Diablo 3 nonsense...or is it? :O

Was searching if there was a definitive release date set yet and came across this.

I dont know how the person that found this out did...but its quite amazing.

Link

Here's a link to the Blizzard/Diablo 3 page...it looks awesome! Link

Games...I hate em sometimes

Games are goddamn annoying when you play for hours to try and get a certain thing, only to realise hours later you dont have the prerequisites for whatever it is you are trying to get.

That kinda thing makes me want to smash the console....

My video games collection

My games and the games I am currently playing. Decided to write this down so I have some idea of what games I do actually have and what ones I am looking to get or waiting on the release of. I started out playing games way back in the day of the Master System and the Mega Drive. I think those were our first consoles. Games seemed to be so much harder in those days... We still have those consoles and the games we had somewhere stored away...I should dig them out sometime to have a look. I dont trade in games any more, even if they turn out to be bad, or even if I complete them. I see it as a bit of a waste of money, as I quite like to go back to games I havent completed or havent got everything and play more of them. I said "any more" as I did trade in a whole bunch of unboxed GB and GBC games when I was buying my Game Boy Advance to get some money of it. I kinda regret that now as I traded in such awesome games as Pokemon Red...

Anyway, after a few years of student life and not trading games in, heres what I have now.

Game Boy/ Game Boy Colour/ Game Boy Advance

Breath of Fire

Breath of Fire II

Castlevania: Aria of Sorrow

Castlevania: Circle of the Moon

Castlevania: Harmony of Dissonance

Dragon Warrior Monsters

Dragon Warrior Monsters 2: Tara's Adventure

Final Fantasy I & II: Dawn of Souls

Final Fantasy Tactics Advance

Final Fantasy V Advance

Final Fantasy VI Advance

Golden Sun

Kurukuru Kururin

Pokemon Blue

Pokemon Emerald

Pokemon Fire Red

Pokemon Leaf Green

Pokemon Sapphire

Pokemon Silver

Nintendo DS

Animal Crossing: Wild World

Castlevania: Dawn of Sorrow

Castlevania: Portrait of Ruin

Children of Mana

Chrono Trigger

Final Fantasy III

Final Fantasy IV

Guilty Gear: Dust Strikers

The Legend of Zelda: The Phantom Hourglass

Luminous Arc

Magical Starsign

Mario Kart DS

New Super Mario Bros

Pokemon Diamond

Spore Creatures

Yu-Gi-Oh Nightmare Troubadour

Sony PSP

Breath of Fire III

Crisis Core: Final Fantasy VII

Final Fantasy Tactics: The War of the Lions

Disgaea: Afternoon of Darkness

Fifa 09

Gurumin

Star Ocean: First Departure

Valkyrie Profile: Lenneth

Xbox

Area 51

Halo 2

Star Wars Knights of the Old Republic: The Sith Lords

Xbox 360

Armored Core 3

Assassin's Creed

Dynasty Warriors Gundam

The Elder Scrolls IV: Oblivion

Eternal Sonata

Gears of War 

Gears of War 2

Halo 3

Lost Odyssey

Lost Planet

Mass Effect

N3 Ninety Nine Nights

The Orange Box

Soul Calibur IV

PC

Baldurs Gate & Expansion

Baldurs Gate 2: Shadows of Amn & Throne of Bhaal

Diablo

Diablo 2 & Diablo 2 Lord of Destruction

Icewind Dale & Expansion

Icewind Dale 2 & Expansion

Wii

Metal Slug Anthology

Resident Evil 4

The Legend of Zelda: Twilight Princess

Wii Sports

Playstation

Breath of Fire IV

Final Fantasy VII

Final Fantasy VIII

Resident Evil

Silent Hill

Playstation 2

Atelier Iris 3: Grand Phantasm

Dirge of Cerberus: Final Fantasy VII

Dragon Quest VIII:  The Journey of the Cursed King

Final Fantasy X

Final Fantasy X-2

Final Fantasy XII

Jade Cocoon 2

Kingdom Hearts

Kingdom Hearts II

Persona 3 FES

Shin Megami Tensei: Digital Devil Saga 

Shin Megami Tensei: Digital Devil Saga 2

Star Ocean: Till the End of Time

Valkyrie Profile 2: Silmeria

Xenosaga Episode II

Gamecube

Metroid Prime

Metroid Prime 2: Echoes

Need for Speed Underground 2

Pokemon Colosseum

There are more..but its too late at night... *sleeps*

Tales of Symphonia Openings

The japanese got quite a cool song, but its not as epic as the American/everyone else's one

Japanese Tales of Symphonia opening (gamecube)

American Tales of Symphonia opening (gamecube)

And I wanna play this now..ToS2...looks awesome!

And then theres Tales of Vesperia...cant wait for it to come out here! ><

Games and my inner musings...

I completed Luminous Arc (DS) last night, it was pretty good. I like the character designs and overall the game was fun, but had a few wee flaws. Still, worth the 3 quid or whatever I got the game for :P

Anyways, I started Tales of Symphonia (GC) this morning. About 3 and half hours into it now, and it looks really cool so far. 

But the main character, Lloyd Irving seems really familiar to me...I think he reminds me of Vash the Stampede from Trigun (awesome anime! n_n)

Games, Anime Conventions and Music

At the moment I am playing two games(the others are kinda partially on hold)

The main two games I'm talking about are Crisis Core: Final Fantasy VII(PSP) and Luminous Arc(DS)

Crisis Core is really impressive, its so well presented, voice acted, scripted(for the most part) and the graphics look really nice. They've also put a lot of thought into the main story, with minigames and different mission styles keeping it nice and fresh throughout. Its taking me a long time to complete the game however, as I am trying to complete all of the subquests or missions as they are referred to in the game. Apparantely there is a good reward for doing so but...they are very monotonous, as they are all basically the same A-B layout-kill the miniboss(es) to complete them. I am currently on a play time of 30:10:20, sitting on Lv44 at the start of Chapter 7 and 39% through the Missions. I am guessing I will 100% the missions around the 60 hr mark, but thats just an early estimate, I might get bored of them and not bother.

Luminous Arc is quite cool, I really like the character design and character building. Each of the characters actually have quite well developed personalities and you get to know each during the intermission bits between missions. The game is a tactical RPG a la Final Fantasy Tactics(I'm only comparing it to that because that was the first Tactical RPG I played. The battles arent exactly revolutionary, but they arent too bad either. One thing I noticed that I dont really like about the gameplay are the amount of near enough useless skills the characters will learn. I guess that happens in most RPGs, but it kinda annoys me sometimes. Its also quite easy to grind the challenge out of the game, especially with support or healing characters. Every time they use a skill or spell that aids another friendly character they get 30 XP, and in this game, similar to many other Tactical RPGs, the characters always require 100 Experience Points to level up, regardless of level. So currently, my healing characters and support characters are about 9 or 10 levels higher than my combat characters. Theres quite a lot to do in this game, but I'm still pretty sure its not a very long game(excluding the sidequests, of which I've only found 1 so far.)

I was at Auchinawa 08 the other weekend, an anime convention in Glasgow, running for the 2nd year now. I was at the first, which I think although it was in a better location(Central Station in Glasgow City Centre) this year it was better. This year it was at the Holiday Inn at Glasgow Airport, slightly harder to get to for us lot, but still pretty good. Me and some others from GUMAF-the Anime & Manga Society at Glasgow Uni stayed at the hotel for 2 nights. The Con ran Friday, Saturday and Sunday and was really fun but exhausting. I did my first cosplay for the event as well, I was L from Death Note. Kinda known as the lazy man's cosplay, but one of my favourite anime characters, so I dont care lol. There were at least 2 other Ls at Auchinawa, one of which had socks! L doesnt wear socks or shoes, so he automatically failed lol. Anyway...I am getting sidetracked...

Other awesome things that happened at Auchi 08 were some karaoke to anime openings, endings and other stuff. Pokemon opening=AMAZING! Disco, Yugioh tournament (which I won!) Cosplay Masquerade, Games Room and the dealers room(which had awesome stuff, but I had to resist the temptation to buy stuff due to my lack of income...

GUMAF - Pokemon! 

Some stuff I've been listening to recently; Killswitch Engage, The Black Mages, Disharmonia Mundi, Castlevania soundtracks

Killswitch Engage - The Arms of Sorrow

And finally, one of the most amazing cutscenes I've ever seen in a video game.

Final Fantasy VII: Crisis Core cutscene

Games on the Horizon...

Some games I am interested in and release dates. I forget these things.

Eurogamer-a good site for release dates and lots of other stuff about games.

http://www.eurogamer.net/releases.php?platform=

Dunno what I'm most interested in...quite a few titles coming soon

Games & other goings on...

I finished Children of Mana the other day, which is a relief...because it was getting very boring and repetitive. I might put up a review of it if I can be bothered.

I'm also getting really close to finishing Spore Creatures (DS) which seems really short, but I guess there are lots of optional things to do, which might convince me to play through on the replay mode(I know theres one already because my girlfriend completed it already lol) I'll see what I think when I complete the game.

Started Final Fantasy VII: Crisis Core which is really good so far, I'm on chapter 5 I think...about 14 hrs and 54 mins into it. I'm really impressed with the graphics and sound as well as other aspects of the game so far. I've been told to complete all the missions, so I'm trying to do that, and I'm Lv 30 and 19 % through them so far.

I'm also kinda looking for jobs at the moment...which is quite hard... >_<

Gears of War 2 is coming out tomorrow actually...theres a midnight launch at Gamestation on the 6th. One of the staff called me asking if I would be going to the midnight launch but I wont be going to that. I'll pick it up on the Friday. Should be a good game! :D

http://uk.youtube.com/watch?v=n7AuPcYA2PU&feature=related

I get to see my girlfriend tomorrow! yay! :P

So many games...

I've got so many games piling up that I need to complete or even start...

Currently, I'm playing these, with my progress so far in each. I'll probably write reviews of them once I finish them if I have time, or ever finish them. I'm closest to finishing Eternal Sonata or Children of Mana.

Eternal Sonata ~ Chapter 7 ~ Game Time: 35:41

Lost Odyssey ~ Disc 3 ~ Game Time: 45:10

Children of Mana ~ Chapter 6 ~ Game Time: 26:13

New Super Mario Bros ~ World 5

Spore Creatures ~ Planet 2

Then after I complete some of those, I will try finish off The Legend of Zelda: The Phantom Hourglass. An awesome game, but I find it very frustrating at times, and need to concentrate on it. I'm quite near the end of that. Think I'm looking for the last Pure Metal in it.

Then theres the list of games I havent started yet...hehe.

Castlevania: Harmony of Dissonance ~ Game Boy Advance

Final Fantasy IV ~ Nintendo DS

Final Fantasy V Advance ~ Game Boy Advance

Final Fantasy VI Advance ~ Game Boy Advance

Final Fantasy VII Crisis Core ~ Sony PSP

Gears of War 2 ~ Xbox 360 [Preordered it :D]

Luminous Arc ~ Nintendo DS

And looking forward to playing and obtaining these; 

Castlevania: Order of Ecclesia ~ Nintendo DS

Castlevania: Portrait of Ruin ~ Nintendo DS [Still havent played this, need to get it played before OoE]

Fable 2 ~ Xbox 360

Infinite Undiscovery ~ Xbox 360

The Last Remnant ~ Xbox 360

Riviera: The Promised Land ~ Game Boy Advance/PSP [I'll probably go for the GBA version, see what I think of it first. I've heard good things though]

Tales of Vesperia ~ Xbox 360

And all those titles I mentioned for the PSP, plus a few more I think I've forgotten. Too many games, not enough time. Same with anime...too much of that...

Castlevania: Order of Ecclesia

The rather awesome cover art for Castlevania: Order of Ecclesia

As a huge fan of Castlevania games, I cant wait to play this game. Its out in Japan and USA now, so I'm not sure when I'm gonna get it. They've changed the style a bit, going from the anime inspired style (a little bit badly designed in terms of characters and style) of Dawn of Sorrow and Portrait of Ruin which I liked to a more traditional gothic style. I really liked the GBA titles and hope to see more of the amazingly designed backgrounds, enemies, attacks and characters that were in the previous titles. I just love the style of Castlevania games, hopefully this has lots of what I like about them.

Release Dates:

Japan: 23/10/08 [out now]

USA: 21/10/08 [out now] Actually, I dont know how the US managed to get this before Japan, but its a trend I've noticed for a few game releases now...

UK & EU: ??/01/09 

Trailer..fanmade I think, but it shows lots of the game, and the opening, which I really like! Cant wait to play this ^_^

PSP-Awesome!

Got a PSP the other day. Its quite an awesome console from what I've seen so far. I need to get more games and downgrade the firmware for homebrew. So far, I'm wanting to try these; 

Breath of Fire III

Disgaea: Afternoon of Darkness

Final Fantasy Tactics: The War of the Lions

Final Fantasy Anniversary Edition

Final Fantasy II Anniversary Edition

Final Fantasy VII: Crisis Core(got this, not started it yet ><)

Valkyrie Profile: Lenneth

PSP 3000

The new model(3000 series) comes with a brighter screen than previous models and a built in microphone(which has limited uses so far~Skype and maybe some multiplayer games I think)

It also has newer security measures built in and a different motherboard from older models which have so far been hacked to allow downgrading of firmware, adding of custom firmware and homebrew to the PSP 3000 series. 3000s are unable to be booted from a pandora battery. I dont know much about hacking PSPs, but thats bad for hackers. For Sony its good though.

Actually, its kinda bad so far because there have been lots of complaints of the screen display not being up to scratch. Lots of errors have been reported from what I've heard. No solution from Sony for this, however. 

On the plus side, Playstation Network is compatible with PSPs with the latest firmware now. I'm new to Sony products, but thats more or less the equivalent of xbox live downloads from what I can tell. Hopefully they'll make lots of games available for download quickly.

Need to get me some more games for the PSP...

Magical Starsign Review

Magical Starsign

Platform: Nintendo DS

Publisher: Nintendo

Developer: Brownie Brown 

Genre: Role-playing game

Released last year on the DS, this rpg follows on from Brownie Brown's Magical Vacation, which was only released in Japan, I believe.

I picked the game up a few months ago, in summer when I saw it on sale. I had read about the game ages ago in a magazine, and the visuals, coupled with the turn based combat and the fact that it was an rpg were enough for me to buy it. 

The gameplay in this game is fairly easy overall, with only a few battles in the game that gave me problems. Also, only minimal grinding is required to make the game very easy. I kinda would have preferred a bit more of a challenge from the game. Even the end bosses aren't that hard, with easy to exploit weaknesses and strategies.

What I didn't really like about this game(even though I would say this makes the game quite unique) is the magic system. When I first started the game, I was really looking forward to mastering a lot of spells as I levelled up and played through the game with the 6 playable characters. Unfortunately, each character only gets 5 spells, some of which are near enough useless, so essentially 3 or 4 offensive spells each. This leads to insanely repetitive battles, with the player having to watch the sometimes quite long spell animations. The graphical animations, while nice at first, become boring and annoying by the end of the game. Also, since the spells do between 2 and 5(and more) times the amount of damage melee attacks do, there is essentially no need for melee attacks(apart from against a few enemies who are resistant to magic or enemies which starsign means they take less damage from certain elements.)

This leads me on to one aspect of the gameplay I quite liked, as it was quite original. There are different elemental powers, one of which is associated with each character and enemy in the game. These are Wind, Fire, Water, Wood, Earth, and Light/Dark. At the beginning of the game, you choose between male and female, and light and dark. This doesnt change much in the game, apart from you will be stronger against certain bosses and enemies and weaker against others. Each of these elements are linked to a planet which, when it comes into alignment, will strengthen the character in battle, allowing them to do more damage and receive other benefits. For the light and dark characters, they receive these bonuses when it is daytime, or night time, respectively. Also, these planets are the world that becomes explored throughout the game. One thing I thought was quite annoying was the fact that the majority of the planets are visited twice in the game, even though new areas of the planet are unlocked, it still feels a bit boring. I would have liked it if there was a greater degree of free roaming, or more planets to visit. Side quests wouldnt have gone amiss either...

Puffoon-one of the planets you go to throughout the course of the game.

One thing I didnt like about the game was that it never seemed serious enough. In the later part of the game you are searching for Millennium "gummies" of each element. This pretty much sums up the style of the game. It has a kind of unique 'charm or wit', thats how I would describe it. It is different from most other rpgs I've played, and at times I liked it, but I definitely feel that it detracted from the potentially dramatic and serious parts of the story.

Gameplay: 6/10

The graphics in this game are very good-they are vibrant and make the game visually fun to play. They help bring the unusual and interesting game world to life. The battles look very good, with the many different environments and enemies animated very nicely.

Graphics: 7/10

The story and characters are two of the weaker areas of the game. The characters dont really have much in the way of personality and are quite annoying at times. I think the choice to include 6 playable characters all of which can be in the party at one time might have been a bit of a mistake. More characters means less development for each. The game world has many interesting and amusing creatures and characters, many of which have quite...wierd names. Makes for quite an interesting play through the game, but unfortunately, the most important aspect is severely lacking. The story hardly makes any sense, and is hardly serious enough, even at the end of the game. The story basically entails the teacher of this class in this magical academy thing(Harry Potter *cough*) going missing and then the students go hunting the galaxy for her...what kind of students would do that? -_- Anyway, it then branches into other parts of the story but it still isnt going to win any awards, for sure.

Story and Characters: 4/10

The game has a few features which would lead to extra gameplay and replay options. Trying to get 100% of the bestiary could be one area, as well as a hidden dungeon and multiplayer. Apart from those, there are not many other extras or sidequests that contribute to a decent amount of replayability. After I completed the game, I had very little desire to play the game again...

Replayability and Extras: 2/10

The game has another aspect that I didnt like particularly, although some people actually do quite like this. The controls are almost all driven by the touch screen, including spell strikes to power up spells, reflex type dodging or blocking and basically everything else, including the control in the field. One of the reasons I didnt like this was running around is a bit awkward considering its hard to stop. When you touch the screen in one direction, the team then runs in that direction until you change or run into a wall or something. It takes a bit of getting used to, but I think dual controls(touch screen and D-pad) could have made vast improvements to this game. Menus and some interfaces are sometimes quite frustrating, but at times they are quite well designed-for example the battle menu which I thought was quite well designed.

Controls and Innovation: 5/10

Some things I liked about this game when I started, but by the end of it, I was relieved to be finished it because it just got repetitive, boring and felt like a chore. Worth a look for its interesting world and some of its characters, but in my opinion, it has its fair share of flaws.

Overall: 6/10

Final Fantasy III Review

Final Fantasy III

Platform: Nintendo DS

Publisher & Developer: Square Enix

I only just completed this recently, after playing it on and off for ages(I got it when it was released on the DS in the UK on...May 2007, around then.) I am going to try and review the games I play through to the end from now on.

So, I wanted to review this game, because I really enjoyed it however there were some aspects I thought could have been better. I'll highlight them over the course of this short review.

Ok, so some basic info about the game now. This is a remake of Final Fantasy 3 for the NES, with new and improved 3D graphics, remastered sound and touchscreen controls and some extra content( I havent played the original version, so I am just going on what I have read online.) New material comes in the form of the wi-fi unlockable content such as the Onion Knight job class and Master Blacksmith and some other stuff. This makes for good replayability options, and adds to the already large gameplay time you can expect from this title.

One thing that might put people off this game is the difficulty. I dont know how this compares to the original NES version, but I am reviewing this as FF3 on the DS and trying not to keep comparing it to the original version. The difficulty, as I said previously is one thing that puts people off this game. It is quite hard at first, with little details such as Phoenix Downs adding to the frustration value. You cant actually buy Phoenix Downs(which revive dead characters if you didnt already know) and this leads to many instances when I was pissed off at the game, which can be of a manageable difficulty anywhere up to incredibly hard. Its a challenge, though, which I liked. As you progress through the game though, and with a bit of grinding here and there your job level and overall levels will increase making the game that bit easier or more manageable. Quite late on, you will get the White Magic "Raise" and eventually(right at the end of the game pretty much) "Full-Life"(Its got a different name which I forget lol.) These, along with the Cure spells your Mages can use take the focus away from potions, healing items and Phoenix Downs, which makes it easier as you go along thankfully. Its also very old school, with no mid-dungeon saving apart from the quick save option, and the fact that characters keep statuses and KO status after battle(annoying at first, you eventually get solutions to these status 'woes'

That leads me on to the gameplay. I really liked the battle system in this game, which is your average turn based rpg style. There was not much innovation ie use of the ATB system in other remakes and other Final Fantasy games, but I still liked the standard attack/magic/item/special ability type battles. The reason I would say I quite liked the gameplay despite the unoriginal battles was the job and level up system used. Your characters, of which there are only 4 playable throughout the game can be up to lvl 99 overall. In addition to this overall level, they can choose any job from this list of 23 jobs which you unlock in 4 sets of jobs as you go through the main game(and one unlocked on completing a sidequest.)

  Freelancer
  Warrior
  Monk
  White Mage
  Black Mage
  Red Mage
  Thief
  Ranger
  Knight
  Scholar
  Geomancer
  Viking
  Dragoon
  Dark Knight
  Evoker
  Bard
  Black Belt
  Magus
  Devout
  Summoner
  Sage
  Ninja
  Onion Knight

So there is a lot of scope for customising your characters however you want, as you can have up to lvl 99 in each, or any of these jobs, each of which lead to different stat growth, ie. Black Belt, which gives very high Vit. to the character on each level up, in turn giving you high HP growth on each lvl up. I think out of the gameplay, the job system is the redeeming feature of Final Fantasy III and leads me to give the game...

Gameplay: 7/10

The graphics are one area of the game that looks really good-the DS can cope with the 3D engine really well, experiencing no slowdown whatsoever, but some of the time minor things could be noticed that probably weren't supposed to be there. The character models look very good, well designed and dont look to pixelly or crappy with the 3D graphics and cutscenes where they zoom in quite close. Some of the textures and backgrounds look a little bit nasty, so I would say that is the only area I think the graphics fall down in.

Screenshots of FFIII @ RPGFan

I would say I liked the graphics, they are very good 3D graphics considering the power of the DS and I would give FFIII...

Graphics: 8/10

Perhaps the most important part of an RPG is the ability to tell a story, to draw a player in and keep them playing until the end. Be it as a result of good characterisation, interaction between characters and NPCs, choices in dialogue, options, whatever-a good RPG should have a good story and characters. FFIII isnt going to win any prizes for story, thats for sure. Its pretty much still the same as FFI and FFII, generic heroes arise and have to do something involving 4 crystals in order to save the world...The game is very long, with many different areas and sidequests that can be played through. The vast number of NPCs and cutscenes help to drive the story on, but the fundamental flaw I believe is the generic characters, who only really have the smallest bit of personality each. Adding to this, you have a world map in which you often need to explore every inch of in order to find where you are supposed to be going, as directions are unclear at times. This was very frustrating at times, and was probably what had me going to guides online more than anything for this game. 

Story & Characters: 6/10

One thing I thought wasnt too important, but it did leave me feeling shortchanged and what I thought was even quite lazy in terms of game design from the developers, the esteemed Square Enix, was the control system. Yes, you can use the stylus to control the battle and other things in the game, but it doesnt feel intuitive. The game also hardly ever uses both screens at one time, one aspect I think DS games MUST utilise, if they are going to stand out from other platforms and games. I think the D-pad remains the only way to control the game effectively, but it is done quite well. So I would give the game...

Controls and Innovation: 4/10

Replayability, there is quite a lot of this,  with the multitude of job classes, ultimate weapons for each class, onion knight job and other wi-fi quests, all the items you can obtain only by stealing from enemies and bosses, hidden chests, sidequests...loads and loads of replay options in this game, which is really good. I felt satisfied with this aspect of the game, despite having only played it once through so far. I felt I had got a lot for my money, which is always good. 

Replayability: 9/10

I guess the sound is pretty good in this game, with the high quality music everyone comes to expect from FF titles.

Sound: 8/10

Overall: 7.5/10

Its a good game, pretty hardcore difficulty and play time might put some people off, but theres lots to do, which is good. 

RPGs on the way to X360 and DS

Hmm, there are a few RPGs coming out on the 360 and DS soon, heres a few videos:

Infinite Undiscovery[X360] (out now)



Gamespot review

RPGFan review

RPGamer review

RPGamer review #2

GameFAQs reviews

Hmm, so it seems the reviewers have given it average reviews. I still really like what it looks like graphically, and the real time battles look good and fast, so I will try pick it up at some point.

Pictures

Tales of Vesperia[X360] (08/26/08 in US)

This looks really cool, I dont have any experience playing any of the past Tales games, but this looks really nice. I'll most likely have to wait quite a while before it comes out in the UK. Probably enough time to get and play Infinite Undiscovery and a few other games before.



Hmm, these both look really cool...I'll have to add them to my list of games to get when they come out. Quite a few games coming out soon or already out that I am interested in now;
Final Fantasy 4, 5, 6, Luminous Arc, Final Fantasy Tactics A2: Grimoire of the Rift, Dragon Quest Monsters: Joker, Tales of Vesperia, Infinite Undiscovery, Star Wars: The Force Unleashed, Fallout 3, Fable 2, Gears of War 2

More...stuff

I need to start posting more often...

Nightwish were awesome, saw them supported by Pain(who I quite like, I hadnt heard them before) at Carling Academy in Glasgow at the end of last month(I think lol)

I even got one of the picks after my friend gave it to me! =D

So it was awesome to see my favourite band...I just wish I had seen them live before they changed singer. Dont get me wrong, Anette Olzon is awesome, but I think Tarja was a better vocalist, I guess for the band to continue, they needed to change vocalist however. They played a few of the old songs; Nemo, The Siren, Wishmaster as well as stuff from Dark Passion Play inc Last of the wilds which i had hoped they would play.

Anyway...I was gonna type bout some more stuff, but forgot, so I will just spam a video and say, enjoy.

First post in a while

How awesome is this? I am on the bus back from St. Andrews after staying up at a friends for a bit of the weekend. That doesnt sound so awesome, but I am on the bus using the free wi-fi on my laptop.

Actually, it could be better cos it seems theres some kind of content control...I couldnt go on a few sites, bebo for example -_- But still, net on the bus was a foreign concept to me until the other day...

Anyway, St. Andrews was awesome lol, I now have black hair.

And I am seeing Nightwish tomorrow in Glasgow! Awesome, cant wait! =D

That is all, over and out.

Resident Evil, Zombies and god knows what else

Bought Resident Evil 4 Wii Edition, gonna play through it again before RE 5 comes out...whenever it comes out, still no release dates set, not even for Japan or the US.

Anyway, here are some videos of RE4 and 5 so you can see how they look compared.

In 2005 Resident Evil 4 pretty much revolutionised(sp?) both the RE series and the survival horror genres, bringing new camera systems, control systems and enemies, they arent the slow moving stereotypical zombies of old, they are slow moving(but on average faster than the previous RE games I believe) European cultist-farmers(lol, describing it like that makes it sound lame, but thats kinda what they are early in the game.) moving on to more sinister and badass enemies(from what I've seen on other people's save games)

Anyway, I half-forgot some of the stuff I was gonna say about the game. To be honest I only got it today and havent got far into it yet, so thats probably all I can say for now.

So that leads me to RE5. From the video that we have available, it definitely looks similar to RE4, and thats no bad thing, for sure, as RE4 was voted one of the best Gamecube games of all time, and THE best Resident Evil game by Nintendo Official Magazine(I may be wrong, its a while since I read that magazine)

It looks to use a very similar camera angle and from what I can tell, has reaction commands, for example when you get grabbed by one of the bad guys, you can quickly input some controls and shake loose by kicking the face off the attacker. XD
The reactions depend on what character you are using if I remember right(after playing the Mercenaries on other people's saves)

Films like 28 Days Later (2002) definitely helped reshape the concept of zombies in entertainment, taking the slow moving mindless parodies of consumerists seen in *thinks...my brain is turning to mush cos I am tired* Dawn of the Dead I think...the one that was remade recently, and set in an American mall and allowing "Zombies" to be fast, and I think that film has had an influence on survival horror games, particularly those concerned with "zombies." You'll probably see what I mean when you watch the RE5 trailer.

Also worth noting is that it is set in Africa. Hopefully it will mean we see different level design, character design, weather etc. Basically, I am interested since it is a different setting from what we would expect from these games(samey level design will get boring after so many outings), it will hopefully be a much more memorable game than a game set in a poorly designed, unoriginal world.

Some idiotic people have said that killing these dudes is "racist" and that Capcom don't care who they offend, but seriously, if a crazed townsperson/zombie with a rusty axe is running full pelt towards you, you arent exactly gonna stand there and let them beat the shit out of you just cos their skin is a different colour, you are gonna blow them to hell with a shotgun aren't you?

And at the end of the day, its just a game. I dont get offended by games, even crazy ones like Manhunt(where you play a serial killer if I remember right), GTA Vice City and San Andreas where beating up hookers to get your money back is one of the coolest things ever
or....I really cant be bothered thinking of another game that people have taken offence to.
So yeah, getting offended at games is stupid and should be left to the idiots who try to ban games and those who complain about their kids having seizures because of scenes in games. Seriously, if your kid has epilepsy, you shouldnt be buying them First Person Shooters where the gun flare is probably gonna make them take a fit, or any other games in the first place. [I'm getting off-target again]

I should probably end there before I end up offending anyone.

Heres the videos I was talking about;

Resident Evil 4 Gameplay



Resident Evil 4 Wii Edition Trailer
(yeah, I know it came out ages ago, but I didnt like the way that Gameplay vid was edited)



Resident Evil 5 Trailer

Ignore this

I got an error message after finally posting that stupidly long rant above, figured it hadnt been posted, so reposted it. Turns out that meant I post it twice.

Pfft, blogger sucks, so ignore this one, its totally their fault. =p

More SW Unleashed

Man, the bit with the Star Destroyer...such...awesomeness....hard...to...breathe....*hyperventilates* X_X

This is so random, but funny!

I love the end of the video.



Lol, lizardman is immune to boulders.

Cheezburger?

Usually these pictures arent very funny,
but I laughed so much at this one I cried XD

No More Heroes

I've been looking forward to this since I saw Killer 7 on the Gamecube. 
I never got a chance to play it, but I heard it was really good.
This is by the same developer, Grasshopper.

It sounds really cool, hopefully it isnt too repetitive or boring(cutting grass? come on....)
The graphics and style look really awesome. The graphics are cel-shaded(I believe), hopefully they dont look too blocky or bland(The city looked a bit cardboard)
Overall I can imagine the game will be really fun.
I think I'll be getting it when it comes out.

In the game you play as Travis Touchdown, a stereotypical otaku who lives in poverty in the fictional town of Santa Destroy, California. After winning a beam katana in an internet auction he becomes a hitman and kills another hitman, Helter Skelter, which earns him rank 11 by the UAA, the governing body of assassins. For the rest of the game the player lives Travis's life, earning money and climbing the ranks of the UAA.

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

Release Dates(C+P'd from Game FAQs)

No More Heroes Marvelous 12/06/07 JP
No More Heroes Ubisoft 01/22/08 US
No More Heroes Rising Star 02/28/08 AU
No More Heroes Rising Star 02/29/08 EU

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



Gametrailer review



Gametrailer gameplay video

Gamespot review

Right, I am gonna stop here, cos sometimes when I add a new thing to the post, blogger deletes another thing from the post, cuz its gay like that....

Star Wars Force Unleashed

This looks awesome, cant wait for it. I'll need to get my 360 fixed by the time it come out...stupid Red Rings ¬_¬

Noctilucent Clouds

Was doing some reading for my Palaeoclimates essay and came across these 'Noctilucent clouds'

Link


They are quite interesting, one thing that I like about science is that there is still so much we don't understand about the Earth and the Planets.

Here's a video,  they look kinda like water



My internet is acting up again....it keeps cutting out and disconnecting me. Remind me never to go with BT... -_-

Randomness

This flamethrower is awesome.



Ah, so this is what American rednecks do with their time. Surely it would be easier to buy a chainsaw? -_-

Work...and other stuff

My net has been much slower than usual for the past few days, so I havent been able to get on any sites or post here. It was taking ages to load up websites, but the connection was fine, according to the diagnosis I did and the unhelpful(read useless, timewasting) helpline.

It seems its back to normal now, which is good, but strange, as I didnt do anything to it to cause this, or fix it....

Anyway, i finished watching Gundam Wing and the OVA Endless Waltz finally. Seriously awesome stuff.

I've also been inspired by watching the series (and reading Sgt Frog lol) to start collecting gunpla (gundam model kits) and mecha action figures again. Got Revoltech 26: Eva 05 Wings Ver. Which I think is one of the best Revoltech figures if not the best.



Also got a few SD Gundam kits which are really good value for the price (less than £10 each on mech-a.com where I got em)







Work at uni is starting to pile up, I now have my essay for Palaeoclimates and 2 posters for my portfolio as well as the main thing this semester, my lab project. If I can get the minor stuff out the way asap I can concentrate on the lab project...stupid diatoms

(Diatom :o)

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Huh? O_0

Awesome!

This is awesome. Seriously, some people have a bit too much free time, but I salute whoever made this, cos it rocks.



Here's the original ending for the Melancholy of Haruhi Suzimiya, which seems to have been endlessly parodied and obsessed over, just like the show as a whole has.

I mean, the series was very good, but some of these "Haruhists" or w/e they call themselves take the whole thing a bit too far. Looking forward to the next series/season.

Transformers

That Gundam post reminded of this video. There a whole bunch more on the net, some good, some not so much.

Transformers...such a good show. TV was so good in the 80s and 90s(when I was growing up)

Gundam...Cosplay! 0.0

Its pretty kl actually.

Edit: *Finds comparison picture for Gundam-noobs among you :P*

Chainsaw ftw

Probably the best melee weapon in any game, Gears of War's Lancer and its chainsaw bayonet is soooo satisfying. Nothing better than bathing in your enemies blood. Unless they have AIDs or that infection from 28 Days Later or something...

Some nice videos; I especially like the slo-mo stuff;







The last one looks like it was played by a bit of a noob, but Metallica scores him extra points and makes it worth watching.
Master of Puppets+Chainsaw Fest=Good, nay, very good combo.  \m/

Completed Gears of War today, shoulda played it earlier, but hell, it definitely didnt get any worse. Still one of the best titles on the 360 IMO.

AK-47 vs M16

A rather wierd TV show(probably American), but quite interesting nonetheless.
If you had an AK, you could probably hit the building whose your window you were aiming through but thats about it. I guess if you fired enough rounds at it, you might be able to shoot through the walls to hit your target. lol.

If you are in a jungle, or firing somewhere with wooden houses, well, then....gg

AK47s look much cooler, and are definitely the only gun you can fire into the air in victory, they are probably best for this, on second thought. Lol :P

Red Rings of Death

Link

Link

I was playing the Gears of War on the 360 earlier, the xbox crashed,
and the red rings of death were there....

Never a good sign, I looked up some stuff on the net after turning it off,
I didnt know the rings actually meant different things.

However, it was after I had turned it off I found that they did different things,
so I dont know what the problem was with it. Hopefully it just overheated(relatively minor).
Even so, this doesnt bode well for my relatively new(and this is what is annoying me) Xbox 360.
I heard the returns service that Microsoft provide is pretty good with dealing with this stuff. Lets hope I dont have to use it any time soon....

I'm worried now =(

Weather

The weather here in Glasgow is worse than usual at the moment, and as a result, our department building is falling apart.  

Here's the email so you see what I mean.
I find this kinda funny since this is one of the newer buildings in the uni.

"The workmen have finished building a temporary wooden wall in the area
where the window units fell out and the corridor has been re-opened so
your classes will take place in their normal place.

PLEASE BEWARE OF THE VERY SLIPPERY FLOOR ON THE CORRIDOR, water is

getting in under the wooden wall. The various roof leaks are also very
bad at the moment, so please be careful throughout the building."

Lol, wooden walls, shanty style!

Here's some of the stuff we've had in the last few days; 
low temperatures, hail, snow, sun, high winds
(which damaged quite a bit of stuff, including our
Department building in which quite a few of the
window blocks just...fell out) and of course, rain.

    Lots....of rain.

This is Glasgow after all.

Edit: I hate blogger...either it has this stupid habit
for auto-editing half of the formatting to make it
fit in the page and leaving the rest to be cut out
or I dont know how to use it. I've tried to fix it
so it doesnt look like a retarded poem, but no luck,
so yeah, Blogger sucks. =/

Lost

I've watched the first 10 eps of Lost season 3 now, its getting better as it goes on. If you haven't seen Lost, I would recommend it. Definitely one of the best things on TV, and the 4th season is coming out in 23 days 1 hours 28 minutes. :O See here

Battlefield: Bad Company

I think this will be one of the big games of 2008. It has very nice graphics and sound(it looks and sounds really good when you are in the action.)
Fully(or near enough) destructible environments and sandbox gameplay(So the developers DICE say, but I am slightly doubtful about this, there are probably side missions to do here and there, but I don't see it being anything like GTA or Oblivion in that sense.)
It also seems to have a bit of character and humour, which will hopefully make it stand out from the stacks of WWII FPS's. With titles like Battlefield 1942 under the developer's belt, it will probably be really good and translate into sales on the Xbox 360, PS3 and probably even moreso on the PC when it comes out at a later time. I am still pretty sure FPSs are better on the PC, and WWII-type shooters are more suited to the ease of control, superior online support, graphical and audio superiority that PCs yield. With all of these things going for it, it should be pretty good. I am awaiting its release patiently-hopefully it delivers.

Gamesradar's kinda pseudo-preview







This last video is good despite the wierd opening. Maybe some Americans needed to be taught that Sweden ISN'T in America.

So this game could be either very good, or average compared to all the other First Person shooters out there, hopefully it's very good.

So Good.... XD