2 posts tagged “video games”
I haven't been excited about any up-and-coming video games for a while. There are a couple, however, I find now that I am quite looking forward to. And they're both fighting games...hmmmm.
Dissidia
A fighting game starring Final Fantasy characters for the PSP. Sounds pretty silly, right? That was more or less my thought, at least, until I read up on it and caught the opening video. I guess I'm just a sucker for crazy epic cross-over madness. The main hero and villain of each of the first ten Final Fantasy games brought together with enough Final Fantasy-grade storytelling to justify whatever it is that's going on?
...well, what can I say? Sign me up.
Tekken 6
I've always been a fan of the Tekken series. It's on the opposite end of the flashy spectrum as the above game. For as colorful the characters and outrageous the storyline, Tekken is ironically pretty much the most down-to-earth major fighting game franchise out there in terms of the actual fighting. The characters use mostly legitimate forms of martial arts and don't have crazy projectile attacks, magical powers, or the ability to jump three times their body height and exchange a few combos in the air. There is a bit of supernatural flare thrown in for the narrative here and there, but they make a big deal of it; it's just not the norm as in most series.
It'll be fun to see how the King of Iron Fist tournament continues on seventh generation consoles.
New desk! My friend Brian helped me put it together last week. Perhaps slightly less of a bitch than I had anticipated, but a fair sized one, nonetheless. Especially trying to figure out the mechanics of the upper cabinets' hinge-lock space adjusters.
The picture doesn't quite show off the lustrous color, but my orange oil polish made it look reeaaally nice. Large surface area, drawers, cabinets, a keyboard tray, and even storage slots below the upper cabinets to "temporarily" stash stuff you don't want to find a place for at the moment. I love it. (>^-')>
I haven't gotten a new computer, yet, and I didn't feel like trogging around with my old one, so I just have my laptop set up on it with my super-nice speakers, and a wireless keyboard/mouse set so I can make use of the tray (the surface is a little too high for comfortable reach). I even bought a new 10-outlet 3,600 joule surge protecter for all my various electronic gizmos. Definitely a satisfactory purchase! I can't wait to get around to getting a new computer to get everything set up all nicely. (And finally play Oblivion...oh-ho...)
I also got a new CD in the mail. One I referred to in my earlier post; Epica's Cosign to Oblivion. The one I found just by looking at the "similar items" links off of Within Temptation's first album, which also arrived, but seems to be some weird German non-standard audio CD, so it crackles and skips and pops, annoyingly enough. I'm going to have to get Brian to just download MP3s of it, so I can actually listen to it. Yes, I'm pirating something I bought!!
Anyway, Epica's album, though, is incredibly fun to listen to. Very operatic and dramatic, loaded with choirs and Latin and orchestras and guitars, making for some pretty powerful music. The only complaint I have is that in a couple of the tracks, the guitarist feels the need to speak in the growl of a constipated bear. None too pleasant a sound when compared to all around it, but on the bright side, I suppose the contrast does make you appreciate the female lead singer's strong vocals that much more when they relieve you of the attempted embeefing. Actually, one of the best parts of the album is the lead-in to the bridge and end of the song directly following the throaty grunts on the track they first appear.
All in all, though, an excellent work of music!
Ōkami! That's right; I caved into curiosity and picked up a copy of this game at Game Crazy. I wasn't really sure what to expect, but I'd heard things here and there during its development, and some promising review convinced me to go ahead and give it a try.
I'm glad I did! It's far outweighed my expectations. You play as the Shinto sun goddess Amaterasu, in the form of a wolf (kami is the Japaense word for god, thus ōkami means big/great god, and ōkami/ookami is also the word for wolf, ha-ha). A nice change from a drunken gnome, anyway. (>^-')>
The gameplay is somewhat of a demi-RPG platformer. I've heard it compared to the Zelda series, and that's actually a pretty good comparison. You have puzzles popping up here and there that you need to get specific objects (or in this case, divine powers) to come back and solve. You even have a little Navi-like sprite-ish fellow named Issun following you around, instructing you on game mechanics, and occassionally speaking on Amaterasu's (whom he cutely calls 'Ammy', or sometimes just 'furball') behalf. One of the most adventurous features is the method of using Amaterasu's divine power; you hold down a shoulder button and paint symbols onto the screen with an analog stick over whatever you want to affect. It's a lot of fun to mess around with, and the detached contrast between it and the traditional platformer controls lends nicely to the effect of it representing otherworldly abilities.
If you've heard or seen anything about this game, chances are it's mostly been about the graphics. And, I have to admit, it is one of the neatest things I've seen. They're very surreal; it's like walking around in a moving painting. Very smooth and flowing, yet still solidly defined. The ōkami herself is animated with much fluidity and grace, and it's fun to just zoom in and walk around the lush landscapes.
The music is of a traditional oriental sort, which is fitting and appreciated. Serene and soothing. The voices use the increasingly popular Animal Crossing like garble (though as it does not seem to actually base off of the text, Starfox: Command is probably a more accurate comparison). A nice tool to be able to relay the tone and pitch of a character's voice without paying for voice acting, though you of course don't get to hear intonation, inflection, and such, that way.
The story and characters are, expectedly, very folksy and fable-ish, which suits the game just fine. I haven't gotten terribly far in it just yet, but I'm looking forward to seeing how everything unfolds, and if there are any more surprises and new things to try!
It's a very creative, innovative, and well-executed game, and I would certainly reccomend giving it a try to any of you PS2 owners! It didn't get a lot of press, as is generally the case with such unique games, but reviewers and gamers alike who have picked it up all seem to love it (seriously, the lowest score I have seen for it out of fifteen or more game sites or magazines is a 9 out of 10). I certainly can't blame them!
