As I peruse through my list of games I've gone through with Gamefly, I realize that I haven't really said much about most of these games to anyone. Hmmm. Lets blitz through this! Reviews One paragraph or less! RETS DO DIS! LEEEEEEEEERRRRROOOOOYYYYYYYYYYYY!
Yeah... It's my turn. Lets dig around in the ol' grab bag and see what we can dig up. There's a lot of stuffs comin out that I'm looking forward to. I'll sans the obligatory World of Warcraft expansion. Cuz I think deep down, everyone knows they want it.
Ahhh the Star Ocean franchise. How I do enjoy it. You know, come to think of it. I haven't really had a chance to play the first two games. I've only played the third installment on the PS2. It was fun. Combat system was interesting, it had a nice convoluted story line, retardedly large crafting system. Now lets see what it's successor has to offer. From initial reports(Which is VERY initial) it's going to be action driven similar to the 3rd installment. 3d action swing sword swoosh swooosh kill stuff get loot move on with life. Yeah, that about sums it up.
Expectations:I gotta admit. I do have high hopes for this game. Why? Cuz it hits my genre dead on. I like fantasy sci-fi. It's got beam swords and futuristic ships and gunz and swoosh swoosh kill stuff get loot move on with life. I like that. Like Phantasy Star Online. Make me feel goooood.
Pitfalls:Usually one of the most problematic things with action oriented RPG games is the general IQ of your party members. Sometimes they're pretty compitent. While in other cases, they're goddamn blubbering idiots that have melee characters casting stupid spells while healers are meleeing. Also, I hope they keep the tech factor high on this one. Some of the other Star Oceans did a lot of "Past meets Present" kind of deals. I mean, it's cool and all. But I love seeing the high tech.
Ahhhhhh. My love. This has got to be one of the BEST RPGS EVER FUCKING MADE BY THE HANDS OF MEN GUIDED BY GOD/BUDDHA/SATAN/NATURE/ALL OF THE PRIOR COMBINED IN ONE. That's how good this goddamn game is. And no. I'm not exaggerating.Expectations:I... Kind of am guessing this game will stick to it's roots. I mean, IT FUCKING BETTER. It's like telling perfect to be more perfect. IT CAN'T. However! It can be built upon. So in all of their additions to the game, I expect them to keep the caliber of story/items/encounters at the same level as the original. If they do that, then I can happily walk around with a 2 foot erection and life will be good.
Pitfalls: Hmmm... Well, I guess I am worried about playing it on the DS. I hope they don't try to do any stupid ass gimmicky touch screen bullshit. That'll be like taking a perfectly good cheeseburger. And wiping your ass with it. It's like, WHY!? YOU COULD'VE EATEN THAT CHEESEBURGER!!!! WHYYYYYYYY!!!!?!??!?!?!!11111
All right. I'll admit. This game just hits my weak spot. There probably is no merit in playing this game for anything "Unique" or "Original" in the gameplay/story. BUT GODDAMNIT, THERE'S GUNDAMS IN THIS FUCKING GAME. AND THAT'S GOOD ENOUGH FOR ME.
Expectations: GUNDAMS!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! BIG FUCKING ROBOTS!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! YEAHHHHHHH!!!!!
Pitfalls:I already know all the crappy things about this series. I guess, the only way they could make it worse... Would be to remove mobile suits from this game... Then I'd just have to doo doo in a box and mail it to Koei.
This game does peak my interest somewhat. I mean, I like the co-op idea of the game. Survival horror with co-op. And if you die. You become a zombie boss and you get to fuck all your former teammates for letting you die. Expectations:I demand that this game have good co-op. It's not a polite suggestion. It better be fucking goddamn amazing. That is all. Team oriented, survival. I likez itz.
Pitfalls: Of course theres always the chance that they might fuck up the co-op. Or maybe the game might have repetitive scenarios. Again, I'm not looking for much from this game, just co-op. Do it wrong, and go fuck yourself valve.
Ahh, Kingdom Hearts. So brilliantly done. I was quite disappointed when they announced the Chain of Memories game for GBA exclusive back in the day. But Square-Enix, you have redeemed yourself. Granted, this game has already been released in Japan for... God, almost 2 years or so. But no matter. Better late than never I guess.
Expectations: I've already seen some of the gameplay from trailers and movies from the Japanese release. I'm pretty well aware of what's involved here. Hard to expect something that you've already seen before. I guess I expect them to keep the high level of voice acting they've had in the past two PS2 games.
Pitfalls:Terrible voice acting or even changing the voice actors from the other two games. If it ain't broke, don't fuck with it. I guess it could also be bad if they fucked up the localization and the script for this game. BUUUUT it's the Kingdom Hearts team. I have faith in them.... For now...
Final Fantasy XIII YEAHHHH. And if any of you smart asses say "DERRRR Final Fantasy XIII is on the 360 too DERRRR." I'ma find a way to jump through the goddamn internet and cock punch you. This game was built and developed for the motherfucking PS3. It's like McDonalds suddenly starts selling fucking Whoppers and onion rings. Just because Microsoft gave Square-Enix a handjob under the table at E3, dosn't give grounds for this game to be released on the 360. ANYWAY. Oh Final Fantasy. How we love you. Well, at least I do. Expectations: Well. I expect alot. I expect superb graphics. Amazing story line. Superior sound. Decent to good voice acting. Mini games. LOTS OF SHIT TO DO. Yeah... But then again, most people tend to expect that from every Final Fantasy. Pitfalls: Hmmm. I guess Final Fantasy can do wrong things sometimes. For example, many didn't like Final Fantasy XII's combat system. Maybe they'll touch up on that. Which does bring up the question, how will the combat gameplay look for the entire game. Sure we've seen some kickass cut scene quality combat, but how does that translate to normal gameplay. When we're out killing random baddies in the world. If it's always cinematic like that, how long will it be till we're like, OH GOD JUST GET IT OVER WITH. And of course, with a game that has such high expectations, any little fault will be grounds for people to flame it. So lets see it Square-Enix. Bring out the big guns for this.
Lets see it Well, that's a small sample of the games I'm lookin forward to in the future. Will they live up to my "Holy" expectations? Only time will tell. Till then, I will hope and speculate... And play other games.
Well, as I was sitting here reading up on the latest WotLK beta notes, it got me to thinking. Man, I've been playing world of warcraft for like... FOREVER... Maybe not forever, but I've played it a hella long time. It's eaten up more of my time than any other game ever released. Which then chained my thoughts together. What was my MMO life before world of warcraft? Was there this thing they call "LIFE"? Do i need to get rez'd? So let us board the time machine and dig up some nostalgia.
Nexus, The Kingdom of the Winds(KRU Interactive)
Ahh... I guess this would be the earliest MMO I have ever played. Back in the day, when just being able to see more than 40 people on screen at one time was amazing. Ahh this simple game. Woah, now that I look at the website, they revamped the graphics. Boy it looked like doo doo before. Now, it dosn't look as doo dooish. Still, it had all the korean MMO goodness. Mainly lots of grindan. LOTS. There was an integrated PVP system with battleground like games. I didn't get into it very much. There was just too much grindan. Didn't have a credit card, was kinda hard to play an MMO without a credit card. Plus that was back when MMOs weren't all that well known. Parents didn't really approve.
Planetside(SOE)
Not sure if anyone else has ever played this. If you did, you probably shot and killed me a bunch of times. I like the concept of this game. Massive scale PVP battles. It was basically a big fucking war. 3 sides. Each side has different strengths. And you basically went around and tried to seize control of territory in every region. Each region had a fort. The game was really shined when you had extremely large scale battles with all sides clashing to control certain choke points. You were rewarded for killing other players and helping to takeover objectives. You gained points which helped you buy weapon skills or licenses to pilot certain vehicles. Overall it was a solid game. BUUUUUTTT. First off, gigantic battles had gigantic lag. Killing people was very iffy. Sometimes it looked like you just unloaded 2 full clips into someone, and they would still run around and knife you. Another flaw was the lack of gigantic laggy battles. There were some very good battles. There just weren't very many of them. You could spend an entire evening looking for a good fight, but only getting into crappy small skirmishes. Sony released a couple expansions for Planetside. But it wasn't all that great.
City of Heroes/City of Villains (NC Soft)
Ahhh CoH. Had a ton of fun with this game. You see, the beauty in this game is not so much in it's gameplay. But rather it's FUN factor. Your imagination can go completely berzerk playing this game. If you were a kid that used to/still does read comic books, you will be enthralled by this game. The shear level of customization for your character is absurd. You can seriously sit there for 3 hours just MAKING your character. Not because you HAVE to, but rather because you WANT to. Then you have the option of making a back story. That could take another hour or two. Again, completely optional. Buuut, it's just awesome when you're all setup and done. It dosn't matter if you like the old school 1950s superman-type of character or the more gritty dark knight style. The game's environment also helps to get you in the mood. From the bright and heroic Paragon City to the dark sewers, they have an environment for just about every occasion. I have more personal experience in the hero side of the game rather than villain. I dunno. I'ma hero player. Other people, they think villains be coo. Well FUCK YOU, I'ma save the goddamn day. Actually, I was inspired to play this game after listening to the Motion City Soundtrack song "Capital H". As far as MMO mechanics though, the game is pretty god fucking terrible. Basically it's a huge grindfest and grouping with idiots to get the group exp boost. There is no aggro table, most of the game involves running in and just AOEing everything down or 1 shotting things. If you play a healer, it's a cake walk when you don't have to worry about pulling healing aggro. Bosses take a while and things can get a little iffy sometimes. They only recently added a loot system. Prior to that, the game had essentially no loot. You kill things, you get enhancements for your powers, and you make your powers stronger. They also have super-bases for your super-team. And you can totally deck it out like the sims house. You can add functional elements as well. For super-teams that get large enough, you can actually raid super-bases of other teams. PVP was so so. There were some super-OP builds. It's a game I definately recommend if you're a comic book fan.
Final Fantasy XI(Square-Enix)
Alright, I'm a Square fanboy. I admit it. Although I'm not as hardcore as I used to be, if it has Square-Enix on the box, I'm usually bound to buy it. This game. I had really high hopes for this game. I was mega-psyced up for this game. Only to be hit by the sledge hammer of disappointment. I must say, NO SIR I DIDN'T LIKE IT. If you like to go off and do things solo, such as grind levels, DO NOT PLAY THIS. This game is ULTRA-MEGA-Party oriented. You can't do a goddamn thing by yourself outside level 5. Travel in the game is pretty rediculous as well. There's an ass-ton of running. If you get to level 20, you can get your chocobo license. Sounds GREAT right!? WRONG. Chocobos may run faster than you do, but you can only rent them for a limitted ammount of time. And you can only mount in major cities. That means you can't just mount up and ride back after you finish a quest in the field. Also the monsters don't have a leashing system. What does that mean? If you aggro something that's WAY over your head, you can either A)Take it up the butt and die(which means losing exp and possibly a level) or B)Running all the way to the end of the zone with the monster chasing you. If you choose B, you'll probably grab more monsters on the way. This creates the train effect. Choo choo mother fuckers. Thing is, you might be safe after you zone out of the area. Buuuut anyone that zones into the area gets anal raped by all those monsters you just dragged. Thanks a fucking lot. Douchebag. BUT WAIT! What if there's multiple people doing this?! Yeah, it don't get any better. I could go on for pages on why I disapprove of this game. But I shall stop. FOR NOW. PS. I just read on 1up.com that there's a boss that takes over 18hours to defeat. How's that for retarded. Phantasy Star Online(SEGA)
Ok ok, this game isn't a true MMORPG. But it has enough elements in it that I consider it one. First off, monthly fee for online play. Granted it's not required to play online, but there is an experience there. Ok, there's a 4 player max limit per game, but there is a lobby where you can interact with a large number of players. This game had some themes that just smackd me upside the head and I liked it. Character models were all anime style. Yeah, anime fanboy. What else is new? But the models were customizable to a large degree. Not City of Heroes level, but it's up there. It also had the futuristic fantasy theme going for it. I looove teh future. Give me gunz and robotz mixed with swordz and elvez. Magic and tech, two opposites that blend well and i like dat. Lastly it was teh lewts. They had rare drops that made me happy. The weapon models were futuristic and cool. Swords had the whole light saber theme, but they came in all shapes and sizes. It also had a nice variety of guns. You had pistols, dual smgs, rifles, Big fucking shotguns and bazooka thingies. You also had these little floaty things that powered you up called Mags. And you feed teh Mags items to make them stronger. Then they evolve after they level up so much... Kinda like pokemon... And just as addicting. What was great was you didn't have to play online with this one. Offline with 3 other friends was a blast. Especially the 14 hour marathons we used to do. Though you became kind of incomprehensible near the end. Here's what one conversation was like.
RL: "Oh crap! A red item dropped!" Me: "Really!? What color was it?!" RL: "... Did you really just ask me what color the red item is?" And then it was time for holy to get some sleep. This game, tons of fun. Console versions recommended.
Diablo 2(Blizzard)
Ok. I love blizz. But... I dunno. I just couldn't really get into this game. I understand why it's good. I like a lot of the ideas that went into it. I just couldn't bring myself to like this game though. Maybe it's because my fingers would start to cramp after clicking a billion and a half times. I know they got Diablo 3 on the way as well. Must say, not excited at all. What?! I didn't say the game was bad. I just said it don't tickle mah pickle. I have nothing against it. It's a great game. Now shoo shoo fanboys.
Hellgate London(Flagship Studios)
Ahhhh... From some of the people who brought you Warcraft and Diablo. Wait, last I checked... Yup. Flagship studios is shut down. Why? Because their "Flagship" game sucked big donkey dick. What?! It did! I was there from beta to launch and then some. I had to write a goddamn 10 page paper on it for a virtual worlds class that wouldn't let me choose world of warcraft as a paper topic because too many people have written about it. ANWYAY. Run-on Sentence aside, this game was doo doo. Graphics were nice. But because of the guild wars all instanced gameplay style, the game was just sub par. You played melee from 3rd person, all ranged were played from FPS style. One big talent tree. Destroying stupid barrels and crap to get itams, ala Diablo. Srsly, you could play the game for hours and just not find it that fun. Totally lacked the end-game material that's needed to sustain further gameplay PLEASURE. Yes, flagship studios put up a lot of bullshit saying they were gonna add this and that. But in the end, they never did. PHAIL. Now, had they have delivered everything. It might've been a contender. I think some new studio has picked up the title. So it's not totally dead yet. But i'm not even sure if anyone's even playing still.
Well. That be a quick look back at holy's varied MMO past. HmmmmMmmM. There's actually more of them. But they were all betas I was on. But that's another post altogether. See you all next time everybody.
