Words of Replicant Jesus

This is a beautiful looking game, downright gorgeous in some places.  It strikes less of being a game and more of being a cinematic adventure interspersed with scenes of an actual video game.  Overall it works well but there are some things I find disappointing.

The game is currently too linear, you basically just go from zone to zone with no real breaks or towns or chance to involve yourself in side plots.  Valkyria Chronicles has more choice than this game at this juncture.  About 6 hours in perhaps maybe less.  Vanille has a terrible English VA and I expect her Japanese counterpoint is probably squeakier than I have the stomach for.  Hope is just annoying for a variety of reasons; mostly dealing with his mother and being a total douche.  Lightning needs to get punched in the face for blaming Snow for her problems and Snow is kind of wishy washy.  If you are going to introduce a combat system it should be enjoyable at all levels, not just after you “get” everything.  The story thus far is not terribly exciting, but hopefully it gets better.

Things I like.

The game is gorgeous and it’s hard for me to pick out at times the cinematics from the in-game engine.  The character models are well done even if they are annoying.  Combat system looks deep with the Paradigm Shifting.  But so far I have yet to see the full potential.  Musical score is fantastic thus far, and is simply massive.  Character advancement system is similar to Final Fantasy X which I like, though it has the potential to be annoying.  Overall a good game thus far but not what I expected.  Not sure if that is good or bad.

Tonight I pick up Final Fantasy XIII and get to see what all the hype is all about.  I have not played a Final fantasy game since XI so I am interested to see what the game is all about.  In other news I am still slamming my head against the Lich King and we had a some hiccups on Sindragosa last night.  But nothing we can’t fix tonight and hopefully take down the Lich King.

Also I really like this advertisement.  Courtesy of Really Cute Asians.

I shouldn’t be excited but I really liked Tron so I am getting amped up for this long time in coming sequel.  Saw another trailer at Alice Wonderland, it looked excellent.

Tank Threat

Some replies by Ghostcrawler on Tank Threat.

I am not sure what to think as of yet on some of the comment on the one hand I do agree that tanks could use stronger single target threat and that the reliance on Tricks of the Trade and Misdirect while interesting from a group dynamic strong point make the tank classes as a whole feel incomplete.  Again we reach the issue of threat scaling, and I agree it was absolutely perfect in Naxx and solid in Ulduar but after that it seemed to not really keep up.  Can we still hold threat, of course we can and I doubt I can lose it once I get going.  But the amount by which threat has scald with damage is not consistent with the increase for DPS classes.

Given this is the second time this has happened though not as bad as Burning Crusade, I am not truly confident they will find an adequate solution.  But I do have hope they will do their best to enhance the tank classes in the places they need it most.  I am not too terribly thrilled about losing more AE threat but I understand why.

Glorious Asian Taddies

How you doing?

Courtesy of Really Cute Asians.

I got nothing else, probably see The Crazies tonight.  Should be fun.

Good film, beautiful imagery with entertaining characters. Saw it last night at midnight and was impressed; I read the original story and Through the Looking Glass as a kid so it was nice to see a well done film. It’s not the actual story mind you but some kind of continuation of the original story. Not bad overall, and there was a preview for Tron Legacy which looks quite entertaining.

Just finished watching the Blood+ anime series. I actually enjoyed this series well more so the second 25 episodes more so than the first 25.  It starts very slow and I think  there were a ton of filler episodes where nothing really happened.  Some of the characters are pretty annoying like basically all of the main character’s, Saya, family but they get better especially Kai towards the end of the series.  I found the ending to be certainly poignant and refreshing if somewhat sad but hopeful.  Overall it is nothing really spectacular and the story drags a bunch but the bright parts are well done.  An odd if very anime take on vampires.  Done by the same animation team that did Ghost in the Shell: SAC so it’s solid animation.

Check it out.

Between Mass Effect 2, school, and a general unreliability to keep my site updated I had lapsed on my updates. But thanks to some encouragement from a fellow guild mate I am back to try and remedy that. I don’t have anything particularly moving to say today but I do have much to talk about.  I picked up Mass Effect 2 in January, hard to believe it is already March and Final Fantasy XIII is right around the corner.

Speaking of Mass Effect 2, what an awesome second act for the series.  I know some people don’t like some of the elements but I found it amazing.  Being able to transfer my character into the second game and continue his story was awesome and hooking up with Tali’Zorah vas Normandy was the icing on the cake.  from start to finish it is an awesome ride and the combat system is so much tighter and better than the first game I absolutely love it.  My main grips is that I wish there was more armor customization, more conversations between and with quad mates, and deeper friendship paths for all the characters.  My enthusiasm is high for Mass Effect 3.

I also started up on Valkyria Chronicles for PS3, which I got over Christmas and I am enjoying it.  The story is so-so but the actual game mechanics and the tactical combat is very fun.  I should beat it here soon.  I am getting Final Fantasy XIII for the PS3 as well, don;t really know much about the game story wise so it will be interesting to go into it blind.  I also started playing Dungeons and Dragons 4th Edition with some friends from school.  It’s really nice to run a game again after so long and it keeps the creative juices flowing.

As far as World of Warcraft is concerned, I was burnt out for awhile but I am getting back into it and working on the Lich King.  Interesting fight, I like it, keeps you moving and thinking and is quite the challenge for my guild.  I am interested to see new Cataclysm stuff and I am still debating if I want to race change to a Tauren or not just for the fun of it.  I also plan to do some writing over Spring Break and try and put some progress on this crappy novel idea I have.

Also despite what my guild mates think I am not an atheist or a scientologist.  But I do love me some Asian women.  One final note the soundtrack for Mass Effect 2 is awesome.

I love Asians… I love all womens… this site is dangerous.

http://asianposes.com/

I have nothing more to add… the kawaii factor is off the charts.

I saw Transformers 2 last Thursday and I will say that I enjoyed the film for what it was.  A Michael Bay explosion fest summer good time movie with luscious Megan Fox doing what she does best.  Looking pretty.  But I have to digress that I did like the film for what it was, a shallow action packed onslaught on the senses that rattles off an explosion any time things get even remotely slow.  Some people seem to think that this is a bad thing and that our childhood heroes/shows are sacred cows that are not to be trifled with.

To them I say nay.

Transformers was never a really deep show, sure it may have touched on nuances of good and evil and sacrifice and heroism but it was a formulaic show about giant robots beating the crap out of other giant robots with a sprinkle of humans in the mix.  The show was designed to sell toys/products to children, mainly boys, and at that it did quite well.  It was and still is a vehicle of commercialism gone rampant and was soon as “rabid” fans accept that the better.  I loved Optimus Prime as a kid and I love him now, he is a great, virtuous, strong, and reliable when the chips are down.  He always does the right thing no matter what and he won’t fail you if he even has a chance of success.  He is the kind of man/person we want to be on our best days.

With that said I still hope that Hollywood finds new ideas to make movies out of, but if the success of this current film is any indicator our “sacred” childhood will become a veritable orchard of ideas for future summer blockbusters to come.  I say just enjoy it and realize that a new generation of fans will be introduced to the things you loved oh so long ago.

I am not sure what to make of this EA Mythic + Bioware merger today.  I am excited because I think the merge could mean some experienced talent on the Old Republic MMO but I am not sure what this means for WAR, EA Mythic’s MMO title.  On the one hand I think losing Mark Jacobs will be a morale blow to that team but I think working with Bioware could really sharpen that product up as well.  Bioware usually brings polish and quality to their products and I am excited to see what this new group will do with their established titles and forthcoming products.

Although I never played Dark Ages of Camelot (DAoC) I recognize that the game was rather successful in it’s time and although still kicking and going is in decline as newer products come to the fore.  I recognize that Mark Jacobs played a large part in that initial vision for DAoC and should be respected at least for bringing an influential product to the MMO scene.  The game was successful and although not World of Warcraft numbers at the time it was an MMO blockbuster as far as subscriptions go and impact on products that followed.

Having beta-tested WAR I was not too surprised that it’s success, relative to World of Warcraft, was not what EA thought it would be.  The game never really hooked me and seemed to emulate much of what Blizzard had done without understanding the why it was done.  I do think the game has plenty of legs though and I think it brought some really good ideas to the table that I am sure we will see in future products.  I hope that the success of WAR did not affect this departure but I suspect it may have played a role.

I wish him the best of luck and I hope this merge brings good things to us in the future.

Link: http://kotaku.com/5302069/ea-combines-mythic-and-bioware-into-a-giant-rpg-robot