Good morning! It's the day after my 29th birthday and I'm suffering from the tail end of a cold, so let's do this. I'm reliably informed that not all of my presents have arrived yet, but I already have plenty to talk about.
As many already know, the past couple of weeks I've been playing Destiny because Emily was kind enough to buy the Digital Collector's Edition for me. My experience with it so far has been quite positive; there have been a few connection issues but nothing to serious. I've since beaten all the main story missions for each expansion and enjoyed the whole thing. Coming in, I knew it was some mix of FPS and MMO, so I expected something like Planetside. However, PvP is strictly opt-in and not very emphasized, so it's really more like Borderlands. In fact, the game is so heavily like Borderlands it makes me wonder if some of the development crew was shared. Maps are reused ruthlessly, guns and gear are semi-randomly generated, the missions are structured the same way, there's a skill tree for each class (well, Destiny has subclasses), the overall atmosphere is grim but there's a fair bit of humour, PvP sucks... I'm sure there's more. Nevertheless, definitely a fun game with some decent challenge (haven't done a Raid yet) and excellent web/app support. Recommended if you like Halo and Borderlands.
My other "present" so far consists of almost the entire Malazan book series. I randomly found the first novel in a Waterstones a couple of weeks ago, and now I have 14 of them. My interest in them was sparked by Chester Bolingbroke, so hopefully he's a good judge of taste. They're pretty long, even for epic fantasy novels, so I'm settled in for the long haul. I'll probably bring a few to America on our next trip.
Wednesday, 7 October 2015
Wednesday, 2 September 2015
Nottingham Spoils
Just got back from a weekend in Nottingham! I'm slightly sad that I didn't get to see the video game museum thing they have there, but Emily and I had a pleasant enough time, and also bought some games from the local CeX:
Aside from that, life has been progressing at a stately pace. I still have plenty of games to talk about in my queue, but progress has been slow on my own creation. No speedrunning news; Ultima II still bugs me, and El Shaddai is in the back of my mind.
- Kingdom Under Fire: Circle of Doom (360) - don't know much about this one, other than that the series is well-respected
- Mass Effect 3 (360) - for when I get round to finishing 2
- Shadows of the Damned (PS3) - Emily was interested in it
- History - Great Battles Medieval (PS3) - Not sure how a strategy game will play on a gamepad, but I'll give it a try
- Romance of the Three Kingdoms VIII (PS2) - bit of a jump from 4 to 8, but I'm sure I'll enjoy it
- Rise to Honour (PS2) - an action marital arts thing starring Jet Li, could be fun
- Astonishia Story (PSP) - an action RPG, hopefully it's good
Aside from that, life has been progressing at a stately pace. I still have plenty of games to talk about in my queue, but progress has been slow on my own creation. No speedrunning news; Ultima II still bugs me, and El Shaddai is in the back of my mind.
Tuesday, 25 August 2015
Crawlin'
Dungeon crawlers! They're one of my favourite types of games to play, even though they utterly terrify me. Some of the classic RPG series started (and often continued) as first-person dungeon games, such as Ultima, Wizardry, Might & Magic, Pools of Radiance...
On a side note, Pools of Radiance (and its sequels) were just released on GOG for a fair price. I highly recommend you play them if you have a spare... few months.
Anyway, Japan has been inordinately fond of dungeon crawlers ever since they were introduced. Also, their general culture is more accepting of grindy games, so a huge amount of them have been developed since the 80s when personal computing really exploded.
This long introduction is so I can talk about Etrian Odyssey Untold: The Millennium Girl. It's a party-based dungeon crawler set in a reasonably-well fleshed out generic-medieval-with-magic setting, and it's one of the games I wanted the 3DS for originally. Atlus seem intent on remaking every game in the DS Etrian Odyssey series, so I'm pretty sure I'll follow them as they get released. Interestingly, part of the remake seems to be adding a more story-heavy mode along with the 'classic' build-your-own-party mode that crawlers have had forever.
The story is quite well written, with varied (and mostly non-stereotypical) characters and decent voice acting. I can't impress upon you enough how rarely that sentence is true for RPGs. I played on the 'Picnic' difficulty, which really is very easy, so I'm definitely going to have to play through it again with my own party and on Normal or even KICKYOASS or whatever it calls the top one. Monster encounters are usually interesting, the classes are all quite different, and character growth is fulfilling. FOEs are a clever addition to the crawling formula - visible monsters that roam in specific patterns, requiring forethought to get past, or brute strength to beat. Picnic makes them quite reasonable, but on Normal or above they can destroy you at short order.
Overall, a good game, worth the time it took to beat. I definitely recommend playing through Story mode your first time, and not skipping through the cut-scenes or dialogue.
On a side note, Pools of Radiance (and its sequels) were just released on GOG for a fair price. I highly recommend you play them if you have a spare... few months.
Anyway, Japan has been inordinately fond of dungeon crawlers ever since they were introduced. Also, their general culture is more accepting of grindy games, so a huge amount of them have been developed since the 80s when personal computing really exploded.
This long introduction is so I can talk about Etrian Odyssey Untold: The Millennium Girl. It's a party-based dungeon crawler set in a reasonably-well fleshed out generic-medieval-with-magic setting, and it's one of the games I wanted the 3DS for originally. Atlus seem intent on remaking every game in the DS Etrian Odyssey series, so I'm pretty sure I'll follow them as they get released. Interestingly, part of the remake seems to be adding a more story-heavy mode along with the 'classic' build-your-own-party mode that crawlers have had forever.
The story is quite well written, with varied (and mostly non-stereotypical) characters and decent voice acting. I can't impress upon you enough how rarely that sentence is true for RPGs. I played on the 'Picnic' difficulty, which really is very easy, so I'm definitely going to have to play through it again with my own party and on Normal or even KICKYOASS or whatever it calls the top one. Monster encounters are usually interesting, the classes are all quite different, and character growth is fulfilling. FOEs are a clever addition to the crawling formula - visible monsters that roam in specific patterns, requiring forethought to get past, or brute strength to beat. Picnic makes them quite reasonable, but on Normal or above they can destroy you at short order.
Overall, a good game, worth the time it took to beat. I definitely recommend playing through Story mode your first time, and not skipping through the cut-scenes or dialogue.
Sunday, 28 June 2015
By the Thousands
I have a fondness for the Dynasty Warriors / Musou series that started when a college friend of mine made me play one while at his house one day. I didn't think very much of it at the time, though I did wonder who all these people with weird Asian names were.
Now I own 19 of them and I'm thinking of trying to collect the full set, and maybe even speedrun each one.
What changed? Well, while I was at college and university I went through what you might call a weeaboo period where I wanted to learn Japanese and watch as much anime as possible. I was surprised at the change too, but I've since calmed down a little and I have a much wider range of interest in other cultures. I did also take a Japanese class at university which sated my desire to learn for a while.
I think what really intrigues me is that the series successfully mixes real history with complete absurdity, which is also true of Assassin's Creed, another love of mine. Almost every named general in each game had a real life many hundreds of years ago, had their own relationships and their own exploits. Some of them were faithfully captured by the era's scribes, but only survive in history as some field general's left-hand man. Especially sad are the women, whose given names were rarely recorded and are commonly known only as "Lady [husband's family name]". My interest in the series led me to read an English translation of The Romance of the Three Kingdoms, a combination history book / epic novel which chronicles the events in China, AD 220-280. Some aspects are clearly made up to suit the story, but a surprising amount of it is real and taken from bona fide historical documents.
Still, Dynasty Warriors attempts to mould this rich historical background into an action game. Some of the instalments are more fun than others, but each numbered entry tries to throw something a little different in the works. Early on, the series varies drastically from game to game; the first title is actually a versus fighter, instead of the third-person massacre-fest it is today. There are also a number of offshoots which treat other parts of history (Hundred Years War in Europe, Warring States in Japan) to the Musou formula.
Since the last update I've played and/or beaten:
Dynasty Warriors 2 is easy to consider the first 'true' Dynasty Warriors game, starting the idea of wandering around a huge battlefield cleaving everyone you meet in twain. It's simple fun, without many of the extra systems that get added later. Only the most famous of the Three Kingdoms heroes are playable.
Dynasty Warriors 3 continues the trend, adding some tactical considerations and a giant spike in difficulty. I'm kind of stuck on one of Guan Yu's battles, because archers absolutely destroy me. Officer fights have become an exercise in frustration, with only the tightest of combos able to do anything to them, as any gap in hits gives them an excuse to rid you of half your health.
Dynasty Warriors 7: Empires is a giant leap forward in series history, and it's amazing how much has changed. The 'Empires' subtitle refers to a more strategic view, allowing you to rule (your part of) the country much as you see fit, allocating resources to various pursuits including diplomacy and personnel training. I tend to prefer these, as you can choose who to attack and when, rather than sitting through a static story. Emily and I blazed through a campaign as Yuan Shao's forces.
Samurai Warriors 2: Empires is set in 15th/16th century Japan, instead of China. As such, the names and battlefields are different, but much is still the same, centring on the same hacky slashy gameplay. Strategy is reasonably interesting, with individual officer posting and the ability to focus on a region of Japan before going after the full prize. However, the graphics, never a strong point for this series, are especially bad in this case, which makes it all the more surprising that it lags so very much. Probably one to avoid.
Hyrule Warriors is an amusing Zelda-themed spinoff. The conversion of these characters to Musou combat is fun, though I think the original characters created for this game are highly risible, especially Cia's insane cleavage. There's a ridiculous amount of extra content, with challenge battles and four enormous Adventure maps which will keep us playing for a long time before we can call it 'Complete'. Well worth playing if you have a WiiU.
I can't offer much in defence of the series. I'm well quoted as trying to avoid games which are 'only fun', but there isn't much cognition required to beat a Musou game. The difficulty can be extremely challenging on the higher rungs, but it still basically boils down to knowing when to retreat. The plot can be interesting enough, but if you've read the book there's nothing more to see, and each instalment rehashes it in a different way. The voice acting is largely terrible and repetitive. Each character only has so many attacks, and you're going to see them over and over again. I don't know, I just enjoy them despite all this. Call me a hypocrite, it wouldn't be the first time!
Now I only have, oh, 50 more games to talk about before I clear my backlog...
Now I own 19 of them and I'm thinking of trying to collect the full set, and maybe even speedrun each one.
What changed? Well, while I was at college and university I went through what you might call a weeaboo period where I wanted to learn Japanese and watch as much anime as possible. I was surprised at the change too, but I've since calmed down a little and I have a much wider range of interest in other cultures. I did also take a Japanese class at university which sated my desire to learn for a while.
I think what really intrigues me is that the series successfully mixes real history with complete absurdity, which is also true of Assassin's Creed, another love of mine. Almost every named general in each game had a real life many hundreds of years ago, had their own relationships and their own exploits. Some of them were faithfully captured by the era's scribes, but only survive in history as some field general's left-hand man. Especially sad are the women, whose given names were rarely recorded and are commonly known only as "Lady [husband's family name]". My interest in the series led me to read an English translation of The Romance of the Three Kingdoms, a combination history book / epic novel which chronicles the events in China, AD 220-280. Some aspects are clearly made up to suit the story, but a surprising amount of it is real and taken from bona fide historical documents.
Still, Dynasty Warriors attempts to mould this rich historical background into an action game. Some of the instalments are more fun than others, but each numbered entry tries to throw something a little different in the works. Early on, the series varies drastically from game to game; the first title is actually a versus fighter, instead of the third-person massacre-fest it is today. There are also a number of offshoots which treat other parts of history (Hundred Years War in Europe, Warring States in Japan) to the Musou formula.
Since the last update I've played and/or beaten:
- Dynasty Warriors 2
- Dynasty Warriors 3
- Dynasty Warriors 7: Empires
- Samurai Warriors 2: Empires
- Hyrule Warriors
Dynasty Warriors 2 is easy to consider the first 'true' Dynasty Warriors game, starting the idea of wandering around a huge battlefield cleaving everyone you meet in twain. It's simple fun, without many of the extra systems that get added later. Only the most famous of the Three Kingdoms heroes are playable.
Dynasty Warriors 3 continues the trend, adding some tactical considerations and a giant spike in difficulty. I'm kind of stuck on one of Guan Yu's battles, because archers absolutely destroy me. Officer fights have become an exercise in frustration, with only the tightest of combos able to do anything to them, as any gap in hits gives them an excuse to rid you of half your health.
Dynasty Warriors 7: Empires is a giant leap forward in series history, and it's amazing how much has changed. The 'Empires' subtitle refers to a more strategic view, allowing you to rule (your part of) the country much as you see fit, allocating resources to various pursuits including diplomacy and personnel training. I tend to prefer these, as you can choose who to attack and when, rather than sitting through a static story. Emily and I blazed through a campaign as Yuan Shao's forces.
Samurai Warriors 2: Empires is set in 15th/16th century Japan, instead of China. As such, the names and battlefields are different, but much is still the same, centring on the same hacky slashy gameplay. Strategy is reasonably interesting, with individual officer posting and the ability to focus on a region of Japan before going after the full prize. However, the graphics, never a strong point for this series, are especially bad in this case, which makes it all the more surprising that it lags so very much. Probably one to avoid.
Hyrule Warriors is an amusing Zelda-themed spinoff. The conversion of these characters to Musou combat is fun, though I think the original characters created for this game are highly risible, especially Cia's insane cleavage. There's a ridiculous amount of extra content, with challenge battles and four enormous Adventure maps which will keep us playing for a long time before we can call it 'Complete'. Well worth playing if you have a WiiU.
I can't offer much in defence of the series. I'm well quoted as trying to avoid games which are 'only fun', but there isn't much cognition required to beat a Musou game. The difficulty can be extremely challenging on the higher rungs, but it still basically boils down to knowing when to retreat. The plot can be interesting enough, but if you've read the book there's nothing more to see, and each instalment rehashes it in a different way. The voice acting is largely terrible and repetitive. Each character only has so many attacks, and you're going to see them over and over again. I don't know, I just enjoy them despite all this. Call me a hypocrite, it wouldn't be the first time!
Now I only have, oh, 50 more games to talk about before I clear my backlog...
Interpostum
I know, it's been far too long, again. I have a real post in mind later. This is just a list of games, to clear out the ridiculous backlog backlog I have.
- Atelier Ayesha: The Alchemist of Dusk (PS3) - recommended to Emily by a friend, this series has a zillion games and they're RPGs with ridiculously cute visuals.
- Final Fantasy Fables: Chocobo Tales (DS) - I require all FF games 8)
- Pokémon Conquest (DS) - being a crossover of Pokémon and Samurai Warriors, it was inevitable really
- Phantasy Star Portable (PSP) - I've had the second one for so long, I figured it would be silly if I didn't get the first one
- Army of Two: The Devil's Cartel (360) - free Xbox Live Gold game, I imagine it'll be another soulless shooter
- Mafia II (360) - also free Xbox Live Gold game
- Agarest: Generations of War (PC) - came as part of a Humble Bundle, looks like a moe game
- bit Dungeon II (PC) - Humble Bundle, looks neat
- FATE + FATE: Undiscovered Realms (PC) - Humble Bundle, Diablo clones whee!
- Paper Sorcerer (PC) - Humble Bundle, saw a video review of this near to the release date and it looks really nice!
- Pier Solar and the Great Architects (PC) - Humble Bundle, been vaguely interested in this for a while
- Rollers of the Realm (PC) - Humble Bundle, pinball RPG what
- SanctuaryRPG: Black Edition (PC) - Humble Bundle, oh my this looks fun
This isn't all the games I've bought since the last post. There's also been several 'Started' and 'Beaten' which I'll endeavour to talk about soon. I've been super busy lately with a couple of new projects:
- Writing a strategy RPG with Emily's assistance
- Translating a Gameboy game (and writing my own tools to help me do so)
Also, I'll be going away on holiday to Ireland soon. I might have a few spare moments to play some games and post about them there.
Tuesday, 19 May 2015
The March of (Anti-)Progress
I'm not known for completing games with any great expediency. I'm not even known for completing games at all; my ratio of playing to beating games is very poor indeed.
With that in mind, I bought a collection of 49 games. It's called Sega Mega Drive Ultimate Collection (PS3) here in Europe, Sonic's Ultimate Genesis Collection in America. This contains a whole bunch of classic MD games, and also some terrible ones like Sonic Spinball. I'll talk about the few I've played so far here:
With that in mind, I bought a collection of 49 games. It's called Sega Mega Drive Ultimate Collection (PS3) here in Europe, Sonic's Ultimate Genesis Collection in America. This contains a whole bunch of classic MD games, and also some terrible ones like Sonic Spinball. I'll talk about the few I've played so far here:
- Alex Kidd in the Enchanted Castle is somehow the fifth game in the series, despite looking like a Klik 'n' Play game made in a week. I find it incredibly dull to play, but I might beat it soon simply because it's not very long.
- Alien Storm is a brawler, not my favourite genre, but I've played it before a long time ago and it doesn't seem overly difficult.
- Altered Beast is a terrible brawler/platform thing which is unfortunately represented twice in this collection. Emily and I have been bashing at it but the stage four boss is giving us some trouble. However, it's super short so one day, it'll go down.
- Bonanza Bros. is an odd game; split-screen even in single player, it's something like an extremely simple forerunner to Monaco and Way of the Ninja. Haven't played much yet, have the feeling it will get very difficult later on.
- Columns doesn't have a campaign, only a high score mode, so I've marked it as Null on Backloggery. It's good enough I suppose, but I'm not a big fan.
- Dr. Robotnik's Mean Bean Machine however is one of my favourite MD games, and I beat it again as soon as I got the collection just for fun (and the trophy).
- Fatal Labyrinth is that oddity, a commercial roguelike. It's very simple and very ruthless. Down to level 10 so far; it saves every 5 levels.
- Flicky is a godawful arcade game which is painful on every level. I originally marked it Null for not having a real ending, but apparently the stages loop after a while so I'm going to have to slog it out. Only played briefly so far.
- Ristar is a charming platformer with good music and graphics, slightly marred by the overuse of terribly digitised samples. I don't think this one is a pushover.
- Shining Force: The Legacy of Great Intention is probably the first strategy game I played, on emulator when I was little. Despite being kind of dated, it still has some good moments and is quite difficult. Done a few battles.
- Sonic Spinball is a horrendously laggy mess with dreadful music and sounds.
- Super Thunder Blade is an autoscrolling shmup which has both going-forward and going-up modes. Not sure which I like least.
Despite owning a Mega Drive in my youth, I haven't played most of these games. However, I do know a fair bit about a lot of them, and almost all of them have excellent speedruns should I need some reference material.
I still have a lot of games to talk about; beaten and bought... some of these are from months ago!
Monday, 4 May 2015
Hull Loot
I seem to remember promising 'proper updates' more regularly. This isn't one of those.
Emily and I just got back home from a short break in Hull. While there, we bought ten games.
Emily and I just got back home from a short break in Hull. While there, we bought ten games.
- Dynasty Warriors 7 (PS3)
- Dynasty Warriors 7: Xtreme Legends (PS3)
- Dynasty Warriors 7: Empires (PS3)
- God of War III (PS3)
- Way of the Samurai 4 (PS3)
- White Knight Chronicles (PS3)
- Halo 3: ODST (360)
- Halo 4 (360)
- Warhammer: Battle March (360)
- Mario & Luigi: Partners in Time (DS)
Keen-eyed readers might notice that I already have DW7. Well... yes, but I persuaded myself to get them for PS3 because 360 doesn't have Xtreme Legends, so it would be weird to have one but not the other. Maybe I'll trade in my 360 copy.
The other games are either things I've had on my wishlist for a while, sheer stubborn completionism or random things Emily found which look neat.
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