Aaah, games
After a span of three months, I unfroze my World of Warcraft account last night. I figure that since the expansion game is coming out in, like, a month, I might as well make some sort of effort to get my uber-casual dwarf hunter up to level sixty in the meantime. This is the expansion pack that will include the crack-addict, magic-leechin', "we've locked up a deity-thing in our basement and are using it to crown ourselves paladins" Blood Elves and those Tauren-reskinned, space-faring, "no, no, we're GOOD demon-monstrosity-people who worship the Light, the Elements, and hate orcs enough that we're going to pair up with the comparatively boring Alliance peeps" Draenei.
I'm honestly impressed that Blizzard keeps all accounts around for approximately forever. When I opened up my dwarf hunter, he was exactly where I logged him off last: in mid-flight, halfway across a continent.
... in other news, I started playing the Sakura Taisen (aka Sakura Wars) remake for the PS2, also last night (we'll see how that goes). I picked it up near the beginning of the year at an anime con- it was a limited edition of some sort, and was sold at a fairly low price- but didn't get the chance to actually crack it open until just now. I'm saddened that I didn't start on it sooner.
Sakura Taisen is a fairly classic dating sim/steampunk mecha/strategy game series (dating back from the Sega Saturn days, and still going strong with Sakura Taisen 5). Currently, my socks are in the process of being rocked by the game's awesomeness: character designs by the same guy responsible for Tales of Phantasia and Ah! My Goddess, music that invokes quite a bit of nostalgia, and steampunk mecha action- retro steampunk mecha action, at that. Sakura Taisen also has one helluva spin on the dating sim system that few other games have emulated, and one that can be pure, unadulterated evil, depending on the circumstances:
Your responses are timed.
That's right: when you're given a choice on how to respond or what to do, you only have about ten seconds, usually less, with which to make your decision and respond accordingly. Fail to press that 'O' button, and the game defaults to "You were tongue-tied" or something, which is very rarely any good. That one pressure can drastically alter how a player answers a set of question, which is all sorts of nifty in my book. And it helps that Sakura Taisen has quite a bit of fun with this system, and proves its incredible flexibility by applying it to all sorts of situations- one second to press the 'O' button to intervene and stop two girls from slapping each other across the face, five seconds to reply with "Hey, I'll walk you back to your room" or "'Night, talk to you later", new options revealing themselves if a certain amount of time passes... and so it goes.
All things considered, though, my favorite use of the system is one scene where the player has to walk the main character through changing his clothes while two girls wait outside his room. Rush too much, and you'll get yourself tangled up or some such; take too long and hit the time limit before clothes happen, and Iris will burst in on your room while you're still half-naked.
... granted, it's probably cooler than it sounds. At the very least, it gave rise to what has become my favorite dating-sim choice box, ever:
"(I think I'm done changing! I hope Sakura and Iris haven't waited for too long.)"
1) Open the door.
2) Put some pants on.
I'm honestly impressed that Blizzard keeps all accounts around for approximately forever. When I opened up my dwarf hunter, he was exactly where I logged him off last: in mid-flight, halfway across a continent.
... in other news, I started playing the Sakura Taisen (aka Sakura Wars) remake for the PS2, also last night (we'll see how that goes). I picked it up near the beginning of the year at an anime con- it was a limited edition of some sort, and was sold at a fairly low price- but didn't get the chance to actually crack it open until just now. I'm saddened that I didn't start on it sooner.
Sakura Taisen is a fairly classic dating sim/steampunk mecha/strategy game series (dating back from the Sega Saturn days, and still going strong with Sakura Taisen 5). Currently, my socks are in the process of being rocked by the game's awesomeness: character designs by the same guy responsible for Tales of Phantasia and Ah! My Goddess, music that invokes quite a bit of nostalgia, and steampunk mecha action- retro steampunk mecha action, at that. Sakura Taisen also has one helluva spin on the dating sim system that few other games have emulated, and one that can be pure, unadulterated evil, depending on the circumstances:
Your responses are timed.
That's right: when you're given a choice on how to respond or what to do, you only have about ten seconds, usually less, with which to make your decision and respond accordingly. Fail to press that 'O' button, and the game defaults to "You were tongue-tied" or something, which is very rarely any good. That one pressure can drastically alter how a player answers a set of question, which is all sorts of nifty in my book. And it helps that Sakura Taisen has quite a bit of fun with this system, and proves its incredible flexibility by applying it to all sorts of situations- one second to press the 'O' button to intervene and stop two girls from slapping each other across the face, five seconds to reply with "Hey, I'll walk you back to your room" or "'Night, talk to you later", new options revealing themselves if a certain amount of time passes... and so it goes.
All things considered, though, my favorite use of the system is one scene where the player has to walk the main character through changing his clothes while two girls wait outside his room. Rush too much, and you'll get yourself tangled up or some such; take too long and hit the time limit before clothes happen, and Iris will burst in on your room while you're still half-naked.
... granted, it's probably cooler than it sounds. At the very least, it gave rise to what has become my favorite dating-sim choice box, ever:
"(I think I'm done changing! I hope Sakura and Iris haven't waited for too long.)"
1) Open the door.
2) Put some pants on.