Hello Giant Bomb! Welcome to what I hope to be a regular installment to my blog here. I've tried this whole blogging thing a couple times before but it's never really panned out for me. No because I'm looking for some sort of financial gain or fame, but put simply, I'm quite lazy. But here I am, in a brand new community that I just joined the other day, giving it another go. You know why? Because I think that I have something to say, nothing important mind you, but I just want to stand on my soap box like everyone else, shout as loudly as possible and be heard.
 
Now for some background on my gaming habits and preferences. I like games. All of them. Any type, any genre, any platform. I play pretty much everything I can get my hands on, and because of that, I'm roughly 3 years  and 300+ games behind (that's including all current gen platforms/handhelds, I finished my last PS2 game 3 months or so ago). I've complete every game I play, no matter the quality (there are of course rare cases that prove the rule,
Assassin's Creed: Altair's Chronicles comes to mind *shudder*). Now I might not S-Rank or even A or B Rank them, but I complete any story/single-player campaign that exists. I'm not a multiplayer gamer but i do enjoy some co-op with friends from time to time. I don't prefer any console over another other than the simple fact that 360 had achievements well before PS3 had trophies and therefore I prefer to play my games there. I always buy the DLC if it's adds to the game because 1. I rent almost all of my games through a service in Canada called GameAccess and I like to give the developers their fair share if I'm playing their game and 2. I'll be damned if I don't love extra stuff.
 
Ok, so know we know a whole lot about you you're saying to yourself (Why are you talking to yourself.....weirdo) "Ok, we know what you play, why, etc. Why should I read your blog?". Well good people, because my blog is going to be all about those games you might have missed, passed by, or worse forgotten about. Oh don't think I won't write about the AAA titles, no, I play plenty of those too. But I play them well after they are released, with all the DLC that was released with it, getting a (in my mind) fuller experience. Since I've been going on for a little while here, I'm going to rapid shot some reviews (one sentence + rating) and then talk shortly about my current game: Folklore on the PS3. This is probably the only time you will ever see rapid shots, they are mainly here so you can get a taste of what floats my boat and what I have been playing for the last 3-4 months to get an idea of how damn far back I am.
 
Rapid Shots!!!

Gears of War (X360): Pretty cool, ok story, fun gameplay. ****
The Legend of Zelda (NDS): Phantom Hourglass: Classic Zelda action in the Wind Waker universe ****
Rayman Raving Rabbids 2 (Wii): More mini-games, sorta fun with a crowd, nothing too special **
Beautiful Katamari (X360): I don't know why, but I can never get enough of rolling that damn ball, stay away from the DLC though ****
Ratatouille (X360): Meh, not bad for a Disney license, not good for a platformer however **
Red Steel (Wii): For what it was, I think it was great. Sword combat was fun as was shooting, short though ***
Mass Effect (X360): God damn you Bioware, 50+ hours in 1.5 weeks, yeah I guess I liked it *****
The World Ends With You (NDS): Very cool game, great concept, good gameplay, very cool story *****
Crisis Core: Final Fantasy VII (PSP): Square, Square, Square, what can I say, ya did good here ****
 
And that was rapid shots! Be aware that the style above is very reflective of my longer form style. I could not give a crap about graphics, and only care about gameplay if that is the focus of a game or it's horrible. I care about story. If a game has a bad gameplay but an interesting story, I can suffer through and still enjoy the game, because it becomes about getting that next piece of story for me. I promise the next blog will not be this long, it's starting to get ridiculous already. So let's talk briefly about Folklore on the PS3.
 
Folklore is a whole lot of fun so far. The basic premise is that you go to this lone forgotten town to find out about your past. While there you get dragged into the Faery World and to find out your past you must defeat the Folklore, huge beasts of immense power. To help you, you collect Folk. These creatures are your offense and defense. From whacking guys with a stick to dropping sludge on a folk so it can't move, they can do it all. You collect them as you go through the worlds. But it doesn't end there, you also can unleash their Karma and cause them to grow in strength. If you're like me, you'll find yourself grinding Karma to complete each Folk's list. As far as story goes, there is something of a mystery going on. There are two characters that you can plays as that have separate stories that run concurrently and overlap and you can switch between the two. I've decided to only play as Ellen for as long as I can however and currently I'm in the 3rd chapter with her. I've got to say, this game has a great gameplay mechanic in the various Folk. They are all so varied and fun to use. On top of that, the worlds you explore are gorgeous. When I first entered the Faery World, I was awestruck. Great designs all around. This game truly deserves a look if you've passed over it. 
 
Well that's it for now, I've got a blank slate weekend so I plan to put in a lot of time into Folklore. Unfortunately I'm feeling the MMO itch, but I'm trying my best to stay away for now. If you've read all the way to the bottom, I thank you. Please comment and give me some feedback, if it's on my writing or to shout out that you've played Folklore too.
 
Have a good one, everybody
Jesse "Goku13k" Dyck