So I've been playing Valkyria Chronicles lately, and old release I've always been intrigued by. Now that I have a PS3, I finally bought it and have been thoroughly enjoying it. I'm at around chapter 7 or 8 I believe, and I was cruising through with no casualties (plenty of injuries, though. I can't count how many times poor Wavy has hit the floor.) But then, during the mission early on when you have to stop Maximillian's huge tank, it happened.
 
The battle was already frantic enough, and many of my characters had already fallen under fire from the many turrets along the tank. Luckily, I had been able to save them all before death could take them. Eventually I was down to around four or five troops with only one lancer left, not bothering to call in reinforcements because only lancers mattered anymore and they were all incapacitated except the aforementioned one. I was desperately trying to destroy the last radiator when Selvaria, one of the enemy commanders, burst on to the scene with a weapon like no other, capable of killing with a single glancing hit. At this point, I already knew it was too late.
 
I had left Coby the shock-trooper and Oscar the sniper sitting there near where Selvaria entered, and almost to quickly to fathom they had both dropped unconscious. I clinged to the hope that one of my troopers could make it over them before death embraced them, but Selvaria was too quick, running over to their bodies and putting them out for good. I balked at the screen. I thought I would never have to lose any troops, especially not like this. But the cold, impersonal message box that said they had died in action told me otherwise. I flashed back to all the other games in which every little soldier became something important to me, the clear standout being XCOM.
 
Giving each soldier you command a name and a personality unlocks some sort of deep caring that can't be shaken. It could be because that, unlike story characters, their lives are completely in your hands. If they die, they're gone forever. And for that reason, I felt a great sense of loss and Coby and Oscar breathed their last breath. I vowed to never let it happen again as I solemnly wrapped up the mission without another casualty. For now, all I can do is inscribe their names onto this blog post so they shall never be forgotten.
 
R.I.P. Coby and Oscar. They shall be missed, even though Oscar was kind of a crappy sniper anyways.

Yep, another game I got cheap in that massive Steam sale that happened a while ago. I never really gave The Witcher a second look when it came out, mostly because I wasn't a huge PC gamer but also because I was trying to move away from that type of fantasy world with my RPGs. How wrong I was. 

I had heard that The Witcher had moral choices, like so many games of the day had. They were also supposedly, in a term I find tiresome, "in shades of gray instead of black and white." I didn't believe that for one second, because this had been promised of so many games before, from Fable to Mass Effect to Fallout 3. As we all know, the choices from those games ended up being hilariously obvious, with the shining example being Fallout's "should I nuke this entire city, killing everyone in it, or not? Brain scratcher!" I'm not saying any of those games are bad, and they in fact number among my favorites, but definitely not because of any moral complexity.
 
Along came The Witcher, and I did my usual shtick of choosing if I want to be a good guy or bad guy before the game begins. As always, I decided to be a good guy on my first run through, always protecting the innocent wherever I go like a true hero. I very quickly realized that this archetype would not fit at all. For the first time, I discovered moral choices that were truly difficult to make, ones that boiled down to more than the obvious good choice or bad choice. They made me ask myself what I thought was right, made me think.  I'll give you an example. Beware, for minor early game spoilers lurk below, enter at your own risk.
 
In one of the first small villages you come to, the main quest line is to gain the trust of the prominent villagers and defeat an almighty "Beast" which has awakened in the town. The villagers seem to believe the local witch was the one who summoned the Beast, and this eventually leads to them taking up arms against her. You also find that the Beast was summoned because of the sins of the local townsfolk. At this point you get the choice between saving the witch from the angry mob by slaughtering practically the entire village, or join the attack on the witch. The townsfolk have raped and murdered, but most of these actions were enabled by the witch. So who do you help? I chose the witch, because she seemed to have committed less sin, but the choice uniquely comes down to your personal view, instead of deciding to be nice or evil. That is what sets The Witcher apart from other RPGs, and why I'll continue playing it.

My very first blog on any kind of site whatsoever! I guess I'm not very good at detailing my daily life to strangers. Not that many people will read this anyways, but welcome! I'll try to talk about my shenanigans in the world of video games every now and again, giving my opinions and maybe making a few suggestions.
As for this week, the games that have dominated my life have clearly been the many I have bought during Steam's huge sale going on right now. They've even pulled me away from completing Red Dead Redemption, even with my friend constantly insisting I complete it. Seriously, there are quality, full size games for one or two dollars, it's a perfect opportunity to pick up any games you were previously on the fence about. For now, I'll talk about the one game that stuck out to me as actually quite fantastic. It is none other than Clive Barker's Jericho, an FPS horror game from 2007. I picked it up for the hefty sum of two freakin' dollars, so it better be good or I just wasted good money. It got pretty bad reviews at the time, and most critics called it a missed opportunity.
However, in my experience it was actually a pretty good game. Of course, it is occasionally frustrating and the level design leaves something to be desired, but it is genuinely creative with a well-told story, probably one of my favorite squad based shooters. I might just write a review later to elaborate on how it is a game that could be worth your time and, possibly, the best two dollars you ever spent.