There's talk about videogames somewhere in here
Here are some things I have been enjoying:
Zack and Wiki, even if it sometimes makes me want to throw the Wiimote through the TV;
Slings and Arrows - oh, Canadian TV, there is something about you that makes me love you more than anyone else's TV;
The great DWJ reread, which I mean to post about at ... some point;
The fact that the local comic book store is now selling things at the American price - this is kind of a big deal, since there is manga on the floor right now with an American price of $10, versus the Canadian price of $15;
The fact that the above actually has me picking up stories with pictures in again - I grabbed all the Penny Arcade books, and I've been reading Please Save My Earth, of all the things, because I apparently wantd some 80s manga, and if they carry From Eroica With Love, I don't know where it is.
These are all very nice things.
Also, I finished a videogame.
The World Ends With You
I'm trying to think of something to say about The World Ends With You that hasn't been said. I mean, Tycho over at Penny Arcade's spent several days worth of newsposts singing the game's praises to high heavens. But clearly more needs to be said because I am really the only person I know who played it.
Which is odd, because I, of all gamers, should not like The World Ends With You. It's Squeenix. It's got Tetsuya Nomura all the hell over it. The protagonist is a sullen misanthrope who hates other until a perky anorexic girl shows him the error of his ways. We're expected to connect emotionally characters we've spoken to for a total of ten minutes so we're affected by their untimely demise. The plot about hip teenagers fighting for a second chance at life in an alternate Shibuya controlled by a crazy and unseen figure is absurd except for when the game decides it is serious and epic.
But it's incredibly fun.
It makes excellent use of the DS capabilities in battle. You equip your character with pins, each pin being able to level up and having its own attack corresponding to some kind of DS-related flailing or scribbling. Some let you slash enemies, you can strike a series of enemies with chain lightning, you can slash obstacles and hit enemies with them (particularly satisfying when it's something massive like a van), there are /dozens/ of different attacks and hundreds of different pins. All the pins also belong to a specific brand, and each area of the city has a particular brand that's Number 1 at any given moment. Pins for the most popular brand get a serious boost in power, while pins for the /least/ popular brand are half as effective. Pins level up from battles. But they also level up from the DS being off. And they level up from putting the DS into mingle mode where it can communicate with other DS. Each kind of experience is different and with certain kinds of experience certain pins may evolve into new kinds of pins.
Then there's the clothing. The clothing, like the pins, belongs to specific brands. As well, as you buy more, you'll build up a rapport with the shop clerk who may tell you about the hidden skill in a particular item of clothing, unlocking it. But each clothing requires the character wearing it to have their bravery stat at a specific point. Only characters with high bravery can wear riskier, and usually better, articles of clothing.
And you can eat, although there's a limit on the amount of food you can eat in a twenty-four hour period, and you need to fight to digest the food and get the stat boosts it contains.
It's just a great system which allows a lot of fiddling and customization (as well as the knowledge that you can put your misanthrope hero into a miniskirt and bikini), and slaughtering things is /fun/ and battles are fast and the soundtrack is great, Japanese pop and hip hop and all sorts of very easy to listen to music.
Also, all the monsters have names which incorporate various styles of music, which is just kind of randomly amusing.
Really, the further I got in the game, it became clear that my problem wasn't with the Squeenix bullshit, but with the missed opportunities, or things introduced in a way that /suggests/ interactivity but really, it's just a different kind of fiddling to progress the plot. You get a pointless ouija board thing that you can use once or twice to make characters do things to progress the plot, and a couple times you can acquire mental memes to implant in other characters to progress the plot. And there's randomly a phone that lets you take pictures of the past, which you can use when the plot needs you to know something that happened when you weren't around. And the different parts of the game, divided into days, each mostly start with a little puzzle about what the characters are supposed to be doing, their 'quest' for the day. But you're never given the chance to figure these puzzles out for yourself. You just stumble from location to location, to little dialogue scenes that explain the answers to puzzles for you. There are bits of pieces of other things in the game that left me wishing they tried for something a bit more than just fun battles.
The characters aren't well-developed or that memorable, and the plot is a lot of the same old Squeenix bullshit (with the perplexing addition of a message about how awesome individuality is in a game where you're rewarded for wearing the clothing everyone else thinks is the best), but the setting is different, the battle system is fun and intuitive, and everything is stylishly addictive. It's something /new/ from Squeenix, masters of recycling rubbish, and that alone makes it refreshing. It's just a shame more people don't seem to have picked it up.
Hell, I'm even considering dicking around in the post-game, to get all the goofy over-powered outfits,which must mean the game's doing /something/ right.
... I really don't want to know how someone's sequined red thong got in with my laundry.
Zack and Wiki, even if it sometimes makes me want to throw the Wiimote through the TV;
Slings and Arrows - oh, Canadian TV, there is something about you that makes me love you more than anyone else's TV;
The great DWJ reread, which I mean to post about at ... some point;
The fact that the local comic book store is now selling things at the American price - this is kind of a big deal, since there is manga on the floor right now with an American price of $10, versus the Canadian price of $15;
The fact that the above actually has me picking up stories with pictures in again - I grabbed all the Penny Arcade books, and I've been reading Please Save My Earth, of all the things, because I apparently wantd some 80s manga, and if they carry From Eroica With Love, I don't know where it is.
These are all very nice things.
Also, I finished a videogame.
The World Ends With You
I'm trying to think of something to say about The World Ends With You that hasn't been said. I mean, Tycho over at Penny Arcade's spent several days worth of newsposts singing the game's praises to high heavens. But clearly more needs to be said because I am really the only person I know who played it.
Which is odd, because I, of all gamers, should not like The World Ends With You. It's Squeenix. It's got Tetsuya Nomura all the hell over it. The protagonist is a sullen misanthrope who hates other until a perky anorexic girl shows him the error of his ways. We're expected to connect emotionally characters we've spoken to for a total of ten minutes so we're affected by their untimely demise. The plot about hip teenagers fighting for a second chance at life in an alternate Shibuya controlled by a crazy and unseen figure is absurd except for when the game decides it is serious and epic.
But it's incredibly fun.
It makes excellent use of the DS capabilities in battle. You equip your character with pins, each pin being able to level up and having its own attack corresponding to some kind of DS-related flailing or scribbling. Some let you slash enemies, you can strike a series of enemies with chain lightning, you can slash obstacles and hit enemies with them (particularly satisfying when it's something massive like a van), there are /dozens/ of different attacks and hundreds of different pins. All the pins also belong to a specific brand, and each area of the city has a particular brand that's Number 1 at any given moment. Pins for the most popular brand get a serious boost in power, while pins for the /least/ popular brand are half as effective. Pins level up from battles. But they also level up from the DS being off. And they level up from putting the DS into mingle mode where it can communicate with other DS. Each kind of experience is different and with certain kinds of experience certain pins may evolve into new kinds of pins.
Then there's the clothing. The clothing, like the pins, belongs to specific brands. As well, as you buy more, you'll build up a rapport with the shop clerk who may tell you about the hidden skill in a particular item of clothing, unlocking it. But each clothing requires the character wearing it to have their bravery stat at a specific point. Only characters with high bravery can wear riskier, and usually better, articles of clothing.
And you can eat, although there's a limit on the amount of food you can eat in a twenty-four hour period, and you need to fight to digest the food and get the stat boosts it contains.
It's just a great system which allows a lot of fiddling and customization (as well as the knowledge that you can put your misanthrope hero into a miniskirt and bikini), and slaughtering things is /fun/ and battles are fast and the soundtrack is great, Japanese pop and hip hop and all sorts of very easy to listen to music.
Also, all the monsters have names which incorporate various styles of music, which is just kind of randomly amusing.
Really, the further I got in the game, it became clear that my problem wasn't with the Squeenix bullshit, but with the missed opportunities, or things introduced in a way that /suggests/ interactivity but really, it's just a different kind of fiddling to progress the plot. You get a pointless ouija board thing that you can use once or twice to make characters do things to progress the plot, and a couple times you can acquire mental memes to implant in other characters to progress the plot. And there's randomly a phone that lets you take pictures of the past, which you can use when the plot needs you to know something that happened when you weren't around. And the different parts of the game, divided into days, each mostly start with a little puzzle about what the characters are supposed to be doing, their 'quest' for the day. But you're never given the chance to figure these puzzles out for yourself. You just stumble from location to location, to little dialogue scenes that explain the answers to puzzles for you. There are bits of pieces of other things in the game that left me wishing they tried for something a bit more than just fun battles.
The characters aren't well-developed or that memorable, and the plot is a lot of the same old Squeenix bullshit (with the perplexing addition of a message about how awesome individuality is in a game where you're rewarded for wearing the clothing everyone else thinks is the best), but the setting is different, the battle system is fun and intuitive, and everything is stylishly addictive. It's something /new/ from Squeenix, masters of recycling rubbish, and that alone makes it refreshing. It's just a shame more people don't seem to have picked it up.
Hell, I'm even considering dicking around in the post-game, to get all the goofy over-powered outfits,which must mean the game's doing /something/ right.
... I really don't want to know how someone's sequined red thong got in with my laundry.