Category Archives: Game

When it’s over: Another look at RPG gaming.

Posted on September 8, 2011

After finishing the main quest line of Elder Scrolls IV: Oblivion, I’m finding that the game is not exactly what I’m used to as far as role playing games are concerned as far as format. Usually, given my history of playing Japanese RPGs, I’m used to having a story for which I’m to work my way to finish the game to get to the ending; to follow a simple story structure where you have your introduction, conflict, climax, and finally ending. Such as is the usual way of telling a story in other game genres such as in first person shooters (another genre of games that I’m more used to playing).
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The Ambassadors of Funk – Super Mario Land

Posted on September 3, 2011

If there was one song that was found played by any hip-hop station in the Bay Area that was only reserved for moments where they remixes took to the program’s center stage, this one is it.
It was a very exciting time for any kid at the time that was listening to this in the U.S. as it was during several months before the Nintendo 64 (Ultra 64) would be released. So many people were just ready to start playing Mario 64 and all the other games that were given the guarantee that the games featured on the system were going to be as close to what is seen in some game titles on the arcades.

In hindsight, although most were already with the knowledge that the technology of the time would only allow for so much to be possible to deliver graphically to what was found in arcades (as arcade boxes were really just personal computers program to run application programs with motherboards dedicated specifically for particular graphics card platforms). So the whole paradigm where consoles could never reach the level of PCs when it comes to gaming in general can be traced back in it’s clearest back then than today where, although the debate has ended with the admittance that consoles would never be able to catch up, yes, but it would be ultimately the software itself that would determine the worth of the console platform for gaming over the PC. And that debate is still going to this very day.

A second look to rpg gaming…ugh

Posted on August 8, 2011


I could not help it. I had to try and give Elder Scrolls IV: Oblivion again now that I’m not playing as much as I used to. After a few hours or so I found out that my initial impressions were a bit wrong. Sure, the game is still as slow paced as ever and it drags on but after finding out some in-game mechanisms that allow you to traverse the world a bit faster to get the objectives in the game done – one in particular is the map “fast-travel” feature which is a nice saver. Then there are the manners that one can increase the statistics of your in-game character in terms of hit-points, magic-points, and fatigue-stress levels. For this you can always choose not to map “fast-travel” and side track to caves, underground mausoleums and other things of the like where you can level up a lot faster and find some cool items along the way.

As far as graphics go, I can’t complain. The graphics are very good and are still as impressive as they were back when Elder Scrolls IV was released back in 2006. Music is alright and can almost remind of you of the score for Peter Jackson’s Lord of the Rings film adaption. A nice use of the music is whenever you are near an enemy that is searching you or someone you’ve seen, you’ve got the “battle music” play, letting you know that it’s time to unsheathe your weapon and start hacking away.

I think I’ve changed my mind: maybe I’m not retiring from gaming after all （/ω＼）。。。

F.E.A.R Failthrough (　￣ー￣)ﾉ

Posted on July 13, 2011
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As a small learning project on how to use Adobe Premier video editing software, I decided to go ahead and start working on having a walkthrough of one of my favorite first person shooter, F.E.A.R, be done. At first I was using Sony Vegas to do this but later on I purchased a copy of Adobe Premier and managed to get the ball rolling and the understand the differences between Sony Vegas, a more task-driven video editor (where the design of the program was to get videos quickly edited and outputed for submission), versus actual professional production-driven video editor which is Adobe premier. The differences between the two is that Sony Vegas really does not provide much conveniences when it comes to the tools involved in the editing process as it’s not really meant for doing long editing video and audio work. It’s just made to make a quick snippet here and there and, again, submit as soon as possible. Premier, on the other hand, is meant for having long pieces of footage to work with and has many tools that are geared to work for such types of video editing work.

I learned a lot by doing this walkthough as it involved the usage of other programs such as Adobe Audition and After Affects. There could have been more done to make the videos more polished and pristine but it was the bare basics that I was hoping to understand and the many ways to get the basic things done in Premier. And besides, for a straight-forward, A to B, walkthrough…nothing really fancy was needed to be done to the videos. (・ω・　)

The whole playlist has been embedded here so you don’t have to go to Youtube to watch the whole playlist.

Enjoy!

S.T.A.L.K.E.R: Call of Pripyat – a few words

Posted on July 12, 2011
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In between playing between month-long breaks, and playing other side games, I’ve finally finished S.T.A.L.K.E.R: Call of Pripyat. There is much that I can say about this game to go on about but rather than spoil the whole fun for you, I’d rather just give you some light impressions of the game so you can go ahead and check it out yourself.

If you have never played any of the previous games such as Shadow of Chernobyl or Clear Sky (the former being the better one to play as they continue after one another time-wise), then you have to at the very least check out Call of Pripyat. The game follows right after the events of the first game and you play the role of a military secret agent disguised as a stalker. Your mission is to investigate the causes that made the helicopters that were supposed to deploy military personnel into the zone crash.

During the game you find out many things that were not left clear or begged further explaining in the first game such as the experiments that lead to the very start and creation of the zone, the various areas and artifacts that have evolved into existence as a result of the formation of the zone and so on.

The game is quite polished compared to the first and second games of this series and there is better use of the graphics, physics, and textures that the previous games had attempted to fix at but never could get to making work. Things such as physics bugs which made the game sometimes a frustrating experience were fixed and some instances of instant character death would occur due to various causes (random enemy character generation from somewhere nearby, overpowering mutant character generated right next to you, or your missing some things from your inventory that you had right when you had saved are the common ones in my gameplay).

So the game is more stable and it’s more polished. Not completely without bugs but it’s the most polished.

The music of the game is as atmospheric as ever, there are many kinds of music that heighten the tension of the game even when there is no apparent danger nearby. This makes you aware that you are in a place where, despite appearances of relative, and I use this term very lightly, tranquility, that somewhere nearby there is something that could potentially hurt you if you are not careful and you have to keep holding your weapon about you at all times.

This quite different from other games I’ve played where you have moments where you are at ease and at times when you are always on alert. And this game really puts the player in a constant state of alertness throughout the game from start to finish (so have a cup of very strong coffee with you and a lot of steel)

Check out the game sometime. It’s sold in Steam for $19.99 but you can get a hard copy for less than that on Amazon or other digital game distribution services.

Double Play – Tour de Japon

Posted on March 22, 2011
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It was one of best set of renditions of Nobuo Uematsu’s compositions ever. The “Tour de Japon” album is a bit hard to find outside of Japan but if you can find this one instead of the first album, “20020220” – the recording of the very first public performances of symphonic renditions of the music of Final Fantasy games, then you’re in for a treat for sure. Now there are other performances that have been performed in the United States and Japan with or without the performances having been recorded. So albums featuring these symphonic renditions are somewhat rare and the notice of the concerts are not as public so it’s always good to keep a close ear and eye for the announcement of such performances as they come along.

Note: always pay attention to what happens in the aftermath. It’s always a crucial moment to learn about the immediate world around you.

Silver Sun Pickups – Panic Switch

Posted on March 5, 2011
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“Dude what is that film?”

“Dunno. Seems like another 300-like film but with girls in highly stylized military or Japanese school uniforms fighting samurai statues, dragons, and First Reich foot soldiers at one moment, taking cabaret routines lessons in another. And all the while wearing my preferred tried and true amounts of ancient Egyptian make up.”

“‘Ancient Egyptian make up’?”

“Black mascara and eyeshadow silly”

Two cents concerning Resident Evil

Posted on January 7, 2011
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Resident Evil is, by all intents and purposes, dead. Wesker’s dead, Umbrella’s dismantled, and all of the bio-weaponry are just a matter of seeking and destroying. While playing Resident Evil five, it occured to me that that the story arcs that have involved either the corporate entity of Umbrella or any of it’s members, in particular Albert Wesker, have been pretty much the basis and core of the entire Resident Evil series. So to have dismantled the entity in the story, the device for supplying more crazy scientist-like characters was completely removed. So now there is no more fantastically brilliant, but mentally unstable, scientific workers to fight up against but just regular arms dealers that have just got themselves into the bio-weapons trading business (such as Ricardo Irving, who had a very small role in RE5).
And with people like Irving, you’ve got pretty much no longer a giant corporation to fight, no conspiracy to fight, no shadow global entity, but simply just small time wise guys who happen to have very powerful mutagenic weaponry at their disposal.

So what lies in store for the Resident Evil series? Who knows. Resident Evil 6 is rumored to be a reboot while all new Resident Evil games are going to be around the time of the events that took place in Resident Evil 5. So there’s almost hardly anything new, as far as large story arcs are concerned, that is currently being presented to the table. It’s not that there is nothing left to salvage from the Resident Evil story and Umbrella can’t remain completely all-powerful forever. For the current Resident Evil games of late have reflected certain events of the real world that have taken place where mighty corporations are quickly brought to their knees when public government gets involved. So in this post-Enron, post-X-files kind of Resident Evil world, I guess you can say things are just…dead.

Sure there will be some thing gone horribly wrong. And, sure, you’ll find some new freak of nature that’s based on the T or G Virus running amok, but there will be already a cure for it or a way to destroy it-given the genesis starting with one of the the two, or both, viruses, which any seasoned Resident Evil player can figure the potential weaknesses that can allow the player to destroy the mutated. But it will always come down to it being a case of “the usual suspects”. So there is no mystery, no suspense, just action.

さよならを教えて (a.k.a That theme for the visual novel I probably will never play ^^;)

Posted on December 27, 2010
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I checked this out while searching around to what Rize was making light references to. It’s the theme song to a visual novel that released in 2001. In the game, you play the role of a teacher trainee that is transferring to an all-girls school. But over time, the mental state of the teacher/trainee deteriorates. Cause of his deterioration is not given, but as a result of the condition, the teacher trainee begins to develop a fear and passion for the girls that he works with. Causing him to question himself as to whether he’s actually fit (as a person) to even be a teacher given the state his mind seem to be direction itself towards.

It seems to have a sort of cult following as it was lauded at the time of release. There’s even a site dedicated to it (click here).

One thing that really struck me was the theme used for the game which was quite charming despite having it’s very creepy undertones towards the end of the track (do I hear screaming in pain or just well tuned static?).

But other than that it has that smooth layer over the subdued prompt of the syncopations which is really catchy to say the least. Enjoy.