29.8.08

FFIV and Infinite Undiscovery:and ricochet and how I need you

FFIV (some of you may know this as FFII from the Supernes or a remake of it on PlayStation) is now available for the DS. Not being able to always keep track of Japanese vs American numbering systems and a largely redone game graphically, I was first thrown off as to which game this was in the series. Square has published some of the strongest selling RPGs on every system starting with the good ol' NES in the US. It's predecessors involved character creation from a simplified D+D background and FFIV (II) was the first Square RPG to have character's with predefined classes and a separate storyline for each individual. Mainly sticking with the latter for sequels and offshoots, it's hard to explain to those that have started playing from FFVII on with how the originals are truly games to play at least once through from start to finish in the way intended by Square. The experience felt with this game in it's entirety has been hard to reproduce even though I have tried many many times to find something similar.

I had played through FFI and it was done quite well for it's place in time versus other RPGs of the day. FFIV (II) felt like a giant leap forward for what creators intended RPGs on consoles to be like, besides the technology limitations of the day. It added new character classes that have stuck through the entire series such as dragoon and summoner and also started the creation of a good chunk of plot conflicts for the series with the creation of things like the Empire. It built a musical score by using only midi to aid in defining and separating individual characters and helped emulate the feel for a plot with rising and falling action. This area with music has been constant issue and struggle for the latest game makers of today.

So is it worth the purchase of a DS just to play this one great staple of the RPG realm even though it is over 10 years old? Besides the fact that there are other quality DS games available, there is usually that one or two games that have to make the total system purchase worth the cash.

This game would be one of them. It has been changed visually, difficulty-wise and has had added minigame additions. Many of the different aspects that were lost or changed during the US distribution from Japan have been changed back. The biggest change was difficulty of monsters and bosses back to the hard Japanese original. Some lost plot parts have been added back into the game.

It's the game in it's entirety that really makes this worthwhile. I yearn for the job well done that this game had in it's day compared to games of today and find very few that can live up to a game's worthwhile total experience matching the old Square RPGs.



There was a separate RPG that came out years later for the Playstation called Star Ocean: The Second Story made by tri-Ace which was actually a sequel to the Super Famicom original. This was a pretty unique game because of the way it dealt with random encounters and fighting. The fighting style mimicked that of the old slash and dodge active RPGs but with an entire party of people instead of the old solo play. Very few RPGs had the active type fighting style that Zelda and Secret of Mana made so fun. Star Ocean was very focused on the party fighting as a group with the player only controlling one character at a time. This game also had a crafting and gathering of equipment and useful items that was one of the largest, maybe even too large, compared to the RPGs of today.

Since then other sequels have been released and tri-Ace has started to work side by side with Square. Their newest creation, called Infinite Undiscovery, is very similar to the basic things that made the original so good with the great graphics of the Xbox360. Reading some previews from various websites, the game supposedly has increased it's party size from 4 up to 12 simultaneous players all fighting at once and at least 30 hours of storyline gameplay. Due out on 9/2 and with our friend youtube showing off gameplay videos, this looks to be the first quality classic medieval RPG released on the 360.

9/6 - Playing 10 hours into the game I started to remember what set Star Ocean apart from the others. The crafting materials require so much fighting for either drops or cash to buy them that I begin to become sleepy before a good amount can be gathered to 'up' the crafting skills. The fighting abilities are similar in that they need to be used so many times to make them more powerful that it takes a good strategy of finding a free rest area to begin to see any difference. And yes, air slash is back only this time it's called slash cannon.

The roaming through free areas and fighting is quite similar to FFXII where random enemies will respawn after coming back to the same areas. The stroyline is at least somewhat interesting and the voiceover acting isn't too bad considering that it had to be translated first and then forced to match the cutscene speeds.

Overall there are very few choices for classic medieval RPG games on the 360 and this one isn't over acted in the japanese anime sense to help steer it to a broader audience including me. The other thing that this game clued me into was that there's another Star Ocean game coming out for the 360 coming out Spring 2009.

25.8.08

forgot to carry the zero

So a quick catchup on the last few months

Games

Do not waste time with:
360 =
Hitman Blood Money, Blacksite Area 51, Turning Point Fall of Liberty, Conflict Denied Ops, Timeshift
all had terrible problems with controls, sense of claustrophobia or wall-eye paths, AI that's written by children with ADHD, SDRGRR (pronounced said roger) see where your enemies lay in wait/die/restart/get a better jump at the point they appear/rinse/repeat, etc. Timeshift falls into this category because it had some neat ideas with time physics but also lacked anything beyond that gimmick.

Wii =
Hannah Montana Spotlight World Tour
It's pretty easy to pick out the wii games just from the covers alone as what not to pick.

PC =
Conan: Hybordian Adventures
It was a month long amount of play to find out that while the great ideas were a breath of fresh air from other MMORPGs, the group play, crafting, overall communication and system requirements were in the end a conglomerate of things to distract from what's really worth playing out there. Gore, fun fighting and solo play will only last for so long.

Take some time and rent or borrow:
360 =
Battlefield: Bad Company, Call of Duty 4
Too short to really get your money's worth. Both are solid and fun but save the cash.

Wii =
Resident Evil: The Umbrella Chronicles, House of the Dead 2 + 3
Great arcade type play that's always great to play through once. Much easier with a friend.

PC =
Crysis, Far Cry
Too short to be worth it even though you can really show off your system with Crysis if you've spent gobs of money.

BUY:
360 =
Mass Effect
Quite a great storyline and voice acting again from this Bioware company. KOTOR was great and this is nothing short of that. The only downside to this game is the planetary vehicle scavenging that as long as you don't search for everything on every planet can be ignored.
Too Human
Different idea for controls and it works. Great backgrounds, setting, music score, graphics, Diablo style item gathering, and voice acting. Solid RPG.
Ninja Gaiden 2
True test at player's ability to master controls and an unforgiving camera. When it's pulled off it can entrance and leaves a person wanting more.
Rainbow Six Las Vegas 1+2
One of the few 1st person games that isn't short due to the pace of the game. More strategy than the average spray and pray.

Wii =
Super Smash Bros
A gem when it comes to fighting games. Lots of unlockables and nostaliga at every turn especially the blisters.
Super Mario Kart
Same as Smash Bros minus the blisters.
Wii Fit
If you can afford it the board is pretty amazing as far as sensitivity. The mini games are quite a fun challenge when people are watching and drinking. I can see this becoming a platform for some pretty neat sports type games like skateboarding or even the old classic Time Crisis when used in conjunction with the controller.

PC =
Company of Heroes + Opposing Fronts
Quite a well thought out strategy game where focus is put more on micromanagement than on creation of a huge army and steamrolling. Immersive storylines that are fluid and cohesive in their presentation.
Half-Life 2
Well worth it to play through a game that comes from a company that sets milestones and has more creativity than the average bear. I played through this game again after buying a new video card and I was reminded at how Sierra/Steam helps me pass judgement on the other run of the mill companies.

Looking forward to getting pissed and happy about:
Fallout 3, Fable 2, Gears of War 2, Tom Clancy's Endwar, Operation Flashpoint 2, Resident Evil 5, WoW WotLK (yeah for the last 2 years), Diablo 3, Mercenaries 2, Final Fantasy 13, Megaman 9 Wiiware, Left for Dead, Dead Space, Spore


Music
Glen Hansard - Once Soundtrack
Julee Cruise - Floating into the Night (music of the movie Blue Velvet and other David Lynch material)
Someone Still Loves you Boris Yeltsin - Perishing
The Hold Steady - Stay Positive
Pavement - Brighten the Corners
David Bowie - The Rise and Fall of Ziggy Stardust and the Spiders from Mars 30th Anniversary Edition
Andrew Bird - Armchair Apocrypha
Mates of State - Re-Arrange Us
Wolf Parade - At Mount Zoomer
Aimee Mann - @#%&*! Smilers
Islands - Arm's Way
The National - Virginia EP


Technology
Mac's use of UNIX can be frustrating to do what used to be simple tasks. For example I legally downloaded a dvd from a company that put it in *.VOB format. I then tried to burn the entire folder as a burn folder and realized that the iMac likes to format all DVD burns as Mac HS extended format. Now why would Apple not allow you to change any format settings on their standard burning Superdrive? Ka Ching Baddity Bling Bitches. After hours of searching I broke down and grabbed a seperate program for converting and burning.

They are intelligent; they are smarter than the most up-to-date supercomputers, we cannot underestimate them.

Welcome to what will soon become the outlet and utility for technology and many things more. Enjoy the pocket univac reference card.....

1.8.08

This Blog and What It is all About

For those that have never met me, this blog was originally created with the intent of being an outlet for personal reviews of everything and anything based on the technology of today.  Sticking with what I can afford financially and the amount of personal time I can spare without extra monetary kickback, everything contained within this blog is of only my opinion and done without the aid of anyone else including the editing.  Since I have a budget and paycheck of zero, I will mainly be focused on the video games since that is already built in, but I will include anything else I can afford and purchase.
   
My history with technology started before I could read at a first grade level.  My interest in technology started at the age of 5 when I took apart the family's first computer, Commodore 64, just to figure out what made it work.  Starting even earlier with video games and not quitting ever since, I have gone through boatloads of computers (Mac and PC) making a side business building them, owning every Nintendo console and handheld system, all but the PS3 Sony owned consoles, this and that odds and ends, and have had more dealings with Microsoft's hardware and software than I really care to fully admit.  After having a prolific moment in 2008 when asked the question, "how long have you been dealing with technology?", I realized it has been my entire life.  

I also, since most of it these days is done with technology, have a vested interest in music and will throw in bits and pieces here and there.  Each review will be subtitled with a lyrical musical selection and if you can find the song, should be played while reading each review.

So in an effort to help gauge all that time in an autobiographical and humorous approach, these are the fruits of my labor and my reviews and opinions of the technology and video games of today.

Oh and Tilting at Windmills is an indirect reference to Don Quixote.