Twenty Two Token Nutshell

Well it's time for my one and only post for the year, the one time I even try to attempt some sort of writing and keep my blog alive.

Actually its kinda funny, one of the podcasts I've been listeining to have been talking about how, with the implosion of twitter and his typical outsource of creative talk, he has decided to return back to his blog and revive it there.

It's part of what got me jumping back this year, and then the numerous other posts I've half written up and drafted because I can't seem to keep my own subject focus. i'm barely able to keep my own sentences here going, having to backspace every few words just to make it sound "right". i just deleted the word unquote becaue I couldn't be fuckin arsed going back and typing quote.

anyway, I want to talk about video games. there's been a bunch I've played and I've had thoughts galore that are just drivels on epiphanys and just wanting to rave about games Ive had fun with.

Like Metroidvanias. so I've had little experience with them growing up. i didn't have a Nintendo so Metroid and the like weren't in my pervue. So when I started playing Hollow Knight and having the time of my life, which is fair because it's a beautifully crafted piece of work, I wanted to delve more into the genre.

I now have a Switch Lite, combined with a relatively cheap comfort grip, I grabbed a few of the popular and interesting Metroidvanias available: axiom verge (1 & 2), Blasphemous, and Monster Boy and the Cursed Kingdom.

I'll start with axiom verge because they are the most like the original metroid game, literally taking the 8 bit style and going gangbusters with it. the black backgrounds with weird tiled platform environments; tunnels circling about and confusing me until I happen to find one tile that isn't quite right and either shoot it or use a weird wave gun that changes a bunch of walls and floors because everything seems to be a biological but digitally real. It's a weird kinda game, where your character is thrown into a weird dimension of gigantic automaton trying to save themselves from another human who killed almost every other living creature. naturally you're tasked with fixing the issue, while also futzing about killing off minibosses that dont do an easy job of dying.

I havent said anything about the plot twist, because frankly that is something I was really confused and surprised about, and you should too.

Axiom Verge 2 is much the same, but jumps up to 16 bit era, and really pares down on faff. the first game had like 16 weapons, whereas now you've about 4 to work with, and maybe a few more tools after that. But again, the plot twist and the surprises, the fascinating levels and designs, just kept me going until I finished it off and moved on to the biggin.

Blasphemous is a fascinating game. It's a hard 15+ game because throughout the game, including the first few scenes, are very gorey. After you kill the first boss, you cut open his belly, pour the blood into your helmet, and put it on as the red pours down your bit-art body.

the appeal in it is that it's an interesting take on religion, and this in particular is a very old and spanish catholic art style, doused with literal examples of what are called miracles, like a boy the size of a building having the face of an old man growing in his chest, and as the game progresses the old man grows more and climbs from his chest until the one are two and they both die In The Name Of The Lord.

Weird and strange and horrific things that people and creatures allow to have happen to them because their faith demands they do it. Its a heavy theme and because it's so obscene in how it goes, it's fascinating to discover and learn, to read stories found by collecting bones of different saints across the world, to speak to different characters who are dumbstruck by everything out of the ordinary. It's a curious and gorgeous world to explore. genuinely, the art is phenomenal for something that could have been on a sega 32x.

Then there's Monster Boy. I actually haven't played much of this, truly about 3 or 4 hours in? Even that feels optimistic. And the reason is incredibly petty: I'm jaded by a related title.

So one of my favourite games from my Sega days is Wonder Boy III: The Dragons Trap. It's a fun game that has you changing forms to solve puzzles and reach different dragon bosses to return your character to normal. It's really the closest thing to a Metroidvania style game that I can attest to playing, because it has a hub area and a bunch of regions you can branch out to explore from there. It's more like a star than a series of infinity loops, but you get the idea. I'm going to have to find a name of that type of loop now, a magnus loop or something?

Anyway, a few years ago a company made a remaster of it and I fucking loved it. The core game is exactly the same, I could play the game on both a Sega Master system and whatever modern consoles side by side and I would literally have the same results. What's changed is the visuals and the soundtrack, all perfectly crafted for the game, adding so much more character to levels that weren't much more than plain blue backgrounds, but all the while making them feel like they were always there. Like they had built rose tinted glasses for this game, to make it feel in every essence the same game I played when i was a kid.

as such, Monster Boy is related in that it has the same ideas as The Dragons Trap, but sets it in the future of the characters life and allows him to change into different monsters on the fly, and having a whole new world to explore and delve into.

And my petty problem is that it's just not a similar game except by name. The controls and feel are different, the art is more of an anime cartoon style than the slightly gritty style of The Dragons Trap, and the soundtrack is just... so yeah, it's really surface level things that I don't like, and nothing I can really do about because it was all made by a different company.

All it really makes me wish is that The Dragons Trap gets a DLC addition to tell a story they want to tell, but after so many years I assume they're onto bigger and better things.

there's been a lot of that lately, last year brought in a good handful of blockbuster games that I was keen to get my hands on except for a few, and for the most part i was left disappointed early on.

Halo Infinite is really the biggest heartbreak. It's my own fault, I set up expectations that it was going to be a lot like Destiny, with having an open world that becomes incredibly deep and complex and interconnecting and having secrets in any nook and cranny you care to gawk at.

it wasn't that. it felt like a halo game, don't get me wrong, and it was super pretty in a lot of places, but... it really just felt flat.

part of that I blame on the grappling hook. that's been a big gimmick of late, to launch a grappling hook and traverse levels and encounters constantly. And it's a good thing in combat, you spot a vehicle running past and you grapple hook yourself to it and board it with ease. or you can pull an explosive barrel to you and launch it away into an enemy pile just to see them scatter.

But if you can use it to travel about, you're about to find that everything is easy to reach and youre going to spend a fair chunck of time just ninja roping your way around town.

But knowing that, you work around that. there's a bunch of different collectibles across the world and good handful of them are designed for that consideration. One type of collectible that didn't is the High Value Target (HVT), an individual enemy that carries a specially designed weapon you can pick up and use. So when Im about to cross a Jackal who carries an alien sniper rifle, standing at the top of a long slope littered with cover, brutes, shield jackals, and grunts, I would expect to run the gauntlet while he's spamming shots at me and driving me mad with each headache. Not reverse abseiling behind him and clocking him with the scifi equivalent of a boxing glove with nails in it and calling it good.

Its been a year and I havent really returned to it, partly because my Game Pass sub ran out and I havent renewed it, partly because I'm not even sure I want to yet. They have online coop implemented to the game, but I'm not finding it worth the time until they add something new or different to the game.

In the same vein, I keep thinking about Borderlands 3 and just came to the conclusion that they should just give in and become an RPG. They have all these characters, and these whole worlds they wanted to introduce, and all you're doing is just dakka dakka dakka. Which is cool, but for whatever reason it just isnt fun.

That's why I want a Tactics RPG, so you can get both hand in hand. Fix their writing, expand everyones story, have your Combat that you delve harder into to build stronger strategies than "this has big DPS", and have a god damned campaign the setting deserves that isn't just a bunch of popular memes strung together.

And while you're at it, take a look at the Mario and Rabbids games and build from that. They tackle, they slam, they shoot the shit out of stuff, all things you can do in the FPS, so why the fuck not?!

Tactics games have been pretty good of late. They re-remastered Tactics Ogre again and put them on every console available (actually I should check if it's only available on Playstation and Switch or not); Mario and Rabbids is actually pretty good, the sequel I'm playing has a LOT of improvements, especially in the free roaming where there are puzzles galore; I rebought Darkest Dungeon on my Switch so I can run that while something plays in the background on TV; Also rebought XCOM 2 when it came to the Switch because I do like a lot that it has to offer.

I did grab up Warsaw, the Darkest Dungeon-like rpg, and I've been bouncing pretty hard off it, mostly from information paralysis. It doesn't exactly ease you into the game very well and I want to learn more about the occupation of Warsaw more through this like i learnt about World War 1 from Valiant Hearts, which is getting a sequel on mobile through Netflix's service, which is a bit hurtful.

After that I have The Banner Saga which I hear is really good, it looks absolutely Captial-G-Gorgeous, but Im having trouble hitting that epiphany point with the combat. You have Armour and Strength, Strength Doubles as your Health, but the less Strength you have the less damage you deal, and you can counter it by having higher armour, which the enemies tend to have along with matching strength, so when I'm having my hard hitters get attacked first from either ranged enemies or just getting the first strike, I end up being on the back foot the whole match. I know the game is supposed to be a bit hardcore, but I just need that epiphany moment.

What I've learnt through the last few years though is that my Switch is an MVP. There's a lot of people ragging on about how it needs a hardware update and Nintendo should try to rival Playstation and Xbox in capability, but I don't really think so. It's become an Indie machine and it'll play just about any Indie that gets thrown at it.  

Speaking of Indies, Sega should let others get involved with the Sonic IP more. Sonic Mania when it came out was absolutely lourded for being a fantastic rendition of the Sega Mega Drive games made into one fun package.

i enjoyed it for the most part, some of the new levels felt a little too goofy and I didn't particularly like them, but that's a small complaint compared to the positive. Really, it's a fun game and I hope those teams dip into more of the Sonic games. Rather than the latest collection they put out.

So Sonic Origins is a bundle of the Sega Mega Drive games including Sonic 1, 2, 3 & Knuckles, and Sonic CD. Only Sonic CD I haven't actually played, but it's nice to have such a collection of games available. The problem is that they put out their purchasing options and they were Horrendous, items clearly for a cheap cash grab on top of an already fairly expensive game. Background menu Items? The option to move cosmetic things around? A Hard Mode sounded good but should have been part of the base purchase. Same with Remastered Music.

I had a plea written out that if you're going to release a remaster bundle and then offer up downloadable content, why don't you just keep remastering other games? Get the Sega Master System games and remaster them, use the Mega Drive Assets to zhush them up into something more interesting to the eye and tack it on! You'd get more than your moneys worth with remastering those underappreciated classics than you would trying to offer up the same fucking music played on a better synthesizer.

The only other big thought I had this year was of Elden Ring. It came out early 2022 to mass appraise, even got game of the year I think, and it kinda has me curious to get into it. It's a hardcore game and I can think that the only game I've played similar to it is Monster Hunter World, which I had a bunch of fun with. Next down would be God of War, but that is very much a Souls-lite, not to it's detriment though.

About a month or two later a Final Fantasy game came out called Stranger of Paradise: Final Fantasy Origin. A strange name for sure, pun not intended. It had a cool idea, a prequel to the first Final Fantasy game played out in an Action RPG, running around with your party and casting spells between whapping away with whatever weapon you had equipped. There seemed a pretty good variety of options at its core, some pretty environments as you would expect of its ilk. But it fell flat at it's writing. It was dreadful. Not because of the translation, but genuinely just... just terrible. I only watched a few hours of it in play, watched the scenes on youtube, and laughed with pity at the memes generated from it because it's really that bad it's not particularly funny.

Well, to circle back, quite a few of the reviewers I follow were comparing this game to Elden Ring, saying it's Square Enix's answer to Elden Ring because of the style and combat. I couldn't agree any less. Actual gameplay in hand might be different, but looking at it I was immediately thrown into thinking of Kingdom Hearts. It may not be as zippy and floaty as Kingdom Hearts is, but I would rather that comparison than with Elden Ring.

Thinking of a Final Fantasy Soulslike just puts Vagrant Story front and centre: A single character running around a labrynthian city; using different weapons and equipment against a variety of enemys, large and small; a dark mystery surrounding all characters involved in the world. It all adds up and falls short when the combat comes and you're showing the difference between a strange turn based game, and an action game.

I think that's a wrap up. My 2022 thoughts that were half baked in the first place and just didn't have much more point than what they do here.

All i want for Xmas is a TRPG

The more I think about it, the more I want it. The desire for a fantastic TRPG on all platforms, Playstation (3, 4, Vita) and Xbox (360 and One), iPad and Android, even PC, all interconnected as an MMO.

That would be awesome under the setting of Tactics Ogre, my favourite TRPG video of all time, and Episode 7 of a series that started at Episode 5 with Ogre Battle: March of the Black Queen.  So in saying that, would I like to play out episodes One through Four?  Hell to the fucking yes.  Release a chapter each year or two, and flesh out each story.  That's an option, if the others aren't just made as normal games.

I've thought of other games too.  Borderlands was one, by reincarnating Borderlands Legends into a TRPG, making the game into an opera of sorts and applying new and different classes and characters, maybe even some generics to throw around, then applying the key aspects like Guns and Elements, strange aliens, and the various combinations they can concoct.

What about Clash of Clans?  They have plenty of character but hardly any story.  You raid goblin villages without any repercussions!  Surely you'll have to fight the goblin king at some point.  And if there were more heroes, like an Archmage or a Sorceress, a branching storyline can be made!  Heck, a whole new faction would be great with a story of a rise to power.  And why not, you can do it in TRPG style!  That's my idea of fun!

While I can think about what I want though, there's the fact that there are TRPG's out there that I haven't played.  One of which is the very popular Banner Saga.  It's available on a variety of platforms, one of which is the Playstation 4, and I have that on my Video Game Wishlist, which continues to grow as time passes... but I can only wait until I can get another Xcom expansion to return.

I bet the he stole it from the Tinman

That Lion is a bastard

So with this Gaming Over Time ordeal still happening, with My Clash of Clans village slowly grinding up between Wars, my Boom Beach Island improving at a much more individual rate, and now entering Simpsons Tapped Out, there is one more game I've been partially playing: Lionheart Tactics.

I'm a fan of tactical games so I was eager to get started and find out what this game was like and take notes on how it works everything out.

I began with my Hero, asleep in bed and stared at by a strange black knight looming from across the room. So I did what any other character would: followed the tutorial and did as I was told. It wouldn't be for a few matches that I would finally have freedom to do my own attacking with my own band of troops that had joined me from the castle and a local inn.

Now, I had all the basic archetypes and the only thing left was to continue defending the kingdom by attacking these Black Knights of the Mirror. I'm not sure what the mirror is, but it's bad is all I know.

The problem is, and I know it's petty, but I don't like the Aesthetics. It's colours are too dull and dark, even with the brightness turned up, and all the map and character models look very meh. It's not them, it's me. I can get picky with certain art styles sometimes, and it puts me off. Still, I took notes on the game itself, because I don't see why I can't think how another game, that I happen to really enjoy, wouldn't be able to take advantage of this format.

Characters level up as normal, gaining experience with each encounter, the majority to those who fought hardest.

Skills are then learnt in the barracks, placing down gold and waiting Minutes/hours/days for that to reach the next tier. Skills are based on the characters class, of which you cannot change out.

New skills are learnt by gaining ranks, as each new characters begin at a Novice Rank, and then Work their way up to Ultimate.

Special resources are available as Crowns, earns in game in small values, and can be used to expediate learning and Healing.

Characters do not end battle completely healed and ready for the next battle. They must heal over time. So far I've seen that the rate is a constant and the duration increases based on the amount of health lost.

You do not heal in battle. If you have a healing source, you gain Temporary Hit Points which disappear at the end of the fight.

If you die in a fight, that character cannot be used for a period of time. Whether the downtime is based on health or rank, or if it's a set time, I'm not sure. I've only died with one character, the Brogue Thief. (Seriously, she's a terrible stereotype of a Pom.)

Purchases are Random. That's one thing that irks me most. You spend a bunch of gold and you'll end up with potentially 3 pieces of junk you weren't looking for. Same with Promotion Stones, you could spend much more money than you want trying to get one stone you need. Same with if you want to buy a new soldier. You pay, and it rolls up a random Character.

It's unappealing. To get anything definite, you have to sink in money to Hero packs which may also give you a bonus of gold and crowns on top.

Microtransactions have never been a problem since I make a point not to spend money on something like in game currency, and especially since I have no real life money at the best of times, but there is still a point where I just get turned off by it, and that just barely reaches it.

All these notes make me think of one of my favourite tactical RPGs, Tactics Ogre. Directed by Yasumi Matsuno, it is a fantastic piece of work that I still play today when I charge my PSP. So thinking of a game like that, knowing that the world of Ogre Battle is immense and full of conflict, it makes me feel funny in the pants and wish it were real.

Because all those silly aesthetic irks I have would disappear. I adore the art style of Tactics ogre games. But frankly, I would buy any Ogre Battle game that comes out in the future, and every night I clasp my little hands together and wish that another would come. Or another remake of the older ones.

Reinventing Ogre Battle

You know, there has been a lot of rehashing of games lately, and better yet the reinvention of older games.  And I'm wondering if I threw out a game I'd like to play out there, that I would get to see it made.  It's not an unreasonable idea.  And considering one game I'm thinking of would be (somewhat) easily reinvented because the style has already been done by a few different developers now.

The game I'm thinking of is Ogre Battle.  Now I put it out there because I've been playing Tactics Ogre a LOT lately, and I've nothing bad to say about it after putting in 200 hours into it, but also because it's a game that can look a lot cooler now than it did then because it's a format that has been done quite a few times.

The one comparison that hit me was Dawn of War II, because as I played a little of Ogre Battle: March of the Black Queen, I found that it had features that are similar to DoW2.  You customise your party in the World Map, and then in battle you command your parties across the field of play.

It seems like a straight forward thing because a lot of the groundwork has already been laid out.  It's just a matter of building the game from the ground up, though naturally that's easier said than done.

The Dark art of Video Game Resurrection

Click the pic for the original site

A long time ago I was somewhat excited about HD Remakes of games for multiple reasons, the biggest two reasons were that I would be able to get games that I hadn't been able to get before, and games that I did have but couldn't play would be made available.

But after picking up a handful of them, I came to a realisation that they weren't putting in any effort into it.  Take Splinter Cell for example.  It's a good game in it's own right.  But the FMV's were literally torn from the original game and put in the remake.  No buffering, not even an upscale on resolution.  It looked like crap.  Even in-game, one could tell that little effort was put into it except for reskinning various awkward polygons.

Same with the Halo Anniversary Edition.  They advertised that the only thing that would be changed about the game is the environment details would be significantly updated.  And yes, they granted that, but I felt it was a bit dumbed down by the experience of fighting an AI that was about 10 years old.

It was disheartening to say the least.

Mind you, there were a few remakes that I haven't been disappointed in.  One of which is Tactics Ogre: Let Us Cling Together.  It was rebuffed in style, fixed in a few areas and provided a few extras here and there.  Subsequently, I've spent over 150 hours on it.  Probably another 10 on top if you include the times that I deleted the save file to start again after a few months time.

But it's what you would want from a remade game.  It's like a sequel, it's cleverer, it's cleaner, it's smoother, and it's a more entertaining experience.  And remakes like that are few and far between.

One of which that came out sometime in the last month was Black Mesa.  It was a fan made remake of the first Half Life game, and they look to have done a fantastic job re-imagining the game with an up to date game engine.

And they admitted to performing a few tweaks to the game itself, and they were based on the changes made for Half Life 2.  That gets a massive Thumbs up in my opinion.  Rather than just buffering the visuals, empower the entire thing.

Returning to Halo Anniversary Edition, I voiced my opinion on how different the game would be like if the enemies reacted the same way as they do in Halo Reach, the last addition to the series, and how nice it would have been to simply have the option to go into the game thinking "I'm playing a game that started an era.  But not as I know it."

I had the same perverted thought with Borderlands.  When I started playing Borderlands 2, I picked up on all the little things they did to improve the game.  Like certain enemies zig-zagging around as they approached you; the Rock-Paper-Scissors effect of weapon elements and enemy types are more significant; the need to actually take cover because you're not as effective of a bullet sponge as you were in the first game.

The thought occurred that the developers of Borderlands could release a patch, an update with some of these changes, for the first game.  I for one would happily return back to the game and start playing again  Especially if they rehashed the Skill Trees.

But the point remains the same: Question whether the remake is worth it.  Because you could just be suckered into buying disappointment, rather than what you want: A steadier, cleaner reintroduction into familiar territory.

Choosing your own Adventure

I had a large collection of Choose your own Adventure books as a kid, shoved under my bed in a box and told that I should read them. I was told that they were my brothers favourite books, so I should read them. I gave a handful a go and just got frustrated and said "nuh, I dun like em". Though there was a book that I did like, the SORCERY! books, where it was a RPG book where you made your own Character Sheet and rolled dice to get different results, and/or chose what you wanted to happen. I always seemed to get stuck in the sewers with the monster though. (See Picture)

Now I play a game called Tactics Ogre: Let Us Cling Together. It's a Turn Based Strategy Role Play Game. (Say that five times fast) It has one of the best Video Game stories I've come across, particularly the areas that the story branches out. The story starts off fairly straight forward, you rise to power under the wing of a lord and are sent off to do a mission which twists at the end of the chapter, allowing the player to choose what future they want. One leads to staying loyal to your lord, the other marking you a criminal. Then the story branches out again before moving towards a similar, yet still very different, final chapter.

Recently I finished "Deus Ex: Human Revolution" again. Now I like the game, it literally turned up right when I had the mood for the same style of game, a game that has multiple methods of completion from mission to mission. The problem therein is that from Mission to mission is how the games story plays out. Yes it has small variances, such as "If you don't kill X, you will have this happen to you" which is cool.

However, there are a few areas that the game falls a bit flat in and have been covered by a lot of people, but I'm going to point out the gripe that I'm leading up to and that's The Very Ending.

You can get four results for the end of the game, each showing different things happening. But to get to those points you have to fulfill a few things. First of which is Reach the Last Level. Second of which is speak with the three Leaders: Hugh Darrow, David Sarik and Bill Taggart. Third is to defeat the boss. Then you get led into a back room and given four options to summarise the game, or less depending on who you haven't talked to.

...

Actually, I'm probably lying there. I think you have to generate a good standing with the afforementioned characters. But as you play the game, you have various mini-missions which are like tests. You can fail them, or you can pass them and something will happen later on in the game with regards to them. I know I failed a conversation with a one character while he was at work and while I got what I wanted, he got fired and he attacked me as I left my apartment much later in the game.

Mass Effect is another game with a "choose your own adventure" aspect to it, but recently caused a Nerdrage over it's third, and last, iteration of the franchise. The premise of the game is that you're leading a defensive force against a terrible threat to the galaxy, and you spend the game building up reputation as a Good Guy or as a Badarse, and depending on how well you go, you get an ending based on your career. So you can get a few different endings from each game. On top of that, your character can roll over into each successive game, so any effects you had in the previous game rolls over into the second, and same with the second to third.

The Nerdrage for Mass Effect 3 is apparently a little more than what I thought. From what I know, the problem was in the very ending of the game, where rather than follow the signature pattern of multiple epilogues, they gave one set epilogue and that was it. There were no changes based on your career, it converged into one static event, and that was it.

Personally, I was disappointed to hear that as I consider the multiple endings a Signature Feature. And many others obviously agree with that, some to the point of suing the developers for False Advertising. While true, as their major advertising campaign was "Make your Ending" or something like that, I would consider that extreme. There was also a petition which requested the developers change the entire last chapter, which I consider just as extreme. Sure, amend the ending to show the consequences of the players actions, but you don't have to change an entire chapter for that.


So what are the chances of a game taking on some, if not all, of these features? Creating not only different endings, but completely different middles as well? As a developer, making a console game of this size would take an immense amount of time and effort. But you know what? It's a nice thought.

Isometry

Since just before I posted the “% Completed” post, I began playing Final Fantasy Tactics. I knew the implications of neck strain and finger cramping and I was willing to brave the odds against my gaming digits and their capacity to play.

I like Tactics games. The isometric view to stare over the gridded battlefield so you can watch your numbered minions run across the fields like a variety chess pieces on a relatively pretty table.

I remember playing Tactics Ogre: The Knight of Lodis (Gameboy Advance), working my way up to a Knight class and owning the battlefield with a healing spell equipped along with a really strong weapon and just PWNING any silly bugger who came within range. And anyone who stood on the crenelations of a castle were unable to escape because I'd have a spellcaster of some sort with a teleport spell, sending them from ground 0 to level 50 in a moment so I could push the poor bugger on the edge down to the other melee attackers who would finish off whatever job was left for them.

Ah, to play as a God. Back then, I would level to the maximum by fighting random encounters which happened every 3 locales and could be any concoction of Pirates, bandits, or ex-militiamen.

I also remember Final Fantasy Tactics Advance (for the Gameboy Advance). While mostly similar to the game I'm playing on my PSP, which is a direct port from the PSOne Classic game with not even a handful of additions (Another Character, another Class, a few other bits and bobs), it's considerably easier than the Playstation Version and much more cartooney. It was still a good game, however I never really finished it as it got really repetitive and dull. /Shrug. That's just the way some games go.

But isometric games aren't limited to the Grid-locked tactical games. Baldurs Gate and Icewind Dale are both examples of such games, taking the same angle however not sticking to any particular grid and players can choose to either take it by turns or let it all happen as it comes along. Both of them are based on the Version 2.0 set of Dungeons and Dragons system so each round takes up 6 seconds, and as I said you can take it turn by turn, 6 seconds by 6 seconds, and just figure it out as the encounter goes on.

Now, I couldn't really keep up with Baldurs Gate or Icewind Dale, so I've placed them to the side for a later date when I can really sit down and try to figure out the game to a better extent. In the mean time I have Dungeons and Dragons Tactics, a video game version of a D&D 3.5 format. Grid, party members, class features and everything from the original 3 books: Players Handbook, Monster Manual and Dungeon Masters Guide. This is a system that I understand and will be able to delve into with a bit more understanding when I get around to it.

But right now, I'm on Final Fantasy Tactics: The War of the Lions. The problem I'm having at the moment is the Third mission. The Players start on one side and while the enemies (A bunch of Bandits and a Dog-esque creature) surrounding an Non-Player-Character who has been caught in something of an ambush. The player gets a moral choice: Kill them all, or save the dude. I've been saying “save the dude” cos I'm a Dorky Good guy at heart, but the problem lies in that the AI decides that the guy I'm trying to save wants to fight as well. The problem therein is that he's surrounded by about 3 guys and if he's hit 3 times, or 2 times with a critical hit somewhere along the line. So running further into the fray of bandits who are programmed to slit his throat, isn't a good idea. Especially since I can't get to him to restore his Health before everyone takes advantage of him like a prisoner without his soap on a rope.

I'm imagining that when I try this mission again, it won't happen as such. Fingers Crossed.

In related news: I got my PSP AV Component Cable!
Problem?: My PSP is too old a model. The connection would fit, no problems there, however the cord itself jutts out on the wrong angle and conflicts with the shape of the older model. So when they say it works for the PSP-2000 and PSP-3000, they really weren't joking.

It's a little stoopid that the Playstation Department continue to recreate and reinvent their consoles. It's one of the more frustrating things about their brand, you have to read the packaging for each different product in case you don't get what you want, unless what you want is actually quite simple: Plays the games and saves the saves.

I'll stop now before I get ahead of myself! I must not bore people by ripping on Playstation. I must not bore people by ripping on Playstation. I must not bore people by ripping on Playstation.