Kingdom Hearts 358/2 and Scribblenauts

Wow.  That’s all I can say about KH 358/2.  After beating the game in a week and a half, which is a record time for me, I can honestly say that it’s one of the best games I’ve ever played.  If it weren’t for Fire Emblem 7, it would be the best.

KH 358/2 follows the storyline of Roxas from when he’s created, through his time at the Organization, and finally ending where KH2 starts.  The two things I love most about 358/2 are the gameplay and the storyline.  I really liked the emphasis on exploration, which is an aspect absent from many games I’ve played.  The storyline was also fantastic; I really felt myself bonding with the three main characters (Axel/Roxas/Xion) to the point where I cried at the end (stop laughing it was a good ending).  In addition, I enjoyed how there was always something to work towards, which in this case were new panels which would enhance Roxas’s character and his keyblade (I was always antsy to get a better gear).  Plus, I really like how you can continue playing the game after it ends.  Right now I’m redoing a bunch of missions that I haven’t gotten 100% for yet, and with my new Zero Gear Keyblade, most of them are ridiculously easy.  It’s always fun to go back through the game with pwnsome equipment XD.

Did I mention the graphics for cutscenes are remarkable?

If there’s one thing I would complain about in 358/2, it’s the pacing.  The game is set up in days, with each mission you complete finishing off a day.  The first …10-20 days were all tutorials, and while they were nice so that a player could thoroughly understand the controls, they got a little boring after awhile.  Also, it seemed like the beginning was stretched out too much.  I spent a ridiculous amount of time in the first two worlds – Twilight Town and Agrabah – and then it seemed like I was going to new worlds every 30 days.  The end also seemed to rush by extremely fast, with the plot truly picking up around day 300, and everything seemed to speed by after that point.  Also, it seemed like the last boss fights – the ones against Xion and Riku – were ridiculously easy compared to other bosses (and I was on standard mode), but that’s just a minor trifle.  Ok I lied, there’s one more thing I didn’t like: some storylines of the worlds were never resolved.  The one in Beast’s Castle was left on a cliffhanger (that annoyed me a lot), and the a plot that was started in Wonderland (the queen hunting for four things), was never really explained.  However, all the good parts of the game made up for those small complaints I had for it.

Overall, I loved KH 358/2.  I would highly recommend this game to anyone who is/isn’t a KH fan.

Oh yea: don’t ask me to play co-op.  I use an emulator, so I kind of can’t, haha.

Moving on to Scribblenauts.  I’ve been highly anticipating Scribblenauts ever since word of it appeared in Nintendo Power, and I can say that it’s lived up to all my hopes.  I love exploring different interactions with objects on the environment, which makes Scribblenauts a truly unique puzzle game.  Basically, to play the game, you have to write words, which will then appear in object form in the game, and use them to get through levels and collect “starites.”  It’s a really interesting twist on the classic puzzle game, so I would also highly recommend Scribblenauts to anyone, puzzle fan/gamer fan/not.  It may look kind of kiddy-like, but the gameplay is well worth it.

That’s all for now in my gaming life.  Last note: Golden Sun DS is also coming out soon!  Yes!!

Dragonica

I don’t really remember how I landed on Dragonica, but somehow I did, and it’s turning out to be a pretty interesting MMORPG.  It’s kind of like a 3D version of Maplestory (yea it is a side scroller).  The version for North America’s still in closed beta so I got the European version where everyone speaks in a British accent (which is a little amusing at times).  Anyway, here’s a list of pros and cons in my opinion of the game:

PROS
1. NO CLICK ATTACK!  YES! The combat system in this game is based on a main key for general combat and then key combinations for skills, kind of like Rakion but not PvP based.  That means some actual skill is involved in combat, not just spamming a key over and over again or clicking a monster.
2. Most everything is keyboard based (movement, dialogue, combat, etc).
3. Great mix of 3D environments and side scrolling.  You don’t really feel like the game’s a side scroller because you’re immersed in such a rich environment.
4. Three class advancements.  That’s more advancements than most MMOs I’ve played.
5. It’s free!

CONS
1. Quests are usually “kill x amount of monster” or “retrieve x number of items.”  It could be better.
2. The dialogue interface is kind of choppy.  Hitting space continues dialogue, but usually I hit space too many times and then I end up talking to the person again.
3. More beginner classes.  There’s only warrior, archer, mage, and thief.  It’s kind of limited.
4. Why does it seem like most F2P MMORPGs are going to the anime/kiddie-esque graphic styles?  I mean it’s cute yea, but it gets kind of overbearing after awhile.
5. Kind of a cliche storyline.  Oh well, I’ve given up expecting a game with an innovative story.

Note I’ve only played this MMO for a day, but it made a nice first impression on me.  Here’s a video of the cinematic trailer combined with shots of gameplay:

Wow, I’ve gone on a gaming post streak.  I’m doing other things in life besides gaming, really!

The Gaming Geek Post

One of my long time dreams is to go to a video game conference.  However, when I can’t, Nintendo Power does the work for me and puts out a list of upcoming games from E3 that made my inner geek drool, so here’s a post on what I’m really, really looking forward from what NP covered.

1. GOLDEN SUN DS!!! Oh man, I LOVE Golden Sun so much.  I never really had the game myself, but I borrowed GS2 from a friend and played it so many times that I eventually had the dungeons memorized and the characters up to some ridiculous level.  Then my sister bought me GS1 from China, and well …the game didn’t save if I saved it and turned my GBSP off (figures, it was from China, no offense), so I kept my GBSP on for a few days to finish the game.  I didn’t play GS1 as thoroughly as GS2, but I think you get the point that I am a big fan of Golden Sun.  Hearing that a new game (finally!) is coming out for the DS makes me pretty ecstatic.  Please get a Japanese ROM with english pack out soon?  Pretty please?

2. Scribblenauts – the concept just makes the game sound great.  Write a noun and have it materialize in game?  Add words together to make interesting things happen?  It all sounds pretty sweet.  I’ve actually been looking forward to Scribblenauts ever since it was first mentioned in NP (which was last month I think?  I can’t really remember).

3. Kingdom Hearts 358/2 Days just looks freaking awesome, not to mention I’m a big KH fan.  It’s actually been awhile since I’ve played KH…I should probably go back and touch on Chain of Memories.  However, I’m still really looking forward to 358/2 for the storyline and the gameplay.

4. Final Fantasy Crystal Chronicles: The Crystal Bearers – I’ll put it out there that I’m not the biggest Final Fantasy fan with the exception of Tactics Advance (particularly the first one; A2 never really appealed to me).  I guess I don’t really have the patience for turn-based RPG (yes, blasphemy I know).  However, there’s just something about NP’s description of Crystal Bearers that makes it sound like a Final Fantasy game I would enjoy.

5. And of course the oh so enigmatic new Legend of Zelda game.  Not Spirit Tracks, the big one for the Wii.  There’s something about its poster in NP that automatically attracted me.  Waaah suspense ;_;

Those are the games from NP’s “Best of E3″ article that caught my eye.  Of course everything looks good, and if I could I would try to play through every single game that was previewed, but I’ll limit myself to a select few.

…GOLDEN SUN DS PLEASE COME OUT FASTER!!

/endgeek

Cloud Computing Gaming

I came across a few interesting links today.  After looking at an article about the new Dragon Age game on GameSpy, I found a link to an article about cloud computing gaming, specifically a service being developed called Gaikai. Realizing that something like this is being developed made me extremely excited, especially after watching a video demo of Gaikai on GameSpy.

Basically, cloud computing, simply put, is where services and networks will be hooked up to the internet and accessible anywhere.  This takes away the hassle of downloading programs.  Cloud computing gaming is where MMOs will be able to be played in a browser instead of going through the hassle of downloading gigabyte files.  Here is a basic description of how Gaikai works from their site:

“We install the latest games on our servers in purpose-designed data centres. We worry about the cost of the latest 3D video card, the gigabytes of game files, staying up to date with the latest patches and drivers, and all the other headaches involved in modern PC gaming. Our high performance software takes care of turning the game output into a high quality video stream on the fly, ready for you to watch and play, in a few milliseconds. Your input – every keystroke, every mouse click – is sent back over an encrypted channel to the game.”
-http://www.gaikai.com/streaming-worlds/

When Gaikai is completed, it may be the next generation for gaming, which I am extremely looking forward to.

There is also another service similar to Gaikai called OnLive. Both seem like they’ll be equally great and innovative services.  We’ll just have to wait and see what happens.

On a side note, Dragon Age looks like a really good game. I’m really liking the PC toolkit that’s being offered with the PC version of the game.

RS Muser

I got bored and decided to start my own Runescape blog. Click here.

C9: The MMO I’ve Been Waiting For?

You cannot deny that that looks ridiculous.  C9, or Continent of the Ninth, could very well be the break away from click-attack MMORPGs that I’ve been waiting for.  I know trailers hype up the game a lot more and may not show things like they actually are, but seriously this looks amazing.  Here’s a video of the combat system that made me rather happy:

YES!  Actual utilization of the mouse and keyboard other than pounding out skills and clicking monsters!  I am one happy camper.

I’ll definitely be keeping my eye on C9.  Ahh my gamer soul is quite pleased.

Runes of Magic: First Impressions

I had a rare bit of free time this weekend, so being the hardcore gamer I am, I decided to try out an MMORPG that had been recommended to me by a friend: Runes of Magic.  After about 12 hours of downloading and patching because my internet is slow and it was a 3.36 GB download, I finally got around to playing.  About an hour in, I could already feel myself growing indifferent to the game.  Overall, Runes of Magic is just your generic, cliche MMORPG.  There’s nothing that really makes it stand out or unique, which is sad because that is what will make it popular – it’s so much like mainstream games such as WoW, Guild Wars, Everquest, etc, that people will grow attracted to it by its similarities.  However, here are some things that I noticed during my first hour or two of playing:

Irks
-NAVIGATION: I’m a stickler for navigation in an MMORPG.  If I can’t move around easily, it will almost immediately turn me off the game, which in this case, it nearly did.  Moving around in RoM is done by WASD or the mouse buttons, much like many other games.  I usually use either WASD or the “left click move right click view” form of moving around.  However, both ways of navigation had issues, in my opinion at least.  Instead of A and D tilting the screen left/right like I was used to, they made the character run left/right, which got irritating because then I’d have to use the mouse to change view angles anyway.  With WASD being an annoyance, I tried to use solely the mouse.  However, I had to click an area several times before my character would move there, so that didn’t really work out.

-TALKING TO NPCS: It was also highly annoying to talk to NPCs.  In order to converse with NPCs in RoM, you have to click on them once to select them and then once more to actually open the dialogue box.  However, actually being able to select them was a real challenge.  Many times when I went to select an NPC, I ended up selecting a player instead, so it became a frustrating battle between me and my mouse cursor as I tried to make it understand that I wanted it to select an NPC, not one of the many players standing around the NPC.  One time a player was standing on the spot an NPC was, and I had to wait about three minutes for them to move because it was impossible to select the NPC.

Likes
-ITEM MANAGEMENT: There’s a sort button in the inventory!  God how that makes life SO much easier.  Also, when you go to the character equipment window, you can mouse over an item spot and the current item you have on, along with items usable in that spot in your inventory, will appear.  That way, you can compare items side by side to figure out which one you want to use and which one you don’t want to use.  Quite handy.

-BIG INVENTORY: There are six tabs in the inventory, each one holding …30 items I believe.  Ahh the bliss of not having to throw anything out until absolutely necessary.

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Other than that though, there’s nothing else that’s really special about Runes of Magic.  The combat system is your good old “click-attack, skill-spam” kind.  While it’s better than solely click-attack (I would have uninstalled RoM immediately if it was), it’s still nothing new.  I haven’t gotten to the main storyline quests yet, so I can’t say anything about quests, though right now they’re a little lame (collect xx number of this and that).  You can also gather resources in RoM (mining, woodcutting, and herb collecting) in order to make items that you can use to raise certain skills.  I haven’t really done much skilling so I won’t say anything about that either.  Mounts are also available in game, but that’s nothing new in the world of MMORPGs.  House-building is another feature that’s included, but I haven’t gotten at all to that, so again, I have nothing to say about it.  The graphics are also just the usual graphics of most MMORPGs nowadays.  They’re eye-catching to an extent, but they’re nothing new.  Classes are the same old warrior, ranger, thief, and mage, or sort of combination between them with different titles thrown in.  Nothing new there either.  Seriously, the day when I can be some sort of non-cliche profession in MMORPGs is the day the world ends.  Aka I’ll never get to be a troll who beats people with a club made out of dried mud.

I can see myself sticking with RoM for a little while, though I can tell it will bore me quite soon with its unoriginality.  Ah well, who knows?  Maybe it’ll turn out like Flyff, where I get bored of it after a month, then come back to it a year later and have some sort of epiphany and start playing it all the time.
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Here are some screenshots of Runes of Magic (note: I did not take these):

One
(…Uh…ignore the stuff in the message box lol)

Two

Just Keep Fishing

So I’ll have about six more days of members.  Goal: 85 fishing.  It seems quite probable, considering I’m 38k away from 83 atm.  However I get about only 60k exp max on weekdays since I don’t go online a lot.  If I can get 150k exp today, I should be okay to go for 85 for the rest of the week, but eh who knows.  It still takes me about 5 minutes to get one inventory of lobsters. D:

Olympics Affairs and A New Page

Since the Olympics are in China and my family is Chinese, naturally talk about the Olympics covers a good portion of dinner.  However, what my parents have been saying have rather startled me.  For instance, tonight they said that not many people (both Chinese and non-Chinese) have been showing up to Olympics events due to the expensive tickets.  They also said that due to the Olympics, nearly all of Beijing’s workplaces were shut down and 90% of traffic is not allowed to enter the city.

These two facts confirm a thought that has been on my mind for a couple years – China isn’t ready to host the Olympics.  When I visited China over the summer in 2006, the mindset I had of the country when I came back to the USA was that it was a country completely determined to prove its power and rise in ranks in the world, and it was advancing too fast for its own good in order to gain this status.  I was expecting China to outdo itself for the Olympics, and the Opening Ceremony confirmed that.  The fact that they spent so much, more than any other host country, to create this arena for the ceremony and to refurbish other places for events, meant that there would be some consequences.  And now there are – it costs hundreds (according to my parents) to go watch an Olympic event.  Due to this, some events have nearly deserted stands and the cost to stay in Beijing has skyrocketed.

I don’t really know how Beijing got picked to be the host city, but after visiting China I concluded that it shouldn’t have been the host city just yet.  The environmental conditions there are horrible – clear skies don’t exist, smog is constant, and the smell is pretty acrid.  Many living conditions, especially those on the outskirts of Beijing, are still rather decrepit.  I just don’t see it as a city fit to host such a big event such as the Olympics.  China could have spent millions on renovating the country instead of hosting the Olympics, since more than half of the country is still very poor and far from advanced.

I’m not saying China is a bad country for hosting the Olympics nor that they’re doing a bad job of hosting it, I’m just saying maybe the time wasn’t right yet.  In several years perhaps, but right now the country should be focusing on how to help its people, not focusing on dishing out money for the Olympics.  When I visited two years ago I was in shock at the state of some places, one prime example being my mom’s hometown of Xuwen where buildings were cramped, streets were crowded and littered on, and if you had a car you were considered rich (I can’t remember anything else too well to describe more).  After seeing that and seeing how the government let loose of so much money just to build a stadium, it really makes me annoyed.
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In other news I’ve added a new page full of handheld console games/MMORPG’s that I’ve enjoyed. Check it out.

A Sandbox Eulogy and A Game You Need to Get

When I read Brad’s blog post about potentially removing the Sandbox, I thought of it as a resolution that was eventually coming but still a good time away. I didn’t think it would happen a few weeks after that post. So it came as a bit of a shock when I saw an announcement on the forums about the Sandbox and even more of a shock when I saw it was removed, since I had originally thought there would just be stricter rules placed on it or something.

I’m not advocating or challenging the Sandbox. It once was a good place. I remember back when I first discovered the forums around mid 2005, one of the reasons I stayed around a little was to laugh at some of the threads in the Sandbox. When I started regularly visiting the forums, I saw the Sandbox as a place to just hang out and talk about whatever came to your mind without having to worry about getting in trouble. It wasn’t like those spam forums other places have that are filled with forum games and quote pyramids and stupid topics. The Sandbox actually made you occasionally think and more than occasionally laugh. It was one of those simple things that was innovative, something BNB has been known for.

But, as time went on, the laughs came less and the face palming and annoyance came more. The Sandbox slowly became dubbed the Spambox around 2007. I could guess what half the topics in there would be about whenever I visited the forums, and the same goes for the posts. I still liked the place, but it wasn’t the same, especially since many of the people who kept it the Sandbox had left and were now replaced with people making it the Spambox. And now here we are today.

I’ll miss having a place where I can freely do/say whatever I want, but oh well. It’s true that everything discussed in the Sandbox that was of value can be discussed in another forum, so that won’t be anything big.

Well the blame has to lie somewhere, and I feel like pointing fingers so I’ll point my finger at …Jagex! Thank you Jagex for successfully making Runescape appeal to younger audiences, thus resulting in a generally younger age of people visiting fan forums and bringing with them their generally younger minds. Hey it’s true, I feel old around BNB and I sure as hell am not yet.

In the long run, “the more things change, the more they stay the same.” The famous quote by Shane seems fitting to end my Sandbox discussion here. The Sandbox is gone and there’s nothing we can do about it, but people will adapt and adjust and things will stay the same for awhile. And if you’re going to leave the forums just because the Sandbox is gone, then good please leave because you don’t see the true quality of the forums. Go join UMD-land.

RIP RSBANDB Forums Sandbox: 9/9/04 (?) – 8/12/08
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ANYWAY. To change the topic, I just found what seems like the best DS game I have ever played. It’s called Lunar Knights, and if you want a link to the ROM just leave a comment. I haven’t played it a lot, so I’m at the end (I think) of chapter one. The game has a great combat system, combining “tap-a-button-for-attacking-or-shielding” type combat with a nice little space TPS. That, along with some nice anime-style cut scenes and what seems like a good storyline, is making it soar on my list of great DS games.