Smattering of Video Game thoughts
Almost finished Psychonauts. I believe I only have one mind dive left and that's it. I have some mixed feelings about this game, though it's mostly positive ones. The writing is just... hilarious. Like I find myself having to put the controller down because I am giggling so much. It is a shame that this game was apparently really unappreciated in it's heyday, because I am just having a great time with it. Except for the way that information is handled in the game. Occasionally I find myself wandering around, completely lost and unable to find the right person to talk to in order to progress the story, or worse, running into the wrong person and jumping the plot forward accidentally. I know it's an older game so I can't complain too much, but I seem to flip flop between laughing like a hyena and having to wander aimlessly for 30 minutes in silence. Very polarizing.
Just got one of 6 endings in 9 Hours, 9 Persons, 9 Doors (I would have thought there would be 9 endings but what do I know). I guess, like most games with multiple endings, there is only one good one. The one I got was fucking awful, though apparently not the worst one. And I mean awful in the "oh God no why this is too brutal for my delicate sensibilities" way. No spoilers, not that I think anyone I know is going to play this game, but wow. This is the first M rated game I've owned for the DS, and it really punched up the cursing and gore and violence factor for that rating. I think part of the horror factor is coming from the fact that it's on the DS. My mind is not coded to think of my DS as a "mature" gaming platform, so any excess violence is like "what what what".
My real only hangup with this game is it's less of a game then it is a visual novel. Like, it's a puzzle game I guess, but where as the Professor Layton series gives you a puzzle game that tells a story, 9H9P9D is a story that occasionally brings in puzzles. There's a lot of reading, almost too much (and that's saying something coming from me), and the text crawls really slowly on the first playthrough... and you have to read ALL of it. I won't be able to have a full opinion about it until I get the true ending and get the full story, but right now I'm really not sure how to feel about this game.
Dug out this really old terrible GBC game that I remembered existed. Animorphs. Full disclosure, I've never actually read any Animorphs books, and only saw like one episode of the TV show. I know, that seems very unlike me. But I think even if I did know anything about the series, this still wouldn't make any sense. It's like a horribly coded Pokemon clone where NONE OF THE ATTACKS WORK. Some times I try to fight things and not a single attack can do any damage at all. But then the enemy doesn't do damage either, so we just sit there for 10 minutes with me mashing "A" on it, trying to get the fucking genes from a rattlesnake so I can FINALLY MORPH INTO THE SNAKE AAAAAH. The game is crazy hard and crazy broken. It's kinda fun, though, in a "so bad it's good" kind of way.
Feel bad that I haven't touched my Xbox in over half a year, but I just don't see the point. I simply cannot afford to buy $60 games that are going to last me < 10 hours. Don't have internet access on it anymore either, so I can't access the store or play with my... 2 friends. Waste of time, really. I've been waiting for something really worth my time to come out (that I actually want to play, so whatever Skyrim). I don't regret getting an Xbox, I really enjoyed the experiences I've had on it, but I seem to be having way more fun on my ps2 and DS then I've ever had on the xbox. The last game I bought was Portal 2. I can't even remember the last time I was able to get on Live and play with anyone. I'll just hide in my room and play my solo games I guess.
Persona 4 anime has turned out to be way more awesome then it had any right to be. Instead of forcing my friends to play the 80+ hour game, I'm forcing them to watch the show. It's been going well. It's all the fun of the Persona storyline without all the grinding! Not as much depth in the social links, but hey if you want depth, play the game.
Talking too much about nothing, I guess.
Just got one of 6 endings in 9 Hours, 9 Persons, 9 Doors (I would have thought there would be 9 endings but what do I know). I guess, like most games with multiple endings, there is only one good one. The one I got was fucking awful, though apparently not the worst one. And I mean awful in the "oh God no why this is too brutal for my delicate sensibilities" way. No spoilers, not that I think anyone I know is going to play this game, but wow. This is the first M rated game I've owned for the DS, and it really punched up the cursing and gore and violence factor for that rating. I think part of the horror factor is coming from the fact that it's on the DS. My mind is not coded to think of my DS as a "mature" gaming platform, so any excess violence is like "what what what".
My real only hangup with this game is it's less of a game then it is a visual novel. Like, it's a puzzle game I guess, but where as the Professor Layton series gives you a puzzle game that tells a story, 9H9P9D is a story that occasionally brings in puzzles. There's a lot of reading, almost too much (and that's saying something coming from me), and the text crawls really slowly on the first playthrough... and you have to read ALL of it. I won't be able to have a full opinion about it until I get the true ending and get the full story, but right now I'm really not sure how to feel about this game.
Dug out this really old terrible GBC game that I remembered existed. Animorphs. Full disclosure, I've never actually read any Animorphs books, and only saw like one episode of the TV show. I know, that seems very unlike me. But I think even if I did know anything about the series, this still wouldn't make any sense. It's like a horribly coded Pokemon clone where NONE OF THE ATTACKS WORK. Some times I try to fight things and not a single attack can do any damage at all. But then the enemy doesn't do damage either, so we just sit there for 10 minutes with me mashing "A" on it, trying to get the fucking genes from a rattlesnake so I can FINALLY MORPH INTO THE SNAKE AAAAAH. The game is crazy hard and crazy broken. It's kinda fun, though, in a "so bad it's good" kind of way.
Feel bad that I haven't touched my Xbox in over half a year, but I just don't see the point. I simply cannot afford to buy $60 games that are going to last me < 10 hours. Don't have internet access on it anymore either, so I can't access the store or play with my... 2 friends. Waste of time, really. I've been waiting for something really worth my time to come out (that I actually want to play, so whatever Skyrim). I don't regret getting an Xbox, I really enjoyed the experiences I've had on it, but I seem to be having way more fun on my ps2 and DS then I've ever had on the xbox. The last game I bought was Portal 2. I can't even remember the last time I was able to get on Live and play with anyone. I'll just hide in my room and play my solo games I guess.
Persona 4 anime has turned out to be way more awesome then it had any right to be. Instead of forcing my friends to play the 80+ hour game, I'm forcing them to watch the show. It's been going well. It's all the fun of the Persona storyline without all the grinding! Not as much depth in the social links, but hey if you want depth, play the game.
Talking too much about nothing, I guess.