And once again PAX has come to a close. The third day is always the shortest and quietest of the long weekend, but that doesn't mean nothing of interest happened. I saw some great games, met some cool people, and overall had a great time. I started the day off by meeting up with AgentJ and hung out with him and another Giant Bomb user, lolmont, as they waited in line for their chance to see Duke Nukem Forever. A line so staggeringly long that it wrapped around the DNF booth, along the wall of the show floor, and around the corner. Good thing everyone came prepared with either a DS or a PSP to keep themselves occupied. After leaving, I briefly met up with them again once they were within shouting distance of the booth entrance, as well as vidiot. It was cool to meet you guys. I hope your PAX was at least as fun as mine was.
Some of the games I saw included:
Retro City Rampage: A PAX 10 selection and an upcoming WiiWare release. Think of the old top-down Grand Theft Auto games in a retro 8-bit style, and you're off to a good start. And frankly, this game is a blast.
Epic Mickey: I played through the tutorial demo level of the game, and it is actually really darn good. It controls well, the art style is fantastic, and well, it looks like fans of Mickey Mouse are in for some fun later this year. Heck, I'm not even particularly attached to the character and I'm more intrigued than ever.
Marvel vs. Capcom 3: If you've ever played a Capcom Vs. game, you probably already know what to expect. Three-on-three tag battles of absolute insanity. Pringles, however, were not included.
Bionic Commando Rearmed 2: I didn't actually play it, but you have to admit, the additions of both jumping (I'm told the game can still be completed without jumping, if you wish) and Nathan Spencer's new mustache can't be coincidental. If you ask me, he's discovered the secret of Mario's power.
So I didn't really get around to playing too many games today. Instead, I spent more of my time cruising around the exhibits and tried to take in as much as I could before the hall closed and everyone was kicked out. I also did some shopping, and among other items, I managed to buy copies of Bushido Blade and Kingdom Hearts: Chain of Memories, as well as the Penny Arcade anniversary book. Towards the end, I spent some more time in the console freeplay area. My classic console game of choice for this, the final day of PAX 2010? A game that I had never played before. A game that you've probably never heard of.
What can be said about it? Ranma 1/2: Hard Battle is a special kind of awful. The kind of awful where the game design is so inept, the fighters so imbalanced, that it turns around and becomes hilarious in the face of its own absurdity. How many fighting games for the SNES do you know of where "Jump" isn't mapped to Up on the D-pad? How many SNES games in general do you know of where "Jump" is mapped to "X"? This is the kind of insane design philosophy that the game embraces. And it is because of PAX that I was finally given the chance to play this comically misshapen work of art.
All in all, it was another great show, and I can't wait to return for PAX 2011 next year. My only regret is not snatching up that copy of Golgo 13 for the NES when I had the chance. I hope that the lucky bastard that got to it before I could pull the trigger has fun with it.
4 Comments
Today was a busy day for me at PAX. I spent most of it wandering around the show floor, taking in the sights and trying out various games. However, I started off the day by attending Tycho and Gabe's Create-a-Strip panel. For those of you that have never had the opportunity to attend this panel, it basically goes something like this:
Tycho and Gabe enter to uproarious applause.
Tycho bangs out a comic script on a laptop.
Gabe gets busy drawing the comic.
While everyone watches the comic take form on a big screen, the two take questions from the audience. Hilarity ensues.
Some highlights from the panel:
Tycho posed on stage holding two boxes of Reese's Puffs cereal like Moses holding the Ten Commandments.
A woman with an incredibly well done full body Gabe costume asked how many lines were on the bottom of Gabe's shoes. Gabe told her ten. HER COSTUME IS NOW CANON.
Tycho gave not one, but two grown men hugs.
Gabe briefly stopped work on the comic to do quick sketches of a hot dog fairy and a dickwolf. (It is not inaccurate to say that its every limb is a phallus. Oh god.)
After the panel, I left Benaroya Hall and headed to the convention center. On the way up the steps, I passed by Ryan and spoke briefly with him. It was unfortunate that I couldn't go to the after-party that followed the Bombcast panel last night, but it sounds like all five of the guys (yes, even Drew) had hangovers this morning. Given Ryan's report of what had transpired, I am not surprised.
As for what I saw and did on the show floor today:
I played the demo for Golden Sun: Dark Dawn. As someone that missed out on the Golden Sun GBA titles, Dark Dawn will be my entry point into the series, but what I played was pretty cool. I just wish that the field mechanics portion of the demo better explained the hows and whats of interacting with the world, especially given the five minute time limit on that portion. The battle demo, however, sold me on the battle system. It looks like this will be another solid RPG for the DS.
On the subject of Nintendo, I also tried out Donkey Kong Country Returns, and promptly got my ass whooped. Part of this is my fault, because of the four demo stages I could have picked, I chose one of the tougher ones, and it wasn't made any easier with a second player. My only real complaint on the game at this point is that the act of running doesn't feel as tight as I would like it, but then, I've never been much of a fan of using analogue sticks in 2D platformers. The game controlled using the Wii Remote/Nunchuk combo, and I'm not sure if other control methods are supported.
Also, GoldenEye is actually pretty fun. The local four-player multiplayer is a blast, and while the gameplay has an updated feel more in line with Call of Duty, there are still enough elements present to give it that GoldenEye feel. Out of curiosity, I asked the Activision rep showing the game why they went with the Daniel Craig Bond. Not surprisingly, they did it because they were required to do so due to the nature of Bond license and the stipulation by the owners of the Bond license that there is only one James Bond at any one time. And for those of you wondering, the other GoldenEye characters have also all been recast.
In other multiplayer news, I tried the multiplayer for the Wii veresion of The Force Unleashed II. The short version? It's essentially a Star Wars edition of Smash Bros. Up to four players jump around an arena in Smash Bros. fashion and try to whittle the other players' health down to zero using melee strikes and special attacks. As a side mode, it's not bad. I don't know anything about the single-player, though.
There was also a small, indie game called Drumskulls on display. It's a PC game that uses a four-pad drum controller as the means to kill zombies in a rail shooter like House of the Dead. The graphics are simple and stylized, and all of the zombies are color coded so that you need to wail on the properly colored drums in order to take them out. It's a very interesting concept, and for the time I played it, pretty fun, too.
Over at the Capcom booth, I played some of the PS3 version of Sengoku Basara: Samurai Heroes. As a die hard fan of Koei's Warriors games, Sengoku Basara intrigues me. It's very much like Koei's Samurai Warriors series in numerous ways, down to the inclusion of many of the same historical figures as playable characterse, but with a more over-the-top anime aesthetic that breaks away from historical accuracy far more than Samurai Warriors. Just as an example, the Sengoku Basara rendition of Tadakatsu Honda is a powerful robot, and Magoichi Saika (or Magoichi Saica, in Capcom's translation) is depicted as a woman, rather than a man. As similar as it is, I may have to get Sengoku Basara in addition to Samurai Warriors 3 this fall.
And then there was the Dead Rising 2 demo. I had to stand in line for a while for this one, but it was worth it. I was allowed fifteen minutes to run around Fortune City in order to beat, berate, and slaughter zombies with everything ranging from a baseball bat and kayak oar to a coat hanger and a newspaper vending machine. I also dressed Chuck in a terrifying ensemble of MMA gloves, a raccoon-skin cap, and a tube top/miniskirt outfit.
After running around the show floor until my feet hurt, I eventually made my way to the console freeplay area for a while and played a few rounds of F-Zero on the SNES before calling it a night. While I was playing, Captain Falcon himself came up behind me and observed in silence. I didn't even realize it until another con goer tapped me on the shoulder and showed me the picture of the scene he took on his iPhone.
So PAX is going on, and once again, I have a three-day pass. And like last year, the first day was a grand experience. Here are some basic highlights of things I saw and did:
As soon as I walked from the queue room to the exhibition hall, my eyes spotted something impossible. A booth dedicated to Duke Nukem Forever. What madness is this? What year is this? I was lucky to be towards the front of the queue, so when I entered, the DNF line wasn't terribly long, and I was among the crowd in the second or third group to see the game after the show floor opened. I must give credit to Gearbox; resurrecting this game is a daunting task, but after watching the trailer, they might actually be on to something, even if that something is mostly polishing the unfinished work that 3D Realms left behind. Also, there's a giant three-breasted alien boss monster, and the game demo begins with Duke taking a leak.
By the way, yes, there is totally a playable demo of the game! And while it doesn't show too much, it's actually playable. And it looks fairly good. I'm baffled and amazed. (Then I remembered that I'm not exactly an FPS fan, so the demo may be the only DNF I ever play even if it does see release.)
Some of the games I tried out on day one, other than DNF: Yakuza 4 (fun, and the hostess bars are being left in this time!), Mortal Kombat (Far better than I expected it to be.), Front Mission Evolved multiplayer (There is no facepalm image macro powerful enough to illustrate my disgust.), Shibuya (One of the PAX 10 and an interesting puzzle game on the iPhone and iPad), NBA Jam (That game is NBA Jam to the core).
I had a brief chat with one of the Nintendo reps at the show and gave my compliments on Metroid: Other M, because that game is awesome and compliments are worth giving. Also, this may only disappoint me seeing as I may be one of five people on the entirety of the internets that liked Samus's voice, but according to the rep I spoke to, her voice actress had apparently been asked to come to PAX; she wanted to come, but couldn't make it.
I played some 1080 Snowboarding in the Console Freeplay area. It took me a while to remember how to play it, but my skills started to resurface a little in the time I played. Also, wow, the game's graphics have not aged well.
The live Giant Bombcast was hilarious, and I dare not spoil it for the rest of you. Though, I now have a clear picture of what Ryan and Vinny do when they let Jeff and Brad usurp large chunks of time to talk about Mortal Kombat.
There's still plenty to see and do over the next two days. But I don't know if anything is going to top the utter shock at seeing the monolithic monument to Duke's manliness that is the Duke Nukem Forever booth for the first time.
12 Comments
It's been quite the year for games so far. Though it's still a while before I can start thinking about 2010 as a whole, I thought I'd take a little time to organize my thoughts and hopefully keep some of what's already happened fresh in mind when the still-to-come holiday onslaught hits. Heck, I may very well have already played my game of the year. I just don't know it yet.
Fight, Fight, Fight!
It has been a hell of a year for fighting games so far. Putting aside the announcements of games to come like Marvel vs. Capcom 3 and the double-decker sandwich of Street Fighter Peanut Butter and Tekken Chocolate, the genre revival is still going strong. Super Street Fighter IV is, of course, a bigger, better, and more Korean edition of last year's Street Fighter IV, and more power to it for that. I wish I could say my interest in SSFIV was high, but after burning through single-player a few times and a few attempts at online, I fell back into the malaise of "I know this game is awesome. I just have no interest in playing it." At least, certainly not online. Street Fighter is a game I always associated with people crowded around arcade machines or couches, taking turns, and generally having a good time. The online experience is just lacking, and getting post-match hate mail isn't my idea of good fun.
Yes, a giant cigarette lighter. I'm not even joking. On the other hand, Capcom has me sold on Tatsunoko vs. Capcom: Ultimate All Stars. This game is bananas. It is a banana split with three scoops of ice cream, hot fudge and a cherry on top in the form of the most inexplicably silly credits minigame I've played in a long time. As for the fighting itself? Over the top, ridiculous, chaotic, flashy, and a bunch of other crazy adjectives. But most importantly? Fun. Fun to play, fun to watch. Even if you're not familiar with the Tatsunoko side of the roster, the Capcom side is filled with more variety than the average Capcom fighting game, with established fighting game characters like Ryu, Chun-Li, Alex and Morrigan only taking up a fraction of the roster. I mean, they're entertaining and all, but this is the sort of game that screams for more characters like Frank West and Roll. A little robot girl armed with a broom and a bucket against a giant cigarette lighter.
And most recently, there's BlazBlue: Continuum Shift. Sure, the roster is still pretty small, especially compared to a game like Super Street Fighter IV. But the style and pace of the average BlazBlue fight is something I find more entertaining. The characters and their fighting styles are more diverse. You don't have an army of so-called shoto-clones all jumping in with fireballs, uppercuts, and a flying/twirling kick of some sort. And the story is by far the most thought out and meaningful I've ever seen in a fighting game. That's right, scoff if you want. The characters are actual characters, even if they do revel in tropes and stereotypes. The game doesn't restrict itself to "beat eight dudes, see ending." The narrative actually fleshes out characterization and motivations, and it does so in an entertaining way that refuses to take itself too seriously. And the narrative even has branches that veer from the canon paths, leading to some of the most ridiculous moments I've seen in a game all year. Noel's bad ending, in which she's berated by Kokonoe for getting the bad ending is glorious. My god, if only Street Fighter had this much personality.
I Don't Believe This.
Damn your eggs. I found Heavy Rain to be a worthwhile, entertaining game. Even though I got quite possibly the worst ending conceivable, it kept me gripped from start to finish. And yes, the game does have plot holes, though I have to say that I didn't find them too noticeable until after I stopped playing and had a chance to think on the game as a whole. Even then, they really don't bother me that much. No, my biggest gripe with the game is the odd ways in which it maintains a sense of verisimilitude only to shatter it in the most banal of ways. Seriously, who keeps unpacked eggs sitting on the shelves of their refrigerator? Has Scott Shelby never heard of something called an egg carton?
Yes, that is my biggest gripe with this game. Not the plot holes. Not the at-times awkward and tedious button commands. Not even the awkward English language dialogue. Those eggs are missing their carton, David Cage, and I have been pulled out of your fiction. For shame.
Turn Left. No, Left. Left! Damn It.
Sands of Destruction was a game I had been anticipating for quite a while. It has an intriguing premise, in that the player controls a group of adventurers out to ostensibly save the world by destroying it. It also has a combat system inspired by a portion of the design team's previous experience on Xenogears. Unfortunately, the plot falls apart, and the combat system becomes so comically broken that winning some of the later boss fights comes down to whether or not the player has the opportunity to act first. So yeah, there's a lot of things wrong with that game, and it was a huge disappointment. But of all the ridiculous crap that the game throws at the player, I found nothing as aggravating as the Chamber of Knights; a large room in an abominable puzzle dungeon in which the player must hit an exact sequence of teleporters in order to reach the exit. I wandered around in there for four hours before I had to finally give in and use a FAQ.
Oh, god damn it. I mean seriously, what the hell is this?
Wait. What Are You Complaining About?
So apparently, I exist in a vast minority that didn't have a problem with the way Final Fantasy XIII was structured. Yeah, the game is a mostly straight path from start to finish, but so was Final Fantasy X. And while it does take a while before combat really opens up, I didn't find the game to be the thirty hours of tutorial that people have moaned about, either. Those first twenty hours or so were particularly driven by the story, and frankly, I was glad that the game took its time with certain things. It made it all the more sweeter when I reached that point where I finally had my full party and numerous limitations were lifted. That, and the combat in the game is legitimately challenging. Pressing X to select "Fight" over and over again isn't a valid option here unless you like hearing the Game Over music.
Also, I liked the story and characters; even the supposedly obnoxious ones like Vanille and Hope. Hey, teen angst is justifiable when you watch your mom die and then have to travel around with the boisterous jackass responsible. Who wouldn't be in a pissy mood after that?
It's So Dramatic, It's Traumatic!
How the heck did that get there? Trauma Team is one of the best games on the Wii. No lie. It takes everything good about the Trauma Center series, adds more variety to the surgery types, fills the story with fun characters like an orthopedic surgeon/costumed superhero, makes the patients more interesting as characters, and then presents the whole in an easily digestible format where the player isn't shoehorned into a specific path once it's been started. And Atlus continues to prove that it employs some of the best localization in the business with its well-written dialogue and text. Seriously, if you have a Wii, buy this game!
Seriously, Those Shoes Do NOT Go With That Dress.
No, seriously. This dress would suit you much better. It actually came out a while ago, but a couple of months back, I got hooked on Style Savvy. That's right, Style Savvy, a game that is entirely about running a fashion store and picking out outfits for customers. What are you looking at me like that for? I once wrote a positive Princess Debut review completely without irony. Don't give me any of that lip. I play the games I want to play, even if they aren't necessarily targeted at me. The same should go for all of you. Yes, even you, the fourteen-year-old that thinks he's too cool for games with bright colors and a complete lack of blood and profanity.
Don't worry, kid. You'll grow out of it.
But anyway, Style Savvy. I actually learned a bit in playing this game. I'm not what one would consider the most fashion-conscious. I'm not some clueless rube that wears polka-dot shirts with plaid pants, but I'm not exactly what someone would call stylish. So when I see all the types of fashions and garments that the game has to offer and then asks me to put them together in a way that's fetching to the eyes, I take it as a challenge, and hey, I made some pretty darn good ensembles, let me tell ya. Also, the flamboyance that some of the major NPCs display is exquisite. This game not only taught me some things about style, it has style of its own. Not bad. Not bad at all.
And Now, I Shall Heal You By Shooting Myself In The Face.
MARIN FUCKING KARIN! If you couldn't guess by the above line, I'm gonna talk about Persona 3 Portable now. I loved the original release on the PS2, and even though I couldn't control my party members directly, I rarely encountered a point where I died when it wasn't my fault. I mean, sure, MItsuru would bust out the Marin Fucking Karin at inopportune times, but the only real blocker I had in beating the game was the time my PS2 died and I had to buy a replacement. Still, after Persona 4, it's hard to go back to P3. To be able to control my party directly in P3P is a more than welcome touch, though I am sad about some of the sacrifices that were made in the transition to the PSP.
What I'm not sad about, however, is the inclusion of the female protagonist. Her presence breathes new life into a game that's already been released twice on the PS2, and some of the game's more legendary events like Operation Babe Hunt change significantly when she's around (or not around, as the case may be). Still, in replaying the game, I'm reminded of the notion that the list of prerequisites to becoming a SEES member resembles something like this:
Are you able to experience the Dark Hour? Y/N
Do you have the potential to summon a Persona? Y/N
Do you have a burning desire to stab at least one other member of SEES in the back? Y/N
A fun-loving bunch of cuddles, SEES is.
To Infinity, And Some Other Place!
Of course, there's still several months before the end of the year. The number of games I have left to look forward to is actually pretty small. Metroid: Other M is my top priority and a game I've been eager to play all year. I'm also looking forward to getting my mass slaughter on in games like Samurai Warriors 3, Dead Rising 2, and Fist of the North Star: Ken's Rage. And then there's all the random surprises that could end up striking my fancy when I least expect it. I hope the rest of the year manages to keep the pace I've experienced so far. A few bumps in dungeon cartography aside, it's been great.
And now, I leave you all with a complete-out-of-context Youtube clip.
Metal Saga is one of my favorite RPGs on the PS2. A curious open-world structure that mixed the story-telling and gameplay aspects of Japanese RPGs with the ability to explore the world freely as in a western-style RPG, it's nothing if not unique, and depending on where you go and what you do, the challenge level can become intense from the outset. It's really an underrated gem of a game.
Also, it is downright absurd.
Of course, with its open-ended nature comes a host of different ending possibilities. You can become a famous hunter, get married, or, in quite possibly the greatest worst ending ever, just screw adventuring all together within seconds of starting the game:
(Spoilers!)
If I wasn't so overwhelmed with games sitting on my shelf, I'd want to spend some serious time revisiting Metal Saga. It's one of those odd games released at the right moment in time for it to work. What it does might not fly as well by today's standards, but seriously, how many RPGs, or games in general, allow you to confront a cult of bodybuilders devoted to Gluteus Maximism?
22 Comments
With the Deadly Premonition Endurance Runs both having reached their conclusion, I did a little thinking on a subject that I've considered before, but with Francis York Morgan's adventure in Greenvale at the front of many of our minds, it's one that's worth revisiting. Sometimes, we get so hung up on reviews, review scores and popular opinion that we end up missing out on something that's special in its own little way. Not necessarily "short bus" special, though that can sometimes be the case, but those special games that feature touches or elements that make them stand out in a good way.
Agent Francis York Morgan is one colorful dude. Deadly Premonition is one such game. It's clunky; there's no getting around that. Yet, it's not so clunky that the game becomes unplayable. Its poor enemies, overlarge world layout, too-slow cars and generally substandard graphics compared to other games of this generation don't paint a good first impression. Some users on this site were even annoyed that the game was receiving as much attention as it did under the argument that "Hey, the game obviously sucks, you idiots." Well, no one is going to mistake it for Red Dead Redemption, but why do we seem so focused on limiting ourselves to only playing the top-shelf titles with near-perfect metacritic averages? Granted, there are games out there that are unmistakably huge, smelly, godawful pieces of shit, and we'd all do well to avoid them when possible. Very few people have had the patience for something like Superman on the Nintendo 64, and the ultimate payoff for actually besting that game is minuscule.
A game doesn't necessarily need to be the best in show in order to be fun. Compared to the bottom of the gaming barrel, how bad is something like Deadly Premonition? Honestly, not very. For all of its clunkiness, the game is playable, and depending on how much clunk you're willing to put up with, the act of playing the game could conceivably be enjoyable without intention for irony. In a similar case, I enjoyed my time with Dirge of Cerberus, the Final Fantasy VII shooter for the PS2. For a shooter, the controls in the game were pretty darn clumsy. Some of the bosses were simple to fight; the final boss being no exception. For all of the flash Square Enix put into the visuals and sound, it is, compared to other games of its era, mediocre. However, despite the clunky feel to the controls and gunplay, I honestly still enjoyed playing it. But if I had heeded the advice of most reviews, I wouldn't have been compelled to give it the time of day.
Dante's Inferno may be more technically capable, but it lacks Deadly Premonition's creative heart. And while Deadly Premonition is certainly deficient in aspects of its design and presentation, there are still things about it that make it attractive. The quirky, memorable cast. The crazy plot twists. The strange, pseudo-Twin Peaks vibe that the game exuded before Alan Wake came along to do the same thing. While the crew at Access Games might lack technical prowess and can't quite reach the heights they're aiming for, they're still aiming high, and while maybe they can't reach Mars, they can at least land on the moon. In a world where larger companies spend more money to develop derivative gameplay clones with horribly generic characters and stories, Deadly Premonition goes places that others don't. Yet only those that aren't bound to the will of obtuse review score metrics or the simply curious with an extra $20 to spend are really the only ones that will ever give the game an honest shot. And really, that's the most disappointing thing about Deadly Premonition. The prejudice toward any game that isn't an immediately obvious "AAA."
141 Comments
With all of the contributions that I've made to the Giant Bomb wiki since the site went live, I thought now might be a good a time as any to take another look at my current top ten largest contributions to the site, based on the wikipoints earned. I think it's interesting (to me, at least) to see where I've been putting my focus in adding to the site.
Metroid: Other M (908 Points) - The game isn't even out yet and I've already written a hefty article on it. I imagine it'll get much more detailed once the game is actually released and the speculative bits are replaced with solid fact.
Inventory (872 Points) - When the Task system went live, this page was one of the first tasks I took on. Unfortunately, all the effort I put into editing it was overwritten by someone else that was editing it at the exact same time I was, so the points I earned editing it don't really mean anything.
Castlevania Judgment (854 Points) - I am possibly the only person on the internet not employed by Konami that could write about this game with a straight face.
Compilation of Final Fantasy VII (570 Points) - My latest large-scale contribution to the wiki, I wrote this article after spending part of the day watching Advent Children Complete and browsing the bonus features.
Fire Emblem (557 Points) - This one, as I recall, was actually a rescue operation, as the contents of the page's article had been swiped from Wikipedia and required a rewrite.
Ouendan (446 Points) - The Ouendan franchise is too manly to go textless. I had to fill it in.
Belmont Clan (395 Points) - I saw this page not long after it had been created and decided to give it a go. It left me a little baffled as to how the text edit-to-points earned formula actually works.
Final Fantasy X (386 Points) - I earned most of these points by completing a task to give the article a gameplay section. Mission accomplished!
Digital Devil Monogatari: Megami Tensei (368 Points) - The first task I took on when the task feature went live. There's really not much that I could find on the game with the amount digging around I did, but hopefully someone out there with more knowledge than I will be able to flesh it out even further at some point.
Where is it? The love that I felt for Street Fighter II back on the SNES? For the Alpha series? Third Strike? What the hell is it that's preventing my interest in Super Street Fighter IV from rising above a passing interest born mostly out of nostalgia for the games of the past? This shouldn't be happening.
The passion just isn't there. The desire I felt to play games like BlazBlue and Tatsunoko vs. Capcom just isn't there. I liked the original Street Fighter IV well enough, but to think that I could ever be competitive at that game was an outlandish thought. I just didn't have the time or energy to master the intricacies of competitive play like some do. While that still holds true, my lack of time to practice and become competitive didn't dull my interest in BB or TvC. And this feeling really blows, because I love what Street Fighter is; there's just little joy in it for me beyond playing through the arcade mode on a low difficulty so I can see everyone's endings.
Maybe it's my general lack of competition? I don't really have any interest in playing online; certainly not after the constant internet belligerence that led me to giving up on the online portion of the original Street Fighter IV. It's hard to find anyone willing to play when seemingly nine out of ten matches drop out the moment they see my three-digit ranking point total, and then the one guy that does stick around invariably picks Ken the vast majority of the time. Great. Awesome. Really. And I'd love to play matches against friends sitting right next to me, except the number of friends I currently have with any interest in Street Fighter or fight games in general is fairly low, and they aren't always available for a visit. I know Super Street Fighter IV has a much improved online component, but after my experience with the users of the previous version, I think I'd have more fun beating up cars.
Maybe its the community itself? This is not a knock against those that play fighting games competitively. It's just that you guys are by and large too hardcore for my blood. I can read input charts just fine and follow a conversation on strategy without trouble, but a lot of you guys just take things to a level I'll never reach. You guys are planning your strategies on how to take on highly-skilled Ryu players. Me? I'm happy just seeing Juli pop up in T. Hawk's ending.
Maybe the simple fact is that Street Fighter as a game just isn't for me anymore. I hold more interest in the characters and the various crazy storylines than I do in achieving anything even remotely resembling Daigo-level wizardry. Despite all the crap the genre gets for bad storylines and storytelling, the story is really one of the things that keeps my interest. The fact that BlazBlue made an effort to go beyond the typical arcade mode opening/ending fluff and actually tell a full narrative with an established ending makes that game the more interesting one. And one of the things that bothers me, and that makes me feel like the genre is being held back, is the generally dismissive attitude towards fighting game stories; people just write them off without a second thought. And yet, I just stated earlier that one of the best moments of Super Street Fighter IV for me was a cameo by a semi-obscure Alpha 3 character that was my main back in the day.
Man, this has turned into rambling that is bordering on the incoherent. Perhaps I should just leave it here and let the flood of tl;drs commence.
It's no secret that I like me some Dynasty Warriors, or heck, most any Warriors title, really. I'm looking forward more toward Samurai Warriors 3 this fall, but in the meantime I have Warriors Orochi 2 standing by in my PSP and Dynasty Warriors 6 ready to pop back in my PS3. Why do I bring this all up now? Well, this past week, I finished reading Romance of the Three Kingdoms for the very first time. It's the novel that Koei has mined for inspiration in the Dynasty Warriors series, their ROT3K strategy games, and various other titles. It's a very old text that doesn't conform to the modern idea of a novel, and the translation contains the occasional error, but once I had a chance to dig into it, it really stuck with me. Having read it, it's easy for me to see why Koei keeps going back to it. Romance of the Three Kingdoms is densely packed with characters, battles, betrayals, magic, and superhuman feats. The funny thing is, having played Koei's games, the actual book becomes much easier to follow.
Super Street Fighter IV: Juri and Juli, and the Importance of Stories in Fighting Games
I am a fan of Juri. Her speed and Taekwondo fighting style make her fun and easy to play. She's crazy and evil, yet likable (and yeah, pretty hot). Street Fighter has always been a series where it seemed like M. Bison was really the only villain anyone ever cared about. (Well, I guess Akuma, too, but he always struck me as being kind of dumb; being evil for evil's sake is a hard line to walk without looking ridiculous.) Prior to SFIV, the major villains were pretty much limited to Bison and his underlings, Gill, and well, that was about it. Seth is a fine addition to Street Fighter's hall of villainy, but it's good to see the series get a female villain whose villainy can't be chalked up to mind control.
But speaking of mind control, I have to say that I was disappointed but unsurprised at Capcom's decision to exclude my Street Fighter Alpha 3 main, Juli, from the roster. I'm bummed that she isn't playable, but given the number of characters Capcom could pick from, and also given the fact that Juli is such a minor character, it was kind of a longshot to begin with. Excluding Juli isn't akin to excluding Ryu; it's not exactly sacrilege. That being said, T. Hawk's ending made me smile, as did Cammy's. It's good to see Capcom still acknowledging these characters in their games, even if they aren't playable and one of the main reasons why I think that, while they're often seen as an afterthought, fighting game storylines are important. Even if they aren't particularly well written or fleshed out, they can still give players those little glimpses at the characters beyond how they play. Yes, Cody is a prisoner, and it is disappointing to see how he turned out, but he apparently just couldn't stop fighting and got into one too many of them.
And hey, if they acknowledge Juli in Super Street Fighter IV, I have at least a little reason to hope she might come back in Street Fighter V, whenever Capcom decides to make it. Hey, I can dream.
Hairy Potters
Going back to books for a second, I've just started reading Harry Potter and the Sorcerer's Stone for the first time. Yes, the first time. I know, I know. I'm really behind. Dumbledore dies, blah blah blah. (Spoilers!) Give me a break, guys! The first book is pretty short, and it's a breezy read, but it's pretty darn entertaining. I can see why the series became so popular. I should probably get around to watching the movie after I finish reading it (no, I haven't watched any of the movies, either).
Doing It Myself, The Wario Way
A couple weeks back, I received WarioWare: D.I.Y. as a birthday present. I haven't had too much time to tinker around with it outside of completing the tutorials, but I've managed to make a couple of very basic games of my own. I'd like to find the time to really dig into the tool set and become more proficient at crafting microgames, and despite the amount of depth, what I'd normally consider impenetrable doesn't seem so bad with the way that the game lays the lessons out. I don't know if I'll ever be able to make a good song without relying on the Maestro, though.
4 Comments
Log in to comment