Personal musings, and gaming all-over-the-place.
By vidiot 6 Comments
I haven't done a blog in a while. I'm just gonna write a bunch and you're going to read it. Sound good? It shouldn't. You are reading, we are not having a audible conversation.
My lack of updates is actually a good thing, I've been appropriately busy regarding a plethora of different personal activities. One of which, I hope to be announcing in earnest very soon. The last few months since losing my job have been filled with anxiety, and for the first time since December I am beginning to feel relatively normal again.
Normal enough for vidiot at least.
Did I just refer to myself in third-person?
Maybe?
Japan
I cannot express my emotions into words regarding to what is happening right now in Japan. I've tried. There is not a word that can combine the full-range of sadness I am experiencing for the country where I was born. But Vid, are you not whiter than a ghost?!
Yes stupid. That's not how that works!
My parents were both students at Sophia during the 80's, and they subsequently lived there for almost a decade. Japanese culture has always been at the forefront of my life for as long as I can remember. There is...Hard to find a word that will fit here...We are moving into bizarre personal territory...A (???)strangeness (????)...Regarding being raised by two parents who can dive fluently into Japanese with a drop of a hat.
I'm getting off-topic here: I'm happy to know that my families friends living in Japan seem all-right, but the situation over-there is affecting my family immensely.Fun political fact: Ask me what I think of the "birther's movement", regarding proclaiming president Obama is not our president, because of his supposed questionable place of birth.
Just be prepared for a multitude of F-Bomb's being directed to you.
During the 24/7 depression-thon known as CNN: There was a conversation that happened I found hilarious. An immediate family member, who has done translation work for years, boisterously yelling at CNN's anchors wondering why the fuck they didn't have anyone who could accurately translate a press-release was quite possibly one of the funniest things I've heard all week, for all the wrong reasons.
The recent nuclear activity has everyone on edge. I feel absolutely powerless regarding a situation like this, and it's increasingly frustrating.
Beyond Good and Evil
Changing gears here completely: Stop making excuses, and go download this gem of a game. 
What's always surprised me, and this is still intact with the HD Re-Release: Is how the game's world is structurally supposed to be claustrophobic. It exhibits open-world design, but the environments are very starkly attached to one-another. I never feel any form of claustrophobia. The world of Beyond Good And Evil is alive and well, thanks to an engaging game world that other developers would only kill to have.
Also, it's a really easy S-Rank.
Yakuza 4
Before you ask: You have no idea how great it was to see no Mini-Game Master trophy anywhere on the game's trophy list. When I went to Pax last year, I remember asking the guy running the Yakuza 4 demo about what the deal was with the trophies in Yakuza 3: His response pretty much was that the developers didn't really understand what they were doing. The mini-game trophies are exactly as they should be: Rewarding you just playing them, versus grinding over-and-over again against a difficulty that has a chance of making you hate what you are playing.
What's funny is how hilariously easy certain mini-games are to me. A trophy for getting a bulls-eye three times while playing darts? Done. Dart throwing in Yakuza game's have been mentally attached to my psychosis. If I need to hit a number: I hit it.
Few early pointers:
- You get items if you have a Yakuza 3 save at the beginning of the game.
- Taunt. Buy the "Grab taunt" technique early on, and go to town with Heat actions.
- To the northeast in the Champions district, there is a man inside one of the bars that will keep you informed over any sub-stories that need to be completed.
It's going to be really interesting how the reviews for Yakuza 4 are going to play out. I predict they are going to be all-over-the-place. For the very first time ever in the series, we have an entry that we can objectively look at, without thinking about Sega's piss-poor over-sea's bugling. I can already tell you that this review is wrong, although some very finite aspects of some of the complaints are ones that I share. It's true that this is a sequel that seems virtually built over the previous game. Although this game get's yearly releases per-year, and the it's obvious that reusing art-assets is not sacrilegious given the context.
If you liked Yakuza 3, you are going to like Yakuza 4. Unless something completely mind-blowing happens, I doubt that statement will change.
Complaining about things that you praised only a year earlier is also kinda silly. Such critical taste makes me wonder why critic's aren't exhausted by FPS.
That being said, I feel like this series has plateaued. I get the impression that this game is a cultivation of the series so far, and the dramatic change into Of The End personifies this mentality. Whatever shape or form Yakuza 5 will take, I perceive it will be dramatically different from previous games in the series.
HomeFront and Dragon Age 2
I'm sick of HomeFront and I haven't even played it yet. Actually, I was sick of HomeFront before the game was actually released.
I'm dreadfully sorry if you are a fan of HomeFront: I cannot take seriously a booming voice proclaiming that it's time for the "Second American Revolutionary War!"
Unless the British are invading again, and it's not a music band, I'll consider myself out.
What's funny is that what I've seen of HomeFront's single-player, the snips of gameplay among the live action FMV ad's does interest me. Perhaps years from now there will be a Steam sale, and I'll check it out. THQ apparently is in a fuss regarding the average MetaCritic reviews.
Speaking of MetaCritic reviews: What the hell is up with Dragon Age 2?!
This goes beyond the MetaCritic user-review debacle, there are a litany of uncountable forum posts and threads regarding Dragon Age 2's quality. Usually when high-profile game's are released, there is an influx of negative comments: But my god, this game should win an award for making people sing praises and making people shout blasphemy.
No middle ground people?
I'm sure the game is fine, but I cannot objectively ignore that it's defiantly rubbed people the wrong-way. I'm fascinated by what shape-and-form the next entry will take. Bioware's own response has been less than...uh..."good". Unless you think setting a precedent by banning someone from the product that they legally bought after they said something very tame in the context of the internet. While a majority of the MetaCritic reviews are probably complete horse-shit, is it right for the highest rated user review be done by one of the developers? Bioware seems determined to run on a tight-rope regarding making me feel any form of sympathy for them.
Donate or die! Seriously. I am coming to your house. I have a weapon.
To end this on a serious note, if you want to help the current situation in Japan you might want to check out the Red Cross or Doctors Without Borders. I was surprised by the large amount of negative responses to people posting charities for the Hati earthquake, and while I acknowledge that how some of these charities can be less than "stellar" in terms of distributing your money, there isn't a whole lot that an average person can do in a situation like this.
The final death-toll is going to huge, and it's clear these survivors need any aid they can. Let's put it this way: If an unemployed asshole like me, can donate a few extra dollars, I have high hopes you can do the same. I'm not directing you to donate money, just something to think about if you're apprehensive.
Passive aggressiveness FTW!
I'll let you be now. :P
Be safe, and have a happy St. Patrick's day fellow duders.