One game that’s really slipped under my radar until the past few weeks is Borderlands. A post-apocalyptic title from Gearbox, Borderlands is a 4 player “role-playing shooter” that allows you and 3 other friends to explore dungeons and collect loot together. One of the sweet things about the game is that all of the loots are randomized, making for literally millions upon millions of possible gun combinations in the game. I must say that some of this footage and the prospect of 4 player dungeoneering is really calling to me. What about you guys?
Category: RPG
Phantasy Star Game Blog Part VII: Rock the Casba Dragon
Picking up where we last left off, I head to Bortevo and use the Polymeteral to uncover Hapsby, who agrees to fly the space ship for me. What? You mean, no giant quest to find Hapsby’s nephew, Wall-E? He doesn’t need a new set of circuits or anything like that? This game must be getting tired or something. I head back to Dr. Luveno who gives me my ship! I will call it Squishy and he shall be mine, and he shall be my Squishy.
Hapsby gives me a choice of 3 places to go, one of them being the very town we are standing in, which seems kind of sad that such an advanced invention has no sense of being, but hey, least that means he is not about to become Skynet or something. I choose Uzo, which is on the desert planet of Motavia. I heard there were Motavians there or something. Once I arrive, someone tells me that Casba is a town to the south and there is a dragon who has an Amber Eye there. In its head! I am going to carve that sucker out, I tell you. I find a good armor for Noah and his frail ass needs all the help he can, so I buy that.
Some guy in town asks if I need a soothing flute? Once again…how does this crap come up? He reveals that he buried one in the outskirts of Gothic, but it’s a secret. Pal, nothing is a secret in this game, ok? Someone also tells me that the Land Rover can get past Ant Lions. Wonder if that was a secret, too? Holy crap! The store here has light sabers! I’ll take a dozen please! Or maybe just one for Odin and one for Alis. Geez, the locals won’t shut up! There is an awesome shield in a village surrounded by mist, but there is poison gas in the sea to the west, so I will need protection. TROJAN MAN! Oh guess what they have for sell here? A land rover! Time to do donuts over all those Ant Lions blocking my way! But first…
Inside the Casba cave, I descend deeper and deeper until I come up on the foul beast: a black dragon. Ok, time out. Is this considered a hate crime if I kill a black dragon? Earlier, I killed a red one, so I think it’s pretty clear I don’t discriminate against dragons based on color. In fact, I think it’s obvious that I hate all dragons I come across. Killing said dragon earns me one shiny Amber Eye.
Using my trusty new land rover, I drive over the Ant Lions for a few hours (it seems) and then head back to Gothic and retrieve that secret flute. Kinda shocked I was able to get there first since that chucklehead was blabbing his little secret to anyone with a set of working ears. Guess what else? Someone here tells me of a hovercraft that is hidden in the forest at the edge of town. I got vehicles coming out of my ass! I feel like GI Joe now. I have a spaceship, a hovercraft for travesing the sea and a land rover. I think I am set.
Well that is enough for now. Later this week, I will have another post and trust me, we are getting near the end. I hope to have this done in 10 parts total, with maybe one more post summing up my feelings about the game. Â Check back later for Part VIII: Going, going, Gorgon!
Final Fantasy XIII and the Disc Debate
Final Fantasy XIII, Square Enix’s long-awaited entry into the Final Fantasy series that has been approximately two decades in the making (not really) will finally be coming to both the PS3 and XBox 360 next year. Not only is it cool to know that this game is right around the corner, but it’s even cooler to know that the game is going to take between 40-50 hours to complete, according to recent reports.
However, there’s been some cause of debate about the game between those lovely fanboys. For years, we’ve heard that one of the PS3’s big advantages over the XBox 360 is the storage capacity of Blu-ray. However, it hasn’t really been an issue for many games in this generation until now. It seems that Final Fantasy XIII is going to take “about” three discs for the XBox 360 version as opposed to the PS3 version.
This is causing massive fanboy flame bombs, as you can imagine. Especially considering that Rage developer id software hinted this week that the XBox 360 version of the game could require a separate disc for multiplayer.
So, what do you guys think about switching discs for the XBox 360 version? Will it deter you from a purchase of the game, or is it really not that big of a deal and do you view it as a huge limitation? Personally, I’ll be getting FFXIII for the PS3, but I think it’s an interesting debate nonetheless.
Source- Kotaku
Time Well Spent
I have a decent collection of games for the 360 – more than a dozen, if you count XBLA titles – but the game I’ve played far more than any other is Oblivion. At last count, I’ve put in somewhere in the neighborhood of 140 hours. I have a friend who has put in 200+ hours and he hasn’t even finished the main quest line. I think he just likes grinding in dungeons.
Now, I love the game, but I reached a point recently where I started wanting nothing more than to just beat the damn thing. That’s a bit of a herculean task when it comes to an open-world game like Oblivion. It’s not that I haven’t done my best. I’ve completed the main quest-line, as well as the quest-lines for almost all of the guilds and both the Knights of the Nine and the Shivering Isles expansion packs… but I’m not done yet because I don’t have all of the achievements.
Dragon Age: Origins Character Creation
For whatever reason, I keep forgetting that Dragon Age: Origins exists and that it’s actually coming out in November. While the most impressive thing I’ve seen from the game was at PAX last year, I’m still convinced it’ll be a blast to play. I mean, heck, it’s Bioware, and they’ve yet to lead me wrong. Those dudes even just released a bit of the character customization, including some glimpses at the ability tree. Nothing super exciting, but it definitely whets my appetite for more of the game. Anyone else interested?
Phantasy Star Game Blog Part VI: The Strange Appetite of Dr. Mad
Crazy old Dr. Luveno decides he wants me to fetch his assistant. Fine, makes sense that this batshit inventor would not be able to function without a handler. Hell, Paula Abdul has a whole team of them and she can’t even judge a talent contest. This quest turns out to be pretty easy as the assistant is hiding in the underground passage in the middle of town. 30 seconds later, I have him back safe and sound with Dr. Nutsy. Oh, but Luveno needs funding to build the spaceship, which will set me back about 1200 mesetas. Not a bad bargain when you think about it, but money is scarce in this game. Since I literally have no choice at all, I pay up.
But I’ve been had! I can’t fly the damn thing without Hapsby, the Laconion Robot Pilot! Is there no obstacle this game won’t throw my way? I think I figured out who made this the thing: the DMV. Only thing is that the load times are pretty short, so maybe it wasn’t them. Have to think on that one. Anyhoo, I head up to Bortevo, the town where I heard the robot is laying around somewhere. I literally have to walk through lava to get there. Whatever crazy stuff Lassic (the bad guy, remember?) is up to doesn’t involve cleaning up after a volcanic eruption.
Continue reading Phantasy Star Game Blog Part VI: The Strange Appetite of Dr. Mad
Phantasy Star Game Blog Part V: One Small Step For Man, One Giant Pain In The Ass For Anthony
After that horrific dream interlude, we head off to some cave where Noah is allegedly training and not building an ark of any kind. By the way: Worst. Random. Encounter. Rate. Ever. For reals, a battle ends, I scratch my nose and I get attacked again. You won’t believe what happened when I had to go pee. I have the console off right now and I think I can hear the battle music starting up!
So after navigating another cave where every single wall looks exactly the same (intelligent design?) I stumble upon, Noah, the blue-haired delight who tells me that he is just too busy training to help me save the universe! Training for what? What the hell could possibly be more important than this? Is there a 5K coming up? Are there intergalatic olympic games? Is Michael Phelps still around and if so, does he smoke Laconion Pot?
But what’s this? I have a letter from the Governor of Motavia? (He is a Motavian, BTW) and that’s all Noah needs to pull a Luke Skywalker circa Empire Strikes Back and quit his training and help us out. I guess if I had let Noah finish his training he would have started at a higher level than level 1, but somehow, I doubt it. Noah suggests we go to Gothic Forest and find Dr. Luveno. He fails to mention why we should find this guy or what the dress code is at Gothic Forest. I’m guessing black is encouraged.
We get to the forest and find the town of Gothic. The people here are surprisngly upbeat! I am warned to stay away from the tower nearby due to the magical beast that lives there. Little do these people know that telling me such a thing only ensures I will pay it a visit. Turns out that Dr. Luveno had a lab here and then he went bonkers and is now locked up in Triada Prison to the south. Prison Break!
A short walk later and we enter the prison and I release all the prisoners I can find. Some are pretty helpful, including one who informs me that the aforementioned tower is the lair of Medusa! Odin wets himself upon hearing this. There is even a giant tarantula who tells me of a substance called POLYMETERAL that dissolves anything except for Laconia. Interesting. Another guys tells me of a robot named Hapsby who was built to pilot a spaceship, but was abandoned in the town of Bortevo somewhere. Hapsby is also made out of Laconia. I’m sure this will come in handy later.
Dr. Wily! I mean, Dr. Luveno! Guess what! He refuses to help! Guess we should all go home. But I have come so far! So I ask again. No sale. One more time and as always in video games, the third time usually does it. Dr. Luveno agrees and asks for me to meet in him back in Gothic where he will help me, but only if I help him first. Typical. No word still on the Gothic dress code, but he is wearing white, so I think we are in the clear.
Find out later this week what sordid task Dr. Luveno has planned for me and what the hell else I have to do to get the freaking spaceship built in Part VI: The Strange Appetite of Dr. Mad
GamerSushi Asks: Portable Classics?
I’m flying to Florida this weekend for some much needed vacation, and if there’s one thing I’m not looking forward to its the flight. Being a rather big dude makes flying a completely uncomfortable affair, not to mention that I hate the way flying makes me feel. The one thing that makes the experience more bearable is portable gaming of some kind, be it the PSP or Nintendo DS.
One thing that got me really excited this week was the realization that I could download any number of PS1 classics onto my PS3 and then transfer them over to the PSP. I could play Suikoden, Symphony of the Night, Final Fantasy 7 and Metal Gear Solid. The cooler part? I can even copy those save files back onto the PS3 when I get back, and continue the games I started there. This makes me happy.
The idea of playing FF7 and MGS in particular is what really has me stoked, mainly because they are two of my favorite games. This got me thinking. If you guys had a chance to have a handheld and portable version of any of your old school favorite games, what would it be and why? Go!
Phantasy Star Game Blog Part IV: To Rescue A Stoner
I take Myau out for a few battles, test his mettle and such. He promptly dies. Thank heaven for nine lives, right? Back to town, revive him and try again. FASTER, PUSSYCAT KILL, KILL! Thankfully, Myau manages to stay alive long enough to gain a few levels, enough that I am reasonably confident that he will also stay alive long enough to rescue Odin from Medusa’s Cave. So we head back to Palma and enter Medusa’s Cave, my first full-fledged dungeon!
Continue reading Phantasy Star Game Blog Part IV: To Rescue A Stoner
Phantasy Star Game Blog Part III: A Whole New World
A new fantastic point of view…no one to tell us no! Or where to go! Or say we’re only dreaming…sorry. Aladdin was a big hit when I was a kid. So I arrive on Motavia. One small step for man, one giant leap for Alis who is clearly desperate to escape the humdrum tropical world of Palma. Motavia is a desert planet, but you wouldn’t know it from the spaceport. Looks like every other area I have visited so far. The townsfolk are friendly and the Clone Troopers stay out of my way thanks to PASSPORT and PASS. I sip my newly poured cold Pepsi (sponsor?) with satisfaction at my newfound bad-assery.
Continue reading Phantasy Star Game Blog Part III: A Whole New World
On Video Game Endings and Falling Action
If there’s one thing that not too many video games have, it’s a solid, well-thought out ending. In fact, many games just throw you up against the final boss, show the heroes riding off into the sunset (or helicoptering, if you’re Chris and Sheva) and ready to face another adventure in the oh-so-exciting and inevitable sequel. But is this the way it needs to be?
The dudes on the 1UP podcast had an interesting discussion about the idea of video game endings, recently. Namely, that most good stories are structured so that they have a denouement, or falling action that occurs after the climax. A sense of wrapping things up towards the conclusion. Video games, however, don’t do this at all. They build and build until a climactic boss battle, and then end within 5 minutes of the action. Very rarely do they offer any real resolution for the player, much less in a playable form.
This is interesting stuff. Check out what the 1UP guys say after the jump:
Continue reading On Video Game Endings and Falling Action
Phantasy Star Game Blog Part II: Owl Bears Make Me Cry
Grinding. Grinding never changes.
Ok, well I have finally had a taste of what combat is like in Phantasy Star and it’s kind of like going to Epcot Center and trying all the different sodas from around the world. China has their head on straight, but the Italians clearly have dead taste buds. And don’t even get me started on Israel. The battles in Phantasy Star take place from a first person POV and consists of ATTACK, MAGIC and ITEM. Oh, and RUN. RUN rocks. Love RUN. You don’t get to select which enemy to target, which can get really amusing sometimes. By amusing, of course I mean frustrating and by sometimes, of course I mean all the time.
Continue reading Phantasy Star Game Blog Part II: Owl Bears Make Me Cry
GamerSushi Asks: Save Systems?
Howdy all. Been a long and relaxing weekend, hence the lack of posts. I’m kind of a weird creature in that the less I have on my plate, the less I tend to do. The busier I am, the more time I make for posting on GamerSushi, working out, etc. It’s odd.
Anywho, after playing Battlefield 1943, 1 Vs 100, Mass Effect and last but not least, the Secret of Monkey Island, this weekend has been monumental for me in terms of gaming. Lots of great flavors. Mass Effect and Monkey Island got me thinking about save systems, though. In those games you can save the game whenever and wherever you want. While this is great in lots of ways (it’s nice to just be able to save and turn off a game without having to wait to find a save point), in some ways you can get screwed if you’ve saved yourself into a corner.
So what do you guys think? Is there any particular game where you’ve really enjoyed the save system? Have you been screwed over by a save point in a game before? Go!
Phantasy Star Game Blog Part I: A Tentative First Step
Captain’s Log Stardate 456335.45
The ruthless bastards loyal readers of GamerSushi have made their voices heard and chosen a game for me to blog about. Sadly, their voices are that of demons from the 6th Circle of Hell, for they have chosen Phantasy Star. In order to properly blog about this game, I have traveled back in time to 1988.
Continue reading Phantasy Star Game Blog Part I: A Tentative First Step
Mass Effect 2 Reveal Dev Diary
Wow. I know I keep saying it all the time, but every single new Mass Effect 2 video we get simply drives me crazy with anticipation. Every time I think I can’t possibly be any more excited about the game, Bioware does something awesome and makes me even more so. Take this new Mass Effect 2 Reveal Developers Diary, where the devs talk some more about the E3 demo, including a hint at one of the possible endings of the game. Needless to say, my jaw dropped when they said it. Give it a watch.
Star Wars: The Old Republic Timeline Trailer 3
Bioware needs to stop teasing me about this game that I can not and must not allow myself to play. Star Wars: The Old Republic, as an MMO, would probably be the end of my social life as I know it, but I can’t help but watch these awesome trailers and hold down my excitement. The newest trailer is yet another glimpse of the timeline of the new game, this time chronicling the rise of the new Mandalore. Nerdy and awesome? You bet.
Alpha Protocol Demonstration
So, I’m not quite sold on Alpha Protocol yet. I feel like I flip-flop a little on the game each time I see it. Sometimes it looks like the cool parts of Mass Effect mixed with some Splinter Cell, and other times it just looks like a bad mashup of both of those games. This developer walkthrough has a couple of cool points to it, but I’m still not sure how I feel. All in all, I’m wondering if the game will be a slightly decent substitute while I wait for Mass Effect 2 to come out. Thoughts?
A Final Fantasy VIII Character Study
I think I may have found one of my new favorite gaming articles ever. While there are many Final Fantasy games that have been praised over the years, none seem to be more divisive than Final Fantasy VIII, starring Squall and Rinoa. Some people hated the magic system, some hated the story, and some simply hated the fact that it wasn’t Final Fantasy VII.
Despite all that, though, Pop Matters has written an in-depth piece about Final Fantasy VIII called Remembering the Orphan, dissecting the things that really made the game shine, especially its attention to human relationships. The main thrust of the article has to do with the focus on the orphaned characters, who through the use of magic and battle begin to lose their memories and thus, their innocence. It really provides an eye-opening look at the game, with an attention to detail that most don’t often give to video games.
Even though I wasn’t crazy about Final Fantasy VIII, I really do think that had to do more with my age and what I expected from the game. Reading this article really makes me want to go back and play it and give it another look. And to be honest, I really would love to see more articles like this out of the gaming community, because it was fascinating.
What do you guys think? What are your thoughts on Final Fantasy VIII?
Source- Pop Matters
GamerSushi Asks: What Are You Playing?
It’s been a while since I asked what you guys were playing in your free time, so I thought I’d give it a shot, especially since the Summer brings lots of free time with it.
Right now, I’m tackling Star Ocean: The Last Hope, Team Fortress 2, Sacred 2: Fallen Angel and Halo Wars. I’ve been doing my best lately to finish more games, so I’m hoping to be done with Sacred 2 and Star Ocean over the next couple of weeks. After that, I’d like to try out the Wolverine game, or maybe even move on to Fallout 3 finally.
What about you guys? What are you currently playing?
GamerSushi Asks: Making Changes
I’m playing Star Ocean: The Last Hope right now, and it’s the first JRPG that I’ve played in a good long while. After playing some games like Fallout 3 and Mass Effect, it really feels childish and completely ridiculous in comparison, and really got me thinking a bit about the choices that designers sometimes make in games.
The reason for this is that while I’m overall enjoying the game, there are some things about it that really irritate me, and lead me to ask “why would they do that”. For instance, the game starts with a 30 minute battle tutorial followed by both a 20 minute cut scene and a 2 hour dungeon. How does that even make sense in terms of not boring the person playing it to tears? In addition, there are some minor character and script issues that bug me, such as the annoying item creation character and adding a six year old to the party that ends all her sentences in “kay?”.
Like I said, overall I’m having fun, but there are some simple things that keep this game from being great. What’s the last game that you’ve played that you felt that way about? Solid mechanics, but if it wasn’t for one or two things, you would have loved it? Go!