Why hello everyone - sorry for the long delay in posting, but to be brutally honest I've reached the point of burnout with Final Fantasy 13. This has resulted in a short break from gaming.
HOWEVER!
Over the wonderful Memorial Day Weekend 2010 I found myself with an urge to play something completely different which served as a reminder that I had not cracked the seal on my copy of inFamous for the PS3. I picked this game up back in March when i was flush with Best Buy gift cards from my birthday - but i never got around to playing it due to FF13 soaking up the majority of my playtime.
So, after a weekend with inFamous I must say that I am kicking myself for not making this a day 1 purchase. The first point that makes this game a blast is that you're playing a superhero without hundreds of issues of back story to conform to or any sort of preconceived notions about the character (Cole). This of course allows the developers to write the rules as they go along. The second point that makes this game great is while playing it - and bear with me on this it's kind of hard to properly articulate this - it feels *easy* to move and play as a super hero. Running and jumping between buildings and latching on to them as you crawl along the sides will of course remind the player of a certain spider-related hero from the Marvel universe. There's really no escaping that comparison. But in my opinion, there has yet to be a game for that Marvel character that has felt so natural as inFamous.
inFamous is built around a karma system, which in itself is nothing new but it does provide an interesting twist to how you play the game (the karma system reminded me quite a bit of the system within Knights of the Old Republic) and how the NPCs will react to you. If you play as a good guy eventually the NPCs will cheer you on, take pictures of you and in some cases even aide you in taking out enemies (they'll throw rocks!). Play as a mean son of a bitch and the NPCs will fear you, run away, and sometimes throw rocks at YOU.
Graphically the game isn't anything groundbreaking for this generation, but the graphics engine will certainly get the job done and look pretty good while doing so. Like the bulk of PS3 titles it is a 720p native game.
In other news we're rapidly approaching this year's E3, which is looking like it'll be all about Natal and Move from MS and Sony respectively. I wonder if the 3DS will be the focus for Nintendo, or if they've got something else up their sleeves...
Showing posts with label ff13. Show all posts
Showing posts with label ff13. Show all posts
Wednesday, June 2, 2010
Monday, April 19, 2010
Current Gaming
Hello friends, welcome back.
So i've reached the 35 hour mark with Final Fantasy 13. So far this has been an enjoyable adventure and part of me is surprised how this game has managed to grab and HOLD my attention for so long.
I've been saying this the whole time, but I haven't enjoyed an RPG this much since Final Fantasy 8.
Thanks to a good friend of mine, i recently scored a Mad Catz Street Fighter 4 arcade stick on clearance (making room for the Super Street Fighter 4 sticks i assume). I know some of you out there are thinking "Ew Mad Catz?!?" but i have to admit this joystick is very well built, and the price was oh so right ($29.99 w/ free shipping - how could i say no?). The most interesting point about this purchase is that historically, i have been in the control pad camp for playing Street Fighter (this is based around having Street fighter 2 Special Champion Edition and the 6 button pad for the Genesis way back in the day, and then re-enforced by my Sega Saturn and it's flawless rev 2 6 button control pad). It's no secret that the d-pads on both the PS3 and the 360 are terrible (to say the least) for fighting games - and finding one of the Mad Catz Street Fighter 4 pads for a reasonable price was proving to be a pain, so i took the plunge.
I must say, right off the bat the stick felt nice in my hands and on my lap. I must have spent about 20 minutes just clicking the buttons and checking out the stick's action.
I'll report back with an update on the effect on my playing - i am rather rusty at the moment so it's hard to judge. I'm sure i'll also have an update once i get my hands on Super Street Fighter 4.
In other news, i may have found a "game" for the iPhone that's able to hold my attention. X-Plane on the iPhone is VERY worthy of the X-Plane name. I've always loved that flight sim on the PC, but to see it scaled down for the iPhone while retaining most of the core gameplay? Pretty damn impressive.
Until next time!
So i've reached the 35 hour mark with Final Fantasy 13. So far this has been an enjoyable adventure and part of me is surprised how this game has managed to grab and HOLD my attention for so long.
I've been saying this the whole time, but I haven't enjoyed an RPG this much since Final Fantasy 8.
Thanks to a good friend of mine, i recently scored a Mad Catz Street Fighter 4 arcade stick on clearance (making room for the Super Street Fighter 4 sticks i assume). I know some of you out there are thinking "Ew Mad Catz?!?" but i have to admit this joystick is very well built, and the price was oh so right ($29.99 w/ free shipping - how could i say no?). The most interesting point about this purchase is that historically, i have been in the control pad camp for playing Street Fighter (this is based around having Street fighter 2 Special Champion Edition and the 6 button pad for the Genesis way back in the day, and then re-enforced by my Sega Saturn and it's flawless rev 2 6 button control pad). It's no secret that the d-pads on both the PS3 and the 360 are terrible (to say the least) for fighting games - and finding one of the Mad Catz Street Fighter 4 pads for a reasonable price was proving to be a pain, so i took the plunge.
I must say, right off the bat the stick felt nice in my hands and on my lap. I must have spent about 20 minutes just clicking the buttons and checking out the stick's action.
I'll report back with an update on the effect on my playing - i am rather rusty at the moment so it's hard to judge. I'm sure i'll also have an update once i get my hands on Super Street Fighter 4.
In other news, i may have found a "game" for the iPhone that's able to hold my attention. X-Plane on the iPhone is VERY worthy of the X-Plane name. I've always loved that flight sim on the PC, but to see it scaled down for the iPhone while retaining most of the core gameplay? Pretty damn impressive.
Until next time!
Thursday, April 1, 2010
Final Fantasy 13 and the lack of remote play (among other things)
So, I've hit the 20 hour mark in Final Fantasy 13 on the PS3 and still enjoying the hell out of it.
That said, why wasn't FF13 designed to use the remote play feature? To me, it seems like a perfect fit (even the controls could be easily mapped to the psp - only difference is the lack of a 2nd analog nub so camera control would have to be done with a combination of keys). It's a really long game and for those of us in a household where we must share the TV with a significant other, it can be hard to really sink in a bunch of time every night.
Basically i'd love the ability to continue my FF13 game while my S.O. watches some of her DVR'ed programs. It just seems like a huge missed opportunity to put remote play to REALLY good use.
In other news, Playstation Move was demo'ed at PAX East and honestly I'm still not sold on the idea. [to be clear, i'm not sold on MS' Project Natal either...] I know i'm going to sound like pretty much every other game blog out there when i say this, but Playstation Move really just feels like a juiced up Wiimote. Nintendo took a huge risk with the Wii and it's control scheme (not to mention tons of flak regarding the motion sensing game play), and yet here we are almost 4 years after the Wii's launch and both MS and Sony are racing to push out competing technology. Suddenly fanboys on both the MS and Sony camps are interested in motion controls because it's now coming from their respective platform of choice.
I find this 180 in opinion both silly and predictable.
Oh and God of War 3... if you own a PS3 you really should own this title. A friend of mine put it best:
"God of War 3 starts where most games end."
I really couldn't say it better myself.
By now I'm sure we've all seen the hilarious GOW3 spot with the angry girlfriend. The best part in this ad imo is the fact that the bulk of the game play footage is from the first level. Starts where most games end INDEED.
Until next time...
That said, why wasn't FF13 designed to use the remote play feature? To me, it seems like a perfect fit (even the controls could be easily mapped to the psp - only difference is the lack of a 2nd analog nub so camera control would have to be done with a combination of keys). It's a really long game and for those of us in a household where we must share the TV with a significant other, it can be hard to really sink in a bunch of time every night.
Basically i'd love the ability to continue my FF13 game while my S.O. watches some of her DVR'ed programs. It just seems like a huge missed opportunity to put remote play to REALLY good use.
In other news, Playstation Move was demo'ed at PAX East and honestly I'm still not sold on the idea. [to be clear, i'm not sold on MS' Project Natal either...] I know i'm going to sound like pretty much every other game blog out there when i say this, but Playstation Move really just feels like a juiced up Wiimote. Nintendo took a huge risk with the Wii and it's control scheme (not to mention tons of flak regarding the motion sensing game play), and yet here we are almost 4 years after the Wii's launch and both MS and Sony are racing to push out competing technology. Suddenly fanboys on both the MS and Sony camps are interested in motion controls because it's now coming from their respective platform of choice.
I find this 180 in opinion both silly and predictable.
Oh and God of War 3... if you own a PS3 you really should own this title. A friend of mine put it best:
"God of War 3 starts where most games end."
I really couldn't say it better myself.
By now I'm sure we've all seen the hilarious GOW3 spot with the angry girlfriend. The best part in this ad imo is the fact that the bulk of the game play footage is from the first level. Starts where most games end INDEED.
Until next time...
Friday, March 12, 2010
Current Gaming
Hello and welcome to Pixelated Palace and it's inaugural post!
I love video games. I have for as far back as i can remember. My first gaming experience i remember was the old Atari 2600 my parents owned from before i was born. This machine and my parents modest collection of games built the foundation for my love of pretty much all things video game related. Through the years i have owned and loved game consoles from all the major players, and currently own a Wii, a Playstation 3 and an Xbox 360 (on the portable front i have a couple Nintendo DS and a few PSPs). I like to think that i'm not really biased towards one system or the other - but i am very biased towards good games.
In any case to kick things off i figured i'd write a little about what i am currently playing. In the interest of full disclosure, i am currently beta testing two games (one console and one pc) that i cannot and will not write about. These titles are currently taking away from my overall game playing time, but i'm always happy to participate in a beta program. I do attempt to split up my time evenly, but we all know sometimes you just get sucked into a title.
First up - a friend of mine reminded me of a somewhat rare Sega CD title that i had never gotten a chance to play - Snatcher. Designed by one of the top names in video games, Hideo Kojima, it's an homage to the cyberpunk and scifi stories and movies Kojima enjoys. Right off the bad the visual style for the game world and it's characters is *VERY* reminiscent of the classic Ridly Scott movie Blade Runner. The main character, Gillian Seed, even looks like a very young Deckard. It's story thus far is about these artificial life forms called Snatcher who happen to look like humans (a little bit of The Terminator here...) but have a robotic skeleton just under the skin.
This game is more like an interactive digital comic, as you move and progress and play the game via a series of menu options. There are parts where you'll be required to shoot at enemies on screen (either with the game pad or via the Konami light gun commonly found with Lethal Enforcers), but for the most part you are investigating, asking questions and watching cut scenes.
Unlike many Sega CD games of the time, this game was not a full motion video game. Just pure, glorious, 16bit era graphics with CD quality voice acting and music.
This is a great example of how the Sega CD should have been used (right up there with Sonic CD), and totally worth dusting off that Sega CD/Genesis you might have in your closet. I'll report back on this title as i progress.
Next up, the 800lb gorilla in the room - Final Fantasy 13 (Playstation 3). I've sunk in about 6 hours since picking this up Tuesday night, and the first thing to come to mind when i want to describe it is "Whoa".
I personally did not really care for Final Fantasy 12's battle system so i never finished it. FF11 was an MMO, and i simply was not into MMORPGs at the time, so i skipped that one. FF10 was fun from what i played, but my copy grew legs never to be seen again. Anyway enough rambling here - the last Final Fantasy game i really enjoyed was in fact 8. I know that i'm in the minority here but seriously, i loved 8. I don't understand the flak it gets.
Fast forward to last Tuesday, i found myself initially on the fence with FF13 but in the end decided to risk it. It's paid off. This is the RPG i have been pining for, for some time. The latest battle system is part something new, and part something old and familiar. The addition of the Paradigm Shift (it changes your party's job/role on the fly) is rather awesome. There are some other small tweaks to the game here and there (1 potion now heals the entire party!) that make the experience very fun. Another addition is "auto-battle", which seems like a way to get a first time FF player into the swing of things quickly. All in all, 6 hours in and this feels "right". It's Final Fantasy, but it's a new game and not just some pretty HD graphics slapped onto a dated battle system.
Do i really even need to gush about the graphics? It's Final Fantasy - of course they are amazing. This time around though, it's a lot harder to notice the switch from the cut scenes to the actual game engine. I am really impressed.
And that my friends is what i am playing right now.
So again - hello, welcome, i hope i have something to say that interests you. Thank you Pat for getting the mental gears moving on this little project. And thank you to all the video game companies and the software studios that make my hobby so much fun. I hope you're enjoying my money ;)
Till next time...
I love video games. I have for as far back as i can remember. My first gaming experience i remember was the old Atari 2600 my parents owned from before i was born. This machine and my parents modest collection of games built the foundation for my love of pretty much all things video game related. Through the years i have owned and loved game consoles from all the major players, and currently own a Wii, a Playstation 3 and an Xbox 360 (on the portable front i have a couple Nintendo DS and a few PSPs). I like to think that i'm not really biased towards one system or the other - but i am very biased towards good games.
In any case to kick things off i figured i'd write a little about what i am currently playing. In the interest of full disclosure, i am currently beta testing two games (one console and one pc) that i cannot and will not write about. These titles are currently taking away from my overall game playing time, but i'm always happy to participate in a beta program. I do attempt to split up my time evenly, but we all know sometimes you just get sucked into a title.
First up - a friend of mine reminded me of a somewhat rare Sega CD title that i had never gotten a chance to play - Snatcher. Designed by one of the top names in video games, Hideo Kojima, it's an homage to the cyberpunk and scifi stories and movies Kojima enjoys. Right off the bad the visual style for the game world and it's characters is *VERY* reminiscent of the classic Ridly Scott movie Blade Runner. The main character, Gillian Seed, even looks like a very young Deckard. It's story thus far is about these artificial life forms called Snatcher who happen to look like humans (a little bit of The Terminator here...) but have a robotic skeleton just under the skin.
This game is more like an interactive digital comic, as you move and progress and play the game via a series of menu options. There are parts where you'll be required to shoot at enemies on screen (either with the game pad or via the Konami light gun commonly found with Lethal Enforcers), but for the most part you are investigating, asking questions and watching cut scenes.
Unlike many Sega CD games of the time, this game was not a full motion video game. Just pure, glorious, 16bit era graphics with CD quality voice acting and music.
This is a great example of how the Sega CD should have been used (right up there with Sonic CD), and totally worth dusting off that Sega CD/Genesis you might have in your closet. I'll report back on this title as i progress.
Next up, the 800lb gorilla in the room - Final Fantasy 13 (Playstation 3). I've sunk in about 6 hours since picking this up Tuesday night, and the first thing to come to mind when i want to describe it is "Whoa".
I personally did not really care for Final Fantasy 12's battle system so i never finished it. FF11 was an MMO, and i simply was not into MMORPGs at the time, so i skipped that one. FF10 was fun from what i played, but my copy grew legs never to be seen again. Anyway enough rambling here - the last Final Fantasy game i really enjoyed was in fact 8. I know that i'm in the minority here but seriously, i loved 8. I don't understand the flak it gets.
Fast forward to last Tuesday, i found myself initially on the fence with FF13 but in the end decided to risk it. It's paid off. This is the RPG i have been pining for, for some time. The latest battle system is part something new, and part something old and familiar. The addition of the Paradigm Shift (it changes your party's job/role on the fly) is rather awesome. There are some other small tweaks to the game here and there (1 potion now heals the entire party!) that make the experience very fun. Another addition is "auto-battle", which seems like a way to get a first time FF player into the swing of things quickly. All in all, 6 hours in and this feels "right". It's Final Fantasy, but it's a new game and not just some pretty HD graphics slapped onto a dated battle system.
Do i really even need to gush about the graphics? It's Final Fantasy - of course they are amazing. This time around though, it's a lot harder to notice the switch from the cut scenes to the actual game engine. I am really impressed.
And that my friends is what i am playing right now.
So again - hello, welcome, i hope i have something to say that interests you. Thank you Pat for getting the mental gears moving on this little project. And thank you to all the video game companies and the software studios that make my hobby so much fun. I hope you're enjoying my money ;)
Till next time...
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