So, this being my first post and all, I apologize for it being poorly written, jumping around sporadically. I figured after reading Nate's blog for the past year, it finally seemed like a fun thing to do. I do not play as many games as Nate does (or at least I don't think I do?), so my post count would not be as high nor them as long. Therefore, it made sense to include books I'm reading as well. I tend to read books in large series, or many books by the same author, so I'll have quite a few thoughts regarding books as well. I'll start with what I'm currently playing, and suppose let my blogging go from there...
Going backwards from least played (though still played a small bit), I'm slowly working my way through Final Fantasy XII. I have to mention that I've only fully played through Final Fantasy X and X-2 (and most of IX), so I don't have much to compare to, but I enjoy the battle system. People say that you have no control over anything, and you could sit back and let the game play itself, but I believe it's the opposite. The game offers so much customization within the gambits that you can literally program the battle system to play how you want it to, and if you really want to, you can play it choosing every characters' actions. Story-wise, the game is a little boring, but it's no 'Sin taking over the world with death abound' type of story. I'll go into the game a little more when I go back to it, have other games to play first. Don't worry, I'm only halfway through it, plenty left to do and blog about.
About two months ago, I bought Perfect Dark for the Xbox Live Arcade, seeing how it was one of my favorite games for the Nintendo 64. I imagined taking the game and improving the graphics, framerate and adding online multiplayer would make it once again one of the top FPS on the market. Sadly, I don't think things panned out the way the developers (or people porting/rewriting the programming) wanted them to. I'll admit that the graphics are great and having a high and stable framerate is awesome, but they lost me on the controls and online multiplayer. A FPS should not rely on auto-aim, and bringing up the scope should not result in incredibly tough controls. Sorry developers, but controls must fit the game. I'll come back to this important note in a more recent game. The multiplayer leaves much to be desired. From my experience, players are set up in a random level, with random weapons and random rules, no host. I was hoping for some epic scenarios created by players, like the ones Nate and I used to make and play years ago. Sadly, not the case. One of these days I hope to play a private match online with friends, and see if custom scenarios (with bots!) can be used, with *breath* no split-screen.
Speaking of multiplayer, I still turn on Bioshock 2 once in a while just for the online play. The story wasn't as good as the original Bioshock, which I highly recommend to all gamers, but still good nonetheless. Maybe one of these days I'll go into the story and gameplay in more detail, but this first blog post is targeting basic game information and what I'm playing. Surprisingly, the multiplayer in Bioshock 2 is very good! One starts with basic weapons, with no stat boosters. As more kills are made and points are gained, more exp is earned. That's right, exp in a FPS. With level ups, new weapons, plasmids, and stat boosters are unlocked to be "equipped." It sounds unfair to new players, and it can be, but it's been proven that better players can win with the basic equips. Either way, it's one of the very few fast online FPS games that I enjoy. And by fast, I mean ones where dying three times within thirty seconds is not uncommon. I'm looking at you, Team Fortress 2...ugh.
Okay last game for now. I'll get into Persona 2 FES and Just Cause 2 in a later post, since those are the games I'm actually playing right now, and need posts for themselves. I'll probably also go into the past four games in their own posts as well, when I pick them back up to play more. I've been playing Picross 3D on the side, like at nights or while watching Lost (addicted!). Personally I thought the first game was much better. The first had a very simplistic style, but did not sacrifice gameplay one bit. East puzzles? Check. Hard puzzles? Got 'em. Extremely difficult but still relaxing puzzles? You bet. I think I once counted around 800 puzzles. Now that's money well spent. The "sequel" just doesn't feel the same. I say sequel because the first was made entirely by Nintendo, the second by HAL. Basically still Nintendo, but with different staff. The puzzles are difficult even from the beginning, but I'm not addicted like the first. The controls aren't as precise as the original either, which has led to more than a few mistakes, which gets very frustrating when aiming for all perfect puzzles. The graphics, while not supposed to be amazing, are not simplistic like its brother, which I guess isn't really possible since it is in 3D. But I don't know, they just seem poorly done.
Okay, so as far as Persona 3 FES and Just Cause 2 go, I enjoy both of them, and like going back and forth between them (and Lost!) since they're entirely different games. More on those later.
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