E is for Egotistical.
One thing I want to make perfectly clear is my dislike of “Ego Gamers.” These are people who only play games they are good at, and only play to boost their own ego. You may have run into these types before. Whenever you’re at a party or a friend’s house and people are playing games, they will often loiter around the area, but don’t ever seem to want to play. However, once “their game” is chosen to be played, they are ready to show everyone in the area just how good they are/how much time they’ve wasted on this game. They are usually pretty good at the game, and can beat the average gamer. That’s where the problem starts. Up until now, they haven’t touched the controller, but once they are on a game they are good at, they make sure you know just how amazing they are and how much you suck. Sure, they may suck at every other game out there, but you’d never know. They never give you the chance to because they are too busy avoiding those games. No, instead of playing games whether they suck at them or not, to them games are about winning and showing up your opponent.
Now that I have gotten that off my chest, I can move on to other things. Like stories. More importantly, video game stories.
I’ve always been a big fan of a good storyline. I feel most games can benefit from a well-thought-out storyline (barring certain genres like sports that don’t really require it). It seems, though, that the tales the current games weave are becoming increasingly unoriginal. Sure, they may use different names or settings, but you can only tell the same story so many times before it becomes old.
One series that has been my beacon for good storytelling has been Final Fantasy. Since I started playing the series many years ago, I had always been enthralled with the complex tales that seemed to go on forever. Unfortunately, even Final Fantasy has been slipping in this regard. With the release of X-2 and XII, the story department has been lacking. Whether it be a completely ridiculous sequel or simply the lack of any real overlying plot, Final Fantasy has been losing ground. Instead, it has been the Indie titles that have impressed me. Games like Pyschonauts and Indigo Prophecy show that original and interesting storytelling is still available, you just have to find them. There are more mainstream titles that feature some quality storytelling, such as Bioshock, but those are becoming rare. I’m just hoping that Final Fantasy XIII will be better.
MUSIC
Kenichiro Fukui - Warning Einhänder Original Soundtrack
Norihiko Hibino - hope and courage Elvandia Story Original Soundtrack
Silicon Knights - Black Rose Eternal Darkness ~ Sanity’s Requiem Sound Track
D is for Dead? I don’t think so!
As it’s been a while since my last post and there are many things that have happened, I’m just going to start fresh.
I am a fan of System Shock 2. A very big fan. Since I am a fan, I was more than excited when Bioshock was announced. I waited, almost patiently, for the release of what could be the greatest FPS RPG title released since SS2. Upon release, however, as impressed as I was by the game, I couldn’t help but feel as though I was just playing SS2 with a new theme. It was almost as if they had re-skinned the original game, slapped a new prefix to “Shock” and dumbed down the difficulty. I could go on about it but I feel that Zero Punctuation said it perfectly in the following video:
On another note, I want to talk about RPGs. More specifically, Japanese RPGs. Yes, I know, it’s a touchy subject. JRPGs is like the Euro Metal of the gaming world. Everyone had probably played one or two, but only the nerdiest of the nerdy (myself included) really enjoy them on higher level. So if you are not a fan of them, I would say skip on down the post. Anyway, my issue is with the evolving battle systems in the games. More and more are JRPGs going to a real-time battle system and straying from the turn-based style that it was birthed with. I don’t necessarily dislike this trend, it’s simply that the transition has been very rocky. More often than not, I have found myself playing a real-time system that has been not only exceedingly dull, but also very contrived and not even very well executed. Only a few titles have really stood out as having excellent real-time systems or variations thereof (Star Ocean, Tales of Symphonia, Final Fantasy XII). There has also been a growing pressure on classic turn-based franchises to shed their ways and go to the new style. Series like Dragon Quest, games that have built their popularity on the solid turn-based gameplay, are feeling the pressure from other series who have jumped ship and embraced the new system. This I am not happy with.
I grew up playing turn-based games, and I would rather not see series I have loved change something that drew me into it in the first place. A Dragon Quest title that is not turn-based seems almost blasphemous. I do understand that turn-based systems can be overwhelming or sometimes needlessly convoluted. Games like Magna Carta that featured hybrid systems that were so overly complex that playing the game was no longer fun ruins the image of turn-based titles.
Another nail in the turn-based coffin is the random encounter. So often are old titles associated with this bastardized version of exploration that it becomes synonymous with tedium. Games have been starting to stray from that concept, but it still rears its ugly head every now and then (Rogue Galaxy).
In the end, I feel that Final Fantasy XII has done the best job so far of combining both schools of thought into one extremely coherent and entirely enjoyable game.
MUSIC
As the title implies, today is the day of the D. No, I am not talking about Tenacious D, I am talking about tracks from games who’s name begins with that lovely letter D. Below you will find music from Dragon Quest, Devil May Cry, and Dead Rising. Enjoy.
Koichi Sugiyama - Overture Dragon Quest VIII Sorato Umito Daichito Norowareshi Himegimi Symphonic Suite
Shawn McPherson - Cerberus Battle Devil May Cry 3 Original Soundtrack
Hostile Groove - On a Mission Dead Rising Original Soundtrack
Welcome back. Here’s your sword.
Sorry for the long delay. I know I said I would have a post up last Wednesday, but things happened that kept me from it. However, I’m back and ready to continue where I left off.
Previously I said I was going to post 6 songs to make up for the delay. However, this won’t happen. Instead, I’m going to post 100 tracks. That’s right. “How?” you may ask. It’s simple. In honor of the newest Final Fantasy and the game that has stolen my soul, I’m going to post the entire FFXII soundtrack. So I hope you all enjoy.
Hitoshi Sakimoto - Final Fantasy XII Original Soundtrack (475MB) This is the first numbered Final Fantasy Soundtrack that Nobuo Uematsu has nothing to do with (X-2 excluded as it’s not a real game). However, it’s an amazing accomplishment and stands as one of the best soundtracks in the series, in my opinion. Sakimoto had a lot to live up to when he took the reigns of this beast, but he pulled it off, and in the process produced some tracks that quickly have joined the ranks of my favorite songs of all time.