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rjkclarke's Carnival of Diamonds and Rust


rjkclarke

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3 hours ago, YaManSmevz said:

Sheesh, there's another thing to consider! I always wonder if the neighbors can hear me and if so, what they must think. If I knew my neighbor was married and heard "oh fuck you!" or "you piece of shit!" every so often, I'd certainly start having some questions... I imagine the police showing up:

 

"Hello sir, we have a report of domestic disturbance."

 

"Huh? Oh no, my wife's not even home! It's just this stupid Rocket League trophy, it keeps glitching and it won't pop, it's really pissing me off."

 

"Oh... damn, that's messed up. Have a good day, sir."

 

If I start getting anger management class notifications on my phone, I'll know it's cuz of my TV! I'm a pretty mild mannered dude, but when my wife is out and a game is getting to me... oh man. What that poor TV has to hear!

Haha I hear you man! The frustration of a glitchy trophy or a section you just can't get past due to horrible design, shoddy A.I. etc etc is very very real.

 

3 hours ago, YaManSmevz said:

I did get a kick out of the boosting. I remember Eden felt like ten minutes every time, and even if you messed up, getting to 250 was rarely a problem!

 

Triple Triad - can I say this? - is the best FF mini game ever, hands down. So good that it inspired a staggeringly inferior copycat in the following game!

 

It's been said by the writers that Squall is very much not dead, but that theory still blew me away, and explained so much of the story for me. I felt the love story was a tad rushed and felt rather unlikely, but it really reached for the feels, and I'd be lying if I said it wasn't successful. The issue I had with the junctioning system is that it essentially nullified magic and made characters a bit too dependent on GFs, but once you know how to work it, it's pretty fun.

Yeah, that  satisfaction of getting to 250. 

 

Yes of course you can as it is definitely the best FF mini game ever. I'm not sure many would disagree.

 

It was a little bit rushed, but then love can be that way. It's rather unpredictable. As for the junctioning system, yes it had it's flaws I think everyone can agree on that, but it was out of the box and I applaud them for trying. The task of drawing all that magic to boost your stats was a bit boring sadly.

 

3 hours ago, YaManSmevz said:

You most definitely can, and you're absolutely right!

 

One of my favorite moments was Dalton bein like "what the fuck? Stop the music!" and Shot of Crisis starts playin and he's like "Yeah, that's what I'm talkin about!"

 

I see your Guardia Forest and raise you with Black Omen!

 

We could do this all day1f602.png

We could do lol it's fun lol

 

Black Omen is a good one definitely.

 

I'll change the tone a bit and say Bike Chase.

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8 hours ago, The_Kopite said:

Funny enough I did just see them for the first time in the Remake. Very short glimpse as part of a scene so yeah it'll be interesting. I know Red XIII is in there at the end of the game so looking forward to that. Great character. 

 

Well he is, until you have to hit him on the nose with a newspaper.... You could make a whole Final Fantasy game out of the pointless Final Fantasy characters.... A whole team of Amarant, Khimari, Cait Sith, Vaan and Penelo and Noel from FFXIII-2. I'm gonna call it NO-ONE'S FANTASY

 

8 hours ago, The_Kopite said:

Yeah I heard rumours about it anyways. Don't know the status of it. I heard that IX's animated series is going to be aimed at children though, so that would certainly change the context of the story.

 

I'm not quite sure how that'll work then. That seems, I don't know a bit silly. It's fairly cartoonish that game, as Doc pointed our a couple of pages back, but subtextually it isn't - there's

Spoiler

literally an implied war economy going on, how can they gloss over that side of the stories for the chiddlers. :dunno:

 

 

8 hours ago, The_Kopite said:

That is an interesting point that you will have to explore further as you dissect her character. BTW, by chance have you watched RE: Infinite Darkness?

 

I'll do my best with dissecting her character - but I don't think there's too much to delve into. We'll see I haven't actually played RE4 in at least ten years I think. So perhaps this time around I'll have a different opinion on her.

8 hours ago, The_Kopite said:

The only HP game I've played is the Lego one so I wouldn't know but the music in the films was pretty decent from what I can remember. (Not the biggest HP fan) Eternal Sonata rings a bell, is that another XB360 game that I'd have missed like Lost Odyssey?

 

Not strictly no, you could play Eternal Sonata if you wanted to - in fact the PS3 version is the superior version of the game. The thing that probably puts most people off it, is that it doesn't have any trophies. I got all the Gamerscore though, back before Microsoft decided to banish my Gamertag to the Nether realm for inactivity, so apart from the Hard-drive attached to my Xbox 360 I couldn't prove that.

 

The Harry Potter game I'm playing right now, which I thought I'd force myself to play for that backlog event - DOES NOT have decent music, or sound effects. Unless of course you are a rare beast that really gets a kick out of hearing PING PING.

 

That's the new Netflix series right? No not yet - I expect playing RE4 will probably make me want to watch it though. Is it good?

 

7 hours ago, Shrooba said:

Sorry I haven't responded sooner here! I've been busy with an assignment, but I can finally get to checking out your latest review! 1f600.png
 

 

I was about to go all teacher on you then - and proclaim that assignments come first...... Until I realised that's what you'd already done like a smart person would do.

 

No need to apologise, I'm grateful that you even read through them at all, and drop in and leave comments, it's great to have you around to chat to. You've got some very interesting takes on games. Got a wise head on some young shoulders that's for sure. I hope that didn't sound patronising either. I totally don't mean it that way.

 

I'm way behind on reading and catching up with threads myself as it happens. I haven't read Doc's yet either. I want to be able to sit down and really enjoy that. Which I'm planning to remedy tomorrow. Including yours by the way. I wanted to drop a comment about your awesome Crash 2 review. Which I'll do tomorrow. As my brains a little fried right now. It's been a long day.

 

7 hours ago, Shrooba said:

Sequels are always great for how they innovate on previous entries. The transition from 2.5D to 3D is especially a particular change that has been utilized in really awesome manners like ArcSys fighting games which portray the 3D models as 2D sprites. But when you started mentioning the aspect of time, that reminded me a ton of Majora's Mask! Man, that game was intrinsically tied to the idea of time, and your wording of it being a constant threat, now turned into a currency and not a gameplay feature, really shows how what seemed like a fully realized idea back on the N64 can still see innovation in new games even in this era and possibly beyond.
And even on a more diegetic level, you're now infiltrating directly as opposed to the overseeing of the first game. That stuff is pretty cool to read about! I love seeing how games push the envelope and see what's possible.

Nice review man! Look forward to the next!

 

Thank you!!

 

You know - I'm really very glad you got that from my reviews of those games. I really worried I'd flubbed writing about the second game. I'm still not entirely happy with that review, but I wrote it straight after finishing it, and it was like 1AM - so as a result I feel like I rushed it a little bit.

 

Well said by the way - that was a joy to read. It is quite reminiscent of Majorca's Mask in that respect. It does sacrifice some of the urgency the first game has, but it tells a much more controlled and fleshed out story as a result. You end up having a lot more reflective time to really think about it.

 

You're totally right about the Majorca's Mask comparison. I've only ever seen playthroughs of that game - it was super rare to find a copy of that game where I live. Add to that, the fact that I was one of the poor victims of the Water Temple in Ocarina of Time haha, my poor 11 year old brain just ran away screaming with a mouth full of bubbles.  I'd definitely recommend the two Beholder games though - they truly are very unique.

 

I'm actually off to post the next review now.

 

Which is Tomb Raider (2013) not the original, in case that wasn't obvious :lol:

Edited by rjkclarke
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On 15/09/2021 at 2:45 AM, rjkclarke said:

Happy to help if I did.. I'm sure you'll do great with it.

 

It's been great to see you all over the forums - great to see you pop in here and hang out too - especially as I don't exactly have a trophy list brimming with racing titles, I do like them for sure, but I don't have an ounce of the skill you have in that department.

 

Right - I'm off to finish writing a review of Beholder 2 - then I really ought to sleep.

 

I didn't get around to responding to this but yeah will see how it all goes. I've seen you do a few more reviews recently & actually just then so will try to have a read.

 

On 15/09/2021 at 7:23 PM, The_Kopite said:

Can't agree more. They are simply stunning soundtracks from pretty much start to end. I love pieces of music from every FF soundtrack I've ever listened to (which is a lot of them lol) but sadly as time goes on, there are less and less standout tracks for me in the newer FF's. Some of that is the way the games are structured nowadays, but certainl Uematsu leaving SquareSoft/Enix was massive.

 

Yeah I don't know as much about the newer ones & yes that probably was the biggest difference between them.

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3 hours ago, The_Kopite said:

Black Omen is a good one definitely.

 

I'll change the tone a bit and say Bike Chase.

 

That's a fun one! If memory serves that's what plays when you ask the piano player for something upbeat?

 

That tears it! I'm going out in front of Square headquarters with a sign that says "WE WANT CHRONO TRIGGER ON PS4/5 WITH TROPHY SUPPORT, BUT IT DOESN’T HAVE TO BE FANCILY REMASTERED OR ANYTHING BECAUSE IT'S FINE AS IS, ALTHOUGH THOSE PS1 CINEMATICS WERE PRETTY NICE, KEEP THOSE PLEASE."

 

...I'm gonna work on that though, it could be a bit catchier.

 

And slap on Robo's Theme?

 

1 hour ago, rjkclarke said:

However, it didn’t stop it chipping away at me for ages, that I might have missed out on a huge chance at happiness, which ended up souring my opinion on Tomb Raider for an incredibly long time, because I just associated it with that one thing for so long. It’s a shame, because Tomb Raider is a great game, which I disliked for a long time completely unfairly, in fact I guess in a way it’s a testament to the games quality that I’d rather have played that, than trying to pursue happiness (even if I did think that was a pretty futile endeavour at the time).

 

Can VERY much relate to this. Amazing how something like that can completely change the way you view a piece of media. I remember being post-breakup and rather heartbroken when my friend suggested we watch Zack and Miri Make a Porno in an effort to cheer me up. I was like "oh let me guess, they fall in love?? What a crock of BULLSHIT" or some such bitter blathering. To this day I've no interest in seeing that movie, and it's all because of one break-up?

 

1 hour ago, rjkclarke said:

Minus a main character that never stops talking (sorry Nate, but sometimes I wish you’d just pipe down for a wee while).

 

Accurate????

 

1 hour ago, rjkclarke said:

Photorealism is particularly relevant in Lara’s case, as now she actually looks human, or at least what we'd consider "like us"  – she doesn’t have those attachments anymore that everyone was looking up the Nude Raider cheat for, in the desperate hope they could see them. She looks like a person, talks like a person and more importantly, she ACTS like a person – a real person, who makes mistakes, and knows those mistakes have consequences.

 

I am all for a non-sexualized Lara Croft. Not that that was the only draw of course, but with earlier games you were less likely to hear commentary on gameplay or story than something like "Huh huh huh... she's awesome" and that was a bit of a deterrent for me. I really like the more fully realized character you're describing.

 

1 hour ago, rjkclarke said:

Which leads me onto the trophies – it took me four years to finally get the platinum in this. Just so we’re clear, this bit about trophies doesn’t affect my opinion of the game, no trophy list does. Otherwise I suspect I might have despised Final Fantasy IX. Now that is out of the way - part of that time taken was me unfairly blaming the game for y’know the what if, I mentioned previously and just avoiding it entirely. Which is unfair, as that was one hundred percent my fault. Another huge factor was the online trophies – if I had the attitude I have now, which is to get the online out of the way as quick as possible if it’s not a fun component - then I would have done that. The multiplayer grind is enormous, thankfully in the PS4 version you have access to a map that makes it go by much faster – unfortunately I didn’t.

 

The multiplayer is the lone source of trepidation I have with starting this game. I remember buying it and then seeing in the forums people complaining about the MP grind. I was like "aw crap!" But eh. That's what boosting is for!

 

1 hour ago, rjkclarke said:

I can't really class this one as a requested review. I'll treat Metal Gear Solid V and Yakuza 0 as the first of those, but hopefully @YaManSmevz and @KindaSabbath won't mind me detouring slightly to finish up this trilogy. I've been meaning to do them for weeks, and I'm only just getting around to it now. Even if either of them have a problem with it, they are almost certainly far too polite to tell me anyway. ?

 

I'm not polite at all, you suck!!

 

See?

 

Everything you write is of such high quality, trust and believe when I say nobody's gonna complain about the order you choose to put out reviews. While I'm quite excited to hear your thoughts on both MGSV and Y0, I've been enjoying your Tomb Raider perspective since the previous trilogy. Just happy to be along for the ride?

 

Oh, did I tell you great review? Crap, I must've forgot. Great review!??

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17 hours ago, rjkclarke said:

Well he is, until you have to hit him on the nose with a newspaper.... You could make a whole Final Fantasy game out of the pointless Final Fantasy characters.... A whole team of Amarant, Khimari, Cait Sith, Vaan and Penelo and Noel from FFXIII-2. I'm gonna call it NO-ONE'S FANTASY

I'll agree with you mostly. I have to defend Kimahri though. Maybe it's partly because I've got the guy's autograph lol but still, I think his character is someone that was obvious that Yuna would have in regards to her guardians. Someone who would defend her to the end, be the one she could lean on. Solid enough fighter, though not the strongest in the early game ironically. Still that's my opinion anyways. Didn't mind Noel either to be fair nor Penelo but certainly they could be easily scrapped like the rest.

 

17 hours ago, rjkclarke said:

I'm not quite sure how that'll work then. That seems, I don't know a bit silly. It's fairly cartoonish that game, as Doc pointed our a couple of pages back, but subtextually it isn't - there's

  Reveal hidden contents

Indeed, I was thinking the same thing. That's just a part of it as well so yeah.

 

17 hours ago, rjkclarke said:

I'll do my best with dissecting her character - but I don't think there's too much to delve into. We'll see I haven't actually played RE4 in at least ten years I think. So perhaps this time around I'll have a different opinion on her.

That's possible.

 

17 hours ago, rjkclarke said:

Not strictly no, you could play Eternal Sonata if you wanted to - in fact the PS3 version is the superior version of the game. The thing that probably puts most people off it, is that it doesn't have any trophies. I got all the Gamerscore though, back before Microsoft decided to banish my Gamertag to the Nether realm for inactivity, so apart from the Hard-drive attached to my Xbox 360 I couldn't prove that.

 

The Harry Potter game I'm playing right now, which I thought I'd force myself to play for that backlog event - DOES NOT have decent music, or sound effects. Unless of course you are a rare beast that really gets a kick out of hearing PING PING.

 

That's the new Netflix series right? No not yet - I expect playing RE4 will probably make me want to watch it though. Is it good?

Ah I see. Yeah I do like earning my trophies so that will be a game I'll pass on then but clearly you didn't play after that on your 360?

 

PING PING you say? Better than PING PONG? How about PING PANG PONG? No? lol

 

I really enjoyed Infinite Darkness yes. I have enjoyed all the CG film stuff for Resident Evil though, it's nice they are all canon for starters. It references RE4 hence why I asked. It's only 4 episodes long and like 20-25 mins per episode. Basically it should have been another CG film, yet because it's on Netflix they seemingly decided to split it up into 4 eps. Go figure lol The same people who voice Leon and Claire in RE2 REmake are present here.

 

 

17 hours ago, Destructor-8 said:

Yeah I don't know as much about the newer ones & yes that probably was the biggest difference between them.

Well I can assure you that there are still some stand out tracks from the newer Final Fantasy games. I can give you a few recommendations to listen to if you want. :)

 

Sadly FF definitely lost something after Uematsu left. It was nice that he worked a bit on the FFVII Remake soundtrack and reworked all the songs for the new Pixel Remasters. Now if they would just bring those to PS4/5.........

15 hours ago, YaManSmevz said:

That's a fun one! If memory serves that's what plays when you ask the piano player for something upbeat1f604.png

 

That tears it! I'm going out in front of Square headquarters with a sign that says "WE WANT CHRONO TRIGGER ON PS4/5 WITH TROPHY SUPPORT, BUT IT DOESN’T HAVE TO BE FANCILY REMASTERED OR ANYTHING BECAUSE IT'S FINE AS IS, ALTHOUGH THOSE PS1 CINEMATICS WERE PRETTY NICE, KEEP THOSE PLEASE."

 

...I'm gonna work on that though, it could be a bit catchier.

 

And slap on Robo's Theme1f60e.png

I could try and help you make it sound catchier and snappier for you, but it would probably just turn out worse lol 

 

Definitely agree though, like with the Pixel Remasters for FF that I commented about above, a remastered (or even just ported) Chrono Trigger with trophy support and a shiny platinum would make me go through that again! 

 

Robo's Theme - that's a pretty catchy one! Hmmm....nothing catchier (CT wise) than Frog's Theme for me :)

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2 hours ago, The_Kopite said:

Well I can assure you that there are still some stand out tracks from the newer Final Fantasy games. I can give you a few recommendations to listen to if you want. :)

 

Sadly FF definitely lost something after Uematsu left. It was nice that he worked a bit on the FFVII Remake soundtrack and reworked all the songs for the new Pixel Remasters. Now if they would just bring those to PS4/5.........

 

Oh that's good to know that there are some decent ones still. The ones I mentioned before that were reworked by a few Japanese bands were quite amazing. It's great when stuff is reworked & seems almost as good.

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22 hours ago, rjkclarke said:

Classic Review

 

Platinum #169

Tomb Raider (PS3)

L3f3743.png

 

Another top quality read brother.

 

22 hours ago, rjkclarke said:

Square Enix essentially decided they needed to reboot the franchise again – which I can’t exactly say I was personally happy with, like an angry thawed out caveman, I distinctly remember thinking “UGHGG, WHERE KEELEY HAWES, WHY SHE GO! EURGH.”

 

I'm guilty of this. I'm still not even sure if I wanted a reboot? I mean, rose tinted glasses and all - but, I didn't think it needed to be shaken up so dramatically. With that said... you've done a decent job of convincing me I'm probably wrong, as per ?

 

22 hours ago, rjkclarke said:

Part of that battle, was getting to grips with the changes in this new iteration of Tomb Raider – the thing is this game is nothing like any other Tomb Raider game you will have played before. Lara has very little of the self confidence and control that she has in other titles. In fact, she has the opposite and she’s shipwrecked and almost every aspect is out of her control. It ends up being a very interesting juxtaposition for pre-existing fans of the series. Elements of Lara’s core background remain the same, but for all intents and purposes Lara is an entirely new character, she really just shares the name. In reality though, this is - in my opinion at least, the entire trilogies strongest feature.

 

Would you say that the vibe here - is to show Lara in ways that make her seem vulnerable? Or really, just to show her vulnerability in general. I think often that helps immerse people into a game and connect better with a character. Often times in a video game, we play as the biggest badest mutha-fukka's on the planet - overly confident and stupidly charismatic with a dash of awesome. But that's a long shot from who many of us actually are in the real world. So it makes sense to me that by increasing Lara's vulnerability as a character it makes her more relatable to a wider audience. I guess if this is the case - then I can get my head around this new iteration of Lara Croft.

 

22 hours ago, rjkclarke said:

Where it does excel however, is the gun-play and the various mechanics that go alongside it, which is never something I expect to praise in a Tomb Raider game.

 

OK now we're talking ?? you know I'm all gameplay, all day.

 

22 hours ago, rjkclarke said:

I think it’s time to put on my storytelling hat once again. Don’t worry, I am going to be going into Tomb Raider – I just feel like I need to tell this story first, it’ll explain why it took me so long to actually get the platinum in the first place, as well as why I didn’t like it for a very long time as a result of this incident. It was very much a me problem, not a Tomb Raider problem.  It’s a story you’ll probably find equal parts funny, and you’ll probably want to throttle me at the same time, for being such a colossal idiot. So without further ado, this is the story of how I........ Told a woman I basically loved her very soon after meeting her, could have seen her weeks later but instead decided to play Tomb Raider. Full disclosure – if you get into a similar situation, I advise you to almost do the opposite of what I did haha.

 

There have been many times in my life, that I have put playing a video game before things that I could of been doing instead. I used to get frustrated with myself and think "dickhead - what are you doing!!"... in reality though, as I've gotten older.. I've realised something. You see -- I'm big enough, ugly enough and hairy enough to have found myself in many predicaments. When this has been the case, in every instance, without fail - videogames along with any other distractions have taken the back seat or been dropped entirely until things are sorted. Because when it matters, you know your priorities. I'd argue that maybe the girl wasn't meant to be. Maybe she wasn't what you wanted enough at the time to endure a cold ass walk into town in the middle of the night. Lara Croft was already at your house and ready to go. I respect your decision! When I look back over the years and think of all the things I didn't do because I chose to stay in and read/game/listen to music - I realise that I just ended up doing what I actually wanted to do and there's nothing wrong with that.

 

Also, it's fine to tell a girl you love her if you're hammered. 

 

22 hours ago, rjkclarke said:

I can't really class this one as a requested review. I'll treat Metal Gear Solid V and Yakuza 0 as the first of those, but hopefully @YaManSmevz and @KindaSabbath won't mind me detouring slightly to finish up this trilogy. I've been meaning to do them for weeks, and I'm only just getting around to it now. Even if either of them have a problem with it, they are almost certainly far too polite to tell me anyway. 1f605.png

 

It's cool bro, I'm totally patient, take your time. It's Yakuza 0 and Metal Gear Solid V though, you just had the order mixed up there ?

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23 hours ago, Destructor-8 said:

I didn't get around to responding to this but yeah will see how it all goes. I've seen you do a few more reviews recently & actually just then so will try to have a read.

 

Well - hopefully you have a minute or two then because I don't exactly make them short..... It's unintentional too, I usually just end up having a hell of a lot to say. 

 

21 hours ago, YaManSmevz said:

Can VERY much relate to this. Amazing how something like that can completely change the way you view a piece of media. I remember being post-breakup and rather heartbroken when my friend suggested we watch Zack and Miri Make a Porno in an effort to cheer me up. I was like "oh let me guess, they fall in love?? What a crock of BULLSHIT" or some such bitter blathering. To this day I've no interest in seeing that movie, and it's all because of one break-up1f604.png

 

 

That's always tough isn't it when your friends are trying to perk you up a bit, and you pretty much just don't want any of it.

 

It's odd isn't it..... How things like that just get inside your head to a ridiculous fine degree like that.... It can just potentially ruin that one thing for you forever.

 

I feel like you might have dodged a bullet there with missing out on that film, your eyes and brain would be permanently scarred by the image of seeing Jason Mewes' junk - which is something no human should probably have to see.

 

21 hours ago, YaManSmevz said:

I am all for a non-sexualized Lara Croft. Not that that was the only draw of course, but with earlier games you were less likely to hear commentary on gameplay or story than something like "Huh huh huh... she's awesome" and that was a bit of a deterrent for me. I really like the more fully realized character you're describing.

 

She's great. She's very much a character in her own right. Instead of whatever the hell it is that she was before. If you were to ask a six or seven year old kid you'd probably hear. "pointy boob lady" and that would probably fairly accurate, as what she used to be wasn't much more than that. I'm glad they went in a different direction in that regard.

I didn't mention the less sexualised aspect of her this time around. I assumed I didn't need to because I mentioned it in my Tomb Raider: Underworld write up that she's not a sexual object here. I probably shouldn't have assumed people have read them, and just retreaded that a bit here.

 

21 hours ago, YaManSmevz said:

The multiplayer is the lone source of trepidation I have with starting this game. I remember buying it and then seeing in the forums people complaining about the MP grind. I was like "aw crap!" But eh. That's what boosting is for!

 

I get that too, it's not that bad though if you can get an organised group. Someone called me out for being a retard and a few other choice words because I was a little slow at replying, because sending messages over PS3 was always a nightmare, so they were being pretty unfair I thought.

 

Once you find some decent folk to knock the online out with you'll ve good to go, most of the things that need multiple people only take about an hour or so. Then you can do the rest solo, it's just a little boring is all. Worth it to have that sweet looking Tomb Raider platinum though.

 

21 hours ago, YaManSmevz said:

I'm not polite at all, you suck!!

 

See?

 

Everything you write is of such high quality, trust and believe when I say nobody's gonna complain about the order you choose to put out reviews. While I'm quite excited to hear your thoughts on both MGSV and Y0, I've been enjoying your Tomb Raider perspective since the previous trilogy. Just happy to be along for the ride1f601.png

 

Oh, did I tell you great review? Crap, I must've forgot. Great review!

 

Thanks haha! Much appreciated.

 

It's got even more complicated now as I'm slotting in a classic review tonight too, I'm probably a couple hours away from getting the Platinum in that Harry Potter game I was playing for the backlog event. So I thought it'd be good to get the previous one done too. That'll be a fairly short review though, because there really isn't a whole lot to talk about with that game.

 

6 hours ago, The_Kopite said:

I'll agree with you mostly. I have to defend Kimahri though. Maybe it's partly because I've got the guy's autograph lol but still, I think his character is someone that was obvious that Yuna would have in regards to her guardians. Someone who would defend her to the end, be the one she could lean on. Solid enough fighter, though not the strongest in the early game ironically. Still that's my opinion anyways. Didn't mind Noel either to be fair nor Penelo but certainly they could be easily scrapped like the rest.

 

Kimhari is fine, I like the part he plays in the story that's for sure. I just never really use him as a party member - Lulu would probably have been the fairer one to call pointless if I was going to mention anyone from that game.

 

I'm not Noels biggest fan. Although one of my friends hates him far more than I even have the capacity to hate Cait Sith lol.... However, I do think he's a ratty little sleaze-ball. He  literally flirts with Serah right in front of Snow..... Like who does that... Tries to get jiggy with a guys girlfriend, whilst the guy is standing right there, and looks like he's the human equivalent of an articulated lorry.... The guy has front I suppose.

 

6 hours ago, The_Kopite said:

Ah I see. Yeah I do like earning my trophies so that will be a game I'll pass on then but clearly you didn't play after that on your 360?

 

PING PING you say? Better than PING PONG? How about PING PANG PONG? No? lol

 

I really enjoyed Infinite Darkness yes. I have enjoyed all the CG film stuff for Resident Evil though, it's nice they are all canon for starters. It references RE4 hence why I asked. It's only 4 episodes long and like 20-25 mins per episode. Basically it should have been another CG film, yet because it's on Netflix they seemingly decided to split it up into 4 eps. Go figure lol The same people who voice Leon and Claire in RE2 REmake are present here.

 

Pretty much - once Microsoft banished my account to the Nether Realm, complete with all it's Gamerscore and completed games I thought, nah... No thanks. You won't be seeing my money for a while.

 

Every Xbox console I've owned has gone wrong in exactly the same way too. I've had an Original Xbox and a 360 have both of their disc drives jam, to the point where they wouldn't an open or close unless it had a disc in it. If one came out, then I had to  jam a knife in there and twist it around in such a way that it'd finally open. Not worth the hassle

 

I might as well of heard ping pang pong, with the amount of spells that whizz past you on the regular, yet somehow all sound exactly the same haha.

 

That sounds awesome. I think I'll check that out after I've replayed RE4 then. I've not watched a single one of those CG films. I didn't know those were considered canon actually, Quite cool that they are - doesn't Rebecca come back in one of those? I'm hoping we see her in Revelations 3, I mean they brought Barry back, why not bring her back too.

 

1 hour ago, KindaSabbath said:

Another top quality read brother.

 

Thanks man, I appreciate that. I was in the middle of saying practically the same thing to you on your thread when you posted this ?

 

1 hour ago, KindaSabbath said:

I'm guilty of this. I'm still not even sure if I wanted a reboot? I mean, rose tinted glasses and all - but, I didn't think it needed to be shaken up so dramatically. With that said... you've done a decent job of convincing me I'm probably wrong, as per 1f602.png

 

 

I was definitely guilty of it too. I doubt we were the only ones. Well I definitely didn't think we needed a reboot - but I was more than happy to be proven wrong. As the great Douglas Adams character Slartibartfast says " I'd much rather be happy than right, any day."

 

1 hour ago, KindaSabbath said:

Would you say that the vibe here - is to show Lara in ways that make her seem vulnerable? Or really, just to show her vulnerability in general. I think often that helps immerse people into a game and connect better with a character. Often times in a video game, we play as the biggest badest mutha-fukka's on the planet - overly confident and stupidly charismatic with a dash of awesome. But that's a long shot from who many of us actually are in the real world. So it makes sense to me that by increasing Lara's vulnerability as a character it makes her more relatable to a wider audience. I guess if this is the case - then I can get my head around this new iteration of Lara Croft.

 

You're pretty much on the money there yeah. Vulnerable in a very empathetic way though. As you rightly said, that weakness can be what makes her more relatable for some of us. What they really do well is they put a lot of focus on how flawed she is, particularly in the later games. I think it has quite a decent payoff in the third game.  She knows she's flawed  too, it's one of my favourite elements of her character.. As I said, people might not like her as a character, but by the end of that trilogy you'll definitely understand her. I think they did such a good job of writing Lara as a complex relatable humn person for once, using quite a few of the things you mentioned along the way really helped too.

 

I guess it's another element of the landscape of gaming shifting as well. People were starting to hanker for stories with a bit more meaning behind them, which can work and they tried to make it work in the Tomb Raider Legend trilogy, but it just didn't quite work right in that one. So  I think Crystal Dynamics probably knew that they couldn't actually get away with Lara staying the way she was, and made the positive step in the other direction.

 

1 hour ago, KindaSabbath said:

There have been many times in my life, that I have put playing a video game before things that I could of been doing instead. I used to get frustrated with myself and think "dickhead - what are you doing!!"... in reality though, as I've gotten older.. I've realised something. You see -- I'm big enough, ugly enough and hairy enough to have found myself in many predicaments. When this has been the case, in every instance, without fail - videogames along with any other distractions have taken the back seat or been dropped entirely until things are sorted. Because when it matters, you know your priorities. I'd argue that maybe the girl wasn't meant to be. Maybe she wasn't what you wanted enough at the time to endure a cold ass walk into town in the middle of the night. Lara Croft was already at your house and ready to go. I respect your decision! When I look back over the years and think of all the things I didn't do because I chose to stay in and read/game/listen to music - I realise that I just ended up doing what I actually wanted to do and there's nothing wrong with that.

 

Also, it's fine to tell a girl you love her if you're hammered.

 

 

I think you're right there. I'd never truly put gaming above anything that really should take priority, I don't think I ever will either.  Like you said If it's something I truly wanted I would have made much more of an effort to actually go and seek her out, even if it was at 1AM... Very cold, and a pretty long walk. It was just me projecting my own crap onto a game - a good one too, which didn't deserve any of the flack that I gave it at the time.

 

Oh I was most definitely hammered - but I'm pretty sure that, at the time at least. I meant every word of it, however crazy that might have sounded to her at the time, which it almost certainly did ?...

 

I appreciate the wise words though.

 

1 hour ago, KindaSabbath said:

It's cool bro, I'm totally patient, take your time. It's Yakuza 0 and Metal Gear Solid V though, you just had the order mixed up there

 

This is true - I should have at least Yakuza 0 done by the middle of next week hopefully. Depends how in depth I end up going with it. I know you're a gameplay guy, so I'll put a little extra focus in that department. I mean i don't really have any choice, as I don't tend to do spoilers either. I'm looking forward to both of those though, I got very lucky with the ones people requested first I think. Rather that than a game I have barely any memory of like the original Watch Dogs or something ?..

 

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Classic Review

(We're taking a very brief detour into the wizarding world of Harry Potter before diving back into Rise of the Tomb Raider)

 

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Platinum #161

Harry Potter and the Half Blood Prince (PS3)

 

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Platinum Trophy
Earned all trophies

 

A Few Trophy Stats

 

Platinum Earned - 20 Feb 2018 : 7:41:35 PM

Time taken to Platinum -    16 hours, 40 minutes, 32 seconds

Platinum Rarity   - 23.79%

Trophy Number - # 8,558

 

 

Every once in a while you just get the urge to play something a little different right? Well in my case, all the way back in 2018 – I went through a very brief little love for movie tie in games. Strange I know. I bought this at exactly the same time I bought X-Men Origins: Wolverine. One of the two games is far superior to the other one I might add. Spoilers, it isn’t this one. Don’t write it off completely though, it’s not as if I didn’t have my fun with this, because I very much did.  I don’t expect this to be the longest review I’ve ever written, because to be perfectly honest – the game doesn’t contain all that much depth or intricate mechanics to really discuss. It simply just is what it is. So without further ado, let’s get into it.

 

Hairy Poultry: And the Half Baked Ponce....... Wait, wait that’s not right sorry. Ahem, Harry Potter and the Half Blood Prince is an adaptation of the sixth film and book in the much loved Harry Potter series. I quite like the Harry Potter series, books and films. I wouldn’t say I’m a rabid fan of them or anything, but I can definitely appreciate them. Let’s not get into the muddy waters around the views of the person, whose mind the entire series came from, this really isn’t the place for that.

 

 Flying its way onto consoles in 2009 (you’d assume by broomstick wouldn’t you) this marked the final time that a Harry Potter game, was essentially a sandbox collectathon. To be honest this has always been part of the appeal of these games, the freedom that they afford you to just be able to wander around Hogwarts at your leisure discovering the many secrets to be unearthed. It isn’t particularly an element of the game that wears thin either. I’ll be completely honest – when you look at my platinum time for this game, I played this entire thing in practically one sitting, aside from food breaks. From about 3AM to 8PM the next day.

 I remember having a really unusual sleep pattern at the time – so I thought I’ll just play this to completion and then go to bed afterward and try and reset my body clock. But I digress; I just thought I’d bring that up as it does draw attention to how enjoyable the game can be at times. One of its downsides though is that the story aspect of the campaign is woefully short. In fact in the time it would take you to read a couple of chapters of the book you’d probably already have finished the story, and be starting your trek around the various nooks and crannies of Hogwarts’ more open ended elements. One of the fairly unique elements to this game is the way it implements spell casting. If any of you are familiar with EA’s Skate series, then the easiest way to explain it would be  to say – that the way in which you pull of tricks, using the thumb sticks, is the same implementation for using spells, different directions apply for different spells, so on and so forth.

 

Whilst the game is a collectathon in nature that isn’t the only thing you’ll be spending your post game time doing. Thankfully it does contain a bit of variety, or at least enough that it doesn’t become a demoralising arduous slog as some games of this ilk can be on occasion. Some of the more recent LEGO fare unfortunately falls into that category. In the pursuit of a little variety, the game tasks you with various side activities – these take the form of small mini games, the three most prominent being, Duelling, Quidditch and Potion Making. These all have badges associated with them that tie into trophies later on.

To be perfectly honest, not many of these aspects contain a whole lot of depth, but they are enjoyable enough that they don’t outstay their welcome. Duelling could have been implemented with a bit more complexity, but it essentially boils down to firing the same charged spells over and over until your opponent passes out, from, what I assume was sheer boredom. Quidditch is actually the element of the game that people seemed to find most challenging, yet I probably enjoyed it the most. I’m only basing that on everything I’ve read about it online, it’s a little frustrating I grant you, but it is very enjoyable and the badges really push you to get the best times possible, I did manage to do it running on practically no sleep, so how hard can it be really. Yet, I also understand difficulty is subjective though, so you have to factor that in. Stay with that thought for a moment, because it’s relevant, I actually found the potion making one of the hardest elements, because just like a lot of games experimented with at the time – it leans incredibly heavily on the Sixaxis controls. This is something I personally could never get that onboard with.

 

You didn’t think I’d miss out the biggest element of a collectathon did you, you know the things you actually collect? Well I did actually, I remembered at the last minute, so I’m adding it in now, so I thought I’d leave this bit in for a bit of light humour.  Your collectibles come in the form of little Hogwarts crests, which can be gained in several ways, sometimes they are physics puzzles, other times they are just found in the environment, or directly in your pathway. If you can interact with something and it’s shiny, then you can be sure it has a Hogwarts crest inside of it. One major downside to playing this game at a minimal amount of brain capacity was the fact that I missed one crest. Yes, you heard it right - one whole crest, and there’s no way to track which one either. As you’d expect it was in a very obvious place that I must have ran past about twenty times. Don’t play video games when you’re severely sleep deprived folks, is the lesson here.

 

For a game that was released in 2009, visually the game actually looks quite crisp. The attention to detail, in replicating the various areas of Hogwarts to look as much like their filmic counterparts was also a nice touch that didn’t go amiss. Thankfully practically all of the actors at the very least lend their likeness to the game, so you don’t end up having issues like the Godfather video game did, where Michael ended up looking nothing like Al Pacino and more like something created in a lab by splicing Max Payne from the original title and James Marsters of Buffy fame into one person. Still - I’ve played games on the PS4 that look worse than this game does, so that’s fairly impressive when you think about it.

Although the actors lend their likeness to the game, not all of them lend their voices, usually this might be a problem, but some of them do such an impeccable job, it was only today, when researching this that I found out that Danielle Radcliffe and Emma Watson didn’t provide the voices for the characters. This might be a criticism for some, but I really appreciated the fact that the soundtrack didn’t for the most part at least, sound like those found in the films. It’s very subtly different, it almost has a Danny Elfman-esque quality to it, and it really adds an ethereal quality to the mix that I didn’t expect at all.

 

 

Harry Potter and the Half Blood Prince’s trophies tend to be a fairly easy bunch; you’ll spend close to sixty percent of your time with the game, running around the castle in its sandbox. Which might sound bad, but it’s far from it. If you were planning to play this for the narrative experience, I wouldn’t bother, you might as well go and watch the film, or better still go and read the book, because in the Half Blood Prince’s case the book would be the better option. I’d love to expand upon this, but essentially it all boils down to these things: complete the story, find all the collectible crests, get the various badges – DING you have a platinum.

 If I was going to give any advice, I’d advise not picking up a single collectible until you finish the story, then you’ll have a much easier time tracking the crests as you sweep the castle area to area, and be thorough – unlike me who in a tired stupor , ran past the same spot far too often.

 

I’m not exactly sure that I’d recommend this one – it’s fairly enjoyable don’t get me wrong, but to get the most out of it I think you have to either be an already existing fan of the franchise, or you just have very low expectations going into the game and enjoy it for the middling, yet quite enjoyable romp that it is. Nothing about this game screams game of the year or game of a generation, or even best Harry Potter game, but it’s at least fun, and has a small modicum of charm to keep it ticking along.  So it could be an enjoyable enough time if you’re open to the idea of it.

Edited by rjkclarke
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9 hours ago, rjkclarke said:

Kimhari is fine, I like the part he plays in the story that's for sure. I just never really use him as a party member - Lulu would probably have been the fairer one to call pointless if I was going to mention anyone from that game.

 

I'm not Noels biggest fan. Although one of my friends hates him far more than I even have the capacity to hate Cait Sith lol.... However, I do think he's a ratty little sleaze-ball. He  literally flirts with Serah right in front of Snow..... Like who does that... Tries to get jiggy with a guys girlfriend, whilst the guy is standing right there, and looks like he's the human equivalent of an articulated lorry.... The guy has front I suppose.

Kimahri certainly wasn't the strongest member of the party in terms of his battle ability, which was weird. Maybe the focus on him being the blue mage as you will? I don't know.

 

Yeah that part isn't great, but by the end of XIII-2, I think the friendship between Noel and Serah is well done. That was my impression anyways. 

 

9 hours ago, rjkclarke said:

Pretty much - once Microsoft banished my account to the Nether Realm, complete with all it's Gamerscore and completed games I thought, nah... No thanks. You won't be seeing my money for a while.

 

Every Xbox console I've owned has gone wrong in exactly the same way too. I've had an Original Xbox and a 360 have both of their disc drives jam, to the point where they wouldn't an open or close unless it had a disc in it. If one came out, then I had to  jam a knife in there and twist it around in such a way that it'd finally open. Not worth the hassle

 

I might as well of heard ping pang pong, with the amount of spells that whizz past you on the regular, yet somehow all sound exactly the same haha.

 

That sounds awesome. I think I'll check that out after I've replayed RE4 then. I've not watched a single one of those CG films. I didn't know those were considered canon actually, Quite cool that they are - doesn't Rebecca come back in one of those? I'm hoping we see her in Revelations 3, I mean they brought Barry back, why not bring her back too.

I only ever owned an original Xbox personally. Bought it for KOTOR1 and 2 mostly lol Back when I had time to be able to buy another console on a whim for a couple of games lol they were fantastic though.

 

XB360 especially had so many famous problems with it. Part of the sales figures they had would have been people buying their 2nd, 3rd or even 4th one of them! 

 

Yeah they are all considered canon and I really enjoyed all of them. Obviously you have to be an RE fan really to enjoy them certainly to their fullest. Yeah Rebecca was in Vendetta, the 3rd CG film released a few years ago. Was really great to see her back, like Barry in Revelations 2. I'm more interested in seeing those characters more than Ethan in the newer RE's. That thought might change seen as I haven't played that much of RE7 so we will see lol

 

 

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22 hours ago, rjkclarke said:

This is true - I should have at least Yakuza 0 done by the middle of next week hopefully. Depends how in depth I end up going with it. I know you're a gameplay guy, so I'll put a little extra focus in that department

 

I was just being a cheeky bastard mate, it was said in gest. It doesn't matter to me which order you put them out, I'll enjoy all of them regardless! Appreciate you putting a little extra love into gameplay, though! I'm a sucker for that.

 

19 hours ago, rjkclarke said:

Hairy Poultry: And the Half Baked Ponce

 

Only when going to quote this, did I realise it doesn't say: Hairy Poultry: And the Half Baked Potato... ??

 

What the game lacked in ehmm... gameness.... You made up for by turning it into an enjoyable read. I played a bit of this around a friends house back in maybe 2010. It seemed fun enough to kill time and pass the controller between us. I do remember thinking on my way home "Well, I won't be buying that one" though. 

 

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On 17/09/2021 at 10:06 PM, rjkclarke said:

 

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Awesome write up man!

 

On 17/09/2021 at 10:06 PM, rjkclarke said:

I think I mentioned in my Tomb Raider: Legend review – how that game essentially provided a nice little blue print for Uncharted to draw inspiration from, how the tables turn eh? When you fast forward another few years and Tomb Raider is the one that is now heavily influenced by Uncharted.

 

That's true - and actually, Crystal Dynamics deserve praise for managing to do that without it going to the zoo.

 

There is a little bit of snake-eating-it's-own-tail to the evolution of Tomb Raider in the wake of Uncharted - and there could easily have been a copy-of-a-copy-of-a-copy syndrome going on, with the kind of Street Fighter:the Movie:The Game approach, but the fact that they managed to draw significant inspiration fro the game inspired by them in first place without it feeling like a pale-imitation is pretty impressive!

 

On 17/09/2021 at 10:06 PM, rjkclarke said:

Minus a main character that never stops talking (sorry Nate, but sometimes I wish you’d just pipe down for a wee while). All of these new ideas come together in a way that really does feel – well, without sounding far too obvious, new and exciting. Sure, you could be curmudgeonly and claim “but, b-but, she’s nothing like the Lara from my childhood....” Well, that’s because she isn’t. New series, new direction, new Lara. I’ve now said new so many times, the word has very little meaning, but I’m sure you get the point. I can safely say that as I started to delve into the game my apprehension quickly started to wash away.

 

I actually really like that at this point, Lara is essentially following the James Bond approach - there are 'eras' of her, between the original pre-Legend ones, the Legend and beyond Crystal Dynamics pre-reboot ones, the reboots, and then the Lara Croft side games - and the games follow the tone of the character (or the other way around maybe!)

 

 

On 17/09/2021 at 10:06 PM, rjkclarke said:

a real person, who makes mistakes, and knows those mistakes have consequences.

 

Lol- you're not kidding! That was the one thing I was really surprised about in the rebooted trilogy - the borderline Hostel levels of horror-porn in the death animations! I don't know why exactly the decided that every failure should result in a custom death animation so brutally painful looking that it makes your rear-iris pucker, but it makes me worry for whoever the person responsible for animating them's psyche ?

 

"Hey Bill - have you finished with those death animations yet?"

"Yeah - Take a look!"

?

...

"That's great Bill.... listen, have you met Mary?"

"No?"

"She's the staff psychologist... she'd like to have a chat with you..."

 

 

 

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On 19/09/2021 at 8:30 AM, The_Kopite said:

Kimahri certainly wasn't the strongest member of the party in terms of his battle ability, which was weird. Maybe the focus on him being the blue mage as you will? I don't know.

 

I love Blue Mages usually - but aren't his blue mage abilities tied to his overdrive too, in much the same way Quistis' ones were in VIII, which is a shame really, as it makes them both a bit obsolete. You can't use those abilities enough to really make them feel worthwhile.

 

On 19/09/2021 at 8:30 AM, The_Kopite said:

Yeah that part isn't great, but by the end of XIII-2, I think the friendship between Noel and Serah is well done. That was my impression anyways. 

 

I'll grant you by the end of it, it's a little better. I still think Noel is projecting a lot of his insecurities and issues about his "Yeul" onto her, so it does still kind of come off a bit flat as a result. I don't know, perhaps I'm just being a bit harsh on him, but he's just not really a character I have bags of time for. I'm being kind in comparison to someone I know though - who just has a hilariously high capacity for hate towards Noel and his silly baggy trousers.

 

On 19/09/2021 at 8:30 AM, The_Kopite said:

I only ever owned an original Xbox personally. Bought it for KOTOR1 and 2 mostly lol Back when I had time to be able to buy another console on a whim for a couple of games lol they were fantastic though.

 

XB360 especially had so many famous problems with it. Part of the sales figures they had would have been people buying their 2nd, 3rd or even 4th one of them! 

 

I think that's the only console generation where I had all three systems. I feel like KOTOR 1 and 2 are as good a reason as any to pick up an original Xbox. I remember deliberately waking myself up at like 3 AM on a school day just so I could get in an extra few hours of KOTOR1 before school. It was just such a fantastically re-playable experience.

 

Some of those games on the Gamecube are stupidly highly sought after now, I was so tempted to sell some of my games as I saw Pokemon Colosseum was selling for like £60-£100.

 

Yep, I can unfortunately identify with those Xbox 360 problems myself, I had the famous red ring of death myself, and a separate different one, which was just one red one. I don't seem to have much luck with those Microsoft consoles haha :dunno: .......

 

On 19/09/2021 at 8:30 AM, The_Kopite said:

I'm more interested in seeing those characters more than Ethan in the newer RE's. That thought might change seen as I haven't played that much of RE7 so we will see lol

 

I can't speak for what Ethan is like in Village, but Ethan is possibly one of the blandest protagonists across the whole Resident Evil series, but I think most people just sort of let hat one slide a bit. It's everyone around him that tends to be more interesting, it's the Baker family in RE7 that are the thing that really draw you in and keep you invested in that game, whereas with Ethan I assume he's supposed to represent you as a player to some degree, because of the first person view point. I feel like they want what happens to him to feel more personal for you, as you are seeing it from his perspective, which is why they seem to really like hurting him, or cutting his limbs off.

 

On 19/09/2021 at 9:19 PM, KindaSabbath said:

Only when going to quote this, did I realise it doesn't say: Hairy Poultry: And the Half Baked Potato... 1f602.png?

 

What the game lacked in ehmm... gameness.... You made up for by turning it into an enjoyable read. I played a bit of this around a friends house back in maybe 2010. It seemed fun enough to kill time and pass the controller between us. I do remember thinking on my way home "Well, I won't be buying that one" though. 

 

That's totally a better name! Wish I'd gone with that instead haha

 

Even if that does sound a little bit like something you might find a in a Nando's with a particularly poor hygiene rating ?...... Or actually just in any branch of Nando's ever.

 

I'm glad you enjoyed reading through that one - I tried to go with a bit of a light hearted approach there, because that game is so low on actual content and things to talk about, I kind of had to think on my feet to try and make it seem a bit more interesting, so that's nice to hear.

 

I think one of us made the right decision regarding that game though.

 

 

SPOILERS

 

It wasn't me ? - you sure dodged that bullet my friend. I played it so no-one else has to? Haha

 

 

On 20/09/2021 at 8:40 AM, DrBloodmoney said:

Awesome write up man!

 

Thanks Doc! I didn't even mention Keeley Hawes all that much either.... Do I get a sticker?

 

On 20/09/2021 at 8:40 AM, DrBloodmoney said:

That's true - and actually, Crystal Dynamics deserve praise for managing to do that without it going to the zoo.

 

There is a little bit of snake-eating-it's-own-tail to the evolution of Tomb Raider in the wake of Uncharted - and there could easily have been a copy-of-a-copy-of-a-copy syndrome going on, with the kind of Street Fighter:the Movie:The Game approach, but the fact that they managed to draw significant inspiration fro the game inspired by them in first place without it feeling like a pale-imitation is pretty impressive!

 

I think they deserve praise for that too.... I have seen people levelling the criticism at the recent trilogy, that it's a little too much like Uncharted though. I don't think they are all that comparable personally, there are some similarities in the way they play, sure, but they're telling very different stories with their respective characters. I think Crystal Dynamics did a really stellar job with a more overtly introspective Lara - I'd probably argue the plots are more about Lara's character arc than they really are about telling one fluid story across three games. 

 

I think you're right too, Crystal Dynamics, did do a fairly good job of sidestepping that huge bear trap that they'd laid out for themselves, they certainly did a better job of it than some game teams do on occasion.

 

On 20/09/2021 at 8:40 AM, DrBloodmoney said:

I actually really like that at this point, Lara is essentially following the James Bond approach - there are 'eras' of her, between the original pre-Legend ones, the Legend and beyond Crystal Dynamics pre-reboot ones, the reboots, and then the Lara Croft side games - and the games follow the tone of the character (or the other way around maybe!)

 

That's a bloody excellent analogy mate - until you said that I'd never even really thought about it either. But it's so true isn't it. They've even got Tomb Raider - The George Lazenby edition with Lara Croft GO, the title that nobody seems to really talk about. It's quite good that George Lazenby bond film too, it'd be much better received if a different actor had played Bond in it.

 

The Lara Croft side games are the Timothy Dalton ones? because they are tonally a little different, and fairly unlike all of the other ones in a few ways.

 

The TR1 - Angel of Darkness series is either Connery or Moore.... Not sure which one, maybe Moore, because he was so tired and past his sell by date as Bond by the time his last outing happened in much the same way Angel of Darkness, was pretty much the series running on fumes at that point.

 

and so on and so forth...... I hope that doesn't mean the Keeley Hawes trilogy has to be represented by the Pierce Brosnan movies.... SAD FACE

 

On 20/09/2021 at 8:40 AM, DrBloodmoney said:

Lol- you're not kidding! That was the one thing I was really surprised about in the rebooted trilogy - the borderline Hostel levels of horror-porn in the death animations! I don't know why exactly the decided that every failure should result in a custom death animation so brutally painful looking that it makes your rear-iris pucker, but it makes me worry for whoever the person responsible for animating them's psyche 1f602.png

 

"Hey Bill - have you finished with those death animations yet?"

"Yeah - Take a look!"

1f636.png

...

"That's great Bill.... listen, have you met Mary?"

"No?"

"She's the staff psychologist... she'd like to have a chat with you..."

 

Oh man - that very much cracked me up it's so true as well....... :lol:

 

"Bill - we'll definitely be using those, even if after this you might have to live out the rest of your days in a Sanitorium"

 

" A sani-whaaaaaat?"

 

" Bill, buddy, everything is going to be alright...... Now, before you go and see Mary... Do you think you could just pop downstairs, and when I say downstairs I mean really downstairs. Go and see the mole people and show them your ideas about the death animations - and make sure that the mole people can really really make the most horrific sounds possible as Lara gets impaled on a spike, or gets washed down a waterfall, we need just the right sound as she goes hurtling into the rocks and cracks several vertebrae and her skull......"

 

I guess I should go post my latest review of Harold Pinter and the Deathly Silence between two characters Part 1 haha.... So I'll go do that now ?

Edited by rjkclarke
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On 9/18/2021 at 7:27 AM, The_Kopite said:

Definitely agree though, like with the Pixel Remasters for FF that I commented about above, a remastered (or even just ported) Chrono Trigger with trophy support and a shiny platinum would make me go through that again! 

 

Robo's Theme - that's a pretty catchy one! Hmmm....nothing catchier (CT wise) than Frog's Theme for me :)

 

Frog's Theme, particularly the beginning, reminds me of the Rocky Theme for some reason? it just does its job so well.

 

Have either of us said Battle with Magus yet?? It's got this flamenco flavor that I just love. I would expect no less worldly musicality though from a game with evil, tone-deaf fiends like Ozzie, Slash, and Flea???

 

On 9/18/2021 at 5:05 PM, rjkclarke said:

Hairy Poultry: And the Half Baked Ponce

 

On 9/19/2021 at 1:19 PM, KindaSabbath said:

Hairy Poultry: And the Half Baked Potato

 

I've got no horse in this, both of these cracked me up??

 

Great reviews, Mr. Clarke! I had a super cholo'd out friend who was a total closet nerd, and this franchise was one of his favorite things. To this day I reference him every once in a while. He once said (and I quote): "Chu don't like tha Harry Potter books, dawg?? Doze books are BAAAWWMMB."

 

I don't think I'll ever play Cherry Cobbler and the Half Blood Orange Spritz or Perry Hotter and the Sweaty Elbows, but I liked your write-ups! Also seems like it was good for you to have a bit of a segue in the midst of your Tomb Raider reviews and as you said, do something a bit different. I also appreciate what you said about the unfortunate state of Michael Corleone in the Godfather game - not only did he look nothing like him, his voice actor reminded me of the bad actor from Wayne's World 2! As dumb as that game was though, I actually loved it, completed it on both PS2 and 360, and was crushed to see it doesn't have trophy support on PS3.

 

Half Blood Prince sounds totally decent - good voice acting and a Danny Elfman-esque soundtrack would be enough to pull me in. The way you describe the side activities being fun despite a lack in depth reminded me of Bully for some reason, a game I loved but am quick to admit that the mechanics are a bit shallow, with most of them having been seen before in better detail.

 

When you mentioned stealth in Deathly Hallows I was very intrigued, but the bit about the infinite invisible cloak was a bit of a turn off! Like you can go through the whole game like Stewie Griffin hiding in his pillow fort? Boooo.

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On 9/20/2021 at 9:53 PM, rjkclarke said:

I love Blue Mages usually - but aren't his blue mage abilities tied to his overdrive too, in much the same way Quistis' ones were in VIII, which is a shame really, as it makes them both a bit obsolete. You can't use those abilities enough to really make them feel worthwhile.

Yeah that is a real shame to be honest. I think the Blue Mage is an interesting job in Final Fantasy, but it has either been underutilised through the games or not used in the best way like with Quistis and Kimahri. 

 

On 9/20/2021 at 9:53 PM, rjkclarke said:

I'll grant you by the end of it, it's a little better. I still think Noel is projecting a lot of his insecurities and issues about his "Yeul" onto her, so it does still kind of come off a bit flat as a result. I don't know, perhaps I'm just being a bit harsh on him, but he's just not really a character I have bags of time for. I'm being kind in comparison to someone I know though - who just has a hilariously high capacity for hate towards Noel and his silly baggy trousers.

 

MC Noel in the house!!!!! haha hey each to their own. Yeah that's a fair comment about his issues and that regarding Yuel. XIII-2 is certainly nothing if not complex.

 

On 9/20/2021 at 9:53 PM, rjkclarke said:

I think that's the only console generation where I had all three systems. I feel like KOTOR 1 and 2 are as good a reason as any to pick up an original Xbox. I remember deliberately waking myself up at like 3 AM on a school day just so I could get in an extra few hours of KOTOR1 before school. It was just such a fantastically re-playable experience.

 

Some of those games on the Gamecube are stupidly highly sought after now, I was so tempted to sell some of my games as I saw Pokemon Colosseum was selling for like £60-£100.

 

Yep, I can unfortunately identify with those Xbox 360 problems myself, I had the famous red ring of death myself, and a separate different one, which was just one red one. I don't seem to have much luck with those Microsoft consoles haha :dunno: .......

KOTOR was pretty phenomenal back in the day and that urge to just play for another hour and then it was almost 3am was definitely real. A really engrossing experience from start to finish. KOTOR2 wasn't as good but it was still a great game in it's own right. Well worth buying an Xbox back then just to play those two.

 

Gamecube games (Well Nintendo games in general, especially first party ones) are definitely seeing their values rise. I know that some of the RE games like RE2 are like £40. Least it not 3-4x that with the N64 version lol

 

Not surprising you had the RROD, I'd be more surprised at someone who didn't have that.

 

On 9/20/2021 at 9:53 PM, rjkclarke said:

I can't speak for what Ethan is like in Village, but Ethan is possibly one of the blandest protagonists across the whole Resident Evil series, but I think most people just sort of let hat one slide a bit. It's everyone around him that tends to be more interesting, it's the Baker family in RE7 that are the thing that really draw you in and keep you invested in that game, whereas with Ethan I assume he's supposed to represent you as a player to some degree, because of the first person view point. I feel like they want what happens to him to feel more personal for you, as you are seeing it from his perspective, which is why they seem to really like hurting him, or cutting his limbs off.

Well I'm not in anyway as good as you are in regards to not having games spoiled for me in major ways so kudos again for you being able to achieve that with FFIX. Sadly I already know a big spoiler from RE Village but there you go. Bound to happen. Like I do for TLOU Part 2 but there you go.

Certainly agree so far that Ethan is pretty darn bland. Yeah that limb cutting was pretty shocking lol 

17 hours ago, YaManSmevz said:

Frog's Theme, particularly the beginning, reminds me of the Rocky Theme for some reason1f606.png it just does its job so well.

 

Have either of us said Battle with Magus yet?? It's got this flamenco flavor that I just love. I would expect no less worldly musicality though from a game with evil, tone-deaf fiends like Ozzie, Slash, and Flea???

Probably bad to admit I've never watched any of the Rocky films properly but there you go lol I know the theme though so I get your point haha

 

Battle with Magus doesn't quite grab me like Vamo' Alla Flamenco does from FFIX, but a decent tune nonetheless.

 

Don't think either of us have said Corridors of Time yet, so yeah lol

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On 20/09/2021 at 0:18 PM, The_Kopite said:

@Destructor-8 This isn't a main Final Fantasy game but it is a recent enough release. Just an example of the really good music still present in the games nowadays, they just aren't as plentiful.

 

Cheers dude!

 

On 20/09/2021 at 10:07 PM, rjkclarke said:

I guess - it's time to jump into Agents of Mayhem and get that played. I have no idea what to expect with that game, so like with everything I'll go into it with a pretty open mind and hope for the best. It can't be that bad surely?

 

Nice, another few good reviews you've done! I actually got this game recently so hoping to play it at some point. I'll definitely be checking this one of all reviews out.

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6 hours ago, The_Kopite said:

Battle with Magus doesn't quite grab me like Vamo' Alla Flamenco does from FFIX, but a decent tune nonetheless.

 

Don't think either of us have said Corridors of Time yet, so yeah lol

 

Hah! I forgot about that. That fighting sequence was a lot of fun, too. I stand by Magus, but you're absolutely not wrong - that one is excellent?

 

I did mention Corridors of Time! That's probably my favorite tune from CT. I wonder what the PS1 version goes for, I lost my SNES copy looooong ago (stupid, stupid!) and all this talk has really reminded me of how much I love that game?

 

Now I wanna hunt down covers of that soundtrack!

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My first impressions of Agents of Mayhem - and.....  A slight apology!

 

I might have gotten just a little bit behind with my own reviewing schedule.... You know the one I don't have, and that I only really have in my head ?..... Anyway, I meant to have a Rise of the Tomb Raider review out today, but that's just not happening tonight, I'll have it up tomorrow though, not that anyone is really waiting on it, I'm just feeling self conscious about those now, as I've been meaning to get those written for a while and something just keeps getting in the way. 

 

The reason is, I got quite hooked on playing Agents of Mayhem - I've genuinely been quite surprised by how much I've enjoyed it so far, I very much had low expectations going into it. It's not going to win any game of the year awards or anything, but it does have potential - yet unfortunately also has the potential to really become boring, if they dropped the ball with it. 

 

If you're a fan of Saints Row and were on the fence about it - it's actually a little more connected to Saints Row than just a few references here and there, which I found quite nice, I'll say no more, lest  the surprises be spoiled.  It actually has appearances from several characters so far, and I'm only about two or three missions in, I've just been doing side content quite a bit.

 

I can't help but feel this game might have been so much better received if it had, had three person co-op the game is practically built with that in mind, yet there isn't a single element of it anywhere, outside of the online contracts, where 6 people can undertake the same contract, to work towards one goal, yet never interact with one another the whole time.

 

Still, so far I'm quite enjoying it - you can play it incredibly sleep deprived too, so some bombastic dumb fun never hurt anyone right?

 

On 21/09/2021 at 9:46 PM, YaManSmevz said:

I've got no horse in this, both of these cracked me up1f602.png1f602.png

 

Great reviews, Mr. Clarke! I had a super cholo'd out friend who was a total closet nerd, and this franchise was one of his favorite things. To this day I reference him every once in a while. He once said (and I quote): "Chu don't like tha Harry Potter books, dawg?? Doze books are BAAAWWMMB."

 

Thanks man I'm glad you enjoyed them - I had to try and get a bit creative to keep those ones interesting. I appreciate the fact people gave them a read though - I fully expected people not to bother, and post the sonic tapping his foot thing, saying WHERE'D TOMB RAIDER GO ASSCLOWN

 

You know - and this is going to sound awful, so please don't be offended - but after reading that quote all I could picture was Cesar from San Andreas dressed as a Wizard - still with a wife beater and tatoo's though, with a full on cape and a wand instead of a Tec - 9. 

 

I like that he shared his closet nerd-ness with you though. Some people can just super catch you off guard with some of their specialised interests, from people you'd never ever expect to hear things like that from.

 

On 21/09/2021 at 9:46 PM, YaManSmevz said:

don't think I'll ever play Cherry Cobbler and the Half Blood Orange Spritz or Perry Hotter and the Sweaty Elbows, but I liked your write-ups! Also seems like it was good for you to have a bit of a segue in the midst of your Tomb Raider reviews and as you said, do something a bit different. I also appreciate what you said about the unfortunate state of Michael Corleone in the Godfather game - not only did he look nothing like him, his voice actor reminded me of the bad actor from Wayne's World 2! As dumb as that game was though, I actually loved it, completed it on both PS2 and 360, and was crushed to see it doesn't have trophy support on PS3.

 

 

Well I can't exactly blame you on that front - I hardly gave them a rousing endorsement did I..... Oops, that's the unfortunate downside to objectivity, sometimes you just have to tell it like it is.

 

Man I loved those Godfather games too, as you've got a PS3 - you could snap up the second game, that's a fairly enjoyable platinum. I managed to get it for like £2.25 or something stupidly cheap, so perhaps you could too. Although I assume you played that on 360 too (I did too, I just had the urge to go back and do it all again a year or two back). Michael did not look right in that game, or sound right like you said, it's a shame, because he's part of so many key moments in the game, that it suffers because of it.

 

II'm in the same boat as you man, I would have loved to have played that first Godfather with trophy support, the cheevo's on the Xbox were pretty fun, so it could have been real enjoyable.

 

On 21/09/2021 at 9:46 PM, YaManSmevz said:

Half Blood Prince sounds totally decent - good voice acting and a Danny Elfman-esque soundtrack would be enough to pull me in. The way you describe the side activities being fun despite a lack in depth reminded me of Bully for some reason, a game I loved but am quick to admit that the mechanics are a bit shallow, with most of them having been seen before in better detail.

 

 

That's actually very accurate yeah - except Bully has more side activities and classes, which Half Blood Prince has less of. you aren't the only one that loved Bully dude - or to give it it's naffer title that we got in the UK........ Canis - Canem - Edit.... It was a very interesting game..... Even if Jimmy Hopkins is just a white version of Kearney from The Simpsons ?

 

Half Blood Prince is pretty decent though, if I had to recommend just one Harry Potter game to play with trophies it'd be that one. Plenty of good harmless fun.

 

On 21/09/2021 at 9:46 PM, YaManSmevz said:

When you mentioned stealth in Deathly Hallows I was very intrigued, but the bit about the infinite invisible cloak was a bit of a turn off! Like you can go through the whole game like Stewie Griffin hiding in his pillow fort? Boooo.

 

Yeah..... That's the real kicker, I found it really interesting too as a concept, and then they do nothing with it. It should have had some sort of gameplay stakes tied to it, so that it felt more of a risk to use, or something you could only use a set number of times per encounter, or something. With a little more effort, they could have done something great with it.

 

 

18 hours ago, The_Kopite said:

Yeah that is a real shame to be honest. I think the Blue Mage is an interesting job in Final Fantasy, but it has either been underutilised through the games or not used in the best way like with Quistis and Kimahri. 

 

Or......

 

and hear me out here....

 

done to perfection with QUINA AND THEIR TASTIES!!

 

"MUST BECOME POWERFUL GOURMAND..... I EAT!"

 

What a cool way to implement that ability, as some actual story context- that their journey for knowledge ends up extending their powers, by eating all the weird creatures around Gaia

 

18 hours ago, The_Kopite said:

MC Noel in the house!!!!! haha hey each to their own. Yeah that's a fair comment about his issues and that regarding Yuel. XIII-2 is certainly nothing if not complex.

 

Can you imagine...... Noel as MC Hammer....

 

In reality I'd be hoping that Snow would just look at him  trying to get frisky with Serah - like the family dog shagging the sofa and just roars " NO, YOU CAN'T TOUCH THIS." then proceeds to hit him with a hammer.

 

XIII-2 is definitely something - that's going to be a strange one to dissect, because I've already written a huge amount just about it's music when I wrote that university essay about the in game music and sound design years ago, so it'll be hard to detach myself from the conclusions I came to at the time. We'll see whenever XIII-2 comes up on the agenda.

 

18 hours ago, The_Kopite said:

KOTOR was pretty phenomenal back in the day and that urge to just play for another hour and then it was almost 3am was definitely real. A really engrossing experience from start to finish. KOTOR2 wasn't as good but it was still a great game in it's own right. Well worth buying an Xbox back then just to play those two.

 

Gamecube games (Well Nintendo games in general, especially first party ones) are definitely seeing their values rise. I know that some of the RE games like RE2 are like £40. Least it not 3-4x that with the N64 version lol

 

Not surprising you had the RROD, I'd be more surprised at someone who didn't have that.

 

Pretty good thing KOTOR is getting remade then isn't it..... I've not bee so interested in a remake in a very long time - I very much trust Aspyr as well, because the ports of older Star Wars titles they've done have been pretty stellar. They clearly adore that IP and they love Star Wars so I believe they'll put their all into it.... Man I hope this post doesn't age like milk.

 

Apart from incredibly bland trophy tiles, there isn't a whole lot to complain about with them - but if it's trophy tiles I'm complaining most about, then we're truly spoiled right?

 

KOTOR 2 was not as good (I still bloody loved it though, despite a few of it's shortcomings) - but I still played that one a whole lot as well - I still remember parts of that very vividly.

 

Nintendo games do seem to getting more and more valuable these days I agree. I'm tempted to sell some of them, but I'm pretty sure I'd massively regret it, if I did.

 

18 hours ago, The_Kopite said:

Well I'm not in anyway as good as you are in regards to not having games spoiled for me in major ways so kudos again for you being able to achieve that with FFIX. Sadly I already know a big spoiler from RE Village but there you go. Bound to happen. Like I do for TLOU Part 2 but there you go.

Certainly agree so far that Ethan is pretty darn bland. Yeah that limb cutting was pretty shocking lol 

 

Here's a secret.......

 

When someone mentions a game you don't want to be spoiled on.....

 

.....do that silly putting your fingers in your ears thing and going "LALALALALALALALALALALALA NOT LISTENING"

 

it definitely works - although you'll probably get some funny looks. Worth it though right?

 

Oh and get and watch the Rocky films by the way. Even Rocky IV..... Which I'll have you know is one of the finest musicals ever made.

 

14 hours ago, Destructor-8 said:

Nice, another few good reviews you've done! I actually got this game recently so hoping to play it at some point. I'll definitely be checking this one of all reviews out.

 

Thank you!

 

I'll tag you in it or something if you want... It'll be interesting to see how much my opinion changes towards it once I've gotten the platinum. I'm hoping it doesn't ridiculously sour, like it did when I played Vampyr a couple of months back.

 

12 hours ago, YaManSmevz said:

I lost my SNES copy looooong ago (stupid, stupid!) and all this talk has really reminded me of how much I love that game?

 

Judging by all the previous things in this post, I'm filled with stupid suggestions and ideas tonight, so erm.......

 

...........Here is another...........

 

There's a dimension out there filled with all of our lost games - somewhere your copy of Chrono Trigger has become sentient and is now probably hanging out with my now sentient copy of GTA: Liberty City Stories....... Saying, "why don't they want me man!"

 

Edited by rjkclarke
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19 minutes ago, rjkclarke said:

I might have gotten just a little bit behind with my own reviewing schedule.... You know the one I don't have, and that I only really have in my head 1f605.png..... Anyway, I meant to have a Rise of the Tomb Raider review out today, but that's just not happening tonight, I'll have it up tomorrow though, not that anyone is really waiting on it, I'm just feeling self conscious about those now, as I've been meaning to get those written for a while and something just keeps getting in the way.

 

No need for being self-conscious! Your shit's great, and nobody minds the wait. Until you're getting paid, your schedule is at your leisure!

 

Also, is it true that in the UK, leisure is pronounced 'lye-zyur-ey?'

 

24 minutes ago, rjkclarke said:

 

 

The reason is, I got quite hooked on playing Agents of Mayhem - I've genuinely been quite surprised by how much I've enjoyed it so far, I very much had low expectations going into it. It's not going to win any game of the year awards or anything, but it does have potential - yet unfortunately also has the potential to really become boring, if they dropped the ball with it. 

 

If you're a fan of Saints Row and were on the fence about it - it's actually a little more connected to Saints Row than just a few references here and there, which I found quite nice, I'll say no more, lest  the surprises be spoiled.  It actually has appearances from several characters so far, and I'm only about two or three missions in, I've just been doing side content quite a bit.

 

I can't help but feel this game might have been so much better received if it had, had three person co-op the game is practically built with that in mind, yet there isn't a single element of it anywhere, outside of the online contracts, where 6 people can undertake the same contract, to work towards one goal, yet never interact with one another the whole time.

 

Still, so far I'm quite enjoying it - you can play it incredibly sleep deprived too, so some bombastic dumb fun never hurt anyone right?

 

*makes note

 

26 minutes ago, rjkclarke said:

You know - and this is going to sound awful, so please don't be offended - but after reading that quote all I could picture was Cesar from San Andreas dressed as a Wizard - still with a wife beater and tatoo's though, with a full on cape and a wand instead of a Tec - 9. 

 

I like that he shared his closet nerd-ness with you though. Some people can just super catch you off guard with some of their specialised interests, from people you'd never ever expect to hear things like that from.

 

Trust, not offended in the slightest - you actually described what I picture him to look like when he's by himself?

 

You've got that right - so often people will talk about some random interest and you'll be like "really!" People are fascinating, dude...

 

29 minutes ago, rjkclarke said:

Man I loved those Godfather games too, as you've got a PS3 - you could snap up the second game, that's a fairly enjoyable platinum. I managed to get it for like £2.25 or something stupidly cheap, so perhaps you could too. Although I assume you played that on 360 too (I did too, I just had the urge to go back and do it all again a year or two back). Michael did not look right in that game, or sound right like you said, it's a shame, because he's part of so many key moments in the game, that it suffers because of it.

 

II'm in the same boat as you man, I would have loved to have played that first Godfather with trophy support, the cheevo's on the Xbox were pretty fun, so it could have been real enjoyable.

 

I actually never played the second one (or Scarface, for that matter) because I didn't want to overdo it with open world games. I missed out on The Getaway - a huge gaming regret that I'll one day remedy with my thankfully still alive-and-kicking PS2 - but none of the rest outside of Rockstar stuff (barring Sleeping Dogs, of course) really appealed to me. I might do a post on The Godfather on my checklist... why not? The whole point of doin your own thread is to make your own rules, right?!

 

37 minutes ago, rjkclarke said:

Or......

 

and hear me out here....

 

done to perfection with QUINA AND THEIR TASTIES!!

 

"MUST BECOME POWERFUL GOURMAND..... I EAT!"

 

What a cool way to implement that ability, as some actual story context- that their journey for knowledge ends up extending their powers, by eating all the weird creatures around Gaia

 

I may be mistaken, but I'm fairly sure Quistis ate the monsters too! Didn't it have like a weird SNES Mortal Kombat feel to it?

 

Quina, Quistis... wait, am I high?

 

39 minutes ago, rjkclarke said:

Oh and get and watch the Rocky films by the way. Even Rocky IV..... Which I'll have you know is one of the finest musicals ever made.

 

Facts.

 

40 minutes ago, rjkclarke said:

There's a dimension out there filled with all of our lost games - somewhere your copy of Chrono Trigger has become sentient and is now probably hanging out with my now sentient copy of GTA: Liberty City Stories....... Saying, "why don't they want me man!"

 

Well of course there is, they met by the tree and went bowling with my last roommate's copies of GTAIV and Ocarina of Time. He actually confirmed this, so don't be silly - it is in fact a real thing?

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16 hours ago, YaManSmevz said:

Hah! I forgot about that. That fighting sequence was a lot of fun, too. I stand by Magus, but you're absolutely not wrong - that one is excellent?

 

I did mention Corridors of Time! That's probably my favorite tune from CT. I wonder what the PS1 version goes for, I lost my SNES copy looooong ago (stupid, stupid!) and all this talk has really reminded me of how much I love that game?

 

Now I wanna hunt down covers of that soundtrack!

Haha we have a CT vs FF music battle on our hands lol

 

Sorry that I forgot you had mentioned it already, shows you how tired I am lol I want to add the soundtrack at least to my collection, definitely a quality one! I like to add bits and bos from other games I really like to my gaming collection alongside my 3 favourite franchises.

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15 hours ago, rjkclarke said:

I might have gotten just a little bit behind with my own reviewing schedule.... You know the one I don't have, and that I only really have in my head 1f605.png..... Anyway, I meant to have a Rise of the Tomb Raider review out today, but that's just not happening tonight, I'll have it up tomorrow though, not that anyone is really waiting on it, I'm just feeling self conscious about those now, as I've been meaning to get those written for a while and something just keeps getting in the way. 

Booooooooooooooooooooooo!!!!!

What are we paying our money for?!!!!

WE want a refund!!!!!!

Refund!

Refund!

Hahahahaha

 

15 hours ago, rjkclarke said:

Or......

 

and hear me out here....

 

done to perfection with QUINA AND THEIR TASTIES!!

 

"MUST BECOME POWERFUL GOURMAND..... I EAT!"

 

What a cool way to implement that ability, as some actual story context- that their journey for knowledge ends up extending their powers, by eating all the weird creatures around Gaia

I'll give you that one with Quina, it was a clever and unique way to implement the mechanics of a Blue Mage.

 

15 hours ago, rjkclarke said:

Can you imagine...... Noel as MC Hammer....

 

In reality I'd be hoping that Snow would just look at him  trying to get frisky with Serah - like the family dog shagging the sofa and just roars " NO, YOU CAN'T TOUCH THIS." then proceeds to hit him with a hammer.

 

XIII-2 is definitely something - that's going to be a strange one to dissect, because I've already written a huge amount just about it's music when I wrote that university essay about the in game music and sound design years ago, so it'll be hard to detach myself from the conclusions I came to at the time. We'll see whenever XIII-2 comes up on the agenda.

There is probably an image somewhere on the internet of it hahah

 

Haha well yeah I can believe that. I liked Snow as a character overall, though a lot didn't I think. Troy Baker is an awesome guy so was cool he voiced him (Got his autograph)

 

I'm looking forward to what will probably be a whole forum page essay on XIII-2 lol maybe longer if you end up ranting about Noel....:P

 

15 hours ago, rjkclarke said:

Pretty good thing KOTOR is getting remade then isn't it..... I've not bee so interested in a remake in a very long time - I very much trust Aspyr as well, because the ports of older Star Wars titles they've done have been pretty stellar. They clearly adore that IP and they love Star Wars so I believe they'll put their all into it.... Man I hope this post doesn't age like milk.

 

Apart from incredibly bland trophy tiles, there isn't a whole lot to complain about with them - but if it's trophy tiles I'm complaining most about, then we're truly spoiled right?

 

KOTOR 2 was not as good (I still bloody loved it though, despite a few of it's shortcomings) - but I still played that one a whole lot as well - I still remember parts of that very vividly.

 

Nintendo games do seem to getting more and more valuable these days I agree. I'm tempted to sell some of them, but I'm pretty sure I'd massively regret it, if I did.

No interest in the Dead Space remake?

Very excited to see that KOTOR is being remade, well very looking forward to that as long as they do it justice. 

 

Oh sometimes all you see when looking at criticism of a game is the shock and disappointment from people regarding the trophy tiles. It's a bit random really. Sure I appreciate nice looking images and clever worded trophy names but it's not going to take away that enjoyment of a game if it isn't there....

 

Yep, agree with your KOTOR 2 thoughts.

 

Yeah don't sell any of your Nintendo games. If you do eventually sell a few, you might as well maximise the value you can get for them.

 

15 hours ago, rjkclarke said:

Here's a secret.......

 

When someone mentions a game you don't want to be spoiled on.....

 

.....do that silly putting your fingers in your ears thing and going "LALALALALALALALALALALALA NOT LISTENING"

 

it definitely works - although you'll probably get some funny looks. Worth it though right?

 

Oh and get and watch the Rocky films by the way. Even Rocky IV..... Which I'll have you know is one of the finest musicals ever made.

You know, it's worth a try hahaha

 

I try my best but I inevitably come across some information and then you can't unsee it. Sometimes in the most random places.

 

The Rocky films can go in the massive film backlog me and the wife have lol (Think she has watched some of them) though Rocky IV is a musical? Consider me perplexed

14 hours ago, YaManSmevz said:

I may be mistaken, but I'm fairly sure Quistis ate the monsters too! Didn't it have like a weird SNES Mortal Kombat feel to it?

 

Quina, Quistis... wait, am I high?

FF and MK Mashup, that'd be random lol

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