Malik
(3/20/06)
I
just want to say this, since it's not something I get to often say;
The gov-o-mint owes me money this year. There is nothing like the
feeling of not owing about 10% of a monthly paycheck to the
government. Better than that, there's nothing like them owing you
that same amount...for once. I'm just glad that April 15th is but
once a year. On
other random bits of news, tomorrow, or the next day depending on
where you live, is going to supposedly be the day. After months of
confusion and delays, Oblivion is set to come out tomorrow (or the
next day, if shipping is slow). I know this game is one of the main
reasons I wanted the 360...well, beyond all the Mistwalker games,
Live Arcade, and the usual set of XBox sequels (Fable 2, potential
KOTOR sequels, blah, blah). I
just hope, with the massive delays this game had in store for the
360 launch that the bugs are mostly fixed and we will not have to
wait for the first (in a series of patches) before the game is
stable enough to play. I also hope that the constant need to save
every five minutes that Morrowind gave us (due to constant crashes)
is now a thing of the past. I also hope that saving and loading
doesn't take the better part of a day. I
may sound like I'm really being bitchy about a game that I should be
more excited about. Well, I am excited. As one of the few who seems
to realize that this is not a sequel to Morrowind, but rather the
fourth installment in the Elder Scrolls anthology, I have been
waiting for tomorrow since I first laid my hands on Arena. The day
when I realized how much I'd love for this style of game to be
playable in HD-style resolutions on a 52" screen. Now
I just need to make sure I beat Shadow Hearts 3 tonight. I am at the
final dungeon, which, as most SH fans know, means I only have a half
dozen bonus dungeons to clear, and both a good and bad ending to
plan for. I will probably not finish tonight, and I will put
Oblivion on hold until I do finish SH3. However, despite some
complaints about SH3 ("it's not dark enough",
"there's no Yuri", "there's too few fusion
monsters", "the game is too linear"), this is one
hell of a great RPG. The only complaint I can agree with is the part
about fusion monsters. In
the days of SH and SH2, Yuri would come to the final dungeon packing
a wide assortment of fusion monsters. Each one would tend to
represent either an element, or a non-elemental blast of pure
ass-kicking. In SH3, Shania (our current fusion master) has 3
required fusion monsters and a fourth bonus one (needed for the best
ending). Each one is a dark alignment, and they all carry a wide
range of elemental abilities. The only real difference in the
required three is if you want to be a support character, a frontline
fighter, or a heal-bitch. Plus, to make things more balanced with
the lower number of fusions, the game gives you four fetishes (look
up the word...it's not just something you'd find only on the other
side of a credit card verification) to power up on each fusion. One
will boost your stats in that form, one will grant more special
abilities, one will power up those abilities, and the last will
lower the MP cost of each ability. However, despite having 12
different areas to level (not counting the four on the final hidden
fusion), you still only have three or four fusion forms with the
same never changing visuals. It's like going from an art museum to
checking out someone's personal art gallery. While SH1 and SH2 were
feasts of eye-candy, SH3 serves more as an appetizer. However,
in the end, unless the game goes completely downhill from the final
dungeon being open, the game is still a solid addition to the SH
series. It just feels less like a main attraction and more like a
really great opening act. It's still worth the price of admittance,
but you still feel like, if the game was treated better (made into
the headliner) that it could have delivered a better
performance. Malik
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Malik
(3/21/06)
Battlefield 2 and
Burnout Revenge demos are coming to the 360
Marketplace sometime this week. While the Burnout demo seems,
like usual, a little late, the Battlefield 2 demo should be a good
use of download time. Seriously, the idea of releasing a game that's
mostly the same as a version released 6 months ago (Burnout Revenge
on the XBox or PS2) is not exactly amazing, but when they release a
demo a couple weeks after they released the actual game, that's
based on a 6 month old property, I think we're crossing the line
from a good PR tool (which is what free demos are) and entering into
the realm of flat out stupidity.
However, the
Battlefield 2 demo, while still focused on the same basic principal,
should at least offer a better purpose since the game is not
actually out for the 360 yet...even if it's already available in
other formats.
I guess the
ultimate point of this bitching of mine is this; why not give us
more cases like Fight Night 3. Give us demos of games that are not
out, are not found on other platforms, and are not just starting to
collect dust in someone's collection. Let's see the demos serve a
purpose...one of building hype and excitement over a not yet seen
game. Maybe that just makes too much sense...
There's a little
more actual news on the
PS3 front. I guess Sony has decided to stop being 100% cryptic
and to also not try to milk gamers for a little something extra this
time around. The system, according to Sony Europe (which, hopefully,
will apply to the whole world and not just EU), will come with the
hard drive included.
Considering that
Sony said the HDD would be mandatory for the PS3 games, it only made
sense. But then again, the memory card was mandatory for any PS2
games (unless you like replaying the same first few hours of a game
and never making progress), but Sony not only failed to include one
with the PS2...they managed to make about half as many memory cards
as they made consoles...and when you make about 1/4 the number of
consoles as you should (at launch), then there's a couple things
wrong in your plans for memory cards.
Since the PS3 will
include the HDD, it doesn't mean than additional HDDs can't be
purchased. Sony is keeping that money supply as solid as possible by
saying that larger HDDs will eventually be available as a
"premium". Speaking of money, you can bet good money that
this will be used as an example, by Sony, for why the final price
(when it gets announced...probably around the end of summer) of the
PS3 will be so large. In fact, this will raise the price of the
system, and be used to explain the large price in a PR stunt. Pretty
good thinking by Sony.
I have to wrap
things up about not. Too much to do, and not a damned second to do
any of it in.
Malik
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Malik
(3/22/06)
Windows Vista is
officially delayed
until January...unless you fit into certain special requirements
to get it sometime at the end of 2006. I'm not really sure what this
actually means, since I still think XP is a great OS, and I doubt
that the 3D desktop, along with the other known changes in Vista,
will actually make me change my mind anytime soon. In fact, the only
part of Vista I'm actually looking forward to is the ability to
stream media from a PC to a 360 without having to find a hard to get
OEM of MCE 2005.
Speaking of which,
why doesn't Microsoft, in light of the 360, make a media connect
solution for those with a 360 and who are still running the highly
versatile XP, or even those who are unlucky enough to have MCE 2004?
It would only make sense as a grand step to pushing the 360 into
more living rooms. It would only make sense to make this less used
feature of the 360 into a massively used and adored bonus. Then
again, it would make sense for Microsoft to allow a 360 user to have
the same features as a DS...namely, the ability to set the OS to
only boot to the menu and then to allow games to be ran from
there.
Speaking of the
360, I had a clear goal last night. I picked up Oblivion (360
version), but I had a firm resolve to finish Shadow Hearts 3 before
starting Oblivion. I was at the last dungeon, and I only needed
another 500 SP to unlock the final fusion form for Shania. A few
quick battles and I would be free to finish the game with both the
good and bad endings. Well, that plan went to shit. I managed to
finish the next to last special side quest that I wanted to finish
(the He-Man Sushi tower)...but it required me playing a little extra
to power level Mao and Hilda (my two least used characters, who were
about 8 levels behind the main party) in order for them to survive
their one on one battles.
After about 3
hours of SH3, I only managed to finish the He-Man Tower, which had
the sad effect of giving only 1 SP per battle. So, I then proceeded
to fight some mini-bosses in the final dungeon. Long story short,
I'm still about 100 SP from unlocking the final fusion, and then
I'll need a shit ton of SP to unlock the good ending (I won't spoil
anymore by saying how you do that). So, I got a little tired of the
game I had wanted for so long staring at me from the floor next to
me...
I popped in
Oblivion. First, a word of advice, as found in a thousand game
forums, about the load times on this game. If you use the HDD (which
you honestly should have by now...I hope), you may find the load
times to be intolerable. I don't mean a 30 second load to start the
game, and I don't mean a simple few seconds every once in a while as
you play. I mean a 10 minute load to start the game, and another
minute or so every few seconds. If this happens to you, or to just
never see it happen (in case you have started Oblivion yet), hold
down the A button on your controller as the game boots up. Keep
holding it until the Bethesda logo is loaded. Then let go. This will
clear your cache files on the HDD, which, depending on how much you
play 360 games, could be full of fragmented files, which will
account for a long load issue. I did this the first time I loaded,
and I never had a problem. Also, if you're wondering if this will
corrupt something or crash your 360...it shouldn't. This is the fix
straight from the official Oblivion forums, ala the Bethesda
people.
Anyway, I put in
the game, and watched the opening. The game only took 30 seconds
(the loading and boot up time) for my jaw to hit the f#@%ing floor.
This is what the HD-era in gaming is supposed to be about. Screw how
pretty Burnout Revenge looks. Screw any promises of lifelike
visuals. Screw it all. Oblivion is, without a doubt, the most
amazing visual experience I've had on my TV...or any TV. If you have
a high quality surround sound system hooked to the 360 via digital
optical, like I do, just turn off the lights and prepare for one
hell of an awesome experience.
Beyond the visuals
and audio...which are still blowing me away, nearly 12 hours since I
last played...the game is truly an improvement over Morrowind. If
you thought the battle system of Morrowind felt a little less than
impressive, then Oblivion will fix that. If you felt under whelmed
when you shot a fireball at an opponent in a past TES game, then
just wait until you hit a rat with a flare spell and see it explode
in flames. If you grew tired of the third person view making you
feel like retching in Morrowind (and I personally still play
Oblivion in 1st person), just check third person on Oblivion. Also,
if you hated the XBox version of Morrowind since it didn't have
downloadable content, like the PC version had, then check the download
content option (nothing yet, of course, but there will be). If you
didn't like reading so much text in Morrowind...hehehe...expect some
high quality voice acting for everything! Everything that was promised
is delivered!
I was getting
tired of the massive delays in this game, but if any of them led to
the game being this amazing, then I am more than happy to have
waited. While I have been lazy in reviewing games lately, and while
I don't give official reviews of anything before I've played through
the whole game, or at least a good 20 hours on longer RPGs, I will
say that the first 2 hours of Oblivion are a solid 10 out of 10. I
have long held Shadow Hearts as one of my favorite franchises, but I
don't even want to finish SH3...I need more Oblivion. I have played
TES games since Arena. I have liked them all. However, with
Oblivion, I cannot use a word as weak as "like". I adore,
am obsessed with, and crave more time with Oblivion.
Malik
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Malik
(3/23/06)
There is some news
coming out of the GDC about the PS3 that actually has me feeling a
bit excited about the system (and not just excited about ripping it
apart). I'm talking about the one thing that matters most to a geek
like me who feels that an imported title can mean the world during a
lull in local game publishing. Yes, the
PS3 will be region free! That is, it will still include local
region lock out for movies (on DVD, Blu-ray, or whatever), but the
game will be region free. Of course, we still need to see if this
comes through to be a reality, since there's a nice long time frame
between now and the launch, and we all know that a system can change
more in it's final 6-10 months that we would like to see. However,
if this holds true, I'll stop needing weird archaic toys (like
flip-top cases, little plastic nubs, and boot disks) to get my
Katamari fix months before the US sees the actual game.
Also, the PS3 will
have a bit of a music and movie download service. Sadly, no real
information is out there, yet, but I have a feeling of what we will
see. It will possibly be like the Sony MP3 download service, in
which you pay per song you want. If it's this case, movies will
probably fall into the same cluster. On the other hand, it could
just be an exact clone of the Live Marketplace, but supposedly with
music. If it's this way, it just means we'll have trailers and sneak
preview movies, but not much else. Either way, I personally don't
count on my game systems to be my media whores. That's the PC's
job...I just like it when the game system can received streamed
content so the sound comes out of the right surround sound
receiver.
Phil Harrison also
had some interesting enigmatic
statements at the GDC. Namely, he would not state if the HDD,
that is supposedly required for all PS3 games would be included with
the system. I still wouldn't be surprised if the past statement of
it being included is all BS. After all, it's easier for Sony to make
money off of peripherals than by giving it away. Plus, with a
peripheral that's required, it will be a funny journey, along the
same lines of the Sega CD. Harrison also seemed to imply that the
controller for the PS3 may be changed from what was shown last May
at E3...thank goodness. I'm sorry, but the masters of making great
controllers should not mess this shit up now with something as
ridiculous as the batarang.
Well, I didn't get
in any Oblivion last night. I'm still determined to finish Shadow
Hearts 3...or at least I was determined to finish both the good and
bad endings. I may just settle for bad, however, after the hell I
realized I'll be going through.
In past SH games,
in order to get the good ending, you'd have to beat some extra side
quest. It's usually that simple, and the quest is not only a fun
diversion, but it also gives a greater insight into your
harmonixer's (the person who fuses with
monsters/demons/spirits/whatever) past. This time around, however,
while you still do have a bonus dungeon with hidden plot elements,
you are also forced to level up your fusions 100%...despite how
little soul points (the "cash" used to level a fusion) the
game has to offer. Well, I get about 6-9 soul points per battle
(except bosses), depending on if I finish with a certain set of
conditions met (perfect attacking in the battle, never letting the
enemy attack, getting massive combos, etc). The thing is, after
getting the final fusion, and using all of the soul points I
obtained in the battle to get this fusion, I still need about 950 to
power up the final spirit...that's about 150 battles I need to go
through. 950 is a shit ton of fighting when you're on the final
dungeon and your characters are already definitely powerful enough
to beat the final boss due to the excessive levels you gain trying
to fully level the first three fusions (a requirement to access the
fourth and final spirit).
So, I'm thinking,
unless the minibosses along the way are giving away buckets of soul
points, I'm going to just finish the game with the "bad"
ending, call it a day, and pick up Oblivion. Sometimes it's just not
worth it. Maybe I'll come back to get the good ending after
Oblivion...or not.
Despite some
potentially interesting PS3 news, and having Oblivion in front of
me, I think the next thing I have to say blows all of that out of
the water, and then some. The Revolution, which will give us
downloads, of some method, to play games spanning all of the old
Nintendo systems, just found a new trick that will blow away
anything Microsoft's Arcade or the PS3 download service can offer; Downloads
of games from the past from the competitors' systems!!!!!!
That includes 1000 Genesis games! An unknown number of Turbografix
games! Holy shit!!!
Microsoft may be
able to pull off the first true HD gaming and they may offer some
great addiction with Arcade games. Sony may be able to make some
uber-technology toy. Who cares? I play and buy game systems for one
thing (hint: "game" system). If it can do amazing things,
it's nice, but if it can play games, then I feel like my purchase
was rewarded. Not only will the Revolution play some innovative new
games...it will have a pre-built library of thousands upon thousands
of the best of all gaming history. I don't want to sound like I'm
spazing, or like some Nintendo fanboy...but...GEEK
OVERLOAD!!!!11!111!!
Malik
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Malik
(3/24/06)
I didn't mention
it yesterday, but Zelda
is coming to the DS. From the looks of things, this game
definitely is more along the lines of Wind Waker than, let's say,
OoT, MM, TP, or even the good old LttP. As one of my friends said to
me yesterday, not many people were fans of the Wind Waker approach,
but I know this is on my must get list. The only thing present that
I could do without is the boat. Sorry, but the boat travel on a vast
empty ocean is nothing near as fun as running around a plain, a
mountain, or whatever and seeing the minor details, like you could
on OoT.
Anyway, I finished
the "bad" ending of Shadow Hearts 3 last night. I know
it's the bad ending since the game opens a theater mode after you
finish the game. This mode lets you watch all the video sequences of
the game, and the title for my ending was "Bad Ending".
It's also pretty obvious that it was bad since the last couple of
seconds shows something unpleasant. Of course, SH2 also had two
endings in which both could be viewed as bad since you never see
everyone living happily ever after. Sadly, the "good"
ending will have to wait since I'm just not in the mood to track
down another 200 soul points to unlock the good ending.
Also, I just have
to add that if you enter the final boss battle of SH3 with any stock
on your characters, and if you went without using any keys (items
that let you make three, five, or seven rounds of attacks in one
single turn), the final boss is definitely a push over. Nothing like
making a massive combo on two people using seventh keys (seven
rounds of attacks at once) in a row after you start things up with a
couple of fifth keys and maybe a double combo in there to make the
damage extra potent (since each hit in a combo raises the damage of
future hits by a small amount).
After finishing
SH3, I had to jump right into Oblivion. Damn, this game is awesome.
I started things by finally escaping the sewers (the first dungeon,
which you start in) and finalizing my character build. If you are
smart, here's some well meaning advice; make a save right before you
exit the sewers for a quick new game start location. Right before
you exit the sewers for the first time, the game will let you change
anything on your character, from race to class to birth sign.
My final build
came out as a Dunmer male from the Thief Sign. Making a custom class
based on stealth, with agility and intelligence as the price
attributes, I went with alchemy (best money maker ever), blade,
destruction (who needs marksman skill when you can lob fireballs?),
light armor, mysticism (telekinesis and sense life...best spells
ever for a rogue-style character), security, and stealth. Basically,
I'm going to a guy who can earn some money, kill some enemies (or townsfolk),
and still loot the crap out of everything. Plus, when you use
alchemy to make a poison, stealth to sneak up on someone, and then
stealth with blade for a massive sneak attack from the poisoned
weapon...damn! Does it get better than that? I think not. Plus, if I
get bored, I can always practice and train my lesser skills to make
up for anything that's lacking.
I would like to
say I did some cool stuff in the game, but since I was feeling a bit
under the weather last night, I simply opted to take things slow by
looting the prison you start the game locked up in. During which,
two realizations hit me. One is that the next minigame to improve
someone's disposition towards you beats the crap out of the method
used in Morrowind. Second, the new lock picking minigame (which can
be skipped by pressing X a few times...or more) definitely puts you
more in control of things than the old system did.
Anyway, Oblivion
does a nice job of revamping almost everything I had issues with in
Morrowind. Also, with the ability to quick travel (click on the map
where you want to go and then you arrive a few hours or days,
depending on distance traveled, later), you no longer have to worry
about aimless journeys into the wilderness since you can't afford
any of the quick travel vehicles/animals. Oblivion freakin'
rocks!
Malik
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