I know I've said a few things in the last week that will possibly change. For one, I said you could expect a review of I-Ninja really soon...that might be pushed back a bit (not too long, but possibly up to a week). Secondly, I said there are no good RPGs that are out there that I haven't already played or loathed. Well, that one was definitely wrong.
Disgaea came out for the PS2 last fall with very little in terms of fanfare (since it's more of an underground hit) and the only message coming through was that it was a long strategy RPG. In the past this meant nothing to me, but then came FFTA. FFTA left me with so bad of a taste in my mouth about sRPGs (especially ones that promised massively long games) that I avoided Disgaea like the plague...well, I'd just like to say; SCREW YOU SQUARE!
Because of SquareEnix and their stinker about some kids with no story and way too much time to fight, I almost was too late in getting Disgaea. Disgaea is now becoming incredibly hard to find (unless you want to pay more than the original price) and I was lucky enough to find a misplaced used copy (DVD only) at EBX this weekend.
I've been going through such a rough time with my RPG withdrawals, so I decided to take a (very expensive) gamble on Disgaea. Normally it's hard for me to find the time for such a long game, but with no other RPGs coming for a couple months, I've got time to kill. So far, I've burned through about 12 hours in two days and am addicted. Of course, for those who follow Disgaea and Nippon Ichi (who developed Disgaea), you'd know La Pucelle Tactics (similar game...from the sounds of things, it's not quite a sequel, but not quite a new game...) is coming out this month (in only a few days), so I'll definitely get my RPG fix for a good couple of months. This time, since I've pulled my head out of my arse, I'll get La Pucelle Tactics long before the game vanishes from shelves.
Anyways, with this new addiction, I've got a lot less time on my hands for writing reviews...but I expect to get an I-Ninja review up in a few days and then I'll start a Disgaea review (sneak preview: I rate Disgaea very highly). Also, I've got a Bitchings in the works...sometimes I think I'm overworked, but then I get to my day job and know that my Geek Asylum work is nothing in comparison...blah...
Also, for those keeping score, BG&E was polished off Saturday night. For such a great game (it may be quite short for an adventure title, but in terms of story, the short length is made up for), that has to be the most teh gay last boss fight from any video game. If you don't want spoilers or whatever (just strategy, not story), this post is done.
Anyways, you have to hit the boss 8 or so times in a row without being hit yourself (or things reset with you having less health, but a fully charged boss) mostly through luck before you have the whole thing repeat itself with your controls reversed (WTF was Ubi thinking?!). I only threw the control a few times and was up to a loud shouting volume for my swearing by the time I was done (somehow "done" means I finished and not that I turned off BG&E forever more). Sadly, the ending wasn't quite worth that much of a headache...at least the rest of the game was great. As I always say; with a 3D game expect a bad camera, and with any game, expect a bad ending...exceptions are few and far between...
Malik
Ok, I'll start things with the good news...Atlus is going to publish Phantom Brave. This is hella good news for those of us who like good strategy RPGs. For those who don't know of this game (which would have included me before this last Saturday), it is another strategy RPG from Nippon Ichi, the same people who developed Disgaea...and La Pucelle Tactics...
So now for the bad news...La Pucelle Tactics was supposed to be out today and instead will come out tomorrow (at least according to the EBs of downtown Seattle)...man, I hate the idiots who work as clerks at trendy game stores. WTF makes them so messed up? Do they actually get trained to be idiots? First, one of the clerks says, when I asked today about La Pucelle Tactics, "oh...ummm...hey," (asking to the other clerk) "is that French...ummm...sounding tactics game out? No? Oh," (now talking to me, "we have a used copy of Final Fantasy Tactics Advance...that's like the same thing, right? Do you want to pre-order that...French Tactics?". Yeah, I'll pre-order a game that's in such obvious demand that the clerks (all of them I dealt with today...all four of those idiots) don't know the name...that means I can waste another 10 minutes filling out the request when I could instead be stupid and go in tomorrow and just pick one up. Also, what's the purpose of a preorder for a game that comes out tomorrow!? If I can preorder it now, then there's no way it should be sold out when I come in tomorrow unless they are just messing with people who place preorders ("He preordered yesterday and that dude preordered two months ago, but the first guy came in first so screw the dude who preordered it first!"). Then to suggest FFTA like it's the same game. I would imagine working around games all day, one of these clerks should pick up on the fact that no two games of the same genre are the same or equivalent. Maybe I'm being a bitchy geek, but seriously would you suggest Xenosaga in place of FFX-2? They're both RPGs, right? Same game then! Then to suggest a game for a different console?! I hate people...Darwin would say 90% of people in downtown Seattle should have died off due to Natural Selection many, many years ago.
Anyways, I'm extra bitchy today since my boss is a psycho bitch from hell who at the very end of the day...which we (as in my fellow techs and myself) spent slaving away at her insane tasks and she in turn spent on the phone on personal calls...tells a few of us to start on something that will take the next 1.5 hours. I'm due to clock out in 5 minutes and she throws this at us! I hate all stupid people so full of arrogance and self righteousness that they can't see the world around them (like any ass on a cell phone who weaves and bobs down the sidewalk trying to play Tetris rather than pay attention to the people that he or she is running into).
At least when I got home things were better...I only had IE crash on me, in turn crashing my PC (and Bill Gates said IE and Windows were tied together in an integral fashion...at least I know it's the damned truth from crap like this), then it reboots with system registry issues...I'm just pissed.
Tomorrow, at least, I should have La Pucelle Tactics in my most deserving hands. I'm still working, all be it slowly, on an I-Ninja review plus a Bitchings column for this week. The column will be up by Friday and hopefully the review will be up by then too. Also, expect a review of Disgaea in the next week. Plus, I'll try to get a La Pucelle Tactics review up shortly after that. Did I also mention that there will be plenty of E3 news coming pretty soon (I won't be there, but I'll have plenty of opinions and news on the various movies, images, and details posted on the net...how I wish I could be there...sigh...) with E3 being nearly upon us. Time for me to relax and try to forget about one crappy day.
By the way, a correction from yesterday...since La Pucelle Tactics was actually made more than a year prior to Disgaea (we just get things slow since the US hates RPGs, since people around here tend to be idiots who hate to use their minds and appreciate a good story), I should have said Disgaea is more of a follow-up to La Pucelle then the other way around...so perfectionist geeks, rejoice! I've corrected that.
Why do I do this to myself? I head downtown to the same EB stores with the same retarded clerks that I went to yesterday in my quest to get a game that should have been out yesterday...but instead of holding a new copy of La Pucelle Tactics in my greedy hands, I had to try (to the best of my ability) to hold my tongue. According to the EB clerks, La Pucelle was shipped yesterday, but must have been sent via ground instead of air. Why would they do this? So that the other new games they got today would stand out more. We all know that anyone who wants La Pucelle Tactics would instead be tempted by Rally Sport 2 or Samurai Warriors (both of these games were suggested to me as a good substitute...)...blah! I mean, why would you delay a game (by using a slow shipping method), that would not have much of an audience anyways, due to some other minor titles coming out the same day. Oh well...I guess I should look on the bright side...some dumbasses who would have bought La Pucelle from just seeing it on the shelf (due to the cute images in the game) but was not a fan might now have wasted their money on Samurai Warriors or Rally Sport 2...I guess this gives me a better chance at grabbing what will obviously be an under produced game. Honestly, however, I know I'll get the game in the end since it'll be a sleeper hit or an underground/cult favorite. So, in reality, I'm just pissed off that I keep walking about 12 blocks out of my way after work each day for nothing but jack and shit.
On another note, a lot of "sneak preview" type of info is becoming available for E3. Usually this would get me excited, but how the hell does one get excited about this load of info...Square will show off stuff for Kingdom Hearts sequels, Front Mission 4, the FFXI expansion, blah, blah. As if any of this is a surprise. Oh, and Lucas Arts will show off some stuff from the KOTOR sequel...ummm...there's been so much info on the net, it's no surprise that it'd be shown off at E3. I would like to either hear about some surprises, or I'd like people to shut up about this "ground breaking" news. How about some surprise info like stuff about some new RPGs (I keep mentioning RPGs for two reasons; 1, I like RPGs; 2, they are under represented...so any news tends to be previously unheard of info). If it ain't new, it ain't news. 'Nuff said.
The I-Ninja review is on it's way to completion. It should see the light of day by Friday...Velveta is promising me some geeking out tomorrow night, so I doubt too much will be updated until Friday (any time before the geeking is needed for Disgaea playing...damn this is one hell of a good game)...speaking of which, Disgaea is calling.
BOOYA! Finally, after fighting the huge lines, I got La Pucelle Tactics. Of course, that line was in the middle of the giant line for Samurai Warriors and Rally Sport 2...those lines, I guess, lasted through the night due to the huge demand for those titles. That was total insanity...
Ok, I'll stop living in EB's fantasy world now. EB delayed La Pucelle with ground shipment to make up for the release of those other two games yesterday, all for...ummm...not a damned thing! I hate EB, but at least I now have, in my most deserving hands, La Pucelle Tactics. After taking more than two years to hit the American shores, it is here. Of course, I now need to finish Disgaea before starting a new strategy RPG...I know of only one person who can handle mass numbers of RPG at the same time and actually finish them (the dude took on all 6 cartridge FF games...the NES and SNES ones...at once, and finished all of them...and this was his first try through any of those games...damn...that is not only crazy, but worthy of any geek's respect)...so, I will give Disgaea my full respect before starting La Pucelle. These games deserve more respect and attention than one could give them at the same time.
Anyways, I-Ninja's review is in need of a little editing, but is relatively done. Expect that, with a new issue of Malik's Bitchings, tomorrow. For today, I must get in a little Disgaea and then get ready for Velveta and one of her friends for some good multiplayer action. Today is turning out to be a hell of a lot better than the rest of this week was...if only the coffee maker didn't explode this morning, today would be perfect...after that, I thought today would suck...guess I was wrong...as wrong as EB's thinking that the crowds for La Pucelle Tactics would interfere with the crowds for Samurai Warriors and Rally Sport 2. Did I mention how I hate EB? I did? Good.
I thought this week would never end...but then again, I thought, with all my ordeals with my psycho boss from hell, that I would never find the time (40 hour work week my ass!) to write an I-Ninja review or a column of Malik's Bitchings. Once again, I was wrong. It's not often that I admit I'm wrong about anything, since usually I'm not, but this week has been a true lesson to me...I laughed, I learned, I laughed again (a little psychotically...ok, a lot). Thankfully, this week is over, and the weekend is here; which means one important thing...time to play Disgaea!
I haven't had much of a chance to play La Pucelle Tactics, but considering I want to finish Disgaea first, this is probably a good thing. However, from glancing at the instructions, I think I can say that this game could easily topple Disgaea as one of the best strategy RPGs (my favorite is, and probably always will be, FFT...I know I said I hated FFTA, but FFT was a true classic in all regards). However, I hope to have Disgaea done within a week and a review of it done in the same amount of time. I cannot guarantee both, but I will guarantee one...probably the review.
Anyways, E3 is almost upon us, so expect a slightly different pace to things around here next week. I plan to shift to more of a news state of mind, and reviews will simply have to take a back seat. Anyways, I have some posting to do, and then some playing to do.
