Free Play Friday: Fable 2 Webgames

You want free stuff for your Hero in Fable 2, you say? Well that's easy, just head on over to Fable2.com and you can enjoy a couple quick games that will be pretty rewarding in the long run.

The first one isn't so much a game as it is an interactive play. As you work your way through, the little puppet gets to make a few good/evil choices that affect which prizes you wind up getting. I went through and did all the good choices and got a doll and some tattoos waiting for me when I went to a specific treasure chest in-game (the one in the Guild Hall, for those wondering). Outside of the fact that you get free prizes for your Hero, the play is actually really cool and looks exactly like it belongs within the world of Fable.

The second game, Chicken Kickin', is a pain in the ass. Maybe its just my stupid computer, but every time I try to do the game, either the meter loads funkily or I can't aim the chicken right, so I haven't won anything yet. I do know that if you can complete it (or get the target score anyway), you win a nice chicken suit and you can get the title of Chicken Chaser from the town crier for free as well. I'm going to keep trying every once in a while to get the suit from this game, but I won't put too much effort into it, it just winds up being way too frustrating I think.

The total items you can get from the website are: a book with the Feign Attack expression, a vial of pink dye, a 3 piece chicken suit, 2 Lionhead tattoos (one for face and one for body), and one Hero Doll.

Finally, even though you don't have to play a webgame for this one, according to Joystiq you can get the free Halo armor for your Hero that was supposed to be exclusive to the Collector's Edition of the game. Joystiq has the information on how to pick yours up here. I signed up, but it says it could take up to 10 days for it to come through, so mine hasn't arrived yet. Although, I did see it on my brother's Hero and I must say it looks pretty cool. However, my Hero will never wear it, because she just looks so awesome in her hot pants and rich woman's shirt.

Retro Thursday: Fable: The Lost Chapters

The first Fable came onto the scene in 2004 and barely a year later was rereleased with extra content and an extra island/ending for the story portion of the game. When I picked it up and began my playthrough, I found an incredibly enjoyable (although sometimes flawed) action -RPG experience.

The thing that really pushed the game along for me was the fact that the story was completely engaging. I loved the fact that you got to start out as a child (albeit not for too long), and then got to trace the child's journey through training and then work your way up to become the Hero of Albion. The big draw of the good/evil choice scenario was cool enough, but when you get to the main point of the game, all you have to do is make one choice that really effects what road you walk down to the end. I (like usual) went through the first time being a goody-two-shoes, but once I had completed the storyline, I went back and had some fun at the brothels just long enough to get back to neutral territory. It also helped that I would beat my wife until she would divorce me, then remarry her.

The battle system worked well enough, although I don't think I ever used a ranged weapon during my travels. Magic was definitely a plus to keep around, but I would never use, because I didn't want the white glowy all over me. I know it made sense to put that in as a consequence for using all that power, but I always wished that I had been able to use it the whole game and not worry about how nasty I'd look.

I also really loved the customization of hair and clothes. Being able to dress my dude up and walk through Bowerstone and see all the ladies fall for his manly awesomeness.... priceless. Again, the only gripe with this is that certain clothes added to your good/evilness, and I kind of wish it hadn't because I would want to wear the badassy assassin clothes, but I didn't want it to take away from my goodness. It's a small complaint, but I definitely felt it while playing.

Although I never felt that the game ever had everything working perfectly (I would always run into a stupid combat glitch or get stuck on a wall), it was definitely a wonderful play and completely set up a nice framework for Fable 2, which takes everything to the next level extremely well.

Unplugged Wednesday - Fables

Hello and Welcome.



Our third entry in Fable week is actually not related to the Fable series of games.  Today we are going to talk about the Vertigo Comic: Fables.

I have always been a big fan of alternate interpretations of classic stories.  Gregory MacGuire's Wicked series, The Looking Glass Wars (Alice in Wonderland), and even Stephen King's Dark Tower series to an extent.

Fables is exactly that.  It is the story of all the people and creatures of legend living in New York city (for the Human Fables) and upstate New York on the "Farm" (for those less than human Fables).

The Fables are in NYC because they were exiled from their lands by the "Adversary" as he systematically took over their lands with his evil army.  The human fable community is run by the Deputy Mayor, Snow White and her trusty sheriff Bigby "The Big Bad Wolf" who thanks to a glamour, has a human form.  Snow White, and the whole community, deal with any number of situations over the course of the books:  Murders, Revolutions, etc.

As far as the art goes, it is very detailed and vibrant at times, but still has a somewhat dated look (though I think that is the DC/Image style).  The stories within each arch are very interesting and deal with "Real" problems in the "Mundy" (their name for normal "Mundane" humans) world.  For example,  Rose Red (Snow White's forgotten sister) slept with Prince Charming (SW's husband) and now they are divorced.

The stories are also often humorous.  One of my Favorites:
Goldilocks to Papa Bear: "Do you think I share your son's bed only because is happens to be 'Just Right'"?
Papa Bear: "No, it's because papa's l'il boo bear is hung like a --"

Anyway, I definitely recommend Fables, if you are in to the alternate version types of stories.

And if you are REALLY into Fables, you might check out the spin-offs (I haven't):  Jack of Fables (no good Jack of the BeanStalk story), and 1001 Nights of Snowfall: a prequel to Fables.

~K

New Release Tuesday: Fable 2

Hello and Welcome.

For our second entry in Fable week we are going to talk about the newly released Fable 2.

Before I get started I just want to give you a list of the things I have done so far:

• Worked as a Blacksmith, Woodcutter, And Bartender, and Bounty Hunter
  
  
• Courted and Married "Jen the Barmaid"  who is described as "Good, Straight, Raunchy, and Unchaste"
• Bought my first house and made it our Marital home.
• Attempted to consummate my marriage by having Protected Sex with Jen (come on, she is a "Raunchy, Unchaste" BARMAID),  She didn't like that.
• Tried again, no protection, she went for that.
• She immediately got pregnant, and I immediately got an STD.  My character is now a poster child for Safe sex.
• "Accidentally" lightninged the 5 random people that walked into my home while I was looking at my baby.  The baby and wife got lightninged too.  Oops.
• Kicked 6 chickens.
• dyed my clothes and hair with "Red Letter Dye"
• Posed for multiple statues.
• Purchased numerous Shops and a few houses, and rented them all out.
  
  

Anyway, I loved the original Fable.  It was one of the gateway games I used to get my wife to play WOW. So I was obviously excited about Fable 2.

So, what is new about Fable 2?  For one it is significantly larger than its predecessor.  Peter Molyneux has been quoted as saying it is about 10 times as large as the original.  You now have the ability to choose your gender, something that Molyneux desperately wanted in the original.  Within that, as a female character you can become pregnant (and impregnate as a male, obviously) and have children who grow throughout the game. 

Another new addition to your 'family' is the dog.  The dog can be taught a number of skills (mostly tricks and expressions like your character), but the most notable skills are treasure finding, and combat.

In the previous Fable, your character would take quests to earn renown and gold.  In Fable 2, quests only net you renown.  To get gold, you must take one of the various jobs: Bartender, Woodcutter, Blacksmith, Assassin, Slaver, Slave Liberator, or Bounty hunter.

You may also purchase and rent real estate and shops.  With each piece of property, you can change the rent (or rates in a shops case) by a certain percentage.  You can also decorate your houses, etc, with finer furniture to make the basic rate (and selling price) higher.  Higher rates make you more corrupt, where as lower rates make you more pure.  Each piece of property you own pays you the specified rate every 5 minutes of real world time, even when your game is turned off.  Subsequently, your family(ies) deduct a certain amount of your income for household upkeep.

In the previous Fable, your character's apperance morphed as he progressed in age as well as based on whether he performed Good or Evil deeds.  In Fable 2, these features and others contribute to your appearance:

• Good or Evil
• Pure or Corrupt
• Wealth & Poverty
• Slim or Fat
• Young or Old

The hero's Skill, Will, and Strength attributes play also affect your appearance.  Strength makes the character more muscular, skill affects height, and magic gives the hero glowing blue veins.  Also, any combination of  the above extremes can be combined,  you can have a Good, yet corrupt Fat Cat, or a Pure, evil pauper.

The main reason that I was excited for Fable 2 was the concept of Offline, and Online Co-op.  I was excited to play this game with my wife, and with my friends.

Lionhead was unable to complete the online portion before going to print, however, a patch was available on Day 1 of launch to enable this feature.

Unfortunately, the Multiplayer still sucks.  Both locally and online.  I was really excited to have my hero traipse around in my Wife's world, as well as my friends causing havo... I mean joy, to all of their inhabitants... But no, I have to be one of 6 preset "Henchmen" (good, neutral, evil/Male, female).  Sure, I can import my Hero's abilities and experience as well as take home a portion of the gold and experience I recieve in my friends game.  But that is not enough.  Fable is a game of virtually limitless customization, but I can't show that off.  Bad form Lionhead, bad form.

There have also been a number of game breaking bugs, but I won't go into detail here.

These things aren't enough to destroy, or even tarnish past a certain part, my love for this game.  It is still a great game, I just hope they get these bugs fixed (before I find them) and enhance the Multiplayer.

Well, I am off to adventure in Albion.

:: Rude Gesture::

~K

DLC Monday: Pub Games.

Hello and Welcome.

Our first entry in Fable week will focus on the XBLA game:  Fable: Pub Games.

 

Pub Games was essentially a way to rack up gold in Fable 2 before the game came out.  It also offered 15 items that could be one from the tournaments in the game.  

There are 3 different games if Pub Games:  Keystone, Fortune's Tower, and Spinner box.

Each of these games offers numerous variations on the games and stakes as well as 5 tournaments per game, corresponding to your players star level.  The difference in a tournament game is you are betting against other "Players" and not just the house.

Keystone

Keystone is essentially a combination of Roulette and Craps.  You place primary bets on the "Arch Stones" around the top of the game prior to the game starting.  Before each dice roll you place inside bets on the Board, similar to the way you would place bets in Craps.

And that is what this game is: Craps.   Just like real Roulette or Craps, your odds of winning are painfully low.  I hate this game....

Anyway, the Prizes you win from the 5 levels of tournaments are:

• Plaits Hairstyle Card
• Dog Book: Backflip
• High Rollers Coat
• Potion of Will
• Championship Pistol

Fortune's Tower

 Fortune's Tower is essentially a type of solitaire (and probably exists in one of those 300 solitaire games collections...). After you make your bets, cards are placed one row at a time, starting with the face down "Tower" card and incrementing one card at a time for each subsequent row. Once a row is placed by the dealer, you have the option of taking the sum of that rows cards as your winnings. Sounds easy right? Well, if a card lines up with any card of the same number on the previous line the game ends and you loose your money.  Each deck has 4 "Hero" cards that can negate this effect if they are dealt in a row.  Also, the Tower Card will automatically be used the first time this happens.  If you make it to the last row without using your Tower card (hero cards are fine) you win the jackpot, which is the sum of ALL cards on the Table.

This game is by far my favorite because you actually have a chance at winning if you play it smart.

Ok, the five tournament items for Fortune's Tower are:

• Deepest Dark Chocolate
• Sleepmaster 3000 (its a bed, duh)
  
• Potion of Strength
• A Face Tatoo
• Championship Cutlass.

 Spinnerbox

Spinner Box is slots.  'nuff said.

The five tourney items are:

• Apple Pie
• Hat, Headband, and Mustache (its a book.)
• Body Tatoo
• Potion of Skill
• Mysterious Ring

Other than achievement points (like the 0 gamer-score "Fabled Financier") and some items there is not really any point to pub games ( you can play all these games in Fable 2) at this point.  You ESPECIALLY should not get Pub Games if you are planning on paying the 800 Microsoft Points ($10).  It came as a preorder bonus for Fable 2 (the only reason I have it. ;) )  and is definitely not worth $10 bucks...  I recommend hitting up your local Gamestop to see if they have any of the preorder cards left over(mine had like 15).

Other than that,  the concept of pub games is an interesting one.  The fact that a publisher would allow you to amass wealth in a game (as well as items)  BEFORE it is released is a bold concept (especially considering it shipped with numerous bugs that allowed you to cheat your way to wealth).  I guess it is the wave of the DLC future.

~K

This Week: Fable Week.

Hello and Welcome.

Just wanted to give you a preview of the week to come.  We are dedicating this week to all things Fable.

We will keep the same format as always, but everything will be related to Fable in some way.  It will be fun, so stay tuned.

For now, I will leave you with a few of the hilarious quotes I have heard so far in Fable 2:

"If you ask me, it's a great time to be alive. There's not even that much disease considering we never wash!"

"I heard the Guildmaster had the ability to talk to any hero at any time! Sounds kind of annoying to me."

"There are many conflicting legends as to whether or not the Hero of Oakvale killed the Guildmaster. It's said that the words, 'Your health is low' were carved into his forehead. "

There is a description on a love potion that says "60% of the time, it works everytime"

~K

Freeplay Friday - Sonny

Hello and Welcome.

The rate at which flash games are developing now astounds me.  Previously flash games where relegated to puzzle games like Chuzzle, or word games like Text Twist.  But now you can play full on FPS games or RPGs, and some of them are actually good!

Which brings us to our freeplay game of the week: Sonny.

Sonny is a Tactical RPG on the Kongregate site.  Kongregate is a collection of Flash games and a place for flash game developers to, well, congregate and share there stuff.   Kongregate also offers achievements(for you achievement whores)  and a slew of other features.  Plus it is free.

Sonny is bassically a loot whore game ala Diablo, but with turnbased RPG gameplay.  Sonny wakes up on a ship after a blind man resucitates him.  What Sonny doesn't even know about himself is, he is a zombie.  Nevertheless he proceeds to irradicate zombies, and zombie hunters alike.

Utilizing skill trees and attributes very similar again to Diablo, Sonny eventually learns a vast repitoire of skills that he can use in his skill loadout.

The main (simple) reason I like Sonny, is each piece of armor/weapon you find is clearly visible on your characters.

Sonny Battles

Despite being a flash game, sunny is fairly deep and offers many hours of game play.  Can't play it for many hours?  Well, like all good RPGs sunny utilizes a save game feature.  As long as you play from the same computer that is.

Sonny, and all the games on Kongregate, are free to play.  So what are you waiting for?

~K

Retro Thursday - Mother 3

A couple weeks back, I professed my love for Earthbound (or Mother 2) and although Mother 3 has been out in Japan since 2006 it was just last Friday when the English fan translation was finished and I could finally check it out for myself. Since Friday, I have logged about 12 hours into the game and have to say that (despite early misgivings) it is completely living up to my high expectations.

While Earthbound began in the middle of a representation of small town America and you gradually moved into larger and larger cities, Mother 3 begins in a town that has no concept of money and is one with the surrounding nature. Soon into the game, things begin to go sour, as people discover that guys wearing pigmasks have begun to experiment on the local wildlife in order to make "cooler animals." Fast forward 3 years (or 2 more chapters into the game) and the pigmasks have transformed the town into modern suburbia through the use of their Happy Boxes that the townspeople became addicted to. At my present point in the game, the way to save society and return it to a sense of normality is to retrieve the seven pins located throughout the world and release the dragon hidden inside for good.


Yeah, it's a pretty obvious statement - very similar to the one made in Earthbound, but the writing is really what makes it stand out. Without spoiling anything in the game, I have to say that the way certain events were scripted do a great job of expressing the emotions of the characters and give you that little tug at your heart that connects you to the characters and pushes you forward into the game if only so you can find closure alongside them. With this comes the same wacky sense of humor found in EB that keeps me grinning throughout the game (especially when you run into each of the Magypsies).

The combat in Mother 3 has the same interface as EB in that you don't ever see your characters performing actions through the battles, however there is one really cool addition. In each battle, if you are able to press the attack button at the correct time in beat with the background music, it allows your characters to attack multiple times and score more damage. This, however, this is incredibly hard to do - the highest combo I have achieved is only 4 hits, and that was with the backbeat turned up after hypnotizing the enemy. Maybe it just shows how bad I suck at music...

Altogether, Mother 3 is a great package that just feels good to play. Like all the best 16-bit rpgs, it sucks me back to a time of naivety and complete joy that came with playing video games. I guess the best thing that can be said about it is that every day since I've gotten it, I couldn't wait to get home from work and play more.

Unplugged Wednesday - Video Game Halloween costumes (Ok, its really cosplay..)

Hello and Welcome.

So this week, I thought we could talk about what everyone is going to be for Halloween.  I was thinking about going as something Video Game related so I started looking for Ideas.

Then I stumbled on this:

 

Wow, that is a pretty amazing costume.  MegaMan helmet, mega buster, THAT LIGHTS UP.   This kid is so awesome.

So I thought, Hey, I could do something like this right?  Just change the scale a bit, and it would work great.  And so I found this:

So it looks like Mega Man is out.  I mean, I don't want to look like this fool.  Maybe I will just carve my Pumpkin to look like Mega Man.

Ok, my list of Ideas right now are:

• Castle Crasher Knights 
• Gordon Freeman (Half Life, I would have to grow my beard back though...)
• King of All Cosmos (Katamari).
• Cervantes (Soul Calibur, ok it's just a glorified pirate....)

Those are what I have so far.  Any other Ideas?  Votes?

New Release Tuesday - My Japanese Coach

Hello and Welcome.

This week we are going to talk about a ... well, not really a game per se, but a piece of DS software:  My Japanese Coach.

I swear, the power of the Nintendo DS continues to amaze me.  Even before the Wii, Nintendo managed to create a device that transcends the common notion of gamer.  Considering that they have sold 81 MILLION DSes world wide up till now, I would say it is a pretty viable platform for anything.

So, now we have software on the DS that will help you to learn man languages: French, Spanish, Chinese, among others, and finally Japanese.

Being someone who took 2 years of Japanese in college and has been to japan numerous times, I was a little skeptical of this at first.  My main skepticism came from how the experience would be presented.  Would it be for those people whom knew no Japanese? People who knew just a little (I know some of you Anime watchers out there no SOME japanese...).  Or people who had formal training in the past?

Surprisingly there is enough here for all but the most fluent Nihongo speakers.

With a total of 100 scripted lessons (teaching grammar), then 945 more lessons of Vocab, this is a fairly fleshed out piece of software.

There is an initial "Placement" exam that allows you to skip up to 11 levels based on your proficiency.  For the unitiated, it starts of using "Romaji" or english characters, but by level 13 it is consitently using Hiragana, Katakana, and Kanji for reading, and writing with Hiragana, and Katakana.

Lessons start with basic vocab and grammar and are completed by "Mastering" words and phrases.  To master these phrases you must play a number of games (Very much like Brain Age actually) that involve writing, listening, and even speaking.  There are also flashcard and memory style games, just to name a few.

Will this game make you fluent in japanese?  Far from it (though it might help study for the 4th (lowest) level of the Japanese Language Proficiency Test (JLPT)).  But it will give you a great base to build your Japanese proficiency on.  As with any language (even your native), mastery comes from constant studying, practice, and every day speech.

Anyway, I plan on buying this for my wife, so she and I can talk bad about all those Gaijin around us.  Hopefully my friends *hinthint* will get it too so we can all talk to each other in this wonderful language.

Come on people, I need someone to practice with!  All that being said, I leave you with this:



I mean really, don't you want to know WHY they have these games?

~K

DLC Monday - Soul Calibur IV: Vader Vs. Yoda

ello and Welcome.

Alright, Finally some Soul Calibur 4 DLC that is not school girl uniforms...  That's right, Yoda for PS3 and Darth Vader for 360.

So for all you PS3 owners out there, congratulations.  The cheapest character in fighting game history is now at your disposal (next to Gon from tekken, Maybe.).

Each character will be available on Thursday for $5.  As much as I would enjoy playing Vadar, 5 bucks seems like a bit much for an aditional character.  Especially when the game itself costs $60.

Of course this seems to be a trend with DLC packs of late.  Charge 5 bucks for something that doesn't really change the game at all.  Instead it just changes how the game looks.  Mega Man 9 did it the with the Proto Man DLC, and more games are doing this type of thing.  Sure it isn't $3 horse armor, but it also doesn't add as much as something like the FREE bikes update to Burnout Paradise.

Ok, sure, Darth Vader has a different move set from the other characters, but at this point, hasn't everyone already chosen their character, or characters?  Sorry, I just have something against a company charging me an arm and a leg for a game, then the other arm for content that was ALREADY DEVELOPED when the game shipped.  But thats probably just my PC side talking, ignore him he gets a bit angry sometimes.

So, if you have SC4 and want these other characters, Check it out.

::rage quits::

~K

Freeplay Friday - Mega Man: The Power Battle

Hello and Welcome.

This FreePlay Friday is going to give relief to all of you stressing about Mega Man 9.  Get ready for some Mega Man : The Power Battle.

The Power Battle was originally released as an arcade game in Japan.  It was packaged as part of the Mega Man Anniversary Collection (along with its sequel) on the PS2 and GCN.

And now you can play it FREE on gametap.   It requires the Gametap client and a small download, but it is completely free once you get that set up.  And it runs on crappy machines like my laptop.

The Game itself is pretty simple.  Rather than progress through a long (sometimes frustrating) stage to fight the boss, you immediately fight the boss.  Plus you get unlimited continues and ressurect in battle with the boss at the same level of health, so it is pretty easy.  Think of it like an Anti-Mega Man 9.  If you get frustrated with MM9, boot it up and woop up on some Master Robots.

You can play as Mega Man, Proto Man, or Bass.   The style of the game looks just like Mega Man 7, and you can play 3 different worlds.  Mega Man 1-3, 4-6, and 7.  Each World has 6 Robot Masters from the Various games and  a Dr. Wiley stage at the end.

You still get the bosses power after a battle, and they can be used to defeat other bosses more easily.

I highly recommend a controller for this, as it is very difficult on the keyboard (carpal tunnel?).

So, give it a try and show those robot masters that you aren't afraid of them (just their hideouts....)

~K

Retro Thursday: Kingdom Hearts 2

[EDIT] Hi, Kent here.  I know KH2 isn't really that retro, but my internet was out, and Nate was kind enough to step up and throw something up here at the last minute.   Enjoy!! [\EDIT]

When I first heard about a game that was an amalgamation of Disney and Square franchises, I was so excited to check it out. But then I heard it was on Playstation 2, and as one of the only people who has never owned a PS2, I missed it... and then I missed the sequel. Now that I've borrowed my brother's PS2 (which enabled me to play through Shadow of the Colossus), I have the opportunity to play Kingdom Hearts 2. Before you say "what about the original?" I was told that I should just skip it for its crappy camera and just play the second. It did provide a few moments of having no idea what was going on, but I soon got a handle on the story (not that it really mattered, but more on that later) and continued on.

You begin the game as Roxas (who turns out to be Sora's Nobody) in Twilight Town... blah, blah, blah. It would be pointless to try to explain the story outside of: Sora has a Keyblade, Sora uses the Keyblade to seal worlds away from the Heartless, the worlds are Disney movies, Sora wants to find his friends Riku and Kairi. That's all you really need to know, because the main story really goes out the window everytime you go to a different world and you wind up just playing through plotlines of Disney movies with Goofy and Donald at your side (as a melee and mage character respectively).

It's pretty fun to play through the plots of certain movies that have good action -like Mulan or Lion King, but the Beauty and the Beast and Nightmare Before Christmas levels in particular got pretty tedious for me. Speaking of the action, it's basically a game of repeatedly pressing X and letting Sora do the combos for you and Donald or your other partner (based on the world) heal you when you get low. The combat got a bit boring, but was never really that hard until the last few bosses, where a couple of them were controller breakingly frustrating - nearly as bad as The Force Unleashed (click to read my thoughts on that).

But really, the whole reason to play the game is the interaction with all the familiar Disney characters (or Final Fantasy characters, if that's your thing). In this respect, I'll admit Kingdom Hearts does pretty well. It reeks of nostalgia everytime you enter into a familiar world and get to see and chat with all the characters within. Although, like I mentioned a little above, the Disney levels are pretty much coincidental to the plot as a whole and I really wish they could have worked it in a bit better. The only level that felt like it belonged within the story was the Disney Castle, and that's only because it was pretty much created to fit within the lore.

It was a fun game as a whole, definitely worth the current budget price, but my interest in the upcoming Kingdom Hearts titles really depends on how they work in the combat and story, seeing as those were the two things that felt a little lacking to me.

Unplugged Wednesday - Lost

Hello and Welcome.

I recently started watching the show LOST.  I have heard for years that is was a great show but never watched it because, lets be honest,  how good could a dramatic version of a reality TV show (Survivor) really be?

So, I added it to my netflix queue and it sat at the bottom for months.  Finally, after hearing the now defunct GFW Radio talk about the latest episode week after week, my wife and I decided to watch it.

So far I have watched almost through the end of season 2 (this in only a few weeks)  and I am already hooked.  The show thrives on coincidences and surprises.  The web that connects people just by the end of season 2 is pretty ridiculous.

Mysteries like the "Others"  and the Black Smoke beast keep you guessing as to what will happen next.   Plus they have a Hobbit.

Charlie Pace and Merry Brandybuck

So far my favorite character is John Locke.   Aside from being slightly obsessed with the island, Locke is an intelligent, multi-faceted character who more often than not has a great grip on what is going on in any situation.

If you aren't convinced enough to take a spot in your Netflix Queue or on your DVD shelf, you can watch the first 4 Seasons on ABC's website.  Just make sure you catch up before Season 5 starts in February!

~K

New Release Tuesday: Star Wars - The Force Unleashed

I was pretty excited when my brother-in-law said he'd let me borrow The Force Unleashed when he was done with it. This excitement lasted all the way through the first level, when I got to walk through Kashyyyk as Darth Vader and throw Wookiees from bridges to their death. The second level brings you into control of Vader's apprentice (who you find as a child in the first level), and from there things seem to go sour.

First of all, the combat is bad. When my character is facing a bad guy and I press X to attack him, the Apprentice should not turn around and attack at an explosive pod that causes him to lose half of his life bar. It would be funny if it happened only once, but its a continual problem. I was faced up against a rancor and pounding away at him, only to have the Apprentice decide that a flower was more dangerous and turned his back, allowing the rancor to pummel him from behind. Also the typical enemies can negate about 90% of your force powers, which takes away everything that makes being the Apprentice cool. Let me run down a typical combat encounter for you: press x 4 times... watch the Apprentice's lightsaber connect one of the four times... try Force Lightning... watch the enemy reflect/ignore the blast... get knocked over by the enemy.... get attacked on the ground and during the animation while you get up... die... scream expletives and throw controller into couch.... repeat.

Moving away from the combat, the camera has got its own set of issues. Take for example the time that I Force Pushed a door open and proceeded into the little room to get the hidden holocron, only to find myself stuck behind the same doors I had blown open, because the camera decided to move to a position that made them invisible. I had to Force Push another 10 times before the Apprentice magically jumped from the room back into the hallway. I also spend way too much time babying the camera, contiunually moving it into a position so that I can see what's going on around me (and yet it's still not enough to keep from being hit by unknown baddies that always lurk beyond view.

Before I get into the story, I have to admit that I am not finished with the game, I still have 3 missions left to accomplish. With that said, the story is pretty good so far. There hasn't been anything life-changing to come from it yet, but I understand that the ending is supposed to be pretty dang awesome. It's a pretty neat idea, giving Vader an apprentice to go around and hunt down the last few Jedi (I can believe that some escaped Order 66 - they are Jedi after all). I just hope that the obligatory choice between the Light Side and Dark Side that I sense coming never actually arrives. It would be nice to just continue on being a bad guy and not have to worry about making a choice that will affect the ending of the game (although I already know there will be).

To put this simply, if you are a Star Wars fan - rent or borrow this game first. You might find that everything I've said doesn't apply to you, then you can go ahead and buy it. Just be warned - it's not the greatest Jedi game out there, for that I suggest playing the Jedi Knight series (particularly Jedi Academy).

DLC Monday: Secret of Mana.

Hello and Welcome.

Ok, first, sorry for no free play friday, I was distracted....
 
Now, on to today.   You may be asking yourself, "Hey, isn't today MONDAY, and doesn't a game like Secret of Mana belong on Retro THURSDAY?"  Well, normally you would be right.  However, Nintendo's Virtual Console released Secret of Mana today!!!!!

Secret of Mana is a slightly different take on the classical square RPG.  It is an Action RPG (like Zelda)  which is playable by up to 3 characters.  You control either the "boy", "girl", or the magical "Sprite".

As you progress through the game you receive a number of different "Mana" weapons that can be upgraded into different forms throughout the game.  Most notable of these weapons is the "Mana Sword".  These weapons are the Boy's mainstays but are also used by the Girl and the Sprite.   The Girl also has defensive magic, were as the Sprite has Offensive magic.  Magic takes the form of  Elemental creatures who lend their powers to the other characters.

Square also implemented a lot of the SNES "Mode 7" graphics engine.  You see this alot in the world map navigation ( like Final Fantasy 6)  and even in some of the boss battles.

I really enjoy the music of Secret of Mana, it is a bit different from Nobuo Uematsu, or Yasunori Mitsuda's works, but it is still epic and really suits the mood of this game.

Epic Title Screen

Not really much else to say about this.  If you have a freind,or family member who loves zelda, or square games,  you should check this out on the Virtual Console.

The only draw back of the VC release... No online multiplayer.  I really hate you sometimes Nintendo, I really do.

Anyway, if you don't own the cart, I recommend it.  It's 800 points and well worth it.

~k

Retro Thursday: Earthbound

Earthbound (or Mother 2 if you want) is quite possibly my favorite game of all time. The gameplay is your typical Japanese RPG, complete with lots of grinding and semi-random encounters, but what really sets the game apart is the crazy awesome (and also just plain crazy) story.

Earthbound is a classic RPG on the SNES that takes place in a pretty modern world (unlike the swords and sorcery of other 16-bit RPGs), and in the game you take the role of the boy Ness, who soon learns that he is one of the chosen few who will save the world from teh evil Giygas. During your time in the game, you run into your friends who help you on your way Paula the psychic girl from Twoson, Jeff, the genius from Winters, and Poo the amazing from Dalaam. The four kids travel throughout their world collecting the 8 sounds from the Your Sanctuary locations into your Sound Stone in order to use the world's power to turn away Giygas' evil.

Your time in the world introduces you to awesome people like Everdred, the loveable thief in Twoson park, Master Belch the pile of goop who enslaved the Mr. Saturns of Saturn Valley, or even the hit band - the Runaway Five! Speaking of the Runaway Five, the music in Earthbound is wonderful. It's really odd and strange at times, but every bit of music fits in with its point within the game so well, that whenever I listen to songs from the soundtrack (pretty muc every day), I can imagine that part of the game vividly. Basically, what really makes Earthbound so wonderful is the characters. The conversations with even the random townspeople are good for a chuckle. It's a really well written (and translated game), that I like to pull out at least once a year and play through.

Now, all I have to do is pray that they release it on the Wii Virtual Console, or (like in my dreams) release it on DS with Mother 1 and 3.

Unplugged Wednesday: Y: the last Man.

Hello and welcome.

This week I am going to talk about a graphic novel series: Y: The last Man.

Published by VERTIGO (subsidary of DC) and Written by Brian K. Vaughn and Pia Guerra, the main artist.  Y tells the story of Yorick Brown, the last man on earth and his capuchin monkey Ampersand the last male mammal, after a plague wipes the earth of all male life.  Its less of a plague and more of a "Every male falls down and dies at once" event.  From there Yorick decides he has to find his girlfriend (almost fiancee) Beth.

Anything that has a post-apocalyptic, post-epidemic premise, almost always appeals to me.  I like the idea that we as humanity may be posed with a situation that doesn't fit into the constraints of Technology, or society as we know it.  It is really only in situations like this that the strength of our humanity will be proven (or most likely disproved).

That being said, the story in Y starts out strong, with a fair amount of struggle, and moral decisions for Yorick (which he usually makes, IMHO, the wrong choice.).  Quickly add in two female (obviously) companions, Extreme Feminist groups, and hot girl on girl action (a joke, small one) and the story takes off with a boom.

However, the story progresses over 10 books, and about 3 years and begins to lose focus as well as adding unneeded complexity to the story.  I mean, don't get me wrong, complexity is great when you do it well, but Y continues to add complexity just for the sake of complexity.

Still, Y is a worthwhile read.  I don't know that I would recommend buying it, but the art is good, the story decent.  So, if you have a friend with a copy, grab it, otherwise, check your library.

~K

New Release Tuesday: Dilemma

Hello and Welcome.

I know you are excited to hear about this awesome new game: Dilemma. Dilemma is the newest game by developer Tnek Sllennur of some other game he released before....

Ok, that's all completely made up. Dilemma is not actually a game (as far as I know of). It is, in fact, a dilemma.

So what is this dilemma? Well, writing about games is the dilemma. It isn't really the writing about games that is the problem, its the constant reviewing of games. With the limited resources we have available to us here and Nerd's Natterings it gets difficult to play (and review) a new game each week. Plus there is the fact that in the summer (yeah, I know it is already over) new releases are less frequent (though this summer had a decent amount).

Furthermore, I really want this site to be (as someone so eloquently put it) more than a bunch of press release inspired reviews. I would like to cover more interesting things, editorial style, all the while keeping it in the confines of our self prescribed parameters. Not that their is anything wrong with reviews.

Ok, enough rant. Today I want to talk about new releases, not a specific release, but the concept of new releases as they pertain to physical media.

With the advent of digital distribution (see DLC Monday) and the increasingly widespread use and availability of Broadband internet many, myself included, thought that physical media would soon be a thing of the past. Especially with each major platform promoting their own DLC service: Wii's Virtual Console and WiiWare, Xbox live arcade, and the Playstation Network, not to mention services like Steam and others on the PC. However, it seems that the opposite is happening. With Gamestop, one of the key distributors of video games here in the states, reporting increased earnings of 25-30% for the last few quarters of the last few years I don't see digital distribution becoming the mutually exclusive way to get games.

For me, it is a hard choice to make. On the one hand, I love the idea that I can sit in front of my TV or PC and see what came out this week and be playing it in minutes. On the other, I like to collect things and I am sort of a packrat. I enjoy seeing my collection of star wars DVDs, among others.

Of course, the thought of one less thing cluttering my house, and cheaper more easily accessible games is always appealing.

So, I pose the question to all of you readers. Would you rather pay $60+ for a game and have the physical disc, an addition to your collection, and more clutter? Or would you prefer to download all your games (and all that entails: more harddrive usage, no clutter, less driving, no collection.)?

Leave us a comment with your thoughts.

DLC Monday: MegaMan 9

Hello and Welcome.

Wow, I love Mega Man.  Loved it since I saw that atrocious box art and knew I had to play it.  So this week I decided to talk about the recently released : MegaMan 9.

Love that box art, huh?  Capcom opted for a retro look to MegaMan 9, rather than the anime-esque approach of 7 and 8.  Keiji Inafune (and much of the original MegaMan team) wanted people to experience MegaMan in all it's simple and original glory.  Removing things like the Charged shot, and the slide, MegaMan 9 is MegaMan in the purest form.

One of the things that MegaMan 9 returns to, is the blistering difficulty of the original games.  Actually, its more than the difficulty of original games.  The original difficulty of MegaMan was a combination of the limits of programming and graphics.  MegaMan 9 is intentionally difficult at times.  It lulls you into a false sense of saftey, then attacks when you have no hope (or chance) of salvation.  Don't take my word for it, check out this video:

Mega Man 9 'Game Center CX' clip

The music in this game is as good as any of the classics, MegaMan 2 and 3 not withstanding. (the Video above should give you a good idea.)

Capcom finally decided to be "progressive" and stray away from all this "Man" business.  Instead of 8 "Man" robots, they included one "Woman" robot.  Splash Woman to be exact.  She's a mermaid. Progressive right?

Another new feature of MegaMan 9 are the "Challenges".  These are feats(similiar to Xbox Live achievements) that accomplish nothing but bragging rights.  Some of the achievements for the XBLA version are derived from these.  For a least of Challenges check here.   Achievements here.

The last new feature I will talk about is the availability of DLC(for a DLC game?) .  The confirmed list includes Proto-Man as a playable character, as well as some additional modes, mostly higher difficulties (like we need that...)

Well, I am going to go back to trying to defeat the 8 Master (er, 7 master, and one Mistress?) Robots.  Luckily I have two controllers (in case I break one...)

~K

Free Play Friday: Rayhound.

Hello and Welcome.

Ok, Ok, I know it is a little late, I was sick and at the airport, cut me some slack.

Today we are going to talk about a fun, free shooter for the PC: Rayhound.

As many of you know, I am secretly the world's biggest shooter fan(little joke there for 1up readers and listeners). Seriously though, I do really like shooters, especially those that take a unique approach on the whole shooter genre. Of course, it might be a stretch to classify Rayhound as a shooter. You never actually fire a shot in this game.

Rayhound's play mechanic is simple. Use your gravitational field to redirect enemy fire back at the enemy.

Deflecting bullets in Rayhound.

There is a little more to it than that; enemies appear on the screen in clusters and fire shots at you en masse. As the shots get close to you clicking your mouse emits a gravitational field that, depending on how long you hold the mouse, will be redirected at your foes. You can also use your captured shots to sort of slingshot fire towards your enemies my moving your ship as the shots rotate around you. Additionally, you can boost (by moving your mouse quickly in one direction) to deflect shots back at your enemies. Only with careful use of both the boost and your gravity field will you reach the higher levels of the game. Your life is measured in time. Each level you complete awards you more time, and each shot you take subtracts 10 seconds.

Gameplay

Despite what you see in the above video, Rayhound doesn't have (at least as of the version I have) any sound effects or music. This game would be perfect if it had something retro-techno like the video shows.

My favorite thing about Rayhound is its size. Coming in at .5mb Rayhound can fit on any device (pendrive, iPod, FLOPPY DISC for goodness sake) so you can take it with you anywhere for a quick game.

Rayhound was created by a Japanese individual named Hikoza Okubo. You can download it here.

Rayhound is a great game that, though lacking any sound, is great for quick on the go gaming.

~K

Retro Thursday: Xenogears.

Hello and welcome.

This week on Retro Thursday, We will be talking about a Playstation 1 (PSX) Game: Xenogears.

So, I recently bought a psp. One of the main reasons I did this,was because I heard you can play PS1 games on the PSP and it works like a charm. And since I had a large library of PS1 games (RPGs specifically) that I had never completed during my PS1 days, I thought this was my chance. What I didn't realize before I bought it; you must play the game remotely on your PS3 or use custom Firmware to play the games. Not wanting to shell out $500 more, I opted for the ardous process of getting custom firmware on my PSP.

NOTE: All the games I play on my PSP I OWN the physical disc, and are not available on the Playstation Store in the US. If a game becomes available on the Playstation store in the US you should buy it (as of the date of this post, Xenogears is not in the US Store , but on july 25th it was made available on the Japanese store) I do not promote, or condone piracy. Nor will I provide any information on how to put custom firmware, etc on you PSP.

Another reason that I was excited to play these PS1 games on my PSP is summed up by two EVIL words: Battery Backup. As many of my friends could tell you, I have a very unlucky history with games and memory cards that use a battery backup, instead of solid state memory like SD cards and sony's MemoryStick. I have lost countless hours of RPG and other game progress because of this (the main reason I have so many unfinished PS1 and PS2 games....). The ability to back up my saves (which I do weekly, now) and the assurance that, if my battery dies I won't have to start ALL over, Made this a perfect fit. Seeing as this is the third time I have played Xenogears (First time I had a bad disc, so had to wait a few years before I got a better disc.  Started over, and lost my save more than half way through....))

But enough about my sad gaming history, we're here to talk about Xenogears.

Released in 1998, Xenogears was produced by Hiromichi Tanaka (producer of the great Secret of Mana), and Hironobu Sakaguchi (Final fantasy) among others.  The Anime cutscenes where drawn by Koichi Mahimo, who was a lead animator for the Ghost in the Shell and Neon Genesis Evangelion animes.

Music (some of my favorite square music) was composed by Yasunori Mitsuda (Chrono Trigger) and definitely exemplified his own style, rather than trying to emulate Nobuo Uematsu ( And not putting himself in the hospital for it!).

Xenogears had me hooked from the first time I played the demo which came with my friends Final Fantasy 8.  The interesting thing about this title, Square almost did not release this game in America (it never reached the European  PAL territories) due sensitive religious themes (which I find pretty humorous, considering half of the PS1 RPGs where about killing "god").

Probably, the most interesting aspect of this game is the unique (for the time at least) battle system.  Using a "Combo" system of weak, medium, and strong attacks (Triangle, Square, and X buttons.) you learn new "Deathblows" based on the amount of times you press certain attack sequences.   As you learn new deathblows your "Gear" (bipedal mechs that are used to fight larger enemies) also recieves new attacks.  The magic or "Ether" system in Xenogears feels pretty tacked on at times, the only really useful Ether attacks are the ones that heal your characters.

Xenogears is also supposed to be the 5th installment of 6 in the Xenogears universe (sounds like Starwars math to me...).  The first four chapters where released as the Xenogears : Perfect Works, an encyclopedia of Xenogears art and history that was released only in Japan.  The 6th volume of the Saga was never released, but many fans thought that Namco's Xenosaga was going to be a sequel.  This wasn't that strange of an assumption given that about 70% of the original Xenogears staff worked on Xenosaga.  Unfortunately for most fans, Namco and Square weren't best buds so the rights to Xenogears remained with square.  Xenosaga is more of a reset on the whole Xenogears universe.

Well, that is enough for me.  Gonna go hook up the PSP to the TV in my hotel and play some more Xenogears!

~K

Unplugged Wednesday: Watchmen

Watchmen is one of those books that is good the first time you read it, but every subsequent time it seems to get better. The story takes place in the 1980s, masked vigilantes have been outlawed by the Keene Act - all except those who have decided to work for the government. In the beginning of the book, the Comedian (one of the government's heroes) is murdered. The book then follows the musings of the one illegal vigilante still on the streets - Rorschach. Rorschach becomes convinced that the Comedian's murder is part of a plot to kill off or get rid of all the masked heroes. Without going into spoiler territory, that's it in a nutshell. The problem is, no simple explanation really works for this book.

When a comic deals with issues like rape, miracles, and sanity, it begins to transcend the stereotype of the superhero comic that we all know. Alan Moore is an incredible writer in the comic medium and Watchmen is where he really let it all out. Each panel and issue is expertly choreographed to fit within the greater story so that the next time you come back and read through, you can see all the foreshadowing and bits and clues that you may have missed on previous reads.

With all that being said, Rorschach is one of the greatest protagonists ever. You may not like his style or his creepy monotone voice (as they call it in the book), but he knows what he believes and nothing is going to stop him from pursuing what he believes to be right. His character gets even more interesting when you begin to learn his backstory and the events that led him to his decision to become a vigilante. Rorschach isn't the only good character in the story though, each character is well developed and sympathetic, which makes it hard late in the story when you have to choose who you want to root for.

The best thing I can say about Watchmen is that even though you can do what I'm doing now and try to sway or interest you into reading it, the book really comes into its own when you are able to discuss it with another reader. There is few things as satisfying as having a good talk about the characters and what they represent in our world or how could things have been resolved differently in the story, etc.

Watchmen truly is a classic that deserves its place in everyone's shelf of honor. Read it, but don't put too much hope in the movie. Terry Gilliam once said that it was unfilmable, and I think I agree.... but I can be proven wrong.