Alight alright alright.
It’s been a bit of a nutso/bizarro week, so let me catch you up to speed.
First off, my copy of ICO is indeed in Montreal. While Montreal is not far from Toronto relative to most of Canada, it’s not exactly a quick jump over to pick it up. My brother can get it back to me, but not until the weekend. Of course, Team ICO Week will be over by then, but hey, that’s apparently how I roll. I’m still scouting for a copy that is less than the $120 that DarthGibblet implied it would be. Either way, to slightly sort-of make up for it, I’m going to have a Last Guardian blow-out on Friday including trailer impressions, speculation, and all that sort of fun stuff. E-mail me at ethos@riddlethos.com if you want to weigh in on The Last Guardian. Maybe I’ll quote you or something.
I suppose saying “first off” implied that there would be a list of some sort. ABSOLUTELY NOT THE CASE. Onto what I’ve been playing. Or: ‘ELLO GUV’NAH!
Suikoden Tierkreis-
This is the game that I will forever be playing. I still always really enjoy it every time I pick my DSi up. But if you’re an avid Riddlethos.com reader, you know that my DS doesn’t travel with me in the summer, so the system has been acting more like an alarm clock than ever. Anyway, the game’s fun, and I still plan to review it on Lusipurr.com in the year 2063 when I finally beat the damn thing. That is, if Lusipurr would even let me at that point. But I digress. Classic RPG action is the point.
Folklore-
This game has a lot going for it. It’s a PS3 exclusive with absolutely gorgeous environments, some of the best and most imaginative monster design I’ve seen in any video game, and an equally impressive soundtrack. However, it’s a little held back by its unexplored RPG mechanics, the fact that every level has to be played twice with two different characters to complete the game, and some questionable voice acting. But the shallow leveling-up system and lack of stat management is countered slightly by the way you have to beef up your Folks by fulfilling certain tasks. I realize that this might be a little confusing if you don’t know the premise. There are no weapons or equipment per se except for your cloak and the different “Folk” you collect. The Folk are also your foes, so it’s a little like Pokémon in that sense. Except Folklore is an action RPG. So it’s a little like Pokémon Ranger in that sense? Still not following? Play more Pokémon. Anyway, I’m not very far into the game, so I won’t talk too much more about the game for fear of getting too far ahead of myself. Who knows, maybe a lot of my views about the game will change.
Metroid Prime: Trilogy-
Some homeless guy I know, Deerwolf, was nice enough to lend me this recently released Nintendo gem. It’s always so shocking when Nintendo actually puts out a package that has legitimate value. Here are three full games (two of them noticeably upgraded) on a single disc for the price of one. And these are some of the most acclaimed titles Nintendo has put out this decade.
It always blows my mind when people knock the Wii’s FPS controls. The system can be rightfully bashed for being terribly underpowered and having zero idea about how gaming has interacted with the internet for years and years, and can especially be bashed for encouraging years of waggle-infested shovel-ware, but goddamn it, Metroid controls like a dream. I play my HD systems dozens and dozens of times more than I play the Wii and deservedly so, but I mean it when I say I would take Wii controls for a game like Bioshock any day. Motion is usually dumb (save Excitebots and Flower), but pointer controls are precise and satisfying, and this shows in SPADES when replaying the original Metroid Prime.
First off, it is glaringly obvious that I’m playing a 7 year old game on a SD system, but the newly added widescreen is incredibly appreciated and other graphical boosts are helpful as well. Let me preface all this by saying that I have tried on numerous occasions to get into the Metroid Prime series. I played the original a few times for a few hours, and once for more than that and just couldn’t seem to understand what everybody else loved about it. Playing for just half an hour on the Wii Trilogy edition provided more of a thrill than any time I attempted to play before. I’m now very much excited to see what the game has in store.
There we go. More detailed impressions than last time. That oughta keep some cranky people happy. Oh, and I’ve got a Arkham Asylum related story that’s going right up after this. Look at me making up for the slow day. I’m a champ.
