but she'll be more likely to titter while administering fatal spankings to angels.
I have to say, Bayonetta is probably the most Japanese game I've ever played. There was a handful of times that I thought to myself, "Only in Japan." And you know what? We, the game--playing populace are all the better for it.
Bayonetta is one of the most imaginative and fresh games I've ever played. This game is Hideki Kamiya's creativity unleashed. Thankfully it isn't a case of big ideas and spotty execution. Thanks to the development experience of Kamiya and his team at Platinum Games this is also one of the best 3rd person action games ever created.
Everything about the game is pitch-perfect. The action stays near 60 frames per second at all times (something even Team Ninja couldn't do with Ninja Gaiden 2). The flow of combat was clearly crafted by a team that understands how to keep players challenged with a variety of combat scenarios while leaving the player in total control.
In my opinion, one of the key's to Bayonetta's triumph of design over its competitors is the game's intelligent use of the dodge button. There are two mechanical reasons as to why this game's dodge functionality surpasses its peers: 1) There is a button dedicated to dodging and only dodging. 2) This button is placed right under the player's index finger, which makes it its primary task. The player is able to dodge instantaneously as needed as a result of this logical design.
Platinum Games wisely explicitly highlights the importance of dodging by rewarding the player for doing so. If you dodge at the last second before being attacked, Bayonetta will activate Witch Time, which slows down all enemies on the screen for a period of time. Thankfully, the timing for this is strict enough to reward you for having good timing, but not so strict that the mere mortals among us are able to utilize it. Think God of War parry timing for Street Fighter III: Third Strike parry timing and you'll know the difference. Witch Time not only slows enemies down, but some enemies have a shield of some kind that can only be efficiently dispatched if you are using Witch Time. This is what elevates dodging to being the core mechanic of the game, moreso than combos.
In the next updates I will talk about more combat system specifics and why Bayonetta may be craziest AAA games you will ever play.
Sunday, April 11, 2010
Thursday, April 1, 2010
Catching Up
My blog has fallen into the trap, like every blog does. "Sorry I haven't updated in a while guyzzzzzz!" and all that nonsense. I realized that it has basically been one year since I started it, with no updates to it since the dreaded annual Autumn Video Game Avalanche.
It's the truth of the matter though. Sorry! The reason why?
JESUS GOD, VIDEOGAME INDUSTRY.
I mean, I knew that everyone wanted to miss competing with Modern Warfare 2 last holiday season, but I have been besieged by great video games, many of them high profile games or high profile sequels. So, I have been spending all of my free time playing and enjoying them instead of writing about them. A better balance is required! I will try and update the blog more regularly while playing said games, instead of doing what I've done these past 5 months and gorge on the playing alone.
On the brighter side of life, this time away has given me many many games to talk about and post entries about. Progress on My Personal Top 50 has also been made, albeit slowly.
I think first up on the list for next update is the Best Game of 2009 That Slipped Into A Wormhole And Was Released In 2010, Bayonetta.
Stay Tuned!
It's the truth of the matter though. Sorry! The reason why?
JESUS GOD, VIDEOGAME INDUSTRY.
I mean, I knew that everyone wanted to miss competing with Modern Warfare 2 last holiday season, but I have been besieged by great video games, many of them high profile games or high profile sequels. So, I have been spending all of my free time playing and enjoying them instead of writing about them. A better balance is required! I will try and update the blog more regularly while playing said games, instead of doing what I've done these past 5 months and gorge on the playing alone.
On the brighter side of life, this time away has given me many many games to talk about and post entries about. Progress on My Personal Top 50 has also been made, albeit slowly.
I think first up on the list for next update is the Best Game of 2009 That Slipped Into A Wormhole And Was Released In 2010, Bayonetta.
Stay Tuned!
Tuesday, November 17, 2009
Surprise! - Game of the Year 2009
Uncharted 2? More like Uninspired 2.
Call of Duty? More like Modern Snore-fare.
Left 4 Dead 2? More like Expansion Pack Left 4 The Bargain Bin
Street Fighter 4? More like Arm Wrestling 8 Ex Plus ∑ Championship Ω Edition
Halo 3: ODST? More like Halo 3: ROYC (Rip Off Your Customers)
Demon's Souls? More like Shut-In's Utopia.
Killzone 2? More like Killzone 2 Little 2 Late.
No good sir, I'm talking about the best game released this year. Perhaps you've heard of it. No? You already saw it on the list of pretenders up there? Well then, I am here to remedy your ignorance.
Through my usual plucky internet channels, I was made aware of the fact that the demo for Hideki Kamiya's latest masterpiece, Bayonetta, was released.
Kamiya, you deranged genius, you.
If you really must boil Kamiya's brilliance down to something so simple as a genre description, Bayonetta is Kamiya's triumphant return to the 3rd person stylish action genre that he popularized when he and his team released Devil May Cry in 2001. In the demo, you can tell that Kamiya has clearly been taking notes from not only his own creations, but from the other challengers to the throne. Bayonetta controls like a dream; we finally have a game where the gameplay is as smooth as the protagonist herself (hawt). This game will blow your goddamned mind in ecstasy. Don't just take my word for it: Did I mention that Bayonetta was awarded a perfect score by Famitsu, putting it in good company with the likes of The Legend of Zelda: Ocarina of Time, Vagrant Story, Soul Calibur, and Metal Gear Solid 4?
Make sure you wear a bib and put up a tarp, because your eyeballs are going to explode. When your wife comes in the room and you tell her you need new eyes because you gazed upon 2009's forbidden masterpiece, remember your brief time with Bayonetta fondly. She'll be waiting for you once your name reaches the top of the eye donor list in 10 years. Or you should probably just skip the whole thing and tell your doctor that you want robot eyes, because only a machine's cold unfeeling logic could possibly process the exquisiteness that is Bayonetta without wanting to burst in ecstasy.
And yet, our lowly technology seems incapable of capturing the sheer majesty of this game. Forgive my trangression Bayonetta! I only wanted to spread your good news!
In conclusion:
Call of Duty? More like Modern Snore-fare.
Left 4 Dead 2? More like Expansion Pack Left 4 The Bargain Bin
Street Fighter 4? More like Arm Wrestling 8 Ex Plus ∑ Championship Ω Edition
Halo 3: ODST? More like Halo 3: ROYC (Rip Off Your Customers)
Demon's Souls? More like Shut-In's Utopia.
Killzone 2? More like Killzone 2 Little 2 Late.
No good sir, I'm talking about the best game released this year. Perhaps you've heard of it. No? You already saw it on the list of pretenders up there? Well then, I am here to remedy your ignorance.
Through my usual plucky internet channels, I was made aware of the fact that the demo for Hideki Kamiya's latest masterpiece, Bayonetta, was released.
Kamiya, you deranged genius, you.
If you really must boil Kamiya's brilliance down to something so simple as a genre description, Bayonetta is Kamiya's triumphant return to the 3rd person stylish action genre that he popularized when he and his team released Devil May Cry in 2001. In the demo, you can tell that Kamiya has clearly been taking notes from not only his own creations, but from the other challengers to the throne. Bayonetta controls like a dream; we finally have a game where the gameplay is as smooth as the protagonist herself (hawt). This game will blow your goddamned mind in ecstasy. Don't just take my word for it: Did I mention that Bayonetta was awarded a perfect score by Famitsu, putting it in good company with the likes of The Legend of Zelda: Ocarina of Time, Vagrant Story, Soul Calibur, and Metal Gear Solid 4?
Make sure you wear a bib and put up a tarp, because your eyeballs are going to explode. When your wife comes in the room and you tell her you need new eyes because you gazed upon 2009's forbidden masterpiece, remember your brief time with Bayonetta fondly. She'll be waiting for you once your name reaches the top of the eye donor list in 10 years. Or you should probably just skip the whole thing and tell your doctor that you want robot eyes, because only a machine's cold unfeeling logic could possibly process the exquisiteness that is Bayonetta without wanting to burst in ecstasy.
And yet, our lowly technology seems incapable of capturing the sheer majesty of this game. Forgive my trangression Bayonetta! I only wanted to spread your good news!
In conclusion:
Thursday, November 5, 2009
East Vs. West and the Arbiter That Loved Them
So the ambitious journey to complete Final Fantasy XII begins.
With a few baby steps.
First impressions are that the game has not aged as well as I predicted it was going to. Even though FFXII was released a scant week or two before Gears of War, the artistry on display still held its own versus the technically impressive juggernaut. Now that we're firmly entrenched in the "HD Era" where even bite-sized arcade games are released in HD every week, it gets harder and harder to maintain a sense of perspective.
The quality of the voice acting also now strikes me as "competent" instead of the high bar I remember it setting. Perhaps it's too early to make that call (especially since Balthier has not yet made his appearance).
Hitoshi Sakimoto's music is still lovely though. While you can argue that it doesn't really fit what you expect from a main series entry, his work has defined Final Fantasy Tactics and anything relating to the land of Ivalice.
The establishing plot remains interesting however. The tiny Kingdom of Dalmasca is landlocked between two gigantic warring Empires. After getting overrun by the northern empire (wherein the heir to the throne is killed during the engagement), Dalmasca's king is forced to surrender. A pretty shocking betrayal follows where the high ranking Captain Basch assassinates the King of Dalmasca and the character you are controlling at the time (revealed to be Vaan's older brother with his dying breath). The marquis narrating the story so far (Cid, if I remember correctly) then reveals to us that the princess Ashe has committed suicide in her grief over the loss of her husband and country's independence.
Fast forward two years and we come to control the orphan Vaan. First User Interface irritation. You can't reverse the X-axis camera control. Arrrrrrrghghghghghgh. I used to be able to deal with controlling a "virtual camera" (where holding right swings the "camera" to the right so you see what is on your character's left and vice-versa). Having played so many third person shooters (like Resident Evil 4 and the Splinter Cell games, Gears of War, Metal Gear Solid 3 & 4, etc. etc. ETC. ETC.) makes this feel completely foreign to me. I remember this continuing to be a problem even during my first sojourn into this game.
Anyway, a bunch of non-interesting things happen where Vaan has to run errands for a shopkeeper that looks out for him. (Thankfully) as the story goes on, the irritating Vaan plays less and less of a role. This is probably an unpopular opinion, but Vaan doesn't strike me as being a likeable protagonist. I remember liking Tidus from FFX more (gasp!) It probably had to do with both you and Tidus being a stranger in a strange world and he acted as a decent enough cipher. How about a compromise: I don't think Vaan is nearly as interesting a protagonist as Zidane from FFIX. Both are meant to be sly thieves who are down on their luck and are trying to change their situation but Zidane was far more charming than this kid.
But I digress.
As for the game itself, well, only putting 30 minutes into this game hardly gets you to the "game" at all. I've succeeded in only watching the opening cinematic and narration and had to stop at the first real combat scenario. I am thinking about turning the battle speed up. It seems like there's too much of a lull in the action while I'm waiting for Vaan's action bar to fill up to do his next command. Standing around waiting for a bar to fill doesn't seem like that's how the developers intended the game to be played. When I get back to FFXII I will experiment with that setting.
Finally, any suggestions as to what I should title this blog "series"? I know that you can sort posts by tags, but I just want a title for consistency's sake.
With a few baby steps.
First impressions are that the game has not aged as well as I predicted it was going to. Even though FFXII was released a scant week or two before Gears of War, the artistry on display still held its own versus the technically impressive juggernaut. Now that we're firmly entrenched in the "HD Era" where even bite-sized arcade games are released in HD every week, it gets harder and harder to maintain a sense of perspective.
The quality of the voice acting also now strikes me as "competent" instead of the high bar I remember it setting. Perhaps it's too early to make that call (especially since Balthier has not yet made his appearance).
Hitoshi Sakimoto's music is still lovely though. While you can argue that it doesn't really fit what you expect from a main series entry, his work has defined Final Fantasy Tactics and anything relating to the land of Ivalice.
The establishing plot remains interesting however. The tiny Kingdom of Dalmasca is landlocked between two gigantic warring Empires. After getting overrun by the northern empire (wherein the heir to the throne is killed during the engagement), Dalmasca's king is forced to surrender. A pretty shocking betrayal follows where the high ranking Captain Basch assassinates the King of Dalmasca and the character you are controlling at the time (revealed to be Vaan's older brother with his dying breath). The marquis narrating the story so far (Cid, if I remember correctly) then reveals to us that the princess Ashe has committed suicide in her grief over the loss of her husband and country's independence.
Fast forward two years and we come to control the orphan Vaan. First User Interface irritation. You can't reverse the X-axis camera control. Arrrrrrrghghghghghgh. I used to be able to deal with controlling a "virtual camera" (where holding right swings the "camera" to the right so you see what is on your character's left and vice-versa). Having played so many third person shooters (like Resident Evil 4 and the Splinter Cell games, Gears of War, Metal Gear Solid 3 & 4, etc. etc. ETC. ETC.) makes this feel completely foreign to me. I remember this continuing to be a problem even during my first sojourn into this game.
Anyway, a bunch of non-interesting things happen where Vaan has to run errands for a shopkeeper that looks out for him. (Thankfully) as the story goes on, the irritating Vaan plays less and less of a role. This is probably an unpopular opinion, but Vaan doesn't strike me as being a likeable protagonist. I remember liking Tidus from FFX more (gasp!) It probably had to do with both you and Tidus being a stranger in a strange world and he acted as a decent enough cipher. How about a compromise: I don't think Vaan is nearly as interesting a protagonist as Zidane from FFIX. Both are meant to be sly thieves who are down on their luck and are trying to change their situation but Zidane was far more charming than this kid.
But I digress.
As for the game itself, well, only putting 30 minutes into this game hardly gets you to the "game" at all. I've succeeded in only watching the opening cinematic and narration and had to stop at the first real combat scenario. I am thinking about turning the battle speed up. It seems like there's too much of a lull in the action while I'm waiting for Vaan's action bar to fill up to do his next command. Standing around waiting for a bar to fill doesn't seem like that's how the developers intended the game to be played. When I get back to FFXII I will experiment with that setting.
Finally, any suggestions as to what I should title this blog "series"? I know that you can sort posts by tags, but I just want a title for consistency's sake.
Saturday, October 24, 2009
Coming To Terms With Your Disappointing Son
Or at least, that's how I've described my impending playthrough of Final Fantasy XII. Final Fantasy XII had a lot going for it on the outset with me: Yasumi Matsuno was directing it (I was a huge fan of his work from Final Fantasy Tactics & Vagrant Story), the game looked gorgeous, it took place in Ivalice from Final Fantasy Tactics Advance (allegedly), was the next mainline entry in the Final Fantasy series, the characters all looked charming, the voice acting was extremely well done, etc.
The battle system sank the ship for me however.
I hated the demo that came with Dragon Quest VIII. I sadly decided I was going to pass on it, until some blog posts convinced me to give it a shot, that it was different from the demo in a few key ways.
No it wasn't.
I played it for about 20 hours and shelved it after conferring with a friend of mine who said I wouldn't enjoy the rest of it. And there it has sat, for 2-3 years.
After talking with a couple other friends who spoke highly of it and see the game pop up on a few web sites as a BEST GAME EVER (shout out to Gamespite), I've decided to give the game another go, with a much more open mind this time. I know what I'm getting myself into, and hopefully I'll be able to get into the swing of things. I'm hoping to make this a log of sorts on my journey to complete this game, hopefully before the release of Final Fantasy XIII.
Let's see where it takes me.
The battle system sank the ship for me however.
I hated the demo that came with Dragon Quest VIII. I sadly decided I was going to pass on it, until some blog posts convinced me to give it a shot, that it was different from the demo in a few key ways.
No it wasn't.
I played it for about 20 hours and shelved it after conferring with a friend of mine who said I wouldn't enjoy the rest of it. And there it has sat, for 2-3 years.
After talking with a couple other friends who spoke highly of it and see the game pop up on a few web sites as a BEST GAME EVER (shout out to Gamespite), I've decided to give the game another go, with a much more open mind this time. I know what I'm getting myself into, and hopefully I'll be able to get into the swing of things. I'm hoping to make this a log of sorts on my journey to complete this game, hopefully before the release of Final Fantasy XIII.
Let's see where it takes me.
Wednesday, October 21, 2009
GG RIAA
Well, I just received an e-mail from Youtube saying that my Brütal Legend video was blocked for copyright infringement due to content being owned by Viacom. Seeing as I'm pretty sure EA is still independent (massive, but independent) I can only guess that Viacom is protecting any of their music that appears in the game. So! Seeing as the music is a major MAJOR part of the Brütal Legend experience, I guess I'm done posting direct feed footage of the game. MAYBE I will post some footage of the RTS battles just so you all can see what that's about, but... I'm kinda sour on wasting my time encoding and uploading these videos just to be shit on by the RIAA and its members. GG RIAA, your draconian bullshit is why I pretty much don't buy music anymore.
Suffice to say though, Brütal Legend itself continues to hold up with interesting characters, humorous dialog and fantastic all-around presentation. This is a game where any (possibly perceived) shortcomings in gameplay are bolstered (possibly overshadowed) by the fantastic aesthetic presentation.
Suffice to say though, Brütal Legend itself continues to hold up with interesting characters, humorous dialog and fantastic all-around presentation. This is a game where any (possibly perceived) shortcomings in gameplay are bolstered (possibly overshadowed) by the fantastic aesthetic presentation.
Monday, October 19, 2009
That's Brütal
Finally, one of my most awaited games of the year was released last week. I've gotten to the point of experience in this hobby that I'm starting to follow notable designers and software teams' work as opposed to being attracted to strictly brand loyalty (although that happens too I guess...)
But I digress. Double Fine Productions, headed by Tim Schafer, has released their latest game, Brütal Legend upon the world. One of the interesting things about Schafer is that ever since he left Lucasarts he has been dabbling in other game genres while still keeping his signature sense of humor and strong character-based plots. Psychonauts was a ridiculously funny platforming game and Brütal Legend is a... really ambitiously designed game. Thus far, Brütal Legend is no different. If there were two things that have surprised me about the game so far though, it's that 1) The sharp dialog seems to taper off after a couple hours (somewhat disappointing) but the visual humor keeps the overall comedic tone high and 2) it's a Real Time Strategy game. The latter point completely blindsided me until maybe a couple days before it was released. The demo gives no indication to this point (indeed, you'll see not even a couple hints of RTS game in the first couple videos I'm embedding below). Despite what(Tim Schafer says about the game not being an RTS, I'm more inclined to agree with Penny-Arcade.
It's not that I dislike RTS games, it's just that I find them really hard to play and there's a huge learning curve on them. While I'm dealing with my RTS shortcomings I will say that Brütal Legend's hilariously badass aesthetics make me want to continue learning to play the game and get better. For the record, I think Brütal Legend will probably join Warcraft III as the only RTS game that I actually enjoy, but time will tell.
Below, I've posted some direct feed HD videos of my concurrent Brütal Legend playthrough. I've put the subtitles on for a particular friend of mine. I also have a save game that's much farther along than this, but I'm posting this one to make the game look as badass as it deserves. Some game over screens will be preserved for hilarity's sake (like Jack Black's/Eddie Rigg's line of dialog before crashing into the sea on the upcoming 3rd video). Should I put video updates in new posts or should I append them to this current one? Let me know in the comments.
Introduction:
I get to play! (the demo material...):
Alright, now it's time to finish off the demo and show a snippet of the full game itself:
But I digress. Double Fine Productions, headed by Tim Schafer, has released their latest game, Brütal Legend upon the world. One of the interesting things about Schafer is that ever since he left Lucasarts he has been dabbling in other game genres while still keeping his signature sense of humor and strong character-based plots. Psychonauts was a ridiculously funny platforming game and Brütal Legend is a... really ambitiously designed game. Thus far, Brütal Legend is no different. If there were two things that have surprised me about the game so far though, it's that 1) The sharp dialog seems to taper off after a couple hours (somewhat disappointing) but the visual humor keeps the overall comedic tone high and 2) it's a Real Time Strategy game. The latter point completely blindsided me until maybe a couple days before it was released. The demo gives no indication to this point (indeed, you'll see not even a couple hints of RTS game in the first couple videos I'm embedding below). Despite what(Tim Schafer says about the game not being an RTS, I'm more inclined to agree with Penny-Arcade.
It's not that I dislike RTS games, it's just that I find them really hard to play and there's a huge learning curve on them. While I'm dealing with my RTS shortcomings I will say that Brütal Legend's hilariously badass aesthetics make me want to continue learning to play the game and get better. For the record, I think Brütal Legend will probably join Warcraft III as the only RTS game that I actually enjoy, but time will tell.
Below, I've posted some direct feed HD videos of my concurrent Brütal Legend playthrough. I've put the subtitles on for a particular friend of mine. I also have a save game that's much farther along than this, but I'm posting this one to make the game look as badass as it deserves. Some game over screens will be preserved for hilarity's sake (like Jack Black's/Eddie Rigg's line of dialog before crashing into the sea on the upcoming 3rd video). Should I put video updates in new posts or should I append them to this current one? Let me know in the comments.
Introduction:
I get to play! (the demo material...):
Alright, now it's time to finish off the demo and show a snippet of the full game itself:
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