So, this week is E3, and with it alot of stuff is going on. I've got some things I'd like to discuss:
FFIV: Complete Collection
I've gotten a ways in, don't know if I'm gonna finish in time for OoT. Its a really good game, and granted its not as... "Graphic" as the DS remake. BUT the visuals are VERY crisp, and the sounds are all good too. So overall I give it 3 chicken nuggets out of 5 possible Whoppers.
E3... in General
Some stuff about E3, lotsa good shit coming out in the next year, which I'm looking forwar to, especially Zelda: Skyward Sword. Plus to celebrate the 25th anniversary an orchestra performed the Zelda theme and it was EPIC. Not all the details are out about Zelda's 25th, but it sounds promising. Of course Gears 3 is another I'm looking forward to and MAAAAYbe a little bit of Ninja Gaiden, but those games are usually bullies.
Sock Puppets, as it were.
The eStore update was released this monday, at virtually THE.LAST.POSSIBLE.MINUTE. Actually it was something like the last 10 minutes for Nintendo's statement to be true. I got "3D Classics: Excitebike", which was pretty alright. I'm mostly hoping they're gonna release some of the classic Zelda games, among some other old school remakes, Mario and the like. Some of their newer stuff is looking pretty good too.
So overall, not alot but at the same time there is. I'll probably be quiet until the 20th, the day after OoT comes out, and I'll play the SHIT out of that, and maybe do a review out of boredom at work. :3
Wednesday, June 8, 2011
Tuesday, May 31, 2011
A Fireside Chat with M
It's now 5/31/11, and I've seen it's been awhile since we last posted.
Some things that have been going on, I've been playing some Hard Corps: Uprising, a very cool game. Maybe I'll review that soon. Hopefully J will be coming down to visit, and we'll play the SHIT out of it. Otherwise, some other things going on....
I GOT MY 3DS!!! Cosmo Black, but unfortunatly it's been sort of a brick, so I can't really review it. By brick I mean I haven't anything to use the 3D features on it, and the games it comes with are alright. Next monday, Nintendo will be releasing an update (Week of E3) to enable web exploring as well as the Nintendo eStore that becomes available. The store contains demos and full games, such as remakes of gameboy and gameboy color games that supposedly utilize the 3D aspect. I'll believe it when I see it.
I'm also all set and ready to buy OoT3D when it drops, I plan on picking it up ON release day, which is from now about 2 weeks away. Aside from that, I've been playing Dissidia, which deserves a lengthy review, and have become interested in a psp game called "Final Fantasy IV: The Ultimate Collection" which has the FFIV remake as well as some pretty sweet bonuses. I may be picking it up soon, and alternating between it and Dissidia until the eStore opens. Anyway, just wanted to give a brief "hey, we're still alive" in case anybody cared. lol
-M
Some things that have been going on, I've been playing some Hard Corps: Uprising, a very cool game. Maybe I'll review that soon. Hopefully J will be coming down to visit, and we'll play the SHIT out of it. Otherwise, some other things going on....
I GOT MY 3DS!!! Cosmo Black, but unfortunatly it's been sort of a brick, so I can't really review it. By brick I mean I haven't anything to use the 3D features on it, and the games it comes with are alright. Next monday, Nintendo will be releasing an update (Week of E3) to enable web exploring as well as the Nintendo eStore that becomes available. The store contains demos and full games, such as remakes of gameboy and gameboy color games that supposedly utilize the 3D aspect. I'll believe it when I see it.
I'm also all set and ready to buy OoT3D when it drops, I plan on picking it up ON release day, which is from now about 2 weeks away. Aside from that, I've been playing Dissidia, which deserves a lengthy review, and have become interested in a psp game called "Final Fantasy IV: The Ultimate Collection" which has the FFIV remake as well as some pretty sweet bonuses. I may be picking it up soon, and alternating between it and Dissidia until the eStore opens. Anyway, just wanted to give a brief "hey, we're still alive" in case anybody cared. lol
-M
Tuesday, May 3, 2011
Yet another LOOOONG ass review Series: The Legend of Zelda Series
This is a long review set, similar to my Castelvania review. I guess the easiest way to explain why I'm doing this is.... Well I guess first it's a big year for Zelda. In a month and a few weeks the states will see the release of "The Ocarina of Time" for 3DS, as well as a new Wii title, "The Legend of Zelda: Skyward Sword". Now I know what you're thinking. "Why does he have to do another long review?" Cuz fuck you, thats why.
Thinking back to the first time I played a Zelda game... AHHHHH MEMORIES....*Queue weird wavy effect for flashbacks*
The Legend of Zelda(NES 1987)
I remember being a little kid, and I mean 3 or 4, and LOVING watching my Grandma and Mom play Super Mario Bros. 3, which is really a different story, but I kept trying to get them to play it, and one day my Mom handed me the controller and said "Here, you play".
History was made. That very moment (No older than 5 I think) I fell for my first love, and forever became a gamer.
With this, I pretty much stuck with mario. I think I remember renting Zelda from blockbuster, and getting bored with it, opting instead to rent Ninja Gaiden. Fuck that game. It was TOOOO hard. Thats for a different review too.
Fastforward a few years, we moved from Hawaii to Texas, Live Oak as a matter of fact. My first birthday there, I was 8 years old, and for my birthday I got "The Legend of Zelda". I really took the time to play this game, and I don't know what it was, but I liked it. I really liked it. I would actually get all the way up to Death Mountain, then get raped by the fucking Wizrobes, and Die. So, I quit. I'd pick it up from time to time over the years, but didn't actually beat it until I was in my mid teens. Sad, right? Fuck you.
The Awesome:
- Highly Nostalgic
- Not too complex, but just enough to keep you interested
- Optional weapon and tunic upgrades
- Sound was awesome
- Music was sweet
- Very challenging, not impossible
The Ass:
- ...
- I can't really think of any, except maybe it was pretty complicated, and finishing the last dungeon was pretty hard.
The Legend of Zelda II: The Adventure of Link(NES 1988)
This one of course is famous too. Shit, almost all zelda games are. This one I remember getting from my grandma, who used to buy me nintendo games on the condition she got to watch me play them. So when I went to go visit, she bought it for me as surprise, and boy did I love it. Sorta. This was actually HARDER than the first, and I could barely get past the 2nd dungeon without being thoroughly violated. So again, I quit. I used game genie a few years ago to beat this one. Even then it was hard....
The Awesome:
- Cool music, I guess
- Once you get downward Thrust, it's fun to fuck people up
- Spells are cool I guess...?
The Ass:
- More or less everything, but ESPECIALLY the difficulty
- Another point is how EASY it is to get lost.
The Legend of Zelda: Link's Awakening (Game Boy 1993)
This game was the next for me, and not the reason I wanted a game boy, but it became a principal reason I played it. This game was alot of fun, and not too hard. I hated that stupid screen the gameboy games had, but hey, it's Zelda, and by this point I started to like it. This game was fun, but another that took me a long time to beat. In fact, I'm noticing a patern here. On this one I quit towards the end, because I couldn't figure out how to kill the last boss.
The Awesome:
- Standard Zelda stuff, Although it's fun to steal from the shopkeep >:)
The Ass:
- Again, nothing much of note.
The Legend of Zelda: A Link to the Past(SNES 1992)
Now we're getting into the meat of it. This was the first time I ever wanted a console BECAUSE of a Zelda game. Sure as hell wouldn't be the last. I loved this game. It was fucking awesome. It was so epic, adventurous, so much to do, so many enemies to fight, thoughtful storyline, it was just GOOD. This was *YET* another Zelda game I didn't beat to begin with, I actually came back and beat it before moving on to the next Zelda game. By this point I became a devout follower of Zelda games, and just loved them to pieces. It was in this one I was able to figure out how to fight/kill the last boss on the previous game boy game, and thus was able to beat two Zelda games close together.
The Awesome:
- First Zelda game to boast 16 bit graphics
- Great music
- Great sound
- Duality of the world of light/Dark world
- Awesome that you fight through 3 dungeons, then go to the Dark world and fight through 7 more.
- Cool upgrades to weapons
The Ass:
- Nothing really, this one was pretty much perfect.
The Legend of Zelda: Ocarina of Time(N64 1998)
I remember this so much. I remember my mom asking me a few weeks before christmas. She said "M, do you want a playstation, or a nintendo 64?" I thought about it, and then I saw a commercial for Zelda 64(A knickname for OoT) and I decided. The only reason I wanted it was for Zelda. No joke. I remember unwrapping it on Xmas day, and I didn't even PLAY the other games I got, just went straight to Zelda. I don't remember beng so tirelessly dedicated to a game in a long time, nor do I remember feeling like that for at least a few years. I've replayed this game to DEATH. It is probably the only Zelda game I've played and beat without taking a break, or playing something else. This is the PERFECT Zelda game!
The Awesome:
- Fantastic Graphics
- Great music
- Awesome transition between Young Link and Mature Link
- MASSIVE world to explore
- Biggoron sword quest
- Spectacular Scenary
- You get to ride a horse
- Plenty of side shit to do
- Cool dungeons
- Z-Targetting
- Get attacked by a flock of chickens if you piss them off too much.
- Wide variety of items to use
The Ass:
- If anything, the polygons were frustrating, as was the camera, but it was also the first of it's kind. Castlevania 64 was MUCH worse.
The Legend of Zelda: Majora's Mask(N64 2000)
I never really played this one, after finishing OoT a million times, I moved on to other games on the 64, and eventually migrated to playing more stuff on the playstation.
The Legend of Zelda: Oracle of Seasons/Ages, Four Swords
I really only included this to kind of paint the ENTIRE picture of the Zelda series I saw, but these 4 games I never really played. Season/Ages were the next up Zelda games for the game boy, and Four Swords was a gamecube venture. I didn't go with the gamecube, in fact I got the other 2 consoles in competition with it. So I never really played any of these...
The Legend of Zelda: The Wind Wacker(Waker lol) <GameCube 2003>
This was another Zelda game I NEVER played. I suppose I could now, as I have a Wii, which is backwards compatible with the GC. One huge difference from after Majora's Mask was the change in art style, which adopted a more childish cell shade effect. I didn't really care for it too much, but moreover didn't have a GC, nor did I care about getting one, so I didn't even bother.
The Legend of Zelda: Minnish Cap(GBA 2005)
This was the next Zelda game I played, namely because. Well first let me get this out for the feds who are reading this...
*I DO NOT CONDONE THE USAGE OF ROMS, NOR DO I USE THEM*... usually.
Anyway at the time ROMs became prominent, and I had been going to college and had a laptop that contained a GBA emulator. So, I played it. The game was pretty good from what I remember. Typical Zelda game, with some differences, theres no Ganon, and your hat talks. He's annoying and yaks too much, but Navi from OoT was just as bad.
The Awesome:
- Same stuff, really nothing standing out from this one compared to others
The Ass
- Again, nothing really.
The Legend of Zelda: Twilight Princess (Wii/GameCube 2006)
This was the next big console Zelda game, and has once again changed art form. This time around you're controlling link, and as usual, one thing leads to another and you end up fighting Ganon again.
The Awesome:
- Wolf link was cool
- Return to more realistic art style
- Master Sword is always fun to wield
- Improved Horseback riding
- Even greater scale of exploration compared to the Zelda masterpiece, Ocarina of Time.
- Wide variety of places to explore
- Music was cool
- Design was nice
The Ass:
- Nothing really, except maybe that it took too long to get from point A to point B. But I guess the fun in it is getting lost along the way and having fun.
The Legend of Zelda: Phantom Hourglass(Nintendo DS 2007)
This I didn't even try until I got my R4. It took some getitng used to, namely having to chart a path from island to island, and the art style, but once I did, I got immersed like good Zelda games; ALL good games do. A superb handheld title, I would recommend it to anyone who owns a DS. Very cool Game.
The Awesome:
- Huge world to explore
- Lots of goodies hidden, fun to explore the open sea to find mysterious islands that are far and isolated
- Dungeons very colorful and full of variety
- Puzzle elements stepped up a notch, in a good way
The Ass:
- Cowardly captain of the ship is just annoying sometimes
- Too many attacks from pirates, monsters, or the girl who is pissed off with the captain
The Legend of Zelda: Spirit Tracks(Nintendo DS 2009)
Ok so upon the success of Phantom Hourglass, I thought Spirit Tracks would be Better, or as good as, it's predecessor. Ok so I'll readily admit I was wrong. DEAD WRONG. This game... ugh... This game... GRRRRR.... THIS GAME SUCKS! IT FUCKING SUCKS@!!@@ GRAGH*WIIWHF{IWFIJW}(@!!!!!! )O@JKNA ANGER !_+)(T_#UJ#_(J#FOMFP{
:3
Anyways... *Ahem* now that I've regained my composure....
This game has you as a train conductor, who goes to the castle to visit the royal family, and witness princess Zelda's soul being separated from body. It's up to you to go to the different castles and restore the spirit tracks, defeat the bad guys and get Zelda's body back. The Train driving aspect was clearly supposed to mimic the ship mechanic from the first Zelda game. It failed in that regard, namely cuz with sailing you could either indicate where you wanted to go and it'd chart your course FOR you, or you could chart your own damn course, and have fun. This, of course, confines you to the tracks, and it's just shitty. The castles were fun, but for every new dungeon you had to learn a new song. Ok, I know playing a flute isn't anything NEW to a Zelda game, but this requires you blow into the MIC of the DS and move the styles to mimic playing a pan flute. It was rediculously unresponsive, and was just shit. Whats worse, I couldn't even finish the damn game because at the end of the boss fight Zelda is like "play your flute for power" and I'm like WTF? It's IMPOSSIBLE to play, and so I just said FUCK IT. This, in my opinion is the SHITTIEST game of the Zelda series.
The Awesome:
- Colorful I Guess
- Dungeons were fun, I guess
The Ass:
- Having to ride a fucking train.
- In order to progress, a device(MIC) must be used to progress.
- Trust me, the previous two points are bad enough.
The Legend of Zelda: Skyward Sword/Ocarina of Time 3DS
I can't really get my paws on either's front case, so you'll have to settle for SHUUUT UUUUP. lol. Really, neither have been released, although OoT 3DS will be released stateside 6/19/2011. It's a remake of the GREATEST Zelda game every, got some fancy graphics updates, as well as some sexy bonuses. I also understand that certain aspects have been altered, which will make the game brand new all over again. I am so eagerly looking forward to the release of this game, my want of the 3DS has shot thru the roof. I have heard rumor at Kotaku that there will be a limited edition bundle on release day, in which case I think I'll wait until then. Skyward sword continues the tradition of the more "Realistic" look of the Zelda series, and looks like it's gonna be good. Although the release date is unknown, it is known that it'll get a release after OoT3DS.
Anyways, this concludes my review of the Legend of Zelda series, having played most of the games, I'd say its a fantastic series and will hope that it continues in this tradition. I'll DEFINITLY do a review of the new Ocarina game when I get it. It's gonna be SEXY!!!!
M
Thinking back to the first time I played a Zelda game... AHHHHH MEMORIES....*Queue weird wavy effect for flashbacks*
The Legend of Zelda(NES 1987)
History was made. That very moment (No older than 5 I think) I fell for my first love, and forever became a gamer.
With this, I pretty much stuck with mario. I think I remember renting Zelda from blockbuster, and getting bored with it, opting instead to rent Ninja Gaiden. Fuck that game. It was TOOOO hard. Thats for a different review too.
Fastforward a few years, we moved from Hawaii to Texas, Live Oak as a matter of fact. My first birthday there, I was 8 years old, and for my birthday I got "The Legend of Zelda". I really took the time to play this game, and I don't know what it was, but I liked it. I really liked it. I would actually get all the way up to Death Mountain, then get raped by the fucking Wizrobes, and Die. So, I quit. I'd pick it up from time to time over the years, but didn't actually beat it until I was in my mid teens. Sad, right? Fuck you.
The Awesome:
- Highly Nostalgic
- Not too complex, but just enough to keep you interested
- Optional weapon and tunic upgrades
- Sound was awesome
- Music was sweet
- Very challenging, not impossible
The Ass:
- ...
- I can't really think of any, except maybe it was pretty complicated, and finishing the last dungeon was pretty hard.
The Legend of Zelda II: The Adventure of Link(NES 1988)
The Awesome:
- Cool music, I guess
- Once you get downward Thrust, it's fun to fuck people up
- Spells are cool I guess...?
The Ass:
- More or less everything, but ESPECIALLY the difficulty
- Another point is how EASY it is to get lost.
The Legend of Zelda: Link's Awakening (Game Boy 1993)
The Awesome:
- Standard Zelda stuff, Although it's fun to steal from the shopkeep >:)
The Ass:
- Again, nothing much of note.
The Legend of Zelda: A Link to the Past(SNES 1992)
The Awesome:
- First Zelda game to boast 16 bit graphics
- Great music
- Great sound
- Duality of the world of light/Dark world
- Awesome that you fight through 3 dungeons, then go to the Dark world and fight through 7 more.
- Cool upgrades to weapons
The Ass:
- Nothing really, this one was pretty much perfect.
The Legend of Zelda: Ocarina of Time(N64 1998)
The Awesome:
- Fantastic Graphics
- Great music
- Awesome transition between Young Link and Mature Link
- MASSIVE world to explore
- Biggoron sword quest
- Spectacular Scenary
- You get to ride a horse
- Plenty of side shit to do
- Cool dungeons
- Z-Targetting
- Get attacked by a flock of chickens if you piss them off too much.
- Wide variety of items to use
The Ass:
- If anything, the polygons were frustrating, as was the camera, but it was also the first of it's kind. Castlevania 64 was MUCH worse.
The Legend of Zelda: Majora's Mask(N64 2000)
The Legend of Zelda: Oracle of Seasons/Ages, Four Swords
I really only included this to kind of paint the ENTIRE picture of the Zelda series I saw, but these 4 games I never really played. Season/Ages were the next up Zelda games for the game boy, and Four Swords was a gamecube venture. I didn't go with the gamecube, in fact I got the other 2 consoles in competition with it. So I never really played any of these...
The Legend of Zelda: The Wind Wacker(Waker lol) <GameCube 2003>
The Legend of Zelda: Minnish Cap(GBA 2005)
*I DO NOT CONDONE THE USAGE OF ROMS, NOR DO I USE THEM*... usually.
Anyway at the time ROMs became prominent, and I had been going to college and had a laptop that contained a GBA emulator. So, I played it. The game was pretty good from what I remember. Typical Zelda game, with some differences, theres no Ganon, and your hat talks. He's annoying and yaks too much, but Navi from OoT was just as bad.
The Awesome:
- Same stuff, really nothing standing out from this one compared to others
The Ass
- Again, nothing really.
The Legend of Zelda: Twilight Princess (Wii/GameCube 2006)
The Awesome:
- Wolf link was cool
- Return to more realistic art style
- Master Sword is always fun to wield
- Improved Horseback riding
- Even greater scale of exploration compared to the Zelda masterpiece, Ocarina of Time.
- Wide variety of places to explore
- Music was cool
- Design was nice
The Ass:
- Nothing really, except maybe that it took too long to get from point A to point B. But I guess the fun in it is getting lost along the way and having fun.
The Legend of Zelda: Phantom Hourglass(Nintendo DS 2007)
The Awesome:
- Huge world to explore
- Lots of goodies hidden, fun to explore the open sea to find mysterious islands that are far and isolated
- Dungeons very colorful and full of variety
- Puzzle elements stepped up a notch, in a good way
The Ass:
- Cowardly captain of the ship is just annoying sometimes
- Too many attacks from pirates, monsters, or the girl who is pissed off with the captain
The Legend of Zelda: Spirit Tracks(Nintendo DS 2009)
:3
Anyways... *Ahem* now that I've regained my composure....
This game has you as a train conductor, who goes to the castle to visit the royal family, and witness princess Zelda's soul being separated from body. It's up to you to go to the different castles and restore the spirit tracks, defeat the bad guys and get Zelda's body back. The Train driving aspect was clearly supposed to mimic the ship mechanic from the first Zelda game. It failed in that regard, namely cuz with sailing you could either indicate where you wanted to go and it'd chart your course FOR you, or you could chart your own damn course, and have fun. This, of course, confines you to the tracks, and it's just shitty. The castles were fun, but for every new dungeon you had to learn a new song. Ok, I know playing a flute isn't anything NEW to a Zelda game, but this requires you blow into the MIC of the DS and move the styles to mimic playing a pan flute. It was rediculously unresponsive, and was just shit. Whats worse, I couldn't even finish the damn game because at the end of the boss fight Zelda is like "play your flute for power" and I'm like WTF? It's IMPOSSIBLE to play, and so I just said FUCK IT. This, in my opinion is the SHITTIEST game of the Zelda series.
The Awesome:
- Colorful I Guess
- Dungeons were fun, I guess
The Ass:
- Having to ride a fucking train.
- In order to progress, a device(MIC) must be used to progress.
- Trust me, the previous two points are bad enough.
The Legend of Zelda: Skyward Sword/Ocarina of Time 3DS
I can't really get my paws on either's front case, so you'll have to settle for SHUUUT UUUUP. lol. Really, neither have been released, although OoT 3DS will be released stateside 6/19/2011. It's a remake of the GREATEST Zelda game every, got some fancy graphics updates, as well as some sexy bonuses. I also understand that certain aspects have been altered, which will make the game brand new all over again. I am so eagerly looking forward to the release of this game, my want of the 3DS has shot thru the roof. I have heard rumor at Kotaku that there will be a limited edition bundle on release day, in which case I think I'll wait until then. Skyward sword continues the tradition of the more "Realistic" look of the Zelda series, and looks like it's gonna be good. Although the release date is unknown, it is known that it'll get a release after OoT3DS.
Anyways, this concludes my review of the Legend of Zelda series, having played most of the games, I'd say its a fantastic series and will hope that it continues in this tradition. I'll DEFINITLY do a review of the new Ocarina game when I get it. It's gonna be SEXY!!!!
M
Saturday, April 30, 2011
Glock - All of them
This sounds like a good time to introduce to you all that I am also a bit of a gun nut (psychopath) and weapon enthusiast *twitch*. I know I've only done one game review but whatever eat a shit. This review will detail the weapon system developed by the Austrian weapon manufacturer Glock Ges m.b.H. If you want to know it all you can read Wikipedia's article on Glock. This will be a streamlined ass and awesome comparing mainly second and third generation pistols.
Let me start by saying I'm not a fan of Glock. I recognize it as an effective, durable, and versatile bullet thrower at a price for every man and maniac. But I would take many other pistols over it in a heartbeat given the choice.
The Ass (3rd Gen):
- The trigger is probably the most uncomfortable piece of shit I've ever used. I've worn more blisters on my index finger with that gun than any other i've put hundreds of rounds through
- Plastic picatinny rail does NOT (usually) play nice with metal accessories
- 4.5 to 5.5 lbs (in most civilian models) trigger pull that will piss you off with that trigger
-Glock uses a polygonal (got lots of angles kids) barrel design so if you reload make sure you buy the jacketed rounds. Or so they say
- Lack of a safety or other extras people have become accustomed to (like a deCOCKer)
The Awesome:
- Durability. Drop it, run it over, smother it in mud and shit that bitch will still fire. Sometimes called the AK of pistols, I'd trust my life to it
- Easy field strip (tease) and cleaning
-High ammo capacity regardless of caliber
- There is a pistol for practically every caliber. You can think it, Glock will shoot it
- On top of a multitude of calibers, most have a full size, compact, and subcompact model with barrel lengths ranging from 6.02" to 3.46"
- PRICE. $400 is low for a brand new fucking gun
That's the gist of it for pros and cons. I just want to elaborate on a few points. First is the safety. There isn't one really. There is a lever in the middle of the trigger that needs to be depressed before it can fire. I guess its to help prevent a discharge in the holster or in a brawl, but I can't picture anything pulling the trigger and not depressing the lever. All it does is make for an uncomfortable trigger. So, WTF were you thinkin' Glock? FAIL FTL FML<good.
Now, if a lack of safeties is a con for you, then someone needs a lesson on shooting off your load too soon and accidental discharges. Your finger is all the safely you should need.
I also want to touch on the differences in Glock's generations. I hated the Generation 2 with a passion. Everything about it was awkward and uncomfortable. I was inaccurate as fuck with it too. However, Generation 3 came along and gave us an ergonomic grip that was smaller and fit a lot better. They kept the same checkered design which is fine. Generation 3 also finally added a picatinny rail (tactical rail for the n00b3 out thar). The 4th Generation came along in 2010 and attempts to reduce recoil with a familiar dual recoil spring. This makes the pistol slightly wider and really doesn't impact performance that much.
Additionally, you can get the "C" models, C for (cunt?) compensated. The barrel is machined lighter and there are two long notches cut into the top of the slide to reduce weight and make it aerodynamic, or something. Regardless, the differences are benign, but somehow the 3rd and 4th Generations are NOT interchangeable. Don't go changing barrels and have it blow up in your FACE.
My final point is to say that Glocks are very good pistols. You can rely on them and many, many police agencies do. They are cheap for what you get. If there are any questions you can ask and I'll reply. With what I don't know, but you will get a reply.
J 
Thursday, April 28, 2011
Castlevania: My Previous Addiciton
So I'm still trying to finish Dissidia Duodecim but I have yet to formulate a FULL opinion of it. So I decided I would do a rather lengthy review (in pretty colors I might add) Of what I have played of the Castlevania series.
*INHALES BIG BREATH*
Castlevania:
Many reviewers such as AVGN and Egoraptor have played the original when they were young, during the ACTUAL NES days. Me, not really. I actually didn't really even try it until a friend of mine hacked my psp and gave me an iso that had a bunch of NES games on it. So I tried it then. It was fun. ALOT of fun. But FUCK that game is hard. Super hard. Like, god dammit! Somehow I was able to play through to the end, and made it all the way to Dracula, only to get my balls rocked. My theory is I am doing it wrong, but who knows. I liked the game, walking around and whipping shit was alot of fun, the sounds were cool and the music was fun. The game is not only notoriously difficult, but jumping was hard too. All in all, a castlevania game I never beat, just too hard...
Awesome:
- To quote egoraptor: "Whippin dudes yeahuh!"
- Music was cool
- Enemy range was very interesting for its time
- Feels accomplishing that you get anywhere in that game.
Ass:
- Fucking hard.... TOO frustrating
- Bosses were strong, and some (DEATH) were nearly impossible.
- Dracula gets his own mention, just cuz he's hard as shit
- Hated the jump mechanic most of all. It's like you jump a little bit, and drop like a stone. Realistic yes, but nothing else about the game was. Also, you can't change direction DURING your jump, you basically made a choice and had to live with it. Bullshit.
Castlevania 2 - Simons Quest:
This game technically(chronologically) can't even apply to me, as the beginning states Simon beat Dracula. I didn't. I gave up.
ANYWAYS... there has also been a copious amount of reviews on this game, and really, I don't know too much about it. I just started it and didn't really like it.
Awesome:
- Nothing, really.
Ass:
- All of it?
Castlevania III:
No Idea, this thing wouldn't even load on my iso dealy.
Super Castlevania IV:
Didn't really play this either, although after seeing AVGN's review, I'd like to try it. I've considered looking to see how much a cartridge fetches for. I dunno...
Rondo of Blood:
I did play this, in it's various incarnations. My favorite was the PSP remake, namely cuz the awesome overhaul in graphics. I liked how it wasn't TOTALLY straightforward, you could take different paths based on finding a hidden area, etc. Another of the games I never beat, the iso for my psp was giving me grief. Or my psp is dying. No idea.
Awesome:
- RICHTER BELMONT!!!
- Very colorful
- Music is cool
Ass:
- My biggest complaint is the controls, still clunky as shit.
- Difficulty was pretty high too
Here's the intermission, when the HUGE change in castlevania occurred
Castlevania: Symphony of the Night
When I first played this, I was driving my friend home from work, and he said something about it. I said I never played it, and he said we'd have to change that. So I played the first part of the game, which picks up at the end of Rondo of Blood. So I started, and liked it. Really liked it. It was like.... a vast improvement of what I played at the time. The friend who hooked me up with the NES iso was able to get me the PSX version of SotN, and boy did I play it. The hell out of it. Beat it several times. Then bought it on XBLA and beat the shit out of there too.
Awesome:
- New, "Castleroid/MetroidVania" gameplay
- Level up, if an enemy is too strong, level up and come back. It's also an indicator of places you shouldn't be at yet.
- Customize weapon/armor, increase stats or just make it easier, with a long range/short range weapon
- Lots to play and explore, game doesn't end too quickly.
- Design was really cool
- Music was great
- Sound effects spectacular
- Character design cool
- Alternate "Richter" mode, really cool.
Ass:
- Voice acting was hideous. So much so it's actually pretty funny.
- Making the castle upside down for the second half is sort of redundant. Could've changed the layout
- Some enemies are too hard
- Dracula too easy
Castlevania: Dawn of Sorrow
The follow up for me, to SotN. Not a bad game, the idea of taking enemies souls and using them as abilities and weapons was cool. Not as good as Symphony though, and more to the point, the design was fairly bland. I didn't like the sound Soma(Main character guy) makes when he gets hit. Or when he dies (DWAHHHHHHH). Fucking stupid. The story was meh, and the final boss was challenging.
Awesome:
- Being able to fuse enemy souls with weapons to make new ones
Ass:
- Bland design
- Sounds annoying
- Music meh
- Story was ok, just ok
- Enemies were gay
- Dying sound REALLY annoying
- Game just felt redundant
- Julies/Yoko mode. God was it terrible. Julius looks like a tree trunk with arms, legs and a head.
Castlevania: Portrait of Ruin
An interesting game, because at first I didn't like it and rushed through to beat it. Upon playing it recently though, I really like it. Essentially you play as 2 characters, Charlotte Aulin, a descendant of the Belnades clan(Featured originally in Castlevania III, and referenced in DoS) and Jonathan Morris, son of John Morris from castlevania bloodlines. It's the Castleroid setup again, but whats interesting is that the story is quite a twist. A vampire has used a power to seal Dracula within a different space in his own castle, thus making his power available to the vampire. He then seals the rest of the power within paintings, and it's your job to go through each one and kill the master of it to break each extra chain. There were alot of things I liked about it, because of the different paintings(portals) you get to see a diverse set of backgrounds, as opposed to moving in JUST Dracula's castle. The choice of playing JUST as Jonathan or Charlotte, or having both together made it interesting too. Some enemies are weak to magic, others, weak to physical attacks. It branches further by different elemental magics, and different weapon types(Holy, sword, Axe, Whip). Also cool is the quest mode, which has you go from killing enemies to picking stuff up. A wide variety, none of it too difficult.
Awesome:
- More or less everything...
- Story was good
- Choice to play as Spell master or Weapon user
- Depth of strategy involved by alternating the two to effectively defeat enemies
- Hidden dungeon, "The Nest of Evil"
- Cool Weapons
- Can unleash the true power of Vampire Killer, which is EXTREMELY effective
- A 2 on 2 battle between Death, Dracula, Jonathan and Charlotte
- Dual Crush, an ability that combines the strength of two for an awesome attack
- "Greatest Five" dual crush, summoning the power of 5 of the strongest Belmonts.
- New Game+
- 2 different alternate modes, Vampire Sisters/Richter + Maria
Ass:
- Some enemies are stupid hard
- Leveling up becomes difficult
- Some Fetch quests
Castlevania: Order of Ecclesia
This is the most recent in the Castlevania DS franchise, and very...interesting. I have to give Konami credit, they don't make you play the same damn game over and over, they at least add twists. The twist to this one, other than the more Gothic painting art style(Overtaking the anime style prevalent from the previous DS titles) is that this game has the 'glyph' system. Essentially you play as Shanoa, a member of the order of ecclesia(hence the title) who basically are there to kick Dracula's ass, should he ever come back. Where are the Belmonts? In most Castlevania games(until lately) you play as a Belmont, or at least directly interact with them, Such as Richter in SotN, or Julius in DoS, or Richter again in PoR. In this one it's said that the villagers you're setting out to save are descendants of Belmonts. What? No Belmonts...?
Anyways... So yeah it's Ecclesia's job to make sure these power glyphs, the Dominus Glyphs, do not fall into the hands of evil, who can resurrect Dracula with it. Well, a close friend named Albus takes the Glyphs and runs away, and you lose your memory. I don't really remember the explanation. So, the boss of Ecclesia tells you Albus wants to resurrect Dracula, and you gotta stop him. So after you save all of the villagers, you eventually recover the glyphs, and fight Albus, who reveals to you that using Dominus comes at the price of her life, and that you should talk to Leader Jerk to find out what the deal is.
You fight him, and he resurrects Dracula, then you go into the castle and fight Dracula, the end.
Awesome:
- Glyph system allows you to use weapons for each arm, plus a third on your back, which allows you to cast enhancement spells, and things of the like.
- One of the big things that AVGN hated is how the WHOLE Castlevania game took place in the castle, where it used to be outside, then going in. This game is like that, the first half of the game is in random locales, and the second is in Dracula's Castle. A perfect mix.
- Design was pretty cool
- Bonus Dungeons to gain special items
- Albus mode
The Ass:
- Truly hate how EVERYTHING kills you in this game. You have to save often, cuz if you're like "Oh I'll just do this real quick and then save" no. No then you're gonna get killed by something insignificant and STUPID.
- I hate how when you die, you levitate a second, let out this stupid "ahhhh" sound, and blood flies out of you for like 5 to 10 seconds. Doesn't sound like much, but it takes FOREVER
- Bosses are too hard
- Too many fetch quests, some of which can take 5 seconds or 5 hours
- You shouldn't base a quest on Luck, there are some quests that require enemy drops, and it takes for fucking ever for the enemy to drop what you want. I actually had to beat EVERYTHING about the game FIRST(Bonus Dungeons too, just didn't fight Dracula) then come back and do those last ones
- Dracula laughs WAY too much, like every time he disappears he laughs. I know you think it's funny you dick, I don't WANT TO HEAR ABOUT IT SO FREAKING MUCH!!!!
- Music was meh.
Castlevania: Harmony of Despair
What do you get if you went out and bought SotN, DoS, PoR, Castlevania 1, and OoE? Well you'd have half the library of games in the castlevania series. What you need to do is find a way to pile them up, and smash them with a sledge hammer, until it becomes a sweet, digital goo.
Didn't make sense? Ok basically the games I listed in the paragraph above were taken and made into an XBLA game that has maps and characters from the games. The story is that some Grimoire summons Heroes and villains from various time periods in the timeline of castlevania, and pits them together in an epic battle. I've only gotten to like, level 3...
The awesome:
- I like how it's so many characters for 11 levels(total). It spans from the first Castlevania(1986) all the way to OoE(2011).
- Music is pretty good
- Design was also good
- Another Double edged sword is the level system is somewhat... awkward Based on the character you are using is how they level up. For instance, for the Belmonts, it's their subweapon. For every hit you get on an enemy, the subweapon gets EXP. Eventually it levels up, and so forth. Thats just weird to me.
- Liked the various locales from a variety of games
- Loved the idea of the 10th level, origins. It's the whole of the original castlevania, with no real changes.
- Boasts up to 5 partners(6 players total) although it's Live only.
- Cool equipment options, such as boots that speed up your running ability.
- The name is a play on words, "Castlevania: HD", a play on words because the game is High Def.
The Ass:
- VERY difficult
- Origins is stupid hard.
- Seems to lack originality. There isn't anything new, no new characters or new locales
- Like PoR's Nest of Evil, too much is based off of Dawn of Sorrow. I mean, at least 4 of the default levels were DoS. Alot of SotN's levels were DLC.
- Speaking of DLC, why is so much of the features DLC? WTF Konami? My friend says that Konami likes to microcharge up the ass, and I'd say he's right. You start with 5 characters and 6 levels, and you can purchase and additional 5 Levels, and 6 extra characters to buy.
- Disliked how you have to play on Live to play with friends, I would've liked it if you could do Co-op on a console. It makes sense why you can't though.
That's just about it for all that I've played. There were others, like "Castlevania: Judgement" that I wouldn't touch with a stick, and others like Bloodlines, that I've never really gotten a chance to play. Over all I'd say the series is REALLY quite good, and maintains it notoriety of difficulty. If I could get J to play along on HD I may finish faster, as well as getting my friend to help me. My favorite titles would be SotN, Portrait of Ruin and Order of Ecclesia, in that order. I call it my previous addiction because I was playing it for a long ass time, and didn't touch anything else. It's fizzled a little, because I've beaten the hell out of PoR and OoE, and don't want to play DoS. I still aim to play HD, just don't know when.
Anyways, it's been quite a write on this one, and I don't know when I'll do a review next. Maybe later today, I dunno. I heard J was going to be doing a review soon, so keep a lookout for that! Peace!
M
*INHALES BIG BREATH*
Castlevania:
Many reviewers such as AVGN and Egoraptor have played the original when they were young, during the ACTUAL NES days. Me, not really. I actually didn't really even try it until a friend of mine hacked my psp and gave me an iso that had a bunch of NES games on it. So I tried it then. It was fun. ALOT of fun. But FUCK that game is hard. Super hard. Like, god dammit! Somehow I was able to play through to the end, and made it all the way to Dracula, only to get my balls rocked. My theory is I am doing it wrong, but who knows. I liked the game, walking around and whipping shit was alot of fun, the sounds were cool and the music was fun. The game is not only notoriously difficult, but jumping was hard too. All in all, a castlevania game I never beat, just too hard...
Awesome:
- To quote egoraptor: "Whippin dudes yeahuh!"
- Music was cool
- Enemy range was very interesting for its time
- Feels accomplishing that you get anywhere in that game.
Ass:
- Fucking hard.... TOO frustrating
- Bosses were strong, and some (DEATH) were nearly impossible.
- Dracula gets his own mention, just cuz he's hard as shit
- Hated the jump mechanic most of all. It's like you jump a little bit, and drop like a stone. Realistic yes, but nothing else about the game was. Also, you can't change direction DURING your jump, you basically made a choice and had to live with it. Bullshit.
Castlevania 2 - Simons Quest:
This game technically(chronologically) can't even apply to me, as the beginning states Simon beat Dracula. I didn't. I gave up.
ANYWAYS... there has also been a copious amount of reviews on this game, and really, I don't know too much about it. I just started it and didn't really like it.
Awesome:
- Nothing, really.
Ass:
- All of it?
Castlevania III:
No Idea, this thing wouldn't even load on my iso dealy.
Super Castlevania IV:
Didn't really play this either, although after seeing AVGN's review, I'd like to try it. I've considered looking to see how much a cartridge fetches for. I dunno...
Rondo of Blood:
I did play this, in it's various incarnations. My favorite was the PSP remake, namely cuz the awesome overhaul in graphics. I liked how it wasn't TOTALLY straightforward, you could take different paths based on finding a hidden area, etc. Another of the games I never beat, the iso for my psp was giving me grief. Or my psp is dying. No idea.
Awesome:
- RICHTER BELMONT!!!
- Very colorful
- Music is cool
Ass:
- My biggest complaint is the controls, still clunky as shit.
- Difficulty was pretty high too
Here's the intermission, when the HUGE change in castlevania occurred
Castlevania: Symphony of the Night
When I first played this, I was driving my friend home from work, and he said something about it. I said I never played it, and he said we'd have to change that. So I played the first part of the game, which picks up at the end of Rondo of Blood. So I started, and liked it. Really liked it. It was like.... a vast improvement of what I played at the time. The friend who hooked me up with the NES iso was able to get me the PSX version of SotN, and boy did I play it. The hell out of it. Beat it several times. Then bought it on XBLA and beat the shit out of there too.
Awesome:
- New, "Castleroid/MetroidVania" gameplay
- Level up, if an enemy is too strong, level up and come back. It's also an indicator of places you shouldn't be at yet.
- Customize weapon/armor, increase stats or just make it easier, with a long range/short range weapon
- Lots to play and explore, game doesn't end too quickly.
- Design was really cool
- Music was great
- Sound effects spectacular
- Character design cool
- Alternate "Richter" mode, really cool.
Ass:
- Voice acting was hideous. So much so it's actually pretty funny.
- Making the castle upside down for the second half is sort of redundant. Could've changed the layout
- Some enemies are too hard
- Dracula too easy
Castlevania: Dawn of Sorrow
The follow up for me, to SotN. Not a bad game, the idea of taking enemies souls and using them as abilities and weapons was cool. Not as good as Symphony though, and more to the point, the design was fairly bland. I didn't like the sound Soma(Main character guy) makes when he gets hit. Or when he dies (DWAHHHHHHH). Fucking stupid. The story was meh, and the final boss was challenging.
Awesome:
- Being able to fuse enemy souls with weapons to make new ones
Ass:
- Bland design
- Sounds annoying
- Music meh
- Story was ok, just ok
- Enemies were gay
- Dying sound REALLY annoying
- Game just felt redundant
- Julies/Yoko mode. God was it terrible. Julius looks like a tree trunk with arms, legs and a head.
Castlevania: Portrait of Ruin
An interesting game, because at first I didn't like it and rushed through to beat it. Upon playing it recently though, I really like it. Essentially you play as 2 characters, Charlotte Aulin, a descendant of the Belnades clan(Featured originally in Castlevania III, and referenced in DoS) and Jonathan Morris, son of John Morris from castlevania bloodlines. It's the Castleroid setup again, but whats interesting is that the story is quite a twist. A vampire has used a power to seal Dracula within a different space in his own castle, thus making his power available to the vampire. He then seals the rest of the power within paintings, and it's your job to go through each one and kill the master of it to break each extra chain. There were alot of things I liked about it, because of the different paintings(portals) you get to see a diverse set of backgrounds, as opposed to moving in JUST Dracula's castle. The choice of playing JUST as Jonathan or Charlotte, or having both together made it interesting too. Some enemies are weak to magic, others, weak to physical attacks. It branches further by different elemental magics, and different weapon types(Holy, sword, Axe, Whip). Also cool is the quest mode, which has you go from killing enemies to picking stuff up. A wide variety, none of it too difficult.
Awesome:
- More or less everything...
- Story was good
- Choice to play as Spell master or Weapon user
- Depth of strategy involved by alternating the two to effectively defeat enemies
- Hidden dungeon, "The Nest of Evil"
- Cool Weapons
- Can unleash the true power of Vampire Killer, which is EXTREMELY effective
- A 2 on 2 battle between Death, Dracula, Jonathan and Charlotte
- Dual Crush, an ability that combines the strength of two for an awesome attack
- "Greatest Five" dual crush, summoning the power of 5 of the strongest Belmonts.
- New Game+
- 2 different alternate modes, Vampire Sisters/Richter + Maria
Ass:
- Some enemies are stupid hard
- Leveling up becomes difficult
- Some Fetch quests
Castlevania: Order of Ecclesia
This is the most recent in the Castlevania DS franchise, and very...interesting. I have to give Konami credit, they don't make you play the same damn game over and over, they at least add twists. The twist to this one, other than the more Gothic painting art style(Overtaking the anime style prevalent from the previous DS titles) is that this game has the 'glyph' system. Essentially you play as Shanoa, a member of the order of ecclesia(hence the title) who basically are there to kick Dracula's ass, should he ever come back. Where are the Belmonts? In most Castlevania games(until lately) you play as a Belmont, or at least directly interact with them, Such as Richter in SotN, or Julius in DoS, or Richter again in PoR. In this one it's said that the villagers you're setting out to save are descendants of Belmonts. What? No Belmonts...?
Anyways... So yeah it's Ecclesia's job to make sure these power glyphs, the Dominus Glyphs, do not fall into the hands of evil, who can resurrect Dracula with it. Well, a close friend named Albus takes the Glyphs and runs away, and you lose your memory. I don't really remember the explanation. So, the boss of Ecclesia tells you Albus wants to resurrect Dracula, and you gotta stop him. So after you save all of the villagers, you eventually recover the glyphs, and fight Albus, who reveals to you that using Dominus comes at the price of her life, and that you should talk to Leader Jerk to find out what the deal is.
You fight him, and he resurrects Dracula, then you go into the castle and fight Dracula, the end.
Awesome:
- Glyph system allows you to use weapons for each arm, plus a third on your back, which allows you to cast enhancement spells, and things of the like.
- One of the big things that AVGN hated is how the WHOLE Castlevania game took place in the castle, where it used to be outside, then going in. This game is like that, the first half of the game is in random locales, and the second is in Dracula's Castle. A perfect mix.
- Design was pretty cool
- Bonus Dungeons to gain special items
- Albus mode
The Ass:
- Truly hate how EVERYTHING kills you in this game. You have to save often, cuz if you're like "Oh I'll just do this real quick and then save" no. No then you're gonna get killed by something insignificant and STUPID.
- I hate how when you die, you levitate a second, let out this stupid "ahhhh" sound, and blood flies out of you for like 5 to 10 seconds. Doesn't sound like much, but it takes FOREVER
- Bosses are too hard
- Too many fetch quests, some of which can take 5 seconds or 5 hours
- You shouldn't base a quest on Luck, there are some quests that require enemy drops, and it takes for fucking ever for the enemy to drop what you want. I actually had to beat EVERYTHING about the game FIRST(Bonus Dungeons too, just didn't fight Dracula) then come back and do those last ones
- Dracula laughs WAY too much, like every time he disappears he laughs. I know you think it's funny you dick, I don't WANT TO HEAR ABOUT IT SO FREAKING MUCH!!!!
- Music was meh.
Castlevania: Harmony of Despair
What do you get if you went out and bought SotN, DoS, PoR, Castlevania 1, and OoE? Well you'd have half the library of games in the castlevania series. What you need to do is find a way to pile them up, and smash them with a sledge hammer, until it becomes a sweet, digital goo.
Didn't make sense? Ok basically the games I listed in the paragraph above were taken and made into an XBLA game that has maps and characters from the games. The story is that some Grimoire summons Heroes and villains from various time periods in the timeline of castlevania, and pits them together in an epic battle. I've only gotten to like, level 3...
The awesome:
- I like how it's so many characters for 11 levels(total). It spans from the first Castlevania(1986) all the way to OoE(2011).
- Music is pretty good
- Design was also good
- Another Double edged sword is the level system is somewhat... awkward Based on the character you are using is how they level up. For instance, for the Belmonts, it's their subweapon. For every hit you get on an enemy, the subweapon gets EXP. Eventually it levels up, and so forth. Thats just weird to me.
- Liked the various locales from a variety of games
- Loved the idea of the 10th level, origins. It's the whole of the original castlevania, with no real changes.
- Boasts up to 5 partners(6 players total) although it's Live only.
- Cool equipment options, such as boots that speed up your running ability.
- The name is a play on words, "Castlevania: HD", a play on words because the game is High Def.
The Ass:
- VERY difficult
- Origins is stupid hard.
- Seems to lack originality. There isn't anything new, no new characters or new locales
- Like PoR's Nest of Evil, too much is based off of Dawn of Sorrow. I mean, at least 4 of the default levels were DoS. Alot of SotN's levels were DLC.
- Speaking of DLC, why is so much of the features DLC? WTF Konami? My friend says that Konami likes to microcharge up the ass, and I'd say he's right. You start with 5 characters and 6 levels, and you can purchase and additional 5 Levels, and 6 extra characters to buy.
- Disliked how you have to play on Live to play with friends, I would've liked it if you could do Co-op on a console. It makes sense why you can't though.
That's just about it for all that I've played. There were others, like "Castlevania: Judgement" that I wouldn't touch with a stick, and others like Bloodlines, that I've never really gotten a chance to play. Over all I'd say the series is REALLY quite good, and maintains it notoriety of difficulty. If I could get J to play along on HD I may finish faster, as well as getting my friend to help me. My favorite titles would be SotN, Portrait of Ruin and Order of Ecclesia, in that order. I call it my previous addiction because I was playing it for a long ass time, and didn't touch anything else. It's fizzled a little, because I've beaten the hell out of PoR and OoE, and don't want to play DoS. I still aim to play HD, just don't know when.
Anyways, it's been quite a write on this one, and I don't know when I'll do a review next. Maybe later today, I dunno. I heard J was going to be doing a review soon, so keep a lookout for that! Peace!
M
Wednesday, April 27, 2011
Total War: Shogun 2
This is also something of an intro for me. I'm the #2 man and co-writer for this shindig we got here. And since I am currently playing this game, this is where I'll start.
This a PC game (PC FTW MF). It has multiple single player campaigns and two main multiplayer modes. Each campaign can run you about 30 hours depending on how you play and if you pick a long or short conquest.
The objective of these campaigns is to wage a total war (LOL) and conquer Japan. The main campaign map plays like the Total War games before it, and for those not accustomed its a map of the country where you and all other players take turns building, moving armies, recruiting units, making treaties, declaring war, establishing trade, and all other manner of diplomatic actions. Its like a pimped out version of Risk.
The game utilized an RTS style of gameplay when your army attacks or is attacked, but this is completely optional and you can use numbers to fight your battles. During RTS play you will have the chance to place your units on a field and deploy against another army or castle. Each army can contain thousands of men and each one of those fuckers is fully rendered and acts individually. You can zoom right up and watch your men get shot in the face by arrows, its great. The game also has a historical battles mode where you can command either side of a realistic army in a famous Japanese battle that actually took place. There aren't very many of these, but its neat none the less.
The multiplayer component is the same as the single player, just all the other clans are controlled by people instead of AI. Its actually pretty in depth, but no one is ever on the damn thing. The single player campaigns also allow for drop in battles in case you want to kick yourself in the ass and give away an easy victory against the AI.
I'll go to list the good and bad about the game. I'll start by saying this game is fuckin great. I've got almost 100 hours invested in this thing on Steam, so I wouldn't have that much if I hated it. Now for the shit...
The ASS:
- The controls often don't give a flying fuck about you. You'll tell a unit on the main map to move somewhere and he'll take the longest route to get there at times. I told an army to move to a town and not only did he take off on an obscure route, he backtracked to where he was on the second turn. As if to say "oops, I didn't know where the fuck I was going."
- Some actions are based on chance, which add up to do whatever the fuck it wants. 5 star ninja can't kill a 2 star, then is killed by him? WTF is that noise? And this is a consistent problem that works both ways, good and bad
- NAVIES SUCK ASS/COMPLETELY USELESS
-Army movement is inconsistent when it comes to attacking. For some reason it looks like you'll be able to make it and then you just come short.
-This game WILL crash anything less than last gen graphics and OS. my laptop uses Intel i7-720QM and ATI 5870 1G GDDR5 and has never crashed
- Campaigns can drag on FOREVER at times
The Awesome:
- Pretty much everything else.
- The game (with good hardware) sports literally thousands and thousands of men engaged in bloody combat without a hitch. Riderless horses take off running, men cower with defeat and run, Generals are important characters that you care about and don't want to die. The detail is amazing
- The level of intricacy involved with managing your empire is aw inspiring. You have to carefully manage towns or you will incite revolts. You can change your religion, designate heirs to the throne, manage taxes, very realistic diplomacy with other clans. The game is incredibly deep and satisfying.
- Runs on Steam, and Steam is awesome
J
This a PC game (PC FTW MF). It has multiple single player campaigns and two main multiplayer modes. Each campaign can run you about 30 hours depending on how you play and if you pick a long or short conquest.
The objective of these campaigns is to wage a total war (LOL) and conquer Japan. The main campaign map plays like the Total War games before it, and for those not accustomed its a map of the country where you and all other players take turns building, moving armies, recruiting units, making treaties, declaring war, establishing trade, and all other manner of diplomatic actions. Its like a pimped out version of Risk.
The game utilized an RTS style of gameplay when your army attacks or is attacked, but this is completely optional and you can use numbers to fight your battles. During RTS play you will have the chance to place your units on a field and deploy against another army or castle. Each army can contain thousands of men and each one of those fuckers is fully rendered and acts individually. You can zoom right up and watch your men get shot in the face by arrows, its great. The game also has a historical battles mode where you can command either side of a realistic army in a famous Japanese battle that actually took place. There aren't very many of these, but its neat none the less.
The multiplayer component is the same as the single player, just all the other clans are controlled by people instead of AI. Its actually pretty in depth, but no one is ever on the damn thing. The single player campaigns also allow for drop in battles in case you want to kick yourself in the ass and give away an easy victory against the AI.
I'll go to list the good and bad about the game. I'll start by saying this game is fuckin great. I've got almost 100 hours invested in this thing on Steam, so I wouldn't have that much if I hated it. Now for the shit...
The ASS:
- The controls often don't give a flying fuck about you. You'll tell a unit on the main map to move somewhere and he'll take the longest route to get there at times. I told an army to move to a town and not only did he take off on an obscure route, he backtracked to where he was on the second turn. As if to say "oops, I didn't know where the fuck I was going."
- Some actions are based on chance, which add up to do whatever the fuck it wants. 5 star ninja can't kill a 2 star, then is killed by him? WTF is that noise? And this is a consistent problem that works both ways, good and bad
- NAVIES SUCK ASS/COMPLETELY USELESS
-Army movement is inconsistent when it comes to attacking. For some reason it looks like you'll be able to make it and then you just come short.
-This game WILL crash anything less than last gen graphics and OS. my laptop uses Intel i7-720QM and ATI 5870 1G GDDR5 and has never crashed
- Campaigns can drag on FOREVER at times
The Awesome:
- Pretty much everything else.
- The game (with good hardware) sports literally thousands and thousands of men engaged in bloody combat without a hitch. Riderless horses take off running, men cower with defeat and run, Generals are important characters that you care about and don't want to die. The detail is amazing
- The level of intricacy involved with managing your empire is aw inspiring. You have to carefully manage towns or you will incite revolts. You can change your religion, designate heirs to the throne, manage taxes, very realistic diplomacy with other clans. The game is incredibly deep and satisfying.
- Runs on Steam, and Steam is awesome
I wish I could do a video review of this game, since that seems to be how people do it nowadays, but I'm retarded in the field of animation engineering. I will say that I recommend the fuck out of this game if you enjoy RTS games even a little bit. Hell even you don't, if you like strategy games pick this shit up. All the RTS elements are completely optional, except in multiplayer, but no one plays it so doesn't fucking matter now does it? This is the best Total War to Date (LOL) and will give you hours upon hours of medieval joy. You can always pick it up straight from Steam for a cheap price too.
That's my review. Hope it helps, and I hope you buy it. If not, find a skunks ass and suck wind for an hour cause I don't give a flying fuck :)
J
Brief Review of Dissidia Duodecim/Introduction
Hello, if you have stumbled upon this site, my partner and I have started something like a game review blog. It's kinda inspired by AVGN, and 'Sequelitis' by egoraptor. I really liked hearing their opinions on things, which inspired me to want to do this.
So, for a brief review, I just REALLY started playing the new Dissidia game, the 2011 sequel to the 2009 game.
First off, the graphics seem the same, the controls and menus are *fairly* similar. That being said, there have been some upgrades as well.
Pros:
Naturally it's going to be compared to the previous...It's a sequel, right?! For the Pro's I'd say...
-Familiar Battle style and control, if you played the first it's easy to adapt
- Ditched the "Destiny Points" system, where you had like 5 moves, and you didn't get any bonuses, and instead have the "Kupo Points" system, where winning, chaining/winning or fufilling certain requirements gives you more, where you can access better equipment
- Made it easy to carry shit over. I really like that alls it took was "Do you want to load your info from the previous game to this file?" then, "All of this will be moved. Ok?" And THATS IT.
- New CHARACTERS! Of course if you aren't a Final Fantasy nerd and played them all, some will be unfamiliar.
CONS
- Something that really bothered me is how you have to play through with the characters it chooses for you, as opposed to the first where you can choose who to play as, then play through their story.
- Kain's armor is purple?!
- Seriously, in the DS remake, it was green. GREEN WAS GOOD.
- Purple... REALLY
-Disliked how they emphasized tutorial on REALLY basic stuff, like to dash, do this, or to fight do this. But when it came to the newer features it doesn't explain until fairly later. If you're importing my data from the first, it's likely to assume I know the basics of the first.
-It's kind of a double edged sword, but I didn't like how you have to move freely about in the world, then go into gates, where it takes you to the board you fight on. I do, but I don't. lol
I can't think of anything else off the top of my head, but hopefully this will provide me enough enjoyment until I get my 3DS. Anyway if you're reading this, welcome to the page, keep an eye out, as me and my partner will probably review just not games, but other shit, like me upgrading the jailbreak on my phone, or me running Mac OS X and Windows 7 on my iMac.
Alright peeps, stay cool.
M
So, for a brief review, I just REALLY started playing the new Dissidia game, the 2011 sequel to the 2009 game.
First off, the graphics seem the same, the controls and menus are *fairly* similar. That being said, there have been some upgrades as well.
Pros:
Naturally it's going to be compared to the previous...It's a sequel, right?! For the Pro's I'd say...
-Familiar Battle style and control, if you played the first it's easy to adapt
- Ditched the "Destiny Points" system, where you had like 5 moves, and you didn't get any bonuses, and instead have the "Kupo Points" system, where winning, chaining/winning or fufilling certain requirements gives you more, where you can access better equipment
- Made it easy to carry shit over. I really like that alls it took was "Do you want to load your info from the previous game to this file?" then, "All of this will be moved. Ok?" And THATS IT.
- New CHARACTERS! Of course if you aren't a Final Fantasy nerd and played them all, some will be unfamiliar.
CONS
- Something that really bothered me is how you have to play through with the characters it chooses for you, as opposed to the first where you can choose who to play as, then play through their story.
- Kain's armor is purple?!
- Seriously, in the DS remake, it was green. GREEN WAS GOOD.
- Purple... REALLY
-Disliked how they emphasized tutorial on REALLY basic stuff, like to dash, do this, or to fight do this. But when it came to the newer features it doesn't explain until fairly later. If you're importing my data from the first, it's likely to assume I know the basics of the first.
-It's kind of a double edged sword, but I didn't like how you have to move freely about in the world, then go into gates, where it takes you to the board you fight on. I do, but I don't. lol
I can't think of anything else off the top of my head, but hopefully this will provide me enough enjoyment until I get my 3DS. Anyway if you're reading this, welcome to the page, keep an eye out, as me and my partner will probably review just not games, but other shit, like me upgrading the jailbreak on my phone, or me running Mac OS X and Windows 7 on my iMac.
Alright peeps, stay cool.
M
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