Core. Dissidia being a Wonderful idea yet having it just for the PSP seems like a weird attempt to sell some portables, (I'm stoked for the 3 Birthday but again, would like to see it on a console proper) and Kingdom hearts being just another Franchise to milk completely.
 
No Caption Provided
I don't really know what's going on with them, but one title really does shine through for me, and I already know that a lot of people don't really care for it as well. Nier is such a title that manages to be compelling, not so much in it's game play and it's art direction, but for it's story. It's pretty well a cluster fuck in itself. From beginning to end it never tells you what it is and it just takes you for a ride. Sure it does have it's pacing issues and fishing seems to be a hurdle for some, enough to be a game breaker ( apparently). But it managed to keep me coming back for more. Characters like Kainé end up being quite sympathetic. There's also a lot more layers to scratch off the surface in the development of this cast, when everything is rewarded with more playthroughs. Yet the more times I sit there and play it, the more I question everything, but I always seem to find the answers I'm looking for.
 
It definitely has a way with words. The banter between characters, the forest, the things that pop up on your gamertag when your friends list looks at where you are in the game. It actually has quite the sense of humor for having such a serious tone. Which frankly is welcome, because if these characters weren't as well thought out as they were, and stories written as interesting as I could fathom,  it could have been a completely broken experience and I would have never bothered to look at it.  
 
I claim this to be Squenix's Sleeper hit. It's something that really shouldn't be missed especially if you have that overwhelming doubt for the company as of late. Guaranteed it's in the bargain bins by now, so you might as well go ahead and do yourself a service by picking it up! 
 
      
    (THIS? this is just music... another reason I like the game so gosh darn much.)  
 
2010's 2009 GOTY, Assassin's Creed II! Seriously, I can't believe I put it off for as long as I did! Let me put it this way, I was a fan of the First game. Sure, it had it's faults and it was kind of slow and clunky, but the game was still a good time. Perhaps I always just loved the concept of free roaming, and it boasts such a free roaming edge!
 
No Caption Provided
Refined quite a lot from the first game, but not without it's faults! In fact, I still have a problem with how it streamlines it's parkouring. Perhaps if Ubisoft was going to be proud of it enough where they would make racing missions, then jumping around rooftops wouldn't be as touchy as it is. In the heat of the moment, the way you control isn't really going to agree with the game. You may (may) mess up a couple of times before you get it the way to want to.
 
Plus any game you're willing to S-Rank (even if it's easy to) has to be worth that much attention.
 
The OH SHIT, THIS GAME TOTALLY CAME OUT THIS YEAR award goes to YAKUZA 3. I know what you're thinking... “Dude, Bon! Mass Effect 2 came out this year Asshole! What's wrong with you.” and you're not wrong. But as good as ME2 was (let's face it, a lot of us love it to death) Vidiot Pretty much went out of his was to Platinum that shit. Really! Since it was Yakuza 3, and I was playing it at the same time, to me it feels significant enough to talk about here. This is a series, that needs a little more attention over here than it's getting. Japan? Loves this game to death, North America? Not so much, even if everyone and their dog complain about Sega never releasing it over here on time. Well even that's kind of not fair to mention, becuase the ones that do complain are always the Japanophiles.
 
The “If my girlfriend is playing it, and she's not even a gamer, this must be pretty awesome right?” award goes to, Bejeweled 3. I guess, that would be a no brainier, everyone can play a game of match three. But I too find myself losing time and playing this game for no reason. It's come out pretty late this year, but damned if I'm not going to talk about how cool it is. ( plus my entire family seems to be playing it now : / ) 
 
 TEE HEE, It's my Desktop wallpaper.
 TEE HEE, It's my Desktop wallpaper.
The “this game shouldn't be number one on your top 10 list, what the fuck is wrong with you” goes to Limbo. Sure it's got style, atmosphere, mood, whatever you need to call it. A fair amount of puzzles to keep it called a game, but not enough to sustain itself as a title worth your time. This game is a case of “wool over your eyes.” The aesthetic of it's old timey black and white film setting is nice at first and you really get the feel of it, but eventually the flame dies out and you realize there is nothing to this game. It's as if Braid was Flower. The pace of the puzzles was good, yet there was nothing to them and I breezed through (except for one, that I couldn't think about for some reason.) But then you make it to the end, and there's no pay off! It probably would have made more sense for the game to be a perpetual nightmare, I found myself in shock and awe thinking I was all the way at the beginning again. Until, of course I then found what the real ending was, in which case I just turned the game off and went somewhere else. Just, trying not to get mad, trying not to think about it.....
 

NOW, BULLSHIT CATEGORIES!

  • Game of the year every year: AFRIKA. Dood, you can turn that shit on for parties! SRSLY, TURN ON THE AFRIKA VIEWER.
  • This is Dragon Quest Award: Dragon Quest IX. For Outstanding Achievement in being Dragon Quest, and NO OTHER JPRG.
  •  2010's 2010 game but really feels like 2009 for some reason: Mass Effect 2. It came, it saw, it conquered but I sadly forgot about it when a plethora of other games came out.
  • The Press X to Jason Award: Resident Evil 5: Gold Edition. I know, this is a cop out. But this is a category I feel would be funnier if I awarded it to a different game. and you know, it's a lot more fun to play this game co-op and wait by the door to the next area calling out to your partner to keep moving LIKE AN ASSHOLE. Which is a lot more fun than being a desperate father.
  • Service dedicated to millions of shitty games, but I'd only play one: Game Room. sure, it's not the greatest idea, but there is the odd title that is decent and worth some time. Which, even then, you don't really need something like game room in the first place. But it also get Bonus points for being the most entertaining Quick Looks this year!... I just like retro gaming...
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6 Comments

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bonbolapti

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Edited By bonbolapti
 
Square Enix hasn't exactly been the company they used to be lately. If anything they're the one Japanese company that has probably wanted to 'appeal' to the Western market 'the most'. Since then, they've made weird decisions with franchises like Final Fantasy and Front Mission. FFXIII being a BAD(see: terrible horrible)GAME and Front Mission being a poor man's arcadey Armoured Core. Dissidia being a Wonderful idea yet having it just for the PSP seems like a weird attempt to sell some portables, (I'm stoked for the 3 Birthday but again, would like to see it on a console proper) and Kingdom hearts being just another Franchise to milk completely.
 
No Caption Provided
I don't really know what's going on with them, but one title really does shine through for me, and I already know that a lot of people don't really care for it as well. Nier is such a title that manages to be compelling, not so much in it's game play and it's art direction, but for it's story. It's pretty well a cluster fuck in itself. From beginning to end it never tells you what it is and it just takes you for a ride. Sure it does have it's pacing issues and fishing seems to be a hurdle for some, enough to be a game breaker ( apparently). But it managed to keep me coming back for more. Characters like Kainé end up being quite sympathetic. There's also a lot more layers to scratch off the surface in the development of this cast, when everything is rewarded with more playthroughs. Yet the more times I sit there and play it, the more I question everything, but I always seem to find the answers I'm looking for.
 
It definitely has a way with words. The banter between characters, the forest, the things that pop up on your gamertag when your friends list looks at where you are in the game. It actually has quite the sense of humor for having such a serious tone. Which frankly is welcome, because if these characters weren't as well thought out as they were, and stories written as interesting as I could fathom,  it could have been a completely broken experience and I would have never bothered to look at it.  
 
I claim this to be Squenix's Sleeper hit. It's something that really shouldn't be missed especially if you have that overwhelming doubt for the company as of late. Guaranteed it's in the bargain bins by now, so you might as well go ahead and do yourself a service by picking it up! 
 
      
    (THIS? this is just music... another reason I like the game so gosh darn much.)  
 
2010's 2009 GOTY, Assassin's Creed II! Seriously, I can't believe I put it off for as long as I did! Let me put it this way, I was a fan of the First game. Sure, it had it's faults and it was kind of slow and clunky, but the game was still a good time. Perhaps I always just loved the concept of free roaming, and it boasts such a free roaming edge!
 
No Caption Provided
Refined quite a lot from the first game, but not without it's faults! In fact, I still have a problem with how it streamlines it's parkouring. Perhaps if Ubisoft was going to be proud of it enough where they would make racing missions, then jumping around rooftops wouldn't be as touchy as it is. In the heat of the moment, the way you control isn't really going to agree with the game. You may (may) mess up a couple of times before you get it the way to want to.
 
Plus any game you're willing to S-Rank (even if it's easy to) has to be worth that much attention.
 
The OH SHIT, THIS GAME TOTALLY CAME OUT THIS YEAR award goes to YAKUZA 3. I know what you're thinking... “Dude, Bon! Mass Effect 2 came out this year Asshole! What's wrong with you.” and you're not wrong. But as good as ME2 was (let's face it, a lot of us love it to death) Vidiot Pretty much went out of his was to Platinum that shit. Really! Since it was Yakuza 3, and I was playing it at the same time, to me it feels significant enough to talk about here. This is a series, that needs a little more attention over here than it's getting. Japan? Loves this game to death, North America? Not so much, even if everyone and their dog complain about Sega never releasing it over here on time. Well even that's kind of not fair to mention, becuase the ones that do complain are always the Japanophiles.
 
The “If my girlfriend is playing it, and she's not even a gamer, this must be pretty awesome right?” award goes to, Bejeweled 3. I guess, that would be a no brainier, everyone can play a game of match three. But I too find myself losing time and playing this game for no reason. It's come out pretty late this year, but damned if I'm not going to talk about how cool it is. ( plus my entire family seems to be playing it now : / ) 
 
 TEE HEE, It's my Desktop wallpaper.
 TEE HEE, It's my Desktop wallpaper.
The “this game shouldn't be number one on your top 10 list, what the fuck is wrong with you” goes to Limbo. Sure it's got style, atmosphere, mood, whatever you need to call it. A fair amount of puzzles to keep it called a game, but not enough to sustain itself as a title worth your time. This game is a case of “wool over your eyes.” The aesthetic of it's old timey black and white film setting is nice at first and you really get the feel of it, but eventually the flame dies out and you realize there is nothing to this game. It's as if Braid was Flower. The pace of the puzzles was good, yet there was nothing to them and I breezed through (except for one, that I couldn't think about for some reason.) But then you make it to the end, and there's no pay off! It probably would have made more sense for the game to be a perpetual nightmare, I found myself in shock and awe thinking I was all the way at the beginning again. Until, of course I then found what the real ending was, in which case I just turned the game off and went somewhere else. Just, trying not to get mad, trying not to think about it.....
 

NOW, BULLSHIT CATEGORIES!

  • Game of the year every year: AFRIKA. Dood, you can turn that shit on for parties! SRSLY, TURN ON THE AFRIKA VIEWER.
  • This is Dragon Quest Award: Dragon Quest IX. For Outstanding Achievement in being Dragon Quest, and NO OTHER JPRG.
  •  2010's 2010 game but really feels like 2009 for some reason: Mass Effect 2. It came, it saw, it conquered but I sadly forgot about it when a plethora of other games came out.
  • The Press X to Jason Award: Resident Evil 5: Gold Edition. I know, this is a cop out. But this is a category I feel would be funnier if I awarded it to a different game. and you know, it's a lot more fun to play this game co-op and wait by the door to the next area calling out to your partner to keep moving LIKE AN ASSHOLE. Which is a lot more fun than being a desperate father.
  • Service dedicated to millions of shitty games, but I'd only play one: Game Room. sure, it's not the greatest idea, but there is the odd title that is decent and worth some time. Which, even then, you don't really need something like game room in the first place. But it also get Bonus points for being the most entertaining Quick Looks this year!... I just like retro gaming...
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Video_Game_King

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Edited By Video_Game_King

Game Room? Not the greatest idea? Stop the presses! Because nobody reads newspapers anymore, not because this is so newsworthy that you have to rewrite an entire newspaper. Didn't Microsoft know that people just pirate the shit out of old games like that?

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Edited By CommodoreGroovy

I might think about picking up Nier because of the all great things you've said about it. Especially since it's already dropped down to around 20 US currency. 

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bonbolapti

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Edited By bonbolapti
@Video_Game_King:  yeeeaahhhhhhhhh, but proper legal emulation is kind of neat. I'm only ever going to use it to play Nightstalker, That's all I want out of new technology and ideas, to be able to play Nightstalker. 
 
@CommodoreGroovy: It might feel like a bit of a bore in the beginning, but I really do feel like there is a lot of pay off in this game.
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Edited By vidiot

I cannot believe I did not notice this blog contains the following:
1) I am mentioned.
2) Yakuza 3 is mentioned.
3) My platinum trophy of Yakuza 3 is mentioned as well.
4) Me, me, me, me, me
Good lord, my holiday silence had horrible repercussions that I was not aware of. Apologies! 
 
Fantastic blog as well. I'm currently playing through Nieieieieeeeer, and I must say: This game confuses the crap out of me. 
It's probably one of the most forward thinking games from Square in years, and yet it's haphazard production quality has me contorting my face into all manner of confused expressions. The voice acting screams of talent and the music is reminds me of Ico and is of high caliber quality.
 
Yet this game looks as if it was ported, not just from the PS2 era, but the mid-PS2 era. The library in the center of town actually freaked me out with what seems to be one repeated texture. The bloom effect reminds me of Fable 1, masking the game with it. The most technically capable thing I've seen so far is a depth-of-field effect, that once again, masks the environment as if the developers don't want to you to see how terrible everything looks. I'm not a graphics whore by any-means, but: GOOD GOD?! What is with this game?!
 
Did you know in Japan this game has the main character turned into some twenty something kid looking after his sister?
 
There is a freaking weird story about how this game was developed somewhere. I deeply enjoying what I've seen so far and it's safe to say that this was the big sleeper hit of the year, although this year was practically filled with them.

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bonbolapti

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Edited By bonbolapti
@vidiot:  yeah, there's a lot about this game that makes me feel like Square didn't want to give it too much attention. I think the developers of the game are people I've never heard of, but I'm sure were people so happy that Squenix came to them to make a game. So they probably didn't have much of a budget to work from, because Final Fantasy is more important.
 
yeah the PS3 version he's a younger guy with a sister. but with the DLC you actually get to play with that character model. It's just to bad that the DLC isn't anything special.