Truer Words…

I found this amusing, and aside from the last frame, fairly accurate to the fan-base.

Dawning of a New Age

May be inaccurate, but its still funny.

On Bosses

I would like to nominate Seth from SFIV as the Cheapest Boss Fight in the history of fighting games, perhaps gaming period.  Any Contendors?

Odin Sphere

I’ve had this languishing on my shelf forever, only tried it out once. During my RRoD episode I decided to give it a thorough play-through. I suppose anything than can be said of this has been said already, but I really was struck by just how “pretty” this game was. There seemed a greater emphasis on the art form of games in this. I thought it wouldn’t be as stunning on an HDTV (as SD signals tend to look “off” in some way) but in actuality the larger screen helped me notice just how much there was to it. It is no surprise that PS2 players suffered from slowdown, as you had the movement of the main stage, plus up five backgrounds, most with some sort of activity, particularly with the forests, in which you could observe tree swaying in the wind all-throughout. The story was particularly entertaining, and I plan on going through a chronological chapter by chapter viewing of the scene selections at some point later. I won’t say it was stunning, but the music had a few wonders hidden within its tracks. With all that said, one might assume it was a smooth and magical experience. One would be wrong. While I do say that this was a great game, it had some of the most frustrating stages I have ever played. And I beat Strider. Seriously, there were a few choice stages in this in which I cursed more than the entire length of Shinobi. Anyone who said this was a breeze either played on Easy or didn’t get to Mercedes’ Chapters. That being said, the tragic story, strong characters, flowing art and spouts of hectic swearing have cemented this title in my heart. Or that gaping wound where its supposed to be.
I also started Persona 4 shortly afterword. I particularly enjoyed P3, so I’m looking forward to the length of this.

Afros?

Watched Afro Samurai the other day. Figured I’d give it a chance since the viewing was free.
I wish I could have asked for a refund.

On Solty Rei

Sotanaht: I started watching Solty Rei the other day, really had nothing else to do.
Graul: …
Sotanaht: I found it to be rather confusing, in a way.  The main character is this adorably sweet girl, the kind that makes you want to defend her from the world, but they constantly flaunt her sexuality…
Graul: Pedo creepiness then?
Sotanaht: Well she’s not exactly a “little girl” either.  Its just the way she acts.
Graul: Ditzy women are hot, just the way the world is.
Sotanaht: I wouldn’t say she’s ditsy.
Graul: A grown woman behaving like a little girl is ditsy.
Sotanaht: If anything, she’s just innocent.  She really has no past by the time of the show.
Graul: …
Graul: That’s so sexy.

Resident Evil 5

Man this was a lot of fun. Not once after picking it up did I really think about doing anything else. I’m sure a simple google will deliver a plethora of reviews on the subject, it being the big release of the month and all, so I’ll eschew remarking on the little things. A really great job with the A.I. for Sheva though. Easily the best I’ve seen in a single player game. There were a few hiccups, but these were fairly negligible. The only thing I can say disappointed me was the story towards the end. Things took a fairly overdone turn, and there were a few conclusions that flew in the face of someone who has followed the series from its inception. Still, as I said first, I had fun from beginning to end, and I haven’t even tried out the co-op features yet.

African Sojourns

Obviously, picked up RE5 yesterday. Haven’t had enough time to play through it entirely yet, but I am looking forward to diverting all my spare time to it. They did an amazing job with the visuals, it can really be immersive. It hasn’t recaptured the creep factor of its predecessors jut yet, but it is scratching on the surface. I imagine it will wiggle its way in when I’m not looking for it. The only complaint I have was the chapter division. While, yes, it was necessary o incorporate it in the Live Network as they did, but it really diminishes the experience to an extent. The ability to play through chapters over and over to customize your item selections is a little too convenient. It loses some of its atmosphere from this stop-and-go routine, but I’m willing to overlook it for now.
I’ve also read that Capcom will be releasing Resident Evil (remake) and RE Zero on the Wii.  Maybe not such big news, but to anyone who has had to look upon the mesh of pixels those two, previous Gamecube, games project onto an HDTV will tell you it will be easier on the eyes at least.  The big news from that of course is The Darkside Chronicles, a sequel to The Umbrella Chronicles taking during RE2 and picking up all the spots the previous one left out.  I’m still holding out hope for a complete remake of the the previous games.  Maybe after 5 they will be out of ideas for a while and have no choice but to give us the upgraded RE2, 3 and CV.

Meh.

Started levelling a paladin alongside Graul in WoW. I never really had any inclination to do so before, but the thought of having two paladins was a lot more appealing than one. The unfortunate drawback to this is that we’re playing alliance. I felt rather dirty, but I managed to get by with deluding myself into believing I was “spying” on the alliance with it. I have discovered several locations I’d like to visit with Sotai…
The main reason we started playing Alliance was because of Nailo and Shorara, two people we knew in real life whom we started FFXI with. They have, amazingly, been playing that until very recently, a thought which gives me goose-bumps. Despite Graul mentioning how much better WoW was than FFXI, it took several others to convince them, and, lost souls that they are, they were alliance. Still, the option of actually having a party to go through the game was appealing in its own right, so its excusable. The ordeal has also made me realize the true extent of something that has been fairly obvious in the past as well. Blizzard is really bias against the Horde. I was pretty overwhelmed the first time in Stormwind. It was an actual city. Not somehting I was prepared for. The capital of the Horde, Orgrimmar, is a collection of huts in a valley for crying out loud. The realization that Alliance had a tram system was irritating. And also considering that a good deal of the Alliance starting areas are very secluded makes it easier to level. We never had those luxuries. It’s almost as if Blizzard was going psychological on us. “If we raise them with the worst areas, they will be the angry villains we need them to be.” Let me tell you, getting ganked by the skull ranked druid when I was level 10 set the stage for a lot of hostilities. More so even with Graul, who played a warlock most of the time.
Resident Evil 5 comes out tomorrow, an event I am anxiously awaiting.   Gametrailer’s Retrospectives are very nice for building suspense before release, and I like the timeline structure of part 6.  It promises to be a long weekend.

Quote of the Day

“I got leet deeps son, like a satellite cannon… that shoots AIDS!”
-Preacherrman