Kwummy September 10th, 2007
I promised my two readers that when I was over 10 hours in to Blue Dragon I would post some impressions. As of last night I am just under the 13-hour mark. I looked on Game FAQs to see how close I was to finished with the first disc. At least “chapter” wise, I am just a little over half done. There are three discs and the game is reportedly 50+ hours long. Yikes I have a long way to go.
I guess I’ll start off by saying I understand, and to a point, agree with some of the criticism the game has received. Being 13 hours in I’ve had very little variation in gameplay. I guess what’s driving me to keep playing is the fact it’s been said that the game supposedly picks up immensely on the second disc. The problem with that is with Oblivion GOTY coming out this week, Eternal Sonata next week and then Halo 3 the week after, I’m worried I’ll never even get to the second disc, let alone finish the game.
Anyway, here are some pros and cons.
Pros
- Very easy (so far, at least)
- Traditional JRPG gameplay
- Great graphics (I think they’re fine, some people think they look washed out. I’m not a graphics whore).
- Plenty of extra items and gold to find if you want to take the time to look for them
- Class system gives you limitless ways to customize your character
- Backtracking is easy with the help of “warp devices”
- Plenty of opportunities to level up
Cons
- Very easy
- Story initially moves at a very slow pace, leaving out some details
- The dialogue, especially from the lead character Shu, is downright cheezy and annoying
- Boss battle music is also very annoying
- Nothing new on innovative
- Some slow down occurs in battle (it’s nothing that hinders your ability to fight, however)
- Save points are few and far between
In all honesty, if the game was harder and/or more repetitive I probably would have traded it already. The fact it can be easy has kept me going just to see what’s next. It’s definitely not a great game by any stretch of the imagination, but I think it shows signs of brilliance that hopefully could be explored if there ever is a Blue Dragon 2.
Problem is, many people don’t seem to be playing the game.
Kwummy September 4th, 2007
Had fun this weekend. Did a little skiing but mostly just relaxed. I forgot to put sun screen on my legs so they’re a little red. Oh, and the mosquitoes were fucking vicious so I probably also have West Nile.
Good times.
Closing the lake house (owned by Katie’s parents) every year always signifies summer’s end. It’s always kind of depressing because it feels like we just opened it. Time flies by too fast. Family will still get together throughout the winter, but it’s just not the same. It’s always nice looking forward to lazy days at the lake after a hectic week at work.
But that’s enough emo talk. Let’s play catch up.
My friend Erech had no running waterfor about 12 hours on Thursday. I found this highly ironic considering he was poking fun at the fact I could not make poops in my own toliet and then flush said poops. As he so eloquently put it, I hope he had fun shooting his “proton stream” at Jenny’s “turds.”
I missed quite an exciting opening to the college football season. Appalachian State beat Michigan and Georgia Tech routed Notre Dame. It was hilarious to see that Notre Dame used all three QBs in the loss. Football also signals the end of summer as the NFL also kicks off this week. I’ll be watching to see how soon Rex collapses for the Bears and if the Bengals are going to be as bad as they were in the preseason.
I finally got to play Blue Dragon last night. I am liking it so far. The game has gotten hammered for it’s pathetic story, but I find it a little intriguing up to this point. The voice acting is good, but the dialogue is downright laughable. I can understand the criticism for the game’s lack of character development. I’m about 4 hours in so I can’t give any good impressions. My ultimate worry is it will become too repetitive, which is death for an RPG. I’ll try to post some impressions if I ever get 10+ hours in. To this point, however, I think it’s been money well spent. I just have a feeling when Oblivion GOTY, Eternal Sonata and Halo 3 drop (all this month, mind you) I’ll forget all about Blue Dragon.
I guess that’s about it. I really, really needed that mini vacation.
Kwummy August 30th, 2007
I bought my first games in almost two months for the 360. I now own four. I’m so poor. That doesn’t count Arcade games, though (which I own well over 10).
Anyway, I picked up Command and Conquer 3 and Blue Dragon. I played about an hour of C&C and really enjoyed it. I’m an RTS whore so I can see myself getting into it. I didn’t play enough to really give full impressions, but I really liked how it controlled. It’s no keyboard/mouse, but you get used to it and it can be surprisingly fast - sometimes too fast. One thing I can see becoming a problem is when you get into some hectic battles the controller won’t be as responsive as a mouse. I don’t think it will detract from the overall experience, though. I only played the tutorial and the first mission. I do like that the hot chick from House is in it. She bosses me around a lot, but I don’t mind. I’d let her order me around any day of the week.
I didn’t play Blue Dragon because I’m going on vacation starting tomorrow and I didn’t want to engross myself in an RPG for an hour when I am just leaving the next day for four days. I plan on getting into it when we get back.
I also bought Puzzle Fighter and I have no idea why. I enjoy puzzle games, but I don’t know if I’m going to enjoy this one. It’s a little on the slow side for me and sometimes I have no idea WTF I’m doing. I kind of wish I would have bought Streets of Rage 2 instead. I still might (it’s only 400 points).
I’m trying to wait for Bioshock to drop to $50 or to pick it up used on Ebay for around the same price with shipping. I understand the attraction to the game, but I didn’t find myself as immersed in the demo as others did. I do hope it leads more to a more diverse amount of FPS games as opposed to the cookie cutter ones we see lately.
I also have added a text box to the sidebar of the games I plan on purchasing next. If I can find an RSS feed of ALL upcoming 360 games, I might add that too. But the text box is more for me than you so piss off. It will help me keep track of when I need to save money.
That’s enough geek talk for today.
Kwummy August 23rd, 2007
Here are some random thoughts of the morning:
- I saw a bakery on Clark St. this morning called Bake for Me. The owner claims “we don’t take ourselves too seriously.” So, in that case, I think he should change the name of the place to Bake 4 Mae Pls! I think most would agree, yes?
- What’s with the new trend of 22-year olds running around with Blackberries? I find it very hard to believe that, at 22, you are so important you need to have a Blackberry. Even worse, are the dudes that have them in a case on their belt as if it’s some kind of badge. Some of these kids need a good ass kicking.
- Staying on the yuppie topic, I’m getting kind of sick of these trixies on the bus that have huge-ass bags. This one next to me today kept slamming into my ribs. Not only that, she also had a purse with her and a shopping bag. So, altogether this bitch has three bags. I’m guessing she needs all that space to fit her ego.
- Did anyone see that the Texas Rangers scored 30 runs last night against the Orioles? I think if you give up 30 runs in one game it’s best you just close up shop and move on to something else. Baseball is obviously not your thing.
I’m thinking of picking up Bioshock after work and holding off on Blue Dragon and Two Worlds until they’re cheaper. Honestly, though, I think Blue Dragon is worth $60 more than Bioshock. Blue Dragon’s campaign clocks in at 50 hours while Bioshock I think is around 20. It’s getting so hard any more to justify spending $60 on a video game.
The only game I’ve bought for the 360 that I thought was worth $60 was Oblivion, and I’m definately picking up the GOTY edition next month. Eternal Sonata might be the second to wear that crown. We’ll see.
Kwummy August 22nd, 2007
Being poor and busy, I’ve can’t decide if I want to pick up either Blue Dragon or Two Worlds.
Two Worlds has been pushed back until Friday and Blue Dragon is scheduled to release next Tuesday. I played the demo of Blue Dragon, and while I understand the issues most people had with it, I still think it’s worth a buy. There’s also the argument that Eternal Sonata will be the better RPG so maybe I should just wait for that and pick up BioShock instead and wait for Blue Dragon to hit the bargain bin and Two Worlds to get some reviews.
The delay on Two Worlds has bothered me a little. All the previews I read praised it (what else is new, though) but since then I haven’t heard anything. There have also yet to be any reviews. IGN reviewed Blue Dragon almost two weeks early. Were there no early review copies of Two Worlds sent out to IGN and Gamespot? If not, that is definitely a bad sign.
I’m interested in Two Worlds because it’s going to be a lot like Oblivion. I played the hell out of Oblivion but sold it because I am a retard. Then again, the GOTY edition of Oblivion is coming out next month. That means in the next four weeks we have three RPGs coming out, two of which could have campaigns of 50-hours or more.
I know, I know, I could just rent them, but I cancelled my Gamefly account because they never had anything in-stock that I wanted and most of the time my Q would just sit there empty. Not worth the money, yeah?