Lost Planet + Xbox 360 = Big Mess

So if you've been keeping up with the blog, you'll see that I've been having some problems playing Lost Planet. I've progressed forward without too much problem, just frustration. I can see myself throwing a controller or two in the future. But to make things worse, my Xbox 360 can't decide whether it wants to read discs or freeze up and just stare back at me. It further complicating my Lost Planet experience because I see a corrupt memory save in the future that would result in my starting the game over again. This is really turning out to be an adventure into uncharted territory. Well I guess it's not so bad, I could be playing BioShock. **^____^**

One out of three, how lame...

Hey guys, just a random thought. I have picked up three games this month (Bioshock, Blue Dragon, and Lair) and it seems that only one of them is going to be worth every penny that I paid for it. Of course, I am speaking about Bioshock which already has my vote for Game of the Year (So Far). I have yet to truly begin playing Blue Dragon or Lair but everywhere I turn, I read nothing but negative things about them. I want to give them both a fair chance to impress me so I intend to play both of these titles and give my unbiased opinion. They have both been hyped for a long time but I am afraid that they will both turn out to be mediocre at best. I do think I will enjoy them both but not to the same degree that I am enjoying Bioshock, that's for sure. So here goes nothing, I will play them both and write my full review for each. I must play these games for the good of everone. Ill be back tomorrow with another post. Peace!

A few thoughts

1. Level 5 is working on a Soccer RPG for the DS. From what I saw in the screenshots looks pretty awesome. If I pick this up does it count as me playing a sports game? Head over to Gamebrink for more info.

2. I want to play Warhawk badly. This Halo game everyone is talking about better be good.

3. I heard Heavenly Sword is actually more like a 4-6 hour game. Ouch. Sorry Nick.

4. Okami is rumored to be headed to the Wii. This would be a port I could really get excited about. So many people overlooked this game but it would do great on the Wii. I just hope they restrict control craziness to just the calligraphy. Speaking of with, I'm stuck on the Calligraphy stage of Rhythm Tengoku.

5. Behold.... Bob. I actually think this is kind of hilarious. I think he will fit nicely in a fighting game populated with fighting bears, kangaroos, giant robots, and devils. America represent!!

6. Found some more FFIV DS screen posted over at GAF. Truly excited about this game. But I can't wait to see what Locke, Sabin, and the rest of the gang when they finally remake VI.

7. Advance Wars 4 for the DS was semi re-confirmed on some European Nintendo release list. Forgot where I saw this but I'm ecstatic as expected. Let's see if they can make the graphics look at least as good as the GBA original this time around.

Weekly Top 5 - Brad's Top Franchises

In order and with no surprises:

5. Metal Gear Solid – Ever since I played the very first demo of the very first MGS game, I knew something great had been created. With every new game Hideo Kojima has managed to blend revolutionary new gameplay mechanics with characters and story so off the wall that the now long-running series always seems fresh and exciting. Perhaps the highlight of the series is its amazing boss encounters. You can expect to see a Top 5 Boss Fights in the future but don't be surprised if most, if not all, come from this series.

4. Tekken - Ah, the only fighting game I care about, and the only fighting game I'll ever need. In my peak playing years I've burned through hundreds of dollars playing Tekken Tag Tournament in the arcade. Not because I was bad, but because I was playing some of the best in the country. I got good the hard and painful way but it paid off. This series is what I believe to be the perfect blend of accessibility and depth. Easy to pick up, hard to master, and very well respected in the competitive arena. The series just does a very good job up capturing numerous and some very crazy fighting styles. Beware of my Julia.

3. The Legend of Zelda – If someone polled the gaming population, you might find that LoZ is the most beloved games series of all time. With the exception of the controversial The Legend of Zelda: The Adventures of Link way back on the NES this very long running series of about a dozen games has never had a game that wasn't outstanding. From system to system, console to hand-held, and 2d to 3d, the games are aways great and I always have a great time. Also the main reason I put up with David's Nintendo fanboy crap. A Link to the Past is still be best Zelda game ever released and Ocarina of Time is still very overrated.

2. Castlevania (2d) - Pound for pound I almost rate this my top favorite series of all time. I got into the series with Castlevania: Symphony of the Night back on the Playstation and have since played every Castlevania release. Every single game released since Koji Igarashi took the reigns has been pretty great. The only real weak link in the 5 Castlevania games released since SotN was one underwhelming GBA title Castlevania: Harmony of Dissonance.

1. Final Fantasy - No surprises here. With a whopping 4 games (almost 5) from this series in my top 20 games of all time (Final Fantasy 10, 7, 6, and Tactics), this series has to be in my number 1 spot. The series has had its ups and downs over the years (I cringe when I think about Final Fantasy 10-2) but Final Fantasy is a force to be reckoned with. Even people who don't play RPGs recognize the name. This is the series that got me into RPGs and made me the hardcore geek I am today.

There you have it. The truly amazing thing here is that 4 out of 5 of these franchises are getting a new installments this fall with the other next year. Truly a great time to be a video game player.

I Fear Not The Red Rings

I've come to accept the truth. All things must die. I'd like to think that things will last forever and that I'll eternally be happy, but I know it's not possible. One day my body will give out and I will not longer be able to do the things I want to do. I won't be able to listen to music, watch DVDs or download on the internet. I won't even be able to play video games. While I haven't played many Xbox 360 games, I have enjoyed my time with the ones I've experienced. I played through the launch title Kameo. I dabbled with Ridge Racer 6 and Perfect Dark and enjoyed long sessions of Geometry Wars. I even found myself playing the two Dead or Alive titles at one time. The online experiences were fun and I'll never forget my time spent playing Rainbow Six: Vegas and Gears of War. Although I wasn't able to play the Japanese Imports Idolm@ster and Every Party, I was able to experience Japanese games brought over here in the form of War Tech: Senko no Ronde and Earth Defense Force. Recently I've been going back and revisiting some older titles like Lost Planet and some people came over to play the newer titles BioShock. The future looks good as well. Rock Band will finally let me have a wireless Guitar so I can play it and my copy of Guitar Hero II. Blue Dragon comes out today and Halo 3 and Mass Effect are just around the corner. Looking back on my life, I have no regrets. I've done what I could with what I had. I've enjoyed the my life from the day I was born November 22. Each time I wake up, I expect to see red lights and it's a miracle I've lasted this long. I know it's only a matter of time before it's over, but no one knows when it will be. I'll live my life out to its fullest because I no longer fear the red rings.

08.29.2007
David's Xbox 360

The Frusteratingly Lost Planet

I picked up Lost Planet earlier this year. I had been excited about the title since the launch of the 360. I've always been a big supporter of Capcom and a big fan of Mega Man Creator Keiji Inafune. While Brad never understood my appeal behind the game, I was extremely excited. I finally got around to playing the copy I picked up and I'm beginning to see why it got the scores it did. First off, I love the look and presentation. The size and scale and the look to the worlds is gorgeous. I don't believe that to make a game look more beautiful is to make it more shiny. Lost Planet does a fantastic job of creating a stunning look of a snow covered environment and some of the bosses are stunning to look at. On top of that, the explosions and smoke effects are the best I've ever seen. The game play is fun and fast paced although at times repetitive. The story so far is more disjointed that I would have liked. I expected to see an epic Sci-fi story film that I'd be completely drawn into, but it seems more of hacked up bits and pieces of a incoherent plot. Even with all that, the game is great. Until you start noticing the little things. I always have said little things will make or break a game, and it seems to be the case here.

The boss battle for the third mission was just horrendous. You start off as one little guy against a full sized mech which proceeds to bombard you with rockets, machine gun fire, and laser beams. Thats all fine and dandy if you had the ability to move and dodge the attacks. Your character doesn't move in a way that you can effectively dodge those attacks. To further complicate things the mech has wickedly fast movement and has very little wait time in which to fire off it's rockets. You literally cannot move between when it fires rockets. If you get hit with one, by the time the animation gets you standing again, you have another rocket on top of you again. This is a huge developer error that I feel must not be simply overlooked. The developers were nice enough to place two mechs for you to use in the battle against the mission three boss, but by the time you enter the machine, it starts up, and is ready to fire, you've already lost half of its energy from the bosses attacks. But before that comes a frustrating option. You have the option to remove weapons off of mechs to use while standing, a neat little feature that's made complicated by the fact that the button to remove the weapon is the same as the button to enter it. So before you enter the vehicle you have to make sure you're standing at a point where it doesn't read your button press as trying to remove the weapon.

So here's my detailed description of my encounter with the boss. I'm running for my life to enter this mech for some sort of cover. I reach there by the skin of my teeth and I'm in a rush so I jam on the B button for dear life. And instead of getting inside, my character proceeds to remove the gatling gun off of the mech. When I try to replace the large firearm, I am hit with a rocket in which I lose a almost half of my life. My life slowly recharges as I impatiently wait for the "stand up" animation. When I am finally ready to move again, I am hit by another rocket which sends me back to the ground. Again, I wait for the "stand up" animation, but luckily this time the boss misses me with the rocket attack. I use this opportunity to run to the mech and hop in effectively. I take heavy damage as my mech initializes, all while the boss wails on me with machine gun fire and repeated laser beam attacks. Finally I'm ready to go only to find that my mech is now weapon-less because I removed the gatling gun by accident when I was trying to enter the first time. I take some more damage and then exit the vehicle as it is now about to explode and am now on the run again trying to find cover. Wash, Rinse, and Repeat, that's basically what happened to me for the first three times I fought the Boss on Mission Three. Each time I died a painfully slow and frustrating death. When I did manage to deal damage to the enemy, I would get caught in its rocket combo or be dealt a tremendous amount of damage where my thermal energy could not replenish fast enough. Any fun or satisfaction from the game was completely erased from these frustrating repeated battles. The experience was just so burned into my memory that when I venture out into the Snowy Planet tomorrow, I will be completely focused on the fear of what kind of horror awaits me.

A random thought

This is a double post edited and disguised as a real post. I posted my last message twice after trying to fix the wacky font and couldn't figure out how to delete it.

I will secretly and at a later date edit this with some awesome information.

bleh

Bioshock First Impressions

Aside from the fact that I have to restart the game due to my complete lack of 360 knowledge, I have been having a great time playing Bioshock. Even in my crappy SD TV I was instantly blown away by the looks of the game. I'm not quite sure what it is about the setting that draws me in so much. I do know that the architecture of the world is literally stunning and every time I hear some old-timey music coming from somewhere I get very very excited. Never before have I been so willing to explore an environment in an atmosphere so creepy. A game like silent hill has me reaching for the power button instantly, but in this game the creepy enemies are just getting in the way of the world I'm trying to soak in. I happily place my wrench in the face of many a splicer.

The combat is pretty awesome. I love the variety so far, but this has been discussed many times elsewhere. Therefore I'll only discuss my initial complaints with what I've come across in terms of combat. These are very minor and my only real problem with the game so far. First is that I don't feel like I'm really laying waste to my enemies when I use my guns. They just seem to eat the bullets until they die. I want those splicers to look like they have just been shot in the face when... well... I shoot them in the face. The only other issue I'm having is the "ammo" for the wicked plasmids you get in the game. Every plasmid I've come across so far is a blast to use, but I simply melt through the ammo every time I encounter an enemy. It is evil to give us players so much fun stuff to use but really limit how much we can actually use it. I often stick to using my wrench in order to save up for harder fights. I would have preferred a rechargeable bar for plasmid usage instead of what we have. This is by no means game breaking for me and is indeed a problem that may be rectified as I progress through the game.

Friggen awesome.... and I have to start over. But unlike situations in the past where I lost a save and never retried, I will happily allow myself to get drawn back in.

Podcast #022 & #023

Hey Guys,

Here's the new Podcasts recorded the last two weeks. I've been out of town and then moving so I haven't had internet. Check the archive for the new shows.

[Podcast Archive]

Persona 3 first impressions

Well, I got Persona 3 first. Was surprised to see the very high scores the game got around the board. As of late this has been a rarity for Japanese RPGs so I decided to give the game a shot. The art book and soundtrack didn't hurt the decision. The game is very Japanese. A japanophiles wet dream in fact. It's your typical modern-day-Japan-high-school-dating-sim-emo-shoot-yourself -in-head-at-night-to-kill-demons fare. Kinda of cool at first but the game has a very strange pace to it. You follow a very rigid calendar and you can only do so many things during the day. Go to school, attend class, answer questions, hang out with buddies, join after school clubs, shop at the mall, do some karaoke, mack on some girls, and then at night explore a dungeon and kill demons. Oh and try to squeeze in some extra study time before bed.

This may seem awesome because you have so much to do, but the timing of activities limits what you can accomplish in a day. Like one day I decided to hang out in my room and play an MMO an in-game friend had given me. Much like your typical MMO experience in the real world, my character did nothing else that day. I could have been hanging out with chicks at the mall or something. The funny thing is I did establish a "social link" with another player in the MMO that day. Your character's social links directly effect how well you create the demons you use in combat. So it's kinda cool how your daily life effect your night life job of killing badies.

My only problem so far with this form of pacing is that the game in no way explains how much of your day will be taken up by a certain activity. This is further problematic because your main character (and your allies) will get tired. If you spend all day and night singing karaoke your characters won't be able to explore very far into the dungeon at night, or even at all. This can be frustrating. One cool thing I discovered though is sleeping in class. You can decide to doze off in class at the sacrifice of academics points that day in order to rest up for the night. So that's kind of cool.

I'm not sure how I feel about this game yet. At times the game really frustrates me, but on the other hand it does some things that are so bizarre and different that I kind of want to keep playing. I mean I've never seen an RPG where strategic bathroom breaks can enhance your skill in battle.

Further impressions in the future.

Nicks Random Thoughts

Sorry its been awhile. I have been busy moving and going out of town and such but now that I am settled in, I am free to begin posting again. So here are a few random thoughts from my end of the spectrum:

1.) Been playing Bioshock most of today - - - WOW... I think this game is already on my "Top 10 of All Time"! Simply incredible...

2.) This must be the year of the action adventure because my list of games on reserve has very few RPGS or platformers. I am looking forward the most to games like Lair, Heavenly Sword, Devil May Cry 4, and Prototype.

3.) Im actually a bit pumped for the new Bourne game after seeing the Bourne Ultimatum which completely rocked my socks off. The new title is titled "The Bourne Conspiracy" and will be hitting the 360 and PS3 consoles next year.

4.) Im very scared about Blue Dragon which looks amazing but it getting very mediocre reviews across the board..... Im still buying it but it just has me worried.

5.) To Brad: I understand the skepticism about Heavenly Sword but the one review I have read so far has given it a perfect 10. The only complaint they had was the length. You hit the nail on the head. It can be beaten in about 8 to 10 hours which is actually just right by my standards. I don't have time to spend too much time on a single hack n' slash game like that. However I think it will be good. Ill let you know once I have finished it.

6.) Can Call of Duty 4 really change my perception of war games? It looks amazing so I went ahead and reserved it. There is finally a new Call of Duty that isnt WWII!

7.) I started the Halo 2 storyline so that I can be ready for Halo 3... sorry guys, its boring. I am still gonna finish it and play the third story but the there is just something missing that would usually keep it interesting to me. There are much better action adventures out there.... storywise.... Finding a multiplayer experience is definately a bit harder but it is far from impossible.

Well thats it for my for now. Ill be posting again soon along with my full review Resident Evil 4 Wii edition as well Ico if I can find the time. Later.

Randomer Thoughts

1. Thinking this looks really cool: Weird samurai game for XBLA Title of game creepily applies to David.

2. Note to NIS(Nippon Ichi Software): Not every game you release has to have a ton of new strange and complicated mechanics. Sometimes simple is refreshing. Unless your Dragon Quest VIII. Then you just suck.

3. Still think Heavenly Sword is going to suck. New predictions: too short and too easy.

4. I'm very very very much looking forward to playing Everyday Shooter.

5. Super Ghouls and Ghosts was never a "good hard" kind of difficult. Random spawn in a game that old is ridiculous.

6. This very weird japanese commericial for Jean d'Arc is strange but surprisingly effective at showing how combat works.

7. Koei should be the punchline in more jokes.

8. Guilty Gear 3d.... just no.

9. I'm surprisingly excited about the pokemon trainer in Smash Bros Brawl... I think it was a smart choice. A dedicated Squirtle would have been cooler though.

10. Was hoping David could get his Japan fix from Persona 3. I picked it up. Digging it.

Brad's Top 10 most anticipated for 2007

In no order:

Bioshock - I have absolute faith in the development team to provide an awesome experience. The shear amount of freedom/options to progress in the game has me excited.

Mass Effect - It's Bioware. Can they make a bad game? Sonic may prove this true, but I doubt it will be this game.

Dracula x Chronicles - The best Castlevania we never played and the best Castlevania everyone played(well except Nick and David) in portable enhanced ports. It doesn't get better.

Final Fantasy Tactics: The Lion War - The greatest game of all time ported, enhanced, and re-translated. I guess it does get better.

Zelda Phantom Hourglass - An isometric Zelda with finely tuned DS controls. So many of my favorite franchises are in top form this fall.

Halo 3 - Four player online story co-op is officially confirmed now. I can't wait.

Half Life 2 Orange Box - Possibly the best game value ever? I can't wait to try every part of this pack.

Mario Galaxy - Nick really did say all that needs to be said about this game.

Burnout Paradise - I really do hope this one makes it out this year. The online sounds amazing.

Smash Brothers Brawl - I'm getting light headed here. This might be the greatest 4th quarter in videogames ever.

Also excited about:
Jean de'Arc
Front Mission 1st
Fire Emblem: Goddess of Dawn
Final Fantasy XII: Revenant Wings
Monster Hunter Freedom 2


Keeping an eye on:
Warhawk - I have this horrible feeling it's going to make me regret not owning a PS3.
Little Big Planet - I hope the beta comes out in some form this year.
Ratchet & Clank Future
Call of Duty 4
Assassins Creed - Definately impressed but doubt it will make it out this year.
Stranglehold - Made by the creators of Psi-Ops. They know how to make fun.
Tekken 5:DR online - Has potential to be my perfect game.
Beautiful Katamari - Waiting on a price
Ace Combat 6 - Great series