You guys chew on this… I’m going to work. New theme week tonight, I’ve finally decided on it. Guesses?
Sorry that this is too wide for the site. Blame Riddles.
Umm….
Tuesday, July 6th, 2010A …video coming soon?
Monday, July 5th, 2010Um, so Riddles finally replied to my e-mails and Facebook messages. But he didn’t say anything. He just sent me a video. Sooo…
I’m uploading it to YouTube now and I’ll post it here once it’s done and you guys can form your own opinions. Then I’ll come up with some sort of new theme week.
Oh, and I have some AMAZING Spam Comments, so expect another installment of that feature.
*Update: Forget it, I’m going to bed. I’ll post it here tomorrow, but keep your eyes peeled to the Riddlethos Youtube Channel. It’ll be up on there around 2am EST.*
Sunday Soapbox: Puzzle Quest – The series I hate to love
Sunday, July 4th, 2010
Well I figure I should probably mention Puzzle Quest 2 at some point since this is Puzzle Quest 2 Week. I did download it on Wednesday and have played a few hours and that’s all it took for me to remember how I feel about that series.
It’s like I can’t find a single thing I like about the games, but I also can’t stop playing them. The music isn’t memorable, the visuals aren’t particularly inspired, the upgrading system is a little convoluted, and the game takes itself way too seriously for a title that uses a souped-up version of Bejeweled for its battle system.
The sequel is much like the original, except (from what I’ve seen) the overworld has been scrapped in favour of a zoomed in world that you can explore with what can only be described as point and click controls. Anyway, that doesn’t make much of a difference to me. The point is that – just like the original – I find myself saying “just one more battle” in my head all the time although I’d never describe my experience as particularly fun.
There is some skill involved in choosing which gems to swap and which abilities to assign to give you the edge, but luck has a more noticeable role in the Puzzle Quest series which dampens the feeling of satisfaction in battle. I suppose it could be my general lust for RPGs and the promise of reward for level-grinding, but I don’t get addicted in the same way to games like Brave Story and Lunar even though I enjoy them quite a bit more than Puzzle Quest. There’s not even quirky or amusing writing to enjoy in between battles; it’s a melodramatic story with unjustified clichés.
Hell, maybe I just like Bejeweled. Perhaps I should download that and forget about Puzzle Quest for the rest of my life, though I somehow doubt that’ll fly.
Anyway, that’s really all I have to say about the game. That’ll teach me to have a Puzzle Quest Week again. Do you guys have any love-hate relationships with a game or series?
Quickie Impression: Pokémon Ranger: Guardian Signs
Friday, July 2nd, 2010Yessss, Pokémon Ranger! The most under-appreciated spinoff series in history!
Pokémon Ranger: Guardian Signs
Yup, I love the series in which you don’t battle Pokémon, but literally turn them into your friends by drawing circles around them. It sounds incredibly dumb, but the 2008 sequel to the cute but simple original proved that this series is capable of pulling a lot of weight. Shadows of Almia blew open the doors with an impressive number of sidequests, secret areas, and challenges, and by turning the “battle system” from a simple countdown process to a more deep, upgradeable system with rewards for pulling off better performances.
Now, unfortunately, most of my time with this demo was spent reading text. And I didn’t even give it a good read to see if it stacked up to the funny and enjoyable stuff of the last game. I blitzed through to finally start circling Pokémon again. Luckily, the game seems to be moving forward from the standard the sequel set, at least in terms of the battle complexity. There were slots I didn’t recognize – which indicates more upgrades or mechanics – and the system was still rewarding me for maintaining multiple consecutive circles. Unfortunately, I calmed down not more than two Pokémon and I was called away. I didn’t really get a good chance to explore the back-end or the experience system. All I can say is that all of you need to keep an open mind with this underdog series. It’s really a hidden gem on the DS.
Quickie Impression: Golden Sun: Dark Dawn
Friday, July 2nd, 2010
Golden Sun: Dark Dawn
I was really excited to hear that this game was at the event. I was a fan of the original games on the GBA to some extent. I beat the first one (I think) and only played a bit of the second, but I remember them as fun, addicting, and deep RPGs, at least for a handheld system. One of the hooks of the series is the fact that many of your acquired powers must be used on the field to solve puzzles or to find secret areas. It gave the game a unique hook and made exploration more fun in a lot of cases. Now the demo at the event was split into two parts: Adventure and Battle, and I went with Adventure first.
This section featured that hook I was talking about. It was essentially a timed training ground to learn a few of the spells for moving objects and burning objects. Unfortunately – from my 10 minutes anyway – it controls terribly. This is even more disappointing when you factor in the fact that the touch screen should easily make the process easier. To aim your fireball, instead of just tapping, a giant circle appears with your reticule in it somewhere that you have to painstakingly maneuver to the place you want it to be. Even then, it seems to be a bit of a crapshoot. Hopefully I just didn’t understand and going through the proper training will alleviate my fears here.
The Battle section was just a dungeon with random battles, and it was a relief to see that the same menus and strategy were back. The graphics seem to make a jarring shift in style not only from the original games, but from the overworld itself. Maybe my memory is fuzzy, but I remember a classic cartoony style while I was struggling with the touch controls and an almost realistic switch for the battles. Although I’m likely exaggerating, this isn’t a bad thing, necessary. And they fixed my biggest gripe with the original! Now when two characters have selected the same enemy to attack, if the first kills it, the second won’t defend for no reason but will attack another enemy. Thank fuck.
Anyway, I’ve still got my eye on this one, but it was the most disappointing demo I played at the event.
Happy Canada Day!
Thursday, July 1st, 2010Yup!
Who cares about Independence Day? Celebrate Canada!
Anyhoo, as most of you know, Tuesday and Wednesday are my longest, busiest days of the week, so the quickie impressions have been slow going up. But I got Puzzle Quest 2, played it, and am going to Cow’s house to record a podcast amidst other things. Stay tuned!
Quickie Impression: Dragon Quest IX
Wednesday, June 30th, 2010Unfortunately I had the least amount of time with the DS games, but I was able to try 3 of them out. All games that I’m extremely excited for. First up, DQIX.
Dragon Quest IX
I’ve mentioned many times before that I think the handheld space is perfect for the Dragon Quest series. The classic series might be epic in some regards, but is mostly too rooted in old school tradition to make good use of the power of modern home consoles. I’ve quite enjoyed the remakes of IV and V on the DS, so I’ve had my eager eye on Dragon Quest IX for a while.
I couldn’t have played more than 5 minutes of it, but from that I gleamed that there seem to be some incremental improvements with some disappointing – if not slightly expected – standbys. First off, the visual style is simple but appealing. It looks more like a notably upgraded version of the classic DS remakes than a recreation of the PS2’s DQVIII. Gameplay seems thankfully more the like DS remakes as well, which means quicker exploration and jar smashing. Much more friendly for longer play sessions or loot-binges. Another improvement is the axing of random battles. The game incorporates the now genre-standard enemy models on the overworld so you can engage or avoid to your heart’s delight.
The downside? The menu system seems to be ripped out of the IV and V remakes. Those menus were actually the worst part of those games. I can deal with simplistic, but not only do they lack good presentation, but they lack any sort of intuitive layout. I didn’t get to check them out too deeply before moving on to other things, but I notice a glimmer of hope. When I selected “equip” I was brought to a far more attractive screen that seemed to be way more user-friendly, so maybe it’s just the initial screen that’s bad.
I only engaged in one battle, but it was the same battle system you’ve seen in Dragon Quest for every single entry. I didn’t get a chance to explore or investigate the upgrading or leveling up mechanics.
You’ll hear more when I buy and review the title in mid-July.
Quickie Impression: Kirby’s Epic Yarn
Tuesday, June 29th, 2010I played 7 unreleased Nintendo games yesterday and looked at a few others, but none for any significant length of time. So instead of clumping all my thoughts together, I’m going to post quickie impressions of them one at a time over the next few days. First up, Kirby!
Kirby’s Epic Yarn
This game’s announcement got my attention by having a standout art style. Using just patchwork and yarn to create characters and backdrops looked way better than you might expect. In motion, it looks even prettier. The animations are incredibly smooth and full of personality. The controls are tight, and the sound effects bring back memories of Kirby’s Dream Land: my very first video game. So far it looks like the difficulty will remain consistent with other Kirby games: easy. Still, there are a bunch of collectibles, and I can imagine that 100 percenting this game will be a challenge for any hardcore gamer.
Even if the game ends up easy overall, the early levels were showing promise of charming and clever puzzles using the world held together by yarn, strings, buttons, and zippers. Kirby was able to turn into a bunch of context sensitive forms already, and it was fun for every moment I played.
Oh, and Kirby is really fucking adorable.
Spam Comment Roundup #002
Monday, June 28th, 2010But what’s more important than game demos for some of the most anticipated titles this year? Spam comments! Yay! Let’s dive in.
1 – Diana Canedy’s Enthusiasm -
Tried to post to “Guest Sunday Soapbox: Matti’s Bad Breakup with Nintendo“
This isn’t that exciting, I just like how this robot’s excitement ramps up.
So there’s some positive feedback for your guest Soapbox, C-Cow.
2 – javmjeif’s Retaliation -
Tried to post to “Spam Comment Roundup“
Robots have feelings too, and I guess they were offended by the creation of this feature, so they sent javmjeif to speak in their defense. Sadly, it didn’t bring a translator.
Well spoke.
3 – Riddles? Is That You? -
Tried to post to “Tingle! Tingle! Kooloo-Limpah! #009“
This robot’s name is actually “xbox membership”, but just read what it says…
Perhaps Riddles has turned into a very friendly robot named “xbox membership”.
4 – Henry Vandercook Wants Things CURRENT
Tried to post to “A Life Without Video Games“
Henry’s a nice robot with good taste, but MAN if you’re going to recommend a game to it, it had better have been released in the past three minutes, or this mother fucker will stamp it OLD.
The robot didn’t say blocked site, I just thought it would be counterproductive to show the spam site.
5 – Andrew Pelt’s Uncertainty
Tried to post to “Guest Sunday Soapbox: Matti’s Bad Breakup with Nintendo“
Andrew Pelt needs some more time to make his decision about Riddlethos.
I didn’t bold that “think”. The robot did. He’s not ready to commit to that thought yet.
That’s it! I’ve actually got some more, but I think 5 is enough for one day.
Tags: Spam Comment Roundup
Posted in Ethos Presents: Puzzle Quest 2 Week