Merry Christmas

Merry Christmas to everyone!

LOTRO

So I'm mobile blogging from my phone right now because my computer is distracted by theLord of the Rings online, an awesome mmo my good friend Jon sucked me into a couple of weeks ago.  Now free to play, this has to be one of the most thurough and engaging mmos I've ever played.  The graphics are great, the gameplay is fun, and there are enough quests to keep anyone happy.  One erk I do have though is that so many of the content areas require micro trasactions to unlock, sometimes it a bit tedious to find an area later in the game for you to quest in.  Its not a problem if, you save up the turbine points(out-of-game currency) that you get for free for completing deeds in-game, but it still takes, a while.

All-in-all, though, this has been a great game so far, and I can't wait to delve deeper into, this immersive world

LOTRO

So, my good friend Haiku Master got me started on LOTRO, or Lord of the Rings online, the other day.  And I have to admit, I'm hooked.  I've never really been one for MMORPGs but this one has won me over.

And I think the reasoning is amazingly simple.

First, they took a world I have always wanted to explore and gave it their version of reality, and secondly, they removed the "you must pay every month" payment model.  I know that paying for games is the way game studios make money, but I'm not really one to pay for a game over and over again.

Plus, the graphics on this game are amazing, and the game play is good, too.  On top of that, there are more quests than you can shake a stick at, so the game keeps you more than busy trying to get everything done.

Other M

So, I've been playing a lot of different video games lately.  I don't know why, but I just seem to be flipping from game to game.  I've done FF 7, Crisis Core, Dissidia Final Fantasy, MGS: Peace Walker, MGS: Portable Ops, and Little Big Planet for the PSP.  I've played a few levels of Donkey Kong Country Returns, too.  For my birthday party on Friday we even broke out a LAN party and started playing Quake 3!

And then my wife bought me Metroid Other M.  The last thing I needed was a new title to add to my list this month, but it was so shiny and new.   I couldn't even wait two minutes to rip off the wrapping and stare in wonder at the disc. 

Now, I've heard mixed reviews of the game, but I'm a die-hard fan of the Metroid series, having played every one of the games, and owning all but two (I never did get the DS titles.  It never really seemed imperative I do so).  But as I've played through the game these last few days, I've found that reviews were mixed because the game is mixed.  Its a weird attempt at blending a side-scroller, an FPS, and a third-person slasher, like the newer Ninja Gaiden games.  Overall though, it works, and thanks to the Wiimote, none of it really seems awkward.

But playing through this installment of Metroid made me realize something.  There are some serious problems with the production of Metroid games.  With all of the newer titles, the producers have either gone for game-play and graphics, graphics and storyline, or storyline and game-play.  There isn't a single one that packs all three.  With Other M, I've been sorely disappointed many times with problems in the game-play, things like the 'concentration' mechanism, and the lack of explanation in game-play.  Several times while I've been playing this game, I've had to sit in a particular room for an hour trying to figure out what the hell I'm supposed to be doing.  And this is the first Metroid game since the series started where I've had to pull out a strategy guide just to finish my first run through the game.

But the Metroid Prime trilogy doesn't escape either.  That series suffered from a sever lack of direction.  When you play through all three games, you're grasping at straws trying to correlate the story line.  Each game seems almost independent of the series, and from each other, and only upon reading supplementary material provided by the producers do you really find out whats going on.

(The third option of achieving game-play and storyline is of course Metroid Fusion, which reverted back to old side-scrolling goodness, which, unfortunately, didn't impress the newer generation of gamers.)

So what I really got from all of this is that of the three really important elements of any game, game-play, storyline and graphics, you only need two to make a game that sells, as long as you have a good marketing team.

A Quick Question

Has anyone here ever tried to get the chocobuckle attack in FFVII to 9999 damage?  I've attempted the feat a couple of times myself, but I always get bored somewhere around 3500 times of running away and quit trying.  I'm just curious as to whether anyone in gaming land has accomplished the task.  If you have let me know in the comments section.

Finally Complete

So, just finished up with Final Fantasy VII Crisis Core. Its an interesting game, but it leaves me with more questions than answers. Like who are the guys that take Genesis at the end, who is this goddess, and how does most of this tie into the rest of the storyline, if it does at all.

I guess I'll just have to play the whole series over again to try and figure it all out.

Published with Blogger-droid v1.6.9

Hey, I'm getting better.

I'm back and trying to write as much as I can on the blogs and sites I run.  The business I run had an internet blackout, and I was unable to post for several days this month, which, oddly, reminded me that there were a lot of places I needed to post.

So, I've been playing a lot of great games lately.  I'm finally to the end of Final Fantasy VII Crisis Core, and that game has me wondering a lot of things.  And my wife and I have almost completely played through Donkey Kong Country Returns, which has been an awesome addition to a long-dead series.

But there has been one game I was horribly disappointed in lately.  I purchased the new 007 Goldeneye game for the Wii, which states on the packaging that it is a remake of the old N64 title.  This is a load of crap.  With in minutes of turning on the game and trying to jerk our way around multi-player mode, my wife, an avid fan of the first game, called it quites.

To be true to my die-harder gamer roots, I decided to at least give single player mode a shot.  Shot is what I felt like.  The single player mode, even set on novice, gives little explanation to game mechanics, gives you little assistants in the game other than to point you to the next shootout, and doesn't even dumb down the AI of the soldiers.  And trust me, there is nothing worse than playing a new FPS and finding that even just trying to learn the controls, if you shoot in a completely empty room every gun in the level is pointing at your head. 

On only the third mission I ended up dieing fifteen times in the same room.  And the total for the level was something like 45.  The only thing I can tell thats different between difficulty levels is the number of objectives you have to complete before you can pass on to the next level.  So there is no breezing through this game just to see what's different from the first one, if you want to play it, you have to commit.

And another problem I had with it is that it required me to switch between to different shooting modes on the fly.  I got the hang of it pretty quick, but it just got to annoy me that I couldn't just shoot with the standard move and shoot and hit anything, I had to stop and aim before each shot.

So, needless to say, this remake doesn't get my vote of approval.  So here's my question, what kind of things make or break an FPS for you?

Umm... I need to get better at this

Sorry for the long break, I apparently need to get a grip on managing my time better.  But for the utter awesomeness of it, I have for you a picture today of my daughter, showing her roots as a die-hard gamer, like her dad.

This amazing photo was not doctored, she, at a mere four months of age, snagged that PSP right out of my hands and began to mash the buttons, expecting something great to happen.  A prodigy is born!  Not to mention she's the cutest gamer I've every met, (next to her mother, of course).  So, I'll be back later with more.

What's Your Favorite?

     In a hopefully on going string of posts, I will post the question today, what is your favorite?  Today's discussion of favorites is the every ubiquitous Save.  How do you like to do it?  Are you a purist that relishes only in the clean saving styles of the save point?  Are you someone who likes it dirty and can save anywhere in the game? (Or really dirty and the game has autosave so you don't even have to deal with it?)  Or are you one of those people somewhere in between that likes save points but an open save anywhere on the world map?
     We here at Gamer's Top Hat want to know.  Leave a comment below and tell us what you think.  Friendly debate over the merits of each is strongly support, but remember, this is supposed to be a cuddly blog, so no slander or offensive slurs.  We look forward to hearing from you.  Till next time, catch you on the flip side.

Number One

This is Haiku Master, reporting for duty here at Gamer's Top Hat. I will be contributing delicious tidbits of gaming news and information to all you followers out there on Andrews invitation. That makes me the Riker to his Picard, I suppose, his Number One if you will. On top of that, this is my first blog I have ever contributed too, and my first post.

I suppose it makes sense that I begin to post on a video game blog on Valentines Day (or S.A.D. if that's your boat) because I love video games. A lot.

Here's to hoping you followers enjoy Gamer's Top Hat and that we can be fun and informative to you all, and that we will be here for quite some time. Well, enough of the introduction, let the blogging begin!

The Legend of Zelda, Twighlight Princess

Yeah, I know this game is starting to get dated, but hey, I still play games on the NES.  But as I'm sitting here watching the graphics, and wondering to myself why this game was no-where near as popular as Ocarina of Time, I'm struck by two thoughts on that.

First thought is this:  Part of this games problem is that when you are playing as Link, he fights like a marionette.  His actions look fake and puppet-like, which really ruins the amazing design this game has.

The second problem is release.  This game, of all of the Zelda games, had a terribly botched release.  It was originally designed for the Game Cube, came out for only a few weeks, then disappeared.  Then only to be replaced with a release for the Wii, which had just come out.  And they didn't even really try to re-adjust the controls for the new system.  Luckily, I have my hands on a copy of the Game Cube version, so it plays a lot easier.

I always hate when a game gets screwed up by in popularity because of a botched release.  Remember StarCraft Ghosts?  So, if anyone out there shares my annoyance with a terribly handled game release, let me know in the comments section.

Looking forward to the NGP

Just a quick micro-post, I'm stoked about the new playstation NGP.  I'd like to see what Sony can do with a touchscreen.  Plus, the form factor on their NGP looks like it might be more comfortable than the DS.

Ah, More to Write

So, this is my second blog in two years, and this one is devoted to all things gaming.  But not the cheese farmville crap.  I mean the real stuff.  Honest to goodness games that you shell out fifty dollars for at your local retailer.  So I just thought I'd introduce myself to those who don't know me.  I'm Andrew, and I'll be your host to the Gamer's Top Hat.