Malik
(4/25/05)
For being
"too short" of a game, Jade Empire has finally fallen to
my apt geek hands. I finished the last four chapters of the
game (well, the last part of the third chapter and chapters 4-7)
between a good dedicated chunk of time from Saturday through
Sunday. Despite how the first three chapters can take someone,
who is not rushing to finish the game, a good 20+ hours to complete,
the remaining chapters are far more to the point. I'm not
saying they are rushed or incomplete, they just don't offer the
chances for side-quests that one can find in the second and third
chapters.
In the end, unlike
with the long KOTOR2, the shorter JE is actually a game that can
give a good sense of completion and fulfillment in under 30
hours. I'm not sure if I crossed the 30 hour barrier (I
probably did, but I didn't check the game clock at the end), but I
know what a complete game, in terms of plot, feels like and JE was a
complete game. I hold no reservations about the game being so
much quicker than a game like Xenosaga 2 or KOTOR 2. Both of
those games took well above the about 30 hours of JE, but neither
one felt complete or as if the game was actually meant to end at the
point in which it did actually end.
Most importantly,
however, is the fact that, like with KOTOR 2, I had a good deal of
fun playing Jade Empire (plus with a complete plot...hell, that's a
good game). Between the combat system, which is overly
simplified from the promises that Bioware told us of a couple years
back but still fun, the enthralling plot, and the visuals and audio
that both offer a great feeling of escapism, this is one hell of a
worthwhile game to play. However, I still wouldn't call it
perfect, or even close to perfect. I'll get to my final
summary of this game later this week when I post a full on review
(from the perspective of a geek who actually played as much as they
could with the game and didn't just rush through to brag about how
1337 I am and how Bioware skimped on making a long enough
game)...anyway, here's a preview of the review (I like what follows,
so I'll save time on the review by keeping the following paragraphs
in the final deal).
However, I do
have one complaint I must share right now. As I finished the
game, I realized something quite important. There is no
variety to the combat system, at all. As you start the game,
you will pick an initial combat style, a magic style will soon
follow, and you'll get your first weapon style in-between. So,
when you add all of those together, you have three important combat
styles since each type (martial, weapon, and magic) has different
weaknesses and strengths. The problem arises with how you put
points into these styles as you level. As you place points to
upgrade a style, you'll never get these points back, and you can
only get more as you level up (which I only did 22 times before I
finished the game). So, if you switch what martial style you
want to use half-way through the game, your new one may end up
greatly under-powered since you have so developed your first
one. Then, you'll see that there is no best martial style, so
you'll end up just holding on to your original style and ignoring
the rest. This applies also to magic (which different elements
will help with certain foes, but in the end the average enemy will
be hurt equally by each magic style). It's not quite as simple
with weapons...you'll find you're selected initial weapon will do
you find and will be far better than any swaps as you play due to
the points you invest in it...however, you will eventually find the
best weapon style in the third chapter and then you'll never change
again.
To round out
your combat styles, since you can only select from a pool of four at
a time (all mapped to the directions of the d-pad) you'll probably
go with Spirit Thief (since it's stupid to do otherwise).
Spirit Thief will give you the ability to drain chi (magic points)
from your foes by either punching them or by shooting them.
The attacks deal no damage to your foes, but you can turn on chi
mode (in which your attacks deal more damage at the cost of chi) to
cause minor damage while gaining a smaller amount of MP. In
the end, you will use this skill like mad to regain chi as you burn
through it either healing (which is more or less a one chi to one
health point conversion that can be done on the fly with the white
button), magic styles (which always use chi points) or fighting with
chi mode on to deal extra damage.
So, in a
nut-shell, my complaint is that you'll never use any styles beyond
your first martial (and you won't find too many of these styles
anyway, and the different ones make no real difference in combat),
first magic (unless you feel like showing off with your later
acquired ones), Spirit Thief, and your initial weapon (until you get
the double sword in the third chapter). The variety is so
worthless. You won't find these awesome hidden styles and be
amazed by their destructive force...no, you'll get a few mediocre
abilities that suck compared to your highly powered initial ones.
The only
exception to all of this will come down to your summon
abilities. You can use transformation magic to turn into
certain demons that you've defeated. However, these styles
drain so much chi, and so quickly, that you'll never find a reason
to use them. They may make you look cool (and believe me,
turning into a giant golem is a freakin' awesome sight to behold),
but even with a chi orientated character (since you can select which
stats to raise as you level and you can focus on chi exclusively if
you hate having health and spirit), you'll run out and be forced
back into your normal human look in only a fraction of a
minute. Plus, with so few chances to practice your combat
styles, you'll lose time just trying to figure out what the
transformation's abilities are and then you'll realize that it's a
waste to use when every battle in the game (with a couple
exceptions) is a story related fight that will, in theory, test your
mettle. So, once again, you'll go back to using just your
original martial style, your initial magic style, your initial
weapon style (until mid-chapter 3), and a lame support style until
you get Spirit Thief at the start of chapter 2. That's
it. Blah.
So, that's my
little preview of the review for Jade Empire. Don't
worry...the game is good...it's really fun...but if the plot wasn't
there, I doubt it would have been nearly as fun...and the plot is
freakin' cliché as any Summer Blockbuster.
On a different
note, before I head out for a day of errand running, Gamespot.com
has a new issue of Rumor
Control. As I've said many times in the past, I love this
feature of theirs. It's a good read for knowing what lame news
is heading our way in the future. However, the part I'd like
to draw to your attention is the one about the XBox 360 coming in a
deluxe edition. Supposedly, the rumors say that the XBox 360
will come with two price tags. The $300 model will be
bare-bones, while the $400 will feature a hard drive and backwards
compatibility with the original XB. If this proves to be true,
it would go back to the simple fact that I've always held in my
mind...Microsoft is greedy as hell. I mean if I'm paying $300
for a console, and it's not called the 3DO and it's not the 1990's,
I should be getting a state of the art machine; not a stripped down
piece of shit. I mean the HDD is part of what made the
original XB such a sweet machine. The ability to never worry
about space to save and the ability to listen to custom soundtracks
is unbelievable in the few games that allow it. To remove this
freedom, or to charge $100 more for it, is nothing short of
greed. While backwards compatibility is not a requirement for
a new console, that two should not come at a price-tag of
$100...that should be free as a reward for those who were loyal
enough to stick with the first XB and decided to remain loyal with
the 360. Plus, it's a great marketing tool to get new games
since you can not only brag about your current game line-up, but
also your prior line-up that is still as fun now as it was when the
XB was king (future-tense). We'll probably see around E3 if
this is true or not, but I'm afraid of MS's greed...it usually knows
few boundaries.
Malik
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Malik
(4/26/05)
Well, there's some
really good news today for Katamari
fanatics. It deals with a nice word I like to call
"localization". If that's not enough, click the link and
see the hella good news.
Since
I finished Jade Empire, I have not had the will power to play
through again. It's probably due to the fact that the supposedly
unique combat system was actually really bland. While I'd like to
play through and see the evil path (especially since it includes
getting an extra party member, or two...which, to me, amounts to
only an extra support ability or two), I don't know if I want to
deal with two of the largest flaws in the game...ok, three
flaws.
The first, and
most obvious, especially from my post yesterday (with a preview of
my review), is that the combat engine is just pretty
one-dimensional. A lot of people would like to flame me for saying
so, but it is quite true. Combat involves mainly just punching a
dude a few times (or swiping with a sword, staff, etc), dodging,
dodging, dodging, punching, dodging, punching, and them going after
the next dude. It's really, sadly, that simple.
The second flaw is
that this game can crash. It doesn't do it too often, but I had a
few too many crashes for my enjoyment. The worst is when you enter a
dialogue and you notice no words coming out of anyone's' mouths.
Then the dialogue starts to advance really fast, and then after
about 6-10 frames of speech, the game freezes. It may be rare, but
it is really annoying to have to go through the dialogue repeatedly.
Especially this is true when the dialogue follows a long and
annoying battle, like at the end of the game when you see a dragon.
It froze two times during this scene, and I kept having to re-fight
the annoying battle before it.
The final flaw is
the load times. You WILL see the load screen more times than
anything else in the whole game. In fact, you will see load screens
more often than the time you will spend in combat. Considering this
game is advertised as having such an innovative combat system
(whatever...), you should not spend more time in load screens than
fighting.
Anyway, I decided,
instead of picking up JE again, to resume the left off game of
GTA:SA. I had stopped on a certain mission that involves gang wars
with an idiot following you around. I had quit because I kept either
killing this fool when he'd jump in front of my Uzi, or I'd die
because I kept holding back my fire to not kill him. Well, after
picking it up again, I finished this lame mission on my first
attempt. Sadly, after finishing it, I still can't take over the last
enemy territory (Battery Point). I can't find any Vaggos to shoot,
so I am just giving up on my dream of finishing all of the
territories.
At least the game
is fun once again. It's always a lot more enjoyable when you don't
have to worry about one of those protection missions. These have
always been the bane of video games since you could always, in any
game with protection missions, take a hit far better than your
follower. It's a rule of games, and it's annoying as hell.
Anyway, I also got
in some time with Freedom Force 2. This is a pretty solid RTS game.
Plus, with how Frye's was selling it for $20, it was also a good
bargain.
The game resumes
right where the original Freedom Force ended and uses many of the
same controls and characters. It's an ideal game for either RTS fans
or those who really enjoyed the first FF game.
Anyway, I won't
come to too much of a judgment on this title yet. I've only played
about 4 or 5 stages, and thus I have a lot to learn. So far,
however, it's looking like a good title.
Malik
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Malik
(4/27/05)
Last night I
decided to pick up GTA:SA a little more. I needed to find a way to
take the final territory and to finish the last few missions. Well,
I did the last four missions and once again have beaten GTA:SA. The
final mission, which so annoyed me the first time through, was, like
with Learn to Fly, a lot easier the second time. However, it
probably helped that I did all the fire-fighter missions this time
to get the immunity to fire (as you can guess, if you haven't done
the last mission already, it includes fire...and lots of it. In
fact, I never felt like I had any real challenges and it even felt
like it passed a lot quicker this time around.
After I laid the
final foe to rest, I went back to my dedication to conquer all of
San Andreas. I had 55 out of 56 territories and just couldn't find
any gang members to start the final turf war. So, I hit the Internet
and found what the deal was. The final territory, along with one
other I had collected, were not supposed to be there.
THE TERRITORY
GLITCH
Get ready to take
notes if you have never done this one before or never heard of
it...
When I tried to
boost my flying skill to max, I had inadvertently done the
"territory glitch". For those who don't know, instead of
the usual 54 areas to take control of, you can have up to 174.
However, you have to force the game to recognize them. This is where
my time learning to boost my flight skill caused problems. When I
flew around in circles for so long, I had forced the map to get as
small as possible as I flew away from the world. So, in the end, the
game started this glitch and made a couple of new territories. In
other words, to do this glitch, you need to head away from the world
until the map no longer can zoom out, and then new territories will
form. They won't show on your map until you return to land, but they
will get mentioned in the "Gang Stats" page of your menu.
For example, instead of seeing that you have 54 territories and 100%
of the territories, the numbers in question will change so that the
total number is greater than 54.
So, after flying
out to sea for an hour last night, I flew back to land (another hour
of flying...you can always kill yourself to spawn at a hospital to
make the return quicker...I don't care for losing my weapons and
have another glitch which prevents Katie from appearing in my copy
of GTA:SA, so death is not an option) and parachuted to victory. The
big consideration in this glitch is that you will not only have more
areas to conquer (and they will be weird areas, like all of Las
Venturas is an area), but you may starve to death on your flight,
unless you like the cheat codes (I don't). Well, I landed with
almost no health left, all of my previously maxed muscles gone, and
almost no health (which was 100% when I started)...but I now could
get up to 118 territories...including my airfield, several areas of
the Badlands, and a couple small towns between LV and LS.
I'm not sure how
much I'll worry about getting all of these territories taken over,
but I'll probably try, just because I'm obsessed with this game.
Also, it will be a good way to increase my money, in case I want to
buy all of the safe houses. For those who forget, you gain money for
each territory your gang controls, and if you can control up to 174
territories, then the money will start to pour in a lot quicker than
with 54 territories. However, I need to fly out to sea again if I
want to really unlock every possible territory. I just dread making
that damned return flight.
Also, if your
wondering what the best vehicle for doing this is...it's the jumbo
jet. The AT-400 (or whatever it's called). Once you hit max altitude
and have set your direction to what you'd like to go (aim off the
map with your wings straight...any direction will do), just let go.
The game will set you on auto-pilot. You'll remain at a fairly
constant altitude, you not change direction (too much...wind and
slightly less than level wings will alter your course with time).
This is also a great way to boost your pilot skill in a hurry with putting
in as little effort as possible. You can also take a boat, but your
course will not be nearly as perfect and will require many
corrections. Also, the Shammal (the little business jets) should
work just fine. Also, if you're a fan of cheat codes, use of the
flying and floating car tricks should work just fine. Also, I think
you can do this trick at any point in the game...even at the very
beginning (before Doberman...the missions that unlocks turf
battles).
Anyway, I have
some GTA:SA to play...and possibly a Jade Empire review to work on.
I aim for it to be ready on Friday, but who knows...too much GTA:SA
to play around with.
Malik
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Malik
(4/28/05)
Not too much to
talk about today. I have been too caught up in the planning of
upgrading my car stereo to really look at much more than a few dozen
web sites. Unfortunately, I'm great at all forms of stereo
upgrades except for those involving a vehicle. I could set up
a home theater system like a mo-fo with my eyes closed. I
could set up a sound system for an auditorium. I can handle a
massive mixer board like it was nothing. However, when it
comes to car stuff, I'm as newb as newb can be. Sadly, this is
the one area that is the worst to be unknowledgeable in. I
mean, if you don't know many sound systems, you have the resources
to find the info you need as long as you have the net.
However, there is no good source of info for car systems that don't
go off of one of two inane principals.
The first
principal is that you're an idiot. These sites will deal with
telling you, with really big pictures and small words, what an amp
does. I think that part is not too hard to figure out, even if
you're a sound newb. I mean the basic abilities of each
component is simple enough.
The second
principal involves sites that tell you how to drop 5-10 thousand
dollars in an uber system. While I'd like the features that a
$5000+ system can do, I'm more in the budget to not go into debt on
this stuff.
So, I've been too
caught up in finding the right level of information than to focus on
other geek pursuits lately. Although, I have been working some
on the Jade Empire review. I think it's pretty reasonable to
say that the review will be good to go by the end of the day
tomorrow. However, since have more work to do, and I
have no other geek news to share, I think this is where I shall
leave you all to focus on the review at hand...and then to check out
more web sites that reinforce the fact that I don't know shit about
car sound systems.
Malik
Update: I
had more free time than I thought. Here's the long awaited Jade
Empire review...an honest review from a gamer/geek who actually
played to his fullest before judging this game.
Malik
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Malik
(4/29/05)
So, over at Gamespot,
there's some data on the next Gradia game. This will be Grandia 3,
since I'm betting Square Enix is a anxious to forget Gandia Extreme
as the rest of us. However, given the track record of Square Enix
with sequels, as of late, especially sequels that are numbered 3
(like Star Ocean 3), I can't say I'm excited. I used to be about the
biggest Grandia fan that one could be without being a mindless
fanboy. However, recent actions by Square Enix have changed my
feelings.
Ever since Square
released FFX, and ever since Enix has become a part of that dreaded
family, their games have gone to crap. They have thrown out good
plots in favor of cliché dribble. Plus, with their game
engines...sigh...they used to be a nicely used mixture of classical
style with just enough innovation to remain fresh (not counting
certain innovations...like drawing and junctioning in FF8, and the
lack of experience from beating a boss, like in FF8). Now, their
game engines are consisting of enough crap to be called crap and
enough classical stuff to make you realize that it didn't have to be
crap if they just stuck to their roots.
It is being
promised that Grandia 3 will use many of the same combat engine
styles as the prior Grandia games, but I just don't buy it. I really
don't. Plus, while combat will probably be a sick and twisted
variation of a true classic, the real issues, I'm thinking, will
arrive in the form of the non-combat part of the game engine. In
other words, we will have next to no equipment, a screwy way to earn
new magics and techniques (not that the magic eggs were all that
great to begin with), and a navigation system that will leave one
exploring far too big of a world in far too bothersome of a method.
In other words, I've been burned by Square Enix far too many times
lately to give them another shot on faith alone. If they want to
prove themselves to me as a real game maker again, and not just this
sick and twisted company that likes to shit on the graves of all of
their classics, then they will have this final game to do it with.
They have ruined Final Fantasy (costume dress-up?!?!), Star Ocean
(you f$#@-tards!), Dragon Warrior (from what I've heard of Dragon
Quest 8), Front Mission, the Mana series (Sword of Mana...blah...yeah,
you should have to navigate through endless menus every battle to
keep changing your weapons because everyone is immune to everything
that hurts anything in the same combat...except for the hero, who's
raped by all), Final Fantasy (sorry, but the online deserves a
second mention for the series), and then their new games have all
been sad and pathetic attempts to clone some other games that have
sunk into mediocrity (like Drakkengard...or should I say
"Square's Dynasty Warriors"). The only good Square Enix
games in a long time have been ports of the true classics, like
Final Fantasy: Dawn of Souls. I've been burned too many times to
call these mistakes just that...a mistake is a one or two time
thing...Square Enix doesn't do mistakes, since they ARE the
mistake.
Anyway, to change
subjects into a recently found geek realm for me; Pimping out cars.
This weekend, I'll be pimping the new
ride for the first unauthorized-by-the-dealer upgrade. Velveeta
and I just got back the car a couple days ago with an all new
leather interior. However, this upgrade will be the first bit of
flashy flavor. We'll be looking into a couple of accent tubes, some
custom pedals, and maybe some lights on the washer nozzles. I'm
thinking of documenting some of this stuff online. The first reason
to so I'll have a running record of how the car looks and how the process
goes. The second reason is to help anyone out there who is on a
budget (like Velveeta and I are) who still wants to add some flavor
to their ride. I'm not sure how this will go, but it will be a fun
ride (no pun intended).
Anyway, I've got
geek things to do, so I'm out. Don't forget to check the Jade
Empire review that I posted yesterday.
Malik
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