Here we go you glorious bastards (NOT A REFERENCE TO A MOVIE BECAUSE I KNOW HOW TO SPELL “BASTARDS”)! The first regularly scheduled ‘ELLO GUV’NAH comes as a present to everybody, except for the British people I offend. Let’s dive in.
Batman: Arkham Asylum-
Yup, everybody loves this game. Riddles, abe80, The Broken Finger, Nate Liles. I can understand it, the controls are tight, the level design is well thought out, and Mark Hamill kills it as The Joker. And while I’m definitely quite enjoying it, the game can’t really hold my attention for more than an hour or so before I start shrugging my shoulders a bit. I don’t blame anybody for jizzing all over it, I just don’t feel exactly the same way. I’m glad I got it, though, and I hear the experience is pretty short, so I’m sure I’ll beat it.
Suikoden-
The one that you can get off of the PSN, not the DS one that I am very slowing inching towards defeating. Except for the item management system, I’m really enjoying this classic. It seems like Suikoden will be a series that I’m going to be getting into. Late in the game, perhaps, but there are at least a number of titles I can look forward to! In any case, this PSX original -besides having the greatest box art ever- is exciting so far and I’m not even at the point when I assume I’ll be in control of my own castle and commanding armies! I’m not really big on the whole 108 playable character hook, but like with Tierkreis I’m sure I’ll find the 10 or so that I really like and stick with them.
Final Fantasy XII-
I have no idea what compelled me to pick up this title again. I was in the middle of a second playthrough that I stopped about 18 months ago and I’ve jumped right back in as if no time had passed. All this when I just got a PS3, have both modern HD systems and the new Metroid Trilogy for the Wii. Oh well, while I constantly wish for the graphics to look better -they were so good on the PS2 that it just ends up looking like a incredibly shitty PS3 game instead of a great looking PS2 game- the battle system is as addicting as ever, and the cutscenes still blow me away. Seriously, until Uncharted, no game rivaled FFXII in its scene direction, voice acting, and animation. What a waste that (excepting Balthier, Larsa, and maybe Fran) the characters were all boring sacks of shit. But seriously, while any conversation between Ashe and Basch might as well be about sawdust, I’m still glued to the TV. Let’s hope FFXIII combines X’s great story with XII’s great scene direction.
Flower-
Yeah, I don’t care that I play this game all the time, this segment is about what I’ve been playing, and I’ve been playing Flower, goddamn it! After watching In Good Company, I felt the second dream was the perfect way to settle the residue emotions from the movie. With its grey beginnings and themes of colour and drab optimism, this level has definitely grown on me the most since I first discovered this game earlier this year. Later, I boosted an already great mood with the game’s perfect finale dream. Anyway, there’s only so much even I can say about this gem.
That’s it! That’s all I got! Suck it!
Tags: 'ELLO GUV'NAH!, Batman: Arkham Asylum, Final Fantasy XII, Flower, Suikoden
I still reckon FFX’s cutscene direction is better in most scenes (with the notable exception of action scenes). Also FFX has more complex character models which look more natural when they’re talking (or rather they would do if they weren’t still synched to the Japanese audio).
Oh jeez! I didn’t know you believed that! FFX’s characters look horribly unnatural when they talk, and the direction is terrible, over-the-top, and often unintentionally comical! I didn’t even notice that FFX had a good story until much later on because the scenes did EVERYTHING THEY COULD to make me believe otherwise.
I think “suck it” should be Etho’s new sign off line for all his posts.
At the risk of derailing another X vs. XII Cutscene thread, is Suikoden worth picking up? I’ll be looking for more games to play on the go soon, and JRPGs are great for repeated train rides :D.
I’d absolutely say so, Darth. I’m greatly enjoying it so far even though I’m just at the beginning. It definitely shows its age at times, but still worth it.
The direction was fantastic, and at least the cut-scenes lasted long enough to make any kind of impression. Best cut-scenes in a game would however have to go to MGS3.