tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-35498724109181648012024-03-13T09:52:28.984-06:00Bitstream of ConsciousnessThis blog is intended to be a list of my thoughts on the video games I am playing. It will include thoughts on why I am playing the game, my impressions, how it relates to other games, and even reviews.Davídhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/15497404598558707761noreply@blogger.comBlogger186125tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3549872410918164801.post-25595495788553934642009-06-15T00:36:00.005-06:002009-06-15T00:56:18.510-06:00Gargoyle's Quest II - Finished the GameTime: Monday 2:43am<br />Games Played: Quordy, Klonoa, Fathom, Persona 3, Textropolis, 1 vs 100, Gargoyles Quest II<br />Drinks Consumed: 2 Sugar Free Rockstar, 2 Glasses of White Wine, 1 Sugar Free Red Bull, 2 Guayakí Yerba Mate Pure Empower Mint, 3 Guayakí Yerba Mate Pure Endurance, 1 Odwalla B Monster, 1 Guayaki Yerba Mate Nonsweetened Mate, 1 Nantucket Nectars Lemonade, 1 Lo-Carb Monster Energy<br /><br /><a onblur="try {parent.deselectBloggerImageGracefully();} catch(e) {}" href="http://2.bp.blogspot.com/_jqRH6PmyM90/SjXsRFay8oI/AAAAAAAAACo/Aq3aYBAmGAo/s1600-h/gqII1.JPG"><img style="cursor: pointer; width: 400px; height: 326px;" src="http://2.bp.blogspot.com/_jqRH6PmyM90/SjXsRFay8oI/AAAAAAAAACo/Aq3aYBAmGAo/s400/gqII1.JPG" alt="" id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5347439910828831362" border="0" /></a><br /><br />The next level is some sort of Egyption-themed dungeon. You can't tell from the picture, but all that sand is moving which looks pretty impressive. Also, I realized that I hadn't taken a picture of any of the bosses yet. So I decided to take a picture of the next one and this boss is probably the most boring one there is. The rest are much more interesting, I promise!<br /><br /><a onblur="try {parent.deselectBloggerImageGracefully();} catch(e) {}" href="http://3.bp.blogspot.com/_jqRH6PmyM90/SjXsRftauKI/AAAAAAAAACw/sr1C_qTE4v8/s1600-h/gqII2.JPG"><img style="cursor: pointer; width: 400px; height: 313px;" src="http://3.bp.blogspot.com/_jqRH6PmyM90/SjXsRftauKI/AAAAAAAAACw/sr1C_qTE4v8/s400/gqII2.JPG" alt="" id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5347439917886257314" border="0" /></a><br />The game has kind of a fun mechanic where vials you collect throughout the levels can be used as currency to buy extra lives. Because there are points in the overworld where you can fight a few enemies for vials, you can always grind them until you have a ton of lives and power through every level. Sort of a way to circumvent the difficulty. Oh, extra lives are called "The Power of the Maelstrom"<br /><br /><a onblur="try {parent.deselectBloggerImageGracefully();} catch(e) {}" href="http://4.bp.blogspot.com/_jqRH6PmyM90/SjXsRSqvkQI/AAAAAAAAAC4/TkkvOUHuI8E/s1600-h/gqII3.JPG"><img style="cursor: pointer; width: 400px; height: 301px;" src="http://4.bp.blogspot.com/_jqRH6PmyM90/SjXsRSqvkQI/AAAAAAAAAC4/TkkvOUHuI8E/s400/gqII3.JPG" alt="" id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5347439914385379586" border="0" /></a><br />I like how "The Password" is sort of a mystical power in this land that can revive the fallen. Clever, Capcom.<br /><br /><a onblur="try {parent.deselectBloggerImageGracefully();} catch(e) {}" href="http://4.bp.blogspot.com/_jqRH6PmyM90/SjXsRpkmqnI/AAAAAAAAADA/5fTxiYCE6MA/s1600-h/gqII4.JPG"><img style="cursor: pointer; width: 400px; height: 329px;" src="http://4.bp.blogspot.com/_jqRH6PmyM90/SjXsRpkmqnI/AAAAAAAAADA/5fTxiYCE6MA/s400/gqII4.JPG" alt="" id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5347439920533645938" border="0" /></a><br />This is a more interesting boss, but he's incredibly frustrating because once he moves near you, it's nearly impossible to avoid his projectiles. In general, that was my problem with this game. The level designs were, for the most part really well done and presented fun platforming challenges. And then you reach bosses that are tedious and frustrating because you have very little margin for error.<br /><br /><a onblur="try {parent.deselectBloggerImageGracefully();} catch(e) {}" href="http://3.bp.blogspot.com/_jqRH6PmyM90/SjXsR3ish5I/AAAAAAAAADI/Ru1xUp8uRA8/s1600-h/gqII5.JPG"><img style="cursor: pointer; width: 400px; height: 298px;" src="http://3.bp.blogspot.com/_jqRH6PmyM90/SjXsR3ish5I/AAAAAAAAADI/Ru1xUp8uRA8/s400/gqII5.JPG" alt="" id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5347439924283738002" border="0" /></a><br />The big guy above is "Rushifell" who was probably meant to be Lucifer, but thanks to a rather awesome mistranslation of Japanese ended up with the r and l switched. I mean, he even looks like him. ("Rushifell" also appeared in the first Gargoyle's Quest).<br /><br />Tragically, I lost many of the pictures I took, due to them coming out as blurry messes. But after an incredibly frustrating final boss fight (not only do you have to move in perfect precision, but there are instant death spikes below you and the moving platform in the final bosses room often throws you down toward them due to poor programming), I beat the game.<br /><br /><a onblur="try {parent.deselectBloggerImageGracefully();} catch(e) {}" href="http://4.bp.blogspot.com/_jqRH6PmyM90/SjXuUe6Dz6I/AAAAAAAAADQ/VKv2npEtaRg/s1600-h/gqII6.JPG"><img style="cursor: pointer; width: 400px; height: 306px;" src="http://4.bp.blogspot.com/_jqRH6PmyM90/SjXuUe6Dz6I/AAAAAAAAADQ/VKv2npEtaRg/s400/gqII6.JPG" alt="" id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5347442168233709474" border="0" /></a><br />Yeah, I totally am. The other minion in the throne room here says, "You did very well." Just very well? I save the freakin' world!<br /><br /><a onblur="try {parent.deselectBloggerImageGracefully();} catch(e) {}" href="http://1.bp.blogspot.com/_jqRH6PmyM90/SjXuUtGvuII/AAAAAAAAADY/4BemhLPVYa8/s1600-h/gqII7.JPG"><img style="cursor: pointer; width: 400px; height: 325px;" src="http://1.bp.blogspot.com/_jqRH6PmyM90/SjXuUtGvuII/AAAAAAAAADY/4BemhLPVYa8/s400/gqII7.JPG" alt="" id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5347442172045015170" border="0" /></a><br />The credits sequence is pretty cool as it shows you each of the bosses again and names them and then deisplays credits while the bosses do their thing. A nice touch.<br /><br /><a onblur="try {parent.deselectBloggerImageGracefully();} catch(e) {}" href="http://3.bp.blogspot.com/_jqRH6PmyM90/SjXuU3csu2I/AAAAAAAAADg/3KO8ppEadp8/s1600-h/gqII8.JPG"><img style="cursor: pointer; width: 400px; height: 309px;" src="http://3.bp.blogspot.com/_jqRH6PmyM90/SjXuU3csu2I/AAAAAAAAADg/3KO8ppEadp8/s400/gqII8.JPG" alt="" id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5347442174821448546" border="0" /></a><br />"Capcom Presents: Thank you for playing"<br />This is almost as good as Ninja Gaiden's ending: "See you next Tecmo"<br /><br />Overall, Gargoyle's Quest II was disappointing as it felt like a mediocre experience. I really think Capcom hastily slapped this together. The world design shows flashes of brilliance, but overall comes off as empty. The original game wasn't long, but everything felt tight and cohesive while in this game, it feels like there's something missing. Heck, there's a section where it talks about a guy named Dagon in the desert and getting his claw (supposed to be 'Dragon', perhaps?). I looked for him, but never found him and went I went on to the next section, I couldn't even return to look for them again. I think the level designer did a pretty good job, although I seem to remember that in the original, much better use was made of the special attacks you got that could also affect the environment (breaking walls, creating hold on spikes, etc.) So, this was mildly fun, but not as good as it could have been. Now I just want to play the original game again.Davídhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/15497404598558707761noreply@blogger.com13tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3549872410918164801.post-8410610081245534062009-06-14T21:30:00.007-06:002009-06-15T00:56:39.724-06:00Gargoyle's Quest II - Obtained Candle of DarknessTime: Sunday 11:32pm<br />Games Played: Quordy, Klonoa, Fathom, Persona 3, Textropolis, 1 vs 100, Gargoyles Quest II<br />Drinks Consumed: 2 Sugar Free Rockstar, 2 Glasses of White Wine, 1 Sugar Free Red Bull, 2 Guayakí Yerba Mate Pure Empower Mint, 2 Guayakí Yerba Mate Pure Endurance, 1 Odwalla B Monster, 1 Guayaki Yerba Mate Nonsweetened Mate, 1 Nantucket Nectars Lemonade, 1 Lo-Carb Monster Energy<br /><br />So the original Gargoyles Quest is one of my favorite games for the original Black and White Game Boy. It was the first game to really show the system was capable of full, engrossing games on its own and not just puzzle games and ports of NES games.<br /><br /><div style="text-align: center;"><a onblur="try {parent.deselectBloggerImageGracefully();} catch(e) {}" href="http://3.bp.blogspot.com/_jqRH6PmyM90/SjXA4_PI27I/AAAAAAAAAB4/Z_BS87mF9Sw/s1600-h/gq1.JPG"><img style="cursor: pointer; width: 400px; height: 296px;" src="http://3.bp.blogspot.com/_jqRH6PmyM90/SjXA4_PI27I/AAAAAAAAAB4/Z_BS87mF9Sw/s400/gq1.JPG" alt="" id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5347392217852468146" border="0" /></a><br /></div>Upon starting the game, I am immediately struck by the difference in music between the Game Boy game and its NES sequel. While similar, and probably meant to be the same theme, the difference in sound chips of the two systems clearly changes the exactly quality of sound both can do. So far, I think I prefer the Game Boy versions of the songs.<br /><br /><div style="text-align: center;"><a onblur="try {parent.deselectBloggerImageGracefully();} catch(e) {}" href="http://4.bp.blogspot.com/_jqRH6PmyM90/SjXA5DDsMyI/AAAAAAAAACA/Wluv-QmXPjY/s1600-h/gq2.JPG"><img style="cursor: pointer; width: 400px; height: 310px;" src="http://4.bp.blogspot.com/_jqRH6PmyM90/SjXA5DDsMyI/AAAAAAAAACA/Wluv-QmXPjY/s400/gq2.JPG" alt="" id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5347392218878194466" border="0" /></a><br /></div><br />I still can't get over the fact that this is in color! Whoo!<br /><br /><div style="text-align: center;"><a onblur="try {parent.deselectBloggerImageGracefully();} catch(e) {}" href="http://3.bp.blogspot.com/_jqRH6PmyM90/SjXA5dR2fOI/AAAAAAAAACI/e1fZhHqETOI/s1600-h/gq3.JPG"><img style="cursor: pointer; width: 400px; height: 311px;" src="http://3.bp.blogspot.com/_jqRH6PmyM90/SjXA5dR2fOI/AAAAAAAAACI/e1fZhHqETOI/s400/gq3.JPG" alt="" id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5347392225916910818" border="0" /></a><br /></div><br />Ah, the days of 16 digit (or more!) passwords. At least this game uses all numbers so you're not stuck wondering whether something is an O or a 0 or a 1 or l or any other the other countless mistakes I made as a kid until I learned to quadruple check my passwords (and then I still would something not be able to tell if I <span style="font-style: italic;">wrote</span> a 1 or an l...<br /><br /><div style="text-align: center;"><a onblur="try {parent.deselectBloggerImageGracefully();} catch(e) {}" href="http://3.bp.blogspot.com/_jqRH6PmyM90/SjXA5RkeJ7I/AAAAAAAAACQ/JT64IR5HrRY/s1600-h/gq4.JPG"><img style="cursor: pointer; width: 400px; height: 323px;" src="http://3.bp.blogspot.com/_jqRH6PmyM90/SjXA5RkeJ7I/AAAAAAAAACQ/JT64IR5HrRY/s400/gq4.JPG" alt="" id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5347392222773782450" border="0" /></a><br /><br /><div style="text-align: left;">There are a lot of empty houses and otherwise empty areas in the game. It really feels like they were originally going to fill the world with lots of things, but ran out of time and so there are a lot of structures (and outside map areas) with absolutely nothing in them. Weird.<br /></div></div><br /><div style="text-align: center;"><a onblur="try {parent.deselectBloggerImageGracefully();} catch(e) {}" href="http://1.bp.blogspot.com/_jqRH6PmyM90/SjXA5r7fRcI/AAAAAAAAACY/l-BG4oVm8Kg/s1600-h/gq5.JPG"><img style="cursor: pointer; width: 400px; height: 313px;" src="http://1.bp.blogspot.com/_jqRH6PmyM90/SjXA5r7fRcI/AAAAAAAAACY/l-BG4oVm8Kg/s400/gq5.JPG" alt="" id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5347392229849646530" border="0" /></a><br /></div><br />Such scintillating dialog! Actually, the localization in this game is pretty bad. The translation is almost completely literal making the story a bit hard to follow and I've noticed some spelling and grammar mistake. I wonder if Lucifer is once again mistranslated as Rushifell?<br /><br /><div style="text-align: center;"><a onblur="try {parent.deselectBloggerImageGracefully();} catch(e) {}" href="http://3.bp.blogspot.com/_jqRH6PmyM90/SjXCnBUjq7I/AAAAAAAAACg/LkpErNlUje8/s1600-h/gq6.JPG"><img style="cursor: pointer; width: 400px; height: 317px;" src="http://3.bp.blogspot.com/_jqRH6PmyM90/SjXCnBUjq7I/AAAAAAAAACg/LkpErNlUje8/s400/gq6.JPG" alt="" id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5347394108197678002" border="0" /></a><br /><br /><div style="text-align: left;">This came out way more blurry than I had intended because I was originally going to comment on how beautiful this level was. Definitely has the graphical fidelity of a late-era NES game. This level is also the first time the game gets hard. Took me three tries to make it through.<br /></div></div>Davídhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/15497404598558707761noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3549872410918164801.post-53384638612920979132009-06-14T17:26:00.003-06:002009-06-14T17:37:54.068-06:00And the winner is...Time: Sunday 7:32pm<br />Games Played: Quordy, Klonoa, Fathom, Persona 3, Textropolis, 1 vs 100<br />Drinks Consumed: 2 Sugar Free Rockstar, 2 Glasses of White Wine, 1 Sugar Free Red Bull, 2 Guayakí Yerba Mate Pure Empower Mint, 2 Guayakí Yerba Mate Pure Endurance, 1 Odwalla B Monster, 1 Guayaki Yerba Mate Nonsweetened Mate, 1 Nantucket Nectars Lemonade, 1 Lo-Carb Monster Energy<br /><br />While a bit disappointed in the turnout, there was a clear winner in this vote. Out of the eight votes cast, five of them went to Gargoyles Quest II. That makes some sense because it is probably the best game on the list (Take that, Sonic fans!). Amazing Spider-Man vs. The Kingpin did get two votes. I wonder if it had gotten more if I'd have mentioned just how <a href="http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Bz3_GFtNbuo&feature=related&pos=5">horrific the animations are</a> before and after the levels and how cheesy <a href="http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=L5JnG0wa-8M">the early 90s rock song composed for the game</a> was. Super Punch-Out!! got 3 votes, but there is some dispute as to how many of those votes were cast by canines.<br /><br />Sorry Snake's Revenge, no one else likes you.<br /><br />I will be delayed in playing this due to being a bit more social this evening than I thought. But fear not, I shall get through it!Davídhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/15497404598558707761noreply@blogger.com3tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3549872410918164801.post-11487347357925015892009-06-14T14:08:00.003-06:002009-06-14T14:18:02.934-06:00Audience Participation - What should my last game be?Time: Sunday 4:15pm<br />Games Played: Quordy, Klonoa, Fathom, Persona 3, Textropolis, 1 vs 100<br />Drinks Consumed: 2 Sugar Free Rockstar, 2 Glasses of White Wine, 1 Sugar Free Red Bull, 2 Guayakí Yerba Mate Pure Empower Mint, 2 Guayakí Yerba Mate Pure Endurance, 1 Odwalla B Monster, 1 Guayaki Yerba Mate Nonsweetened Mate<br /><br />Okay, so I've gone through all the planned games for this weekend (apart from some Rock Band later) and need to pick out one last game to play to end tonight. I will present to you, dear readers, a list of games I am considering (and why) and you tell which you think I should play.<br /><br /><b>Sonic the Hedgehog 2</b> (Genesis) - Can I finally make it all the way through the game without getting bored?<br /><br /><b>The Amazing Spider-Man vs. The Kingpin</b> (Sega CD) - This game took the linear Genesis Spider-Man game and attempted to make it more of an open world game. It failed pretty spectacularly, but it's still does a decent job of capturing Spider-Man's web slinging.<br /><br /><b>Super Punch-Out</b> (SNES) - I have never managed to beat the first of the Bruiser brothers. I'd probably just start all over to help myself get back into it.<br /><br /><b>Snake's Revenge</b> (NES) - The non-canonical sequel to the NES Metal Gear, this one isn't that bad as long as you're not in one of the awful side-scrolling sections. Otherwise, it gets the overhead sneaking parts pretty well done.<br /><br /><b>Gargoyle's Quest II</b> (NES) - Recent Game Boy retrospectives have reminded me just how awesome the original Game Boy game of Gargoyle's Quest was. I've never managed to get very far in the NES sequel which seems to be largely the same (awesome) game but with color!Davídhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/15497404598558707761noreply@blogger.com5tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3549872410918164801.post-53458795144232484652009-06-14T13:13:00.002-06:002009-06-14T13:26:19.414-06:00Shin Megami Tensei: Persona 3 FES - Finished the gameTime: Sunday 3:14pm<br />Games Played: Quordy, Klonoa, Fathom, Persona 3, Textropolis, 1 vs 100<br />Drinks Consumed: 2 Sugar Free Rockstar, 2 Glasses of White Wine, 1 Sugar Free Red Bull, 2 Guayakí Yerba Mate Pure Empower Mint, 1 Guayakí Yerba Mate Pure Endurance, 1 Odwalla B Monster, 1 Guayaki Yerba Mate Nonsweetened Mate<br /><br />Ugh, I ended up staying up way too late to see all that this game has to offer. <br /><br />I got to January 30th (the day before last) with my Yukari S-Link at level 9 with it telling me that my relationship could get stronger soon. Man, I really wanted to maximize that S-Link! So I reloaded a save from December 30th and just focused on nothing but doing that. It was worth the effort as it was pretty funny. Ah, sexing the ladies...<br /><br />I also went ahead and saw what happened when you chose to kill Ryoji on December 30th. Interesting, but probably not worth it.<br /><br />And then I finally got around to finishing the game. The final boss battle took forever, but I was pretty over-prepared as I was in no real danger of losing. Which is good, because having to redo a battle that took about a half hour would have totally sucked.<br /><br />My favorite part of the ending was how it used all the people whose social links you had maximized. For me that was Yuko, Chihiro, Kazushi, Hidetoshi, Mamoru, Nozomi, Dying Man, The Monk, and Tanaka. I especially liked being able to explore the school after winning and see what everyone was up to.<br /><br />Overall, I'm glad I finally finished the game. It was a good game. Not absolutely amazing as some would say, but it was unique and innovative and quite entertaining. Its flaws can definitely be overlooked given the experience it gave me.<br /><br />Of course, I ended up staying up way to late to experience all of this and so it's only now at almost 3:30 that I am ready for a relatively open and free day today. More on that later!Davídhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/15497404598558707761noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3549872410918164801.post-72353193519074474472009-06-13T19:58:00.006-06:002009-06-13T20:05:02.525-06:001 vs 100 - First ExperienceTime: 10:04pm<br />Games Played: Quordy, Klonoa, Fathom, Persona 3, Textropolis, 1 vs 100<br />Drinks Consumed: 1 Sugar Free Rockstar, 2 Glasses of White Wine, 1 Sugar Free Red Bull, 1 Guayakí Yerba Mate Pure Empower Mint, 1 Guayakí Yerba Mate Pure Endurance, 1 Odwalla B Monster, 1 Guayaki Yerba Mate Nonsweetened Mate<br /><br />So I took a break from Persona 3 to play the live beta of 1 vs 100 on Xbox Live.<br /><br />I love trivia. I play it every night at a bar here with a group of friends. And this was fun too. Several of my Xbox live friends were on and it was great to see how idiotic the actual players were. I also learned that the lyrics to the LL Cool J song are "Mama said knock you up" and the lyrics to the Bon Jovi song are "Whoa, oh, sitting on a chair."<br /><br />It was pretty fun, though I would have been much more bored if I wasn't chatting with Xbox live buddies. I imagine the chance to actually be part of the real mob (if not the one) was pretty miniscule.<br /><br />Back to Persona 3. I'm on 1/25!Davídhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/15497404598558707761noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3549872410918164801.post-89848698246770498502009-06-13T17:16:00.002-06:002009-06-13T17:20:20.731-06:00Textropolis - More Word GamesAnother break for dinner and dog walking and it gave me some time to play another recent iPhone obsession of mine - Textropolis. It's a pretty simple game where it gives you a city name and you have to form as many words of four or more letters as you can out of it. For each word you make, you get points (the population of the city increases) and at certain intervals, your city gets an additional star. Getting two stars unlocks the next city. It's a very simple game, but it's word games and I love 'em. Now to get a little more Persona 3 in.Davídhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/15497404598558707761noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3549872410918164801.post-46116384410215538012009-06-13T15:23:00.001-06:002009-06-13T15:26:11.168-06:00Shin Megami Tensei: Persona 3 FES - 1/23Time: 5:23pm<br />Games Played: Quordy, Klonoa, Fathom, Persona 3<br />Drinks Consumed: 1 Sugar Free Rockstar, 2 Glasses of White Wine, 1 Sugar Free Red Bull, 1 Guayakí Yerba Mate Pure Empower Mint, 1 Guayakí Yerba Mate Pure Endurance, 1 Odwalla B Monster<br /><br />So... an hour and a half later and I've progressed one day. But I think I've got all the fighting and fusing out of my System for now so hopefully this week should go quickly.Davídhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/15497404598558707761noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3549872410918164801.post-71733495049099268372009-06-13T13:38:00.006-06:002009-06-13T13:44:02.096-06:00Shin Megami Tensei: Persona 3 FES - 1/22Time: Saturday 3:40pm<br />Games Played: Quordy, Klonoa, Fathom, Persona 3<br />Drinks Consumed: 1 Sugar Free Rockstar, 2 Glasses of White Wine, 1 Sugar Free Red Bull, 1 Guayakí Yerba Mate Pure Empower Mint, 1 Guayakí Yerba Mate Pure Endurance, 1 Odwalla B Monster<br /><br />Ah, the Velvet Room music. I have heard this so many times, I'm surprised it hasn't driven me crazy. At least the Persona battle music stops and starts in between wandering around Tartarus. But the Velvet Room music just keeps going as I spend forever trying to figure out who to fuse with whom and to get just the right skills. I know my former roommates can still hum it from memory.<br /><br />Anyway, my big push here is to get this game finished. January 31st is the final day (I think) and so I only have a little over a week in game time. I've already made it as far as I can go in Tartarus and have even opened up the doorway to the other realm by defeating death. So I don't really need to defeat any more monsters.<br /><br />Of course, that's the first thing I did when I started up the game again just to re-familiarize myself with the game. And now I'll probably spend half an hour in the Velvet Room fusing more personae. But after that... all macking on girls until the end of the game!Davídhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/15497404598558707761noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3549872410918164801.post-74480901472229169692009-06-13T11:44:00.005-06:002009-06-13T12:01:32.392-06:00Fathom - Finished the GameTime: Saturday 1:45pm<br />Games Played: Quordy, Klonoa, Fathom<br />Drinks Consumed: 1 Sugar Free Rockstar, 2 Glasses of White Wine, 1 Sugar Free Red Bull, 1 Guayakí Yerba Mate Pure Empower Mint, 1 Guayakí Yerba Mate Pure Endurance, 1 Odwalla B Monster<br /><br />Each weekend, the folks at <a href="http://www.gamespite.net/talkingtime">Talking Time</a> pick a free game out there and play and <a href="http://www.gamespite.net/talkingtime/showthread.php?t=8024">discuss it</a>. This week was <a href="http://adamatomic.com/fathom/">Fathom</a> - an indy game with an art vibe (meaning that it is trying to convey some sort of message).<br /><br />I got to a certain point in this game and then couldn't figure out what the hell to do. I had collected a ton of fish and done several other things but it just seemed that I couldn't continue at all. I asked for help, didn't get any, and was getting incredibly frustrated. I was about to give up, but then tried the game in a different browser. Turns out I must have hit upon a bug, because playing it in that browser everything happened as I expected and I was able to finish the game.<br /><br /><a onblur="try {parent.deselectBloggerImageGracefully();} catch(e) {}" href="http://4.bp.blogspot.com/_jqRH6PmyM90/SjPnTjNoPjI/AAAAAAAAABw/elB6fT4_qXw/s1600-h/fathom.png"><img style="display:block; margin:0px auto 10px; text-align:center;cursor:pointer; cursor:hand;width: 400px; height: 398px;" src="http://4.bp.blogspot.com/_jqRH6PmyM90/SjPnTjNoPjI/AAAAAAAAABw/elB6fT4_qXw/s400/fathom.png" border="0" alt=""id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5346871505674845746" /></a><br /><br />Despite my frustrations, I enjoyed it overall. The music is great, the aesthetics are nice and I really like how it subverts the tropes of video games. The game is mostly divided into two parts and the first part is well done, if not particularly creative. The second part is much more creative and sets a good mood even if playing it gets a little frustrating after awhile.<br /><br />There's a larger discussion to be had here about whether games can really have a message. Can they express something through pure gameplay? Are they beholden having to be "fun to play" or can they use limitations on play control to express things? I think you can have "art games" much like "art films", though it's much harder to pull off a pure message game than say, a movie or book or painting. <br /><br />But whatever. On to another game!Davídhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/15497404598558707761noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3549872410918164801.post-34532469470572494612009-06-13T09:42:00.003-06:002009-06-13T09:46:22.801-06:00Quordy - Waking up the brainTime: 11:27am<br />Games played: Quordy, Klonoa<br />Drinks consumed: 1 Sugar Free Rockstar, 2 Glasses of White Wine, 1 Sugar Free Red Bull, 1 Guayakí Yerba Mate Pure Empower Mint<br /><br />Amazing my dog let me sleep in until 11am today. I guess I must have kept him up late with all my cursing at the final levels of Klonoa. It's a bit later than I wanted, but I awake refreshed and ready to take on a new day.<br /><br />It's still pretty nice (though hot) today, so I took him to the park in the morning and while he was running around, I woke up my brain with a nice game of Quordy. It's a good way to get myself going in the morning. Now I just need to grab a "breakfast" sandwich and then I'll be ready to go.Davídhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/15497404598558707761noreply@blogger.com2tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3549872410918164801.post-2465668831562719672009-06-13T01:51:00.004-06:002009-06-13T02:07:22.800-06:00Klonoa: Door to Phantomile - Finished the gameTime: Saturday 3:56am<br />Games Played: Quordy, Klonoa<br />Drinks consumed: 1 Sugar Free Rockstar, 2 Glasses of White Wine, 1 Sugar Free Red Bull, 1 Guayakí Yerba Mate Pure Empower Mint<br /><br /><br />Man, Klonoa is supposed to be a dream or all a dream world or whatever, but some of that stuff will give me nightmares. There's some weird fever dream stuff in there.<br /><br /><div style="text-align: center;"><a onblur="try {parent.deselectBloggerImageGracefully();} catch(e) {}" href="http://1.bp.blogspot.com/_jqRH6PmyM90/SjNdXEj7OWI/AAAAAAAAABg/zFa52RfKkpI/s1600-h/IMG_0126.JPG"><img style="margin: 0px auto 10px; display: block; text-align: center; cursor: pointer; width: 400px; height: 302px;" src="http://1.bp.blogspot.com/_jqRH6PmyM90/SjNdXEj7OWI/AAAAAAAAABg/zFa52RfKkpI/s400/IMG_0126.JPG" alt="" id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5346719833561708898" border="0" /></a><span style="font-size:85%;"><span style="font-weight: bold;">I am a bad enough dude to rescue the president.</span></span><br /></div><br />The game really is incredibly well defined, being a significant challenge by the last level. It may be my fatigue but the last level and then the last boss (and all his forms) had me cursing up a storm. There was also one puzzle that my brain just couldn't work out at this time in the morning that I had to resort to looking up (and felt like an idiot when I saw what the solution was). But I more or less loved this game. Pretty sure it will go on my (imaginary) list of best platformers.<br /><br />I think the ending was a bit too built up for me. I'd heard it was bittersweet. And yeah, it isn't totally happy, but it still maintains the general feel of a children's story. Nice, but not really impressive.<br /><br /><div style="text-align: center;"><a onblur="try {parent.deselectBloggerImageGracefully();} catch(e) {}" href="http://3.bp.blogspot.com/_jqRH6PmyM90/SjNdksHjA-I/AAAAAAAAABo/YWXA63fYuvw/s1600-h/IMG_0127.JPG"><img style="margin: 0px auto 10px; display: block; text-align: center; cursor: pointer; width: 400px; height: 305px;" src="http://3.bp.blogspot.com/_jqRH6PmyM90/SjNdksHjA-I/AAAAAAAAABo/YWXA63fYuvw/s400/IMG_0127.JPG" alt="" id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5346720067518399458" border="0" /></a><span style="font-size:85%;"><span style="font-weight: bold;">I like this explanation of why the other characters in the game don't actually help you save the world.</span></span><br /></div><br />So yeah, one game down.<br /><br />I guess I can replay the levels now to get the characters I missed out on. And I unlock new things. I'll see how I feel in the morning because boy howdy do I need some rest. The drinks have failed me.<br /><br />And what the hell does "for your phantomile..." mean? Oh this game!Davídhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/15497404598558707761noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3549872410918164801.post-54007518521462522412009-06-12T21:53:00.005-06:002009-06-12T22:07:30.487-06:00Klonoa: Door to Phantomile - Vision 4-2Time: 11:53pm<br />Games Played: Quordy, Klonoa<br />Drinks Consumed: 1 Sugar Free Rockstar, 2 Glasses of White Wine, 1 Sugar Free Red Bull<br /><br />I still can't get over how fun the levels in this game are to play. I think I've just been playing a lot of more mediocre 2D platformers recently, but I love the subtle puzzle aspects in figuring out how to progress further and get the secret items.<br /><br />I also want to point out how well Klonoa's character is done. In visual design, he somewhat resembles one of the many "attitude" mascot platform characters of the 16-bit generation. But his behavior in the game is of a more down-to-earth earnest character who was just out for a care free stroll when this whole adventure was thrust upon him. And the cute gibberish voices used for the character are a nice counterpoint to his "cool dude" design making him a much more deep and likable character than, say, <a href="http://hg101.classicgaming.gamespy.com/bubsy/bubsy.htm">Bubsy</a>.<br /><br />Also, Klonoa has a Pac Man on his hat. How cool is that?<br /><br /><a onblur="try {parent.deselectBloggerImageGracefully();} catch(e) {}" href="http://2.bp.blogspot.com/_jqRH6PmyM90/SjMkdxSBgUI/AAAAAAAAABQ/n92hEN2ppmQ/s1600-h/klonoa_door_to_phantomile_front.jpg"><img style="margin: 0px auto 10px; display: block; text-align: center; cursor: pointer; width: 400px; height: 394px;" src="http://2.bp.blogspot.com/_jqRH6PmyM90/SjMkdxSBgUI/AAAAAAAAABQ/n92hEN2ppmQ/s400/klonoa_door_to_phantomile_front.jpg" alt="" id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5346657276482650434" border="0" /></a><br />The story has been pretty lighthearted so far. It has made me smile and once chuckle when I encountered a guard who talked like Yoda. I wish I'd gotten a picture of that.<br /><br />After finishing the most recent level, things have become a bit more heavy. Klonoa's grandfather dies in his arms and reveals that saving the world is Klonoa's destiny. It doesn't quite work with the presentation that has come before it, but I'm willing to give it a pass to see how things develop.<br /><br /><a onblur="try {parent.deselectBloggerImageGracefully();} catch(e) {}" href="http://1.bp.blogspot.com/_jqRH6PmyM90/SjMldW_q9UI/AAAAAAAAABY/QZd_SxFptN0/s1600-h/klonoa_destiny.JPG"><img style="margin: 0px auto 10px; display: block; text-align: center; cursor: pointer; width: 400px; height: 359px;" src="http://1.bp.blogspot.com/_jqRH6PmyM90/SjMldW_q9UI/AAAAAAAAABY/QZd_SxFptN0/s400/klonoa_destiny.JPG" alt="" id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5346658368937981250" border="0" /></a><br />I just took my dog for a walk and probably got scammed by some guy who was looking for money to buy drugs. But he seemed honest, had a complicated but believable story, and an effeminate lisp so I'm hoping he really is a hairdresser and I get a free haircut out of it.<br /><br />Also, it is hot and late so my pants are now off. Just thought you should know.Davídhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/15497404598558707761noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3549872410918164801.post-41384042043994416772009-06-12T19:34:00.003-06:002009-06-12T19:37:33.608-06:00Socialization Break #1Time: Friday 9:34pm<br />Games Played: Quordy, Klonoa<br />Drinks consumed: 1 Sugar Free Rockstar, 2 Glasses of White Wine<br /><br />Man cannot live by video games alone. And besides these friends missed my recent 30th birthday festivities and were taking me out for drinks, so how could I say no? It was really great catching up with them as I hadn't talked to them in probably about six months. And it got me looking even more forward to playing some games.<br /><br />On my way back to my place, I stopped by my local supermarket and two bodegas. I completely struck out in finding any of the recommended energy drinks. The supermarket was all out of anything Rockstar, and the bodegas seemed to only carry Red Bull of energy as energy drinks. Since the local MLS team is the Red Bulls and I had just been talking about them with my friends, I grabbed one of them so that I wouldn't have to break into the Yerba Mates too early.Davídhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/15497404598558707761noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3549872410918164801.post-17889853443467757422009-06-12T16:05:00.003-06:002009-06-12T16:15:18.120-06:00Klonoa: Door to Phantomile - Vision 2-1Time: Friday 6:05pm<br />Games Played: Quordy, Klonoa<br />Drinks Consumed: 1 Sugar Free Rockstar<br /><br />When I moved in December, my component cable for my PS2 finally bit the dust. It had never been quite right since moving to New York and it finally gave up the ghost. Because I am cheap, I waited until I had a significant amount of things I wanted from <a href="http://monoprice.com">monoprice</a> before I ordered a replacement. I finally got it on Monday. Because I am a graphics whore and wouldn't deign to play my PS2 without the best possible graphics, I hadn't played any PlayStation games since I moved (except to test them on an, ugh, composite cable). Klonoa is thus re-breaking in my PS2.<br /><br />Klonoa was a recent <a href="http://vidgamejournal.blogspot.com/search/label/fun%20club">fun club</a> over at <a href="http://www.gamespite.net/talkingtime/">Talking Time</a>. It also recently got a re-release for <a href="http://vidgamejournal.blogspot.com/search/label/Wii">Wii</a>. And it's truly great. Only having played through three levels so far, I can see what makes it so good: the level design.<br /><br />Klonoa is, at heart, a 2D platformer. You play as some non-descript rodent-like animal that can jump and shoot. Though the game is basically 2D, it is rendered in a 3D engine with levels that rotate and turn as you move through them. Additionally, things come from the foreground and background and you occasionally interact with them.<br /><br />I'm playing the PlayStation version and am really impressed at the graphics. 3D on the original PlayStation sometimes looks quite ugly, but this game is a treat. Extremely colorful without to many harsh angles or muddied textures. And detailed where necessary.<br /><br />But it's the level design that really makes this game. There are basically only four things you can do (jump, shoot, throw enemies, and double-jump when you have an enemy) and each level portion is designed best to show how you need to use these to get past. So far it hasn't been too easy, but the penalties for failure also haven't been very extreme so it's almost like puzzling your way on how to advance in each situation. Through in bonus items that take even more to collect and background elements that spring you or blow you upwards and navigating the game is a treat.Davídhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/15497404598558707761noreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3549872410918164801.post-18203767198304701872009-06-12T14:43:00.004-06:002009-06-12T14:52:03.448-06:00Quordy - I rockTime: Friday 4:09pm<br />Games played: Quordy<br />Drinks Consumed: None<br /><br />I decide to begin my game-playing extravaganza with a nice warm-up: Quordy for my iPhone. Quordy is basically Boggle, but renamed to avoid trademark infringement. It is also awesome (and better than the other high profile Boggle game for iPhone, Wurdle). It has a great interface and allows challenging friends and playing against them online. Until I started writing for <a href="http://www.1up.com/1upblogs/1/">The Tilt</a>, I didn't bother putting any more games on my iPhone because Quordy was all I needed.<br /><br />I also rock at it. I have an opponent who I play regularly, but my record against him is 84-34 so yeah. I'm pretty good at word games.Davídhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/15497404598558707761noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3549872410918164801.post-35035301577485700762009-06-12T14:35:00.004-06:002009-06-12T14:52:30.414-06:00The weekend begins!As of now (well, technically 4:09) my weekend on pure video games has begun. I plan to devote as much time this weekend to playing games as possible. I'll break for food, bathroom, dog walking, and <span style="font-style:italic;">maybe</span> a little socializing. We'll see. But here, dear reader, I plan to document everything that has gone on.<br /><br />To keep me fueled for this weekend, I planned to pick up several energy drinks. My friend Paul is an expert on those and so I consulted him are what are the best varieties. According to him, Sobe Energy Drink (low carb) and Rockstar Energy Drink (low carb) are the two best with Rockstar providing more of a jolt. Of course, in the three drug stores/corner markets I visited between last night and now, I could find none of them. I grabbed a sugar-free Rockstar to get me started, but I'll have to make a stop at the nearby supermarket tonight.<br /><br />Anyway, I plan to periodically blog about my experiences this weekend. Here goes!Davídhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/15497404598558707761noreply@blogger.com2tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3549872410918164801.post-74951782955723148412009-03-19T10:58:00.006-06:002009-03-19T15:04:22.902-06:00Bit.Trip Beat - Second SongSynesthesia is a term that's been thrown around quite a bit in regards to video games lately. Near as I can figure, it is usually used to refer to a game where playing the game itself creates music. Not in the <a href="http://vidgamejournal.blogspot.com/search/label/Guitar%20Hero">Guitar Hero</a> sense, but in the sense that something seemingly unrelated, like a spaceship shooting down bad guys adding to the melody of a musical piece. It's... hard to describe.<br /><br />Much as <b>Bit.Trip Beat</b> is. <br /><br />As regards to how it plays, that's pretty simple. It's like Pong. Or Breakout. Or Arkanoid. Or any game where you have to hit a ball with a paddle. The controls are ridiculously simple - tilt the Wii remote forwards and backwards to move the paddle up and down.<br /><br />Meanwhile, various balls or pellets or whatever come at your paddle and you have to hit them back. Some come along a straight line, some bob up and down, and some even come back at your paddle after you hit them. In a lot of ways, the game feels to me like a bullet hell shoot-em-up. The patterns of dots coming toward your paddle require split second thinking and reflexes or just plain memorization.<br /><br />Did I mention that while this is going on, you've got some incredible chiptunes-inspired music (think bleeps and bloops with a driving beat) and flashy backgrounds and colors and all things happening? I imagine it is what it would be like to play Breakout during an acid trip.<br /><br /><a onblur="try {parent.deselectBloggerImageGracefully();} catch(e) {}" href="http://www.blogcdn.com/nintendo.joystiq.com/media/2009/01/btb12609005.png"><img style="display:block; margin:0px auto 10px; text-align:center;cursor:pointer; cursor:hand;width: 832px; height: 456px;" src="http://www.blogcdn.com/nintendo.joystiq.com/media/2009/01/btb12609005.png" border="0" alt="" /></a><br /><br /><br />The game at its heart is trying to evoke an Atari-age aesthetic. The graphics consist mainly of thick, blocky art and the animation even involves ghosting as if you were playing it on an older television set. The use of Pong to create music is especially effective when you are close to game over as the music stops, the graphics turn black and white, and the only sounds are "pings" that come from the Wii remote when your paddle hits a ball.<br /><br />There's a lot more I could say about this game, but I think I'll save it for potential future blog posts.<br /><br />One thing I will points out is that the level of concentration my eyeballs and brain require to play this game destroys my eyes. After staring at moving large pixels and colors for ten minutes, it practically hurts me to look at a static image again without resting my eyes.Davídhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/15497404598558707761noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3549872410918164801.post-45251608687629672202009-03-19T10:52:00.003-06:002009-03-19T10:55:19.598-06:00Dragon Warrior - Why it was a pivotal moment for meFinally had some time to write another <a href="http://www.gamespite.net">gamespite</a> article. The theme of this issue was pivotal moments, so I talk about how Dragon Warrior was my first step on the road to playing RPGs.<br /><br /><h3><a href="http://www.gamespite.net/toastywiki/index.php/Games/DragonWarrior">Dragon Warrior</a></h3>Davídhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/15497404598558707761noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3549872410918164801.post-42286440505449777152008-07-06T21:35:00.003-06:002008-07-06T21:45:56.790-06:00Punch-Out!! - Why is it so gol-dang great?I have never linked the <a href="http://www.gamespite.net/">gamespite</a> article that I am most proud of writing. This needs to be rectified:<br /><br /><h3><a href="http://www.gamespite.net/toastywiki/index.php/Games/VCPunch-Out">Punch-Out!!</a></h3><br /><br />The game is so good and stands up so well. Why is this? Read my article to find out.Davídhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/15497404598558707761noreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3549872410918164801.post-19565175391929519702008-06-23T21:17:00.004-06:002008-06-24T23:22:29.078-06:00Retro Game Master - A ReviewRetro Game Master is the English title of Game Master CX, a Japanese reality show featuring a man who challenges himself to play and finish old video games. On June 28 and 29, the New York Asian Film Festival screened two episodes of the localized version of the show. You can read <a href="http://www.subwaycinema.com/index.php?option=com_content&view=article&id=97&Itemid=81#retrogame">the festival's description here</a>.<br /><br />Retro Game Master stars Shinya Arino as "the Kacho". The first show I watched implied that Kacho meant salaryman, but further research reveals that "middle manager" is probably a more accurate translation. The idea is that Arino is not an amazing video game player, but a guy like you or me with nostalgia for the video games of his youth. Each episode centers around one video game. The two that played at the film festival were Mystery of Atlantis (a game never released in the United States) and Ghosts 'n Goblins. The episodes chronicled the hours-long process of Arino receiving the game, beginning to play it, getting stuck somewhere, consulting the instruction booklet for help, trying again and not progressing much further, getting some help from his assistant, and then, finally, making it to the end.<br /><br />The shows were preceded by a <a href="http://www.stylejam.co.jp/DVD/rgm/index.html">trailer</a> that explained its premise and popularity in Japan. It had the vibe of a late night product commercial that prompts you to call its 1-800 number "in the next ten minutes!". Still, for those unfamiliar with the show it provided a good sense of context. The best part of the trailer was the end where you get to know who Shinya Arino is. He explains that he does this for all the video game loving children and all the middle-aged people who remember playing these games.<br /><br />Following the trailer was an introduction by Arino himself. It was one of the most hilarious things I have ever seen. Arino speaks in a very heavily accented English, obviously reading the words phonetically off of cue cards. He boisterously and enthusiastically proclaims that he <i>is</i> the Retro Game Master and that everyone in Japan loves him. Although it could have come off as making fun of Arino, it was obvious that he was totally into the act and just hamming it up for the crowd and that made it even better.<br /><br />The shows themselves succeed in triggering any latent nostalgia you have for old video games. If you remember going over to a friend's house when they got a new Nintendo game and taking turns playing it to see how far you could get, then the show will strike a chord with you. During the Mystery of Atlantis episode, I was specifically reminded of when I got Ninja Gaiden for my birthday and my friends and I took turns playing level 3, trying to get past the birds. The shows are also successful in their humor. Arino plays out his frustrations and bewilderment perfectly. He always has an appropriate quip about whatever ridiculously obtuse or aggravating situation the game has put him in. This also serves to endear him to the viewer. You really feel for him and want him to succeed. In both screenings, the audience held their breath as he faced a difficult encounter and barely escaped by the skin of his teeth. In the Mystery of Atlantis screening, people actually clapped when he finished the game.<br /><br />Of the two episodes I saw, Mystery of Atlantis was the superior one. I think this is because Mystery of Atlantis has more variety as a game and is also incredibly inscrutable. Mystery of Atlantis features 99 levels, power-ups with unexplained properties, warps to different levels, warps hidden in bizarre ways like deaths or bottomless pits, and utterly ridiculous puzzles. This melange of characteristics provided significant humor and could maintain the viewer's interest. The Ghosts 'n Goblins episode was significantly different because Ghosts 'n Goblins is <i>merely</i> an incredibly difficult game. The episode showed Arino progressing a little bit, getting stuck for hours at one enemy, and then finally getting past it. This process repeated for the entire episode. With little surprises or variety, the episode had to focus on it just being a really hard game and that wasn't as successful in keeping my attention for thirty minutes. The drama was further lessened because people who hadn't following the show wouldn't realize what a landmark it was that this was the first game that it took two sessions to complete. I still enjoyed it and, despite knowing what was coming, shared in Arino's bewilderment and disappointment when he found out what happens at the end of Ghosts 'n Goblins.<br /><br />My previous exposure to the show was watching it on youtube. I greatly enjoyed those clips despite them being wholly in Japanese because Arino's trials and frustrations were obvious and relatable no matter what language they were in. Still, the show is even better when you know what is going on. Everyone who appears live on the show is subtitled in these episodes and the significant amount of titles and voice overs are all redone in English. Understanding what is going on means that, in addition to empathizing with Arino as he struggles through a game, you also get his jokes and can comprehend the new strategies he employs to get through the games.<br /><br />While the translation is appreciated, some of the localization choices seem a bit odd. Arino is always called "The Kacho" in the show. While this may be typical for Japanese tv shows, it was weird for me to get used to the constant use of his title. Similarly, his assistants are never called by their names, but rather the title "Assistant" and the first letter of their last name (so I saw Assistant T and Assistant S). The general style of the show seemed like it couldn't decide between being a more staid American reality show and a more out there Japanese reality show. This was in full evidence with the performance of the voice over announcer. The voice over, provided by Patrick Harlan, an American-born comedian in Japan, sometimes follows the American style and delivers a tension-building narrative before a commercial break and a quick recap of what is going on after one. But the announcer sometimes becomes very excited, sounding like the fate of the world depends on what the Kacho does or that the events in the video game are actually happening. It seems like he may have been trying to ape the Iron Chef style, but given the different content of this show didn't pull it off very well. For all I know, he was trying to be as true as possible to the original Japanese announcer, but to my ears it was a little off-putting. <br /><br />Finally, as enjoyable as the shows were, there was also a noticeable lack of polish. I got the feeling these localized episodes were put together as concept trailers to use to sell the show to an American distributor. Talking to a representative from Stylejam (the company that distributes the DVDs in Japan) confirmed they were in talks with American studios to try and get Retro Game Master released in the US. In addition to these screenings lacking opening or closing sequences for the shows, there were also some misspellings in the titles. In the Mystery of Atlantis episode, one of the titles talked about the "climatic" moment of the game which was especially noticeable because Arino and his assistant had just been talking about the game's climax.<br /><br />Game Center CX is an amazing show. Almost everyone who sees it, whether there is a language barrier or not, can identify with Arino and his struggle to finish a video game. I knew this going into the screenings. What I didn't expect is that the show could become so much better once I understood it. Despite some questions about the announcer they used and the localization style, I loved the show. After each episode, I wanted to watch another one. I hope Stylejam succeeds in finding a US distributor for the show so I can do just that.Davídhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/15497404598558707761noreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3549872410918164801.post-27951275313436726022008-04-27T19:02:00.002-06:002008-04-27T20:27:57.227-06:00Breath of Fire: Dragon Quarter - Finished the gameI like games that do things differently and as I've mentioned before, Dragon Quarter is quite different from your standard Japanese RPG. I mentioned the similarities to survival horror that the game has, but I don't think I mentioned that there are no inns or ways to heal yourself for free. Let that sink in. It means that every time you make it to a shop, you first have to spend the money to buy healing items just to restore your health. This makes the game incredibly tense. You can never really relax because you've just beaten a big boss since healing yourself afterwards will not be cheap. Resource management is key to the game.<br /><br />As it turns out, I was really good at the resource management. Despite the fact that the game expects you to do at least one SOL Restart through the course of playing it, I never had to do that. I <i>did</i> get a game over about a half dozen times while playing it, but two of those were right in the beginning before even getting the dragon powers and all the rest were boss fights where I just handled the strategy wrong and had no problem with it the next time. It seems I stocked my inventory well as I always had <i>just</i> enough healing items to make it from shop to shop. My D-Counter was only at about 35% when I reached the final gauntlet of boss fights and so I was able to D-Dive each of the last three bosses.<br /><br />Even though I D-Dived those bosses, I got the feeling that I could have beaten them with shrewd tactics with just regular attacks. That was a much better feeling than the one time I D-Dived before where I felt it was absolutely impossible to win without doing that.<br /><br />This game did some things really well. The character customization system with weapons that have slots you can fill with different skills was great. The combat system was generally excellent, with strategic movement and combination attacks. The music is also a strong point of the game.<br /><br />There are some rough edges too. Though combat is generally great because you always need to use strategy against even regular enemies and can't just mash on attack, it can become very tedious to employ whatever specific strategy you need to defeat each enemy. Tedium is generally the problem, as navigating the interface (all the menus to equip items and skills and especially manage the fairy colony) can take awhile. Reaching the shop again requires a significant break in the game while you buy the items to heal your characters, identify all unknown stuff and then decided what to keep and what to sell.<br /><br />Overall, though it was a very enjoyable game and I'm glad I experienced it.<br /><br />I'm actually tempted to play through it again. Whenever you do an SOL Restart (which can also be done after finishing the game), you may lower your D-Ratio which will unlock additional cut scenes during the playthrough. The story in the game is very minimal and I think that's appropriate for the playthrough, but I like the idea of filling in background information on a subsequent playthrough. Of course, I know the reality is that I have so many good games I haven't played yet, I probably won't play through it again. But maybe I'll at least do the beginning part.Davídhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/15497404598558707761noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3549872410918164801.post-73305182733458871822008-04-21T21:53:00.003-06:002008-04-21T22:37:14.885-06:00Mystery Dungeon: Shiren the Wanderer - Completed a RescueNot only does this game challenge you to manage your resources and plan every move correctly, it also allows you to be a good samaritan.<br /><br />Unlike most roguelikes, when you die in Shiren, your character and items are not necessarily lost for good. Three times per game, you can request a rescue attempt. You can generate a password or post a request on an online server. Then, another person with the game can make a trek down to the dungeon level you got to and revive your character.<br /><br />A friend of mine recently got the game in a short period of time managed to make it to level 20... where he promptly died. So I undertook my first rescue attempt. It's, uh, significantly more difficult than a normal run. You can take stuff from the warehouse in the first village, but skip past all the other towns. This makes food management a lot more difficult (also because I'm used to starting with a riceball). Additionally, you never find any companions so it's a completely solo affair.<br /><br />Shiren began his journey in a bad situation - a mini-monster house right where I started on the first level. Shiren fell twice before grabbing the Armor Ward +1 from the warehouse in order to start in a better situation. Good weapons were easy for Shiren to come by in the beginning - the problem, of course, was food. He lingered around the rice changers to get a couple of big riceballs. Everything seemed to be going fairly well for Shiren up through Table Mountain. He didn't have an incredibly powerful inventory, but probably had enough. However, he was nearly out of riceballs. Finding a shop, proved to be the difference. Along with the riceball in their, the pair of postpone staves picked up proved to be the key to handling the tough monsters inside table mountain.<br /><br />On level 19, Shiren knew he had only one more level to go. He was also dangerously low on food. He had eaten his last rice ball and didn't even have any more herbs. He reached the stairs up to level 20 with a fullness of only 2. He began in a small room, but knew he would have to remove his Armor Ward. A few steps through the corridor, he reached the starving point. Each additional step would drain him of hit points. Four steps later, he reached the monster house containing the traveler in need o rescue. But what made his eyes really wide was that he was only two steps from an herb. Reading his scroll of confusion to give him some breathing room, he ran to and ate the herb. He pondered gathering some treasure in the monster house, but knew he would be pressing his luck and the monsters' confusion would not last forever. Instead, he ran up to the fallen comrade and delivered the revival, transporting him out of the dungeon.<br /><br />Now he had the pride of both finding the golden condor <i>and</i> rescuing a fellow traveler.Davídhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/15497404598558707761noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3549872410918164801.post-45659801444247124082008-04-17T17:56:00.002-06:002008-04-17T19:30:05.651-06:00Etrian Odyssey - Reached B5FThis is the second old school-inspired game I've started playing recently. While <a href="http://vidgamejournal.blogspot.com/search/label/Mystery%20Dungeon%3A%20Shiren%20the%20Wanderer">Shiren</a> was based on <a href="http://vidgamejournal.blogspot.com/search/label/Rogue">Rogue</a>, Etrian Odyssey is based on other original computer RPG - <a href="http://vidgamejournal.blogspot.com/search/label/Wizardry">Wizardry</a>.<br /><br /><img src="http://dsmedia.ign.com/ds/image/article/785/785157/etrian-odyssey--20070502032029808_640w.jpg" /><br /><br />Wizardry was another of the original computer role-playing games and described a formula that many other early role-playing games would use. It was basically a dungeon crawl - start in a town to procure supplies and equipment and then head down into the dungeon. Each floor of the dungeon has its own unique layout and the deeper you go, the tougher the monsters get. The dungeons are presented to you in a first-person view and you move on a grid - going forward or backward one square with 90 degree turns. This formula inspired many classics like <a href="http://vidgamejournal.blogspot.com/search/label/Might%20and%20Magic">Might and Magic</a>, <a href="http://vidgamejournal.blogspot.com/search/label/The%20Bard%27s%20Tale">The Bard's Tale</a>, and <a href="http://vidgamejournal.blogspot.com/search/label/Ultima">Ultima</a>.<br /><br />One of the key meta-activities these games required was drawing map. Since all the corridors pretty much looked the same in these games, you had to play them with a piece of graph paper next to you, drawing in the walls as you saw them as well as any special features.<br /><br />Obviously, requiring players to make their own maps, especially with a portable game just wouldn't fly in this day and age. But instead of having the game automatically create the map, the creators of Etrian Odyssey decided to make map-making part of the game. Taking advantage of the DS' touch screen, the game gives you virtual graph paper on the bottom of the screen where you can draw walls, and make notes of stairs, items, and powerful enemies.<br /><br />This is all pretty awesome. Making the maps is completely easy to do and it feels really satisfying to be the cartographer.<br /><br />There are two other aspects of this game that are causing me to enjoy it so far. <br /><br />The first is that it has some great customization for your characters. You start with seven different classes with which to make up your party of five. Each class also has over a dozen skills and you have skill points with which to assign to these skills and configure your characters. These skill points are precious too, as you only get one additional skill point for each level that you gain. It's quite a deep system.<br /><br />The second aspect is the sense of dread it gives you. In old school RPGs, you knew that if you stumbled into the wrong enemies, your game could be quickly over. You had to carefully preserve your health and resources and be sure to get back to town when injured. This game is a little easier with the standard enemies you can face, but it has special enemies called FOEs that are significantly more powerful than normal enemies you face. Most of the time, the first time you encounter an FOE it will completely own you. You need to serious strategy and strength in order to face an FOE. The thing that makes these super-enemies fair is that you can see them before encountering them and know when to avoid them. But the sense of dread when you know one is near and are low in resources and then it starts chasing you is great.Davídhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/15497404598558707761noreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3549872410918164801.post-40659536901484068992008-04-12T20:47:00.002-06:002008-04-12T20:59:20.142-06:00Breath of Fire: Dragon Quarter - Defeated Modified BoschI had to D-Dive for the first time in this battle. D-Diving is basically turning into your dragon form where you are a super bad-ass. The downside, of course, is that doing this raises your D-Counter. Once that reaches 100, it's game over. You lose your humanity or become some evil dragon or something like that (the game isn't exactly clear on that issue) and you're done.<br /><br />I find the tension of whether to use your super ability delicious. In some games, not using a limited resource has no real consequence. It may make the game a little harder or be a little more frustrating, but it doesn't seriously change the game. In Dragon Quarter, it's at the heart of the game. The requirement to use limited resources is also present in the fact that there is never any automatic healing. The only way to heal is to use healing items and aside from the few you can find in the course of your adventure, you'll have to buy them at shops. The creates another tension in whether to use your money to upgrade your weapons and armor or use it to stock up on healing items.<br /><br />All that said, I was a little disappointed because it seemed I <i>had</i> to D-Dive in order to win this battle. The boss regenerated a massive amount of health each turn and the amount of damage I could do it wasn't consistently high enough each turn to lower his health beyond what he would regenerate. I do feel a bit cheated in that respect, but since this is my first playthrough of the game, I suspect that I'm underpowered from what I could be and that if this were a later playthrough I could actually beat him without becoming a dragon.Davídhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/15497404598558707761noreply@blogger.com1