6.28.2005
6.10.2005
trend of anime-style games w/ horrible voice acting?
is the voice-acting pool really this bad, or is it just the directors or lack thereof? i just rented Musashi: Samurai Legends and Y's: The Ark of Napishtim.
though Y's is not really all that bad, the abundance of not-so-good voice acting makes me wince. it'd be better off with no voice acting, really. the gameplay is good though, it reminds me of sprite-based adventures, but in 3-d. a'course, not having a game manual doesn't help me too much. though your character is small on-screen, he's got a sword and can jump around, so it could get pretty intense. i still die too much though.
Musashi though... it fucking pisses me off. the voice for the Musashi is some ridiculous whiny kid's voice, and you can TELL nobody had any directing and they're just reading what's shoved in front of them... but GOD, I HATE MUSASHI'S VOICE. the game is ok, it involves hacking and slashing, but the pacing is a bit slow, i should be able to kick more ass a lot faster, and not get done in by the smallest enemy in the game just because they run away from me at the same speed i chase them and attack my back! FuCK. and, there's no low-health warning. i die alot in this game. and get sent back 3 screens to the last checkpoint, unless it's a boss. fucking hassle. and it's a SQUARE ENIX game.
Edit: It's not just that Musashi's voice is annoying either, but the character looks like a bad-ass young adult. it doesn't fit! his voice could have been done by a manly girl and still sound better than what he's got!
ah well, that's why we rent games before we buy them. I've pretty much lost all faith in Square Enix now.
though Y's is not really all that bad, the abundance of not-so-good voice acting makes me wince. it'd be better off with no voice acting, really. the gameplay is good though, it reminds me of sprite-based adventures, but in 3-d. a'course, not having a game manual doesn't help me too much. though your character is small on-screen, he's got a sword and can jump around, so it could get pretty intense. i still die too much though.
Musashi though... it fucking pisses me off. the voice for the Musashi is some ridiculous whiny kid's voice, and you can TELL nobody had any directing and they're just reading what's shoved in front of them... but GOD, I HATE MUSASHI'S VOICE. the game is ok, it involves hacking and slashing, but the pacing is a bit slow, i should be able to kick more ass a lot faster, and not get done in by the smallest enemy in the game just because they run away from me at the same speed i chase them and attack my back! FuCK. and, there's no low-health warning. i die alot in this game. and get sent back 3 screens to the last checkpoint, unless it's a boss. fucking hassle. and it's a SQUARE ENIX game.
Edit: It's not just that Musashi's voice is annoying either, but the character looks like a bad-ass young adult. it doesn't fit! his voice could have been done by a manly girl and still sound better than what he's got!
ah well, that's why we rent games before we buy them. I've pretty much lost all faith in Square Enix now.
6.07.2005
i've decided to get rid of my unwanted PS2 games. here's a last look at what seemed like a good buy at the time.
alter echo: action/adventure, hack stuff up, morph into assault and stealth modes, slightly tedious, beautiful environments and good music, but just not particularly great.
devil may cry: action, not my thing, heavy on the getting-yo-ass-kicked, sword/gun combo pretty cool though.
kinetica: stunt racing, stunts really hard to pull of, ability to win reliant on ability to pull stunts without hitting anything.
dual hearts: adventure/platformer, cheesometer 40%, heart-grabbing story, good action and puzzles, many unique stages, severl particularly tedious tasks/bosses, don't want to play ever again.
crash bandicoot, the wrath of cortex: platformer. not much else.
MDK2 armageddon: horrible controls, movement strictly on/off, no analog, quirky game and story if you can tolerate controls.
Dark Cloud: action/rpg, dungeon-based levels, story is ok, but outweighed by dungeon running, town building a mediocre escape from dungeons, character advancement dependent on weapon.
Haven, call of the king: action/adventure, very unique and interesting story-driven game, some challenges similar to platformer, reward for perfect completion is a sneak peek at a part of the sequel that will never exist, and it really needed a sequel.
I-ninja: action/platformer, cheesometer 70%, flip out and kill stuff with sword, very odd, mostly about killing stuff or not dying.
state of emergency: action, mission-based game of semi-random destruction via anything you can get your hands on, escourt missions a royal fucking pain in the ass.
gauntlet, dark legacy: arcade/rpg. involves moving around and shooting monsters and monster generators, finding items to unlock stuff, and killing bosses, it's all about the killing.
ty the tasmanian tiger: adventure/platformer, rated E for EASY, i can't believe they made a sequel.
alter echo: action/adventure, hack stuff up, morph into assault and stealth modes, slightly tedious, beautiful environments and good music, but just not particularly great.
devil may cry: action, not my thing, heavy on the getting-yo-ass-kicked, sword/gun combo pretty cool though.
kinetica: stunt racing, stunts really hard to pull of, ability to win reliant on ability to pull stunts without hitting anything.
dual hearts: adventure/platformer, cheesometer 40%, heart-grabbing story, good action and puzzles, many unique stages, severl particularly tedious tasks/bosses, don't want to play ever again.
crash bandicoot, the wrath of cortex: platformer. not much else.
MDK2 armageddon: horrible controls, movement strictly on/off, no analog, quirky game and story if you can tolerate controls.
Dark Cloud: action/rpg, dungeon-based levels, story is ok, but outweighed by dungeon running, town building a mediocre escape from dungeons, character advancement dependent on weapon.
Haven, call of the king: action/adventure, very unique and interesting story-driven game, some challenges similar to platformer, reward for perfect completion is a sneak peek at a part of the sequel that will never exist, and it really needed a sequel.
I-ninja: action/platformer, cheesometer 70%, flip out and kill stuff with sword, very odd, mostly about killing stuff or not dying.
state of emergency: action, mission-based game of semi-random destruction via anything you can get your hands on, escourt missions a royal fucking pain in the ass.
gauntlet, dark legacy: arcade/rpg. involves moving around and shooting monsters and monster generators, finding items to unlock stuff, and killing bosses, it's all about the killing.
ty the tasmanian tiger: adventure/platformer, rated E for EASY, i can't believe they made a sequel.
6.06.2005
taking the blue pill
the title of this post makes reference to 2 things
i've ended my recurring subscriptions to World of Warcraft and City of Heroes. CoH subscription ends, like, tomorrow, and WoW subscription ends July 13 or something like that. I may subscribe again as i see fit, but for now i'm not putting another cent towards the mmog racket.
also, i'm now interested in the world of The Matrix Online (MxO). it boasts a crack squad of event-making peoples to push new events every month. By the way, MORPHEUS IS DEAD. I might jack into the matrix before i go back to the other 2 mmorpgs
i've ended my recurring subscriptions to World of Warcraft and City of Heroes. CoH subscription ends, like, tomorrow, and WoW subscription ends July 13 or something like that. I may subscribe again as i see fit, but for now i'm not putting another cent towards the mmog racket.
also, i'm now interested in the world of The Matrix Online (MxO). it boasts a crack squad of event-making peoples to push new events every month. By the way, MORPHEUS IS DEAD. I might jack into the matrix before i go back to the other 2 mmorpgs
6.03.2005
IMPULSE
I am trashing giving away selling my stack of impulse comics. for about $.75 per comic, i figure that's fair if they're not well kept and obviously read at least once though probably several times. specials for about $1.25 i guess... and if you think i should sell them for less a different price, i'm all ears. especially if you're buying.
Bart Saves the Universe
#1,000,000
Impulse & The Atom, Double Shot
Impulse plus+, Gross-Out
Impulse Annual #2, Weird Western Tales
Impulse Annual #1, Legends of the Dead Earth
Impulse regular issues
1-2, 4, 6-8, 11-35, 39-44, 46-53
so that's 6 special issues, and 45 regular issues
Bart Saves the Universe
#1,000,000
Impulse & The Atom, Double Shot
Impulse plus+, Gross-Out
Impulse Annual #2, Weird Western Tales
Impulse Annual #1, Legends of the Dead Earth
Impulse regular issues
1-2, 4, 6-8, 11-35, 39-44, 46-53
so that's 6 special issues, and 45 regular issues
6.01.2005
Raze's Hell
okay, it's a shooting/fighting game, so that pretty much all i need to not like it.. however, i still think it could have been a hell of a lot better. the story: a civilization of insanely cute beings has decided to spread the joy across the world, and the plan involves killing anything not cute. Raze's village is destroyed while he's away, so he runs off and stumples upon some ancient artifact that gives him offensive capabilities. from what i could tell, you just kill everything that's cute and shooting at you, which is quite a lot. there's some story involving betrayal and summoning ancient beings to aid you, but it doesn't have a stong impact on you killing things. and if there's a lot of smoke, the framerate drops like a rock. it's stupid. but, if you're really into shooting stuff and chewing through an army of cute fuzzy things, be my guest. it's not my thing, and don't think it's worth playing even with god mode and infinite ammo.
5.30.2005
Psychonauts
this is a really good and well done adventure game. it's longer than short, though certainly not very long, but it's got enough to keep anyone busy for a while... at least a week if you don't use ANY help. there is a really helpful hint-giver who will tell you exactly how to defeat any foe, and a fair ammount of specific challenges. I don't recommend it to anyone with a short attention span, simply because the story plays a big role in making the game worthwhile. you can easily skip most of the dialogue and cut-scenes and get straight to business. there's quite a variety of tasks to accomplish, and only a few side-quests to help increase your rank.
WARNING: the next 2 paragraphs just explain the item-collecting/powering-up part of the game. here's how it works; you start the game as a rank 1 PSI cadet with a boost-jump and force punch, working your way up the ranks to gain new powers and enhancements to a potential rank of 101, though that last rank does nothing. you increase your rank by accomplishing various tasks in the real world and in the minds of the people you'll meet. one way is collecting "figments", which are basically transparent glowing crayon drawings. each figment has a value assigned to it, and once you hit 100 "figments" you gain a rank. you can also help sort out the emotional baggage in people's minds by finding tags to go with 5 different styles of bag in each person's mind. there are also memory vaults that contain slide-shows of significant memories, and while they're easy to open, they're a bit tricky to catch.
another thing you can do to increase your rank is collect and assemble "PSI challenge markers", which are a stack of 9 cards floating around a PSI core, which resembles a creepy green eyeball. you find these around the camp grounds (the real world) as whole markers or individual cards that you need to combine with a PSI core purchased at the main lodge. you can also buy a cobweb duster for a hefty price, which will allow you to collect cobwebs from people's minds and make cards with them in the real world, as well as opening up areas in the minds of particularly loopy people.
the powers that you unlock as an eager PSI-cadet are either as a result of your rank, or special training from one of the councelors. there's 8 special powers in all: telekinesis, blasting, pyrokinesis, levitation, invisibility, shield, clairvoyance, and confusion. they're all neccessary to complete the game, but obviously some are more useful than others. although clairvoyance has a limited role in completing the game, it can still be used to see how others see you, and it's quite amusing.. try it on friends and foes alike.
So, story; Raz ran away from the circus to become a psychonaut at Whispering Rock Psychic Summer Camp. due to the family having a bad past with mentalists, his dad doesn't let him go. Raz sneaks into the camp, impresses the councellors, and begins training. however, rumors are around that there is alake monster that threatens to steal your brain, and the kids have been having nightmares with peculiar similarities. training goes on, and things keep getting weirder. i could go on, but you really ought to play the game.
Fun facts and things you ought to know; i already mentioned that you can use clairvoyance to see interesting images of yourself in other peoples' eyes. there's also bulletin boards in the parking lot and at the lake with funny announcements from staff and the kids. come back to the minds of people you've sorted out earlier to see how they're doing, and finish up the area. you REALLY should get the psitanium dowsing rod FIRST, because the arrowhead rewards can be between 10 and 100 arrow heads, which beats breaking stuff for loose change, hands down. then get the magnet badge, because it not only attracts loose arrowheads, but health and ammo A LOT better than without. THEN get the cobweb duster.
By the way, it's only out on Xbox right now, but it'll be on other systems sometime this summer
WARNING: the next 2 paragraphs just explain the item-collecting/powering-up part of the game. here's how it works; you start the game as a rank 1 PSI cadet with a boost-jump and force punch, working your way up the ranks to gain new powers and enhancements to a potential rank of 101, though that last rank does nothing. you increase your rank by accomplishing various tasks in the real world and in the minds of the people you'll meet. one way is collecting "figments", which are basically transparent glowing crayon drawings. each figment has a value assigned to it, and once you hit 100 "figments" you gain a rank. you can also help sort out the emotional baggage in people's minds by finding tags to go with 5 different styles of bag in each person's mind. there are also memory vaults that contain slide-shows of significant memories, and while they're easy to open, they're a bit tricky to catch.
another thing you can do to increase your rank is collect and assemble "PSI challenge markers", which are a stack of 9 cards floating around a PSI core, which resembles a creepy green eyeball. you find these around the camp grounds (the real world) as whole markers or individual cards that you need to combine with a PSI core purchased at the main lodge. you can also buy a cobweb duster for a hefty price, which will allow you to collect cobwebs from people's minds and make cards with them in the real world, as well as opening up areas in the minds of particularly loopy people.
the powers that you unlock as an eager PSI-cadet are either as a result of your rank, or special training from one of the councelors. there's 8 special powers in all: telekinesis, blasting, pyrokinesis, levitation, invisibility, shield, clairvoyance, and confusion. they're all neccessary to complete the game, but obviously some are more useful than others. although clairvoyance has a limited role in completing the game, it can still be used to see how others see you, and it's quite amusing.. try it on friends and foes alike.
So, story; Raz ran away from the circus to become a psychonaut at Whispering Rock Psychic Summer Camp. due to the family having a bad past with mentalists, his dad doesn't let him go. Raz sneaks into the camp, impresses the councellors, and begins training. however, rumors are around that there is alake monster that threatens to steal your brain, and the kids have been having nightmares with peculiar similarities. training goes on, and things keep getting weirder. i could go on, but you really ought to play the game.
Fun facts and things you ought to know; i already mentioned that you can use clairvoyance to see interesting images of yourself in other peoples' eyes. there's also bulletin boards in the parking lot and at the lake with funny announcements from staff and the kids. come back to the minds of people you've sorted out earlier to see how they're doing, and finish up the area. you REALLY should get the psitanium dowsing rod FIRST, because the arrowhead rewards can be between 10 and 100 arrow heads, which beats breaking stuff for loose change, hands down. then get the magnet badge, because it not only attracts loose arrowheads, but health and ammo A LOT better than without. THEN get the cobweb duster.
By the way, it's only out on Xbox right now, but it'll be on other systems sometime this summer
5.17.2005
speaking of CoV
it looks like CoV is a mix of stand-alone and expansion; you don't need CoH, but some features will only be available to those who have both. I'd like to know how subscriptions are going to work though...
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