[insert title here] 7-10-11

I lack the creative capacity to come up with a good blog title, so here you go.

Anyhoo, hey, welcome to the start of what I hope to be a regular series of blogs every week, because dang it I have enough free time that I should be writing these things and not slack off playing video games all day. Instead, I will continue to play video games all day while setting aside some time to write up what I think about this wonderful entertainment medium we are all so invested in. Some games will range from modern, to old school, to whatever has me interested at the moment. Oh, and maybe a small segment that talks about other things in my life just to show I’m not wasting my time away on just video games.

Speaking of which, let’s quickly address what’s going on with me in the wonderful land that is Alaska.

Real Life

Summer is about halfway over for me. Starting tomorrow, my parents are taking a vacation to their potential future retirement home in Equador. That leaves me and my sister in charge of the house, and surely a 17 year old high school student like me is responsible enough to keep the house clean and stay on top of other responsibilities, right? Well, maybe not everyone my age, but definitely me.

So from the 11 to the 29, no parents around the house. I consider that a vacation unto itself. Heck, nothing ever changes when I’m the only one in the house. When the cat’s away, the mouse is just left alone. Except now I get a lot more time on the PS3 since my folks won’t be around to use the TV that the system’s hooked up to. Speaking of PS3...

GAMES!!!!

With so much time to myself for the next 3 weeks, I thought, “AG, you should get an RPG on the PS3 to keep you busy. You already know what to expect whenever you play Oblivion or Morrowind, try something new.” So I heeded my conscience and looked for some recommendations for PS3 RPGs…from Japan. I have not played a really good JRPG in a long time, the last one being Kingdom Hearts II. Which is funny, because there was a lot about that game from the story and characters that was pretty dumb, yet the game play was fun and engaging. A few months ago I had tried to go through Final Fantasy XIII, but to no avail, due to the game’s super longwinded and boring pacing.

So what did I choose as my JRPG? If you couldn’t tell from the banner, the game is Star Ocean The Last Hope International. The game did not require any knowledge of the series from me, other than the game has real time combat, takes 30-40 hours to complete, and is filled with many JRPG tropes, both good and bad. With the International version, I was pleased to see there was an option to use the original Japanese voice track, which I did not hesitate to select, because not surprisingly, the English dub isn’t good.

As of this writing, I have put several hours into Star Ocean, and so far, I am enjoying it for what it is. The combat is definitely the highlight, which is something the series has been praised for from what I’ve heard. The environments are well detailed, and the way the game progresses is as traditional as it gets for JRPGs. There are treasure chests and other objects littered around the maps, and the places are pretty huge. Yet as much as I have enjoyed the game so far, the many trappings of a JRPG are very much present, mostly in the characters.

The protagonist, Edge Maverick, is a cocky and brash person, and while I much prefer that type of character over the recycled Cloud Strife personality, Edge still isn’t very original. Reimi Saionji is super predictable as well, being the childhood friend of Edge who tries to steer him in the right direction. I’m sure you can figure out which personality in another series she most resembles. All the characters behaviors, their mannerisms, the basic plot, starting from something small that throws our heroes into a much bigger adventure, you look at it and go, “oh yeah, this is a JRPG.”

As much as that stuff isn’t totally original and mind blowing, it’s not horrid either. Edge is still an okay character for not being yet another Cloud Strife (well, except for the blond hair). Everyone else is okay too. The combat is still what motivates me to continue, along with exploring the environments, and what I hope to be a plethora of side quests to complete later on, something that Final Fantasy XIII lacked. Well, actually the combat was good in that too, I guess. Just took too long to get really good like everything else.

tl,dr version if you’re too lazy: Star Ocean The Last Hope International is okay, so far.

I’ve had a Dreamcast for a year and a half now. First game I got with mine was Jet Grind Radio, second was Tony Hawk’s Pro Skater 2, one of the rare instances of me owning a multiplatform game, and then Crazy Taxi last summer. Almost a year later I now have my fourth Dreamcast game: Shenmue.

You’re either thinking “Great purchase!” or “ugh, why?” I’m quite aware of how divisive this game is, so I needed to see which side I would go with, the fans or the haters. As of right now, I can’t say for sure, but from what little I’ve played, it’s…different.

The game controls weird, which I sort of expected when I heard you use the D-Pad to move and the Analog stick to move your head, but I didn’t expect it to control this weird. The start button brings up a help menu, which is certainly helpful (forgive me) in spots, but then there’s the Y button for the “pause” menu, although time continues on. Then there’s the inverted page turning controls for your note book and the awkward means of looking at and selecting items in the environment. Clumsily walking around Ryo Hazuki’s room was a bit painful.

I don’t need to say much about the voice acting that isn’t already known. I’ll say though I can tolerate it more when it’s part of a cutscene and not a conversation with a random resident of Yokosuka.

The bulk of my first half hour or so of playing was spent on a fabulous time waster that makes my desire to go to Japan even stronger: Capsule machines!

I spent the first thousand yen in my pocket on the Virtua Fighter capsule machine, and then another thousand on the SEGA machine. It was definitely the most interesting part of my time playing the game so far.

It kinda sounds like I’m ragging on the game, and maybe I am. There are some weird things about the game and its slow, methodical pacing and controls. But I definitely want to play more of it. I have already seen the whole story on Youtube, but not the stuff in between. And for good reason, because watching someone else play the game would be boring, regardless of who it was. I’m just glad I bought this game not only as another addition to my Dreamcast collection, but also to get the full context of the story by exploring every nook and cranny of this world that Yu Suzuki built.

tl,dr: Shenmue feels weird, but I want to keep going through it.

Those two games aren’t the only things I’ve been playing. Here I give quick little thoughts on other games that I’m playing.

WipEout HD Fury

I’ve found another multiplayer game that I can get behind playing online, thanks to Metal_Gear_Sunny’s WipEout Wednesdays. If you got the time on Wednesdays at about 8 pm Eastern, play some WipEout HD.

Jet Grind Radio

Just replaying it whenever I’m feeling bored. That game is just so bright and colorful. That’s kinda what symbolizes the Dreamcast for me. Lots of bright colors.

Sam & Max Complete Pack

All 3 seasons of Sam & Max, purchased during the Steam sale. I have not started playing these yet, but I’m going to this week. It feels a little weird to be finally checking out these Telltale adventure games when everyone is showing fatigue on the formula. Super late to the party, I guess?

In Conclusion

The first entry in a series of blogs I have yet to fully name has finished. Seriously though, if anyone has a better name idea for this blog, shout it out. I would much appreciate it because I can’t come up with anything really good.

Or maybe I’ll just stick with what I have now if that ends up working fine. Who knows? Just give me some suggestions, please.

Anyway, thanks for reading, and thanks to people like JJWeatherman, Sparklykiss, and other duders on GB whose blogs inspired me to do this. Expect to see more developing impressions of Star Ocean next week (?), and some other games as well. The newest entry will be posted next Sunday at the earliest, or whenever during next week. Peace.

I lack the creative capacity to come up with a good blog title, so here you go.

Anyhoo, hey, welcome to the start of what I hope to be a regular series of blogs every week, because dang it I have enough free time that I should be writing these things and not slack off playing video games all day. Instead, I will continue to play video games all day while setting aside some time to write up what I think about this wonderful entertainment medium we are all so invested in. Some games will range from modern, to old school, to whatever has me interested at the moment. Oh, and maybe a small segment that talks about other things in my life just to show I’m not wasting my time away on just video games.

Speaking of which, let’s quickly address what’s going on with me in the wonderful land that is Alaska.

Real Life

Summer is about halfway over for me. Starting tomorrow, my parents are taking a vacation to their potential future retirement home in Equador. That leaves me and my sister in charge of the house, and surely a 17 year old high school student like me is responsible enough to keep the house clean and stay on top of other responsibilities, right? Well, maybe not everyone my age, but definitely me.

So from the 11 to the 29, no parents around the house. I consider that a vacation unto itself. Heck, nothing ever changes when I’m the only one in the house. When the cat’s away, the mouse is just left alone. Except now I get a lot more time on the PS3 since my folks won’t be around to use the TV that the system’s hooked up to. Speaking of PS3...

GAMES!!!!

With so much time to myself for the next 3 weeks, I thought, “AG, you should get an RPG on the PS3 to keep you busy. You already know what to expect whenever you play Oblivion or Morrowind, try something new.” So I heeded my conscience and looked for some recommendations for PS3 RPGs…from Japan. I have not played a really good JRPG in a long time, the last one being Kingdom Hearts II. Which is funny, because there was a lot about that game from the story and characters that was pretty dumb, yet the game play was fun and engaging. A few months ago I had tried to go through Final Fantasy XIII, but to no avail, due to the game’s super longwinded and boring pacing.

So what did I choose as my JRPG? If you couldn’t tell from the banner, the game is Star Ocean The Last Hope International. The game did not require any knowledge of the series from me, other than the game has real time combat, takes 30-40 hours to complete, and is filled with many JRPG tropes, both good and bad. With the International version, I was pleased to see there was an option to use the original Japanese voice track, which I did not hesitate to select, because not surprisingly, the English dub isn’t good.

As of this writing, I have put several hours into Star Ocean, and so far, I am enjoying it for what it is. The combat is definitely the highlight, which is something the series has been praised for from what I’ve heard. The environments are well detailed, and the way the game progresses is as traditional as it gets for JRPGs. There are treasure chests and other objects littered around the maps, and the places are pretty huge. Yet as much as I have enjoyed the game so far, the many trappings of a JRPG are very much present, mostly in the characters.

The protagonist, Edge Maverick, is a cocky and brash person, and while I much prefer that type of character over the recycled Cloud Strife personality, Edge still isn’t very original. Reimi Saionji is super predictable as well, being the childhood friend of Edge who tries to steer him in the right direction. I’m sure you can figure out which personality in another series she most resembles. All the characters behaviors, their mannerisms, the basic plot, starting from something small that throws our heroes into a much bigger adventure, you look at it and go, “oh yeah, this is a JRPG.”

As much as that stuff isn’t totally original and mind blowing, it’s not horrid either. Edge is still an okay character for not being yet another Cloud Strife (well, except for the blond hair). Everyone else is okay too. The combat is still what motivates me to continue, along with exploring the environments, and what I hope to be a plethora of side quests to complete later on, something that Final Fantasy XIII lacked. Well, actually the combat was good in that too, I guess. Just took too long to get really good like everything else.

tl,dr version if you’re too lazy: Star Ocean The Last Hope International is okay, so far.

I’ve had a Dreamcast for a year and a half now. First game I got with mine was Jet Grind Radio, second was Tony Hawk’s Pro Skater 2, one of the rare instances of me owning a multiplatform game, and then Crazy Taxi last summer. Almost a year later I now have my fourth Dreamcast game: Shenmue.

You’re either thinking “Great purchase!” or “ugh, why?” I’m quite aware of how divisive this game is, so I needed to see which side I would go with, the fans or the haters. As of right now, I can’t say for sure, but from what little I’ve played, it’s…different.

The game controls weird, which I sort of expected when I heard you use the D-Pad to move and the Analog stick to move your head, but I didn’t expect it to control this weird. The start button brings up a help menu, which is certainly helpful (forgive me) in spots, but then there’s the Y button for the “pause” menu, although time continues on. Then there’s the inverted page turning controls for your note book and the awkward means of looking at and selecting items in the environment. Clumsily walking around Ryo Hazuki’s room was a bit painful.

I don’t need to say much about the voice acting that isn’t already known. I’ll say though I can tolerate it more when it’s part of a cutscene and not a conversation with a random resident of Yokosuka.

The bulk of my first half hour or so of playing was spent on a fabulous time waster that makes my desire to go to Japan even stronger: Capsule machines!

I spent the first thousand yen in my pocket on the Virtua Fighter capsule machine, and then another thousand on the SEGA machine. It was definitely the most interesting part of my time playing the game so far.

It kinda sounds like I’m ragging on the game, and maybe I am. There are some weird things about the game and its slow, methodical pacing and controls. But I definitely want to play more of it. I have already seen the whole story on Youtube, but not the stuff in between. And for good reason, because watching someone else play the game would be boring, regardless of who it was. I’m just glad I bought this game not only as another addition to my Dreamcast collection, but also to get the full context of the story by exploring every nook and cranny of this world that Yu Suzuki built.

tl,dr: Shenmue feels weird, but I want to keep going through it.

Those two games aren’t the only things I’ve been playing. Here I give quick little thoughts on other games that I’m playing.

WipEout HD Fury

I’ve found another multiplayer game that I can get behind playing online, thanks to Metal_Gear_Sunny’s WipEout Wednesdays. If you got the time on Wednesdays at about 8 pm Eastern, play some WipEout HD.

Jet Grind Radio

Just replaying it whenever I’m feeling bored. That game is just so bright and colorful. That’s kinda what symbolizes the Dreamcast for me. Lots of bright colors.

Sam & Max Complete Pack

All 3 seasons of Sam & Max, purchased during the Steam sale. I have not started playing these yet, but I’m going to this week. It feels a little weird to be finally checking out these Telltale adventure games when everyone is showing fatigue on the formula. Super late to the party, I guess?

In Conclusion

The first entry in a series of blogs I have yet to fully name has finished. Seriously though, if anyone has a better name idea for this blog, shout it out. I would much appreciate it because I can’t come up with anything really good.

Or maybe I’ll just stick with what I have now if that ends up working fine. Who knows? Just give me some suggestions, please.

Anyway, thanks for reading, and thanks to people like JJWeatherman, Sparklykiss, and other duders on GB whose blogs inspired me to do this. Expect to see more developing impressions of Star Ocean next week (?), and some other games as well. The newest entry will be posted next Sunday at the earliest, or whenever during next week. Peace.

Anyway, thanks for reading, and thanks to people like JJWeatherman, Sparklykiss, and other duders on GB whose blogs inspired me to do this.

I'm going to assume that my blog about breadless sandwiches deserves all the credit.

@Video_Game_King: Yes.

@Aronman789: Whatever you want.

@Video_Game_King: Yes.

@Aronman789: Whatever you want.

Yeah, best let the King win.

your name shoudl be like my blog.

Love Star Ocean:Last Hope.   Very much a JRPG and ya gotta love it for that. 
Looking forward to more blog posts and MY visit to Japan so I can be immersed in the culture that made me the VGDunce I am today!!!!

Cool blog, dude. I actually kinda dig the title as it is; it's silly, but kinda works. I'm glad I played even a small part in inspiring you to do this.

When the cat’s away, the mouse is just left alone.

You sound a lot like me. :P

As far as the game's you've been playing, Star Ocean's on my list of things to get to. It seems cool, and I enjoy a good RPG from time to time. The last one I played was Lost Odyssey, so I could probably go for another one soon. I would also love to play Shenmue. It seems like one of the more interesting games put out on the Dreamcast. I never owned a Dreamcast, so maybe one day I'll pick one up and play everything from Shenmue to Powerstone. One of these days!

Last thing: I wish I could participate in the Wipeout night that Metal Gear Sunny set up. It seems like fun, but I don't own a PS3, so sadly I can't take part. Don't you hate money and not having it? I sure do.

Keep on blogging, man.