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Comments
I named Marle Thor.
When the freakin' GOD OF THUNDER is going to get relegated to healing duties from the midgame onwards you know this is going to be one hell of a ride.
is it because thor is the prettiest of princess
Yep, sure is
also he trades in mjolnir for a weak-ass bow
Xenoblade, ladies and gentlemen.
Is Xenoblade actually fun or is it just really pretty?
Because I kind of want to get it but so far all I know about it is that it has really nice-looking environments.
I mean, chances are I'll get it anyway since I haven't had any RPGs to play in forever, but still.
It's actually very fun, don't worry. The combat might not be everyone's cup of tea, though.
And apparently, another DC fighting game is being made by the Mortal Kombat guys, though it's not a crossover. The costumes look fairly odd, but that's apparently a part of this "New 52" universe.
I should probably get around to actually playing The Witcher games. I only really got to the end of the prologue in the first one.
(alex no alexing)
For the 0 people that care, registration for the Final Fantasy V Four Job Fiesta has started.
For all it's flaws, that game had a lot of really interesting stuff going on. All those questions about transhumanism and technology and stuff that it raises really raised it above most other games. Say what you will about the crappy oh-crap-we-ran-out-of-time-for-something-better endings or the shitty boss fights, HR made me think, and want to go out and learn more. There's not many games I can really say that about.
Also, speech challenges. Those were easily the best, most tense sequences in the entire game. Whether it was trying to talk your way into a police station or attacking the philosophy of the main villain as his plan goes off around you, the speech challenges kept me invested in and on the edge of my seat in a way that the stealth or the boss battles... never really did.
I'd love to see more of that in games.
Also, I should probably get around to playing through the original some time.
/ramble
I've actually been playing it a lot lately. Considering doing it first when I start up my review thingy. It's a game that does a few things very right, and a few things very wrong, which should make it pretty good for a first writeup.
You definitely should. It's pretty much Human Revolution, minus speech challenges, but with the balance, fighting and endings all improved.
I think a lot of its problems come down to budget. They wouldn't have outsourced the boss fights if they'd had more money, they would have had better endings if they'd had more time, and they would have had better balance if they'd had a longer playtest period.
^So basically, they got Obsidian'd.
At least The Missing Link showed that the team could have done a boss fight right.
Or not. I dunno much about how game development works.
Though to be honest, I'd love another game like this even if it was just as flawed.
Eh, my favorite PC game is Bloodlines, so I obviously have some tolerance for lack of polish.
Ys Origin is now available!
Only on Steam, but still...awesome!
^^Yeah, I love Bloodlines in spite of how bad it gets at the last fifth.
Yeah, they made the same mistake in the last bit that Human Revolution made with bosses. Just all clumped together.
I love playing the unaligned ending with a Malkavian in heavy armor though.
Just walkin' by in my pimp coat, flippin' the bird.
That said, THAT MOTHER FUCKING KUEI-JIN BOSS FIGHT.
AND THE ONLY WAY TO NOT HAVE IT IS TO GO FOR THE RETARDED WEEABOO ENDING.
now i have to ask
Just created a giveaway on SteamGifts for Serious Sam: the Random Encounter. It's apparently Serious Sam reimagined as a turn-based action RPG.
Enter it here: http://www.steamgifts.com/giveaway/EEDpQ/serious-sam-the-random-encounter
Basically one of the factions fighting for the big-ol macguffins are a group of Chinese vampires who are more powerful than your normal boring western vampires. They also consider western vamps an abomination.
There comes a point in the game where you have to choose sides. If you choose the kuei-jin basically you get the macguffin and then they betray you, take over the city, and throw the macguffin into the bottom of the sea.
So, for my attempt at a game review blog with a little more depth than average for that industry, I've sorta vaguely identified the format I'll divide my write-ups into.
I'll start with a brief overview, then describe the methods of engagement. After that, I'll go over mechanics, level design, aesthetics and narrative, then I guess a little concluding segment tying everything together.
Any thoughts on things I left out, or things I should have left out, or what order I should go in, or anything really?
I think that formats are better as guidelines, myself.
True. I'll deviate from it as required by the specific game, but as a general template, what are your thoughts on that?
Replace "level design" with a more general "play scope design" or something like that.
Remember that "narrative" can include play experience itself, for games that don't really have a plot.
Maybe you should evaluate aesthetics along with soundtrack and atmosphere.
What precisely do you mean by that?
Yep.
Those are aesthetics. I meant it in the overall sense, not just visual aesthetics.
Well, just that games don't necessarily involve navigating a character around ground or going through levels. Though I think you mean this broader meaning anyway.
And gotcha about aesthetics.
True. And yeah, I'm using "level" in the sense of the maps and gameworld as a whole.