No matter that nobody reads my gibbering madness, I shall scream into the cyber-winds!
I've been tearing about again in Kingdoms of Amalur: Reckoning. It's still an awful amount of fun, especially if you go ahead and take in in fairly small doses. It's that rare RPG that doesn't really reward going for marathon runs.
It's starting to actually getting fun with the combat. Somebody at Big Huge Games played way too Soul Calibur. Things have actually gotten crazier with the 'flavor' weapons, particularly the Faeblades. From the name, you'd figure it'd be some extra goofy elf dagger thingies, and you'd be close to right. However, in the hands of a capable character, you get a very different picture; they're called Faeblades because the lawyers wouldn't let be called dual-wield bat'leths. Seriously, you're tearing around in the closest thing we'll ever have to Klingon ninja madness. It's a lovely day to die! The only way it'd get more crazy awesome is if we got gnomes a playable race. Behold, I am the Ginsu Gnome, acolyte of Belkar, come to enforce the guarantee.
Showing posts with label loot for the loot god. Show all posts
Showing posts with label loot for the loot god. Show all posts
Sunday, January 10, 2016
Wednesday, December 30, 2015
An Early Reckoning
Well, after some thought, I decided to give a hearty "meh" and put Disgaea down for a while. I've finally, finally got to play with my new toy, a PS3 (I've been current exactly twice when it comes to video games, yuck it up.)
Being an RPG specialist and a Lord of the Harvest, I picked up Kingdoms of Amalur: Reckoning. It been a while since I've played a game that let me feel like a total badass within ten minutes of firing a game up. No picking an archetype and being stuck with, no sir! Right off the bat you can smack the unworthy with big swords, get all stabbytown with daggers, and fling fireballs of blazing doom upon those that displease you. I plan to get as close as I can get to being a Magitek Commando, and lay waste with whatever tools I see fit at any given moment.
I tell you, the forces of badness are in a great deal of trouble. They shall fall in their multitudes, releasing the wonderful, wonderful shinies, then they have permission to die.
Gadflow, you're in for it now!
Being an RPG specialist and a Lord of the Harvest, I picked up Kingdoms of Amalur: Reckoning. It been a while since I've played a game that let me feel like a total badass within ten minutes of firing a game up. No picking an archetype and being stuck with, no sir! Right off the bat you can smack the unworthy with big swords, get all stabbytown with daggers, and fling fireballs of blazing doom upon those that displease you. I plan to get as close as I can get to being a Magitek Commando, and lay waste with whatever tools I see fit at any given moment.
I tell you, the forces of badness are in a great deal of trouble. They shall fall in their multitudes, releasing the wonderful, wonderful shinies, then they have permission to die.
Gadflow, you're in for it now!
Thursday, December 3, 2015
Plundering The Countryside
Ha, you're still not rid of me yet!
I've been making strides in Disgaea: Hour of Darkness. It's still pretty fun so far. The most fun part so far is still very much the Item World. I still get a kick out what really comes across as what happens when you stick Diablo-style random loot dungeon crawling into a grid-based SRPG. What really pulls it over the top is that you take the goodies you earn in the item world and jump into their item world and get even more loot and jump into their item worlds. Screw Candy Crush, this is the proper way to waste time! It gets even better since you also level up the stats of the item you're working through, and hunt down "specialists" that act much like, say, Diablo III's gems.
All of this is a wonderful sideshow to some of the best SRPG goodness I've ever been exposed to. The mechanics are pretty solid. I'm honestly none-too-pleased with not getting an in-battle revival mechanic, but that is very much small potatoes to just being able to mass heal and rez your dudes after battle. I'm something of a softie when it comes to my mooks, so throwing out permadeath is always a plus for me. I also love how Disgaea is happy to throw big swarms of baddies at me. Twenty-plus enemy groups? The Harvest Cometh for thee!
Another plus is that in addition to the fun main characters, the generic units are also very characterful and enjoyable. Thanks to the joys of random name generators, I wound up with a ninja named Konga, and promptly gave him an axe (as opposed to the recommended fist). So has begun the grand saga of Konga The Axe Ninja! When he's not part of my agri-combine of death, cleaving the unworthy in twain, he's in charge of turning trees into those logs that other, lesser, ninja use for those substitution-dodge stunts they like. Another fun head-canon is the duo of Jaccard and Oscar, my thief and ranger that tear about filling the air with lead and plundering the place, while yelling like maniacs. Now you see while I hate permadeath in video games?
In any case, you people will have the displeasure of hearing me natter on at length about this game again soon enough. You will also hear me bewail the fact that someone was foolish enough to give me a PS3 for my birthday, and even more countrysides will learn what it is to meet The Harvest!
I've been making strides in Disgaea: Hour of Darkness. It's still pretty fun so far. The most fun part so far is still very much the Item World. I still get a kick out what really comes across as what happens when you stick Diablo-style random loot dungeon crawling into a grid-based SRPG. What really pulls it over the top is that you take the goodies you earn in the item world and jump into their item world and get even more loot and jump into their item worlds. Screw Candy Crush, this is the proper way to waste time! It gets even better since you also level up the stats of the item you're working through, and hunt down "specialists" that act much like, say, Diablo III's gems.
All of this is a wonderful sideshow to some of the best SRPG goodness I've ever been exposed to. The mechanics are pretty solid. I'm honestly none-too-pleased with not getting an in-battle revival mechanic, but that is very much small potatoes to just being able to mass heal and rez your dudes after battle. I'm something of a softie when it comes to my mooks, so throwing out permadeath is always a plus for me. I also love how Disgaea is happy to throw big swarms of baddies at me. Twenty-plus enemy groups? The Harvest Cometh for thee!
Another plus is that in addition to the fun main characters, the generic units are also very characterful and enjoyable. Thanks to the joys of random name generators, I wound up with a ninja named Konga, and promptly gave him an axe (as opposed to the recommended fist). So has begun the grand saga of Konga The Axe Ninja! When he's not part of my agri-combine of death, cleaving the unworthy in twain, he's in charge of turning trees into those logs that other, lesser, ninja use for those substitution-dodge stunts they like. Another fun head-canon is the duo of Jaccard and Oscar, my thief and ranger that tear about filling the air with lead and plundering the place, while yelling like maniacs. Now you see while I hate permadeath in video games?
In any case, you people will have the displeasure of hearing me natter on at length about this game again soon enough. You will also hear me bewail the fact that someone was foolish enough to give me a PS3 for my birthday, and even more countrysides will learn what it is to meet The Harvest!
Sunday, November 15, 2015
Lootception
So...
I started on Disgaea, and holy crap is that a new ride. I've played my share of grid-y, gritty tactical RPGs over the years, and while there was plenty of pixellated badass to be enjoyed, there was also a great deal of darkness. They weren't the darkest overall genre by any means, but sometimes it really just felt like they were trying to borrow Warhammer Fantasy's grimness without the over-the-top qualities that made things great. Nobody remember that Warhammer (and Warhammer 40,000) deliberately took things to absurb amounts of grim to where it was actually funny; kinda like if the Monty Python bunch went through a goth phase. I didn't quite burn out on them, but it did kinda get samey and boring after a while.
But damn, here's a game that I wished I picked up a lot sooner. Disgaea just takes that grimdarkness is grim, and converts it to utter whackiness! There's plenty of dark themes floating about, but what it really comes down too is that you're running an army of slapstick anime demons and other ridiculous freaks as they tear about and pillage the weak and learn about love and smash evil(er) and stuff.
There's all sorts of craziness to be had; so much so that I don't have time to delve into it for now. But one of my favorite new addictions is the Item World. If you're like me and live under a rock, here's the lowdown: Every item in the game has a pocket dimension called an Item World. In gameplay terms, this translates into a series of ten or more randomly generated floors. And we're really talking random, here. You can have small little cakewalk maps with a few mooks, to scary maps with tons of nasty effects that wind up being as close to 3-d Space Hulk as you can get with cutest sprites. Complete ten floors, and you power up the item considerably. There's a good few more details than this, but the thing I really want to cover is that while you're down there, the game's standard approach to loot still applies. While you're upgrading your loot, you can (and often will) come away with even more loot, which will have it's own Item Worlds to explore and pillage.
Seriously, you wind up with an infinite fractal of looting and upgrading going on, and it can suck you in if you're not careful. Forget Candy Crush or Tetris, this is a serious brain-sucking fruitopia of gaming goodness! How the in-game economy functions at all it beyond me...
I started on Disgaea, and holy crap is that a new ride. I've played my share of grid-y, gritty tactical RPGs over the years, and while there was plenty of pixellated badass to be enjoyed, there was also a great deal of darkness. They weren't the darkest overall genre by any means, but sometimes it really just felt like they were trying to borrow Warhammer Fantasy's grimness without the over-the-top qualities that made things great. Nobody remember that Warhammer (and Warhammer 40,000) deliberately took things to absurb amounts of grim to where it was actually funny; kinda like if the Monty Python bunch went through a goth phase. I didn't quite burn out on them, but it did kinda get samey and boring after a while.
But damn, here's a game that I wished I picked up a lot sooner. Disgaea just takes that grimdarkness is grim, and converts it to utter whackiness! There's plenty of dark themes floating about, but what it really comes down too is that you're running an army of slapstick anime demons and other ridiculous freaks as they tear about and pillage the weak and learn about love and smash evil(er) and stuff.
There's all sorts of craziness to be had; so much so that I don't have time to delve into it for now. But one of my favorite new addictions is the Item World. If you're like me and live under a rock, here's the lowdown: Every item in the game has a pocket dimension called an Item World. In gameplay terms, this translates into a series of ten or more randomly generated floors. And we're really talking random, here. You can have small little cakewalk maps with a few mooks, to scary maps with tons of nasty effects that wind up being as close to 3-d Space Hulk as you can get with cutest sprites. Complete ten floors, and you power up the item considerably. There's a good few more details than this, but the thing I really want to cover is that while you're down there, the game's standard approach to loot still applies. While you're upgrading your loot, you can (and often will) come away with even more loot, which will have it's own Item Worlds to explore and pillage.
Seriously, you wind up with an infinite fractal of looting and upgrading going on, and it can suck you in if you're not careful. Forget Candy Crush or Tetris, this is a serious brain-sucking fruitopia of gaming goodness! How the in-game economy functions at all it beyond me...
Wednesday, October 28, 2015
The Harvest Cometh!
Like a targ, vengeance awakens hungry after a sleep...
Yes, I'm unleashing doom upon the poor mooks in Tales of Vesperia. Yes, its still awesome. Most of the bosses can still go to hell, though.
Its actually been fairly refreshing to find a game that actually rewards going out there and hunting down materials like crazy. Legendia shouldn't have bothered, and Abyss...well, it was somewhat rewarding, but you really needed multiple playthroughs or a guide to get stuff without going comepletely crazy. Did you know you can get capacity core and herbs in the trading/crafting system for Abyss? Good luck getting more than a couple without Disgaea-level farming and twinking! At least the bitz were fairly flavorful.
Vesperia's system is fairly spot-on. You get materials from critters, plus search points that refresh at certain times. Everything can go in a useful recipe, which are unlocked as time and practice continue without much hassle. Enemies actually can make multiple drops (!) plus one extra goodie via stealing. All three methods from Abyss (drops, stealing, and harvesting) are far easier and more rewarding in Vesperia, and crafting materials pile up pretty damn fast if you apply basic farming techniques. Bosses also tend to have rare, if not outright unique, material drops that can make some pretty rad stuff.
I still have some minor quibbles about getting (presumably) refined metal armor and weapons and such from (presumably) organic monster parts. How does it work? Alchemical trasmutation? Do we take pre-existing stuff and just somehow infuse the materials' properties into it? Caramelldansen? The second idea is probably the closest, since you can upgrade weapons by adding materials to pre-existing ones.
In any case, this stuff is pretty awesome. Going out there and hunting down things to make the shinies with is actually pretty damn fun, and is a great breathing exercise when you don't feel like tearing your way through the story line. Mooks beware! The time of the Bitz Harvest is upon you!
Yes, I'm unleashing doom upon the poor mooks in Tales of Vesperia. Yes, its still awesome. Most of the bosses can still go to hell, though.
Its actually been fairly refreshing to find a game that actually rewards going out there and hunting down materials like crazy. Legendia shouldn't have bothered, and Abyss...well, it was somewhat rewarding, but you really needed multiple playthroughs or a guide to get stuff without going comepletely crazy. Did you know you can get capacity core and herbs in the trading/crafting system for Abyss? Good luck getting more than a couple without Disgaea-level farming and twinking! At least the bitz were fairly flavorful.
Vesperia's system is fairly spot-on. You get materials from critters, plus search points that refresh at certain times. Everything can go in a useful recipe, which are unlocked as time and practice continue without much hassle. Enemies actually can make multiple drops (!) plus one extra goodie via stealing. All three methods from Abyss (drops, stealing, and harvesting) are far easier and more rewarding in Vesperia, and crafting materials pile up pretty damn fast if you apply basic farming techniques. Bosses also tend to have rare, if not outright unique, material drops that can make some pretty rad stuff.
I still have some minor quibbles about getting (presumably) refined metal armor and weapons and such from (presumably) organic monster parts. How does it work? Alchemical trasmutation? Do we take pre-existing stuff and just somehow infuse the materials' properties into it? Caramelldansen? The second idea is probably the closest, since you can upgrade weapons by adding materials to pre-existing ones.
In any case, this stuff is pretty awesome. Going out there and hunting down things to make the shinies with is actually pretty damn fun, and is a great breathing exercise when you don't feel like tearing your way through the story line. Mooks beware! The time of the Bitz Harvest is upon you!
Thursday, October 8, 2015
Wrecked a Hippie Van
HaHA! The spambots are still not keeping me down!
Tales of the Abyss is now on my kill list. It's been a wild ride, I can tell you. I've decided to give some of my post-victory thoughts on things.
The Good
Abyss actually has some of the best battle mechanics I've seen, even considering I've played a fair few games that are a console generation or two ahead now. We get the usual big six elements, plus lots of special moves to keep things interesting. The monsters are fair bit more varied than I've usually seen, with a standout concept being golems powered by music. The critters do get repetitive after a while, but that's par for the course for an RPG anyway.
The characters are actually fairly interestingwith a standout being Jade Curtiss, the resident king of snark and the closest thing Japan has come to Raistlin McAwesomesauce yet. eh burninates monsters and doesn't afraid of anything! The rest have your usual mix of cliches, but with some interesting takes on them. The white mage chick is also a tough-fronted soldier, the best friend swore an oath to kill the main character out of revenge (and is secret buddies with the Big Bad Evil Guy), the kid is a foulmouthed gold-digger, the team critter is a punching bag, the fun goes on. The baddies are fairly interesting, too. And it was amazing how much mileage you got from the bad guy asking "Luke, join me!" for once. I'm not kidding.
The Bad
Unfortunately, Team Evil's characterizations are somewhat gimped near the end, with several of the God-Generals (the main minions) really dying pointlessly. The game does acknowledge the inherent futility for some, but a couple really come across as just plain dumb deaths. Dist, the resident mad kook, really just dies like a bitch for no reason at all. You wreck his latest mech, he decides to hit a self-destruct switch and whine at Jade, boom. Everybody else at least can be said to die for Van's cause and beliefs, but he just plain sissies out, when he could have just bailed and come back to plague us again later. URGH!
There really isn't much else to complain about, except for a glitch or two (found one that can freeze the game in the final battle today), which I've come to expect from PS2-era Namco. Nobody's perfect. There is a minor problem, which for a loot-aholic like me is fairly bad, though...
The Shiny
...The drop and crafting mechanics. I've already covered the weird ordering system in a previous post, but the drops are really plain annoying. Maybe half of the enemies in the game drop any items at all, and less drop trade goods. An infuriating frosting on the crap cake is that this game a very serviceable stealing mechanic, which is even more gimped at something close to a third or less of enemies having stealables. Fortunately, there are only two steal-exclusive items in the game, both of which are from bosses and have 1-in-2 success rates. Even more fortunately, this game come with 'search points' which are easy to farm, and with a few sidequests, can yield what you need to get all sorts of goodies.
The goodies themselves, hoo boy. An experienced player will find all sorts of shinies, especially with some focus farming and a bit of luck. I've found mentions of exploiting a glitch to get a late-game weapon, but why bother with bugs when you can nab even better stuff just a little bit later with some patience. You get your usual collection of weapons and armor, with helmets relegated to accessory status (one accessory per character, by the way), some of which can be quite interesting. Worth particular mention are the Fonic Catalysts, which seem like restyled variations on Soul Calibur and Soul Edge (the dark aligned ones have this creepy breathing animation), and the end-game Fonic gear, that presumably also run of the power of magic music. The Fonic sword is actually a sound-powered lightsaber! Another honorable mention is Ultimatus, a sword presumably related to the Fonic gear that is possessed by a kickass amalgam of Nightmare/Inferno from Soul Calibur and Final Fantasy's Gilgamesh. Put these suckers in a crossover against Elder Scrolls draugr for maximum metal!
Well, the campaign has drawn to a close, and it's almost time to chase the brightest star in the sky...
Tales of the Abyss is now on my kill list. It's been a wild ride, I can tell you. I've decided to give some of my post-victory thoughts on things.
The Good
Abyss actually has some of the best battle mechanics I've seen, even considering I've played a fair few games that are a console generation or two ahead now. We get the usual big six elements, plus lots of special moves to keep things interesting. The monsters are fair bit more varied than I've usually seen, with a standout concept being golems powered by music. The critters do get repetitive after a while, but that's par for the course for an RPG anyway.
The characters are actually fairly interestingwith a standout being Jade Curtiss, the resident king of snark and the closest thing Japan has come to Raistlin McAwesomesauce yet. eh burninates monsters and doesn't afraid of anything! The rest have your usual mix of cliches, but with some interesting takes on them. The white mage chick is also a tough-fronted soldier, the best friend swore an oath to kill the main character out of revenge (and is secret buddies with the Big Bad Evil Guy), the kid is a foulmouthed gold-digger, the team critter is a punching bag, the fun goes on. The baddies are fairly interesting, too. And it was amazing how much mileage you got from the bad guy asking "Luke, join me!" for once. I'm not kidding.
The Bad
Unfortunately, Team Evil's characterizations are somewhat gimped near the end, with several of the God-Generals (the main minions) really dying pointlessly. The game does acknowledge the inherent futility for some, but a couple really come across as just plain dumb deaths. Dist, the resident mad kook, really just dies like a bitch for no reason at all. You wreck his latest mech, he decides to hit a self-destruct switch and whine at Jade, boom. Everybody else at least can be said to die for Van's cause and beliefs, but he just plain sissies out, when he could have just bailed and come back to plague us again later. URGH!
There really isn't much else to complain about, except for a glitch or two (found one that can freeze the game in the final battle today), which I've come to expect from PS2-era Namco. Nobody's perfect. There is a minor problem, which for a loot-aholic like me is fairly bad, though...
The Shiny
...The drop and crafting mechanics. I've already covered the weird ordering system in a previous post, but the drops are really plain annoying. Maybe half of the enemies in the game drop any items at all, and less drop trade goods. An infuriating frosting on the crap cake is that this game a very serviceable stealing mechanic, which is even more gimped at something close to a third or less of enemies having stealables. Fortunately, there are only two steal-exclusive items in the game, both of which are from bosses and have 1-in-2 success rates. Even more fortunately, this game come with 'search points' which are easy to farm, and with a few sidequests, can yield what you need to get all sorts of goodies.
The goodies themselves, hoo boy. An experienced player will find all sorts of shinies, especially with some focus farming and a bit of luck. I've found mentions of exploiting a glitch to get a late-game weapon, but why bother with bugs when you can nab even better stuff just a little bit later with some patience. You get your usual collection of weapons and armor, with helmets relegated to accessory status (one accessory per character, by the way), some of which can be quite interesting. Worth particular mention are the Fonic Catalysts, which seem like restyled variations on Soul Calibur and Soul Edge (the dark aligned ones have this creepy breathing animation), and the end-game Fonic gear, that presumably also run of the power of magic music. The Fonic sword is actually a sound-powered lightsaber! Another honorable mention is Ultimatus, a sword presumably related to the Fonic gear that is possessed by a kickass amalgam of Nightmare/Inferno from Soul Calibur and Final Fantasy's Gilgamesh. Put these suckers in a crossover against Elder Scrolls draugr for maximum metal!
Well, the campaign has drawn to a close, and it's almost time to chase the brightest star in the sky...
Wednesday, September 9, 2015
The Abyssal Campaign
Aw, not even the spambots are read my blog any more...
Anyway, I've been busy with Tales of the Abyss. It's a bit different from what I expected, mostly since I picked the black sheep of the series to begin with. But we still have plenty of old-school JRPG goodness going on in here.
My first impressions thus far have been fairly favorable thus far. The main characters are memorable in one way or another. I especially like Jade. It's been a while since I bumped into a good Neutral Snarky aligned character, and making him the kickass mad scientist black mage of doom is also awesome. They also made this guy a colonel which warms my nerdy little heart for reasons I refuse to explain to anyone that has eyes. Luke, the protagonist, is a spoiled little wretch, but is slowly getting better, and for once being spoiled doesn't affect the ability to ship things you don't like Priority Mail to Stabbytown! There are plenty of others, some are kinda cliche but not actually bad. I'm not too fond of the obligatory Rebellious Princess Natalia thus far. Civic minded or not, she could use some time in a dragon's clutches right now.
The Also Obligatory Cute Thing is...well...sometimes I can't stand him, but other times he's hilarious. When you use his map abilities, he turns into some sort of pyromaniac hooligan, a lot like what would happen if somebody cooked up Viking Care Bears. Cutesy voices screaming about fire and attacks, smoke and doom and craters everywhere, why the hell hasn't anybody wrote that fanfic yet. Viking Care Bears needs to be a thing now. He also is on the receiving end of a great line: "Shut up and drown!"
The world-building magi-babble is actually fairly well thought out for once, though granted it's mostly your standard mana/alchemy/elements system with some sound-related concepts substitutes in for material science concepts. I'm also still on the fence on the way the loot is handled, and probably will not render judgment for a good while. The trading/ordering system that replaced traditional crafting still hasn't sold itself too well thus far, especially since it seems to be weighted toward repeat playthroughs. You can get access to higher-end equipment early on with some serious farming, but intelligence gleaned from elsewhere suggests that the real goodies aren't much use until late into the game (there are very powerful moves to be unlocked here) or in New Game Plus (arguably game-breaking moves unlocked then). The loot/baddie curve is still fairly low right now, which should start accelerating later.
In any case, I must be off. Another bit of uncertainty is whether there will be a Wreckonomics post made for this game. Legendia didn't merit one, since you get showered with cash and items, and the crafting system is kind of a joke. We'll see.
Anyway, I've been busy with Tales of the Abyss. It's a bit different from what I expected, mostly since I picked the black sheep of the series to begin with. But we still have plenty of old-school JRPG goodness going on in here.
My first impressions thus far have been fairly favorable thus far. The main characters are memorable in one way or another. I especially like Jade. It's been a while since I bumped into a good Neutral Snarky aligned character, and making him the kickass mad scientist black mage of doom is also awesome. They also made this guy a colonel which warms my nerdy little heart for reasons I refuse to explain to anyone that has eyes. Luke, the protagonist, is a spoiled little wretch, but is slowly getting better, and for once being spoiled doesn't affect the ability to ship things you don't like Priority Mail to Stabbytown! There are plenty of others, some are kinda cliche but not actually bad. I'm not too fond of the obligatory Rebellious Princess Natalia thus far. Civic minded or not, she could use some time in a dragon's clutches right now.
The Also Obligatory Cute Thing is...well...sometimes I can't stand him, but other times he's hilarious. When you use his map abilities, he turns into some sort of pyromaniac hooligan, a lot like what would happen if somebody cooked up Viking Care Bears. Cutesy voices screaming about fire and attacks, smoke and doom and craters everywhere, why the hell hasn't anybody wrote that fanfic yet. Viking Care Bears needs to be a thing now. He also is on the receiving end of a great line: "Shut up and drown!"
The world-building magi-babble is actually fairly well thought out for once, though granted it's mostly your standard mana/alchemy/elements system with some sound-related concepts substitutes in for material science concepts. I'm also still on the fence on the way the loot is handled, and probably will not render judgment for a good while. The trading/ordering system that replaced traditional crafting still hasn't sold itself too well thus far, especially since it seems to be weighted toward repeat playthroughs. You can get access to higher-end equipment early on with some serious farming, but intelligence gleaned from elsewhere suggests that the real goodies aren't much use until late into the game (there are very powerful moves to be unlocked here) or in New Game Plus (arguably game-breaking moves unlocked then). The loot/baddie curve is still fairly low right now, which should start accelerating later.
In any case, I must be off. Another bit of uncertainty is whether there will be a Wreckonomics post made for this game. Legendia didn't merit one, since you get showered with cash and items, and the crafting system is kind of a joke. We'll see.
Friday, September 4, 2015
A Legendary Tale
The Interwebs are not rid of me yet, haHA!
It's been a wild ride in my personal life, but that IRL for you, eh?
In nerdy news, I managed to put Tales of Legendia on my kill list, adding another notch on the RPG belt. That was definitely a fun time. Four Stars, Would Smite Again. Hell, the ending (the actual ending, not the first one) actually got me all teary-eyed. It's been something like a decade since a game did that to me.
The combat was fun, giving me all the awesomeness of a 2D fighter while letting stats and tactics get a good role as opposed to just reflexes and fighting game skills (I suck at fighting games that aren't Soul Calibur 3), and was just fluid enough to keep me going. The story has some good twists, the characters were actually memorable (all hail Will Reynard the JRPG Muscle Wizard), the loot was plentiful, and the enemies were a hoot.
Unfortunately, the New Game Plus this game offered really didn't do much for immediate replay value, though I freely grant that later on it will be a fine catalyst for going back and thug-punching bears while Will The Awesome fries them with lightning and honking big hammer.
I was actually pleased that I found a new RPG series without having to sacrifice organs on the black market to get installments (dammit Suikoden) or live with playing less than half the series ever without controller flinging (dammit SaGa).
On a final note, there will not be a Wreckonomics post about Tales of Legendia. The cash is very plentiful, with the only notable sinks linked to the cooking system. The only real barrier is that you can only carry 15 of any given item (NG+ has options for 20 or 30 if you so choose), which is a mild inconvenience if you're like me and grab a wad of curatives when you can. I wound up having to leave full chests behind in dungeons since I had the maximum amount of Panacea Bottles very quickly, and rarely needed them to begin with.
Anyway, off to Tale of the Abyss!
It's been a wild ride in my personal life, but that IRL for you, eh?
In nerdy news, I managed to put Tales of Legendia on my kill list, adding another notch on the RPG belt. That was definitely a fun time. Four Stars, Would Smite Again. Hell, the ending (the actual ending, not the first one) actually got me all teary-eyed. It's been something like a decade since a game did that to me.
The combat was fun, giving me all the awesomeness of a 2D fighter while letting stats and tactics get a good role as opposed to just reflexes and fighting game skills (I suck at fighting games that aren't Soul Calibur 3), and was just fluid enough to keep me going. The story has some good twists, the characters were actually memorable (all hail Will Reynard the JRPG Muscle Wizard), the loot was plentiful, and the enemies were a hoot.
Unfortunately, the New Game Plus this game offered really didn't do much for immediate replay value, though I freely grant that later on it will be a fine catalyst for going back and thug-punching bears while Will The Awesome fries them with lightning and honking big hammer.
I was actually pleased that I found a new RPG series without having to sacrifice organs on the black market to get installments (dammit Suikoden) or live with playing less than half the series ever without controller flinging (dammit SaGa).
On a final note, there will not be a Wreckonomics post about Tales of Legendia. The cash is very plentiful, with the only notable sinks linked to the cooking system. The only real barrier is that you can only carry 15 of any given item (NG+ has options for 20 or 30 if you so choose), which is a mild inconvenience if you're like me and grab a wad of curatives when you can. I wound up having to leave full chests behind in dungeons since I had the maximum amount of Panacea Bottles very quickly, and rarely needed them to begin with.
Anyway, off to Tale of the Abyss!
Wednesday, August 26, 2015
Off Ramp To Punchytown
Blogging, like a targ, awakens hungry after a sleep...
I've been busy as usual, a lot of personal issues decided to explode in my face, and things are still pretty much on fire, but I'm at a point where I can take something of a breather.
I've been tearing my way across Tales of Legendia for the PS2, and everytime I'm about to get bored, things actually start shaking themselves up and I'm having a blast again. I'm currently in the final dungeon, and probably will not pick up the controller again for a while, since I know a boss rush is coming up, and I won't have three hours where I'm coherent for a good few days.
It's still a fun game, and I'm amazed I didn't hear and start on this series sooner. A more in-depth discussion will be posted later, since I'm still gushing (this is a game where you can suplex divine beings, dragons, tank-sized behemoths, but sadly not trains) and I don't want to get too crazy until after I beat the game entirely.
I also do not plan in a Wreckonomics post, simply because this game hands out cash like crazy and doesn't stint on other loot. Bring on the swag!
Wandering off for now, and remember that only in death does booty end.
I've been busy as usual, a lot of personal issues decided to explode in my face, and things are still pretty much on fire, but I'm at a point where I can take something of a breather.
I've been tearing my way across Tales of Legendia for the PS2, and everytime I'm about to get bored, things actually start shaking themselves up and I'm having a blast again. I'm currently in the final dungeon, and probably will not pick up the controller again for a while, since I know a boss rush is coming up, and I won't have three hours where I'm coherent for a good few days.
It's still a fun game, and I'm amazed I didn't hear and start on this series sooner. A more in-depth discussion will be posted later, since I'm still gushing (this is a game where you can suplex divine beings, dragons, tank-sized behemoths, but sadly not trains) and I don't want to get too crazy until after I beat the game entirely.
I also do not plan in a Wreckonomics post, simply because this game hands out cash like crazy and doesn't stint on other loot. Bring on the swag!
Wandering off for now, and remember that only in death does booty end.
Tuesday, August 4, 2015
Chasing Tales
As ever, the spambots have failed in their struggle to keep me from posting!
Since I can't do online stuff with my BorderlandsBox, I've decided to jump back into my original gaming specialty, the old-school JRPG. A month or so ago, I decided to go ahead and get into the Tales series. This foray met immediate resistance due to my insipient DAR Syndrome deciding to manifest. In English, I bought Tales from The Abyss and then a guide for Tales of Legendia by mistake. After realizing what happened, I had to choose between shilling $40-70 (!) for an Abyss guide, or just grabbing Legendia for $20-$30.
I bought Legendia. And it's a fun little JRPG. It's got lots of old time flavor: The endless random battles, the angsty hero, ridiculous stuff to use as weapons, inexplicably cute things trying to murder you, evil empires and magitek, the list goes on.
Some of the fun stuff included a real-time battle system built like an RPG take on 2-D fighting games. It's actually somewhat refreshing, and helps a lot that it's not built for the dexterous finesse fighting games usually required (the only fighting series I don't suck at is Soul Calibur). Another nice thing is that your protagonist is a martial-artist monk type instead of a swordsman. Unfortunately, while you can suplex all sorts of huge monstrosities, trains are not on the list.
Unfortunately, there are some bits I don't like, mostly characters I don't really think much of. The main love interest is your typical high-pitched bubblehead with an addiction to getting captured. It would have help immensely if she didn't sound like Pinkie Pie on helium. I've been given to understand once she becomes Calypsophiroth, she's much more enjoyable, so we'll see. The early villains really come across as lame (except for the first Big Bad), and one minor villain really come across like a crappy Pokemon villain knockoff.
The good news is that we get Will Reynard in return. He's the closest thing JRPGs will get to the muscle wizard. He's this built dude that hauls around a hammer usually reserved for industrial machinery and fries fools. He even gets to dope-slap the other characters when they're being too JRPG-ey to stand. He gets this game's awesomesauce award, and need a fic where he and Space Elf Robocop and Iron Bull tear about the multiverse in the name of manly nerds everywhere.
Well, I need to wander off, but more inanities about this game are incoming, so beware!
Since I can't do online stuff with my BorderlandsBox, I've decided to jump back into my original gaming specialty, the old-school JRPG. A month or so ago, I decided to go ahead and get into the Tales series. This foray met immediate resistance due to my insipient DAR Syndrome deciding to manifest. In English, I bought Tales from The Abyss and then a guide for Tales of Legendia by mistake. After realizing what happened, I had to choose between shilling $40-70 (!) for an Abyss guide, or just grabbing Legendia for $20-$30.
I bought Legendia. And it's a fun little JRPG. It's got lots of old time flavor: The endless random battles, the angsty hero, ridiculous stuff to use as weapons, inexplicably cute things trying to murder you, evil empires and magitek, the list goes on.
Some of the fun stuff included a real-time battle system built like an RPG take on 2-D fighting games. It's actually somewhat refreshing, and helps a lot that it's not built for the dexterous finesse fighting games usually required (the only fighting series I don't suck at is Soul Calibur). Another nice thing is that your protagonist is a martial-artist monk type instead of a swordsman. Unfortunately, while you can suplex all sorts of huge monstrosities, trains are not on the list.
Unfortunately, there are some bits I don't like, mostly characters I don't really think much of. The main love interest is your typical high-pitched bubblehead with an addiction to getting captured. It would have help immensely if she didn't sound like Pinkie Pie on helium. I've been given to understand once she becomes Calypsophiroth, she's much more enjoyable, so we'll see. The early villains really come across as lame (except for the first Big Bad), and one minor villain really come across like a crappy Pokemon villain knockoff.
The good news is that we get Will Reynard in return. He's the closest thing JRPGs will get to the muscle wizard. He's this built dude that hauls around a hammer usually reserved for industrial machinery and fries fools. He even gets to dope-slap the other characters when they're being too JRPG-ey to stand. He gets this game's awesomesauce award, and need a fic where he and Space Elf Robocop and Iron Bull tear about the multiverse in the name of manly nerds everywhere.
Well, I need to wander off, but more inanities about this game are incoming, so beware!
Friday, July 10, 2015
Stabbin' Dragons
Been busy at the job business. I'm surrounded by the biggest collection of complexes this side of the internet, I swear.
I've taken advantage of losing my Xbox Live Gold (or rather, they lost my money because it didn't taste right or something) and wailing on the bonus boss in Dragon's Dogma. The critter in question is known as the Ur-Dragon, so named because most players go "UUUURRR," and then "splat!" the first time they come across it. The online version is technically harder, but the only real difference is that it has a ridiculous hit-point pool, and multiple players are wailing on it at any given time. Unfortunately, being the guy who makes the kill is pretty much a crapshoot. You can literally pick and play any strategy game by NIS long enough to beat their bonus bosses, and still have not gotten a kill on this beast in an equivalent amount of time. Play the offline version of the boss to get the achievement, okay?
In any case this game is still very much one of my favorites, and I was pleasantly surprised by how easy it was to pick up and play again. Definitely a point in its favor, and I hope we see a true sequel, not some bizarro MMO like the interwebs claim.
I've also heard some news that is already ancient now: They're finally going to remake Final Fantasy VII. I'm cautiously excited. FFVII holds a special nerdy place in my nerdy heart (I actually owned the game before I bought a PS1, which is saying a lot) and I hope things actually go well. Unfortunately, my auto-snark button got pushed when I head the words "gritty reboot." Lolwut?
I thought up some ways to make this more "gritty." Here's a random collection, in no particular order:
1) Cait Sith is shanked and replaced by Belkar Bitterleaf.
2) Cloud is voiced by Hugo Weaving.
3) An option for a Mortal Kombat-like blood effect. Imagine Omnislash now with patent pending 3-D Gore-O-Rama!
4) Barret stops talking like Mr. T and acts like (dammit I forgot his name) that black guy from Expendables.
5) Trenchcoats. Public flashing optional.
6) New Game+ option to have Sephiroth shank other characters including, but not limited to: Cloud, Tifa, Yuffie, Sora, Squall, Face McShooty, Wesley Crusher, Chris Pine!Kirk, and Jar Jar Binks. Also the cast of FFXIII.
7) Fuck it, give everybody guns!
That's about it, really. I also really hope they fix the damn Chocobo racing, though. Preferably with the old shoulder-button cheat still intact.
I've taken advantage of losing my Xbox Live Gold (or rather, they lost my money because it didn't taste right or something) and wailing on the bonus boss in Dragon's Dogma. The critter in question is known as the Ur-Dragon, so named because most players go "UUUURRR," and then "splat!" the first time they come across it. The online version is technically harder, but the only real difference is that it has a ridiculous hit-point pool, and multiple players are wailing on it at any given time. Unfortunately, being the guy who makes the kill is pretty much a crapshoot. You can literally pick and play any strategy game by NIS long enough to beat their bonus bosses, and still have not gotten a kill on this beast in an equivalent amount of time. Play the offline version of the boss to get the achievement, okay?
In any case this game is still very much one of my favorites, and I was pleasantly surprised by how easy it was to pick up and play again. Definitely a point in its favor, and I hope we see a true sequel, not some bizarro MMO like the interwebs claim.
I've also heard some news that is already ancient now: They're finally going to remake Final Fantasy VII. I'm cautiously excited. FFVII holds a special nerdy place in my nerdy heart (I actually owned the game before I bought a PS1, which is saying a lot) and I hope things actually go well. Unfortunately, my auto-snark button got pushed when I head the words "gritty reboot." Lolwut?
I thought up some ways to make this more "gritty." Here's a random collection, in no particular order:
1) Cait Sith is shanked and replaced by Belkar Bitterleaf.
2) Cloud is voiced by Hugo Weaving.
3) An option for a Mortal Kombat-like blood effect. Imagine Omnislash now with patent pending 3-D Gore-O-Rama!
4) Barret stops talking like Mr. T and acts like (dammit I forgot his name) that black guy from Expendables.
5) Trenchcoats. Public flashing optional.
6) New Game+ option to have Sephiroth shank other characters including, but not limited to: Cloud, Tifa, Yuffie, Sora, Squall, Face McShooty, Wesley Crusher, Chris Pine!Kirk, and Jar Jar Binks. Also the cast of FFXIII.
7) Fuck it, give everybody guns!
That's about it, really. I also really hope they fix the damn Chocobo racing, though. Preferably with the old shoulder-button cheat still intact.
Tuesday, June 23, 2015
Early FAQ = WTF
Yikes, GameFAQs can be such a mess.
I've decided to throttle down on Dragon Age Inquisition for a while. I'm at the point where I'm pretty much steamrolling the main questline, and and (spoilers) I lose a party member after the final boss, and I want to do some DLC with them around, and even becoming the Lord of The Harvest has lost it's charm for a while. Don't get me wrong, the game is still very good, but I've done too many binge sessions for the moment.
To get a break, I broke out Seiken Densetsu 3 AKA the missing World of Mana game. It is definitely a jewel in the Square RPG lineup, and (as the internet has stated ad naseum) its a damn shame that the game didn't get a proper localization.
Anyway, it's actually a very challenging game, and has some old-school obtuse elements on top. So I looked through GameFAQs stuff, and I stumbled on what really felt like a TXT rip of a forum topic disguised as an FAQ. The damn thing really just lost track right before the meat of the whole thing got started.
Is it just me, or does it seem like the older, nerdier games get crappier FAQs and/or general discussions? Just because a game is obscure doesn't mean the info you're collecting, collating, and publishing needs to be covered in ASCII art and interspersed with (albeit pretty well-behaved) arguments and random comments from fan fora and emails. You wind up with people getting fed and up and not reading your FAQ, and you do want this thing to be read, right? You went to all this trouble to help people play and enjoy a game you like, right? You want people to think that you care enough about the subject to keep things organized, right? If you're gonna go for nerdier than thou, do it right damn it!
Have a dedicated section for things like "WebDude24601 sent me this" and "RPGeekLEEThaxxors and I had a discussion about when not to unleash the magics of doom." Preferably near the end, especially if you couldn't be arsed to set up tags and codes for a browser's Find function. Make sure that you properly attribute stuff, but dumping in a whole paragraph because SephirothxApplejackOTP emailed you about how his party "rocks" before you actually start the walkthrough is frickin' tacky, OK?
Going away, now, getting a little too far on my nerd rage-o-meter.
Seriously, it irks me that I can find intelligent, organized, well-written FAQs for Call Of Duty, but heaven forbid I can find the two facts I need for a piece of old-school Square craftsmanship.
Saturday, May 30, 2015
The Inquisition, What A Show
Ha HA, the interwebs are not rid of me yet!
Been tearing about and wrecking evil in Dragon Age: Inquisition. Somebody at Bioware likes Mortal Kombat a lot, since they made a wonderful little combo of Scorpion's Get Over Here with a Sub-Zero's Freeze of Death (my terms) that makes the mooks go squish.
The characters are pretty inspired too. I love Varric AKA Snarky the Eighth Dwarf and his Bianca AKA the +10 Crossbow of Killing Stuff. Iron Bull is also very much the shit, especially with that pack of loonies he leads. Sera is...well when she's not being funny I want to scream at her to go back to her tree and make some damn cookies, to be honest. Like hot sauce, Sera is best in small doses before burnout sets in.
The loot is also pretty awesome, too, and is accompanied by the return of Badass Dress-up. The armor sets aren't quite as extensive as, say, Dragon's Dogma, but it's balanced by having a nice crafting system, plus lot's of customizing for you death-dealing pleasure. You can even tint your swag, so my dudes are tearing about in Luer's Raiders colors for damn once.
Psst, Bioware! Work out a deal and give Butt Stallion a cameo as a DLC mount!
Been tearing about and wrecking evil in Dragon Age: Inquisition. Somebody at Bioware likes Mortal Kombat a lot, since they made a wonderful little combo of Scorpion's Get Over Here with a Sub-Zero's Freeze of Death (my terms) that makes the mooks go squish.
The characters are pretty inspired too. I love Varric AKA Snarky the Eighth Dwarf and his Bianca AKA the +10 Crossbow of Killing Stuff. Iron Bull is also very much the shit, especially with that pack of loonies he leads. Sera is...well when she's not being funny I want to scream at her to go back to her tree and make some damn cookies, to be honest. Like hot sauce, Sera is best in small doses before burnout sets in.
The loot is also pretty awesome, too, and is accompanied by the return of Badass Dress-up. The armor sets aren't quite as extensive as, say, Dragon's Dogma, but it's balanced by having a nice crafting system, plus lot's of customizing for you death-dealing pleasure. You can even tint your swag, so my dudes are tearing about in Luer's Raiders colors for damn once.
Psst, Bioware! Work out a deal and give Butt Stallion a cameo as a DLC mount!
Sunday, May 3, 2015
Space Scurvy
Blarg-a-rant to the spambots that "read" this stuff.
Been tearing about in Borderlands The Pre-Sequel some more. According to their website, legendary drops have been tweaked for this game and for B2, but I'm not seen any real increase in the orange glow. That said, I've only done 1 1/2 playthoughs, and all of it normal difficulty thus far, so I can't expect too much.
That said, the rate I've seen them in vending machines is absolutely epic so far. I've managed to find two Moonlight Sagas, an Oxidizer, a Whiskey Tango Foxtrot, a Nasty Surprise, an Avalanche, and a Logan's Gun (I tragically couldn't afford that last one, *sob*), making for a whopping seven legendaries on Normal (and five of those solo). That's a ridiculous amount compared to my long B2 run with at least six playthroughs, including True and Ultimate VH difficulties. All together, two Bitches, a Quasar (!!!), a Sledge's Shotgun, a Fastball, and...I think that's it actually. Five legendary pieces in regular vending machines. (NOTE, this doesn't include the Torgue machines, which have a guaranteed legendary Torgue item)
While the actual drop rate is still somewhat ambiguous right now, the vendors in PS seem to have been tweaked for the better thus far. I really hope it stays that way.
Tell you what, the vehicles in PS are crap, though. I want my damn Truck-a-pult back!
Been tearing about in Borderlands The Pre-Sequel some more. According to their website, legendary drops have been tweaked for this game and for B2, but I'm not seen any real increase in the orange glow. That said, I've only done 1 1/2 playthoughs, and all of it normal difficulty thus far, so I can't expect too much.
That said, the rate I've seen them in vending machines is absolutely epic so far. I've managed to find two Moonlight Sagas, an Oxidizer, a Whiskey Tango Foxtrot, a Nasty Surprise, an Avalanche, and a Logan's Gun (I tragically couldn't afford that last one, *sob*), making for a whopping seven legendaries on Normal (and five of those solo). That's a ridiculous amount compared to my long B2 run with at least six playthroughs, including True and Ultimate VH difficulties. All together, two Bitches, a Quasar (!!!), a Sledge's Shotgun, a Fastball, and...I think that's it actually. Five legendary pieces in regular vending machines. (NOTE, this doesn't include the Torgue machines, which have a guaranteed legendary Torgue item)
While the actual drop rate is still somewhat ambiguous right now, the vendors in PS seem to have been tweaked for the better thus far. I really hope it stays that way.
Tell you what, the vehicles in PS are crap, though. I want my damn Truck-a-pult back!
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