Gabriel

When I'm looking on YouTube to determine if I think a game might be worthwhile, I try to find a video with as much gameplay footage as possible. Then I turn the sound off, because 8 times out of 10 there's some commenter who doesn't have anything intelligent to say and has a really annoying voice to boot. I often find that even when I do listen to the reviewers, they seldom cover the meaningful bits of the game. Ironically, they'll often spend huge amounts of time talking about the graphics, which their video allows me to see for myself, making their commentary completely pointless. Someone mentioned AlphaOmegaSin above. I sometimes watch him, but never for his reviews. I only ever watch his videos when I want to see someone rant in the most ADD way possible. I'm not sure if I've ever made it all the way through any of his videos. The guy is just all over the place. I don't think he's a faker. I think he's a real geek, but his channel is definitely not really about gaming. It's just about whatever random shit he wants to 'sperg out about that day. Most of the time it's at least semi-gaming related. The best parallel I can think of for AlphaOmegaSin is in the world of pen and paper RPGs. He's that guy at the game shop that just 'spergs out about everything and can't stop telling you about his favorite character, campaign, book, or whatever. He's that guy that never developed any structure to the way he describes things beyond what an 8 year old is capable of. Related to him is Razorfist. I don't really pay much attention to Razorfist's reviews, because it is 230% clear that his interest in games is different from mine. However, Razorfist has a pretty damn good voice. He scripts his stuff, and he does it fairly well. His editorial rants are definitely better than his reviews. Even when I don't agree with what he says, it's still fun to listen to him. There was one guy I listened to briefly. I think he was ShadowElite08 or something. He styled himself as "the JRPG enthusiast." I quit watching him because his verbal tics were getting annoying. Plus, he's... I want to say unreasonably positive, but that doesn't really describe it. It's not that he never says anything negative. I guess the best way to explain it is that the fanboy is strong in him. It seems like every game his covers is going to be OMG SO GRATE! Game Sack doesn't do reviews, but I've developed a liking for watching them. I like their shotgun approach to just presenting random games. They're pretty strong on footage, as well. It doesn't hurt that they don't present themselves in the irritating way most YouTube game presenters do. However, their skits are beyond lame. On the other hand, when they do stop motion animation, it's usually pretty cool. I occasionally watch ProJared, but not for his reviews. I only watch his infrequent humor pieces. In those he kind of steals theSpoonyOne's old schtick, and they're usually amusing. I watch Classic Game Room. Once again, I don't see Mark as a reviewer. He occupies some strange place in the video gaming ecosphere where he just shows game footage and talks and I love him for it. Mark's videos are like sitting down with your buddy on the couch and talking about some new game while you play. Ironically, Mark is probably the best actual reviewer of the YouTube bunch, because he actually covers details about the games.in far greater depth than everyone else. I do miss the days when Mark would make longer videos about games. There's that other guy that does reviews under the Classic Game Room banner, but he's clearly trying too hard to be funny. He's at least arguably succeeding to some extent, but not as well as he needs to. When I find myself accidentally clicking on one of his videos because I think it's a Mark video, I typically click out. Happy Video Game Nerd / Lophatjello / Stop Skeletons is pretty fun to watch. I like his optimism and he covers things fairly well. He recently made a video about how he's dropping the name of Happy Video Game Nerd and the shtick to just talk about games, and that should be fine as that's really what he did in the first place. However, outside of his Happy Video Game Nerd style pieces, I don't find any of his content worth watching. Outside of the extremely well done stuff like his love letter to Mystic Quest, Earthbound, and his Parasite Eve Retrospective, he focuses on Let's Play style videos where the commentary just isn't interesting and the games aren't worth watching either. Regardless, HVGN has been pretty influential with me. He's the reason I tried Earthbound for the first time (and loved it). Because of his Parasite Eve series, I even picked up and played Parasite Eve a bit. I feel he articulates his points well, without the hyperbole a lot of other people on YouTube engage in.

Heavy Weapon. I have it on the 360. It had been on PSN, but when I went to DL it the game had been delisted. I think there's a PS2 disc with that one and something else.

I paid for that one on the 360. I better hurry up and snag it for my PS3.

I checked during lunch and saw that Suikoden 2 was listed at 5.99. I figured I'd purchase it when I got home because I didn't want to be tied up downloading it right then. When I got home it had already been marked up to 9.99. It made me wish I had hurried up and done what I was going to do in the first place, but then again, it was only 4 more dollars. I also finally bought Suikoden 1 on the store. I have the disc, but the DL version will save some wear and tear. Whenever I get to them, anyway.

My copy of Class of Heroes 2G arrived today, so I spent my evening playing. I only played the first game for a few minutes, and all I recall about it was the dungeons were random. I didn't particularly like that and never got back to the game. I bought the physical release of Class of Heroes 2, but I've never even opened it. So for all practical purposes, 2G was my introduction to the game. There are some similarities to the Wizardry: Labyrinth of Lost Souls release from a few years ago. Character races have set stats, and to make a character you receive an allotment of Bonus Points to distribute. Character classes are made available depending on how you've distributed your points. Getting the automap to work requires purchasing a Map in the shop. Monsters are often turned into silhouettes and described as ????? when they appear in combat. Resting at the inn (the dorm room) often involves taking a free option in order to restore magic points to heal everyone, instead of spending money to have everyone rest. The game is pretty brutal starting out. I probably have a weak party (Warrior, 2 Samurai, Ranger, Idol, and Sorceror), and I got my shit kicked around pretty badly until I managed to level everyone up to 3rd level. The characters just don't do very much damage starting out., and several opponents in the starting area are nearly immune to the daggers owned by starting characters. But so far, pretty good. It's deeper than Wizardry, with other towns, crafting, and shops with actual useful stuff to buy. I'll probably be playing this for a while, at least.

If you are buying a game at launch, whether by pre-ordering brick and mortar or by standing in line at a midnight launch party, do the reviews really matter to you? The Assassin's Creed thread made me think about this. Would the absence of a review embargo have made any difference? My thought is that it would not. The people buying the game would have purchased it anyway. If reviews had made any difference to them, they would have waited until the reviews were available. It seems such people are already committed merely on the brand name.

It's about damn time.

This and the Atelier games are the series I've followed with the most dedication but played very little of. I got into the series on the PS1 with Tales of Destiny. I played it for about 20 hours and really enjoyed it, but something distracted me from carrying through with the title. Looking at the release date, I see it came out in late September of 1998. That makes me wonder how I even afforded it, because at that time I was jobless and about to be in classes. Obviously, I somehow picked it up and played it a bit before course work took over. By the time I got school and homework balanced, it looks like student loan money provided me with Front Mission 3 and put an end to returning to Tales of Destiny. I picked up Tales of Destiny II. From the release date, this must have been one of the first games I purchased after I started my professional job. I think all I've ever played of it is a few minutes after the opening, but I even bought the game twice. In addition to my opened copy I still have a sealed copy I bought from K-Mart on clearance. Like Bahamut Lagoon, Tales of Phantasia was one of the games from the SNES which I was very displeased didn't get localized, so when I found it was getting a GBA release, I immediately pre-ordered. I was extremely excited to finally get to play this one. But after I got it in 2006, I never played it. Until a couple of months ago, I had never even opened it. I have a good idea why. I was buying so many games at that point, plus I was starting to have health problems which made my personal energy levels sporadic. Then there were Tales of Legendia, Tales of the Abyss, Tales of Symphonia 1 and 2, and Tales of the World, all games from my BUY EVERYTHING period. The only one I've spent any time playing is Abyss, and even then only two hours or so. After that the series had a lull in instalments and I started to cool down on the mania. Then Tales of Vesperia came out. This is the one I played the most since Destiny. I was very much getting into the characters. I have no idea why I didn't continue this one. It's one that I've always meant to get back to, but I just never do. And then I added Tales of Graces f, Tales of Xillia, and Tales of Symphonia Collection to the hoard. I've managed to resist the urge to acquire Xillia 2. So yeah, 11 games, 3 of which I own two copies of, and I've only played 2 of them to any meaningful degree. Something about the promise of them and the positive impressions of that first game keep me coming back. The familiarity of the Kosuke Fujishima designs probably doesn't hurt either.

I'm still playing Project Diva F 2nd. Normal is basically too tough for me. I can clear a couple of songs, and a couple more with help items, but otherwise it's just beyond my coordination. But that's fine this time around because this one has been really good about making the modules/costumes available to scrub players like me. I'm missing out on a a few modules which only unlock on Hard and Extreme, but I've at least been able to get all my favorites. I jumped back into Warriors Orochi 3, and finally set down with it for the couple of dozen hours needed to unlock all the characters. I like this one more than Dynasty Warriors 8 because I get to play the characters I want to play rather than being forced to play one of a specific set of three. Anyway, now I'm burnt out on Warriors games for a while and will be looking for something else.

And I thought the last installment of this I watched was condescending and banal. They were just getting started on pushing that bar.

It looks like the Extra Character DLC problem is fixed as of last night. The option to download it for free finally appeared and now Teto, Neru, and Haku are among my module options.

I had basically the same thought. Upon seeing the thread title I was like, "Radio Shack still sells things other than cell phones?"

Played some Hatsune Miku: Project Diva F 2nd tonight. Bad news? The game launched with two "Clubs" (season passes) which amount to $100 of DLC. Plus, even though I bought the Extra Character Pack for the previous game (before it became free), and there were rumors the new game would recognize that and make them available in this one, the Extra Character Pack is a separate $3 extra. Ugh.

Which one do you think plays better, the 2600 or 7800 version of Centipede. The 7800 version has some pretty big perks. It's much prettier. It supports two player simultaneous play. But even though the 2600 version looks bad, it plays wonderfully. I don't know. I've been playing both lately and it's just too close to call. I think the 2600 version has a very slight edge in gameplay, but I'm not entirely sure. So, which one?

I've completed one run-thru of Tears to Tiara II. I loved this one. I spent 115 hours on this one, and although there is a New Game+ and a bonus dungeon, I've been pretty single mindedly dedicated to this one for almost 4 weeks. I'm wanting to shift gears and play something else (perhaps a bit more casually) for a while. However, I think I will get back to this one in the future. High Points The story was like a good anime that takes itself mostly serious. I enjoyed ALL the characters. While I definitely enjoy some more than others, there are none that I hated or didn't want to use. The Tactical RPG mechanics were much more in line with the 16-bit and PS1 era games which I find superior to the more recent style seen in ,for example, Disgaea and it's cousins. The voice acting was so good that even though I know maybe 4 words of Japanese, the quality shone through. I could read the subtitles much more quickly, but I WANTED to hear the voice acting, because it was just that good. The writers know how to tug the heartstrings and get the reader/watcher invested.

That explains why I've never run into it. I'm pretty good about keeping my inventory clear. Pretty much anytime I have items and money to fuse with, I'm visiting dear sister to upgrade stuff. Plus, I hardly ever move area to adjacent area, preferring to use the map for travel.

Nintendo 64. I bought it because at the time Robotech: Crystal Dreams was allegedly on it's way. Of course, that game never materialized, and probably would have been less than good even if it had come out. I never did find anything I really liked for the system during it's lifetime. Even now, I think there's probably only about 5 or fewer games on the system I'd consider worth playing. Dreamcast. Someone I knew was selling a non-working one for $20, so I decided to buy it and see if I could coax it into running. I did and promptly acquired Soul Calibur for the system. Other than Grandia II (a title I never could get hold of for the system), there was never anything else I found entertaining on it. Regardless, I've kept a DC around for years exclusively for Soul Calibur. Of course, that's been pretty pointless ever since SC2. GameCube. I had money burning a hole in my pocket and I happened to see Godzilla: Destroy All Monsters Melee. I bought the system for that one game alone. This one has a bit happier ending than the others, because I did eventually find some other games worth playing on the system. X-Box 360. When I bought this system, the ONLY thing that seemed interesting for it was Dead or Alive 4. There was nothing on the upcoming list that looked good. I happened to be in a WalMart early on the New Years Eve following the launch when there were all the "shortages" of systems. On a whim I decided to hang out with a bunch of other people who were spending their New Year's Eve acquiring a game system. Eventually there were some other games worth owning the system for.

Astro Blaster

Two.

Hold Mode while turning on the game. Ms Pac is a pre-6 button title, and doesn't play nice with newer controllers.

I often play that one with a ASCII SG-6 Fighting Stick. I have to hold Mode down to get it to work. The control in the game is a little loose. I find using a stick helps.

I prefer Afterburner II on the Genesis to the 32X Afterburner. The control just feels better. Maybe it's because I played the Genesis version more. I don't particularly like G-Loc. I don't hate it, but it wasn't what I was expecting. It feels too much like an NES Top Gun clone and too little like it's own thing. Afterburner III has always seemed more like a G-Loc 2 to me than an Afterburner game. Like others have said, it's not very good. It doesn't make good use of the SegaCD at all. It feels like a half finished Genesis (not Sega CD) launch title.

I'm still playing Tears to Tiara II. I thought I'd finish it this weekend, but as I've only just completed Stage 38 and there are 45 Stages, it looks like it will stretch to another week. All this game has to do is not fumble the ending and it will go down in my book as one of the best video game experiences ever. I will admit that after 90 hours with this title, I'm wanting it to wrap up. But it's been a hell of a ride.

Games I've played the crap out of: Missile Command (Atari 2600) Adventure (Atari 2600) Defender (Atari 2600) Pac-Man (Atari 2600) Defender (Atari 5200) Star Raiders (Atari 5200) Star Trek: Strategic Operations Simulator (Atari 5200) Qix (Atari 5200) Dragon Warrior (NES) Ultima: Quest of the Avatar (NES) Golden Axe (Sega Genesis) Streets of Rage 2 (Sega Genesis) Dark Wizard (Sega CD) Final Fantasy III (SNES) Tempest 2000 (Atari Jaguar) Final Fantasy VII (PS1) Final Fantasy Tactics (PS1) Front Mission (PS1) I can't really think of anything I've acquired past the year 2000 which can come anywhere close to the amount of time I've spent on each of those. I'd guess I've spent more time on Adventure alone than I have on everything I've ever played on my PS3 combined (and considering how many RPGs and grindy games like Dynasty Warriors I play on my PS3, that's saying a lot.) Missile Command and Adventure are probably tied for first place.

My guess is that L and R were once C and Z. I've seen something that X and Y were supposed to relate to coordinates because of the SNES's Mode 7 3D powerz. But I really doubt that's the reason.