Yeah...back from the dead/unexpected hiatus, I guess. There's been a lot of stuff going on in the last two months.

GAMES!!!!

There are several games that I had been playing up to the start of this week, and they don't have an individual banner for each.

Hyperdimension Neptunia Victory

The game I had planned to write about after my last entry, though it was taking longer than expected to play, between having classes and the fact that the PS3 is not personally mine so I could only play during the early mornings or late at night. Even then, due to circumstances in the last few weeks I was unable to finish the game and I sent it back to Gamefly. It's kinda weird that just like the other Neptunia games I had to leave this one unfinished, because Victory is pretty great. The gameplay is an incremental improvement over mk2, and the writing is absolutely hilarious. Not as surprising like mk2 was (or shocking in a "how the hell did this get released here" kind of way), but still good for a JRPG made on a small budget. Maybe sometime in the summer I'll get the game and finish it up, because of how close I was to the end. I left off just before the end boss of Chapter 9, and had Chapter 10 after that.

Gundam Breaker Beta

During Neptunia Victory, I decided to make a visit to the Japanese PSN store after learning about a beta for a Gundam game. The short, reductive description of this game is that it's Gundam plastic model kits with Armored Core style customization in a Phantasy Star Online kind of structure. Gameplay wise, it feels a bit sluggish and stiff, but the part that made it enjoyable for me was the loot aspect. You get blueprints for different Gundam parts during missions, and when you're in the hub you can turn the blueprints into parts that can be used to customize your Gundam. Not only do they change the Gundam's appearance and stats similar to Armored Core, some weapon parts will let you choose which special attacks you want assigned to your Gundam. Although they don't dramatically change the way the game plays, the concept of customizing your attacks based on your equipment is pretty cool. Still, it's no Another Century's Episode, but I didn't dislike my time with the game. Might get the full game in the future.

Another Century's Episode 2

Speaking of Another Century's Episode, I decided to play ACE 2 after my time with Gundam Breaker, and the gameplay is something I absolutely love. Most mecha games we ever see here lean towards the "real" aspect of it, being slow and cumbersome. ACE by comparison is super fast. Though that doesn't mean it doesn't feel like a mech. There's a turn radius for each robot to take into account, and while use of boosting is pretty liberal, there is a limit on the amount that can be done. Though the biggest appeal of ACE of course is the licensed giant robot series and how they are represented in the game. They are all to scale, and they have the abilities you'd expect if you had seen the series they are from. Obviously the license stuff is the reason why we'll never see it outside of Japan, but the gameplay concept of a fast paced mecha game is something I'd love to see more of.

Rayman Legends Challenges App

I've not been using it much as of late, but for a while this thing had me turning on my Wii U for a good few weeks. The Challenges App has the three levels from the demo (the awesome Castle Rock level included), and then there's the challenges section. Each day there is a new challenge that takes place in one of four levels, and the challenges are either collect X number of lums quickly, reach the finish line, or just run as far as you can before dying. Gameplay is pretty fun, and I really want the full game now. Such a delightful style it has.

Virtua Fighter 4 Evolution

Virtua Fighter is the one fighting game series I can get the most enjoyment out of. 2D fighters don't really do anything for me, and most 3D fighters have felt lacking to me. The simple controls and depth of the systems in Virtua Fighter are damn near perfect. I only wish I had a fight stick for the PS3 so I could play VF5 Final Showdown. Until then, I just have this PS2 fight stick and Virtua Fighter 4 Evolution. Which isn't necessarily bad, since it has the awesome Quest Mode and a tutorial mode that not even Final Showdown has matched, or any fighting game for that matter. It has plenty of single player content that isn't a story mode, and in ways has made me feel like I've improved in the game.

What Else I've Been Up To

Well, a lot has been going on. For start, I finished my first year of college. It's weird, when the fall semester started, I was kinda looking forward to having a change of pace from high school. By the end of the spring semester, I felt way more tired than I was at the end of high school and desperately wanted it to be over. But when it was over, I had to start focusing on things that weren't sit on my ass and play games and enjoy summer break. Instead, I had to start filling out job applications and going to places to meet with managers, something I am not fond of, and get stressed out with my parents constantly being on my case about it.

The second big thing I had to do was work on a summer assignment for school. In the fall, I'm going to be moving down to Redmond, Washington and attend DigiPen, majoring in a BA in Game Design. This prospect is absolutely exciting for me as I've wanted to make video games for the longest time. Even with the tools available now that could let me make games or game content, I'm not the best at self teaching myself stuff that would require a huge time investment. So until I start my freshman year there, I have to work on a summer art assignment, which is fine by me as I've been doing a lot of drawing again. I had a drawing class this last semester and that has had me going through paper and pencils that I had not been since high school.

Needless to say, with these two tasks, I didn't have much time, or much motivation for that matter, to play video games. The free time I had was spent watching giant robot anime from a list of series I compiled that I felt I should watch for the purpose of understanding what the hell is going on in the Super Robot Wars games. This had started near the end of the spring semester and when I decided to re watch G Gundam, but it really started in earnest when summer started. Needless to say, I have already gone through G Gundam, Mazinkaiser SKL, Getter Robo Armageddon, Shin Mazinger Shougeki Z-Hen, Macross Frontier, Gunbuster, and the first season of Gundam 00. I'm currently in the middle of Gundam 00 Season 2, and as of right now, the time I've been spending on my robot anime has been less, but the whole thing has been enjoyable. The shows I've seen have all ranged from amazing to fairly good.

As of now, I am 3/4 through my summer assignment, and I finally have a job that I'll be starting on Monday. It's the same place I worked at last year, Michaels Arts & Crafts, and most of it involves me being there at 5 in the morning, but at least it's a job. I'll be able to make money, both to put into savings and to buy more games. Also, me starting my job this Monday coincides with my parents going to Equador for vacation and my sister going to Virginia for a friend's wedding, so I'll be working AND have the house to myself. In a way I feel my summer vacation has finally started in earnest, as I'll have some peace in this house and not have anyone bother me.

Oh, one last thing, during my hiatus I also have been on the Giant Bomb Community Podcast. In a way, doing this probably the first thing responsible for me dropping this blog for so long, but it has been pretty fun. I had been a guest on a couple podcasts around the internet, though it's nice to be part of one for a site whose community I dig. I had been thinking of my appearances on the podcast being my contribution to the community instead of this blog, but after thinking about it, I'd be fine still doing both. Besides, I'm not on every episode anyway.

In Conclusion

Yeah, that's what has been up with me since my last post. A lot of busy real life things took place, I mostly dropped video games in favor of anime, and as of today everything is back in equilibrium. Even so, I had originally planned on making this post my last entry of [insert title]. Not the end of me blogging in general, but just retiring the name.

So here's what I'm going to do. For the summer, I am returning this blog to the weekly schedule I had started with. Now that I have an income, I can put some of that towards more games and I don't have to worry too much about other projects that take up my entire day. When I move down to Redmond and get settled there, which will be some time in late August, that will be the end of [insert title].

Until then, I'll just keep writing these blog entries the way I have always been. Even if no one comments, I've got no problem just getting my thoughts written down in some way.

Peace.

Spring break is over and I'm back to doing college work. Not stopping me from playing video games, though.

GAMES!!!!

I had actually played this game last year, but not all of it. The disc I got from Gamefly would lock up at the end of Act 2, so that was as far as I had played. A few weeks back the game became free for Playstation Plus members, so I made sure to get it immediately. After finishing Metal Gear Rising, my next plan was to play through this game. Certainly it would be done quickly given the length of the game, though I was sidetracked by other things that I only got around to finishing the last two acts yesterday. Regardless, I've played through the whole game and I like it a lot.

I very much dislike dual analog controls for shooters. They just never feel as good as a mouse and keyboard for these type of games. Very often I find myself rushing up to guys and punching them to death because I can't rely on the controls to provide good aiming (Uncharted 3 comes to mind where I used the melee A LOT). Vanquish, oddly enough, feels really good. I mean, I still would prefer having a mouse to aim and stuff like that, but for what the game is, Vanquish probably has the best controls in a TPS I've ever played. The game itself moves very fast, yet you are able to use slo-mo to allow for a finer aiming and stuff. It's all very impressive.

One thing I really like about this game, and it partially comes from the development blogs for the game on Platinum's site, is the game's influences. Mikami had stated in the past that Casshern was an inspiration for Vanquish, that he wanted to make a game like that. Obviously it's a shooter, and most people unfamiliar with old school anime wouldn't recognize it, but there are moments that evoke that seem sense of speed and mobility that Casshern has. Sam moves incredibly fast, and flips out of everything. The Casshern influence is most noticeable in the quick time events involving bosses. More graceful diving and flipping through the air while taking on gigantic robots. If that robot dog concept actually made it into the game, the resemblance to Casshern would have been more awesome.

I had briefly mentioned the bosses, and that was one part that was especially fun. It is a weird thing to say that, because boss fights in shooters are incredibly hard to make fun, because of the nature of the game and the limited actions you have, unlike a character action game. Yeah, you still shoot and take cover in Vanquish, but you have the ability to boost, slow down time, throw grenades and shoot them in midair, and all the while, the game continues moving at an incredibly fast pace that makes them feel exhilarating especially with the final boss(es). Almost makes me think western game designers don't know shit about good boss designs. Kind of a shame really, since I can't think of any good bosses in a western game I've played recently.

It really is interesting how Shinji Mikami, whose known for survival horror with Resident Evil, is able to make really great action games that don't feel anything like their contemporaries. RE4 had the laser sights and it's slow, methodical combat that was very rewarding, God Hand took the RE4 engine and turned it into a bizarre character action game that controls well, and now Vanquish allows you to move at high speeds while slowing things way down in a cover based third person shooter. It all feels really unique, and even if Zwei is the last project Mikami says he's going to direct, I hope he still finds himself involved in other games that have a unique take on action.

And the Rest

Legend of Zelda Skyward Sword

I told myself when I got a Wii U that I would replay through my Wii games because I did not feel like going through the transfer save process. Played through Skyward Sword again, and felt like I got more out of it by not going for the minimum path. And then playing a few hours of Twilight Princess afterwards for comparison made me appreciate Skyward Sword a hell of a lot more. There was quite a bigger difference than I had remembered.

Diablo

I had bought a Diablo battle chest several months ago in a store I frequently finished, so I decided to open it up finally and start playing. Cool thing about all this is Diablo 1 is now the second game I've used my Windows 95 Virtual Machine for. Oh, and the game is neat. It's old and dated, but it's still neat.

Other Things

Last week was me spending more time playing video games and watching the VGCW during spring break. The latter was becoming something of an addiction, but now classes have kinda stopped that for me, otherwise I'd be performing way worse and not doing my work. It's so dumb, but fun to watch. Especially with a chat to go alongside it so you can see people's reactions as events happen.

Biggest news to come out since my last post, however, is that I have been accepted in DigiPen. I had completed my application about a month prior and was just waiting on whether or not it would be approved. With that news, not only will I be going to the school I ACTUALLY wanted to go to instead of UAA, but now I can plan for another trip to PAX because I'll be in Washington state anyway. Very exciting news all around for me.

Conclusion

And that is it for this week's entry. It'll be another two weeks, but since Hyperdimension Neptunia Victory just shipped from Gamefly yesterday, I'll be able to fill that time in between posts to play the game and write about it next time. Perhaps the same for Diablo 1. Again, we'll see in two weeks.

Peace.

Spring break is over and I'm back to doing college work. Not stopping me from playing video games, though.

GAMES!!!!

I had actually played this game last year, but not all of it. The disc I got from Gamefly would lock up at the end of Act 2, so that was as far as I had played. A few weeks back the game became free for Playstation Plus members, so I made sure to get it immediately. After finishing Metal Gear Rising, my next plan was to play through this game. Certainly it would be done quickly given the length of the game, though I was sidetracked by other things that I only got around to finishing the last two acts yesterday. Regardless, I've played through the whole game and I like it a lot.

I very much dislike dual analog controls for shooters. They just never feel as good as a mouse and keyboard for these type of games. Very often I find myself rushing up to guys and punching them to death because I can't rely on the controls to provide good aiming (Uncharted 3 comes to mind where I used the melee A LOT). Vanquish, oddly enough, feels really good. I mean, I still would prefer having a mouse to aim and stuff like that, but for what the game is, Vanquish probably has the best controls in a TPS I've ever played. The game itself moves very fast, yet you are able to use slo-mo to allow for a finer aiming and stuff. It's all very impressive.

One thing I really like about this game, and it partially comes from the development blogs for the game on Platinum's site, is the game's influences. Mikami had stated in the past that Casshern was an inspiration for Vanquish, that he wanted to make a game like that. Obviously it's a shooter, and most people unfamiliar with old school anime wouldn't recognize it, but there are moments that evoke that seem sense of speed and mobility that Casshern has. Sam moves incredibly fast, and flips out of everything. The Casshern influence is most noticeable in the quick time events involving bosses. More graceful diving and flipping through the air while taking on gigantic robots. If that robot dog concept actually made it into the game, the resemblance to Casshern would have been more awesome.

I had briefly mentioned the bosses, and that was one part that was especially fun. It is a weird thing to say that, because boss fights in shooters are incredibly hard to make fun, because of the nature of the game and the limited actions you have, unlike a character action game. Yeah, you still shoot and take cover in Vanquish, but you have the ability to boost, slow down time, throw grenades and shoot them in midair, and all the while, the game continues moving at an incredibly fast pace that makes them feel exhilarating especially with the final boss(es). Almost makes me think western game designers don't know shit about good boss designs. Kind of a shame really, since I can't think of any good bosses in a western game I've played recently.

It really is interesting how Shinji Mikami, whose known for survival horror with Resident Evil, is able to make really great action games that don't feel anything like their contemporaries. RE4 had the laser sights and it's slow, methodical combat that was very rewarding, God Hand took the RE4 engine and turned it into a bizarre character action game that controls well, and now Vanquish allows you to move at high speeds while slowing things way down in a cover based third person shooter. It all feels really unique, and even if Zwei is the last project Mikami says he's going to direct, I hope he still finds himself involved in other games that have a unique take on action.

And the Rest

Legend of Zelda Skyward Sword

I told myself when I got a Wii U that I would replay through my Wii games because I did not feel like going through the transfer save process. Played through Skyward Sword again, and felt like I got more out of it by not going for the minimum path. And then playing a few hours of Twilight Princess afterwards for comparison made me appreciate Skyward Sword a hell of a lot more. There was quite a bigger difference than I had remembered.

Diablo

I had bought a Diablo battle chest several months ago in a store I frequently finished, so I decided to open it up finally and start playing. Cool thing about all this is Diablo 1 is now the second game I've used my Windows 95 Virtual Machine for. Oh, and the game is neat. It's old and dated, but it's still neat.

Other Things

Last week was me spending more time playing video games and watching the VGCW during spring break. The latter was becoming something of an addiction, but now classes have kinda stopped that for me, otherwise I'd be performing way worse and not doing my work. It's so dumb, but fun to watch. Especially with a chat to go alongside it so you can see people's reactions as events happen.

Biggest news to come out since my last post, however, is that I have been accepted in DigiPen. I had completed my application about a month prior and was just waiting on whether or not it would be approved. With that news, not only will I be going to the school I ACTUALLY wanted to go to instead of UAA, but now I can plan for another trip to PAX because I'll be in Washington state anyway. Very exciting news all around for me.

Conclusion

And that is it for this week's entry. It'll be another two weeks, but since Hyperdimension Neptunia Victory just shipped from Gamefly yesterday, I'll be able to fill that time in between posts to play the game and write about it next time. Perhaps the same for Diablo 1. Again, we'll see in two weeks.

Peace.

No classes for a week, which means more time to play video games. Yay!

GAMES!!!!

Man, this is the reason why I play video games in the first place. Fun. Metal Gear Rising is pretty damn fun. I’ve played through the game 4 and a half times, and if I didn’t have to send it back to Gamefly in order to get Hyperdimension Neptunia Victory, I’d definitely keep going. Even then, I still got my fill for this game, playing through it on normal, hard, hard again with S-Ranking every chapter, and normal again with the wooden sword. And then half way through the game on Very Hard. For as short as the actual game time is, it sure is extremely replayable. And that’s not counting the VR Missions or going through as many codec calls as possible.

I’ve found myself enjoying this game a lot more than I was expecting to, and I was looking forward to this game for a while on the basis of it being developed by Platinum and those devs know how to make action. It’s only fairly recently that I have tried pushing myself to go deeper with these character action games, replaying DMC3 on higher difficulties and playing Ninja Gaiden again after several years (although not the same version, still the same core game). With DMC3 I got farther on Normal than I did last year, and Ninja Gaiden I played as far as defeating Alma. I’m more interested these days in digging deeper into the mechanics than just playing to get through the game.

While Blade Mode is the game’s most recognizable gameplay feature going all the way back to when Rising was KojiPro’s game, the parry mechanic and the focus on efficiency in combat is very cool. It has that Ninja Gaiden feel of quickly and effectively dispatching of enemies with each encounter, along with a focus on maintaining a strong defense. The difference of course (in comparison to NG1, 2 being more offensive focused from what I’ve heard) being that you maintain defense through putting pressure on enemies rather than waiting for an opening to strike. Even the dodge move works as an attack too, not surprising given the name Defensive Offence.

The most impressive part about the game for me though has been the boss battles. Bosses in DmC were piss poor, and no amount of visual flair and ridiculousness can excuse them. Metal Gear Rising however has EXCELLENT boss battles. In fact, they’re probably the best fights I’ve encountered in these kind of games. Jeanne and Vergil are still at the very top no doubt about it, but most of Rising’s bosses are pretty high up there. Monsoon in particular is my personal favorite. The buildup with the only good instance of Jack the Ripper, the music that kicks in, and the boss testing your parrying abilities as far as possible is just so goddamn exhilarating. Best of all is that it’s a humanoid boss. Even with the best designed gigantic boss, they still don’t compare to going head to head with someone your size. And they make up a majority of the bosses, which is almost an inverse proportion to the bosses in Bayonetta, where everyone you fought with the exception of Jeanne was humongous.

It’s really fun and great game that makes me want a sequel so much. Not just to fix issues like the camera among other things, but to expand on these concepts with a full development time. Considering Platinum had less than two years to make this game, the final quality of the game is very surprising. I’d go as far to say this is the second best game Platinum has made. Obviously that may change depending on how Wonderful 101 and Bayonetta 2 will end up (no doubt they’ll be fun), but for now this is definitely one of my favorite things Platinum has made.

And the Rest

Retro City Rampage

A friend of mine who runs a website asked me if I’d like a code for Retro City Rampage so I could play and review it for his site. Figured why not, as I’d be getting a game for free and would probably be an easy run through for the weekend. So far game is pretty neat. It’s weird that I did not grow up during the time most of the things referenced were popular, yet I recognize them instantly.

Vanquish

I would’ve set aside a spot for more in depth thoughts on Vanquish, but I didn’t get much time to play it because of Rising. I’ll have more time to check it out now, so that’s great.

Other Things

As mentioned at the start, I've got no classes for a week because of spring break. Which is very nice, as the school I went to during high school did not have spring break (it was a private school). Looking forward to the extra time to do more of what I've always done. You know, play video games, and sit at my computer browsing the internet. Sometimes both at the same time.

In Conclusion

And that's it for this week. I feel I gotta put more effort into the sections that aren't me talking about specific video games, like the introduction and stuff. Probably doesn't help that I stayed up until quarter to 3 in the morning and that I'm super tired right now. Why the hell am I rambling about this anyway? Whatever. Expect detailed impressions on Vanquish in the next entry.

Peace.

One of these games kinda feel like a distant memory because of what I'm playing now, but they're still significant enough for me to write in depth thoughts. Kind of a downside to doing this blog bi-weekly, I guess. Also hey, first blog entry on the new site!

GAMES!!!!

During the period inbetween playing DmC and waiting for Rising, I decided to check out Ninja Gaiden Sigma. It had been several years since I had last played the first Ninja Gaiden in any form. I remember playing Black with a friend and the game just severely kicking our asses. My friend was able to get past Murai, but none of us could beat Dynamo at the end of chapter 3. While I wish I had a means to play Ninja Gaiden Black, I figured Sigma wouldn't be bad to settle on for now, because any version of Ninja Gaiden would still be a good game.

Several years after not playing a Ninja Gaiden game, and with the increase in my video game skills, I held my own surprisingly well through my time with the game. You're finger is almost always on that block button and provides a very strong defense from all directions. Combat still felt very satisfying, and controlling Ryu with his different acrobatic feats are incredibly slick and fun to use. While I did not complete the game as I needed to send the game back to Gamefly in time for Rising, I did beat Alma, who is one of the most notorious bosses in the game. I definitely felt like there wasn't anything in this game I couldn't handle. Challenging for sure, but never felt unmanageable or cheap, aside from the occasional off hand explosive projectile perhaps.

There are things that definitely felt out of place and not as polished as the base game. There are some minor tweaks like extra enemy encounters (the game starts with you being immediately assaulted by a ninja), but major stuff includes an extra segment at the end of chapter 2, and missions where you play as Rachel. Playing as Rachel wasn't especially fun. She obviously is not the same as Ryu, but playing as a much slower and heavier character isn't the sort of thing I want when playing this game. Especially since those missions are required and can't be skipped. It clashes with the pace and feel unnecessary as part of the main game.

The game does look pretty good. It's not the most detailed looking game this gen for sure, but it's certainly not ugly. I look at images and video of the game on the original Xbox and it still holds up pretty well there. Sigma definitely looks prettier than Black, and it runs at consistently at 60 FPS which is always important for this kind of game. I very much enjoyed my brief time with Sigma, and while I still wish I could have the definitive version of the game, playing this version wasn't a bad choice. Again, any version of Ninja Gaiden is still a good game.

I tend to think of myself as a huge MegaTen fan, although I really haven’t played a whole lot of the games. I played all the way through Persona 3 FES and Digital Devil Saga and loved them a lot, but I haven’t really given that much time to other games in the franchise (I keep reminding myself I need to play DDS 2). The other game I tried in the franchise was Persona on PSP, and that was kinda rough to go through. Even so, what those games are doing I can admire as someone who is more interested in the western approach to RPGs. The games have had really dark and interesting themes, and the stories and characters have actually been really good. I got into Persona 3 because of watching the P4 Endurance Run, and Digital Devil Saga was basically a standard JRPG but with a fantastic setting and characters, not to mention the excellent Press Turn combat system.

I love the games I’ve played in the franchise, but they were all spin offs of the main line games. Just out of the blue I decided to try out the original Shin Megami Tensei with the Aeon Genesis English translation. To be fair, I was struggling to think of what other game I’d write about this week besides Ninja Gaiden, so I guess this came out of that. Anyway, the game is rather interesting, as it’s sort of the best thing I can say in regards to an old game that has clearly been surpassed by later entries. It’s certainly not a terrible game, as I’ve already made more progress than I expected, and the design does not feel like a sort of unrefined mash up of game concepts like Persona 1. The game is always in first person except when on the world map, you persuade demons to join your party, you fuse demons to make more powerful demons, you take turns in battle, and you have random encounters up the ass. It may be hard to play through, difficulty and age wise, but at least it focuses on a few key concepts and doesn’t make them more complicated than they need to be.

I generally dislike random encounters in RPGs, while I have tolerated them in DDS because of the combat system making them quick & fun, not to mention everything else in that game driving me forward. This rate of random encounters in SMT 1 is still very high, but the part that makes it somewhat tolerable for me is that the game doesn’t transition to a separate battle screen. It all takes place in the same first person view you are in when exploring a dungeon. Of course the exception is on the world map which is an overhead 2D view. At that point, the view switches to first person in order to fight the enemies.

One of the defining game mechanics of SMT people know is demon negotiation. This wasn’t present in DDS or Persona 3, but it did exist in Persona 1, though instead of the demon in the party you got its card. That negation system works mostly the same as the one in SMT 1, and that is it being a lot of trial and error. There really isn’t anything in the way of tells in order to gain favor with the demons, and analyzing the demon doesn’t really give you much other than stats and alignment. More often than not…actually I’d say pretty much all successful demon negotiations I felt were a result of being lucky. Especially when they start bargaining you for stuff to convinced them to join your side. They just might ask for an item you don’t have in your inventory, and at that point you’ve lost.

In terms of difficulty, the game hasn’t been too bad in that regard. Persona 1 got frustrating at a point because of how that battle system was designed and how you were pretty much dead if your party got ambushed from behind. There isn’t really anything of that sort, no positioning party members and all that nonsense. If anything, the difficulty is manageable for a period of time and then spikes up considerably. Happened once when I made it to Shinjuku, and then again after the Great Destruction. Difficulty ramps up, but it doesn’t feel like a smooth, gradual increase.

At this point I might as well keep playing, assuming I don’t forget it and get side tracked by other titles. It gets brutal, as there’s always the chance of some random battle being unwinnable due to your whole party being frozen or afflicted by some horrible status ailment. But it’s interesting to play from an academic standpoint, and the English translation is pretty decent. Favorite part about it has been the American soldiers and ambassadors speaking terrible English, no doubt the original version being they spoke horrible Japanese, being foreigners and all. Very intriguing game.

And the Rest

Metal Gear Rising Revengeance

I probably could've swapped out Ninja Gaiden Sigma for this as I've now completed two playthroughs, but I wanna try and wring out every last bit of content I possibly can before doing a full write. Game has been extremely fun, the boss fights especially.

Other Things

I have been making progress towards applying to DigiPen. Transcripts requested, letters of recommendation sent to previous employers and academic advisers, whole lot of stuff. All that's left now is to put together an art portfolio, and hopefully jumping through all these different hopes will get me accepted.

Classes are doing well for me, with the exception of Physics. It's been way harder than I expected, and very time consuming. I can't just drop the class because I'm on a scholarship that requires me to have 12 credits this semester, and I don't know what I'd replace that class with if I were to drop. Just stick with it to the end, I guess.

Conclusion

And that's it for this week. Next blog will be a double dose of Platinum games, not just because I'm playing and loving the hell out of Rising, but also Vanquish became free on Playstation Plus this week. Last time I played the game I couldn't proceed to Act 3 because the disc would keep locking up. Now I can finally see the whole thing. Should be tons of fun.

Also, one thing I like about making blogs on the new site is that I no longer have to do this in order to center my banners.

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Peace.

I am too damn tired to come up with a proper introduction.

GAMES!!!!

I’m not the most hardcore Devil May Cry fan out there, but I definitely have an appreciation for the series, and a very strong love for Devil May Cry 3 in particular. Playing the PS2 DMC games last year along with Bayonetta, and then playing Ninja Gaiden Sigma and the Metal Gear Rising demo made me realize I absolutely love character action games, in the same way I love SHMUPs. The gameplay is front and center, and when it’s great, and all the surrounding elements of the game do well to complement the gameplay and in balance, it’s really something special.

For DmC, I went into it with as open a mind as possible, because I like the old games but not enough to be in the crowd that actively wished for the game to fail miserably. Going only by the general consensus in the official Neogaf thread, I felt somewhat prepared for what the game would have in store. The opening cutscenes and first level was a very promising, even exciting start to the game. The shifting environments were really cool, the gameplay and moves were very close to how they behaved in the old games, and the presentation, while not necessarily digging all the Combichrist tracks and Dante’s debauchery, the style is very bold and Ninja Theory commits to it all the way through the game. Not everything about it is likeable to me, but I give them props to sticking with something so clearly different.

But then the game continued. And other elements were introduced. And then things kinda dulled. But there were spikes where the game did something really neat and amazing. And then it dropped off as sharp as it went up. Needless to say, by the end of the game I was not excited at all about the idea of replaying the game again for 100% completion. With all that underlying potential and the very promising opening, the experience came off as rather disappointing.

This isn’t me so much being disappointed as a Devil May Cry fan, as there are certainly issues with it that are specific to that franchise, but rather disappointed as a fan of this genre. Things like the color coded enemies and Angel & Demon weapons seem like good ideas on paper, but their execution ended up restricting combo potential, and the busted style system didn’t make it that much better. The structure of the levels and progression, while really impressive and cool the first run through, ended up keeping me from wanting to do subsequent runs. Things like walking through the Virility factory with Kat and then the levels where the Order’s base is being stormed by SWAT Those and other moments that were set up to further convey the story had me questioning what the hell kind of game I was playing. I wanna fight demons, not go through this Uncharted-esque nonsense, and I love Uncharted. Just not in this kind of game.

Story is ultimately the biggest disappointment in this game, given Ninja Theory’s pedigree with this stuff. The only other game I’ve played from them was Enslaved and I enjoyed its story with the exception of the ending that almost destroyed the story that came before it for me. The story here is not that much better than past DMC stories, but the promise about it being greater than what the old games have done actually makes it way worse. It shouldn’t be hard at all to make a story better than past games, and Ninja Theory couldn’t even succeed on that front when they’ve been able to do it before (makes me think Alex Garland’s role of script supervisor was pretty much ignored). The characters in the story are a real shame in particular. And when I’m saying characters, I mean ones other than Dante. For all that people have complained about it, Dante is the least of the narrative’s problems. Granted, I still prefer previous incarnations of Dante over this one, but this one isn’t as terrible as some of the marketing made it out to be. His character is close to something like DMC 3 Dante in terms of attitude. Interpretation is different of course, but the character’s essence is there.

If anything, this game already has a character that I think is so far, and maybe will be by the end, the worst character of 2013, and that is Vergil.

So the game has a shit story and characters, and the core gameplay is solid, but is bogged down by annoyances throughout. As much as the game disappointed me, I am willing to give Ninja Theory another chance if they make a DmC 2. The potential for something great is in DmC, but everything around it keeps it from being great. Otherwise, I’m more pumped for Metal Gear Rising at this point and I am doing my best to be patient for the next couple weeks until that game comes out.

It’s a visual novel. About dating pigeons. It’s a pigeon dating sim. I am not shitting you, I swear.

I kept telling myself I would write about this game after buying it a few weeks ago but visual novels require me to REALLY focus on getting through them. Because there’s next to no gameplay. I spent several hours getting through a single route in Katawa Shoujo and I have a second route I have yet to finish. I have also not continued Bible Black since last summer, for better or worse. Before playing this game I messed around in the trial version and got an ending where my character was assassinated for failing to become intimate with one of the birds.

The best part about Hatoful Boyfriend (the name of the visual novel I’m writing about, if you didn’t notice) is that playthroughs are short. It takes place over the course of a Japanese school year, but it doesn’t waste any time getting through it. It took me about the same time to complete a single route as it did for me to complete the first act in Katawa Shoujo. And even shorter on subsequent playthroughs because of clicking a button to fast forward through the dialog you’ve already gone through. So I can say that I’ve played through more storylines in this game than in other visual novels.

Still, what exactly is this visual novel, you may ask? Well, you already know it’s about dating pigeons, and you have a wide assortment of pigeons to date as the only human student at St. Pigeonation’s. You’ve got the main character’s childhood friend Ryouta, the narcoleptic math teacher Kazuaki, the reclusive book worm Nageki, the aristocratic prick Sakuya Le Bel Shirogane, the flirtatious Yuuya, the sinister infirmary doctor Shuu, the JRPG obsessed Higure, and Okosan…that last one doesn’t even need a description. Okosan is just Okosan. You go through an entire school year and you can choose to pursue these birds.

It sound super ridiculous on its face, and it’s got plenty of ridiculousness throughout, but there’s actually a rather in depth back story, and some rather tragic moments for all the different routes. Well, except for Okosan’s. If you played through his route only, you’d probably think the whole game was just that kind of nonsense throughout. Conversely, going after Shuu ends up being rather creepy and disturbing. The other routes end in a somewhat bitter sweet manner. And that’s not even covering the Bad Boys Love route, which I have not gotten to yet but is supposed to explain in detail why the hell there’s a school for pigeons and why birds all of a sudden can talk (except Okosan).

I’ve really enjoyed going through this visual novel. It’s such a bizarre concept, and it ends up being a pretty entertaining and dark story rather than being just a joke, although Okosan’s route feels closer to being like a joke because of how crazy things get. I keep mentioning Okosan, because he is my favorite character in the game. Plus Okosan’s portrait is based on the creator’s pet fantail pigeon. However, unlike in game Okosan, real life Okosan does not like pudding.

While I’m at it, if for some reason you don’t want to buy this visual novel then you can just read this let’s play thread that increased awareness of it a couple years back.

And the Rest

Ninja Gaiden Sigma

It’s not Ninja Gaiden Black, but any version of Ninja Gaiden is still a good game.

Other Things

Classes have varied so far. My drawing class has been the most interesting as I'm learning stuff that actually pertains to one of my interests. Physics however turned out harder than expected as I have not done too well on my homework and I just had my first exam in that class this week. Was rather stressful. Not much else of note that was eventful.

In Conclusion

That's all for this week. I know I'll wanna write up more in depth thoughts on Ninja Gaiden Sigma, but I'm not too sure what else I'll want to play while I wait for Metal Gear Rising. That game can't come soon enough.

Peace.

It’s been almost a year since I played I played two excellent PC games, and now I have been playing their sequels. How do they compare to their predecessors?

GAMES!!!!

System Shock was an interesting experience when I played it a little less than a year ago. I had no intention of really beating it, but I ended up completing the game's first couple of objectives and didn't want to stop. The UI was very fascinating and fun to use, and the game was virtually seamless with no sort of dissonance (crude 3D graphics aside). It was a very fun game, and while it made me appreciate Bioshock a bit less, it made me want to play System Shock 2 even more. Now I have played System Shock 2. And what do I think?

It's an awesome game, but it doesn't quite beat the first game. The focus on RPG elements in 2 doesn't necessarily hold it back as much as the engine and what it tries to make you do in the last fifth of the game. The Dark Engine was design for a slow paced game like Thief where confrontation with enemies was not advised. With that said, Body of the Many is a bunch of bullshit with throwing a bunch of Psi Reavers, Arachnids, and Rumblers at you while you have to effectively run around the Many's brain and shoot at it while those enemies are chasing you. And the only way to outrun the enemies chasing you is to run forward, because strafing or going backwards is slower. Terrible, terrible segment. The part after that is only slightly better, but when compared to the climax of System Shock 1, which kept ratcheting things up until the showdown in cyberspace, it's not really impressive.

That said though, everything else about the game before that is really fun. The stuff I loved about the UI in System Shock is mostly retained in 2, with being able to switch between mouselook and HUD mode. Really gives it a sort of tactile feel, but because the HUD is something that pops in and out with a button press, it doesn't feel quite the same as in System Shock 1. The RPG systems are pretty good, and combat is tolerable as, while firing guns looks and feels terrible, they don't seem to be governed by dice rolls. That's one thing it's got over Deus Ex.

A lot like System Shock 1, though, I wasn't really scared while playing the game, despite people saying it's one of the scariest games they've played. There's tension for sure, and some of the stuff you find and audio logs you listen to are a bit too disturbing, just the way that I built out my character on my first run kinda negated any sense of vulnerability. Only on my second playthrough where I chose to go all Psionics only did I start feeling more pressure, specifically in Engineering in the cargo rooms with the exploding droids. That was extremely tense, and I didn't want to take my time looking everywhere for things to pick up, as any droid could show up and destroy me.

It's a very fun game, the story telling and presentation having been carried over by Irrational with Bioshock, and also being Looking Glass Studios' penultimate game. I like it more than Bioshock, but like SS2 SLIGHTLY less than original because of the last fifth being underwhelming. Still great games that people should play.

Thief blew my mind a year ago when I played it and discovered that it absolutely did stealth gameplay better than pretty much any game that has stealth, either as a small segment or in a large capacity. It had a minimalist HUD, yet you had a ton of information to go by from the light gem on your HUD and the very distinct sound effects. Not to mention all the different arrows and tools that let you manipulate that information to your advantage. There's no vision codes, no map with enemies represented as dots, nothing of the sort. When you play Thief, and you listen to the sounds, and are aware of the areas that will conceal you in shadows, and know exactly how to use your tools, you can pull things off with very little trial and error. Yeah, it's not free of trial and error, but frankly, I find that's necessary to an extent, so long as the error is understandable and you know what not to do. And the game a decade in a half old. I normally play old games and enjoy them in a vacuum rather than in a modern context, but that game was just so good even today it impresses me still.

Now we have Thief II: The Metal Age, and this game trumps the first game in every possible way. While Thief Gold is a great game, the missions that weren't as memorable or fun compared to others were ones that didn't have human enemies. Undead and other creatures were not as fun as human enemies. Thief II dispenses with that, except for a couple moments that are primarily optional. Thief II is all about stealing from and outsmarting human characters. It does focus on more specific kinds of missions than Thief's grab bag approach, with stuff like tomb robbing or being in disguise at a Hammerite Temple, but the level of detail in Thief II's levels and the stuff it has you doing are fantastic. The 2nd level has you breaking into a warehouse complex, which has tons of loot and information about characters in the world. Later in the game you go to a Pagan village, which has beastmen that are basically reskinned humans, so those get a pass. The neat part about that mission is where you see ghostly images of the Pagans that inhabited the place before the Mechanists invaded and killed them.

But the best level, the absolute best level in Thief II: The Metal Age is Life of the Party. I had heard many good things about this level, and it did not disappoint me at all. This is the level you go to for the best representation of what the Thief games are about. Running around the city and infiltrating Angelwatch, both of which could easily have been their own levels but fit together so nicely. And then there are NPC conversations and world details that are some of the most memorable in the game. From the Rothchilds' complaining about not being invited to Angelwatch (when the guest list suggests it was perhaps misplaced), to the fight that breaks between the guards serving Lady Van Vernon and Master Willy that is absolutely hilarious. Dan Thron's voice cracking as he gets angry is pretty great. And hour and a half level that felt like the length was justified. Absolutely fantastic.

The game has been amazing on the gameplay front, although atmosphere of the first game is missed somewhat. Also the story is decent enough, but doesn't have any memorable twists in the same way Thief had them. The first game was like a noir film where the real villain isn't exactly known until the twist happens. In Thief II, it's pretty obvious very early on that Karras is the main villain, and doesn't try to deceive Garret into anything similar to Constantine/The Trickster. Still, both games excel at what Looking Glass had done in their time and that was creating believable, fully realized worlds. Their last game happens to be their best one, and it's good they went out with a bang.

And some people say stealth is shitty.

And the Rest

A bunch of character action games

Mostly been playing DMC 3 again, in the wake of the all the craziness that surrounded (still surrounding I guess?) DmC's release. I played through it last summer on Easy, and now I've been working my way through it on Normal. Also played some DMC 1, and almost made more progress on Normal than I did in the past. Still like 3 more.

Besides those games, played the Metal Gear Rising demo and enjoyed that. Wasn't the same demo that I had played at PAX Prime, but it was still fun. Since I can play it whenever I want, I can take the time to experiment more with moves and try some advanced tactics. And just because I could, I downloaded the Ninja Gaiden Sigma demo, and surprise, Ninja Gaiden is still awesome even on PS3. Surprised to find that after many years of not playing Ninja Gaiden I was able to beat the first chapter without dying. On Normal AND Hard. My skills with video games in general have improved since around 2006 or so when I played NG Black.

Lot of action games kicking off 2013.

Other Things

First two weeks of the spring semester have been alright so far. First day was cancelled due to weather conditions, so things actually started on Tuesday. My drawing class is probably the most interesting just because it's something I've been doing most of my life and I'm learning something new about a thing I generally like. The other classes like physics or sociology are stuff I just picked because I need enough credits to be a full time student and receive a scholarship to pay my tuition.

In Conclusion

And that's it. Not sure exactly what I'll write about next week, as Metal Gear Rising probably won't be out by the time I write the next entry. Maybe I'll get back to that pigeon dating visual novel or something. Yeah, that thing isn't a joke. It's pretty nuts though. Alright, Hatoful Boyfriend for next entry it is then. The second game? I have no idea.

Peace.

It’s been a good month of no classes and playing video games, but that has come to an end. Just so happens that my last free weekend is my next blog entry. Still keeping to the bi weekly schedule.

GAMES!!!!

I bought Dark Souls during the Steam holiday sale and I can say for sure, like everyone else did, DON’T BUY DARK SOULS FOR PC, unless you’ve got no other platform to play it on and don’t mind downloading a mod to fix the resolution and stuff. Regardless, I had an incredible time of playing Dark Souls for almost two weeks nonstop, pretty much starting around New Years.

Only experience I had with a Souls game prior was Demon’s, and I only played a few hours on a friends copy, right up to the end of 1-1 and defeating Phalanx. That was a couple years ago, and I understood what the game was about pretty well in those few hours, but didn’t get to playing it since. Also didn’t get to Dark Souls, as other games during that time were being played. I had been skeptical after the PC release whether I should buy on PC and get DSfix, or just get the PS3 version. Ultimately, it came down to it being on sale and me figuring it would be more logical for me to play it on PC because that’s where I’m at almost all the time.

Dark Souls is a lot of fun, and I regret not playing this game back in 2011. Even without the Artorias of the Abyss DLC I would’ve had just as fun, considering I only got to doing that stuff in NG+. At this point, you all know what these games are about, and what’s good about them and why people like them, so I don’t need to regurgitate that stuff. I can say I was extremely addicted to it, following a previous RPG addiction with revisiting Morrowind, and it has now has the second highest playtime in my library according to Steam (1 being Skyrim, 3 being Mass Effect).

One thing I really enjoyed, probably more so than I remembered when playing Demon’s Souls, was the combat. It didn’t come up at the time, but playing the game and taking on groups of enemies, reading moves and learning when to dodge, block, or parry them made appreciate people that can count the amount of frames in a move in a fighting game. That always seemed crazy to me how people could pick out those details and use those to figuring out the best time to counter attack or avoid those moves, and of course they often have the ability to cancel them and what not. Obviously there’s no canceling moves in Dark Souls, but the combat reminded me of that stuff but at much slower and more methodical pace. Parrying and riposte is by far one of the most rewarding aspects of combat in Dark Souls. By the time I got to NG+, I had no reason to fear the Black Knight in Undead Burg as I could just waste him with two riposte attacks.

I’ve put in 128 hours into Dark Souls across three characters (first two being test characters). I’ve finished NG++ and while I could have continued on, I was getting a bit of burnout in spots during my third run through. I’ll no doubt return to the game in the future to pick up NG+++, but right now I think I’ve had a good dose of Dark Souls. Maybe now I can get back to wrapping up those other PC RPGs I said I would finish.

This game isn’t a new one for me. I’ve had it on Wii Virtual Console since 2007, and might possibly be my favorite N64 game ever. After getting into import PS3 games last year with Max Anarchy and Another Century’s Episode R, I wanted to give import N64 games a try. The lockout in that system is on a hardware level rather than a software one, so I didn’t need to run a boot disc or solder in a chip. So for Christmas I asked for a copy of the game off eBay (box and everything), and two security bits. One for cartridges, and one for consoles. I opened up the system, removed the dust guard, and put it back together. Though that was Christmas day, and the game hadn’t arrived yet. On New Year’s Eve the game arrived from Japan, and the game is still fantastic. Although trying to adjust to the N64 controller is a bit odd, after getting used to it with a classic controller on Virtual Console.

Still, I absolutely love this game. This was the game that made a huge fan of Treasure. I had remembered it as that one N64 game with the English voice track that people wanted to see on Virtual Console back when the Wii had launched, and knew nothing else about it. I had no idea what I was expecting when I first got this game. The N64 was my first system, even though I first got one near the end of its lifecycle, but I’ve got a good amount of nostalgia for it. By 2007, I already knew what to expect from N64 games as far as visuals and what they were capable of in terms of gameplay. So by those standards going into Sin & Punishment, it pretty much blew my mind. It’s like Asura’s Wrath in terms of spectacle and craziness, even though the graphics are kinda ugly. But flying around a bunch of aircraft carriers blowing up stuff and fighting a planet that’s trying to replace the earth is some of the most memorable stuff I’ve experienced from this game.

Even so, be it from not playing the game in a while or just switching to a different controller, I was a bit disappointed that I did not 1CC the game like I used to on Virtual Console when I started playing. Since then I have managed to beat it without continues, but so far I haven’t really found what I’m more comfortable with, using the analog stick with my left or right thumb. I’m sure I’ll get used to it at some point, grasping the controls wasn’t exactly easy with the classic controller. The game play is still how I remember it, and it’s still a lot of fun. Only now with more slowdown. Which is fine by me as the slowdown happens during massive explosions, and I like slowdown being caused by massive explosions.

Also, I don’t have need for boxes for my N64 games, but I made an exception with Sin & Punishment because the box art is pretty sweet. Same for the manual. I can’t read the contents of it since it’s in Japanese, but it’s in color and has Yasushi Suzuki’s art in it, so I’m fine with that.

And the Rest

Thief II: The Metal Age

It’s a sequel to Thief. It’s awesome. More on it in the future.

Hatoful Boyfriend

It’s a visual novel about dating pigeons…yes, you read that right.

Other Things

There really isn't anything I can think of besides the time I spent playing video games. This week I start going to classes again. Mostly general education stuff, much like my first semester was. Classes like sociology, physics, english, and an art class. The last one I am potentially more interested in because I do drawings from time to time. Regardless, classes will be starting soon and won't have the time to play games like I did these last few weeks. It was smart of me to quit playing Dark Souls after three playthroughs.

In Conclusion

And that's it for the first [insert title] entry of 2013. As always, it will still be on a bi weekly schedule, as to give me plenty of time between studies to play games and write about them. I'm already well underway with Thief II, so expect to see more impressions on that in the next post.

Cheers.

Yeah, you read that right. Not 10. 12.

I was prepared this year to have my list be less than 10 games, or just not do it at all, because I didn't play a whole lot of games released this year, let alone ones I felt were outstanding. It was only thanks to the Steam holiday sale that I finally got to play at least 10 games I felt were my favorites from this year. Instead, I managed to play a total of 12, and for reasons that are extremely irrational and weird I made the list top 12 because of a game that is neither great nor terrible, but still made a weird impression on me that I kinda liked. Regardless, I'll do my best to explain why I even consider this one of my favorite games of the year, and still don't expect any of you to understand. That's fine. I don't care. Anyway, let's get started with this thing.

As a disclaimer, I don't have any fancy images made for this blog as Dark Souls has kept me from doing that.

12. Hyperdimension Neptunia mk2

So, this is the game I was talking about before. The game that is responsible for this being a top 12 list.

I wrote about this game earlier in the year, in which I described how blown away I was by just how weird it was and how unrelenting it was in its weirdness. And based on the title, it's a sequel, one that is surprisingly better than its predecessor, which was boring and not fun to play and did not . This game...well, I actually didn't finish it do to frustrating boss fights near the end, but I got way farther in that game than I did in the first Neptunia, mostly due to a better combat system, a decent structure with dungeons and the overworld, and just an insane amount of innuendo and crazy Japanese fan service that just about any normal person would be turned away from. Apparently I'm not normal (I already figured that before this game), as I didn't mind that stuff. Well, most of it anyway.

In fact, all that stuff made sense why it was there because of the ESRB rating. The first Neptunia game was rated T, and I was interested in that game for the weird premise of the console wars personified with moe anime girls. But it felt pretty amateurish. Neptunia mk2 does it a lot better, if not as great as it could, and it just goes off the rails with jokes regarding moments in the video , crazy characters, one really creepy and awful boss character, and again, a ton of fan service. Not so much in the visual sense but based on the dialog and voice acting as the story is told in a visual novel format. Which almost makes it more effective/terrifying as your mind ends up creating the picture in your mind.

You're probably still not convinced why I put this on here, so I'll say this now. Keiji Inafune is in the game. As two special attacks. And they're awesome. If that doesn't justify its place here, than nothing will. Moving on.

11. Mass Effect 3

Took me long enough to get around to this game, well after the torrent of outrage over the ending among other things with this game. Several months later and a few pieces of DLC later, I feel like I experienced what might be a better version of that original game overall. If this list was a regular top 10 like I was thinking, this game would just be a runner up, not even on the main list. And with that, you found the second reason for it being top 12 because putting this below Neptunia mk2 would be freaking lunacy.

Point is, this game would be mentioned either way because for the various missteps the game makes, some which are Bioware's fault and some which are from EA's meddling, Mass Effect 3 is still a decently made game. There are moments that are legitimately great, others that are underwhelming, and the ending was an ending. It ended. I'll have more to say later on about that, but for all intents and purposes Mass Effect 3 is FINE.

The combat has some minor improvements and feels generally fun to play. It's great to see the concept of weapon mods brought back from the first game. Various missions that involve Reapers in the background are extremely impressive. Things like seeing Palaven getting bombarded by the Reapers and the ensuing space battle from the planet's moon is really cool to look at. The game takes more or less the same framework from ME2, which was great to begin with, and does a mix of good and bad things with it. Again, still a decent game, but I had moments of enjoyment throughout the game interspersed with some underwhelming stuff. There's really not much else to say.

10. Katawa Shoujo

It didn't really come to my mind when playing it, but I realized months later that Katawa Shoujo deserved a spot on my list. Yeah, it's a visual novel where the goal reduced to its bare essence is forming a relationship with a girl that has a disability (and having sex with her at the end). It's certainly got next to no gameplay compared to some of the other games further up the list that I liked more for the story than any sort of gameplay. But that doesn't really matter, because the stories that are told with each of the different relationships (I'm assuming all 5 are great, I've only completed one and part of another ) are well done and the subject matter is handled very tastefully. It's interactive, you're pressing a button to advance the text and then make an occasional dialog choice. And that's enough for the most part. And this was my first game I played in this genre, right at the start of the year. Certainly didn't expect to enjoy something like this, given the stigma attached to the genre. It's free, it's good, it's tastefully done (except maybe the sex scenes, which I found awkward and uncomfortable), people should at least give it a try.

9. Max Anarchy

Yes, I'm still calling it by its Japanese game, and yes, I think a game released so far in Japan only this year deserves to be on the list this year, because delaying it for release in other territories by 6 months is stupid when the game is already translated on the disc and defaults to English when put in a North American PS3 (it even calls it by its inferior name Anarchy Reigns). There is no good reason for this game to be pushed to the first couple weeks of January when it was clearly ready to go. Shame really, because the game is pretty awesome.

Platinum Games' titles have been pretty solid since Bayonetta onward, and Max Anarchy is pretty solid as well. The fighting system isn't as flexible and crazy as something like Bayonetta, but is still relatively deep for a brawler combat system, and is pretty satisfying. Most characters share the same button combos, but they all have their own unique moves, mixed in with their "killer weapons" that deal extra damage. It's no God Hand, but there's plenty of fun to have with the combat, especially against other characters.

And despite the game being marketed as a multiplayer focused game, it's got a pretty decent single player and story line. It's not lengthy or anything, and there's four areas you'll go through in each of the game's two campaigns, Black Side and White Side. Madworld had an interesting story for what simplistic game it was, and the story in this is surprising for different reasons. Never the less, having not played any actual multiplayer the single player is really fun. Make sure you people check it out when it drops in a couple weeks.

8. Mark of the Ninja

Earlier in 2012, I got to play what I felt was one of the two greatest 3D stealth games ever, the second being its superior sequel: Thief. It was a magnificent game to play this year, not only because it was amazing how much of this nearly 15 year old game held up, but the stealth mechanics that were in place were very well done. The game had a very minimal HUD, with the most important element being a gem that lit up whenever you were exposed in the light, basically telling you to move from shadow to shadow. It was a revelation that I could technically hide right in front of a guard during his patrol but he wouldn’t see me because of being in the shadows. Mix that in with the game’s use of sound and the tools you have to manipulate that, you’ve got a stealth game that while you’ll still quick save and quick load at various mistakes you've made, you feel more like it’s your fault than the game’s when a guard spots you.

So why the heck am I starting this part off by mentioning another game? Because that is the standard I have for good stealth games, 2D or 3D. Mark of the Ninja was highly praised, and was certainly interested if not for the fact it looked really cool. My concern with that game was the possibility of displaying too much information on screen that would render the stealth, the risk aspect of it, trivial. Metal Gear Solid 1 comes to mind in that regard. Thankfully, Mark of the Ninja provides a ton of on screen information with stuff like vision cones and sound waves and what not, yet it is still very challenging and rewarding. Mostly in part to the way the game takes the player character's field of view into account. If you're in a room and the doors are closed, of course you wouldn't be able to see anything outside, and that is handled well in Mark of the Ninja. And like more modern games with stealth, something I'll admit has over the original Thief, Mark of the Ninja provides manageable means of getting out of situations where you set off an alarm without feeling like you can't do anything about it. I restarted check points so many times as I wanted to not set off anything, and it has been incredibly satisfying all the way through. If there's really a need to make distinctions between 2D and 3D games in a particular genre, then Mark of the Ninja is the best stealth game of the 2D variety. I still love the Thief games way too much to put anything else in the genre above it.

7. Hotline Miami

It's fast. It's tight. It's brutal. It's psychedelic. It's the closest and most accurate thing so far to a game that makes you feel like you're on drugs. Really nasty drugs. And I don't even take any drugs, so what do I know? Hotline Miami is super fun.

It's not up here just for the absolutely amazing soundtrack that comes free with the game in ogg vorbis format, but because the gameplay is excellent. Looking at it makes you think it's a top down shooter, but before you get your head around how the systems work, you'll be playing it melee only. Guns are not useful in the sense that they make noise and attract other dudes, but that's only when you haven't built up your reflexes and quick thinking to mix up tactics when things get hectic. So much things you can do when completing a level. Different melee kills, using melee weapons, using guns, throwing melee weapons and guns, knocking over dudes with doors. And it all moves super fast and hard. The difficulty makes you play it more methodically because of how swift death comes, but it's ultimately better in the long run to move at the same speed as everyone else. Move fast and recklessly, and take out enemies as fast as you can. If you die, try again and adapt your plan to something better. Super Meat Boy is the closest comparison to this kind of gameplay, and it's fantastic when you approach it with that kind of speed.

Soundtrack, again, is unbelievable and makes playing the game something else. Story is just...bizarre. It's not entirely clear about what goes on, but who cares? It's great because of the mix of game play and music.

6. Borderlands 2

Borderlands 1 is a great game with some flaws. Borderlands 2 is more Borderlands and it fixes said flaws. A more detailed story, more variety in the environments, and it just looks oh so good, especially on PC. Game play is refined and interesting with new classes and weapon part types. I had a rather difficult playthrough as I played the game 100% solo as Zer0, who is the most fragile of all the other classes, especially on True Vault Hunter Mode. Overall a lot more fun playing it, and the final boss, while not the best part of the game, is not awfully boring.

The story and humor is a bit hit and miss, but I certainly laughed more than I did wince. Enemies shouting internet memes upon dying isn't exactly great, unless you don't pay attention to what they're saying and just don't pick up on it. Handsome Jack is just a magnificent jerk, who becomes way more despicable in the last half or third of the game after some major events. They managed to surprise me quite a bit having no real expectations on what a Borderlands story could be, given there was barely a story in the first one to go by. It's all pretty good.

And even within a couple months after release, Gearbox was quick to release new DLC, with the Mechromancer and the first half of their DLC Season Pass. It's still a game I'll go back to time to time be it to check out the new DLC or if I just feel like it. Regardless, Borderlands did not remain a 2 week deal that wasn't touched again. There's a lot of game to be had in it.

5. Binary Domain

There have been very few attempts by Japan to make 3rd person shooters, and the few that have been made, almost all of them have been awful with the exception of Vanquish and Binary Domain. The former is still in a league far greater than Binary Domain, but it's still a competent shooter with neat ideas. You could play it on easy and indulge in the Japanese version of an action movie roller coaster ride whatever that most shooters these days try to be, and you'd feel alright about it.

Binary Domain is fun because not only is the shooting competent (and gets better as you upgrade your main weapons throughout the game), but the characters and story are very interesting. The whole cast is a huge range of action movie stereotypes as interpreted by Japan, with characters like Big Bo and Dan being two buddy soldiers that are a bit dudebro, Charles Gregory is the more serious and jerkish MI6 agent, Faye Lee being the hot asian chick, and Cain being the super awesome French robot. Yeah, that last part isn't really a stereotype or trope you'd recognize, but man is he not an awesome character in that cast. And the story's pretty decent too. It starts off rather silly and dumb with Dan and Bo cracking wise with each other as they infiltrate Tokyo, but things get more serious and some major twists happen. Crazy ones. You might wonder how the heck they make any sense, but you definitely don't see them coming. The whole game is a fun ride, more fun than I'd have thought it would be possible.

4. Frog Fractions

You know what, I don't even know how to describe this game, so I'll give you a link to the game (yeah, a flash game. Craziness, I know) and let it speak for itself.

http://twinbeardstudios.com/frog-fractions

Play it, and if you don't understand why a flash game is in the #4 so spot on my list? A) It's my list. B) I like it a lot. C) I take pity on you.

3. Asura's Wrath

A game composed of lame character action, okay on rail shooter segments, and a bunch of cutscenes and quick time events. How in the world is this on this list, let alone at #3? I'll tell you why, because it commits to the latter part that people these days dislike in games and makes it work. It's a bunch of quick time events that enhances the experience as you watch everything unfold on screen for the next 18 episodes. 22 when you add the ending DLC.

As reductive as can be, Asura's Wrath is interactive anime. It's present like an anime, with the game being split into episodes, with commercial bumpers and to be continued at the end of each episode. It's over the top and crazy, yet it crafts a really good story that makes you feel for the characters and gets you invested in what is going on. Using a comparison to an actual anime, it's closest to something like Gurren Lagann, where you love it for the over the top nonsense just as much as you love the characters and how they develop in the plot. Asura is angry (dare I say wrathful, even), and he has good reason to be angry.

The only very unfortunate and terrible thing this game commits is that the true, final ending of the game is DLC. Yes, it's a crass, awful business choice, but the part that makes it more unfortunate is that the ending DLC is ABSOLUTELY INCREDIBLE! The game ratchets up the ridiculousness with each episode, and Part IV Nirvana of Asura's Wrath is as crazy as it gets. I would not advocate people to buy DLC that should've been in the game from the start, but this was the one exception (well, Mass Effect 3 does too I guess. Twice) where I say deal with it and enjoy the DLC. I'm atleast glad I didn't buy the game and the most I had to pay was 7 bucks to experience the whole thing. Renting games does have its benefits.

2. Max Payne 3

The number 2 game on this list was a rather divisive game among people earlier this year. As for where I stand on it, I like the Max Payne games. I also happen to have no nostalgia for the Max Payne games because I only played them weeks before the release of Max Payne 3 on the PC. I knew what the games were about then, and was prepared to see what direction Rockstar would take the third installment. After getting through the first act, my feelings were a little lukewarm. Max's monologues didn't carry the same weight as in the first two games, and flashback to Hoboken was an awesome moment, but felt jarring in the long term based on a homage to the first two games being the best part about Max Payne 3. But then Max shaves his head. And then the game holds nothing back. It creates its own identity from Act 2 onward while still retaining the things that made it Max Payne in the first place, putting it in a different light, even. There was still another flashback to Hoboken, but the rest of it improves in the story department greatly with some gruesome and unsettling moments, and Max becoming a character where my thoughts and emotions were in sync with his. Something that the first two games didn't quite get for me.

Playing the game though is very obviously Max Payne. You run and shoot, you can dive, you take painkillers to restore health, and you can use bullet time. Additional mechanics include things like taking painkillers while diving through the air, and a cover system. Part of this is probably just me being biased towards using mouse and keyboard for shooters, but I cannot see how the gameplay could've handled on a gamepad. Playing it as a Max Payne game requires you to move quickly and use bullet time to your advantage. Playing on PC with a mouse and the appropriate settings is the closest the game feels to controlling like the previous games, and renders the cover system almost completely useless. Unless you feel better about hiding behind cover to catch your breath quickly before getting back into the action. The gameplay was really great, the story surprised me, Max's character evolved in ways that made me feel immersed in the role. It might just be my favorite game in the series, and is close to being my favorite game of this year. But that honor goes to...

1. The Walking Dead

What an intense, emotional ride that game is.

When it comes to gameplay, and compared to my number 2 game, it's not the highlight and Max Payne 3 beats it in that department. Gameplay in the Walking Dead is simplistic, with simple puzzles to solve, and at least a action sequence that is not fun to play. Story wise though...The other games on my list have some pretty intense moments, but nothing has as many gut wrenching moments as the Walking Dead.

The Walking Dead's story and handling of choices is like the concept of the Mass Effect trilogy's story progression distilled to a episodic game that's a fraction of those three Mass Effect games combined. And it's better. Certain aspects of the game change regarding characters and dialog, but the outcome of the episodes and the whole story is set in stone. The reason it works better is given the situation and choices you have to make, the game makes you feel like you made those choices, and the consequences that comes from them makes you feel responsible for it. Tricking you into thinking you impacted the story at every major turn may seem dumb to some people, but that just strengthen's the game's narrative because of it being able to maintain the illusion. I knew from listening to others without being spoiled that the outcome of that season is set up to end the way it does, but that didn't stop me from feeling like I had ownership of the choices that I made. And the choices it has you make are brutal. Their all shades of grey that no one wants to make. Even as a video game where you make the choice thinking it's best for the character and not for you the player, you don't feel like any of the choices you made were the right ones, atleast not without having some amount of regret.

It's an amazing, rare experience, one that does not shy away from showing things that most media is afraid to show, and is quite possibly the best example of the episodic format. Heck, even if anyone goes into it fresh right now, it's best to play those episodes one at a time, because there is some seriously messed up stuff that will leave you depressed and with nightmares.

And now for something else

In past years when I've done these GOTY posts, it's mostly been just the list. This time, I decided to add little extra something. I figured I'd add awards into the mix. However, instead of giving awards to just one game, I decided to set up 11 different categories and use them to highlight particular things from the games on this list. Not all games will receive all 11 awards though, some of them are designed for specific games. This was also so I could mention parts of the game that would be spoilers (like just about anything in the Walking Dead) and keep it separate from the main list. So if you have not played any of the games on this list (or don't care about spoilers in general), stop reading here. I don't go into too much detail about the stuff, but anyone that has played the games on this list will know what I mean. Now, without further ado, the awards:

• Best Moment(s)
• Best Character(s)
• Worst Moment(s)
• Biggest "Eh..."
• Best Music
• Best Use of Music
• Best Father/Daughter Relationship
• Best Refuge in Audacity
• Biggest Improvement(s)
• Biggest Disappointment(s)
• Best Shock/Surprise(s)

Best Moment(s)

These moments are either in some story or narrative capacity, while others come out of the actual gameplay. Some of the games don't lend itself well to narrative moments like some of the other games. Also the only category where all the games on the list get nominated.

Hyperdimension Neptunia mk2

• 5pb's concert in Leanbox. It's bizarre, like the rest of the game, but it's one of my favorite bizarre moments and an example of why I like the localization.
• Keiji Inafune. And the build up to acquiring the special attack that uses his likeness. Both times.

Mass Effect 3

• Kalros vs. the Reaper on Tuchanka
• Going inside the Geth server on Rannoch
• Bringing Javik to the Asari temple on Thessia. The interaction between Liara and him is excellent
• The reveal at the end of Leviathan. Bigger deal than unearthing the last Prothean in existence.

Katawa Shoujo

• Getting through the relationship with Rin.

Max Anarchy

• Finishing boss fights with a God Hand styled rapid-fire fist battle (hammer those buttons!)

Mark of the Ninja

• Stealth killing a guard from under a grate, freaking out his partner, and having him shoot and kill another guy.

Hotline Miami

• Playing fast and reckless and having your plan work after many tries in a level. Finishing it is so satisfying.

Borderlands 2

• Hearing Scooter scream "CATCH A RIIIIIIIIIIIIIDDDDDEEEEEEE!!!!!!!" as Sanctuary lifts into the air, before phase shifting away.

Binary Domain

• Shooting off robots' heads and making them shoot each other.
• Any time Cain is present.

Frog Fractions

• Every moment is a best moment in Frog Fractions

Asura's Wrath

• Fighting without any arms.
• The battle with Augus. Right down to impaling the earth with a sword.
• The entirety of the Nirvana DLC

Max Payne 3

• Max shaving his head and giving up drinking
• Stomping Victor's leg after destroying his leg.

The Walking Dead

• The final minutes of episode 5. So heartbreaking.
• Probably everything else in the season, but that gets elaborate on more in the final category.

Best Character(s)

The award is explanatory. The best character or characters in a game. Not necessarily new characters, just any character.

Hyperdimension Neptunia mk2

• Best is probably stretching it...maybe Neptune? She's not even the main character, but she's far more entertaining than Nepgear that's for sure.

Mass Effect 3

• Javik, hands down. He fills the same role that Legion did for me in giving me insight to a race that has been a mystery to the Mass Effect universe.

Katawa Shoujo

• Rin. Such an interesting character. And she's an artist, and I like to draw, so there's something in common there.

Max Anarchy

• Every playable character, with maybe a few exceptions (like Oinkie. Super annoying).

Borderlands 2

• Handsome Jack
• Mr Torgue, from Mr. Torgue's Campaign of Carnage. Crazy buff dude voiced by Mr. Satan/Hercules from DBZ? Sign me up!

Binary Domain

• Big Bo
• Cain

Asura's Wrath

• Asura. You feel sympathy for him and why he's so angry
• Girl. She doesn't speak English, but is a great companion whose intentions are clear. It's just sad what happens to her.
• Augus. Don't see how anyone couldn't like this guy.

Max Payne 3

• Max Payne himself.

The Walking Dead

• Lee Everett
• Clementine
• Kenny. His character arc throughout that whole series is brilliant, and plays out different ways depending on how you went through the season.

Worst Moment(s)

Like best moment(s), but the opposite. And like best moment(s) can apply to both narrative or gameplay. Or even outside of the game, in some odd instances.

Hyperdimension Neptunia mk2

• Anything with CFW Trick. Or Pirachu. So, so awful.

Mass Effect 3

• Anything involving the kid. Including the catalyst right at the end. Awful plot device with him and Shepard's dreams.
• From Ashes and Leviathan being DLC instead of in the main game.

Katawa Shoujo

• Oral sex with Rin. Or just the sex scenes in general. So awkward.

Max Anarchy

• The fact it was fully localized this year but delayed to 2013. Still bitter about it.

Hotline Miami

• The boss fights. And the mission where you sneak out of the hospital.

Borderlands 2

• Trying to solo True Vault Hunter Mode as Zer0. More of a personal worst moment, not necessarily the game's fault.

Binary Domain

• The shooting when using your unupgraded weapons at the beginning.

Asura's Wrath

• The true TRUE ending being locked behind DLC. Similar reasons as Mass Effect 3.

Biggest "Eh..."

The category in between best and worst moments. Usually signified by a shrug or indifference.

Mass Effect 3

• The reason this award exists. Yeah, the ending had problems, but nothing that needed people to throw a tantrum over.

Binary Domain

• Heard complaints about the boss fights. Didn't really have much of a problem with them.

Max Payne 3

• The first act is tepid compared to where the game goes after Max shaves his head.

Best Music

This award can include either a single piece of music or multiple pieces, all the way up to including the entire soundtrack. This is judging the quality of the tracks in general.

Max Anarchy

• Soundtrack is amazing. So many good tracks. Off the top of my head, favorite tracks are Soon Enough, Venom, My Pride, Play For Keeps, Here We Go, Demise, Fast Lane, and We All Soldiers. Great tracks, both in and out of game.

Hotline Miami

• Also an amazing soundtrack. Favorite tracks off the top of my head being Horse Steppin, Hydrogen, Hotline, Turf, and Inner Animal.

Asura's Wrath

• In Your Belief

Max Payne 3

• Tears by Health

Best Use of Music

This award takes the best music from games and is used to recognized the best uses of said music. This judges how well it fits the game and situation.

Max Anarchy

• Every mission uses a track from the awesome soundtrack and works almost always perfectly. Soundtrack fits about any situation the game throws at you.

Hotline Miami

• Every use of a song enhances the experience greatly

Asura's Wrath

• In Your Belief during the 2nd half of Episode 12, when Asura goes berserk. It's almost frightening, for me it was.
• Same song used at the end of Nirvana, finishing off Chakravartin and Asura's sacrifice to save Mithra.

Max Payne 3

• Tears by Health, during the final mission in the airport.

Best Father/Daughter Relationship

Kind of an unfair category, as only two games really count. Doesn't matter. I'll make up whatever awards I want.

Asura's Wrath

• Asura and Mithra. He's vowed to punch and never forgive anyone who has made his daughter cry. Including a god. He loves his daughter that much.

The Walking Dead

• Lee and Clementine. He's not even her father, yet the relationship they build is close to that. She's Lee's responsibility, and effectively yours as well.

Best Refuge in Audacity

This award is to recognize games for their ability to be crazy and roll with it as far as they can, usually being unapologetic about what it's doing.

Hyperdimension Neptunia mk2

• So, so much innuendo and fan service. Sometimes goes a bit too far, though. But it takes pride in the amount it has.

Max Anarchy

• The random environment effects that take place like carpet bombings or black holes (yeah, you read it right), and some over the top fights with giant monsters.

Frog Fractions

• The whole game is basically the embodiment of this award.

Asura's Wrath

• It just continues to amp up the craziness with each episode. It does not stop. At all.

Biggest Improvement(s)

This applies to games that have had predecessors of some kind. New games like Walking Dead or Asura's Wrath obviously have nothing to go on before them.

Hyperdimension Neptunia mk2

• It's way WAY better than the first game.

Mass Effect 3

• Combat, I suppose? Hard to really improve over something as great as Mass Effect 2, but the stuff that's improved is very iterative.

Max Anarchy

• Combat is way more interesting and indepth than its spiritual predecessor Madworld.

Borderlands 2

• Graphics, story, just about everything is improved.

Max Payne 3

• Taking painkillers while diving in slow motion. Gameplay is pretty much how Max Payne has always been, not much different.

Biggest Disappointment(s)

The opposite of biggest improvements(s), and doesn't require games to have a previous game to compare to. They can be disappointing in of themselves.

Hyperdimension Neptunia mk2

• It is still not as good as it could be.

Mass Effect 3

• The overall rushed and narrow feeling of the design.

Binary Domain

• Not a lot of interesting things done with the voice command system.

Max Payne 3

• Cutscenes are mostly unskippable, and the checkpointing is pretty bad.

The Walking Dead

• Episode 1 does set up the premise of the season, but it's very weak compared to the episodes after it.

Best Shock/Surprise(s)

Similar to best moments, except these are ones that you don't exactly see coming, or you see coming but has a different emotional affect than what you were thinking. This clearly fits more for something like The Walking Dead than most other games on this list, as that game was made for this award.

Borderlands 2

• Angel's identity, and Roland's death at the hands of Handsome Jack.
• Brick's reveal.

Binary Domain

• Robots that reproduce, and Faye revealed as a human-robot hybrid.

Frog Fractions

• Pretty much every moment in Frog Fractions count as a shock or surprise.

Asura's Wrath

• Asura going berserk in episode 12. It's like the first time Goku turns Super Saiyan in DBZ, except really sad, and not a good form for Asura to assume.

Max Payne 3

• Watching Marcello burn alive.
• Discovering the organ harvesting conspiracy.
• Max Payne/James McCaffery's ensuing rage over the whole thing.

The Walking Dead

• Discovering the St. Johns at the dairy are cannibals.
• Larry getting a salt lick dropped on his head so suddenly.
• Killing both of the St. Johns brothers in front of Clementine.
• Doug (or Carley depending who was in your group) getting offed by Lilly.
• Katjaa committing suicide.

============================

And that's it. My top 12 games of 2012, and the awards given to said games. This is obviously the first time I've done something besides making a list, so this will be something I'll have to think more about in advance for future game of the year posts. Gotta say, this year has been interesting. So many of the interesting stuff I played was for things other than the actual gameplay. Not to mention a flash game was crazy and awesome enough to get a spot on this list. Heck, this was the year I started looking into visual novels more seriously with things like Katawa Shoujo. And the Walking Dead...well, we already know what can be said about the Walking Dead, that it's an excellent piece of emotional storytelling. Hopefully next year some more games can get back to focusing on refining gameplay, but I hope these other sort of moments experienced through story and cinematics continue into next year. We'll see what happens in 2013 I guess.

Cheers.

Been a while…almost two months.

That was a rather unexpected hiatus. I can’t even remember exactly what caused it (or what I had planned for my next entry after the one I last made). I know that being horribly sick the week before Thanksgiving was the main cause, but after that, important assignments for my classes were reaching their deadlines and had to focus on those. And then there was preparing for final exams. All the while, I still did play games, but for those reasons I ended up being kept from writing about them.

This is still a Saturday post, like all my other posts. However, I still plan to save my GOTY blog for New Years. There’s so much stuff in this post by itself that I wouldn't want to make it even long with my top games.

GAMES!!!!

L.A. Noire

I bought this back in May with the Max Payne games and Psychonauts. Played through Max Payne 1-3 and Psychonauts, but never finished L.A. Noire. Main reason being was that I was too focused on getting the interrogation questions correct as the game calling them successes or failures discouraged me from seeing what happened otherwise. Coming off of Thanksgiving break, I chose to give it another shot, with walkthrough in hand, and went through all the cases.

The game part of it is promising, but things like the interrogation stuff bums me out, again because of the game telling you how many questions you got right or wrong. Not to mention that some of the questions are a bit odd at times, and I feel that a proper response is something that can’t really be condensed into just Truth, Doubt, or Lie. Not to mention that Cole’s responses are sometimes hard for me to predict based on the choice of answer, which is also a similar thing I ran into playing Alpha Protocol. That game has you pick Thorton’s mood and tone in dialogue, and for similar reasons as L.A. Noire, I don’t quite know how the character will respond or if that’s anything I would actually say. For me, having a traditional dialog tree set up would’ve been better, while still keeping the facial animation for trying to read people and see if they’re honest or not.

The story though I really enjoyed. Or rather, the many stories told in it. The end of the game got very interesting when you start playing as Kelso instead of Cole, even if the gameplay in those final cases is very shooter heavy instead of finding clues and interrogating people. So many of the characters I really enjoyed, and got really invested in the story. By the end, the game had me interested in checking out some other film noir, see more of the genre that provides so much inspiration for this game.

Hard Reset

Started playing it right after finishing L.A. Noire. While I had played through the game earlier this year, I did not play the Extended Edition content, Exile. Unfortunately, jumping straight into the chapter before that DLC didn’t do me much good as I got destroyed and had forgotten how to effectively go about destroying enemies. So I played through the entire game again to get myself back up to speed and got to see the extra content. The stuff in that DLC is pretty cool, and while it does end on another cliff hanger like the regular game did, I enjoyed the extra couple hours I got out of those levels.

The Witcher

Thinking back to L.A. Noire and how that was a game I bought, played, and didn’t finish, I remembered plenty of other games I had in my backlog that weren’t finished. The Witcher was one of them. Last I played that game was in March and I was halfway through Chapter II. Started the game over on normal so I had more incentive to use the alchemy system, and it worked. Started thinking about harvesting alchemical ingredients from plants and monsters and making more potions. Besides that, everything else was still what I remembered the game being. Combat was very interesting with its different attack styles, the moral choices with delayed consequences surprised me a couple times (by virtue of me thinking a side quest or two wouldn’t have any effect on the main story), and just about everyone in that world are total shitheads. I’m only half way through Chapter 4, and would’ve continued if not for other games this break I started playing, most of which in preparation for my GOTY blog. Still really like this game a lot.

Fallout

Another game in my backlog of unfinished games. I have not finished it though, but I have gotten very far. I made it to the military base, but I chose to do some more side quests and grind to increase my level. That’s where I left off, and haven’t picked it up. At least I remember what I need to do in that game now instead of trying to pick up where I left off on my previous save in April. Again, another game that was better for me to start over than resume.

Wii U (Nintendo Land and Scribblenauts Unlimited)

Got a Wii U, courtesy of a good friend that bought me an import copy of Max Anarchy during the summer. I missed out on my chance to preorder the Deluxe kit and she chose to sell hers to me at a loss. Thankfully I received a paycheck from my summer job that I didn’t realize I had not picked up, and used that to pay for the system. I was still sick on launch day, so thankfully it arrived on Friday when I was feeling so much better and could actually enjoy it.

Nintendo Land was pretty cool. I haven’t played the competitive stuff and just been messing around with the games that let you play solo. Probably my favorite game from it was Pikmin Adventure, just because of how much of the Pikmin experience was replicated, minus the exploration and time limit. But using the touch screen for things like throwing Pikmin was pretty neat. The other games varied. DK’s Crash Course was brutal (still can’t get past Area 9), and the Balloon Flight game was very easy and short. The only single player game I’ve actually completed.

Scribblenauts Unlimited I rented from Gamefly, and it is actually my first Scribblenauts game. I was interested in the very first game but passed on it when I heard about the bad controls. That issue was corrected in Super Scribblenauts but never got around to trying it. Had a lot of fun playing the game, and trying to come up with funny or weird solutions to different objectives. One thing I haven’t really gone too deep into is the object editor. I want to try making something in it before I send the game back.

Morrowind

The one game I had no original plans of playing, but have ended up spending the most time playing. I had already played through the game before, and didn’t really think there’d be anything else that could get me to play it like I did years ago. Turns out I needed to play it on my current machine with a bunch of mods that makes it look and run better than it ever could have on my previous machine.

Another major thing when replaying this game was that I actually went through it without using cheats (only using the console to get me past a quest that I had broken on accident). I really dislike dice rolls in RPGs like this that are meant to put you in direct control of the character’s actions, and it always led to me cheating and boosting my skills and attributes to 100. Only thing left for me was just walking around and exploring the world, which was worth having the game just for that. This time, I took the time to carefully construct my class, putting my race’s skill bonuses into consideration and choosing the two primary attributes that would cover most major and minor skills. After that, started going through the game, putting up with the awful combat, but as I neared the end of the main quest, fighting enemies became far more tolerable, and now having completed all main questlines and factions in the main game, I feel proud of how much progress I’ve made, and that getting over that hurdle made the road to leveling so much easier.

I always loved the world and fiction in Morrowind, all the different factions and the dynamics between them, but until now never quite appreciated the RPG systems and mechanics. I certainly wouldn’t say I enjoyed going through those first several hours of arbitrarily missing when swinging a sword, but I got a sense of progress and increase in power because of going through all that. When it comes to my favorite Elder Scrolls game, it’s still a tossup between Morrowind or Skyrim. Morrowind has the superior RPG system (even if I feel all skills should contribute to leveling, not just major and minor ones), and both worlds are incredibly detailed and have very interesting things going on in the background (more so than Cyrodill in Oblivion), but Skyrim has so much dynamic things happening and plenty of neat activities that add to the experience of role playing a character. They do one thing in common very well, and they do something really good that’s unique to them.

And Other Games (just saying names, no impression on them)

Mass Effect 3, Mark of the Ninja, The Walking Dead, Dark Souls, Binary Domain, Castle Crashers, Fallout 2, Thief II (these last three have not been played yet, so no impressions regardless).

Things Other Than Games

Last week, I had a very neat opportunity to meet someone I’ve known on the internet in person. A friend I’ve known for almost a year online came up to visit me in Alaska for a few days. This friend of mine has done very generous things for me in the past, getting me a copy of Max Anarchy this summer and selling me her Wii U preorder. Arriving in Alaska, she got me a pretty sweet early Christmas present, something she had picked out for me back in late August/September.

A Japanese model kit of Nine Ball, from Armored Core. Awesome.

Gallery

Back around the time she bought that gift, I was on quite a bit of a giant robot bend, after watching Gurren Lagann and loving the hell out of it. Started replaying the PS1 Armored Core games, imported a PS3 games involving giant robots, and just…well, looking for other shows with similar concepts and stuff.

Building the model was pretty fun, too. The last model kit I tried building was a gundam back when I was in elementary school, so it’s been a long time. Some pieces were broken, but not many, and they didn’t hurt the overall build. It was pretty fun to do, and it’s got me thinking more about potentially buying more AC model kits in the future.

So that was my early Christmas gift, and I received a few other things on the actual holiday. Most of it was money, thankfully allowing me to get more games to play that were released in 2012. Games like Mass Effect 3, with the single player DLC, as well as the Walking Dead, Mark of the Ninja and Dark Souls for PC. As for gifts that aren’t money, not a whole lot. Most significant were 3.8 and 4.5 mm security bits. What exactly are they? Well, with a screwdriver or some sort of holder, I can now open up old Nintendo consoles and cartridges. That was the first thing I did on Christmas Day, opening up my Nintendo 64 and removing the dust guard that holds the tabs preventing Japanese carts from fitting. I am now set to buy Japanese N64 games, and one is already on its way, another Christmas gift, and one of my absolute favorite games: Sin & Punishment. I already had the game on Wii Virtual Console, and probably could’ve done the whole transfer process from Wii to Wii U. However, I thought this was a much cooler thing to, and it was a present so I didn’t have to pay the 60 bucks myself. Still pretty excited.

That’s all I can really think of to say on that end. My break is twice as long as it was back in high school. First week spent with a really good friend, and the second spent playing a ton of new games. I guess there’s always more to do in those games I put off to the side, especially the Witcher. All it took was money and Steam to give me a reprieve from my Morrowind addiction.

In Conclusion

That’s it. Well, one more thing actually.

Last year’s GOTY blog, which is always right at the start of New Years/end of New Years Eve, was lucky to end up on the day I usually post these. So, instead of making this my last blog of the year, I will continue my tradition and still have a GOTY blog at the expected time. Well, by my time zone that is. At that point, none of you will give a shit about when it’s posted because you’ll all be in the new year before me, but I care dammit!

So far, I can say that this list will be…slightly different. More ambitious or crazy, whichever you prefer. Not to mention some awards in the same vein as what Giant Bomb and others have done, something I’ve never really done with my GOTY posts. And best of all, I have no idea what exactly awards these will be yet. Fun!

So far, the important games I’ve been playing are on schedule to be completed. Mass Effect 3 was finished last night, and only two episodes of the Walking Dead remain. After that, I can finally listen to the podcasts this week without worrying about spoilers.

Peace.