Which is the only way to play golf properly. You take a gnome, make a mace out of their own fate, and shoot for the moon!
Kingdoms of Amalur: Reckoning is still going quite well this time around. I've managed to branch out a bit and do some more sidequests here and there. I've decided that the cliché elfy forests of Darentarth (the starting area) are just more fun to be around than the Plains of Erathell or dry desert Deteyre. Somehow, it's just more fun to look and tear around in. The other places have their merits, and it's wonderful to have a game that is both this big and with such a variety of terrain.
I managed to complete the Motus Mining sidequest chain , which resulted in a pretty nice house to hang out and craft goodies in. But the real draw is now I own my own little mine. It's not much, objectively; really just a small dungeon that you can loot, upgrade a bit and loot again, and provides a small but steady cash income, but just the idea is a pretty fun.
I've come to an unfortunate conclusion, however: cities in Amalur are populated by jerks. There are some decent people there to be sure, but I keep walking in to a city to handle adventuring business and wanting the hell back out really quickly. I was kind of hoping that since this a second playthrough and like ten freakin' games ago now I'd get a different perspective. I was wrong. The countryside is full of monsters, bandits, bears and other assorted nasties, but the villages seem to be full of much more pleasant people.
I've also discovered Frost Traps. They're effectively little ice mines that you can lay out and catch baddos with explosions of frigid death. A bit of strategy and use of the Harpoon ability means that you can now be Scorpion and Sub-Zero at the same time. Toasty!
The Harvest Never Rests!
Saturday, January 28, 2017
Tuesday, January 17, 2017
Lunar Victory
What can I say? Lunar Silver Star Story is now on my list of completed campaigns. It was actually a very fun ride overall. While it wasn't very long (especially by JRPG standards), clocking in at just over 25 hours with stops for grinding, it still turned out to a very full journey.
The final dungeon had just the right mix of interesting and infuriatingly dangerous, throwing in some of the most lethal mook fights I've encountered from the PS1 era. Of particular note was the 'curse' section, leaving you with two or more party members out of action at the beginning of every encounter, combined with forced encounters. It's a healthy reminder of just much of your party's resources can be yanked away with the loss of a character. The actual final boss just reinforced the lesson, often leaving me with choosing between reviving party members or trying to keep the remainder alive. This combined with a very nasty AI pattern made for what may well be the most infuriating RPG final boss I've battled in quite a long while.
It added spice to the whole thing, certainly, but Ghaleon mashed me flat a couple of times and threatened to leave me with a failed campaign, and that is not something I wanted to deal with. Fortunately the dork side came to my aid and I eked out a win. Protip: swap out status protection for regeneration and straight defensive stat-boosting accessories, and make sure everybody has resurrection and mana heals on tap before plunging in.
Overall, LSSC proved to a very pleasant experience, sometimes irreverent and quirky, sometimes fairy blunt and grim. It all wound up on the uplifting side of things, and was a worthwhile game. I still haven't decided on the next game, but for now, The Harvest Has Triumphed.
The final dungeon had just the right mix of interesting and infuriatingly dangerous, throwing in some of the most lethal mook fights I've encountered from the PS1 era. Of particular note was the 'curse' section, leaving you with two or more party members out of action at the beginning of every encounter, combined with forced encounters. It's a healthy reminder of just much of your party's resources can be yanked away with the loss of a character. The actual final boss just reinforced the lesson, often leaving me with choosing between reviving party members or trying to keep the remainder alive. This combined with a very nasty AI pattern made for what may well be the most infuriating RPG final boss I've battled in quite a long while.
It added spice to the whole thing, certainly, but Ghaleon mashed me flat a couple of times and threatened to leave me with a failed campaign, and that is not something I wanted to deal with. Fortunately the dork side came to my aid and I eked out a win. Protip: swap out status protection for regeneration and straight defensive stat-boosting accessories, and make sure everybody has resurrection and mana heals on tap before plunging in.
Overall, LSSC proved to a very pleasant experience, sometimes irreverent and quirky, sometimes fairy blunt and grim. It all wound up on the uplifting side of things, and was a worthwhile game. I still haven't decided on the next game, but for now, The Harvest Has Triumphed.
Thursday, January 12, 2017
Save the World, Yadda Yadda
Well, things are still going very well in Lunar: Silver Star Story Complete. The storyline is still all cliché and silliness, but honestly it's okay.
It took me a while to realize that I've been through (and probably still going through) what is most likely the most productive gaming period I have experienced. I'm still working out why exactly my nerdy little wheels have decided to start churning out so many successive--and successful--campaigns thus far. Some of it is pure escapism; I beat Tales of The Abyss the same day my mom's cancer diagnosis was confirmed, and buried myself in Tales of Vesperia that very night. Some of it is pure bloodyminded, nerdy determination to sit down and beat some damn games instead of faffing about in open world wanderlust.
But what was the X factor, the catalyst that keeps me actually picking up the controller and seeing things to the credits? I'm still not 100 percent sure, but I think that it's the fact that I'm spacing the 'serious' games out with 'mental palate cleansers' like Lunar.
Objectively, this game should totally suck, especially stacked against some of the heavy fare I've been tearing my way through. But! The guys at Working Designs did a wonderful job of taking a cookie-cutter JRPG and making into something special. They went so completely nuts on the jokes and references and double entendres that even the glorious kooks at Gearbox Software probably weep in envy. Seriously, "I am the eggman, I am the walrus" is probably one of the tamer ones floating around in here. Throw in references to movies and cartoons, plus things like a snippet yanked and slightly sanitized from a corny sex novel and we have a wonderful, wonderful medley of hoots left and right.
A lot of the actual gameplay is actually very fun and refreshing too. The combat mechanics are fairly basic in theory, but have a level of intricacy and polish that RPGs two or even three generations ahead have a hard time matching. It's turn-based, but with interesting twists like characters actually moving across the battlefield to smack enemies, higher-level characters being able to make multiple moves and attacks a turn making basic attack commands viable throughout the game, monsters have different attacks and animations acting as 'tells,' giving you a chance to anticipate and respond. This is all in an early PS1 game that is a remake of a Sega CD game, mind you.
The dungeons are similar. They look like something from the 16-bit era that's been slightly jazzed up (which is what they are), but there's this air of polish and craftsmanship to them. The towns are even more fun; Lunar stands as that rare early JRPG where the towns actually feel like towns. They're still pretty small, but they're chock-full of things to look at, people with interesting dialogue (a lot of the gags come from random townsfolk) and objects to find and poke (even more gags). There's no real wonder that this game (and its sequel) have such an affectionate fanbase, and my only regret is not playing this the last time I had a copy on hand. But now it's time to go, The Harvest Never Rests!
It took me a while to realize that I've been through (and probably still going through) what is most likely the most productive gaming period I have experienced. I'm still working out why exactly my nerdy little wheels have decided to start churning out so many successive--and successful--campaigns thus far. Some of it is pure escapism; I beat Tales of The Abyss the same day my mom's cancer diagnosis was confirmed, and buried myself in Tales of Vesperia that very night. Some of it is pure bloodyminded, nerdy determination to sit down and beat some damn games instead of faffing about in open world wanderlust.
But what was the X factor, the catalyst that keeps me actually picking up the controller and seeing things to the credits? I'm still not 100 percent sure, but I think that it's the fact that I'm spacing the 'serious' games out with 'mental palate cleansers' like Lunar.
Objectively, this game should totally suck, especially stacked against some of the heavy fare I've been tearing my way through. But! The guys at Working Designs did a wonderful job of taking a cookie-cutter JRPG and making into something special. They went so completely nuts on the jokes and references and double entendres that even the glorious kooks at Gearbox Software probably weep in envy. Seriously, "I am the eggman, I am the walrus" is probably one of the tamer ones floating around in here. Throw in references to movies and cartoons, plus things like a snippet yanked and slightly sanitized from a corny sex novel and we have a wonderful, wonderful medley of hoots left and right.
A lot of the actual gameplay is actually very fun and refreshing too. The combat mechanics are fairly basic in theory, but have a level of intricacy and polish that RPGs two or even three generations ahead have a hard time matching. It's turn-based, but with interesting twists like characters actually moving across the battlefield to smack enemies, higher-level characters being able to make multiple moves and attacks a turn making basic attack commands viable throughout the game, monsters have different attacks and animations acting as 'tells,' giving you a chance to anticipate and respond. This is all in an early PS1 game that is a remake of a Sega CD game, mind you.
The dungeons are similar. They look like something from the 16-bit era that's been slightly jazzed up (which is what they are), but there's this air of polish and craftsmanship to them. The towns are even more fun; Lunar stands as that rare early JRPG where the towns actually feel like towns. They're still pretty small, but they're chock-full of things to look at, people with interesting dialogue (a lot of the gags come from random townsfolk) and objects to find and poke (even more gags). There's no real wonder that this game (and its sequel) have such an affectionate fanbase, and my only regret is not playing this the last time I had a copy on hand. But now it's time to go, The Harvest Never Rests!
Sunday, January 8, 2017
Wish Upon A Silver Star
Well, how does one say it? Lunar: Silver Star Story Complete is proceeding very well. It has proven to be quite the palate cleanser after all the grim realpolitik and eldritch meddling going on in Final Fantasy XII.
I should be bored and a bit horrified; Grandia was a signal lesson that just because something is old, widely praised, and well within my gaming specialty doesn't mean I'll actually like the thing enough to make into a complete campaign. But Lunar just has that special spark. It's probably the music and writing. Yes, the dialog and random text blobs are hilarious. Working Design went absolutely nuts with the humor and the references, to the point that I'm amazed that this got a T rating--in the nineties!--which goes to show that censorious prudes are complete idiots when it comes to games.
Wheaties, Austin Powers (both the first and second movies), Chrono Trigger (anybody that doesn't think Ghaleon isn't Magus 2.0 is a fool, ditto for Vane being Zeal 2.0), Titanic, Norman Greenbaum, the list goes on, and I'm only six hours in! The Borderlands series' level of references ain't got nuthin' on Lunar, I tell you. Combine that with a simple-but-pleasant storyline, a fun battle system, and SSSC is shaping up to be quite a fun little ride.
It's good to remember that even now that there are plenty of old gems out there to unearth and admire, and just because a game is predictable doesn't mean it isn't a lot of fun. The Harvest Never Rests, and Needs A Good Laugh Anyway.
I should be bored and a bit horrified; Grandia was a signal lesson that just because something is old, widely praised, and well within my gaming specialty doesn't mean I'll actually like the thing enough to make into a complete campaign. But Lunar just has that special spark. It's probably the music and writing. Yes, the dialog and random text blobs are hilarious. Working Design went absolutely nuts with the humor and the references, to the point that I'm amazed that this got a T rating--in the nineties!--which goes to show that censorious prudes are complete idiots when it comes to games.
Wheaties, Austin Powers (both the first and second movies), Chrono Trigger (anybody that doesn't think Ghaleon isn't Magus 2.0 is a fool, ditto for Vane being Zeal 2.0), Titanic, Norman Greenbaum, the list goes on, and I'm only six hours in! The Borderlands series' level of references ain't got nuthin' on Lunar, I tell you. Combine that with a simple-but-pleasant storyline, a fun battle system, and SSSC is shaping up to be quite a fun little ride.
It's good to remember that even now that there are plenty of old gems out there to unearth and admire, and just because a game is predictable doesn't mean it isn't a lot of fun. The Harvest Never Rests, and Needs A Good Laugh Anyway.
Wednesday, January 4, 2017
You're so Vayne
After a bit of trial and tribulation, Final Fantasy XII is now officially on my kill list. There's still some stuff to be done left over (I really wanted to take on the Necrohol and snag the Zodiac Spear) but ultimately, I went ahead and faced the final boss and brought it all home.
I can see why there was some fanboy raging at the final dungeon; it literally was a few screens of tearing through a giant airship and wrecking a few dozen mooks before the final boss. Frankly the penultimate dungeon (the Pharos Lighthouse marathon of terror) served the purpose just fine, while Sky Fortress Bahamut is more of a final battleground stage than a dungeon proper. The final series of boss fights were a total blast, ranging from another Judge Magister battle to watching would-be overlord Vayne go from airbender to the hulk to a creepy awesome meld of man and magitek machinery that would made your average AdMech Magos oil his cogs from the sheer awe of it. A fine bonus was that he was enough of a threat to my pack of badasses that the entire set of matchups had that extra edge of danger going for it. It truly adds some kick to the proceedings.
FF12 actually kept that challenge and sense of danger up very well throughout my playthrough. Modern Final Fantasy has had a hard time of doing that, but here the old spark still burns bright. The whole thing actually did feel like a 8 or 16-bit Final Fantasy game brought to the Playstation 2 era. The monsters and locations just have the whole look and feel, while the combat system is still clearly of the ATB lineage.
What else can I say? FF12 is the first of the main series Final Fantasy games that I've completed in a very long time, and one of only four (if you count Tactics) that I've beaten. Most of the others wound up getting stalled for one reason or another, but this one kept compelling me to come back once I plugged it in and got going. It also stands as one of the longest playthoughs I've ever sunk into an RPG (clocking in at 83 hours of playtime), with maybe Skyrim being anywhere close before I hung it up. This is a worthy game, I can tell you.
In any case, it is time to move forward and start on my backlog of slightly more...obscure...titles. Next up is a bit of classic RPG quesadillia goodness: Lunar: Silver Star Story Complete. Are you a bad enough dude to become the Dragonmaster and collect all the bromides?
I can see why there was some fanboy raging at the final dungeon; it literally was a few screens of tearing through a giant airship and wrecking a few dozen mooks before the final boss. Frankly the penultimate dungeon (the Pharos Lighthouse marathon of terror) served the purpose just fine, while Sky Fortress Bahamut is more of a final battleground stage than a dungeon proper. The final series of boss fights were a total blast, ranging from another Judge Magister battle to watching would-be overlord Vayne go from airbender to the hulk to a creepy awesome meld of man and magitek machinery that would made your average AdMech Magos oil his cogs from the sheer awe of it. A fine bonus was that he was enough of a threat to my pack of badasses that the entire set of matchups had that extra edge of danger going for it. It truly adds some kick to the proceedings.
FF12 actually kept that challenge and sense of danger up very well throughout my playthrough. Modern Final Fantasy has had a hard time of doing that, but here the old spark still burns bright. The whole thing actually did feel like a 8 or 16-bit Final Fantasy game brought to the Playstation 2 era. The monsters and locations just have the whole look and feel, while the combat system is still clearly of the ATB lineage.
What else can I say? FF12 is the first of the main series Final Fantasy games that I've completed in a very long time, and one of only four (if you count Tactics) that I've beaten. Most of the others wound up getting stalled for one reason or another, but this one kept compelling me to come back once I plugged it in and got going. It also stands as one of the longest playthoughs I've ever sunk into an RPG (clocking in at 83 hours of playtime), with maybe Skyrim being anywhere close before I hung it up. This is a worthy game, I can tell you.
In any case, it is time to move forward and start on my backlog of slightly more...obscure...titles. Next up is a bit of classic RPG quesadillia goodness: Lunar: Silver Star Story Complete. Are you a bad enough dude to become the Dragonmaster and collect all the bromides?
Sunday, January 1, 2017
The Paths of The Dead
Things have actually gotten a fair bit more interesting in Final Fantasy XII. I finally got to do battle with Dr. Cid, and let me tell you, he's a very refreshing antagonist. He hams it up pretty good, and fighting him is one of the high points thus far for sheer theatrics. Oh, and he can attack you with a Tokamak. That's right, Dr. Cid can smite his foes using a damn plasma bottle, the kind that is/was studied for nuclear fusion reactor research. Wow.
The locations I've traveled to just keep getting more and more interesting, too. The Feywood in particular was pretty fun. It's all spooky and fogged up with magical mist, and holds one the niftiest puzzles I've encountered. It managed to invert the usual 'enticing mirage of death' concept and actually use illusions to point the way you need to go.
The optional zones also have a good deal of merit; they have a tendency to require extra grinding to survive (but it's Final Fantasy, so grinding is tradition anyway), but more than compensate the patient player by giving you all sorts of extra goodies and loot items to play with. I had let myself get a bit too focused on the main quest, and realized the errors of my ways early enough for the earlier, easier optional areas still worthwhile. I'm still not quite up to the task for the lootsplosion that is the Nabreus Deadlands and the Necrohol of Nabudis (home of the glory that is the Zodiac Spear), but it shouldn't be too long now.
Oh, and speaking of extras, some luminous soul at Square came up with one the most unexpectedly awesome ideas I've seen: The Nihopalaoa. It's a high-end accessory that's obtainable after getting a few side hunts done and therefore can be nabbed with little fuss. What is does is invert the effects of curative items when used by the wearer. Sounds like crap, right? Wrong! This wonderful doodad turns your status-curing items into nasty status inflictors. FF12 is that rare RPG where using status effects on enemies is worthwhile and actively encourages, especially against rare monsters and bosses. Using a fully empowered Remedy while wearing this thing will inflict almost every status effect in the game with practically perfect accuracy. It's the most efficient way I've seen to completely shut down major nasties I've seen in a long time, and gives you a shot at even vastly overleveled enemies. I can't say I've seen anything this hilariously mean since FF7's W-Summon/Hades/Knights of the Round/Mime conga-line of death. Just remember to pay attention, or you could wind up frying your own party members, that was totally embarrassing.
Well, it's time to be off again. The Harvest Never Rests!
The locations I've traveled to just keep getting more and more interesting, too. The Feywood in particular was pretty fun. It's all spooky and fogged up with magical mist, and holds one the niftiest puzzles I've encountered. It managed to invert the usual 'enticing mirage of death' concept and actually use illusions to point the way you need to go.
The optional zones also have a good deal of merit; they have a tendency to require extra grinding to survive (but it's Final Fantasy, so grinding is tradition anyway), but more than compensate the patient player by giving you all sorts of extra goodies and loot items to play with. I had let myself get a bit too focused on the main quest, and realized the errors of my ways early enough for the earlier, easier optional areas still worthwhile. I'm still not quite up to the task for the lootsplosion that is the Nabreus Deadlands and the Necrohol of Nabudis (home of the glory that is the Zodiac Spear), but it shouldn't be too long now.
Oh, and speaking of extras, some luminous soul at Square came up with one the most unexpectedly awesome ideas I've seen: The Nihopalaoa. It's a high-end accessory that's obtainable after getting a few side hunts done and therefore can be nabbed with little fuss. What is does is invert the effects of curative items when used by the wearer. Sounds like crap, right? Wrong! This wonderful doodad turns your status-curing items into nasty status inflictors. FF12 is that rare RPG where using status effects on enemies is worthwhile and actively encourages, especially against rare monsters and bosses. Using a fully empowered Remedy while wearing this thing will inflict almost every status effect in the game with practically perfect accuracy. It's the most efficient way I've seen to completely shut down major nasties I've seen in a long time, and gives you a shot at even vastly overleveled enemies. I can't say I've seen anything this hilariously mean since FF7's W-Summon/Hades/Knights of the Round/Mime conga-line of death. Just remember to pay attention, or you could wind up frying your own party members, that was totally embarrassing.
Well, it's time to be off again. The Harvest Never Rests!
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