**Strife's notes: This blog post contains spoilers for the 2008 game "Tales of Vesperia for the Xbox360. If you have any interest in the near future about playing this game and reading what seems to be a conclusion to a story arc or a plot twist, then skip this blog. I'll have another one posted up this weekend. This is more so a rant filled thrilling end to my all nighter of the game. ~Strife**
*Presses Start*
I am a story driven guy.
No matter what the game is, if a game has a pretty decent story, I'll play through until the end. If it has a great story, I'll play it religiously and won't play anything else until said game is finished.
Tales Of Vesperia is one of those games.
Let me go ahead and put out there that I love RPGs. Just as much as I love fighting games. A good RPG is hard to find and a great RPG is even harder. I love getting so involved with the characters and the experience. In a way, if a RPG is good, I get emotionally attached. Sometimes, it's not always a good thing.
Tales Of Vesperia is a JRPG that was released in August of 2008, and I'm just now experiencing the game for the first time. The music for the game is amazing, the graphics still stand up to today's standards and most importantly, The story (and events) aren't that bad. However, 14 hours in, I've run into a part that clashes with my emotional immersion. I've run into a part where Yuki (The Hero) is a man of questionable character. He breaks out of jail. He causes mischief. He beats up on the knights that are sent to capture them but never takes their lives. He saves people and generally knows right from wrong. Sounds like a guy to get behind, right? His snarky sarcastic take charge attitude really got me interested in him. So, like a good RPG, I'm involved with this character, right?
**SPOILERS SPOILERS SPOILERS**
A good chunk into the story, you find out about a conspiracy that the head of a powerful council (Ragou)is doing to take over the lands and teamed up with people of less then stellar character to help pull this off. Now, of course, a boss battle takes place to fight the muscle of the two and defeat him. Ragou is captured and let go that night, due to some slick talking and pulling of his status. Here's where's things get tricky. Late that night, Ragou is on the bridge, talking and plotting his next move, and in a flash, Yuki appears and unsheathes his weapon. Ragou, unarmed and knowing no sorts of magic, pleads for his life. Yuki steps closer and when Ragou runs, he's struck down and killed. In cold blood.
I flash back to reality. Wait. That's totally NOT in that guy's agenda. He knows right and wrong, but killing someone who was unarmed? I know he was a dictator. In fact, there was an entire scene dedicated to what he's done. Stabbing in the back? I thought that was a total villain move. In total honesty, it was really close to me just turning the game off and walking away. I was so attached to Yuki that when something happened that seemed like it was out of character, it almost broke the game for me. It was that important.
**END SPOILERS**
In one of my favorite RPGs (one that we ironically did a podcast on), when the pretty big twist (If you've ever played it, you know which one I'm talking about) happens, I really did feel a sense of despair. At the end of it, I really did feel like we went on a time traveling adventure. None of the characters felt strange or did anything out of place. In one of the most popular RPGS of all time, a certain event was named the most shocking event in video game history. I knew grown teenage boys who cried when it happened. Heartbreaking indeed. In Dragon Age 2, There's a certain situation where if you make a decision based off your carelessness and lack of worry, someone departs the game in a pretty upsetting fashion. I really felt like I screw up royally and missed my noticeably missing character. I love being immersed in my games and almost to the point where I almost get mad when something happens that works for the game's sake but totally destroys anything that I imagined the character doing.
It's still sitting here paused. Granted, I could be totally off base. I could be making a big deal out of seemingly nothing. I'm unassumingly not that far in the game yet. However, that scene alone made such a deep impact on me that I have no choice but to continue and press start and hope that the character that I've been imagining playing out is the same virtual one on my screen.
Continue?
Showing posts with label dragon age 2. Show all posts
Showing posts with label dragon age 2. Show all posts
Thursday, December 15, 2011
Thursday, November 17, 2011
Gamers are Awesome, not Lazy
That's right, Parents, Grandparents, bosses, I said it. We're not lazy, or anit-social, well most of us anyway. "But, Megan, what proof do you have to back this up?" I hear you non believers ask. First, I've been told that you should start a sentence with but, but I do it all the time, (you also shouldn't start a sentence with And, but I'm about to do it.) And, I can't give you numbers, or science, but I can give you personal experience, and what I have observed. When I'm not working with video games as part of my job, (how I wish I actually played them for a living) I am at home playing them, or even watching them. I'm active on YouTube, checking my subscription box regularly, and most of them are of people playing the games that I don't like, or won't get for a while.
There are a lot of people on the internet that record themselves playing games, and I'm one of the people who watches them. Some of these commentators actually make a living off of making these videos, off of playing video games, and in turn they get to hear and talk to a lot of fans who watch their videos and find enjoyment and entertainment from them. For the most part, most of these commentators love their fans, and read every single comment and message they get from the fans, and listen to them. Not Anti-Social. Let me give you another example. Minecraft. Yes, I said it. Love it or hate it, it's gotten a lot of attention. Enough that a Minecraft convention, Minecon, is happening this weekend in Las Vegas. And a good number of YouTube commentators will be going there to meet their fans, along with have fun. And they are amazingly excited for it. See, not anti-social. They see day light, gamers that is.
Gamers are also not lazy, we cultivate talents without knowing it sometimes. We're constantly thinking when playing a game, looking for the best tactic, or the best way to befriends someone, or sneak behind their back to steal from them. Through my own personal experience I've found that recently when playing Dragon Age 2 I've found that I've been working on multi-tasking. Killing my enemies of giant spiders with no mercy is my main task, but I have to make sure that my character doesn't die, and the lives of my companions. All the while checking on their tactics and that my mage will actually heal someone when they start to die because I've used the potion and it hasn't had enough time to cool down. All those FPS games, those take thinkin', tactics, game plans. Call of Duties, Battlefields, Halo, even Gears of War, even those little Final Fantasy games take some planning when it comes to your characters.
I was in Voice/Keyboard for five years in Middle/High School. I sang in a choir and I took daily keyboard lessons, learning on my own and from the teachers. You would think that in all those years I'd be able to play some moderate stuff, right? At least something out of the level 4 piano book. Wrong. My left hand doesn't like to be independent a lot of the time. If my right hand is doing something simple, then yeah my left hand will go off on it's own, but if, say for chance, my right hand were playing the melody of a song, like the Sleeping Beauty Waltz, my left hand cannot play the accompanying chords for the song. It refuses to be simple, and wants to do what my right hand is doing. Now, what was the point of my telling you this? What relevance does it have to gamers? When I am playing Left 4 Dead, of Dragon Age 2 like earlier this week, my hands are all over the place. They know what they have to do to kill the undead and to keep myself, and maybe others (Antonio not included, you coward) alive throughout the game. When I was playing Guild Wars I had two computers up so I could play on one and look up anything about the game on the other simultaneously. My left hand had no trouble doing that. Playing all these games is actually training my hands, and in turn it's making my typing speed faster also. Not particularly more accurate, but, faster.
So, as I was taught in school, here is my conclusion. Gamers are in fact not lazy, or anti-social, in fact they can be quite social, funny, who actually know how to speak proper English, and game speak, meet people in real life, and are actually training their brains and hands, and their body if they use any of the motion "controllers". I may not have used science, but I used my own personal experiences and first hand observations. Thank you for your time. *bows*
There are a lot of people on the internet that record themselves playing games, and I'm one of the people who watches them. Some of these commentators actually make a living off of making these videos, off of playing video games, and in turn they get to hear and talk to a lot of fans who watch their videos and find enjoyment and entertainment from them. For the most part, most of these commentators love their fans, and read every single comment and message they get from the fans, and listen to them. Not Anti-Social. Let me give you another example. Minecraft. Yes, I said it. Love it or hate it, it's gotten a lot of attention. Enough that a Minecraft convention, Minecon, is happening this weekend in Las Vegas. And a good number of YouTube commentators will be going there to meet their fans, along with have fun. And they are amazingly excited for it. See, not anti-social. They see day light, gamers that is.Gamers are also not lazy, we cultivate talents without knowing it sometimes. We're constantly thinking when playing a game, looking for the best tactic, or the best way to befriends someone, or sneak behind their back to steal from them. Through my own personal experience I've found that recently when playing Dragon Age 2 I've found that I've been working on multi-tasking. Killing my enemies of giant spiders with no mercy is my main task, but I have to make sure that my character doesn't die, and the lives of my companions. All the while checking on their tactics and that my mage will actually heal someone when they start to die because I've used the potion and it hasn't had enough time to cool down. All those FPS games, those take thinkin', tactics, game plans. Call of Duties, Battlefields, Halo, even Gears of War, even those little Final Fantasy games take some planning when it comes to your characters.
I was in Voice/Keyboard for five years in Middle/High School. I sang in a choir and I took daily keyboard lessons, learning on my own and from the teachers. You would think that in all those years I'd be able to play some moderate stuff, right? At least something out of the level 4 piano book. Wrong. My left hand doesn't like to be independent a lot of the time. If my right hand is doing something simple, then yeah my left hand will go off on it's own, but if, say for chance, my right hand were playing the melody of a song, like the Sleeping Beauty Waltz, my left hand cannot play the accompanying chords for the song. It refuses to be simple, and wants to do what my right hand is doing. Now, what was the point of my telling you this? What relevance does it have to gamers? When I am playing Left 4 Dead, of Dragon Age 2 like earlier this week, my hands are all over the place. They know what they have to do to kill the undead and to keep myself, and maybe others (Antonio not included, you coward) alive throughout the game. When I was playing Guild Wars I had two computers up so I could play on one and look up anything about the game on the other simultaneously. My left hand had no trouble doing that. Playing all these games is actually training my hands, and in turn it's making my typing speed faster also. Not particularly more accurate, but, faster.
So, as I was taught in school, here is my conclusion. Gamers are in fact not lazy, or anti-social, in fact they can be quite social, funny, who actually know how to speak proper English, and game speak, meet people in real life, and are actually training their brains and hands, and their body if they use any of the motion "controllers". I may not have used science, but I used my own personal experiences and first hand observations. Thank you for your time. *bows*
Sunday, July 3, 2011
Animus, TCPS Style! Part One: Looking Back
So, we're going to hop in our Animus and look back at the First 6 months of gaming and tell you what was awesome, what sucked, and what was surprisingly good. Let's not kill anyone on the way. I'm looking at you, Desmond. And just because I look at Desmond, it doesn't exclude you, Megan.
(I have No idea what he's talking about. I would never *stabs passerby* anyone. Damn! I missed my target! *runs)
JANUARY:
TOP:
(I have No idea what he's talking about. I would never *stabs passerby* anyone. Damn! I missed my target! *runs)
JANUARY:
TOP:
Mass Effect 2 - Finally, PS3 owners got their hands on the sci-fi epic that rocked the socks of 360 owners almost a year before. Touting the DLC content and the Mass Effect 3 engine, this game easily peaked up there as one of my favorite games of the month.
Dead Space 2 - A follow up to the horror sleeper hit by EA, this game brought even more scares and more blood and gore then forty score of the civil war. Amazing gameplay leaves me hankering for a DS3.
LOW:
MindJack- I'm sure you've heard me rant about this game, and upon looking back on it, I can't say it was a horrible game. It's a terrible game with mildly cool parts. It was very clunky and the touted multiplayer game was terribly done. Big disappointment.
Two Worlds II : I can safely say that it was better then the first one. That's not saying too much at all.
SURPRISE!
Lord Of Arcana - This Monster Hunter/Phantasy Star rehash turned actually turned out pretty cool. Lots of customizable options. Not a GOTY title, but great title.
FEBRUARY:
TOP:
KillZone 3 - One of Sony's strongest titles went strong in February with plenty of sideswipes and action sequences that makes any FPS fan question the better shooter. Damn good.
Marvel Vs. Capcom 3 - Fighting Game quips aside, this was a very strong titles matching the heroes and villains of the gaming and comic book world together in this fast and frenzied fighting game that was easy to learn but hard to master. Solid game from Capcom.
BOTTOM:
Hyperdimention Neptuna - This RPG published by NIS America had a really cool concept. RPG based off the current console war and playing as female versions of the current game systems? How could that fail? Well, subpar graphics, slow story, and uninteresting characters. Oh, and DLC Characters that I can meet in game but can't use until I buy them? Get out.
Knights Contract: This GOW rip off had the potential to be really really cool. But the story ripped from Dante's Inferno and the gameplay that we've seen all too often leads it to not be as great as it should. Don't get me wrong. I have zero problems with games being practically the same gameplay. If you're going to go down that route, however, make the story creative and do something that others haven't done.
Surprise!
Bulletstorm: This EA/People Can Fly/Epic Games mash up that looked like Gears Of War surprised everyone, including me. A story that's totally different from the get go, and the addition of a scorpion style whip and a point system lead to a TON of fun. One of the best games of this month.
MARCH: (Note - March was a HUGE month. It was hard to keep it limited to 2 per section.)
TOP:
Crysis 2: I know in the Ides of March, I said that this was a game that should have gotten a full review, and I still stand by it. One of the best FPS that I've played in a very long time. Special abilities combined with a pretty awesome story and a increasingly difficult campaign leads to a must buy for anyone who likes shooters.
Dragon Age 2: This is a pretty weird post. Some people dislike Dragon Age 2 and some people love it. While I don't think it was as epic as the first one, I thought that DA2 was a great game in its own right and sets up for what could be on the same level as Bioware's other hit, Mass Effect. It's a quicker, faster, more streamlined game, and for that, It was a pretty enjoyable experience.
Bottom:
Homefront: THQ's jump into the foray with Homefront places the war on american soil. Apparently, people didn't take too well to that. Bad graphics and a 3-4 hour campaign left gamers and myself with a very very sour taste in our mouths.
Final Fantasy XIV: This is a potshot, mostly because it's a MMO, but Square Enix really dropped the ball with XIV to the point that the game (to my knowledge) is STILL free to play until Square can fix the numerous problems that plague the game.
Surprise!
The 3rd Birthday: For a lot of us, this was the awaited end of the Parasite Eve trilogy that many of us begged for. Square Enix gave it to us, and did not disappoint, despite the many changes to the game and the doubt of a title that can supply a enjoyable experience.
Part 2 coming up soon where we finish up the list, I point out the greatest games so far and we take a look at the future!
Monday, April 4, 2011
Ch-ch-ch-ch-changes!
Hello good people! Yeah, I've gone through and changed a few things, like, the color scheme, (it was almost pastel pink with cherry blossoms, but Antonio shot that down,) and the layout. I just felt like it needed to be changed, that is until I am able to go in to my lovely art programs and design a layout for the site. I will slowly be adding some buttons for the podcasts though so you don't have to search for the link I've placed randomly in the post. :) I hope to have those up by tomorrow.
You've probably also noticed that we've been a bit quiet. Blame real life. I had a family emergency, that's still kind of going on, but slowing down, and a few other things that have caused me to go into over-stress mode. And real life attacked Antonio, specifically his back last I checked.
What else is new? Well, as some of you might know, the TCPS podcast is available in the iTunes store, and now we are also available in the Zune Marketplace! Yay! We're also on Twitter! You can follow us @TCPSpodcast, and you can watch out soon for a Facebook page, also. We are all over the internet! We even have an email! If you wanted to get a hold of us, ask us some questions, send us some comments, or anything really.
Now, what can you look forward to seeing? Well, I'll tell you!
New podcasts! - Video Challenges including Chrono Trigger, Kirby, Metroid, Shinobi, Kid Icarus, and many others.
Podcasts on Assassin's Creed: Brotherhood, DLC, Video Game music radio stations, and whatever else we feel like.
More guests, including Joe 'Covenant' Lamb, Shua, Julia 'Jules' Sherred, the return of Owen, and many others. Oh yeah, people wanna be on this podcast. We cool.
New blog posts! - Reviews on Dragon Age 2, Assassin's Creed: Brotherhood, and Prinny. Gaming crafts that exist in real life, and maybe a special blog post including some Steampunk, (I have my reasons.)
New Layout/Extras! - As I mentioned above, a new layout might be on its way soon, along with some new buttons for media downloads. Also we''ll have some fun extras showing up, like video podcasts from Antonio, and our YouTube channel featuring our Let's Play's!
As you can see we have some awesome stuff coming up, some awesome stuff has happened, and we're not running out of ideas anytime soon. Tell your friends! Tell your family! Tell the internets! To Continue Press Start is here to stay.
You've probably also noticed that we've been a bit quiet. Blame real life. I had a family emergency, that's still kind of going on, but slowing down, and a few other things that have caused me to go into over-stress mode. And real life attacked Antonio, specifically his back last I checked.
What else is new? Well, as some of you might know, the TCPS podcast is available in the iTunes store, and now we are also available in the Zune Marketplace! Yay! We're also on Twitter! You can follow us @TCPSpodcast, and you can watch out soon for a Facebook page, also. We are all over the internet! We even have an email! If you wanted to get a hold of us, ask us some questions, send us some comments, or anything really.
Now, what can you look forward to seeing? Well, I'll tell you!
New podcasts! - Video Challenges including Chrono Trigger, Kirby, Metroid, Shinobi, Kid Icarus, and many others.
Podcasts on Assassin's Creed: Brotherhood, DLC, Video Game music radio stations, and whatever else we feel like.
More guests, including Joe 'Covenant' Lamb, Shua, Julia 'Jules' Sherred, the return of Owen, and many others. Oh yeah, people wanna be on this podcast. We cool.
New blog posts! - Reviews on Dragon Age 2, Assassin's Creed: Brotherhood, and Prinny. Gaming crafts that exist in real life, and maybe a special blog post including some Steampunk, (I have my reasons.)
New Layout/Extras! - As I mentioned above, a new layout might be on its way soon, along with some new buttons for media downloads. Also we''ll have some fun extras showing up, like video podcasts from Antonio, and our YouTube channel featuring our Let's Play's!
As you can see we have some awesome stuff coming up, some awesome stuff has happened, and we're not running out of ideas anytime soon. Tell your friends! Tell your family! Tell the internets! To Continue Press Start is here to stay.
Tuesday, March 29, 2011
TCPS 6: Dragon Age 2 and RPG's
It's another podcast! This time Tony and I talk about Dragon Age 2 with as little spoilers as possible, and some of our favorite RPG's. Now I'm going to go back to watching Tangled and playing Assassin's Creed Brotherhood.
Sunday, March 27, 2011
The Ides Of March: Games that should have gotten reviews, but didn't
*Presses Start*
Speaking of Dragon Age 2, I promise a review, but I'm actually replaying this game to catch up on some of the things I missed (like characters) so that'll come soon enough. Promise.
Now to the games:
Rift: The World Of Warcraft "killer" that released earlier this month has gotten pretty amazing reviews so far. I haven't reviewed it because of my disdain for (Most) MMORPGs, but reader reviews so far are saying that it's good, but it's not going to stop WOW anytime soon. Aion anyone?
Pokemon: The racist version of the game dropped this month and so far people are saying that it's pretty good. I should actually pick up, but once you pick one up, you've picked them all up.
People are saying that it's incredibly different, but I've yet to know a difference.
Homefront: The THQ answer to call of duty that really left me wanting to play call of duty. The solo campaign was really terrible. The Multiplayer was OK, but I'm more a solo guy myself.
Okamiden: Yes. 10x times yes. It's not on the same plain as the original, but it's holds it's own well enough to suppress the urge for an sequel.
Dissidia 012: Harder to start from scratch, but overall, a satisfying prequel. All the new characters are interesting.
Crysis 2: Definitely deserving of a full review. So many cool things in the game, it's pretty good so far. The Multiplayer is solid and the Single Campaign is great. And yes, my PS3 can run Crysis.
I know March isn't over yet, but most of the major ones are already out, and there's some games that should have gotten a solid review, but because I am only one man, I can only tackle what I can. Expect another blog real soon guys.
Continue?
Thursday, March 17, 2011
Ferelden Blues: A look back at Dragon Age and the Journey to Dragon Age 2
*Presses Start*
Continue?
Let me start off by saying that I love RPGs. I love them all, and a ton of them rank up there as one of my favorite game experiences of all time. It's just not the normal Final Fantasy, Either. 3 of my top RPGs of all time aren't even Final Fantasies at all (Chrono Trigger, Star Ocean: The Second Story and Persona 4). That's not to say that I dislike them. There's very few that I can say I really just don't like, and even then, that's not to say that they're terrible games, that's just saying that there was something in that game that I couldn't get into (I'm looking at you, Final Fantasy XII) and caused me to be slightly disappointed. That's also a huge gamble in RPGs today. You have to be emotionally invested in your character and in your team. If not, you're risking having your pride and joy in the bargain bin. A little company called BioWare understood and complied with amazing force.
Back in 2009, BioWare released a game that sucked up over 100 hours worth of game play from me. Dragon Age origins told the story of a man who fought the darkspawn. The back story and the character was entirely up to you. This was one of the first games that I played that let you build up your character from scratch (Save for Fallout) and unleash havoc on the world that BioWare created. For me, I was living the high life until my castle was ambushed and killed my family, leaving me to become a Grey Warden and eventually save the world from the Blight. YES. The way that they told the tale for this game was amazingly well done and enough for me to drop everything that I was doing to finish this game. A year later, While my Dragon Age lust was still hot, they announced Dragon Age II, coming the following year. Now, usually I'm alright with sequels as long as the first one is done correctly (See Bulletstorm review) But what I'm not a fan of is announcing a sequel of a game that is still relatively new. I can understand striking while the iron is hot, but that may have been a bit TOO quick. Bioware was quick to piss people off, and the next announcement wasn't going to be any better.
Bioware announced that they were going to make DA2 more "streamlined", "faster" and "less tactical". For a fan of the first game and how tactical it was, I was kinda upset. I didn't want streamlined. DA:O was for the hardcore gamers who wanted to take control of everything, and that's where I wanted it to stay. Then they announced that the character that you took control of in the second one couldn't be ported to the second one. Why? Because they were giving you a person to start off with, instead of making him your own. That's right. Wanted to be a elf blood mage? Out of the question. You had to be a human. That was the most upsetting thing that I've read. I was a human to start off, but I loved the Elf's back story that was created. If I wanted to replay the game and start off completely new, I couldn't do it. As if all that wasn't a big back stab to the fans, BioWare also made a completely new battle system. You wanted to press X and let your character duke it out while you kicked back? Not anymore. Everything was now in real time, taking away the tactical portion of the game.
Pissed off isn't a way to put it. Fans were fucking LIVID.
It seemed like BioWare had turn their back on their fans. I have to admit, I wasn't 100% sure that BioWare still had it anymore. They cut out what seemed to be major portions of their game for a faster and quicker experience for everyone. Like the selfish fanboy I was, I didn't want the game for everyone. I wanted it for me. Of course, as time goes by, I settled down. I decided that the very best I could do was give it a shot and hope for the best. The trailer looked cool, so at very least I could scoop it up and say "Hey BioWare, I have faith that you'll do me proud". Did they disappoint?
Part 1 of Dragon Age 2 coming really really soon. Until then,
Continue?
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