Some Gamers Reviews

I Wonder It This Is The End.

2012-02-01T15:28:00.000-08:00

So. Some time in 2009 I was bitching about how I don't enjoy video games of the current generation. Well, I am starting to be of the opinion that this is the last Generation I want to be a part of.

Now, Video Games are a big part of my life, so this is a big decision. They have been my main hobby since I was about 5 or 6. But this hasn't been an easy decision for me to make. But why? A few things.

Download Content
I have no problem with DLC if it's expansion packs, like what Bethesda puts out or what Rockstar puts out. That's not a problem. Nor are 'extras', things that would not have been included if the game had been released circa 2004, such as Dynasty Warriors 7's retro maps.

What I do have problems with? Features that would have been in the game if it were released circa 2004. Capcom's costume packs. Bandai Namco/Koei Tecmo's Dynasty Warriors Gundam 3 characters.

It's crap. I'm sorry, but it is. DLC shouldn't be a barrier for those without an appropriate internet connection or one with an excessively small usage amount. DLC should not be anything people would really want when they think of the game. DLC should not be a cheap to make, but expensive to buy, tie in.

It's becoming worse and worse with packing in DLC. Really? That's how you combat piracy?

Online Passes
I won't be experiencing this till next month, but while I see the point, it's nickle and diming. You have to buy the game, new as soon as possible, so you get a code that can be activated to play multiplayer online.

This is to combat used sales. Now, why is this something I don't agree with? You have to pay to get to play online if you buy it later or second hand.

The sad thing is, it's so easy to combat and they won't do it as it involves telling sellers of used games where to get off.

Don't sell to stores who sell preowned games unless they agree to the following: Games cannot be accepted as a trade in until 6 months after release. Lower prices on new games at 10+ months.

That will give the game an adequate amount of time to sell new.

I know Nintendo and Ubisoft? are they the makers of CoD? don't think their games should ever go down, but price is a barrier. That's why some times PreOwned, or in the cases of Oceana and Europe, importing from the UK, is a choice. Some times you wait because you are unsure of the game and don't want to make a big purchase. Not every game is 'Day 1 Buy Now'.

But should I be surprised? Nintendo have always been delusional.

A Sea of Nothing Appealing - Everything I Like Is Dead
Uh, I don't like FPS. I don't care all that much for Western RPGs. I don't care much for Adventure games. I like HacknSlash, JRPG and some platformers. I don't like all sandboxes, but I like a decent amount. I like some action games.

HacknSlash are now derided as button mashy, cheesy crap. Everyone dwells on that. I don't think it's particularly true, bump Dynasty Warriors up to Normal or Hard and you'll rely on Juggling and Combos. Sad thing is, these games are fun. No one seems to have fun with them, can't fathom why. But because of this, peoples interest wain, so does sales and now we are down to subtitled games. This is sad. I haven't been a fan of the series very line, only since I bought Dynasty Warriors Gundam with my PS3, but I don't want to see them go so soon after discovering them. I don't know about other people, but I do not look forward to subtitled games. I believe in these types of games, audible dialog is needed. I don't know if I'll even buy Warriors Orochi without English dialog.

JRPGs are dead on consoles. Again, derided, but this time it's menu based combat and anime looks. But Japan themselves also think things have to change. I don't get why. People who didn't like it the way it was aren't likely going to like it no matter what you do to it.

They have become nothing like what I loved about them. Strategy JRPGs, such as Disgaea and Jeanne D'Arc, have filled their spot. Everything is trying to appeal to the west, at the cost of the people who liked them originally.

As far as Pokemon goes, it's so damn distilled, psudoreligious and needlessly and overly complex, I don't want it anymore.

Action games really depend on the franchise, for me it's Metal Gear Solid and it's finished. Short of remaking Metal Gear and Metal Gear 2 Solid Snake, everything is filler esc spin offs.

Devil May Cry died as of DmC. I refuse to buy another game from Ninja Theory.

As for sandboxes, I don't know. I really loved Bully, Red Dead Redemption and the first two Saints Rows, but 3 wasn't bad, but it wasn't high caliber, I don't like GTA. I found inFAMOUS 2 to be a dull bore that I never finished. First wasn't bad. Is it weird to say I'm happy with just Bully, RDR and the first two Saints Rows?

As for Platformers, I only really liked Sonic a lot, and short of SEGA and Sonic Team putting there hands up and saying fine, we'll keep Old Sonic, I don't think I'd bother with another Sonic game. I did like Generations, don't get me wrong, but the franchise hasn't been the same since Adventure.

I do like Ratchet and Clank, but they seem... finished. I mean, does the world really need a 9th console Ratchet game? No, not really. Neither do it.

Yeah, I've mostly been replaying games these days. Buying is becoming rare and very preplanned.

Consoles Aren't Made Well
RRoD, YLoD, Disc Drive Failures, you know the stories. It wouldn't be that bad if; 1) The PS3/360 wasn't so expensive back when the 360 overheated so easily. 2) The PS3 wasn't a complete pain in the ass. I'm sorry, Sony, you backwards, arrogant asses, the PS3 does have an overheating problem. It's not wear and tear, it's that the machine is badly made. But that's not the problem, it's the following.

The Hard Drive is tied to the Motherboard. If the HDD is put in another machine, it wipes it. Only the PS3, specifically the original one it was bonded with, can read the data on the HDD. Trophies can only be transfered via The Internet and bonded saves can only be transfered when you have two consoles and an Ethernet cable. The PS3 cannot be fixed, only temporarily revived to get things off of it.

3) The Wii's bonded saves can only be retrieved via hacking. There was no account system on the Wii, it will be introduced soon for the 3DS and Wii-U, but it was not around during the Wii's era, which meant that one needed to call Nintendo to retrieve Virtual Console games.

This is coupled with Nintendo's lack of support of the USB wifi dongle. It only works properly with Windows XP, something not supported for how many years now? Yeah. Too little, to late.

That's about it. I'm sick of crap. I don't have much I like and spend a lot on crap I regret. The consoles are a pain. I don't like the direction gaming is going. I probably will get a PS4 later, but post revision and I won't be buying much. I don't see the point in spending big bucks on it anymore. What for? A kick in the pants? No.

-Some Gamer Dude

Good Bye, My Big, Beautiful, Black, Behemoth.

2012-01-27T21:26:00.000-08:00

Yesterday I had a death in the family. One I held dearly, my beloved PlayStation 3. She provided me with somewhere around 800-1000hours worth of enjoyment, plus even more for video files, bluray, PlayTV and PSOne games. A good estimate would be at least 2000 hours for everything, as I used it every day. I bought her early December 2007.

While I was hard on it around mid 08 and bought a 360 due to the lack of games, she roared back and became my main, without a shadow of doubt. But times were tough before late 08, the Wii was cheap and very much in the middle of 'Wiimania', before I realized it really was not for me, being a glorified toy and my general apathy to Nintendo's properties. There wasn't much on the PS3 at the time that appealed to me. Not till 2009ish.

But I had some fantastic times with the PlayStation 3, Sengoku Basara Samurai Heroes, Dynasty Warriors 7, Red Dead Redemption, inFAMOUS and inFAMOUS 2, Enchanted Arms, Dynasty Warriors: Gundam and Dynasty Warriors: Gundam 2, God of War III, Ratchet and Clank Tools of Destruction, Quest for Booty and A Crack in Time, Devil May Cry 4, The Simpsons Game, Sonic and Sega All-Stars Racing, Disgaea 3 Absence of Justice, Metal Gear Solid 4: Guns of the Patriots, Sonic Unleashed and Generations.

My friend had his PS3 Yellow Light of Death a few weeks ago, ironic, really. Same circumstances too, no online connection suitable for the console, so he looses all saves and trophies. What is more ironic and painful is I the same day it happened my copy of Dynasty Warriors 7 Xtreme Legends landed in Australia and in March, I am getting the Cable Internet, which has been pushed up to February.

I ordered a new PlayStation 3 this morning. I always envisioned getting a slim, but different circumstances. I saw creating a PSN account, Data Transfer and the ol' girl being used as a BluRay player/Media Center for my mum. So much for that.

I don't see myself buying many games this year, Warriors Orochi 3, Fallout New Vegas Ultimate Edition and Saints Row 3 are the only ones that come to mind now, so if worst comes to worst and *knocks wood*, Hair Dryer trick doesn't work, at least I have time to play these all again. Was meaning to for a few, but not looking forward too it for the longer ones, 'Warriors' titles and Sengoku Basara specifically. Nor do I really like the idea of going back to *shudder* Final Fantasy XIII.

PlayStation 3, most used console since PlayStation 2, I shall miss you. You were what got me through the day. At least the PS2 is still strong, same PS2 I've had since 2002 I believe.

-Some Gamer Dude, in mourning.

Demand Better Quality - Demand Reclassification

2012-01-26T19:11:00.000-08:00

Games are Toys. I'm sorry, but they are officially, childrens play things. This is the biggest problem of video games today.

Is it because of video game bannings in certain countries? Oh no, nothing that simple. It's something far worse. It's because video game consoles suffer because of being classified a toy, and by extension, the users.

A few months ago, when my PS3 became hot and refused to turn on, I was worried and did some research into YLOD and RROD, as I also have a 360. I eventually got it working again, it was more temperature and dust than anything, but it got me worried.

You see, because of the toy classification, both the PS3 and 360's soldering is lead free, which is inferior to the lead based soldering. The root cause of all the heating problems is that the lead free soldering becomes loose when heated repeatedly, where lead based does not. Lead can not be in toys.

There is a simple solution, and an easy one, just stop the classification of them as toys and make them a media player. Sony and Microsoft, with their, ahem, 'hardcore game line up', already want you to know, this is a player of a medium of media, not a toy. No one is going to open an lick the insides. It's not going to leak out the sides. Computers are perfectly safe and have always used lead soldering.

Today my PS3 finally subsided to YLOD, on a dreary day no less, which got me to this. While the slim versions of both the HD consoles do not have the problems nearly as bad as their original versions, the next generation will surely have these problems again. I don't want this to happen again. It's not a natural death, it's a death because of circumstances.

Video Games and Consoles were originally 'Toys' to get them back on to the market, a crafty move by Nintendo if I ever did see one, but that was 1983, despite what Nintendo may think, in 2012, consoles are not toys. They haven't been since the PS1 exploded into the mainstream in 1994. This hurt Microsoft, make no doubt about it. It hurts the consumer. Change needs to happen, and happen now.

-Some Gamer Dude

Ammendments to Return to the Different Dimension

2012-01-12T17:43:00.000-08:00

I've been playing around a lot with this in Yu-Gi-Oh! Tag Force 5, I've hit problems.

Monsters: 18
2x Caius The Shadow Monarch
2x Golden Homunculus
3x D.D. Scout
2x D.D. Assailant
2x D.D. Warrior Lady
3x D.D. Survivor
2x Gren Maju De Eiza
1x Helios the Primordial Sun
1x Marshmelon

The Monarchs, Thestalos/Mobius, are not at all that useful. They hinder the hand more than one would think. Synchros are not that great, so I am thinking of removing Rose. Gren Maju De Eiza is a bit better than I remembered, so I'll add 2. What they need 6 cards RFG to be 2200, that's not bad. Sure the Golden Homunculus is 3300 at that time, but he is a tribute and can't be just plopped down late game. I also had problems with Armageddon Knight, not because he is bad, but because he kinda doesn't work well. I need to have Macro/Dimensional out, and that's not always going to be the case. Helios is far more useful, simply because he pulls himself out, than one would think. Oh yeah, he's not strong, but it slims the deck. This brings me down to 18 monsters.

Spells: 11
3x Dimensional Fissure
2x Mystical Space Typhoon
1x Dark Hole
1x Reinforcements of the Army
1x D.D. Reincarnation
2x Shrink
1x Soul Release

Traps: 11
3x Macros Cosmos
2x Bottomless Trap Hole
1x Return from the Different Dimension
1x Torrential Tribute
2x D.D. Dynamite
2x Karma Cut

Extra is gone because it's not that useful. Torrential Tribute is in, as it is useful. I think I need Shrink, as monster battles can be a problem, so 2. Soul Release can stuff up certain decks, plus power mine in a jam, so I'm adding that at 1. Swords of Revealing Light isn't that great, so it's going. This will bring it to 22.

Hopefully this works better.

EDIT:

Of course, if I can get Allure of Darkness, Helios is gone.

Return to the Different Dimension

2012-01-09T15:35:00.000-08:00

I am not a member of any Yu-Gi-Oh! boards now, so I thought I'd use my blog instead. Why Return? Because that's what I am doing.

Monsters: 21
2x Caius The Shadow Monarch
2x Golden Homunculus
2x Thestalos The Firestorm Monarch
2x Rose Warrior of Revenge
3x D.D. Scout
2x D.D. Assailant
2x D.D. Warrior Lady
3x D.D. Survivor
2x Armageddon Knight
1x Marshmelon

Spells: 9
3x Dimensional Fissure
2x Mystical Space Typhoon
1x Dark Hole
1x Swords of Revealing Light
1x Reinforcements of the Army
1x D.D. Reincarnation

Traps: 10
3x Macros Cosmos
2x Bottomless Trap Hole
1x Return from the Different Dimension
2x Karma Cut
2x D.D. Dynamite

Extra: 5
1x Stardust Dragon
2x Red Archfiend Dragon
2x Gaia Knight, Force of the Earth

So, yeah, my Meta is mainly Dragunity. Marcos is the best way to beat it I can see. I know the extra deck really isn't that great, I really want Flamvell Uruquizas for it, he's a fun card. I also need to get Allure of Darkness.

I am at a loss to whether DD Survivor is a good idea. He's hard to use, he has to be face up on the field to work, but with the Marshmellon I shouldn't have too much problem. I did want to use Needle Worm, but I bumped DD Dynamite down to 2 and only have 1 Gravekeeper's Retribution, so burning like that is not a main priority, just a backup. Anyway, I'm bound to get around 10, let's say 8, of theirs Banished as it's now called, that's 2400 with one, 4800 with two. Plus I have Marshmelon at 1 and Caius at 2, a potential 3000 more, 7800. So yeah. I also have the Thestalos to burn a bit.

I prefer Golden Homunculus to Gren Maju these days, he's powered up quicker. Gren Maju gets an average of 1200, 4 mons removed from game. Homunculus is powered by every card of mine banished, easy 2700~3300.

Other than that, I think everything is self explanatory. Wish I could fit in more S/T removal. Might mess around with Mobius instead of Thestalos.

The TransFormers Season 2 Part 3

2012-01-08T19:42:00.000-08:00

The last ten episodes of Season 2 and the last preMovie episodes. You know what else they have of note? THEY ARE THE BEST EPISODES OF THE DAMN SERIES. By series, I mean Pre-Movie, Super Robot Life Fight! TransFormers as Japan calls it.

Why? They have interesting plots, for the most part, work on the lore and expand on the universe.

Starting with the Key to Vector Sigma, we introduce the Stunticons, the Aerialbots, and how Transformers gain intelligence, Vector Sigma. Now, I don't have issues with this, as the Dinobots don't really have 'intelligence', more they can function and think, but are dense.

Next we have Aerial Assault, which should have been one of the last episodes, prematurely showing the Combaticons and the Aerialbots have no humility yet, but it's a good episode dealing with the Aerialbots learning to like humans.

In War Dawn, we see the start of the war, how Prime became Prime and the Aerilbots learning to true nature of the Decepticons.

Next is Trans Europe Express, a nice little Tracks, Bumblebee and Silverstreak episode, racing against the Stunticons. Doesn't expand on anything, but it's a fun little episode.

Then Cosmic Rust, an episode about a virus that effects metallic organisms. The Wiki says the writer meant it to be like Aids, but it's more like Leprosy. Parts fall off. Not really important, but it's not bad at all.

Then comes the defacto two parter, Starscream's Brigade and The Revenge of Bruticus, some of the best Starscream episodes in the series. It's an enjoyable plot and Starscream at his best Pre-Death. The second episode also introduces the Protectabots, the Autobot Rescue Team.

The second last episode is Masquerade, where the Autobots capture and cosplay as the Stunticons. It's a fun episode that works the whole Decepticon Cars thing well.

The last episode is an abomination that we shall not talk about. Not even name. It's horrible and the worst of the series, sad that the series ends on this garbage. Well hated for a reason.

Anyway, aside from the last episode, this is a fantastic run. The Stunticons, Aerialbots and Combaticons all work well as new characters, Starscream gets his time to shine, the plots are good and yeah, it's the best the show gets. It actually tops 1985.

Megatron actually works well too, as does Shockwave. Megatron is best when perpetually annoyed by Starscream, this relationship is best displayed in the Bruticus on episodes.

Pitty there wasn't more of this and less of the crap.

So, on to the movie next time.

-Some Gamer Dude

The TransFormers Season 2 Part 2

2012-01-08T19:25:00.001-08:00

So Season 2, part 2. Before I start, I need to make two amendments to what I've said. Skyfire does appear in early Season 2, until Omega Supreme appears. Season 2 Part 2, the 1985 Case Episodes, is 26 episodes in length, not 16.

This part of season 2 is where the series as a whole picks up, characters that have character, are introduced, characters are focused on, far far less Humans and the plots of the day can be genuinely good.

Unfortunately, that doesn't mean it's all gold. That would be absurd.

The highlights of the section are three episodes, two dealing with Tracks and one with Powerglide. I, of course, mean Make Tracks, Auto Bop and The Girl Who Loved Powerglide.

Why do these work? The plots are interesting, the robots chosen are some of the more likable of the 85 cast and they are fun. Nothing really more than that is needed, I'm not asking much from the series, just be good for what it is, and these three are.

Actually, AutoBop is rather interesting for another reason,it's very similar to the GI Joe Episode Cold Slither, in which the generic rock music for both series originates. Both deal with audial hypnosis.

Child's Play is also much like the GI Joe episode The Gamesmaster.

Other good episodes are The Master Builder, Auto Beserk, Microbots, Megatron's Master Plan, Quest for Survival, The God Gambit, The Secret of Omega Supreme, Triple Takeover, Prime Target & The Search for Alpha Trion.

I did want to say Dinobot Island and Desertion of the Dinobots, but to be honest, I grew tired of the Dinobots.

But there is a golden stinker here, A Decepticon Raider in King Arthur's Court. I don't have to explain why it's bad. The name says it.

Everything else I didn't say falls under the Season 1 and 1984 Season 2 problems, boring and don't care.

I will single out Hoist goes to Hollywood though, it's not boring or bad or anything, just silly. It's fun, but I wouldn't try to rewatch it if it was on TV.

I don't have much to say about these episodes, for the most part, as I said, 85 was a good year. Prime becomes interesting and actually can hold up an episode with Prime Target.

Tracks is probably my favorite character though, he's just likable with a great design. He's likable on every level to me.

But I will say the Cone Heads, the 3 new seekers, are bores, personality voided bores. There's nothing to like, they are certainly not Skywarp, Starscream and Thundercracker.

I was happy to see Prowl get more to do. Powerglide is another fun character, even if he is a bit of an ass.

I did want to see more of Inferno and Red Alert though, those two were good for what we saw. AstroTrain too.

Omega Supreme is a weird one, he's not a character, really, or what I'd call likable, but he has something that makes him appealing.

While far, far too long, I enjoyed this set of episodes, best so far. But it does have the problem of a lot of the older characters are still faces and alt modes, not characters, but there was more uses of Jazz, Bumblebee, Ironhide and Ratchet, the worthwhile Season 1 characters that got screen time. Again, Prowl and the Twins needed more focus.

But G1 only gets better.

-Some Gamer Dude

The TransFormers Season 2 Part 1

2012-01-04T16:30:00.000-08:00

So, Season 2, the crapfest. Season Two can be broken down, loosely, into three sections, 13 1984 Episodes, 16 1985 Episodes and 10 1986 Combiner Episodes, here I talk about the 13 1984 Episodes. Autobot Spike through to The Insecticon Syndrome.

The major problem with Season Two is that most of the first 13 episodes are garbage. 'Autobot Spike', 'Atlantis, Arise!' and 'A Prime Problem' come to mind or are just unimpressive, like Season 1's not-Dinobot/Jetfire/Insecticon/Constructicon episodes. But again, I have said I care little for 1984's cast, or to be more exact, how they are used.

A few eps I did enjoy, Day of The Machines was pretty good. Nothing really wrong with it and it played up the Espionage aspect of the Transformers, which I like. The Megatron getting a human computer to do his doing thing was also pretty interesting.

Enter The Nightbird is a fan favorite, rightly so too, it's also, pretty good. Nothing in particular, it just works well in general.

I didn't mind The Core, AKOM's ugly animation aside. Yeah, it's pretty bad and it's easily noticeable. First Space Bridge related ep I liked.

Changing Gears wasn't totally bad, but I just don't care about Gears. Actually, quite a few episodes are like that here, I don't care about the characters, so even if the episode works well enough, The Traitor and The Autobot Run come to mind, they don't do much for me.

Attack of the Autobots is pretty notable as it keeps getting remade through this(Hate Plague), Beast Wars(Gorilla Warfare, Dark Designs), Beast Machines(Hate Plague again). It's probably in other series too.

I really enjoyed The Insecticon Syndrome, mostly because the Insecticons are of the few that get actual characters. I just like the Insecticons, the episodes they have featured in have made them an enjoyable group.

But I really want to talk about one thing here, and it's the problem with the first 29 episodes, a third of the series, it's unfocused.

Because they had a glut of toys to advertise, they didn't seem to be able to pick and choose until the 85 cast got the main lime light. No one really gets character, everyone is everywhere for the sake of it and nothing really works.

This changes and the show becomes more like how GI Joe works with Dinobot Island Part 1, smaller groups are focused on, specifics seem to be enjoyed by the writers, characters get more character and the show just becomes much stronger for the most part. It's everything one could want from the series. It works.

Yeah, there are a few episodes from the first 29 I do like, but much more when 85 hits.

It's a lot like Beast Wars in this regard, the first year is full of dull or just plain crappy episodes, there are some good ones, but even the plot ones can be a bore.

Anyway, I'm going to enjoy 1985 now

-Some Gamer Dude

Beast Machines TransFormers

2012-01-02T06:19:00.001-08:00

So, one of the most controversial series in the franchise, it also happens to be my favourite series. Yeah, feel free to revoke my TransFormers Fandom card, I assumed it was taken when I thought Animated was largely terrible the second time through.

I am not afraid to discuss the three large Ironhides in the room though, Technorganic Cybertron, character changes and the look of the Maximals.

Technorganic Cybertron is a big no-no in a lot of people’s books, and out of context, I agree. In context, I don’t. Let’s get one thing straight, unlike Beast Wars that uses both the comics and cartoon of G1, hence Primus and what not, Beast Machines only uses the cartoon. This is the major problem between Beast Wars and Machines right here, they have different writers and clearly Marty Isenberg and Bob Skir are more or were only familiar with the cartoon. Nothing from the comics are mentioned, yet we get the big floating head of Unicron, the Plasma Energy Chamber, the Hate Plague and the Key to Vector Sigma, all from the G1 cartoon.

Now, I haven’t watched G1 in a very long time, I plan to after Beast Machines, but to my recollection, G1 says that the Quintessons used Cybertron as a factory to make the robots, that doesn’t say it what it originally was, or whether the Quints made it from a pre-existing planet or not. Beast Machines fits perfectly well with that. I know people don’t like to hear it, but considering the broad strokes used by Beast Wars in regards to G1, Beast Machines only using the cartoon and finding loop holes it can use itself is fine. Remember the Multiverse Singularity hadn’t come into effect yet, so Primus even existing as Cybertron in Beast Machines is a retcon, and the show does not promote it at all.

The character changes, I think the biggest changes are Megatron, Rhinox and Silverbolt.

Megatron, I can’t bring up an argument. It works, but only the ‘Til All is One, Me’ makes any sense, he’s been surrounded by usurping morons and is a total control freak. I guess he really got caught up on not being able to get out of his Beast Mode? I don’t see there being any reason for it, we haven’t seen Beast prejudice before, he never seemed bothered by the Beast mode. Maybe the Beast Wars are a bad memory and he wants to sever any link to them. Who knows? It works for plot reasons though, and I’m willing to buy it. It’s not insanely stupid. Anyway, we don’t know how long he was on Cybertron before the Maximals got there.

As for Rhinox, I don’t know if anyone noticed this, but he was rather abrasive during BWs3 and barely used. He even said it himself, he saw the fight from both sides, I’m willing to accept that. Same goes for the argument going for Silverbolt becoming a bloodknight Samurai from a Knight in Shining Armor. A reverse of Cecil from Final Fantasy IV oddly enough. The explanation is good enough. He does stay true to his word and return to form by the end anyway.

I believe Cheetor’s is organic, and considering she doesn’t have a Predacon Shell Program anymore, as is Blackarachnia. I never noticed what people meant about Rattrap becoming a coward. Does anyone care to explain this? He always seemed the same to me, the only difference being the poor guy has no weapons and has been regulated to Techie.

Optimus is likely the most controversial, I see why too, and Megs does have a point later on when he, in not so many words, calls Optimus a close minded bigot, Optimus even laments on it at the end of the episode in question. Back to Optimus though, I think his whole are is somewhat like Jeanne D’Arc(Joan of Arc). What happened to Cybertron is horrific, he receives visions from Vector Sigma and becomes a religious extremist, ultimately ending in his demise. Sounds eerily like Jeanne. In the context of the whole religious experience, which we know wasn’t a delusion of a messed up girl but actual fact, I think the progression, while somewhat jarring, eases into the scenario quite nicely, albeit it makes him somewhat less likable. He can be annoying, but works well enough for the plot and gives Cheetor a nice chance to be the leader.

While still on characters, yes, Nightscream is a whiney brat and Botanica isn’t exactly likable at all. Actually, she’s rather detestable, like Lifeline in GI Joe. Do either of them realise the franchises they are in?

I quite like the Vehicons, all 5 of them. They all work quite well in their roles, but Jetstorm steals the show. He is a delight and I have to say, I was sad that Silverbolt even came back, he’s just such an enjoyable character. I am quite perplexed to as why he has never been used again. He’s a fantastic character that deserves to be used again, more so than even the Seekers, or Starscream.

Obsidian and Strika are also stand outs what are very interesting characters.

All 5 have great personalities for what they do, and work exceptionally well, I don’t think the show would work as well without them.

Now, the character designs. This may come as a surprise, but I don’t mind most of them. I have had 10 years to let them grow on me though.

I like the Vehicons, most do, but Rattrap, Cheetor and Blackarachnia either don’t bother me or I like them.

Optimus, well, the beast mode is great. He actually looks like a Gorilla again, his Transmetal modes looked like chimps. His Robot mode… damn is that ugly. I mean, really ugly. It doesn’t even look like an Optimus. Both Transmetal toys had issues, but this takes the cake.

Nightscream and Silverbolt are just ghastly in both forms. I can’t say much more on it. They are fuck ugly.

Megs is irrelevant and Savage/Noble aka Beast Changer is hideous too.

Botanica is, oh who gives a fuck about that cow?

I do not like tansformations for the technorganics in this, it’s not transformation, it’s a replacement. They have light go over them as they change, that’s not transforming. It’s not even Power Rangers morphing. It’s just stupid. It looks and is very weird for a line called TRANSFORMERS.

I also do not like the ‘Spark Super Powers’ at the end. Sparks do some weird shit in this series, but the goofy poses, faces and ninja abilities just bug me. It’s so cheesy, it doesn’t work and it’s basically filler. It serves no real purpose.

However, I enjoy the plot, the writing style, characters for the most part. I like that the point is ‘extremes are dangerous’, something Ted Turner should learn.

I find it a very enjoyable watch, didn’t when I first saw it, but ever since I got the DVDs I fell in love and am very happy to say I am of the opinion Transformers has never been as good and hasn’t been since. Yeah, I have issues with Animated. There are no real fillers in Beast Machines, no episodes I am screaming for it to end. Can’t say that for any other series. I love the Beast VS Machine concept and that everything is Cybertronian.

On that though, I hated Cybertronians being refered to as ‘TransFormers’ throughout this series, it’s weird. They have never refered to themselves as TransFormers before to my knowledge, that is the name of the toy line, they are Cybertronian, Autobot, Maximal, Predicon, Decepticon or Vehicon. It grinds my gears.

Anyway, I love Beast Machines. Not going to get too many people saying that. It works for me.

-Some Gamer Dude

The TransFormers Season 1

2012-01-02T05:11:00.000-08:00

So, I'm breaking Generation 1 up by season. For future reference, I am not watching the Japanese G1, as it all is just terrible.

I also have not watched G1 in ages, I mean years, so a lot of this I have forgotten.

Most of the characters don't do much for me, most notably do I hate Rumble and Frenzy. They really, ahem, *puts on sunglasses* Grind My Gears. Yeah, they irritate me. Reflector's existance irritates me for some reason too. I don't care for Hound, Trailbreaker or Wheeljack either. Rest don't bother me much.

Starscream doesn't sound much like Cobra Commander here, is this a problem with the not-Shout versions and their so called 'remaster' or did Chris Collins/Latta just go 'Oh fuck it, I love my CC voice' later on? I hear it when he gets mad, but not regularly. He's subdued a lot.

Thundercracker and Skywarp are underused in general. I mean TC questions Screamer and SW is a sociopath. They are damn fun characters. I want more of these guys.

I never realised Ratchet was basically McCoy, I like him now that I know he's Bones as a TransFormer, so to hell with the Animated and Bay ones, I want this back.

Skyfire/THE ULTIMATE AUTOBOT JET: JETFIRE, sorry, I love the old ad, I say it a lot when I mess around with a Jetfire toy that is cool, like classics, or R-Blade, the Jetfire fanboy who I use as a Jetfire. Anyway, I like this guy, he's pretty much Spirit from GI Joe, funny that it's the same VA with the same voice, except his speciallity is different, and he becomes a troop transport. But personality wise, he's similar enough. I like him, and it's sad circumstances made him only appear in season 1.

I wanted to see more of Prowl, Sideswipe and Sunstreaker. All of them voiced by Michael Bell/Duke, all get barely any lines. Pitty, they seemed interesting, Twin Lambo's and a police car.

Out of the more popular characters, I did like Optimus more than I remembered, the guy is no Flint, Slaughter or Beachhead, but he's not as 'just there' as I remembered. His fatherlyness isn't as effective in the character's position though. He's not commanding enough. I mean, he IS a very weak leader in comparason to any of GIJoe's higher characters or even Optimus Primal, remember Primal was a scientist. I'd find it easier to believe Prime was a scientist and Primal the soldier.

Grimlock and the Dinobot's first ep is garbage, but they come into their own later on in War of the Dinobots. But it amazes me Swoop is so beloved when he's not an original memember and Sludge(That's the Bronto, right?) is ignored. Poor Snarl, everyone forgets him. Grimlock is a real breakout character and pretty cool, I see why he is liked so much.

Jazz is cooler than the other side of the pillow though. He's a got character and is pretty likable.

Megatron, well, he doesn't have much of a character. He's just your generic 'Grrr, I'm the villain so I'm better than you! GRR GRR!'.

Starscream has a character, and I see why the writers used him so much, but he's just too quick to jump to leadership and I found it painful that I can't slap him upside the head and yell 'Dude, check if he's dead first. Don't put your neck out like that!' He's an idiot.

Soundwave, well, Soundwave is barely used.

I know people complane about Chip, and the kid is annoying, but Sparkplug and Spike are just as bad.The self hating humans of the fandom are completely justified. They are all very annoying and unneeded for the most part. I will never understand why the stories cannot be made from the robot's perspective. It borders on insulting that I am told I must relate through a stinking ape. I have and love GI Joe for my stinking Alabaman Ape action.

More than Meets the Eye is a terrible opener though. It is very 'commericially', as bad as 'Beast Wars'. I mean, the stories are barely connected, they all show their abilities, which I really dislike but more on that later, they line them up, name them and transform them.The only thing missing is 'IN STORES 1984/85!'. It's boring, annoying and tedious.

I noticed in War of the Dinobots, Starscream refers to the Autobots as slaves, that fits in nicely with 5 Faces of Darkness. I kind of wish this was hit on more as the show is very senseless without it. Why are there two factions? Is it racism? Nothing really makes sense and relys on the viewer not asking questions untl FFoD. Just putting this out there, I much rather the Quints to Primus. I mean, I really hate the concept of Primus and machines happening normally as organisms.

I found all 5 episodes about the Space Bridge and Arkeville a bit boring, fun plot and I like how they went back to a plot point and it is a big plot point, but I find it boring. It's probably Spike. I don't like or care about him.

Actually, to be perfectly honest, the only episodes I liked were the Dinobot ones, the Skyfire ones and the last two, A Plague of Insecticons and Heavy Metal War.

G1 is a lot more plot based in S1 than I remember, far sight so, but that doesn't make it good. It's not excessively bad or anything, but just boring for the most part, and the sad thing is the boring episodes are plot, and if I remember correctly, the Space Bridge gets used a lot.

What makes me sad is that S2 has a whole heap of crap, is very long, it's 49 episodes long for christ's sake.

-Some Gamer Dude

*EDIT*
I totally forgot about the powers thing. About that, it's stupid. Really, invisibility, holograms? Early installment weirdness to buggery, it's stupid. Probably why I hate Hound, it's used too frequently.

I also hate that the Decepticons can all fly. It makes no sense. Jets can fly, fine, but a gun? A tape recorder? Why can't all the Autobots fly? It's weird and I am glad it, for the most part, has gone away.

My Top 10 Games: Day 01

2011-12-29T14:32:00.000-08:00

So, the last day. No1. If you didn't guess this one, you were blind. There is one franchise missing. One game I've played countless times. One game I really never get bored of. The game that got me in to JRPGs.

POCKET MONSTERS/POKEMON

Yep, the original. Red, Green, Blue. I love these games, loved them when they came out, love them now.

I love how the world is treated, in an entirely scientific way. I love the old timey music of the original Game Boy, I love the 'horrible graphics'. I know this is a hard thing for some people to swallow, but I preferred it when the monsters were just that, monsters. They looked very animalistic or just darker. The black and white pallet helps a lot.

The game may not be perfect, far from, it's coding is a mess. All it's problems are well known. It's got a lot, but that doesn't take away from the feel of the game, the appeal the game has or how fun it is.

It shouldn't even be fun, barely any text from major characters and barely any plot, but to me, it's better than the ones that do have that. It's just fun going through again, seeing the sights again, being a rookie again, hearing, seeing, feeling. It draws the player in, and does it well. That's what I love about it. As I said, I don't know how many times I've replayed it and most of the games on this list I've only played once or twice.

The original Pokemon games, my favorite games of all time.

-Some Gamer Dude.

Biggest Disappointment of 2011: Pokemon Black & White

2011-12-28T20:23:00.001-08:00

I didn’t care for Black and White. I have stated as much for a long time now. It killed interest in the franchise for me. But why? How could I loose interest in a franchise I have been vested in since what, I was 10? Quite easily actually.

It’s Generic
There is only so much you can do with doing the same game so many times, especially when you are not based on history. It quickly becomes samey and dull. Samey is what I am hitting on here.

Black and White do little to differentiate themselves with Red and Green or Ruby and Sapphire. It was the point of the game to be like RG/B, but it’s too much like them. It feels somewhat more of a clone than clones of Pokemon, Robopon and Telefang, did.

It doesn’t do enough unique to itself, Plasma is Rocket come Magma/Aqua, the set up is the same, the badges(Staple or not, it’s a problem), the end is the same. The monsters follow the same templates as RG and RS.

I need to talk about this sometime, but Gamefreak clearly needs to cut the crap and decide whether Pokemon is a JRPG with multiplayer aspects or a combat based Monster Hunter waiting to happen.

It’s ‘Big Moment’ is Premature
The biggest moment of the game is when you cross Skyarrow Bridge and enter Castelia City. This is never topped. It also happens early, third gym. There is a rather cool FMV near the end, but it’s nothing like the feel of crossing Skyarrow Bridge into Castelia City. The trailers were right to show it. This isn’t the worst problem with the game, and I only noticed it when it was brought up, but it’s there.

The Monsters are Poorly Made
No, this is not a visual thing. Design wise, it’s a good group. However, it’s full of glass cannons and walls. If you’re not familiar with the term, a glass cannon is something that hits hard and can’t take a shot. Likewise, a wall is purely defensive. Most every monster is like this. This makes an offensive monster more relying on speed and weakness than anything else.

This isn’t helped by the way the game is set up. In the older games, while they do regularly have glass cannons and walls, more monsters are sturdy enough to take a hit. A lot of older monsters are just ‘balanced’.

Why this is a problem is that most people are just going to have the same parties by the end. It also doesn’t help that some monster’s typings work so well, Krookodile is a great example, it’s just so useful being Dark/Ground.

More monsters should have been balanced like the starters.

The Exp System is Poorly Implemented
This is the other biggie for me. In BW the Exp system is totally remade. Now Exp is also regulated by level, higher monsters will get less Exp from lower monsters. Two things, VS Seeker has been removed. This means you can’t refight most of the trainers for grinding. Hope you like Audino’s. I mean it. I hope you adore them. They are the only thing worth fighting, as they are the only thing to give experience relative to what a trainer would in DPPt.

I originally compared it to Dragon Quest’s Metal Slime, I feel I was wrong. One doesn’t rely totally on Metal Slime as other things give adequate Exp for Dragon Quest. Nothing gives good Exp like Audino. Audino is a crutch. You find yourself fighting nothing but it, it quickly becomes tedious and boring.

Team Plasma is Irritating
Oh Team Plasma, you were a fantastic idea. So poorly implemented. I don’t mean that it didn’t pay off or anything, but something else. They.Are.Everywhere. The whole game is Plasma Does Something, Gym, Travel, Plasma, Gym, rinse and repeat. They appear far too frequently and become annoying. It ruins them, they loose their impact because of it.

But most of all, it makes the game tedious. The other Gangs appear no where as frequently.

It’s Chatty
Oh lord, Gamefreak, you are making the same game for the what, 5th time, do you really need to expand a plot that worked with minimal dialog on a portable NES?

There is just so much talking in this game. I know others will hold A to get through it, but I like to read so I know the context in which what happens, happens. Most of the text is pointless drivel that could be said by random NPCs too. They are trying to add more plot than needed.

It’s that I fail to care about the characters, plot or world. Chatty games can be good if you empathise, I don’t.

I am Sick of Gods
This is more an overall thing. Pokemon started very science based. Yes, even the birds, they are never giving god like abilities. The way they are treated is more a kin to Cryptozoology. Since then, especially RS and DP, actual gods.

I think this is more to do with the plot’s focus on them. It was kind of cool in RS, but the plot and evil teams revolving around them has become stale. GS I might not be giving enough credit, as Eugine is more like how a Cryptozoologist would act. To my recollection, Ho-Oh never does anything in game that would suggest it was a god, it’s all past tense and hearsay, Lugia and Celebi do though. They are gods through and through.

Now? Yes, all myths are true. It’s a god. It’s a complete tonal change. The Gen5 Legendaries aren’t as Godlike as their 3 and 4 predecessors, but it’s still there.

I have to give credit where credit is due, Deoxys is a nice science based through back. But I want more of it.

No More
I don’t like where Pokemon has gone. I didn’t like where it went with how much of a numbers game it became in Gen3. It’s not a System Seller to me now, I just don’t enjoy it. Oh, I like the mons themselves, but not the games.

I can’t see myself getting hyped over a new title again. I spent a lot of time thinking about exactly what turned me off BW, and I think I’ve hit it.

-Some Gamer Dude

My Top 10 Games: Day 02

2011-12-28T18:34:00.000-08:00

Now we're onto No2, I think it should be obvious what franchises are coming up and someone already guessed this one, so let's jump in.

FINAL FANTASY IV

Ah, Final Fantasy, most people would say VII or X, people with mental deficiency problems would possibly say XIII, I say IV.

It's everything I love about Final Fantasy and JRPGs at large. It has wonderful characters that I have grown very attached to, an engaging plot, an interesting universe to traverse with unique places, a good growth and combat system that makes the characters individuals with unique strengths and weaknesses and a fantastic soundtrack.

I feel moved when I hear Prologue, it sums up everything I love about IV in a 2min piece.

For me, it's everything I'd want from a Final Fantasy. It and V are the ultimate versions of what I and II set out to be.

It's the near the ultimate JRPG for me. It works on many levels, despite being somewhat clichéd. I think what gets me is the themes of the characters, change, devotion, jealousy, strength through tragedy(three times in fact), or the appeal of characters that don't have strong themes, such as Edge, Palom and Porom.

It's a but of everything that makes me love this game, and it's the bar I hold most other JRPGs too. The only thing to come close is Lost Odyssey which is damn near a remake.

Final Fantasy IV, Place 2 in my Top Ten Countdown.

-Some Gamer Dude

My Top 10 Games: Day 03

2011-12-26T20:47:00.000-08:00

So, we're down to the top 3. My top 3 games of all time. Ones I can replay with that odd feeling I don't get much while playing games anymore, joy.

SONIC ADVENTURE

I can hear my integrity as a gamer flying away like a deflating baloon. Want to hear the sadder part? At one point I was going to make this #1. Yeah, think about it.

Sonic Adventure is special to me for a few reasons, firstly, and most importantly, it's the only 3D Sonic game that feels like an extension of the Mega Drive games... because it is. It's plot directly relates to 3&K, expanding on it, and in turn, due to the way the games were told, 1 and 2. It's the last game in the series to be about the Emeralds, from here on it's Genetically Engineered Hedgehogs, Metal Sonic, Gods, Gods, Orbital Amusement Parks and Revenge. It sounds like the Mega Drive games aswell. It looks like them. It feels like them.

It feels 'right'. I love the music, the plot, the levels, the gameplay has dated and is rediculously easy, but damn it, I enjoy it. Even Big. The end isn't as climactic as I remember, but it's awesome. The voice acting isn't that great though.

Again, as I've said before, atmosphere, I love the atmosphere of this game.

As I said in my review of the game, my opinioned lessened when I replayed it, but I loved it still.

Sonic Adventure, Place 3 in my Top Ten Countdown.

-Some Gamer Dude

My Top 10 Games: Day 04

2011-12-22T19:58:00.000-08:00

So, the last one before the top 3. I think, considering what is lacking from my list, my top 3 should be rather obvious as to which franchises. Which entries? Hmm, some people may know. But here is 04, one people may not know.

SHADOW HEARTS

Yep, obscure. Not too much, but fairly so. It's one of those early PS2 games, the ones without much voice acting and only look a bit better than PlayStation games. It also was released a smidgen before Final Fantasy X, so it was greatly overshadowed.

Shadow Hearts is a horror JRPG, taking place in pre WWI Europe and Asia, where abominations are the norm. The main character is a Eurasian man, Japanese X German, named Yuri Hyuga in the English version. He is a Harmonixer, he can fuse with Demons, an ability he inherited from his father. He hears voices in his head that direct him through the game, starting with rescuing the second character, a English Priest's daughter, Alice Elliot, from Roger Bacon, an Alchemist, on a train going across the Trans-Siberian railway. The party eventually expands, going across Asia and Europe.

The game is unique in many ways, the most notable being the tone for the genre. It's a horror game. Horrific designs and descriptions, atmospheric music and areas, items, basically everything about the game is quite creepy. I don't wish to spoil anything, but I can sum it up in this, Alice's final weapon is a bible bound in human flesh.

The next way in which Shadow Hearts is unique is the battle system, it's turn based, but has it's own take on it. The first is Sanity Points, if the battle goes on too long, due to what the characters are fighting, become what is normally called 'Confused', here they loose their sanity. Combat revolves around the Judgement Ring, a timed radar-like ring in which you must press X on a certain area of the ring to make it work. When there are multiple attacks, the segments get smaller. You can also use Keys to gain more attacks, which makes your character's get more ring sweeps, but thinner segments and faster sweeps.

Shadow Hearts is the second of four games. The first is Koudelka, which I have never played and is not a JRPG, the second is Shadow Hearts Covenant, which isn't as good due to a lightening of the tone, and Shadow Hearts From the New World, which is near a normal JRPG set in the real world, albeit an alternate history and it takes place in America with only two small connections to the prior games.

Shadow Hearts is an amazing piece of JRPG history, and one of my favorites. It took me a very long time to find a copy, but I found one. Till then I borrowed it from a friend and have played it through four times between the copies. Yes, me, replaying games and that amount of times. I am deeply saddened the franchise is as close to dead as it can get, with the team behind it disbanding and making their own studio and the publisher not making big games anymore. The team are partly behind Lost Odyssey, another game I love, but it's not the same. It's also quite disheartening that it strayed so much from it's roots.

But never the less, Shadow Hearts, on of my favorite JRPGs of all time, well worth it's Place 4 in my Top 10 Countdown.

-Some Gamer Dude

My Top 10 Games: Day 05

2011-12-22T19:19:00.000-08:00

Down to the last 05 now, but I must admit something. I did not originally have this entry in my Top 10, it got in here because of two reasons, I only had 9 entries in my top 10, by accident I didn't realise I had only put 9 in my list and I do like this game, I just kept putting off a replay until recently. But if you know what genres I like, you should know this would have to be here, it is of course...

CHRONO TRIGGER

Chrono Trigger is commonly called the greatest JRPG, and it's not without reason. It has a beautiful pedigree behind it, the 'Dream Team', a combination of some of the most notable people behind both Dragon Quest and Final Fantasy, back when both series were fantastic games, pre merger.

Chrono Trigger is a story about Time Travel, where Chrono travels to different periods, picking up new friends and restores the time stream. I can't reveal much more without spilling the plot.

Since Chrono Trigger wasn't release in the PAL regions until the DS version, I had only played it on an emulator until recently. In retrospect, I am mighty pissed at Squaresoft for not releasing this in PAL regions on the PlayStation, instead packaging Final Fantasy IV with V and VI with a demo of X, a PlayStation 2 game.

But anyway, It's a very enjoyable game, a topic rarely touched in JRPGs, outside of Final Fantasy's Time Compression shtick in I and VIII. It works well and it's amazing seeing areas in prehistoric, medieval, present(which is kinda medieval) and post apocalyptic. It has something unique for JRPGs, in that enemies are not random encounters, but appear in the area, not dissimilar to Dragon Quest IX more than a decade later.

The plot I don't think is the most memorable, I barely remember anything, but the characters, areas, scenario and music is. It's very pretty, I dare say better looking than any of the other SNES Final Fantasies or Dragon Quests.

Again, I can't say much of the plot, because it's something I think people should experience, it's considered one of the best games of all time, you should. I greatly enjoyed this the first time through, I am rather saddened I can't play it on the TV, but just having it is great. It may not be my favorite, but it's up there.

Chrono Trigger, definitely worth it's Place 5 in my Top 10 Countdown.

-Some Gamer Dude

Saints Row The Third

2011-12-20T07:14:00.001-08:00

So, Saints Row The Third, the third entry in the line of games that made me like crime sandboxes. I can just loose myself in these games, so when I heard this game was considered shorter, I waited to borrow it. Now I have it. Not going for a full review, just a blog piece, spoilers ahoy.

Johnny Gat, oh dear god, Johnny Gat. I believe THQ/Volition wants to cut ties with Saints Row, the original I mean, as I can't think of any other reason for this decision. Of course, I mean, killing the break out character off. This means nearly everyone from the first game is dead or irrelevant now.

Lin died, Troy is irrelevant, as is Dex, Julius dies in 2, Johnny is dead now. Playa/Boss is the last one left, and he is very different from 1, may not even be a man anymore. I wondered if the 360 exclusivity was why, until a big connection to 1 turned up, Monica Hughes, the wife of the 'final boss' of Saints Row and reason for 2, Richard Hughes. So I don't get why Johnny died, he could have simply been left in Stillwater to take care of shit. I've read that the VA didn't want to do it this time around and that's why they killed him, but I'll call bullshit on that as Shaundi got a new VA. Each of the games has killed a Lieutenant to make a Zombie, but Carlos and Lin weren't as prominent as Gat, so I'll call Shock Value.

While we are on characters, Shaundi is kind of, well, unlikable now. The new design looks better, attactiveness wise, but her whole personality did a 180, she's a competent, aggressive gangbanger now, from the whorish, laid back, drug addict we knew and loved. I missed old Shaundi, I don't like this new Shaundi and I didn't really care all that much for her originally. Shaundi also is incredibly pissed at Gat's death, is there something that the player isn't told or is this more of the game's revisionist bullshit? It was never suggested, not is it suggested in the opening that she cared about Gat as much as she says.

Pierce, well, the opening scroll said it all, 'Who gives a fuck about Pierce?' But he is also more competent and less metrosexual. Oh, he's still one of the more cultured ones, but less reliance on it.

But that brings me to something I don't quite get, they got soft from being 'whores' as the game puts it, why are they more competent now? From the opening, one can assume they had no competition between 2 and 3, so where did it come from? They seem out of character.

As for the plot, the structure bothers me. It wants the player to assume it's like the other two, but it ain't. It starts off with Loren, who is made out to be the big bad of the game. Shit happens, Gat dies, Boss and Shaundi land in Steelport. Fine. You can do whatever the fuck you want after you get set up with Shaundi's ex's crib and what not. That's great.

Loren is killed very early in the game, first few ours in fact. It's revealed he had 3 gangs under him, the Morning Star, a prostitution ring led by twin Madaams, Viola and Kiki, a hacker/launder/techie gang led by a British Hacker, Matt Miller and a Luchador gang led by a pro Wrestler, Killbane.

You get three new Lieutenants and it looks like the older ones, pick a gang, fight it, do all three to unlock the Epilogue. Except it isn't and Loren's death should have tipped you off. Now the game was said to have the gang's stories interconnected, but they aren't, they are lineer in one big story.

As for the Lieutenants, I liked Zimos, he's a funny bugger and you get him in one of the more enjoyable ways, rescuing him from a BDSM club. He's a pimp and speaks through an Autotune Enabled, Golden Pimp Cane Microphone, due to smoker's hole in his throat.

He has one, slight problem though, he's barely in the damn game as he is replaced by Viola early on. He's only a little into the second act, then drops off until the final mission's final cutscene.

Viola was likable enough, more or less a toned down 'new Shaundi'. She plays quite the big part in the game and due to the way the end works, I assume 'she dead'. Pitty, I rather liked her. But on the up side, 'New Shaundi' is likely dead too.

Next is Kenzie Kensington, a basement dweller, ex-FBI hacker. She's really not in the game much due to being a dweller, so not much opinion on her. I don't think she fights short of being called as a Homie.

Last of the three gang related Lieutenants is Angel De La Muerte, Killbane's ex tag-team partner who was de-masked in the ring. I really don't give a fuck about Angel. He's voiced by Hulk Hogan, big fucking whoop.

The Saint's have one last Lieutenant, who they pick up as they are killing Phillipe Loren, Oleg Kirrov. He's a Russian man of super human intelligence and strength who is hinted at being ex-KGB. He's kind of like the new Pierce, just there, but is kind of likable, ironically, he hangs out a lot with Pierce. He's is the start of the 'wacky'.

You see, he's been cloned, and each of the gangs have his clones. His clones don't have his intelligence, but they have his strength and durability. They turn up when the gangs have a 5 notoriety rating. They take forever to take down unless you blow them up, so Bazookas or grenade the cars they come on. Not in, on.

This brings me to my next issue, the new weapon system. I hate it. Weapons are now upgradable. They take a shit load of money and only resemble something not a pea shooter when maxed out. Prior to maxing them out, the enemies laugh them off. What is the point of this? Why are enemies so hard to take down in this? I was playing on normal, not so much having a hard time, but I felt weak with dual SMGs with itinerary bullets. Yes, weak with two sub machine guns that make things go in fire. Things took ages to kills. Normal mooks. Only cops died quick.

This also costs a shit load of money. I wish I were joking. I ended up just leaving the game on, buying as much real estate as I could, went somewhere safe, watched something, checked back every half hour to take my money out of the ATM, rinse repeat until I had all the real estate and just checked in every 20mins until I had enough to max out what I had.

Why the limit at the ATM? It's electronic, on the phone. This seems to be done just to give the money some use other than ammo and force the player to do the activities. Oh, but this isn't the only bullshit in this game.

Respect is totally different now. Before it was currency to buy missions, more or less. Now, it's EXP for an unneeded and asinine level system. It gives you access to what the old games gave you as rewards for missions and activities, at a cost. Yes, you have to pay money on top of that, I hope you enjoy not playing the game to rake in the cash.

This wouldn't be that much of a problem, but the less damage, health, regen, homies, higher money, higher respect, money for respect, faster reload and higher ammo threshold are almost mandatory due to the massive amounts of fire power on your ass and the ATM limit. Even with the last ones before No Damage, on normal, you take insane amounts of damage unless you preempt the enemy. It also renders the activities as nothing more than money grind, a slow money grind that becomes pointless after you start getting 5K of income.

The activities are nothing to write home about, the only good two are gone, Fuzz and Sceptic Avenger. The Tank Mayhem isn't bad, but nothing outstanding. I don't get the big deal about Genki or why the big deal is made. Guardian Angel is a fucking pain, as is Tiger Escort. Insurance Fraud seemed easier. They do now take over territory though, adding to income, so there's something in that. But it annoys me that after the city opens up and you can go do them, the opening missions for the new homies gets you to play missions of them. The whole Guardian Angel one got played in the damn missions I believe. Why game, why do this? Why not lock them until they are opened, or just not do this shit.

As I said before, the game isn't grounded like 1 and 2, and while Oleg's clones are a a bit fantastical, as is Oleg himself, STAG takes the cake. STAG is pretty much the cop's update the a paramilitary team. These guys have a flying fortress/aircaft carrier, VOTL, hover bikes, laser weaponry, well, everything you'd expect from a futuristic game, and it just bugs me.

Again, the original game was very much grounded in reality, it was more or less a better controlling, more likable and actually entertaining San Andreas. Now we have a game where you're fighting with laser weapons, using wire frame weapons from a Tron world you have a segment in and Zombies are no longer a joke at the end, but a gang to themselves. What the hell?

2 was said to be 'wacky', but I never understood that sentiment. It was always 'having fun with the gangsta life style' with the wacky kept to the side. It's in the forefront. It's damn plot now.

It's so far from the 'Destroy the gangs to save the City' from the first game, it's hard to believe it's the same franchise. 2 was dominantly about revenge for being used in 1, which was fine. Playa started talking more as Boss, now he was in charge, he was a criminal through and through, but had a point. This? This is just gang squabbles engulfing a city and wackyness ensuing to make the player not realise the Saint's are horrible people.

The Paramilitary are only villains because they take ridiculous extremes and are terrorists themselves. They lay waste to a city to destroy the Saints.

While I may not care much for the game even being connected to the prior two or the way the game is progressed, I must say the plot was good. The villains are all distinct with their own thing, their own goals, also different enough to the gangs of the prior two and work well. The events of the plot move it well and keep the player involved, with the exception of the activities being forced and Zimos dropping off the face of the earth.

The end leaves me with mixed feelings though. I love the set up of it, it feels climactic. It leaves you with a supposedly hard decision, kill Killbane & sacrifice your friends(Viola and Shaundi) and the Mayor(Burt Reynolds who the Boss has a huge crush on), then take on an enraged STAG for the climax, or save your friends and Burt from STAG and let Killbane escape.

I feel the second choice is the one more in character, and suits the music playing over the end, Holding out for a Hero, the first one is more climactic and sets up a 4th game better.

However, Volition/THQ are insanely money hungry this time around, with 40 weeks of DLC, and both ends have movies involved (The final mission is called STAG Film or the is making movie Saints in Space respectively), so I wonder if either one is canon.

Which brings up the sillyness, is the entire game a movie? Who knows. Burt Reynolds seems very cameo-y.

Anyway, the controls are still good, for the most part. The turning in vehicles is ruined, they have a harder time turning, don't seem to screech around corners. Never played SR2 on PS3, but don't like R1 and L1 being for guns, I like the triggers on the 360. I thought it would be the same here, L2 and R2.

I didn't care much for Steelport, found it to be lacking. Just not a very interesting place at all. SR1 wasn't as diverse as 2, but it was better set out than 3 and thus more memorable. I had to always use the GTS as I forgot where things were.

Didn't like the Radio much, nothing really notable like 1 or 2. Holding out for a Hero and Aqua Teen Hunger Force seemed to be the stand outs, should have done the banter like GTA. I kinda wish Jane's talk on events was repeated.

Oh, yes, before I close, I dislike the character building. It's had too much removed clothing and style wise. It's not a big complaint, it's still a decent character builder, but 1 and 2 were far better.

I enjoyed Saints Row The Third, just no where near as much as 1 or even 2. It lacks heart, it's not exactly memorable, The Boss lacks appeal, some things have been changed for the worst, but it's still very enjoyable. It's probably the best new release I've played this year, but I'm waiting for it to go to 30-40 to buy it.

So yeah, dispite me complaining a lot, it still gets a thumbs up, 4/5 compared to the other two's 5/5s.

-Some Gamer Dude

Beast Wars TransFormers

2011-12-17T00:09:00.001-08:00

So, Beast Wars Transformers, I’ve been watching it recently. A friend of mine said that he found it to have been surpassed, so, I thought a rewatch and talk was in order.

BEAST WARS TRANSFORMERS ‘The Organic Era’

Season 1 is very different to the later two seasons, and not in good ways. You can tell that the writers didn’t understand yet what made Transformers work, or to put it another way, they were finding their feet. The show is also barely connected to G1 until Episode 21, Possession(The Starscream Episode). As a result, well, the show is riddled with filler, nearly half of S1 is just, boring.

The show is also, kind of ugly. There is something off about the textures these days, but this goes for the entire show, it gets better, but it hasn’t aged all that well. It’s more the backgrounds later on.

I also have problems with the opening two part episode, ‘Beast Wars’, it’s got some awfully clunky writing, the whole ‘You can call me, Rattrap’, ‘Woah, look at me, I’m a Cheetah, NO, CHEETOR!’ ‘Ease up there, Cheetor, living large is for beings like me, Rhinox.’ Why do they have to rename themselves? Are they codenames? That doesn’t make any sense.

But the opener has clunky writing through and through. It doesn’t stop really until the 8th episode, ‘Double Jeopardy’. At least Blackarachnia’s naming isn’t so freaking awkward. I don’t quite remember how Inferno, Airazor or Tigatron got their names.

Yeah, so I don’t have the greatest opinions of Season 1. If memory serves correctly, I started watching over a month ago, most of the dull episodes can even be skipped.

BEAST WARS TRANSFORMERS ‘Transmetals/Fuzors era’

The second season is probably the strongest of the three, the show becoming stronger for two reasons, the writers understood transformers more, got the characters to work better and the 13 episode seasons made the show far stronger because it was tighter, little to no filler.

The opening three episodes are pretty tense and work well. All three have a toy related and plot related plots, being the result of the surge, emergence of Transmetals and Fuzors and finally bringing Optimus back home. It' works well and makes for some very good episodes. I also like how Quickstrike and Silverbolt get named, but they are better names because they aren’t so beast mode based like the first season.

‘Tangled Web’ only serves to start the SilverboltxBlackarachnia shipping and Dinobot gets the start of his death in ‘Maximal, No More’, which are the only two episodes I’d say are weak in the season.

The rest of the season is strong, and has some of the series more notable episodes, such as the emotional ‘Transmutate’, which still works well, ‘Code of Hero’, the Dinobot Death episode, which I don’t think is that great in retrospect.

I never found myself attached to Dinobot, so his death isn’t that meaningful. It’s the equivalent of a big stolen weapon being destroyed. He’s not really much of a character to give a damn about.

But on a Meta level, and Season 3 related, why did he die again? He was a popular toy and character, he did get a toy next season, not unlike Blackarachnia. Why did he need to die? I think that ‘oh, he wasn’t being sold anymore’ was bullshit, he died for plot reasons. To bring about Transmetal 2 Dinobot and the end. They knew S3 was being made, they knew he was getting a new toy, like they knew S3 was the end. Things get changed, just like Inferno being the new Megatron toy. They are changed early.

We also have ‘Bad Spark’, which brings us Rampage/Protoform X, who is important in the prior two episodes and the end three part episode, ‘The Agenda’, which brought G1 to the foreground. I think tying it to G1 and such was a very smart thing to do, it opened up the series to some genuinely interesting plots, but I think some of the stuff not tied to it is equally as strong, namely revolving around Protoform X/Rampage.

S2 was much stronger, for the most part, it felt better written and constructed.

BEAST WARS TRANSFORMERS ‘Transmetal 2 era’

The final season in Beast Wars, and the third of the Beast era. Um, wow, uh, I like it, but I have issues.

My first and main issue, is that it screams toy commercial. I mean, S1 and 2 were good commericals, you didn’t notice the advertisement, but this is a bad one. It most as well put ‘IN STORES NOW’ every time someone new comes or someone gets an upgrade. The most notable being how downright cool they portray the Transmetal 2s, then have them being normal, and Megatron continuously calling Optimus Primal the toy’s name, Optimal Optimus. The earlier seasons do this too, Transmetal Optimus Primal is a big case of it, but remember, everyone else was exhausted and around the same power levels, nothing like Transmetal 2 Blackarachnia throwing around Rampage, or Transmetal 2 Cheetor ripping the Predacons, all of them, a new one.

There is also a weird tonal change here. S1 and 2, for the most part, were ‘mid hearted’, not light hearted or overly dark, they could be the later when needed, but the last three episodes of S3 have the jovial Quickstrike, Inferno and Waspinator running around being jarring to the dark story. It’s pretty damn weird when Waspinator is the least silly one. The rest break the 4th wall or be ‘cartoony’ at times, but not to the degree that Inferno does in Nemesis.

But there are some great episodes here, most of them really, only Changing of the Guard, Proving Grounds and Go With the Flow aren’t spectacular, but the later two are entertaining enough.

The end is epic, it’s tense, it works G1 to it’s favour and ends Beast Wars in a satisfactory manor.

Depth Charge was a welcome addition, as was finally doing something with Rampage, especially the accumulation of the Protoform X arc in the end. Bringing back Tigatron/Airazor was neat, seeing as the seeds for this was planted in Season 2.

Relating back to what I said about Beast Wars could work on it’s own, for the most part, the Protoform X story does just this. It works by itself. ‘Starscream’s Indestructible Spark’ could have been anyone, face it. Hell, even the end isn’t that connected to G1. Think about it, Megatron could have just as easily constructed a war ship, attacked the protohumans, changing history and the Maximals used that ship to go home. The fact it was the Nemesis was cool, but not necessary for the plot. Everything about the plot is like that, all the G1 splash does is add more tension, which is a good thing, but the plots can just as easily work without being connected to G1’s characters or settings.

I liked the look of the Transmetal 2’s, I think they are quite impressive and blend the technology and organics better than the regular Transmetals. Going backwards, I like a great deal of the designs over the series, except Transmetal Optimus Primal, who has a beast like face, hell, it’s more gorilla like than the gorilla mode, and Optimal Optimus, as that’s just strange looking on every level. Colour scheme, structure, transformation, beast mode, vehicle modes, robot mode. None of it works.

BEAST WARS TRANSFORMERS ‘The Series’.

Beast Wars was some, what, 15 years back now? It’s got some quirks, some quirks that make you sigh. What doesn’t? It’s got some bad episodes, what doesn’t? But it’s still a very good series, it’s a very strong one that works well.

The writing, for the most part, is pretty damn good. The show, after they found their feet(Late S1), is rarely boring. The characters are for the most part are that, characters. You believe them. Even Dinobot who I may not care much for or about.

It doesn’t look the greatest now, but it’s still pretty decent. It sounds great.

So yeah, despite my complaints, I think it holds up very well and deserves it’s praise, more than some other shows, Timmverse pre-JL S2 comes to mind. Yes, I find Batman TAS boring as all get out. Supes, Static, Zeta and Beyond aren’t much better.

I’m onto Beast Machines now, then to G1. I know, out of order. Oh, will I love to talk about Beast Machines.

-Some Gamer Dude

My Top 10 Games: Day 06

2011-12-15T17:04:00.000-08:00

Finishing the first half now, I bet you're wondering what will come up next. Well, today should come as no surprise.

DYNASTY WARRIORS 5/XTREME LEGENDS

This was a hard one on two levels, no, three. Which placing, which franchise and which entry. I enjoy the Warriors games, greatly. They provide me with countless hours of fun with the characters, areas, music, tone, well, everything. It deserves it's placement for that, but there are other things that are higher. But I should explain why I said 5 over everything else.

DW2-4 are reasonably dated. I don't think they are bad, but I think like most fighting or sports games, the newer one is usually the better one. I quite like 2 for what it is, same with 4.

6, 6 has a lot of detractors and I too am one of them. I think it looks too modern for it's setting and the Renbu System is just plain unfriendly. I don't even get why they did it. You already have detractors saying you're franchise is a button mash fest, why exemplify it and make even the fans feel it?

I like 7 quite a bit, it's a return to form and a very good game, but it's tedious in a way. Let me explain. The story mode is the best it's ever been and only one to do the epic of The Romance of the Three Kingdoms, even the actual history in not treating the conventional villain faction as villains, justice, but, and this is a big but, outside of the campaign, it's a DLC soaker.

Harder difficulties don't attract higher stat drops & the whole Conquest Mode is just one long, unrewarding grind with only one truly enjoyable level, the final one where you fight all four factions then Lu Bu, it's name escapes me. I completed it, but would not go back for anything but story mode.

In 5, I enjoy going back for max stats, best weapons and what not. Again, I enjoy the feel of the game too. Not that I didn't enjoy 7, but 5 has a couple of things over it. In 7 the story is done by faction, Shu, Wei, Wu and Jin. It revolves around the the plots of the group. In 5, like 2, 3 and 6, the plot is about whatever character you picked. This can feel tedious if you don't like the character, but it's more to come back to and more to enjoy for a game with such a big cast.

It's strange, really. There is a lot I love about 7, but more I'd go back to 5 for.

Now Samurai Warriors, I like SW a lot, but I don't feel the characters or maps are as interesting. It's just that simple. (Oda Nobunaga). There isn't as much that is as compelling. Sengoku BASARA does the story better, but I care about the Chinese characters more. I think that's the main thing I give DW over SW, I care. Cao Cao, Liu Bei and Sun Quan, all have their own reasons for fighting. Oda Nobunaga, Toyotomi Hideyoshi and Tokugawa Ieyasu have no such distinctions, they are all 'For Control', same goes for lesser characters like Ishida Mitsunari and Date Masamune. None really have much depth.

Dynasty Warriors Gundam is a good game, but it's lacking(1), tedious(2) and a DLC fest(3). I've turned off it because of that, even if I soaked up 150H between 1 and 2. I'm not even bothering with 3 because all I wanted, the OO guys, are DLC, and that's a scam.

As for Warriors Orochi, while I enjoy it too, it's plot isn't the greatest and it may be too big. It's similar to SW in that I prefer DW's plot and characters, but I like the WO maps.

As for it's placement, well, I should go further into what I like about it. I like that you feel part of something. So many action games are 'lonely'. You spend the game solo. Yeah, the NPCs aren't much help, but they feel like companions. I like that a lot. It's different to many other things.

I enjoy the gameplay and what not, it flows well and the combos work, you gain more as you go on and such.

Just everything about this game, the look, maps, music, gameplay, tone, atmosphere everything works together for a great experience.

Dynasty Warriors 5 and it's expansion pack, Xtreme Legends, Place 6 in my Top 10 Countdown.
-Some Gamer Dude

My Top 10 Games: Day 07

2011-12-13T16:54:00.001-08:00

As I said, double feature today. Makes up for all the delays. So, day 7. Just 6 more to go. You may know my tastes, want to take any guesses to what the top 5 are?

METAL GEAR SOLID 2 SONS OF LIBERTY

And I can hear the screaming that I said 2, not 1 or 3, and it’s this far down.

I like Metal Gear Solid 2 for quite a few reasons over 1 and 3, but as like it as a game by itself. I prefer it over 3 as 3 is well, too damn long. It honestly has around 10h of cutscenes alone. That’s longer than a first gen JRPG. 2 is tight, the scenes are more ‘game-like’ in their point, ie they don’t try to be a damn series. I loved 3, liked 4, but the ‘Interactive Movie’ aspect makes them harder to get into. 2 is a lot easier to just get into, if you know what I mean.

Now for why I prefer 2 to 1. I prefer the Big Shell to Shadow Moses, I actually prefer it to the jungles of 3 too. 4 is diverse, so I can’t say I prefer it to that in it’s entirety. I also prefer the story of 2. The whole VR trained soldiers, Metal Gear to fight Metal Gear, and the whole Raiden thing.

Yeah, uh, I like Raiden. MGS2 Raiden.

I am not good at stealth, I keep saying this, maybe someone will take note, but this game, with the tranq and all the hiding places helps novices like me, so I enjoy the gameplay. It’s more fluid than 1 and enjoyable than the jungle to me.

I’m not talking about the plot, as I think everyone needs to experience it first hand as a gamer, not hear of it or watch it.

Back to Raiden, I found, considering the plot, he is quite sympathetic, relatable and likable. Snake is a really more impressive than anything, so the experience is different. But I don’t know if Snake would work in the plot or Raiden in another plot. He seems like a one trick pony kind of guy.

It’s hard to talk about what an enjoyable experience MGS2 is without spoiling it, so I’ll leave it at this:

I rarely replay games. I have never replayed another MGS games. I have played MGS2 SoL three times and want to play it again.

Metal Gear Solid 2 Sons of Liberty, Place 7 in my Top 10 Countdown.

-Some Gamer Dude

My Top 10 Games: Day 08

2011-12-13T16:05:00.001-08:00

So I haven’t done one of these for about 3 days. Feels longer than that, so I’ll try to do a double today. Getting close to the half way point now.

SAINTS ROW 2

Uh, I don't think I have to say anything. It's well known and I can't say anything you aren't thinking and Yahtzee hasn't already said. But I do want to say something about the first one and GTA.

First, I found Stillwater to be layed out a bit better in the first game, the additions in the second one to be a bit tacked on. I also found the final battles for each gang to be more climactic in the original, especially as they were actually kinda hard the first time through. Oh yeah, they were cool in the second, but I think the difficulty in the first made them more rewarding. Shooting down a plane while being shot at, shooting down a car carrier, shooting down a… what was the third gang? I remember the Los Carnales being the plane, the West Side Rollers have the car carrier, the end is the bus… Oh yes, the Vice Kings. I don’t remember their finale. I think it was a raid, but the group had a bait and switch final boss. SR2 never did that. You knew who the bosses were. The characters and plot, while generic, worked a bit better than 2 in being interesting as they are more grounded. Not GTA IV boring grounded, but less of the weirdness 2 has. But 2's activities are better, I loved Fuzz and Sceptic Avenger, 1 has no activities that are enjoyable. It's hard to compare the games for me, I like them for very different reasons because they are set up in very different ways. You wouldn't think it, but member vs boss changes the game, and it's tone, dramatically.

I think I also appreciate the first game more as it's the first sandbox I have ever enjoyed. I overlooked GTA for quite some time. I really did not like the people it attracted for the most part, and it's an awkward mess on a console. I wish I were joking, but I don't get what people saw in it, the current games or RDR. RockStar has this massive hard on for really slow movement that is hard to control. Bad aiming too. GTA is a nightmare on a dualshock or 360 control for me. RDR was better, more interesting than GTA aswell, but I had problems with the combat. And the cougars. You seem to put out far less damage than you take and healing is annoying. Saints Row seems to be more 3PS for it's controls, it helps a lot. Like inFAMOUS, another sandbox that controls far better. Cole can move.

I also hate the cars in GTA, not so much the horse in RDR though. In GTA, the cars don't control well, more like trollies at the supermarket. In Saints Row they are arcade like, but I like that, I feel I have control. That is the key reason why I prefer Saints, control. There is a lot I could like in GTA Vice City and Red Dead Redemption, but I can't control them well because of Rockstar's hard on for realism. It sucks any fun out of it.

To be frank, the only sandbox from Rockstar I really loved was Bully/Canis Canem Edit (Latin: Dog Eat Dog). It was less awkward, but Saints good, but nearly. I really hope Rockstar Vancouver do take on Bully 2 after Max Paine 3. I really want to see it. Maybe North and New England should take control notes.

So yeah, SR2, nothing that I can say, it's fun and controls well. To quote Nobunaga Oda: It's just that simple.

Saints Row 2, Place 8 in my Top 10 Countdown.

-Some Gamer Dude

I Don’t Want to be a Gamer Anymore.

2011-12-13T04:22:00.001-08:00

I don't want to be a gamer anymore. I can't put it more simpler than that. I just don't enjoy it anymore. Anything I loved or greatly enjoyed is a zombie or so mutilated everything I loved about it is gone. Ok, too much of a blanketing statement, there are a couple more franchises that aren't either of those, but they aren't different enough to wow me into buying a system.

Let's look back at this year, no, this generation. What can I honestly say I highly enjoyed that was new?

inFAMOUS - The original, anyway. But it's so much of a one trick pony. The sequel was so much of 'more of the same', I didn't want anymore.

Lost Odyssey - For all intensive purposes, a Final Fantasy IV remake. Let's not kid ourselves, it's only minutely different.

Oneechanbara Wii - Hack and Slash versus Zombies with fetish chicks. In a quite strange turn, and this is very strange, the Wii one is the only literation of this game not to control like ass as far as I know.

Saints Row - GTA San Andreaus with infinitely better controls and physics. Actual likable characters. Sequel was quite good. I am extremely hesitant about buying the third anytime before 2013 because of DLC bullshit.

Fallout 3 - Atmosphere, world. Gameplay isn't bad. Basically TES if TES was interesting, which it isn't. Pretty much the only WRPG I like.

Dynasty Warriors 7/Dynasty Warriors Gundam 2 - I can sink ages into these games, I love the feel of them, the feel of not being alone and being the hero. Many action games are incredibly lonely, being all solo. Not this. These ones are, so far, the diffinitive versions to me of their respective franchises.

The Simpsons Game - The only decent thing to come from the series, bar the movie, since season 10. Says a lot.

Yu-Gi-Oh! 5Ds Tag Force 5 - Definitive YGO game so far. Sank over 100H in that.

Everything else? Well, I liked some things, Gears of War wasn't terrible, neither were the Ubisoft Naruto games. Jeanne D'Arc is a wonderful little game, but I have a hard time putting it here because it's win scenearios can be frustrating. Sengoku BASARA Samurai Heroes was pretty good, as were the Ratchet and Clank games. I quite liked Enchanted Arms, God of War as a series was strong. Devil May Cry 4 wasn't as bad as said in my books. The two No More Heroes weren't bad by any regard. From what I've seen, Castlevania Lords of Shadow looks to be good(I won't know till X-mas), Pokemon Generation 4 wasn't a total waste of time.

Everything else I liked? Majorly remakes and expansions. I wish I were kidding. On the DS, Chrono Trigger, Dragon Quest IV-VI, on the Wii, Klonoa. On the PSP, Castlevania Dracula X Chronicles(SotN), Disgaea, Final Fantasy I, II and IV, Star Ocean I and II, and Warriors Orochi 2. Finally, the 360, Samurai Warriors 2.

But what ended or died? Sonic most as well be dead, Metal Gear ended(It's over, accept it, you're only getting spinoffs, remakes and interquels. 4 was an end.), God of War ended(Same boat as Metal Gear), Shadow Hearts is dead, Final Fantasy is dead as far as I'm concerned and I can't think of other franchises I like at the moment.

What it comes down to is this: Most things new, don't appeal to me. Especially FPS. When I like something new, it's quick to be ruined. Most things I've liked are dead, finished or ruined. I just don't enjoy much of anything anymore.

I have bought a lot this generation, and I mean it. I have around 200 games between the PSP, PS3, Wii, DS and 360, I buy lots on clearance and it's been what, around 6 years, it's not /that/ much. I have nearly 120 PS2 games over 12 years. But with those 200 odd games, I can say I only enjoyed what, around 60 odd, really liked only about 20.

I know, Sturgeon's Law, 90% of everything is shit. But let's look at the PS2 games for a second, 117 last count, around 80 of those games I like, 70 if you don’t include prior games to update series such as fighters, as I would not likely touch the older version unless the newer one isn't that hot.

I will single out Nintendo though, why do I buy their stuff? Especially their consoles? I don't like much on them, 64, Wii, GC, low game count and even lower like count. Their handhelds, even more so with the PSP/Vita around, don't give me much.

So, I think that's it in the grand scheme, if I do continue being a gamer, less games, only SONY products. Yeah, my 360 has been great for some things, but I don't /need/ it.

I guess what also makes it a pain is that we don't really have rental places in Australia any more, and you can't rent handheld games. The fiscal burn and clutter is a problem. You get stuck with expensive crap a lot of the time. To buy at a place you can return, you need to be extorted, aka Buy at EBGames.

Guess it helps on the whole saving front to hate most everything, huh?

-Some Gamer Dude

January Looks to be Expensive.

2011-12-12T01:38:00.001-08:00

Last month I got 9 new GIJoes for my collection, including 2 comicon. I'm nearly done, so in Jan I'll be bringing it down to 1 comic pack wanted.

So what am I getting?

Big Bad Toy Store- Sgt Slaughter's Marauders, Dreadnoks and the two Resolute 7 packs because they are cheap. This will nearly finish the Dreads.

eBay - That Tunnel Rat Storm Shadow two pack I've been putting off for ages because it's expensive, but I really want Tunnel Rat.

Robot Kingdom- Blowtorch, Buzzer, Rocknroll, Arise Serpentor Arise DVD pack and maybe that 20th Snake eyes and Scarlet.

So, that'll bring my collection down to only 1 item needed, Tomax and Xamot. Gonna have to pay the moon for that. But the hunt has been fun, I love my dudes and anyone else I want hasn't been released as a 25th, like MonkeyWrench. NO THAT CHUCK NORRIS FRANKENJOE DOESN'T COUNT!

-Some Gamer Dude.

So, How Am I Going With That Backlog?

2011-12-11T14:59:00.001-08:00

I thought some of you may be interested in my backlog.

FINAL FANTASY IV COMPLETE COLLECTION
I'm up to the second last boss, just have to get Kain back, get Rydia's Sylph, Odin and Bahamut summons and level everyone to 60 for their final spells.

IV is even better than I remember, I love the characters, all distinct and I have developed a bond with them. I love the music, some of the best. The story works and isn't as random as some of the complaint I read, lots of foreshadowing.

Yeah, Final Fantasy IV deserves it's place in my heart. Can't wait for the Luna Trials, Interlude and The After Years. Funny that the Luna Trials make the final boss trivial. Trial and trivial sound similar.

CASTLEVANIA DRACULA X CHRONICLES
I assume you know I mean Symphony of the Night. The second castle is tedious. Once you complete the first castle, it feels like an end. You don't want to explore, just do what you have to and get the hell out of there. I went for Dracula, died, so I still need some more gear, Alucard Shield mainly.

The first half is so good, I honestly saw putting this into my top 10, then this. It isn't so much a deal breaker as it is a position dropper. Maybe Metroidvania isn't for me.

GOLDEN SUN
Nostalgia is a funny old thing. Some things are better as memories, this game is one of them.

Far too talky, characters aren't doing anything for me, the plot isn't doing much for me, I swear I've seen it before.

What surprised me is that the music is really good, something I don't associate with the GameBoy Advance.

The PSP has problems rendering Mode 7, both SNES and GBA, so I'll transfer my save to the laptop and continue from there. Boardering on dropping it though for reasons I already said.

SAMURAI WARRIORS 3
Well, I hate a lot of the character designs, the Gem System is not player friendly, same goes for abilities. Levels aren't as atmospheric as 2.

Actually, everything but the new characters, a couple of designs and Oichi's new weapon(anyone else get a new weapon?), is a disappointment.

Oichi in general got the best treatment. Might drop this for a little while.

OTHERS
Plan to work more on God of War III and Ghost of Sparta, Castlevania PS2, Chrono Trigger and maybe Jeanne D'Arc, but want to finish what I'm playing now. First three are at least halfway through.

-Some Gamer Dude

GST and Import Duty on Online Purchases

2011-12-08T23:44:00.001-08:00

Australian Retail is hell. Unhelpful little twit clerks annoy you, bogans all around, hard to find anything and expensive as all get out.

The kicker? The Australian Retailer Association want to tax the only source of good buys and a great range, The Internet.

Well fuck them. They can go to hell if that’s their attitude.

Let’s look at it;

Online, I get this:
Actual Customer Service
Prices that haven’t had the ‘Not US/UK Tax’ applied.
Delivered to my door.
A great range including items I can’t buy here, such as unreleased games, DVDs, action figures.
The joy of shopping at my leisure with no one to bother me.

Here, I get this:
Annoyed by people who regularly have no idea what they are talking about, or not served by rude clerks. Clerks being generally rude.
The ‘Not UK/US Tax’, ie: distributors and stores being charged more for the same stuff.
Blamed for complaining about the ‘Not UK/US Tax’.
Screaming kids and bogans. Smelly people. Fat people. People in general restricting my viewing of items and making the visit unpleasant.
Have to deal with traffic or public transport, which is regularly more expensive than damn shipping. Australia is a big country and most of the stores that stock well are inner city Sydney.
A restricted range of goods because other people in the same country don’t have the same intrust.

You know, ARS, maybe you should start fucking getting on the companies that makes the goods for a better deal, not abusing your fucking lively hood. I was discussing this issue this morning, I feel the same way now. If this attitude problem is because you can’t keep up or don’t have the balls to get a better price for your consumers or don’t cater to peoples interest, I hope you loose your businesses and become homeless, then die. You don’t deserve my, or anyone else’s money. Let alone welfare. Just leave humanity, hermit, die, whatever. I don’t want you to have money or be around me, or have a voice. I don’t want to acknowledge your existence of have it acknowledged. You are no better than the convicts that came here on boats, slitting other people’s throats because you are failures of human beings.

So fuck you, I am not buying from anyone who has this fucking attitude problem. I support others not too as well. To buggery with the economy.

TL;DR: STOP BLAMING THE CONSUMER ASSHOLES, FIX YOUR SOURCING PROBLEMS.

Urgh, this just makes me so mad. People crying because they fail at business and blame the people potentially giving them money.

-Some Gamer Dude

Sengoku BASARA Samurai Kings

2011-12-05T23:43:00.001-08:00

So, I didn’t want to talk about this originally, but I had to. It does something few anime, well, Japanese media in general, well, and it does it very well. But more on that later.

Well, if you can’t tell by the name, Sengoku BASARA Samurai Kings is based on Capcom’s game, Sengoku BASARA, which takes people/characters of the Sengoku/Warring States period in the late 1500s, and does cool stuff with them.

This set of 13 episodes deals with the first arc, Oda Nobunaga, the Devil King, who has been quite literally demonised, drinking from skulls and what not.

The story centres around Date Masamune and Sanada Yukimura, a Lord and Samurai who are rivals from the eastern part of Japan. Like Nobunaga, they are also real people.

The character designs are nice, actually work better than Koei’s Samurai Warriors for the most part, Takeda Shingen and Date Masamune are stand outs in this regard, and are interesting as characters. I quite liked Sarutobi Sasuke and the two already mentioned, Keiji Maeda was also quite likable. The dub is pretty good with the exception of a few little things where you question the writer’s grasp of Japanese, Hime is a term for a woman of higher class, so ‘Lady No-hime’ is a clear case of Department of Redundancy Department. But the cast works well.

The plot flows well and as said, the characters work, but I want to talk about the end. This was the reason I started this one. It’s end works.

You see, most anime have really terrible ends that take all the momentum and flush it down the toilet with a lack luster end or take too damn long and squander the momentum. This doesn’t.

It keeps the momentum, it runs with it, we get some good action, keeps building up more and ends with a pagoda shattering boom. It’s honestly right up there with Cowboy Bebop for great ends, except it’s a damn sight happier. I really have a hard time naming another Anime series that climaxes that well.

So yeah, if you are interested somewhat in Japanese history(It’s not exactly correct, but you should know that, consult Wikipedia), like action and want to see a pretty good climax, I’d recommend it.

-Some Gamer Dude.

Sonic Generations

2011-12-05T22:05:00.001-08:00

Nearly a month after release, I get around to talking about Sonic Generations. Oh boy, what a… what a disappointment. Not the biggest disappointment of 2011, but down there.

Let’s quickly get what was good out of the way. It’s pretty, classic Sonic plays well, modern versions of old levels and classic versions of new levels are pretty good for the most part, as are expanded versions of short levels. The voice actors, especially Roger Craig Smith, have gotten better, Rouge finally has a good VA. The re-done music is great. It does do a lot right. Now, what does it do wrong? Oh boy.

Modern Sonic Issues:

‘Boostplay’, the gameplay that started with Sonic Unleashed, has become boring. It’s very samey now and only interesting when the level itself is interesting. It is always the same, Boost, Homing, Boost, 2D platform, Homing, Boost. The levels go by so fast you can’t enjoy them. The only way you can enjoy them if the level comes to a screaming halt, the level is too damn long which becomes a problem in itself or you replay them excessively.

There are also problems with a couple of levels, namely Crisis City & Planet Wisp.

Crisis City shoots you into the level, right into a Homing Attack and hole. Guess what? Unless you hold back on the stick to bring the game to a screaming halt, the homing attack doesn’t detect there is an enemy to jump at or you fall. That’s bad design, right there. You can’t even see the damn hole. The battle against Perfect Chaos has similar issues in the whole ‘homing attack timing screw up’ but it’s not nearly as bad. Sad as both Crisis City and Perfect Chaos are quite enjoyable otherwise.

Planet Wisp is a gimmick ridden, boring, tedious, long level. I’d say it’s apt representation of Sonic Colours, as all those words describe it too, but it’s a terrible way to end the game.

I also have a problem in how Modern Sonic treats Classic. He treats him more like a son than a younger self. It’s rather strange. But this isn’t the only writing problem.

Classic Sonic Issues:

Just the no talking thing. It doesn’t make any sense as a whole. Classic Tails talks, Robotnik/Classic Eggman talks, but not Sonic. What the hell? I get it’s because he didn’t talk till Adventure, but by that logic no one from S1-&K should talk.

Overall Issues:

The final battle. The Fucking.Final.Battle. No epic music like the pre-Unleashed games, no acoustic version of the theme. Just bland, unimpressive, unmoving, bland crap.

But the final battle’s battle half is just as bad. It’s not straight forward, the characters that talk don’t help, just annoy, it’s full of clutter and gaining rings is unintuitive. It’s hard to tell what’s going on and what to do.

It’s just so bad on every level. The boss isn’t even visually interesting. The only thing it has going for it is the scene beforehand is pretty darn awesome because of the Eggmen.

Ah, yeah, so, final battle is terrible. But you know what I miss? You know what was really great? Plot. I miss plot. Remember plot?

Many of the games between the Dreamcast and now had plot issues, be they non-existent, largely irrelevant or controversial, but that’s a call to fix the problem, not remove plot. I hate what Colours and Generations represent, an excuse plot. A plot that is there just to vaguely connect the levels and add nothing to Sonic’s world or characters. Sonic 2-Adventure 2 adds to the story, they add to the characters, they add to the world.

Whether you like Sonic’s plot or believe it even exists in 1 & 2 at all, is irrelevant. The plot pushes the game, without it the game is no better than pong, or Tetris. Generations has a plot, but it’s barely connected to the rest of the franchise, oh yeah, it connects to Colours, but Colours connects to nothing itself.

I thought Colours’ simplicity was going to be a one time thing, it’s on the Wii, look how crappy and childish the previous two Wii games were, but this too? I’m not even asking for it to be dark and serious, just a similar tone to Adventure and 3.

Not to remove the plot because people complained, but fix it. Same thing goes for the characters. People complained, so instead of making them work again, and they did work circa Dreamcast, they remove them. How does that fix the problem? It’s hiding it. Sonic’s friends aren’t really annoying, they are just overused and put into stories they aren’t needed in. Look at Sonic 06 for a great example.

It, for all it’s problems, uses characters pretty well. Sonic himself is unneeded, only barely connected to the plot because his name is on the game and is coincidently connected to the plot through Mephiles, Tails and Knuckles along for the ride because they’re his friends. Shadow, Rouge and Omega are here because they are GUN agents and a Royal has been targeted. Shadow also ties to the Silver/Mephelis plot. Silver comes to the past to save the future, Blaze is his partner. No one really unneeded. No one like the Chaotix.

Speaking of the Chaotix, why the hell are they here? They know Sonic? Since when? I mean, I thought they only barely knew Sonic. Big would know Sonic a bit better than the Chaotix. Ray and Mighty would fit more.

I also dislike the padding, the missions. It’s so obvious it’s padding, it’s annoying too. You have to do them, and they suck. They are your standard race, destruction and collection stuff. It’s more annoying because the game has the three Rival Battles, which are enjoyable and serve the same damn purpose. They are some of the highlights of the game.

Closing Comments:

Sonic Generations is a strange game in my opinion. It showed all that is wrong with Sonic. It showed what was right with what Sonic used to be. It shows that Sega, reviewers and the fandom have no idea why Sonic worked. Why, despite dated, even the two Adventure games were well taken.

It’s not even a bad game itself, it’s got some really great parts, Green Hill, Chemical Plant, Speed Highway, City Escape, Spagonia, the three era’s Bosses, the Rival Battles, but it ends on such a bad note, and just leaves the player, especially those who grew up with Sonic, wanting more from it, wanting it to have more of the good parts.

I think what bothers me more than anything is that Classic Sonic is much stronger than Modern, it’s more satisfying and more can be done with it that isn’t tedious. Me having next to no complaints about Classic Sonic says a lot, and I do like Modern. But Sega and Sonic Team won’t recognise that. They’ll just say ‘Herr Durr, kids like Modern Sonic more’, and abandon Classic Sonic again.

-Some Gamer Dude

My Top 10 Games: Day 09

2011-12-05T18:41:00.001-08:00

So, after a few days I finally get back in to form. Back to my Top 10. What lousy Summer weather, cold, raining. Anyway, lots of thought has gone into these, hard to bring your lists down to 10.

DEVIL MAY CRY

Devil May Cry, the start of the 'Spectical Fighter'. Not much of a plot, Half-Demon Dante gets a mission from a woman who looks like his mother, to go to Mallet Island to fight Mundas, a Demon Emperor who fought his father, Sparda. Through this he learns what happened to his Brother Virgil and becomes as strong as his father.

After a lot of soul searching, I decided this game should be this low. Do you remember what I said about atmosphere? Well, this game oozes atmosphere. The castle is dank and creepy, the sound is rather spooky and the game gains much from having little dialog and few cut scenes, it feels like a lonely solo mission.

The combat is usually said as a strong point, and it is rather cool, but it's one of those things people learn and have to get good at, it may be a bit too deep for me, so I think the atmosphere is a stronger point.

It's a fun game, rewarding and memorable too, but it lacks meat. The plot is so basic and such, there isn’t a lot to talk about. I like other games that are like it, such as Castlevania PS2 or Castlevania Lament of Innocence for you Americans, God of War, Bayonetta isn’t bad, but nothing really has the atmosphere. Even the sequels. Castlevania gets really close, but it’s not difficult so it’s not as heart pumping.

Devil May Cry, Place 09 in my Top 10 Countdown,

-Some Gamer Dude

Video Game Backlog, urgh

2011-11-28T23:20:00.001-08:00

Well, it’s that time of year, the time of year when a big influx of games come out. I’m not stupid enough to buy all these games at release or buy them over the Christmas break overseas, however I have a massive backlog, alphabetical order from my catalogues. Here we go.

Nintendo 64(-2)
The Legend of Zelda: Majora's Mask
The Legend of Zelda: Ocarina of Time

These are just replays I’ve been putting off for ages. Undecided whether I’ll pull out my 64 or emulate them. I might pick up the second N64 Castlevania if I can find it cheap.

Nintendo DS(-4)
Chrono Trigger
Dragon Quest V Hand of the Heavenly Bride
Golden Sun Dark Dawn
MegaMan Starforce Dragon

I’ve been meaning to play Chrono Trigger again for ages. I loved it on the emulator before it was released here. I’ve put off finishing DQ5 for ages, same with MegaMan. Golden Sun will be held back until I get around to the replaying the first one and playing the second one. The GS games aren’t as good as I remember.

Nintendo Gameboy Advance(-2)
Golden Sun
Golden Sun The Lost Age

As I said, I want to play all three, the GBA titles will be emulated though.

Nintendo GameCube(-4)
Baten Kaitos: Eternal Wings and the Lost Ocean
Metal Gear Solid: The Twin Snakes
Pokemon Colosseum
Pokemon XD Gale of Darkness

I’m unsure if I'’ll go for BK, I remember it being not that hot and never getting to the end due to boredom, but we’ll see. I’ve been trying to get around to playing MGS, all 4+1 remake for a while, just keep putting it off. As for the two Pokemon GCN games, I remember liking them a lot, so I naturally want to give them another spin.

Nintendo Wii(-4)
Klonoa
Samurai Warriors 3
Welcome to the Violence (Madworld/~~House of the Dead Overkill~~/The Conduit)

Klonoa I put down for some reason and never went back to, but it was good. Want to get back to it. Madworld/The Conduit have been in the pile for quite some time and I recently bought SW3.

Playstation(-4)
Metal Gear Solid
Spyro The Dragon
Spyro 2 Gateway to Glimmer
Spyro Year of the Dragon

Picked up all four this year, and I do want to play them. I did want to replay FFV-IX, but I don’t want to play them now.

Playstation 2(-13)
Castlevania
Castlevania Curse of Darkness
Dynasty Warriors 2
Dynasty Warriors 3
Dynasty Warriors 4
Dynasty Warriors 5/Dynasty Warriors 5XL
Final Fantasy X
Final Fantasy X-2
God of War
Metal Gear Solid 2 Sons of Liberty
Metal Gear Solid 3 Snake Eater
Okami
Shadow Hearts

Picked up the two Castlevania games this year. I’ll probably only actually play the DW games off and on, seeing as it’s mostly the same game, 2 is basic, 5 is my fave of the 4. I have been thinking about X and X-2 a lot recently, so I want to replay them. Never finished God of War myself, so I want to actually play it. I’m not good at these games, played foolishly on Normal. Couldn’t be bothered restarting on Easy. Again, I want to replay MGS, if I put it off too long I might just get the HD collection. Been meaning to finish Okami. I love Shadow Hearts, so I want to replay it.

Playstation 3(-5)
Bayonetta
Castlevania Lords of Shadow
God of War III
inFAMOUS 2
Metal Gear Solid 4: Guns of the Patriots

Just finishing stuff here, and replaying MGS4.

Playstation Portable(-19)
Breath of Fire III
Castlevania Dracula X Chronicles
Daxter
Final Fantasy IV: The Complete Collection
Final Fantasy Tactics War of the Lions
God of War Ghost of Sparta
InviZimals
InviZimals Shadow Zone
Jeanne D'Arc
MediEvil Resurrection
Monster Hunter Freedom Unite
Parappa The Rapper
Pursuit Force Extreme Justice
Secret Agent Clank
Star Ocean: First Departure
Star Ocean: Second Evolution
Tales of Eternia
Tactics Ogre: Let Us Cling Together
Warriors Orochi 2

I bought a pile of PSP games recently and a few things I want to finish. Oddly enough, this is just over half my damn PSP catalogue.

X-Box 360(-4)
Assassins Creed II
Assassins Creed Brotherhood
Bioshock
Fallout 3 GotY Edition

Skipping the first Assassins Creed. Can’t be bothered finishing Quantum of Solace, but I will get around to these.

Lots and lots to play, at least I can’t say I’ll be bored.

-Some Gamer Dude

My Top 10 Games: Day 10

2011-11-28T22:31:00.001-08:00

Well, I’ve been thinking of doing this for a while, doing a listing of my top 10 games. 1 game every few days until I get down to No1. Just two ground rules. 1: No games from a franchise already mentioned. This is to not litter it with Final Fantasy or Sonic The Hedgehog. 2: I have to have replayed it, played something from the same franchise and the franchise hasn’t changed much or have it in current memory. This is so my list isn’t nostalgia ridden. Each entry shall be short and just a brief description and what I like about it. I shall also mention other games from the same franchise or genre with little notes down the end if I had considered them.

THE LEGEND OF ZELDA – MAJORA’S MASK

Most as well start with something that I have only played something from the same franchise as recently, that being Twilight Princess. Luckily, Zelda doesn’t change much.

Now, I understand lots of people love Ocarina of Time, I have my theory on this. It was their first Zelda or first 3D Zelda. Majora was my first and it had the most effect on me. It’s the one that is the most memorable and I have the fondest memories.

In this Zelda, after Ocarina of Time, Child Link journeys to a parallel world, Termina, to remove a Deku mask place on him, rescue his stolen horse Epona and retrieve his Ocarina of Time from Skull Kid. Unknown to him that the moon will crash on Termina within three days, he must use the Ocarina to travel time until he rescues the land.

The game revolves around both the 3 Day mechanic, one in which the player must activate events or complete the dungeons in the set amount of time before going back to the start of the three days.

This, providing you do go for the Fierce Deity’s mask, the umpteen side quests that really get you versed and invested in Termina and her people. The main quest itself isn’t long though, only 4 dungeons, bit hard, and a bulk of the side quests need a guide, but it’s rewarding.

The main draw of the game is the atmosphere, trust me, I’ll be saying this a lot, but it’s got this eerie feel to it, a lot of the plot, music and scenery is rather creepy. There is also the urgency with the 3 day mechanic.

I love things with this atmosphere.

The game plays well, as it is built off Ocarina, one of the few 64 games that holds up well and uses that awkward controller to good effect.

Majora’s Mask is the only game of the N64 library that wasn’t Pokemon I truly enjoyed, more so than even Ocarina. It’s also the only Zelda I remember vividly and I really should get around to replaying it, just got too much of a backlog at the moment.

So, The Legend of Zelda Majora’s Mask, Place 10 in my Top 10 Countdown.

-Some Gamer Dude

The Legend of Zelda: Skyward Scam

2011-11-27T15:09:00.001-08:00

Oh Nintendo, you greedy bastards, you never learn. So, that Wii Motion +, the latest in the long line of Nintendo’s high cost fixes for releasing prototypes. Finally it has a game worth using it for, one worth a damn, and likely the only one, The Legend of Zelda Skyward Sword.

So, you didn’t order that nice collectors edition for another $10-30AUD depending on where you got it? Sold out within days and not getting any more? That’s brilliant says Nintendo, more over priced controls to sell.

Let’s just set something straight, yes, all controls are overpriced, from the $100AUD PS3 Dualshock 3 to the $70AUD? 360 Control to this, but this is special, it’s mandatory. Mandatory for the Wii’s last huge release.

Thing is, the remote is, at cheapest in store, $65AUD. That’s a lot of money, more than a platinum game on PS3. Game? $80AUD, at cheapest. $145AUD. Brand new PS3/360 games are $110AUD top dollar price, EBGames and such.

Prices are going to go back up soon enough, so let’s cut the difference and make it $165AUD. Nintendo is not going to bring it down any time soon either, they don’t do ‘Players Choice’ anymore. Only a few games have hit their Classics or whatever they call it, all hitting some 6 years old.

You know, that gold remote is nice and all, but you know what would have been nicer? A coupon to make the remote, let’s say $35AUD. $35AUD is a fair price for a remote for one game. Charge $80AUD for the game normally. No production on the CD, no production on the special remote, less agitated buyers.

Anyway, thanks Nintendo, thanks. Thanks for forcing me to wait after Christmas(Christmas time post, urgh) to buy both the game and the remote online from the UK so I can buy the game so much cheaper to nullify what equates to a $55AUD(UK is cheaper) peripheral for one game. You’re awesome.

My heart goes out to people who can’t get it cheaper or don’t know.

-Some Gamer Dude

Final Fantasy, a Series in Brief

2011-11-24T21:28:00.001-08:00

Quite some time ago now, I was told by a friend I should give my opinions on every Final Fantasy. Well, after much procrastination, years worth, I've decided to do it. This will be brief so I can cover each game. The MMORPGs, 11 and 14, will not be covered, neither will side games. Just the main series.

FINAL FANTASY I

I is very basic, as one would expect from a game from 87, but it holds up pretty darn well. Not as well as Phantasy Star, from the same year, but it's no where near as irritating as Dragonquest's 'Open a menu to go up stairs' level of irritating.
I think the first thing to understand is that with older games, such as these, one has to have leniency for dated mecahnics or design where it shows promise. But saying that, one also shouldn't accept the balls to the wall hellish difficulty and / or bad design of older games just because they were popular in their day.

The plot is the origins of all the 'crystal' plots, and while again, it's basic, it works well enough to push the player and not become boring. I guess it helps it's only 10H long. It's what will become the standard 'Defeat the 4 Elemental Fiends to light the Crystals, then kill their boss.' Where this game is a tad different to say, III, is that it involves time travel and a stable time loop. This isn't that interesting and it's mostly an 11th hour thing, but it's worth mentioning due to uniqueness at the time. It does have issues where you are not exactly told where to go, or the directions are vague, but I think it was intentional as it's strongly derivitive of Dungeons and Dragons.

The game doesn't have characters, but it has 4 'dolls', for a lack of a better term, you apply Job classes to and use in the 'Role Playing'. In the original game, the Red Wizard was king, but that isn't the most available version now. The jobs in Origins onwards work differently enough, I guess. Solidity in the Knight, Speed and later Power with the Ninja, Master's instant strength that isn't as good later on, the Black Wizard's whole party attacks and buffs, the White Wizard's defences and healing, and lastly the Red Wizard being jack of all trades, master of none. I just can't help but feel that the Master and Red Wizards are a waste of time for the more recent versions, Red Wizards being toned down and Ninja's turned up. I will say that I think, for all it's faults, DragonQuest 1, with only 1 character, role plays a bit better. If FF1 was a MMORPG, or even a lan hub based one, and I just realised I'm defending XI, I'll stop now.

The original game plays well enough, bit hard though. Excessive grinding is the only part that screams dated. Later versions, especially the PSP one, litterally throw money and EXP at the player. I believe the GBA version is much the same. But it's an enjoyable enough game in either form and I rather like it. It's from 87, and it's playable without any major nucencess, it deserves something for that alone. It has it's charm in it's simplicity. I'd say the PSP Origins is the best if you do want the original's difficulty in this day and age, GBA or preferably PSP for any other reason. The PSP one is gorgeous.

FINAL FANTASY II

II is known as the black sheep, or make that was with XIII, mostly for it's odd system at the time, the 'do it to enhance it' thing later used in The Elder Scrolls. I don't have many strong feelings for it, only enough.

The plot, being the base of all the 'empire' style plots, works well enough for the day. It's also a rip off of Star Wars, although I have my reservations about labelling it that because SW isn't exactly original itself.

The experimental system has gotten better with each revision, and in all honesty, only the PSP version nullifies the pain so much that it's barely noticeable. It flows 'organically' on the PSP right to the end. I think that's a good thing because the system, in it's original form, it is the true enemy of the game, it's so blasted irritating with all the grinding it makes the player not want to play it, dooming Fynn and the world to the Emperor.

Oddly enough, even though I am indifferent leaning on dislike to the PS version, never playing the NES or GBA, I actually kind of like the PSP one. Again, it feels fixed, levelling up organically and I can enjoy the damn plot, world, music and characters. It's actually not that bad. The PSP version is the only one I could stomach to the end. I don't recommend the Blood Sword for the PSP version though, makes the end very anticlimactic.

I wouldn't say II is one of the stand out games, but I don't hate it. It's just there. If I had to recommend a version, I'd scream PSP. Maybe even beat you over the head with a PSP to drill the point home.

FINAL FANTASY III

Uh, I don't like III. It tries to be an advanced version of I, it's plot largely is, but because it resembles it so much, the game being very basic in plot as it was a NES title, it doesn't hold interest. Feelings of 'Been there, done that' come to mind. I think when it was released in the west is also a problem, well and truely after the far superior V.

I don't care for the Job System here, the whole idea that you are penalized for changing to something too different irks me. Most of them are nigh on useless or only worth using for one fight. I honestly ended up just making the default FF1 team at one point, or the closest I could to IV's end, switching the second character between Dragoon and Ninja.

I got up to the end, never beat it. I just failed to care. It felt like a chore, and I wasn't enjoying it. I may go for the broken NES version one of these days, see if the unbalanced classes make it less of a chore, like the PSP II compaired to the NES one, but as it stands from the DS version alone, I strongly dislike it. I or V, if they sucked, comes to mind as to how I feel about it.

FINAL FANTASY IV

IV starts the series of three games that hold my heart the most, the SNES era. All first played by me on the PlayStation because of being in a PAL region. I could still kill Squaresoft for not releasing Chrono Trigger here till the DS version and only just on PSN, but never mind. IV is my most beloved of these.

IV's plot isn't spectacular, it's a merger of I and II's at heart, but it's got something more than that. The characters, and their themes, work very well and hold interest. Oh, they are a tad cliche, but they're likable and you can have empathy for them. The plot is interesting and carries the game well. It's a tad cliche itself in parts, but doesn't beat you over the head with it.

The gameplay and progression is interesting, being the only game besides IX with little to no customisation of Job, all the characters have their own play styles, besides those that over lap, and each their own uses. As you go, you loose and gain characters aside from Cecil. They gain skills as they level up, kind of like how Pokemon will operate later. The final battle is interesting, because of where it is, but isn't one of the most dire final battles in the series. I don't think the series had an epic final battle till sixth installment, but this has a lot to do with music more than anything. The final battle music works well, but isn't memorable. The Final Battle is no Dancing Mad, Otherworld or One Winged Angel.

The music, aside from the unmemorable final battle, is fantastic. Battle with the Four Fiends is very well known, as is The Theme of Love, but my favourite track is Prologue. It's amazing. I sincerely believe it to be one of the strongest tracks of the franchise. It sums up everything I love about Final Fantasy IV into a small piece of music and just listening to it now, thinking about IV, get's a me a bit teary eyed. I know that sounds silly, but this story, these characters and this piece had that much of an effect on me.

I think it's the characters that captivated me. I love this party the most from the franchise. The look of the game too, simple, yet elegant.

I really did not care for the DS version. I don't like how they have altered, er, mutilated, the battle system. To make up for the DS not being able to have more than 6 enemies on screen at one time, they made the enemies stronger. It changes more than one would think at first thought. I also don't care for the look of it. I wanted FFIV in 3D with voice actors since I fell in love with the anthology version, this wasn't the game I was looking for. Oddly enough, I do think the cast is mostly good and I adore the opening.

Yeah, I have the PSP version, getting around to it.

FINAL FANTASY V

I want to replay V. From my recollection, it was an advanced version of I, or in retrospect, the good version of III. But like some of the other games on this list, I don't remember it well at all. Oh, I remember bits and pieces of the plot, the main events, enough to get by.

I remember the music quite well, and the Job system being very good. The plot serviced the game and was interesting.

Again, I need to replay it, I played it some 8 years ago I believe. But I remember it being good.

FINAL FANTASY VI

VI's treatment by the fanbase is strange. The japanese don't care for it much at all, likely because the second half is very western in design, the 'go anywhere, you decide' approach, with the end out in the open. The older american fanbase, who played this on the SNES, adore it. The newer fans and PAL fans don't care much for it at all, seeing as they started on VII, VIII or X.
As for me? Well, I'm one of those wierdo's who started on the later games, again, PAL region, but adored it.

Yet, looking back, I don't get why. Aside from the characters, including the villain, and the music, it's not a memorable game. Oh, the massive cast, 14, is mostly memorable. I can remember Terra, Celes, Locke, Gau, Shadow, Setzer, Sabin, Edgar, Relm, Mog, Umaro, Gogo, the old guy I never used but was a blue mage, and... that's it. I forgot one. I'll go look it up. Cyan. The guy who spoke in YeOldEnglish. The old guy's name is Strago. I think that's pretty good. Must say something if I can remember 13 of 14. I can also remember a bit about each of them.

As for the plot, ah, I remember le resistance, because it's a normal thing since II, ah, Kefka being awesome, Eidolons/ESPers as test subjects, Moogle RTS, There was a train? The final battle tries to be symbolic with it's Divine Comedy thing. Cid is meant to die. Celes is tortured. The opera scene. Terra in the orphanage. Locke's dead girlfriend thing. Edgar's castle goes underground? Yeah. Uh, wow. Not as much as I'd like to remember seeing as I've played through it twice and I can remember far more of IV on one full playthrough and the aborted DS play.

How about the music. Ah, Terra's Theme and Dancing Mad. Kefka's laugh, is that a piece of music? Nope, don't remember much else, everytime I think I am remembering IV and V instead.
So, yeah, in retrospect, maybe Japan has a point. All I remember about the game is Kefka's WINNING. There must have been some appeal to it, why I can't remember is beyond me. Maybe it was just Kefka?

FINAL FANTASY VII

The biggie. Oh lord. Let's get one thing straight. I LIKE VII. It is a solid game through and through. What I hate? People not shutting up about it and treating it like it's the only damn installment. It's irritating and you should feel bad for irrirating people into hating the game. A game that isn't bad by any degree.

Most people know the plot, characters and mechanics. No point in discussing them too much, so I'll keep it brief. I liked Cid, Yuffie, Red and Vincent. Tifa is alright, same with Cloud. Don't care about Barret or Aerith. Aerith's death did nothing for me, as I didn't care about her. I don't care much for Sephiroth as a villain because I never understood his motivation, or even caught wind of what it was. I disliked the Materia system as it made all the characters samey in use.

The music was great, the world was interesting and had it's own feel. Yeah, great game, irritating fanbase.

FINAL FANTASY VIII

VIII was my first, and I believe the fourth JRPG game I played, after Pokemon(RBY/GSC) and Golden Sun, so I have fond memories of it. I have to play it again some time, but I liked the characters and for the first disc, the plot is good, however, and this is a big deal breaker. The plot is a convoluted mess that makes near no sense even with replays and the Junction/draw system is tedious.

To this day, they have yet to explain why Ultimecia hit that point in time. Why Edea/Rinoa/Adel? Why not anyone else? Isn't there someone easier, with no SeeDs protecting them to target? For that matter, why does she want time compression? EXPLAIN.GAME.EXPLAIN. She's nearly as bad as Sephiroth helping his mother alien summon a meteor for god knows what reason.

And the Junction System, whoever thought powering up by sitting there drawing magic was a good idea is a twit. It takes far too long and takes valuable cards if you wish to abuse it effectively. It's the time consumption, not inching towards levelling up, but inching towards stats that hurts it.

Eh, the game has some interesting places, it sounds good for the most part, nothing like Dancing Mad/OWA, but it's battle music is pretty memorable, though, I can't say it's a good game after playing the rest of the series. But it holds a special place for being my first.

FINAL FANTASY IX

IX is really the swan song to I-V, it's what the series could have been if it never changed into the techy fantasy it is today. IX is a strange one, it's not really liked all that much by the west because it's not like VII, but it's gaining noteriety as it gets older. However, as a person who greatly likes I-V, I don't care much for IX. Oh, the music is fantastic, it looks really nice, but it's kinda, boring.

It's missing something. I can't quite place it though. It's characters and plot aren't half bad, the throwbacks are appreciated, as I said, it looks and sounds nice, but it's lacking something. I've only gotten to the end once, aborting any other play through because I lost interest. I-V aren't long games, this kinda is. I-V are simple in plot, this isn't. I wonder if that's what holds it back, but those aren't deal breakers to me.

I like the battle system as well, so, by all accounts, I should love IX, but I don't. Again, it lacks, I don't know what it is though. I just can't place it.

FINAL FANTASY X

So the second of the big two games, Final Fantasy X. What can I say? I loved X. I loved the characters, plot, look and sound of the game. It's just strange though, I don't really talk about it. I don't know why either. The Sphere Grid System works very well, leaving the characters in their warrior classes till the end, then letting them break free. The alternate Sphere Grid allows more customisation. While never well explained in game(Yu Yevon/Sin is explained better in suplimentary material), it's an interesting concept.

Great game. Easily one of the best and so far, the last exceptional one, so far.

FINAL FANTASY XII

I don't really remember much about XII other than scenery and a few members of the party. No music, not much of the plot, certainly not the villain, nothing really. The Gambit System, essentially playing the game for you if set up well, was an interesting take on making an online game, FFXI, offline. It worked, I guess.

Uh, yeah. Can't say much for it. I don't recall it being bad, but I don't recall much of it at all.

FINAL FANTASY XIII

So, the most recent black sheep. A friend of mine, not the one who said to do this but another, said this game is for the more hardcore FF fans. I disagree. I don't think it has an audience. At all. The plot... er, it's too much an amalgamation of various other games in the series, all of them, really. The most prominent are IV, VII and X. The plot is slow, far too slow even for a JRPG. It's not really that interesting. It's concept is, the idea that god is an alien and such, even if it's not original for a JRPG, but it's not in depth enough. The characters are amalgamations themselves, but they don't work all that well nor are they interesting. They come off as more irritating than anything.

The battle system is pathetically sad. I think it wants to have a job system and be innovative at the same time, but can't do it. It just falls flat on it's face. There aren't enough jobs, and they are all more akin to MMORPG classes than the FF classes. Specific characters are so much better at certain classes you beg the question why there is customisation at all. Then the combat itself amounts to 'autobattle grind until your max for the area' except in the case of bosses or stronger monsters. These are the only times where actual stradegy is needed. It's the only time the game poses a challenge. It's so freakishly abnormal for this game I had to look up how to do it.

The linearity and lack of towns is usually said to be a problem with this game, I don't think it's that so much. FFX has a similar system and no one cared. It's that the game is 'lonely'. You have next to no interaction with NPCs. X doesn't have towns per say, but you do interact with NPCs frequently.

The only thing XIII holds up on is it's visuals, which are indeed breathtakingly beatiful. Pitty they are wasted on this.

II for a long time was the blackest of the black sheep. Blacker than any black mage. XIII not so much steals that title, but as II has gotten better, it's been mugged, excuse the pun, of this title. FFXIII has nothing. It's not interesting, it's not fun and it's not likable. It doesn't do anything I'd scream it's bad for, but in that, it's meant to be entertainment and if it fails to entertain, it's bad, so maybe I should scream at it.

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So that's it, my Final Fantasy run down. Any questions, options, whatever, feel free.
-Some Gamer Dude

Sonic 3 & Knuckles

2011-10-17T19:14:00.001-07:00

Sonic 3 and I have had an interesting history, I have owned it since I was a child, being the second Sonic game I owned, but I never liked it. It was just too different from 2. I didn’t play the second half, Sonic & Knuckles, until the late 90s. Didn’t care for it at the time either. I’ve never gotten past Marble Garden Zone in Sonic 3 and Mushroom Hill Zone in Sonic & Knuckles, so this is my first time going through the entire thing.

Sonic 3 & Knuckles is the second half of the Death Egg Saga, it introduces more lore to the Chaos Emeralds and introduces Knuckles The Echidna, who is one of the franchises more notable characters.

Sonic 3 takes place just after good ending of Sonic 2, Sonic and Tails not paying attention and Eggman loosing control, the first Death Egg broke up in the atmosphere, what remained landing on an island only thought to exist in myth, the Angel Island, an island floating in the sky. As a result, the island began plummeting into the sea.

A few days after, Tails finishes his new invention, the Jewel Radar. Immediately, it picked up a signal off shore, thinking that it might be related to the tidal wave that occurred before, Tails sped to the beach Sonic was napping on, inadvertently waking him up.

Looking around the beach, Sonic found a strange ring that had an ancient language engraved on it. It reminded him of a legend he hard heard long ago, about an ancient civilization that lived on the island who lived in piece and harmony, which they attributed to their sarcred gem, the ‘Stone of Power’, whose Energy guided them. Eventually, a sect of wise men arose, they wanted the stone for their own, and tried to take it. Unable to control it, the civilization disappeared in an instant. After this tragedy, the gods took the land, rebuilt it and sent it, along with the ‘Stone of Power’ into the sky.

Not knowing the legend was indeed true, Sonic and Tails set off for a new adventure.

The legend that Sonic recalled was of Angel Island, the island the Death Egg crashed upon. Before the impact, the lone guardian of the island, Knuckles the Echidna, was going about his duties, protecting the island and making sure the Chaos Emerald alters scattered about were safe. The last of his kind, Knuckles only knew his duty and the animals of the island. On his duties, Knuckles looked over at the alters, making sure the emeralds were safe. Suddenly, the emeralds began glowing and vibrating wildly. Knuckles stood wide-eyed, unsure of what was going on. Before he could make his next move, a bright flash filled the room, a sound piercing through Knuckles' ears as he felt as though he were floating in midair.

Knuckles awoke at the entrance, knocked out by whatever happened. Knuckles first thought was of the Chaos Emeralds, he ran back to the alter, but it was gone. Emerging from the alter in a daze, Knuckles was unsure of what to do, looking out to the horizon. He noticed an egg shaped object embedded in the island. Knuckles wondered if it had something to do with another legend of the island, the Egg of the Dragon…

Over the next few days, Knuckles went over the island, to the other six remaining alters. They were gone as well. Refusing to give up, Knuckles continued to investigate, determined to find and answer. During this, he came across Dr Eggman, who smiled and explained that he was a scientist and was there to study the strange egg that had appeared.

Determined to use Knuckles naiveté to his full advantage, Eggman told him of his knowledge of the emeralds, and that a Sonic was looking for them. Knuckles ran off to stop him, while Eggman smiled, knowing his plan was going well.

Sonic and Tails saw the island on the horizon, to show off, Sonic jumped off the Tornado, transformed into Super Sonic and proceeded to fly to the island. Caught of guard, Sonic flew into Knuckles fist, causing the Chaos Emeralds to fall out of him and revert back to his blue self. Knuckles chuckled, grabbed the Emeralds and ran into the jungle. Sonic expecting Eggman was behind it, went after Knuckles, with Tails in tow. Knowing Sonic was on the island, Eggman laughed to himself as he created a new robot army to find the Chaos Emeralds, in hopes of relaunching the Death Egg and dominating the world.

It’s now up to Sonic and Tails to set everything straight.

Sonic 3 is the first half of the third chapter of Sonic the Hedgehog, encompassing the first six levels of the 14 level epic. Sonic and Knuckles, through Lock On Technology, is the second half, containing the last 8, 2 of which have 1 act each.

Sonic himself plays much like his Sonic 2 literation, except that he can produce a momentary shield if he jumps twice.

Tails is slower than Sonic now, but can now fly when controlled by the player, allowing him to access new routes. He is also shorter and can’t jump as high, which makes some boss battles harder. He is unavailable when playing Sonic and Knuckles alone.

Only playable when one is playing as Sonic 3 and Knuckles, Knuckles is also can’t jump as high and is slower, but he can glide across the level.

Sonic 3 also introduces a new mechanic in Shields. Scattered throughout levels in TVs are Shields, they have three abilities. The Fire Shield makes the player immune to fire, give him immunity to one attack and a prototype for the homing attack. The Lightning Shield makes the player immune to electricity, give them immunity to one attack and an extra jump that emits small jolts. The Water Shield gives the player infinite air underwater, gives them immunity to one attack and a bounce attack. Unfortunately these are only useful in one level each, one in Sonic 3 and two in Sonic & Knuckles.

Sonic 3 also brings something very useful to the plate, saving. Sonic & Knuckles however does not track your progress, while Sonic 3 alone does not show your Emeralds, while it does track them. Until the final level of Sonic & Knuckles, one cannot back track in Sonic 3 and Knuckles, only Sonic 3 alone. Sonic 3/Sonic 3 and Knuckles also does not track additional lives or score if the console is turned off, until the final act of Sonic and Knuckles where it does track lives.

Because this game saves, it allows the player to put the game down and go back for the perfect ending if they didn’t get it first time through. It’s a very welcome addition, even if it needed refining.

Sonic 3 & Knuckles’ levels are expansive, interesting and well designed, but not so long that they become tedious. Even the lesser levels, such as Carnival Nights Zone, Marble Garden Zone and Flying Battery Zone, are all far more entertaining than the lesser levels of the later games. When the game is good, Hydrocity, Icecap and Sky Sanctuary, it’s unparalleled in the franchise. It’s really no comparison to 1 or 2. It far surpassed it. The levels feel epic. There is nothing like boarding down Ice Cap, or going further and further up Sky Sanctuary.

The music for Sonic 3 is fantastic, not one bad track. Even the 2P levels. I think my favourite is Hydrocity Act 2. The whole thing just suits the game and the franchise. Sonic and Knuckles… not so much, I found the music to be lack luster a side from Sky Sanctuary. Just generally unmemorable.

The Special Stage is unique in Sonic 3 & Knuckles, in both design, how it’s entered and how necissary it is. In Sonic 1 and 2, a certain amount of Rings were needed, in Sonic 3, you have to find a Giant Ring in the level, of which there are multiple. Inside, Sonic must ‘Find the Blue Spheres’, a puzzle where he has to hit blue spheres, avoiding red ones. Gold ones are springs and silver are bumpers. There are a certain amount per level, some clear when a certain pattern is traversed, and the level gets gradually faster. When one has all of them, they are awarded a Chaos Emerald. 7 will turn him into Super Sonic. At the beginning of & Knuckles, if you are playing the complete game, there is a special Giant Ring in the beginning of Mushroom Hill Zone, which Knuckles runs out of. This leads Sonic to the alter at Hidden Palace Zone, a place he never goes to in story. Here he can play the special stage another 7 times to turn the Emeralds into Super Emeralds, which will turn him into Hyper Sonic. One can reset as they collect them, as long as they are sent back to Mushroom Hill afterwards.

The Special Stage is challenging, but not as annoying as 1 or 2, it also has a special function. When all 7 Emeralds are collected, either Chaos alone, never entering that ring in Mushroom Hill Zone, or all 7 Super Emeralds, they unlock the final battle, after Death Egg Zone is completed or completed again if you go back for them.

The final battle takes place in space, and will be the blue prints for every final battle until Sonic Colours. After collecting all the emeralds, there is a special battle, not particularly hard, but epic and serves as a true climax. Super/Hyper Sonic chases down Eggman in his ship, tricking the missiles to hit the cockpit shaped like his head, eventually, the mech from Sonic 2’s end will break out, carrying the Master Emerald. Super/Hyper Sonic must boost to catch up and tackle him. While, again, the battle isn’t hard, much like Sonic Adventure, it is climactic.

The plot is good, and how Knuckles is handled turn out well, with him turning on Eggman in the Hidden Palace Zone. I was actually surprised how much plot it had for a game with no dialog. Reading the translation of the Japanese manual, which I paraphrased earlier, I was shocked how tied Adventure was to this, no retcons, just pure expansion.

Sonic 3 and Knuckles is commonly said to as the best of the franchise, especially of the Mega Drive games. Until recently, I disagreed, but I now know I never gave Sonic 3 a real chance. It’s a fantastic game. I may not regard it as my absolute favourite, but it’s a fantastic game. Any fool can see that. It deserves it’s place in Sonic history.

-Some Gamer Dude

Sonic Heroes

2011-10-17T17:55:00.001-07:00

Ben ‘Yahtzee’ Crowshaw of Zero Punctuation fame has said if a game starts bad and gets better, that’s not a point in it’s favour. Sonic Heroes doesn’t even get that. Heroes has been the only game I dumped. I watched a video series on Youtube by SonicMovies, which made Sonic Heroes into a movie. A painful one.

Sonic Heroes is notable for a few reasons. It’s the first Sonic game not on a SEGA console, it’s the return of other characters from obscure games, Metal Sonic and the Chaotix, it’s the last game with the voice actors from Adventure, it’s the start of Sonic’s fall and has the most unique gameplay, being Team based.

Sonic Heroes is the convoluted and too coincidental plot of Metal Sonic wanting to defeat Sonic, apparently gone mad. He frames Sonic… and kidnaps a chao and froggy?, which makes Sonic, Tails, Knuckles, Amy, Cream and Big chase him. He impersonates Eggman, which makes Shadow, who has amnesia again, Rouge, and Eggman’s last E series robot, E123 OMEGA, chase him. The hostaged Eggman contracts the Chaotix Detective Team, now down to Vector, Espio and Charmie, to save him.

The game is split into multiple sections, like Sonic Adventure and SA2, but split into teams. The ‘Easy Mode’, Team Rose, Amy, Cream and Big, the ‘Normal Mode’, Team Sonic, Sonic, Tails and Knuckles, the ‘Hard Mode’, Team Dark, Shadow, Rouge and Omega and finally the ‘Mission Mode’, Team Chaotix, Espio, Charmie and Vector.

During the levels, you switch between the Speed characters, Sonic, Amy, Shadow and Espio, the Fly characters, Tails, Cream, Rouge and Charmie and the Power Characters, Knuckles, Big, Omega and Vector, to do different parts of the level. All the time the one you have chosen drags the other two and uses them as ammunition.

There are 14 areas, loosely arranged into 7 levels, which every team must complete. In every level, there is a key, for every odd level, you get a chance at extra lives, every even level this will give a Chaos Emerald Special Stage instead. All 7 will unlock the end once you complete all 4 teams. The Special Stage is not unlike Sonic 2’s Special Stage, but now uses orbs to power boost to reach the target.

And the problems with this game kicks in here.

The characters are slippery, making footing and stoping hard, but heavy, because they are dragging two behind them. This is made worse because…

The whole game is over bottomless pits. Fall? Dead. Makes the Flying characters even harder to use.

The enemies have life bars, meaning it takes a while to kill some, inducing tedium, but…

The characters absorb Orbs through the levels, which level up their abilities and strengths up to three times. Unfortunately, because the all go when hit, being hit can render some areas where you are rushing away from danger, needing to kill things to unlock a door, unwinnable.

The Special Stage is quite annoying to get into, loosing the key if hit. You’d think they’d learn after Sonic 3 and Knuckles. It’s also needlessly difficult for a few Emeralds.

Finally, the stages are too long. Between 5 and 10 mins depending on the team, and with the Chaotix, if you have missed something, you have to back track the whole thing.

However, it has a couple of up points. It’s visually interesting and the music is good, but this doesn’t save it in the slightest.

I hate this game. Unlike SONIC THE HEDGEHOG, which is flawed by execution, Sonic Heroes is flawed by design. For the life of me, I cannot understand what reviewers saw in it back in 2004. It is in no way worth mixed to positive reviews. If I ever want to commit self torture, I’ll play this to completion. Till then, suffering a movie is good enough.

-Some Gamer Dude

Sonic The Hedgehog 2

2011-10-10T00:19:00.001-07:00

Ah, Sonic 2. One of my favourite games as a child. Never beat it though. I think I got to Oil Ocean, once, which is kind of near the end. A few years back, with the Mega Collection +, I got to the Mecha Sonic fight. Never beat it. I used Save States though, as this game is tough. But, for this, using save states, and cheating for all Emeralds to get the good ending, I beat the game. Sure, I didn't do it 'properly', but I don't care. As I've said, any game without saving can bite it, I'm using save states.

Sonic 2 is the start of the three game arc, The Death Egg Saga, encompassing Sonic 2 and the two halves of Sonic 3, Sonic The Hedgehog 3 and Sonic & Knuckles, together known as Sonic 3 & Knuckles. The Death Egg Saga also fleshes out the cast with his most well known friends, and the most liked, Miles 'Tails' Prower and Knuckles The Echidna, it gives the franchise more lore on the Chaos Emerald, including a missing one from Sonic 1, and the Super Modes later used as 'Final Fight Forms', ie Super Sonic.

According to the Japanese manual, Sonic 2 takes place after the first one, Sonic is exploring the world on his biplane, the Tornado, where he comes across West Side Island. Sonic explores part of the island, unaware of the legends that relate to his adventure on South Island.

A few days after arriving, Sonic notices he's being followed by a young fox. Sonic looks behind him and the fox hides. He thinks nothing of it and runs off. The fox, Miles Prower, was ridiculed by his peers for his second tail, being dubbed 'Tails', is impressed by the blue hedgehog, he wants to be cool and confident like him, so he follows. His whole outlook on life changes. No matter where Sonic went, Tails was right behind, Sonic eventually accepts it.

Later, Tails finds Sonic's biplane, the Tornado, he ran towards it and as he ran, noticed Sonic was sleeping under a wing. He continued, but a sudden explosion echoed through the air, it wakes Sonic up.

Looking beyond Green Hill Zone, Sonic noticed a pillar of fire, having his guesses who caused it, he runs to the source, Tails following. Eggman had followed Sonic to West Side Island.

Eggman gloats, as this is the true resting place of the six Chaos Emeralds that were found on South Island, as ell as a seventh according to legends. Wanting to use them to power his new orbital planet/flying fortress and greatest weapon, the Death Egg, Dr Eggman searches them out. It's now upto Sonic and his new companion, Tails, to stop Dr Eggman's plot to take over the world.

The Western manual is obvious dumbed down and uses the name Robotnik.

Sonic 2 is built on the original, taking everything that was good about it, and make it better. The game is focused less on tedious, slow platforming and is more suited to Sonic's speed. Unfortunately, where the original was slow, the robot placement in this is seemingly random, being placed in a way that would be the equivelent of running into a brick wall, meaning that one has to learn the levels. This is more a result of it's age. Knowing everything and making little to no mistakes, the game is about an hour long, hence the placement.

It also gives Sonic a new move to his arsenal the Spin Dash, where holding down and A/B/C will rev Sonic up, releasing down will let him go, which helps for high quarter pipes and the such.

As the manual's prelude said, Tails follows Sonic throughout the game. This is optional, and can be turned off in the options menu. Tails has his benefits, he is immortal, gains rings and can be controlled by the second player pad, but has his issues. When played by P2, he can't fly and can be a bit of a pain in certain circumstances, detrimental to P1, especially alone, in the worst of circumstances.

The game has 11 Levels, most have 2 Acts, unlike the original and CD which have three each. The Eighth, Metropolis Zone, however, has 3, and the last three, Sky Chase, Wing Fortress and Death Egg, all have 1 each, Death Egg only being two bosses and the previous two having no bosses.

The levels are varied, largely enjoyable and visually interesting, but there is one problem, like the original, the difficulty is all over the place. The second level, Chemical Plant Zone, and the seventh and eighth, Oil Ocean and Metropolis Zones, are of particular note. They are harder than those that take place after. I also think the third level, Aquatic Ruins, due to it's Grounders that appear from behind walls, is also quite irritating. But levels such as the fourth, fifth and sixth, the Casino Nights, Hill Tops and Mystic Caves, are quite easy. I believe this is due to, again, like the original game, the levels are not in order, a quote on Sonic Retro saying that Chemical Plant Zone, the second level, was meant to be near the end, so that we didn't have two green levels, Emerald Hill and Aquatic Ruins, in a row. Unlike the original, however, there are little to no indications of the original order.
The final bosses for Sonic 2, Dr Eggman's robotic duplicate, Mecha Sonic, and Dr Eggman's Giant Mech, are quite difficult, both being done with no rings and rely on memorization, which is quite a task given the length of the game. This, and the very scope of the game, the final two levels showing Sonic flying up to Eggman's Wing Fortress during the Sky Chase, and then the getting to the Death Egg during Wing Fortress, which launches into space for the final two battles, makes for a very satisfying ending. It felt like an accomplishment. The end isn't anything that great, but it feels good.

This game also revamps the Special Stages, changes how you enter them and gives them a new purpose. At any time during a level, if Sonic has 50 Rings and passes a checkpoint lamp post, a ring will apear above it, which Sonic can jump into to enter the Special Stage. The new Special Stage involves Sonic and Tails, if you choose to play with him in tow, running down a faux 3D half pipe, trying to hit a ring quota and avoid bombs. There are a few issues. One, as of the third level, gets needlessly hard and Tails is a detriment, as the AI is painfully bad. He regularly hits bombs, costing the player the Emerald. As there is no saving, no hub, no 'Level select as you progress' or 'Level Select to earn your end' and the game does get difficult, getting all seven becomes a real task, but it does two things. It gives Sonic a new ability, with fifty rings, you can jump twice to turn into Super Sonic, a golden, twice as fast, invicible Sonic with twice the jump abilities, but there is a catch, he drains rings. As ell as Super Sonic, you also get the 'Good Ending', which leads into Sonic 3.

Super Sonic can also be cheated for, and he isn't without his own issues. Because of his abilities, he's not good at platforming, he's very slippery. He can also be accidently activated when jumping, which also makes platforming hard. He's rather a double edged sword.

The music takes a massive swerve upwards in this title, I can't say there is really a boring or unmemorable track in the entire game. This is the game that sets the precedent for Sonic having fantastic music. If I had to single out a specific track as a favourite, I'd have to say the Chemical Plant Zone. It's exciting.

Sonic The Hedgehog 2 built up on the original. It's far more interesting and memorable in all aspects. It built up on the lore of the original, and added to the world Sonic lives in, but it's not without it's problems. It has a lot of problems, most of which Sonic CD and 3 will rectify to some degree, and even with these issues, it's still much better than a bulk of the games out in their own time and now.

Sonic 2 is a fan favourite, right up there with Sonic 3 & Knuckles, it also seems to be SEGA's favourite, and not without reason. It's a good game. But I can't help but feel that it's just a 'better Sonic 1', and makes Sonic 1 redundant. The plot barely needs Sonic 1, it's very much like it mechanically and surpasses it. A friend of mine brought this up as a reason to why he dislikes Sonic 2, it's not different enough. I may not dislike it, I still love the game, but he is right. But that doesn't make Sonic 2 a bad game, at all.

Sonic The Hedgehog 2, in my opinion, and lots of others, holds up exceptionally well and is rightfully so, a legend.

-Some Gamer Dude

Sonic The Hedgehog

2011-10-05T22:20:00.001-07:00

It’s really hard to talk about games this old, especially this one, CD and the second half of Sonic 3 & Knuckles, as I never had them as a kid. I never got to play this until 2004 I believe, a good 13 years after it was released.

Sonic The Hedgehog is a notable game for quite a few reasons, it’s the game that put SEGA on the map, it’s the game that put a massive, massive dent in Nintendo, one that would continue to get larger until the Wii and it started the ‘Animals with Attitude in Games’ trend of the 90s.

Sonic 1, in the West at least, has a very basic story, Dr Robotnik is industrialising Christmas Island, turning the animals into his Badniks, Sonic must stop him and rescue his friends.

In Japan, this was very different. Dr Eggman wants the Chaos Emeralds, located on South Island. As Sonic runs across the world, he comes upon the increasingly industrialized South Island, filled with Robots searching for something, he knows he must do something. Going further into into Eggman’s territory, he saves the animals and collects the Chaos Emeralds, ultimately defeating Doctor Eggman.

The levels document Sonic’s arrival and travel through the island. His arrival in Green Hill, his trek through the Marble Zone ruins, to the furthest reaches of Eggman’s expansion, the Spring Yard, down through the Labyrinth Zone, to Eggman’s highway, the Star Light Zone, into Eggman’s Base, the Scrap Brain Zone, then the end, the Final Zone for the final boss, after Eggman drops Sonic back down into the Labyrinth for the 3rd act of Scrap Brain.

Now, before we go on, I should note why Sonic is so fast, it was to make use of the Mega Drive’s processing power. The thing is, this game doesn’t focus on that past Green Hill Zone. From Marble on, it’s very traditional platforming with maybe short bursts of speed. The game is also quite difficult at points, most notably Labyrinth. Labyrinth is the forth level, taking place in a submerged ruin for the most part. Because of it being mostly a maze, and one timed because of the air bubble mechanic. It’s far more difficult than either of the final two levels, which is easily explained. According to Sonic Retro, Labyrinth was moved in development, originally the fifth level.

The final boss is also something I wanted to hit on. Eggman goes up and down in pistons, while dispersing electric balls from the ceiling. While hard, because of it relying on trial, error and pattern memorization, it’s very anticlimactic. The end just doesn’t work. It left me feeling unimpressed. But the game as a whole isn’t very impressive.

The levels are bland looking after Green Hill Zone, the music is good, but not memorable and as a whole, it’s just, dull. I wouldn’t say boring, but very dull. Oh, yeah, the game looks nice, but it fails to be interesting.

While going through these areas, Sonic, if he has 50 Rings, can go into a special stage at the end of each act, this leads him to a Special Stage where he can obtain a Chaos Emerald, of which there are six. So Sonic has 12 chances at it. These special stages are much like the tilting games where you try to get the balls in the holes, except you try not to get into the whole, but burst the barrier around the Emerald and hit it. It’s rather hard to do, and in later levels your chances of getting and keeping 50 Rings are minimal, at best. Also, the only thing it does is slightly change the end, from Eggman juggling the Emeralds to stamping with a ‘Try Again’ sign. That’s it. It’s not really worth even doing.

Sonic The Hedgehog showed a lot of potential, and the sequels to come to show it’s full potential, but it’s not the greatest. Yes, it looks and sounds nice, but it lacks a certain something. It also fails to focus on what Sonic is good at. Being exhilarating. It’s not a bad game by any regard, really, but it’s lacking. A classic, and really good for it’s day, but it doesn’t hold up too well. Maybe I would have taken to it better if I had played it as a kid and played it first.

-Some Gamer Dude

Sonic Skip – Back to the Classics

2011-09-29T17:16:00.001-07:00

You know, through this play through of all the main Sonic games, I’ve put up with a lot of crap. Sonic 06’s unfinished state, Unleashed being a test drive, Colours being far too padded, Adventure putting a crack in my rose tinted glasses and the half decent, iconic mess that is Sonic Adventure 2. But none have really turned me off. Despite everything, I soldier on.

Until now. Sonic Heroes is, without a shadow of doubt, the one game in the franchise that is unapologetically bad. Not because it’s a beta release, not because they’re getting used to it and not because it’s only half way decent. But because of the very nature of the game. The way it plays and plays out. It’s the Team Gameplay, special stages without some type of pause abuse(Rush/Colours DS) or Save States(older games) and the amount of times you have to go through the game. I’m not going to say much now, I’ll have plenty of time to complain later. I have, so far, gathered 1 Chaos Emerald and gotten to the 2nd Level, 2nd Act with Team Dark and 2nd Level, 1st Act with Team Rose. I just can’t cope with the game now.

However, I will play the originals now. Sonic 1, CD, 2 and 3&K. I’ll be save stating for 1, while save stating and cheating for 2. I know, I’m not playing it legit, but, I have no patience for any game that doesn’t allow me the benefits of saving and hubs, or at least Level Select and Saving like Sonic 3.

I will not be going for all 4 endings in Sonic 3&K, unless the game is really good. I don’t see the point. Sonic & Tails is the canonical ending, plus, I hate Blue Sphere.

But I am not beaten. I will go back to Heroes. I just need a break. I mean, I set out to beat all these games, and I’ve been playing, basically, nothing but Sonic for about 2 months now. I reckon Heroes would take me all of, well, 7 Levels, each act and boss about 5-10mins, 11ish hours to get to get to Last Story, not including any problems I encounter, boredom or gathering the Emeralds. About a day’s worth of play, about 3-5 hours, for each Team?

I think I’ll leave Sonic Heroes till the third week of October, starting on Monday the 17th. That’ll give me a good while to complete the older games and give me a break.

-Some Gamer Dude

Sonic Adventure 2 Battle

2011-09-27T00:51:00.001-07:00

Sonic Adventure 2/Sonic Adventure 2 Battle, the final Dreamcast Sonic game, the Dreamcast's swan song as it were, and the first Sonic game on a former competitors console. Sonic Adventure 2 rises a lot of heated discussions. Those who loved it, and then continue to love it, despite the cries of its detractors saying it has dated and/or has always been bad. I'm not going to lie, I got this game some number of years ago, twice in fact, I encountered a glitch and bought a second copy. I was young, not understanding the problems with these games, and my first copy was second hand, it being quite rare by 2004 here. But never the less, I never completed it. I always remembered it being a boring, overly difficult, game that lost everything that made Sonic Adventure XD Directors Cut special. So, was I wrong? Well, playing this game the past week, I've learnt a lot. I realise why I felt they way I did and why I have very mixed feelings about the game to this day, and will always continue too. So, let's dig into Sonic Adventure 2 Battle.

Sonic Adventure 2 also marked four other major turns for the franchise, it was the game to mark the 10th Anniversary, it was the first time, outside of a side game, such as Sonic Drift and R, that Dr Eggman was playable and it’s the only main line game so far where he is playable. It brought in two controversial characters. Sonic’s doppelgänger, Shadow The Hedgehog, The Perfect Life Form, created by Dr Eggman’s grandfather, Professor Gerald Robotnik. He proved controversial because due to him being very popular, SEGA pushed him for all he was worth, including his own, equally as controversial game, Shadow the Hedgehog, where he uses guns and vehicles. Also new in this game, and equally as controversial, is the jewel thief and GUN agent, Rouge the Bat, which brought to light how many people do sexualise the Sonic characters. Rouge and Shadow will go on to become worthwhile characters in their own right by SONIC THE HEDHEHOG, and they do work here, very well, but between they are squandered through Sonic Heroes and Shadow’s game, Shadow The Hedgehog. This also will, in retrospect, be the marking point where people start to hate everyone not introduced in Sonic 1-3. That of course, means people hate Amy and Metal Sonic. I don’t get it myself, Mario can get away with the entire Mario, Donkey Kong and Yoshi crews under his belt unscathed, no one talks about him having too many characters and he has far more. But this might be more of ‘Dreamcast Fell, Sonic Went Down With The Ship’ some people seem to live by.

Enough background information about this game, I’ve talked enough.

Sonic Adventure 2 has 6 characters, split between two stories, Hero and Dark. They are based on 3 Sonic Adventure characters, pairs being clones aside from some upgrades.

Sonic and Shadow being the first pair, are based on Sonic Adventure Sonic, with two slight differences. One, the Light Dash no longer needs to charge and to promote Soap Shoes, Sonic and Shadow now grind on rails. They aren’t really that different from Sonic, or each other, the only difference being that Sonic gets the Bounce Ring.

Tails and Dr Eggman are based on E102 Gamma from Sonic Adventure, with a few major differences. Where Gamma was based around shooting enemies to gain seconds to get to the end of the level, and he was fairly quick, ‘The Walkers’ are slow and are based on Marble Zone esc platforming. They come off as largely unenjoyable due to this very nature, even though Gamma was an enjoyable story in Sonic Adventure. They are differentiated by Eggman getting an Armor upgrade.

Knuckles and Rouge are based on Knuckles from Sonic Adventure, only made worse. In SA, the shards weren’t well hidden nor were the stages large at all. Keep in mind I did not enjoy Knuckles in Sonic Adventure. Here, they are large, cluttered, filled with passages and the Emeralds/Shards/Keys are well hidden. This takes a 5min per level game mode rocket up to around 15mins near the end. Knuckles is slightly different from Rouge by having access to the Air Necklace upgrade.

Heroes Story is 16 levels long, 6 Sonic, 5 Tails and 5 Knuckles, starting off with the iconic, I would argue more so than Green Hill Zone or Emerald Coast, City Escape. City Escape is opens with Sonic escaping from GUN, and boarding down San Francisco/Central City. The game continues with Sonic meeting Shadow, getting locked up, only to have Tails break in and rescue him, while in an altercation with Rouge and Eggman, Knuckles is forced to shatter the Master Emerald. This leads Sonic and Tails to chase Eggman and Shadow, while Knuckles locating the Emerald Shards.

There is a distinct problem with the Hero side, it’s just a whole lot of running around until they get to the Space Colony ARK. The plot doesn’t kick in till then, which is around Stage 10 or 12, when Eggman shoots the moon with the laser in the colony, the Eclipse Cannon. Then it’s just more running around to get to him then confront him, then Shadow. It has the most levels, but the least plot.

The levels are… a mixed bag. Sonic’s 6, City Escape, Metal Harbour, Green Forest, Pyramid Cave, Crazy Gadget and Final Rush are probably the most enjoyable of the levels, but the later three became a race to the end. Mostly because of forced gimmicks, opening doors, gravity manipulation and excessive grind rails respectively.

Tail's levels aren’t enjoyable. They aren’t particularly bad, because you can take your time due to the nature of his play style, but I don’t have a yearning to do them again. They were all chore like, but not painful. Only Route 101, the racing kart level, is of any note. It’s actually enjoyable, decentish racing mechanics and a great way to grind lives if I might add.

Knuckles I hated. Cluttered levels, needless running around, shards/keys sometimes in really hidden places. I get the point that it’s meant to make you look, but nothing about the playstyle was fun. The only level of note is Pumpkin Hill, due to the atmosphere of it. I feels like one, giant, Halloween Town.

The Dark Story is broken down into 14 levels, 5 for Eggman, 5 for Rouge and 4 for Shadow. Dark having the bulk of the plot, it kept me interested enough to finish it in an entire day. Eggman somehow learns his grandfather, Professor Gerald Robotnik, created the Ultimate Lifeform, which is kept at GUN headquarters. He proceeds to break in and release it. This is Shadow, who tells him to go to the Space Colony ARK. Eggman goes to ARK to find his grandfather’s other legacy, the Eclipse Cannon, which is powered by the Chaos Emeralds. We then cut to Rouge, who is attempting to steal the Master Emerald from Knuckles. Eggman comes to take it, Knuckles shatters it. Rouge then follows Eggman to his base. She offers to find him the Emeralds, but has other intentions. Through this Shadow has glimpses of his past, and a promise he made to Eggman’s cousin, Maria Robotnik. This leads the three through the levels to find the Emeralds and ultimately try to stop the heroes from infiltrating the ARK.

Obviously they are unsuccessful, but the plot seems to work better for a few reasons. One being that the plot is started at the beginning and they are not in the dark till the end, as well as the plot, for them, is interesting. It leads me to the point where I feel the story is much more Eggman and Shadow’s, while Sonic is just there to fix everything up.

There is nothing as memorable as City Escape in the Dark Story levels, but they’re all decent. Sky Rail and Mad Space are probably the most notable ones, as they are completely different to anything in Hero Story. The levels are largely enjoyable, but again, not memorable. Shadow is enjoyable, Eggman, because of who he is, suits the walker better and doesn’t seem to be as irritating. Rouge’s levels I felt apathy towards, because of what they are, even if I like the character.

The Last Story starts explaining a lot about the story, why Rouge found an alternate Project Shadow, why Gerald did what he did and it also shows Shadow and Rouge in a much better light. The sole level, Cannon Core, is much like End of the World from SONIC THE HEDGEHOG, but far easier due to not having black wholes everywhere. In order, you use Tails, Eggman, Rouge, Knuckles and Sonic to go through ARK to get to the control centre to stop the ARK plummeting to earth. After this, Shadow fights his prototype, Biolizard, and in weird turn for fiction, the prototype is not obscenely overpowered. It’s actually on life support. After this, Biolizard uses Chaos Control to merge with the ARK, to make sure it makes impact, so Sonic and Shadow go Super and initiate the final battle against the newly formed Final Hazard.

The final scenes of the game are probably the most touching. Shadow is presumed dead and they understand why he was the way he was because of Gerald’s diary. The game ends with Rouge and Sonic discussing him as everyone leaves ARK, saying that he was a true hero, and as he leaves, Sonic echos Maria’s final words to Shadow, ‘Sayonara, Shadow the Hedgehog’. Except for the fact Ryan Drummond couldn’t convey the solemness in Sonic’s voice, it’s very touching. It ends as a eulogy to Shadow. In some ways, it’s sad that he came back, making this have less impact over time, but as we know from many games now, Hedgehogs survive terminal velocity. Just, not real ones.

The game is quite a bit harder than the it’s predecessor. Many times you have to really look around or have played the level or boss before. It’s not overly difficult or anything, but you can die a bit. Sometimes just our old friends, Trial and Error. But it does make beating the game a lot more fulfilling. Especially the last two bosses which are actually tricky, something Perfect Chaos isn’t.

The controls for the game are fine, no real issue. I’ve still yet to play this supposed ‘Unplayable Sonic Game’.

However, there are four issues I have with the game. The first is the most problematic for standard gameplay, the camera is a thing to be tackled. The camera is free roaming for the most part, but it seems to only change when you reach certain areas. It cannot be moved up or down, and even though it can be moved from left to right, it doesn’t stick when you move it and regularly makes the character hidden behind objects in the level, not that this doesn’t happen during regular gameplay. The camera actually killed me quite a bit actually.

The second is, that two upgrades necessary for the Last Story, Eggman’s Armour Upgrade and Knuckle’s Air Necklace, are not in places that are at all obvious, nor are you directed to them, the Air Necklace being in a very out of the way area and concealed by a puzzle. Considering all the rest are needed for the levels they are in and are mostly handed to you or you are directed to them out in the open, this comes off as annoying and cruel. I wonder if it was done to make you look up how to get them, because they succeeded.

The next problem I have is with two levels in particular, Rouge’s Mad Space and Sonic’s Crazy Gadget, both on ARK. Mad Space is much like Mario Galaxy, predating it by several years, in which Rouge travels to little planets around ARK. They are spherical or cylindrical. The thing is, when she walks near the equator, the controls go haywire then invert. As for Sonic’s Crazy Gadget, when he is traveling with different gravity, again, the controls invert. There is really no reason for this, especially with Rouge. I’m going to guess it’s a technical thing, but it’s really annoying.

The last problem I have is the mirror fights. Eggman VS Tails, Shadow VS Sonic and Rouge VS Knuckles. For some reason, the enemy character is always rather hard to damage and they have special attacks which makes the fight needlessly annoying and nearly luck based. I really do not get the point.

As far as music goes, City Escape is well known, but all of Team Dark’s themes are surprisingly well used, the Theme, Live and Learn, is fantastic and suits the final battle well. The music in Pumpkin Hill is great, but by and large, it’s unimpressive. It’s not bad, it’s just I didn’t really notice the music in many of the levels. Nothing is particularly bad, it just failed to stand out to me.

Like Sonic Adventure, the themes drown out the dialog. It’s rather annoying. Speaking of the dialog, the game is pretty well casted, with the the exception of the largely emotionless Knuckles, but badly acted at times. Shadow isn’t bad, but he’s so breathy and quiet he is hard to hear. Rouge sounds strange coming from the later games. She sounds much closer to her age, 18, than her current, but her first appearance with Knuckles, specifically, ‘You don’t know when to give up, do you?’ is quite bad. The rest of her dialog is fine though. Amy is fine all around, even if she isn’t as well acted as she was in the first Adventure. Eggman is great, the best of the cast. Sounds appropriate, even if I prefer his current, and is very well acted. Tails is well casted, but very poorly acted. His final line in the game is particularly well known as being very badly acted and out of place, his ‘We all did it together!’ Sonic is an oddity. He is generally fine, sounding like Sonic, but any time he has to show emotion, he screws it up. He’s meant to sound solemn in the end of the game, echoing Maria Robotnik’s famous line, but he still sounds somewhat hyper. It’s really sad because, as much as Sonic X is hated, and how much Chris Thorndyke ruins the end by taking Amy and Rouge’s places, Jason Griffith does it perfectly.

Sonic Adventure 2 is looked back on with either fondness or distaste. As for me, my opinions changed quite a bit. I don’t think it’s hard, a bit cheap and times and relies on trial and error, but not hard. However, it lacked the magic of the first Sonic Adventure. It’s just the very feel of the game, it’s so very different. From the lack of hubs, to the music, to the tone and to the plot, it just isn’t as good as the first one. It’s lacking.

The Dark side is the main plot, from start to finish. The Heroes being in the dark, and being longer, also isn’t helping the game. It makes half the game a chore. I’m left wondering what the nostalgia is for, however, at the same time, I wonder if what people mostly remember is the end. The end is touching. The end, and the Dark story, made slogging through the Hero side worth it.

Sonic Adventure 2 left me conflicted. I greatly enjoyed some aspects of it. When it’s good, it’s really good. Unfortunately, it can be dull. It’s dull for around 10 or so levels. It hasn’t any major deal breaker like SONIC THE HEDGEHOG(Silver, Max Speed, End of the World) or Sonic Unleashed(The amount of Trial and Error), but it seems they took Sonic Adventure, and instead of making the game better, they made it slightly worse, removed the heart, only making up for it with story.

Sonic Adventure DX Directors Cut

2011-09-23T23:27:00.001-07:00

No, I don’t have the original, nor do I own a Dreamcast. I also think the GC version is fine.

So, Sonic Adventure, Sonic’s first 3D outing. A game heralded when it first came out, now, especially that Sonic is now basically picked on by reviewers, something so Glitchy and Unplayable with Bad Controls, it must be pointed and laughed at like an old circus freak.

Strange that public opinion on the games, and Sonic himself, would 180 with the downfall of the Dreamcast. So, has it dated? Well, the opinion on Sonic Adventure 2 changed within the year, so that can’t be it. Maybe it was horrible to begin with and people only liked it because it was Sonic and exclusive? Who knows.

Sonic Adventure is the first game with the characters talking, so naturally it has more of a plot than the older games. Dr Eggman has shattered the Master Emerald, awakening in an ancient entity called Chaos, now he collects the Chaos Emeralds to feed it, make it stronger. Aided by a mysterious light and flashbacks to a distant past, it’s up to Sonic and his friends to fight Dr Eggman and save the world.

The plot is fine, pretty darn interesting for a Sonic game, but unfortunately, Chaos isn’t exactly well explained. The game keeps referring to him as a ‘God of Destruction’, yet tried, and I mean it wasn’t successful, to convey it had some connection to the Chao, an Digital Pet in both the Adventure games, the Master Emerald and why Knuckles is alone, through flashbacks to ancient Angel Island and the Echidna Tribe, guided by Tikal, a female Echidna, who wasn’t a war mongering thicky like the rest of them. She was sealed with Chaos in the Master Emerald. Tertiary material says that Chaos is Chao, mutated by the Master Emerald, to become the guardian of the Chao and Emeralds, who’s heart has been corrupted by the malice of said Echidna thickies. What bothers me it, the only pictures in the game show Perfect Chaos, which isn’t a spoiler, it’s in the opening movie, anyway, that says it had all the Chaos Emeralds. Perfect Chaos is defeated by Super Sonic, it’s 13 years later, that’s hardly a spoiler either, but anyway, are we to assume someone else, in Super Mode, ‘Opened It’s Heart’? Tikal, maybe?

I think a bit more info on Chaos would have been nice, but the plot works, is compelling, and overall, Chaos serves as a decent protagonist, considering it’s basically a disaster, not a character.

For multiple reasons, SEGA and SonicTeam says mass appeal, I say length, maybe both, Sonic Adventure is split into 7 sections, like the Emeralds, one character for each. Four are veterans, Sonic, Tails, Knuckles and Amy, two are new, E-102 Gamma and Big The Cat, and one is a Super Mode, Super Sonic.

The game is split between three sections, the Adventure Stages, which are hubs, of which there are three. Station Square, a city, based on New York I believe, which has multiple sections, the Mystic Ruins, which are part of Angel Island, again, multiple sections, and finally the Egg Carrier, Eggman’s flying fortress, which transforms insteads of having multiple sections. Then are the Action Stages, which are the levels. Lastly the Bosses, which have their own sections between stages, not at the end of them like the older games.

Sonic is the main game, the only one initially available, with the most levels, 10 in total, which unlocks all but one of the rest. This is Sonic’s first outing into a true 3D fray, and it’s not too bad. Still Point A to Point B from the old Mega Drive days, but in a 3D plain and much better than the isometric Sonic 3D Blast Flicky’s Island. From what I’ve seen of Crash Bandicoot, he seems to be taking notes from that. Most of the levels are on path with not too much exploration. Sonic also gets a couple of new moves in his transition to 3D, the Homing Attack, which will be a main stay for all the 3D titles, Sonic’s jump attack is now highly modified, when he jumps, he targets an enemy or item, and when you press jump again, in this game A, he launches himself at it and the Light Dash, where Sonic can charge by holding Action, for him the Spin Dash, then travel along a stream of rings.. I don’t exactly remember if it is used here, but Homing Attack will be used in streams of enemies to get over large spaces. The plot is the basic Sonic one, Eggman does something, Sonic must stop him. Overall, Sonic is probably the most enjoyable section of the game, unfortunately, it’s only 3 hours long.

Miles ‘Tails’ Prower’s story deals with him helping Sonic fight Dr Eggman and gradually becoming a hero in his own right. The gameplay is Tails racing against Sonic in 4 levels, has 3 sub levels, 2 in the Tornado, 1 sand boarding, and a final level racing against Dr Eggman. He uses his flying skills to avoid obstacles and beat both Sonic and Eggman. His plot is one of the better ones in the game and the gameplay is the only one with some difficulty. Tails is very enjoyable, something I didn’t quite expect. I was actually sad it’s only an hour long.

Knuckles The Echidna is very straight forward, the Master Emerald gets shattered, he goes through 5 levels to gather the shards. He has a gliding ability and the icons at the bottom go from Blue to Green to Yellow to Red depending on how close you are. Knuckles is not interesting, not endearing and only passes because it’s not completely boring.

Amy Rose, one of the more obscure characters from the franchise, finally gets her chance to shine and rise out of obscurity. Amy’s plot revolves around her running into a Flicky bird, being chased by one of Eggman’s robots, Zero, and helps it flee, in turn being pursued herself. Her gameplay also revolves around this, fleeing from Zero through three levels. She also has a nice little Metal Gear Solid moment by hiding in a drum. I didn’t find Amy’s plot all that compelling, and was pretty happy it was over quickly, an hour roughly.

Big The Cat, the infamous Big. His plot and gameplay revolves around his friend, Froggy, an actual frog, not an anthropomorphic one like the rest of the cast, albeit rather large, swallows a Chaos Emerald and Chaos’ Tail, he must fish for him. As bad as that sounds, and it isn’t enjoyable, it’s not as bad as people say. It’s not hard, it’s not the most boring thing on the planet, and it lasts barely an hour. I wouldn’t actively buy a Big The Cat game, but I don’t see reasoning in hating the big lug to the point of wanting to hang him with his own fishing line.

E-102 Gamma is probably the most unique of the characters, as he is one of Eggman’s robots and like all of his robots until Sonic Heroes, contains an animal as a fuel cell, in this case a Flicky. His story deals with him gaining sentience and learning what a horrible person Eggman truly is. It’s one of the more engaging plots in the game. His gameplay is quick, revolves around shooting and is mostly ‘get to the end before the timer runs out’, the player getting more precious seconds with each enemy defeated. Along with being the most unique, E-102 Gamma is also one of the more enjoyable to play as. His plot takes a little over an hour.

Super Sonic is unlocked by finishing all the rest, after a few fetch quests, he fights Perfect Chaos. That’s it. It’s barely 20mins.

If you’ve noticed, I keep mentioning how long each section is. Why? Well, it’s bloody short. I mean, I took my time, chalked up 8:59 Hours. You see, the game isn’t long. It also isn’t hard. To be frank, it’s ridiculously easy. Even the final battle is a matter of A to B, avoiding some obstacles, oddly enough what the games will become. I think this is a problem with the game, but also a merit. It’s very short and very easy, meaning that it’s over rather quickly, probably too quickly, but it doesn’t outstay it’s welcome. So I’m unsure how to feel. I think because most of the game is so enjoyable. I do think, looking back, it’s funny me saying this was a merit, when I did say Colours felt padded and what is nearly half the time. Ironic.

The voice casting in this game is suitable. None of the characters feel particularly badly casted nor do any of the voices simply not work. The acting is… alright. I’ve heard better, but this is still around Video Game Voice Acting infancy. I think Ryan Drummond is probably the best Sonic so far though. He suits that 15yrold voice far better than Roger Craig Smith, who we have today, or even Jason Griffith, the VA between both. I have to admit, I do prefer Dan Green as Knuckles though, Michael McGahard and Scott Dreier, SA1 and 2 respectively, seemed to make Knuckles sound rather, laid back, in comparison to Dan who always accented the hotheadedness of the character.

For all the complaints about controls, I never felt them. They worked perfectly and had no issues. The closest to an issue, caused by the Dreamcast having no second analogue stick, is that the camera is rotated by the shoulder buttons. But Spyro has the same, and it’s not a big thing. Actually, from a strictly gameplay perspective, I have no issues with the game, at all. Nothing controls badly, nothing is tedious.

However, where I think this game really shines is the atmosphere. The game has this unique feel to it that is really hard to dislike. I can’t quite place it, the music is fantastic, suiting everything and just feeling right. I can’t exactly say that it feels like Mega Drive Sonic, but it feels… ‘right’. In the levels, the look of the game does feel like the older games, to the point of being largely based on them I believe. The Hubs however, I think add a lot of character to the game. Each Adventure stage feels individual, and very different, with a lot of character. It made me realise why I never talked about the Adventure fields in 06 and Unleashed, they lacked something. That something this has. A certain charm. Especially Soleana.

The Audio does have one issue though, the music is much louder than the dialog. This is a problem with both Adventures, can’t be corrected I believe, and I believe is caused because of the new music cues/theme songs they gave everyone, 5 of which are lyrical, which isn’t helping.

Considering the game came out in what, 1998, and this graphical overhaul happened in 2003? It’s decent looking. Actually it looks far superior to it’s sequel which wasn’t upgraded. I really don’t know what to say, it’s a Dreamcast, the aborted Gen 5 and a half console, not quite up to PS2/XBox/NGC but much better than the PSX/N64/Saturn/Jaguar. There isn’t much to say. For what it is, it’s nice. The hands on the models are a bit weird, but again, Dreamcast game.

Everything about the game does have character. I think that’s why I’m so hard pressed to fault it. I can’t say it’s perfect, it isn’t. But considering how old it is, it was Sonic’s first 3D outing, all the problems Sonic XTreme had, it’s fantastic. It works, it’s enjoyable and it sure is memorable. It’s not frustrating, it’s not ugly and it just has a certain something.

I’m not the kind of person blinded by nostalgia, if I go back to something, and it’s garbage, I’ll say it. I will rip it a new one. But there is nothing wrong with Sonic Adventure. It’s fine. Again, hard pressed to find a fault. I really don’t think ‘Too Easy’ is a fault.

So, Sonic Adventure, clunker of the past or classic in a fog of blind fanboyism hatred of Sonic? I think the later. Unlike 06(Rushed, Difficulty Spikes, Silver), Unleashed(Trial and Error up the arse, N64 collectathon bullshit) or Colours(Lacking charm and meat), there isn’t much to hate here.

Replaying Sonic Adventure may have dimmed my memories of it, I remembered it being longer, more fulfilling and just generally, all around, fantastic from start to finish, but not all that much. I still love the game. Sure, it’s not what I remembered, but it’s charming, enjoyable and a game I always look back on with fondness.

-Some Gamer Dude

My Game To Do List

2011-09-18T04:48:00.001-07:00

Wow, making a big pile here, luckily I have next to no games to buy next year, so this is what I'll be up to. This includes incoming games and expected ones.

DS
Chrono Trigger
Dragon Quest V Hand of The Heavenly Bride
Dragon Quest VI Realms of Revelations
Dragon Quest IX Sentinels of The Starry Skies
Final Fantasy III
Sonic Rush
Sonic Rush Adventure
Sonic Colours

Gamecube
Sonic Adventure DX Directors Cut
Sonic Adventure 2 Battle
Shadow The Hedgehog
Sonic Gems
Metal Gear Solid The Twin Snakes
Pokemon Colosseum
Pokemon XD Gale of Darkness
Baten Kaitos Eternal Wings and The Lost Ocean

Wii
Madworld
The Conduit
Klonoa
The Legend of Zelda Skyward Sword

PlayStation Portable
Castlevania Dracula X Chronicles
Fullmetal Alchemist Brotherhood
God of War Chains of Olympus
Invizimals
Invizimals The Shadow Zone
Star Ocean First Departure
Star Ocean Second Evolution
Tales of Eternia
Valkyrie Profile Lenneth
Warriors Orochi 2
Final Fantasy
Final Fantasy II
Final Fantasy IV Complete Edition
God of War Ghosts of Sparta

PlayStation
Metal Gear Solid
Spyro The Dragon
Spyro 2 Gateway to Glimmer
Spyro Year of The Dragon

PlayStation 2
Metal Gear Solid 2 Sons of Liberty
Metal Gear Solid 3 Snake Eater
Canis Canem Edit
Devil May Cry
Devil May Cry 3 Special Edition
Shadow Hearts
Dragon Quest VIII Quest for The Cursed King
Dynasty Warriors 2
Dynasty Warriors 3
Dynasty Warriors 4
Dynasty Warriors 5
Dynasty Warriors 5 Xtreme Legends
Sonic Heroes
Sonic Mega Collection Plus
Okami
Prince of Persia Trilogy
Shin Megami Tensei Digital Devil Saga
Shin Megami Tensei Digital Devil Saga II

PlayStation 3
Dynasty Warriors 7 Xtreme Legends
inFAMOUS 2
Metal Gear Solid HD Collection
Metal Gear Solid 4 Guns of The Patriots
The Simpsons Game
Brutal Legend
SEGA Mega Drive Ultimate Collection
Sengoku BASARA Samurai Heroes
Star Ocean The Last Hope International
Naruto Shippuden Ultimate Ninja Storm 2
Disgaea 3 Absence of Justice
God of War III
Devil May Cry 4
Bayonetta
Shadows of The Damned
Sonic Generations

Xbox 360
Assassins Creed
Assassins Creed II
Assassins Creed Brotherhood
Bioshock
Saints Row 2
Saints Row The Third
Fallout 3 GoTY Edition
Fallout New Vegas GoTY Edition

----------------------

Of course, a lot of these are replays or finishing things. Glad I'll get time for them.

Sonic Colours

2011-09-14T01:51:00.001-07:00

So, that was short.

Sonic Colours is usually called ‘The Second Coming’, built on Unleashed’s day/Hedgehog stages, Sonic Colours is what people have largely been screaming for, and now, thanks to the ‘lol2D’ mentality passing, has come. A largely 2 dimensional Sonic the Hedgehog game on a home console.

It also heralded new writers, the guys behind another SEGA game for the Wii, Madworld, and a new set of voice actors, now from California/Texas instead of New York.

What else did it do new? for the first time in… well, since the Mega Drive, Eggman is the final boss. This is a first for a 3D game.

Sonic Colous is about Eggman using tractor beams to steal planets, connect them to an orbital elevator, make an amusement park and use the inhabitants, the Wisps, as fuel. Sonic and Tails must rescue the Wisps and their worlds.

Its, well the plot is alright, in theory. Remember, Dr Robotnik is the man who put animals in robots for fuel. Sonic and Tails go up in the orbital elevator, knowing Eggman is up to no good, see his new lackies, Orbot and Cubot, based on the Adventures of Sonic the Hedgehog lackies, Grounder and Scratch, capturing Aliens. Sonic stops them, Tails makes a device to talk to them and they go off to save them.

It’s a decent plot, it’s problem is the characters. You see, Sonic and Tails seem to have gotten new personalities from the new writers to accompany their new voices from SEGA of America. Sonic is far more jokey, he doesn’t take anything seriously. Tails is far more sarcastic, I think Rowan Atkinson’s Black Adder may be one of the better comparisons. It’s kind of like a more, ahem, ‘mature’, Adventures of Sonic the Hedgehog. It doesn’t mesh right. Not so say these characterisations are bad, it’s just they’re… unsettling.

I wonder if this would be better if Jaleel White voiced Sonic. Roger Craig Smith is just a little too deep. I don’t know, he feels similar to Caren Manuel’s Rouge. Ages the character. Where Rouge sounded 18 going on 40, Roger’s Sonic sounds 15(He’s 15 now, right? Sonic Team can’t make their mind up) going on 25.

However Kate Higgens, of Sakura Haruno(Naruto) fame, voices Tails perfectly. A throw back to The Adventures of Sonic The Hedgehog though. I really enjoy this voice for Tails.

Eggman keeps Mike Pollock, who is great, as per norm.

The game is organised like a Mario game. Main hub, where you can see all the planets, then a level select, done in paths, once on the planet. It works well enough, but, there are a few core gameplay problems.

First off, the worlds are split into 6 Acts and a boss fight, so 7 areas, you know, like the Chaos Emeralds. Anyway, the first act is usually the average length of a level. Nothing too long, nothing too short. 2-6? Short and gimmicky. Oh, I haven’t mentioned the gimmick of the game, have I?

The main gimmick is the aliens, the Wisps. They are basically the Shields from the Mega Drive games, mushed with some of Sonic’s later abilities, for the most part. White Wisp, the main one, is boost, Yellow is Drill, to drill through soil and robots, Cyan is Laser, which is somewhat like Light Dash, Orange is a Rocket, to go far up, Blue is Cube, basically the button from Mario that makes bricks coins, Green is Hover, which… makes you hover, Pink is Spikes, which makes you able to grip to walls and spin dash, but you can’t jump and Purple is Frenzy, which makes you a big angry dog that eats everything in its way while it gets bigger and bigger.

Overall, the Wisps work well, the problem is the acts. After the first act, which can go for quite a while, they usually max at 3 minutes. I don’t know, I’d say it was bad for doing this, but at the same time, I feel that if there was even more, or each was longer, they would out stay their welcome.

The problem is that Sega was absolutely right. In know, a company being right, my god. Sonic by himself is a short game. Go play Sonic 1, 2 3&K and CD, with the ability to save before each act starts. Back? Took you a couple of hours for each game, max? Well, this game took me 5:47. With replaying levels and grinding lives in case I needed them, and outside of a few instances, I didn’t. I’m guessing it’d take me an even 5 if I didn’t.

It needs the other characters to pad it out. Hell, Sonic Adventure is about 5 hours as well if you just play Sonic. It comes off as, unfulfilling. Say what you will about about the other characters in the Adventure games, Heroes, 06 or the Werehog, I take it no one wants to pay full price for a 5 hour game. Hell, no one gets satisfaction from it either.

But it does have ‘Collectables’, 5 Red Rings in each act, 180 total, which allow you to unlock levels in the Sonic Simulator, which net you the Chaos Emeralds after completing all 21. Then you can play as Super Sonic in every level, after you’ve done absolutely everything. It strikes me as largely pointless and just an excuse to scream the game is longer than it is, 5 hours long.

The levels are nice, trying to emulate the PS360’s graphical engine, the Hedgehog Engine,varying from a standard amusement park, a food themed world, a space themed area, the home world of the wisps, which isn’t unlike a level from the original Ratchet and Clank where the planet is being polluted and has machines everywhere, a Japanese underwater level and an asteroid level.

The final level is running down the orbital elevator and only has three sections, running down the elevator, which is one of the few times I had a bit of trouble in this game, the boss and running down the elevator to the end.

7 levels and a final area. That might be the other reason why it’s short. But again, if it were longer, I would feel it had stayed around too long.

I think that’s it, in people’s begging for the Mega Drive Sonic back, they forget one thing. They are fucking short games. Good games, but short. And that’s all you need, for a 2D game. Unlike Castlevania, you can’t extend the gameplay by aping another franchise. You need to add more characters or alternate play styles.

The boss battles are, well, repeated, but not bad. The first and fourth levels have the same boss, as do the third and sixth, and finally second and fifth. The secondary just being a bit harder.

The final boss is Dr Eggman in one of his machines, using each of the wisps power, resembling the Frenzy wisp.

None of the bosses are particularly hard, I think Eggman is the only one I lost against. Once.

I ended the game with 59 lives.

I think what lost me was about the middle of the game, after Starlight Carnival and into Planet of the Wisps, lasting till Asteroid Coaster ended, was rather boring. I just stopped caring. Nothing ‘wow’s. I started acknowledging how easy it was, and realised it was just a walk till the end. I had to use a guide multiple times in 06 and Unleashed, because I was challenged. Here, er, once because I didn’t see a pad to make wisps appear due to the 2D plane, and another time because I was wasting my boost during the second half of Terminal Velocity, the last level before the boss. I think this is another problem of the game, it screams that it’s for 5 year olds.

The game has great music, but I don’t get why I even mention this anymore, it’s fucking Sonic.

Sonic Colours left me.. conflicted. On one hand, going back to the basic Sonic of the original games, with all the advancements of the new games, is a joy. But the game feels as if they knew how damn short it was, and needlessly padded it. The DS version has 2 acts of similar size, 3 missions and a boss per level. Kind of like the old games. I think that’s the problem at the core. It’s a glorified portable on the TV. It feels of the same size and quality.

I can’t say I didn’t enjoy parts of it, because I did. I just wish the whole game was engaging as the first three worlds, or the worlds were all two acts as large as the first act of each world instead of one long one and five short ones.

I think I’m just amazed it wasn’t released as a budget title, because it doesn’t seem worth full price. I wonder if it was used to finance Generations.

-Some Gamer Dude

Sonic Unleashed

2011-09-12T21:02:00.001-07:00

So, Sonic Unleashed HD/PS360. It’s the game that brought about the Sonic Rush gameplay being used on the console games. Not the dumbest idea, in theory, as the Rush games are much better received than the average Adventure onwards Sonic games.

It also brought us the controversial Sonic the Werehog.

Sonic Unleashed is about Eggman splitting the planet, releasing dark and light entities, so that he may create Eggmanland. Sonic is caught up in one of his machines as Super Sonic, and gets the dark entities energy inside him by corrupting the Chaos Emeralds, turning him into a monster of the night, the Werehog. It’s now up to Sonic and his new friend Chip, to save the world by making it whole again.

The plot isn’t bad, it’s a far sight lighter than the last few Sonic games, but it isn’t particularly engaging either. It serves it’s purpose, it gives us a reason to go from A to B. Characters are in character, well acted and likable. It works well enough.

Let’s address the large, blue Werehog in the room first.

I do not get the hate for it. I simply don’t. It controls like a kiddy god of war, down to the love it or hate it platforming. The reason be became the Werehog is perfectly reasonable within story. The design isn’t that bad either. Only the name strikes me as out of place, Man Hog. Don’t they mean Hedgewolf, Wolfhog or Lupinehog? But I hear it was basically created by the fanbase.

To be honest, I rather enjoyed the Werehog. I didn’t mind the 20-30min levels at all. Hedgehog however, I did have issues with.

Where to start. What Sonic Team has done is taken the Mach Speed sections of Sonic 2006 and made them more like Sonic Rush. IE, boost through enemies, run on water, avoid obstacles. Homing attack is no longer double jump, it’s now jump-boost. The game is also riddled with QTEs.

Now, that gameplay by itself is not bad, at all. Rooftop Run for example, is rather enjoyable. Fast, platforming but not too much, genuinely fun. Unfortunately, not many levels are this enjoyable, especially near the end and the optional ones.

For some reason, around the middle, the difficulty spikes up. During boost sections there are spikes in the water, on the floor and bottomless holes. There are sections where you must boost while doing a hard turn, boosting on a narrow path using R1/L1 to change side step to another narrow path, boost while doing a drift and boost while aiming for a small path. Boost to run on walls and aim for a small target you can’t homing attack. Oh, and our nasty little friend QTEs.

All these are problems are exemplified by the last ‘Day’ level, and the second last level of all, Jungle Joyride of Adabat, which is either Thailand, Vietnam or the Philippines. The level boarders on nightmarish.

It wants to be fun, it does, and it does have the basis for fun, but some of these aspects, especially the narrow path, which I got through by going slowly so I didn’t need split second reactions, are pure crap. However running over water? Fun. It’s a good premise. Back to the drifting, crap. It doesn’t even seem to work. Spikes in the water or road just breeds trial and error gameplay, not, again, split second reactions. The whole boost on walls to a small target, or just as bad, boost on walls with walls avoiding spikes and aiming for a spring board. Hellish. QTEs are fine, but their very existence irritates me.

It’s sad at least five of the levels, of which there are seven, do have these issues. But I guess I can take solace in the fact they are sections of levels, not whole levels, even Adabat. But they do frustrate, to the point of excessive gamer rage. I wanted to snap the disc at one point.

But saying that, the original Sonic games had spikes everywhere, dodgey jumps, bottomless holes, ect. It’s frustrating, and I wonder how much of it is, like all of Sonic’s problems, caused by his very speed. I really don’t hate it, and that’s strange. It’s fucking infuriating. It really is, but I think because it needs some skill at points, and again, reflexes, not being actually bad.

I suppose I should address Eggmanland, the final level. Excessively long, about an hour, has some frustrating points, the tube with the boarding annoyed the hell out of me, luckily you get a life just after the checkpoint, but not actually hard. I don’t see the problem with this level, aside from length. I thought it was pretty good.

The final boss boss however, oh boy. Pain in the ass.

The final boss is split into two sections, the base form fought with the Gaia Colossus/Chaos Emerald Temple Megazord and Sonic, second fought as Super Sonic.

The first part, the Megazord, you must fly at Dark Gaia, avoiding rocks and lasers, to get close, do a QTE, and let Sonic do a mini level to hit one of his three eyes.

Here’s the problem. The Megazord, is slow. Very slow. It also has a life bar with no way to heal unless you finish the section. The rocks can take up the entire screen. Oh, you can punch the rocks, but he is slow and it’s hard to tell how fast, as well as which rocks, you will hit. Oh, you can block, but you have to stop, block and make sure none of the other rocks hit your shoulders. The lasers? Stop, Block, Strafe out of range and Boost. The first two sections are, fine then ok, the final is infuriating. It’s hard because you have to block so very often, blocking is annoying and not always effective and reducing damage.

The Sonic section of the first act is rather bad, timed, and a small time, unintuitive, again, the third act again, both far too platform like and needing of speed, therefore, riddled with trial and error.

The final section is Super Sonic VS Perfect Gaia. Yeah, if you didn’t know you collect rings on the flight there, to collect health and a life, I believe you’re screwed.

Basically, you have to fly around, boosting into his … snakes, nothing phallic about that, while the Megazord holds him back. I think there are 8, and after every few he tries to zap you and throw rocks at you. During these sections, the Megazord will heal.

I think it’s testament to the, well, I don’t want to say difficulty, I think I’ll say, well, I don’t know what to call it, again, trial and error. But I started Eggmanland with 20 lives, died more than a few times, but those parts had ‘no penalty, here’s an extra life’ lives, and came out with 22 lives. The final battle? Went into it with those 22 lives, came out with 4. 2 of which I got in the final battle by realizing there were rings. Because I watched a video online. Which I had to do for both parts of the boss battle.

You know, the part of the game that irritated me the most, more than the trial and error gameplay, was the Medals. One needs a certain number of Sun or Moon medals, collected in levels and hubs, to enter Day and Night levels respectively. They aren’t that rare, well, you get a decent amount of them in the night levels, but you need a lot for day levels. You do end up at one point of another going back and trying to grind them. Not that bad, certainly better than the N64 collectathon platformers, but it’s largely unnecessary and reeks of padding.

The game is, in a word, gorgeous. I love looking at the game. SEGA are to be congratulated and awarded for the Hedgehog Engine. In this generations, there are some pretty games, but this is awe inspiring. I do agree with Sonic Team, going back to the cartoon like graphics, and designs, works. Even the characters look great. I would not be lying if I said Sonic Unleashed is not one of the prettiest games I have seen so far.

The music is great, as usual. Much more jazzy than usual, but works and works well. I like what I’ve heard of Bowling for Soup, so Jaret Reddick and Erik Chandler of Bowling for Soup performing Sonic Unleashed’s theme song, Endless Possibilities, is a big up point. Jaret also wrote it. It feels like one of their songs too, and it does suit the game. It’s light, catchy, fun and a good song. But this is Sonic, so that’s the norm here. A Sonic with bad music is like a GTA without guns. It doesn’t exist. And if it did no one would want it. Or admit it existed. I’m just rather sad SEGA didn’t keep them on, they are arguably better than Crush 40. It’s also quite saddening that unlike Sonic Heroes’ Sonic Heroes and Sonic Colour’s Reach for the Stars get a unique CGI movie for their opening, and are viewed before the title. Like Sonic the Hedgehog CD’s Sonic Boom/You Can Do Anything, you have to wait for it to load at the have to wait at the title, and unlike Sonic CD, no movie. Just splices of cut scenes and in game. Hell, even the two recent racing games, Sonic & SEGA All Star Racing and Sonic Riders got these. Bad treatment of a great song.

As a total, Sonic Unleashed is a far step in the right direction from SONIC THE HEDGEHOG, sure, it has a fair few difficulty issues, but this is the first try at a game of this type, and it does get more and more difficult, gradually, in an organic way. The new gameplay does work, and it works well, but, and this is a big but. One feels that the speed is too forced, hence the platforming issues and many of the ‘ZOOOOOMOMGSPIKES!’.

It’s funny, as frustrating as Sonic Unleashed is at times, I really enjoyed it. Unlike SONIC THE HEDGEHOG, I didn’t feel ‘thank god, it’s over’, I felt… accomplished. Fulfilled. I enjoyed myself. Can’t ask for more than that.

-Some Gamer Dude

------------------------

Sonic Colours is coming really soon, it’s short. It’s over in Super Sonic Speed.

My completion list.

2011-08-20T04:02:00.001-07:00

I've been slack, not reading my comics, not finishing games, but, I'm trying, SONIC THE HEDGEHOG aka Sonic 2006 was my first, so here's my list.

Sonic The Hedgehog
Sonic CD
Sonic The Hedgehog 2
Sonic 3 & Knuckles
Sonic Adventure
Sonic Adventure 2
Sonic Heroes
Shadow The Hedgehog
Sonic Unleashed
Sonic Colours

Metal Gear Solid The Twin Snakes
Metal Gear Solid 2 The Sons of Liberty
Metal Gear Solid 3 Snake Eater
Metal Gear Solid 4 The Guns of the Patriots

Yeah, big list, also have to do the last few missions of my Saints Row 2 replay, and I do have a huge pile of jrpgs, but I can play those missions any time and I haven't been in the mood for a jrpg in ages, never did finish Phantasy Star or Dragon Quest V, hell, I got Final Fantasy Origins of Souls just to finally finish II, never even started it. Heavens knows why I plan to buy Dragon Quest VI and Final Fantasy IV Complete.

As for my comics, been working on that tonight, but still have a huge amount.

Half of Reign of the Supermen/Return of Superman
All of Green Lantern Vol4
Green Lantern Corps The Weaponer
War of the Green Lanterns
Blackest Night
All Flashpoint and it's tie ins
Birds of Prey Vol2 9-15
Green Arrow 15
Batgirl 1-24
Mega Man 2-4
Sonic Archives 0-2
All 6 Blue Beetle trades
Wizards Essential X-men
Pokemon Adventures 1-14

It is a lot, and a good reason why I am cutting down on my comics, you leave them too long, it gets too hard to catch up. I still want to reread Baritone some time and read Full Metal Alchemist when the Madman releases finish. Urgh.

I'm tired looking at this list.

-Some Gamer Dude

inviZimals

2011-08-17T04:17:00.001-07:00

Augmented reality is a pretty good concept really, a special card and camera work together to make things appear in reality. It's very appealing, hence why I tracked down a copy of inviZimals with a PSP camera and it's sequel, inviZimals The Shadow Zone.

InviZimals is a Mon game where you play various minigames to catch monsters around your house and battle them. So, yeah, average mon game. Being developed by a Spanish developer, Novarama, inviZimals is one of the few western role play games in the mon franchise.

The story is that a Japanese PSP developer used his PSP camera and found out there are animals all around us that are invisible. He asks you to search for inviZimals across the globe. Eventually you find yourself in tournaments and a plot. Your normal mon stuff.

Where this game is unique is that all cut scenes use actual actors and are presented like a Skype conversation. There is also no pc, you directly interact with the game. It's very immersive and unique. The acting is... serviceable, but nothing special. The developer, Keni, is entertaining enough, very enthusiastic, and the Professor, Professor Dawson, played by Brian Blessed, is rather entertaining. A side from them, rather ho-hum.

The mons are of 6 types and have weaknesses and strengths, like any rpg. The monsters cannot learn attacks, but have 4 attacks, a strong attack which is slow, a quick attack that can break through defences and two standard attacks. The combat is somewhat like the Final Fantasy IV through IX, somewhat turn based. Attacks need to charge and you can use L to defend or dodge in real time.

Attacks and dodging cost stamina, which recharges as you fight. You can also use items, called Vectors, to heal life, stamina, buff, disrupt or attack.

The animals themselves have some appeal, but are very westernized. I don't believe they have the appeal of any of the Japanese monster franchises. They all have 3 stages, evolving at 5 and 9, levels maxing at 12. Most of the monsters become more monstrous, with spikes and become bipedal. Monsters are caught in a predetermined order through a minigame with the camera. Stats are done like a Bethesda game, you choose where the stat increases go. Stats are Life, Stamina, Recovery(Stamina recharge), Attack and Armor(Defense). inviZimals, like Pokemon, can come in alternate colour forms, here called Mutants. They have a 1 point higher Recovery on capture.

If I've sounded bored through this, it's because this game is very boring, glorified tech demo. I got really into it in the beginning, but it lost me. It only picks up on very specific colours, the camera is pathetic in poor lightning conditions, many of the minigames are infuriating or just silly, the two whistling ones in particular. The combat becomes tedious as the monsters don't change enough and have little customisation, the plot is by the book to the point of boredom. It's just not interesting enough. It's dull.

I originally only got this because I wanted to see SONY's mon franchise and try Augmented Reality, but there is no meat to this game. It's very much a tech demo released as a game. Oh, there is some effort here, but not enough to make it interesting. I don't think I have it in me to finish it, let alone start the sequel.

I don't know, maybe Pokemon Black and White made me finally open my eyes to how boring this genre is, I can't touch anything in this, or the greater JRPG style genre, without being bored shitless. All I know is every time I turn this on I can't help but think either 'Is it over yet? Is this the last club or Tournament?' or 'Why am I not playing Castlevania Symphony of the Night right now?'

But I got inviZimals + PSP Camera for a Buy 1 Get 1 Free deal, buying God of War Chains of Olympus as my more expensive game, and only payed 20 for inviZimals The Shadow Zone, so I can't complain too much.

-Some Gamer Dude

SONIC THE HEDGEHOG aka Sonic 2006

2011-08-15T21:02:00.001-07:00

There is a lot to be said about this game, and I was planning to say a lot, but I really don’t have it in me, so I choose to just hit a few things I think are notable.

Most people know about the infamous kiss, so it’s no spoiler, but to be frank, I don’t get the big deal. So she kissed a dead rodent, it was innocent and fitted in plot. I didn’t see anything overtly sexual about it. A hug could have sufficed, but I don’t get why such a big deal is made over it.

This has to be the game that got me to be a Shadow the Hedgehog fan. He is the only one of the characters, and his friends/allies, Rouge the Bat and E123 OMEGA, to be thoroughly enjoyable with minimum to no irritancies. The vehicles controlled well enough, he controlled well enough, Omega and Rouge controlled well enough, the plot was well enjoyable and servicable, the best of the three, and there was no segments of his story that made me want to crush my control and punch a hole in the wall. It was even better than his solo game, Shadow The Hedgehog, surprisingly enough.

They even managed to make all three rather likable. I enjoy the Government Agent role they put Shadow in, it suits him. Especially now he’s gotten over all his emotional problems. Even Rouge works well, and I like they have finally gotten her to admit she has feelings for Shadow, in a G sense.

Sonic is rather a mixed bag. Normally, he isn’t bad, but he has one thing that really pissed me off. The Max Speed Segments. There are four spread throughout the game, including one in the first level, and they are terrible. Instead of controlling the character like a platformer, it’s a weird racing game, where you direct Sonic through obstacles while he defies gravity, outruns a flaming tornado or just tries to dart past trees. The problem with this is that it feels like the player has little control over Sonic and it really comes down to trial and error, they’re rather annoying to get through. It doesn’t help that either Sonic is too fast or the obstacles don’t appear soon enough and they are too close together. The Kingdom Valley is by and far the most irritating level in the game, because after a rather challenging level, you get the hardest one of these.

Both Shadow and Sonic are afflicted by a rail grinding problem. In the older games, you leaned to the new rail and jumped. I believe that’s how it is in the new games too, but here? You have to aim and use homing attack. It causes a lot of problems with both jumping and these vine line bungy springs in Kingdom Valley.

I also had some issues with these glowing pods that you have to jump to and from in Tropical Jungle. Just judging the timing. One of the many ‘Trial and Error’ problems of this game.

While Knuckles isn’t bad, just the wall hugging thing he and Rouge do, Tails is a bit of a pain to use because he decreases in altitude rather quickly and just makes gameplay difficult… when you first use him and in his ‘extra level’, both in the Wave Ocean. Every other time he is fine, I guess because Wave Ocean is more for speedsters and Grab-gliders, like Sonic/Shadow/Blaze and Knuckles/Rouge respectively. It’s funny though, in Sonic Adventure 2, Knuckles and Rouge were counterparts, while Eggman and Tails were, then in Sonic Heroes, Knuckles and Omega became counterparts while Tails and Rouge were, in this, we’re back to Tails and Omega, the stand in for Eggman, with Rouge and Knuckles.

Silver has to be one of the single worst additions to the franchise. Silver is, largely, a copy of Dragon Ball Z’s Trunks Briefs, down to even a similar scenario. Say what you will about Amy, Cream, Tails or anyone else, they are reasonably fast and their gameplay has something to do with the plot or whatever. Even the fan hated Big, the fishing Cat, wasn’t that bad. Never got the hate for Big the Cat. Silver? Silver is slow, his gameplay has Combat, unlike Big from my recollection, and has to do it quickly, but he can’t be fast due to his nature. He’s an ESPer. Psychic. His gameplay is puzzle based largely, grabbing things or levitating with his mind, depleting an action bar. Once that bar is gone, you are vulnerable until it recharges. He can only stun enemies. He has no form of combat without it and again, he is not fast nor can he home attack.

But that’s not the worst of it. The puzzles are confusing and in some cases, badly made. Take the first level, Crisis City, largely ‘Move Block A to Region B to advance’, no biggie. Tropical Jungle? I had to grab a guide it was so confusing. The path was not direct and was largely confusing. Third level, Dusty Desert? I had to glitch the game to get past. The billiard puzzle at the end is fairly infamous for being overly difficult, I spent a good 30mins trying to do it. You have to basically play mini golf with a 4 foot billiard ball, with only 9 taps. Hitting the wall also counts as a tap. You also have to avoid holes. I think you can see the pain. Luckily there was a glitch on youtube that showed how to just bypass the puzzle and go straight to the end. I had to. For my mental health. I can see many others doing it too. After that, the game isn’t overtly hard, just more irritating, with Aquatic Base possibly being the only other case of a bloody annoying puzzle in the game. This is also a problem with the entire game, the difficulty is thrown in a blender.

Back to Sonic, and even Shadow, the final Episode too, the beginning levels are quite difficult, whether this is getting used to the gameplay or not, I don’t know, but they feel very hard compared to what comes later in each Episode. Yeah, Sonic and Silver have some harder levels later, Sonic’s Kingdom Valley being the most notable, but it’s just badly made in this respect. I think the Last Episode’s The End of the World is the most notable in respect to the earlier levels being more difficult. It’s a nightmare.

7 Acts to the one level, segments of 7 levels, riddled with black holes, on 5 lives, with 7 characters. Luckily Tails can grab a couple of lives, he, Omega, Knuckles and Rouge aren’t difficult to finish. Hell, Rouge and Knuckles glide over everything for the most part. The others need a bit of luck and skill, but aren’t too hard. It’s more, again, the game isn’t straight forward. I think what gets me is how frantic the end feels. It makes the player a lot more nervous than is needed. I even felt the need to rush to save Sonic. While that level of immersion should be a good thing, it isn’t. It makes the game harder. It’s strange really. I thought it was difficult while I was doing it, and it was frustrating, but it wasn’t hard when I think about it.

The final boss, Solaris, isn’t hard. He isn’t as easy as say, Perfect Chaos, but he is in no way hard. None of the bosses throughout the game are. But they are all fairly enjoyable. I liked that Solaris used the theme of Sonic and the game, His World.

The music for the entire game was pretty good. I never really noticed it, but I looking back, I did enjoy it. This IS Sonic the Hedgehog though, it’s to be expected. I think the only thing of note is Crush 40’s remake of All Hail Shadow. Compared to Magna Fi’s version from Shadow The Hedgehog, it’s really bad. The original was just cheesy, but this version is inappropriate for the band, and it shows. So sad, because it’s a decent song for the character.

The game has three rather nasty problems though. Loading, Town Missions and Currency/Rings. As you may well know, 20 second odd loading sessions are not uncommon. They are unbearably frequent. Not that bad in itself, but, the game has mini missions in the hubs, called Town Missions. These are only done for the Rings, to buy items. Unfortunately, there are a few issues, but we’ll go backwards through them. Those Items? Essential to gameplay, but Shadow and Silver can afford all of theirs quite easily with just their level winnings. Sonic has far more than are needed for gameplay. These mini missions? Loads of Loading. Hub-Talk-Loading-Talk-Loading-Game-Loading-Result-Loading-Talk-Loading-Hub. These can range from 2 to 20 seconds a piece, and are aggravating. This much loading just discourages you from doing them, and to add that they are largely unnecessary? Why would anyone do them outside of 100% Completion/Madness? No reason to.

Back to the loading though, it makes having to replay levels, especially End of the World, particularly irritating. Loading>Movie Skip>Loading>Movie Skip>Loading>Movie Skip>Loading>Level. I don’t believe I have to explain why this is annoying.

I never really encountered the glitches people talked about, other than the one I forced and a slight glitch in Wave Ocean as Shadow where the wing of Shadow’s glider hit a rock but the collision animation didn’t play.

The villains, and by extension the plot, are largely forgettable. Ironic that the game erases itself. Eggman is barely there, much like Sonic, while the game revolves around Mephiles, Shadow and Silver. Mephiles seeks to alter the past, Shadow and Silver can travel time with Chaos Control. The problem is, outside of his backstory, Mephiles is just a cackling, hammy, Saturday Morning Villain. Right down to being voiced by Dan Green. Oh, the plot is engaging enough to work in game, but it’s not that memorable. It’s not touching, it’s really not all that interesting. It’s just average.

Do I think this game is as bad as what people say? Far from. I would more say it’s a flawed and poor game than it is bad. It’s not ‘unplayable’. Again, I genuinely enjoyed the Shadow section, again, I prefer it even to his own game. Sonic’s sections aren’t that bad, some infuriating sections, but not that bad. Silver? Oh Silver is terrible, gameplay and character, the only part of his Episode I enjoyed was Blaze at Wave Ocean. Last Episode? First half is a nightmare due to multiple things, second is pretty decent. I’d have a hard time saying I didn’t enjoy some aspects of it, as that would be a lie. But I loathed so much of it. In a word, I’m conflicted. For everything I like, the things I hate are so bad that they equal what I like.

SONIC THE HEDGEHOG is not the worst game I have ever played, far from, but it is one of the most infuriating and, while playable, unpolished and seemingly incomplete. Would I ever replay it aside from a few select levels? Not bloody likely.

-Some Gamer Dude

Pokemon TCG, a leave or goodbye?

2011-07-31T03:00:00.001-07:00

I returned to Pokemon during the hype of Black and White. I had originally left because the mid to late DP era and entire Platinum era were dominated by very few decks each, DP being basically 1, making the game quite boring. I also lacked sufficient funds and strongly disliked the idea of LvX. I always hate 1 or 2 per Box cards. Revenue raising in it’s most pure forms. HGSS had Primes, far more common UR cards, making harder to use but more impressive cards the 2 per Box cards. BW regulated these to being impressive reprints of cards already in the set.

I had high hopes that HGSS On would be a better era. I should stop having faith that anyone connected to ‘Nintendon’t’ will do anything right.

With the rotation to HGSS On, it has done nothing to help the problem. We just went from SP Pokemon, Gyarados and Vileplume/Gengar dominating to Zekrom, Magnezone/Emboar and Yanmega dominating. This isn’t helped by the fact that because of them being far more common, everyone and their dog has them. You know how I said I hated ex/LvX? I don’t think I do anymore, this is far more irritating. It’s compounded by something else.

Burwood league has changed. Since Steffanie left, the owners of Goodgames Burwood took over. We went from a system where one chose their opponent to the same one used in ranking tournaments. In theory, this is enjoyable. It was back in the EX/Gen III era where there was around 7 different decks that where usable. Most people had a unique deck. There was no real competitiveness, it was fun. But I have my own theories on that I’ll get to in the next paragraph. Now the game reeks of competitiveness. Everyone and their dog uses these by the book decks I talked about. It’s no fun. I saw at least 4/20 using Yanmega, 1/20 MagneBoar and most people used some variant on Zekrom or Reshiram(Zekrom’s in theory more reliable but in practice slower cousin). I used a rogue deck, Delibird, Simisear and Feraligatr to spread and Feraligatr Prime to sweep what I already damaged. Did well, but I was largely bored.

I also don’t know anyone at league anymore. I’m not the most sociable guy, I’ll openly admit it. It’s hard for me to make friends. But I had friends or acquaintances I quite liked at league during the EX era, that dwindled during DP and now I don’t see anyone outside of big things, if I choose to go. It’s kind of lonely. I’ve tried, but so many people are so preoccupied by the TCG it’s hard to strike up a conversation. I wonder if I enjoyed the EX era more because of the company, not the game itself.

This is why I don’t really want to play anymore. I don’t enjoy it, therefore resent spending money on it. I have more fun sitting by myself reading a comic or chatting with friends. Wish I had a car to meet up with some of my friends I don’t see at league anymore, but I have my doubts that I can drive.

So, yeah. I am really mulling over going cold turkey. Probably too old anyway.

Future Blog Plans

2011-07-26T18:40:00.001-07:00

I thought I’d get some things out of the way.

POKEMON RETROACTIVE GENERATION IV
No, I am not doing it now. I got sick of gushing over it myself and found it quite boring. If you want to know how I feel about it, I like GenIV. I feel Sinnoh, and her monsters in Platinum in particular, are the strongest choices so far. I also enjoy the gameplay.

ANIME MINIREVIEWS
I am dropping this as well, I quite frankly, stopped caring. I haven’t seen anything incredibly bad or good yet. If I do, it will be posted about.

POKEMON GENERATION V
There are quite a few things I want to get off my chest about these games, so I will be blogging about these, eventually.

SEGA, SONIC AND NINTENDO(n’t).
Yes, I will complete these. I have the second about halfway through and mulling over the third.

10 to 1 SONIC VOCAL SONGS
This is something I have been thinking about doing for a little while, and I do want to get around to it. The reason for vocal only is because I really don’t want to spend all day listening to every single piece from every single game. I’m crazy, not insane.

SONIC THE HEDGEHOG
I am going to get very bored of Sonic at this rate, lol. But I want to talk about the ever so controversial, Sonic The Hedgehog aka Sonic 2006. I am roughly a third through it now, so don’t expect it any time soon.

I think that’s it. 10 to 1 SONIC VOCAL SONGS will likely be first cab off the rank, then the two last SEGA, SONIC AND NINTENDO(n’t) posts.

-Some Gamer Dude

Sonic & Sega All Stars Racing

2011-07-14T23:14:00.001-07:00

Welcome to the first of three blogs related to the fourth generation, Turbo Grafix-16, Mega Drive, SNES & Neo Geo, in particular interest, the big two of the day, Sega and Nintendo.
So let's begin.

It is well known that at times, a clone, a game derived from another on purpose with immense similarities because of the aforementioned influence, can be far more enjoyable than the original. I believe the greatest example of that is the Saints Row series and what it spawned from, the infamous, Grand Theft Auto series, which is arguably more enjoyable than it's mother. It also has far better controls, but this isn't about Saints Row.

Sonic and Sega All Stars Racing is, as you guessed it, based on (Super) Mario Kart (64/Super Circuit/DS/Wii), developed by Sumo Digital, makers of the later Out Run racing games from Sega, so the developers are no stranger to racing games.

Let's get the similarities out of the way. Various Sega characters race in tracks based on Sega games. They race in karts and bikes(And Hovercrafts). The game is colourful and lively. They use items, contained in the mascot's item box, to attack each other and get an advantage.

That's... where the similarities really end.

The mechanics are a tad different from Mario Kart, echoing Sumo's Outrun origins, being far more serious and less unneededly agressive. Or should I say juvinile? I'm unsure what to call Mario Kart's item abuse and rubber-banding. The Computer Is A Cheating Bastard at it's greatest I supose. Here, rubber-banding, or 'catch-up', is something you can turn off at the options screen. Thank.God.

Most of Sega Racing relies on drift boosts, short cuts and good driving. Items are great and all, but they are not the magic 'win button' they are in Mario Kart. Let's get the item similarities out of the way:

High Speed Shoes - Mushroom
Rocket - Red Shell
K.O. Glove - Green Shell
Mines - Banannas
All Star - Bullet Bill*
Pocket Rainbow – Squid

The Confusing Star, Mega Horn and Big Rocket are unique.

The All Star acts much like Bullet Bill, racing the player ahead, impacting on everyone in it's way, but it also is unique to each character as a special move and serves as an attack. For example, Sonic goes Super, as does Shadow, Shadow uses X to attack with Chaos Spear, Sonic just races even further. Amy brings out her Piko Piko Hammer and wollops. Beat(Jet Set Radio) brings out his spray cans and tags other racers. The Chu Chu pilots get a giant cat, Kapu Kapu, to eat everyone in their way and so forth.

This actually is not as bad as it sounds, you're likely only to get it at 6th to 8th position and because spinning out isn't as hurtful in this as Mario Kart, you don't really loose your position when hit by it.
The Confusing Star is likely the most hazardous item in the game, being that it's target's screen is turned upside down, hence them name. The reason it is so hazardous is that it makes the target ajust on the fly.

The Mega Horn is a neat little item when you are in the mist of other racers, it spins everyone in the emidiate area.

Big Rocket is a missle you launch and can detonate at any time. It's pretty good, but you can't see where it is, so it's kind of a better Rocket.

Now the missing items from Mario Kart, the infamous Blue Shell and the Lightning. I am for one happy Blue Shell is gone. It's a terrible item with no real purpose. You get it in last to hit first. That is entirely unuseful and does nothing but target good racers. The Lightning is, in some ways, a glorified Bullet Bill, it making everyone but the user smaller so the user can run over them. There are also a couple from Wii not here.

The Roster is decent, not bad by any regard, but leaves quite a bit to be desired.

Sonic the Hedgehog - Sonic, Eggman, Tails, Amy, Knuckles, Big and Shadow. As this is 'SONIC and sega all stars racing', I am not suprised 7, nearly half the cast, are from Sonic. Why Big though? I get that they needed multiple heavy characters, Eggman being the only one without Big, but the heavy doesn't feel as downright bad as Mario in this. Blaze the Cat or even someone from another franchise would have been better than Big the Cat. I don't mind Big, but he seems really out of place. He feels more like 'Sonic and Sega All Stars 5' material. Maybe Japan likes him? Maybe Sumo Digital enjoy trolling? I don't know.

Alex Kidd in - Alex Kidd. I am not shocked at all for this, he was their original mascot.

Jet Set Radio - Beat. Jet Set Radio was a big deal when it came out, so he deserves to be here. There are a lot of Dreamcast characters here who fit in the same catagory.

Space Channel 5 - Ulalah. See Beat.

Shenmue - Ryo Hazuki. See Beat.

Crazy Taxi - B.D. Joe. See Beat.

Chu Chu Rocket - Chuih, ChuBei, ChuPea and ChuBach. See Beat

Samba Di Amigo - Amigo. See Beat.

Super Monkey Ball - AiAi. See Beat.

Billy Hatcher & The Giant Egg - Billy Hatcher. I am quite surprised to see Billy, due to the fact I had never heard of him. He is not from a Sega console, and only has one game. This is Billy Hatcher & The Giant Egg on the GameCube/PC. I have no animosity towards the kid, but he strikes me as an odd choice.

Virtua Fighter - Jacky Bryant & Akira Yuki. Virtua Fighter is the first 3D Polygon fighter, and a damn good one. I loved playing VF2 when the local fish and chip shop had arcade machines. They deserve to be here.

House of the Dead EX - Zobio and Zobiko. Here HotD is called Curien Mansion, to get past the German censors, where HotD is banned, but you can get what they mean. Curiously, the EX series has never hit the west. HotD has been doing all right on the Wii to my knowledge, Rail Shooters being one of the only things the Wii can do right, and they were a hit in the arcade, so they should be here.

Bananza Bros - Mobo & Robo. Sega, or Japan, seem to like this game. For the life of me I don't get why, but I guess due to Sega or Japan, and it's place in every damn Mega Drive collection, it should be here.

Phanasy Zone - Opa Opa. Another one of Sega's classic characters, I just don't know much about the game. It dates back to the Master System. Plays a bit like Gradius from what Wikipedia says. Opa Opa is likely the oldest character here.

Again, it's a decent roster, nothing special. Very Dreamcast, including Sonic, biased, I guess because it's so current compaired to everything else. I'll talk more on what I'd want in a sequel later.

The track selection, while actually pretty good for the most part, strikes me as odd. Tracks are taken from Sonic Heroes, and only Heroes, no Mega Drive, Adventure or anything else, Billy Hatcher & The Giant Egg, House of the Dead/Curien Mansion, Jet Set Radio, Super Monkey Ball and Samba Di Amigo. So, of 14 franchises, 6 get represented. Four tracks to most. Sonic gets six and I believe 2 get 3, one being Billy Hatcher.

I like the tracks myself, besides Super Monkey Ball which I will get to in a second, but it's weird only those were represented, and again, only Heroes for Sonic. I get that it was the first MultiPlat Sonic and that might be the reason, but they are three sets of two acts to three levels, being the first, middle and last in Heroes, your Green Hill clone, your Casino Nights clone and your Death Egg clone.

I hate the Super Monkey Ball tracks. I really do. They barely have structure and come down to follow the arrows. It's very hard to get a grasp on the way to go and easy to get confused.

Samba Di Amigo, Billy Hatcher & The Giant Egg and Jet Set Radio have, without a doubt, the most enjoyable levels. They are relatively straight forward and enjoyable.

The Game’s controls for Cars and Bikes are tight and everything feels right. There are multiple button configurations on the PS3 version, and as I assume all others. It doesn’t feels slippery or anything. The Hovercrafts however, do. They are very slippery due to their nature. No real problems, but they need a bit more skill to use.

In 1P, you can appreciate this more so, but the game is very nice looking and detailed for a Kart Racer. I was quite shocked. It's a joy. The music, taken from their respective games, also sounds very good. Nothing looks or sounds 'old'. Samba Di Amigo's Sunshine Tour music is quite addictive, I find myself humming it. It won't leave my head.

I have to give props to Sumo Digital for something here I don't think Nintendo quite gets. No matter how much practice someone gets, they may never be at the level needed for some of the tasks needed to unlock certain characters. Sumo gets this. This is why the Sega Shop exists. Characters, Levels and Music are bought with Sega Miles, which are awarded after races. It is a fantastic and sensible system that I hope many agree is far better than the task based unlocks of Mario Kart.

Now, for everything that is right with the game, there must be something wrong, correct?

Shadow is without a shadow of doubt, the only way to win the Gran Prix modes. When in Gran Prix, the pcs are faster and far more competant and aggressive. Even on the Beginner difficulty. I for the life of me, don't know why. It's not like this on 2P. Shadow is just much faster than everyone, even bad drivers who don't understand how to drift get upto 3/4 with him. It also strikes me that to get a considerable advantage in some tracks, one does have to know the short cuts, otherwise the race is very Neck & Neck. One of the Billy Hatcher tracks, the one with the woodern bridges, in particular. All the Super Monkey Balls aswell.

I also find it quite odd that Gran Prix mode is only 1P. I haven't seen this in other games of this type. It doesn't impeed things, it's just strange.

In all, I really do like Sonic & Sega All Stars Racing, it feels more focused on skill than Mario Kart. The issues I have don't take much fun out of the game. For a first of the series, it's a good one. For people that like a more serious race with the lighter tone of a kart, I'd recommend it.

Now, what would I want for a sequel. Oh boy, this is fun.

Quite a few of the missing 'potential mascots' and missing franchises. Greendog: The Beached Surfer Dude and Ristar I'd want in. Same goes for Skies of Arcadia and, I was bloody shocked this wasn't in here in the first place, Phantasy Star. Streets of Rage and Golden Axe deserve in. Toejam and Earl. Vectorman, Comixzone, Shinobi all deserve representation. There are so many that should be in it's unbelievable. This could, quite easily, become a 40 or 50 something character Roster if they took full advantage of Sega's history. Hell, Sega's characters are so varied they could be down to every VF character and the GUN Truck from Sonic Adventure 2's City Escape.

More varied tracks. I think that quite a few of the other franchises deserve representation, and when it comes to Sonic, not just Heroes. Again, there is so much they could take from.
As for mechanics, I would like the difficulty turned down a notch. It's a little too hard. As would I like the reliance on shortcuts turned down.

I would also like the ability to set up multiplayer Gran Prix that the player picks the levels. I believe this is something they could do over Mario Kart that would be a great way to play multiplayer, as again, Super Monkey Ball.

I do hope these dives into Mario territory, the first being Sega Superstars Tennis, a decent little game itself, says that Sega is willing to keep these on. I would be very sad to learn that this is the only Sega racing we will get, but it did sell over 2M, so I don't believe they have any reason not to. They have taken a popular franchise, done their own version, and made substantial improvements in my eyes. It's fun. Simple as that. I really enjoy this game.

Next time is excuse time. The simple reasons why Sonic was what he was, became what he became and is what he is now.

Pokémon Heart Gold Soul Silver–What a Waste of Time.

2011-01-12T21:10:00.001-08:00

I know, I was meant to do every gen, but even I got bored with DPPt, I couldn’t stop gushing about them. Long story short, DP are probably the best games of the franchise, Platinum BEING the best. Sure, Team Galactic doesn’t have the charm of Rocket and the music isn’t as good as Green/Red and Gold/Silver, but they have a good atmosphere, are well balanced in terms of monster choices(although a few more viable Electric would have helped), decent to good plot, pretty likable monster designs(although some of the Gen123 evos have to grow on you) and Shinnoh is a nice region. The new mechanics are all great and work well with a lot of the monsters.

However, HeartGold SoulSilver was a complete waste of time and energy I am afraid.

Let’s look at some of GS’s own faults.

Too many Kanto Monsters in Johto
Too many Johto Monsters absent from Johto
Lack of focus on Johto

Those were my main three complaints. How many got dealt with I ask? One. Only one issue with GS got fixed, being the last one. Johto in this feels rather long and takes quite some time. It feels like there is focus on it and it’s rewarding to be there. After about three hours in Kanto, I was quite happy to say to myself ‘jeez, I don’t remember Kanto being this boring’. Kanto is short, to the point and a glorified boss rush. I don’t know why this is, but I guess the fact that Kanto post game is old news now makes a difference. Also that a lot of Kanto is not based on GS, more FRLG, may help, as there isn’t much new in Kanto this time around. No ‘wow, sure has changed’ feel.

But I have to mention tis, the new mechanics DID make the game somewhat harder, I don’t remember the original being quite so difficult, it’s quite enjoyable… except Cyndaquil is now the crap starter, not ol’ supporter Chikorita. Cyndaquil is more Special based, has more Physical attacks and a crap move pool. Cyndaquil was a nightmare to use in game. I loved Chikorita back in the original Gold. Totodile is now a beast to use thanks to a great pool and good stats.

But alas, HGSS still disappoints. The monsters placements were not changed. More Johto in Kanto than Johto, no real additions for Dark and Steel. Oh, yeah, the Pokewalker is new and offers some really good monsters exclusive to Kanto, but it bases itself around you playing the game slowly or just putting off the game itself after you get the ability to use the Pokewalker. That’s right, it’s good not to play the game. Smooth move geniuses, instead of fixing the damn game’s monster locations, you pack a gimmick in to patch it.

The Pokewalker is a rewarding little gimmick, and a nice little throwback to the Pocket Pikachu(itself a crappy little Tamagotchi clone), but fixing the damn monster placement would have been much better.

If I sound like I am getting really irate about this, it’s because the game, as a whole, is very unrewarding and artificially lengthened.

Everything else is fine, it feels good, sounds good, yadda yadda yadda. It’s build on DPPt, so naturally it’s good.

After two disappointing lots of remakes from Gamefreak, HGSS is a bloody lot better than FRLG though, I have to put something out there. Gamefreak, you are bad at remaking games. Stop remaking them. Reimagine them.

Let’s look at it, Pokémon changes a lot when the generation changes. This is fact. Love it or hate it when Generation 3 is concerned, each subsequent Pokémon generation’s mechanics are better than the last. These changes the games themselves. Again, as each generation advances, the story also gets much better written due to a better platform. With each generation, Gamefreak gets better at assembling the games. However, remakes do not mesh well with any of these.

The remakes have problems with living in the past. The monsters are rarely adjusted to suit the new mechanics, Cyndaquil and Houndour(especially as of BW, Squirtle’s post GS movepool is also a tad too defensive too early) being notable cases. This needs to be changed. Pokemon need to be all fixed so that they are as useful as they were with the prior mechanics if they were not already boosted by the new. This only really needs to be monster pool changes.

The stories, and scripts, need to be expanded on and updated to take advantage of the space they have on newer consoles. Sure, being truthful to the originals is great and all, but they could do with the expansion. I would find it hard to believe the game’s scripts were not edited in the first place to fit the size of the game. It would help give the NPCs some much needed depth that is in DP and beyond.

Finally, and for Gen1/2 especially, fix the monster positioning. No more lame gimmicks. No more ignoring advancement. Put newer or older monsters of types sorely needed in the region. Make the damn thing balanced. There is no excuse for FRLG ignoring GS aside from the Sevii Islands. There is no excuse for not putting some of the Gen2 Monsters into the Gen2 area.

Overall, yes, I would buy another remake and am looking forward to whatever they do with Ruby and Sapphire , I’m a slave to Nintendo and DO love Pokémon. I buy all versions and console battle sims. That’s why I whine so much, because I care and know a little more hard work would do the world of good.

Although, I would much rather the third versions be remade in 3D on the consoles than portables for remakes. That’d be awesome.

First Impressions: Sengoku BASARA Samurai Kings (PS3)

2011-01-02T02:00:00.001-08:00

I got four games around Christmas, Fallout 3 GotY ed (360), Naruto Shippuden Ultimate Ninja Storm 2 (PS3), Torchlight (PC) and this, Sengoku BASARA Samurai Kings (PS3). BASARA is the only one I felt needed to be addressed.

SBSK, or Sengoku BASARA 3 as it’s known in Japan, takes the people of Japan’s Sengoku period, late 1500s to early 1600s, mixes them with Devil May Cry and bright anime colours. Samurai Warriors and Devil May Cry, both games I do rather like, mixed? I should like this. I don’t know how I feel. I think I am having fun, but am not sure.

The gameplay is much like what would would expect, the [][][]^ of Samurai Warriors with the combos and super moves, here called ‘BASARA’, from what I can gather meaning Eccentric from the Japanese Trophies, playing much like Dynasty Warriors 6 Empires with the ‘control the land’ aspect.

Oddly enough, the control aspect of the gameplay is the one thing I have no issues with, it’s fun and entertaining. Nor do I have many issues with the materials system.

First thing I dislike is the idea that unique NPC and PCs are bosses, and very few can be fought on a field, usually one. This creates much boredom on the battlefield, as not much causes too much problems. I have fought upto Normal, which I think is Japanese Hard, and I don’t feel challenged much until the bosses. Sure, Hard, Japanese Extreme, does help, but it does so a little too much, to the point where you can die pretty easily. Samurai Warriors has balance in this aspect, the fields are filled with mooks, but there are enough Unique NPC and PC to make it interesting, and the balance between difficulties is much better.

Next thing I dislike is the character direction. Yes, I get it, thanks to the Japanese trophy names, it’s meant to be silly, but it feels too over the top. Literal Demon Oda Nobunaga, aha. Goth Queen Oichi, yeah. Hammiest Man In Japan Sanada Yukimura, urgh. Whatever is up with Ishida Mitsunari, mmm. Tekken Tokugawa Ieyasu, why? Dragon Megazord from MMPR Honda Tadakatsu? Strange and no, I don’t see ‘Hondam’, I see the Dragon Megazord. I believe you get the point, but coming from Samurai/Dynasty Warriors and even SD Gundam BBW Sangokuden, this is just… weird. I had seen the first two eps of the anime, so I should have know what I was in for, but it still bothers me. I know it shouldn’t, it’s not taking itself seriously like Samurai Warriors, but it does.

I am rather indifferent on the ‘Multiple Endings and Routes’ thing. I do like how Samurai Warriors 2 does it, but this increases the want to replay stories.

I am also not a fan of some of the level lay outs, Chosokabe Motochika and Tsuruhime’s being the most notable of the levels I dislike. Giant Fucking Robots and boring ‘Ship to Ship Battle’. Motochika’s probably is the worst, it’s dark, has those damn Robots and the layout is bothersome. Usually the layouts are fine, but these… I hope someone was fired for that.

Everything else, eh. I have issues with Sanada Yukimura in general in this, and but overall, even with all it’s faults, for the 10hours I have been playing, I have enjoyed myself. Yeah, I have found some of it tedious, and irritating, but it’s an alright game. Do I prefer Samurai Warriors? Oh Hell Yes.

Anime Minireviews – Post 7

2010-11-03T21:15:00.001-07:00

Today we talk about Chrono Crusade, Disgaea and Excel Saga

Chrono Crusade
Chrono Crusade is about Rosette Christopher, a nun, who with her demon sidekick, slay demon under the orders of the Order of Magdalene, in the roaring ‘20s. I choose not to reveal anymore of the plot, as I fear I would spoil it. I had bought this quite some time ago, thinking ‘oh cool, gun toting nun’, watched it, clearly did not put much effort into watching it, as I promptly went onto other things. I was a fool. This is one of the best anime I have come across. Ever.

Lovable and memorable characters, but most of all, empathetic characters. The characterisation is well done and really helps one feel for the ending, which is not only a downer but a tearjerker ending. A well casted and acted dub. I really could not find one character I just went ‘Ah, no.’ to. Also the dub uses legitimate 1920’s slang, which helps with the period setting, much more than one expects, as well as Tiffany Grant’s fluent German with a non-comical German accent. The plot is both interesting and entertaining, as well as very motional and character driven, but what sets the show apart here, is the pacing. It’s perfect. No fillers, no humps, no change in mood. Straight as we go in, Light Hearted Characters with a Dark Setting, which gradually gets worse hampering the spirits of the main characters. Anything that feels like filler isn’t, it’s character development. As the plot progresses, the change in the characters reactions feels natural and well written. The villain is detestable and slimy with a perverted view of the world, charismatic thanks the VA, and a magnificent bastard, but detestable.

I only have one complaint. The next episode music is unbelievably perky and inappropriate for the show, something more neutral in feel would have been better. Other than that, great show. Yeah, not the thing one could watch repetitively, but really good and highly recommended. But, if you do not understand all the Christian theology in the series, each DVD has a little segment called ‘Azmaria’s Classes’, to watch after each disc so you’re up to speed.

Disgaea
Disgaea is based on the Nippon Ishi game of the same name, which is about the son of a demon overlord, Laharl, striving to become the Overlord of the Netherworld, in a comical fashion. Unlike Chrono Crusade, I remembered liking this a lot. Now? Eh, not so much. The show loosely follows the game, and does use the same Voice Actors, but it feels forced. It’s ok. I feel very indifferent towards this. It’s a decent watch the first time, but the second onwards, it comes off as a bit annoying and a bit boring. I can’t place it, on the rewatch, I just did not feel it. ‘Eh.’ seems to sum up my feelings on the show. If you like the games or are interested in them, it’s worth the watch, otherwise, it’s ok for one time.

Quack Experimental Anime: Excel Saga
Excel Saga is about Excel Excel, a dim witted member of the incredibly understaffed Terrorist Organisation ‘ACROSS’, under Lord Ilpallazzo, who with her constantly dying team mate Hyatt and ‘Emergency Food Supply’ Dog Menchi (from Mince), try to take over F City. The show spends every episode lampooning different genres, from Dating Sim games to Toku(Costumed Heroes) shows. The show is as wacky as all get out, best summed up in a quote I found online “Excel Saga, for when crack isn’t enough.’

In a way, it is like Witch Hunter Robin, no plot until later, later in this being the last four or so episodes, but with the very nature of the show, it’s right for it. The show isn’t meant to make sense or have a plot, it’s just random misadventures for the most part. The episode is also notable as it was never aired in Japan because it tries very hard to be obscene, but it’s not all that obscene in western standards.

One must note that this is much like Lucky*Star in that it is filled to the brink with anime, TV, movie and Japanese culture references. One may not get them all, but the DVDs have a special feature that points them all out called ‘AV Notes’

The voice cast is… fine. Excel is replaced half way through, I rather the first voice as she has more energy, but the second one gets the job done. There is a few bits of swearing in the English dub, it feels forced, but for the most part it’s fine. I do rather like the Illpallazzo’s and the Municipal Squadron Daitenzin’s voices. Hyatt’s also feels appropriate.

On the first watch, it is a very entertaining and at times rather disturbing, but it suffers in repeat watchings, it’s got a lot of episodes that just do not hold up on multiple viewings, and are rather boring, not too many, just a few. It also lacks the impact on the second viewing, as one knows what is coming. I don’t believe it’s for everyone, but it’s worth the watch.

-Some Gamer Dude/Erik
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Not much left now, Gundam, some more Pokemon, gotta finish off Monster Rancher, Slayers, Street Fighter and some anime classics.

Anime Minireviews – Post 6

2010-10-26T16:00:00.001-07:00

Here we get into the Ghost in the Shell movies, minus Innocence, as I don’t have that. =P Also, I’ll do the 2004 version of Appleseed, from the same author.

Ghost in the Shell
An anime classic, I didn’t really enjoy it all that much. It deals with Public Security Sector 9 combating a Cyber Terrorist named ‘The Puppeteer’. The movie has a lot of action, gore and nudity, is very well animated with an attention to detail, but the plot is rather dull to me, the dubbing feels phoned in, gore and nudity feels gratuitous and I just don’t feel it. But when I get to another ‘Anime Classic’ in my collection, my opinion will be much the same. I get why it’s such a big deal, it was one of the first ‘adult’ anime in the west, I just don’t think it’s all that good in retrospect. I know I am being brief, but that’s all I have to say on the matter. I recommend it because it’s such an iconic movie and such, but not because it’s good.

Ghost in the Shell: Stand Alone Complex: The Laughing Man
Or, Colon Cancer Movie 1. In this movie the Major is still in Public Security Sector 9 and they are on the case of The Laughing Man, a cyber terrorist. I refuse to line out anymore of the plot, as I would give a lot away, but the movie is very good, beautifully animated, well written, very well performed and interesting, but it has a little flaw, because of the nature of the movie. The length. It’s over two and a half hours, with no breaks, little to no comedy to lighten it up a bit, and you feel the 2.5 hours. This movie is a compilation of the first season of GitS:SAC, removing all the Stand Alone episodes and editing together the Complex episodes into a movie. It shows. I feel that the show would be a much better and easier watch than this because of the Stand Alone episodes. It is in desperate need of an intermission. But never the less, it is a good movie.

Ghost in the Shell: Stand Alone Complex: Individual 11
Colon Cancer Movie 2 sees the Major and Sector 9 deal with the case of the Individual 11, terrorists with a connection to the refugee problem Japan is facing. This movie is a compilation of the story arc of GitS:SAC 2nd GIG. Basically, same problems and merits as before, except the plot is a little less interesting. Again, good movie, too long.

Ghost in the Shell: Stand Alone Complex: Solid State Society
The third Colon Cancer movie is set two years after the Major has left Sector 9, how has been restructured and is now dealing with the thread of a cyber terrorist named ‘The Puppeteer’, but is entirely different from the original movie. It deals with some interesting themes, like the first two, and is a damn sight shorter at 1hour45Mins, but still feels the length, but I realise this might be because they are very heavy movies in their tone. Again, a good movie.

Appleseed(2004)
I put the year there because this is the second version of this book in animation. This movie is unique, in that it is cel shaded, not traditionally animated, but still an anime. The story deals with Deunan Knute, a female soldier, who is brought to man’s utopia, Olympus, created after the world has the 3rd and 4th world wars, but little does she know, in this land of humans and bioroids, people want to kill her. I know I am sounding like a trailer, but it was the best way I could explain the premise. The movie is much better than the original Ghost in the Shell film, and keeps the viewers interest quite well, but I have a few complaints. It’s too bright. It is literally too bright and colourful for the tone of the movie, it becomes distracting. The plot is a tad cliche, bit annoying and it vomits exposition around the 1hour mark. Yeah, it’s a 1h40m movie, so I can’t be too hard on it, but it’s notable and irritated me. It’s… alright.

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I place the ‘Classic’ GitS above Witch Hunter Robin, I was that unimpressed with it. Gratuitous gore and nudity, and a plot that feels like the manga would have been much better as it is longer(Ie, reverse of the GitS: SAC movies). I feel really bad saying ‘Gundam W is better than you’, but the truth is, I enjoyed Endless Waltz more. As for the GitS: SAC Movies, I think the first is the best, and the Solid State Society is the weakest, but are all good movies. They are not easily rewatchable, but I place the above Digimon Frontier, because they are good.

As for Appleseed… above Endless Waltz. Not bad, nothing to write home about.

For now, this will be the last ‘Rankings post’ until I am finished, because I am wishing to revise the listing because of some things.

-Erik

Anime Minireviews – Post 5

2010-10-21T18:55:00.001-07:00

Just a quickie today, the Slayers OVAs and Gundam W Endless Waltz, as next time is a biggie, Ghost in the Shell movie and the three Ghost in the Shell Stand Alone Complex movies.

Slayers OVA Collection
Slayers has two sets of OVAs, Slayers Book of Spells (Or Slayers Special like the light novel in japan) and Slayers Excellent, both, like four of the five movies, prequels to the series. Both sets contain three episodes each.

The first story of Slayers Special, The Scary Chimera Plan, sees Lina in the company of an alchemist wishing to use her as part of a Chimera. Lina declines, while Naga pops in and thinks it’s a wonderful idea. Later on in the plot, said alchemist creates 10 clones of Naga from a strand of hair he found that he thought belonged to Lina. They laugh like Naga, and that’s where most of the jokes come from. It’s a fun plot, Lina’s reaction to 10 Naga’s, aswell as villagers, is hilarious and it’s an good watch.

The second story, Geoffrey’s Knighthood, sees the girls take up a contract to help Geoffrey become a man from his mother. She wanting him to become a Knight, not the other type of ‘becoming a man’. Geoffrey is a thin as a skeleton mama’s boy and his mother being an over protective, large woman, who hits anyone with a metal mallet for insulting him. She also looks like a clown and has ninja speed. The best of the three stories, with one of the pre-series Slayers silly, but satisfying endings.

The final story is Mirror Mirror, where a magician has found a mirror that copies people, but under the user’s control, except they are the opposite. Assertive Lina becomes a girly girl, and … oh, how does one describe Naga without being insulting, lets say she is confident in her body, while her clone is modest to the point of covering herself in the cape. The story is padded with two music pieces, and isn’t all that entertaining, feels rather out of character for Lina in that she seems generally buddy buddy with Naga and is rather a let down after the first two.

The second lot of OVAs, Slayers Excellent, starts with how Lina met Naga in Labyrinth. Being the first part chronologically, Lina is apparently famous for being the Bandit Killer already, so Naga takes it upon herself to be her rival, and makes a flashy entrance by setting Lina’s stuff on fire and standing in the middle, Naga being a twit and all, lovable twit though. To pay for the damages, Lina and Naga must go on a quest to destroy a ‘spoiler’ that terrorises the town. It’s a funny little story, entertaining and has some decent twists.

The second OVA of Slayers Excellent is A Frightening Future, where Lina must accompany a bratty spoiled merchant’s daughter, who acts like a poor excuse for a Naga expy, to a summer villa. The daughter’s personality resembling an unlikable Naga is a hilarious plot point near the end, and the end is truly disturbing from Lina’s view. Again, genuinely funny like The Scary Chimera Plan, Geoffrey’s Knighthood and Labyrinth, A Frightening Future is a good watch.

The final OVA is Lina-chan’s Lovely Makeover Operation, and I kid you not, the dub keeps Lina-chan for this and this alone. Very standardised plot, Hercules the Legendary Journeys has it too, two warring fashion designers, one conservative and one risque, tear the town a sunder. Lina and Naga choose sides, and it cumulates in a golem battle. Like Slayers Special, the final story is the worst one, but it is a bit better. The plot is unoriginal and just a tad boring.

The Slayers OVAs as a set, is very good, with four of six being very entertaining and some of the most fun I have had watching an anime. I place them just below the movies, and Slayers Special>Excellent. To be frank, I am getting rather close to saying Slayers>Azumanga Daioh. Really close.

Gundam W Endless Waltz
The finale to New Mobile Report Gundam Wing, Endless Waltz happens on Christmas after the end of the series, in After Colony 196, where the main villain’s daughter is being manipulated into trying to take over the world. In retrospect, the plot is rather boring and feels like a standard anime movie, every character except Wind/Zechs/Milliardo is rather unlikable, the casting is dubious at times (Duo… and I like Scott McNeil). The plot is lucky it’s only about 75mins, as that’s just enough before it becomes drawn out and painful. I think I may be over exaggerating, it’s ‘alright’. Nothing to write home about, not as bad as the series, but ‘alright’. The machines are really nicely designed and a massive draw card, possibly the only drawcard unless you’re one of those types, who actually likes Gundam Wing. Not much to say on it really, and I generally like Gundam. I place it above Witch Hunter Robin, as it deserves that atleast.

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Now please excuse me, I am going to watch all 4 Ghost in the Shell movies I own.

Anime Minireviews – Post 4

2010-10-16T21:04:00.001-07:00

Witch Hunter Robin-
So rarely has an anime that looked this good made me ask myself, ‘Why did I buy this crap?’ Witch Hunter Robin is essentially Hellboy or Torchwood, if it were crap. After Robin joins the STCJ, and gets her glasses, the series essentially wastes 8 episodes until she meets the Methuselah Witch, then we basically pre-empt Torchwood’s Children of the Earth plot by about 8 years, only do it badly. Sure, the show gets better, but better boredom is still boredom. The story ends with what feels like it should be good, but fails as it vomits exposition at the viewer. What is included in the exposition sounded like it’d be a far better series, all ‘Gods and Demons’ were Witches.

This series is quite frankly terrible, interesting premise and never does much with it. When the show gets interesting, it ruins it by being it. It’s boring, slow & annoying. It is the lowest point on my review listing, as it is actually bad.

Pokemon Johto Journeys/League Champions/Master Quest-
Generally considered the worst of the Pokemon meta series, I didn’t find it weak at all. I actually enjoyed a fair whack of it. Double the size of Kanto(150~ Vs 80~), Johto does have issues with bad fillers, but it was their first time doing such a lengthy arc, so some exceptions have to be made, and when compared to Kanto and their relative size, it seems about right. When the show is good, it is really good, better than the original arc in some regards, just needs some discretion on which episodes to skip. The final season of the series, Master Quest dabbles with the idea of mini arcs to take up time, being the Whirl Islands(Split between 2 arcs itself), Blackthorn City and Larvitar. The arcs help the show a lot and something I want to see more of as I delve into Advanced. Blackthorn City and the second Whirl Island arc(the one with Lugia) are very entertaining and the Larvitar one is emotional, with the episode about Unown being a tear jerker at the end.

Ash’s pokemon seem to have more personality than his Kanto set, Chikorita and Totodile being particularly likable.

The league is satisfying, if a bit ‘OMG, RUBY AND SAPPHIRE ARE ON SHELVES IN A COUPLE OF WEEKS, BUY THEM!’ with their treatment of Blaziken, but again, it’s satisfying. The end of the arc could have been a good end if it ended there, and even with the length and skippable episodes, I enjoyed it more than the original for the most part. Again, the length of the arc is what holds it back, with a good deal of the first 8 eps and League Champions being unnecessary. I place it below Digimon Frontier, it’s pace has so many issues. I need to do the ‘Here is what you can skip for seasons 3-5’ listing later on.

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Dunno what’s next, completely random.

Anime MiniReviews – Post 3

2010-10-08T19:56:00.001-07:00

I was planning .hack//Legend of the Twilight Bracelet or Cowboy Bebop as my next mini review, but I thought I had better get some mon series out of the way first.

Digimon-
Or Digimon Adventures if you like. I remembered liking this series a lot back in the day. Oh boy. The first 13 episodes are highly derivative of the PSOne game Digimon World, and the show picks up after them. This may be because the first 13 was all that was planned after the first movie, which is referenced later in the series. The cast is quite annoying at this time, likely because they were new to the parts. The show feels a bit drawn out to give all the 7 Digidestined’s mon’s Champion Levels a day in the limelight. The second arc about Etemon is very entertaining, and the dub cast picks up there. The arc is well paced and probably my favourite of the series. The next arc takes place in the human world, revolves around the 8th Digidestined and ends with the main two character’s mons achieving their final stages. It’s a solid and entertaining entry. The fourth and final arc takes place back in the Digital World with the kids defeating new evils that rised up when they were gone. It feels rushed and has an unsatisfactory end, which is sad because the final arc looked like it could have been good. The show is all over the place, but it’s memorable. I believe I would put it just above the first Pokemon arc because of the subpar end being just slightly better than Pokemon’s.

Digimon-
Or Digimon Tamers if you like. Yeah, Saban named all three of the original series the same, instead of using the Japanese distinctions. This is the third series, and takes place in the ‘Real World’, as in this series, the previous two happen in fiction, just like real life. The series is about the digimon crossing over to the real world, and the three main characters, Takato, Henry and Rika, must protect japan from the digimon while not allowing Chronos, a secret organisation dedicated to protecting the world from the ‘anomalies’, to harm the digimon or their world. Unlike the first series, the narrative is far tighter, and it seems like the writers had a game plan, hence why I did not outline each arc. The narrative itself is rather interesting too, dealing with how the digital world came to be and the creators of it, and why it became a secret. The characters, and digimon themselves, are really likable, the English cast is great and the dub music is quite good. It has a depressing, albeit satisfying end and I would be more than happy to say that this is the best mon series I have ever seen. I rank it rather high, I… hmm. I think I shall put it above Lucky*Star. Yes, I believe it is that good.

Digimon Frontier-
or Digimon Frontier if you like. Yep, this one they didn’t rename. Digimon Frontier takes place in it’s own little universe, with no connections to another Digimon series, this will be the running trend. Digimon Frontier deals with children being called to the Digital World(Literally) to save it by turning into Digimon. If this premise urks you, rest assured, watching this as a mon series does that. But wait a second. Rewatch it with the idea of a well done animated Power Rangers in your mind, and it’s not half bad. It’s actually quite good. I believe it was the intention of the creators for it to be an animated Toku series, not a Mon series. Yes, being under the ‘Digimon’ banner does hurt it at first glance, it’s quite a solid series in it’s own right. I rank it above the first Digimon series, Adventure.

Digimon Data Squad-
Or Digimon Savers if you like. DDS is kind of like the opposite of Tamers, where the characters are part of the secret organisation who protect the world from Digimon. But unlike Chronos’ brutal tactics, DATS beats the Digimon down to eggs and sends them home. Gradually the stories kick in, where they meet a child raised by digimon, have to combat a human who in his treatment of digimon, is more of a monster than the titicular monsters, and finally the final arc which I will not spoil. The dub cast isn’t bad, but it requires some getting used too. The plot isn’t bad, It’s just not memorable. It’s not a bad series, it’s just very… average. I will place it below the first Pokemon arc.

Pokemon-Adventures on the Orange Islands arc-
The second arc of Pokemon is a weird one at best. Pure filler, the Orange Islands are not in any game. The premise isn’t bad, Ash goes around the islands getting four badges to compete for the Orange Cup. Some of the new additions, such as Lapras who is only in this arc, only stay here and are quite nice mons, while others, Snorlax, become main stays of the series and the final new addition, Tracey, who replaces Brock for the arc, becomes a background character afterward. None of the Gym Battles are particularly memorable, neither is a lot of the episodes, but I do love one thing about this arc, what it is behind the facade of filler. It’s the anime interpretation of the Pokemon League. 4 Battles then a Champion Match? Exactly what the league is in the games. The finale, Hello Pumello! and Enter the Dragonite! remain two of my favourite episodes of the series, and well done and epic two parter 6on6 Battle that ends with Pikachu VS Dragonite, and it is the only League Ash wins. There are some decent eps here and there, but the those two are the best. While I love Pummelo/Dragonite, I still have to put this near the bottom, not because it is bad, but because so many of the episodes are skip able. It’s just above Data Squad.

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To just put this out there, there is no series or arc I deem ‘Bad’ or ‘Unwatchable’ as of yet. At the moment I am rewatching Witch Hunter Robin and plan to finish up Monster Rancher’s first and second seasons, which are it’s primary story arc, the third being a post script arc.

Anime MiniReviews – Post 2

2010-10-07T21:50:00.001-07:00

Today, I thought of a better name for these posts, and it’ll be used for the finale. But today, we start talking about Lucky*Star and Pokemon’s first two series.

Lucky*Star-
Lucky*Star is similar to Azumanga Daioh, in that it is a slice of life type series, about 4(come 10) girls, and their lives through High School. But that’s where the similarities end. The show’s first 4 eps are ok, but nothing to write home about. As soon as Ep5 hits, it becomes quite funny, littered with anime/manga/game/light novel references and pretty entertaining, until around episode 14, where the main cast expands to 10, and the show’s focus point stops being the original four girls. The new girls are ok, but the show becomes over blown with the Yuri(Lesbian) thoughts of Hiyori about Yakuta and Minami. The finale is both sweet and good, having the girls perform the opening credits in show. It’s a good finale.

The original four girls are rather likable, later six not so much. The dub cast is really good and I felt nothing awkard or wrong about it. The show’s main draws are Kagami, Konata and Konata’s father. I think the show’s weaknesses come from the cast being too large in the second half, past episode 14 there are some boring episodes until the finale, and some of the references require extensive anime, manga, game and light novel knowledge, a good example of that is the marriage talk that ends up being about Dragon Quest 5 Hand of the Heavenly Bride, where they only mention the marriage mechanic and potential wives, never the name of the game. There are similar shout outs throughout.

The series is good, and I recommend it if you think you’ll know what they are talking about, maybe if you don’t the show can be enjoyable on another, lesser, level. I won’t rate it as high as the Slayers movies or Azumanga, but for the moment, it’s pretty high up.

Pokemon-Indigo League Arc
The Indigo League is the original story arc for Pokemon, the one with all the memorable episodes like the pilot, Pokemon, I Choose You!, Electric Shock Showdown!, Pikachu’s Goodbye and basically, most of the first 52 episodes. I don’t think I need to explain this one to anyone, but I’ll get into the good points and bad points. The main good point is that the plots are generally pretty good, the casting is… all right for the most part, and it’s reasonably easy to sit through. Bad points, oh boy. No one really looks like their game counterparts, the characters of the day can have some rather bad voices(Clefairy and the Moonstone), a plot is resolved in the movie, which unresolves it, he never fights Giovanni, the League does not follow the game, the league’s end is poorly done and Pidgeot’s goodbye is cringe worthy in retrospect. Ash’s stupid mistakes and attitude, which stays till the forth arc, also becomes irritating. The music is rather good though.

Also they seem to avoid Psyduck, who is genuinely funny, while advertising Togepi, who gives me the shits.

The show hasn’t dated, and watching it as an animal show, it’s pretty entertaining, but it’s not as good as what I’ve mentioned so far. It’s down the bottom. While I like the series, it’s not all that great, but it’s not trying to be. I don’t believe it’ll be the worst at the end, and it’s not bad, it’s just that there is better.

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Next time will probably do Pokemon’s Orange arc, and I might hit .Hack//Legend of the Twilight Bracelet or Cowboy Bebop.

Anime MiniReviews - Post 1

2010-10-05T22:32:00.001-07:00

Today, we start something new, mini reviews and rankings of the anime I own. No in depth reviews, just the general gist of how I feel about them and why. Long runners, Pokemon, Dragonball ect, will be split by series, ie ‘Indigo, Orange, Johto’ for Pokemon and the standard DB/K for Dragonball. At the end, I shall compile all the posts. Why am I doing this? I haven’t watched a lot of my series in a very long time, and feel I should rewatch them, and I wish to create a top 10 anime series. While I have a rough idea of some of how some of the series list, I don’t have a good feeling for all. As I have watched quite a bit recently, tonight will cover some of the series, then later posts will contain more until I am up to whatever I just finished is the only anime talked about.

Some things, such as Dragonball, will have to wait quite some time, as I do not own Dragonball or Z, and do not want the original Z, but Kai. Z is far too long and tedious.

Azumanga Daioh-
The current cream of the crop, Azumanga Daioh is one of those series I find it rather hard to explain. Essentially, it is a school series based around 5 girls going from junior to graduation year, but it’s so much more than that. It’s a comedy, it’s a random show about nothing, it’s emotional, it’s… just one of those series that deserves the accolades it gets. Not particularly action packed, the stories are very entertaining, which is not what someone would see on first glance when they see the cover, 5 school girls on a bench inked in light powdery Shoujo colours. While there are things, such as Slayers or Lucky*Star that come close, I don’t think I could like a series as much. It’s one of those series I would recommend to everyone. Funny that I’d say that about a series I didn’t finish until around a year after I bought it. I recommend an American set, much nicer cover and much cheaper.

Azumanga Daioh comprises of 26 Episodes and a Very Short Azumanga Daioh Movie.

Slayers Movie Collection-
I am reviewing the Slayers movies as a whole, because that was how they were packaged. Slayers is a comedy about Swords and Sorcery, as well as being the every so unique shonen series with a female lead.

The first movie, Slayers: The Motion Picture, isn’t bad by any means, and is quite entertaining, but isn’t as good as the later movies. The story is before the series, with Lina Inverse and her travelling companion Naga, both powerful sorceresses, who must save a village. It’s far more serious than the latter movies, and I think that’s what holds it back.

The second movie, Slayers Return, is about Lina and Naga again, who are hired to defeat and evil organisation working to summon a magical monster who is resistant to magic from the past. Slayers Return is much funnier and far more entertaining than Slayers: The Motion Picture.

Slayers Great is the third of the 5 Slayers movie, and probably my favourite. Lina and Naga’s third adventure leads them to a town in turmoil, two opposing politicians wish to take over the town and then the kingdom, while a family fights about who’s Golems are better, the father’s cute ones or the son’s sexy ones. It’s very funny and light hearted, while having quite a bit of action. I would rank this, and the next, as the best anime movies I have seen.

The last movie with Naga the Serpent as Lina’s travelling companion is Slayers Gorgeous, the funniest of the 5 movies, and the final before the series starts with Slayers, deals with Lina and Naga entering a town that is attacked by a girl and her dragons. The jokes are great, the plot is good and it’s got great action. While I do rather the idea of the Golems in Great higher, I do love this one nearly as much.

Slayers Premium is the fifth and final movie, that seems takes place between Slayers Next(Season 2) and Slayers Tri(Season 3), has Lina with her companion Gourry, in a town cursed by Octopi to say random words instead of coherent sentences. The rest of the shows cast joins them, and it’s not a bad movie, it’s just that the jokes soley come from the Octopi curse and that, well, I miss Naga. She has a cameo at the end, continuing the theme the show has of ‘No one but Lina can meet Naga’, but it feels different. Not the weakest of the 5 movies, I place it just above Slayers: The Motion Picture and below Slayers Return.

The five Slayers movies are my top anime movies, and I just love them. Movie 1-4 are about an hour, and 5 is about 30mins.

Pokémon Retrospective – Gold, Silver and Crystal

2010-05-22T07:22:00.001-07:00

If you do not have basic information on the Pokémon franchise, please read my article on Green, Red, Blue and Yellow.

Eventually released in Japan in November of 1999 and October 2000 in the US and Australia, Gold and Silver had an early life as hard as that of it’s predecessors.

Originally shown in 1997 as Pokémon 2 Gold and Silver, Pokémon 2 was planned as both a Game Boy game and to be released early 98. Most of the differences are cosmetic, the games looking more like Red and Green, things promised didn’t eventuate and some of the monsters not being finalised. All information on Pokémon 2 can be found in the links on Bulbapedia’s Pokémon Gold and Silver Beta page. I recommend reading it, it’s very interesting.

Gold and Silver are the only true sequels in the Pokémon franchise, taking place three years after the climax of Pokémon Red, Green, Blue and Yellow. These Gold and Silver cartridges feature a new boy starts his Pokémon adventure in New Bark Town, ‘Where the Winds of New Beginnings Blow’, in the Johto Region. Unlike how the original protagonist, now known officially as Red, was given his starter by Professor Oak to start a Pokémon Journey to document all the monsters and become a Pokémon Champion, Professor Elm gives this protagonist, who we will now call Gold for ease of writing, his starter to protect him while he does a favour for him. While doing this favour, he meets up with Professor Oak, who gives him his Pokedex and asks him to do in Johto what Red did in Kanto.

While this is going on, a Red Haired child, who we will call Silver, steals the Pokémon that has an advantage to Gold’s from Elm’s lab. Gold encounters him on the way back, and when he gets back to New Bark Town, he gives a police report. Elm tells Gold that his starter has bonded with him and he should compete in the Johto League. Basically doing what Red did three years prior, Gold traverses Johto, collecting Gym Badges, defeating Team Rocket and eventually becoming Pokémon Champion. Like how Red kept bumping into Green, named Blue in the West, through out his quest, Gold keeps bumping into Silver.

Team Rocket’s plot in Johto is quite the highlight of the region. The executives of the Team Rocket try to rebuild the syndicate in Giovanni’s absence, as he went missing three years ago after Red defeated him for the final time. In the original game they didn’t do much beyond stealing, in Johto however, they are far more sinister, which makes for a more entertaining story. Their first appearance is in Azalea Town, in which they kidnap all the Slowpokes, take their base of operation to the Slowpoke Well, then cut off their tails to sell as a delicacy. In Goldenrod City, the player sees some grunts around the Radio Tower, but these don’t come into play until later. In Mahogany Town, Team Rocket is emitting a radio wave to force evolution in the Lake of Rage, where Magikarp dwell, as Gyarados are very formidable monsters and likely to be very profitable. This may be a reference to the previous games where the player can purchase a Magikarp for 500. Lance, the former Elite 4 Member and now Pokémon Champion comes to defeat Rocket himself because of how heinous this is. Although, I would say their actions towards the Slowpoke were far worse. Their final appearance is back at the Radio Tower in Goldenrod, where they have held the tower hostage to spread the message, Team Rocket Has Returned! All the executives are defeated here and Rocket is forced to disband, again. Overall, without Giovanni, Rocket is far more heinous and unscrupulous. The Team Rocket of Kanto kidnapped, stole and was a pretty shady organisation. The Team Rocket of Johto is cruel, willing to go to any length for a profit and generally far darker than one would expect from Pokémon.

The Gym Leaders, outside of Whitney, Chuck & Jasmine are largely ‘One trait is my entire personality’, like those of Kanto. Whitney throws a hissy fit after defeat, showing that while she is a competent battler, possibly the hardest of the game, and quite friendly to the player, she is very immature. Chuck is a neglectful husband and devotes much of his time to training, much to the dismay of his wife, who stands outside the Cianwood Gym, waiting for her husband to come home. She also comments he’s getting pudgy. Finally Jasmine, who is a very caring girl, sending Gold on an expedition to Cianwood Pharmacy to get medicine for a sick Ampharaos, Amphy. When the player returns to Olivine with the medicine, she is very grateful, but on returning to the gym, she introduces herself as the Olivine City Gym Leader and accepts the players challenge. One might say Clair also has some characterisation in her dialog, but personally, I don’t really see it. I didn’t say Falkner, Bugsy, Morty and Pryce had much personality, but they have a bit more than Clair. All Clair really says is ‘You may have defeated me, but to pad the game, go on a fetch quest!’ A few other characters have dialog that gives some resemblance to a personality, such as Kurt, but they don't make much of an impact. The Elite Four are much the same as the Gym Leaders, with the possible exception of Karen, who gives a hint to the true nature of the Dark type, more of a jerk type than evil.

The Geography of Johto is very different to that of Kanto, as is the culture. While for the most part, Kanto was very modern, Johto is very old world Japanese, filled with cultural references; Ecruteak, the towers, and geographical references; Mt Silver. It also has some things that show Johto is a much more rural area, such as the Moo Moo Milk farm and that most of the 'Cities' have a more town like feel to them. Even some of the cities themselves have vastly different feels to them, to both Kanto and each other, from the small town in the forest feel of New Bark Town, to the classically Japanese inspired Violet and Ecruteak cities and the mountain town of Blackthorn City. There are also locals drastically different to Kanto, such as the Lake of Rage and the Ice Path. The problem being that Johto is very small. The routes don't take much time to traverse at all and it lowers the immersion. In comparison to Generation 1 Kanto, it feels 'smooshed together'.

The difficulty of Gold and Silver is usually a target of criticism, in some ways, I can see it, in others, I cannot. In comparison to the originals, the final fight for Johto is much lower than that of Kanto, about a good 10 levels difference. There are a few things to consider though. First being that Kanto has far more trainers, for whatever reason that may be. Next is that while Johto's Gym Leaders are weaker than Kanto's, they are more strategies and have stronger Pokémon. From Whitney's Miltank with Attract onwards, without good team building, most of the Johto Gym Leaders, notably Whitney, Morty, Jasmine and Clair, are quite hard to defeat, thanks to their Miltank, Gengar, Steelix and Kingdra respectively. It is notable here that the Elite Four and Champion are in now way as strategically hard, but seeing that this is five battles in a row versus one, that may be the reason.

But this leads us into he rather large elephant in the room I have been avoiding, as it is post game, Kanto. Yes, after you beat the Elite 4 between Johto and Kanto, you can go to Kanto, three years after the events of Red and Green.

The Kanto of GS is a drastically different place, and shows how much change can occur on 3 years, Cinnabar is destroyed from a volcano and the Gym has been relocated to the Seafoam Islands, Green(Blue in English) takes over Viridian Gym, which makes sense as Viridian is Green, there is a Bullet Train between Saffron and Goldenrod, The Magnet Train. Koga's Daughter, Janine, takes over the Fuchsia Gym thanks to him becoming part of the Elite 4. The Gym Leaders use Generation 2 Pokémon in their teams. The Safari Zone is closed, and now all the Pokémon that were there inhabit different places in Kanto. Anything related to Team Rocket, including their old hideouts, are gone. The Bike Shop is Cerulean has closed and is the one in Goldenrod. The old Power Plant now has no Pokémon in it and powers the Magnet Train. The Fighting Dojo Master from Saffron City is the one in Mt Mortar, so he is not in his Dojo. The Pewter City Museum is closed for renovations. The Pokémon Tower in Lavender Town is now a Radio Tower, the deceased monsters are now in the new Soul House. The Viridian Forest how now been logged. The Underground Path from Celadon to Lavender is closed. Viridian Forest is now has been logged. Victory Road is now a short path with no Boulders, Trainers, Barriers or Pressure Sensors. Kanto in general has been reduced in size. Kanto is a shadow of it's former self. But this is not all. After all 8 Gym Badges of Kanto have been obtained, the final dungeon of Johto is unlocked, Mt Silver.

Mt Silver is an extensive cave filled with high forties Pokémon, again, weaker than Kanto's maximum, but it has two notable traits. It is the only area with Larvitar, Misdreavus and Sneasel. It is also home to the final battle of Gold and Silver, the player character of Red and Green, Red.

Red has the strongest team in either set of games, he is based on the Pikachu version player, with a team consisting of a level 81 Pikachu, a level 75 Snorlax, a Blastoise, Venusaur, and Charizard, each at level 77, and a level 73 Espeon. This not only dwarfs the Elite Four, of both the original games and GS, but it dwarfs all the final battle of Kanto, Blue, who's Pokémon are in their mid 50s.

Even accounting for the shear difficulty of this battle from the levels, the feel given off by this battle is awe inspiring. While Kanto may have nostalgia on it's side, this battle is just different in how it is, I think the only way to describe it is it's 'meta', being that it is self referential, more so if you have played the original games. You are, essentially, fighting yourself.

Now, Kanto is supposed to be an 'Optional Dungeon', or the 'Post Game', and for all intensive purposes it is. But, the problem here lies in that when the player has access to Kanto, of even knows about it, Johto becomes nothing more than a training field for Kanto. This rather defeats the purpose of Johto existing as the first area. I do believe Game Freak made a good decision in making the game both Jhoto and Kanto, but the execution is horrible. Kanto has 'Generation 2' monsters, Oak is in Johto, Kanto is bare. There was no real reason to go straight into Johto. Using the train to traverse between both, playing the bare Kanto as a setup for Johto, adding more anticipation for it would have been much better than 'Hey, new part's over, BOOM, NOSTALGIA!' I may be too hard on this, but this is just a view of the fandom, the 16 Badges(Kanto), Red(Kanto) and two regions(Kanto), seem to be the most notable parts of Generation 2, when if this was done correctly, it would be Johto, it would be the new monsters, it would be the new characters.

Not that I think that seeing what happen to Kanto is a bad thing, not that I think Red, as an analogy to Mewtwo, much as Mt Silver is to the Unknown Dungeon, is a bad thing, I just would have liked to have seen more focus on Johto. As I said at the beginning, these games were originally numbered, being Pokémon 2, and I think the Kanto issues scream it out.

With Gold and Silver, several new mechanics came into play, to combat issues from the first games.

The first, and most notable, is the addition of two new types, Dark and Steel, Special and Physical respectively. The Dark type is an offensive type and at this time had 6 monsters, only 1 available before the end. It prevails at creating a more beneficial battle field to itself, but causing the opponent to flinch or lowering the opponents stats. It’s most notable trait is that it is completely unaffected by Psychic Types and it resists Ghosts. Dark Type moves are also Super Effective against these types. Steel however is a defensive type, and avoids the pitfall of the previous defensive type, Rock, as it is not weak to a common type, in fact, it resists Bug, Dark, Dragon, Flying, Ghost, Grass, Ice, Normal, Psychic, Rock and Steel, making Steel everything Rock could have been in the original games and the quintessential Wall. GS introduces 6 Steel Types, 2 of which are evolutions and unavailable until the end unless one continuously catches Magnemite in order to gain a specific item, 1 is an exclusive, 1 is an evolution of a rather bothersome monster to get, Pineco, and two which had their types altered from the original games, Magnemite and Magneton attaining the Steel Type in conjunction to it’s original Electric Typing. The problem is that, for the most part, these types, will go underused in their introductory games, as Dark is too hard to obtain and has limited uses, while Steel, as a defensive type, is not preferential ‘in game’, even if Magneton is rather useful against quite a few Gym Leaders.

The second battle mechanic altered is the Special stat, which is separated into Special Attack and Special Defence, acting like the Physical Stats. The original monsters special stat became either their new SpAtk or SpDef, with a new value determining the other stat, it was always lower than the original stat though. This creates two scenarios, both of which nullify issues with the of the original games. Some monsters are much easier to kill, and others hit for far less damage. This helps balance out the ‘Half the monsters are useless’ issue, as this generation, thanks to the monster pool, which is still shallow, either being better or made better thanks to evolutions, the split and new moves.

Next is that Pokémon that are not Legendary or based on an inanimate object now have genders, while not a new, as the Nidorans had genders, it leads into what I would count as the best thing these games gave the franchise, Pokémon Breeding.

The Daycare Centre in Gold and Silver got a total overhaul in purpose. In the original games, the Daycare centre was nothing more than a glorified 'Rare Candy Centre', so pointless it was not even an aspect of the game worth talking about. Like last time, the Centre takes in Pokémon, and a step counts as an experience point, and you pay an amount determined by the levels attained by the Pokémon. But this was added to, with the addition of Pokémon Breeding. Now the Daycare Centre takes in two Pokémon, who are now split between 'Egg Groups, of opposite genders and the same egg group, will produce an egg. The offspring will be the same species as the mother, and will receive stats as well as moved that can be passed down from the father. If a Pokémon, even those who are genderless but are not Legendary, are put in the Daycare Centre with a Ditto, an egg will also be produced, the species will be what the Pokémon placed with Ditto is.

This opens up three things much needed in the games. First is the ability to reproduce one off Pokémon, such as starters and Eevee. Considering how popular the Starters and Eevee are, and the lack of willingness to trade some people would have because of these monsters being one time deals, this was a massive step in the right direction The second is that Pokémon can now learn moves that they normally could not, being passed from Father to child. The third is that TMs, when used in a well thought out way, can be bred down, and are no longer one off items. The new aspect of evolution, Baby Pokémon, are only gained through breeding, but as their only purpose is for the second reason, what are dubbed 'Egg Moves', and to be cute.

Happiness is not a new mechanic, as it was introduced in Pikachu/Yellow, but it was expanded upon here, becoming one of the more frustrating mechanics. Pokémon now gain happiness from select NPCs giving them Grooming, the player giving them Vitamins, walking with the Pokémon in the party or Battling and Levelling. If this had no effect on anything, like it is in Yellow for the most part, it'd be all well and good. But, this is not the case. Babies and some old Pokémon now evolve from this hidden stat. The problem with this is that when a Pokémon is caught, they start on 70 or hatched they start on 120. Each one of these events gives them an average of 3 points increase and to evolve, the Pokémon needs 220 points of happiness. Being a hidden stat, there is no way to tell when the happiness level is, other than a rough estimate from an NPC in Goldenrod, in a house near the Bike Shop. It is a long and arduous task to raise happiness, to the point of it being irritating at times.

The idea of time passing is another of the big draws of this game, and I believe it to be both a fantastic idea and the worst part of the game. In Pokémon Gold and Silver, you have to set the clock, in a new device called the PokeGear. The time of day dictates what Pokémon appear, such as Owls, Hoothoot and Noctowl, come out at night, Ladybugs, Ledyba, come out in the morning and whatnot. It adds to the realism, and gives a good atmosphere. Now, why this is a bad thing is that this drains the battery at a quite fast rate, rendering the game unplayable. The clock loosing time is the telltale sign the game is loosing it's ability to save, then hours of work are gone forever. This is very saddening as most people would want their save file, as a record of their adventures, not to mention any promotional Pokémon.

The final new aspect of Pokémon introduced in Pokémon Gold and Silver is a portable device for the player, a device somewhat akin to a smart phone, or iPhone, the PokeGear. The PokeGear has quite a few uses, it shows the time, it has a map, a radio and a phone. The Map not being an item helps lessen the amount of items in the bag, the time is needed for the time aspect of game play, the radio is key to parts of the plot and the phone is both key to the plot and allows the player to rematch NPCs whom have given the player their phone number. This is a good idea, but, with one major problem, the game decides who the player battles and when. The NPCs also call the player for no other reason than to have a chat. While realistic, for a game, and one with grinding involved, the lack of ability to choose who and when you battle, and being pestered, is irritating and takes away from the game.

Pokémon Gold and Silver can also trade with Red, Blue, Yellow (and in Japanese Green), through a section called the Time Machine, but it has two catches. No new Pokémon can be on the GS team's party and no monster can know any move knew to GS. This is good as it allows the player to retain their old monsters, and send back ones that could not reproduce at that time.

The Sprites of Gold and Silver are an interesting case. First, and most notably, they are different between the games. All the sprites are nice enough for a Game Boy Deluxe game, but there is something worth going into here, they, again, seem to be making it up as they go along. This is evidenced by a few things. One, the sprites are again, all over the place in terms of quality, again, ranging from realistic, to hilariously bad, akin to G/R/B, to cartoony. Very few look 'Right' as Yellow does, and two, Raikou does not use his final art design as well as Delibird just doesn't look like Delibird. It's quite odd, that for the most part, this only effects the new monsters. The old monsters, mostly, are well done and look somewhere between Blue and Yellow, leaning more towards Yellow.

Gold and Silver also brings us the Alternative Colour, or 'Shiny', Pokémon. These Pokémon are really no different to the normal ones, with the exception of their colour. Other than even in the storyline where the player encounters a Red Gyarados, the player has a 1/8192 chance of encountering one, and even then, are more for show than actual use.

The Music of these games is top notch, as with the originals. It gives atmosphere, or is just generally memorable, from battles, to biking, to Ecruteak to Team Rocket. I think the soundtrack is one of the better aspects of the game, and I would say I rather it to the originals in a lot of ways.

GS being sequels, and Johto connecting to Kanto, brings up something rather interesting. It shares many species with Kanto, so many so that it becomes more of an expansion pack monster wise, than ‘New Pokémon with some oldies making cameos’. Out of the 99 Pokémon available in-game, 86 are available per cartridge. Out of those, there are 7 babies of RGBY Pokémon, 9 evolutions for them, 3 counterparts for them, 6 are unavailable without items used in trading and finally 15 Pokémon unavailable until the post game, 3 of which overlap with babies and evolutions. This leaves a total of 46 legitimately new Pokémon available before the Elite 4. Let me run this by you again. There are 99 new Pokémon introduced in Pokémon Gold and Silver. 86 of these are available per game. 40 of these are either unavailable in Johto or are connected directly with a Kanto monster. What about the monsters shared with Kanto that are actually native to Kanto? Roughly 100. There are close to 150 Pokémon native to Johto. a third of those are introduced in the same generation as Johto.

This is where I believe, Gold and Silver fall apart as a game. It doesn't really feel new, not in the way it should.

Not counting base forms for monsters that evolved at the time, the original games, Red and Blue/Green, monster pool becomes thus

14 Normal (+1 Version Exclusive)
1 Fighting (+2 Choice, 1 Version Exclusive, 1 Requiring Trading)
13 Flying (+1 Choice, 1 Version Exclusive)
8 Poison (+1 Choice, 1 Requiring Trading, 3 Version Exclusive)
4 Ground (+1 Requiring Trading, 1 Version Exclusive)
3 Rock (+1 Requiring Trading, 2 Choice)
4 Bug (+2 Version Exclusive)
0 Ghost (+1 Requiring Trading)
2 Fire (+2 Choice, 3 Version Exclusive)
12 Water (+2 Choice)
3 Grass (+1 Choice, 2 Version Exclusive)
4 Electric (+1 Choice, 1 Version Exclusive)
6 Psychic (+1 Requiring Trading, 1 Post Game)
5 Ice
1 Dragon.

Again, being the beginning, it's rather hard to be picky about this, and with exclusives and choices, the selection isn't as bad as it looks. Flawed? Yes, but it was their first go.
Gold and Silver, not the case. Out of the 150 odd Pokémon available in Johto, we get:

17 Normal (+2 Version Exclusive / 9 +1 Version Exclusive new )
4 Fighting (+1, Version Exclusive, 1 Requiring Trading / 0 New)
12 Flying (+6 Version Exclusive, 1 Requiring Trading / 5 Flying +6 Version Exclusive New)
12 Poison (+1 Version Exclusive / 1 Poison +1 Version Exclusive New )
8 Ground (+2 Version Exclusive / 2 Ground +2 Version Exclusive New)
4 Rock (+1 Requiring Trading / 3 Rock New)
9 Bug (+2 Version Exclusive, 1 Requiring Trading / 3 Bug +2 Version Exclusive New)
0 Ghost (+1 Requiring Trading / 0 Ghost New)
3 Fire (+1 Choice, 2 Version Exclusive / 1 Fire +1 Choice New)
18 Water (+1 Choice, 3 Requiring Trade, 1 Version Exclusive / 7 Water +1 Choice, 1 Version Exclusive New)
8 Grass (+1 Choice / 2 Grass +1 Choice New)
6 Electric (3 Electric New)
10 Psychic (+2 Requiring Trading, 1 Version Exclusive / 4 Psychic, +1 Version Exclusive New)
5 Ice (2 Ice New)
1 Dragon (+1 Requiring Trading / 0 Dragon New)
2 Steel (+2 Requiring Trading, +1 Version Exclusive / 1 Steel New)
1 Dark (0 Dark New)

Yes, there are multiple cases in this game where all the 'New' Monsters for specific types, aren't 'really' new, just evolutions, or relations. Also, I am well aware some monsters, like the Ice/Dark Sneasel, became available in Johto in Crystal, but I don't believe Crystal made enough changes to be worth going into. One might think I am being a bit hard on the game, considering things like Heracross (Pinsir's replacement counterpart) or Miltank (Tauros' new counterpart) as not 'New', or in the oddity case that is Hitmontop, or even evolutions, but I strongly consider these still a major connection to Kanto. One might say that by that logic, Hoot Hoot or Marril aren't new Pokémon, as they have analogs in Kanto, but these aren't directly related species or for all intensive purposes, species offshoots or counterparts.

But, even if one considers the counterparts as new, the 'New' factor, the major selling point of this game, falls rather flat. It's as if the developers didn't know how to utilise the new monsters in a way which both gives availability to the old, and emphasises the new. I do get some of the logic behind Gold and Silver, Dragon is a rare and legendary type, hence why Kingdra is the only new one. Dark and Steel are newly discovered, so there aren't too many of them, but why make Dark so rare, to the point where there is only 1 available in it's country of origin? Steel doesn't have this issue. Outside of the monsters, more on their attacks, why so few Dark and Steel attacks?

To be rather frank, the monster distribution aspect of Johto is a mess. I would like to say all the blame lays at the developers feet, but I think that is a rather harsh assessment. This was their first sequel to the franchise. But saying that, while RG/B had issues, and it did, the distribution felt better than this, because it was the first game, and all the monsters were new. It really isn't better, but the new factor of the entire franchise makes up for it.

An issue I believe people may have with this view of Gold and Silver is that some might consider Kanto part of the main game, and not the 'Post Game'. Fair enough. They are entitled to their opinion, it doesn't change mine, nor does it change the fact that Johto has nearly all of the story and Kanto happens after the Elite 4. I agree Kanto should have something unique to it, but I think that should be their own monsters, not the new ones from Johto. Not the ones of the new elemental types.

The English releases, and localisations based on them, changed one thing from the Japanese editions. This being that while Teddiursa/Ursaring is Silver Exclusive and Phanpy/Donphan being Gold Exclusive in Japan, this was reversed for everywhere else. I believe this may be to give Silver some better exclusives, but at that point of the game, both appearing after the 8th Gym, I don't see why it was changed. This is not an elusive Dragon, Dark or Steel type, they are Normal and Ground respectively.

In 2000, Japan had Pokémon Crystal for the Game Boy Color unleashed upon it. Like Blue and Yellow before it, Pokémon Crystal attempted to improve Gold and Silver, but unlike Red and Green, GS were not broken for the most part, no game breaking glitches or sprite oddities, Crystal builds upon GS instead.

Crystal has four big draw cards, trading and battling over a mobile phone network, The Battle Tower, Animated Battle sprites and being able to play as a female character.

Pokémon Crystal was compatible with a device to connect the Game Boy to a Mobile Phone, this was called Pokémon Mobile System GB, which allowed the player battle and trade with other players, as well as send details of their adventures, over a mobile phone network. This was done in Goldenrod City, who's Pokémon Centre had become a new building, the Pokémon Communication Centre, which was much larger than the old Pokémon Centre. This was a rather ingenious idea, as having someone to trade with right next to you, both with your gear, isn't always going to happen, and this allows the player to call whoever they plan on trading or battling with.

The Battle Tower is a large tower, just outside of Olivine City, that tests the best of the best with battles that need genuine strategy, unfortunately, the only prizes are items the player can by and there is little to no point outside of testing the player.

The player can now choose to be a girl, if they so wish, for the first time. While this is merely cosmetic, it gives more choice for girls or those who wish to change it up from GS.

Both the sprites and colouring of this game is changed, thanks to the Game Boy hardware. The sprites, aside from Raikou and Delibird, are chosen from either Gold or Silver, recoloured so that they are in full colour instead of being limited by the Game Boy Deluxe cartridges, and animated. For the most part, they choose the better sprites of the two games, aside from Raikou and Delibird. The infamous Raikou of Gold and Silver is now given a totally new sprite who resembles his art. Delibird is also changed, but the face still doesn't look much like Delibird. The animations are quite nice and either give the monsters a little personality or show something of their abilities.

While sprites are good and all, I think the only true improvement was to the story and the world it takes place in. Like how Gold and Silver's involve Ho-Oh and Lugia respectively, Crystal focuses on Suicune and the Unown.

Suicune's new involvement in the story starts in Ecruteak, where a new character, Eusine, a friend of Morty's from Kanto who seeks out Suicune. Suicune is no longer a roaming Johto and is now chased into the Tin Tower, while having Eusine catch up each time you encounter Suicune.

Going back to Morty, he is expanded as a character in this game and is given more of a personality, with his knowledge of Johto Legends and history.

This game also greatly expands on the myths of Johto, Ho-oh, Lugia and the Legendary Beasts, Entei, Raikou and Suicune, which help give Johto some much needed life to it, seeing as it loves a more classical look.

The Ruins of Alph also got some redesigning, giving the Unown some myths and legends.

Like how Red and Green had Pokémon exclusive to each version, and Blue being a combination of those, as does Gold & Silver with Crystal. Blue mixed and matched from the Green and Red exclusives, and it's missing list isn't bad, however, this was changed for Crystal, being the 'Definitive Gen 2 Game', and the choices are strange.

Crystal includes all Gen 2 version exclusives, while sticking to suit with the Gen 1 monsters. What it removes however, is odd. Mareep/Flaffy/Ampharos, Girafarig and Remoraid/Octillery are missing. This is strange, as Mareep is the only Electric type for quite some time in GS, Girafarig is quite useful, and Octillery has a massive move pool. Other than Mareep, who isn't that useful, I don't think this is much of a hindrance at all on Crystal.

But there was one last feature of the Pokémon Mobile System GB, the ability to gain an item called the GS ball. This was given to the player by a Pokémon Communication Centre Nurse, then is to be taken to Kurt of Azalea. A day is to pass, then the player is to go the Ilex Forest, with the GS Ball, to the shrine, to battle a new Pokémon. The 100th New Pokémon of the Second Generation, The Time Travel Pokémon, Celebi.

In 2001, Crystal came to the west in a clear pale blue cartridge, and it was rather pointless.

As the west had not taken to children having Mobile Phones, Pokémon Crystal naturally had to be gutted, and what is left is just kind of there.

Gone is the Pokémon Mobile System GB, and everything associated with it, including the Celebi event. This meant that the only way to legitimately gain a Celebi is to attend an event. This is rather unfair, as what would have been a better alternative is to include another way to gain the GS Ball, be it monster count or a battle, hell, make the Battle Tower have a point and include it as a prize there.

Nothing really else is changed in the English version, and it comes off more as a GS partial improvement, rather than testing new waters like the Japanese one did with the Pokémon Mobile System GB. Yeah, it's pretty, it had more story than the originals, it has a female trainer and the sprites move, but it's not different enough, and to be frank, other than the Pokémon Mobile System GB, the Japanese edition isn't either. One might say that the Japanese Blue is as pointless, and they would be correct, Yellow is the only one of the two to improve the original games.

Pokémon Gold, Silver and Crystal were released when Pokémon was at it's highest, and a lot of people have very fond memories of them. I had a lot of nostalgia towards them myself. As I got older, and the franchise itself matured, it became much easier to see the faults with these games.

In some ways, I want to blame Kanto for the reasons I am disillusioned with Johto, at other times I want to blame the age of the game. I don't think it is either. By itself, Johto isn't the worst of places. It's more interesting than Kanto, genuinely challenging at times if one maintains a party, and feels different enough to feel new. Yes, Kanto does take up too much of the game, and overshadows Johto in a lot of ways, but that isn't it. The original games feel perfectly fine now, even accounting for their age, so age really isn't an issue.

So I choose to blame the lack of focus on Johto itself and not enforcing the 'new' feel of the game. Again, going back to the monsters, but even the dialog, people and events, too many relations to Kanto, and this is the problem. GSC improves on RGBY in so many ways, but because of it's many connections to Kanto, these games are essentially an expansion pack to the originals. Johto is trying to be it's own entity, and it can't. It's connected to Kanto, it shares her monsters, it shares her characters and Kanto having some of the Pokémon that were supposed to be new in Gold and Silver, the games focusing on Johto, as it was the new place, just causes more issues than it helps.

I get what they were going for, two places near each other have similar ecosystems and different cultures, that works all well and great for real life. I understand there are slight changes in species from place to place, being the evolutions, babies and counterpart species, but reality doesn't always make for the best game.

I respect Pokémon Gold, Silver and Crystal for all they did for the franchise, and they did introduce a lot, but I feel very conflicted towards them because they are not seperate from the originals. I know a lot of people would disagree, hence why I have been very defensive throughout this, people have very strong feelings for these games, both positive and negative, and there are good reasons for both. Drudging through them again, I am not even sure I would say I like these games. Going back to the very beginning of this, I am willing to say that maybe their origins as 'Pokémon 2' is the reason why they have so many connections to Kanto, as the Pokémon 2 moniker was dropped roughly half way through development.

Again, I ponder to myself, whether I may be too hard on the games, as a lot has changes since them, especially in the way which Pokémon sequels are presented, and that may have some influence on my cynicism. The games are flawed, all are, but are some of the flaws, especially the 'new' feel, because newer games did it better? I don't think so, that would also mean I have some jaded feelings towards the originals, which I don't.

So I say what I have said before about these games, they were really good when they came out, and for good reason, and the effects of them will always be there, but they have dated rather badly, far worse than the originals, but they are the integral part of the games becoming more sophisticated and part of the very game we know today, the other being Ruby, Sapphire and Emerald.

I am aware how hard this must have been to read, and it was to write too, it took me over a month to get it done, but the shear magnitude of these games, both in length and their lasting effects on the franchise and it's fans, I've had to rewrite this twice now, because of my feelings for these games being so convoluted, but I think I can sum it up now better than ever.

These games gave the franchise a lot, and should be respected for it, but they are both a stepping stone of what the franchise will be and what they should not be.

-Some Gamer Dude

Pokémon Retrospective – Green, Red, Blue & Yellow, East and West

2010-04-22T07:17:00.001-07:00

In February of 1996, Pokémon was unleashed upon the Japanese Public with Pocket Monsters Green and Pocket Monsters Red on the Game Boy. Six long years in development, and a heap of game breaking bugs, it was adored by the masses.

The game is about a boy, the player, who traverses the land of Kanto to catch and document all 150 Pocket Monsters, defeat the criminal syndicate Rocket Gang and gain Gym Badges from 8 select locations in Pocket Monster battles to be able to challenge the Quartz Plateau and become the Pocket Monster Champion. All through this, his Rival will be one step ahead of him.

While bland for today's standards, this title had amazing depth for it’s time and console. The Gym Leaders didn't have much of personalities outside of basic stereotypes relating to their type specialisation, NPC dialog fleshed them out. Rocket Gang only having one named character, being Sakaki, their Leader. Unlike their successors, Rocket Gang are just a criminal syndicate, selling rare Pocket Monsters and Fossils for a profit as well as stealing items and holding people hostage to make their missions go more smoothly, such as the Silph Corporation hostage situation to steal the Master Ball in Yamabuki City.

The Kanto region's geography is based on the real locale of Kanto in Japan. Areas in the game vary greatly, from the small town of Masara, where the player starts, the port city of Kuchiba City, based on Yokohama and filled with Westerners, Shion Town with it’s Pocket Monster Towner for the deceased Monsters of Kanto, the major cities of Tamamshi and Yamabuki and the Island town of Guren. Kanto’s areas have a lot of warmth to them and the layout of Kanto makes it feel like a real place.

The 150 Monsters are split between the two games, with a choice at one starter of three, one of two fossils, one of the two fighters, one of three Eievui evolutions and eleven exclusive to each game, leading to a grand total of 128 per game. To capture all the Pocket Monsters, one would have to use a Link Cable to trade Pocket Monsters with a friend. Unfortunately, as the Starters, Eievui and the Fossils are one per game, trading becomes a very thought emotional experience, as unless one would trade back, there is no way to retain the Pocket Monsters. This, however, is avoided by having multiple games, which defeats the purpose of trading as it was envisioned. There are also four monsters, Yungerer, Goriky, Golone and Ghost who require trading to evolve to their highest stages. The Link Cable is also used for Player VS Player Battling. The Pocket Monster series are the only games to truly utilise the Link Cable.

The Game Boy had roughly the same power as the original NES, taking that into account, these are very detailed sprites, if not interesting when they do not match up to the promotional art by Ken Sugimori. Considering the varying quality, art design and time frame in which Green and Red were made, one would assume the Pocket Monsters were designed as the team went on, and not predesigned. Looking at a spread of all the sprites, how much they vary is amazing, from the realism of Butterfree, Gardie and Kongpang to the anime looks of Koduck, Pippi, Porygon and Ratta and then the downright strange designs of Fushigibana, Nidoking, Nidoqueen, Kairyu and Okorizaru. Not that some of the stranger designs are bad, some are more… ‘Monstery’ than the official ones, or suit the description better, such as Ghos, Betbeton, Thunders, Butterfree and Golduck.

The Pocket Monsters are split between 15 types, which are split between Physical and Special. Physical Types being Normal, Fighting, Flying, Poison, Ground, Rock, Bug and Ghost while Special types are Grass, Fire, Water, Electric, Psychic(ESPer in Japan, a user of Extrasensory Perception), Ice and Dragon. Pocket Monsters of one type are weak against another which increases damage by 100% and resist others decreasing damage by 50%, secondary types amplify or lessen damage further. Using an attack of the same type as the monster increases the damage by 50%. Stats also determin how much damage is taken or given. Attack governs Physical typed moves, Defence governs the damage taken by Physical typed moves, Speed governs who moves first and Special governs both the give and take of Special typed moves.

As well as the moves the monsters learn through levelling up, monsters also can learn moves through Technical Machines, items which unfortunately only available once each outside of a select few that can be bought, and Hidden Machines, used to traverse certain parts of the region, but are for the most part useless in battle and require a specific NPC to delete off of monsters, unlike regular moves who can be deleted at whim when a new, better move comes along.

Unfortunately, the roster was rather unbalanced, 24 Monsters are Normal, 19 are Flying, 8 are Fighting, 33 are Poison, 11 Ground, 11 Rock, 32 Water, 12 Bug, 14 Grass, 3 Ghost, 12 Fire, 13 Psychic, 5 Ice, 9 Electric and 3 are Dragon Types. To add to this, Psychic types had a good enough move pool and Special Stat to dominate everything, and the most powerful monster in the game, Mewtwo, is this type. In retrospect, it's amazing how many monsters are Poison typed, as it's never really been notable, and it's good against anything widely used. Until actually listing them, I never noticed the Poison dominance of Green and Red, it's not obvious like Water's.

Never the less, the game play is very entertaining, the monsters are likable and have a lot of character. While the dominance of the Psychic type is rather obvious, it’s easily avoided. The Monster pool is rather shallow though, so only select monsters can carry on until the end because of some, such as Ratta and Butterfree, who’s stats just fall behind. Problem is, that excluding base forms, there are only 93 Pocket Monsters, and out of that, roughly 40 are too slow, have crappy move pools, taken down too easily or some mixture of those. This would have created a metagame that lacked diversity, if people actually knew of competitive play back in the day.

The music in the game is good for it’s hardware. It’s catchy, has a decent variety and is very memorable. From the cheery music of Route 1, used in many routes, to the spooky music of Shion Town and the epic Battle Music of Gym Leaders, the Four Heavenly Kings and the Champion. It’s very hard to not like the music in these games. The Monster cries have 37 variations to them, either being pitched up or down, stretched or shortened. These sounds are all bips and boops, really not recognisable as anything, but acceptable on for Game Boy hardware.

Now there is one glaring issue, while the game was in production for 6 years, it was a glitch ridden mess at release. Glitch Monsters and Towns caused by programming oversights and a strip of land with no wild monsters programmed to appear on it. While this may sound minor, it breaks the game rather badly, as it causes the ability to duplicate items infinitely at the cost of the corruption of the Hall of Fame, the registration of who you beat the game with. This causes the game to have no challenge once initiated. While you don’t have to do it, it removes much of the grinding needed in an RPG. On the bright side, it does remove one issue I have with the game, most TMs are only available once.

In October of 1996, the updated third version of Pocket Monsters, Pocket Monsters Blue, initially released as an exclusive to CoroCoro subscribers,is released. Blue was a major overhaul of the graphics and a minor overhaul of the engine, available monsters and some area’s layouts.

The change in the engine isn’t really noticeable outside of PKMN and ITEM changing places and the tile changes in Kanto aren't really that noticable. The Sprites however, are all new. Most are vastly improved, such as the starter lines, Beedle line, Sand line, Nido lines, Niyoromo line, Nyarth line, Ponyta line, Strike, Eleboo, Boober, Laplace, Kagibon, Miniryu line and Mewtwo. Some are worse, such as Pidgeot, Onidrill, Golbat, Dogars, Parshen, Seadra, Tosakinto, Barrierd & Porygon. The rest are more or less the same. The layout of the Nameless Cave dramatically changed, but it’s not really worth talking about. The new exclusive monster selection is just a selection from both Red and Green’s exclusives.

While I know I am going off in a tangent here, I feel I must say why I rather Blue’s Mewtwo sprite. Mewtwo has a huge head and a rather small, thin neck. The second spinal cord at the back is likely to support it, although, I don’t see how this would be engineered by man. Blue has him hunching over from his head’s weight, that and his general posture is quite frighting. The Blue sprite invokes more of it’s origin story’s basis, Mary Shelley’s Frankenstein.

All Blue really did was introduce new sprites for the monsters. No real change was made to anything else.

Two years later, Pocket Monsters Pikachu Special Edition is released in 1998. Pikachu is more of a fan service game, basing itself off of the popular anime. The Sprites, again, are updated, now all representing the anime, looking much cleaner than their Green, Red and Blue predecessors. They are, for the most part, pleasing and it marks a turning point where the sprites truly represent the Ken Sugimori art. Some of the character sprites are also altered to look like the anime. The story is now also based on the anime as well, changes as such. Pikachu is now the only starter, Eievui is now the rival’s starter, who will evolve depending on when and how the player battles him. The Gym Leaders now also have teams altered to resemble their anime counterparts. The player now receives all three of the starters, and Musashi and Kojiro are now battled in places where the player would battle Rocket Gang in Green, Red and Blue.

The Nameless Cave was also altered, again. The main feature of this game is the Pikachu the player receives as a starter, follows the player and gets happier has the game goes on. Like Satoshi, the player also receives Fushigidane, Hitokage and Zenigame, all three of the starters from Green, Red and Blue. Also like the anime, Pikachu refused to evolve to Raichu and most notably, Ikue Ohtani voiced Pikachu. A voice sample on the Game Boy. An amazing accomplishment.

While this was all well and good, I think the most notable trait of Pikachu Edition is that the bugs that hurt it’s predecessor so badly are now inaccessible through normal play. This makes the game as hard as it originally was meant to be, and allows the player to truly experience Kanto. While Pikachu as a starter does ramp the difficulty up considerably in the beginning, the increasing difficulty of the Gyms and Four Heavenly Kings are far more balanced than Green, Red and Blue's. They are higher making the game involve far less grind later on. I think this was a very smart move on Game Freak's part.

This is all there was to Japan’s Generation 1, but weeks after Pocket Monsters Special Pikachu Edition happened. At the end of September 1998, something else was released.

Pokémon Red and Blue.

And now I can finally use western terminology. Red and Blue are a very interesting case, not Japan’s Red and Blue, as they are not a pair, but rather Blue, separated and modified into Red and Green. Both games take Blue’s script, layouts, updates and sprites, Red uses Red’s monster exclusivity and Blue uses Green’s. Blue and Red also got new cover art for Blastoise and Charizard. Unlike the original carts which were the normal gray colour, these were colour co-ordinated like the Donkey Kong Land series.

What’s notable is that while Pikachu came out earlier, Red and Blue retains all the glitches of Green and Red. I don't know why, but considering the two year gap between the original release and the localization, Pikachu may indeed have started development later than the localization. Using Blue’s translation caused some hiccups with some in game trades, ‘That Raichu you traded me went and evolved!’ standing out. Other than this, they are really the same experience as the Japanese Green and Red. So, other than a pretty green cartridge and new Venusaur art, nothing was missed. Some merger of Japanese Green’s sprite set and Japanese Blue’s monsters is nothing to cry over, if it had indeed been the missed game.

Nothing more can be said for these two that I didn’t say about Green and Red.

Later in 1999, Pocket Monsters Special Pikachu Edition made it to the west, under the title Pokémon Special Pikachu Edition Yellow Version. Yellow is largely the same as it’s Japanese counterpart, with the exception that the Japanese version was a Game Boy game, while the western one was a Game Boy DX cart, having a colour pallet set when used in a Game Boy Color or Super Game Boy. Like Red and Blue before it, Yellow was a coloured cartridge, being, of course, Yellow. Donkey Kong Land, or 'Bananna' yellow to be exact. Yellow also had connectivity to the Game Boy Printer to print the Pokedex entries.

Generation 1 was a very long ride, starting development in 1990, releasing in 1996 and finishing in 1999 with the Japanese releases of Pokémon Gold and Silver. Much of this generation is what I said at the beginning, a glitch ridden mess, but it was a fun mess, and still is. While the roster could have used adjusting because of the over saturation of certain types and more monsters move pools balanced out and expanded, it's hard to fault these games. They were the first games in the series, six years was a very long development time, so development must have been a real task, which would account for all the glitches. It seems that they never had a game plan, and made it up as they as they went on, which would account for the varying quality of the Green and Red sprites, this is backed up by the rather random programming in the Hex, ie, they are not in National Order, and Ken Sugimori saying Rhydon, with it’s silly looking sprite, being the first Pokémon. With Blue, and then Yellow, the game improved. These games provided the foundations for a fantastic franchise. They have issues, Pokémon to this day has issues, but the issues here are more forgivable because of it being the beginning. To those who started with these games, like myself, I believe they will stand the test of time, as we remember when these were considered great games. To kids just starting? What would now be considered ugly sprites may be too much to get over, that and a small monster pool by today's standards. Sure, the games get more and more complex, but there is a certain charm in these games, and they shall forever be remembered for starting a phenomenon.

-Some Gamer Dude

I want the Ninja Force

2010-04-03T23:51:00.001-07:00

I grew up in the 90s, so while I got TMNT, Transformers Gen 2, I also got the tale end of GI Joe, of which I only ever bought was the Ninja Force, Storm Ninjas and Street Fighter II. Ever since I returned to GI Joe with the 25th line, I have yearned for the Ninja Force. Sure, they are as fluoro as hell, but I love them. Probably never coming single carded, ever, but since Hasbro loves their Ninjas, seriously, Storm Shadow and Snake Eyes are in every.single.wave., why not 5-packs? Here are what the Ninja Series was comprised of, from 1992/3. The Shadow Ninja’s were reissues of Ninja Force characters in colour changing plastic.

GI JOE
Storm Shadow-Ninja Force Leader
Snake Eyes-Covert Missions Specialist
Scarlett-Counter Intelligence Specialist
Banzai-Rising Sun Ninja
Bushido-Snow Ninja
Dojo-Silent Weapons Ninja
Nunchuck-Nunchaku Ninja
T’Jbang-Ninja Swordsman
T’Jin Zu-Pile Driver Operator

COBRA
Slice-Cobra Ninja Swordsman
Dice-Cobra Bo Staff Ninja
Zartan-Master of Disguise
Night Creeper-Cobra Ninja
Red Ninja-Battle Ax Operators

Slice came in both Red and Orange, red being the original in 1992 and the orange came in 1993. Funny as Slice’s file card states that he is an original character, not a trooper. As is Dice. Night Creepers are the troopers.

Red Ninja’s have already been done, so they do not need a reissue, even though the new one is nothing like the original, being a Storm Shadow repaint, which is hilarious, as T’Jin Zu originally was a Storm Shadow Repaint.

Zartan does not need a remake as NF Zartan is usually ‘despised by all’, so he’s cut… even though the only new part needed is the mohawk.

Night Creeper is a trooper, so we can have multiples of him.

COBRA NINJA FORCE 5 PACK- Slice, Dice, Night Creeper(3)

GI Joe is a hard decision, as we really only have 2 slots, as Storm Shadow, Snake Eyes and Scarlett are givens.

Dojo, T’Jband and T’Jinzu can be cut because the first two are just rather strange looking and the third is a repaint of Storm Shadow. So we are down to Nunchuck, Bushido and Banzai. While I would rather Banzai, as he is unique and pretty cool looking, but I could see Nunchuck and Bushido being made, as they are the same mold, minus the heads.

GI JOE NINJA FORCE 5 PACK- Storm Shadow, Snake Eyes, Scarlett, Nunchuck and Bushido.

And there we go. MAKE IT HAPPEN HASBRO.

-Some Gamer Dude who loves his Ninjas.

Rattata Is Underrated, He’s Pretty Decent.

2010-03-30T07:58:00.001-07:00

I know, I still have a few things cooking, the G2, 1 and 4 reviews are coming. But, while I was retreading Gen2, I found something out, Rattata is a decent Pokémon. Not good, decent.

I had never used Rattata, ever, and I have been playing Pokémon since day one.

A while back, I had read about how Rattata’s Hyper Fang was a Disc One Nuke, an easily accessible hard hitting attack. Of course, I scoffed at the idea, it is Rattata. But tonight, while refreshing my memory of G2, I decided to test him out, hit two birds with one stone.

Positives-
Incredible Speed
Priority Moves(Quick Attack)
Hyper Fang, learnt in the early teens, is Base 80. BASE 80 DAMAGE. RATTATA ALSO GETS STAB FROM THIS. 1.5X DAMAGE. BASE 120.
Respectable Atk as Raticate
Diverse Move Pool

Negatives-
Outclassed later on.
Pitiful Defences.
Needs help until he can stand by himself.

When we get to Gen 3/4? He as Guts, an ability that when he is effected by a stat condition(Paralyse, Poison, Burn), his ATK is boosted by 50% of it’s base, making it roughly, 120. He also has access to elemental physicals, is a bit more Dark based in his pool and rather cool really.

To give you an idea, Raticate has base 80ATK and 95SPD, give or take a point or two. Dragonite has base 134ATK, 100SPA and 80SPD. As I said, very outclassed, but no slouch really. Even though is fonominaly better in G4 than he was 3, in Kanto he can easily get Iron Tail and Dig.

So, while overlooked and generally regarded as crap, the little purple rat is as good as, if not better than in some regards, the little yellow rat. Give him a chance, help him stand buy himself, he’ll surprise you.

-Some Gamer Dude, yes, G2 is next. Then 1, and lastly 4 before the big day of my HGSS review.

End of the Romance of the Three Kingdums

2010-02-18T14:08:00.001-08:00

Yep, BB Senshi Sangokuden, Brave Battle Warriors Three Kingdoms Story, is ending with Sima Yi Nightingale and the Sima Family Zeon Forces. Fine, good end, Sima Yi did win the Three Kingdoms by more or less waiting for everyone to cark it, and Zhuge Liang did get upgraded from the ReZG to the Nu to the Hi Nu Gundam. Yi got upgraded from a white Sazabi to a Chrome Red one to the Nightingale. I have few issues though…

BB Senshi Sangokugaiden, Brave Battle Warriors Three Kingdoms Side Story. My god do I hate these things. They use old molds, and it shows, and they are using it for major characters, like Xu Zhu and Ling Tong.

Missing characters, so many missing characters, Sun Jian, Dian Wei, Yue Ying, Wei Yan, Pang Tong, Dong Zhou, Diao Chan and Pang De. Sun Jian, the foundation of Wu, and both Cao’s guards not having new kits, Xu Zhu and Dian Wei, bothers me immensely. Also, as a side thought, Pang Tong was shown, why wasn’t he made? Sun Jian too. >_>

Cao Cao has no second kit. This pisses me off a lot. Liu Bei gets Liu Bei and Soaring Emperor Liu Bei, Sun Quan gets Sun Quan, the update to the GP03 Sun Quan with the mystical item Tengyokugai, and the new ‘Tigatron’ Sun Quan. Cao Cao? Well, our GLORIOUS PRIME MINISTER, gets his initial kit, a slight update with the Tengyokugai and another weapon update with the Wei Items, Cao Pi’s head crest and Xu Huang’s back pack to become Emperor Cao Cao. No second kit for him. >_> I would have loved to have seen an update the the Infinite Justice myself.

Finaly, BB Senshi Brave Battle Warriors Shin Sangokuden, both anime and movie. It restarts the Three Kingdoms, with some new(ie, missing), people, such as the infamous Dong Zhou. This isn’t so much irritating(lol, Guan Yu isn’t different), but a sucker punch. It more or less nullifies the last series and makes all the kits pointless. Oh well, not too much of an issue, I’ll just get any ‘AWESOME UPDATES’, like… Zhang Fei’s complete shoulder armor?, and new characters, like Dong Zhou. Damn it took a long time to get to Dong Zhou.

Games Talk-Present and Future

2010-02-01T01:05:00.001-08:00

So, yeah. Game Talk. Let’s get to it

World of Warcraft-PC

Yeah, still playing this. Um, well. I still don’t know how I feel. When you are money farming, item farming, grinding effectively and such, the game seems easier. But boring. I think I have gotten used to the game enough to enjoy the one player game. Now the Massive Multiplayer part. Hell in a hand basket. One, you need everyone at around the average required for the raid. Two, you need enough people, and finally, Three, the right types of characters. Now if this wasn’t hard enough, and more or less demanding that you all need to be at 80, in the dungeon, the game is confusing. People are too close together, they are hard to distinguish and well, it’s just really confusing. I realy can’t be bothered until I have a good group. Ah well. At least the guild talk isn’t bad. Girls in it too. Taken ones though :O

Dynasty Warriors 5-PS2

I see why this one is raved about, but it is rather strange. It’s level system and abilities. The levels are in ‘Ranks’ and they go in reverse, from around 15 and up. It’s odd coming off Samurai Warriors 2, Dynasty Warriors Gundam/2 and Warriors Orochi 2. As for the abilities, they aren’t item based(Orochi) or bought(Samurai Warriors 2). They are all weapon based, but it’s what’s on them, you can’t merge them or anything. Actual game play? Norm, fun, a little harder, rewarding. I quite like DW5. I could see buying 7 if it’s better than what’s been said about 6.

Dynasty Warriors-PSP

This on the other hand, isn’t that fun. You rely on guard units for abilities, the camera is hell, the level system is redundant. You get leveled down after finishing the battle, but get stat increases.The game play is bad because you are too close and there is no minimap. I am glad it was only 30.

Lego Rock Band-PS3

I love the songs. Go Wiki them. It’s a good list. Problem is that the charts are boring. Realy realy boring. It drags a fun game down alot. Yeah

Now, for the future, what I plan to get.

Star Ocean The Last Hope-PS3

Been waiting for this. The PS3 version is on one disc, I do like Star Ocean and well, it’s on PS3. Reason enough, well, nah. I have no grudges against the 360. Yeah, anyway, nothing realy to say. 12th of Feb. probable purchase.

Pokemon HGSS

Ah, yeah. I can’t help it. I do like me pogeymanz. Oddly enough, I have tried SS in japanese, I found it boring, but that could be because of using the computer, which I generally don’t like.

Infamous/Prototype

Now both of these are platinum priced, I feel I should have ago. I’d probably get Infamous over Prototype, from what I’ve seen said. Yeah, not too much to say. They sound interesting.

Bayonetta

Alot of good things have been said about this. It looks realy fun, is by the DMC guy, which I loved. So yeah. I don’t realy go for the beehive and librarian glasses though :P

And thats it. I realy don’t play many games that I like at the moment. So yeah

-Some Gamer Dude

Pokémon Fandumb Part 2-Digital Monsters

2009-11-14T21:56:00.001-08:00

Originally, this was going to be an incredibly long blog post about Digimon. I failed to care when I got up to the second anime. Then, I wrote what was going to be a Yahtzee esc animation combining this post with notes from my Pokedex comprehension skills page. That is on hiatus. But, I still wanted to state my opinion on the whole ‘DIGIMON IS A RIPOFF, HOW COULD YOU LIKE IT!!!??? IT SUX AND YOU SUX FOR LIKING IT!!!’ thought among some of the Pokémon Fandumb.

I dub these people, the Pokémon Defence Force, similar to both the XBots and Sony Defence Force. For those who every visit WithTheWill, no, from what I have seen there are no ‘Digibots’ or whatever you would call them.

First, the Pokémon Defence Force. Why are they on my hitlist? They are worse than the Sony one when Digimon is brought up. I like both franchises, I am well within my rights to do that, but dear lord, the Pokémon fan base downright bad case of Critical DID NOT DO THE RESEARCH and FanDumb. Yeah, I, like most people online, am a troper.

Digimon started as a Boy's Tamagotchi, named DIGItalMONsters because it was a Virtual Pet, a digital LCD toy, and they were monsters, because BANDAI knew Mons would work better with boys than cute little aliens. This was released a year after the Pokémon Red and Green titles on the GB, but as I said, it's a guy's V-Pet. These were trained, raised and became monsters. Extra credit to anyone who got that reference, I don't think it exists outside Australia. The Pokémon games at this time, while also having the 'Raise them to be awesome' theme, but are video games, about 'Gotta Catch Em All' and becoming the best of the best. Being a Mon Video Game is also incredibly different from being a V-Pet with Mons.

Kay, so other than being a mon franchise, which isn't exactly a new thing(DQM, MegaTen) also it's mother franchise arguably being a Mon franchise, and evolving, so far, has nothing in common with Pokémon.

The RPGs came, but let's face it, they're glorified V-Pets with a 'save the world' plot. Ya know, still TOTALY DIFFERENT to Pokémon at the time.

Then the anime. In the west, I believe the anime were two years apart, one in Japan. Now, let's count the way they're different. Pokémon was licensed for one and a half years to at least finish the first games. The story is about a boy wanting to be Number One Trainer of the monsters natural to his world, well, animals, so he defeats other trainers in a tourney shounen mech anime manner. It's really gone no were slowly. It was popular enough to last 12+yrs and have 12+ movies. IT SHALL NEVER DIE.

Digimon, however, again, has more in common with something else than Pokémon. In this case, Megami Tensei of all things, to be specific, the idea that demons, angels, gods and monsters can be summoned from a computer. Digimon has mons that fit all of those and they live in a digital network based world.

Digimon started as a movie, the first segment of that horrific Digimon The Movie put out by Fox, this was about the data based monsters appearing in the real world, kids reactions to them and the damage they can do. These monsters talk, making it allot easier for people over 12 to sit through without shooting themselves. This was popular enough to warrant a 13 episode series, Digimon Adventure, the File Island Arc. Majority based on the Playstation Game Digimon World, this is about 7 kids trapped in a another world, making friends with mons, saving their world and returning to their own. Again, nothing like Pokémon. This was a hit, it was extended to 54 episodes, varying from Find the McGuffins to Save the Real World and ending with Save the Digital World. Digimon Adventure ended there, but it was succeeded by

Digimon 02, aging & rotating the cast made this a new show, while being connected. Ya know, something Pokémon has never done :/ This time it went from Save the Digital World from a Real Threat/Find McGuffins, to finding the 'real villain'.

Then, something else Pokémon has never done with it's main series anime, DARKER AND EDGIER. Digimon Tamers is the third season, taking place in the 'real world' where the first two series are an anime and the merchandise is merchandise. The franchise continued this way into Frontier, where the kids ARE Digimon, your mileage may vary and Digimon Data Squad, the Digimon Men in Black. I can't name one aspect of Digimon other than the obvious, they're both mon kid franchises, that would be 'cloning' Pokémon. Because, if anything, Pokémon has been cloning Digimon(Pikachu VP and RSE DPPt PLOT)

As you can hopefully see, the people who scream 'RIPOFF!!!' are just saying stupid things and are stupid for saying it.

Cobra Commander

2009-10-15T18:00:00.001-07:00

I said this over at my LiveSpace, I am now doing photos of my GI Joes and posting them. I am doing fave characters/molds first, then ones I am indifferent with, also doing ARAH25th first. Anyway, today is Cobra Commander, all 3 versions of him, I was originaly going to go ‘Singles’ ‘Comic Packs’ ‘Multipacks’ ‘Vehicles’, but I think this way is better, unless I like both the characters, or want to get them over and done with.

Anyway, this is ‘Armour’ Cobra Commander, who’s origins lay in the late 80’s, early 90’s. He was my first Commander. Even though he isn’t the classic representation, I realy like him. Yeah, he’s realy Sci-Fi and he doesn’t fit in, but I like him. I like that he ‘sorta’ has a face too. I feel his gear, the new, less wussy, gun is allot stronger too. I think the backpack suits him too.

This was technicaly my third Cobra Commander, I also have the San Diego Comicon 2008 ‘Suit’ Cobra Commander, but I haven’t opened him, nor will I, so he doesn’t get a pic. Anyway, I found both this guy and the Suit at the Supanova this year. Anyway, I am very fond of this one, his original figure is the first Cobra Commander, or V1. Realy, there isn’t much to this guy, just his helmet and a gun, but he has alot of character, saying alot for a guy with no face. Out of my 3 ARAH Cobra Commanders, this one is probably my favourite.

This is the last one, the one from the 5 pack that arrived a few days ago, the ‘Hooded’ Cobra Commander, also with a cape and the staff. I like him, I like the staff and the cape, the colours are alot less cartoony, but unfortunately, I feel the head is lacking. Yeah, it looks like him, but I am kinda suprised, I feel that it looks realy weak.

Anyway, this is a group shot of the three. To be honest, while I love Cobra Commander, I feel that the ‘Armour’ look is much stronger than his classic one. I find it strange, as I realy love both the classic looks in animation.

-Some Gamer Dude

A Crack In Time-Ratchet's Final PS3 Outing?

2009-09-03T04:42:00.000-07:00

http://kotaku.com/5351343/insomniac-new-ratchet--clank-future-is-single+player

"As we've said before, [Ratchet & Clank Future: A Crack In Time] is a single-player game, and has been planned as such from the very beginning," reads a statement. "We're totally focused on wrapping up the Ratchet & Clank Future story arc that we started in Tools of Destruction, and continued with Quest for Booty."

From Insomniac. Mmm. Was thinking the 'FUTURE' theme would be for all the PS3 releases, but apparently either the it isn't or Future is already finished. Making Quest for Booty a main game seems a bit cheap.

Oh well, we are upto Ratchet 7, oh apparently 8 as Quest for Booty is considered a full title.

For clariffication,

1-Ratchet & Clank

2-Ratchet & Clank 2: Going Commando (Locked &Loaded)

3-Ratchet & Clank 3: Up Your Arsenal

4-Ratchet & Clank: Deadlocked (Gladiator)

5-Ratchet & Clank: Size Matters

6-Ratchet & Clank: Tools of Destruction (Future: Tools of Destruction)

7-Ratchet & Clank: Quest for Booty (Future: Quest for Booty)

8-Ratchet & Clank: A Crack in Time (Future: A Crack in Time)

EDIT:

The future Titles are not considered 6/7/8, as I assumed. In japan Dead and Size were numbered, I choose to go by that, even if it is an american game. They are Future, Future Gaiden(Side Story) and Future 2 respectively.

GI Joe Rise of Cobra Comic Book Adaptation

2009-07-28T17:08:00.000-07:00

IF YOU DON'T WANT SPOILERS, RUN, NOW!

Ok, I read through the four books, fun read. Thought I'd talk about it.

To be bluntly honest, this is astoundedly better than Transformers. I cannot discribe how much better it is. Although, things better than Transformers also include taking a leak, so, yeah. It's Mortal Kombat good. Not as fun as Street Fighter, but damn good for a "To Sell ___" movie.

Ok, let's cover something, the Scarlett factor. Shana is with NO-ONE. She's also Canadian. Yes, Ripcord trys to chat her up, multiple times, but either Snake-Eyes cockblocks or she outright turns him down. Snake-Eyes is also like a brother figure, said outright by Scarlett. Duke, well "Conny" just doesn't show interest.

Let's cover the cast, well we have the Head of the Joes, Hawk, a commanding figure, decently written, but barely in the plot, and gets wounded, CoverGirl, his secretary? Well, she's murdered by Zartan, half way through. Scarlett, the "Girl", Breaker, who is also barely in it and reminds me of Sigma 6 Tunnel Rat without the thing for Scarlett, Heavy Duty, the "Big tough guy", Ripcord the "Comedian" and Duke, the "Audience's Eye".

The characters have way more characterisation than Transformers, but overshadowed by Cobra, who get more of the script, speaking of Cobra, well, MARS Industries, they are:

James McCullen, the "Unethical Bussnessman", Ana DeCobray, nee Lewis, the "Bad Girl", The Doctor/Rex Lewis/Commander, the "Doctor" and mastermind, StormShadow, the "Merc/Bodyguard" and Zartan, the "Bodyguard/Madman"

As you can see, most fall into archetypes.

Some odd new pairings in Cobra/MARS these days, Zartan is now working for James and Stormshadow protects Baroness. Also, yeah, "Baroness", is an actual Baroness, married to the Baron DeCobray.. till Stormshadow takes care of that, 'cause James, well Jimmey is a jealous guy.

Something that bothered the hell out of me is that the Joes use the codenames already. Why are Conrad and Wallace, Duke and Ripcord respectively, already using their codenames? I thought they were Joe issued, hence the " " around them on the packaging, like Shana "Scarlett" O'Hara. If it were nicknames, I could understand most of them, Scarlett's a redhead, Heavy Duty is huge, Breaker is a communications officer, but Ripcord? How do you get the name Ripcord as a nickname? Hell, Duke has been called "Duke" for atleast 4 yrs! When Courtney is killed by Zartan, Hawk yells "CoverGirl!" not "Courtney!", that felt unnatural.

Anyway, if your wondering about the Accelerator Suits, they are bearly in it. One scene, the "Paris Persuit", to catch the Crusher and stop StormShadow/Baroness from destroying the Eiffle Tower. Pretty much a failure. Hey, just like Sigma 6! Nah, I liked Sigma 6, wish it came to Australia.

I liked how the Vipers are amassed in this, The Doctor, injects the Nano-Mites behind the ear to eliminate fear and control them. These Nanomites also form Destro's mask, Commander's too from what it seems. Lol at Destro, Destroyer of Nations

Anyway, I left alot of plot there. Didn't want to spoil the whole thing. It's a fun movie by the looks of it, I am seeing it Day 1.

Rock Band 2-The Missing Game

2009-07-25T21:48:00.000-07:00

Rock Band 2 has not hit Australian shores. This is strange because it is over a year old and has been rated. That said, Rock Band was released to rival Guitar Hero World Tour, not 3, like it was in the US and the rest of the world. It was a year late. So if Rock Band 2 came out to rival GH5, it would not suprise.

But by the looks of it, it won't.

There are many RB games released this year, Unplugged for the PSP, which is coming a couple of months later than the rest of the world, Lego, due out in Nov and The Beatles, apparently not getting it's "World Wide Release" of 09/09/09 here, it's TBA.

Let's just face cold hard facts, EA Games obviously hates Australia, if they didn't, we would have these on the same day as the EU, if not a few days around, like Activision Blizzard and many other companies, like Konami, are capable of doing.

I don't know why we can't have Rock Band 2. Did 1 sell that badly? Are they aware of GH's PR and our population? I don't understand. Also, thinking about it, we don't have Song Pack 2, 3, Metal, Classic or Country either.

I don't know what we as a country did or didn't do, but in an age where most people have access to the internet, doing this is plain cruel.

What I've been upto.

2009-07-21T20:41:00.000-07:00

This is kinda just a general thing.

I don't think I care for RPGs anymore. I supposedly loved Final Fantasy IV, all thirty hours of it on the PSOne, yet I can't replay it, not even the nice DS Port. Can't finish II or III for that matter. Can't be bothered to go buy Star Ocean 1, 2 or 4 either, and I loved 3.

Tales of Vesparia is being put on the wait pile, PS3Eng version all but confirmed.

Uh, Super Princess Peach is on sale, but, I don't know if it's Stylus heavy(Yay, wrist pain, looking at you, Zelda.) or just boring. More DS games need Demos. From the sound if it, it may be easy.

I can't be bothered finishing Yoshi's Island DS, I think Yoshi Island is kinda overrated, or atleast this one it, needing a specific baby and ammo? Urgh, not in a Platformer.

No More Heroes is currently the Wii's Crowning Moment of Awsome. Well used motion control, unique look, fun game, well used swearing. I don't think much could beat this.

GTS is decent when you leave a pokemon for a few hours and have little restrictions on what you want. So far I have gotten Chimchar, Piplup, Kadabra, Graveler, Heracross, Aipom, Bulbasaur, Charmander and Squirtle.

Also on pokemon, Linoone with Return is far more useful than it looks, at the moment it is 59 and it can OHKO low fifties stuff. Max EVed attack and speed ofcourse, aswell as a +Atk -SpAtk nature.

I cannot express my love for Saints Row 2, going back and redoing the missions at the moment, still damn fun.

I do want to go back to Metroid Prime 3 and GTA Vice City, but I lack the interest, Yakuza aswell. Eh.

Worst Gen Ever-Still Bad

2009-07-13T20:03:00.000-07:00

Yeah, well, it was better than a Part 2.

There is literaly nothing I am interested in playing at the moment.

Star Ocean or Tales of Versperia? Eternal Sonata was so bad it turned me off RPGs for a while.

[PROTOTYPE], INfamous or Madworld? Short and not much to do.

TF RotF or GhostBusters? Mixed reviews make me weary. Also "MOVIE GAME, KILL IT, KILL IT WITH FIRE!!!"

Batman Arkam Asylam? Not out yet.

Urgh, well, an anime boxset is about the same price as a new game, might get Witch Blade or Le Chevalier De' Leon. Code Geass looks good. Always do have to catch up on Pokemon and Batman Beyond just came out. Not anime, but you get the point.

I should realy do my Top 25 Games. 25... because I like way more than 10. Also, as usual, no order.

And Another One Bites the Dust...

2009-07-12T02:49:00.000-07:00

I love Queen. Awsome band, pitty it took me so damn long to realise. I realy need to buy Singstar Queen for PS3. Killer Queen is a much needed track.

Queen was not the subject of the thread though. My "To finish" list is further down. I have completed 2 games, Eternal Sonata and Gears of War. Naruto Broken Bond is upto the final battle.

Eternal Sonata-Boring, tedius, not fun, shortish. It'd be one of my least favorite RPGs ever realy.

Gears of War-Short, sorta very fun, genericish. Craptacular and anticlimactic end.

Naruto-Tedius, kinda fun, who'd think an emo could fight so hard.

As you may have read, I have teh list. It's narrowed, but I'll narrow it more, I tried some of these games recently, there were reasons I stopped.

Nintendo DS(-7)
Final Fantasy III
Final Fantasy IV
MegaMan Starforce Dragon
Phoenix Wright Ace Attourney
Sonic Rush
Sonic Rush Adventure
Yoshi's Island DS

Nintendo GameCube(-2)
Baten Kaitos: Eternal Wings and the Lost Ocean
Metroid Prime

Nintendo Wii(-3)
Metroid Prime 3: Corruption
NPC!: Pikmin
No More Heroes

Playstation(-1)
Final Fantasy Anthology(FFII)

Playstation 2(-9)
Dragon Quest VIII Journey of the Cursed King
Kingdom Hearts II
Mega Man X Command Misson
Prince of Persia: Sands of Time
Prince of Persia: Warrior Within
Prince of Persia: Two Thrones
Shin Megami Tensei Digital Devil Saga 2
X-Men Legends II:Rise of Apocalypse
Yakuza

Playstation 3(-4)
Heavenly Sword
Little Big Planet
Ratchet and Clank: Quest For Booty
Uncharted: Drake's Fortune

Playstation Portable(-1)
Tales of Eternia

X-Box 360(-4)
Bullet Witch
Blue Dragon
Clive Barker's Jericho
The Last Remnant

Yeah, well I do have alot to play, no point in buying more still. *shrug*

Gen 7-Worst.Generation.Ever

2009-06-29T01:40:00.000-07:00

We are firmly in Generation 7 now, I have been gaming sence the Mega Drive II, and can firmly say this is the first generation I hate. Before I list why, maybe I should list games I actualy enjoyed, It's a far shorter list.

Nintendo DS(-4/6)
Mario Kart DS
Phoenix Wright Ace Attourney
Pokemon Diamond/Pearl/Platinum
Sonic Rush

Nintendo Wii(-4)

Guitar Hero III Legends of Rock(Also on Wii, PS2, PS3 and 360)

No More Heroes
Onechanbara The Bikini Zombie Slayers
The Legend of Zelda Twilight Princess(It's still a Gamecube game to me)

Playstation 3(-8)
Devil May Cry 4(Also on 360)
Disgaea 3 Absence of Justice
Dynasty Warriors Gundam(Also on PS2 and 360)
Dynasty Warriors Gundam 2(Also on PS2 and 360)
Metal Gear Solid 4: Guns of the Patriots
Ratchet and Clank: Tools of Destruction
Rock Band(Also on Wii, PS2 and 360)
Simpson's Game, The(Also on EVERYTHING)

Playstation Portable(-2)
Disgaea Afternoon of Darkness(Enhanced PS2 Port)
Yu-Gi-Oh! GX Tag Force 3

X-Box 360(-3)
Lost Odyssey
Saint's Row
Saint's Row 2(Also on PS3

Yes, I am deadly serious. The lack of quality writing or gameplay realy shows in this generation, or the genre is so flooded and uninteresting to me. What's more odd than anything? Games of a Genre I usualy love(RPGs), are boring and uninteresting to me now. Eternal Sonata is a B game at best, Enchanted Arms isn't bad, just too easy, Can't be bothered to finish or even mention the rest. Nothing realy has the appeal of the original FFIV(DS is dull), Star Ocean III Til the End of Time, FFVI, FFVIII, Shadow Hearts, Shadow Hearts Covenant, Tales of Symphonia, ect.

I may be just a whiner, but this gen is just so boring. Last gen I could go to the shops, pick up a game and usualy it'd be passable. This gen, interest leaves after like a couple of hours.

MASSIVE SHRUG

Sydney Supanova 2009

2009-06-27T16:01:00.000-07:00

Jeez Luise, is it realy nearly July 09? How time flies. In anycase, this was a crappy mourning, fun day, shit ride home.

Had to get up at 6am, something I loathe, I am more a 7-8am kinda guy. Cold and foggy, walked down to my mate's place at quarter to 7. He was waiting outside, which made life easier, so we walked down to the station. Rail work today, so bus then train.

I hate the NSW Transport Department. It set me back $10 for a 30min trip. When I go to the city, it's a 45~min trip at $7.

On the train I saw a person dressed as a Wii remote(Why doesn't Nintendo just call it a Wiimote, Wii sounds like Re) Except for the width it as a good Wiimote costume.

I hate the lines at The Dome each year. I preordered a ticked this year to avoid hassles. It was /STILL/ a hassle. I had to get there at 8:30am to avoid huge lines. The hour and a half wait wasn't the pain, but having people place hold for others was. For fucks sake, you get there late, you go to the damned end, chivelry be buggered, you're pissing people off.

In line I saw multiple David Tennants, Rukia(Bleach), 4th Hokage, Sasuke, Naruto and Itachi(Naruto), Kite, the big sword girl avatar and the sheep thing(.Hack//), To.Many.Damned.Square.Characters, the Z and upsidedown T blocks from Tetris, Wario, Mario and Yoshi from Super Smash Bros, multiple DBZ characters, Ah My Godess! character, L, Light and Misa from Death Note & Master Cheif from Halo.

I have a beef though. Why do people who look NOTHING like the character dress as them? Large, tall, white, tbh unattractive woman dresses as thin, small, asian cute woman/girl. Jeez, if you want to dress as someone, atleast have a passing resemblence.

Anyway, with alot of line sorting and such, finaly got in 10mins late. Urgh. Better than the 30mins late last year. Line went around the block, so I was lucky getthing there early.

When I got in, quickly did most of my purchasing, L Plush for mum, Rock Lee Plush, some Pokemon cards, Cammy figure, Voyage of the Damned figure set, SD Comicon 08 Cobra Commander and SD Comicon Combat Heroes Snake Eyes with Timber. I then went to the Supanova seminar to see Spike Spencer.

Spike Spencer is the American Scott McNeil realy, except he's a bit of a prick. Funny as hell, goes in and out of voices, but comes off as chovanistic and clearly only does VActing for the moneys. He went as far as saying "All actors are whores" Something I have now read is not uncommon of him. I had a blast watching him, just left a bit of a bad aftertaste when I thought about it, similar to the 07Transformers movie.

I saw a bit of Chris Sabat before Spike came, he seems as interesting as Vegeta, not at all.

I was quite interested by something Spike said though, Voice actors are hiered because of a previous role, not because they have a multitude of voices, hence why AVD and Funimation all sound the bloody same, although Blue Ocean has a nasty habit of getting Scott McNeil to only do his Dinobot voice now. I preference Silverbolt myself.

I was kinda bored, not interested in Cosplay, large Tsunade(Naruto) and Sailor Scouts kinda turned me off, so I thought I'd go play the demo of the World of Warcraft TCG. Fun little game, got a Paladin Halfdeck for playing, signed up for a Starter Draft(Free :) ) afterwards.

Anyway, wondering around trying to find my friend, who I hadn't seen in like 3 hours, I found The Internet's Snake, we had a good talk, unfortunately I was kinda out of it, hadn't had my lunch yet, I think I embarrassed myself. Anyway, we had a nice chat, got some photos. He's alot like he is online, nice guy.

Then I went and discovered a stall I didn't see before, and what did I see? Two GIJOE sets I have been looking for, Scarlette and GIJOE Hawk(General Hawk) aswell as Duke VS Cobra Commander(Mask).

I played SoulCalibur PSP, Turtles Smash Up! and Final Fantasy Dissidia in this time. I didn't like any of them that much. Dissidia fights like an Action RPG, Turtles Smash Up! feels beta at best and SoulCalibur is ugly and lacks characters.

NOW CAME WAR. World of Warcraft that is. I got some Blood Elf Rogue guy from the Dark Portal set. I did very well, won both my games, got another booster.

It was about 4ish now, so I thought I'd go home, was tired, nothing more to do. Train's weren't too bad. Then the bus, as it was rail work today. Jeez Luise, he must have been "special". The route is Harris Park>Parramatta>Westmead>Wentworthvile>Pendil Hill>Toongabie>Seven Hills, not Harris Park>Parramatta>Westmead>Pendil Hill>Wentworthvile>Westmead Again>Toongabie>Seven Hills.

MADE A DAMNED 15MIN TRIP AN HOUR. Plus I had to stand. In anycase, I got home, was exhausted, only regrets were I didn't try King of Fighters XII, Batman Arkam Asylam, Star Ocean The Last Hope, the WiiFit board and couldn't find the Gold Chrome MG God Gundam.

Had a fun day. Not as good as last year, but still fun.

Lots to finish. The list of games to finish.

2009-06-25T18:31:00.000-07:00

Damn I buy alot of games. Nothing out at the moment, so I suppose I should finish some. I have, teh list.

Nintendo DS(-10)
Custom Robo Arena
Final Fantasy III
Final Fantasy IV
MegaMan Starforce Dragon
Phoenix Wright Ace Attourney
Pokemon Mystery Dungeon: Explorers of Darkness
Legend of Zelda: Phantom Hourglass, The
Sonic Rush
Sonic Rush Adventure
Yoshi's Island DS

Nintendo Gameboy Advance(-1)
Tales of Phantasia

Nintendo GameCube(-3)
Baten Kaitos: Eternal Wings and the Lost Ocean
Metroid Prime
Yu-Gi-Oh! Falsebound Kingdom

Nintendo Wii(-3)
Metroid Prime 3: Corruption
NPC!: Pikmin
No More Heroes

Playstation(-1)
Final Fantasy Anthology(FFII)

Playstation 2(-13)
Demon Stone-Dungeons and Dragons
Dragon Quest VIII Journey of the Cursed King
Drakenguard
Kingdom Hearts II
God of War
Mega Man X Command Misson
Prince of Persia: Sands of Time
Prince of Persia: Warrior Within
Prince of Persia: Two Thrones
Shin Megami Tensei Digital Devil Saga 2
Valkyrie Profile 2: Silmeria
X-Men Legends II:Rise of Apocalypse
Yakuza

Playstation 3(-5)
Folklore
Heavenly Sword
Little Big Planet
Ratchet and Clank: Quest For Booty
Uncharted: Drake's Fortune

Playstation Portable(-4)
Metal Gear Solid: Portable Ops
Tales of Eternia
Valkyrie Profile: Lenneth
Viewtiful Joe Red Hot Rumble

X-Box 360(-9)
Bullet Witch
Blue Dragon
Clive Barker's Jericho
Dead Rising
Fable 2
Eternal Sonata
Gears of War
The Last Remnant
Naruto: Broken Bonds