Metal Gear Solid 4

Metal Gear Solid 4is supposed to be one of the smokin guns of PS3 exclusives, in a time where almost zero games are (or remain) platform exclusive. So many games are cross-platform or "timed" exclusives (how I hate the corporate BS that goes on behind the scenes here) now that you aren't really missing out on a whole lot by only owning one console (and I'm talking either PS3 or 360 here, of course). Myself being a PS3 fan, though I own and like both consoles, I was really hoping to be like 'well, but we have THIS', referring to MGS4 of course. And, MGS4 did sell a whole hell of a lot of PS3's here and in Japan.

However, I think MGS4 is an embarrassment to games.

I was a big fan of MGS1 and 2. Loved those games. I think I played through the original 3 times to get all the endings and to use all the special items you unlocked after each playthrough. I probably played the demo for the game from the Official Playstation magazine like ten times through before I got it. I was in love with the storytelling and the gameplay, which back in the PS1 days hadn't really been done before (with maybe the original Metal Gear series being the exception). I loved the enemies and their respective back stories, and even though I thought the overall story was a bit heavy-handed at times, I enjoyed it as well. Metal Gear Solid 2 was just as good I thought, even if the story was even a bit more confusing.

I never played MGS3 for myself, and I think I've told the story like 100 times now that since I watched (off and on) my roommate in college play through my copy of the game twice, I never had the motivation to play it (or the will power... damn WoW).

Either way, I was really looking forward to 4 and how they ended up wrapping up the story. "Playing" through MGS4 was an exercise of pure torture. This game was notorious for its long cutscenes before I played it, but I kind of dismissed it as being part of the MGS universe that long cutscenes were the norm. However, I found out quickly that I was being a bit naive... the other MGS games don't hold a candle to 4 in the cutscenes department. Near the end of the game, it felt like (and actually was) after every room you got through (which would take maybe 5 minutes at the longest), you had to sit through at least an hour of cutscenes before you could actually do anything again. Sound like fun? Maybe, if the story is great and the cutscenes are interesting. But the story in this games sucks. A lot.


Hey look, Snake is old now, and its because of... *TWO hours later* ... FoxDie.

For all the lengthy cutscenes, the story in this game is never explained in a manner that humans can understand, the 4 under bosses to Liquid are never explained and only seen once before you kill them (and then their stories are given in a "short", boring 10 minute monologue after they are already dead), and I was never made to care about any of the characters, including Snake, who I kept hoping would just die already. In fact, I kept wishing they all would just die, because MGS4 wants to have every single character die a meaningful, epic, matyr's death... only to RUIN it by "shockingly" revealing that said character is still alive. Though I will admit Sunny was an interesting character, and really the only source of caring/amusement I had with this game.

Most of the problem with the story is the fact that this game can't get over the fact that 3 previous games were made before it. MGS4 is one giant flashback/homage to the previous 3 games, especially MGS1 and 2. During many scenes in this game, it is glaringly obvious that it is channeling or referencing some element or scene from the old game. And the game's creators (namely, the hugely egotistical Hideo Kojima) can't even leave this small amount of subtly intact. They have to bash you over the head with it with the "flashback" button during scenes, which you can press to see exactly what bits of the old games are being referenced.


Hello there, haven't I see you somewhere before?

You may think, hey, I loved the old games, why wouldn't I love all these references? You won't love them because none of it is done with class. The references aren't subtle, meaning they aren't there for fans. It feels to me that Konami thought if it put as many pieces of the old games into this game as it possibly could, MGS4 would be just as good as the first 3. Wrong. You can't simply ride the coattails of great games to be a great game. It needs to be its own game. Only 2 out of 5 sections of this game offered even a different *setting* than the old games. The others you've seen before in some form. And the new areas can't stand on their own. The first area, which was shown the most, involved you being in a town in Afghanistan. The games wants you to think you've been dropped in the middle of an intense war zone. But in fact, you are still just encountering the same lone guards and patrol routes that you are used to in the more "enclosed" settings of MGS1 and 2. That, and you don't even need to be careful. you basically follow the map towards the waypoint you need, regardless of stealth or tactics. You could run in a straight line from start to end, dodging fire as you go, and be let off the hook once you reach the next area (and accompanying mind-numbingly boring cutscene). There's nothing that makes these new areas special.


The Middle East. Shrug.

And, as we learn, even the areas that are either the same old areas you've been to before, or just rehashes of similar areas, can't maintain their luster in this context. The experience needs to be fresh. MGS4 never learns this, and nothing ever feels fresh. If possible, the gameplay feels even more restrictive, especially after you are treated to a bit of old gameplay, which you may remember quite fondly if your are a MGS fan. But in this context, it comes off as forced and left me with a sour taste in my mouth.

One of the big gameplay bits that just seemed unnecessary is the amount of different guns this game contains. It is much more than seen in other games, and it feels like they are promoting an experimental type of play experience. But, the thing that they are forgetting is that this isn't an experimental, "sandbox" type game. The combat and exploration sections are so brief that there is absolutely no need to ever use more than your tranq pistol. Of course you could, but the non-lethal approach is actually easier than just killing everyone, because once you hit someone once with a tranq dart, they are doen. But pull out an M4 machine gun, and it'll take you much longer to put down an enemy. It simply isn't worth it. I never once bought a new gun or gadget. I was just trying to get the game over with as quick as possible that I didn't care about the massive choice of guns. I think if they wanted you to actually use these guns, they should give you a reason to at least try them out. I feel it was a lot of energy wasted on something that I don't think was quite as important as making an actually compelling gaming experience.

Anyway, I could probably rant on and on about how much I hated this game, so I think I will stop here. Basically, I was really excited to play this game, but by the end I was seething with rage, hoping everyone on the screen would die. But no, people in this game seemingly have endless lives, and will NEVER DIE EVER. Even people who are actually dead come back to life or something. You get the idea. I can't in my right mind recommend this game to anyone, fan or newcomer alike. Avoid at all costs. Unless you like watching 25 hour movies with a horrible storyline and an incredibly arrogant director. Fuck you Kojima.


Sunny, the only bright spot in this game. Yes, this measly pun was all I could muster through my hatred.

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Red Faction: Guerilla

Yes, I know I have been slacking on this here collection of words. Work has been pretty damn busy recently as I help usher in a new batch of blue people, and well, I'm too lazy to actually update at home. But anyway, here's some thoughts on/review of Red Faction: Guerilla.

In the first two minutes of this game, you are given a sledgehammer, pointed towards a concrete wall, and told to go to town. I knew right then that I was going to enjoy the hell out of this game.
The best way to describe the basic gameplay of RFG is that it is "GTA on Mars", even though I hate making GTA out to be some sort of gaming messiah, but it is the closest comparison. RFG is an open world game where you can freely walk/run/drive around the world taking on a variety of missions in (mostly) any order you choose, and you have a safe house to scurry back to if "the man" is hot on the trail of your anarchy-causing rear.


Boom! Nope... wasn't me, nothing to see here.

However, the main draw for me, and what the Red Faction franchise is known for, is the ability to destroy every single man-made structure that you see. I've literally spent 15 minutes taking down an entire building with just my sledgehammer, simply because, well, I could. The game also gives you Remote Charges, Rocket Launchers, Proximity Mines and a Nano Rifle, which takes apart structures (and people) at a molecular level, to aid in your destruction, along with the usual fare of human killing machines like your Assault Rifle, Pistol, Shotgun, etc. The environment destruction works so well in RFG. I mean really, they could have left out the story of this game and just told me to destroy everything in sight, and I would probably still be playing. Taking buildings apart with pure manliness is just that satisfying. You can also hop in a mech-walker and take apart buildings in mere seconds if the whole manual labor thing bores you.

There is a story here to be told, but it mostly serves as a big red arrow pointing you towards more things to destroy. Some of the missions by themselves are pretty fun though. One of my favorites had me breaking into an enemy base, stealing a giant mech-walker, rampaging back out of the base on the walker, then having the thing transform into a truck with a rocket launcher turret that allowed me to blow up enemy vehicles as they gave chase. Oh so fun. Some missions are complete duds though, and I got tired of the "drive this vehicle to the safe house" missions. With so many good gameplay mechanics going for it, I think we could have done without the same boring drive from point A to point B missions.


Daddy's Home!

The graphics are nothing really to write home about. Usually I don't really mind graphics that aren't amazing, but the character expressions and movement during cutscenes are of PS2-esque quality. They are just kind of awkward to watch. I guess it just goes to show how much attention was given to the story of the game (little).

Anyway, this game isn't about story, it is about blowing the shit out of everything in sight. And it delivers. I recommend at least trying it out and taking a sledgehammer to a wall. You won't be disappointed, unless you don't get your rocks off through needless destruction. Wait, what I am saying? Those people don't exist.

I have yet to try multiplayer in the game, but once Jim gets back his 360 from the infirmary, I will attempt to update.

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Happy Video Games Day

Apparently, July 8th is Video Games Day. Didn't know that did you? Neither did I. No idea how this was started, or who even started it, but that certainly won't keep me from celebrating...
Check it out here!



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Shin Megami Tensei: Devil Survivor

The latest entry in the Shin Megami Tensei series of RPGs has arrived, and it is in a nicely portable form for the DS. This is the third game in the SMT series that I have played, and from what I have seen so far, this game looks like it is going to be great.


Angry Anime Girl Attacking Demons... of course

The game starts off with Demons being unleashed throughout "modern day" Tokyo, and of course, through various mysterious plot developments, it is up to you and your friends to stop them in order to save Tokyo and the rest of the world. To do this, you will use the power of you COMP device (which looks like a DS...) to summon demons to fight for you, in order to kill the other demons. So, the premise follows along with other games in the MegaTen world, and for those who aren't familiar with that world, the demon gathering and fighting against other demons can be likened to Pokemon.

In Devil Survivor, though, the trick is that the game blends standard turn-based RPGs with Strategy RPGs. Battles are encountered and begin like other SRPGs you have played before. The "world" is a series of menus, you select a location to have a battle, and once you begin, you place the units you want to fight on the battle grid, and you proceed to move about the battle grid like you are used to in SRPGs. However, your "units" in this game are a party of up to three, consisting of a Leader (you and your COMP-wielding friends) and two demons. Also, when you choose to Attack an enemy, you are sucked into a battle encounter and you proceed to duke it out turn-based style. However, you are only given one round of attacks for each combat situation. After each side takes their turns, you are sent back out to the main battle grid, regardless of the outcome of the fight. So, if you managed to kill any of the enemies on the team you engaged, they are out of the fight for good. If you killed all of them, go you, on to the next unit. Also, you can get an "Extra Turn" in your attack rounds by "doing good", such as when you get a Critical Hit, or exploit an enemy's weak point. Also, sometimes you and the enemies can even start out with the Extra Turn already allocated, and could then lose the extra turn if hit by a critical or weak point attack. So, there's a decent amount of strategy involved with the turn-based mini-fights.


Your typical SRPG attack grid

The battle system, for what I have seen so far, really works well. This is probably the perfect SRPG for me, since I usually don't get in to them. I try really hard to like SRPGs, but usually the slow pace of the battles, the fragmented way of story-telling, and the lack of exploration wears on me until I stop playing. The only SRPG that I have ever beaten (of the many I have tried to play) is Front Mission 3 for the PS1. I even played the game half-through a second time because their were two main story lines in the game, so I'm not completely anti-SRPG. I just need the right situation. So far, I really like the mixture of Strategy and turn-based battles in Devil Survivor. This seems like a really good place for those new to the SRPG genre and people who don't usually like SRPGs to break into the these types of games. Also, there seems to be a big focus on the story as well, and the game has a lot of dialogue and a lot of dialogue choices. The choices will also lead you down multiple story branches, or so I'm told. I am not using a guide for this game (gasp), so we will see where my choices lead me.

If you are a fan of SRPGs, or just generally a fan of RPGs and aren't quite sure about this whole Strategy thing, I highly recommend checking out Devil Survivor. It seems like a winner so far.


Time to kill me some demon blobs...

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Hello there Cliché

Just got to the Pirate Ship level in Tales of Vesperia. Nothing cliché about that at all....
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Class of Heroes Early Impressions

Class is in session at Particus Academy and I have created my party and have begun wandering around the first two dungeons in Class of Heroes. Here are some of my early impressions of the game as I take my first steps in this new dungeon crawling RPG from Atlus.



First things first, we have to create our party. You can either choose from the pre-made batch of characters, or make your own. I, of course, choose to make my own (Moe the Wizard just doesn't strike fear into the hearts of my enemies...). During character creation, we encounter the first "thing" in the game that the game doesn't explain to you at all. Getting no explanation for things happens A LOT in this game. You'll see, just wait. So, when creating we "Enroll" the first character, the character is assigned bonus points, which you use to increase certain stats of the character. This is important because many of the games classes have certain stats requirements in order to become said class. For a new player, you would simply select Enroll and go with whatever Bonus Points are assigned, and go on happily creating your character. What the game doesn't tell you is that the BPs are randomly given to you when you hit Enroll. The range of BPs you can get is 6-60. That is quite the big range. You typically get around 10 points, and only get 60 if you are really lucky. So, what you can do here is hit Enroll, then see how many BPs you get. If it's a low number, simply exit out of the Enroll screen, then go back in. BPs are again chosen randomly, so you can repeat this process until you get a nice high number of BPs. However, getting a really high number may take a while, so if you want beefy characters early on, be prepared for some monotony. I typically settled for BPs in the 20-40 range. I don't have the patience to keep rerolling for hours before even starting the game to get 60 BPs.

Anyway, there are 15 classes and only 6 spots on your party, though you can have multiple parties of adventurers if you really want to. So, what to choose? Things here aren't as quite as simple as making a standard D&D party and going off to fight baddies. You need to take into account certain skills you need. Pretty much every treasure I have encountered so far has been trapped, so you need some Thievery skills to prevent from springing the traps. Thieves are, of course, the best at this, but Rangers and Ninjas also have some Thievery skills, but not quite as good as the Thief. But the Thief doesn't bring a whole lot to the table during your actual fights. Also, Clerics can Appraise (Identify) the items you find. Every item you pick up is unidentified, so you either need the Cleric in your party to do it, or pay the Campus Store to do it. So, Clerics can save you a lot of money. Luckily, Clerics also learn Black Magic in this game, so they can do some damage in combat. Also, you create new weapons in this game through Alchemy, so an Alchemist in your party will help with this, and again prevent you from paying the Laboratory to do it. So yes, lots of options. This is the party I went with:

Male Drake Warrior (Straight up melee damage)
Female Felpier Samurai (Melee damage with some Black Magic)
Male Dwarf Devout (White Magic (heals) and some melee damage)
Male Diabolos Alchemist (Alchemy as mentioned above, with some Black Magic)
Male Erdgeist Wizard (The Boom Boom)
Female Halfling Thief (For... Thievery and being useless in battle)

So, I haven't mentioned what the Races do yet. Besides determining your starting stats and stat growth, the races also determine your groups Affinity rating. Basically, Affinity measures how well your group gets along together, and that is determined by race and alignment. Drakes only like other Drakes. Halflings like and are liked by everyone. Everyone hates Diabolos. Dwarves and Elves hate each other. So once you pick your races and Alignment (Good, Neutral, Evil), you are assigned Affinity. A higher Affinity rating means your character gets a stat boost, while a low one means a stat decrease. So, you need to keep that in mind when choosing races/classes. As it is, all of my characters have a 100% rating except the Diabolos at 94% and the Halfling at 97%. I figured the Diabolos would be risky, but I like their stats way to much not to use them. And its a friggin half-demon.


The Gang is Ready to Rock

So you finally have your party after all of that planning. Time to raid some dungeons! The 1st-person dungeon crawling aspect of the game is more or less standard fare seen in other games of this type. What's nice here is that the map automatically fills itself in, so you don't have to do the drawing like in Etrian Odyssey. That also means you can't make little notes to yourself on the map. Ah well. It seems like you won't be traversing the same dungeons/floors over and over here like you did in EO, so it probably fits better for CoH.
Aside from the map, the fights are fast, the enemies are interesting looking, and there is quite a bit of challenge here. Some enemies you breeze through, while others decimate you at first. Once nice change is that now when you get into fights, you don't simply fight against one row of enemies like you would normally see. Now, fights usually include multiple rows of enemies. Usually, the enemies in the back rows can't attack you unless they have ranged attacks, so you don't have to worry about getting hit by 10 enemies at once. The multiple rows of enemies serve to keep the fights a bit more interesting and make it so you get a bit more out of the game loading into the fight (which isn't to say there is an actual load time, it simply makes fights last a bit longer and give you more XP per fight).


So many Enemies... Let's FIGHT!

So far, I have enjoyed the dungeon crawling aspect of the game. The dungeons are pretty big and usually have multiple levels. Also, the layout of the maps is such that I feel like if I get into trouble and need to exit fast, I can get back to the entrance pretty quick. This may change in later dungeons however. As far as the classes, I haven't tried having one of my characters switch classes yet. Switching classes let's you keep spells you have learned from your previous class(es) (as long as you have enough spell slots on the new class), and resets yours level back to one. Basically just another customization option and a way to give your characters some more spells. You don't keep skills though, so you can't have a Warrior who can Appraise from his previous life as a Cleric.
So far, I am a bit unhappy with my Samurai and the Alchemist. The Samurai levels much slower than the Warrior and doesn't have the damage or HP of it either. The alchemist has yet to learn any Black Magic, and also levels slow. And since the equipment you can create through Alchemy is based on level, there have been a few items that I have had the materials to create, but had to go pay money at the Lab because my slow leveling Alchemist couldn't make that item yet, even though he knew the recipe.

There are a few elements of the game that bug me so far, such as certain things not being explained to you at all (as previously mentioned) and how much time you need to speed out of the dungeons micro managing your inventory. The process of getting everything Appraised, checking the Lab to for the Recipe Book to see if you can make anything new, checking for materials and dropping items off at the Dormitory lockers, and finally resting your characters is quite time consuming and cumbersome. I would like to spend more time adventuring and less time dealing with my inventory. I kind of hope that in the sequel (which is being released in Japan soon) removes the clunky Alchemy system and uses the material system that was used in Etrian Odyssey II. That system was nice, since you just sold back the materials you found to the shop, which automatically unlocked equipment and weapons to buy. No slow and boring Appraising and material juggling. This is about the only aspect of the game I don't really enjoy. Who knows, once I start rolling in the money, I may just pay for my weapons and not worry about the whole process, but the beginning of the game makes Appraising and Alchemy a necessity since money is hard to come by.

I will keep updating as I get deeper into the game, and give an update on how each class is doing. Until then, happy dungeon crawling.


Who Knows What Lies Ahead...


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Not so Hellish after all

So, I finally beat Persona 3 Wednesday night (full review to come soon!). So, check one off the list.
So, last night I was ready for my next PS2 RPG romp, Ar Tonelico II. This game intrigued me when I first read about it on RPGGamer. It is a bit hard to explain the premise without having played it for myself yet, but it focuses a lot on character interaction, and the main character (you) getting to know your faerie/angel/songstress part members better by "diving" into their minds. Also, the battle system seems to involve you actively blocking during a "Defense" mode. So, I was intrigued, and wanted to try it out, even though I expected not to "stick it out" for the long haul like I did with Persona 3. I was quite unhappy with the next turn of events.

I put it in my PS3, and wait for the game's intro to start up and lead me through some gratuitous anime introduction with some quirky J-Pop playing over it (I've been spoiled by Tales of Vesperia and Persona 3, what can I say). But, as I busy myself with the laptop on... my lap, I notice the screen is still black. Odd. Maybe I wasn't paying attention and didn't start the game like I had thought. Restart, reload. Still nothing comes up except the "Playstation 2" splash screen. Take the game out. Some minor scratches, nothing big. Clean it anyway, try it again. Still nothing. Argh, wtf? Is the game just broken? Obviously it has been played before, so what is up. Did it suddenly go defective?

None of the above. After some searching on the interwebs, come to find out, Ar Tonelico II is incompatible with my 80gb PS3. Sigh. What the hell?
Apparently, since my 80gb model uses software emulation for PS2 games, not all games work. Earlier 60gb PS3 models used hardware emulation, so all PS2 games worked on them. But since Sony switched to software emulation, only like 80% actually works. So upset. The original Ar Tonelico works on the PS3, but not II. Ugg. I am sick of Sony's policies on backwards compatibility. At first the PS3 was, then it kind of was, and now the current models aren't at all. I understand that I do own a PS2 (it is currently residing up at Meghan's, serving as a DVD player :-p), and new ones are only $100 now, but all of Sony's SKU hopping is about the only thing I hate about the PS3. It annoyed me when the PS3 was first released, and how Sony kept introducing new models and discontinuing old ones. It is like if you were an early adopter, you get screwed in the long run for having an "inferior" model (smaller HD). And now, they drop BC. BC should be able to convenience. I love playing my games on the PS3. The bluetooth controllers, the slick interface, virtual memory cards, I love all of it. I want my PS2 games too!
I realize that was a bit of a rant, but yea, needless to say, I was a bit annoyed. So, back went Ar Tonelico II. I realize I can still play it, but this just kind of relieves some of the RPG backlog. Maybe I will try to snag the first game instead. For now I will just keep playing Tales of Vesperia, Class of Heroes, and maybe give DDS another shot.

Hell just got a little cooler.

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