Oni
Oni's last update: Oni just edited the page for the most amazing game of 2009: http://www.giantbomb.com/crane-simulator-2009/61-28003/
If you notice any bugs, please give us a shout in the forums.

Summary About Me Blog Images Wiki Subs Reviews Forum Topics Lists Guides Trivia Achievements

Nov. 21, 2009
  • Oni commented on Oni's topic It's finally here!!!
    To be fair, Shenmue did have pretty awesome forklifting. Sometimes, guys would ambush you, and you'd kick their asses. If that happens to real forklifters that'd be pretty sweet.  Now that this game exists, maybe someone can finally fulfill this gentleman's dream game:  http://forums.penny-arcade.com/showthread.php?t=51905&highlight=crane+operator  That thread is amazing
    3 hours, 19 minutes ago
  • Oni commented on Sweep's topic Q&A
    Yeah, working ATM machines in GTA4?? WTF?!?! I played that game and all the DLC to completion and I did not know this. It's touches like this that make a game world a game world, not just a backdrop. Assassin's Creed 2 currently has me absolutely hooked because it creates the illusion that you are IN 15th century Italy, and it's an amazing place that I never want to leave ...
    3 hours, 23 minutes ago
  • Oni commented on Lies's topic Dragon Age Analytics
    Hey cool stats, very neat to see this stuff. I went with the majority on most of this, though the Dalish achievement is kinda weird, I agree. Played a Dwarf Noble myself, and a Warrior, and I reccomend that origin story to anyone, it's very very good. I played Human noble origin later, and it surprised me how much shorter it was than the dwarf noble, which makes me curious ...
    3 hours, 28 minutes ago
Nov. 20, 2009
  • Oni unlocked 17 achievements in Assassin's Creed II
    19 hours, 15 minutes ago
  • Sweep wrote to Oni
    I read you Crane Simulator wiki. I laughed several times. Excellent work captain Oni :D
    Delete - See Wall to Wall
    22 hours, 51 minutes ago
  • Oni commented on Jeff's editorial review Tony Hawk: RIDE
    I was thinking it would be a 2-star, but it sounds like this game really is a waste of everyone's time, space and money. Let's just bury this franchise, huh? Sometimes it's best to just step away for a few years (or forever)
    1 day ago
  • Oni commented on Oni's topic It's finally here!!!
    Haha thank you! my work here is done.
    1 day ago
Nov. 19, 2009
  • Oni unlocked 12 achievements in Assassin's Creed II
    2 days ago
  • Oni commented on Sweep's topic BUSY WEEK
    Breaks my heart that you're not enjoying Crysis. What can I say, I guess all the stuff you mentioned is fair, to a point? I had a lot of fun using all the suit's abilities. Stealth is restrictive, and it requires you to sit behind a rock to let it recharge every now and then, but stealthing up to some guys, switching to strength, grabbing one and chucking him into ...
    2 days, 2 hours ago
  • Yes. But not nearly as bad a person as the person that would actually have bought it.
    2 days, 2 hours ago
  • Oni had a submission approved for Crane Simulator 2009 and earned 2 points (for a total of 3,361 points).
    2 days, 2 hours ago
  • Oni had a submission approved for Crane Simulator 2009 and earned 1 point (for a total of 3,361 points).
    2 days, 2 hours ago
  • Dude no hyperbole, that is the best add I have ever seen. Made my day, thanks!
    2 days, 5 hours ago
  • Oni created a blog It's finally here!!!
    What am I talking about? Crane Simulator 2009, of course! What are you waiting for, go out and buy it! It's the best crane sim since 2008, what more can I say?  PEACE
    2 days, 6 hours ago
  • Oni just edited the page for the most amazing game of 2009: http://www.giantbomb.com/crane-simulator-2009/61-28003/
    2 days, 6 hours ago
  • Oni had a submission approved for Crane Simulator 2009 and earned 80 points (for a total of 3,361 points).
    2 days, 6 hours ago
  • Oni had a submission approved for Crane Simulator 2009 and earned 81 points (for a total of 3,361 points).
    2 days, 6 hours ago
Nov. 18, 2009
  • Oni unlocked 16 achievements in Lips, DJ Hero and Modern Warfare® 2
    2 days, 22 hours ago
  • @qlum said: " @Erik:  at least better controls than the ps3/360 version  "Haha really? The impression you got from that video was "hey these controls look smoother and more accurate than the regular ones!"? I mean I know there's a learning curve involved but even so, you're never going to get the precision out of a Wiimote that's comparable to mouse or controllers.
    3 days, 7 hours ago
  • Oh my god. I haven't seen graphics that bad since early-era PS2. Hell who am I kidding, even X Squad looked better than this. Jesus christ it looks fucking HIDEOUS.
    3 days, 7 hours ago
Nov. 17, 2009
  • @turbomonkey138 said: " I'm glad someone decided to show how stupid most of the British press can be . And yet again the guardian continues to be the only newspaper that is worth the paper its printed on . @Oni said: " Was all that in The Guardian? You mean they presented both sides of the argument? Wow, times are changing. "The Guardian and the indipendant have been doing fair ...
    4 days, 9 hours ago
Added by Oni on Nov. 19, 2009

What am I talking about? Crane Simulator 2009, of course! What are you waiting for, go out and buy it! It's the best crane sim since 2008, what more can I say?
 
PEACE
Related to: Crane Simulator 2009


Added by Oni on Oct. 7, 2009

In a vain effort to attribute some relevance and artistic credit to everyone's favorite pastime (blogging, duh), I've decided to compare them to the crowning achievement of a totally different medium. These blogs are like the Orson Welles...es of games. I mean blogs. About games. Or something.
 
1)  http://www.giantbomb.com/profile/video_game_king/blog/
Video Game King has mastered the art of blogging. He doesn't just pretend to blog, he IS the blog. He plays like 5 games a week. He writes blogs about these games. I don't read nearly all of them all the way through but his dedication is inspiring to generations of bloggers, all these years later. Kudos.
 
2) http://www.giantbomb.com/profile/sweep/blog/
 Though Sweep's wonder years have come and gone, he still manages to write relevant and occasionally thought-provoking blogs, as well as entertaining all of us with tales of his drunkenness. Truly, this is the age of web 2.blog.
 
3)  http://www.giantbomb.com/profile/dalai/blog/
Dalai writes like 5 blogs a week. Though not all are as substantial, this easily makes him the Samuel L Jackson of blogging: No matter what he does, his personality and voice always steal the show. Remember Phantom Menace? Remember Sam Jackson in that? Remember anything else about that movie? Thought not.
 
4) http://www.giantbomb.com/profile/lordofultima/blog/
 If you like Street Fighter, this guy has got you COVERED. Especially if you like Akuma, or Gouki as the cool kids call him. I stopped watching a long time ago, but his singular dedication to what to some is a pointless fleeting pasttime is inspiring enough to earn him the Street Fighter The Movie: The Game award.
 
5)  http://www.giantbomb.com/profile/citizenkane/ 
The actual Citizen Kane of Giant Blogs does not live up to his namesake, but points for trying! And someone has to post all those funny gifs and memes!
 
6 ) http://www.giantbomb.com/profile/oni/blog/
I hardly write blogs anymore (mostly because no one reads them). and so, due to my under-appreciated genius and vision, I give myself the Jerry Seinfeld award for uselessness.


Added by Oni on Sept. 9, 2009

  Ah man, the Dreamcast. Cut down before its prime.

To be fair, it was not a terrific console. It did not have THAT many great games. It made a fuckton of noise. The breakdown rate was pretty high. But it was just so far ahead of its time. It had online play, and I'm sure PSO influenced lots of developers. Shenmue was just amazingly ambitious. Soul Calibur was like... the perfect game, at the time. It really captured the gamers' imaginations. There was just so much insanely creative stuff on it, like Shenmue, Jet Set Radio, PSO, Project Gotham, and of course it was THE console for arcade ports of fighting games and original shmups.  Jet Set Radio inspired an entirely new art style in games. It was pretty radical at the time, and because of the stylized graphics, it still holds up pretty well.  Powerstone may have been directly responsible for games like Super Smash Bros.
 
I played some Shenmue today, because Giant Bomb did a series of quick look throwbacks, and while most games haven't held up so great, Shenmue kinda has. And there are few games I am more nostalgic for. It's everything 14-year old me wanted out of games: Huge scope and ambition and cinematic storytelling. It was flawed, sure, but by painstakingly creating this huge, rich world and being so deliberately paced, it draws you in like few other games do. The mundanity of some of Ryo's life is somehow compelling. 
 
Its death was inevitable. But I'd like to think the gaming landscape today is that much richer because of the Dreamcast.
Related to: Shenmue, Dreamcast


Added by Oni on Aug. 22, 2009

Time and time again, Blizzard manages to keep surprising and delighting me with their ongoing work to ensure World of Warcraft stays on top of the MMO pile. Just when you think they've abandoned the old world in favour of pumping out more and more endgame content to keep the hardcore happy, they announce the next expansion will only raise the level cap by 5 and will totally revamp the old world top to bottom. This, without a doubt, is the smartest decision they could've made. Why? I'll tell you why, good sir/madam!
 
Alts.
 
Everybody rolls them. There isn't a single person who doesn't, at some point, get bored with his class and decides he wants to try a facerolling Ret pally, or maybe face-melting Warlock. Because hey, the grass is always greener, right? But you can only find Mankrik's wife so many times before you get bored of that, too. It's a long road to 80, and despite Blizzard's constant moves to make leveling faster, it can still feel like a drag, especially since the quests aren't as plentiful as in the later expansions, so the old world feels somewhat dated compared to the more recent additions to the game. Redesigning the entire old world means that everyone will WANT to level alts again, and will probably result in more people hitting the level cap in the first place. Though I can still imagine burnout setting in once you get to Outland, but I guess it's too much to hope Blizzard will also accomodate levels 60 through 70 (and maybe even beyond) in Azeroth, but we'll see. 
 
She's right there, dummy!
She's right there, dummy!

 This also has the added benefit of finally being able to use flying mounts in Azeroth, so you no longer feel sort of gimped. In addition to all this, Blizzard has also announced that they are severely streamlining the itemization system. Gone are confusing stats like armor penetration, and less-confusing, but still somewhat obtuse, stats like attack power, mana per 5 seconds, block value and defense. Obviously, this means how these stats work, as well as talent trees, will see some major overhauls. For one, Plate-tanks will get new talents to compensate for the lack of defense on gear. It should make itemizing your gear much more intuitive and will (hopefully) result in less people Needing on gear that isn't really meant for them.
 
I am not currently playing World of Warcraft, but they always manage to pull me back in somehow. Now that I do have a pretty decently geared 80 Prot/Ret Pally, I definitely plan to go back once Arthas is killable, for one. That dude has it coming.


Added by Oni on July 11, 2009

At the end of Demon's Souls introductory tutorial level, you die. You face a giant boss that shrugs off your attacks and kills you with a single hit. This perfectly encapsulates Demon's Souls. In a word, it is uncompromising. Unlike most games, the enemies in Demon's Souls aren't there for you to kill, they are there to kill you. In that, it is reminiscent of Ninja Gaiden, but it shares few other similarities with contemporary action-adventure games.

At its core, Demon's Souls is a role-playing game. You kill monsters to earn their 'souls', the game's universal currency used for everything from buying and upgrading weapons to increasing your character's stats. You select which world to travel to, five in all, from a central hub where you can upgrade and buy new weapons, level up, learn magic and store items. In this Nexus, you are safe. Everywhere else, you are fair game to the vilest, most vicious enemies you've likely seen in any game since the NES days.

Demon's Souls marries its RPG elements to a combat system that, if anything, is reminiscent of the wildly popular (if you're Japanese) Monster Hunter games. That is to say weapons feel weighty and kind of slow, compared to games like God of War and Ninja Gaiden. There are no elaborate combos to remember, it's just light attack, heavy attack, block, parry and roll (again, don't think Ninja Gaiden, instead, go outside, take a running start, and do your best roll. Roughly like that.) You can also use some magic attacks, if your character is so inclined, or a bow and arrow, but melee is the main focus of combat, and also the most satisfying. You can attack an enemy from the back for a critical hit, resulting in impaling your foe with whatever weapon you're using and kicking him free of it. Timing a parry just right will let you counter-attack, running your enemy through so hard you knock him to the ground and follow through with your weapon. I'm just saying.


No dragons were harmed in this screenshot. Humans probably were.
No dragons were harmed in this screenshot. Humans probably were.
Every time you encounter a new sort of enemy, you are probably going to die. Until you know what each type of enemy can do, you're probably gonna bite it. If you rush in and mash the attack button, you're gonna be very dead. And when you die, you drop all your hard-earned souls. Then it's a very careful, cautionary trek back to where you died to reclaim your souls, and should you die again in that journey, those souls you dropped the first time? Yup, gone. Finito. For good.

At this point, you're probably thinking, "this does not sound like fun!" But the thing is, it's so rarely frustrating. Sure, there are a couple of deaths that you probably didn't see coming, because it's impossible to, but once you know about them, they can be avoided. When you die to an enemy, it's your own fault, and you could've done better. And the next time, you do. Almost every death is a learning experience. Learning to be more careful, learning to block that attack just so, learning that maybe you'll want to use the spear that allows you to block while attacking rather than the big broadsword that leaves your defenses wide open. And the moment you defeat the foe that so completely destroyed you earlier, there is hardly a more satisfying feeling in any game.

The game's stages are also very cleverly designed in that you open up shortcuts as you go, so when you die, you'll save considerable time getting to your corpse. Which is especially useful getting to the bosses, because as you might expect, those will probably also end up killing you a bunch of times. The bosses, at times, rival those from Shadow of the Colossus in size, as you will face giant dragons, a towering knight, a flaming spider and much more.

Luckily, you don't have to face all these challenges alone, for Demon's Souls features a very unique multiplayer system. For starters, as long as your PS3 is connected to PSN, you can see other players running around as white ghosts, in their own world doing their own thing. Also, these other players can leave notes on the ground, warning of impending danger. This can definitely end up saving your life, so your first time through you might want to read most of them. Not only that, but you can also summon other players as Blue Phantoms to help you in your world.


There is, however, a catch, as nothing in Demon's Souls comes free. You see, you can only summon these other players when you are in Body Form. You can attain body form by using a rare item or defeating a boss. The alternative is Soul form, and yes, that is pretty much the default mode in Demon's Souls: death. When in body form, however, other, more malicious players can also invade your world as Black Phantoms to try and kill you. That's right, the only way you can enlist help is by consenting to a form of PvP, where the stakes are the souls you've collected. If you're lucky, you won't get invaded, or you'll get invaded by an incompetent player. Should you be so unlucky as to be invaded by a player who is geared solely with the purpose in mind to destroy other players, well... be prepared to fight. Luckily, the Blue Phantom players you summoned can help you against the invader. I have, on one occasion, fought a single Black Phantom for about 15 minutes before he finally left himself open for a finishing blow, in this case my spear through his back followed by my boot kicking him off a cliffside. It was, in a word, epic.

The relentless nature of the game is compounded by the uniquely solitary feeling you get from it. There is no voice chat, so even when you're in co-op, you never get the comfort of a real human presence with you. There is hardly any music. The environments are eery, desolate and hostile, and at times hauntingly beautiful. Looking from the parapets of the Boletarian castle, you may take heart for a brief moment, before advancing towards the next murderous enemy. Other stages are without the prospect of any hope. In fact they feel designed to crush any feeling of hope you might have had. Precarious cliffsides and narrow walkways over a dark abyss, and a swamp that literally wants to kill you. It's not a technical marvel by today's standards, but in terms of presenting a cohesive atmosphere and some hauntingly beautiful vistas, it's unmatched.

There is quite simply nothing like Demon's Souls available today. There are so many nuances and features this review doesn't even cover, as I could literally write pages about it (check out the wiki - I wrote most of it). It is a game for the hardcore, by the hardcore, clearly created with lots and lots of love, even ff at first it seems that the designers may, in fact, hate you. And in turn, you fall in love with it.

Note: Demon's Souls is slated for a Fall release in the USA, but the Asian versions (minus the Japanese ones) are in full English, so import away. Though it has been brought to my attention that Atlus is doing some cool stuff for the NA release (see comments), so you may want to hold off for a little while.
Related to: Demon's Souls


Oni's Reviews
The best Fallout 3 DLC to date (X360)
Point Lookout adds more of everything you (probably) love about Fallout 3 to Fallout 3. To start with, it takes place in an entirely new area, not unlike The Pitt, but unlike The Pitt, there is a lot to find and explore for diligent players. Besides the main quest line, ...
Reviewed by Oni on July 17, 2009

3 out of 3 found this review helpful.
Prepare to die. A lot. (PS3)
At the end of Demon's Souls introductory tutorial level, you die. You face a giant boss that shrugs off your attacks and kills you with a single hit. This perfectly encapsulates Demon's Souls. In a word, it is uncompromising. Unlike most games, the enemies in Demon's Souls aren't there for ...
Reviewed by Oni on July 11, 2009

9 out of 9 found this review helpful.
Wanted: Dishwasher, ninja skills req. (XBLM)
The Dishwasher is the prodigal child of Microsoft's XNA suite, which allows just about anyone to make a game on their PC and lets people buy and play it on their XBOX 360. While The Dishwasher started out as one such XNA game, Microsoft has chosen to release this as ...
Reviewed by Oni on April 7, 2009

5 out of 5 found this review helpful.
A single-minded yet satisfying experience (XBLM)
How do you translate one of the most ambitious graphic novels ever into a videogame? Apparently, you don't. You make a game set several years before the events of the book and film it is based on, when the masked vigilantes were still active and hospitalizing criminals on a regular ...
Reviewed by Oni on March 6, 2009

13 out of 13 found this review helpful.
Dead Space Review (X360)
Much like one of Dead Space's necromorphs after meeting the business end of a plasma cutter, I am torn. I really want to love Dead Space for its brilliant graphics, brutally satisfying combat and creepy atmosphere. But I also want to berate it for its generic plot, repetitive structure and ...
Reviewed by Oni on Jan. 11, 2009
This is a Prince of Persia review (v2.0) (X360)
Forget the Sands of Time trilogy: It's time for a new Prince in a new story. This isn't yet another Arabian Nights-esque story, but it's a well-crafted one regardless. The new Prince isn't even a Prince, but more of a mercenary vagabond, where-I-lay-my-head-is-home kind of guy. By meeting Elika, a ...
Reviewed by Oni on Jan. 2, 2009

1 out of 1 found this review helpful.
Can you play Super Turbo? SHORYUKEN! (XBLM)
"Easiest with Dee Jay: crossup j.MK, c.LP, c.LP, Machine Gun Upper (charge d, u + mash punches)"That's what someone told me when I asked how to perform a 7-hit combo on a forum. I guess I should have known better? If that makes as much sense to you as it ...
Reviewed by Oni on Dec. 19, 2008
Welcome to the Wasteland (PC)
Fallout 3's Capital Wasteland is a cruel and inhospitable place, fraught with danger. A nuclear armageddon has eradicated all but the most basic signs that this was once the capital of the USA. You might see some rubble that was once a house, now inhabited only by relics that were ...
Reviewed by Oni on Nov. 5, 2008
If Japan had made The Godfather... (PS2)
Saturday evening. I was just relaxing, having a night about the town, minding my own business, when suddenly, in the middle of the most crowded street in Kamurocho, some guy walks up to me and demands an apology for my presence on "his turf". This gentleman has clearly mistaken me ...
Reviewed by Oni on Oct. 16, 2008

1 out of 1 found this review helpful.
War(head), what's it good for? (PC)
There are those who said that Crysis was just a glorified tech demo that doesn't do anything new for shooters. Those people, in my opinion, are wrong. If they were to say the same thing about Warhead, the stand-alone expansion to Crysis, however, I wouldn't really fault them for saying ...
Reviewed by Oni on Sept. 23, 2008


Date Joined: July 21, 2008
City:
Gender: Male
Alignment: Neutral
Points: 3,361 Points
Ranked: Ranked #378 of 60,794
3,361 points you are ranked
378 of 60,750 users

Demon's Souls
game - 442 points
Watchmen: The End is Nigh
game - 215 points
Blazing Angels 2: Secret Missions of WWII
game - 209 points
Crane Simulator 2009
game - 163 points
Phoenix Wright: Ace Attorney - Trials and Tribulations
game - 161 points
Warhawk
game - 120 points
Max Payne 2: The Fall of Max Payne
game - 105 points
The Dark Portal
location - 56 points

Favorites
a list of 10 items by Oni
Games that I have S-Ranked
a list of 17 items by Oni
RHCPfan24 14 minutes ago
Went to the diner instead and had some fish 'n chips. This day has really been of endless COD. XD
MrJared 30 minutes ago
I leave for 5 minutes and Seth Killian hops on the stream. Get hype! http://j.mp/8KBIeV
Dalai 43 minutes ago
Boswer is defeated, princess saved. I think I've done this before.
Sweep 1 hour, 26 minutes ago
thinks you should read his blog, Mattbodega. Yes, you!
Willy105 1 hour, 44 minutes ago
Excellent work! (YouTube http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Bkeu_ce-Lw8&feature=autoshare_twitter)
Everyones_A_Critic 1 hour, 50 minutes ago
simply cannot wait to see Megadeth this February.
tokyochicken 2 hours, 39 minutes ago
Getting back into Borderlands since I've left it undone for weeks now.
EpicSteve 3 hours, 29 minutes ago
It seems that in order to actually play L4D 2 the host needs to set the game on a local server. Dedicated Servers=BAD. Problem solved!