Changes

Ok all I've been inactive here on this blog because I've become involved in a related Podcast started by a couple of friends of mine and anything that would have been on here is probably moving over there. Besides you get to hear me talk and just think how awesome that is.

This blog is going to undergo a couple changes, as indicated in the title of this post, and become more of me musing on working on a homebrewed RPG system. comments will be appreciated as to what I'm doing but as I've yet to really start work on it here's the very basic idea.

Setting: Relatively modern day but there are people running around with powers, kind of like mutants but in a more broad sense. It isn't a birth thing more of a gained ability.

So far I know of four basic types of characters I'd like to see go in there and they are.

Mage- Yes this is a typical wizard type character that casts spells. More broad in scope than the others but with weaker effects. They can branch out and work on a variety of things not related to the focused powers.

Esper- Forgive me I'm borrowing a term and giving away my influence here. These are more individually powerful, on the high end, than Mages but they will be focused on doing one thing; Pyrokinesis or Teleportation, either way they're very good at it.

Normal- Dude without any powers whatsoever and the majority of the population.

Nulls- These are a rare breed of people who can't use any powers and typically have very swingy luck either good or bad. Their main advantage lies in the fact that they can cancel any power used against them. Stronger nulls can negate powers used around them as well.

Well that's the preview, I'll work on the title and stuff later but for no; check out LastTimeonvideogames.com if you want to get more game stuff out of me and let me know what you think.

Hambone out.

Inifinte Bioshocks

Well obviously from the title we've got Bioshock Infinite this time around.
Rating M
Players 1

So Bioshock Infinite is a first person shooter with a variety of weapons and characters in which the player is led through the story by his snatch and grab objective of Elizabeth. To do so you navigate the city using the good old boots or the skyrails when they are available. I know all the gamers in the world heard that Elizabeth would be around during combat and I think every one of us groaned and immediately swore the words escort quest. Which the story is and fortunately that's the only place where it is. Elizabeth, while she doesn't shoot baddies she can help you in combat. Tossing things like heath and ammo to you when you need it. She can also bring in things from parallel universes to help out, like turrets or more ammo. Did I forget to mention the story centers on the idea of parallel universes? Well it does and it is very well told. Vigors are the new plasmids and can be used to take down bad guys in entertaining ways.

So that's the good of the game. So what exactly is the bad? Well, unlike the first Bioshock this one is a shooter through and through. Weapon and Vigor upgrades make only token appearances and while I found my favorite during minute five I'm unsure of how much more can be done there. In addition there are only about 8 of them which makes balancing them easier I guess but also removes that element of customization that we saw in the first game. In addition this time around you only are granted the ability to carry two weapons which while it does conform to modern trends it goes against the first game's grab bag of guns and I think the poorer for it. The biggest thing that drove me nuts was how the game ends and I'm not going to spoil it but I will say the last half hour is exposition instead of woven well into gameplay. It would have been about the same if all it had been was a text screen for all the gameplay that was involved.

The Dead are Still Walking.

    So since last week was Easter I decided to go with the Zombie theme of the day and play through the newest Walking Dead game.

    Walking Dead: Survival Instinct
    Players 1
    Rating M for Blood and Gore, Intense Violence, Strong Language

    Well this one is considerably different from the first Walking Dead game. For one thing it's a first person shooter and, while I've never played all the episodes, has weaker characters.
    To summarize the game you control Daryl who is some kind of American Redneck during a Zombie outbreak. Using melee and guns you have to navigate your way to a point where Daryl can be evacuated from the area. To accomplish this you have to track down gasoline for your vehicle while avoiding the hordes of zombies. To advance the story you have to pick where you are going to drive to and how you want to get there at which point the game will drive you there. Breaking up these trips are events, such as a flat tire which must then be fetched or cars blocking the road which must be moved. Some of the events can be skipped, as the game often gives you a choice as to whether or not you go a-roaming. You are able to pick up survivors and take them with you on your journeys but they always remain buckled in and waiting for you to get back unless it is a story area. During which you can send them off to go gather supplies. This is also one of the first games I have played in a long time with a true health bar, which you can replenish through the mystical properties of Gatorade or MREs. You only get a limited number of inventory slots so you have to pick what you are going to take with you into a level or else risk having to leave something behind. Anything you don't take is stored with your car. You start out with a truck that can only hold two other survivors, I guess they never thought to ride in the bed.
    I guess that basically sums up the game. Now on to my thoughts.
    To be honest with you gentle readers the game is pretty bad. The controls are sticky and the melee attacks sometimes feel a bit slower than you think they are. I also found that in a couple of areas I ended up mobbed by a horde of Zombies that I had no way of knowing how I was supposed to get around. Turned out I was supposed to run away from them in blatant contrast to the rest of the game which has a pretty heavy stealth focus. Another issue that blights the game is that there are a very limited number of levels and those are repeated quite a bit. The game looks terrible as well. I'm pretty sure I've seen better looking PS2 games. Fortunately for this game I don't set great store in graphics. Unfortunately the game is also very short, about six to eight hours or so. The only available mode for play is the campaign which doesn't do much to endear itself to more than one playthrough even with the additional areas that you can go to. Repeated levels make it feel like a grind at times with the only thing that you want to do is get out of the area as fast as possible. The Zombies appear dozy and less than a true threat a lot of the time with some of them seeming to suffer from short-sightedness and utter blindness when you are standing three feet in front of them with your flashlight on. The levels themselves wouldn't feel quite as repeated if they weren't all, with the exception of the story locations, very small and linear. Flares and glass bottles can be thrown to distract zombies but many times I found them to be fairly pointless as many of the zombies can be killed quickly and easily by sneaking up on them which isn't hard. They would have been a more important feature of my arsenal if the zombies didn't only occasionally show up in larger numbers than one to three. I think the biggest flaw isn't in the gameplay; it lies with the story. Primarily that there really isn't one, the game piddles around for the main portion of its story and while that might be the case in this kind of apocalypse I wanted more out of it and a closer connection to the character who I was controlling, who never truly endeared himself to me. Of course games like Bioshock showed us that you don't need to have a full character to have a good game, but they have to be supported by a good ensemble. Walking Dead's survivors never really do anything once you've picked them up. It's almost as though being around the redneck their character falls off and they become automatons.
    All that said I actually liked the game. It was a different experience than most of the main games out there today. Even with its flaws I would love to see more games along the same vein. Even Left 4 Dead with its Zombie focus didn't hit this for me. I felt like stealth was the main focus I should be working on. Since firing a weapon like your shotgun attracts Zombies to your location I spent a lot of my time avoiding it and while I did have a couple of moments that felt like cheap deaths I seldom felt like I was being screwed over. When I screwed up the stealth I was usually able to fight my way clear to safety.

    I wouldn't buy this game, at least nowhere near full price. But if you want a game that is a little different and don't mind the warts this is one that is worth renting. I would say it's worth about 15-20 bucks. Low replay value hurt it but I had fun with it despite the low quality.

To Raid Survival.

Tomb Raider
Rating: M
For Blood and Gore, Intense Violence, Strong Language

So I went and picked this one up because I passed a redbox and it was in there. Basic premise of the game is that Lara Croft is trapped on an island with a cult that is trying to kill her and despite their massive amounts of disposable  guys and their machine guns they can't seem to beat one girl in a tank top. First off I have to say I did like the game but it does have several things that bothered me. A game like this where the main theme is survival needs a health bar. That way when things go south, and they always do, instead of Lara merely soaking up the damage it could create a tense moment as you scramble around looking for a health pack to fix her up. Overall combat works well and I was especially fond of the game's belief that the player is smart enough to get behind a wall when there are enemies nearby. That Lara automatically takes cover behind that wall was even more gratifying. I did want a command crouch but that was just a moment of wanting something completely inane since Lara crouches whenever you are being sneaky. That said, when you are sneaky the only weapon you can really use is the bow and arrow, which is fine, but the game wheels out armored guys that can't be killed in one shot which then alerts them and anyone around them that there is a prowling college co-ed. Once they've been alerted you enter the game's combat system which I'll admit I was expecting to be awful and clunky but it's actually well implemented. Of course it's basically a bog standard third person cover based shooter, it's hard to really screw that up, so the enemies will go down like peanut butter M&M's. During combat in some sections you do hear them shouting at each other and some of those lines are actually pretty good. The absolute worst part of this game though was the quick time events and the moments where you are sliding down a river. Both of these are moments where one screw up kill the character and the game just loves to let you know you messed up. I don't mind the events that are contextual in combat since those were unlocked abilities. I mean the ones in cut scenes, and the one that I missed because it was hiding in the bottom corner of the screen and I didn't even see it till just before I failed it. Obviously with Lara being the main character she cannot be hurt for long in the actual combat but I was constantly aware of how badly she was being beaten up through the game. The very first thing that happens on the island is she falls on a spike and is running around just fine with a hole through her side. I freely acknowledge that adrenaline can do some amazing things but once that's over with? I think the dumbest part of that is when you meet up with other survivors who see that there is a big bloodstain on her side and nobody talks about it. I couldn't help but wonder if the developers just hated their main character given how many times she gets the crap kicked out of her.
 Linking all of this together is an element of platforming, or if not that moving around the environment in other ways than in a straight line. Which basically translates into climbing up obvious walls with her trusty ax or the longest bundle of rope in history. Most of her gear upgrades but the main thing that you need to move about is the bow and the ax. Having never played one of these before I'd heard about the puzzles in the game and there aren't that many and most of them I figured the solution out almost immediately upon entering. I only had trouble with one puzzle that I can recall and it was a timing thing.
I think the biggest letdown is that a bunch of the game is based on finding the things that have been scattered across the island, but all they do is unlock things like character sketches. Now this might just be me but that is not worth my time of finding all of them. Given a choice I'd have liked them to make some unlockable costumes or something else. You know show that they put some thought and effort into this. Letting the player see those kind of things isn't really work, they had to make them anyways. I don't mind them being in the game but its odd to consider it a true reward for your effort.
Final verdict: I liked the game and had fun playing it. I just don't think it has any staying power whatsoever. Now I didn't play the multiplayer but the single is iffy as multiple playthroughs don't appeal and if you find everything there's nothing else to do. I'd buy it at a max cost of thirty bucks.

Good Gaming everyone!
Hambone Out.

The Emblem of Fire

So I'm back after another hiatus stemming from real life concerns like school.

The game this week is Fire Emblem Awakening for the 3DS

Rating T
Alcohol Reference, Fantasy Violence, Mild Language, Mild Suggestive Themes

Now I have to admit I love the Fire Emblem series which often makes me laugh given my somewhat strained relationship with Nintendo's main franchises of Metroid, Zelda, and Mario. 
Well the game itself is a top down tactical game. You have your units and the usual goal is to eliminate your enemy's units. This is done by picking out the right unit to take them on. Since there are several different weapons in the game they decided to make each one have a strength and a weakness. All the Fire Emblem series do this as well. This system is referred to as the triangle system and that makes sense. Basically it's a game of Rock-Paper-Scissors with swords beating axes and axes beating lances and back around to the front. Obviously magic and bows are exempted from the system which I find I didn't really like. In previous games magic had its own triangle with the one on the GBA having dark, light, and nature. Bows have always been their own thing and that's fine since they can't attack anything that is in the square right next to them they have enough problems.  Another thing about magic that I took issue with is that there are some spells that are classified as Dark and can only be used by very specific units but fall under the same overall heading as other magical tomes. Which brings me to my next little point, weapons have a limited number of uses, excluding your two "lord" character's main weapons. On the heels of this is the limit on more powerful weapons the more powerful it is the fewer uses it has. So a silver sword is an awesome weapon but will break far faster than a bronze one. Alongside the weapon power is the weapon skill ratings. A character must be trained in each weapon that their class is allowed to use. So a first level myrmidon might be a sword wielding powerhouse but he still starts with an E rating and has to train it up to be able to access the more powerful weapons. Because of this it makes slide changes, as I call them, a questionable venture as to what exactly you want to do because no matter how good that class is you have quite a few levels where they'll be stuck with a sword that has challenges with butter or a log.
This brings us to the next point of classes. There are a bunch, I am lazy and will not count them, each one has it's own skills associated with it and it's own specialty in the grand scheme of things. You have ranged specialists like Archers which use bows to attack at a safe distance to melee powerhouses such as the axe wielding berserker. Backing up your combat classes you have support classes like healing troubadors and a dancer who lets your units make another move. In this one she gets a sword so she's not quite as useless as the one on the GBA. You would think that letting a unit move twice could be a mighty skill for the ages but the problem lies with her being about as squishy as a unit can possibly be without deflating so she'll die and be lost forever into the veil and take any story elements attached to her, there aren't many, with her.
Now I'm to characters. The Fire Emblem games have always done a really creepy good job with creating good characters I say creepy here because outside of some support conversations done outside of battle the only characters you really see in the story are the main ones while the rest usually just end up following them around like a faithful puppy. I love the fact that they did this because it gives your units some kind of tangible existence instead of just a thing you move around on a grid. It makes losing a unit doubly painful if it was one that you really liked. The game also tends to load you down with more characters than you can ever feasibly need provided you have engaged in the support conversations and had a few of them hook up. How would that relate to character numbers you might ask. Well it's because the game's story is based on time travel and once a female character in your army gets married a new side mission appears containing their child as a recruitable unit. While I enjoy a good story I'm always leery of time travel stories because the rules never seem to be clear fortunately this one seems to be well done even if the characters accept it as fact rather quickly with all of them accepting their future offspring immediately upon their discovery. Despite that it's easy to overlook that and quickly go back to demolishing enemy ranks with a well placed Hero.
From me Fire Emblem gets a very high score and a serious recommendation if you want to play something other than the garbage of ground so tread that we've created trenches there.

Good Gaming everyone
Hambone out.

Dragon Age 2

Dragon Age 2 (That really could use a subheading couldn't it?)
Rating M. (Blood and Gore, Language, Sexual content, Violence.)
Players 1

Character- The characters in the game are always a strength of Bioware. There are only six companions that you can keep with you and of those you are only allowed to bring three with you at any given time. As Bioware does each one of those is well fleshed out and has their own wants and needs as well as their own reasons for staying with Hawke. My personal favorite of the characters is Varric the dwarven rogue. Bioware also made sure to make them feel like real people by having them talk to each other as you are out walking around. More than once I wandered around with the camera swung around to watch my companions so that I could read what they were saying to each other. Unfortunately for fans of the first game the only companions that show up are Alistair and Zevran; provided they weren't killed in the first game. In my mind another strong point of the game is the fact that when you want to talk with you companions you have to seek them out at their home base. Unfortunately you can only do so whenever you have a quest to talk to them. Another good point is that if you don't manage to get enough influence with certain characters they may leave at certain points in the story. I would however like to see a bit more of the final conflict played up a bit more because a large part of it is character driven and we are told about it but only very briefly shown.

Plot- Well with the way the game is structured there are actually three plot arcs. While each one leads into the next one in a logical progression it would be possible to play the game as an episodic adventure rather than straight through. Doing things this way however made it so that each arc is fairly short and the game feels a little stuttered. As I said above I'd like to see some more of the final conflict throughout the game. It doesn't have to be the entire plot. I personally like the plot and structure but it would be nice to get a better look at the tension that is supposed to exist in this world and these two opposing forces. They even managed to do so with the first and the second plot arcs. The two are nicely linked together by certain events. Really its only the third arc that seems to be off on its own.

Gamplay- Unlike its predecessor DA2 is an active combat system. Meaning that the player doesn't merely tell his character to attack and he will until whatever it is dies. You must personally continue to hit the attack button until it dies. I do really like that the speech options that you take as Hawke affect the things that s/he says that are strictly out of your control. I'd like a little more variation in the things that you can say but as it stands there is nothing inherently bad about the system. I know my friend has some issues with the fact that your character actually speaks and the line may not be what you as a player really wanted him to say. I would also like a persuade back in the game but alas it isn't to be. The combat is in itself ok there's nothing to really say about it. The only problem with the combat is that they will keep sending enemies at you even after you have killed off the entire first group. I would advise as a protip to make sure you have someone with AOE attacks things get rather enemy heavy and having that additional ability to hit multiple targets is a big deal. Especially with the long cooldowns on the potions and the one healing spell. As for exploration; there isn't any. Not a complaint mind. However I would have liked to see some more different environments instead of recycling the one dungeon map every time we went underground. In my mind that's just lazy design.

Appearance- Looks good. I think its on the same engine that the first one was so many of the basic character models look similar to the ones we've already seen. The spells look good and while the environments are very samey they do look nice.

Accessibility- Easy. That's the best way to put it. The game is extremely easy to figure out and play. More advanced players can use the tactics system to make things even better. I never did but it is a great system to tweak the AI into doing what you want. I'm torn on the large removal of inventory management for your companions. It does make things a little easier but its a part of the genre to tweak their gear just the way you want it.

Odds and Sods- Like I said I'm torn on the, lets use the industry term, streamlining of the inventory system. On the one hand I like the fact that you aren't dealing with decimal places of improvement but also you still pick up terrible gear for Hawke. I played a warrior and more than once I found equipment for a mage I couldn't use. I'm glad they didn't remove the management of Hawke's equipment but that seems to be the direction their moving in. I will say I really liked the fact that you spend the entire game in the same city. While some people may not have I liked that you actually seem to be living your life during the time breaks rather than your character constantly assailed by life or death situations all the time. I also really loved the frame of it being told through a story being told by Varric. You know right at the beginning of the game that you, or one of your companions, did something very bad and people are looking for you. Of course you don't know what that is until you finish the game.

Looking forward to the third game. Good Gaming everyone

Hambone out.

Nothing Today

Ok I've been having moments all the way through these other reviews. Instead of going back and editing the review after its been posted I'm going to let them sit for a day or two and post them after I've done a little reflecting and seeing if there is anything else I can think of. Check back in a day or two.