Bullying
I was finally capable of being coherent enough on my thoughts about the soon to be released Bully game by Rockstar, that I wrote a short article about it. It’s very difficult to convey thoughts about a topic like this, believe me, I’ve tried numerous times. Take a look here if you’re interested, and challenge me with questions. Opinions can change with throughout our lives and I welcome some good dialog on the subject.
september 12, 2006 02:57pm
Gaming Gap
The unexpected delay of Okami forced me into a “gaming gap” where I have a set amount of time to complete a game. I say I must complete a game, because odds are when Okami arrives all else will be forsaken and potentially forgotten and I hate leaving things unfinished. So, I chose the shortest game on my shelf to fill the space: Black. I heard it was short so I figured: “Easy to finish” during my gap. I couldn’t have been more right. 1.5 hours with Black and I was finished. The irony of leaving things unfinished has not escaped me, but when the crappy save system, and unskippable cinematics confronted me, Black got an instant review of “Sucks Balls”. I mean, it didn’t even have the knowledge to know that I watched the intro to see what it was about. Because when I decided to start playing the next day it forced me to watch the intro AGAIN.
Fortunately my brother came through for me with an entertaining bathroom game called Drill Dozer that filled in some time as well. But I’m still left with at least 1 week until the “official” Okami release day. So I popped in Prince of Persia: Two Thrones and have been enjoying myself readily. Hopefully I can plow through it with as much speed and enjoyment as my first adventure with the Prince.
I also finally finished a review of Shadow Hearts that I was happy with.
november 06, 2006 02:59pm
It Happened Again
I distinctly remember this same thing happening two years ago; I was pleasantly gaming along with Zelda: Wind Waker and up to the point where I could run off to the last dungeon, but I just didn’t want to quit exploring yet. Then, the world being a cruel place, Metroid Prime 2’s release day appeared and I knew I had to finish Wind Waker, else I may never come back to it. It really IS too bad that I wasn’t able to keep exploring and enjoying the game, simply because something new came along that I really wanted to play. So, I wasn’t a completest, and just finished Wind Waker so I could move on. The same thing happened to me this year. I finished Okami at midnight on October 30th so that I could dive into Final Fantasy XII the next day. Yet another sad ending to a great game.
august 16, 2006 03:33pm
Co-op
Following up my experience with World of Warcraft, one of the things I DO miss about that game is the ability to play with friends. Still, I’m more interested in gaming online on a smaller scale. Even though I’m not going to be the owner of a 360 for a long time, the boys over at EA are certainly heading in the right direction for gamers like me. Army of Two looks to be exactly the sort of thing that would keep my interest for a long time. I hope Army of Two will be successful and pave the way for more like it. Since the days of Double Dragon I’d always preferred two player games. With online ability, my friend(s) can live anywhere and we could play something other than a slapped together “death match” version of a single player game.
august 14, 2006 03:34pm
WoW Rebut
A friend queried me the other day about the source of my disdain for World of Warcraft. I can see the reason for the prose, since three million people are playing the game regularly and I barely gave it my 40 days of free trial time. My answer, unfortunately, is not a simple one. There are really three areas of concern. The game itself, Me, and everyone else.
The game of WoW: as an RPG is concerned, would probably be one of the best games out there if not for one glaring flaw: A Story. Thrust into a world with the ability to interact with and do thousands of things, but I’m still not exactly sure why I was there. If it wasn’t made clear to me in after playing for 80 hours then the story tellers didn’t do their job. The few tidbits of information you do get about your relevant character class’ struggle come from small dialogs as you complete various quests. These bits alone are not substantial enough to qualify as story telling. The quests are the second most irksome thing. Anyone that knows me knows how much I dislike side quests. Well, WoW is entirely side quest driven. Laden with fetch, kill, escort, or exploration quests that lead you here or there around the world just doesn’t give me a good sense of accomplishment. The quests are made that much worse by the fact that, initially, you need to walk EVERYWHERE. One such quest had me go on a two plus hour hike across three different countries to accomplish. Boor-ing.
The player: Me. To give a clue of the financial situation I’m in consider these two things: 1) I buy 95% of any games I play used, and 2) 80% of those used games are over 1 year old. Hopefully you can see why I balk a little at the $15 monthly fee for WoW. I probably could have made it work financially but it’s a contributing factor nonetheless. Another thing about me is that I’m a husband and father who averaged two hours per sleep-deprived day playing WoW. AND didn’t find time to play anything else. My lack of time to play, watching my friends advance past me at a soaring rate, and the fact I wasn’t playing anything else made me unhappy.
Everyone else: You. I can’t blame other people for a poor gaming experience but there are certain things about them that influence me. First of all, people that contribute to slow, lack of progress, “stand around” time during the game are irritating yet they made the smallest impact on my decision to quit. The bigger influence from other players has, surprisingly, been outside the game. My neighbors, both being self proclaimed WoW addicts, did nothing with their free time but go on raids, and sleep (ok maybe eat but that can be done while playing). They were kind of like a pair of hermits whose vocabulary only included things like “Instance”, “raid”, “PVP”, and “DPS”. Given the addictive nature of WoW, I literally feared becoming something like that at the cost of my family. The next example is a very dear friend of mine whom I haven’t been able to share a quality gaming experience with since the Wii controller was announced one year ago. He surfaced for a month or two after giving up his addiction to WoW, only to lapse, yet again, into silence for the last month. His witty retorts, banter, excitement, passion, and extraordinary use of a thesaurus quashed under the might of Blizzard. Not me.
The overall frustrating thing about WoW, is that technologically it’s wonderful. The pseudo-turn-based combat is excellent, the controls are great, the graphics and sound are beautiful, the world diverse, and the multi-player features substantial. But factor in all the negatives I was experiencing and it couldn’t retain my attention. So I say: “bye bye World of Warcraft”. I did have some good times, but you and I are just not compatible. Maybe we could just be friends?
august 17, 2006 03:30pm
Pending
If I was 16 years younger and getting ready to head back to school I would be pissed right now because my back to school time is being ushered in with the release of some good lookin’ RPGs. However, I am 16 years older than if I would have been 16 years younger and I’m on a budget so that makes me equally pissed right now. A quick perusal of the soon to be released games and I find: Xenosaga III, Okami (yes I know it’s not an RPG), Valkyrie Profile 2, and Final Fantasy XII.
It’s probably the XS3 vs Okami time frame that I’m most concerned about. They both appear to be lengthy games and I really only have time to play one of them during the month before I’m going to wind up with VP2 which, comes a month before FFXII. I’ve had my eye on Okami and XS3 for quite a while but have been watching with caution. XS3 was inevitable but will appear in the shadow if it’s, less than worthy predecessor. Okami on the other hand is something totally new, which leaves me uncertain about it to begin with.
Fortunately for me, EGM appeared in my mailbox yesterday proclaiming that Okami is a 9.0, 9.5, 9.0 game and that I’d be a fool not to partake. Also fortunate for me that XS3 comes out a few days prior and the reviews will speak loudly to my decision. I’m probably jaded but I’d be really surprised if XS3 gets more than 7.0 average ratings. So, unless I’m terribly mistaken, maybe my decision won’t be that difficult after all.
