May 11, 2013 – The Legend of Heroes: Trails in the Sky

Alright, so this game. I didn’t really like it.

It was okay enough I guess, but it was really frustrating 50% of the time.

Like, I swear the max accuracy for attacks was like 75%. Missing 1 in every 4 attacks is a huge pain in the ass. Although since attacks are by and large useless and do no damage anyway, this is just an annoyance rather than a hindrance.

Also, not being able to choose where I move when I’m attacking is stupid. Like, if you’re going to use a grid-based battle system like most SRPGs use, at least take some good ideas like being able to chose your fucking attack position. Nothing more aggravating than not being able to attack because the only place the game chooses is in the middle of a spell that’s going to go off next turn.

Characters and story were stupid. The story is possibly the most cliched story I’ve ever played. There was not a plot twist I didn’t see coming, and I’m usually TERRIBLE at noticing foreshadowing unless it’s incredibly obvious. The characters are all lame 2-dimensional cardboard cutouts. You have the stupid (literally) protagonist, her adopted brother with a troubled past (oh I’ve never seen that one before), a bimbo who drinks too much, a lecherous moron who nobody in-game even likes, a veteran who thinks the main characters are just amateurs and not worth his time, a 12 year old girl prodigy, a student who is so very obviously hiding something about herself, and a large boisterous man nicknamed “The Immovable”. I’ve never seen such an overused cast of characters before. At least have somebody who’s unique for fucks sake.

But whatever. Game was pretty mediocre.

April 7, 2013 – Bioshock: Infinite

So I had a bit of a snafu with a time machine and lost about four months worth of posts. Isn’t that strange? They just up and disappeared I have no idea. Doesn’t matter though, they’re back now. CRAZY STUFF!

No don’t say I was lazy, that wasn’t it at all, it was a time machine I tell you. A TIME MACHINE. It broke by the way, so don’t bother asking me to assassinate Hitler. I tried, turns out it made it worse and then I had to go back in time again to STOP MYSELF! Whoa. That’s what broke the time machine, then I had to wait 80 years. It was pretty boring.

Um. Anyway.

Bioshock Infinite. It was pretty good. Shooty-shooty-bang-bang. Also some fshew-fshew-FWOOOSHBOOOOOM. And some bzzt-zap-bwat-bwat. It was fun I guess? Story made sense to me. Did I mention I have a degree in astro-physics from those 80 years I was lost… IN TIME?! Because that would have been a lie. I dunno why I just mentioned that.

March 2, 2013 – Bastion

This was a pretty cool game. The narrator really made it shine though. Other than him it would’ve been a fairly solid click-click-slash, but with him it’s great. A++++ would play again.

Anyway the customization was pretty nice in that you could use different potions to make yourself stronger in different ways, and the weapon upgrade system was good if not unique. I liked the shrines that let you customize difficulty, that was a nice touch.

The weapon challenges were decent, though I found some of them were stupid-hard unless you had the weapon fully upgraded (and even then they are super hard). But that’s a minor complaint.

Anyway anyway game is good you should play it.

February 16, 2013 – Fire Emblem: Awakening

I really really enjoyed this. So much so that I replayed it 3 times right away. That’s 4 times in total! Holy shit! I never do that!

Anyway, they took a lot of mechanics from older games and amalgamated them into what I think is possibly the best Fire Emblem yet. Though I do love Radiant Dawn a whole lot. The characters are a little one-dimensional, they mostly have 1 character trait that is emphasized nonstop, but they’re okay I guess. I don’t really play Fire Emblem for the characters. Or the story for that matter, which also is pretty mediocre. I enjoy it for the tactical battles and shit. I played on all three difficulties and I’d say hard is the best. Normal was a little too easy for me, even without grinding, and Lunatic was lolbullshit that I countered with even greater bullshit (lolnosferatu). But Hard hit a nice sweet spot for challenge. The addition of casual mode is good for newcomers to the series and even veterans who can’t stand when their units die, so that’s nice. The DLC is pretty decent for it’s price I guess. I don’t really have a problem with it, but that’s just me.

I guess that’s all I wanted to say aside from this may very well be the goatee for me this year. ALREADY!

January 27, 2013 – Professor Layton and the Last Specter

Well the story wasn’t as good as the third one, and the puzzles were decent. That’s all I can really say. OH! Aside from the fact that they spelled spectre wrong. Lazy bastards.

January 13, 2013 – Virtue’s Last Reward

Something something. It was better than 999. Quite a bit better actually. I went back and played 999 to get the best ending, and it was still bad too, so whatever. I actually ended up getting every ending for this, I enjoyed it quite a lot. The puzzles flowed better, I didn’t have to replay them to do different story paths either which is MUCH APPRECIATED.

January 5, 2013 – Lego: The Lord of the Rings

Alright, so I’ve sorta been letting this slide a bit. And by a bit I mean 4 months. I was originally going to decide what the fuck my favourite game from 2012 was, but I forgot to, and was sorta holding off posting until I did that, so there’s this huge hole in the timezone OH NO WE’RE ALL GONNA DIE.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Oh you’re still here. Okay. Well Lego: LotR. It’s a Lego game. FUN!

Games that came out in 2012 that I own

So basically this is a precursor to a best game of 2012 thingummy. Here I’m going to list all the games I own that have come out in 2012, and a few thoughts if I feel like it, and I’ll do a top X early in January or something. This is mostly for my own use since I can’t really remember what came out this year. I won’t be counting remakes unless the original came out in 2012 as well, which is… highly unlikely. There’ll probably not be a very accurate count for PC games, as I’m not really going to check all 200 of their release dates.

360

Call of Duty: Black Ops 2

I enjoy the multiplayer, but have yet to touch the single player, I’ll most likely play through my brother’s copy of Black Ops 1 on PS3 before I do, but whatever.

Halo 4

Only recently purchased this, haven’t played it much at all, only touched on the MP a little. Not particularly impressed with it, but I’ll keep going at it a little. Will play 3 and ODST before doing the story mode of course.

Lollipop Chainsaw

I really haven’t played this much, but it doesn’t seem the greatest game this year.

3DS

Code of Princess

Was a decently fun game but had some pretty major flaws.

Heroes of Ruin

Nothing great, but I had fun with it.

Kingdom Hearts 3D: Dream Drop Distance

From the little I’ve played, it’s fun.

Paper Mario: Sticker Star

I haven’t played this nearly enough to have actually formed an opinion of it.

Professor Layton and the Miracle Mask

I haven’t even beaten Last Spectre yet, so haven’t touched this beyond making sure it works.

Theatrhythm Final Fantasy

I very much had a lot of fun with this. Goatee material? Maybe.

Virtue’s Last Reward

Given my dislike of 999, I very highly doubt this would be goatee material.

PC

Crusader Kings II

I’ve had a blast with this, it’s certainly a great game.

Diablo III

lololololol lololol lololol

Dishonored

Certainly seems like it could be a great game, but I haven’t played enough to say.

King’s Bounty: Warriors of the North

Looks like fun, but haven’t played much.

Legend of Grimrock

Probably the most interesting indie game this year, but again I haven’t played it much.

Lego Batman 2: DC Super Heroes

Downloaded, but haven’t played yet.

Lego The Lord of the Rings

Could be very great.

Of Orcs and Men

Played for about 30 seconds.

Orcs Must Die! 2

Seems decent for a tower defence game.

Risen 2: Dark Waters

I haven’t played Risen 1.

Sleeping Dogs

Seems pretty interesting.

Torchlight 2

Better than Diablo 3. lololol.

Waking Mars

Seems like it could be cool.

The Walking Dead

An interesting game I guess.

Warlock: Master of the Arcane

Very much a fun game.

DS

Pokemon Black 2 and White 2

Great games, but not as great as Black/White.

Pokemon Conquest

An interesting take on the series, but ultimately a bit too simple.

Shin Megami Tensei: Devil Survivor 2

If it’s anywhere near as good as the first, this would be a strong contender, but alas I haven’t played enough to say.

Ps3

Atelier Meruru: The Apprentice of Arland

I haven’t played more than 30 seconds of this before the generic anime-ness drove me insane. Haha jk. But no really, 30 seconds.

Borderlands 2

Waited patiently for this, but it failed to keep my attention once it was actually out. Good job!

Darksiders 2

Seems an interesting take on the original, but I haven’t really played enough to tell.

Final Fantasy XIII-2

Surprisingly competent coming off of my dislike for the first XIII.

Kingdoms of Amalur: Reckoning

This will probably be my goatee if nothing else beats it.

Hyperdimension Neptunia Mk2

Haven’t played/beaten the first, sooo…

Mass Effect 3

Ending aside really enjoyed this. Goatee material? Who can say.

Mugen Souls

Haven’t played much at all.

Record of Agarest War 2

Haven’t beaten Zero or 1, so nothing yet.

Persona 4 Arena

Fun fighting game, but that’s not saying much.

Tales of Graces f

Holy crap I can’t believe I forgot this one @_@ very possibly goatee. VERY POSSIBLY.

PSP

Growlanser: Wayfarer of Time

An interesting 30 seconds.

Gungnir

Was fun, but not great.

Wii

The Last Story

I had fun playing this.

Xenoblade Chronicles

This has trouble keeping my attention.

And that is the list. I will  need to spend the next amount of days working on playing at least some of these.

December 23, 2012 – Kingdom Hearts: Birth By Sleep

I don’t really consider myself to be that big a fan of the Kingdom Hearts series. I mean sure, I have all of them (except CoM, but eh, fuck it) but that doesn’t really mean I like them. I mean, I do, but that’s beside the point. Okay, maybe not. Anyway, Squeenix’ combination of childhood nostalgia and “original” characters is sorta my thing but not really. It’s in my “sure I’ll play that” pile. AND I LIKE MY PILES

Anyway, BBS, which I find the most hilarious acronym ever because I’m a computer person, and while I’m too young to have actually used a BBS, I still know what one is. Anyway, acronyms aside the title makes no sense but I’ve come to expect that from Kingdom Hearts games, what with 358/2 Days (which I still don’t know how to pronounce, I like to call it 179 Days) and Dream Drop Distance among their stellar titles.

But whatever, titles are not an important part of gameplay. Or story. Actually they are a fairly important part of story, BUT THAT IS BESIDE THE POINT. Or maybe it is the point I’m trying to make. Yes. Yes I’ll go with that. I don’t usually care too much for story in games (see the 999 journal for reasons and stuff) so frankly I don’t care if your title is crap. I do however like to have SOME SORT of indicator in the title as to what it’s about. Like The Lord of the Rings is about, hey guess what? The fucking Lord of the Rings. Portal is about, hey guess what? Portals. Even Doom made some sense since you’re going to hell and all. I mean, granted, you still have some great games with weird titles like Bioshock or Half-life or The Elder Scrolls: Arena, but at least those titles make sense in English. Aside from Bioshock, though that could be puzzled out. At least coded had the whole “computer world/glitch realm/whatever” thingy, so the title actually had something to do with the game itself, and I think 358/2 days has something to do with something, but I could be wrong, it’s still a stupid title since you basically have to play through the entire game to understand the title. But Birth By Sleep? What does that even mean? I’ve beaten the game and I still don’t know. But fuck it, I don’t care. I’ve come to expect stupid titles from KH now, so I’d be more disappointed if I got one with a reasonable title like Kingdom Hearts 3.

But I’m not really here to complain about the title, not when it’s such an insignificant part of the game (literally, since it has nothing to do with anything). I need my meat and potatoes, my soup and sandwich, my pasta, my rice, my… goddammit now I’m hungry. GAMEPLAY. That’s what I want. And boy I enjoyed BBS’ gameplay. It was very fun. 3 characters who each have very different playstyles is a great start, and the command deck system? Easily my favourite battle system in the series so far. I touched on it a bit in coded, but coded’s is sort of an amalgamation of Days’ and BBS’ systems with a little of its own thing thrown in. I wasn’t that big a fan of how abilities were learned, but it worked I guess. Would’ve preferred a bit more transparency though, it was extremely hard to get some abilities without either foreknowledge or using a guide. Another thing I disliked was that most of the bosses were too difficult compared to the general encounters in an area. Especially the characters first bosses. They kicked my ass hard when I was having no trouble with the regular encounters. I generally find a good rule of thumb in RPGs is that if I’m just at the cusp of not having trouble with regular encounters, than I should have a reasonable fight with the boss, and in general that’s how most RPGs I’ve played work. Not so here, bosses are easily 2 or 3 times harder than that rule of thumb would suggest. It’s not really too bad once I got used to it, but it certainly was a pain at first.

One thing I thought was extremely great was that most of the worlds were new to the series, with only Neverland and Olympus repeating in another game (though having not played DDD yet, I don’t know if this is still true.). It does get a little tiresome when you take into account the 3 characters going through the same set of worlds, but in general they did a good job of avoiding making the worlds stale by blocking off some areas and opening others for different characters. There’s still some repetition but it’s nothing major.

I have a minor complaint about the voice acting, Ventus was fine, but Terra and Aqua’s VAs weren’t particularly stellar. Xehanort and Eraqus were excellent though, and aside from Terra and Aqua everyone else was fine. Of course, Terra and Aqua being two of the three playable characters mean you have to hear their not-quite-surprise or flat anger more than Xehanort and Eraqus’ prime acting. It’s a minor complaint, but it’s there nonetheless.

Anyway I feel I’ve said enough about Bulletin Board Systems, so there we go. 880 words, no less. Unless wordpress’ word count is inaccurate THEN MAYBE LESS!

December 22, 2012 – Saints Row: The Third

Now, a little bit of foreword here. I didn’t previously consider myself a fan of the open world GTA clone genre, so I went into this game, quite frankly, expecting it to suck. I’ve played a small amount of GTA4 before and it didn’t really gel with me, and I even find Arkham City (which is, granted, a borderline case) a markedly worse game than its predecessor, though I still think it’s a decent game redeemed by a fantastic ending. Anyway, aside from those two games, I’ve not really played much of the genre, and based on GTA4 I dismissed it, along with fighting games and racing games to the “not Lordy’s thing” pile. Which incidentally FPS games were also in before Bioshock and Half Life 2 changed my mind, but that’s a different story altogether. Anyway, I only really bought this game because it was part of the Humble THQ Bundle, and thus very cheap, otherwise I’d never have bothered since I don’t generally pick genres out of the pile. Anyway the moral of the story, if you couldn’t tell already is that I’m very premature at throwing things into piles. Wait that’s kinda… not… WHATEVER.

Saints Row 3 is great. That is all.