It’s time to stop running

I’m very proud of myself. I began playing Darksiders last week, and finished it yesterday. I rarely finish games at all these days, nevermind in the span of a week. Being on vacation definitely helped me along, but I’m still pretty amazed. There’s still the little matter of finishing the game on “Apocalyptic” difficulty for those last two cheevos, but we’ll take that at a slower pace.

I’m pretty sure that since the game has been out for basically forever now, everything has already been said about Darksiders. I really don’t have much to add to the collective opinion that it’s a Legend of Zelda game with God of War combat sensibilities. Which is a good thing. I was dreadfully bored with God of War, but the combat system works well in a game with more interesting non-combat. The story takes itself way too seriously and is mostly uninteresting, but is a good enough reason to beat up a bunch of demons (and angels, occasionally) and trek through puzzle dungeons. Fortunately, said story was clearly never the point of the game and most cutscenes are skippable. Yay!

The one thing I did really like is that while most of the combat stuff is lifted wholesale from God of War, quicktime events are nonexistent. Yes, you get a little “B” pop-up to inform you when you can perform a finishing move, but that’s it. No stick twirling or button-matching to be found. Also, starting the game on hard with the super armor (a carry-over bonus from my completed file, I guess?) pretty much breaks the balance of the game. Not that I’m complaining. Having an advantage that lets me breeze through my second playthrough is always fun.

Also, I started Catherine yesterday afternoon, and proceeded to play it for seven hours straight. I don’t think I’ve enjoyed such a long gaming session since Twilight Princess. Not that it was my choice or anything. Catherine really hooked me. It was like a good book, where I just could not put it down, even though I tried. I’m pretty sure I’m on the cusp of finishing the story, but I know that I’ll be hitting this one again right away.

The game is mostly talkies and has plenty of cutscenes, but the story is so engrossing that I don’t mind at all. It’s not packed with silly fluff like Metal Gear Solid games. It’s a great tale about growing up, taking responsibility, and dealing with change. Or, perhaps, none of that if you play to the “bad” side. There’s a sort of morality meter there, which pings up and down as you make choices. The game asks you to choose the answer that applies best to you, rather than the one you think is correct. It’s not always easy to tell which answer will drive the meter which way, and so far I’ve been leaning only a little towards the side of “good.” The really cool thing is that if you’re connected to Live, it’ll show a pie graph of the answers other players chose on their first play. Not a real feature, per se, but a neat little widget no less.

Climbing up the block towers is getting considerably harder with each stage (duh), and apparently I’m not great at this kind of puzzle. I’m playing on Easy mode too, which makes it all the more embarrassing. But the boss levels are super fun! The puzzle difficulty is scaled down a bit, but you’ve always got a giant monster chomping at your heels, which keeps the tension high. I think they’re easily the best the game has to offer, though hopefully I get a bit better at the puzzle stages when I bump up to normal.

Another year is gone so fast

I’ve been to the dentist three times in the last month or so, and I’ve come to the conclusion that they use dental floss made of tiny razor blades there. I’ve gotten into the habit of flossing (almost) every night, and yeah it hurt a bit at first, but now I feel no pain when I floss. My gums don’t even bleed anymore. I’m used to it. But at the dentist’s office? Hurts like a bitch.

In other news, the iPhone’s camera takes way too long to initialize. I was downloading the Virtual Console version of Final Fantasy III yesterday, and the most amazing thing happened. I tried to take a video of it, but by the time my phone’s camera started up it was over.

So normally when you download something from the Wii Shop, Mario will run laps across the screen collecting coins. Sometimes he will be Firey Mario and you can press A to shoot fireballs. Occasionally Luigi will run across instead. But yesterday, Mario and Luigi swam across the screen. In the five years I’ve owned the console, I have never seen this happen, and I’ve sunk way more money than I’d like to admit into Virtual Console and WiiWare downloads. Even my youngest brother hasn’t ever seen this, and he’s probably used the shop as much as -if not more than- me.

So yeah, I wanted at least a picture of it, but the stupid iPhone is stupid and can’t take spontaneous pictures.

This is where we’re meant to be

My goodness, it’s been a while since I posted an image here. That big wall of text is all well and good, but best to make sure there’s some pretty pictures in there the keep the dumber visitors happy. How about one that I made all by myself?

I may not have mentioned it, I really can’t be bothered to remember, but there’s currently a weight loss contest going on in my workspace. It’s been so gracefully dubbed “Fattypalooza” and I’ve been more interested in funny situations that arise from it than actually getting the weight off. Remember the cheesecake I told you about two posts ago? That’s this one here.

Also, referencing Pokémon makes everything better.

It all comes down to you

Remember how a couple weeks ago I was asking for a new website to read? Found one!. Guess I should have thought to look at blogs from other Talking Time patrons, but I guess sometimes the most obvious solution is the last one you’ll think of. Whatever. I have reading for a couple weeks now.

I’ve noticed that there’s one big downside for adults reading other gamers’ blogs: they write about all the stuff they like about games you’ve never played, and that makes you want to play those games. I barely have time to play the games that I choose for myself, nevermind the games other people are telling me are awesome.

Anyway, I think that for me the real selling point here is the artwork as opposed to the blogging. The words are a timesink, and nothing more. But Loki’s done a bunch of cartoony stuff for Talking Time and GameSpite, which is all so great. I’m loving all the other artwork he’s done that’s posted in his blog just as much. Almost makes me want to get back into comicing.

To be honest, I do have an idea and rough scripts for a short short short comic series. Maybe I’ll do that while I’m on vacation next week…

Really, really fat

It’s potluck day at work. I’ve already eaten enough perogies and veggies that I’m surprised my co-workers don’t have to roll me around. I’m trying to lose weight for the wedding, and going back for more would be very counter-productive to that cause.

But there is a cheesecake in the lunch room.

It beckons me. I can hear it calling; its sweet, gooey voice echoing in my mind.

I don’t know how much longer I can resist…

Itchy. Tasty.

Earthbound

Do you like Earthbound? If you answered no, it’s because you haven’t played it.

It seems that the big thing about Earthbound is that everybody loves it for different reasons, and more often than not, they’re all little personal things. I’ve read a host of Earthbound-related stuff this week, and I recommend checking out at least Talking Tyrant Loki‘s take on it. It’s the shortest of the three links I’m posting here, and probably the easiest to swallow. Another one from a website I’ve never read before called Critical Distance gives you a sort of play-by-play of a handful of other people’s EB-related musings. The last, an absolutely mammoth review by Tim Rogers really digs into the game. It’s a long read, and it’s incredibly deep. If you don’t want to experience Earthbound after reading this, nothing will sway you.

Me, I think the thing that draws me most to Earthbound is the music. Ever since the first time I played it, the Onett theme has stuck with me. I whistle it pretty consistently, and usually when I go for a walk on a quiet day (sans iPod) I find the Twoson theme playing in my head.

More than anything, the little scene you get when waking up in a hotel and the accompanying melody are permanently ingrained on my soul. Most people miss it because you wake up and leave the room to get back to the quest, but there’s a piece of music that plays after the “good morning” melody that I’m sure is exclusive to the room after waking. Once you leave the room, it switches back to regular ol’ hotel music. I think. It’s been almost a year since I played the game, so the details are a little fuzzy.

The point is, that that one tiny moment -those ten second between when the screen fades after talking to the hotel clerk and leaving your room- makes me feel an overwhelming sense of serenity. In other RPGs, waking up after a hotel stay produces a chime and then it’s back to business. Earthbound perfectly captures that one feeling that we all get occasionally in the morning, when you wake up and everything feels absolutely perfect for a few fleeting seconds.

The little melody. The music that comes afterwards. The chirping of the birds in the background. This minor instance that is a throwaway moment in any other game has had a deeper and more lasting impact on me than any other element of any game that I can think of. You may read this, having never played the game, and think I’m nuts. Maybe you have played it, but didn’t get the same sensation. But this affected me. I can’t even describe how it works in my head. Anytime I stay at a hotel in real life, this scene invariably invades my mind.

There’s a scene in the game where you stay in a haunted hotel, and the whole process is similar, but twisted. That was when I truly realized that things were really amiss, despite the fact that the town was overrun with zombies and smelly trash can ghosts. It was emotionally distressing, to say the least.

All that, and I haven’t even gotten around to the Sound Stone Melody (called “Smiles and Tears,” apparently). This is the first song that I can remember which evoked a strong emotional response in me, and remains one of two songs and the only instrumental piece that has ever brought tears to my eyes on the merits of the music alone, the other being Queen’s “Save Me.” But while the latter brought about its response through a genuine expression of despair and loneliness, the Sound Stone Melody has a more ineffable quality to it. I don’t know how it manages to grip my consciousness so tightly, but it does. It’s one of my favourite pieces of music, and it really is beautiful.

The main quest of Earthbound is to assemble the pieces of this melody. Yes, it’s to help defeat an evil alien, but that’s besides the point. You travel the world, to these sacred places that really aren’t so extraordinary on their own. At each one, you acquire the next few bars of the tune. Once you’ve assembled them all and listen to the entire piece, you cannot help but be overcome by a wave of nostalgia, remembering all of these places, and everything you experienced on the way there. Maybe it was just a silly quest in a silly video game, but now it’s a part of you too, and that melody will bring all those feelings and memories back every time you listen to it. I used to sit on the Sound Stone screen and listen to the melody -even when incomplete- over and over, because it brought with it the absolute strangest feeling I’d ever experienced. It was like the greatest happiness and the deepest sorrow wrapped into one short, simple melody.

So yeah, Earthbound is pretty deep. I recommend playing immersing yourself in it as soon as possible. And don’t just get to the end. Walk around. Explore the world. Let it and all of its little details wash into you. Though given that everyone who writes about Earthbound in this way played it in their developmental years and is now waxing nostalgic about it, I’m not sure if an adult could properly appreciate the game. All I can say for sure is that I played plenty of video games in my youth, and none of them evoke that same warm feeling in my chest that Earthbound does.

There’s got to be another way

I spent a little time last night exploring the Playstation Store, and I really had no idea how robust its catalog is. Turns out that a rather large helping of PSP games are available in digital versions as well as UMD. I had no idea! Guess that just goes to show how far out of the loop I am these days.

Anyway, the object of my desire, Persona 3 Portable, is still costs a little more than I can justify spending at the moment, and I think with some dedicated hunting I could track down a physical copy for less, so I let it go for now. I did notice that there was a sequel to Steambot Chronicles though! And you know how I love my Steambot Chronicles.

The odd thing about it is that the download was only around 128MB. It’s supposed to be a full game, so that seems small to me. Isn’t that small? Maybe I just read it wrong. Then again, it only took ten minutes to download, so…

Size notwithstanding, it does seem like there’s quite a bit here. Any important conversations are fully voice-acted, and the game is all in 3D graphics, so no loss there. I’ve only spent half an hour with it and most of that was story blah blah blahing, so I can’t vouch for how big the game world is, but hub town is pretty big! And the gameplay seems to be identical to that of its older brother, but with what is seeming to be a much fluffier story (re: robot fighting tournament). Oh, and the loading times are super short compared to those in the PS2 game, so booya there.

I know it’s weird, but I think about Steambot Chronicles now and then, considering replaying it. Hopefully this new game will fill that hole, and maybe it’ll have some of the things I would have liked in the original. There’s one particular thing I’d like to see here, which is dungeons. The original game was a fairly open-ended game, but as far as the story goes it was almost all outdoor setpieces. There were three optional dungeons, however, that you could explore and find treasure in. This is also where you’d go for a challenge, as some of the toughest enemies were hiding in these caves. But as I said, there were only three, and I don’t remember any of them being very long. They may have had random elements though?

More to the point, I think the game would only be better with even a little more focus on these dungeons. They can still be optional, because half the fun is not being forced to do something. But they need to be a little meatier! Make at least one a real challenge, with tens of floors and save/refuel points and a boss/bosses. I think all the treasure was salable junk in the original game, so make these dungeon dives really worth the trouble by putting exclusive equipment down there.

Even if the dungeons aren’t revamped, and even if they don’t exist in this sequel, I’m hoping that it’s an otherwise fun game. Re-reading my article on it reminds me of a few of the rough spots in the original, but I only remember being nothing but delighted while playing it.

It’s running through my brain

Yesterday I discovered the Playstation Store for the first time. This is both fantastic and not good at all.

I suppose I knew that it existed. As I understood it though, it could only be accessed via PS3 and then the games could be transferred to your PSP. If that was ever the case, it’s not anymore. And now I have access to PSOne Classics, and my credit card bill is going to inflate dramatically.

I’ve already bought Breath of Fire IV, Tomb Raider and Gex 3: Enter the Gecko. BoFIV and Tomb Raider because the kids at Gamespite keep telling my how good they are and how I missed out, and Gex 3 because I remember playing and enjoying the N64 version as a whippersnapper. In retrospect, it’s a game that only a child should enjoy; a second-rate Banjo-Kazooie.

The most interesting thing about Gex 3 is that it’s just loaded with pop-culture references. And this was in an age before Family Guy. At least, Gex: Enter the Gecko (Gex 2) predated Family Guy by about a year, and it used the same schtick. After a little research, it seems like Enter the Gecko was actually released before Banjo-Kazooie, making my comment in the last paragraph a little backwards, but you’d think that Crystal Dynamics would have learned from the best for Gex 3. That is to say, the best for 3D platforming collectathons anyway.

I actually cannot wait to dig into Tomb Raider. I remember hating the demo with a passion, but I’ve heard enough people say that once you get around the lame controls and gunplay mechanics there’s a great adventure buried in there. I hope to excavate this supposed relic. Hyuk hyuk.

And Breath of Fire IV? I’ve played the first dungeons in the first two BoF games, and have delved a bit farther into Dragon Quarter (which I need to get back to…), but otherwise I have very little experience with the series. RPGs also seem better suited than complex action games to be played on a system that’s missing two buttons and an analog stick from the original controller. Also, I probably don’t need to buy a third copy of Final Fantasy VIII. Though I inevitably will. The idea of being able to play FFVIII anywhere is way too tempting. And when I can, I fear my 3DS and all other PSP games I own will become completely irrelevant. The only thing that’s really stopping me from doing so right now is the fact that my tiny memory stick is full and I don’t want to buy a new one.

In conclusion, I’m glad the most these games go for is $10 (sans tax!). That’s considerably less than people are trying to make me pay for used physical copies! Hooray!

It’s been hard to find

I picked up Tactics Ogre: Let Us Cling Together a while back, because I love me some tactical strategy games. Two years ago I committed to finishing Final Fantasy Tactics: The War of the Lions, and burned my way through it over the summer months. I figured I’d do the same for Tactics Ogre this year. So far, not looking so good.

It’s mostly just that I’m not setting aside any time to play it. I started playing maybe three weeks ago and generally just pick it up during my lunch hours at work. Yeah, that’s an optimal time for handheld games, but when each battle can take anywhere up to half an hour, it makes progress slow. Especially considering that I can spend just as much time between battles tweaking my army’s equipment and skills. Playing the random encounter battles only serves to slow story progression even more. It’s definitely a game that requires a big time commitment.

So far, I’m enjoying TO almost equally to FFT. The big difference is that FFT makes life a little easier for players in several ways. The most obvious one regards skills. In FFT, each class has a skill set, and once you earn enough JP (Job Points) to buy any of the skills within that set, they’re free to use. Permanently ingrained in your character. You walk into battle, and as long as your dude has the Black Magic skill set equipped, he can use any Black Magic he knows. Passive skills and reaction skills are a little more limited, but your abilities are all good to go.

Tactics Ogre is similar, but more complex. You still buy skills, but each unit has a certain allotment of skill slots in which they can be equipped. You can use your points to buy more slots, but they’re expensive. And all skills must be equipped. Passive abilities, stat boosts, counterattacks, usable skills, etc. all take up a valuable slot. It’s not a bad system by any means, but it means you have to grind twice as much so you can buy the skills and the skill slots to put them in.

The other little difference is in attack magic. So far in TO, all the healing and stat-/status-affecting spells I’ve seen just happen where they’re casted. All spells work this way in FFT. The target tiles are highlighted, and the fireball appears there. But attack spells in TO are projectiles, and therefore need a clear path to their target. I’ve fried the heads of many of my own allies because it took me a while to get accustomed to this rule and how to determine the trajectory of the spell (though there is an ability that makes said trajectory visible).

Fortunately, the game also includes a rewind feature called the Chariot Tarot, which can turn battles back by up to 50 turns. While FFT is easier overall (and can be broken much easier), the Chariot system makes life more bearable because you can rewind and basically try to get things right if a battle goes south. Mostly I just use it when I wang one of my own guys in the head with a spell.

None of this is to say that I’m against the game though! I like that it’s challenging but not brutally so. If you do FFT right, the challenge level goes out the window pretty quickly. There are one or two sticky fights, but really as soon as you get ninjas you’re golden. And then when Cid joins? It should just say “you win” at that point. TO doesn’t seem to have such luxuries. But of course, I’m still only a few fights into Chapter 2, so there’s plenty of room left for game-breaking. And that’s what I want, deep down inside. As much as I enjoy the feeling of winning a hard-fought battle by the skin of my teeth (more on that in a second), I truly love marching into battle with unstoppable, dual-wielding demigods. With the skill system here though… I don’t see it happening. At least not if there’s a slot cap. That would be tragic.

As far as winning a battle by a hair, I got into this one random fight yesterday against a bunch of zombified people and skeletons. Such units are all classified as undead, and undead units will come back to life (with full HP!) three turns after they’ve been killed. The only way (currently available) to stop this is with the Exorcism spell. I did not have this spell at the time. Now, felling seven or eight units within three “rounds” of combat isn’t exactly easy, but somehow I managed to make it through and you bet your ass the first thing I did afterward was pick up a few copies of the scroll that teaches Exorcism.

The one thing I really like about the game though, is that you level up classes instead of individual units. Which sucks if you change one of your dudes to a new class and he has to start at Lv1 again, but as long as you bring a good mix of classes to each battle, it should be more beneficial than anything. At least it seems that way for now. Changing classes is a bitch anyway, because unlike FTT where you get new classes by leveling other ones, here you need a special ticket (One for every job class! Collect them all!) every time you want to do a class change. So you can’t just go and change your main dude between black mage and knight every fight. I mean, you can, but it’ll cost you. Not that there’s any reason to do that anyway.

I still love the meat of the game, but there are a few freedoms taken away here that I miss. Not that they’re important of useful freedoms, but if I want to make a paladin that can chuck fireballs, I think I should be able to. Actually, I haven’t seen a paladin class yet, so maybe they can chuck fireballs. A knight that chucks fireballs then. No, spell fencers are not good enough for me!