[ gaming | Dirge of Cerberus - complete! and DMC4 beginnings ]
In a follow up to psuedoskribe's post a few days ago - the DMC4 website is live! Not much there, but still so pretty - Now I think I need a PS3.
Vergil is back! I think. Well, who else could be 'Nero'? So, just as I thought the blue Devil May Cry 4 logo was refering to Vergil. I feel vindicated. It's a bit strange to see Vergil wearing any red as in his new character design (according to the oh so pretty fully rendered 'Nero' who's facing you when you load the site...!); because y'know he's blue. While Dante's red. Vergil's also the one with the wiggy hand the teasers are refering to, which again, I expected 'cos he's the one obsessed with power while Dante's all "Bring on the booze, pizza, 'n women - and I'm all set". Oh, and the demon/devil hunting, too, I guess.
There isn't much content on the site (read: none), but they do have a few character concept designs up. If this is based after DMC2, Vergil actually looks younger than Dante did in DMC2. Maybe we can just blame that on the graphics though.
I also finished Dirge of Cerberus the other day (so of course the strategy guide comes in the next day, as is always my luck). Not a terribly difficult game to play; I got through in three days playing sparodically (y'know those things called 'work', 'sleep', and 'give other people a chance on the TV, mage!')
The training mode is definitely a must if it's your first time picking up the game - every button does something different, and they also make heavy use of the R3 and L3 buttons which is rare in a Square Enix game. You also get to see cute, nifty Turk!Vincent which was a joy - but I had no idea the boy was so thin. It took awhile to get used to the voice with the body; his voice actor definitely suits the older, more distant Vincent we're familiar with, but after awhile you don't even notice.
Death Penalty is a kick-ass gun. I wants it all through the game! I like the new design for Chaos; makes it more obvious that it's Vincent, and makes the distinction from DMC a little easier. That said, I spent the entire game comparing gameplay controls/mechanics to DMC. In terms of gameplay, Dante is just so much cooler. Honestly, there are tons of parts in the game were I was just swearing at the screen going "Come on - Dante could do it! ::grumblegrumble::". Cases in point: double-jumping - more effective in DMC, and especially, the ability to jump down anywhere to the lower levels on a map. Dante can do it, for godsakes!
I also found I'm a heck of a lot better at shooting games on a PS2 controller. I absolutely suck on a computer keyboard (i.e. Doom 3). In these terms, DoC was easy. I know a lot of people have said they have difficulty, especially with their accuracy, but I found it pretty simple. It's probably just because of the types of games I usually play. Really, going from DMC to DoC - easy. Especially if you've played any games like Half life or Red Faction on a PS2 and are used to the aim-and-shoot mechanism with a PS2 controller.
I really like Lucrecia - she definitely gets browny points for being Sephiroth's mommy. She's where he gets all his looks from! I liked her character and her voice actress did a great job (apparently she's also a regular on South Park - nifty!)
I really don't like Shelke. I found her irritating, but I did like her sister (who gets brownie points for building Barret's kick-ass new gun (or so I hear)).
I found the Tsviets rather boring (I don't really count Shelke as one, since she changes sides rather early in the game). While some were pretty cool - cool character designs, powers, and weapons - none of them really lived up to their potential. And I don't just mean gameplay-wise (only Rosso was any real challenge when you finally face them one-on-one). They could have done so much more, and I have a feeling if this had been a proper Final Fantasy game sequel (like FFX-2 which was awesome), they definitely would have (although Shuyin was a bit weak as far as FF villains go. Who knew blitzers could play organs/pianos?). As it is, they're just bleh in DoC.
Omega is so cool.
G(enesis) irritates me. Alright, when I first saw him in the Japanese version I was just like 'why Gackt?!', until the wing came out, which made it even worse and pissed me off. Like, copyrighted?! Someone should tell Square they could really only pull that off with one villain. Two is just pushing it. And now with the English version my dislike has increased more (which I didn't think was possible) because - ahhhh! His voice actor! WTF is with his accent?!? Why an Antonio Banderas-accent!? It pains me. It pains me muchly.
I like the expanded Planet Theory. It follows on from the original game, fits in to OGC, and validates Omega's existance as the last weapon. And why a planet would die and what would happen to its lifestream naturally. The death of a planet is so pretty in FMV. I honestly think the ingame FMVs were even better than the work done on Advent.
I don't really get SND. I can't even remember what it stands for. And while I read somewhere that Weiss could also SND like Shelke, it never actually said so in the game, so how Hojo possessed him is never really explained. Also never explained: how Weiss 'died' in the first place. Maybe it was Nero...? I have a feeling there's a lot in the game that wouldn't have made sense if you hadn't been reading up on it on the internet (wikipedia is your friend).
To sum up: I liked Dirge of Cerberus. Not my absolutely favourite game to play (gameplay would probably be DMC3, playing would probably be FF7), but it's definitely got things going for it. It's pretty easy on Normal, though the Extra Missions are a pain. What I liked most was the novelty of being able to play a game based in the FF7 world on the PS2 - seeing Nibelheim/Shinra Mansion in all its glory was awesome. You could definitely see why the gang didn't like being there. I just wish there had been more oppurtunities like that. In this game, you only get to see three different locations: Kalm, Nibelheim: Shinra Mansion, and Midgar/Shinra Building.
The other thing I really like is that it show cases the under rated/hidden characters from FF7 and really gives them a chance to shine in an FF7 setting. That said, it has some really pretty eye candy.
Weee! First time I've actually reviewed (properly) a game I played.
Vergil is back! I think. Well, who else could be 'Nero'? So, just as I thought the blue Devil May Cry 4 logo was refering to Vergil. I feel vindicated. It's a bit strange to see Vergil wearing any red as in his new character design (according to the oh so pretty fully rendered 'Nero' who's facing you when you load the site...!); because y'know he's blue. While Dante's red. Vergil's also the one with the wiggy hand the teasers are refering to, which again, I expected 'cos he's the one obsessed with power while Dante's all "Bring on the booze, pizza, 'n women - and I'm all set". Oh, and the demon/devil hunting, too, I guess.
There isn't much content on the site (read: none), but they do have a few character concept designs up. If this is based after DMC2, Vergil actually looks younger than Dante did in DMC2. Maybe we can just blame that on the graphics though.
I also finished Dirge of Cerberus the other day (so of course the strategy guide comes in the next day, as is always my luck). Not a terribly difficult game to play; I got through in three days playing sparodically (y'know those things called 'work', 'sleep', and 'give other people a chance on the TV, mage!')
The training mode is definitely a must if it's your first time picking up the game - every button does something different, and they also make heavy use of the R3 and L3 buttons which is rare in a Square Enix game. You also get to see cute, nifty Turk!Vincent which was a joy - but I had no idea the boy was so thin. It took awhile to get used to the voice with the body; his voice actor definitely suits the older, more distant Vincent we're familiar with, but after awhile you don't even notice.
Death Penalty is a kick-ass gun. I wants it all through the game! I like the new design for Chaos; makes it more obvious that it's Vincent, and makes the distinction from DMC a little easier. That said, I spent the entire game comparing gameplay controls/mechanics to DMC. In terms of gameplay, Dante is just so much cooler. Honestly, there are tons of parts in the game were I was just swearing at the screen going "Come on - Dante could do it! ::grumblegrumble::". Cases in point: double-jumping - more effective in DMC, and especially, the ability to jump down anywhere to the lower levels on a map. Dante can do it, for godsakes!
I also found I'm a heck of a lot better at shooting games on a PS2 controller. I absolutely suck on a computer keyboard (i.e. Doom 3). In these terms, DoC was easy. I know a lot of people have said they have difficulty, especially with their accuracy, but I found it pretty simple. It's probably just because of the types of games I usually play. Really, going from DMC to DoC - easy. Especially if you've played any games like Half life or Red Faction on a PS2 and are used to the aim-and-shoot mechanism with a PS2 controller.
I really like Lucrecia - she definitely gets browny points for being Sephiroth's mommy. She's where he gets all his looks from! I liked her character and her voice actress did a great job (apparently she's also a regular on South Park - nifty!)
I really don't like Shelke. I found her irritating, but I did like her sister (who gets brownie points for building Barret's kick-ass new gun (or so I hear)).
I found the Tsviets rather boring (I don't really count Shelke as one, since she changes sides rather early in the game). While some were pretty cool - cool character designs, powers, and weapons - none of them really lived up to their potential. And I don't just mean gameplay-wise (only Rosso was any real challenge when you finally face them one-on-one). They could have done so much more, and I have a feeling if this had been a proper Final Fantasy game sequel (like FFX-2 which was awesome), they definitely would have (although Shuyin was a bit weak as far as FF villains go. Who knew blitzers could play organs/pianos?). As it is, they're just bleh in DoC.
Omega is so cool.
G(enesis) irritates me. Alright, when I first saw him in the Japanese version I was just like 'why Gackt?!', until the wing came out, which made it even worse and pissed me off. Like, copyrighted?! Someone should tell Square they could really only pull that off with one villain. Two is just pushing it. And now with the English version my dislike has increased more (which I didn't think was possible) because - ahhhh! His voice actor! WTF is with his accent?!? Why an Antonio Banderas-accent!? It pains me. It pains me muchly.
I like the expanded Planet Theory. It follows on from the original game, fits in to OGC, and validates Omega's existance as the last weapon. And why a planet would die and what would happen to its lifestream naturally. The death of a planet is so pretty in FMV. I honestly think the ingame FMVs were even better than the work done on Advent.
I don't really get SND. I can't even remember what it stands for. And while I read somewhere that Weiss could also SND like Shelke, it never actually said so in the game, so how Hojo possessed him is never really explained. Also never explained: how Weiss 'died' in the first place. Maybe it was Nero...? I have a feeling there's a lot in the game that wouldn't have made sense if you hadn't been reading up on it on the internet (wikipedia is your friend).
To sum up: I liked Dirge of Cerberus. Not my absolutely favourite game to play (gameplay would probably be DMC3, playing would probably be FF7), but it's definitely got things going for it. It's pretty easy on Normal, though the Extra Missions are a pain. What I liked most was the novelty of being able to play a game based in the FF7 world on the PS2 - seeing Nibelheim/Shinra Mansion in all its glory was awesome. You could definitely see why the gang didn't like being there. I just wish there had been more oppurtunities like that. In this game, you only get to see three different locations: Kalm, Nibelheim: Shinra Mansion, and Midgar/Shinra Building.
The other thing I really like is that it show cases the under rated/hidden characters from FF7 and really gives them a chance to shine in an FF7 setting. That said, it has some really pretty eye candy.
Weee! First time I've actually reviewed (properly) a game I played.