Um.

Yeah I should post more. 

Progression Report!

So, I notice I never ever post on this blog.

Well, I figure I have a huge backlog of games, so I'll start playing them and giving my thoughts on them!

We'll start with a game I should put some time into, Castlevania: Order of Ecclesia.  I'll post my thoughts on it in a week and we'll see how it goes.  Woo!

First update in a while: MASS EFFECT 3! N7 COLLECTOR'S EDITION UNBOXING! LATE TO THE PARTY!

Hey guys! How is it going? It's been a bit, but I still wanted to update. Whee!

So, without further ado, it's my Mass Effect 3 Unboxing and Review! Whee!

So first, a bit of an unboxing.Pictured: N7 collector's edition, girlfriend's leg and laptop.

Looks really, REALLY nice. I love this box. But, it's not all great. It had that awful, AWFUL adhesive sticker that ruins any nice case if you aren't perfectly accurate with peeling.


Before. Plus girlfriend's legs and cool boots/skirt.

After. Clearly, this is bullshit. Why, WHY can't you simply just use an adhesive that doesn't ruin the box. This is really scummy. Seal the damn case in shrinkwrap for all I care, just don't ruin it's value with this crap. Luckily my girlfriend was able to peel the adhesive off without much collateral damage, as I seemed to do as well as a tall man fitting into a crawlspace comfortably.

Here's a bit more of what was in the box:

The lithograph. It looks pretty cool, but I don't want to place it anywhere without a tiny frame.

The artbook. And a rogue guitar in the background. I haven't looked through it yet, but these are usually pretty cool. I just wish it was a big coffee table book, but I think you can buy one in stores.

The comic book. I haven't flipped through it yet though. I read all of Redemption, which was good.

The fabric patch! This is honestly the coolest little extra. It actually is velcro, but you need the softer-velcro bit for it. It's awesome because you can put it anywhere basically.

Finally, the case. I love the pics of FemShep and ManShep, but seriously, this case could really be a lot better. Getting the discs out was fucking torture, I thought they were going to snap. I sat them aside in two separate jewel cases so I'd not have to deal with it again, and I wasn't going to take clippers to the spindles, but it was tempting.

Now, onto some slight pain... I was unable to import the face of my Shep from ME1/2 to ME3. I cried fowl. This damn Shep was my bro for AGES. I got attached to that ugly bastard. But still, he was MY Shep. There's supposed to be a patch to correct this, but unless it can retroactively apply the face fix to my Shep, then the damage is still done, because I went through so much torture to recreate, plus I've beaten the game.

Rest in peace you glorious huge-nosed bastard. (Picture is from ME2's startup)

Now, onto the game itself.

It plays like a dream. Like an improved version of Mass Effect 2, with more of the complexities of ME1 thrown in. I of course chose the one that was like classic Mass Effect, because why would I want to avoid the awesome combat or dialogue? It's fast, fluid, and deep, which was everything I wanted in the game.

The multiplayer I first cried out against (IT'S A SINGLE PLAYER GAME, WHY THE HELL DO WE NEED MULTIPLAYER, FOCUS ON SINGLEPLAYER) was... actually great. It's essentially Horde Mode from Gears, but with actual progression in role-playing mode, and lots of customization. It's great.

Now, the biggest gripe I had with the multiplayer and the gameplay itself is the Galactic Readiness. The developers said you need not worry about having a high Galactic Readiness, but in order to obtain the "best" ending, you either needed to play multiplayer, or play the iOS games (Datapad and Infiltrator.) They may say you don't have to, but you want over 5000 EMS for the best ending, and the most I could muster up before the point of no return was 3700 without playing the MP or iOS games. Luckily, my girlfriend was gracious enough to let me steal her phone for a few minutes here and there so I could at least play Datapad, and I was able to get free time to play multiplayer, but the biggest issue is that you should NOT have to do that. Not everyone wants MP or other games, why should they be punished with a shit ending even if they do everything in singleplayer?

The sound was great as well. Playing in 5.1 Dolby was a dream come true. I could hear all gunshots, biotic charges, powers, blasts so crisp, and so clear. I heard that DICE helped with the gun audio, so great job there guys. The voice acting was stellar as usual too, and Mark Meer didn't sound so bored as ManShep. I loved every second of it.

The graphics were good too. I didn't notice as much pop-in as say, ME1 had whenever you loaded up any terminal, at least on the 360 version. Still, I played on console, so I know it would have looked a hell of a lot better on my PC, but I didn't want to sit through hours and hours of ME1 and 2 on PC just so I could max out my Shep before ME3, when I could already do it on my Xbox. But regardless, it looks good on any platform, and then again, graphics matter quite little to me, so it's a bit of a moot point.

Now, onto the story. Possible spoilers ahead.

There's a lot to love, and a few gripes. The end to certain side-arcs are what made me say the story was wonderful. Like seeing Miranda stop her father, or curing the Genophage so the Krogans can begin anew, or stopping the Quarian-Geth war and uniting them, that meant more to me personally. You can see a bright future for many races and people, and they all tie in perfectly with the main store of ME3... to a point, but we'll get to that.

When certain characters died, I honestly cried. I felt really, really sad. I know, it's a damn piece of fiction, but I grew to love each character in my squad from each game, aside from Ashley, may she rest in peace the racist bitch. I don't want to spoil who all gets killed, but don't get too attached if you can. It's hard not to with some though.

But back to the main story, eventually you come back to Earth with the forces you rallied, and launch an attack against The Reapers. It's really, really eerie to see Earth in ashes like it is after you spend much time on these beautiful alien worlds, but you fight on through. You do well, but it's not a satisfying end. Sure, you put down an antagonist that's been a thorn in your side this entire game, but after that, it's almost a slap in the face. Past a certain point when you reach the M. Night Shyamalan of the game, you'll be forced to choose an ending of three, color coded. The biggest issue is this: The endings are almost identical. There's very little difference in them, even if you didn't get high enough EMS. The only thing that changes is more people get saved or so.

This is crap. I spent hunderds of hours playing those damn games, I think I deserve an ending that ties up all loose ends. The biggest issue to me are the plot holes. What becomes of this person or this race? What happened to my crew? What the hell happened to Shepard? None of that is answered, but with the announced free Extended Cut, then maybe it will. But I really don't like having to wait to see what happens. Still, the ending itself wasn't the worst thing ever, it gave you some closure, but left some other doors open, so Bioware, if they ever want to, can revisit the same characters if they want. Personally, I'd like to see a new crew, or a new threat, but give me some closure on the old one.

Overall, Mass Effect 3 was a 9.8 to me. Minor gripes aside, and the story issues are the only things I thought were bad with it, but even then it's not enough to call it a terrible game. I urge everyone to play it if they're a fan of the series, and if not, please do yourself a favor and play ME1 and 2, or at least 2 with the ME Genesis DLC, then start ME3. It's better that way.

I've moved on to Assassin's Creed: Revelations, but meh, I don't want to do a review on it.

Thanks for reading!

TALES OF THE ABYSS 3D! NEW OLD HOTNESS/ First post!

So yeah! New blog about gaming/game collecting! This should be good.

I went ahead and picked up Tales of the Abyss for 3Ds, and I've played it for around an hour now. So far, so good. The 3D doesn't add way too much to the game, honestly. It mostly feels like a straight port from the PS2 version, but with a few differences which I'll go into.

Starting out, you get that awesome opening with the instrumental/more rock version of Karma from the Japanese rock band Bump of Chicken. For some reason, both the PS2 version and the 3DS American versions don't use the Japanese track, which has vocals, and is very good. There's a Youtube link that combined both versions and it was better than either separately. But, I digress, it's a cool song.

The 3D to the game merely adds depth, which lets you judge distance between things a bit easier, but to be honest, it doesn't add way too much. Tales of the Abyss was already the first Tales game to really give an open field of battle (More than Symphonia, as you could free-run in Abyss, where in Symphonia, you were still targeting in a straight line, but you could switch to other enemies on a 3D field.) This returns in the 3DS version, and I haven't got the ability just yet (as you level to it), but when I do, I know I'll be right at home.

Graphically, it's almost the same as the PS2 version, if not slightly cleaner. Namco fixed the biggest issue with the game: the skits. They are much easier to read, and don't get taken up by the background nearly as much as the PS2 skits. So rest assured, in a place with white backdrops, you can see your silly skits. Everything looks crisp still, and the game is still as pretty as it was years ago, but now it's in your hands, rather than on a TV.

The sound is fine as well. The 3DS speakers work really well from everything I've played on it throughout the year I've had it, and TOTA is no exception. The music is an entertaining but expected score from Motoi Sakuraba, who has also done Star Ocean: The Second Story, which is possibly my favorite video game of all time, so I felt right at home hearing the score again. Luke is still whiney, but that changes of course.

But the most important issue is the gameplay, and it translates quite well from what I've played so far. The circle pad gets you along well, but it's still no replacement for a true analog stick, so doing specific attacks isn't as fluid as you'd hope, but it does it's job. Not having a second analog may cause an issue later when I want to assign certain moves here or there like on the PS2 version, but I think it should be an issue I can work with. Everything else translates fine, and there's also the touch screen, but I haven't played around with it enough to see what more it does.

Overall, it's fun, and maybe later I'll have a full review, but this is what I can do for now. But... full review? Is that even going to be possible? What about the Reaper invasion?

See you Tuesday, universe.

Expect a bit about the Louisville Arcade Game Expo sometime as well here soon!