What possible reason could anyone have to form some sort of Douchebag Alliance in order to dole out bad reviews for games they (I'm certain) haven't played? It's like seeing someone with ice cream across the street on a hot day and instead of thinking "I could use some of that," they spray paint "everything in here sucks!" all over the Ben and Jerry's storefront so others don't want ice cream.
This game is quite good. In fact, it's the most fun I've had with an FPS campaign this generation. That's not t say it's perfect, as the lore of the Resistance universe is nowhere to be seen, Insomniac having overblown Resistance 2's story and leaving nothing for the eventual finale. Heck, the PSP game Resistance: Retribution had infinite amounts more storytelling along with having an incredible action game as its backbone. The story of loss and survival on a ravaged Earth, though, is still good and tugs at the heartstrings just the right amount (great voice acting helping it along).
That being said, the reason why that campaign is so good is the weapons. Holy Lord, those weapons. 90% of all FPSs have the same crap, with the occasional twist to make it "unique." Insomniac says screw that, and has come up with weapons that may be easy to describe at first, but that become crazier over time. Even the shotgun is fun to use, and I hate shotguns in video games (they never have the range of real ones while also being not much fun if you're not into loud noises and gibs). I look forward to what Nihilistic Software does with Resistance: Burning Skies, but I doubt any FPS will bring me so much sheer joy as Resistance 3 for a good long time (not counting multiplayer, 'cuz Battlefield 3 will be hot).
I've gotten used to playing games on "Hard" or the equivalent difficulty setting these days. I've simply played too many to be challenged by anything regarded as "Normal" unless the game itself is ramped up a bit in that regard. Unfortunately, sometimes the difference between those two settings is incredibly unbalanced. Dead Space 2 has that problem. I started and played 2/3 of the game on the one-notch-higher-than-Normal, but I got to a point where I was so low on ammo and health that I was unable to survive an encounter with a dozen or so enemies unless I played to utter perfection, and I was unwilling to do so (that's not fun or tense, it's just annoying). Switching it one notch down resulted in so much ammo and health that the game became a bore. I guess my problem isn't that big of a deal, but I love games and I want them to challenge me, not just give a choice between mind-numbing boredom or mind-numbing perfection-seeking.
I recently tried out a PS2 emulator on my PC since I have a good collection of that stuff and wanted to see what would happen if I ran those with my somewhat sexy hardware. The games I tried out looked unbelievable, and I was blow away by how much tripling resolution and adding some anti-aliasing can do. Then I played Nier because I heard it was pretty interesting, but couldn't get over the fact that it looked worse than a jacked up PS2 game. I'm not a graphics whore by any means, more of an art design skank, but Nier was too ugly to take. I'd like to come back to it because I've heard cool things about the story, though, so I'll keep it in the back of my mind and try to force myself to get over how disgusting that game looks.
Seriously, if the Bombcast crew doesn't like this thing, let it go and don't talk about it. I'd rather not listen to them BS their way through a conversation. Not liking a piece of hardware is a preference and an opinion, which I can accept. Talking crap while simultaneously being wholly uninformed is jackassery. This is why I like Patrick Klepek: he seems to take his information gathering seriously and doesn't just spout random garbage devoid of all but the barest of facts.
It's almost sad that I had more fun playing a stealthy role in this game that just about any other. Peace Walker is the only one in my memory that beats it, but I also didn't play any of the Splinter Cell games at all, so maybe my opinion on this isn't quite fully-formed (at least I can admit that...). At least in this game, the option to go buckwild is not only open, but just as fun as neck-stabbing/snapping your way to success. I'm not a huge FPS guy, so I was surprised I enjoyed this game as much as I did, and glad I gave it a shot strictly based on the Quick Look.
This game is some dumb, crazy, Japanese fun. Its over-the-topness is set to Ninja Assassin levels of stupidity, but at least this game takes itself less seriously. At one point a character says "they want to win just as much as we do!" He is, of course, talking about robots, which is totally hilarious. This game is pretty short, so I may rent it again just to play through the ridiculousness again with the Japanese voice track on, which I think I'll enjoy for all the wrong reasons in all the right ways.
You know what? People complaining about PSN download speeds are either liars, a-holes, or a-holes with slow connections. I just checked, and my speeds are about 2mb/s during off-peak hours - as in, when everyone isn't downloading everything at the same time. That's the same as I get from Steam, and almost as fast as I can get anything from the internet (I've hit 2.6 intermittently before, but it was never stable, and the 2mb/s from PSN is pretty smooth).
You know what else? I've had that type of speed for a good while with PSN (maybe a little slower, but nothing significant), so I'm incredibly confused as to why games "journalists" spread unconfirmed, unresearched misinformation about Sony's service. That's just asinine. If they are getting anything slower than what I'm getting with my not-quite top-of-the-line Cable internet, it's their fault or their location, not PSN, and I'm absolutely tired of hearing otherwise.
L.A. Noire
Man... this game is so hot. It's one of the coolest games I've ever played. Well, the parts where you're actually investigating anyway. Those parts where you're shooting at or chasing suspects? Effing terrible. This would be my game of the year if not for that. I get that doing so breaks up monotony, and it's definitely necessary for the sake of realism (occasionally a criminal wants to hightail it out of town, shooting his way past you... nothing wrong with that), but the fact that every crime in progress I've had to stop requires me to either chase or shoot, sometimes both, is lazy as hell.
Can't I help a lower-level officer find a well-hidden piece of evidence, or ask a witness questions when another detective is having a hard time getting good info? I still love the game and can't wait for more free time to get another couple cases in, but I doubt I'll give it a second run-through thanks to the previously mentioned grievances.
EDIT:
Okay, so I was going overboard a bit on those comments about people being a-holes if they have slow PSN speeds. I'm just upset that it seems to have become a fact. Download speeds vary across the globe, yet for some reason the only thing anyone says about PSN is that it's slow, which is straight up false due to being subject to location and service. I have literally not once heard anyone in the realm of video game press say anything good about PSN download speeds. This is the same type of annoyance I get with the spread of any false information, it just happens I have firsthand knowledge this time around.
Man... this game is fun as hell. I’m not quite sure how much I enjoy it technically, but the multiplayer options themselves are very entertaining. The recording feature is also something I accidentally wasted time with since the cinematic controls are so deep. I can definitely see myself spending a couple months occasionally popping in for some online fun when the full game is released.
This is something I'd definitely pay for if it lets me rent games like crazy, without queues, without waiting for delivery, and so on. There are far too many games I want to play and far few dollars in my account to pay for $60 retail games twice a month (three or four times during the Holiday rush), and whatever digital or indie releases I want to check out. Other “options” for easy game rental are either limited (Red Box – even though it is well-priced and a godsend), or simply horrible (Gamefly).
Also, it may make a dent in used game sales if people could pay a a small amount and have access to everything they want; it would save far more cash than buying and reselling, and you can always rent the game again (maybe even at a cheaper rate?) if you want to replay it. Imagine paying a price similar to Red Box at $2 a day, renting L.A. Noire during a week off and beating it for $14. Then, some DLC comes out so you buy that and rent the game on a day off for another $2. Unfortunately, it could also really hurt developers if people who would normally buy a game decide to rent it first, changing their mind about a full purchase in the process; Lord knows I would do just that for anything I was unsure of. OnLive on a game console could be a strange thing, but if it happens, I’ll hope for the best and try out the service.
Man, this game would be so awesome if if had ANY kind of checkpoint system (well it has one, but it's one of the worst I've ever seen). I got tired of the whole replay a whole level or massive chunk of one when aspect of gaming after I could afford to buy my own games. As addicting, funny, and bad-ass as it is, it is nearly unplayable to me. I may come back, but as of tonight I'm done with Magicka for some time.
I got this game for free (Valve gave it away for a bit to celebrate Steam Mac support) and just now got around to it, and I definitely see what most of the fuss was about. I was not disappointed despite years of "oh my God, this game is amazing!" comments, but maybe that's because I got the game for zilch. It was so short that if I had paid more than $10 for it I'd have been livid, especially since I'm not a speed-run or achievement-hunt type of person, so now that I finished Portal I'll likely never play it again. Still, it was incredible and totally worth the handful of short bouts of nausea I had to endure.
I finally figured out my plan with this game, and that it to focus on crafting (arguably the best and most polished system the game has going for it in its current state) so that when the PS3 version launches I'm actually useful. I remember starting FFXI and being helped along by very cool people, some who were playing it in other countries - teachers in Japan, soldiers wherever, and so on - and that's what I want to be: a player who is helpful, reliable, and unselfish. It's harder to achieve that since XIV is already out in the US, but hopefully when the PS3 version arrives and the game is 99% different than the original launch I can be of use to new players by being able to make cheap gear and other stuff for newcomers.
Wiki Work
I also want to fix up GiantBomb's wiki page for FFXIV. It's clear that this community gives no fucks at all about that game, and I'd like to at least do something along the lines of paraphrase the changes that are coming. When the recent list of combat mechanics changes was released, I was in shock at the number of things they are doing, and all by the end of Summer. I'd at least like to chronicle the changes and make some formatting / image changes to that wiki page. Another page I'd like to give some love to is the PSN one, specifically the store section; it's out of date as hell, especially images and game references.
I had a fun working on the Killzone 3 page, and it was well worth it to look at the end results of my work, so showing the same love to FFXIV is something I look forward to.
Looking very much forward to this, though I honestly don't know too many reasons why. The NGP is the thing I most want to see, and Nintendo's new console may just bring me back into their hugging arms. Microsoft's got nothing I care about right now and the way they roll it's likely not gonna change after the show. I find myself not being able to name too many games I want to see more of. I attribute that to my tendency to actively avoid information on games I know I will buy anyway (Skyrim, inFamous 2, Uncharted 3). Here's hoping for something new, hot, and exciting for E3 2011.
New Games
Seriously, I haven't bought a new game in far too long. I think Killzone 3 was the last one a few months back. Hopefully the PS Store comes back soonish so I can spend the money that I should be saving for moving expenses on something new to play (I'd have bought L.A. Noire by now if it wasn't for brokeness). It doesn't help that Gamefly is so God-awful at shipping games in a timely fashion that I can't even save money by renting since I want to play games when they are newish and unspoiled by douchebag comments or podcast conversations. I don't get that - I live in Indianapolis, where huge nearby Fed-Ex, UPS, and Amazon distribution centers make sure anything I order online will arrive insanely fast, yet Gamefly keeps on being terrible.
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I like this game. It took me a while and a handful of updates before I even played it after purchase (plus it was killing my video card, so I took the opportunity to upgrade that and my power supply), but it is getting better on the regular. I look forward to the changes and additions the new producer mentions and hints at, and the game is getting ever closer to being a proper product. I can see the brilliance of some of the aspects of FFXIV with ease, but so much of it is mired in crappy execution that it is shocking the game was ever released as-is. Hopefully it can all come around by the time the PS3 version launches so that those reviews are more favorable, if only to get the player base a lot higher on all versions.
I admit to not really having a desperate need to getting PSN back ASAP; I just about never played online, and despite the fact that I was enjoying Killzone 3's multiplayer, I can do without it for a bit. Honestly, I am almost as annoyed by the fact that this little debacle is bringing out the insane Sony-based hatred from anyone and everyone. If you don't like PS3, or Sony, or PSN, or whatever, that's fine, but all the truest of haters (and even the casual dislikers) are using this as an excuse to be fanboy assholes without reprisal. Hearing this type of stuff on every podcast, every game site, and every casual blog I run into is just annoying, specifically from people trying to have themselves taken seriously as "press."
I like this game. A lot, in fact. I remember it getting tons of hate from the GB crew, specifically Brad, but I don't remember the exact arguments against it other than it wasn't really Castlevania. I have played exactly one of those games and therefore have no nostalgic feelings getting in the way of my judgment. Not only does the game have gorgeous art design and music, but the gameplay is solid, fun, and entertaining. And that's not even mentioning the story, which is above average (thanks at least halfway to great voice acting and scene direction). It seems to me like nostalgia took hold, essentially making this game "bad" to the GB crew only because it was unexpected or different; kind of insulting to those of us that enjoy that those qualities as often as we can.
So boring... must finish... or feel like I... wasted $50.
Gamestop
Yeah... I'm pretty much done with them now. After Amazon announced an increase in the gift card coupon they give you when you order it, I decided to give up the retail ghost. I could actually use that money to make that awesome Infamous 2 Hero Edition a few bucks less. Honestly, the only reason I haven't cut ties is because I know the people that work at my local store from having been an employee, and I don't want to hurt them by killing my reserves all at once (I've had it happen to me, and apparently it's no excuse to jackhole middle-managers looking to blame someone for a bad week). I'll have to bite the bullet, though, and apologize on the way out - even though it's not my fault that Amazon and Steam kick the crap out of that company.
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Haven't put up a blog here in a while, so I figured it was time to jot down some terse thoughts. Onward to bullet points!
Kingdom Hearts: Birth By Sleep is easily the best game in the series combat-wise. It is frantic, fast, and fun. Too bad a real next game in the series won't be out until Haley Joel Osment needs a prostate exam
Enslaved was awesome, until I heard that the PS3 version wasn't outputting in 5.1 sound. I didn't notice because the motion blur was making me nauseous for the first couple of hours, so by the time I was finally okay with the motion I was also used to the sound. Now it sits on a shelf, waiting for a patch. Fuck that shit.
I am watching more StarCraft II than playing it. It's like watching a two football games and a chess match at the same time when a game is even remotely good. Friggin' awesome.
My PSPgo is getting hella (!) traction lately as my mp3 player at work. It is the perfect size for my pocket, so while I run around like crazy I can listen to a playlist or the Bombcast. I'll stick to playing games on it at home (or on my PSP-2000 when something is not available as a download), but at this point it is getting a lot more use than anything I own besides my computer.
Netflix from the PS3s "xross" media bar is fantastic. Great quality, fast response time, and now I can actually use it (screw that disc, yo). Unfortunately, to get HD I have to set my system to 1080p, which is annoying since I prefer 720p for games. Only fifteen seconds of trouble, though, so it's worth it.
Extremely disappointed by almost everything at TGS this year. Pretty signals the last of my defense of Japanese game development to stand down from red alert.
Yakuza Of The End looks fucking awesome, though. I don't care for zombies and have therefore never played a single game featuring those things in their true form, but that Yakuza game has me all sorts of excited.
After Final Fantasy XIV came out a broken mess, I realized that I didn't start playing FFXI until the US launch, which was at least a year after the Japanese version came out, meaning tons of patches and fixes. It is still one of the game I want most in the world, and from the way they supported XI I expect loads of content that will make it worth the monthly fee, so no big deal to wait a bit.
I'm honestly starting to be annoyed by the overt cynicism of Ryan and Jeff. I still love them, now more than ever, but when they start talking shit for no reason other than personal preference it really irks me. Having an opinion is fine, but stating that something is dead ass wrong or god-awful as if it is fact is just a jackass move (in my opinion, of course).
I really hope there is another Endurance one after the Holiday season.
I kinda want to play Fable 3, but I got bills, homey. Gonna have to wait until Q1 or Q2 2011 to get another 360 and play it.
Well, that's it. Time to start up New Vegas and go buck wild being a goodie two-shoes.
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This is me post from a story on IGN regarding how gamers still overwhelmingly prefer discs over downloads:
"Physical media is, at this point, an unfortunate necessity. It doesn't matter at all, and everything would run better as a digital copy, but too many people don't have the internet speeds capable of a fast download. Plus, some games on PS3 are simply better for being on disc thanks to uncompressed surround sound and whatever else the developer can stuff into a Blu-ray without compromising performance.
Game cases are pretty awesome to have as part of a collection, though. The day that I can buy any game I want, at any time I want, and have a case delivered to me (hell, I'll pay an extra couple bucks if the digital game isn't $60), I'll start breakdancing my chubby self all over the place in celebration."
Copyright (c) 2010 Michael Valdez and OddProdigal.com
*Copied and edited from the June, 19th 2010 post on my personal blog*
This Year's E3: The Reality
Ah, the Electronic Entertainment Expo. This trade show can really make a gamer's year with cool announcements, surprises, and details of formerly vague hardware and software. Too bad I was bored out of my skull this year. Lovely.
Every gamer has a wish list, whether it be a written one (like mine from the last blog post I made) or one that is in no particular order and rattling around within the confines of his/her brain holder thing. Skull, was it? Unfortunately, almost nothing from my own list happened, so despite a few cool bits of software on display, I feel like my excitement was met with good old boredom all week. Maybe it's my taste in games that is the problem. If I was a casual gamer with less... complex taste in games I think I would have had a hard time picking between the three big consoles as to which one would give me more for my entertainment dollars.
Alas, my favorite aspects of a game are the story, character development, narrative, and some form of at least partially strategic gameplay - I'm not into casual-focused games or hyper-violent titles. Because of that, as soon as E3 started this year I was on a fast moving train to Disinterested City, the greatest place on earth that isn't everywhere else. Looking deeper into the show, however, I see a few products that I think I am going to really enjoy. With that in mind, here's a handful of items I very much want after seeing them (mostly because I wasn't totally interested before or didn't know about it):
The Witcher 2
A sequel to a game that I swear I'll get to sooner or later, this looked amazing. A dark, branching storyline, an interesting universe, and a cool main character means it is not only in my wheelhouse, said wheelhouse may actually have been built around this game as it slept. It's also a PC game, and I feel it will be the one that forces me to upgrade my video card (who am I kidding, I was going to do that anyway).
Nintendo 3DS
The 3DS has been getting some incredible praise from the press, so despite my total disregard for Nintendo products, may have to get it when there are enough role-playing games that don't focus on that dreaded touch screen. If/when that happens, I will be happy to purchase this bit of hardware.
Journey
From the same company that made the beautifully addictive downloadable game Flower comes this... thing. I honestly am having a hard time trying to write about it, so I'll let Giant Bomb's Brad Shoemaker do it for me from his preview of the game during E3:
"Chen is tired of the empowerment fantasies inherent in most modern games. He said he wants to return players to a feeling of being small and powerless, with a sense of awe toward the wide unknown world. That means no rocket launchers or double jumps in Journey. The game is about exploring this strange world as a hapless character with no foreknowledge of his or her strange surroundings."
My anticipation is palpable. And possibly sugar-coated.
Spec-Ops: The Line
The only shooter that caught my eye and interest entirely from new E3 news (I had heard of it before, but was more or less "meh" towards it), this is also easily the most violent game I am excited about. The world and gameplay mechanics look fun because of the setting in a sandstorm-ravaged Dubai, and from what I hear the characters and story will actually be a developmental focal point. I've heard all that before and ended up with games that are violent for the sake of violent (and therefore insanely boring), but I am keeping a hopeful eye on this one.
Deus Ex: Human Revolution
I want to see what this game ends up being almost strictly because of other people's high enthusiasm for it. I've also heard a lot of talk about how the game will allow you to play in different ways, which is a definite plus in my book. I never played the other two Deus Ex games, so I also hope this game doesn't lay into constant allusions to events or people I don't know anything about.
Well, that's it. That's all that really caught my eye this E3. Ugh, what a bad year for me as far as this event is concerned. I have a feeling that I'm going to get much more joy out of the Tokyo Game Show this year since about a third of what I wanted was more likely to be announced there anyway - I was just being hopeful for some early information and got nothing for it.
Copyright (c) 2010 Michael Valdez and OddProdigal.com
*Copied from the June 12th update to my personal blog*
E3 2010!
The Electronic Entertainment Expo is the biggest video game industry trade show, and because of that there are tons of surprises every single year. Recently, a post on the IGN.com message boards (a place I have gone to literally three times in the past year) asked folks what they'd like to see, and these were my personal top ten desires for this year's show.
1. FFXIV release date (I played a bit of it this week but the 5-20 frames a second average I got in the test version made me so nauseous I had to stop; I was highly impressed by it and want to know when I can get the real thing)
2. Kingdom Hearts III and Final Fantasy vsXIII info (probably TGS stuff, but one can hope).
3. A few more useful PS3 and PSP features (usefulness can never be overrated; I'd love better music playback and codec support on PS3 and some nice non-game apps for PSP)
4. Maybe another game from Mistwalker (despite ignoring one of their games and become bored with the other, I wanna see if Sakaguchi-sama can still entertain me while having a game that is at least somewhat modern)
5. Gameplay from Rockstar's Agent (hah!)
6. 360 Slim (mostly so stores can be flooded with cheap used ones so I buy that to replace my E-74'd system)
EDIT: This one certainly came true in impressive fashion, so I'm gonna keep an eye out for prices now.
7. The Last Guardian (gameplay and release date)
8. PS2 downloads on PSN (EDIT: I'd like for these to have Trophies, but I'm not crazy enough to think that will happen)
9. Admission of PSPs faults (lately there has been a lot of good content thanks to comics, minis, and PSN game releases, but I want them to admit to making mistakes and appease us with hardware price drops and announcements; I love my PSP but there is so much hate towards it that I'd like something positive on this front from E3)
10. Any new Sony or Microsoft exclusive IP to relieve sequelitis (I'm more looking forward to what Sony will announce since Microsoft's software lineup is 99% unappealing to me; I wish it wasn't, but I'm not going to change my tastes to suit a corporation)
EDIT: Yup, Microsoft's announced new IPs were of no interest to me whatsoever. I hope tomorrow's Sony press conference will make me do more than shrug.
Copyright (c) 2010 Michael Valdez and OddProdigal.com
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