Malik
(6/4/07)
First off, for this beautiful week (it was a nice sunny weekend...it
makes me feel a little more upbeat), there are
rumors that GTA IV will be delayed. The rumors seem to come from
the masters of unfounded speculation; analysts.
I personally find this hard to swallow. Rockstar has announced the
release dates for major titles well in advance since the early days
of the PS2. They have yet to fail by more than a week or so on any
such release date. For these rumors to come along saying GTA IV will
be delayed, and for them to not come from Rockstar employees makes
me think of one old saying; I'll believe it when I see real word of
it.
I spent a lot of time this weekend doing some nostalgic stuff. First
off, Velveeta and I recorded the HD showing of Star Wars (the whole
marathon) on HBO. We decided that, in order to get to the original
(good) trilogy, we must first sit through the bad prequels in order.
Well, we got through Episode 1 on Saturday. That was hard to do. It
literally hurt me. We got through Episode 2 last night. That was
even harder. Now we need to get through Episode 3. I don't know if I
can do it in a single sitting. It's just too much poor writing and
horrible acting (by one Anakin...I mean...actor in particular).
While Star Wars was once my idea of near perfection in a sci-fi
setting, I think, with time, three of these movies have not aged
well. I don't mean the three with ancient special effects and models
instead of CGI. I love the special effects of episodes four through
six. They have held up to the wrath of age. On the other hand, the
special effects of Episode 1 have started to feel dated, and the
writing and acting of the prequels are now nothing short of pure
torture to sit through.
Worst of all are the romantic scenes. I can almost imagine watching
George Lucas write the script. He probably figures that he has a
special skill with romance. In a way, he does. However, it's not a
skill to be proud of. I can picture Lucas typing at a computer. He
finally gets to a romantic scene and a big grin forms on his face.
He's happy. This is his "time to shine". In my mind, it's like
watching that South Park when Mr. Garrison decided to write erotica.
He was just sorta half-assing it until he got to the sex scenes.
Then he felt like it was his time to shine...when, in reality, it
was his time to fail extra hard. I can see that scene play out
perfectly...but with romance and Lucas being the theme.
The other nostalgic event I went through this weekend was a good
deal of Dark Brotherhood missions for Oblivion. I cannot believe how
great these missions are, despite most of the main real vanilla game
being half assed. Not only do you have some fun missions that could
be tackled in many ways, but you're rewarded with good rewards
(unlike most mission rewards) for meeting the bonus criteria. The
main goal will always be the death of someone, but the methods you
can use are amazing to behold. Dropping a giant trophy from the wall
onto a guy sitting in his parlor, killing someone in jail without
any guards knowing, or "killing" someone with a poison that imitates
death only to have to resurrect him from his crypt. Just so much fun
and so many ways to play out the scenes.
I'm now getting pretty strong on my current game. I should be close
enough to a high level to try to take on some of the OOO content
finally. OOO stuff is always hardcore and has kicked my sorry ass a
few too many times. But I've gained about 6 levels since I last
attempted any OOO dungeons, and I think it's time for me to finally
end the Sylvan Ranger problems around Anvil...or to repeatedly die
trying.
Malik
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Malik
(6/6/07)
I hate disappearing for
a day. It seems like when I remain around, nothing goes on, but if I
have to vanish for a day, then all hell breaks loose. Between geek
stuff, not having games I can play, and all of the stuff at my work,
it seems to take about three days to get back on track for each
single day I miss out on.
I was stuck
playing tour guide yesterday for out of town relatives. It's not
that family stuff is not good and all, but going to see the damned
fish being thrown at the Seattle Public Market (you may not be from
Seattle, but you probably know the thrown fish quite well...since it
seems to be all that Seattle's known for) and then pointing out
where Tom Hanks ate in Sleepless in Seattle...it's too painful to
recollect without shuddering. However, at least being treated for
food is good for repaying someone going against their morals.
On the geek side
of things, the
Fallout 3 trailer came out. I have not had a chance to see it,
but that's only another item on my to do list. However, I guess the
release date is now sort of set...for Fall 2008. In other words,
it'll be sometime in 2009...we are talking about Bethesda, afterall.
They are the ones who delayed Oblivion for about 5 months (November
2005 easily became March 2006).
The one thing I
bet is not touched in the trailer and that I would love to know
about is the type of engine being used in the game. I don't mean the
general engine, but how it will be applied and if it will turn the
game into anything other than a game of chess of crack (which is how
I like to describe the original two Fallout titles). If it's turned,
for even an instant, into some half assed first person adventure, I
can assure you that I will not be pleased...and neither will 99% of
the old school Fallout fanatics.
It's now time for
me to play a little more catch up from a day lost to tourism. I
should have some thoughts on that Fallout 3 trailer tomorrow.
Malik |
Malik
(6/7/07)
I am running off of less
than two hours of sleep, so this will be shorter than I wanted. I
feel, however, the need to post something to take my mind off of the
real world for a bit.
I watched the
trailer for Fallout 3, and I am left with a couple of thoughts, but
by no means any conclusions. Sadly, the trailer did not show
anything substantial enough to make any real opinions off of.
I am glad to see
that the general theme of the Fallout series (as evident by the
Radiation King logo on the radio and the music used to set the mood
of the trailer) has returned. It is good to see that Bethesda at
least knows what to do with the license in regards to the art
direction.
It's also a good
sign to see Ron Perlman is back, at least for this trailer, with his
classic line about "war". I hope this means he's fully on board for
the project and it's not just a resample of sorts of his old work
from past Fallout titles. His voice does bring a lot of "feel" to
the Fallout world, and for his voice to return is a truly great
thing. It's like a lighthouse beacon off of a coast...it means you
at least know something resembling familiar shores lie in the
distance.
I wish the trailer
would give an idea of what the game play will look like. Considering
that the trailer was supposedly made with the in game engine, it
would be nice to at least see if this game will return to the
Fallout roots (as opposed to some lame first person RPG...not to
talk bad about Oblivion...but these are different franchises). I
guess that will be something that the future will reveal to us as
Bethesda feels it's necessary.
Considering the
supposed fall 2008 release date, we won't be seeing much for a long
time. Maybe around the big trade show convention period of the first
part of 2008 we will see our first real signs of how things will go
down. However, that's only assuming that Bethesda feels like making
things known and that they stick with their release date (which, I
can already say, they won't). I probably would expect to see some
real content in about a year, and we won't see the game until at
least the first quarter of 2009...and that's assuming a lot.
While I hold
reservations about Bethesda touching such an important RPG
franchise, I do hope they bring one important thing to the table. I
don't mean the Oblivion game play style (in fact, they need to just
revamp, but not simplify, like they did with Oblivion versus
Morrowind, the game style of Fallout 2). I hope that Fallout 3 is
truly a successor of Fallout 1 and 2. I do hope, however, with an
open ended game like Fallout, that Bethesda returns the Elder Scroll
style mod ability. That way, even if Bethesda makes another half
assed game (like Oblivion was in comparison to Morrowind), then the
fans can take control of fixing things (like how OOO and Fran's mods
have done for Oblivion).
Here's hoping for
the best and counting on the usual...being a realist can sometimes
feel like being a pessimist.
Malik |
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