Chrono Cross Game Blog Part III: Revelations, Puns and Mojo

Okay, back for another blog post! OMG. The music is back. Must…resist…tranquil beauty…of song…

Whew. Made it back to Lizard Rock, which, if you recall correctly, is where we nabbed those Komodo Dragon Scales for Leena, AKA Spiteful Bitch. Sorry, still bitter. Allegedly, the enemies here are supposed to be tougher because we are in an alternate world, but not for me and my uber-party of Serge and…Poshul. *Shudder*

So we arrive back at Arni village, but no one seems to recognize Serge! What can this mean? Is he in Hell? Purgatory? Did he fly on Oceanic Airlines? Is Poshul really Hurley? How do I know so much about Lost and only have watched it once? Most of the people in Arni are the same, but there are some differences, like the tavern is now a flower shop. I wonder if Aeris works here? There is still a group of thieves calling themselves the Radical Dreamers causing some havoc in Termina, so some things are the same in both worlds.

A visit to Serge’s house shows that things are quite different here. The house is empty and Serge’s room is a junk room. Hmm. Mystery! As I exit, some guy who claims to live there tells me to get out. About time! I’ve always wondered how RPGs let people get away with walking into stranger’s homes and ransacking the pots and family treasure chests. Just seems kind of klepto-ish to me. Anyways, this dude says he has lived here for 5 years, which freaks even Poshul out. Trust me, a freaked out Poshul is not something you want to experience sober. Continue reading Chrono Cross Game Blog Part III: Revelations, Puns and Mojo

Would You Rather: FPS Edition?

Since it’s yet again been a slow news week, it seems that it’s already time for a new edition of Would You Rather. A few weeks back, we did an RPG version of the game, which got lots of awesome responses from people. It was great to see all the positive feedback, and to learn a little bit more about what makes the fellow Sushi-ers tick. So, we thought we’d bring it back, this time with a different genre: FPS games.

For the uninitiated, in Would You Rather, I simply ask a series of questions, and you follow up with your answers. Give as much or as little explanation as you want for your choices, but we all know that we like to see the reasoning behind the madness.

But beware, lest your answers suck mightily. In which case, Anthony and Mitch will kidnap you to trap you inside of Nick’s beard. You don’t want to know what other kinds of creatures lurk in there. I know this firsthand.

For an FPS, would you rather… Continue reading Would You Rather: FPS Edition?

Chrono Cross Game Blog Part II: Pink Puppies and Rejection

Welcome back! We last left Serge as he was about to start murdering poor, defenseless Komodo Dragons in order to secure a piece of ass. What a great start for our heroic…uh…hero.

Before I head off to commit genocide, I run back into the local tavern to gather some info. Nothing too exciting going on, but I did find a Heckran Bone. Remember that pink dog? *Sigh* I guess I will go ahead and have him join my party. You know, for posterity. What follows is a transcript of exactly what Poshul says when you offer him the Heckran Bone: “Sergiepoo? A p-p-pretenth!? F-F-or I!?” Already, I am regretting this decision and wondering if I can somehow boot him from the team. The music that plays when the game tells you that Poshul has joined you is directly from Chrono Trigger, so I guess all is forgiven. Maybe these Square guys know what they’re doing after all.

I travel just a little bit south to Lizard Rock, a jungle/beach area that has not aged well in the last decade, thanks to decaying polygons. The enemies here are no match for my New Game +, so fret not, dear readers. The real challenge is sneaking up on the Komodo Dragon Pups. The little bastards see you coming a mile away and run off at the first sign of trouble. I’ve had a change of heart and decided they all need to die for this. I manage to trap one in a cave and it’s time to fight! A few quick hits later and that kick ass music from Chrono Trigger is playing again! That sure hits the sweet spot.

Okay, one scale down, two to go. The second one leads me on a merry chase, but fares no better than the first once I catch it. One more to go! This is a little too easy. I might be feeling guilty about this again…NOT! The third Pup goes down faster than Paris Hilton and my quest is complete.
Continue reading Chrono Cross Game Blog Part II: Pink Puppies and Rejection

Hulu: Plus… or Minus?

Remember me? I know I haven’t posted here in a while, but I thought I’d pop my head in and share my experiences with the newly launched Hulu Plus on the PS3. For those of you outside the US… I think Anthony wrote something humorous about a videogame!

Weaning myself off of an expensive dependence on cable TV has been a dream of mine for a while now, but the sticking point has always been that I absolutely rely on my DVR. As soon as the Hulu Plus service was announced, I knew that I had to check it out, and I decided that paying $20 for three months of PSN Plus was a worthwhile trade off – it’s still cheaper than what I was paying for cable.

My previous experiences with Hulu on my TV have been thanks to a handy adapter cable and my MacBook. It’s not pretty, but it works. It’s just kind of a pain in the ass to set it up each time. Still, I think it’s fair to compare that setup with the PS3 implementation. After the jump, I’ll run down each method’s convenience, show availability, video quality, and interface.

Continue reading Hulu: Plus… or Minus?

Top Six: Achievement Types I Never Want to See Again

Love them or hate them, Achievements (and Trophies) have become prevalent in our gaming lives, starting with the Xbox 360 and creeping over to the PS3 and the PC. While it has been a few years since the introduction of Gamerscore and e-peens, very few developers seem to grasp the point of Achievements, and there are a few out there in the wild that have caused an undue amount of frustration for many a gamer. We all know the ones, the few that makes us tear our hair out or have us stay up until three in the morning trying to earn something that isn’t real…but is. Here’s a list of six examples that I think should be removed from gaming forever: Continue reading Top Six: Achievement Types I Never Want to See Again

Chrono Cross Game Blog Part I: Clubbing Komodo Dragons

Okay, time to get serious about this. Chrono Cross, the sequel to Chrono Trigger, released on the PS1 ten years ago, which is exactly how long it has been since I played it. My impressions back then were that it was a great RPG, but a poor sequel to Chrono Trigger, one of the greatest games of all time. Let’s see how I feel about it a decade later.

First off, in the olden days, the X button was cancel and the O button was confirm. Just starting a new game is a trial of my patience, one I seem to be losing by the amount of spittle I am forced to wipe from the TV screen by the time I actually get things going. Oh, thank God, there is an option to change the configuration. I thought I was going to have to kill myself. Also, no using the analog stick here, which is another source of frustration. You know, they made the past seem so quaint in Back to the Future, but the reality is much more abrasive. Like a cheese grater to my testicles.
Continue reading Chrono Cross Game Blog Part I: Clubbing Komodo Dragons

Chrono Cross Game Blog Part 0: Chrono Trigger Recap

Before I get fully invested in Chrono Cross and start this gameblog off properly, I thought it would be helpful if I gave a little background in what Chrono Cross and it’s predecessor, Chrono Trigger. You see, Chrono Cross was made pretty much to tie up the ONLY loose end from Chrono Trigger. CT managed to weave a fairly tight story, leaving only thing incomplete. What is that thing? Read on to find out.

Chrono Trigger was the story of a boy named Crono, who lived in the kingdom of Guardia in the year 1000 A.D. His friend Lucca, an inventor (of course) and a spunky princess (is there any other kind these days) also hail from that time period. Through a malfunction of Lucca’s latest invention, the trio find themselves moving back and forth through time.

They venture to the Middle Ages, which is in 600 A.D. and meet Frog, a swordsman transformed into a human-sized frog by a dark wizard named Magus. Then, they go forward in the future to 2300 A.D., where the world is a bleak wasteland. There, they discover that in 1999, Lavos, a parasitic monster, emerged from beneath the ground and rendered the planet a lifeless husk. Depressing, right?
Continue reading Chrono Cross Game Blog Part 0: Chrono Trigger Recap

Would You Rather: RPG Edition!

It’s been some time since we’ve done the Would You Rather game here at GamerSushi, so I thought it would be best to unveil one, this time with a theme: Role Playing Games! We’ll probably do one of these for different genres in the next few weeks, and I’m particularly excited about some of the answers you guys will no doubt unleash upon us.

In Would You Rather, I simply ask a series of questions, and you follow up with your answers. Give as much or as little explanation as you want for your choices, but we all know that we like to see the reasoning behind the madness.

Don’t let your answers suck, though. Your punishment will be to sit and watch Anthony play through each Final Fantasy game. He’ll do it, too, just to be a stickler.

Continue reading Would You Rather: RPG Edition!

The Video Game Level Hall of Shame

At present, we’ve already had two sets of inductions into our very own GamerSushi Hall of Fame: one for solo campaign levels as well as multiplayer maps. When I wrote those, I was sure to note that they were by no means a final list, and that we would be adding plenty of new groups in with them. That’s why I’m here today to bring a new set of candidates, but with a bit of a twist: The Video Game Level Hall of Shame.

This wing of the Hall of Fame is devoted to those game levels which are masochistic in their design, ever demanding more skill from us, more hours and frustration and yes, even blood sacrifices in order to add their notches to our belts. The Video Game Level Hall of Shame is reserved for those notorious offenders that made us collectively throw our controllers in frustration and disdain, scorning the forges that could create such misery in video game form.

Allow me to display the first inductees: Continue reading The Video Game Level Hall of Shame

The Economics of Gaming

MoneyWhen I was a kid, I remember lugging around a case of 20 or so NES games with me to my day care during the summer. The place that my brother and were imprisoned at had one bonus about it: a row of NES systems to keep the kids occupied, herded like sheep and left to stare bleating in front of small television screens.

Oddly enough there’s only thing to me that’s strange about this scenario. And no, it’s not the fact that I can’t even remember anything else about this period of my life except beating Mega Man 3 in front of onlookers, or the fact that the day care had all these NES units in the first place. The weirdest part of the whole thing for me? As a little kid, how did I afford to buy that many NES games for myself?

If there’s one drawback to this otherwise beloved hobby of ours, it’s that video games don’t grow on trees or drop out of the sky for our enjoyment. These little boxes of contained and bridled joy are ass expensive, especially when you add them up over time. Continue reading The Economics of Gaming