>___>
Played through Journey. (that means I had to buy a PS3. nur hur.)
It’s really heartrendingly beautiful. Very artsy and awe-tastic and visual moments that just took my breath away. Maybe took me … four hours in all, to get through all of it? And mostly it’s because every time I neared the end of the level, if I discovered that I hadn’t collected all the scarf pieces, I’d quit and try again. >_>
It’s really not much of a game at all, in the traditional sense, though I expected that and was okay with it. It’s an interesting experience, especially if you’re playing for the first time through, and you get a buddy at … certain moments. Finding scarf pieces was actually pretty aggravating, but it’s an exploration game, so it’s totally acceptable for them to be hiding in obscure places that you’d never think to check. :P
Still. Really, really gorgeous. (And I’m really really unhappy that there’s no way to get screenshots of certain sections of the game so I can plaster my desktop with them >_< )
And even though this was the only game of the three that I purchased, I really hope thatgamecompany gets to continue their work as an independent developer, now that their three game contract is up…
Holy Crap, Skyward Sword.
Look here, Nintendo. As a reasonably hardcore gamer who has enjoyed every (non-handheld) console Zelda game released in the N64 era and beyond (okay, that’s not that many…), I was prepared to endure just about any heinous mechanic you wanted to throw at me, because I’m a fan and fans do stupid things for the games they love.
And I forgave you for turning me into a rolly-polly goron (and other equally awkward things) in Majora’s Mask. And for forcing me to sail the seas for interminable lengths of time to get from place to place in Wind Waker. And for making me do this really tiresome nunchuk-wiimote-shakey-thing whenever I apparently fail to disguise my incoming strike at Ghirahim. And for the intense growling frustration I feel when I fail to shake it enough (because my wrists are tired, omg) and he whacks me into next Saturday.
But this explore-an-area-you’ve-explored-before-already-and-collect-three-thousand-little-things-to-get-this-one-little-part-and-not-even-the-whole-thing shit HAS GOT TO STOP.
Seriously? The “Silent Realm” gimmick was kinda cool the first time, like some kind of weird Pac Man parody. But I was really disappointed to enter the second Silent Realm to find out it was exactly the same — couldn’t you have given me a variation at least? Mind you, this isn’t just the voice of someone complaining because I found it difficult… I managed to get through the first two Silent Realms in a single attempt, and the third one in two (and the second one took two because I naively thought that Nintendo could not be cruel enough to hide tears on the mountainside — har har). I just found it incredibly annoying.
Trekking around in areas you’ve already explored, even with weird artsy effects applied, is not fun. Collecting pieces on a timer is not fun, and definitely not if it’s the fifth time you’ve been asked to do it. I know you guys must have gotten feedback from Twilight Princess that said this was okay and hey, guess what, in Twilight Princess… it was! Because there was NO TIME LIMIT and you were only asked to do it three times. And when you were collecting these things, you were making something that would help dispel the twilight (read: turn you back into a human) right there and then, it wasn’t just some subquest of a subquest, like ALL of these have been.
Now I’m being asked to collected TADTONES????????? Not just like fifteen of them either, but … jeez, I can’t even count that high. AND AND … you don’t even have the decency to give me the ability to douse for them until I’ve already found half of them! And I have to do the whole thing underwater, which has harder maneuverability AND I HAVE TO FIND AIR BUBBLES FOR BREATHING:LKJR#:UJ${#)UJIRESFKMC
I’ll still finish the game, there’s nothing that’ll keep me from doing that. Just wanted to vent about how very tired I am of picking up the pieces. Sigh.
Innovation Has Never Been the Cornerstone of the Video Game Industry →
This opinion piece really revealed something for me.
I know it’s been said before that part of the charm of playing a living MMO are the changes that are made to the game as a whole: improvements to game balance or simply throwing out broken systems and trying something brand new. While some changes can be frustrating to the player base, on the whole they’re an accepted phenomenon and players are not only expected to adapt to the changes, but often feel as though the game world is evolving with time… which, in short, makes everything more interesting.
It occurs to me that titles in franchises have much the same effect, despite not being all part of one title: same, basic game play and premises overall, but with improvements and altered systems between each iteration. Not merely because the previous iteration was lacking in some way, but to give series fans something new to tackle.
(I guess this may be a no-brainer for some, but for me, it really is something of a revelation as to why players don’t appear to “get tired” of the same old game.)
6 1/2 Minutes of the Most Gorgeous Game You’ll See This Week →
I’m going to buy a PS3 one week before this game comes out, if I don’t have one already. So then I can play Stacking and then this.
Confession: I have never played through the original Maniac Mansion. Mainly because… well, you could actually die in that game, which (despite the fact that MM is sort of the grandfather of all graphic adventure games) is an anathema to the genre now.
They probably didn’t get rid of death in this remake, but maybe I will give it another try? It looks fantastic.
A group of devoted German fans calling themselves “Edison Interactive” (cute touch) are rebuilding the game from the ground up, substituting the somewhat crude graphics of the 1987 original with the far more endearing visual style of 1993’s Day of the Tentacle.
When finished (and they’re making great progress), the game will be distributed for free, which along with a name change to “Night of the Meteor” will surely help evade lawyers too busy chasing Star Wars fans to bother about an old graphical adventure.
A truly graphic adventure: the 25-year rise and fall of a beloved genre →
Graphic adventure games struggle to find success in today’s market, but once upon a time they topped sales charts year after year. The genre shot to the top of computer gaming in the latter half of the 1980s, then suffered an equally precipitous fall a decade later. It shaped the fate of the largest companies in the gaming industry even as the games’ crude color graphics served as the background for millions of childhood memories. It gave us Roger Wilco, Sam & Max, and the world of Myst. But few gamers today know the complete history of the genre, or how the classic Sierra and LucasArts titles of the late 1980s and early 1990s largely disappeared beneath the assault of first-person shooters.
Makes me want to go back and try some of these titles that I had heard about, but never got around to playing. Specifically “The Last Express”, but now I want to try The Longest Journey… and I still have to finish (ha, more like START) The Whispered World. x_x
Spell Check: 5 Mistakes To Avoid In Magicka →
This game sounds kind of amazing, in an “oshi—” kind of way. >_>
Professor Layton And Ace Attorney Co-Starring In Upcoming Title →
D: I haven’t even played Professor Layton and I’m excited.
Hrmmph, need to fix this… I wish they would port Layton to WiiWare, like they did Phoenix Wright… I do want to try it. >_> Maybe I should just borrow someone’s DS … anyone want to temporarily trade handhelds for my PSP? :X
While I’ve always admired thatgamecompany’s mission statement and aesthetic, this is the first game that they’ve come up with that I’m actually interested in playing. Not that their first two games weren’t great or fun to play… they just didn’t inspire any sense of fanaticism.
This, however’s, got my attention. Can’t wait. Too bad I don’t have a PS3. -_-
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